JP4303296B2 - Image forming system and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system that prints an image on a sheet, and more particularly, to an image forming system and an image forming apparatus that include at least one sheet tray that stores advertisement-attached sheets on which advertisements have been printed in advance.

  In recent years, copying machines can be used everywhere. For example, there are stores where photocopiers are installed in station premises, and many supermarkets and convenience stores have photocopiers installed. For this reason, the number of users who use copiers available to the public is increasing.

Under such circumstances, an idea has appeared in which printing paper is discounted by inserting advertisement-added paper into a part of the paper tray of the copier, and selecting this paper tray for printing. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). Under this idea, a provider of a copy machine that can be used by the public can collect an advertising fee from the advertiser, and therefore can discount the printing fee to be imposed on the user.
JP 2004-38754 A

  Usually, advertisement-added paper has an expiration date. When advertisements have expired, advertisers are often unable to promote sales even if advertisement-added forms are distributed. On the other hand, for the user, the advertisement on the advertisement-added paper that has expired has no information value. For this reason, when the expiration date of the advertisement-attached paper in the paper tray expires, it is preferable to quickly collect such advertisement-attached paper from the paper tray.

  On the other hand, as the number of copiers with advertisement-added paper increases, it becomes difficult for advertisers to quickly collect advertisement-added paper that has expired.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system and an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a disadvantage to an advertiser and a user even when collection of an advertisement-added paper whose expiration date has expired is delayed.

  The image forming system according to the present invention prints an image on a sheet. The image forming system includes a paper storage unit, an image forming unit, a time limit management unit, a detection unit, and a paper disposal unit.

  The paper storage unit has at least one paper tray for storing paper with advertisements on which advertisements have been printed in advance. The image forming unit prints an image on the paper supplied from the paper storage unit. The expiration management unit stores the expiration date of the advertisement-attached sheet as advertisement expiration information in association with the sheet tray that accommodates the advertisement-added sheet. The detecting means detects a paper tray that accommodates the advertisement-added paper whose expiration date has expired, based on the advertising time limit information stored by the time limit management unit.

  The paper discarding means retracts the advertisement-attached paper whose expiration date has expired from the paper tray based on the detection result of the detection means when waiting for printing. As an example of the paper discarding unit, there is a configuration in which the paper being transported is separated from the paper transport path and guided to the collection area. In addition, it is preferable to provide means for notifying the advertiser when the paper discarding means retracts the paper from the paper tray.

  Since the expired advertisement-attached paper stored in the paper tray is automatically withdrawn from the paper tray by the paper discarding means, the opportunity for executing the printing process on the expired advertisement-attached paper is reduced.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the advertiser and the user from being disadvantaged even when collection of the advertisement-added paper whose expiration date has expired is delayed.

  An image forming system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The image forming system 10 includes an image forming apparatus 20. The image forming apparatus 20 is installed in a place available to the public, for example, a convenience store. The image forming apparatus 20 is configured to be able to print on advertisement-added paper on which an advertisement is printed in advance.

  The image forming apparatus 20 is connected to the router 30, the term management server 40, the discarding apparatus 50, the charging apparatus 60, and the image reading apparatus 90 via the network 70. The router 30 is connected to the Internet 80. The term management server 40 manages the expiration date of the advertisement-added paper stored in the image forming apparatus 20. FIG. 2 shows an example of the contents stored in the time limit management server 40. As shown in FIG. 2, the expiration date management server 40 stores the expiration date of the advertisement-attached sheet as advertisement expiration information in association with the sheet tray that accommodates the advertisement-added sheet. Since the expiration date management server 40 is configured to be accessible via the Internet 80, information on the expiration date of the advertisement-attached sheet can be viewed from the outside. The discard device 50 is configured to receive a sheet to be discarded in the image forming apparatus 20. The accounting device 60 performs accounting processing for use of the image forming apparatus. The charging device 60 sets a different unit price for each of the plain paper, the advertisement-added paper (within the expiration date), and the advertisement-added paper (expired). FIG. 3 shows an example of the contents stored in the charging time limit management server. The image reading device 90 reads an image of a document and generates image data.

  The image forming apparatus 20 includes an interface unit 220, an operation unit 212, an image forming unit 218, a display unit 210, a paper feeding unit 208, a ROM 206, a RAM 204, a nonvolatile memory 214, and a CPU 202.

  The interface unit 220 has a function of managing communication with the network 70. The operation unit 212 includes a plurality of operation keys for receiving input operations from the user. The image forming unit 218 executes an electrophotographic image forming process on the paper based on the input image data. The display unit 210 is configured to display information to be notified to the user. The paper feeding unit 208 is configured to supply paper to the image forming unit 218. The ROM 206 stores a plurality of programs necessary for the operation of the CPU 202. The RAM 204 is a volatile memory that temporarily holds image data and the like. The nonvolatile memory 214 is configured to hold the advertisement deadline information acquired from the deadline management server 40. The CPU 202 is configured to comprehensively control the operation of the image forming apparatus 20 based on a program stored in the ROM 206.

  The configuration of the image forming apparatus 20 will be further described with reference to FIG. As shown in the figure, a paper conveyance path 260 is provided inside the image forming apparatus 20. The photosensitive drum 230 is disposed so as to be in contact with the sheet conveyance path 260. Around the photoconductor 230, a charging device 242, an exposure device 232, a developing device 234, and a transfer device 236 are arranged. Further, a fixing device 238 and a discharge roller 240 are provided downstream of the photoconductor 230 in the paper conveyance path 260.

  The charging device 242 uniformly charges the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 230. The exposure device 232 forms an electrostatic latent image on the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 230. The developing device 234 develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 230 with toner. The transfer device 236 transfers the toner image formed on the peripheral surface of the photoreceptor 230 onto the surface of the paper. The fixing device 238 fixes the toner image attached to the paper to the paper by heat and pressure. The discharge roller 240 discharges the paper onto the paper discharge tray 262.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the paper feed unit 208 includes three paper feed trays 244, 246, and 248. An advertisement-added paper on which an advertisement is printed is set in at least one of the paper feed trays 244, 246, and 248. Pickup rollers 250, 252, and 254 are provided in the vicinity of the paper feed trays 244, 246, and 248. Further, the paper feeding unit 208 is provided with a paper retraction mechanism 100. The sheet retracting mechanism 100 selectively guides the sheet transported along the sheet transport path 260 toward the retracting port 110.

  The operation of the sheet retracting mechanism 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The sheet retracting mechanism 100 includes a base portion 104, an actuator 102, and a guide member 106. The base member 104 is fixed at an appropriate position of the image forming apparatus 20. The actuator 102 is supported by the base member 104 so as to be reciprocally movable. The guide member 106 is rotatably supported by a support shaft 108. The guide member 106 is applied with a force in a counterclockwise direction in FIG. 5 by an urging member (not shown). As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, when the actuator 102 is moved toward the guide member 106, the guide member 106 is pushed by the actuator 102 and rotated. As the actuator 102 retreats toward the base member 104, the guide member 106 returns to the position shown in FIG.

  The image forming apparatus 20 acquires the advertisement deadline information stored by the deadline management server 40 while waiting for printing, and overwrites and stores it in the nonvolatile memory 214. Further, the image forming apparatus 20 compares the acquired advertisement expiration date information with the current date and time, and detects a sheet tray that accommodates the advertisement-added sheet that has expired. Then, the advertisement-added paper discarding process shown in FIG. 6 is executed for the advertisement-added paper whose expiration date has expired.

  The paper discarding process will be described with reference to FIG. The discarding device 50 includes a paper introduction port 52, a paper sensor 54, and an introduction roller 56. The paper introduction port 52 is configured to receive the paper discharged from the retraction port 110. The paper sensor 54 detects that paper has been introduced into the paper introduction port 52. The introduction roller 56 is configured to introduce the sheet into the sheet storage unit 58 when the sheet sensor 54 detects the sheet. In the paper discarding process, the CPU 202 controls the paper feed unit 208 to convey all of the advertising paper contained in the paper feed trays 244, 246, or 248 to the disposal device 50.

  With reference to FIG. 7, the operation procedure of the CPU 202 in the time limit management processing during printing standby will be described. During printing standby, the CPU 202 acquires advertisement deadline information from the deadline management server 40 at an appropriate timing (S1). Subsequently, the CPU 202 acquires current date and time information (S2). Subsequently, the CPU 202 compares the advertisement deadline information with the current date and time information to determine whether or not expired advertisement-added paper is stored in the paper feed trays 244, 246, or 248 (S3).

  In the determination step of S3, when there is a paper tray that accommodates the expired advertisement-added paper, a discarding process is executed for the paper tray (S4). In step S <b> 4, the CPU 202 causes the paper feed unit 208 to convey all of the advertisement-added paper stored in the paper feed trays 244, 246, or 248 to the disposal device 50.

  In this embodiment, when the discarding process is executed during standby, as shown in FIG. 8A, a display indicating that the advertisement deadline has expired is displayed. Further, when the discarding process is executed immediately before printing, a display as shown in FIG.

  Next, the operation procedure of the CPU 202 in the time limit management process during printing will be described with reference to FIG. Even during printing, the CPU 202 acquires advertisement time limit information from the time limit management server 40 at an appropriate timing (S11). Subsequently, the CPU 202 acquires current date and time information (S12). Subsequently, the CPU 202 compares the advertisement expiration date information with the current date and time information, and determines whether or not the expired advertisement-added sheet is accommodated in the used sheet feeding tray (S13).

  In the determination step of S13, if expired advertisement-added paper is stored in the paper feed tray in use, an expiration display process as shown in FIG. 10 is executed (S14). Then, the user selects whether to stop printing or to continue printing on the expired advertisement-added paper (S15).

  If the user selects cancel printing in step S15, the CPU 202 cancels printing (S16). On the other hand, if the user selects to continue printing in step S15, the printing unit price after the CPU 202 is changed (S17). In step S17, the printing unit price is set to be low due to the expiration of the advertisement-added paper. The reason is that an expired advertisement does not provide any meaningful information for the user.

  Note that the image forming apparatus 20 displays a breakdown of the amount to be charged as shown in FIG. 11 every time the printing process is completed.

  According to the above embodiment, when the collection of the advertisement-attached paper whose expiration date has expired is delayed, the advertisement-attached paper whose term has expired is automatically discarded. For this reason, since the opportunity to print on the paper which has passed the deadline is reduced, it is possible to prevent the advertiser and the user from being disadvantaged. Further, even when the expiration date of the advertisement-added paper has passed during printing, it is changed to a substantial unit price of the expired paper, so that the user who receives the expired paper is less likely to suffer a disadvantage.

  Note that when the expiration date of the advertisement-added paper approaches during printing, a screen as shown in FIG. 12 may be displayed on the display unit 210 in advance.

  In the above-described embodiment, the term management server 40 and the billing device 60 are provided separately from the image forming device 20. However, the term management unit and the billing unit may be realized in the image forming device 20.

  The description of the above-described embodiment is an example in all respects and should be considered as not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is shown not by the above embodiments but by the claims. Furthermore, the scope of the present invention is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of the claims.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an image forming system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the memory content of a time limit management server. It is a figure which shows the example of the memory content of an accounting device. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a sheet retracting mechanism. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an operation of a sheet retracting mechanism. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of CPU at the time limit management process. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure of CPU at the time limit management process. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10- Image forming system 20- Image forming apparatus 40- Time limit management server 50- Disposal apparatus 60- Billing apparatus 100- Paper retraction mechanism 202-CPU

Claims (6)

An image forming system for printing an image on paper,
A paper storage unit having at least one paper tray for storing paper with advertisements on which advertisements are printed in advance;
An image forming unit that prints an image on a sheet supplied from the sheet storage unit;
An expiration date management unit for storing the expiration date of the advertisement-attached paper as advertisement expiration information in association with a paper tray that accommodates the advertisement-added paper;
Detecting means for detecting a paper tray for storing paper with an advertisement expired based on the advertisement deadline information stored by the deadline management unit;
A paper discarding means for evacuating the paper with advertisement expired from the paper tray based on the detection result of the detection means during printing standby;
An image forming system. At the time of printing processing, the detection means determines whether there is an expired advertisement-added paper in the used paper tray based on the detection result, and the expired advertisement in the used paper tray A print processing means for interrupting the printing process when the attached sheet exists;
Display means for displaying that the expiration date of the advertisement-added paper in the paper tray being used when printing is interrupted by the print processing means;
The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising:   3. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising means for allowing the user to select whether to continue printing or cancel printing using an expired advertisement-attached sheet when there is an expired advertisement-added sheet in the paper tray being used. The image forming system described. A billing unit that manages the charges to be charged for the use of the image forming unit, and billing with different unit price set for advertising paper within the expiration date, expired advertising paper, and regular paper The image forming system according to claim 1 , further comprising a unit. An image forming apparatus that prints an image on paper connected to a time limit management server that stores the expiration date of the advertisement-added paper as advertisement deadline information in association with the paper tray that stores the advertisement-added paper,
A paper storage unit having at least one paper tray for storing paper with advertisements on which advertisements are printed in advance;
An image forming unit that prints an image on a sheet supplied from the sheet storage unit;
Detection means for acquiring advertisement deadline information from the deadline management server, and detecting a paper tray that accommodates advertisement-added paper that has expired based on the acquired advertisement deadline information;
A paper discarding unit for evacuating a paper with advertisement expired from a paper tray based on a detection result to the detection unit during printing standby;
An image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the sheet discarding unit includes a retracting mechanism that is disposed upstream of the image forming unit in the sheet conveying path and selectively discharges the sheet conveyed on the sheet conveying path to the outside of the apparatus. apparatus.

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