JP4586347B2 - Parallel processing printer - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a parallel processing printer, and more particularly to a parallel processing type parallel processing printer in which printing units are stacked in multiple stages along a specific stacking direction, for example, in the vertical direction, and the output results are not mixed. The present invention relates to a parallel processing printer capable of performing collating processing and sorting processing.

  When creating a large number of printed materials, etc., parallel printing that realizes high-speed printing by arranging multiple printing units in parallel, distributing print jobs to these printing units, and operating these printing units in parallel. Various processing printers have been proposed.

As such a printer, for example,
(1) In a parallel printer, a paper discharge buffer that is an area for adjusting the paper discharge timing is provided downstream of the recording unit (Patent Document 1).
(2) In an array type printer that performs print processing in parallel, data is supplied siblingly via a band-compensated bus (Patent Document 2),
(3) A recording apparatus having a first recording unit and a second recording unit, the first recording unit disposed in the first recording unit, and the second recording unit. Second recording means, first paper feeding means for feeding recording paper to the first recording section, and fed recording paper fed to the first recording section to the second recording section A recording paper conveying means for conveying; a second paper feeding means for feeding the recording paper to the second recording section; and a recording paper discharging means for discharging the recording paper conveyed to the second recording section. Recording device (Patent Document 3),
(4) The first to third recording units including a recording unit that records an image on a recording sheet and a supply unit that supplies the recording sheet to the recording unit are driven in parallel to perform recording. An image recording apparatus (Patent Document 4) that processes the image data over the recording paper in a shared manner and discharges the recording paper recorded by different recording units on a predetermined bin in a predetermined arrangement.
(5) In a printing apparatus in which a plurality of printing units are arranged in parallel and operated in parallel, the use number measuring means for measuring the number of uses for each printing unit and the number of uses of each printing unit are compared, A printing apparatus (Patent Document 5) having a control unit that preferentially distributes print data to a printing unit that is less frequently used among the printing units,
(6) A base unit including a paper feeding unit that supplies paper to the printing unit, a paper discharging unit that discharges printed paper carried out from the printing unit, and a control unit that controls each of the units is provided. And a multi-layer printing apparatus in which one or more printing units are stacked on the base unit, wherein the printing units and the lowermost printing unit and the base unit are coupled by a coupling unit, and the printing unit is carried into the lowermost stage. A printing apparatus (Patent Document 6) in which the mouth is connected to the paper feeding unit of the base unit, and the outlet of the printing unit is connected to the paper discharging unit of the base unit.
and so on.

  Although Patent Document 1, Patent Document 5, and Patent Document 6 all disclose a configuration in which only one stacking unit is arranged at the bottom, a plurality of stacking units at the top as in the present invention. A configuration having the above is not disclosed. The parallel processing printers disclosed in Patent Document 2, Patent Document 3, and Patent Document 4 are parallel processing printers in which the stacking unit and the print engine are arranged in a one-to-one relationship. The configuration clearly differs from the configuration in which collaborative printing is performed and paper is discharged to one stacking unit. As described above, none of Patent Documents 1 to 6 discloses that there are a plurality of stacking units in the parallel processing printer and that the stacking unit is arranged at the top.

Each of these parallel processing printers has a feature that a plurality of print jobs can be processed in parallel by, for example, interrupt processing by simultaneously using a plurality of print engines.
JP 2002-302329 A JP-A-11-348385 JP-A-8-337011 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-21840 JP 2002-103694 A JP 2002-103735 A

  However, in order to perform multi-user processing such as interrupt processing, the recording paper is collated and sorted so that the recording paper printed by a plurality of print jobs is not discharged in a mixed discharge area. There is a need.

  In addition, parallel processing printers can perform high-speed processing, so even if processing is performed sequentially, printed recording sheets related to different print jobs are collected and collected before the user removes the printed recording sheets related to a certain print job. It may be ejected to the paper area. Even in such a case, it is necessary to perform collation processing and sorting processing so that printed recording papers related to a plurality of print jobs are not mixed in the integrated paper discharge region.

  As described above, in parallel processing printers, collation processing and sorting processing are often required so that printed recording papers relating to different print jobs are not mixed, but recording papers printed by a plurality of print jobs are used. When collating and sorting are performed in one integrated paper discharge area, there is a problem that print job data processing becomes complicated.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a parallel processing printer capable of achieving both high speed and multiprocessing without performing complicated print job data processing. .

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a plurality of printing means for recording an image on a sheet-like recording medium and a stacking unit for stacking the recording medium printed by the printing means so that the recording medium can be taken out from the outside are arranged in the vertical direction. The stacking unit is disposed above the printing unit, and the printing unit temporarily holds a printed recording medium and discharges the recording medium to the stacking unit ; A controller for controlling the printing unit and the stacking unit. The controller allocates an input print job to the printing unit, and prints a recording medium. The present invention relates to a parallel processing printer that is assigned to at least one of a copy unit and a discharge buffer that is switched to a stacking function .

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to the first aspect, the plurality of stacking units are provided, and at least one of the stacking units is disposed above the printing unit. In addition, the present invention relates to a parallel processing printer characterized in that a different stacking unit is selected between at least two consecutive print jobs .

  In the parallel processing printer, when a plurality of print jobs are input, the print jobs are distributed and executed by each printing unit, and at the same time, the recording medium printed by each printing unit is sorted by the sort tray in the stacking unit. It is possible to accumulate while sorting for each print job.

Therefore, the parallel processing printer can perform multi-processing without performing complicated print job data processing. Further, by disposing a paper discharge buffer behind the printing unit, the collating process can be facilitated even when a plurality of printing units prints one print job in parallel.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to the second aspect, one of the plurality of stacking units is disposed at the top, and the remaining stacking unit is disposed between the printing units. The present invention relates to a featured parallel processing printer.

In the parallel processing printer, since the stacking unit is arranged between a plurality of printing units in addition to the top, printing is performed by a plurality of printing units as compared with the case where one stacking unit is arranged at the top. It is possible to easily collate and sort recorded media.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to any one of the first to third aspects, the recording medium is integrated so that the recording medium can be taken out from the outside, and the recording medium can be placed on the plate. The present invention relates to a parallel processing printer that can select whether to function as a recording medium stacking unit or a temporary holding unit by moving the plate up and down .

With the above-described configuration, the discharge buffer area can be used as a stacking unit, or can be used as a temporary storage area for a recording medium for adjusting the discharge timing. And sort processing becomes easy.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the stacking unit is provided with a sorting unit that sorts the printed recording medium using a sort tray. To a parallel processing printer.

In the parallel processing printer, by using the sorting unit provided in the stacking unit, it is possible to easily sort the recording media printed by a plurality of printing units as compared with the case where the sorting unit is not provided in the stacking unit. .

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the parallel printer according to the fifth aspect, the stacking unit on which the printed recording media are stacked or the sort tray is automatically selected according to a print job designated by a user. The present invention relates to a featured parallel processing printer.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to any one of the fifth aspect, the user can select a stacking unit on which the printed recording medium is to be stacked or the sort tray. The present invention relates to a parallel processing printer.

According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, when a user inputs a plurality of print jobs, the print job to be executed by each of the printing means is allocated. The present invention relates to a parallel processing printer characterized in that it can be set by a user.

The invention according to claim 9 is the parallel processing printer according to claim 8 , further comprising display means for displaying the sorting result when a print job to be executed by the printing means is allocated. To a parallel processing printer.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the parallel processing printer according to any one of the first to ninth aspects, the printing unit is configured as a single printing unit, and the stacking unit is configured as a single stacking unit. The present invention also relates to a parallel processing printer characterized by stacking the printing unit and the integrated unit.

  By adopting the unit configuration as described above, an arbitrary system configuration according to the user's request can be realized.

  As described above, according to the present invention, there is provided a parallel processing printer that can achieve both high speed and multi-processing without performing complicated print job data processing.

1. Embodiment 1
An example of the parallel processing printer according to the present invention will be described below.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the parallel processing printer 1000 according to the first embodiment has a structure in which three printing units 2 and two integrated paper discharge units 6 are stacked one above the other. Of the two integrated paper discharge units 6, one is disposed in the trunk, in other words, in the middle stage, and the other is disposed in the uppermost stage. Hereinafter, the integrated paper discharge unit 6 disposed in the cylinder is referred to as an “integrated paper discharge unit 6A”, and the integrated paper discharge unit 6 disposed in the uppermost stage is referred to as an “integrated paper discharge unit 6B”. Two printing units 2 are provided below the integrated paper discharge unit 6A, and one print unit 2 is provided between the integrated paper discharge unit 6A and the integrated paper discharge unit 6B. Hereinafter, the printing unit 2 disposed below the integrated paper discharge unit 6A is referred to as “printing unit 2A” and “printing unit 2B” from below, and between the integrated paper discharge unit 6A and the integrated paper discharge unit 6B. The arranged printing unit 2 is referred to as a “printing unit 2C”. The printing unit 2A, the printing unit 2B, and the printing unit 2C correspond to printing means provided in the parallel processing printer according to the present invention, and the integrated paper discharge unit 6A and the integrated paper discharge unit 6B are integrated in the parallel processing printer. It corresponds to the part.

  In the parallel processing printer 1000, in the vicinity of the side surface located on the left side in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, a duct shape for sending the printed recording paper P printed by the printing units 2A to 2C to the integrated paper discharge units 6A, 6B, or 6C. Common discharge path 8 is provided.

  In FIG. 1, the internal structure of the printing units 2A to 2C is indicated by dotted lines. This is because the doors 11A, doors that can be opened and closed on the front surfaces of the printing unit 2A, the printing unit 2B, and the printing unit 2C 11B and the door 11C are provided, and the door 11A, the door 11B, and the door 11C are in a closed state during printing.

  On the other hand, the front sides of the stacked paper discharge units 6A and 6B are open so that the stacked recording sheets P can be taken out, as is apparent from the solid structure shown in FIG.

  The parallel processing printer 1000 is further provided with a controller 10 that controls the printing units 2A to 2C and the integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B.

(1) Configuration of each unit The internal structures of the printing units 2A to 2C and the integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B will be described below.

(A) Printing units 2A to 2C
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the printing units 2 </ b> A to 2 </ b> C (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as “printing unit 2”) are formed in a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape along the height direction H. A housing 12 is provided.

  Positioning pins 14A protrude from the four corners of the top plate 14 of the housing 12, and positioning holes 13A are provided at the four corners of the bottom plate 13. The positioning pin 14A is formed to have a diameter and height that can be inserted into the positioning hole 13A, and the positioning pin 14A of one printing unit 2 is inserted into the positioning hole 13A of the other printing unit 2 positioned one step above the printing unit 2. The two printing units 2 are positioned by being inserted.

  In the vicinity of the bottom plate 13 of the housing 12, a paper feed hopper 20 that accommodates a paper bundle B that is a paper bundle of recording paper P is disposed, and a paper discharge buffer 26 is disposed above it. The recording paper P accommodated in the paper feed hopper 20 corresponds to the recording medium in the present invention. The recording paper P that can be loaded into the paper feed hopper 20 is, for example, high-quality paper. However, when the print engine 34 described later has a thermal printing head or a thermal transfer printing mechanism, thermal paper is used instead of plain paper. May be loaded. Further, instead of the recording paper P, an OHP sheet may be loaded so that a print image such as a photograph, text, or illustration is printed on the OHP sheet. The fine paper, thermal paper, and OHP sheet are all included in the recording medium of the present invention.

  A print engine 34 for printing a predetermined print image on the recording paper P is provided between the paper discharge buffer 26 and the right side plate 15 in FIG.

  Inside the housing 12, a paper feed guide path 50 that supplies the recording paper P from the paper feed hopper 20 to the print engine 34 is provided. In the vicinity of the entrance of the paper feed guide path 50, a pickup roller 46 that picks up the recording paper P one by one from the paper feed hopper 20 and guides it to the paper feed guide path 50 is provided.

  Further, a paper discharge guide path 60 is provided vertically along the left side plate 16 in FIG. The paper discharge guide path 60 forms a part of the common paper discharge path 8. A feed roller 62A and a feed roller 62B are provided at the lower end and the upper end of the paper discharge guide path 60, respectively. A branch guide path 64 is provided between the paper discharge buffer 26 and the paper discharge guide path 60 to guide the printed recording paper P discharged to the paper discharge buffer 26 to the paper discharge guide path 60. A separation paper discharge roller 66 is provided at the entrance of the branch guide path 64.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed hopper 20 has a shallow tray shape with an open top surface, and includes a paper feed hopper main body 21 that stores a paper bundle B that is a bundle of recording paper P, and a bottom plate of the paper feed hopper main body 21. And a flat stacking plate 22 on which the recording paper P is placed. A hinge 23 is provided along the depth direction of the housing 12 on the right side along the width direction W of the stacking plate 22. The loading plate 22 is fixed to the bottom plate of the sheet feeding hopper main body 21 at the left side of the hinge 23, and the portion on the right side of the hinge 23 swings up and down around the hinge 23. The right end portion, that is, the swing end portion of the loading plate 22 is urged upward by a coil spring 24. As a result, the front end side of the sheet bundle B stored in the sheet feeding hopper 20 is urged upward by receiving a pressing force from the stacking plate 22. The paper feed hopper 20 is provided with a restraining mechanism (not shown) for restraining the stacking plate 22 to the bottom plate of the paper feed hopper main body 21 against the urging force from the coil spring 24.

  The sheet feeding hopper 20 is further supported so as to be slidable forward with respect to the sheet surface of FIG. When the paper feed hopper 20 is slid to the replenishment position on the near side with respect to the paper surface, the stacking plate 22 is restrained by the restraining mechanism at the lower limit position where it abuts against the bottom plate of the paper feed hopper main body 21. As a result, the sheet bundle B of the recording sheets P can be loaded or the remaining recording sheets P can be taken out from the top opening of the sheet feeding hopper main body 21. On the other hand, when the paper feeding hopper 20 is slid to the mounting position on the side facing the paper surface of FIG. 3, the restraining mechanism is released, the stacking plate 22 is urged upward, and the downstream end portion of the recording paper P becomes the pickup roller. 46 is held in a state where paper can be fed.

  The paper discharge buffer 26 has a shallow tray shape, and includes a paper discharge buffer main body 27 that stores printed recording paper P on which images and characters are printed by the print engine 34, and a bottom plate portion of the paper discharge buffer main body 27. And a flat stacking plate 28 on which the printed recording paper P is placed. A hinge 29 is provided on the left side of the stacking plate 28 in the width direction W along the depth direction of the housing 12. The stacking plate 28 is fixed to the bottom plate of the discharge buffer main body 27 on the right side of the hinge 29, and the portion on the left side of the hinge 29 swings up and down around the hinge 29. The left end portion, that is, the swing end portion of the loading plate 28 is urged upward by a coil spring 30.

  In the discharge buffer 26, a restraining mechanism (not shown) that moves and restrains the stacking plate 28 to the lower limit position against the urging force from the coil spring 30 is disposed on the lower surface side of the discharge buffer main body 27. Has been. When receiving the printed recording paper P in the paper discharge buffer 26, the restraining mechanism swings the stacking plate 28 to a lower limit position close to the paper discharge buffer main body 27 and restrains it into the paper discharge buffer 26. After the recording paper P is received, the stacking plate 28 is released.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the print engine 34 includes a guide rod 36 extending in a main scanning direction (in the direction of arrow S in FIG. 4) parallel to the depth direction D, and main scanning by the guide rod 36. An inkjet head 38 supported so as to be movable along the direction S, a head drive mechanism (not shown) that reciprocates the inkjet head 38 at a predetermined main scanning speed when an image is printed on the recording paper P, and the like. The nip rollers 40 and 42 disposed so as to sandwich the inkjet head 38 along the sub-scanning direction (arrow F direction in FIG. 4) perpendicular to the main scanning direction S, and the nip rollers 40 and 42, and the inkjet head 38 and a guide plate 44 that forms a slit-shaped gap. The nip rollers 40 and 42 convey the recording paper P along the sub-scanning direction F at a predetermined sub-scanning speed.

  The ink jet head 38 has a plurality of nozzles (not shown) arranged on the lower surface portion thereof at a pitch corresponding to the pixel density of the image to be recorded along the main scanning direction S, and is also driven in the main scanning direction by the head driving mechanism. While moving to S, the ink is ejected and stopped from each nozzle based on the digitized image information, and the image information is recorded on the recording paper P conveyed along the sub-scanning direction F by the nip rollers 40 and 42. A corresponding image is formed.

  In the print engine 34, instead of the ink jet head 38, a photosensitive drum is exposed with a laser beam to form a latent image, and the formed latent image is developed and fixed with toner. Various printing heads and printing mechanisms such as a printing mechanism, a thermal printing head, a thermal transfer printing mechanism, and a stencil printing mechanism can be used.

  Further, the printing unit 2 is positioned above the paper feed hopper 20 and is pressed against the leading end of the upper surface of the sheet bundle B accommodated in the paper feed hopper 20 and urged upward by the stacking plate 22 so as to record on the recording paper. A pick-up roller 46 for sending P one by one toward the print engine 34 is provided.

  When the recording paper P is supplied to the printing engine 34, the pickup roller 46 pressed against the recording paper P in the paper feed hopper 20 is rotated by a predetermined amount. Thereby, one sheet of recording paper P is separated from the inside of the paper feed hopper 20, and this one sheet of recording paper P is inserted into the paper feed guide path 50 by the conveying force from the pickup roller 46, and the paper feed guide path 50. Along the nip roller 40. Note that if the length of the paper feed guide path 50 is relatively long and the recording paper P cannot be reliably transported to the nip roller 40 only by the transport force from the pickup roller 46, a pair of transport rollers is placed in the middle of the paper feed guide path 50. The recording paper P that has been conveyed halfway along the paper feed guide path 50 may be conveyed to the nip roller 40 by this conveying roller pair.

(B) Integrated paper discharge unit 6
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the integrated paper discharge unit 6 includes a flat box-shaped housing 602 having the same planar shape as the housing 12 of the printing unit 2 </ b> A and the printing unit 2 </ b> B. In the housing 602, positioning holes 604A for positioning the integrated paper discharge unit 6 in cooperation with the positioning pins 14A of the printing unit 2B are provided at the four corners of the bottom surface 604, and positioning pins 606A for positioning the printing unit 2C. Are provided at the four corners of the top plate 606.

  In the housing 602, a sort tray 610A, a sort tray 610B, and a sort tray 610C for collecting recording sheets P on which print images are printed by the printing unit 2A and the printing unit 2B are arranged in three stages in the vertical direction. Yes. Hereinafter, the sort tray 610A, the sort tray 610B, and the sort tray 610C may be collectively referred to as a sort tray 610. The front surface of the housing 602 is open so that the printed recording paper P collected on the sort tray 610 can be easily taken out.

  A duct-shaped discharge guide path 612 is provided in the vertical direction along the left side wall 608 in the housing 602. The paper discharge guide path 612 forms a common paper discharge path 8 together with the paper discharge guide path 60 in the printing units 2A to 2C.

  In the integrated paper discharge unit 6A, as shown in FIG. 5, the paper discharge guide path 612 has slits in the bottom plate 604 and the top plate 606 on the inlet side and the outlet side, and is recorded in the vicinity of the inlet and the outlet. Feed rollers 614A and 614B for feeding the paper P upward are provided. In the vicinity of the upper end of the paper discharge guide path 612, an opening 620 that opens toward the sort tray 610 is provided, and a feed roller 614C is provided in the opening 620. The paper discharge guide path 612 further switches a path switching device 618 that switches the conveyance path of the recording paper P to either the first path in the direction of discharging to the sort tray 610 or the second path in the direction of leading out. Is provided. The path switching device 618 is fixed to a guide blade 618A that guides the recording paper P discharged from the paper discharge guide path 612 along either the first path or the second path, and one end of the guide blade 618A. The shaft 618B rotates the guide blade 618A and the rotation means (not shown) rotates the shaft. The guide vane 618A rotates around the shaft 618B and takes either a first position indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5 or a second position indicated by a solid line in FIG.

  On the other hand, in the integrated paper discharge unit 6B, the paper discharge guide path 612 has an upper end bent in the horizontal direction and opened toward the sort tray 610. Feed rollers 614A and 614B are provided at the inlet and the outlet of the discharge guide path 612, respectively.

  The integrated paper discharge unit 6 is further provided with a paper discharge guide device 616 corresponding to sorting means provided in the parallel processing printer of the present invention. The paper discharge guide device 616 is provided in the vicinity of the opening 620 outside the paper discharge guide path 612 in the integrated paper discharge unit 6A, and in the vicinity of the outlet outside the paper discharge guide path 612 in the integrated paper discharge unit 6B. .

  The paper discharge guide device 616 is fixed to a guide blade 616A that guides the recording paper P that has passed through the paper discharge guide path 612 to one of the sort tray 610A, the sort tray 610B, and the sort tray 610C, and one end of the guide blade 616A. It comprises a shaft 616B and a rotating means (not shown) for rotating the shaft 616B. As the shaft 616B rotates, the guide vane 616A takes one of the positions A, B, and C in FIGS. When the guide blades 616A take positions A, B, and C, the recording paper P that has passed through the paper discharge guide path 612 is guided to the sort tray 610A, the sort tray 610B, and the sort tray 610C, respectively.

(2) Operation of parallel processing printer An example in which a print job X is input from a desktop computer connected to the controller 10, this print job X is executed by the print unit 2A, and is collected by the integrated paper discharge unit 6A in the cylinder. I will explain to you.

  When the print job X is input to the controller 10, as shown in FIG. 7, the controller 10 inputs the print job X to the print unit 2A, and at the integrated paper discharge unit 6A, the guide blade 618A of the path switching device 618 The position is set to the first position. The recording paper P is fed from the paper feed hopper 20 in the printing unit 2A to the print engine 34 by the pickup roller 46 and the nip roller 40, and a print image corresponding to the print job X is printed by the print engine 34.

  When the printed recording paper P1 on which the print image is printed by the print engine 34 is introduced into the paper discharge buffer 26, the restraint of the stacking plate 28 by the restraining mechanism is released. As a result, the downstream end of the stacking plate 28 is urged upward by the urging force from the coil spring 30, and the recording paper P1 introduced into the paper discharge buffer 26 is introduced into the branch guide path 64 by the separation paper discharge roller 66, Next, the paper is introduced into the paper discharge guide path 60 (common paper discharge path 8). However, as will be described later, when a plurality of print jobs are input to the controller 10 at a time, it is necessary to temporarily hold the printed recording paper P1 in the paper discharge buffer 26 until the previous print job is completed. . In this case, without releasing the restraint mechanism, the recording paper P1 is accommodated in the discharge buffer main body 27 with the stacking plate 28 fixed on the bottom plate of the discharge buffer main body 27, and the previous print job is processed. When finished, the restraint of the stacking plate 28 by the restraining mechanism may be released and the recording paper P1 may be sent out.

  The recording paper P1 introduced into the paper discharge guide path 60 is fed upward by the feed rollers 62A and 62B and is introduced into the paper discharge guide path 612 of the integrated paper discharge unit 6. The recording paper P1 introduced into the paper discharge guide path 612 is introduced into the sort tray 610 by the guide blade 618A at the first position as shown in FIG. Here, since the guide blade 616A of the paper discharge guide device 616 is at the position B in FIG. 5, the recording paper P1 is introduced into the sort tray 610B, which is the middle sort tray.

  As shown in FIG. 8, when the position of the guide vane 618A of the path switching device 618 of the integrated paper discharge unit 6A is set to the second position in the controller 10, it is introduced into the paper discharge guide path 60 in the printing unit 2A. The printed recording paper P1 is fed upward by the feed rollers 62A and 62B, passes through the paper discharge guide path 612 of the integrated paper discharge unit 6A and the paper discharge guide path 60 of the print unit 2C, and is collected at the uppermost stage. The paper is introduced into the paper discharge guide path 612 of the unit 6B and is introduced into the sort tray 610. Here, since the guide blade 616A of the paper discharge guide device 616 is at the position C in FIG. 6, the recording paper P1 is introduced into the sort tray 610C which is the upper sort tray.

  Hereinafter, when three users request the parallel processing printer 1000 to execute the print jobs X, Y, and Z, respectively, the order in which the print jobs X, Y, and Z are input to the controller 10; A method of distributing the print jobs X, Y, and Z to the printing units 2A, 2B, and 2C and distributing the recording paper P printed by the printing units 2A, 2B, and 2C to the integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B will be described. To do.

  As shown in FIG. 9, when the user U requests the parallel processing printer 1000 to execute the print job X of 20 sheets through the desktop computer PC1, the controller 10 prints the print job X to be executed. All the printing units 2A to 2C are selected as the unit 2, and the sorting tray 610C, which is the upper sorting tray 610 in the uppermost stacking discharge unit 6B, is used as a stacking place for the recording paper P printed by the printing units 2A to 2C. select.

  Thus, the recording paper P printed by the printing units 2A to 2C is transferred to the integrated paper discharge unit 6B through the common paper discharge path 8, and is discharged to the sort tray 610C by the paper discharge guide device 616 in the integrated paper discharge unit 6B. Guided and accumulated.

  In this way, since the print job X is simultaneously executed by the three printing units 2, even the print job X having as many as 20 printed sheets can be executed at high speed.

  If the user V requests execution of an interrupt of the print job Y of 8 sheets through the desktop computer PC2 while executing the print job X in the parallel processing printer 1000, the print job Y is sent to the controller 10 as shown in FIG. Entered. When the print job Y is input, the controller 10 assigns the print job Y to the printing units 2A and 2B, and collects and discharges the printed recording paper P discharged from the printing units 2A and 2B in the cylinder. Select unit 6A. Then, the printing unit 2C is selected as the printing unit 2 that should continue the print job X, the uppermost integrated discharge unit 6B is selected as the discharge destination of the printed recording paper P discharged from the printing unit 2C, and printing is performed. In units 2A to 2C, print job X and print job Y are executed in parallel.

  Therefore, since the print job Y can be executed without waiting for the end of the print job X, the print job Y based on an interrupt request from a different user V can be processed in parallel with the print job X. In addition, since the discharge location of the recording paper P printed by the print job X is different from the discharge location of the recording paper P printed by the print job Y, the recording paper P printed by the print job X and the print job Y are different. The printed recording paper P does not mix with each other.

  If the print job Y ends before the print job X ends, the controller 10 again selects the print units 2A to 2C as the print unit 2 to execute the print job X, as shown in FIG. The integrated paper discharge unit 6B is selected as the discharge destination of the recording paper P printed by the print job X, and the print job X is executed at high speed.

  When the user W requests interruption execution of a print job Z of four printed sheets through the desktop computer PC3, the print job Z is also input to the controller 10 as shown in FIG. Here, since the print job Z is as small as four prints, in order to facilitate subsequent interrupt printing, the print job Z is allocated only to the uppermost print unit 2C, and the record printed by the print unit 2C. The sort tray 610B, which is the middle sort tray 610 in the collective paper discharge unit 6B, is selected as the paper P stacking location.

  As a result, the print job Z is executed by the printing unit 2C and discharged to the sort tray 610B in the integrated discharge unit 6B.

  Therefore, even when the print result of the print job X remains in the integrated paper discharge unit 6B, the print result is discharged to the upper sort tray 610C. The recording paper P printed by the job X does not mix with each other.

  In this way, interrupt requests from the user W different from the users U and V can be processed in parallel.

  On the other hand, it is assumed that the user V requests the execution of the print job Y of 8 sheets through the desktop computer PC2 while the print job Z requested by the user W through the desktop computer PC3 is executed.

  At this time, since only the printing unit 2C is executing the printing job Z, both the printing units 2A and 2B are in a usable state. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 12, the controller 10 allocates the printing units 2A and 2B as the printing unit 2 that should execute the print job Y, and allocates the integrated paper discharge unit 6A as the discharge location of the printed recording paper P. Thereby, the print job Y can be executed without interrupting the print job Z.

  When the user U requests the execution of the print job X, the user V executes the print job Y, and the user W simultaneously requests the execution of the print job Z through the desktop computers PC1, PC2, and PC3, the controller 10 As shown in FIG. 13, the print job X having the largest number of prints of 20 is temporarily pending, and the print job Y is assigned to the print units 2A and 2B, and the print job Z is assigned to the print unit 2C. Then, the integrated paper discharge unit 6A is allocated as a discharge place for the recording paper P printed by the printing units 2A and 2B, and the upper sort tray of the integrated paper discharge unit 6B is used as a discharge place for the recording paper P printed by the print unit 2C. Allocate 610C.

  When the allocation is completed, printing is started in each of the printing units 2A, 2B, and 2C, and stacking of the printed recording paper P is started in the stacking and discharging units 6A and 6B.

  When the print job Y is completed, the controller 10 allocates the print job X that has been pending so far to the print units 2A and 2B, as shown in FIG. When the print job Z is completed, the print job X is also allocated to the print unit 2C that has been executing the print job Z until then. Then, as the discharge location of the print result of the print job X, the middle sort tray 610C in the uppermost integrated discharge unit 6B is selected so as not to be mixed with the recording paper P printed by the print job Z.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the print job X having the largest number of prints is pending, but instead, the print job Z having the smallest number of prints is pending and the print job X is allocated to the print unit 2C. The print job Y may be allocated to the printing units 2A and 2B. In this case, the print job X may be allocated to the print unit 2C that has been executing the print job Y until the end of the print job Y, and the print job Z may be performed after the print job X ends.

  In the first embodiment, when a print job having 10 or more prints is input, the print results are discharged to the integrated discharge unit 6B using all the print units 2A, 2B, and 2C, and the number of prints is 5 or less. An example in which the allocation in the controller 10 is set to use only the print unit 2C when a print job of 2 is input, and use the print units 2A and 2B when a print job with 6 to 10 prints is input. Although shown, the allocation setting in the controller 10 is not limited to this example.

  As another example of the allocation setting, for example, when a print job having 20 or more printed sheets is input, all the printing units 2A, 2B, and 2C are used and discharged to the integrated paper discharge unit 6B.

  As described above, the parallel processing printer according to the first embodiment is configured such that the user can freely set the relationship between the number of prints in the print job and the print unit 2 to be used, and the discharge destination of the printed recording paper. Yes. The setting can be performed by the controller 10, for example, or can be performed on the SW driver in each of the desktop computers PC1 to PC3.

  In addition, a display unit may be provided for displaying a print job to be executed in the printing units 2A to 2C and an allocation setting related to a discharge destination of the printing results from the printing units 2A to 2C. The display means may be a display panel or a display provided in the parallel processing printer 1000, or may be a display of the desktop computers PC1 to PC3.

  The parallel processing printer 1000 according to the first embodiment includes a plurality of printing units 2A to 2C arranged in the vertical direction, and integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B arranged in the uppermost part and the cylinder, and further includes an integrated discharge unit. In each of the paper units 6A and 6B, sort trays 610A to 610C are arranged in upper, middle, and lower three stages.

  Therefore, when a plurality of print jobs are input, the print jobs can be distributed and executed by the printing units 2A to 2C. At the same time, the recording media printed by the printing units 2A to 2C are not only distributed among the sort trays 610 of the integrated paper discharge unit 6, but also between the integrated paper discharge unit 6A and the integrated paper discharge unit 6B. Can be sorted.

  Therefore, even when a large number of print jobs are input at a time, the multi-processing can be performed only by assigning the print jobs to the respective print units 2A to 2C.

  In addition, the printing unit is configured as printing units 2A to 2C that are single printing units, and the stacking unit is configured as integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B that are single stacking units, and is integrated with printing units 2A to 2C. Since the paper discharge units 6A to 6B are stacked in the vertical direction, the parallel processing printer 1000 is not only compact, but also when the capacity needs to be increased, the printing unit 2 or the integrated paper discharge unit 6 is used. Further, when the capacity is excessive and the capacity is excessive, the printing unit 2 and the integrated paper discharge unit 6 are extracted, so that a flexible configuration corresponding to the required processing capacity is possible.

  Further, since the front sides of the integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B are open, it is very easy to take out the printed printed recording paper P.

  Further, the controller 10 automatically selects the stack discharge unit 6 and the sort plate 610 on which the printed recording paper P is to be stacked in accordance with print jobs X, Y, and Z commanded by the users U, V, and W. This is convenient because the user does not need to make these selections.

  On the other hand, if the user can make the selection, it is possible to select the stack discharge unit 6 and the sort plate 610 corresponding to the number of print jobs X, Y, and Z, and print with two or more print jobs. When the recording sheets P are stacked on the same stacking and discharging unit 6, the recording sheets P printed by different print jobs are prevented from being mixed with each other.

  In addition, when a plurality of print jobs are executed, the user can set a print job to be executed by the print units 2A to 2C according to the number of prints of each print job. It is possible to allocate the most efficient print job according to the number of printed sheets. In addition, the location where the allocation results and the print results are accumulated is displayed on a display panel or display provided in the parallel processing printer 1000 or on the display of the desktop computers PC1 to PC3. You can keep track of your settings at any time during a print job.

2. Embodiment 2
Another example of the parallel processing printer according to the present invention will be described below.

  As shown in FIGS. 15 and 16, the parallel processing printer 1002 according to the second embodiment has a structure in which the printing units 2A, 2B, and 2C are stacked in this order from below, and the integrated paper discharge unit 6 is stacked thereon. Have. The printing units 2A to 2C correspond to printing means included in the parallel processing printer according to the present invention, and the integrated paper discharge unit 6 corresponds to a stacking unit included in the parallel processing printer. The integrated paper discharge unit 6 can easily print the printed recording paper P collected on the sort trays 610A, 610B, and 610C, similarly to the integrated paper discharge units 6A and 6B of the parallel processing printer 1000 of the first embodiment. The front is open so that it can be removed.

  In the parallel processing printer 1002, a duct-shaped common paper discharge path 8 for sending the printed recording paper printed by the printing units 2 </ b> A to 2 </ b> C to the integrated paper discharge unit 6 is provided in the vicinity of the side surface located on the left side in FIGS. Is provided. The common paper discharge path 8 is formed by vertically connecting the paper discharge guide paths 60 of the printing units 2A to 2C. 15 and 16, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 1 to 6 denote the same elements as those shown in FIGS.

  The printing units 2A to 2C have the configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and the integrated paper discharge unit 6 has the configuration shown in FIG.

  In the parallel processing printer 1002, when three print jobs X, Y, and Z are input to the controller 10, the print jobs X, Y, and Z are assigned to the print units 2A, 2B, and 2C, respectively. The 2C print results are collected by the three-stage sort trays 610A, 610B, and 610C of the integrated paper discharge unit 6. As a result, the print jobs X, Y, and Z can be processed in parallel, and the recording paper P printed by each print job can be accumulated so as not to be mixed with each other.

  Further, since the front surface of the integrated paper discharge unit 6 is open as described above, the stacked recording paper P can be easily taken out and the space in the vertical direction can be saved. Accordingly, since the parallel processing printer 1002 can save the height as a whole, the parallel processing printer 1002 can also be configured as an MFP equipped with a scanner at the top.

3. Embodiment 3
Another example of the parallel processing printer according to the present invention will be described below.

  As shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the parallel processing printer 1004 according to the third embodiment replaces the printing units 2A, 2B, and 2C with the printing units 4A, 4B, and 4C in the parallel processing printer 1000 according to the first embodiment, respectively. It has a configuration.

  The configuration of the printing units 4A, 4B, and 4C (hereinafter sometimes collectively referred to as “printing unit 4”) is shown in FIG. 19, the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 3 and 4 indicate the same elements as those shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 unless otherwise specified.

  As shown in FIG. 19, the printing unit 4 has a housing 42 formed in a flat rectangular parallelepiped shape along the height direction H. In the case 42, positioning pins 44 </ b> A protrude upward from the four corners of the top plate 44, and positioning holes 43 </ b> A are provided in the four corners of the bottom plate 43. Then, like the printing unit 2 included in the parallel processing printer 1000 according to the first embodiment, the positioning pins 44A of one printing unit 4 are positioned in the positioning holes of the other printing units 4 positioned in the upper stage of the one printing unit 4. The first printing unit 4 and the other printing unit 4 are positioned by being fitted into 43A.

  A paper discharge buffer 70 is provided above the paper feed hopper 20 inside the housing 42. The paper discharge buffer 70 functions as a buffer unit that discharges the printed recording paper P on which the print image is printed by the print engine 34 after temporarily holding it as necessary, and also collects the paper discharge units 6A and 6B. Similarly to the above, it also functions as a stacking unit that stacks printed recording paper P. Therefore, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 17, an opening for taking out the printed recording paper P accumulated in the paper discharge buffer 70 from the front is provided in the portion of the paper discharge buffer 70 in the front of the housing 42. It has been.

  The paper discharge buffer 70 includes a tray-shaped paper discharge buffer main body 71 whose front is opened, a placement plate 72 on which the printed recording paper P is placed, and a coil spring 73 that biases the placement plate 72 upward. And. When the paper discharge buffer 70 is used as a stacking unit, the mounting plate 72 resists the urging force from the coil spring 73 by a restraining mechanism (not shown), and is discharged as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. It is held near the bottom plate of the paper buffer main body 71. On the other hand, when the paper discharge buffer 70 is used as a buffer unit, the restraint of the mounting plate 72 by the restraining mechanism is released. Thereby, the mounting plate 72 is separated from the bottom plate 73 as indicated by a solid line in FIG.

  A branch introduction path 68 branched upward from the sheet discharge guide path 60 communicates with the lower end portion of the left side surface in FIG. The branch introduction path 68 is provided with a pair of feed rollers 67 for feeding the printed recording paper P toward the paper discharge buffer main body 71.

  When the paper discharge buffer 70 is used as a buffer unit, the recording paper P placed on the placement plate 72 is separated and discharged in the vicinity of the separation paper discharge roller 66 above the placement plate 72 of the paper discharge buffer 70. A guide plate 74 that guides to the branch guide path 64 in cooperation with the paper roller 6 is provided.

  In the printing unit 4, a path switching device 69 that switches the discharge path of the recording paper P is further provided at a portion where the branch introduction path 68 in the paper discharge guide path 60 branches. The path switching device 69 includes a discharge path for the recording paper P, a first path transported upward along the paper discharge guide path 60 (common paper discharge path 8), and a branch introduction path 68 for the printing unit 4 located in the upper stage. The guide vane 69A, which is a piece of member that guides the recording paper P, has a function of switching to any one of the second paths that pass through the paper discharge buffer 70 and is provided at one end of the guide vane 69A. The shaft 69B rotates the guide blade 69A, and the rotation means (not shown) rotates the shaft 69B. The guide blade 69A takes the first position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 19 when switching the discharge path of the recording paper P to the first path, and the two-dot chain line in FIG. 19 when switching to the second path. The second position indicated by Accordingly, the recording paper P conveyed upward in the paper discharge guide path 60 is conveyed upward as it is when the guide blade 69A is in the first position, but the guide blade 69A is in the second position. In this case, the paper discharge guide path 60 is blocked by the guide vanes 69, so that they are guided along the second path by the guide vanes 69 A and introduced into the paper discharge buffer 70.

  Except for these points, the printing unit 4 has the same configuration as the printing unit 2 included in the parallel processing printer 1000 according to the first embodiment.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the parallel processing printer 1004 according to the third embodiment will be described.

  17 and 18 are set so that the paper discharge buffer 70 of the printing units 4A and 4B functions as a buffer unit that temporarily holds the printed recording paper P, and the paper discharge buffer 70 of the printing unit 4C is set to the recording paper P. An example set to function as a stacking unit is shown.

  In the example shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, the guide vanes 69A of the path switching device 69 of the printing units 4A and 4B are set to the first position, and the guide vanes 69A of the path switching device 69 of the printing unit 4C are set to the second position. Set to position. In the integrated paper discharge unit 6A, the position of the guide blade 618A of the path switching device 618 is set to the first position.

  In this state, when a print job is assigned from the controller 10 to the printing unit 4A, the recording paper P is fed from the paper feed hopper 20 to the print engine 34 by the pickup roller 46 and the nip roller 40 in the printing unit 4A. At 34, a print image corresponding to the print job is printed.

  Here, as described above, in the printing unit 4A, since the paper discharge buffer 70 is set to function as a buffer unit, the printed recording paper P on which the print image is printed by the print engine 34 is discharged. When introduced into the paper buffer 70, the paper is conveyed toward the separation paper discharge roller 66 by a star wheel (not shown). Then, the paper is introduced into the branch guide path 64 by the separation paper discharge roller 66 and then introduced into the paper discharge guide path 60 (common paper discharge path 8). Here, since the guide blade 69A of the path switching device 69 of the printing units 4A and 4B is in the first position, the recording paper P introduced into the paper discharge guide path 60 passes the common paper discharge path 8 to the printing unit 4C. It is transported upward. In the printing unit 4C, as described above, the discharge buffer 70 is set so as to function as a stacking unit. Therefore, the guide blade 69A of the path switching device 69 is at the second position, so the common discharge path 8 The recording paper P conveyed to the concession is accumulated in the paper discharge buffer 70 by the path switching device 69 in the printing unit 4C.

  Similarly, when a print job is assigned from the controller 10 to the printing unit 4B, the printing unit 4B also prints on the recording paper P by the print engine 34 as described in the printing unit 4A, and has already been printed. P is introduced into a paper discharge buffer 70 set to function as a buffer unit. The paper is temporarily held in the paper discharge buffer 70 to adjust the paper discharge timing, and then introduced into the common paper discharge path 8 through the branch guide path 64. The recording paper P introduced into the common paper discharge path 8 is guided and accumulated in the paper discharge buffer 70 by the guide blades 69A of the path switching device 69 in the printing unit 4C.

  In the printing unit 4 </ b> C, the recording paper P printed by the print engine 34 is introduced into the paper discharge buffer 70 by the nip roller 42 and accumulated.

  Therefore, when executing a print job over multiple pages, for example, the printing unit 4A prints the first page, the fourth page, the seventh page, and so on, and the printing unit 4B prints the second page, the fifth page, and the eighth page. The print unit 4C performs printing, and the print unit 4C allocates print jobs such that the third page, the sixth page, the ninth page, etc. are printed, and the print unit 4A, the print unit 4B, and the print unit 4C are arranged in this order. If the paper discharge timing is adjusted so that the paper is discharged toward the paper discharge buffer 70 of the printing unit 4C, the print job can be executed at high speed, and the printed recording paper P is sorted in the page order. In this state, they are accumulated in the paper discharge buffer 70 of the printing unit 4C.

  When an interrupt print job is performed during execution of the print job, for example, the interrupt print job may be assigned to the print unit 4A when printing is performed by the print unit 4B and the print unit 4C. When the interrupt print job is executed by the printing unit 4A and the printed recording paper P is discharged to the common paper discharge path 8, the guide vanes 69A of the path switching device 69 of the printing unit 4C are set to the first position. Then, the recording paper P may be conveyed to the correction unit 6A through the printing unit 4C.

  As described above, in the parallel processing printer 1004 according to the third embodiment, the paper discharge buffer 70 of the printing units 4A, 4B, and 4C can be used not only as a buffer unit but also as a stacking unit. Therefore, in addition to the features of the parallel processing printer according to the first embodiment, the collection location of the printed recording paper P can be set more flexibly, and the interrupt print job can be easily executed.

4). Other Embodiments As described above, as shown in FIG. 20B, a two-stage printing unit is arranged between the upper and lower stacked paper discharge units, and a two-stage printing unit is arranged below the lower stacked paper discharge units. A parallel processing printer having a configuration in which one integrated discharge unit is arranged at the top and a printing unit is arranged in three stages below has been described. The configuration of the parallel processing printer of the present invention is as follows. It is not limited to these.

  As another example of the configuration of the parallel processing printer according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 20A, for example, between the integrated paper discharge units arranged in two upper and lower stages and below the lower integrated paper discharge unit. In FIG. 21, (A) in FIG. 21, a two-stage printing unit is disposed between the upper and lower stacked discharge units, and a lower one is disposed below the lower stacked discharge unit. In the configuration in which the two-stage printing units are arranged, and as shown in FIG. 2B, one printing unit is provided between the upper and lower stacked paper discharge units and below the lower stacked paper discharge unit. There are configurations arranged one by one.

FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating the overall configuration of the parallel processing printer according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal structure of the parallel processing printer according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an internal structure of a printing unit included in the parallel processing printer shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the internal structure of the printing unit shown in FIG. 3 as viewed from above. FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing the internal structure of the integrated unit provided in the cylinder of the parallel processing printer shown in FIGS. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the integrated unit provided in the uppermost stage of the parallel processing printer shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 7 shows a case where a print job X is input to the controller included in the parallel processing printer shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the print job X is executed by the lowermost printing unit, and is accumulated by the accumulation unit in the cylinder. It is sectional drawing which shows the position of the guide blade | wing of the path | route switching apparatus provided in the inner | stacking unit, and the conveyance path | route of the printed recording paper. FIG. 8 is provided in the stacking unit in the cylinder when a print job X similar to that in FIG. 7 is input to the controller, this print job X is executed by the lowermost printing unit, and is stacked by the uppermost stacking unit. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing the position of the guide vanes of the route switching device and the transport route of printed recording paper. FIG. 9 illustrates a print unit that is to execute the print job X when the user U requests to execute the print job X with the number of printed sheets 20 in the parallel processing printer according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows selection of the accumulation | storage place of the recording paper P printed with the printing unit which was further. FIG. 10 illustrates a print unit to execute print job Y and selection when user V issues an interrupt request to execute print job Y with 8 sheets printed in the parallel processing printer according to the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows selection of the accumulation | storage place of the recording paper P printed with the printed printing unit. FIG. 11 shows a print unit that is to execute the print job Y when the user W makes a request to execute the print job Z with the number of printed sheets 4 in the parallel processing printer of the first embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows selection of the accumulation | storage place of the recording paper P printed with the printing unit which was further. FIG. 12 shows the print unit that is to execute print jobs X, Y, and Z when the users U, V, and W simultaneously request execution of the print job in the parallel processing printer of the first embodiment, and the selected print unit. It is a block diagram which shows selection of the accumulation | storage place of the recording paper P printed by the printing unit. FIG. 13 shows the print unit after the print job Y is completed and the recording paper P printed by the selected print unit when the print unit and the discharge location shown in FIG. 12 are selected. It is a block diagram which shows selection. FIG. 14 shows a print unit after the print jobs Y and Z are completed and the recording paper P printed by the selected print unit when the print unit and the discharge location shown in FIG. 12 are selected. It is a block diagram which shows selection of a place. FIG. 15 is a front view illustrating the overall configuration of the parallel processing printer according to the second embodiment. FIG. 16 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the parallel processing printer according to the second embodiment. FIG. 17 is a front view illustrating the overall configuration of the parallel processing printer according to the third embodiment. FIG. 18 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal structure of the parallel processing printer according to the third embodiment. FIG. 19 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal structure of a printing unit included in the parallel processing printer according to the third embodiment. FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the configuration of the parallel processing printer according to the present invention. FIG. 21 is a schematic view showing still another example of the configuration of the parallel processing printer according to the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

2 printing unit 2A printing unit 2B printing unit 2C printing unit 4 printing unit 4A printing unit 4B printing unit 4C printing unit 6 stacking unit 6A stacking unit 6B stacking unit 8 common discharge path 10 controller 12 housing 13 bottom plate 14 top plate 15 side plate 16 Side plate 20 Paper feed hopper 26 Paper discharge buffer 34 Print engine 36 Guide rod 38 Ink jet head 46 Pickup roller 50 Paper feed guide path 60 Paper discharge guide path 64 Branch guide path 66 Separate paper discharge roller 69 Path switching device 70 Paper output buffer 602 Housing 604 Bottom plate 606 Top plate 610 Sort tray 610A Sort tray 610B Sort tray 610C Sort tray 612 Paper discharge guide path 616 Paper discharge guide device 616A Guide blade 618 Route switching device 618A Guide blade 20 opening 1000 parallelism printer 1002 parallel processing printer 1004 parallelism printer

Claims (10)

A plurality of printing means for recording an image on a sheet-like recording medium, and a stacking unit for stacking the recording medium printed by the printing means so that the recording medium can be taken out from the outside are arranged in the vertical direction,
The stacking unit is disposed above the printing means;
It said printing means includes a function of discharge to the integrated portion of printed recording medium is temporarily stored, and the ability to enable integrated removed from the outside, the paper ejection buffer may switch between,
A controller for controlling the printing unit and the stacking unit;
The controller allocates an input print job to the printing means, and allocates a printed recording medium to at least one of the stacking unit and a discharge buffer switched to a stacking function. . A plurality of the stacking units, and at least one stacking unit of the stacking units is disposed above the printing unit;
The parallel processing printer according to claim 1, wherein different stacking units are selected between at least two consecutive print jobs.   The parallel processing printer according to claim 2, wherein one of the plurality of stacking units is disposed at an uppermost portion, and the remaining stacking units are disposed between the printing units.   The paper discharge buffer is configured by a plate on which recording media can be taken out from the outside and on which the recording medium can be placed, and by raising and lowering the plate, either the recording medium stacking unit or the temporary holding unit The parallel processing printer according to claim 1, wherein the parallel processing printer can be selected to function.   The parallel processing printer according to claim 1, wherein the stacking unit is provided with sorting means for sorting printed recording media with a sort tray. 6. The parallel processing printer according to claim 5, wherein a stacking unit or a sort tray on which printed recording media are stacked is automatically selected according to a print job designated by a user. The parallel processing printer according to claim 5, wherein a user can select the stacking unit or the sort tray on which the printed recording medium is to be stacked.   The parallel processing printer according to claim 1, wherein when a user inputs a plurality of print jobs, the user can set a print job allocation to be executed by each of the printing units.   9. The parallel processing printer according to claim 7, further comprising display means for displaying at least one of a selection result of the stacking unit or sort tray and a print job allocation result in the printing means.   The parallel processing printer according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit is configured as a single printing unit, and the stacking unit is configured as a single stacking unit, and the printing unit and the stacking unit are stacked.

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