JP4677229B2 - Printing apparatus and printing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a network-connectable printing apparatus, and more specifically to an apparatus for receiving and printing an electronic mail.

  In recent years, some printing apparatuses used in offices have a function of receiving an electronic mail and printing a file attached to the electronic mail. This is because, in the case of electronic mail, the communication distance is irrelevant, so there is a merit that the communication cost of the line can be greatly reduced.

  Usually, when an electronic mail is received, the electronic mail is deleted from the mail server. However, if the power is turned off for some reason during the printing process after the reception of the e-mail is completed, the e-mail data will no longer exist.

In view of this point, in this type of printing apparatus, the received print data is temporarily stored in a non-volatile storage device such as an internal hard disk so that the power is turned off between completion of reception and completion of printing. In some cases, the printing of an unfinished page is resumed even if it has stopped (Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-112060

  However, by having a large-capacity nonvolatile memory device, the cost of the device cannot be avoided, and an increase in size due to the incorporation of the device is unavoidable.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and eliminates the need for a large-capacity non-volatile storage means for storing and storing an e-mail, and printing an e-mail even if an unexpected power interruption occurs. An object of the present invention is to provide a technique that completes the process and does not waste recording media such as recording paper.

In order to solve this problem, for example, a printing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A printing device for printing an image based on an email,
Download means for downloading email from an email server;
Printing means for printing an image based on the electronic mail downloaded by the download means on a predetermined recording medium;
Storage means for storing information indicating the printing status of an image based on an electronic mail downloaded by the download means, the storage means capable of holding the stored information even when the printing apparatus is turned off When,
When the power of the printing apparatus is turned on, the information indicating the printing status stored in the storage means indicates that printing of an image based on the email downloaded by the download means is not completed. when the printing to print controls the downloading means to re-download the downloaded e-mail from the e-mail server, an image based on the electronic mail downloaded again by the downloading means on a predetermined recording medium Control means for controlling the means;
Depending particular printing an image based on downloaded e-mail when the power of the printing apparatus before completing is not cut is completed the printing of images based on the downloaded e-mail by the download unit by the downloading means the electronic mail requesting the deletion of the downloaded e-mail server, wherein the download if the power of the printing device before printing the image is completed based on the downloaded e-mail has been cut by the downloading means Te Request means for requesting the e-mail server to delete the re-downloaded e-mail in response to completion of printing of the image based on the e-mail downloaded again by the means.

According to the present invention, to print the e-mail already downloaded even printed even when the power source of the printing apparatus is turned off is not completed by again downloading the e-mail server, the printing is completed email It is possible to provide a printing apparatus that requests deletion from an electronic mail server.

  Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an outline of a system configuration of a printing apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  In the figure, an information processing apparatus 101 is a personal computer, for example, and functions as a source of image information or a printer control apparatus. A mail server 106 is provided on the Internet. In this embodiment, a laser beam printer (printer) is used as the printing apparatus 102. However, it is needless to say that the printer is not limited to the laser beam printer, and may be a printer of another printing method such as an ink jet printer.

  The printer controller 103 in the printing apparatus 102 performs page-by-page processing based on image information (for example, image data, page description language, etc.) supplied from the information processing apparatus 101 or mail and attached files received from the mail server 106. Raster data is generated and sent to the printer engine 105.

  The printer engine 105 forms a latent image on the photosensitive drum based on the raster data supplied from the printer controller 103, and records the image by transferring and fixing the latent image on a recording medium (electrophotographic method). To do.

  The panel unit 104 is used as a user interface. The user can instruct a desired operation by operating the panel unit 104. The setting as a mail client is also set using this panel unit 104.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the configuration of the printing apparatus 102. In the figure, 201 is a printer housing. Reference numeral 202 denotes an operation panel on which a switch for giving various instructions by the user, an LED display, an LCD display, and the like for displaying messages, printer settings, and the like are arranged. It is one mode. Reference numeral 203 denotes a board accommodating portion that accommodates boards constituting the electronic circuit portions of the printer controller 103 and the printer engine 105.

  220 and 250 are paper cassettes for holding paper (recording medium) S, and have a mechanism for electrically detecting the paper size by a partition plate (not shown). Reference numerals 221 and 251 denote cassette clutches, which take out the uppermost sheet S of the paper S placed on the paper cassettes 220 and 250, respectively, and drive force for transmitting the taken-out paper S from a driving means (not shown). Therefore, the sheet feeding rollers 222 and 252 are conveyed. The cam rotates intermittently each time paper is fed, and feeds one sheet S corresponding to one rotation. 221 s and 251 s are paper detection sensors that detect the amount of paper S held in the paper cassettes 220 and 250, respectively.

  The paper feed roller 222 is a roller that conveys the leading edge of the paper S to the registration shutter 224. The paper feed roller 252 is a roller that conveys the leading edge of the paper S to the paper feed roller 222. Reference numeral 260 denotes an optional paper feed roller (paper feed relay transport roller), which supplies the paper S fed from a paper feed option unit (not shown) into the printer 102 main body. Reference numeral 224 denotes a registration shutter that can stop paper feeding by pressing the paper S.

  Reference numeral 231 denotes a manual feed tray, and 225 denotes a manual paper feed clutch. The paper feed clutch 225 is used to convey the leading edge of the paper S to the registration shutter 224. The paper S to be used for image recording is fed by selecting one of the paper cassettes 220 and 250 and the manual feed tray 225.

  The printer engine 105 communicates with the printer controller 103 according to a predetermined communication protocol, selects one of the sheet cassettes 220 and 250 and the manual feed tray 225 according to an instruction from the printer controller unit 103, In response to the print start instruction, the paper S is transported from the corresponding paper feeding means to the registration shutter 224. The printer engine 105 includes a sheet feeding unit, a mechanism relating to an electrophotographic process such as formation, transfer, and fixing of a latent image, a sheet discharge unit, and a control unit thereof.

  An image recording unit 204 includes a photosensitive drum 205, a toner holding unit, and the like, and forms a toner image on the paper S by an electrophotographic process. On the other hand, 206 is a laser scanner unit that supplies image information by a laser beam to the image recording unit.

  In the laser scanner unit 206, reference numeral 207 denotes a laser unit that drives a built-in semiconductor laser and emits a laser beam in accordance with an image signal (/ VIDEO signal) sent from the video controller 203. The laser beam emitted from the laser unit 207 is scanned by a polygon mirror (rotating polygon mirror) 208 and forms a latent image on the photosensitive drum 205 via the imaging lens group 209 and the reflection mirror 211. A beam detector 210 detects a laser beam emitted from the laser unit 207 and outputs a main scanning synchronization signal. A light amount sensor 212 detects the light amount of the laser beam emitted from the laser unit 207.

  In the image recording unit 204, reference numeral 241 denotes a primary charger that uniformly charges the photosensitive drum 205. Reference numeral 240 denotes a developing unit that develops toner on the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 205 that is charged by the primary charger 241 and laser-exposed by the laser scanner unit 206. Reference numeral 244 denotes a transfer charger, which transfers the toner image on the photosensitive drum developed by the developing unit 240 onto the sheet S fed by the registration roller 223. Reference numeral 243 denotes a cleaner that removes residual toner on the photosensitive drum 205. Reference numeral 242 denotes a pre-exposure lamp that performs static electricity removal on the photosensitive drum 205. A fixing device 226 heat-fixes the toner image formed on the paper S by the image recording unit 204 on the recording paper S. Reference numeral 227 denotes a conveyance roller that discharges and conveys the paper S. Reference numeral 227s denotes a paper discharge sensor that detects a paper discharge state of the paper S. A paper discharge flapper 228 switches the transport direction of the paper S on which image recording has been completed to the face-down paper discharge tray 232 side, or switches to the face-up paper discharge tray (not shown) or the paper discharge option unit side (not shown). Reference numerals 229 and 230 denote discharge rollers that discharge the sheet S conveyed by switching the discharge flapper 228 to the face-down discharge tray 230. Reference numeral 230 s denotes a discharge stack amount detection sensor that detects the stack amount of the sheets S stacked on the face-down discharge tray 230.

  The printer 102 can be further equipped with optional units such as an optional cassette and an envelope feeder. Further, it is assumed that a plurality of jam detection sensors (not shown) are mounted on the printer.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the printer controller 103. In the figure, reference numeral 301 denotes a panel interface unit that performs data communication with the panel unit 104. The CPU 309 can detect the coordinates of any switch, button, or touch panel provided on the panel unit 104 by the user via the panel interface unit 301. Reference numeral 302 denotes a host interface unit for two-way communication connection with the information processing apparatus 101 such as a host computer. Reference numeral 306 denotes an engine interface unit for communication connection with the printer engine 105. The CPU 309 can control a signal via the engine interface unit 306 and detect the state of the signal, that is, the state of the printer engine 105.

  Reference numeral 303 denotes an image data generation unit that generates (rasterizes) raster data to be supplied to the printer engine 105 based on image information supplied from the information processing apparatus 101. Reference numeral 305 denotes an image memory for temporarily storing the generated raster data. A CPU 309 controls a device connected to the bus 311 based on a control program code stored in the ROM 304. Reference numeral 307 denotes a RAM as a temporary storage memory used by the CPU 309, and is also used for temporary storage of received mail as will be described later. For example, 310 includes a non-volatile memory for holding control information such as a density correction table. A DMA control unit 308 transfers raster data in the image memory 305 to the engine interface unit 306 according to an instruction from the CPU 309. The network interface 312 is for the apparatus to communicate with a mail server on the Internet, or for the apparatus to function as a network printer.

  Reference numeral 311 denotes a bus including an address, data, and control bus. The CPU 310 is connected to the panel interface unit 301, the host interface unit 302, the image data generation unit 303, the ROM 304, the image memory 305, the engine interface unit 306, the RAM 307, the DMA control unit 308, and the EEPROM 310 as a nonvolatile storage unit via the bus 311. The network interface 312 can be accessed. Note that the EEPROM 310 has a memory capacity far smaller than that of a disk storage device such as an HDD, and is provided on a substrate, so that there is no problem of mounting space.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block configuration diagram mainly illustrating normal printing processing of the CPU 310 of the printing apparatus 102 according to the embodiment.

  The host computer 101 and the printer main body 102 are connected via an interface cable. The inside of the printer controller 103 shows the software structure. The input unit 401 controls communication with the host computer 101, analyzes a communication protocol, and stores data input from the host computer in the reception buffer 402 secured in the RAM 307. When data is stored in the reception buffer 402, the analysis unit 403 operates. The analysis unit 403 reads the data stored in the reception buffer 402, analyzes the data, generates an object (intermediate code) corresponding to each command, and stores it in the intermediate buffer 404 (secured in the RAM 307).

  In this embodiment, the command supported by the printer is PDL (Page Description Language), but all the data that can be printed for each page is the same even if it is not PDL. Intermediate data is managed for each page. When data is stored in the intermediate buffer 404, the drawing processing unit 405 operates. The drawing processing unit 405 uses the image data generation unit 303 to read the intermediate data from the intermediate buffer 404 for each page, generate print image data for one page, and the image buffer 406 (secured in the image memory 305). To store. When print image data for one page is generated, the output unit 407 operates. The output unit 407 reads image data from the image buffer 406, converts it into a video signal, transfers it to the printer engine 105, and performs printing according to a known procedure.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the structure of a general electronic mail. The e-mail 501 includes a mail header 502, a mail body 503, and attached files 504 and 505. Multiple attachment files can be attached. Further, as a format of the attached file, a general-purpose image file such as a JPEG file or a TIFF-F format file is used.

  Next, an e-mail printing process of the printing apparatus 102 according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an outline of processing of the printing apparatus 102 according to the embodiment.

  FIG. 5A shows a case where printing is normally performed without any power being turned off between the start of printing and the completion of printing without causing an error or the like in the printer. In this embodiment, it is assumed that POP reception is used as the reception form of the e-mail.

  First, a mail is read from the mail server 106, the mail is analyzed, and if there is an attached file attached to the mail, the text and the attached file are printed. In the figure, an example is shown in which five pages from Page 1 (602) to Page 5 (606) are printed. After the printing is completed, the communication with the mail server 106 is performed again, and the deletion of the printed mail data is requested.

  FIG. 6B shows a case where the power is turned off for some reason before printing is completed. That is, this is a case where the power is turned off for some reason when the same e-mail data as in FIG. 6A is received and three pages from Page 1 (602) to Page 3 (604) are printed. In this case, since the printing is not completed and the mail data is not deleted from the mail server, the unfinished mail does not disappear.

  FIG. 6C shows a case where the power is turned on again after FIG. 6B. After the power is turned on, the printing apparatus reads the same e-mail data from the server again, skips the data for Page 1 (602) to Page 3 (604), prints Page 4 (605) and Page 5 (606), and prints all pages. After the printing is completed, an e-mail data deletion request is made to the mail server 106.

  In order to realize the above processing, in this embodiment, a recovery management table is constructed in the EEPROM 310 which is a writable nonvolatile memory.

  FIG. 7 shows the data structure of the management table for recovery in this embodiment. In the recovery management table 700, at least one (or more) structures 701 related to information for one mail are secured in the EEPROM 310. It is registered in this table when the reading of the e-mail from the mail server 106 is completed, and is deleted when the printing of all pages is completed. Since this management table 700 requires only a few KB when storing one structure, there are no problems in terms of cost and space compared to the case where a large-capacity storage device such as an HDD is provided. Does not occur. In particular, in the case of a recent printing apparatus, the ROM storing firmware often employs a writable memory to allow version upgrade, and the table 700 stores such a program. If it is provided in the memory, the cost and space for providing it will be negligible.

  This management table structure 701 is composed of the following information (fields).

  A registration presence / absence field 703, a mail subject field 704, a transmission source address field 705, a transmission time field 706, an attached file number field 707, a print completion file number field 708, and a print completion page number field 709 are configured. The registration presence / absence field 703 indicates whether data is registered in the corresponding structure. In the initial state, registration is set to “none”. The mail subject, transmission address, and transmission time are information used to identify the corresponding mail. The number of attached files and the number of print completed files are not used in this embodiment. The print completion page number field 709 is the number of pages actually printed and discharged (number of pages in the job).

  When a new mail is received, first, information “present” indicating that it is registered in the presence / absence of registration 703 is set, and “0” is set as the number of print completed pages 709. After this, printing is started, but every time one-page printing process is completed (including paper discharge), the value of the number of printed pages 709 is increased by “1”. In this way, when printing of all pages is completed (when there is no more data to be printed), the mail server 106 is requested to delete the corresponding e-mail, and the registration presence / absence field 703 is set to “none”. .

  Further, when the power is cut off during the printing process and then the power is turned on again, the temporary table 700 is first referred to, and the structure 701 in which “present” is set in the registration presence / absence field 703 is displayed. It is determined whether or not such a structure exists. If such a structure exists, the corresponding e-mail of the mail server 106 is re-downloaded with reference to other fields, and the number of print completed pages field 709 is displayed. Continue printing from the next stored page. The subsequent steps are the same as described above.

  In order to realize the above, the main processing of the printing apparatus in the embodiment is shown in FIG. 8 and will be described below.

  When the power of the apparatus is turned on, first, various initialization processes are performed, and then the recovery print check process in step S800 is performed. The recovery printing check processing is processing for determining whether or not recovery printing is necessary (whether there is an e-mail that has not been printed when the power is turned off last time), and details thereof will be described later.

  In step S801, a data input waiting loop is entered. When print data is input from the information processing apparatuses connected via the network, the process exits from the data input waiting loop S801 and proceeds to step S802.

  In step S802, print data input processing is performed. The input data is stored in the reception buffer. More specifically, the address of the mail server (POP server) 106 that is a mail server, the user's own mail address, and the like are set in advance in the printing apparatus by a panel operation or a command. The server 106 is accessed, and it is checked whether the mail has arrived at its own mail address. If an email has arrived, read the email. At this time, the mail is not deleted from the server only by reading the mail.

  In step S803, the data stored in the reception buffer is analyzed, and an intermediate code in a format suitable for internal processing is generated according to the command. As described above, the intermediate code is managed for each page and stored in a storage area (details will be described later).

  In step S804, it is checked whether data to be analyzed exists in the reception buffer. If there is data to be analyzed, the data analysis process (S803) is repeated. If there is no more data to be analyzed in the reception buffer, the process proceeds to step S805.

  In step S805, it is checked whether there is an intermediate code for one page or more. If there is an intermediate code for one page or more, the process proceeds to step S806, where the intermediate code for one page is read, and a print image (bitmap) is generated from the intermediate code. In step S806, page skip processing is also performed. The skip process is a process of skipping the intermediate data generated for each page without printing for the number of skip pages set at the time of recovery printing. As a result, the pages can be printed without being duplicated at the time of recovery printing (a page that has already been printed before turning off the power is prevented from being printed again). In this embodiment, the intermediate data is generated at the time of recovery printing, and then the intermediate data is skipped. However, a method of skipping before generating the intermediate data may be used. Recovery printing is a process that prints a page where the same email has not been printed after the power is turned on again when the power is turned off before the email is received and the output of the email and attached file is completed. is there. The generated print image is temporarily stored in the storage area.

  In step S807, a paper feed selection process is performed. The paper feed selection process will be described later. In step S808, the print image for one page is converted into a video signal and transferred to the printer engine. By transferring the video signal to the printer engine, printing is actually performed on the paper, and the paper is discharged. When the paper discharge is completed (a sensor is provided in the paper discharge unit and determination is made using detection by this sensor), the process proceeds to job end check processing in step S808. Details of the job end check process will be described later. When the job end check process ends, the process returns to step S805.

  If the intermediate code for one page is not completed in step 805, the process returns to step S801 and waits for subsequent input data.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing details of the data analysis processing content in step S803.

  First, in step S901, it is determined whether or not the input data is an e-mail. This is done by examining part or all of the data to determine whether the data is in email format (MIME format), but may be determined by the receiving protocol (SMTP, POP) (via SMTP, POP) It may be determined that the input data is an e-mail). If it is determined to be an e-mail, the process proceeds to step S902. On the other hand, if it is determined that it is not an electronic mail, the process proceeds to a PDL data analysis process in step S908.

  Assume that the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment can also print data other than electronic mail (such as PDL data). In step S902, an e-mail header analysis process is performed. In step S903, information for specifying the e-mail such as e-mail header information is stored. Here, it is assumed that mail transmission time, sender address, and data length information are stored. The storage area at this time is a nonvolatile memory. In this embodiment, it is assumed that header information for one mail is stored in a nonvolatile memory. In step S904, the mail body is analyzed, and an intermediate code for printing the body is generated. In this embodiment, the mail text is also printed. However, the mail text may not be printed, and only the attached file may be printed.

  In step S905, it is checked whether an attached file is attached to the received e-mail. If the attached file is not attached, the process is terminated. If an attached file is attached, the process proceeds to step S906 to analyze the attached file. Parse the attached file and generate intermediate data. In step S907, it is checked whether analysis of all attached files has been completed. When all the attached files have been analyzed, the process ends. If there is an attached file that has not been analyzed, the process returns to step S906 to repeat the analysis process.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing details of the PDL data analysis processing in step S908 of FIG.

  First, in step S1001, PDL data analysis processing is performed. The PDL data is composed of a plurality of commands (instructions). The data analysis process is a process for analyzing each command. Processing is performed for each command, and the process is repeated until all print data is analyzed. As a result of the analysis, if the command is a paper discharge command, the process advances to step S1003 to perform processing for recognizing the intermediate code generated so far as one page. If it is not a paper discharge command, the process proceeds to step S1004. In step S1004, processing corresponding to other commands is performed. An intermediate code is generated according to each command such as a character, an image, and a figure, and stored in the intermediate buffer.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing details of the job end check process in step S809 of FIG.

  In step S1101, it is checked whether printing of all print pages in the e-mail currently being printed has been completed. Email and attachments are analyzed when the intermediate code is generated, so at the time of printing (when the generation of the intermediate code is completed), how many attachments are attached in the email and how many pages for each attachment It is known whether it exists. Internally, each page of each attached file is recognized by the ID, and it is possible to determine which page is the last page of the job (e-mail). If it is determined in step S1101 that all pages have been printed, the process advances to step S1102 to delete the corresponding e-mail data from the mail server (issue a delete command). Since the file on the server is deleted after printing (output) is completed, the same mail data can be read again from the server while printing is not completed.

  In step S1103, the mail header information stored in the nonvolatile memory is deleted. In the printing apparatus according to the present embodiment, when mail header information exists in the nonvolatile memory, it means that there is an electronic mail being printed. Therefore, it can be determined whether or not the power is turned off before the printing is completed when the power is turned off last time, depending on whether or not the header information exists in the nonvolatile memory.

  In step S1104, the corresponding job is deleted from the job management table (the registration presence / absence field 703 is set to “None”).

  On the other hand, if all pages in the e-mail have not been printed in step S1101, the process proceeds to step S1105 to increment the print completed page number field stored in the nonvolatile memory by “1”.

  Next, details of the recovery printing check process in step S800 in FIG. 8 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

  First, in step S1201, it is determined whether or not mail header information that has not been printed exists in the nonvolatile memory, that is, whether or not the registration presence / absence field 703 is “present”. If the header information exists, it indicates that there was a job (e-mail) in the middle of printing when the power was turned off last time. In this case, in order to prepare for recovery printing, the process proceeds to step S1202, and an e-mail (including an attached file) is downloaded again from the mail server. The read mail should match the header information present in the non-volatile memory. In addition, since the mail is not deleted from the mail server unless printing is completed, the mail read in the previous time (before power-off) remains, so that it can be reliably downloaded again. However, in order to increase certainty, in step S1203, the header information of the read mail is compared with the header information stored in the nonvolatile memory. As a result of the comparison, if they match, the process proceeds to step S1205, and if they do not match, the process proceeds to step S1204. In step S1204, error processing is performed, information in the nonvolatile memory is cleared, and recovery printing is abandoned.

  If the process proceeds to step S1205, the number of print completed pages stored in the nonvolatile memory for the skip process at the time of recovery is stored in another storage area as the number of skip pages, and the step of FIG. The process proceeds to S803 (this storage area does not have to be non-volatile).

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the device that accesses the mail server and prints the received e-mail only uses a very small amount of non-volatile memory instead of a mass storage device such as a hard disk device. Even if an unexpected power failure occurs, it is possible to print e-mail information without wasting a recording medium such as recording paper.

  In the embodiment, an electrophotographic printing apparatus using a laser beam as a recording method is taken as an example. However, other methods, for example, a printer that ejects ink liquid may be used, and a digital multifunction peripheral may be used. Applicable. In particular, when applied to a digital multi-function peripheral, it is possible to add a function of reading a document and transmitting it as an attached file of an electronic mail.

  In the embodiment, the skip process at the time of recovery is skipped after the intermediate data is generated, but a page to be skipped may be determined by the data analysis unit before the intermediate data is generated.

  In the embodiment, the page number that has been printed is stored in the recovery management table. However, the page number to be printed next may be stored.

  In the embodiment, the file attached to the e-mail has been described using an image file as an example. However, the file may be a document file created by an application. In this case, the document file may be analyzed, and an analysis program may be added to generate print data.

1 is a configuration diagram of a printing system in an embodiment. 1 is a cross-sectional structure diagram of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment. 2 is a block configuration diagram of a printer controller of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. It is a figure which shows typically the data flow in the printing process in embodiment. It is a figure which shows the structure of an email. It is a figure which shows the flow of the printing process and recovery process of an email. It is a figure which shows the structure of the management table for recovery ensured by the non-volatile memory in embodiment. 6 is a flowchart illustrating main processing of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the data analysis process in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the PDL data analysis process of FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing details of job end check processing of FIG. 8. FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating details of recovery print check processing in FIG. 8. FIG.

Claims (8)

A printing device for printing an image based on an email,
Download means for downloading email from an email server;
Printing means for printing an image based on the electronic mail downloaded by the download means on a predetermined recording medium;
Storage means for storing information indicating the printing status of an image based on an electronic mail downloaded by the download means, the storage means capable of holding the stored information even when the printing apparatus is turned off When,
When the power of the printing apparatus is turned on, the information indicating the printing status stored in the storage means indicates that printing of an image based on the email downloaded by the download means is not completed. when the printing to print controls the downloading means to re-download the downloaded e-mail from the e-mail server, an image based on the electronic mail downloaded again by the downloading means on a predetermined recording medium Control means for controlling the means;
Depending particular printing an image based on downloaded e-mail when the power of the printing apparatus before completing is not cut is completed the printing of images based on the downloaded e-mail by the download unit by the downloading means the electronic mail requesting the deletion of the downloaded e-mail server, wherein the download if the power of the printing device before printing the image is completed based on the downloaded e-mail has been cut by the downloading means Te Request means for requesting the e-mail server to delete the re-downloaded e-mail in response to completion of printing of the image based on the e-mail downloaded again by the means;
A printing apparatus comprising:   The said printing means prints the image based on the said attachment file on a predetermined recording medium, when an attachment file is attached to the electronic mail which the said download means downloads. Printing device. The information indicating the print status of the image based on the e-mail stored in the storage means includes information indicating which of the plurality of pages included in the attached file has been printed,
The control means is a case where the printing apparatus is turned on, and printing of an image based on an e-mail in which the information indicating the printing status stored in the storage means is downloaded by the download means is completed. The printing means to print on the predetermined recording medium an image based on a page that has not been printed out of a plurality of pages included in the attached file of the e-mail downloaded again by the downloading means. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printing apparatus is controlled. The storage means stores information specifying the electronic mail downloaded by the download means in association with information indicating the printing status,
When the information for specifying the electronic mail downloaded again by the download means matches the information for specifying the electronic mail stored in association with the information indicating the printing status in the storage means, 4. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit is controlled to print an image based on the e-mail downloaded again by the downloading unit on a predetermined recording medium. 5. . A printing apparatus for printing an image based on an email, wherein the printing apparatus includes a storage unit capable of holding stored information even when the printing apparatus is turned off.
A download process in which the download means downloads an email from the email server;
A first printing means for printing an image based on the electronic mail downloaded in the download step on a predetermined recording medium;
A storage step of storing in the storage unit information indicating a print status of an image based on the email downloaded in the download step;
The re-downloading means is a case where the printing apparatus is turned on, and printing of the image based on the e-mail in which the information indicating the printing status stored in the storage means is downloaded in the downloading step is completed. If it shows that not, and re-download process to re-download already downloaded e-mail from the e-mail server,
A second printing unit that prints an image based on the e-mail re-downloaded in the re-downloading step on a predetermined recording medium;
Print request means, when the printing of an image based on a more downloaded e-mail as the download Engineering is not powered off of the printing device before the completion of the image based on the e-mail downloaded by the download process The electronic mail server is requested to delete the downloaded electronic mail in response to completion of the printing, and the printing apparatus is turned off before printing of the image based on the electronic mail downloaded by the downloading process is completed. A requesting step for requesting deletion of the re-downloaded e-mail to the e-mail server in response to completion of printing of the image based on the e-mail re-downloaded by the re-downloading unit ,
A printing method comprising:   In the first printing step and the second printing step, when an attached file is attached to the email downloaded in the downloading step, an image based on the attached file is printed on a predetermined recording medium. The printing method according to claim 5, wherein: The information indicating the print status of the image based on the e-mail stored in the storage means includes information indicating which page included in the plurality of pages included in the attached file has been printed,
In the second printing step, the printing is performed such that an image based on a page that has not been printed out of a plurality of pages included in the attached file of the e-mail downloaded again in the re-downloading step is printed on a predetermined recording medium. The printing method according to claim 6, wherein the means is controlled. The storing step stores information specifying the electronic mail downloaded in the downloading step in the storage unit in association with information indicating the printing status,
The second printing step specifies the e-mail stored in association with information identifying the e-mail downloaded again in the re-downloading step and information indicating that printing is not completed in the storage unit. The printing according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein an image based on the e-mail downloaded again by the re-downloading step is printed on a predetermined recording medium when the information to be matched matches. Method.

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