JP5098519B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of duplex printing. The image forming apparatus includes a multifunction peripheral device (MFP) called a copying machine, a printer, and a multifunction peripheral.

  Copiers that can be used by unspecified customers for a fee are installed in various stores such as convenience stores. Generally, this type of copying machine is configured so that a customer can specify and select several items such as the number of copies, the density of prints, and the paper size. In addition, an increasing number of stores have color copiers that can be used as monochrome copiers. Many of such copiers are multi-functional types that enable duplex printing by mounting a duplex unit.

  In recent years, as a new form of paid copy service (hereinafter referred to as paid copy), a business in which advertising paper is printed on one side in advance is stored in a copier, and the advertiser bears all or part of the copy fee. Is attracting attention. The original brought in by the customer is copied to the other side of the advertisement-printed paper. Customers can receive a copy service for free or at a discounted rate. Instead, advertisements are always printed on the received forms. Advertisers can conduct effective advertising according to the customer base. This business can be implemented by a general-purpose copying machine that does not have an additional function of printing advertisements separately from the original image.

A copying machine having a function of printing an advertisement image when copying a document is known. For example, the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 includes a copying machine having a memory for storing an advertisement image and a billing apparatus that receives a charge, and the advertisement image is printed on the back side of a sheet on which a document is copied or on another sheet. Print. Then, the copy fee is changed according to the time required for printing the advertisement. In addition, there are various proposals such as one in which the arrangement of advertisements can be selected in single-sided printing, and one in which a customer can select the type of advertisement product.
JP 2000-347533 A

  In general, in pay copying, a customer who uses a copy service specifies and selects the number of copies and paper size, and specifies desired image quality setting items, such as print density, contrast, and magnification. Can be adjusted. In particular, in a pay copy capable of color printing, the color mode (monochrome / color) and color balance are also included in the image quality setting items for accepting customer operations. Such an image quality setting is effective for all prints until it is canceled. That is, the contents of the image quality setting are uniformly applied to the printing on a plurality of sheets in the case of multi-copying and the printing on both the front and back sides in the case of double-sided printing.

  A free copy service (hereinafter referred to as free copy) that allows the customer to adjust the print image quality is also conceivable. Although this service is useful for customers, there is a risk of inconvenience from the perspective of the service provider. In other words, when the customer adjusts the image quality extremely different from the standard value, the advertisement image may not be printed as desired by the advertiser. For example, it is possible that only a part of an advertisement is printed with an enlargement factor specified, or the color balance is changed and the color of the product is printed in a color that is far from the actual color.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention enables a service user to obtain a print image having a desired image quality when used in a print service in which the advertiser bears the print cost. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of printing out an advertisement image.

An image forming apparatus that achieves the above object includes a multi-attribute double-sided print mode that prints a document image provided by a user on one side of a sheet and prints a prepared advertisement image on the other side of the sheet. a is said to the document image, an operation input unit having an image quality adjustment unit for the user to specify a set value for each of the plurality of image quality setting items, the print quality of the original image and the advertisement image The print control means for setting the print information, and the setting information indicating the setting values of the plurality of image quality setting items and the range in which the setting values are allowed to be changed, as information relating to the image quality setting of the advertisement image. and an specification information output means for supplying the means. In the multi-attribute double-sided print mode, the print control unit sets a print image quality of the document image in accordance with an operation of the image quality adjustment unit, and among the plurality of image quality setting items, a setting value designated by the operation There for quality setting items are within the scope of the specification information, the setting values specified by the operation to the setting value of the print quality for the advertisement image, setting values specified by the operation is not within the range For the image quality setting item, the setting value indicated by the designation information or the value closest to the setting value designated by the operation within the range is set as the print image quality setting value for the advertisement image .

  According to the present invention, an image forming apparatus that prints a manuscript image having a desired image quality desired by a service user and prints an ad image having an image quality desired by the advertiser when used for a print service in which the advertiser bears the printing cost. Can be realized.

  A typical example of the situation where the “multi-attribute double-sided print mode”, which is a mode for printing two types of images from different image data output means on the front and back of one sheet, is as described above. Free copy to bear. Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus used for a copy service that performs multi-attribute double-sided printing when a customer who receives the service designates a free copy will be exemplified. Note that it is not necessarily free, and a discount may be used. Pricing is a matter that service providers should decide.

  The image forming apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 1 is installed in a convenience store, for example, and is used in a self-service manner by an unspecified customer. Hereinafter, an unspecified customer who is a temporary user of the image forming apparatus 10 is referred to as a user for convenience. If the user accepts that the advertisement is printed on the back side of the paper, the user can copy the manuscript free of charge. If you do not accept the advertisement print, you can copy the manuscript for a fee. The free copy print mode is a mode in which an original image as a first attribute image is printed on one side of a sheet of paper and an advertisement image as a second attribute image is printed on the other side of the sheet. The pay copy print mode is a mode in which only the original image is printed and the advertisement image is not printed.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a multifunction peripheral (MFP) 11 capable of color printing and a charging device 12. The charging device 12 shown in the figure is a coin bender having a vertically long box shape, and is placed beside the multifunction device 11 and connected to the multifunction device 11 via a cable-like relay connector 17 drawn from the back. .

  For example, when a user inserts coins in pay copying, the charging device 12 sequentially displays the amount of money inserted on the display unit 15 including a liquid crystal display. Instructs acceptance of panel operation for specifying details. The user operates the operation panel 18 to specify items such as a set number (number of copies), a paper size, and a color mode (monochrome / color). If the copy fee corresponding to the designated copy content is equal to or less than the input amount, the charging apparatus 12 permits the multifunction device 11 to perform a copy operation. When the user presses the start key on the operation panel 18, the copy operation starts. The multifunction device 11 transmits discharge information to the charging device 12 when the paper is discharged to the face-down tray 53 (or the face-up tray 54). Upon receipt of the discharge information, the charging device 12 collects a predetermined copy fee and newly displays the balance. The copy fee to be collected depends on the copy content. When the balance falls below a predetermined amount, the charging device 12 prohibits the copying operation. When a coin is additionally inserted, the charging device 12 permits the copying operation again. When the user presses the coin return button 14 of the charging device 12 while the copying operation is stopped, coins corresponding to the balance are sent from the inside of the charging device 12 to the coin return port 16 on the front surface.

  In addition, although the charging apparatus 12 which consists of a coin vendor was shown in figure, it can also be set as the charging apparatus using information storage media, such as a prepaid card which memorize | stored money amount information. The billing apparatus in this case collects a copy fee based on the balance information stored in the inserted prepaid card.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the multi-function machine 11 is capable of two types of paper discharge, a reduction projection type flat image scanner 21 as a first image data output means, a tandem color printer 23, a multistage paper stocker 25, and the like. A discharge unit 26 and a duplex unit 27 are provided. The paper stocker 25 includes three paper feed ports and a manual paper feed port, and is configured to be capable of selecting one of a plurality of types of paper having different sizes.

  In the copying operation, the document image is read by the image scanner 21 and becomes a toner image of four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) by the color printer 23. The four color toner images formed at a predetermined timing are sequentially primary-transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 40 and overlapped on the intermediate transfer belt 40. The superimposed four color toner images are secondarily transferred to the paper fed from the paper stocker 25 to the color printer 23. Thereafter, the toner image is fixed on the sheet through the fixing unit. The sheet on which the toner image is fixed is discharged through the discharge unit 26. In the case of duplex printing, the sheet is sent to the duplex unit 27 after the transfer of the first page. The paper that has been turned upside down by the duplex unit 27 returns to the secondary transfer position (printing position) and is discharged after the transfer of the second side. Since the basic configuration of such a multifunction machine 11 is widely known, detailed description of the structure and function of each element is omitted here.

  The multifunction machine 11 has a multi-attribute double-sided print mode related to the free copy service as described above. In the multi-attribute double-sided print mode, an original image given by the user is printed on one side of the paper, and an advertising image given in advance by the advertiser is printed on the remaining one side. The document image is converted into data by the image scanner 21, and the advertisement image is converted into data in advance and stored in a non-volatile memory of the multifunction machine 11. The form of paper discharge is face-down, and the paper is discharged to the face-down tray 53 upward so that the color-printed advertisement surface can be seen by the user. The printing order of the manuscript and advertisement on one sheet is determined. In this example, the advertisement image is printed first, and the original image is printed later.

  The procedure for transporting one sheet in duplex printing is as shown in FIG. When the paper is fed from the paper stocker to the printer main body, the paper is guided to the printing position (secondary transfer position) and receives the first print. The paper on which one-sided printing has been completed is introduced into a switchback path 91 that is a part of the circulation conveyance path 90 that enables double-sided printing, and is conveyed in the opposite direction to the introduction and enters the duplex unit 27. The paper whose front and back sides are reversed in the duplex unit 27 is again guided to the print position and receives the second print. Then, the paper on which both-side printing has been completed passes through the switchback path 91 and is discharged.

Procedure for multiple attributes duplex printing operation in the definitive paper transport and printing according to the free copy is schematically shown in FIG.

  In the multi-attribute double-sided print mode as shown in FIG. 4, the advertisement image G2 having the second attribute is printed as the first print on the paper P. The front and back sides of the paper P are reversed, and the original image G1 having the first attribute is printed as the second print. Then, the paper P is discharged in a face-down format in which the document image G1 is facing downward and the advertisement image G2 is facing upward.

  Since the advertisement image G2 is discharged upward, the advertisement image G2 is easily recognized by a user who wants to take out the discharged paper P. That is, there is a high probability that the advertisement image G2 will attract the user's interest. If the advertisement image G2 is facing downward, the user may not see the advertisement image G2. Face-down emissions contribute to advertising effectiveness.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control system of the image forming apparatus 10.

  The multi-function device 11 and the charging device 12 communicate with each other via the relay connector 17 and the input / output interfaces 60a and 60b. Communication control of the multifunction device 11 is controlled by a control unit 61 provided in the multifunction device 11, and communication control of the charging device 12 is controlled by a control unit 71 provided in the charging device 12.

  An operation mechanism and sensors provided in the image scanner 21, the color printer 23, the discharge unit 26, and the duplex unit 27 are connected to the control unit 61, which is a print control unit in the multifunction machine 11, via an interface. In addition, a signal processing unit 22 that processes a read signal from the image scanner 21 and the above-described operation panel 18 are also connected to the control unit 61. Further, the control unit 61 temporarily stores an image quality adjustment value relating to the document image (a user image quality adjustment table T1 described later), a user image quality adjustment memory 50A, and an image quality setting value relating to the advertisement image (an image quality setting table T3 described later). ) For temporarily storing image quality adjustment memory 50B for advertisement, memory 51 for advertisement data for storing information related to advertisement images, and second image data output means including a non-volatile memory for storing a plurality of advertisement images in advance. Advertising image memory unit 63, billing memory 64 for accumulating and storing the number of printed advertisements and billing for advertisers, temporary memory for image data and working memory 65 used for image composition, measuring current time Timer 66 for counting, counter 67 for accumulating the number of printed advertisements, etc., and determining the productivity for printing advertisement images and / or manuscript images. Discrimination unit 68 which is connected.

  The advertisement data memory 51 includes an area 52 for storing advertisement attribute information such as an advertiser name and an advertisement type, and an area 53 for storing image quality setting designation information corresponding to each of a plurality of advertisement images. The advertisement data memory 51 is a designation information output unit that gives the control unit 61 designation information related to the image quality setting of the second attribute image (advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 described later).

  The operation panel 18 has an advertisement function selection key 82 for designating pay / free copy, a key 83 for designating a color mode for printing a manuscript image, and a background level for designating copy density and contrast. An image quality adjustment unit 84 including keys, other various keys 85, and a display unit 88 that displays various operation screens are provided. Other keys include a numeric key for setting the number of copies, a key for selecting and setting various value-added copy modes (double-sided copy, enlarged / reduced copy, etc.), and a command for instructing the start of a copy operation. A start key is included. The display unit 88 includes a display and a touch panel, and displays a setting state such as the number of copies and a paper size, a pay / free copy setting state, and other information. Other information includes an operation guide and a message that informs the user of the copying operation status. Note that some of the keys on the operation panel 18 are buttons that are displayed in a timely manner on the touch panel screen of the display unit 88.

  On the other hand, the control unit 71 of the billing apparatus 12 includes the display unit 15 described above, a billing table memory 72 that stores table data indicating the correspondence between copy contents and charges, and a bill that stores the number of copies and the billing amount for the user in an accumulated manner. A memory 73 is connected.

  The outline of the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment is shown in the activity diagram of FIG.

  In FIG. 6, the user first selects a free copy or a paid copy from the operation panel 18 of the multifunction machine 11 (# 01). At this time, as shown in FIG. 7A, the display unit 88 of the multifunction machine 11 displays the selection buttons 82A and 82B and the message 101 for requesting selection from the user. Message 101 includes a sentence telling that the free copy will print the advertisement.

  In the case of a free copy, the advertisement image is printed on the first side and the user's original image is printed on the second side. The advertisement image and the original image may be a color image or a monochrome image. If the image is a color image, it is printed in color, and if it is a monochrome image, it is printed in monochrome.

  No charge is required for free copies. The user can make a desired designation for an image quality setting item described later by operating the panel (# 02). When the user presses the start key, the multifunction machine 11 starts a copy operation (# 03). In parallel with the printing of the first advertisement image by the color printer 23, the image scanner 21 reads the document (# 08). Document image data having a predetermined resolution is output from the image scanner 21 to the buffer memory for image formation.

  While the parallel processing is being performed, the display unit 88 displays a message 109 “Advertising is being printed” as shown in FIG. 7B (# 04). This display is performed in order to inform a user unfamiliar with the free copy of the operation status and feel secure. Although the time required for a free copy is longer than that of a single-sided paid copy in monochrome, displaying the status makes it less likely that the user will be confused by a long waiting time.

  Following the display of the message 109, the multi-function device 11 performs automatic image quality adjustment described later (# 05). In the automatic image quality adjustment, the content of the image quality setting specified by the user through the panel operation is reflected in the print image quality setting of the advertisement image within the range allowed by the designation information stored in the area 53 of the advertisement data memory 51. Is the operation. After the automatic image quality adjustment, the advertisement image selectively fetched from the advertisement image memory 63 is printed on the first surface of the paper, and the front and back of the paper are reversed (# 06, # 07). As to which of a plurality of advertisement images to select, there are a method of selecting simply in the order of registration and a method of selecting in consideration of the type of advertisement.

  When the parallel processing of the printing of the advertisement image and the reading of the manuscript is completed, the multi function device 11 starts the manuscript image printing operation. As shown in FIG. 7C, the display unit 88 displays a message 107 “The document is being printed.” (# 09). The multi-function device 11 conveys the paper that has been turned upside down from the duplex unit 27 to the printing position (# 10), prints the original image (# 11), and discharges the paper printed on both sides to the face-down tray 53 ( # 12).

  In the case of pay copying, the display unit 88 displays a message requesting the user to input a fee. When the user pays a fee (# 13), the multifunction machine 11 accepts a copy content designation operation including image quality adjustment (# 14). When the user presses the start key (# 15), the multi-function peripheral 11 scans the original (# 16), prints the original image (# 17), and charges (# 18) in order, and loads the paper on which the original image is printed. The paper is discharged to the face-down tray 53 (# 12).

  FIG. 8 is an activity diagram showing the flow of automatic image quality adjustment processing for free copying, and FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of a table relating to image quality adjustment.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the automatic image quality adjustment process reads the user image quality adjustment table T1 and one advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 corresponding to the selected advertisement image (# 51, # 52), and the image quality adjustment table T3 for advertisement prints. Are created (# 53 to # 56). There are a plurality of image quality setting items related to these tables T1, T2 and T3. In the example of FIG. 9, the user and the advertiser designate the six items “color mode”, “magnification”, “density”, “contrast”, “margin” and “color balance”, respectively.

  The user image quality adjustment table T1 is a table created in response to the panel operation, and records the contents of the image quality adjustment designated by the user through the panel operation. The contents of the user image quality adjustment table T1 are applied as they are as image quality setting values in printing a document image.

  The advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 is designation information for setting the image quality of one advertisement image, and is input to the multi function device 11 by data communication or reading from a recording medium together with the advertisement image. As shown in FIG. 9, the advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 specifies whether or not to reflect the image quality adjustment of the user on the advertisement print for the above six items (applicability), and the allowable range of image quality adjustment to be applied. And the setting value of the image quality desired by the advertiser (advertiser recommended value).

  The advertisement print image quality adjustment table T3 is a table showing image quality setting values for printing advertisement images. That is, advertisement image print control is performed based on the image quality adjustment table T3. In the creation of the image quality adjustment table T3, the image quality adjustment value indicated by the user image quality adjustment table T1 is set as the setting value for the item “applicable” indicated by the advertiser image quality adjustment table T2. That is, the image quality designation by the user is reflected in the print of the advertisement. On the other hand, the recommended value indicated by the advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 is set as the set value for the item “unreflectable”. Note that even if “reflection is possible”, the recommended value indicated by the advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 even when the image quality adjustment value indicated by the user image quality adjustment table T1 deviates from the allowable range indicated by the advertiser image quality adjustment table T2. Is the set value. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when the image quality adjustment by the user deviates from the range permitted by the advertiser, the limit value of the allowable range may be set as the set value of the advertisement print image quality.

  In the advertiser image quality adjustment table T2 (cup noodle advertisement data) selected in the example of FIG. 9, “Density”, “Contrast”, and “Margin” can be reflected among the six items of image quality setting. The remaining “color mode”, “magnification” and “color balance” cannot be reflected. In response, in the image quality adjustment table T3, the contents of the user image quality adjustment table T1 are set as the advertisement print image quality setting values for the three items that can be reflected, and the advertiser image quality adjustment table for the three items that cannot be reflected. The content of T2 is the advertisement print image quality setting value. Such an image quality adjustment table T3 is applied to the printing of the advertisement image on the first surface S1 of the paper P. The user image quality adjustment table T1 is applied to the printing of the document image on the second surface S2 of the paper P.

  In the above embodiment, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 is not limited to the configuration in which the document image is input by the image reader 21. A personal computer or a memory device that requests image printing can also serve as the document input means. For example, there may be a print service in which a computer is connected to the image forming apparatus 10 and a customer stores image data as a document in a removable memory and brings it.

  As the advertisement image data output means, a communication means for acquiring advertisement image data from an external image server may be provided instead of or together with the memory unit 63. The image forming apparatus 10 may be connected to a terminal in a management facility that centrally manages image forming apparatuses installed in a plurality of stores via a network (not shown). In this management facility, the operation status of each image forming apparatus can be grasped, and advertisement images stored in the multifunction peripheral can be periodically replaced by remote operation.

  The color printer 23 is not limited to the tandem type, and may be a rotary type or other types. Color printing and monochrome printing may be performed by a method such as inkjet other than the electrophotographic process. The configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 can be changed as appropriate within the scope of the present invention. As an application of the present invention, in an apparatus that can set the image quality for each of a plurality of areas that divide the paper surface during single-sided printing, the image quality adjustment by the user is applied as it is to one area, and the advertiser is applied to the other area. The image quality adjustment by the user may be reflected within an allowable range.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a multifunction machine. It is a figure which shows an example of the paper conveyance path | route in double-sided printing. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a paper conveyance and printing procedure in multi-attribute double-sided printing. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a control system of the image forming apparatus. FIG. FIG. 6 is an activity diagram illustrating an outline of operation of the image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the display by the operation panel in a free copy. FIG. 8 is an activity diagram showing a flow of automatic image quality adjustment processing in FIG. 7. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of the table which concerns on image quality adjustment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 21 Image scanner (1st image data output means)
18 Operation panel (operation input means)
63 Advertising image memory unit (second image data output means)
G1 Document image (first attribute image)
G2 advertising image (second attribute image)
61 Control unit (print control means)
84 Image quality adjustment section T2 Advertiser image quality adjustment table (designated information)
51 Memory for advertising data (designated information output means)
P paper

Claims (3)

An image forming apparatus provided with a multi-attribute double-sided print mode for printing a document image provided by a user on one side of a sheet and printing a prepared advertisement image on the other side of the sheet,
Operation input means having an image quality adjustment unit for the user to specify a setting value for each of a plurality of image quality setting items for the document image;
Print control means for setting print image quality of the original image and the advertisement image;
Designation information output means for providing the print control means with designation information indicating each setting value of the plurality of image quality setting items and a range in which the setting value is allowed to be changed, as information relating to the image quality setting of the advertisement image; Have
In the multi-attribute double-sided print mode, the print control unit sets a print image quality of the document image in accordance with an operation of the image quality adjustment unit, and among the plurality of image quality setting items, a setting value designated by the operation There for quality setting items are within the scope of the specification information, the setting values specified by the operation to the setting value of the print quality for the advertisement image, setting values specified by the operation is not within the range For the image quality setting item , an image forming method is characterized in that a value closest to the setting value indicated by the designation information or the setting value designated by the operation within the range is set as a print image quality setting value for the advertisement image. apparatus. And an image scanner to read the previous Symbol original image,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 and an image memory for storing the advertisement image. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a nonvolatile memory that stores the designation information as the designation information output unit.

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