JP5629410B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of shifting to an energy saving state that consumes less energy than a normal state.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an image forming apparatus that can shift to an energy saving state that consumes less energy than a normal state, an image output apparatus that can shift from a printable state that is a normal state to a sleep state that is an energy saving state is known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1). When the print information having the header information of the print mode information that has no printing urgency is transmitted from the host device in the sleep state, the conventional image output device outputs the print information while maintaining the sleep state. accumulate. The conventional image output apparatus shifts from the sleep state to the printable state when print information having header information of print mode information having printing urgency is transmitted from the host apparatus in the sleep state. Then, it prints out together with the accumulated print information.

JP 2003-84935 A

  However, in the conventional image output device, in the sleep state, unless print information including header information of print mode information having printing urgency is transmitted from the host device, print information accumulated for a long time is used. Does not print out even if it exists. Here, the print information having the header information of the print mode information that does not have printing urgency is print information that the user desires to print out, although it is print information that does not have printing urgency. In this respect, it is the same as the print information having the header information of the print mode information having the urgency of printing. Therefore, even print information having header information of print mode information that does not have printing urgency may be inconvenient for the user if the print information is not printed for an excessively long time.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus capable of printing stored electronic mail more appropriately than ever before.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having at least two states: a normal state and an energy saving state that consumes less energy than the normal state, and a mail receiving unit that receives an email. Mail storing means for storing the e-mail received by the mail receiving means, mail printing means for printing the e-mail stored by the mail storing means in the normal state, and determination of printing of the e-mail A judgment value storage means for storing a judgment value that is a value for the judgment, a judgment value changing means for changing the judgment value stored in the judgment value storage means, and the judgment value storage means stored in the judgment value storage means Mail printing determination means for determining, in the energy saving state, whether or not to allow the mail printing means to print the electronic mail based on a determination value; The judgment value changing means adds a change amount corresponding to the recipient of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means to the judgment value every time the electronic mail is received by the mail receiving means. Thus, the judgment value is changed.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention determines whether or not to print an email based on a determination value that is changed according to the recipient of the email. Can be printed properly.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention further includes a change amount changing unit that changes the change amount, and the change amount changing unit is configured to change the mail printing unit when the e-mail is printed by the mail printing unit. The change amount for the recipient of the electronic mail printed by may be changed.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can improve the energy saving performance because even the same recipient can lighten the influence on the execution of printing by the result of printing the e-mail. it can.

  Further, the change amount changing unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is configured to change the change amount for the recipient according to a continuous time until the e-mail addressed to the recipient is not printed by the mail printing unit. May be changed in a direction opposite to that when the e-mail addressed to the recipient is printed by the mail printing means.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can automatically return the change amount changed according to the result of printing the e-mail according to the continuous time until the e-mail is not printed. Therefore, energy saving performance can be improved.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the mail print determination unit may store the determination stored in the determination value storage unit when a predetermined character is included in the e-mail received by the mail reception unit. It may be determined that the e-mail is printed by the e-mail printing unit regardless of the value.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can forcibly print the stored e-mail.

  Further, the judgment value changing unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention may change the judgment value according to the number of prints of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can improve the energy saving performance because the influence on the execution of printing can be given light weight depending on the number of printed emails.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention further includes a printing data processing unit that changes a data format of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit for printing by the mail printing unit. The electronic mail received by the mail receiving means and whose data format has been changed by the printing data processing means may be stored.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can start printing in a short time when the energy saving state returns to the normal state.

  Further, the mail printing unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention may print the electronic mail in an order corresponding to the change amount for the recipient.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus of the present invention can provide a printed matter of an e-mail to recipients with high importance at an early stage.

  In addition, the image forming program of the present invention includes a mail receiving unit that receives an e-mail from an image forming apparatus having at least two states of a normal state and an energy saving state that consumes less energy than the normal state, Mail storage means for storing the electronic mail received by the mail reception means, mail printing means for printing the electronic mail stored by the mail storage means in the normal state, for determining whether to print the electronic mail A judgment value storage means for storing a judgment value as a value, a judgment value changing means for changing the judgment value stored in the judgment value storage means, and a judgment value stored in the judgment value storage means. Mail printing determination means for determining, in the energy saving state, whether or not to cause the mail printing means to print the electronic mail based on An image forming program for causing the receiver to receive the e-mail received by the mail receiving means every time the e-mail is received by the mail receiving means. The determination value is changed by adding a corresponding change amount to the determination value.

  With this configuration, the image forming apparatus that executes the image forming program of the present invention determines whether or not to print an e-mail based on a determination value that is changed according to the e-mail recipient. E-mail can be printed more appropriately than before.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention can print the stored e-mail more appropriately than before.

1 is a block diagram of an MFP according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the address book memorize | stored in the non-volatile storage device shown in FIG. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when receiving an e-mail in an energy saving state. 2 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when increasing the amount of change stored in a nonvolatile storage device. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP shown in FIG. 1 when the change amount stored in the nonvolatile storage device is decreased.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  First, the configuration of an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) according to the present embodiment will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of MFP 10 according to the present embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an MFP 10 as an image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a main controller 20 that cannot perform image processing in an energy saving state by performing image processing in a normal state, and an energy saving controller that controls the MFP 10 in an energy saving state. 30, a printer 41 that is connected to the main controller 20 and executes printing on a recording medium such as paper, a scanner 42 that is connected to the main controller 20 and reads a document to generate image data, An operation unit 51 that is connected to the energy saving controller 30 and inputs various operations by the user, a display 52 that is connected to the energy saving controller 30 and displays various information, and is connected to the energy saving controller 30 and is connected to the MFP 10. The built-in battery RTC (Real Time Clock) 53 that measures time and an external device such as a PC (Personal Computer) or an e-mail server connected to the energy saving controller 30 and a network via a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet A network communication unit 54 that performs communication, and a nonvolatile storage device 55 such as an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) connected to the energy saving controller 30 are provided.

  The MFP 10 has at least two states, a normal state in which printing is possible and an energy saving state in which energy consumption is lower than that in the normal state.

  The main controller 20 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory) storing a program including the image forming program of the present invention and various data, and a rewritable memory used as a work area of the CPU. RAM (Random Access Memory) which is a volatile storage device. The CPU is an arithmetic processing unit that operates the control unit by executing a program stored in the ROM. The RAM temporarily stores programs and various data when the programs are executed by the CPU. The main controller 20 is completely powered off when in the energy saving state. The main controller 20 functions as the mail printing unit 21 that prints the electronic mail stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55 by the printer 41 in the normal state by executing the image forming program.

  The energy-saving controller 30 includes a CPU, a ROM that stores in advance a program including the image forming program of the present invention and various data, and a RAM that is a rewritable volatile storage device used as a work area of the CPU. I have. The CPU is an arithmetic processing unit that operates the control unit by executing a program stored in the ROM. The RAM temporarily stores programs and various data when the programs are executed by the CPU. The energy-saving controller 30 executes an image forming program to receive a mail receiving means 31 for receiving an electronic mail, and a judgment value storage means of the present invention for storing a judgment value that is a value for judgment of printing of the electronic mail. The judgment value counter 32, the judgment value changing means 33 for changing the judgment value stored in the judgment value counter 32, and whether the e-mail is printed by the mail printing means 21 based on the judgment value stored in the judgment value counter 32. An e-mail received by the e-mail receiving means 31, a printing data processing means 35 for changing the data format for printing by the e-mail printing means 21, and a judgment value It functions as change amount changing means 36 for changing the change amount.

  The judgment value counter 32 is an integer counter having a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 100.

  The printer 41 is a printing device that prints various data such as image data generated by the scanner 42 and e-mail data received from an external device via the network communication unit 54.

  The operation unit 51 is an input device such as a button that forms a touch panel together with the display 52.

  The display 52 is a display device such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display).

  For example, the network communication unit 54 transmits image data generated by the scanner 42 to an external device, or receives print data to be printed by the printer 41 from an external device.

  The non-volatile storage device 55 is configured to store the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means 31, and constitutes the mail storing means of the present invention.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an address book stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55.

  As illustrated in FIG. 2, the nonvolatile storage device 55 stores an address book that includes a change amount of the determination value. In the address book shown in FIG. 2, the default value of the change amount can be changed by the user via the operation unit 51, for example.

  Next, the operation of the MFP 10 will be described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 10 when receiving an e-mail in the energy saving state.

  The MFP 10 periodically performs the operation shown in FIG. 3 every three minutes or the like in the energy saving state.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the mail receiving means 31 of the energy-saving controller 30 confirms the e-mail with an external e-mail server via the network communication unit 54 (S101), and the e-mail to be received exists in the e-mail server. It is determined whether or not it has been done (S102). Here, the e-mail to be received is an e-mail that satisfies the conditions set in advance by the user and stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55 as the e-mail conditions to be automatically received and printed by the MFP 10. is there. For example, the e-mail to be received is an e-mail in which the user registered in the MFP 10 is the recipient, and an e-mail to which a file in a specific data format is attached.

  If the mail receiving means 31 determines in S102 that the electronic mail to be received does not exist in the electronic mail server, the processing shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in S102 that the e-mail to be received exists in the e-mail server, the e-mail receiving unit 31 receives the e-mail to be received from the e-mail server (S103).

  Next, the printing data processing unit 35 changes the data format of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit 31 in S103 for printing by the mail printing unit 21 (S104). That is, the print data processing unit 35 functions as a RIP (Raster Image Processor).

  Next, the energy saving controller 30 accumulates the e-mail whose data format is changed in S104 in the nonvolatile storage device 55 (S105).

  Next, the mail print determining unit 34 determines whether or not a predetermined character is included in the subject of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit 31 in S103 (S106). Here, the predetermined character is a character that is set in advance by the user and stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55. For example, the predetermined character is a character such as “forced printing command”.

  If it is determined in S106 that the predetermined text is not included in the subject of the e-mail, the decision value changing unit 33 determines the change amount according to the recipient of the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit 31 in S103. By adding to the judgment value stored in the judgment value counter 32, the judgment value stored in the judgment value counter 32 is changed (S107).

  For example, when the judgment value stored in the judgment value counter 32 is 20, and the recipient of the e-mail received by the mail receiving means 31 in S103 is “Jiro Tanaka”, Since the change amount for “Jiro Tanaka” is 7 as shown in FIG. 2, the decision value is stored in the decision value counter 32 by adding 7 which is the change amount for “Jiro Tanaka”. The judgment value stored in the value counter 32 is changed to 27.

  Here, the judgment value changing unit 33 may change the judgment value according to the number of prints of the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit 31 in S103. For example, the judgment value changing unit 33, in addition to the above-described change amount for the recipient, when the number of prints scheduled for the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit 31 in S103 is equal to or greater than a predetermined number such as 20, etc. A value may be added to the judgment value. The value added at this time may be a constant value such as 20, or may be a value that fluctuates, such as a value that is twice the change amount for the recipient described above.

  Next, the mail print determination unit 34 determines whether or not the determination value stored in the determination value counter 32 has reached 100 (S108).

  If it is determined in S108 that the determination value has not reached 100, the energy saving controller 30 ends the process shown in FIG.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S108 that the determination value has reached 100, the determination value changing means 33 sets the determination value stored in the determination value counter 32 to 0 (S109).

  Next, the mail print determining unit 34 determines that the mail printing unit 21 of the main controller 20 prints the e-mail, and returns the MFP 10 from the energy saving state to the normal state (S110). That is, the mail print determination unit 34 turns on the main controller 20 and activates the main controller 20.

  Therefore, the mail printing unit 21 of the main controller 20 prints the e-mail stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55 by the printer 41 (S111), and ends the processing shown in FIG.

  In S111, the mail printing unit 21 may print the electronic mail stored in the non-volatile storage device 55 by the printer 41 in descending order of the change amount for the recipient. In such a case, the MFP 10 can provide a printed matter of an e-mail to a recipient having high importance at an early stage.

  If it is determined in S106 that a predetermined character is included in the subject of the e-mail, the MFP 10 performs the processes of S109 to S111, and then ends the process shown in FIG.

  The change amount included in the address book is initially the same value as the default value of the change amount. Hereinafter, the change of the change amount included in the address book will be described.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 10 when the change amount stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55 is increased.

  Each time an e-mail is printed by the mail printing unit 21, the change amount changing unit 36 executes the processing shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the change amount changing unit 36 specifies the recipient of the email printed by the mail printing unit 21 (S121).

  Next, the change amount changing means 36 increments the change amount of the recipient specified in S121 by 1 (S122), and ends the processing shown in FIG.

  For example, when the change amount of “Taro Takahashi” included in the address book is 3, the change amount changing means 36 is when the recipient of the email printed by the mail printing means 21 is “Taro Takahashi”. In S122, the change amount of “Taro Takahashi” included in the address book is increased by 1 to 4.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the operation of the MFP 10 when the change amount stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55 is decreased.

  The change amount changing means 36 performs the operation shown in FIG. 5 periodically such as every minute.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the change amount changing means 36 identifies one user among all users registered as users in the address book (S141).

  Next, the change amount changing unit 36 does not print the e-mail addressed to the user specified in S141 based on the print history stored in the nonvolatile storage device 55 and the current time measured by the RTC 53. The continuous time up to the present is obtained (S142).

  Next, the change amount changing unit 36 determines whether or not the continuous time obtained in S142 is equal to or longer than a predetermined time such as 10 minutes (S143).

  If the change amount changing means 36 determines in S143 that it is the predetermined time or more, the change amount of the user specified in S141 is decreased by 1 (S144).

  For example, when the change amount of “Taro Takahashi” included in the address book is 3, the change amount changing means 36, when the user specified in S141 is “Taro Takahashi”, in S144 Decrease the included “Taro Takahashi” change amount by 1 to 2. Note that the change amount changing unit 36 does not decrease the change amount of the user in S144 when the change amount of the user included in the address book is a default value.

  The change amount changing means 36 performs the process of FIG. 5 for all users registered as users in the address book when the process of S144 is executed or when it is determined in S143 that the predetermined time is not exceeded. It is determined whether it has been executed (S145).

  If it is determined in S145 that there is a user who has not executed the process of FIG. 5, the change amount changing unit 36 executes the process of S141 for one user who has not executed the process of FIG.

  On the other hand, when the change amount changing unit 36 determines in S145 that the process of FIG. 5 has been executed for all users registered as users in the address book, the process shown in FIG. 5 ends.

  As described above, the MFP 10 determines whether or not to print an e-mail based on the determination value that is changed according to the e-mail recipient. Can be printed.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the MFP 10 increases the amount of change to the recipient of the email printed by the email printing unit 21, so that even the same recipient can print the email according to the result of printing the email. The impact on the execution of can be attached. Therefore, the MFP 10 can improve the energy saving performance.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the MFP 10 receives the change amount for the recipient by the mail printing unit 21 according to the continuous time up to the present when the email addressed to the recipient is not printed by the mail printing unit 21. Change to the negative direction, which is the opposite direction to when the e-mail addressed to the person was printed, so the amount of change increased according to the record of the e-mail print until the present e-mail is not printed Can be automatically returned according to the continuous time. Therefore, the MFP 10 can improve the energy saving performance.

  Further, when the MFP 10 receives a predetermined character in the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit 31 (YES in S106), the MFP 10 sends the e-mail printing unit 21 the mail regardless of the judgment value stored in the judgment value counter 32. Since it is determined that the electronic mail is to be printed (S110), the stored electronic mail can be forcibly printed.

  In addition, since the MFP 10 changes the determination value according to the number of emails to be printed received by the mail receiving unit 31 (S107), the influence on the execution of printing depends on the number of emails to be printed. Can be attached. Therefore, the MFP 10 can improve the energy saving performance.

  Further, since the MFP 10 accumulates the e-mails received by the mail receiving unit 31 and whose data format has been changed by the print data processing unit 35 (S105), the MFP 10 can be restored in a short time when returning from the energy saving state to the normal state. Printing can be started. The MFP 10 may store the e-mail received by the mail receiving unit 31 without changing the data format for printing, and change the data format for printing during actual printing.

  The non-volatile storage device 55 stores the change amount of the judgment value in the address book. However, if the change amount of the judgment value is stored for each user, the change of the judgment value is performed. The amount may not be stored in the address book.

  Moreover, the change amount of the judgment value may be set for each group instead of for each user.

  Further, the MFP 10 sets various setting values such as the minimum value and maximum value of the determination value counter 32, the default value of the change amount in the address book shown in FIG. 2, the value of the determination value counter used for the determination in S108, for example. The user can be set via the operation unit 51.

  The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an MFP in the present embodiment, but may be an image forming apparatus other than the MFP, such as a copier or a printer.

10 MFP (image forming apparatus)
21 mail printing means 31 mail receiving means 32 judgment value counter (judgment value storage means)
33 judgment value changing means 34 mail printing judging means 35 printing data processing means 36 change amount changing means 55 non-volatile storage device (mail storing means)

Claims (5)

An image forming apparatus having at least two states: a normal state and an energy-saving state that consumes less energy than the normal state,
Mail receiving means for receiving e-mail;
Mail storage means for storing the e-mail received by the mail receiving means;
Mail printing means for printing the electronic mail stored by the mail storage means in the normal state;
Judgment value storage means for storing a judgment value which is a value for judgment of printing of the e-mail;
Each time the electronic mail is received by the mail receiving means, a change amount corresponding to the recipient of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means is added to the judgment value stored in the judgment value storage means. by a determination value changing means for changing the decision values stored in the judgment value storage means,
Mail printing determination means for determining in the energy saving state whether or not to allow the email printing means to print the e-mail based on the determination value stored in the determination value storage means;
A change amount changing means for changing the change amount;
The change amount changing means changes the change amount for the recipient of the email printed by the mail printing means when the email is printed by the mail printing means,
The change amount changing means receives the change amount for the recipient by the mail printing means according to a continuous time until the present when the e-mail addressed to the recipient is not printed by the mail printing means. An image forming apparatus that changes the direction in the opposite direction to that when the e-mail addressed to the person is printed.   When the e-mail received by the e-mail receiving unit includes a predetermined character, the e-mail print determining unit is responsive to the e-mail printing unit regardless of the determination value stored in the determination value storage unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the electronic mail is to be printed.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination value changing unit changes the determination value in accordance with a scheduled number of prints of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving unit. . A printing data processing means for changing the data format for printing by the mail printing means for the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means;
4. The mail storing unit according to claim 1, wherein the mail storing unit stores the email received by the mail receiving unit and having a data format changed by the print data processing unit. The image forming apparatus described in 1. An image forming apparatus having at least two states, a normal state and an energy saving state in which energy consumption is less than that in the normal state,
Mail receiving means for receiving e-mail;
Mail storage means for storing the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means;
Mail printing means for printing the electronic mail stored by the mail storage means in the normal state;
Judgment value storage means for storing a judgment value which is a value for judgment of printing of the e-mail;
Each time the electronic mail is received by the mail receiving means, a change amount corresponding to the recipient of the electronic mail received by the mail receiving means is added to the judgment value stored in the judgment value storage means. by the determination value changing means for changing the decision values stored in the judgment value storage means,
Mail print determination means for determining in the energy-saving state whether or not to allow the e-mail printing means to print the e-mail based on the determination value stored in the determination value storage means; and
An image forming program for functioning as a change amount changing means for changing the change amount,
The change amount changing means changes the change amount for the recipient of the email printed by the mail printing means when the email is printed by the mail printing means,
The change amount changing means receives the change amount for the recipient by the mail printing means according to a continuous time until the present when the e-mail addressed to the recipient is not printed by the mail printing means. An image forming program for changing to the opposite direction to when the e-mail addressed to a person is printed.

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