JP5642051B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  A certain image forming apparatus executes a job requested by the host device, and when an abnormality such as an error occurs, notifies the host device of the occurrence of the abnormality, and the host device of the user who requested the job notifies Is received, a message indicating the occurrence of an abnormality is displayed (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  When an abnormality that has occurred in the image forming apparatus, such as a jam or out of print paper, is an abnormality that can be removed by the user, the user forms an image by notifying the user's host device of the abnormality as described above. It is possible to remove the abnormality of the image forming apparatus by recognizing the abnormality of the apparatus, and to resume the execution of the job.

JP 2003-32430 A JP 2004-46337 A

  As described above, when an abnormality is notified to the user's host device, if the user does not notice the notification or the user is absent, the abnormality of the image forming apparatus is not removed by the user. If there is a job waiting for execution in the image forming apparatus at that time, the abnormality is not removed, and execution of the job waiting for execution is delayed for a long time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to obtain an image forming apparatus capable of reducing the execution delay of a job waiting for execution when an abnormality occurs.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention is configured as follows.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention detects a job management unit that sequentially executes jobs, a request source of a job being executed in the job management unit, and a job management unit A notification processing unit for notifying the request source of at least one job waiting for execution in FIG.

  As a result, even when the requesting user of the job being executed does not remove the abnormality, the requesting user of the job waiting to be executed notices the abnormality and can remove the abnormality. Therefore, when an abnormality occurs, the execution delay of the job waiting for execution is reduced.

Further, notification processing unit, after the notification of the abnormality for the first time, when an abnormality from the abnormality of the first notification or abnormality detected after lapse of a predetermined set time has not been resolved, the notification of additional abnormal Is performed on a predetermined number of request sources that have not been notified among the request sources of jobs that are waiting to be executed in the job management unit.

  As a result, the abnormality is notified to a plurality of users in stages, so that it is not necessary to notify more users than necessary.

Further, notification processing unit, in the reverse order from the order of the execution wait, additional notification in sequence from the last job that has become execution wait selects a predetermined number of requestor, to the selected requester I do.

  As a result, since a notice of abnormality is preferentially received from a user who has recently issued a job request, there is a high possibility that the notice will be noticed.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention, in addition to the image forming equipment described above may be as follows. In this case, the notification processing unit notifies the abnormality only to the users belonging to the predetermined user group among the request sources of the jobs waiting for execution in the job management unit.

  As a result, it is possible to notify an abnormality to a specific user, such as a manager, and not to notify a user who does not perform abnormality removal work.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention may be configured as follows in addition to any of the image forming apparatuses described above. In this case, if the abnormality has not been resolved after the elapse of a predetermined set time from the previous notification, the notification processing unit again notifies the request source of the abnormality. Do.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention may be configured as follows in addition to any of the image forming apparatuses described above. In this case, the above-described job is a print job, and the above-described abnormality is jam or out of consumables.

  As a result, even if the requesting user of the print job in progress does not resolve the jam or the out of consumables such as printing paper and toner, the requesting user of the print job waiting for execution notices that the jam or the consumable has run out. Can run out of consumables. Therefore, when a jam or out of consumables occurs, the execution delay of the execution waiting print job is reduced.

  According to the present invention, when an abnormality occurs in the image forming apparatus, execution delay of a job waiting for execution is reduced.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus in FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the notification processing unit when an abnormality occurs in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a job list by the job management unit of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a system including an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the system shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of terminal devices 3-1 to 3-5 are connected to the image forming apparatus 1 via a network 2. In FIG. 1, five terminal devices 3-1 to 3-5 are described, but the number of terminal devices included in the system is not limited to five.

  The image forming apparatus 1 has a printer function, a scanner function, a facsimile communication function, and the like, and a job (print job, facsimile transmission job) in response to a request from the terminal device 3-i (i = 1,..., 5). Etc.). In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 is a multifunction machine, but may be a printer, a facsimile machine, or the like.

  Each of the terminal devices 3-i is a personal computer or the like in which a driver for the image forming apparatus 1 is installed, and transmits a request for a job such as printing to the image forming apparatus 1 by the driver according to a user operation. For example, one terminal device 3-i is operated by one user.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 in FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a printing device 11, an image reading device 12, a facsimile device 13, an operation panel 14, a network interface 15, an arithmetic processing device 16, and a storage device 17.

  The printing device 11 is an internal device that prints a document image based on print data based on each print job. The image reading device 12 is an internal device that optically reads a document image from a document and generates image data of the document image. The facsimile apparatus 13 is an internal apparatus that generates and transmits a facsimile signal from document data to be transmitted based on a facsimile transmission job, and receives the facsimile signal and converts it into document data.

  The operation panel 14 is disposed on the surface of the casing of the image forming apparatus 1 and includes a display device that displays various types of information to the user and an input device that detects a user operation. For example, a liquid crystal display is used as the display device. A key switch, a touch panel, or the like is used as the input device.

  The network interface 15 is a circuit that is connected to the network 2 and performs data communication with the terminal device 3-i and the like connected to the network 2.

  The arithmetic processing unit 16 is a computer having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), and the like. Various processing units are realized by loading a program into the RAM and executing the program by the CPU. In this embodiment, in the arithmetic processing unit 16, a job management unit 21, an image processing unit 22, and a notification processing unit 23 are realized.

  The job management unit 21 receives a request from the terminal device 3-i based on a user operation, generates a job according to the request, manages the job execution order in a queue, and executes the job in order. Note that the job management unit 21 sets the user who requested the job as a user ID added to the user ID when logging in to the image forming apparatus 1 from the terminal apparatus 3-i or a user received from the terminal apparatus 3-i. It is specified from the ID.

  For example, when the job management unit 21 receives a print request accompanied by print data (such as PDL (Page Description Language) data) from the terminal device 3-i via the network interface 15, the job management unit 21 generates a print job and queues the print job. Thus, the print job is managed, and images of the print job are printed on the printing apparatus 11 in order.

  The image processing unit 22 performs image processing such as rasterization on the print data, and generates data in a format that can be processed by the printing apparatus 11.

  When the notification processing unit 23 detects that the job execution has been interrupted due to an abnormality in an internal device such as the printing device 11, the notification processing unit 23 waits for execution in the job management unit 21 and the job management unit 21. An error is notified to the requester of the current job.

  The “abnormality” in this embodiment means that the job execution is interrupted and can be removed by the user. For example, a jam in the case of a print job, out of consumables (for example, out of toner, out of drum life, or out of printing paper) corresponds to this “abnormality”.

  In this embodiment, the notification processing unit 23 notifies an abnormality by transmitting an e-mail addressed to the e-mail address of the user who requested the job via the network interface 15.

  In this embodiment, the notification processing unit 23 performs additional notification of an abnormality when the abnormality has not been resolved after a predetermined set time has elapsed since the first notification of abnormality or detection of the abnormality. Specifically, in the initial notification, the notification processing unit 23 notifies the abnormality to the request source of the job being executed in the job management unit 21 and a predetermined number of request sources of the job waiting for execution, In the additional notification, the job management unit 21 notifies an abnormality to a predetermined number of request sources that have not been notified among request sources of jobs that are waiting to be executed.

  Further, in this embodiment, the notification processing unit 23 (a) according to the setting value in the notification setting data 31 is (a) a predetermined number of requests in order from the first job waiting for execution in the order of waiting for execution. (B) a predetermined number of request sources in order from the last job waiting to be executed in the reverse order of the waiting for execution. To make additional notifications to the selected requester.

  The storage device 17 is a device capable of storing various data. As the storage device 17, a nonvolatile large-capacity storage medium such as a nonvolatile memory or a hard disk drive is used. In the storage device 17, notification setting data 31 and user registration data 32 are stored in advance.

  The notification setting data 31 is abnormality notification setting data by the notification processing unit 23, and (a) the number of first notification destinations when an abnormality is detected, (b) the number of additional notification destinations after the set time has elapsed, and (c). It has setting values for setting items such as setting time until additional notification, (d) notification order, (e) number of repeated notifications, and (f) number of additional notifications.

The setting values of “the number of first notification destinations when an abnormality is detected” are (a1) the number of user-specified destinations described in advance in the notification setting data 31, (a2) only the request source of the job being executed at the time of an abnormality (1) All of the request sources of jobs that are being executed at the time of an abnormality, all of the request sources of jobs that are waiting to be executed at the time of an abnormality, and (a4) Not notified.

The setting value of “the number of additional notification destinations after the set time has passed” is the user-specified number of destinations described in advance in the notification setting data 31.

The setting value of “set time until additional notification” is a user-specified time described in advance in the notification setting data 31. This time is specified in units of minutes, for example.

The setting value of “notification order” includes (d1) a normal order mode in which a notification destination is selected in order from the request source of the first job in the queue of jobs waiting to be executed, and (d2) a queue of jobs waiting to be executed. Or a reverse order mode in which a notification destination is selected in reverse order from the request source of the last job.

The set value of the “number of repeated notifications” is either (e1) notification only once for each destination, or (e2) repeated notification for each destination after a predetermined time elapses.

The set value of “number of additional notifications” is the number of times of performing user-specified additional notifications described in advance in the notification setting data 31.

  The user registration data 32 includes, for each registered user, a user ID and attribute information (e-mail address, belonging user group, etc.) of the user in association with each other.

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus will be described.

  When the job management unit 21 receives a request such as a print job, the job management unit 21 generates the requested job. If there is no job being executed, the job management unit 21 executes the job immediately, and if there is a job being executed. Adds the job to the waiting example.

  Then, when the job execution is completed, if there is a job in the queue at that time, the job management unit 21 executes the head job in the queue.

  When an abnormality occurs in an internal device such as the printing device 11 during execution of a job and the operation of the internal device is interrupted, the internal device notifies the job management unit 21 of the occurrence of the abnormality. When the job management unit 21 detects an abnormality in an internal device such as the printing device 11 during execution of the job, the job management unit 21 causes the notification processing unit 23 to execute the following abnormality notification processing.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the notification processing unit 23 when an abnormality occurs in the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG.

  In the abnormality notification process, the notification processing unit 23 first acquires the current job list from the job management unit 21 and also acquires the notification setting data 31 from the storage device 17 (step S1).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a job list by the job management unit 21 of the image forming apparatus 1 shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, in the job list, the job status (running or waiting order) and the user ID of the job request source are associated with the job ID assigned to the job by the job management unit 21 when the job is generated. ing.

  Then, the notification processing unit 23 specifies the initial notification destination user based on the job list and the notification setting data 31 (step S2).

  At this time, when the setting value of “the number of first notification destinations at the time of abnormality detection” in the notification setting data 31 is “only the request source of the job being executed at the time of abnormality”, the notification processing unit 23 selects the first notification destination. As the user, select the user who requested the running job.

  At this time, when the setting value of “the number of first notification destinations at the time of abnormality detection” in the notification setting data 31 is the number of destinations specified by the user, the notification processing unit 23 is executing as the first notification destination user. Among the users who request the job, and the users who request the job waiting to be executed, the number of users which is one less than the number of destinations is selected. The user selected from the request source users of the job waiting for execution depends on the setting value of the above-mentioned “notification order”, in order from the request source of the first job in the queue of the job waiting for execution or in the last order. Are selected in reverse order from the job request source.

  At this time, the setting value of “the number of first notification destinations when an abnormality is detected” in the notification setting data 31 is “all request sources of jobs being executed at the time of an abnormality and request sources of jobs waiting to be executed at the time of an abnormality”. In this case, the notification processing unit 23 selects the request source user of the job being executed and the request source user of all jobs waiting to be executed as the initial notification destination user.

  Then, the notification processing unit 23 performs the first abnormality notification to the identified first notification destination user (step S3). Specifically, the notification processing unit 23 identifies an email address associated with the user ID of the identified first-time notification destination user in the user registration data 32, and an abnormality occurs with the identified email address as a destination. An e-mail including a message indicating the type of abnormality and a removal method is transmitted to a mail server (not shown). The notification processing unit 23 stores the user ID of the user who has notified the abnormality until the abnormality is resolved.

  Thereafter, the notification processing unit 23 waits until the “set time until the addition notification” in the notification setting data 31 has elapsed (step S4), and when the “set time until the addition notification” has elapsed, the notification processing unit 23 notifies in step S3. It is determined whether or not the abnormality has been eliminated (step S5).

  If the abnormality notified in step S3 has not been resolved, the notification processing unit 23 specifies an additional notification destination user based on the above-described job list and notification setting data 31 in order to perform additional notification (step S6). The additional notification destination user is selected from unreported users and is not selected from notified users.

  Specifically, the notification processing unit 23 selects only the above-mentioned “number of additional notification destinations after the set time has elapsed” from the unreported users of the request-source users of the jobs waiting for execution in the job list. Select according to the “Notification Order” setting.

  And the notification process part 23 performs an additional abnormality notification with respect to the identified additional notification destination user (step S7). Specifically, the notification processing unit 23 specifies the email address associated with the user ID of the additional notification destination user specified in step S6 using the user registration data 32, and uses the specified email address as the destination. An e-mail including a message indicating the occurrence of an abnormality, the type of abnormality, a removal method, and the like is transmitted. The notification processing unit 23 stores the user ID of the user who has notified the abnormality until the abnormality is resolved.

  Thereafter, the notification processing unit 23 stands by until the “set time until the additional notification” in the notification setting data 31 has elapsed (step S8), and when the “set time until the additional notification” has elapsed, step S3 and step S7. It is determined whether or not the abnormality notified in (3) has been resolved (step S9).

  If the abnormality has not been resolved, the notification processing unit 23 determines whether or not to perform additional notification based on the “number of additional notifications” in the notification setting data 31 (step S10). Specifically, if the number of executions of the additional notification in step S7 is less than the above-mentioned “number of additional notifications”, the notification processing unit 23 determines that the additional notification is further performed.

  If it is determined that an additional notification is to be performed, the notification processing unit 23 returns to step S6, similarly selects an additional notification destination user from unreported users, and similarly performs additional notification (step S7).

  If it is determined that no additional notification is to be performed, the notification processing unit 23 ends the abnormality notification process if the setting value of the “number of repeated notifications” is “only one notification”. On the other hand, when the set value of “the number of repetition notifications” is “repetition notification”, the notification processing unit 23 repeatedly notifies the destinations that have already been notified every predetermined time until the abnormality is resolved. Do.

  If it is determined in step S5 that the abnormality has been resolved, the notification processing unit 23 notifies the user who has been notified by the initial abnormality notification (step S3) of the abnormality elimination (step S11). If it is determined in step S9 that the abnormality has been eliminated, the notification processing unit 23 notifies all users who have been notified by the initial abnormality notification (step S3) and one or more additional abnormality notifications (step S7). Then, the abnormality is notified (step S11). Specifically, the notification processing unit 23 transmits an e-mail including a message indicating abnormality resolution to the e-mail address associated with the user ID of the user.

  For example, the job list is shown in FIG. 4, “the number of first notification destinations when an abnormality is detected” is 3, “the number of additional notification destinations after the set time has elapsed” is 2, and “notification order”. Is “reverse order mode” and “number of additional notifications” is 2, first, in the first abnormality notification, abnormality notification is performed to three users whose user IDs are A537, A509, and A001, and then In the first additional abnormality notification, an abnormality notification is made to two users with user IDs A110 and A718, and in the second additional abnormality notification, an abnormality is made to two users with user IDs A438 and A119. Notification is made. Further, for example, the job list is as shown in FIG. 4, “the number of first notification destinations when abnormality is detected” is 2, “the number of additional notification destinations after the set time has elapsed” is 3, and “notification When “order” is “normal order mode” and “number of additional notifications” is 2, first, in the first abnormality notification, abnormality notification is performed to two users with user IDs A537 and A101, and the next In addition, in the first additional abnormality notification, abnormality notification is given to three users whose user IDs are A119, A438, and A718, and in the second additional abnormality notification, user IDs are A110, A001, and A509. Abnormal notification is sent to the user.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the job management unit 21 sequentially executes jobs, and when the notification processing unit 23 detects that the job execution is interrupted due to an abnormality, the job management unit 21 , The job requester of the job being executed and the job requester of the job waiting for execution in the job management unit 21 are notified of the abnormality.

  As a result, even when the requesting user of the job being executed does not remove the abnormality, the requesting user of the job waiting to be executed notices the abnormality and can remove the abnormality. Therefore, when an abnormality occurs, it is highly likely that the abnormality will be resolved in a short time by any user, and the execution delay of the job waiting for execution is reduced.

  The above-described embodiments are preferred examples of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. is there.

  For example, in the above embodiment, the notification processing unit 23 notifies the abnormality to only the users belonging to a predetermined user group among the request sources of jobs that are waiting to be executed in the job management unit 21. Also good. The user group to which the user belongs is specified by the user registration data 32. As a result, it is possible to notify an abnormality to a specific user, such as a manager, and not to notify a user who does not perform abnormality removal work.

  In the above embodiment, the request source is specified by the user ID, but may be specified by the identifier (network address or the like) of the terminal device 3-i.

  In the above embodiment, e-mail is used as the notification method. However, the notification processing unit 23 notifies the driver of the terminal device 3-i using a predetermined communication protocol, and an abnormality occurs. A message indicating the above may be displayed on the driver.

  The present invention is applicable to an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a multifunction peripheral.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 21 Job management part 23 Notification processing part

Claims (4)

A job management section that executes jobs in sequence;
When it is detected that the job execution has been interrupted due to an abnormality, an error has occurred with respect to the request source of the job being executed in the job management unit and the request source of at least one job waiting to be executed in the job management unit A notification processing unit for notifying
Equipped with a,
After the initial notification of the abnormality, the notification processing unit, when the abnormality has not been resolved after a predetermined set time has elapsed since the initial notification of the abnormality or the detection of the abnormality, An additional notification is made to a predetermined number of request sources in the request source that has not been notified among the request sources of the jobs waiting to be executed in the job management unit,
The notification processing unit selects a predetermined number of request sources in order from the last job waiting for execution in an order opposite to the order of waiting for execution, and notifies the selected request source of the additional notification. To do the
An image forming apparatus. The notification processing unit notifies an abnormality only to users belonging to a predetermined user group among job request sources waiting for execution in the job management unit,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 Symbol mounting characterized. The notification processing unit notifies the request source of the abnormality when the abnormality has not been resolved after the elapse of a predetermined set time from the previous notification with respect to the request source that has performed the notification. the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the processing is performed again. The job is a print job;
The abnormality is jam or out of consumables,
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in.

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