JP6129252B2 - Image forming system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system having a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus.

  Conventionally, an image forming apparatus having a facsimile function for transmitting and receiving facsimile data via a public line is generally known. In recent years, an Internet facsimile machine (hereinafter abbreviated as an Internet FAX machine) is also widely used as a facsimile machine capable of performing facsimile communication via the Internet using an e-mail protocol. The Internet FAX is an Internet FAX simple mode in accordance with TTC (Telephone and Telephone Technical Committee) standard JT-T37 (standard for “storage and exchange type Internet facsimile data transmission procedure”). The Internet FAX apparatus can transmit and receive a facsimile using the Internet or an intranet. As a result, communication costs can be reduced compared to a facsimile using a telephone line. In addition, the Internet FAX apparatus can digitize a paper document with a simple operation equivalent to that of a facsimile, attach it to an e-mail, and send it to a personal computer. According to a standard called simple mode of an Internet FAX apparatus, it is possible to send image data having a printing paper size of A4 and a printing resolution of 200 DPI (Dot Per Inch) to a printer, and the printer can receive and print out the image data. It is.

  Further, the above-described image forming apparatus can receive and print out an electronic mail other than the electronic mail transmitted according to the Internet FAX standard.

  In addition to the e-mail receiving function, the image forming apparatus described above may have a function of receiving and printing print data generated by a printer driver on a PC via a network. Such a printer can also receive and print e-mail and PDL data in parallel.

  By the way, the conventional FAX apparatus restricts printing when the remaining amount of toner is smaller than a predetermined value in order to prevent the printed matter from being rubbed due to the remaining amount of toner being reduced. It is known to do (refer patent document 1).

JP 2002-64670 A

  In a system having a plurality of image forming apparatuses, a mechanism for performing printing in the other apparatus by transferring data received by one apparatus to the other apparatus has been studied.

The present invention, in such a mechanism, when the remaining amount of toner in which the second image forming apparatus is used to perform the image formation is less than the specified value, printed matter rubbed by the second image forming apparatus is output An object of the present invention is to provide a means for outputting printed matter with the first image forming apparatus .

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming system according to the present invention is an image forming system having a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus, and the first image forming apparatus has a first control. Means, a first image forming means, a first receiving means for receiving data, and a transfer means for transferring the data received by the first receiving means to the second image forming apparatus. Then, the second image forming apparatus performs image formation based on the second receiving means for receiving the data transferred by the first image forming apparatus and the data received by the second receiving means. A notification is sent to the first image forming apparatus based on the determination that the remaining amount of toner used for image formation by the second image forming means and the second image forming means is less than a specified value. Second control means to perform and And the first control unit performs image formation based on the data received by the first receiving unit in response to receiving the notification from the second image forming apparatus. It is characterized by causing the forming means to perform.

According to the present invention, prevent the second image forming apparatus when less than the remaining amount of the toner is the specified value to be used for image formation, the printed matter rubbed by the second image forming apparatus is output In addition, it is possible to output the printed matter with the first image forming apparatus .

It is a figure which shows the structure of the network system comprised from PC, MFP, and SFP. It is a block diagram of the transfer setting table which shows the data transfer to SFP memorize | stored in MFP. It is a data block diagram of an email. 4 is a print example of the e-mail shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram among a FAX apparatus, MFP, and SFP in the system shown in FIG. 1. 3 is a flowchart for explaining processing in the MFP of FIG. 1. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the process in SFP of 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 an image forming system in the present embodiment. This image forming system includes a facsimile apparatus 100 that transmits facsimile data (hereinafter referred to as a FAX apparatus), an MFP 200 that includes a plurality of functions such as a facsimile function, a print function, and an e-mail transmission function, and a print single function apparatus 300 (hereinafter referred to as a facsimile apparatus). , Referred to as SFP) and a general-purpose personal computer (hereinafter referred to as PC) 400. In the present embodiment, an MFP will be described as an example of a data communication apparatus, and an SFP will be described as an example of an image forming apparatus.

  Note that MFP is an abbreviation for Multi Function Peripheral, and SFP is an abbreviation for Single Function Peripheral.

  The FAX apparatus 100 and the MFP 200 are connected by a PSTN 500 (Public Switched Telephone Network) or a digital line (ISDN: Integrated Service Digital Network).

  An MFP 200, an SFP 300, and a PC 400 are communicably connected to a LAN 600 (Local Area Network).

  The MFP 200 has a plurality of FAX lines and FAX numbers. Then, one transfer destination apparatus is set for one FAX number, and the facsimile data received by the MFP 200 can be transferred to a different transfer destination apparatus.

  The MFP 200 can convert the facsimile data received from the FAX apparatus 100 into image data in a file format that can be printed by the SFP 300, and transfer an email attached as an image file to the SFP 300 via the LAN 600. For data transfer at this time, an e-mail transmission protocol called SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is used, and the e-mail is directly transferred to the SFP 300 without going through the e-mail server.

  The MFP has a so-called direct SMTP function, and uses the above-described SMTP protocol to send image data generated by reading a document with a scanner to the SFP 300 by e-mail and print it on the SFP 300. Is also possible.

  The SFP 300 receives e-mail data via the LAN 600 and prints it. At this time, if the received e-mail data is transferred from the FAX apparatus 100 via the MFP 200, the image file attached to the e-mail data is printed. Print the attached image file. Further, the SFP 300 can receive and print PDL data transmitted from the PC 400.

  Note that the SFP 300 may be configured not only to perform printing based on data received via a network but also to perform copying or the like by providing a scanner or the like, for example.

  Note that data flowing through the LAN 600 is transmitted according to a transmission protocol up to a transport layer called TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol). Further, by using SMTP as a communication protocol for higher layers, it is possible to send and receive e-mail data.

  Next, a hardware configuration diagram of the MFP 200 will be described. The CPU 211 controls the MFP 200. The ROM 216 stores program codes for controlling the CPU 211, the display panel 212 and the operation unit 213, the scanner unit 214, and the print engine unit 215. By using a rewritable flash ROM for the ROM 216, the program code stored in the ROM can be updated. The RAM 217 is used not only as a work memory for the control program code but also for temporarily storing an image to be printed out on the print engine unit 215. Reference numeral 218 denotes a non-volatile memory for temporarily storing received facsimile data, e-mail, and attached image files, and includes a hard disk (HDD), a flash ROM, or the like.

  The print engine unit 215 forms an image based on the image data. The print engine unit 215 acquires the remaining amount of toner necessary for image formation at a regular timing, the timing for printing one page of the image, and the timing when the toner is replenished, and holds the acquired toner remaining amount in the RAM 217. To do.

  The scanner unit 214 reads a document and converts it into image data. The operation unit 213 is provided with various keys for receiving operations from the user, and the user can instruct execution of various programs. The display panel 212 displays an operation screen for functions and settings. It is also possible to send e-mail data generated from the image data converted by the scanner unit 214 to an external device.

  Reference numeral 219 denotes an Ethernet (registered trademark) interface for connection to the LAN 600, which enables transmission and reception of e-mail data and PDL data.

  Reference numeral 220 denotes a FAX connector for connecting to the PSTN 500, which enables transmission and reception of facsimile data from the FAX apparatus 100.

  Next, as for the hardware configuration of the SFP 300, only the parts different from the MFP 200 will be described. The CPU 311 is a CPU for controlling the SFP 300, and stores a control program for executing processing shown in FIG. Reference numeral 312 denotes a display panel for displaying functions and settings. Reference numeral 313 denotes an operation unit for instructing execution of various programs. Reference numeral 315 denotes a print engine unit for printing out image data. A ROM 316 stores program codes for controlling the CPU 311, the display panel 312, the operation unit 313, and the print engine unit 315. Reference numeral 317 denotes a RAM which is used not only as a work memory for the control program code but also for temporarily storing an image to be printed on the print engine unit 315. Reference numeral 318 denotes a nonvolatile memory for temporarily storing e-mails and attached image files. Reference numeral 319 denotes an Ethernet (registered trademark) interface for connection to the LAN 600, which enables transmission and reception of electronic mail and PDL data.

  The configuration of the entire system in the present embodiment has been described above. In the following, an operation will be described in which the MFP 200 transfers the facsimile data transmitted from the above-described FAX apparatus 100 to the SFP 300 by e-mail, and the SFP 300 performs printing based on the transferred e-mail. However, this embodiment can be applied to operations other than this. For example, the facsimile data transmitted from the MFP 200 may be transferred to another MFP instead of the SFP 300, or the SFP 300 may be provided with not only a print function but also a facsimile function and a copy function.

  FIG. 2 is a table showing facsimile data transfer settings stored in the nonvolatile memory 218 of the MFP 200. The transfer setting table 230 is referred to in order to determine whether the facsimile data received from the FAX apparatus 100 should be printed by the MFP 200 itself or transferred to another apparatus. The transfer setting table 230 is referred to in order to specify a transfer destination device when transferring facsimile data.

  The transfer setting table 230 includes a FAX number, a transfer destination IP address, and a transfer retry count. When the MFP 200 receives the facsimile data at the corresponding FAX number, the MFP 200 performs data transfer of the e-mail to the apparatus set as the transfer destination IP address. For this data transfer, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is used.

  When a session cannot be established during data transfer, specifically, when an SMTP session start request is rejected by the transfer device, data transfer is attempted again for the number of times set by the transfer retry count. If the transfer retry count setting value is exceeded, the data transfer is stopped and the MFP 200 itself performs proxy printing.

  Note that the FAX number, transfer destination IP address, and transfer retry count set in the transfer setting table 230 may be freely rewritten via the display panel 212 and the operation unit 213. Further, only a person who has been given special authority such as an administrator may be allowed to set.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of e-mail data transmitted and received by the MFP 200 and the SFP 300. 3 includes a mail header 700, a mail body 701, and attached image files (attached image files) 702 and 703.

  The mail header 700 is composed of a “Date” field for setting e-mail transmission date and time information, a “From” field for setting the e-mail address of the sender, and a “To” field for setting the e-mail address of the recipient. In addition, a “Subject” field for setting the title of the e-mail and a “Message-Id” field for setting a unique ID generated based on the transmission date and time and the e-mail address of the device to identify e-mail data are included. Yes.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, a field (“X-Canon-Fax”) for indicating transfer printing from the FAX apparatus 100 can be added to the mail header 700. In the mail header 700 of FIG. 3, an “X-Canon-Fax” field is added to indicate transfer printing from the FAX apparatus 100. If the attribute of the “X-Canon-Fax” field is added, the SFP 300 that receives the e-mail data determines that the e-mail data transferred from the FAX apparatus 100 via the MFP 200 is received, and the e-mail data Only the attached image file is printed. On the other hand, when the attribute of the “X-Canon-FAX” field is OFF or when the “X-Canon-Fax” field is not added to the mail header 700, both the body of the email and the image of the attached file are printed. .

  When the MFP 200 transmits e-mail data including text data in the mail body to the SFP 300 using the direct SMTP function, the attribute of this field may be set to OFF.

Since the e-mail data must be readable information of 7-bit code, it cannot be transmitted as it is if the attached image file is binary data. Therefore, the mail text 701 and the attached image files 702 and 703 are transmitted after being converted into data in the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) format. The MIME version is set in the “MIME-Version” field of the mail header 700. Each data attribute is set in the “Content-Type” field of the mail body 701 and the attached image files 702 and 703, and the data encoding method is set in the “Content-Transfer-Encoding” field.
The mail body 701 is composed of text data of a language system of “ISO-2022-JP” in this example.

  The attached image file 702 is composed of TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format image data called “base64” in this example.

  The attached image file 703 is composed of image data in the JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format, which is also the encoding method of “base64”.

  In this embodiment, two attached image files 702 and 703 are attached to the e-mail, but the number of attached image files attached to the e-mail and the compression format of the attached image file are not particularly limited. In the case of the TIFF format, it is possible to configure a multi-page in which a plurality of images are stored in one file. For this reason, it is possible to transmit one attached image file to an e-mail to realize image printing of a plurality of pages.

  For example, in addition to an image file in TIFF format or JPEG format, a PDF (Portable Document Format) file may be attached to an e-mail and transmitted.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a print example of the mail text and attached image file of the electronic mail data shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 4, a mail body 701 is printed on the first page, an attached image file 702 is printed on the second page, and an attached image file 703 is printed on the third page one image at a time.

  Furthermore, when the “X-Canon-Fax” field indicating transfer printing from the FAX apparatus 100 described in FIG. 3 is not added or when the attribute of the “X-Canon-Fax” field is OFF. The mail body 701 and the attached image files 702 and 703 are printed.

  On the other hand, when the attribute of the “X-Canon-Fax” field is ON, printing of the mail body 701 is omitted, and only the attached image files 702 and 703 are printed.

  By referring to the presence / absence and ON / OFF of this field, it is possible to determine whether or not to omit printing of the mail text 701 of e-mail data that does not exist when image data is transmitted from the FAX apparatus 100 to the MFP 200.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a basic operation sequence of the FAX apparatus 100, the MFP 200, and the SFP 300. The sequence in FIG. 5 is an operation procedure in which the MFP 200 transmits the facsimile data transmitted from the FAX apparatus 100 to the SFP 300 by e-mail and prints the data transferred by the SFP. In the sequence of FIG. 5, the facsimile data received by the MFP 200 matches the transfer conditions to the SFP 300, and the toner amount necessary for printing by the print engine unit 315 of the SFP 300 remains sufficiently, so that printing can be performed normally. The explanation is based on the assumption that there is.

  In step S100, the facsimile data transmitted from the FAX apparatus 100 is received by the MFP 200 according to a known facsimile procedure. In step S101, the facsimile data is temporarily stored in the nonvolatile memory 218 of the MFP 200, and the FAX apparatus 100 is notified of the completion of reception.

  In step S102, e-mail data and an attached image file are generated for transfer to the SFP 300.

  The attached image file is generated from the facsimile data stored in step S101. The attached image file is an image file in a TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) format or a JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format.

  In steps S103 to S108 and S112, the e-mail data and the attached image file generated in step S102 are transmitted via an SMTP command.

  In this embodiment, detailed description of the SMTP command and contents is omitted. However, in the command indicating the end of data transmission in step S109, the completion of printing is returned by returning success after the printing process described later is completed. Notify.

  In step S109, the e-mail data in MIME format received by the SFP 300 is analyzed, and the mail body 701 and the attached image files 702 and 703 are restored by code restoration.

  In step S110, the SFP 300 generates an image to be printed from the restored mail body 701 and attached image files 702 and 703.

  In step S111, the SFP 300 prints the generated image, and returns an SMTP session end command (QUIT) in step S112 as a response to the data end command in step S108. Upon receiving the SMTP session end command, the MFP 200 notifies the completion of printing by returning success to the command indicating the end of data transmission in step S108 after the printing of all SMTP session end comments is completed.

  In step S113, after confirming the completion of printing in step S108, the facsimile data temporarily stored in the nonvolatile memory 218 in the MFP 200 is deleted.

  The operation sequence between the FAX apparatus 100, the MFP 200, and the SFP 300 has been described above.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for describing processing in MFP 200. Control program code for executing each step of this flowchart is stored in the ROM 216 and executed by the CPU 211.

  First, in step S <b> 200, the MFP 200 receives facsimile data from the FAX apparatus 100 and stores the facsimile data in the nonvolatile memory 218. This process corresponds to step S100 and step S101 in FIG.

  In step S201, it is determined whether the received facsimile data has been received under transfer conditions to one or more SFPs registered in advance. Specifically, the CPU 211 refers to the transfer setting table 230 illustrated in FIG. 2 and determines whether the FAX number at the time of reception matches any FAX number registered in the transfer setting table in FIG. It is determined whether or not transfer setting to the SFP is performed.

  If transfer to the SFP is not set in step S201 (NO in step S201), the print engine unit 215 prints facsimile data in step S209.

  On the other hand, if transfer to the SFP is set in step S201 (YES in step S201), e-mail data to be transmitted to the transfer device indicated by the IP address corresponding to the received FAX number is obtained in step S202. Generate. In the following description of this embodiment, it is assumed that the apparatus for transferring facsimile data by electronic mail is the SFP 300 in FIG.

  The “X-Canon-FAX” field of the mail header 700 of the e-mail data generated in step S202 is set to ON. Then, the e-mail data is generated as an image format that can be printed by the SFP 300 (for example, TIFF format or JPEG format).

  In step S203, an SMTP session is started to send e-mail data to the IP address of the transfer device. This process corresponds to step S103 in FIG.

  In step S204, it is determined whether an SMTP session has been started. If the session cannot be started (NO in step S204), it is determined that the e-mail data cannot be transmitted to the SFP 300, and an SMTP session start request is made again after a predetermined time has elapsed. This session start request is repeated for the number of transfer retries corresponding to the IP address of the transfer apparatus in FIG.

  In step S205, it is determined whether or not the number of retries has reached the number of transfer retries (upper limit value) in FIG. 2. If the number of retries reaches the upper limit value, the transfer to the SFP 300 is stopped, and the MFP 200 performs printing in step S210.

  In step S206, the e-mail data generated in step S202 is transmitted. This process corresponds to step S107 in FIG.

  In step S207, it is monitored whether or not the state in which the SMTP session is established has been switched to a state in which the SMTP session has not been established (whether the session has expired). If the session is cut off during the transmission of the e-mail data, the process returns to step S203 to transmit the e-mail data from the beginning.

  In step S208, it is determined whether or not the transmission is completed. If the e-mail transmission is normally completed, the facsimile data temporarily stored in the RAM 217 or the non-volatile memory 218 is deleted in step S209 and the flowchart of FIG. The process ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining processing in the SFP 300. A control program for executing each step of this flowchart is stored in the ROM 316 and executed by the CPU 311. In the flowchart of FIG. 7, processing is started when data is received via the LAN 600 and the Ethernet (registered trademark) interface 319 by either the MFP 200 or the PC 400.

  First, the SFP 300 determines whether the data received by the Ethernet (registered trademark) interface 319 in step S300 is e-mail data or PDL data based on the protocol and the port number.

  If it is determined that the data is electronic mail data (YES in step S300), the process proceeds to step S301. In step S301, with reference to the mail header 700 of the e-mail data shown in FIG. 3, is the e-mail data transferred from the FAX apparatus 100 (fax transfer) or other e-mail data? (For example, whether it is e-mail data using the direct SMTP function). When the “X-Canon-Fax” field is ON, it is determined that the fax transfer is performed. When the “X-Canon-Fax” field is OFF or when this field is not added, the process proceeds to step S302. .

  In step S <b> 302, the CPU 311 confirms the remaining amount of toner stored in the RAM 317. The remaining amount of toner acquired here is the value written in the RAM 317 when the print engine unit 315 collects the status at a predetermined timing as described above.

  In step S303, the remaining amount of toner acquired in S302 is compared with a reference value (specified value) preset in SFP 300. The prescribed value of the remaining amount of toner in the present embodiment indicates a stage in which rubbing printing does not occur due to insufficient toner remaining, and is a reference for guaranteeing normal printing. When the CPU 311 determines that the remaining amount of toner is smaller than a reference value (specified value) predetermined by the SFP 300, a QUIT comment is transmitted as a response to the HELO command from the MFP 200 in step S304. Accordingly, reception of the e-mail data is rejected, and printing based on the e-mail data transferred from the MFP 200 is restricted.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S303 that the remaining amount of toner is larger than the specified value and it is possible to output a guaranteed printed material that is not rubbed (NO in step S303), the process proceeds to step S305. In step S305, an image to be printed is generated based on the received data. If the received data is e-mail data, the mail text 701 and attached image files 702 and 703 are restored by analyzing the MIME format data and restoring the code to generate a print image.

  If it is determined in step S301 that the received data is FAX transfer, an image is generated by omitting the mail body 701 of the e-mail data. On the other hand, in step S305, if PDL data is received, the PDL data is analyzed, and a bitmap image generated according to each instruction described in the PDL data is generated.

  In step S306, the image generated in step S305 is printed, and when the CPU 311 determines that printing of all the page images has been completed in step S307, the processing of this flowchart ends. On the other hand, if it is determined that printing of all the page images has not been completed, the process proceeds to step S308.

In step S308, the CPU 311 determines whether or not the received data is e-mail data. If it is determined that the received data is e-mail data, the process proceeds to step S309. In step S309, it is confirmed based on the received e-mail data whether the e-mail data is transmitted from the FAX apparatus 100 via the MFP 200. If YES in step S309, the remaining amount of toner is confirmed in the same procedure as in step S302 when the image of each page is printed and discharged to the paper discharge unit of the SFP 300 (step S310).
In step S311, the CPU 311 determines whether or not the remaining amount of toner is smaller than a specified value in the same procedure as in step S303. If it is determined that the remaining amount of toner is smaller than the predetermined value, printing of the e-mail data is stopped, and the SMTP session is disconnected, so that printing to the MFP 200 that is sending the e-mail data has failed. Notice. Further, the received e-mail and attached image file are deleted, and the processing of this flowchart is terminated.

  Since this notification is transmitted to the MFP 200, the MFP 200 retries the data for the number of retries indicated in the transfer setting table 230, and if the transmission still fails, proxy printing is performed.

  If it is determined in step S308 that printing is based on PDL data, or if it is determined in step S309 that it is not FAX transfer, the process returns to step S305 to continue generating the print image of the next page.

  In FIG. 7, the remaining amount of toner is confirmed in steps S302 and 303 at the start of reception of e-mail data, and in steps S308 and 309 during printing of each page during the reception of e-mail. For this reason, when the toner is replenished, the specified value fluctuates and the reception of the e-mail data is resumed.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, reception / printing is limited depending on whether the data received by the Ethernet interface 319 is e-mail data or PDL data. As a result, the electronic mail can be prevented from being rubbed by stopping reception and printing, and the PDL data can be continuously received and printed.

  In the present embodiment, the SMTP session start request is rejected as a method for restricting printing based on the e-mail data from the MFP 200 when the remaining amount of toner in the SFP 300 is less than the specified value. That is, the e-mail data itself is not received by the SFP 300. Therefore, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the e-mail data is left without being printed while being stored in the SFP 300.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 7, it is determined whether or not the received e-mail data has been transferred from the FAX apparatus 100 (see step S301). In accordance with this determination result, it is determined whether to check the remaining amount of toner or to perform printing without checking the remaining amount of toner (see step S302 and step S305). However, the process of step S302 may be performed uniformly if the received data is e-mail data without performing the above determination. With this configuration, it is not necessary to analyze the contents of the mail header 700 of the received electronic mail data, and processing can be performed at higher speed.

  In the image forming system of the present embodiment, facsimile data from the FAX apparatus 100 is configured to be transferred by the MFP 200 according to the SMTP protocol. For this reason, the SFP 300 determines that it is a fax transfer when the received data is received according to the SMTP protocol (see step S300). However, if the protocol that the MFP 200 transfers to the SFP 300 is not SMTP but another protocol (for example, FTP), the data received according to another protocol may be determined to be fax transfer.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, or the like) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

100 Facsimile machine (FAX machine)
200 MFP
211 CPU
212 Display Panel 213 Operation Unit 214 Scanner Unit 215 Print Engine Unit 216 ROM
217 RAM
218 Non-volatile memory 219 Ethernet (registered trademark)
220 FAX connector 230 Transfer setting table 300 Printer unit (SFP)
311 CPU
312 Display panel 313 Operation unit 315 Print engine unit 316 ROM
317 RAM
318 Non-volatile memory 319 Ethernet (registered trademark)
400 Personal computer (PC)
500 Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
600 Local Area Network (LAN)
700 Mail header 701 Mail text 702 Attached image file 703 Attached image file

Claims (10)

An image forming system having a first image forming apparatus and a second image forming apparatus,
The first image forming apparatus includes:
First control means;
First image forming means;
First receiving means for receiving data;
Transfer means for transferring data received by the first receiving means to the second image forming apparatus,
The second image forming apparatus includes:
Second receiving means for receiving data transferred by the first image forming apparatus;
Second image forming means for forming an image based on the data received by the second receiving means;
Second control means for notifying the first image forming apparatus based on the determination that the remaining amount of toner used for image formation by the second image forming means is less than a prescribed value; Have
The first control unit performs image formation based on the data received by the first receiving unit on the first image forming unit in response to receiving the notification from the second image forming apparatus. An image forming system. The second control unit starts a session transmitted from the first image forming apparatus when the remaining amount of toner used for image formation by the second image forming unit is less than a predetermined value. The notification as a response to the request for
In response to receiving the notification from the second image forming apparatus, the first control unit performs an image based on the data received by the first reception unit without performing data transfer by the transfer unit. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the first image forming unit is formed. When the remaining amount of toner used for image formation by the second image forming unit is less than a predetermined value, the second control unit is configured to respond as a response to data transfer from the first image forming apparatus. Make a notification ,
The first control unit stops data transfer by the transfer unit in response to receiving the notification from the second image forming apparatus, and forms an image based on the data received by the first reception unit. 3. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the first image forming unit performs the operation described above. The first image forming apparatus further includes a storage unit that stores data received by the first reception unit;
The first control unit causes the first image forming unit to perform image formation based on the data stored in the storage unit in response to receiving the notification from the second image forming apparatus. 4. A system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that   The image forming system according to claim 4, wherein the first image forming apparatus further includes an erasing unit that erases data stored in the storage unit after data transfer by the transfer unit is completed.   The second control means determines that the image by the second image forming means is based on the fact that the second image forming means determines that the remaining amount of toner used for image formation is less than a specified value. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein notification is made to the first image forming apparatus without causing formation. The second image forming unit can further form an image based on data different from the data transferred from the first image forming apparatus,
When the remaining amount of toner used for image formation by the second image forming unit is less than a predetermined value, the second control unit is the data transferred from the first image forming apparatus. The image forming system according to claim 6, wherein different data is subjected to image formation by the second image forming unit.   2. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the data received by the first receiving means is facsimile data.   9. The image forming system according to claim 8, wherein the data transferred by the transfer means is data obtained by converting the facsimile data into electronic mail data. An image forming apparatus,
First control means;
First image forming means;
First receiving means for receiving data;
Transfer means for transferring data received by the first receiving means to another image forming apparatus,
The other image forming apparatus includes:
Second receiving means for receiving data transferred by the image forming apparatus;
Second image forming means for forming an image based on the data received by the second receiving means;
Second control means for notifying the first image forming apparatus based on the determination that the remaining amount of toner used for image formation by the second image forming means is less than a prescribed value; Have
The first control unit causes the first image forming unit to perform image formation based on the data received by the first receiving unit in response to receiving the notification from the other image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus.

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