JP7008747B2 - Printing equipment and its control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a control method thereof.

The printing process in the conventional image forming apparatus has a plurality of printing modes, and in these printing modes, the paper feed unit of the image forming apparatus automatically determines the size of the paper, and the printing process is performed according to the size. There is a "standard print mode" to perform. In addition, if the paper size used for printing cannot be detected in advance, such as by manual printing, printing is performed by letting the user set the size of the paper loaded in the manual feed tray. "User-defined size printing mode" (irregular size printing mode) Also called). In the user-defined size print mode, it is necessary for the user to input the size of the paper used for printing, so in order to solve the problem that it is troublesome for the user, the user does not specify the paper size. Some have a "print mode". In the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1, in the case of this one-size-fits-all printing mode, the printing process is performed on the first sheet of paper, and the first sheet of paper is printed from the paper feed speed and the sensor installed in the transport path. Determine the size and determine the paper size. Then, when printing on the second and subsequent sheets, a control method has been proposed in which the printing process for the second and subsequent sheets is performed using the paper size determined in the printing of the first sheet.

Japanese Patent No. 3227187

In order to carry out the printing process described in Patent Document 1, the timing of starting the feeding operation of the second sheet and the start of the processing of the image data to be printed on the second sheet is set to the first sheet. It is necessary to delay until the printing process is completed and the paper size determination result is obtained. Therefore, in the printing process for the second and subsequent sheets, there is a problem that the instruction to start feeding to the paper feeding unit is delayed and the time until the printing of the image on the second sheet is completed becomes long. Further, it is necessary to process the image data to be printed on the second and subsequent sheets according to the determination result of the size of the first sheet, and the image processing unit that performs this image processing depends on the determined paper size. May require image trimming. In such a case, if the image processing unit does not have the image trimming processing function, there is a problem that the one-size-fits-all printing mode cannot be specified by the control method described in Patent Document 1 described above.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

An object of the present invention is that an image of an original can be printed correctly even in a print mode in which the size of the sheet used for printing is not specified by the user , and further, after the size of the sheet used for printing is detected, the sheet is printed . The purpose is to provide a technology that can be executed without delaying the printing of the image of.

In order to achieve the above object, the printing apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A printing device that can detect the size of sheets fed from the bypass tray.
A scanner that scans the document and
Image processing means for image processing and
A printing means for printing an image on a sheet fed from the manual feed tray, and
In a print mode in which the size of the sheet fed from the manual feed tray is not specified by the user, the scanner scans the first document, the second document, and the third document in this order, and scans at the maximum size of the scanner . The first image, the second image, and the third image corresponding to the first manuscript, the second manuscript, and the third manuscript are received from the scanner.
The image processing means is made to process the entire first image and the entire second image , and the processed first image is printed on the first sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means. Then, the entire processed second image is printed on the second sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means.
An image corresponding to the detected size of the first sheet is trimmed from the third image, the image processing means is made to process the image obtained by the trimming, and the processed image is processed by the printing means. It is characterized by having a control means for controlling printing on a third sheet fed from the manual feed tray.

According to the present invention, the image of the original can be printed correctly even in the print mode in which the size of the sheet used for printing is not specified by the user , and further, after the size of the sheet used for printing is detected, the sheet is printed . There is an effect that printing of the image can be executed without delay.

Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent by the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the attached drawings, the same or similar configurations are given the same reference numbers.

The accompanying drawings are included in the specification and are used to form a part thereof, show an embodiment of the present invention, and explain the principle of the present invention together with the description thereof.
The block diagram explaining the structure of the image forming apparatus which is an example of the printing apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. The block diagram explaining the schematic structure of the printer part of the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure explaining the sequence of exchanging control commands between a functional part and an engine control part realized by the program of the MFP which concerns on embodiment. The figure explaining the data structure of the control instruction between the print processing part and the engine control part shown in FIG. The flowchart explaining the paper size determination process by the engine control part of the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. The figure which shows an example of the paper size setting screen displayed in the operation part of the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure which shows an example of the input screen of the paper size displayed in the operation part of the image forming apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The flowchart explaining the process of determining the reading image size when the copy operation is executed by the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure explaining the attribute information of the image data stored in the storage memory of the image forming apparatus which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure explaining the structure of the image data stored in the storage memory when the reading unit reads three originals in the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The figure explaining the print management information generated one per page of the manuscript data to be printed in the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. The flowchart explaining the printing process by the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. The flowchart explaining the issuance processing of the paper feed instruction of S1208 of FIG. The functional block diagram explaining the function of the image processing unit which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a flowchart explaining the issuance processing of the print start instruction performed from the control unit to the engine control unit in S1211 of FIG. The figure explaining the sequence of exchanging control commands between a functional part and an engine control part realized by the program of the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of print management information when the print processing unit issues a print start instruction on the second page to the engine control unit. The flowchart explaining the update process of the print page size in the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 1. FIG. A timing chart for comparing the print control according to the first embodiment with the conventional print control. The functional block diagram explaining the function of the image processing unit which concerns on Embodiment 2. The flowchart explaining the update process of the print page size in the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 2. The flowchart explaining the receiving process of the paper discharge notice by the MFP which concerns on Embodiment 2.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the scope of claims, and not all combinations of features described in the present embodiment are essential for the means for solving the present invention. ..

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus which is an example of a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Here, as an image forming apparatus, a multi-function peripheral (MFP) capable of reading and printing a document by a reading unit will be described as an example, but the image forming apparatus of the present invention has only a printing function. It may be a printing device.

The control unit 115 controls the operation of the entire image forming apparatus. The control unit 115 has a system bus 101 and an image bus 110. The ROM 102 stores a boot program, and when the power of the device is turned on, the CPU 103 executes the boot program and expands the OS and the program stored in the storage memory 105 to the RAM 104. Then, the CPU 103 controls the operation of the entire device by executing the program expanded in the RAM 104. The RAM 104 also provides a work memory for the CPU 103 to execute a program, and is also used as an image memory for temporarily storing the image data when processing the image data. The storage memory 105 is, for example, a large-capacity memory such as a hard disk or an SSD memory, and stores image data and various programs input from the reading unit 112. The LAN (local area network) I / F unit 106 is an I / F (interface) unit for connecting to a LAN, and inputs / outputs information to and from each device connected via the LAN. The IO control unit 108 is an interface unit with the operation unit 114, outputs image data to be displayed on the operation unit 114 to the operation unit 114, and transmits information input by the user from the operation unit 114 to the CPU 103. The operation unit 114 is equipped with a display unit and keys having a touch panel function, interprets a VGA signal supplied via the IO control unit 108, displays an image, characters, etc. on the display unit, and interfaces with the user. Controls. The line I / F unit 107 connects to a wide area network (WAN) for communication. Further, the IO control unit 109 is a bus bridge that connects the system bus 101 and the image bus 110 that transfers image data at high speed, and converts the data structure of the system bus 101. The above processing unit is arranged on the system bus 101.

The image bus 110 is composed of a PCI bus, an IEEE1394, a general-purpose bus such as PCIEx, and the like. A reading unit 112 including a scanner, a printer unit 113, and an image processing unit 111 are connected on the image bus 110. The IO control unit 109 converts the image data into a synchronous system and an asynchronous system. Further, a communication bus issued by the control unit 115 for exchanging control commands for executing the control operation of the printer unit and the reading unit is also connected between the printer unit 113 and the reading unit 112. The communication bus is realized by using a general-purpose communication protocol such as UART (RS232C) or USB, or a dedicated communication protocol. The image processing unit 111 performs image processing such as resolution conversion, compression / expansion, binary multi-value conversion, and trimming on the input image data and the output image data. The image processing unit 111 also controls to receive image data from the reading unit 112 and transfer the received image data to the RAM 104 via the image bus 110 and the system bus 101. The image processing unit 111 is realized by the image processing ASIC (hardware) and the software executed on the CPU 103 that controls the respective processes. Each image processing ASIC has a register for setting the format of the data to be processed and the processing content, and the image processing unit 111 sets the register of the image processing ASIC from the control software executed on the CPU 103. Perform image processing with.

The printer unit 113 has, for example, an electrophotographic printer engine, and the engine control unit 116 controls the printer engine to print an image according to the image data received from the control unit 115. The engine control unit 116 has a CPU 121, a ROM 122, a RAM 123, and a timer 124. The CPU 121 executes a program stored in the ROM 122, and also uses the RAM 123 as a work memory to control the engine control unit 116. The timer 124 starts timing according to the instruction of the CPU 121, and notifies the CPU 121 of the measured time.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a printer unit 113 of the MFP according to the first embodiment.

The laser beam 204 emitted from the semiconductor laser 202 as a light source scans the photoconductor drum 201 by being reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 203, and obtains an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image data on the photoconductor drum 201. Form on top. The charging roller 205 uniformly charges the surface of the photoconductor drum 201. The developer 206 develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductor drum 201 with toner. The transfer roller 207 transfers the toner image developed on the photoconductor drum 201 to the paper. The fixing roller 208 fuses the toner transferred to the paper and fixes it to the paper. The paper feed roller 209 feeds paper from a cassette that can identify the paper size into the transport path. The manual paper feed roller 210 feeds paper from the manual paper feed port into the transport path. The resist roller 211 abuts the tip of the fed paper to correct the skew, and synchronizes the writing of the image data to the photoconductor drum 201 with the transport of the paper. The resist sensor 212 is used to detect the tip of the fed paper and to measure the length of the manually fed paper in the transport direction. The ejection roller 213 ejects the paper on which the image is fixed. The paper ejection sensor 214 detects whether the paper after fixing has been ejected to the outside of the machine.

Further, in FIG. 2, the distance from the resist sensor 212 to the photoconductor drum 201, which is the transfer position, is different from the actual distance relationship. The printer unit 113 is connected to the control unit 115, and performs a printing operation by receiving control commands such as paper feeding and printing instructions from the control unit 115. The printer unit 113 receives the image data output from the image processing unit 111 of the control unit 115 via the image bus 110 according to the paper feed instruction and the image size information included in the print instruction. The printer unit 113 forms an electrostatic latent image by controlling turning on and off of the semiconductor laser 202 according to the received image data, and forms an image on paper through processes such as development and transfer.

Here, the printer unit 113 has been described as a monochrome printer having one laser beam, one photoconductor drum, and one developing machine. This is for the sake of simplification of the description, and may be an image forming apparatus having a printer engine configured by using a plurality of each component. As described above, the printer unit 113 includes the engine control unit 116 for performing control for printing using the information from the rollers and the sensor shown in FIG. 2. The engine control unit 116 includes a motor controller for rotating the rollers, a thermistor for controlling the temperature of the fixing roller, and the like. Further, the engine control unit 116 controls the mechanism of the printer unit 113 described above, controls each component unit in response to commands such as a paper feed instruction and a print instruction from the control unit 115, and performs a paper feed operation, a print operation, and the like. To control.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of exchange of control commands between the functional unit and the engine control unit 116 realized by the program of the MFP according to the embodiment.

These functional units are realized by the CPU 103 of the control unit 115 executing the program expanded in the RAM 104, and include the job control unit 301 and the print processing unit 302. As described above, the image processing unit 111 is realized by an image processing ASIC (hardware) and software executed by the CPU 103 that controls the image processing ASIC (hardware). Here, it is assumed that the job control unit 301, the print processing unit 302, and the image processing unit 111 are configured by the module of the application operated by the control unit 115, but it goes without saying that each of them may be configured by hardware. ..

Now, when the user of the image forming apparatus instructs the copy process in a free size, the job control unit 301 issues a print execution instruction 310 to the print processing unit 302 after the original is read by the reading unit 112. The print execution instruction 310 is issued with the image ID associated with the original as an identifier. Upon receiving the print start instruction, the print processing unit 302 issues an image processing start instruction 311 to the image processing unit 111, and issues a paper feed instruction 312 to the engine control unit 116. As a result, the image processing unit 111 performs processing such as gamma processing and halftone processing on the image data to be printed, and when the image processing is completed, the image processing end notification 313 is issued to the print processing unit 302. The image processing time at this time depends on the area of the image to be printed (original width × original length).

When the engine control unit 116 receives the paper feed instruction 312, the paper feed operation is started, and when the paper feed operation is completed, the engine control unit 116 issues a paper feed end notification 314 to the print control unit 302.

Upon receiving the paper feed end notification 314 and the image processing end notification 313 for the page to be printed, the print processing unit 302 issues a print start instruction 315 to the engine control unit 116. As a result, the engine control unit 116 transmits the output synchronization signal of the image data to the control unit 115. The control unit 115 that receives this synchronization signal outputs the image data to the printer unit 113. Upon receiving this image data, the engine control unit 116 prints an image on paper according to the image data, and when printing is completed and the printed paper is ejected, a paper discharge notification 317 is issued to the print processing unit 302. Further, in addition to the paper ejection notification 317, when printing is executed, the identified paper size is issued to the print processing unit 302 as the paper size notification 316, if necessary. The printing process is executed by the control application of the engine control unit 116 and the control unit 115 executing the above processing sequence.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of a control command between the print processing unit 302 and the engine control unit 116 shown in FIG.

FIG. 4A shows the data structure of the control instruction. By exchanging this control command between the engine control unit 116 and the control unit 115, each of the above-mentioned functional units executes an operation. The control ID 401 is an identifier of the control instruction. The types of the control ID 401 and various control commands are as shown in FIG. 4 (B). The print page ID 402 is an identifier of a print page that is uniquely assigned to the page to be printed. Here, in order to speed up the printing operation, control commands such as a paper feed instruction, a print start instruction, a paper feed end notification, and a paper discharge notification are issued under control over a plurality of pages. Therefore, the print page ID 402 makes it possible to identify which page is the control command for the paper to be printed. The paper sizes 403 and 404 are size information of the paper to be printed. The paper size (X) 403 is the length in the direction perpendicular to the paper transport direction, and the paper size (Y) 404 is the length in the paper transport direction.

In the first embodiment, the processing for the paper size (Y) 404 related to the time required for transporting the paper will be described. The size set in the paper size (Y) 404 is notified in units of 1 mm, but a specific numerical value (for example, 0 mm or 1000 mm) is also used as the paper size in the free size printing designation. This numerical value may be a numerical value predetermined by both the engine control unit 116 and the control unit 115, or may be dynamically determined between the control unit 115 and the engine control unit 116.

Next, the paper size determination process in the MFP according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a paper size determination process by the engine control unit 116 of the MFP according to the first embodiment. As for the program that executes this process, the process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the CPU 121 executing the program stored in the ROM 122.

This process is started by receiving the paper feed instruction 312 from the print processing unit 302 described above. First, in S501, the CPU 121 acquires the information of the paper size (Y) 404 included in the paper feed instruction 312. It is determined whether the information of the paper size (Y) 404 acquired here is the size (for example, 0 mm or 1000 mm) specified for free size printing (manual printing), and if so, the process proceeds to S502, and if not, the process proceeds to S506. The normal paper feeding operation is performed and the process proceeds to S510.

In S502, the CPU 121 turns on the flag of the RAM 123 indicating the one-size-fits-all printing, and performs a paper feeding operation according to the one-size-fits-all printing. That is, the CPU 121 rotates the manual feed roller 210 to convey the paper placed on the manual feed tray, and manually inserts the paper until the output of the resist sensor 212 is turned on in S503 and the tip of the transferred paper is detected. Rotate the paper feed roller 210. When the output of the resist sensor 212 is turned on in this way, the process proceeds to S504, and again, based on the flag turned on in S502, it is determined whether or not the paper feed instruction is by free size printing. If it is determined that the instruction is not for free size printing, the process proceeds to S506, but if the free size printing is specified, the process proceeds to S505. In S505, the CPU 121 starts timing by the timer 124 in order to measure the length of the conveyed paper in the conveying direction. Then, the process proceeds to S507, and the CPU 121 determines whether the resist sensor 212 has detected that there is no paper, that is, whether the output of the resist sensor 212 has been turned off. If it is on, the process proceeds to S509, the paper transfer preprocessing for printing the next page is executed, and the process proceeds to S507. This pre-feeding process is a process for shortening the time for the paper to reach the position of the resist sensor 212 by transporting the paper in advance when the paper feed instruction 312 arrives for the next page. Is. By executing this pre-transfer process, the earlier the paper feed instruction 312 on the next page arrives, the faster the paper feed process following the previous page can be, so that the performance is improved. Then, when the output of the resist sensor 212 is turned off in S507 and it is detected that there is no paper, the process proceeds to S508. In S508, the CPU 121 obtains the length in the paper transport direction from the time measured by the timer 124 at that time and the paper transport speed depending on the rotation speed of the manual paper feed roller 210, and stores it in the RAM 123 in S510. Proceed to. In S508, if the difference from the previously determined paper size stored in the RAM 123 is within a predetermined value, the CPU 121 determines that it is a measurement error and does not update the paper size stored in the RAM 123. When the paper size is not stored in the RAM 123, the paper size obtained in S508 is stored in the RAM 123.

In S510, the CPU 121 issues a paper feed end notification 314 indicating that the paper feed is completed to the control unit 115. Next, the process proceeds to S511, and the CPU 121 determines whether or not the next paper feed instruction 312 has arrived from the control unit 115. If not, the process ends, but if the next paper feed instruction 312 has arrived, the process proceeds to S512. In S512, the CPU 121 determines whether or not the paper size notification 316 can be issued. Here, the determination condition is determined on the condition that the paper size notification 316 has never been issued, or that information having a size different from the previously notified paper size is stored in the RAM 123 in S508. If it is determined that the paper size notification 316 needs to be issued, the process proceeds to S513, and the CPU 121 issues the paper size notification 316 to the control unit 115. The paper size notification 316 is a control command in which "5" is set in the control ID 401 and the paper size obtained in S508 is set in the paper size (Y) 404. Further, the print page ID received in the paper feed instruction 312 when the paper feed operation for determining the paper size is started is set in the print page ID 402 of the paper size notification 316. After issuing the paper size notification 316 in this way, the process returns to S501 in order to process the subsequent pages.

By the above processing, the engine control unit 116 notifies the control unit 115 of the paper size of the first paper when printing on the next paper is instructed after feeding the first paper at the time of free size printing. Print and paper feed operations. In addition, if the paper feed instruction for the subsequent page arrives before the end of printing on the paper being printed, the paper feed for printing the next page can be started promptly, so that the printing speed should be improved. Can be done.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a paper size setting screen displayed on the operation unit 114 of the MFP according to the first embodiment. Processing such as displaying a screen on the operation unit 114 and executing a printing operation by issuing a control command to the engine control unit 116 is mainly realized by the CPU 103 of the control unit 115 executing a program.

The free size button 601 is pressed when the user instructs free size printing (here, manual printing). The user-defined button 602 is a button instructing the user to input a specific paper size, and when the user presses this button 602, the paper size input screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed. The standard size button 603 is a button for instructing a standard size such as A3, A4, A5, B4, B5. Of these buttons, the selected button is highlighted. In FIG. 6, the one-size-fits-all button 601 is selected. The OK button 604 is a button for confirming the user's selection on this screen, and the cancel button 605 is a button for canceling the user's selection on this screen and returning to the previous screen. Since the free size button 601 is pressed here, when the OK button 604 is pressed, the MFP operates in the free size print mode. The paper size and print mode set on this screen and the screen of FIG. 7 are stored in the RAM 104.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a paper size input screen displayed on the operation unit 114 of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

By pressing the OK button 704 after inputting the designation of the length 701 in the X direction and the length 702 in the Y direction with the numeric keypad 703, printing can be performed on paper of any size. This user-defined size paper size input screen is not displayed when the user specifies free size printing and standard size printing on the screen of FIG.

Hereinafter, in the first embodiment, the description of the one-size-fits-all printing will be described by taking as an example a copy operation in which the reading unit 112 reads the original and the printer unit 113 prints the original. However, even when printing is performed based on the image data received from the host computer via the LANI / F unit 106, the basic operation of the one-size-fits-all printing is the same. Here, the user instructs the MFP to start reading and printing the document by pressing the start key 606 (FIG. 6) of the operation unit 114 after installing the document on the reading unit 112. At this time, the control unit 115 first determines the image size of the original to be read according to the designation of the printing operation mode prior to the start of reading the original.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a process of determining a read image size when a copy operation is executed by the MFP according to the first embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the CPU 103 executing a program expanded from the storage memory 105 to the RAM 104.

First, in S801, the CPU 103 determines the print mode stored in the RAM 104, which is specified by the user via the screen of FIG. In the first embodiment, since the length of the paper in the Y direction, which is horizontal in the transport direction, is important, the length in the Y direction of the paper will be described, and the length in the X direction perpendicular to the transport direction will not be mentioned. When the CPU 103 determines in S801 that the free size print mode is specified, it proceeds to S802 and sets the read size (Y) to the maximum size (predetermined size). The maximum size here is basically determined according to the maximum size that the printer unit 113 can print. Here, the maximum printable size is 630 mm as an example.

On the other hand, if the CPU 103 determines in S801 that the standard print mode is specified, the process proceeds to S803, and the standard size reading size (Y) determined in advance is set according to the standard size selected by the user on the screen of FIG. do. Here, the read size (Y) according to the standard size is held by the program executed by the CPU 103. Further, it may be stored in the ROM 102 even if it is not held in the program.

Further, in S801, when the CPU 103 determines that the print mode with the user-defined size is specified, the process proceeds to S804, and the size specified by the user is set to the reading size (Y). The size defined by the user here is the length (size) input to the length 702 in the Y direction on the screen of FIG. 7.

Based on the reading size (Y) determined in this way, the reading unit 112 is instructed to read the document, and the image data obtained by scanning the document is received via the image bus 110. In this way, the CPU 103 performs necessary image processing on the received image data by the image processing unit 111, and then stores the received image data in the storage memory 105 as image data. At this time, attribute information is added to each image data.

Considering the case where the image data obtained by scanning the image with the scanning size (Y) set to the maximum size in the one-size-fits-all printing mode is printed on, for example, A4 size paper, it is the starting point when the original is scanned. , It coincides with the starting point when printing on paper. Therefore, if the size of the image data obtained by reading at the maximum size is within the size of A4 size, the image data can be printed on A4 size paper without any problem.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating attribute information of image data stored in the storage memory 105.

This attribute information mainly includes image ID 901, image size X902, image size Y902, and color information. The image size Y903 is set to the reading size Y determined by any one of S802, S803, and S804 in FIG. Further, regardless of the reading operation and the printing processing operation, ID information for identifying each image when the MFP processes is uniquely assigned to the image and stored as the image ID 901. Further, when reading a document, one ID is assigned to one document, and the ID is set as it is in the image ID 901 of this attribute information. At the time of printing, printing control is performed by associating the image ID 901 of this attribute information with the print page ID 402 of the control command. In the first embodiment, for the sake of simplification of the description, it is assumed that the reading unit 112 reads three originals and prints the image of each original in the one-size-fits-all printing mode.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating the structure of image data stored in the storage memory 105 when the reading unit 112 reads three originals in the MFP according to the first embodiment. Here, the parts common to FIG. 9 are indicated by the same reference numbers.

Reference numeral 1001 indicates image data of three originals, and attribute data 1002 corresponding to each image data in a ratio of 1: 1 is associated and arranged. For example, in the attribute information of the image data 1001 of the document A, the image ID is stored as "1", the image size X is stored as "297 mm", and the image size Y is stored as "630 mm".

Next, the printing process of the image data stored in the storage memory 105 in this way will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 to 15.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating print management information generated one per page of manuscript data to be printed in the MFP according to the first embodiment.

The print page ID 1111 is print page identification information used when issuing a control command to the engine control unit 116. The same image ID 901 as the image ID 901 added at the time of reading is set in the image ID 1112. The paper feed instruction status 1113, the image processing status 1114, and the print instruction status 1115 are for managing the paper feed instruction, the image processing instruction, the issuing state of the print instruction, and the sequence, respectively. Here, the result of exchanging control commands such as a paper feed instruction, a paper feed end notification, a print start instruction, and a paper discharge notification between the engine control unit 116 and the control unit 115 is reflected. Information on the image size exchanged by the control command is reflected in the print image size X1116 and the print image size Y1117.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a printing process by the MFP according to the first embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the CPU 103 executing a program expanded from the storage memory 105 to the RAM 104. This process is started when the reading unit 112 reads the original, the image data is stored in the storage memory 105 as shown in FIG. 10, and the printing instruction of the image data is given.

First, in S1201, the CPU 103 acquires the number of documents stored in the storage memory 105 to be printed. Since the number of the originals is determined at the time of the original reading process and stored in the RAM 104, the number of the originals is acquired. Next, the process proceeds to S1202, and the CPU 103 sets a variable pp for storing information on the number of processed pages in the RAM 104, and initializes it to "0". This completes the initialization for the number of pages in the print process. Next, the process proceeds to S1203, and the CPU 103 compares the number of processed pages of the variable pp with the number of originals, and determines whether or not they match, that is, whether or not printing of all pages is completed. If it is determined in S1203 that printing of all pages is completed, this process is terminated.

On the other hand, if the CPU 103 determines in S1203 that printing of all pages has not been completed, the process proceeds to S1204, and print management information as shown in FIG. 11, for example, is generated with reference to the attribute information 1002 shown in FIG. This print management information is created by copying necessary information from the image ID 901 notified by the print execution instruction 310 issued by the job control unit 301 by the print processing unit 302 by the matching process. The main information to be copied at this time is the image ID 901, the image size X902, and the image size Y903 stored as the attribute information 1002, which are copied to the print image size X1116 and the print image size Y1117, respectively. Next, the process proceeds to S1205, and the CPU 103 generates a print page ID used for exchanging control commands with the engine control unit 116. Here, the print page ID 1111 and the image ID 901 do not necessarily have to be the same. For example, when copying a plurality of image data of one original, a plurality of print page IDs are assigned to one image ID 901. In the first embodiment, the operation in the setting that can be compared with 1: 1 will be described, but this does not limit the scope of the invention to the image formation that can be compared with 1: 1.

In this way, when the CPU 103 generates the print page ID in S1205, the process proceeds to S1206, and it is determined whether or not the size update flag is on. This size update flag is a variable reserved in the RAM 104, and is updated when the paper size notification, which is one of the control commands, is received. The operation at the time of receiving the paper size notification will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG. If it is determined in S1206 that the paper size update flag is not on, the CPU 103 proceeds to S1208 without performing the size update process of S1207 and issues a paper feed instruction. In S1207, the CPU 103 updates the print image size Y of the generated print management information with the paper size received in the paper size notification, and proceeds to S1208. The notified paper size information updates the print image size Y1117 by reading the paper size stored in the RAM 104 in the notification size process of FIG. 15 described later.

In S1208, the CPU 103 issues a paper feed instruction 312 to the engine control unit 116 based on the print management information created in S1204 to S1207. Then, the process proceeds to S1209, and the CPU 130 instructs the image processing unit 111 to start image processing 311 for printing. The image processing for printing includes a process of setting the information of the image size to be printed based on the information of the print image size X / Y of the print management information and changing the size of the image. After notifying the start of the image processing for printing in this way, the CPU 103 determines in S1210 whether or not the image processing and the paper feeding operation are completed. Here, from the print management information, it is determined whether or not the fields of the paper feed instruction status 1113 and the image processing status 1114 are in the paper feed processing completed state and the image processing completed state, respectively. Then, when the paper feeding and the image processing are completed, the process proceeds to S1211, and the CPU 103 issues a print start instruction 315 to the engine control unit 116. Then, when the printing of one page is completed, the process proceeds to S1212, the value of the variable pp indicating the number of printed pages stored in the RAM 104 is incremented by 1, and the process proceeds to S1203.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating the issuance process of the paper feed instruction in S1208 of FIG.

First, in S1301, the CPU 103 acquires the print page ID of the page to be printed from the print management information. Next, the process proceeds to S1302, and the CPU 103 acquires the print image size X and the print image size Y from the print management information. Then, the process proceeds to S1303, and the CPU 103 creates the control command data of the paper feed instruction 312 to be transmitted to the engine control unit 116 and stores it in the RAM 104. At the time of this S1303, the control command is not yet issued to the engine control unit 116 and is only stored in the RAM 104. Next, the process proceeds to S1304, and the CPU 103 determines whether or not a control command can be issued to the engine control unit 116. Here, the control command can be issued to the first page where no print management information that has already been generated exists, or to feed other print management information to the previous print page ID. The condition is that the instruction 312 has been issued. If it is determined that the control command can be issued, the process proceeds to S1305, and the paper feed instruction 312 is issued to the engine control unit 116. Then, the process proceeds to S1306, and the CPU 103 changes the paper feed instruction status 1113 of the print management information to "paper feed instruction issued" and ends this process.

After issuing the paper feed instruction 312 to the engine control unit 116 in this way, the CPU 103 notifies the image processing unit 111 of the start of image processing for printing in S1209 of FIG. At this time, the image processing unit 111 determines the information of the image size to be printed based on the information of the print image size X / Y of the print management information, and processes the image data to be printed.

FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram illustrating the function of the image processing unit 111 according to the first embodiment.

The image processing unit 111 performs necessary processing such as rotation and scaling on the image data input from the reading unit 112, and then the trimming unit 1401 adjusts the size according to the print image size X / Y. Crop the image size.

Next, with reference to FIG. 15, the issuance process of the print start instruction 315 of S1211 of FIG. 12 will be described.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a printing start instruction issuance process performed from the control unit 115 to the engine control unit 116 in S1211 of FIG.

First, in S1501, the CPU 103 acquires the print page ID of the page to be processed. Next, the process proceeds to S1502, and the CPU 103 checks the print management information for the print page ID acquired in S1501 to see if there is a print page ID before the print page ID of the processing target page for which a print start instruction has not been issued. If there is no unpublished page here, the process proceeds to S1504, and if not, the process proceeds to S1503. In S1503, the CPU 103 determines whether or not the processing target page is the first page, that is, whether or not there is information on the previous page, and if it is not the first page, the process proceeds to S1502, but if it is the first page, the process proceeds to S1504. In S1504, the CPU 103 creates a control command to be transmitted to the engine control unit 116, stores it in the RAM 104, and sets "3" (print start instruction) as the control ID of the control command. Further, the print image size X and the print image size Y are copied from the print management information to the paper size (X) and the paper size (Y). Then, the process proceeds to S1505, and the CPU 130 transmits the generated control command (print start instruction) to the engine control unit 116. Then, the process proceeds to S1506, and the CPU 103 changes the print instruction status to "print instruction issued" and ends this process.

As a result, the process proceeds to S1212 in the flowchart of FIG. 12, and the counter for counting the number of printed pages is incremented by 1 to proceed to S1203. In this way, the printing process of the image data to be printed can be performed.

Further, the engine control unit 116 that receives the print start instruction outputs the synchronization signal of the image data. Upon receiving this synchronization signal, the control unit 115 changes the print instruction status of the print management information to "synchronization signal received". When the printing process of a plurality of pages is performed here, as described above, control commands such as a paper feed instruction, a print start instruction, a paper feed end notification, and a paper discharge notification are issued under control over a plurality of pages. Therefore, the control unit 115 and the engine control unit 116 operate in the sequence as shown in FIG.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a sequence of exchange of control commands between the functional unit and the engine control unit 116 realized by the program of the MFP according to the first embodiment. Here, the processing unit and the control unit that are common to FIG. 4 described above are indicated by the same numbers. Here, an example of printing the image data of three original sheets on three sheets of paper is shown.

Now, when the user of the image forming apparatus instructs the copy process in a free size, after the original is read by the reading unit 112, the job control unit 301 gives an instruction to print the image data of the first page (image ID = 1). ) Is issued to the print processing unit 302. This print execution instruction includes an image ID (= 1) associated with the original as an identifier. Upon receiving this print start instruction, the print processing unit 302 issues an image processing start instruction 1601 for the image data on the first and first pages to the image processing unit 111, and prints the image data on the first page on the first sheet. The paper feed instruction 1602 is issued to the engine control unit 116. As a result, the image processing unit 111 performs processing such as gamma processing and halftone processing on the image data on the first page, and when the image processing is completed, the image processing end notification 1603 on the first page is sent to the print processing unit 302. Issue. Further, the engine control unit 116 starts the paper feed operation when the first sheet paper feed instruction 1602 is received, and when the paper feed operation is completed, the print control unit 302 is notified of the paper feed end of the first sheet 1604. Issue.

When the image data of the first page is prepared in this way and the feeding of the first sheet of paper is completed, the print processing unit 302 issues the print start instruction 1605 of the image data of the first page to the engine control unit 116. As a result, the engine control unit 116 transmits a synchronization signal of image data to the control unit 115. The control unit 115 that has received this synchronization signal outputs image data to the printer unit 113 in synchronization with the synchronization signal. Upon receiving this image data, the engine control unit 116 prints an image on the first sheet of paper according to the image data on the first page, and when printing is completed and the printed paper is ejected, the first sheet of paper is ejected. 1609 is issued to the print processing unit 302.

At the time of printing the first page, a print execution instruction for the second page is then issued from the job control unit 301 to the print processing unit 302. As a result, the print processing unit 302 issues an image processing start instruction 1606 for the image data on the second page to the image processing unit 111, and the print processing unit 302 prints the image data on the second page on the second sheet. The paper feed instruction 1607 is issued to the engine control unit 116. Then, the engine control unit 116 issues the result of detecting the size of the first sheet of paper on which the first page is printed to the print processing unit 302 as a paper size notification 1608.

The image processing unit 111 performs image processing on the image data on the second page, and when the image processing is completed, issues an image processing completion notification 1610 on the second page to the print processing unit 302. Further, the engine control unit 116 starts the paper feeding operation of the second sheet when the paper feeding instruction 1607 of the second page is received during printing of the first page, and when the paper feeding operation is completed, the print control unit 302 1611 is issued to notify the end of feeding of the second sheet of paper. Similarly, in 1612 to 1619, the image data of the second page and the third page are printed on the second and third sheets of paper, respectively.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of print management information when the print processing unit 302 issues the print start instruction 1612 on the second page to the engine control unit 116 in FIG. 16.

At this point, the printing of the image data on the first page is completed, and the start of printing the image data on the second page is instructed. Therefore, since the print management information 1701 on the first page is completed, it may be deleted. Further, in the print management information 1702 on the second page, the print instruction status 1115 indicated by 1704 is "issued". This indicates that the printing start instruction of the image data on the second page has been issued, but the printing has not been completed. Further, in the print management information 1703 on the third page, the paper feed instruction status 1113, the image processing status 1114, and the print instruction status 115 are all "not issued". However, after issuing the paper feed instruction 1607 for the second sheet, the size of the paper on which the first page is printed, that is, the paper size (“paper size (Y) = 210.0 mm”) is set as the paper size notification 1608. Notified by the engine control unit 116. Therefore, in the print management information 1703 on the third page, the print image size Y1117 stores the size "210.0 mm" of the first sheet notified by the paper size notification 1608.

Capture the description of creating this print control information. Immediately after the print management information is generated, the print image size X / Y is set by the size of the original of the image attribute information set in the image data created at the time of scanning, and each status is "unpublished". .. Then, for example, at the time of the paper feed instruction 1602 of the first sheet of FIG. 16, the paper feed instruction status 1113 of the print management information 1701 on the first page is set to "paper feed instruction issued", and the image processing status 1114 is set to "image". The process has been issued. " Then, at the time of the print start instruction 1605 on the first page of FIG. 16, the paper feeding for printing the image data on the first page and the image processing of the image data are completed, and the print start instruction 1605 on the first page is issued. Has been done. Therefore, in the print management information 1701 on the first page at this point, the paper feed instruction status 1113 is "paper feed completed", the image processing status 1115 is "image processing completed", and the print instruction status 1115 is "print instruction issued". It becomes. Hereinafter, in the same manner, when the print management information is updated and the paper size notification 1608 is received, the process shown in the flowchart of FIG. 18 is executed. Then, at the time of printing the third page, since the paper size update flag is turned on in S1206 of FIG. 12, the print image size Y1117 of the print management information 1703 of the third page is notified in S1207 of FIG. The size (here, "210.0 mm") is stored.

Next, the process when the control unit 115 receives the paper size notification from the engine control unit 116 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a print page size update process in the MFP according to the first embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the CPU 103 executing a program expanded from the storage memory 105 to the RAM 104.

Here, for example, it is assumed that "210.0 mm" is notified as the paper size (Y) in the paper size notification in 1608 of FIG.

First, in S1801, the CPU 103 sets "210.0 mm" in the paper size variable secured in the RAM 104. Next, the process proceeds to S1802, and the CPU 103 turns on the paper size update flag of the RAM 104 and ends this process.

As a result, the image processing start instruction 1613 on the third page of FIG. 16 executes the processing of S1204 and S1205 of FIG. 12 on the image data on the third page. Further, since the paper size update flag is on, the process proceeds to S1207, and the print image size Y1117 of the print management information on the third page is changed to "210.0 mm". Therefore, as shown in FIG. 17, in the print management information 1703 on the third page, the print image size Y1117 is changed to "210.0 mm", and the paper feed operation and the image processing on the third page are the updated print images. It is processed according to the size Y "210.0 mm".

This eliminates the need for processing at the maximum printable size of "630 mm" as in the case of image data on the first and second pages, and processing image data of one-third the size. Become. As a result, the processing time of the image data can be shortened. In addition, this can reduce the time required to print one page and improve the printing performance. Further, the print management information of the page for which the paper ejection notification is received, for example, the print management information 1701 of the first page in FIG. 17 is appropriately deleted.

FIG. 19 is a timing chart comparing the print control according to the first embodiment with the conventional print control. FIG. 19A is a timing chart showing printing control according to the prior art, and FIG. 19B is a timing chart of printing control according to the first embodiment. In the figure, the numbers in parentheses indicate the page numbers to be printed.

In FIG. 19A, the image data feeding 1902 and the image processing 1903 on the second page are started after waiting for receiving the size information of the paper on which the image data on the first page is printed. Therefore, the paper feeding 1902 for printing the second page and the image processing 1903 for the image data on the second page are started after the printing of the image data on the first page is completed. Therefore, the start of printing 1901 of the image data on the second page is delayed.

On the other hand, in the case of the print control according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 19B, the process for printing the image data on the second page receives the size information of the paper on which the image data on the first page is printed. Don't wait for Therefore, the paper feed start instruction 1905 for printing the image data on the second page is issued in advance without waiting for the printing of the image data on the first page. As a result, when the paper feeding of the first page is completed, the paper feeding 1905 and the image processing 1906 for printing the image data of the second page are started. In this way, since the paper feeding of the second page and the image processing thereof can be performed in advance, the time until the printing of the second page is started can be shortened.

Further, when printing the image data on the third page, the image processing and the printing processing are executed according to the paper size of the preceding paper notified by the paper size notification. Therefore, the time required for feeding the third sheet of paper and processing the image data of the third page is compared with the case of performing image processing and printing processing according to the maximum size as in the case of the first page and the second page. Becomes shorter. When printing the image data on the third and subsequent pages, the performance is the same as that of the prior art.

In this way, while shortening the time until the printing of the image data on the second page is started, it is possible to realize the same performance as the conventional technique in terms of the performance after that.

In the sequence of FIG. 16 shown as an example, the paper size notification is performed between the paper feed instruction on the second page and the third page, but the paper size notification is not limited to this timing. .. For example, if the time required for paper feeding and image processing is faster, the paper size notification may be at a later timing. Further, depending on the configuration of the printer unit 113, a paper size notification may be given between the feeding of the first page and the second page.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, it is possible to accelerate the start of printing of the image data on the second page regardless of the timing at which the paper size is notified. Further, in printing the image data of the subsequent page after the paper size is notified, the notified paper size can be appropriately reflected in the image processing and the printing processing, so that the same printing performance as the conventional one can be exhibited. ..

[Embodiment 2]
In the above-described first embodiment, the trimming unit 1401 of the image processing unit 111 processes only the necessary amount of image data for the subsequent pages that have received the paper size notification, thereby speeding up the image processing. I'm wearing it. However, as shown in FIG. 20, the image processing unit may include an image processing unit in which the trimming unit 2001 cannot be used in the printing process or the trimming unit itself is not provided. In this case, since the speed-up described above cannot be achieved, an example of executing one-size-fits-all printing by another method will be described as the second embodiment. Since the configuration of the MFP according to the second embodiment is the same as the configuration of the MFP according to the first embodiment except for the image processing unit 2000, the description thereof will be omitted.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image processing unit 2000 according to the second embodiment.

In the image processing unit 2000 of FIG. 20, the trimming unit 2001 cannot be used in the printing process.

In the MFP according to the second embodiment, regardless of the paper size for printing, in the free size print mode, the image data of the maximum size of the scanned image is output until the paper size is determined, and the engine control unit 116 notifies. The print operation is controlled by the output notification. In the image data processing, the image data for the maximum length of the scanned image is generated, so in order to perform the processing according to the paper size, the trimming process that deletes the unoutput image data part that deviates from the paper size. Is required. However, when the image processing unit 2000 cannot use the trimming unit 2001 that deletes the unoutput image data portion, even if the engine control unit 116 notifies the paper size, it does not output according to the notified paper size. The image data part of is not deleted. Therefore, in such a case, it is necessary to prevent the notified paper size from being reflected in the image processing or the paper feed instruction.

FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating a print page size update process in the MFP according to the second embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the CPU 103 executing a program expanded from the storage memory 105 to the RAM 104.

First, in S2101, the CPU 103 acquires the capability information of the image processing unit 2000. For this capability information, for example, an area indicating the capability information may be prepared in the ROM 102, and the CPU 103 may acquire the capability information of the image processing unit 2000 from the ROM 102. Further, the type of the ASIC constituting the image processing unit 2000 may be dynamically determined and used as the capability information. Next, the process proceeds to S2102, and the CPU 103 determines whether or not the image processing unit 2000 has a trimming unit capable of performing trimming. If it is determined that there is no trimming portion, the process proceeds to S2104, the size update flag is turned off, the print image size Y1117 of the print management information is not changed, and this process is terminated.

On the other hand, if the CPU 103 determines in S2102 that there is a trimming unit, the process proceeds to S2103, and the CPU 103 determines whether or not the trimming unit can be applied to image processing for printing. If it is determined that the trimming unit cannot be used in the print process, the process proceeds to S2104, the print image size Y1117 of the print management information is not changed, and this process ends.

On the other hand, when the CPU 103 determines in S2103 that the trimming unit can be used in the printing process, the process proceeds to S2105, and the CPU 103 saves the size information notified by the paper size notification in the RAM 104. Then, the process proceeds to S2106, and the CPU 130 sets the size update flag to ON and ends this process.

By the processing described above, even in the one-size-fits-all printing mode, depending on the ability of the image processing unit, it is possible to always perform image processing in the maximum size and print without reflecting the result of the paper size notification in the print management information. However, when the paper size is not reflected in the print management information, it is usually necessary to output all the image data generated by the image processing unit to the printer unit 113. Therefore, when the size of the image data to be printed is larger than the actual paper size, the control unit 115 sends a paper discharge notification even though the paper has passed through the paper discharge sensor 214 and the paper discharge notification has come from the engine control unit 116. A state in which image data is being output occurs. Therefore, when the paper ejection notification is received, it is desirable to immediately stop the printing of the image data even while the image data is being output.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a paper ejection notification reception process by the MFP according to the second embodiment. The process shown in this flowchart is achieved by the CPU 103 executing a program expanded from the storage memory 105 to the RAM 104.

First, in S2201, the CPU 103 acquires the print page ID included in the control command for the paper ejection notification. Next, the process proceeds to S2202, and the CPU 103 refers to the print management information based on the print page ID, and determines whether or not the same print page ID exists. Here, it is determined whether or not the page is being printed based on whether or not the same print page ID is present and the print instruction status of the print management information of the print page is "sync signal received". When the CPU 103 determines in S2202 that the page to which the paper ejection notification has come is being printed, the process proceeds to S2203 to stop the output of the image data and stop the printing. In this stop process, if there is unoutput image data, it is deleted. On the other hand, if the CPU 103 determines in S2202 that the page to which the paper discharge notification has come is not being printed, the process proceeds to S2204, and the output of the image data is continued to continue printing.

By performing the above control, if the image data of the page is being output when the paper discharge notification is received, the time for outputting the image data can be shortened because the image data is deleted.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that realizes one or more functions of the above-described embodiment to a system or device via a network or storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or device reads and executes the program. It can also be realized by the processing to be performed. It can also be realized by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that realizes one or more functions.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, in order to publicize the scope of the present invention, the following claims are attached.

103 ... CPU, 104 ... RAM, 105 ... Storage memory, 111, 2000 ... Image processing unit, 115 ... Control unit, 116 ... Engine control unit, 301 ... Job control unit, 302 ... Print processing unit

Claims (21)

A printing device that can detect the size of sheets fed from the bypass tray.
A scanner that scans the document and
Image processing means for image processing and
A printing means for printing an image on a sheet fed from the manual feed tray, and
In a print mode in which the size of the sheet fed from the manual feed tray is not specified by the user, the scanner scans the first document, the second document, and the third document in this order, and scans at the maximum size of the scanner. The first image, the second image, and the third image corresponding to the first manuscript, the second manuscript, and the third manuscript are received from the scanner.
The image processing means is made to process the entire first image and the entire second image, and the processed first image is printed on the first sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means. Then, the entire processed second image is printed on the second sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means.
An image corresponding to the detected size of the first sheet is trimmed from the third image, the image processing means is made to process the image obtained by the trimming, and the processed image is printed by the printing means. A control means for controlling printing on a third sheet fed from the bypass tray, and
A printing apparatus characterized by having. The control means is characterized in that the image processing means causes the entire image processing means to process the entire first image and the entire second image without trimming the image corresponding to the detected size of the first sheet. The printing apparatus according to claim 1. The first aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the control means causes the image processing means to process an image obtained by trimming the third image without causing the image processing means to process an untrimmed image portion of the third image. The printing device described. The control means trims an image corresponding to the detected size of the first sheet from each of the images following the third image.
The image processing means is made to process the image obtained by each trimming, and the processed image obtained by the trimming is fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means, respectively, following the third sheet. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet is printed on the sheet. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the printing mode is a printing mode that does not require the user to specify the size of the sheet to be fed from the manual feed tray. A printing device that can detect the length of a sheet fed from a manual feed tray in the transport direction.
A scanner that scans the document and
Image processing means for image processing and
A printing means for printing an image on a sheet fed from the manual feed tray, and
In a print mode in which the length of the sheet fed from the manual feed tray in the transport direction is not specified by the user, the scanner scans the first document, the second document, and the third document in this order, and the maximum size of the scanner is reached. The first image, the second image, and the third image corresponding to each of the first document, the second document, and the third document scanned by the size are received from the scanner.
The image processing means is made to process the entire first image and the entire second image, and the processed first image is printed on the first sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means. Then, the entire processed second image is printed on the second sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means.
An image corresponding to the detected length of the first sheet in the transport direction is trimmed from the third image, the image processing means is made to process the image obtained by the trimming, and the processed image is obtained. A control means for controlling the printing on the third sheet fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means, and
A printing apparatus characterized by having. The control means causes the image processing means to print the entire first image and the entire second image without trimming the image corresponding to the detected length of the first sheet in the transport direction. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the printing apparatus is processed. 6. The control means is characterized in that the image processing means processes the image obtained by trimming the third image without causing the image processing means to process the untrimmed image portion of the third image. The printing device described. The control means trims an image corresponding to the detected length of the first sheet in the transport direction from each of the images following the third image.
The image processing means is made to process the image obtained by each trimming, and the processed image obtained by the trimming is fed from the manual feed tray by the printing means, respectively, following the third sheet. The printing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the sheet is printed on the sheet. The printing mode is any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the printing mode is a printing mode that does not require the user to specify the length of the sheet fed from the manual feed tray in the transport direction. The printing device described. A printing device that transports sheets used for printing through a transport path and detects the size of the transported sheets.
A reading means for reading the document,
An image processing means that executes image processing on image data obtained by scanning the original by the scanning means, and an image processing means.
In print mode, where the user does not specify the size of the sheet used for printing.
(A) Have the reading means read the original in the maximum size that the reading means can read.
(B) Until the size of the sheet used for printing is detected, the entire image data obtained by reading the maximum size is image-processed by the image processing means.
(C) After the size of the sheet used for printing is detected, the image obtained by trimming the portion corresponding to the detected sheet size in the image data obtained by reading the maximum size. A control means for causing the image processing means to process data, and
The sheet conveyed through the transfer path has a printing means for printing an image according to the image data image-processed by the image processing means.
The control means is a printing apparatus characterized in that it controls to transport the next sheet without waiting for the detection of the size of the sheet used for printing. The control means causes the image processing means to process the entire image data corresponding to the first and second originals obtained by scanning the maximum size, and three sheets obtained by scanning the maximum size. The eleventh aspect of claim 11, wherein the image data obtained by trimming the portion corresponding to the detected sheet size among the image data corresponding to the originals after the eyes is image-processed by the image processing means. The printing device described in. The control means performs image processing of the entire image data of a predetermined size corresponding to the second original before detecting the size of the sheet for printing the image based on the image data corresponding to the first original. The printing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the image processing means is used to start the printing apparatus. The printing apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the transport path is a transport path for transporting the sheet from a sheet feeding section to a portion where printing is executed on the sheet by the printing means. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the size of the sheet is the length of the sheet conveyed in the transport path in the transport direction. Timekeeping means to time time and
Further having a sensor for detecting a sheet in the transport path,
The time from when the sensor detects the tip of the sheet transported along the transport path until the sheet is no longer detected is timed by the time measuring means, and the sheet is based on the time measured and the transport speed of the sheet. The printing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the length in the transport direction is detected. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 16, further comprising a setting means for setting a printing mode in which the size of a sheet used for printing is not specified by the user. The control means determines whether or not the image processing means has a predetermined ability, and determines whether or not the image processing means has a predetermined ability.
When it is determined that the image processing means does not have the predetermined capability, the control means is determined by the image processing means even after detecting the size of the sheet used for printing. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 17, wherein the image processing means is controlled to perform image processing on the entire image data obtained by reading the size. The printing apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the predetermined ability is a trimming ability. The control means is used in the image data of the one page image-processed by the image processing means when the sheet on which the image based on the image data of the one page printed by the printing means is printed passes through the paper ejection sensor. The printing apparatus according to any one of claims 11 to 18, wherein the output of the image data of the unoutput portion is stopped. It is a control method of a printing device that transports a sheet used for printing through a transport path and detects the size of the transported sheet.
The scanning process of scanning the original by the scanning means,
An image processing step of executing image processing on image data obtained by scanning the original in the scanning step, and an image processing step.
In print mode, where the user does not specify the size of the sheet used for printing.
(A) In the reading step, the original is read with the maximum size of the reading means.
(B) Until the size of the sheet used for printing is detected, the entire image data obtained by reading the maximum size is image-processed in the image processing step.
(C) After the size of the sheet used for printing is detected, the image obtained by trimming the portion corresponding to the detected sheet size in the image data obtained by reading the maximum size. A control step in which data is image-processed in the image processing step, and
It has a printing step of printing an image according to the image data image-processed in the image processing step on the sheet conveyed through the transport path.
The control method is characterized in that the control step is controlled so as to convey the next sheet without waiting for the detection of the size of the sheet used for printing.

Images