JP7315322B2 - Media ejection device and printing system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a medium ejection device on which media such as paper are stacked, and a printing system provided with this medium ejection device.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus provided with a plurality of paper ejection devices, there has been proposed an image forming device in which a paper ejection device that is not performing paper ejection among the plurality of paper ejection devices and that is performing continuous paper ejection starts preparations for operation before the stacking amount reaches the maximum stacking capacity (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200011).

JP 2015-9916 A

By the way, for example, in a paper discharge device capable of stacking a large number of sheets of paper (medium), when there is only one paper stacking unit for sequentially stacking paper, when the paper stacking unit becomes full, the paper cannot be discharged until the paper is removed. As a result, not only is the paper ejection efficiency low, but it is also a burden on the user who takes out the paper. Therefore, it is conceivable to arrange a plurality of paper stacking units as in the image forming apparatus described above. However, for user management, it is desirable to perform a partitioning operation such as an offset operation for each job for the sheets stacked in each of the plurality of sheet stacking units.

However, for example, when the partitioning operation is performed by the offset operation, it is necessary to move the end fence, the offset guide, etc. back and forth in the paper ejection direction, and during this operation, the paper cannot be ejected, and the paper ejection efficiency deteriorates.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a medium ejection device and a printing system that can improve the efficiency of ejecting a medium and easily manage the ejected medium.

In one aspect, the medium ejection device includes: a plurality of medium stacking sections each including a first medium stacking section and a second medium stacking section on which a medium is stacked; an ejection path switching section that switches the ejection path of the medium to one of the plurality of medium stacking sections; after the medium is loaded, the ejection path switching unit is controlled to switch the ejection path to the second medium stacking unit, and the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit performs the partitioning operation while the medium is stacked on the second medium stacking unit.

According to the aspect, it is possible to improve the efficiency of discharging the medium, and to easily manage the discharged medium.

1 is a configuration diagram showing a printing system according to a first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the main control configuration of the printing system according to the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the printing system according to the first embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a stacking state of sheets in the sheet ejection device according to the first embodiment; 9 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the printing system according to the second embodiment; 10 is a flowchart for explaining remaining job analysis processing in the second embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a stacking state of sheets in the sheet discharging device according to the second embodiment; 10 is a flowchart for explaining operations of a printing system according to the third embodiment; FIG. 11 is a diagram for explaining a stacking state of sheets in a sheet ejection device according to the third embodiment;

A paper ejection device (an example of a medium ejection device) and a printing system according to first to third embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a printing system 100 according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the main control configuration of the printing system 100. As shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1 , the printing system 100 includes a paper feeding device 110 , a first printing device 120 , a reversing device 130 , a second printing device 140 and a paper ejection device 1 .

In FIG. 1, the straight transport paths R1, R4-1, R5-1, the first ejection path R6, and the second ejection path R7 of the paper P, which is an example of the medium, are shown by solid lines, the circulatory transport path R2 is shown by a two-dot chain line, and the reverse transport paths R3, R4-2, and R5-2 are shown by broken lines.

The paper feed device 110 has a paper feed tray 111 on which paper P before printing is stacked. Although not shown, the paper feeder 110 is provided with a paper feed roller for feeding and conveying the uppermost paper P among the plurality of papers P stacked on the paper feed tray 111, and a supply drive means (actuator) such as a motor for driving the paper feed roller. Note that the paper feeding device 110 may be arranged integrally with the first printing device 120 .

As shown in FIG. 1 , the first printing device 120 has a plurality of transport roller pairs 121 , a printing unit 122 , an adsorption transport unit 123 , transport path switching units 124 and 125 , and a paper discharge tray 126 . Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the first printing device 120 further includes a control section 127, a storage section 128, and an interface section 129. FIG.

A plurality of transport roller pairs 121 are arranged in the printing apparatus 110 to transport the paper P while nipping it.

The printing unit 122 has, for example, a line head type inkjet head (not shown) for each color used for printing, and prints on the paper P. FIG. Note that the printing method of the printing unit 122 may be a printing method other than the inkjet printing method.

The suction transport section 123 is arranged so as to face the printing section 122 . The suction conveying unit 123 conveys the paper P by a belt while sucking the paper P. The suction transport unit 123 is an example of transport means.

On the other hand, the transport route switching unit 124 switches the transport route of the paper P printed by the printing unit 122 between the straight transport route R1 leading to the reversing device 130 and the circulating transport route R2 leading to the paper discharge table 126 and the reverse transport route R3.

The other transport path switching unit 125 switches the circulatory transport path R2 for the paper P between the transport path leading to the paper discharge table 126 and the transport path leading to the reverse transport path R3. Note that the paper P is turned upside down in the reversing transport path R3 and transported to the printing section 122 again.

Sheets P that are not discharged to the side of the sheet discharging device 1 are stacked on the sheet discharging tray 126 .
The control unit 127 shown in FIG. 2 has a processor (e.g., CPU: Central Processing Unit) that functions as an arithmetic processing unit that controls the overall operation of the first printing apparatus 120, and controls the operation of each unit of the first printing apparatus 120, such as the printing unit 122 and the suction transport unit 123. At least one of the control unit 144 of the second printing device 140 and the control unit 51 of the paper ejection device 1, which will be described later, and the control unit 127 may be arranged.

The storage unit 128 is, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), which is a read-only semiconductor memory in which a predetermined control program is recorded in advance, or a RAM (Random Access Memory), which is a semiconductor memory that can be written and read at any time, and is used as a working storage area as necessary when the processor executes various control programs.

The interface unit 129 exchanges various types of information with the paper discharge device 1, the paper feed device 110, the reversing device 130, the second printing device 140, etc. of the printing system 100, and the computer that transmits print data to the printing system 100.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the reversing device 130 has a plurality of conveying roller pairs 131 and switchback roller pairs 132 . The transport roller pair 131 nips and transports the paper P discharged from the first printing device 120 . A transport path switching mechanism (not shown) of the reversing device 130 switches the transport path between a straight transport path R4-1 that directly transports the paper P discharged from the first printing device 120 to the second printing device 140, and a reverse transport path R4-2 that reverses the front and back of the paper P by the switchback roller pair 132.

The configuration of the second printing device 140 can be similar to the configuration of the first printing device 120 . For example, the second printing device 140 has a plurality of transport roller pairs 141 , a printing unit 142 , and a suction transporting unit 143 like the first printing device 120 . Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the second printing device 140 has a control unit 144, a storage unit 145, and an interface unit 146. Unlike the first printing apparatus 120, the second printing apparatus 140 does not have the circulatory transport path (transport path switching units 124 and 125) and the paper discharge table 126, but may have the circulatory transport path and the paper discharge table like the first printing apparatus 120.

Further, the printing system 100 includes a total of two printing units, the printing unit 122 of the first printing device 120 and the printing unit 142 of the second printing device 140, but it may have only a single printing unit, or may have three or more printing units.

As shown in FIG. 1, the paper ejection device 1 includes a first paper stacking section 10, a second paper stacking section 20, a first intermediate device 30, and a second intermediate device . Further, as shown in FIG. 2 , the paper ejection device 1 includes a control section 51 , a storage section 52 and an interface section 53 .

At least one of the first intermediate device 30 and the second intermediate device 40 may be omitted from the paper ejection device 1, and the paper P may be directly conveyed from the second printing device 140 to at least one of the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20. Further, the paper discharge device 1 may be a paper discharge device in which at least two of the first paper stacking section 10, the second paper stacking section 20, the first intermediate device 30, and the second intermediate device 40 are integrated.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the first sheet stacking section 10 has a sheet discharge tray 11 , a movable end fence 12 , an offset guide 13 and an upper surface detection sensor 14 . Further, as shown in FIG. 2 , the first paper stacking section 10 further includes a paper discharge tray elevation driving section 15 and an offset driving section 16 . The first paper stacking unit 10 is an example of a first medium stacking unit on which paper P is stacked.

Paper P discharged from the first intermediate device 30 , that is, paper P printed by at least one of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 is sequentially stacked on the paper discharge table 11 . The paper discharge table 11 is moved up and down by driving the paper discharge table lifting/lowering drive unit 15 .

Note that the paper discharge table 11 may be a belt conveyor, a roller conveyor, or the like on which the paper P is stacked, that is, a paper discharge table having a conveying means. Further, the sheet discharge table 11 may be provided with a groove or the like so as not to interfere with the carriage even when it is lowered to the same height as the carriage so that the sheet P can be delivered to the carriage.

The movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 are an example of partitioning means that performs a partitioning operation for partitioning the paper sheets P stacked on the paper discharge tray 11 . The movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 perform an offset operation of offsetting the stacking position of the paper P on the paper discharge table 11 as an example of the partition operation. However, the partitioning operation may be, for example, an operation of inserting an insert such as a tape or blank paper between the sheets P, folding the sheets P, marking the sheets P, or bundling a plurality of sheets P by stapling, and is not limited to the offset operation.

The movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 are driven by the offset drive unit 16 to move the stacking position of the paper P in the discharge direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 1). The leading end of the paper P discharged from the first intermediate device 30 abuts against the movable end fence 12 . The offset guide 13 guides the trailing edge of the paper P. As shown in FIG.

The upper surface detection sensor 14 is a sensor for detecting the height of the stacking surface of the paper discharge table 11, that is, the height of the top sheet P (the height of the upper surface of the paper discharge table 11 when no paper P is stacked). The upper surface detection sensor 14 has, for example, a light emitting portion that horizontally emits light (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 1) at a desired stacking surface height, and a light receiving portion that receives the light. The control unit 51, which will be described later, controls the paper discharge table elevation drive unit 15 so that the paper discharge table 11 is lowered by, for example, the height of several sheets of paper P when the light emitted by the light emitting part of the upper surface detection sensor 14 is blocked by the paper P and the light receiving part of the upper surface detection sensor 14 does not receive the light.

The paper discharge table elevation driving unit 15 raises and lowers the paper discharge table 11 . The paper discharge table elevation driving unit 15 is an actuator such as a motor.

The offset drive unit 16 moves the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 in the ejection direction (horizontal direction in FIG. 1) to change the stacking position of the paper P back and forth in the ejection direction. The offset drive unit 16 is an actuator such as a motor, for example.

The second paper stacking unit 20, like the first paper stacking unit 10, has a stacking table 21, a movable end fence 22, an offset guide 23, an upper surface detection sensor 24, a stacking table lift drive unit 25, and an offset drive unit 26. The second paper stacking unit 20 is an example of a second medium stacking unit on which paper P is stacked.

Since the configuration of the second paper stacking unit 20 can be the same as the configuration of the first paper stacking unit 10, detailed description is omitted, but the paper P discharged from the second intermediate device 40 instead of the first intermediate device 30 is stacked on the paper discharge table 21. - 特許庁

Note that the paper ejection device 1 has a first paper stacking unit 10 and a second paper stacking unit 20 as an example of a plurality of medium stacking units, but may have three or more medium stacking units including a third paper stacking unit (an example of a third medium stacking unit).

As shown in FIG. 1 , the first intermediate device 30 has a plurality of transport roller pairs 31 , switchback roller pairs 32 , and an ejection route switching section 33 .

The transport roller pair 31 nips and transports the paper P discharged from the second printing device 140 . A transport path switching mechanism (not shown) of the first intermediate device 30 switches the transport path between a straight transport path R5-1 that directly transports the paper P discharged from the second printing device 140 to the ejection path switching unit 33, and a reverse transport path R5-2 that reverses the front and back of the paper P by the switchback roller pair 32.

The discharge route switching unit 33 switches the discharge route of the paper P between the first paper stacking unit 10 (first discharge route R6) and the second intermediate device 40 (second discharge route R7) leading to the second paper stacking unit 20. The ejection route switching unit 31 is, for example, a flipper. As described above, when the paper ejection device 1 has three or more medium stacking units (paper stacking units), one or more ejection path switching units switch the ejection path of the paper P to one of the three or more medium stacking units.

The second intermediate device 40 conveys the paper P ejected from the second ejection path R<b>7 of the first intermediate device 30 to the second paper stacking section 20 . The second intermediate device 40 has a plurality of transport roller pairs 41 . The conveying roller pair 41 conveys the sheet P to the second sheet stacking section 20 while nipping it.

Note that the second intermediate device 40 may also have a reversing transport path for reversing the front and back of the paper P, like the first intermediate device 30 . Alternatively, the reverse conveying route R5-2 of the first intermediate device 30 may be omitted.

The control unit 51 of the paper discharge device 1 shown in FIG. 2 has a processor (for example, a CPU) that functions as an arithmetic processing device that controls the operation of the entire paper discharge device 1, and controls the operation of each unit such as the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20. Note that the control unit 51 is not limited to a single control unit. For example, a control unit that controls the first paper stacking unit 10, a control unit that controls the second paper stacking unit 20, a control unit that controls the first intermediate device 30 (ejection path switching unit 33), and a control unit that controls the second intermediate device 40 may be arranged separately. At least one of the control unit 127 of the first printing device 120 and the control unit 144 of the second printing device 140 and the control unit 51 of the paper ejection device 1 may be arranged.

The storage unit 52 is, for example, a ROM that is a read-only semiconductor memory in which a predetermined control program is recorded in advance, or a RAM that is a semiconductor memory that can be written and read at any time and is used as a working storage area as necessary when the processor executes various control programs.

The interface unit 53 exchanges various types of information with the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 of the printing system 100 and a computer that transmits print data to the printing system 100 .

Instead of stacking the paper P printed by at least one of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, the paper ejection device 1 may stack the paper P ejected from a processing device that performs processing other than printing on the paper P or a transport device that transports the paper P.

The operation of the printing system 100 and the stacking state of the paper P in the paper ejection device 1 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the printing system 100. As shown in FIG.
FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the stacking state of the paper P in the paper discharge device 1. As shown in FIG.

Each process of the flow chart shown in FIG. 3 is performed by the control section 51 of the paper discharge device 1 shown in FIG. However, each process may be performed by another control unit of the printing system 100 (for example, the control units 127 and 144 of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140), and the control unit 51 may control the operation of the paper ejection device 1 based on the processing. Note that the case where the sorting unit of the paper P is a job (print job) will be described as an example, but the sorting unit is not limited to a job, and may be one set when multiple sets of one or more pages are printed.

First, when printing starts in the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, and the paper P is sequentially stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10, the control unit 51 of the paper discharging device 1 repeatedly determines whether the printing of the job is completed based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, for example, until the printing of the job is completed (step S11).

When the printing of the job is completed (step S11: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether there is a next job based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 (step S12). If there is no next job (step S12: NO), the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 do not print, so the process shown in FIG. 3 ends. In addition, in preparation for the next printing, the control section 51 causes the discharge path switching section 33 to switch the discharge path of the paper P from the first paper stacking section 10 (first discharge path R6) to the second paper stacking section 20 (second discharge path R7) and to perform the offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking section 10 in the discharge direction in the same manner as the processes of steps S13 and S14 described later. At least one of the processes for controlling the offset driving section 16 may be performed.

When there is a next job (step S12: YES), the control unit 51 causes the ejection path switching unit 33 of the first intermediate device 30 to switch the ejection path of the paper P from the first paper stacking unit 10 (first ejection path R6) to the second paper stacking unit 20 (second ejection path R7) (step S13).

Next, the control unit 51 controls the offset driving unit 16 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the ejection direction while the paper P is stacked on the second paper stacking unit 20 (step S14).

Next, based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, the control unit 51 repeatedly determines whether the printing of the job is completed until the printing of the job is completed (step S15).

When the printing of the job is completed (step S15: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether there is a next job based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 (step S16). If there is no next job (step S16: NO), the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 do not print, so the process shown in FIG. 3 ends.

When there is a next job (step S16: YES), the control unit 51 causes the ejection path switching unit 33 of the first intermediate device 30 to switch the ejection path of the paper P from the second paper stacking unit 20 (second ejection path R7) to the first paper stacking unit 10 (first ejection path R6) (step S17). If the above-described offset operation (step S14) of the first sheet stacking section 10, which is the switching destination, has not been completed, the switching of the discharge path may be performed after the completion thereof.

Next, the control unit 51 controls the offset drive unit 26 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 22 and the offset guide 23 of the second paper stacking unit 20 in the discharge direction (step S18). After that, the control unit 51 repeats the process from step S11 described above.

As described above, by sequentially switching the ejection path between the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 for each job by the ejection path switching unit 33, as shown in FIG. Note that the switching of the ejection path by the ejection path switching unit 33 can be performed at any timing, for example, the paper P for the job corresponding to the user A may be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10, and the paper P for the job corresponding to the user B may be stacked on the second paper stacking unit 20. In this case, the ejection path is not switched for each job, but when the ejection path is switched, the offset operation of the paper stacking section before switching can be performed while the paper P is stacked in the paper stacking section (medium stacking section) of the switching destination, so that the discharge of the paper P and the printing can be prevented from being stopped.

In the first embodiment described above, the paper ejection device 1 (an example of the medium ejection device) includes the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 (an example of a plurality of medium stacking units including the first medium stacking unit and the second medium stacking unit) each of which is stacked with the paper P (an example of the medium), the ejection path switching unit 33 that switches the ejection path of the paper P to either the first paper stacking unit 10 or the second paper stacking unit 20, the first paper stacking unit 10, A control unit 51 that controls the second paper stacking unit 20 and the ejection path switching unit 33 is provided. The first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 have movable end fences 12, 22 and offset guides 13, 23 (an example of a partitioning means) that perform an offset operation (an example of a partitioning operation) to partition the stacked papers P. After the sheets P of a sorting unit (for example, a job) are stacked on the first sheet stacking section 10, the control section 51 controls the ejection path switching section 33 to switch the ejection path to 20 (second ejection path R7) (step S13), and causes the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first sheet stacking section 10 to perform an offset operation while the sheets P are stacked on the second sheet stacking section 20 (step S14). The printing system 100 also includes the paper discharge device 1, and a printing unit 122 of a first printing device 120 and a printing unit 142 of a second printing device 140, which are examples of printing units that print on the paper P. FIG.

Thus, while the movable end fences 12, 22 and the offset guides 13, 23 are performing the offset operation to facilitate management of the discharged paper P, the paper P is discharged to another paper stacking part (another medium stacking part). Therefore, it is possible to avoid stopping the discharge of the paper P and the printing while the offset operation is being performed. Therefore, the ejection efficiency of the paper P can be improved. Therefore, according to the first embodiment, the discharge efficiency of the paper P can be improved, and the discharged paper P can be easily managed.

Further, in the first embodiment, the control unit 51 controls the discharge route switching unit 33 so as to switch the discharge route between the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 in order for each paper P of sorting unit (for example, job). As a result, the offset operation can be performed without stopping the discharge or printing of the paper P for each sorting unit, so the discharge efficiency of the paper P can be further improved.

<Second embodiment>
In the second embodiment, the configuration of the printing system 100 can be the same as that of the above-described first embodiment, so the description of the printing system 100 will be omitted, and the operation of the printing system 100 and the stacking state of the paper P in the paper discharge device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

Although details will be described later, in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment described above, the ejection paths are switched between the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 for each job (an example of a sorting unit). As shown in FIG. That is, printing is performed in order of Jobs 1, 6, 2, 7, 3, 8, 4, 9, 5, and 10.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart for explaining the operation of the printing system 100 according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining remaining job analysis processing.
FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining the stacking state of the paper P in the paper discharge device 1. As shown in FIG.

Each process of the flow charts shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 is performed by the control section 51 of the paper discharge device 1 shown in FIG. However, each process may be performed by another control unit of the printing system 100 (for example, the control units 127 and 144 of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140), and the control unit 51 may control the operation of the paper ejection device 1 based on the processing. Note that the case where the sorting unit of the paper P is a job (print job) will be described as an example, but the sorting unit is not limited to a job, and may be one set when multiple sets of one or more pages are printed.

First, when printing starts in the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, and the paper P is sequentially stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10, the control unit 51 of the paper discharging device 1 repeatedly determines whether the printing of the job is completed based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, for example, until the printing of the job is completed (step S21).

When the printing of the job is completed (step S21: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether there is a next job based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 (step S22). If there is no next job (step S22: NO), the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 do not print, so the process shown in FIG. 5 ends. Note that, in preparation for the next printing, the control unit 51 may perform processing for controlling the offset drive unit 16 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the discharge direction, similarly to the processing of step S24 described later.

When there is a next job (step S22: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether there is a switching JobN (step S23). This switching JobN will be described with reference to FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, based on information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, the control unit 51 repeatedly determines whether or not the total number of pages of one or more queued jobs is greater than the remaining number of pages that can be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 (or the remaining number of pages up to the set number of stacking sheets) until the number of pages increases (step S231). The first job number is stored in the storage unit 52 as a switching JobN (step S232). Here, when Job1 to Job5 can be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10, the control unit 51 causes the storage unit 52 to store the switching JobN as Job6.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 5, when the control unit 51 determines that there is no switching JobN (step S23: NO), the control unit 51 controls the offset driving unit 16 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the ejection direction (step S24). After that, the control unit 51 repeats the process from step S21 described above. That is, in the second embodiment, when there is no switching JobN, the ejection path switching unit 33 does not switch the ejection path to the first paper stacking unit 10, and printing and ejection are performed after the offset operation of the first paper stacking unit 10.

On the other hand, when the control unit 51 determines that there is a switching Job N (step S23: YES), the discharge route switching unit 33 of the first intermediate device 30 switches the discharge route of the paper P from the first paper stacking unit 10 (first discharge route R6) to the second paper stacking unit 20 (second discharge route R7) (step S25).

Further, the control units 127 and 144 of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 change the order of printing in the printing units 122 and 142, and advance the printing of the switched JobN (step S26). Since there is a transport distance from the printing units 122 and 142 to the discharge path switching unit 33, advance printing (step S26) should be started before switching the discharge path from the first paper stacking unit 10 to the second paper stacking unit 20 in step S25.

Further, the control unit 51 controls the offset drive unit 16 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the ejection direction while the paper P is stacked on the second paper stacking unit 20 (step S27).

Next, based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, the control unit 51 repeatedly determines whether the printing of the switching JobN is completed until the printing of the switching JobN is completed (step S28).

When the printing of the switching JobN is completed (step S28: YES), the control unit 51 changes the N of JobN to N+1 (step S29). For example, if the switching JobN is Job6, the control unit 51 changes the switching JobN to Job7 (switching JobN+1).

Further, the control unit 51 causes the discharge route switching unit 33 to switch the discharge route of the paper P from the second paper stacking unit 20 (second discharge route R7) to the first paper stacking unit 10 (first discharge route R6) (step S30). Note that if the above-described offset operation (step S27) of the first sheet stacking section 10, which is the switching destination, has not been completed, it is preferable to wait until the completion of the switching of the ejection path.

Next, the control unit 51 controls the offset drive unit 26 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 22 and the offset guide 23 of the second paper stacking unit 20 in the discharge direction (step S31). After that, the control unit 51 repeats the process from step S21 described above.

As described above, by moving up the job numbers that cannot be stacked on the first paper stacker 10 as the switching JobN and printing (for example, printing in the order of Jobs 1, 6, 2, 7, 3, 8, 4, 9, 5, and 10 as shown in FIG. 7), Jobs 1 to 5 are stacked on the first paper stacker 10 in job order (an example of a predetermined order), and Jobs 6 to 1 are stacked on the second paper stacker 20 in job order. 0 is loaded.

In the second embodiment, a job number that cannot be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 is incremented as a switching JobN and printed. However, the switching JobN may be a job number determined by user settings or the like. Further, the switching JobN may be set so that the paper P for each job is alternately stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 even if there is no job number that cannot be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10. - 特許庁As an example, if the number of jobs is 9 or 10, it is preferable to set the switching JobN to 6 in order to stack the sheets P of 5 jobs on the first sheet stacking unit 10 .

In this way, the switching JobN can be arbitrarily set. Also, for example, the user may be able to select from a plurality of settings, such as a setting to switch JobN for a job number that cannot be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 as in the flowchart shown in FIG. Further, for example, when there is no job number that cannot be stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10, the paper P is stacked only on the first paper stacking unit 10 while offsetting for each job, and before the stacking of a plurality of jobs on the first paper stacking unit 10 is completed (for example, from a job exceeding a predetermined stacking surface height or the number of stacking sheets), the paper P for each job is alternately stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20. , the switching JobN may be set.

In the second embodiment described above, the same effects as those of the first embodiment described above can be obtained, that is, the effect that the discharge efficiency of the paper P can be improved and the discharged paper P can be easily managed.

In the second embodiment, the control unit 51 of the paper discharge device 1 controls the discharge path switching unit 33 so as to sequentially switch the discharge path between the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 (an example of a plurality of medium stacking units) for each paper P of sorting unit (for example, job). The printing units 122 and 142 are caused to change the order of printing and perform printing so that the sheets P of a plurality of sorting units stacked on each of the 20 are arranged in job order (an example of a predetermined order). As a result, the offset operation can be performed without stopping the discharge or printing of the paper P for each sorting unit, so the discharge efficiency of the paper P can be further improved. Further, it is possible to arrange a plurality of sorting units of paper P stacked on each of the first paper stacking section 10 and the second paper stacking section 20 in job order (an example of a predetermined order). Therefore, it is possible to manage the discharged paper P even more easily.

<Third Embodiment>
In the third embodiment, the printing system 100 can be configured in the same manner as in the first embodiment, so the description of the printing system 100 will be omitted, and the operation of the printing system 100 and the stacking state of the paper P in the paper ejection device 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

Although details will be described later, in the third embodiment, the ejection path is switched between the first paper stacking unit 10 and the second paper stacking unit 20 in order. However, as shown in FIG. That is, priority is given to discharging the paper P to the first paper stacking section 10 . Also, Jobs 1 to 5 are stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 in job order (an example of a predetermined order).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the printing system 100 according to the third embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the stacking state of the paper P in the paper discharge device 1. As shown in FIG.
Each process of the flow charts shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 is performed by the control section 51 of the paper discharge device 1 shown in FIG. However, each process may be performed by another control unit of the printing system 100 (for example, the control units 127 and 144 of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140), and the control unit 51 may control the operation of the paper ejection device 1 based on the processing. Note that the case where the sorting unit of the paper P is a job (print job) will be described as an example, but the sorting unit is not limited to a job, and may be one set when multiple sets of one or more pages are printed.

First, when printing starts in the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, and the paper P is sequentially stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10, the control unit 51 of the paper discharging device 1 repeatedly determines whether the printing of the job is completed based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 until the printing of the job is completed (step S41).

When the printing of the job ends (step S41: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether there is a next job based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 (step S42). If there is no next job (step S42: NO), the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 do not print, so the process shown in FIG. 8 ends. Note that, in preparation for the next printing, the control unit 51 may perform processing for controlling the offset driving unit 16 so as to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the ejection direction, similarly to the processing of step S44 described later.

When there is a next job (step S42: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether there is a switching JobN (step S43). Since this switching JobN is as described with reference to FIG. 6 in the second embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.

When determining that there is no switching JobN (step S43: NO), the control unit 51 controls the offset driving unit 16 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the ejection direction (step S44). After that, the control unit 51 repeats the processing from step S41 described above. That is, in the third embodiment, as in the second embodiment described above, when there is no switching JobN, the ejection path switching unit 33 does not switch the ejection path to the first paper stacking unit 10, but waits for the offset operation of the first paper stacking unit 10 to perform printing and ejection.

On the other hand, when the control unit 51 determines that there is a switching Job N (step S43: YES), the discharge route switching unit 33 of the first intermediate device 30 switches the discharge route of the paper P from the first paper stacking unit 10 (first discharge route R6) to the second paper stacking unit 20 (second discharge route R7) (step S45).

Further, the control units 127 and 144 of the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140 change the order of printing in the printing units 122 and 142, and advance the printing from the Np page (initial value is 1 page) which is the restart page of the switched JobN (step S46). Since there is a transport distance from the printing units 122 and 142 to the discharge path switching unit 33, advance printing (step S46) should be started before switching the discharge path from the first paper stacking unit 10 to the second paper stacking unit 20 in step S45.

Further, the control unit 51 controls the offset drive unit 16 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 in the discharge direction (step S47).

Next, based on the information received from the first printing device 120 and the second printing device 140, the control unit 51 determines whether the printing of the switching JobN is finished (step S48).

When the printing of the switching JobN is completed (step S48: YES), the control unit 51 changes the N of JobN to N+1 and sets the restart page Np to page 1 (step S49).

Further, the control unit 51 causes the discharge route switching unit 33 to switch the discharge route of the paper P from the second paper stacking unit 20 (second discharge route R7) to the first paper stacking unit 10 (first discharge route R6) (step S50). It should be noted that, similarly to the determination process in step S52, which will be described later, the switching of the ejection path is preferably performed after the completion of the offset operation (step S47) of the first sheet stacking unit 10, which is the switching destination, if it has not been completed.

Next, the control unit 51 controls the offset drive unit 26 to perform the above-described offset operation of moving the positions of the movable end fence 22 and the offset guide 23 of the second paper stacking unit 20 in the discharge direction (step S51). After that, the control unit 51 repeats the processing from step S41 described above.

If the printing of the switching Job N has not been completed in the determination of step S48 described above (step S48: YES), the control unit 51 determines whether the above-described offset operation (step S47) of the first paper stacking unit 10 has been completed (step S52).

If the offset operation of the first sheet stacking unit 10 has not been completed (step S52: NO), the control unit 51 repeats the processing from step S48 described above.

On the other hand, if the offset operation of the first paper stacking unit 10 is completed (step S52: YES), the control unit 51 causes the discharge path switching unit 33 to switch the discharge path of the paper P from the second paper stacking unit 20 (second discharge route R7) to the first paper stacking unit 10 (first discharge route R6) regardless of whether the stacking of the paper P of the job in the second paper stacking unit 20 is completed (step S53).

Next, the control unit 51 stores the restart page Np of JobN in the storage unit 52 as the page following the page of the paper P last stacked on the second paper stacking unit 20 (step S54). After that, the control unit 51 repeats the processing from step S41 described above. Since the printing of the switching JobN has not ended (step S47: NO), the offset operation of the second paper stacking section 20 is not performed at this stage.

As described above, in the third embodiment, priority is given to discharging the paper P to the first paper stacking unit 10. Therefore, the discharge path switching unit 33 returns the discharge path from the second paper stacking unit 20 to the first paper stacking unit 10 after the offset operation in the first paper stacking unit 10 is completed, regardless of whether the stacking of the paper P for the job in the second paper stacking unit 20 is completed. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9, for example, after the printing of Job 1 ends, printing starts from page 1 of Job 6, after printing of Job 2 ends, printing starts from the restart page Np-1 of Job 6, after printing of Job 3 ends, printing starts from the restart page Np-2 of Job 6, and after printing of Job 4 ends, printing starts from the restart page Np-3 of Job 6. After the printing of Job5 is completed, printing is performed from the resume page Np-4 of Job6. After that, until the paper P stacked on the first paper stacking unit 10 is removed by, for example, the user, the papers P after Job 6 may be stacked on the second paper stacking unit 20 while being partitioned by the offset operation of the second paper stacking unit 20 for each job.

As described in the second embodiment, the switching JobN can be arbitrarily set. For example, the switching JobN may load at least one job on the second paper stacking unit 20 in order to stack the paper P on the second paper stacking unit 20 while the offset operation is being performed in the first paper stacking unit 10, even if there is no job number that cannot be loaded on the first paper stacking unit 10. - 特許庁For example, if the number of jobs is 10, at least the last Job 10 should be loaded on the second paper stacker 20 while the first paper stacker 10 is performing the offset operation for each job. In this way, the number of jobs to be stacked on the second paper stacking unit 20 should be determined so that the stacking of the paper P on the second paper stacking unit 10 is performed while the offset operation is performed for each job on the first paper stacking unit 10. As described above, the switching JobN may be determined based on the offset operation time in the first paper stacking section 10 .

In the third embodiment described above, the same effects as those of the first and second embodiments described above can be obtained, that is, the effect that the discharge efficiency of the paper P can be improved and the discharged paper P can be easily managed.

In the third embodiment, when the offset operation of the movable end fence 12 and the offset guide 13 of the first paper stacking unit 10 is completed, the control unit 51 of the paper discharge device 1 controls the discharge path switching unit 33 to switch the discharge path to the first paper stacking unit 10 regardless of whether or not the stacking of the paper P of the sorting unit (for example, job) on the second paper stacking unit 20 is completed. The printing units 122 and 142 are made to perform printing by changing the order of printing so that the sheets P of a plurality of sorting units are arranged in the order of jobs (an example of a predetermined order). As described above, when the offset operation of the first paper stacking unit 10 is completed, regardless of whether or not the stacking of the papers P in the sorting unit (e.g., job) on the second paper stacking unit 20 is completed, the discharge path is switched to the first paper stacking unit 10, so the discharge of the papers P to the first paper stacking unit 10 can be prioritized. Therefore, the time until a predetermined amount of paper P is stacked in the first paper stacking part 10 can be shortened to the same time as when the offset operation is performed without switching the ejection path while the first paper stacking part 10 remains.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-described first to third embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying constituent elements without departing from the scope of the present invention at the implementation stage. Also, various inventions can be formed by appropriate combinations of the plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described first to third embodiments. For example, all the components shown in the first to third embodiments may be combined as appropriate. It goes without saying that various modifications and applications are possible without departing from the spirit of the invention. The invention described in the scope of claims at the time of filing of the present application will be additionally described below.

[Appendix 1]
a plurality of media stacks including a first media stack and a second media stack each loaded with media;
an ejection route switching unit that switches an ejection route of the medium to one of the plurality of medium stacking units;
a control unit that controls the plurality of medium stacking units and the ejection route switching unit;
The plurality of medium stacking units have partitioning means for performing a partitioning operation for partitioning the stacked media,
The control unit controls the discharge path switching unit to switch the discharge path to the second medium stacking unit after the media of the sorting unit are stacked on the first medium stacking unit, and causes the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit to perform the partitioning operation while the media are stacked on the second medium stacking unit.

[Appendix 2]
The medium ejection device according to Supplementary Note 1, wherein the control section controls the ejection path switching section so as to sequentially switch the ejection path to the plurality of medium stacking sections for each of the media in the sorting unit.

[Appendix 3]
a printing unit that prints on a medium;
a medium ejection device for ejecting the medium printed by the printing unit;
A printing system comprising: a control unit that controls the printing unit and the medium ejection device,
The medium ejection device is
a plurality of media stacks including a first media stack and a second media stack each loaded with media;
an ejection route switching unit that switches an ejection route of the medium to one of the plurality of medium stacking units;
The plurality of medium stacking units have partitioning means for performing a partitioning operation for partitioning the stacked media,
The printing system, wherein the control unit controls the ejection path switching unit to switch the ejection path to the second medium stacking unit after the media in the sorting unit are stacked on the first medium stacking unit, and causes the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit to perform the partitioning operation while the media are stacked on the second medium stacking unit.

[Appendix 4]
The printing system according to Supplementary Note 3, wherein the control unit controls the discharge route switching unit so as to sequentially switch the discharge route to the plurality of medium stacking units for each of the media of the sorting unit, and causes the printing unit to perform printing by changing the order of printing so that the plurality of media of the sorting unit stacked on each of the plurality of medium stacking units are arranged in a predetermined order.

[Appendix 5]
When the partitioning operation of the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit is finished, the control unit controls the discharge path switching unit to switch the discharge path to the first medium stacking unit regardless of whether or not the stacking of the media of the sorting unit is finished on the second medium stacking unit, and the printing unit changes the order of printing so that the plurality of media of the sorting unit stacked on each of the first medium stacking unit and the second medium stacking unit are arranged in a predetermined order, and prints. The printing system according to appendix 3, characterized in that

1 paper discharge device 10 first paper stacker 20 second paper stacker 11, 21 paper stacker 12, 22 movable end fence 13, 23 offset guide 14, 24 upper surface detection sensor 15, 25 paper stacker up/down drive section 16, 26 offset drive section 30 first intermediate device 31 conveying roller pair 32 switchback roller pair 33 ejection path switching section 40 second Intermediate device 41 transport roller pair 51 control unit 52 storage unit 53 interface unit 100 printing system 110 paper feeding device 111 paper feeding table 120 first printing device 121 transport roller pair 122 printing unit 123 suction transport unit 124, 125 transport path switching unit 126 discharge roller pair 126 paper discharge table 127 control unit 128 storage unit 129 interface section 130 reversing device 131 conveying roller pair 132 switchback roller pair 140 second printing apparatus 141 conveying roller pair 142 printing section 143 suction conveying section 144 control section 145 storage section 146 interface section P paper R1 straight conveying path R2 circulating conveying path R3 reverse conveying path R4-1 straight conveying path R4- 2 reverse conveying route R5-1 straight conveying route R5-2 reverse conveying route R6 first discharge route R7 second discharge route

Claims (2)

a plurality of media stacks including a first media stack and a second media stack each loaded with media;
an ejection route switching unit that switches an ejection route of the medium to one of the plurality of medium stacking units;
a control unit that controls the plurality of medium stacking units and the ejection route switching unit;
The plurality of medium stacking units have partitioning means for performing a partitioning operation for partitioning the stacked media,
The control unit controls the ejection path switching unit to switch the ejection path to the second medium stacking unit after the media in the sorting unit are stacked on the first medium stacking unit, and causes the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit to perform the partitioning operation while the media are stacked on the second medium stacking unit;
The medium ejection device is characterized in that, when the partitioning operation of the partitioning means of the first medium stacking section is completed, the control section controls the ejection path switching section to switch the ejection path to the first medium stacking section regardless of whether or not the stacking of the media in the sorting unit on the second medium stacking section is completed. a printing unit that prints on a medium;
a medium ejection device for ejecting the medium printed by the printing unit;
A printing system comprising: a control unit that controls the printing unit and the medium ejection device,
The medium ejection device is
a plurality of media stacks including a first media stack and a second media stack each loaded with media;
an ejection route switching unit that switches an ejection route of the medium to one of the plurality of medium stacking units;
The plurality of medium stacking units have partitioning means for performing a partitioning operation for partitioning the stacked media,
The control unit controls the ejection path switching unit to switch the ejection path to the second medium stacking unit after the media in the sorting unit are stacked on the first medium stacking unit, and causes the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit to perform the partitioning operation while the media are stacked on the second medium stacking unit;
When the partitioning operation of the partitioning means of the first medium stacking unit is finished, the control unit controls the discharge path switching unit to switch the discharge path to the first medium stacking unit regardless of whether or not the stacking of the media of the sorting unit is finished on the second medium stacking unit, and the printing unit changes the order of printing so that the plurality of media of the sorting unit stacked on each of the first medium stacking unit and the second medium stacking unit are arranged in a predetermined order, and prints. A printing system characterized by performing

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