JP7484162B2 - Printing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a printing device.

Accumulated printing is known, in which a user sends a print job from a PC or the like to the storage unit of a printing device and logs in to the printing device to execute the print job. The print job is associated with the identification information of the user who generated the print job. When the user wants the printing device to execute the print job stored in the storage unit, the user inputs the identification information into the printing device. The printing device performs authentication processing based on the input identification information, and if authentication is successful, allows the execution of the print job associated with the user's identification information.

Patent document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus that includes a job determination means for determining whether a print job is executable or not, and a job display means for displaying a job list of only the print jobs that the job determination means has determined to be executable on a display means. According to this, when user authentication is successful, a job list of only the print jobs that the job determination means has determined to be executable is displayed on the display means by the job display means.

The job determination means compares the printing conditions (corresponding to print settings) included in the job list of the print job associated with the user identification information with the function information of the function provided by the image forming device to determine whether the print job can be executed. The image forming device accepts the selection of one or more print jobs from the displayed job list and executes the accepted print jobs.

JP 2011-56918 A

The image forming device disclosed in Patent Document 1 displays a job list of only print jobs that are determined to be executable, and does not display a list of print jobs that are determined to be unexecutable. As a result, the user cannot know which print jobs among the accumulated print jobs are unexecutable.

One aspect of the present invention aims to provide a printing device that can conveniently perform accumulated printing even if there are restrictions on the use of print settings.

In order to solve the above problem, a printing device according to one aspect of the present invention includes a printing unit that prints an image on a recording medium, a reception unit that receives a print job that uses the printing unit and identification information associated with the print job, a storage unit in which the print job and the identification information received by the reception unit are stored, an identification information input unit to which the identification information is input, a display unit, an operation panel that receives operations from a user, and a control unit, and for each of a plurality of print settings of the printing unit, whether or not printing can be performed using the print settings is set for the identification information, and the control unit performs an authentication process to authenticate the identification information input from the identification information input unit, and selects from among the print jobs stored in the storage unit a print job associated with the identification information authenticated by the authentication process. The system includes an extraction process for extracting print jobs, a display process for displaying a job list of the print jobs extracted in the extraction process on the display unit, a selection acceptance process for accepting, using the operation panel, a selection of a print job to be executed from among the executable print jobs included in the job list displayed on the display unit in the display process, and a selected job execution process for executing the print job accepted in the selection acceptance process using the printing unit. Furthermore, in the display process, if the print jobs extracted in the extraction process include executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs, the job list indicates that the executable print jobs are executable and that the non-executable print jobs are non-executable.

According to the above configuration, when the print job and the identification information are received by the reception unit, the print job and the identification information are stored in the storage unit. When the identification information input from the identification information input unit is authenticated, the print job associated with the identification information is extracted from the print jobs stored in the storage unit.

Then, a job list including the extracted print jobs is displayed on the display unit. If the extracted print jobs include executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs, the job list indicates that the executable print jobs are executable, and indicates that the non-executable print jobs are not executable.

When the user uses the operation panel to select a print job to be executed from among the executable print jobs included in the job list, the selected print job is executed by the printing unit and the image is printed on the recording medium.

The job list also displays print jobs that cannot be executed, so the user can clearly see which print jobs cannot be executed from the job list.

The printing device according to one aspect of the present invention can also be configured such that the control unit performs a deletion reception process that receives, using the operation panel, a deletion instruction to delete executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs included in the job list displayed on the display unit from the storage unit, and a deletion process that deletes the print jobs accepted in the deletion reception process from the storage unit.

According to the above configuration, the user can select the print job to be deleted from among the print jobs included in the job list, thereby deleting unnecessary print jobs from the storage unit regardless of whether they can be executed or not.

In a printing device according to one aspect of the present invention, the control unit may further be configured such that the operation panel is a touch panel, the display unit is a display unit of the touch panel, and the control unit uses the touch panel to perform a designation acceptance process to accept designation of one or more print jobs from the job list, and when the designation acceptance process accepts designation of only executable print jobs and when the designation acceptance process accepts designation of both executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs, the control unit performs the selection acceptance process and the deletion acceptance process to display both a print button that accepts an instruction to execute the specified print job and a delete button that accepts an instruction to delete the specified print job on the touch panel so that instructions can be input, and when the designation acceptance process accepts designation of only non-executable print jobs, the control unit performs only the deletion acceptance process without performing the selection acceptance process to display the delete button on the touch panel so that instructions can be input.

According to the above configuration, the display unit and the operation panel are integrated into a touch panel, and the user can input instructions by performing operations such as touching or approaching a button displayed on the touch panel with an object such as a finger or a touch pen. This allows the user to easily specify a print job from the job list by performing the above-mentioned operations on the job list displayed on the touch panel.

When only executable print jobs are specified, or when both executable and non-executable print jobs are specified, both a print button and a delete button are displayed on the touch panel so that instructions can be input. Therefore, for executable print jobs, the user can execute the print job by operating the print button, and for unnecessary print jobs, regardless of whether they can be executed, the user can delete the unnecessary print jobs from the memory unit by operating the delete button.

When only print jobs that cannot be executed are specified, only the Delete button is displayed on the touch panel so that instructions can be entered, allowing the user to delete unnecessary print jobs by operating the Delete button, without inducing the user to wastefully operate the Print button.

The printing device according to one aspect of the present invention can also be configured such that, in the designation reception process, the control unit receives designations of both executable and non-executable print jobs, and, in a state in which both the print button and the delete button are displayed on the touch panel so that instructions can be input, when an instruction input is received through the print button, the control unit performs the selected job execution process for executable print jobs and the delete process for non-executable print jobs.

According to the above configuration, when a user specifies both an executable print job and an unexecutable print job and operates the print button, the executable print job is executed and printed by the printing unit, and the unexecutable print job is deleted from the storage unit. This allows the unexecutable print job to be deleted from the storage unit together with the process of executing the executable print job, thereby preventing unnecessary print jobs from remaining in the storage unit.

The printing device according to one aspect of the present invention may further be configured such that a list display setting for setting whether or not to perform the display process is stored in the storage unit in advance, and the control unit performs the display process and the selection acceptance process and the selected job execution process after the display process when the list display setting is set, and performs the extraction process after the authentication process when the list display setting is not set, and performs an all-job execution process to execute all executable print jobs among the print jobs extracted in the extraction process using the printing unit.

According to the above configuration, it is possible to alternatively set a mode in which the user can select a print job to be executed from a displayed job list, and a mode in which the job list is not displayed and all executable print jobs associated with the user are executed after authentication processing. This allows the user's workability to be improved by setting the mode according to the usage situation, and improves the convenience of the printing device.

In a printing device according to one aspect of the present invention, if the list display setting is not set, the control unit may further perform a total deletion process for deleting from the storage unit print jobs that cannot be executed among the print jobs extracted in the extraction process, and a notification process for displaying a message on the display unit indicating that the print job has been deleted because the print setting is unavailable.

According to the above configuration, in the mode in which the job list is not displayed, non-executable print jobs are deleted along with the process of executing executable print jobs, thereby preventing unnecessary print jobs from being stuck.

In addition, a message is displayed on the display unit to inform the user that the print job was deleted because the print settings were unavailable, so the user can know that the print job cannot be executed because it contained unavailable print settings. This prevents unnecessary print jobs from remaining in the memory unit. The user can also take measures to make the print job executable, such as changing to available print settings and regenerating the print job.

According to one aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide a printing device that can conveniently perform accumulated printing even if there are restrictions on the use of print settings.

1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a diagram showing an example of user management information stored in a RAM of the printing device according to the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a print job accumulation process in the printing device according to the embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of a login process in the printing device according to the embodiment. 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of a stored print process in the printing device according to the embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of list non-display processing in the printing device according to the embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of list display color permission processing in the printing device according to the embodiment. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a screen displayed on a display unit in the printing device according to the embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of list display color disallowance processing in the printing device according to the embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of a display switching process in the printing device according to the embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of a print deletion button display switching process in the printing device according to the embodiment. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a screen displayed on a display unit in the printing device according to the embodiment. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a screen displayed on a display unit in the printing device according to the embodiment. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a screen displayed on a display unit in the printing device according to the embodiment.

One embodiment of the present invention is described in detail below.

[Printing device configuration]
1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printing device according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, an MFP (Multi-Function Peripheral) 1 is shown as an example of the printing device. The MFP 1 is a multifunction device having a print function, a copy function, a scan function, a facsimile function, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 1, the MFP 1 includes a control unit 10, a printing unit 20, an image reading unit 30, a touch panel 40, a key button unit 50 which is a physical key, a communication interface (I/F) 70, and a USB interface (I/F) 80.

The control unit 10 performs overall control over each part of the MFP 1. The control unit 10 has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, and a NVRAM (Non-volatile Random Access Memory) 14.

ROM 12 stores various control programs for controlling MFP 1, various settings, and other information. RAM 13 is a readable and writable memory used as a program area for expanding programs in ROM 12, a work area for temporarily storing data when CPU 11 executes programs to control each section, an accumulation area for accumulating print data, and the like. Accumulated job data 131 and job management information 133, which will be described later, are stored in RAM 13, which serves as an example of a storage section. NVRAM 14 is a non-volatile memory. User management information 132 and information relating to accumulation settings and list display settings are stored in NVRAM 14.

When the control unit 10 instructs the printing unit 20 to execute a print job, the printing unit 20 prints an image on a recording medium such as paper using the print data of the print job. The method for printing the image may be an electrophotographic method or an inkjet method.

The image reading unit 30 has a scanning function for reading images. The image reading method may be an ADF (Auto Document Feeder) method in which an image is read while conveying a recording medium, or an FB (Flat Bed) method in which an image on a recording medium placed on the upper surface of a contact glass is read.

The operation panel 60 is provided on the top surface of the MFP 1. The operation panel 60 includes a touch panel 40 and a key button section 50. The key button section 50 has a number of key buttons for operating the MFP 1.

The touch panel 40 has a display unit 41 made of, for example, a liquid crystal display. The touch panel 40 is capable of detecting a pointing operation caused by contact or proximity of a pointer to the display unit 41. There are various possible specific forms of the pointer capable of performing a pointing operation, and for example, it may be a fingertip or a specific pointing device such as a stylus pen.

Display unit 41 displays an instruction input screen that accepts user instruction input, such as a login screen or the list display screen shown in FIG. 8. The instruction input screen includes various touch buttons for executing specific functions. As shown in FIG. 8, the various touch buttons include, for example, a delete button 422, a select all button 421, and a print button 428. Other touch buttons include job designation buttons 414 to 418 that can each designate a print job displayed in a list. Other touch buttons include an up cursor button 429 and a down cursor button 430.

When the user operates the up cursor button 429 and the down cursor button 430,
By sliding up or down the portion of the display unit 41 where the job designation buttons 414 to 418 are displayed, job designation buttons corresponding to print jobs not displayed in a list on the display unit 41 can be displayed. The select all button 421 is used to accept designation of all print jobs that are included in the job list and are displayed as job designation buttons.

When a user touches each touch button displayed on the display unit 41, the touch panel 40 detects contact or proximity of an object to each touch button. The touch panel 40 outputs a signal corresponding to the type of touch button that was touched to the control unit 10.

The display unit of the touch panel 40 is an example of the "display unit" of the present invention.

The display unit 41 also displays a login screen that prompts the user to enter a user ID and password that constitute identification information required for user authentication. The control unit 10 that displays the login screen on the touch panel 40 and the touch panel 40 are an example of the "identification information input unit" of the present invention.

The communication interface 70 and the USB interface 80 are connected to the control unit 10. The communication interface 70 is an interface for communication with an external device, and the communication method may be a wireless communication method or a wired communication method. The external device may be, for example, a PC (Personal Computer) 100 and a mobile terminal 200 of each user who uses the MFP 1. Also included is a PC 100 of an administrator of the MFP 1. The control unit 10 is communicably connected to the PC 100 and the mobile terminal 200 via the communication interface 70. Print jobs sent from the PC 100 and the mobile terminal 200 are input to the MFP 1 via the communication interface 70. The communication interface 70 is an example of the "reception unit" of the present invention.

The USB interface 80 is a device for connecting a USB device (not shown). By connecting a USB device to the USB interface 80, a user can print printable data stored in the USB device.

[Various types of information stored in NVRAM 14]
2 is a diagram showing an example of the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14. The user management information 132 includes a user ID and a password constituting identification information. Furthermore, for each of a plurality of print settings of the printing unit 20, whether printing can be performed using the print settings is set for the identification information. In the example of FIG. 2, three items, monochrome printing, color printing, and the number of pages allowed to be printed, are shown as each of the plurality of print settings of the printing unit 20.

For example, a user with the user ID "User1" is permitted to print in black and white, but not in color, and the maximum number of pages that can be printed is set to 200. A user with the user ID "User2" is not permitted to print in black and white either, and printing is restricted. A user with the user ID "User3" is permitted to print in color, and there is no limit to the number of pages that can be printed. The administrator of MFP1 sets in advance, using the PC 100 or the operation panel 60 of MFP1, whether or not each user can print using the print settings.

The job management information 133 includes a job ID, a user ID, a job name, and print settings. The job ID is information for identifying a print job accepted by the MFP1. The print job is accompanied by information on the user ID of the user who generated the print job, the job name, and print settings. The control unit 10 manages the accompanied user ID, job name, and print settings in association with the job ID.

The NVRAM 14 stores information relating to accumulation settings and list display settings.
The accumulation setting is a setting as to whether or not the MFP 1 performs accumulation printing. Accumulation printing is a printing method in which a print job received from an external device is accumulated in the RAM 13 of the MFP 1, and when a user logs in to the MFP 1, the accumulated print job of the logged-in user is executed. When the accumulation setting is on, the control unit 10 performs accumulation printing, and when the accumulation setting is off, the control unit 10 does not perform accumulation printing and executes the print job using the printing unit 20.

The list display setting is a setting for whether or not to display a list of print jobs stored in stored printing on the display unit 41. When the list display setting is on, the control unit 10 displays the job list on the display unit 41, and when the list display setting is off, the control unit 10 does not display the job list on the display unit 41.

The accumulation setting and list display setting are set in advance by the administrator of MFP1. The administrator of MFP1 sets the accumulation setting to either on or off using PC100 or the operation panel 60 of MFP1. In addition, when the accumulation setting is set to on, the list display setting can be set to either on or off.

[Print job accumulation process]
Next, a flow of a print job accumulation process performed by the control unit 10 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Note that the flow chart shown in Fig. 3 is an example, and the process is not limited to this.

The control unit 10 determines whether or not a print job has been received via the communication interface 70 from an external device such as the PC 100 or the mobile terminal 200 (S1). If a print job has not been received (S1: NO), the control unit 10 returns to S1 and continues to determine whether or not a print job has been received. If a print job has been received (S1: YES), the control unit 10 determines whether or not the user's user ID and job name have been added to the print job (S2).

If the user's user ID and job name are not added to the print job (S2: NO), the control unit 10 advances the process to S6 and executes the print job using the printing unit 20. As a result, the image of the print job received from the external device is printed on the recording medium using the printing unit 20.

If the user's user ID and job name are added to the print job (S2: YES), the control unit 10 then judges whether the accumulation setting is on or not (S3). If the accumulation setting is off (S3: NO), the control unit 10 proceeds to S6 as in the case where the control unit 10 judges NO in S2, and prints the print job received from the external device. If the accumulation setting is on (S3: YES), the control unit 10 judges whether the received print job can be accumulated (S4). Depending on the protocol of the print job, some cannot be accumulated in RAM 13, so the process of S4 is necessary.

If storage is not possible (S4: NO), the control unit 10 proceeds to S6 as in the case of determining NO in S2 and S3, and prints the print job received from the external device. If storage is possible (S4: YES), the control unit 10 stores the received print job in RAM 13 as stored job data 131. The control unit 10 reflects the received print job in job management information 133 and updates job management information 133 (S5).

[Login process]
Next, the flow of login processing of the MFP 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The control unit 10 displays a login screen on the display unit 41 of the touch panel 40 (S11). The user can input a user ID and password from the login screen using the touch panel 40 of the operation panel 60. When the control unit 10 receives the user ID and password through the touch panel 40, it refers to the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14, and if the user management information 132 contains the combination of the input user ID and password, it determines that login has occurred (S12: YES). If the user management information 132 does not contain the combination of the input user ID and password (S12: NO), the control unit 10 displays an error screen on the display unit 41, returns to S11, and displays the login screen on the display unit 41.

When the control unit 10 confirms the login (S12: YES), it judges whether the print job of the logged-in user, that is, the print job associated with the user ID of the user, is stored in the RAM 13 (S13). If the print job of the logged-in user is not stored in the RAM 13 (S13: NO), the control unit 10 displays a standby screen after login on the display unit 41 (S15). Thereafter, the control unit 10 judges whether a logout has been instructed by the user operating the key button unit 50 of the operation panel 60 (S16), and returns to S15 (S16: NO) until a logout is instructed, and displays the standby screen after login on the display unit 41. When a logout is instructed (S16: YES), the control unit 10 logs out and ends the process.

If the print job of the logged-in user is stored in the RAM 13 (S13: YES), the control unit 10 executes the accumulated print process (S14) shown in FIG. 5. The login process in FIG. 4 ends when the control unit 10 executes the accumulated print process (S14).

[Storage Print Processing]
Next, the flow of the accumulated printing process of the MFP 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The control unit 10 refers to the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14 to determine whether the logged-in user has printing authority (S21).

(If you do not have printing permissions)
With reference to the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14, if neither monochrome printing nor color printing can be set, or if the number of pages permitted to be printed is zero, the control unit 10 determines that the logged-in user does not have printing authority (S21: NO), and proceeds to S22. Next, the control unit 10 deletes the stored job data 131 corresponding to the logged-in user from the RAM 13. The control unit 10 displays a message on the display unit 41 notifying the user that all print jobs stored in the MFP 1 have been deleted due to lack of printing authority (S23). When such a message is displayed, a user without printing authority can clearly know that printing using the MFP 1 is not permitted. After S23, the control unit 10 proceeds to S28.

Returning to the flowchart in FIG. 5, if the logged-in user has printing authority (S21: YES), the control unit 10 determines whether the list display setting is on (S22).

(If you have printing authority but the list display is off - List display process -)
If the list display setting is OFF (S22: NO), the control unit 10 proceeds to S24 and executes the list non-display process shown in FIG.

6 is a process executed by the control unit 10 when the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14 for the logged-in user allows at least one of monochrome printing or color printing and the number of pages allowed to be printed is not zero. The control unit 10 creates a job list including all print jobs of the logged-in user stored in the RAM 13 (S31).
Next, the control unit 10 clears the color printing disabled flag (S32). The color printing disabled flag is a flag that is set when the print job is color printing but the user is not permitted to print in color and the job cannot be executed. The color printing disabled flag is stored in the RAM 13.

Next, the control unit 10 sets the first print job in the created job list as the processing job (S33). Next, the control unit 10 determines whether the processing job that has been set can be executed based on the user management information 132 in the NVRAM 14 (S34).

Specifically, when the print setting for the processing job is a color setting, the control unit 10 checks whether the logged-in user has been set to not allow color in the user management information 132 in NVRAM 14. When the user management information 132 has been set to not allow color, the control unit 10 determines that the processing job cannot be executed. When the user management information 132 in NVRAM 14 has been set to allow color for the logged-in user, the control unit 10 determines that the processing job can be executed.

In addition, if the print setting of a processing job is set to monochrome, the control unit 10 will uniformly determine that the processing job can be executed.

If the control unit 10 determines that the processing job can be executed (S34: YES), it executes the print process for the processing job using the printing unit 20 (S36). If the control unit 10 determines that the processing job cannot be executed (S34: NO), it sets a color printing not possible flag in the RAM 13 (S35).

The control unit 10 deletes the accumulated job data 131 stored in the RAM 13 that corresponds to the job to be processed (S37). Next, the control unit 10 determines whether there are any remaining print jobs in the created job list (S38).

If there are remaining print jobs in the created job list (S38: NO), the control unit 10 returns to S33 and sets the next print job from the job list as the processing job.

If there are no remaining print jobs in the created job list (S38: YES), the control unit 10 determines whether or not a color printing disabled flag is set in the RAM 13 (S40). If the color printing disabled flag is set in the RAM 13 (S40: YES), the control unit 10 displays a message on the display unit 41 notifying the user that the print job has been deleted because the user does not have permission to print in color (S41). The control unit 10 then ends the list non-display process of FIG. 6. Note that if the color printing disabled flag is not set in the RAM 13 (S40: YES), the control unit 10 ends the list non-display process of FIG. 6 as is. The control unit 10 proceeds to S28 in the flowchart of the accumulation process in FIG. 5.

(When list display is on and color permission is set - List display color permission processing -)
5, if the list display setting is on (S22: YES), the control unit 10 proceeds to S25. If the logged-in user is permitted to set color printing in the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14 (S25: YES), the control unit 10 proceeds to S26 and executes the list display color permission process shown in FIG.

The list display color permission process in FIG. 7 is a process executed by the control unit 10 when the color printing setting in the user management information 132 stored in NVRAM 14 for the logged-in user is permitted and the number of pages permitted to be printed is not zero. The control unit 10 creates a job list that includes all of the logged-in user's print jobs stored as accumulated job data in RAM 13 (S51).

As shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 10 displays the job list, print button 428, delete button 422, and select all button 421 on the display unit 41 (S52). FIG. 8 shows an example of a list display screen displayed on the display unit 41 in S52. On the list display screen of FIG. 8, job designation buttons 414, 415, 416, 417, and 418 for executable print jobs are displayed along with the names of the print jobs "A", "B", "C", "D", and "E", respectively.

The control unit 10 enables the user to use the touch panel 40 to select job designation buttons 414, 415, 416, 417, and 418 from the job list displayed on the display unit 41, and is able to accept designation of the job designation buttons 414, 415, 416, 417, and 418 (S53).

The control unit 10 determines whether an instruction has been input using the print button 428 or the delete button 422 (S54). If the control unit 10 determines that an instruction has been input using the print button 428 (S54; YES), it uses the printing unit 20 to execute print processing for each specified print job (S55), and ends the list display color permission processing of FIG. 7. The control unit 10 then proceeds to S28 in the flowchart of the accumulation processing of FIG. 5.

When the control unit 10 determines that an instruction has been input using the delete button 422 (S54: NO), it deletes from the RAM 13 the accumulated job data 131 corresponding to the specified print job, and updates the job list (S56). Next, the control unit 10 determines whether there are any specifiable print jobs remaining in the job list (S57). If there are any specifiable print jobs remaining in the job list (S57: YES), the control unit 10 returns to S52, and if there are no specifiable print jobs remaining in the job list (S57: NO), it ends the list display color permission process of FIG. 7.

(When list display is on and color is not allowed: List display color disallowance process)
5, if the list display setting is on (S22: YES), the control unit 10 proceeds to S25. If the logged-in user is not permitted to set color printing in the user management information 132 stored in the NVRAM 14 (S25: NO), the control unit 10 proceeds to S27 and executes the list display color disallowance process of FIG.

The list display color disallowance process in FIG. 9 is a process executed by the control unit 10 when the color printing setting in the user management information 132 stored in NVRAM 14 for the logged-in user is disallowed and the number of pages allowed to be printed is not zero. The control unit 10 creates a job list that includes all of the print jobs of the logged-in user stored in RAM 13 (S71).

(Display switching process)
The control unit 10 proceeds to S72. The control unit 10 executes the display switching process of FIG. 10. The control unit 10 judges whether the created job list is executable only (S81). Specifically, in S81, the control unit 10 judges whether all the print jobs in the job list are set to monochrome printing, or whether the job list includes at least one print job set to color printing.

If the control unit 10 determines that the created job list is executable only (S81: YES), it displays the job list and the select all button 421 on the display unit 41 (S82).

The control unit 10 further grays out the print button 428 and the delete button 422 on the display unit 41 (S83). The control unit 10 does not accept any instruction input using the grayed out print button 428 and delete button 422. The control unit 10 ends the display switching process of FIG. 10.

901 in FIG. 12 shows an example of a list display screen displayed on the display unit 41 in S82 and S83 in FIG. 10. In the list display screen 901 in FIG. 12, job designation buttons 454, 455, 456, 457, and 458 of executable print jobs are displayed together with the names of the print jobs.

The difference between S52 in FIG. 7 and S82 in FIG. 10 is that the job list displayed in S52 in FIG. 7 is a job list of print jobs that include color printing settings and monochrome printing settings, whereas the job list displayed in S82 in FIG. 10 is a print job that has only monochrome printing settings. The job list in S82 in FIG. 10 does not include print jobs with color printing settings, because print jobs with color printing settings are not permitted.

When the control unit 10 determines that the job list of the logged-in user's print jobs does not only include executable print jobs (S81: NO), it determines whether the job list of the logged-in user's print jobs includes both executable and non-executable print jobs (S84). Specifically, in S84, the control unit 10 determines whether the print jobs in the job list include at least one print job set to monochrome printing, and whether the job list includes at least one print job set to color printing.

When the control unit 10 determines that the created job list contains both executable and non-executable print jobs (S84: YES), it displays the executable job list in the upper part of the display unit 41 (S85). The control unit 10 displays the non-executable job list in the lower part of the display unit 41 (S86).

In this embodiment, the executable job list is a job list of print jobs that are set to monochrome printing, and the non-executable job list is a job list of print jobs that are set to color printing.

The control unit 10 further displays the print button 428 and the delete button 422 on the display unit 41 in a grayed-out state so that they cannot accept any instruction input (S83). The control unit 10 then ends the display switching process of FIG. 10.

An example of the list display screen displayed in steps S85, S86, and S83 in Fig. 10 is shown in 902 in Fig. 12. In the list display screen in 902 in Fig. 12, job designation buttons 424 and 425 for executable print jobs are displayed at the top of the list, and job designation buttons 426 and 427 for non-executable print jobs are displayed at the bottom of the list.
These job designation buttons 426 and 447 and their names are arranged below the display of "unexecutable print jobs," so that the user can be clearly informed that the jobs cannot be executed.

When the control unit 10 determines that the created job list does not include both executable and non-executable print jobs (S84: NO), it displays a list of non-executable jobs on the display unit 41 (S87). In this case, the print jobs in the job list do not include print jobs set to monochrome printing, and only print jobs set to color printing.

The control unit 10 further displays the print button 428 and the delete button 422 on the display unit 41 in a grayed-out state so that they cannot accept any instruction input (S83). The control unit 10 then ends the display switching process of FIG. 10.

Returning to the list display color disallowance process of FIG. 9, the control unit 10 enables the touch panel 40 to accept the designation of any print job from the job list displayed on the display unit 41 (S73).

For example, in the case of list display screen 901 in FIG. 12, the user can specify any print job by pressing job specification buttons 454 to 458, in the case of list display screen 902 in FIG. 12, the job specification buttons 424 to 427, and in the case of list display screen 903 in FIG. 12, the job specification buttons 466 and 467.

However, in the list display screens 901, 902, and 903 in FIG. 12, none of the job designation buttons 454-458, 424-427, 466, and 467 have been pressed or designated, so the Delete button 422 and Print button 428 are grayed out and cannot accept any instruction input. The Select All button 421, which is not grayed out, can accept instruction input.

(Print deletion button display switching process)
Next, the control unit 10 executes the print deletion button display switching process (S74) of Fig. 9. Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing the process of S74 of Fig. 9.

In S91, the control unit 10 determines whether the specified print jobs are only executable print jobs. If only executable print jobs are specified (S91: YES), the control unit 10 displays on the display unit 41 that both the print button 428 and the delete button 422 shown in FIG. 8 are accepted for instruction input, and cancels the grayed-out display that does not accept instruction input for both the print button 428 and the delete button 422 (S92). The control unit 10 ends the print delete button display switching process of FIG. 11.

Note that displaying both the print button 428 and the delete button 422 to accept instruction input means that the print button 428 and the delete button 422, which are not grayed out, each emit light. Hereinafter, the display of each button emitting light will be referred to as light-emitting display. When the user presses the print button 428 and the delete button 422 on the touch panel 40, the control unit 10 can accept instruction input from each button.

Figure 13 is a diagram showing a specific example of switching between grayed-out display and illuminated display of the print button 428 and the delete button 422 in the case of the list display screen 902 in Figure 12. Note that the list display screen 1001 in Figure 13 corresponds to the list display screen 902 in Figure 12.

The list display screen 1002 in FIG. 13 shows a screen displaced from the list display screen 1001 in FIG. 13 when only executable print jobs are specified. When only executable print jobs are specified, the print button 428, delete button 422, and select all button 421 are all displayed in a state in which they can accept instruction input. That is, the control unit 10 causes the print button 428, delete button 422, and select all button 421 to be illuminated on the display unit 41.

In the case of the list display screen 1002 in FIG. 13, when the user designates the job designation buttons 424 and 425 for the print job, a check mark is displayed on each of the job designation buttons 424 and 425 for the print job on the display unit 41, so that it is possible to know whether or not the print job has been designated. In the case of the list display screen 1002 in FIG. 13, this indicates that the display mode of the print button 428 and the delete button 422 on the list display screen 902 in FIG. 12 has changed from a grayed-out display to an illuminated display.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 11, if there are not only executable print jobs (S91: NO), the control unit 10 determines whether the specified print jobs include both executable and non-executable print jobs (S93). If both print jobs exist (S93: YES), the process proceeds to S92, where both the print button 428 and the delete button 422 are illuminated and the grayed-out display of the print button 428 and the delete button 422 is cancelled (S92). The control unit 10 ends the print/delete button display switching process.

The list display screen 1004 in FIG. 13 is a screen displaced from the list display screen 1001 in FIG. 13 when both executable and unexecutable print jobs are specified. In the case of the list display screen 1004 in FIG. 13, the user has specified the job specification buttons 424 and 427 for the print jobs, and both executable and unexecutable print jobs have been specified. On the display unit 41, the print button 428, delete button 422, and select all button 421 are all illuminated and displayed.

Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 11, if the answer is NO in S93, the control unit 10 judges whether only unexecutable print jobs have been specified (S94). If only unprintable print jobs have been specified (S94: YES), the control unit 10 switches the delete button 422 displayed on the display unit 41 from a grayed-out display to an illuminated display, and the print button 428 remains grayed out (S95). The control unit 10 ends the print delete button display switching process.

If the result of S94 is NO, the control unit 10 ends the print/delete button display switching process. Note that although the print button 428 and the delete button 422 are described here, the all select button 21 is always illuminated.

The list display screen 1003 in FIG. 13 is a screen displaced from the list display screen 1001 in FIG. 13 when only unexecutable print jobs are specified. When only unexecutable print jobs are specified, the Print button 428 remains grayed out, and the Delete button 422 and the Select All button 421 are illuminated. The control unit 10 can then accept an instruction input when the user presses the Delete button 422 on the touch panel 40. Even if the user presses the grayed out Print button 428 on the touch panel 40, the control unit 10 will not accept the instruction input.

Returning to the flow chart of the list display color disallowance process in FIG. 9, the control unit 10 judges whether or not an instruction has been input using the print button 428 or the delete button 422 after S74 (S75). If the control unit 10 judges that an instruction has not been input using the print button 428 or the delete button 422 (S75: NO), it repeats the print delete button display switching process in FIG. 11 (S74).

If it is determined that an instruction has been input using the print button 428 or the delete button 422 (S75: YES), the control unit 10 determines whether the input instruction is an instruction input using the print button 428 (S76).

If the user has input an instruction by pressing the print button 428 (S76: YES), the control unit 10 executes the print process using the printing unit 20 for only those print jobs that can be executed among the specified print jobs (S77).

If the instruction is not input by the user pressing the print button 428 (S76: NO), the control unit 10 deletes the stored job data 131 corresponding to the specified print job from the RAM 13 and updates the created job list (S78).

The control unit 10 determines whether there are any specifiable print jobs remaining in the updated job list (S79). Note that a specifiable print job means that there is a print job in the job list for the logged-in user that is either an executable print job or an inexecutable print job.

If there are specifiable print jobs remaining in the job list (S79: YES), the control unit 10 executes the display switching process (S72) shown in FIG. 10 again. The control unit 10 repeats the process from S72 onwards. If there are no specifiable print jobs remaining in the job list (S79: NO), the control unit 10 ends the list display color disallowance display in FIG. 9. The control unit 10 then proceeds to S28 in the accumulation process flowchart in FIG. 5.

(Storage Print Processing)
Returning to the accumulated printing process of Figure 5, when the control unit 10 completes the list non-display process (S24) shown in Figure 6, the list display color permission process (S26) shown in Figure 7, or the list display color non-permission process (S27) shown in Figure 9, the control unit 10 displays a post-login standby screen on the display unit 41.

The control unit 10 determines whether or not the user has operated the redisplay key belonging to the key button unit 50 (S28). If the redisplay key has been operated (S28: YES), the control unit 10 returns to S25. If the redisplay key has not been operated (S28: NO), the control unit 10 determines whether or not a logout has been instructed (S29) and returns to S28 until a logout is instructed. If a logout is instructed, the control unit 10 logs out and ends the accumulated print process in FIG. 5, and also ends the login process in FIG. 4.

Figure 14 is an explanatory diagram of a screen displayed on the display unit 41 while a print job is being processed in the MFP 1. Figure 14 shows another example of a job list displayed on the display unit 41 in S85 and S86 of Figure 10. As described above, the control unit 10 indicates that executable print jobs are executable in the job list displayed on the display unit 41, and indicates that non-executable print jobs are not executable.

In the list display screen 1005 of FIG. 14, job designation buttons 424 and 425 for print jobs that can be executed are displayed at the top of the list, and a display instruction button 433 for instructing the display of print jobs that cannot be executed is displayed at the bottom of the list. When the control unit 10 accepts an instruction input using the display instruction button 433, it displays a list of print jobs that cannot be executed. In the list display screen 1006 of FIG. 14, when the control unit 10 accepts an instruction input using the display instruction button 433, job designation buttons 426 and 427 for print jobs that cannot be executed are displayed below the display "Print jobs that cannot be executed."

In the list display screen 1006 of FIG. 14, in order to display only a list of print jobs that cannot be executed, the Delete button 422 is also grayed out and cannot accept instruction input, and only the Select All button 421 is illuminated and can accept instruction input. Also, in the list display screen 1006 of FIG. 14, the Print button 428 is not grayed out, but is not displayed at all.

[Software implementation example]
The control block of the MFP 1 (particularly the control unit 10) may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) formed on an integrated circuit (IC chip) or the like, or may be realized by software.

In the latter case, the MFP1 includes a computer that executes the instructions of a program, which is software that realizes each function. This computer includes, for example, one or more processors, and a computer-readable recording medium that stores the program. The object of the present invention is achieved by the processor reading the program from the recording medium and executing it in the computer. The processor can be, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The recording medium can be a "non-transient tangible medium," such as a ROM (Read Only Memory), tape, disk, card, semiconductor memory, programmable logic circuit, etc. The MFP1 may also include a RAM (Random Access Memory) that expands the program. The program may be supplied to the computer via any transmission medium (such as a communication network or broadcast waves) that can transmit the program. One aspect of the present invention may also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave, in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims. The technical scope of the present invention also includes embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in different embodiments.

1. MFP
10 Control unit 11 CPU
12 ROM
13 RAM
20 Printing section 21 All select button 30 Image reading section 40 Touch panel 41 Display section 50 Key button section 60 Operation panel 70 Communication interface 80 USB interface 132 User management information 131 Stored job data 133 Job management information 200 Portable terminal 421 Select all button 422 Delete buttons 414 to 418, 424 to 427, 454 to 458, 466 to 467 Job designation button 428 Print button 429 Up cursor button 430 Down cursor button

Claims (2)

a printing unit that prints an image on a recording medium;
a reception unit that receives a print job that uses the printing unit and identification information associated with the print job;
a storage unit for storing the print job and the identification information received by the reception unit;
an identification information input unit to which identification information is input;
A display unit;
an operation panel for receiving operations from a user;
A control unit,
the operation panel is a touch panel, and the display unit is a display unit of the touch panel,
With respect to the identification information, a setting is made as to whether or not printing can be performed using each of a plurality of print settings of the printing unit;
The control unit is
an authentication process for authenticating the identification information inputted from the identification information input unit;
an extraction process for extracting a print job associated with the identification information authenticated by the authentication process from among the print jobs stored in the storage unit;
a display process for displaying a job list of the print jobs extracted in the extraction process on the display unit;
a selection receiving process for receiving, using the operation panel, a selection of a print job to be executed from among executable print jobs included in the job list displayed on the display unit in the display process;
a selected job execution process for executing the print job accepted in the selection acceptance process using the printing unit;
Furthermore, in the display process, when executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs are present among the print jobs extracted in the extraction process, the executable print jobs are indicated as executable in the job list, and the non-executable print jobs are indicated as non-executable, while
The control unit further
a deletion reception process for receiving, via the operation panel, a deletion instruction to delete from the storage unit an executable print job and an unexecutable print job included in the job list displayed on the display unit;
a deletion process for deleting the print job accepted in the deletion acceptance process from the storage unit;
performing a designation receiving process of receiving, using the touch panel, designation of one or more print jobs from the displayed job list;
when the designation acceptance process accepts designation of only an executable print job, or when the designation acceptance process accepts designation of both an executable print job and an unexecutable print job, the selection acceptance process and the deletion acceptance process are performed to display on the touch panel both a print button for accepting an instruction to execute the designated print job and a delete button for accepting an instruction to delete the designated print job so that instructions can be input;
When the designation acceptance process accepts designation of only an unexecutable print job, the selection acceptance process is not performed, and only the deletion acceptance process is performed, and the delete button is displayed on the touch panel so that an instruction can be input.
A printing device characterized in that the designation reception process accepts designations of both executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs, and when an instruction input is received through the print button while both the print button and the delete button are displayed on the touch panel so that instructions can be input, the selected job execution process is performed for executable print jobs, and the delete process is performed for non-executable print jobs. a printing unit that prints an image on a recording medium;
a reception unit that receives a print job that uses the printing unit and identification information associated with the print job;
a storage unit for storing the print job and the identification information received by the reception unit;
an identification information input unit to which identification information is input;
A display unit;
an operation panel for receiving operations from a user;
A control unit,
With respect to the identification information, a setting is made as to whether printing can be performed using each of a plurality of print settings of the printing unit;
The control unit is
an authentication process for authenticating the identification information inputted from the identification information input unit;
an extraction process for extracting a print job associated with the identification information authenticated by the authentication process from among the print jobs stored in the storage unit;
a display process for displaying a job list of the print jobs extracted in the extraction process on the display unit;
a selection receiving process for receiving, using the operation panel, a selection of a print job to be executed from among executable print jobs included in the job list displayed on the display unit in the display process;
a selected job execution process for executing the print job accepted in the selection acceptance process using the printing unit;
Furthermore, in the display process, when executable print jobs and non-executable print jobs are present among the print jobs extracted in the extraction process, the executable print jobs are indicated as executable in the job list, and the non-executable print jobs are indicated as non-executable, while
a list display setting for setting whether or not the display process is to be performed is stored in the storage unit in advance;
The control unit further
When the list display setting is set, the display process and the selection acceptance process and the selected job execution process that follow the display process are performed;
If the list display setting is not set, after the authentication process, the printing device performs the extraction process, and then performs a all-job execution process to execute all executable print jobs among the print jobs extracted in the extraction process using the printing unit, a all-deletion process to delete from the memory unit print jobs that cannot be executed among the print jobs extracted in the extraction process, and a notification process to display a message on the display unit indicating that the print jobs have been deleted because the print settings are unavailable.

Images