JPH02144372A - Sorter device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve through-put of a recording device body by a method wherein one or more exhaust bins are set according to job ID number informa tion and sort mode assignment information, and a recording sheet is discharged from a recording device according to a sort mode assigned to the discharge bin. CONSTITUTION:Based on a printing command outputted from each host com puter, a controller 1 generates an ID number at each host computer or at each printing command to output it to a printer 2. The printer 2 outputs the ID to a sorter 3 as it is. The sorter 3 sets a bin number responding to the received ID to return it to the printer 2, and the printer 2 returns the bin number to the controller 1 as it is. This constitution reduces an amount of information between adjoining controllers 1, printer 2, and sorter 3 and reduces a communi cating time. Further, a control means is simplified, and forms a device having a general purpose property.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is connected to a recording control device connected to 2 m number of host computers, and prints from the recording device in response to each printing command from each host computer. The present invention relates to a sorter device for sorting discharged sheets of paper.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, in this type of system, the recording control device is
Generally, a paper output bin is specified based on a print command for each host computer by obtaining sorter information through the FI printer itself.

[Issue to be solved by the invention] However, in the above conventional example, the recording control device grasps not only the status of the recording device J but also the status information of the sorter, such as the number of bins in the sorter, the loading status of each bin, and the maximum number of sheets loaded. Therefore, the information between the recording control device, recording device, and sorter must be maintained! ! ! The amount of information becomes large, and in a low-speed communication ε device, the communication means takes time and reduces the throughput of the recording device itself. Furthermore, since there is a large amount of information, the control means also tend to be complicated. Furthermore, the recording control device and the recording device must have a control program for each sorter to which they are attached, making it impossible to use the sorter for general purposes.

An object of the present invention is to provide a sorter device that solves the above-mentioned problems.

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention provides a setting means for setting one or more paper output bins in response to input job IO number information and sort mode specification information, and one set by the setting means. The paper ejection bin described above is provided with a control means for ejecting recording paper from the recording apparatus according to a specified sort mode.

[Function] According to the present invention, for example, by setting the paper output bin in accordance with the input ID number information for each boss 1 to computer or for each job, for example, the recording control device, To reduce the amount of communication between the recording sound device and the sorter head device, and to shorten the communication time. Moreover, the control means is made 135 times, providing versatility.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention,
It has a controller 1 connected to a plurality of host computers, a printer 2 connected to the controller 1, and a sorter 3 connected to the printer 2. The controller 1 has a processor 11 with a built-in CPU, noM, and M.

Printer 2 and sorter 3 are each controlled independently by CI.
'U, ROM, IIAM built-in control processor 12.1
3, and information can be exchanged between each device through parallel or serial communication.

The ROM of each processor has a program for executing each control 11 sequence described below.

The controller 1 generates an ID number for each host computer or for each print command based on the print command issued from each host computer, and sends it to the printer 2.

The printer 2 sends the IO to the sorter 3 as is.

Sorter 3 sends the bin number corresponding to the received IC to printer 2.
The printer 2 then returns the bin number as is to the controller l.

In addition to the CpH 13, the sorter 3 has n empty bin sensors PSI to PSN that detect the presence or absence of paper in each bin, and a sensor 11 that displays the ID number sent from the controller 1 via the printer 2 corresponding to each bin. 7 segment display devices 7 segments 1 to 7 segments, solenoid drivers 1 to n that drive one flapper for discharging paper to each bin, and solenoid SLI-5Ln
, a motor driver that drives the paper ejection roller, and a motor driver that drives the paper ejection roller.
When the power is turned on, the sorter 3 is configured to eject paper to a paper ejection port of the main body.

FIG. 2 shows the sequence of information exchange among the controller 1, printer 2, and sorter 3. First 201
When the printer 2 becomes ready for printing, it sends printer ready information to the controller 1. Furthermore, Sorta 3? I! When the source is turned on and the state is ready for sorting, 202
Then sorter 3 sends the sorter ready information to printer 2, and
At 33, the printer 2 sends sorter function ready information to the controller 3.

When the controller 1 confirms that the sorter function is ready, it sends a sort mode designation to the printer 2 in step 203.

In response to this, the printer 2 sends the sort mode designation to the sorter 3 in step 204. As shown in Figure 3, the contents are as follows: The first byte is a sort mode specification code indicating that it is a sort mode specification command, the second byte is a sort mode specification, and the third byte is the IO number of the job to be sorted. Yes, the fourth byte specifies the number of bins, and when the second byte sequentially specifies the sheet mode 1, this bin number designation indicates the number of bins to be secured.

The sorter 3 searches for empty bins in response to this sort mode designation, secures the designated number of bins, and assigns the designated IO number to the bin. At the same time, the ID number is displayed on the 7-segment display section of that bin. Sorter 3 is 205,
For the job to be sorted, the bin number to be ejected first and the number of secured bins are returned to the printer 2. printer 2
In step 206, this information is returned to the controller 1 as is.

After controller l confirms that the bin is secured,
At step 207, specify an ID indicating the destination of X↓( for which a printer command is sent and printed).

After confirming the bin number returned from the sorter 3 (printer 2) at 209, 2ID, the controller 1 sends a print command to the printer 2 at 211. The printer 2 feeds paper in response to this print command, and when it receives the vertical synchronization signal of the image at 212, it sends the paper size information of the paper being printed to the sorter 3 to inform the sorter 3 that printing has been confirmed. The sorter 3 discharges the paper from the printer 2 to bin number 1 based on the timing and content of the paper size information sent. The same applies to 213-218. (21
3: 1 unit designation (ID2), 214: ID designation (+02
), 215+bin number l.

216: Bin number 1.217: Print command, 218
:Paper size specification) 219 to 222 are used to perform another job.
Similar to 03 to 201i, specify the sort mode in line 12 (219: Sort mode specification (ID4), 220:
Specify mode to saw 1 (+041.221+bin number 2.
222: Bin number 2), further 223 to 228, I
Sort the job using the D designation and print command (
223: ID specification (+114), 224: ID specification (
ID4), 225: Bin number 2, 220: Bin number 2.227 + print command, 228: Paper size specification)
, 229.2: This is a case where the ID specifies the sort mode, that is, the ID (ID5) that allocates a bin, and the sorter 3 returns 231 as ■0 error, which means there is no corresponding bin, to the printer 2. , printer 2 returns it to controller 1 at 232.

FIG. 4 shows an example when the number of sheets loaded in the bin corresponding to the ID reaches the number of sheets that can be loaded.

Specify the ID from controller 1 to printer 2 and sorter 3 with 401 and 402, and specify the corresponding bin number with 403 and 404.
1) Sorter 5 to 3. The data is returned from the printer 2 to the controller 1 for printing and sorting. Another 405.40
6 from controller l to printer 2. When specifying ID (+01) to sorter 3, if bin 5 corresponding to ID 1 is full, sorter 3 searches for other bins, and if bin 6 is empty, Assigns [01 to bin 1 for 6 and returns bin number 6 to printer 2 and controller 1 with 407.4011. Therefore, if the controller 1 monitors the bin number returned from the sorter 3 via the printer 2, it can know that the job spans multiple bins even if it does not know the number of bins in the sorter or the number of sheets loaded in the bin. can. If the bins are full and there are no empty bins, sorter 3 reports an ID error to printer 2. The controller 1 then knows that there are no empty bins in the sorter. Therefore, the controller 1 selects whether to interrupt the job, wait for an empty bottle, or specify the paper slot of the main body 111. The main body paper ejection port is designated with ID number “O”.

If the ID number when specifying a new sort mode has already been registered in the sorter and bins have been assigned by specifying another sort mode, sorter 3 will finish the job with the previously specified ID number. If the new sort mode specification is the same as the specified sort mode of the job that was treated as finished, the bins to which Wlj has already been assigned are reassigned. If the sort mode is different, a bin search is performed to allocate a new bin.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the data structure of the bin information held on the RAM of the sorter 3 and the control processor 13 when sorting is performed.

The number of sorter bins N and the maximum number of sheets per bin M are set in the table header, and this information will not be changed during the sorting process. f system, and bin 1. Bin 2. ...The information of bin N is set. 1
The items are Sby1~, and are composed of a flag, an ID number, a previous bin number Hp, a next bin number Lln, and a current number of loaded sheets P. The flag is in bits, and the paper presence/absence information on the bin is 8 full bins +? It consists of 1 report, occupancy information, discharge information, and sort mode information.

Paper T no information is detected by empty bottle sensor PSn,
If there is even one ejected paper in the bin, it will be "1", otherwise it will be "0". The t:4 bin information counts the number of ejected sheets (set to the current number of loaded sheets P) and displays the table header. When the number of sheets that can be loaded per bin is equal to or greater than the maximum number of sheets M that can be loaded per bin set in When the ID number is set to 2 bye], it becomes °1°° to indicate that it is occupied by the corresponding ■0.The ejecting flag is
If there are multiple bins occupied by ID numbers, the number is 1° when currently used as a discharge bin. For example, in sequential sorting, m parts are printed, shi, m
Each time m bins are secured and one is ejected, the discharging flag for each m bin information changes.°゛1
It becomes ゛°. The sort mode flag is 'I' when used in sequential sort 1-mode when sort mode is specified.
, becomes 0°゛ when used in random sort mode. 1σ) Multiple bins are occupied by ID number 117t, and if there is already a full bin with the same ID, the currently discharging bin is the previous bin with information on the currently discharging bin on 43F. The bin number of a full bottle is set in the number port p, and the bin number currently being discharged is set in the next bin number On of the bin information of the full bottle.

Therefore, even if a job with an ID number spans multiple bins, it is possible to know which bin it corresponds to and which bin is currently being discharged. Also ID
The bin information that has not been expanded is occupied flag = ゛°0'', discharging flag = ``O'' ID number, previous bin number [19, next bin number Bn = hexadecimal number - 訃1゛ is sen 1 ~ has been.

Figure 6 shows the specified II) based on the information in Figure 5.
4. Returns the corresponding bin number and changes the information. -C shows the control procedure of the sorter control processor CPU.
-Chihe-to.

This process is performed every time an ID number is sent from the printer 2, and the bin number is always set in the return status and the ID number is returned to the printer 2.

First, in step 601, a number i is initialized to search for bin information for all six symbols: Si indicating the bin number that is full and ESi indicating the first empty bin number.

Next, in 602, it is determined whether the ID number shown in the i-th item is the same as the ID number specified by the printer 2 (hereinafter abbreviated as designation 0), and if it is the same, further
In I25, it is determined whether the current number of loaded sheets P is less than the maximum number M, and if it is smaller, it is still possible to drink in that bin, so in 62B, i is set as the bin number to 1 (static return status, and return -・1-ru.

If the current number of loaded sheets P is greater than or equal to the maximum number of loaded sheets at 625, then at 626 it is determined whether the next bin has been assigned or the next bin number Bn, and if it is O, the next bin has not been assigned to the WIJ yet. Then, at 627, save i, the final bin number of the specified ID, to S+, and proceed to 606, 62
If On is not O at 6, the process directly proceeds to 606.

At 602, if the item ID number and the specified ID number are different, at fin:3.604,605, the occupied flag is checked to determine whether the bin is empty or not, and if it is the first empty bin, it is sent to ESi. Save that bin number i. and 606
In step 607, it is determined whether all bins have been searched. If not, the process returns to step 602 to check the next bin. When all the bottles have been checked, the ESi is checked to see if there are any empty bottles in 608, and if there are no empty bottles, an ID error is set in the return status in 629 to notify the printer 2 of this fact.
Return.

This ID error is sent to controller 1 via printer 2.
When received, controller 1 is specified! It can be determined that the bin for D was not allocated.

If there is an empty bottle in 60B, specify I in 609.
Even though there is a bin for D, it is already full and whether the next bin has not been allocated is determined by looking at SI. If it has not been allocated yet, check whether the bin before the full bin is empty at 61O, or
In 616, it is determined whether the bin after the full bin is empty, and if either is empty, the next bin number of the item in the full bin [In should be set to the empty bin number.
, 617), the previous bin number Bp should be set to the full bin number Si 613. [118) Set the specified ID to the ID number of the item in the empty bin614
, 819), turn on the discharging flag that indicates the current paper discharging bin [i40. [141) Please set the empty bin number in the return status 615, 62
0), 6: ID calls a subroutine to display the ID number on the bin display. Also, if the adjacent bins are empty, 621°622.623,642,
At 624, similar information rewriting is performed using the first empty bin ESi.

With the above control, even if the same IO job is sent to multiple bins, the bins will be placed next to each other, so even if the user comes to collect the recording paper, there is a possibility that it will be taken out by mistake. There is little sex.

[Other Embodiments] (1) FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the first embodiment described above, the printer 2 and the sorter 3 each had an independent control processor and controlled sorting through communication, but as shown in FIG. 7, the control processor 14 of the printer 2 controls When controlling the sorter 3 such as bin selection and paper ejection operation by signals, that is, when the sorter 3 does not have a control processor, the bin information and control sequence shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are transmitted to the control processor 14. By having this, the same effects as in the first embodiment can be obtained. In this case, communication between the printer 2 and the sorter 3 is not required, so the exchange of sorting information with the controller 1 becomes shorter and more concise.

(2) FIG. 8 is a version of FIG. 6 in which a process for counting the number of empty bottles is added to control the bin information, and between the processes 602 and 603, the ID number of item i is , that is, processes 801 and 802 are added to count up the number of empty bottles j when the bottle is empty.The number of empty bottles j is initialized at 602. Next, in 803, it is determined whether ESi=O, If it is 0, 804 is E.
Set i to Si. Having this information, the controller 1 can control the reception of printing commands from the post computer while checking the number of empty bottles in response to requests from the controller. Since there is no longer a need to make a 0 reservation based on a specification or issue a print command, the amount of communication between the controller and the print 5 sorter is further reduced.

(3) FIG. 9 is a sequence of information exchange in the case where IO designation is omitted as another embodiment.

The sequence from 201 to 209 is the same as the sequence shown in the ¥S2 diagram, but if there are only print commands such as 211, 217, and 227, and no ID specification is made during the process, the sorter determines that there is no change in the ID specification and prints the same bin. Continue to eject paper to. If there is no sort mode specified at this time, the main body will naturally continue to eject the paper. If that bin becomes full, the sorter searches for another bin, and if there is an empty bin, discharges the paper into that bin.

In this way, if the job to be sorted is the same and the specified ID number does not change, there is no need to specify the ID number every time a print command is issued, so the amount of information exchanged between the controller 1 and the sorter 3 is further reduced. Effects greater than those obtained in the first embodiment can be obtained.

(4) FIG. 1O is a diagram showing the sequence of information exchange when no sort mode is designated as another embodiment. 201 and 202 are the same as the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, but in 2ID, the sort mode specification is omitted,
I suddenly specified an IO. At this time, sorter 3
Since the bin corresponding to D is not found, search for the bin,
Allocate a new empty bin.

The same goes for 223 to 228 that return this bin number to the controller 1 via the printer 2. By implementing such a control method, controller 1 and sorter 3
The amount of information is further reduced, and more effects than the first embodiment can be obtained.

As described above, by having the controller specify the ID for each post 1 computer or job and allocating the corresponding output bin on the sorter side, the controller does not have to be aware of the number of bins or the number of sheets loaded in the sorter. C can also control the sorting operation. Further, since the number of information messages 1h ffi between the printer and the sorter can be reduced, a communication device with a slow transfer speed can be used, and the control means can be simplified.

Furthermore, the greatest effect of the present invention is that sorting is possible only by specifying an ID from the controller.
The advantage is that it can be applied to sorters of any specification as long as the control method is unified without changing the control sequence of the printer.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the amount of communication information for sorting can be reduced, the commuting time can be shortened by three hours, and the control means can also be simplified.

7I? Group l~7 segment n...7 segment 1-display device,
M...Motor.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present invention, Figures 2 and 4.
Figure 3 shows the sequence of information exchange in the present invention, Figure 3 shows the contents of the sort mode designation command, Figure 5 shows the data structure of sorter bin information, and Figure 6 shows the I
Flowchart of control for allocating bins to D numbers. FIGS. 7 to 1O are block diagrams of other embodiments of the present invention. 1... Controller, 2... Printer, 3... Sorter, f'sj PSn... Photo interrupter, SLI
SLn...Solenoid, Sort mode m constant command F: (4 bytes) Fig. 3 C-(Evening light yellow plaque Fig. 5 "Racia 2! - Note #O" Fig. 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) Setting means for setting one or more paper output bins in accordance with input job ID number information and sort mode specification information, and one or more paper output bins set by the setting means. A sorter device characterized in that a paper bin is provided with a control means for discharging recording paper from a recording device according to a designated sorting mode. 2) The sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the setting means includes means for setting a plurality of paper discharge bins corresponding to job ID numbers so as to be closest to each other. 3) The sorter device according to claim 1, wherein the setting means includes a display device that displays a job ID number corresponding to the paper output bin. 4) The control means is configured to handle job I without specifying the sort mode.
2. The sorter device according to claim 1, further comprising means for setting a paper discharge bin in a predetermined sort mode when D number information is input.