JPH05185667A - Controlling method for printing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the wasteful discharge of paper by changing the usual discharge number of sheets to the smaller number of discharged sheets with respect to a discharge switch at the time of an error when a joint is continuously detected twice. CONSTITUTION:The presence of a joint is checked during printing and, when the joint is detected, the detected joint is persued and, when the joint reaches the place on this side of the predetermined page at a predetermined position, blank page output is performed. It is monitored whether or not the next joint is detected during the persuit of the joint based on the indication of the blank page output and, when the second joint is detected, an error is informed to press an operator for the operation of a discharge switch to stop printing peration. When the ON-operation of the discharge switch is discriminated, the number of discharged sheets is changed over from a usual value N (the number of sheets from a transfer position to a post processing device) to the number of sheets wherein the half of the number of blank pages before and after the joint is added to the number M of sheets from a joint detector to the transfer position to perform discharge processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a control method of a print processing system in which continuous paper such as folding paper is printed and then cut and stored as post-processing. In a printing system that prints and records a large amount of data processed by a computer system, the system is composed of a paper supply device, a printer equipped with a laser printer mechanism, etc., and a paper post-processing device, and continuous folding paper etc. The printing process is performed while feeding the paper, and the printed paper is cut and then stored.

In such a printing system, when an error occurs, the discharge switch is operated to discharge the paper by idly feeding the paper from the printing position to the conveyor stacker position. On the other hand, when a paper seam or joint is detected during the printing operation, blank feeding is performed so that the three pages before and after that are left blank. However, if the next seam or splice is continuously detected during the blank feed, the device is usually stopped as an error. At this time, the discharge operation is performed by pressing the discharge switch to restore the device. However, if the discharge operation is performed due to an error due to continuous detection of seams or joints, the paper is unnecessarily fed unnecessarily and the paper is wasted, and improvement of this point is desired.

Further, in a simple printing system, by combining a printing device with a cutter device, the printed continuous paper is cut into job units and stored in a tray so that they can be sorted. In such a printing system, a higher-level device instructs the printing device to cut a sheet for each job, and the cutting operation is performed when the instructed cutting position reaches the cutting position of the cutter device.

However, if an error such as a paper jam occurs during printing, reprinting is usually performed. However, if the printed paper is stored as it is, the unusable portion and the reprinting portion are generated due to the error. Therefore, improvement of this point is desired. If an error occurs before the cutting position instructed by the host device reaches the cutting position, if the cutting operation is performed as it is, an unnecessary part will remain at the beginning of the printed part after cutting due to the error. Therefore, improvement of this point is also desired.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional printing system used for data output recording of a host computer. In FIG. 17, reference numeral 80 denotes a long folding continuous printing paper, which is, for example, a paper of about 10,000 m in which three sets of standard B4 continuous paper are connected by a paper tape. The long folding continuous printing paper 80 is sent to the printing device 20 by the paper feeding device 30, and is subjected to a printing operation (transfer operation) page by page by a laser printer mechanism including a transfer section 28 and a photosensitive drum 29, for example, and an intermediate slitter 60. And cutting device 70
It is sent to the sheet post-processing device 40, which is made of paper, and cut into sheets, which are then stored in the form of page units.

Here, the long folding continuous printing paper 80 has paper seams at a plurality of locations. This seam is the paper feeding device 3
0 is detected by the seam detector 31 provided in
A predetermined position before the transfer position within 0, for example, the seam position detected until reaching the front of three pages is tracked, and when reaching the front position of three pages, several pages before and after the seam, for example, a total of six pages before and after the blank are blank Make a skip request.

Upon receipt of the skip request, the control unit of the printer 20 interrupts the printing and continues the blank page output until the request is canceled. On the other hand, when it is detected that the long folding continuous paper sheets are joined together (splice in general) after the end of the paper, blank page output control similar to the paper seam detection is performed.

Further, the printing device 20 is provided with a discharge switch, and when the discharge switch is depressed by the operator, the paper is unloaded by the number of sheets from the transfer section 28 to the sheet post-processing device 40. The action is taken. FIG. 19 shows a conventional simple printing system.
0 and a cutter device.

A continuous paper 81 is accommodated in the printing device 20, and after the printing is performed page by page at the transfer position determined by the photosensitive drum 29 of the laser printer mechanism, the cutter device 50.
It passes through the cutter mechanism 51 and is stored in the tray 53 on the turntable mechanism 52. In the normal cutting operation by the cutter device 50, a cut command (paper cut command) is issued from the host computer to the printing device 20 in accordance with the printing command of the last page of the job, and the continuous paper 81 is cut.
When the cut position is designated and the cut command position of the continuous paper 81 reaches the cut position of the cutter mechanism 51, the cutter device 50 is instructed to perform the cut operation. When the cut paper falls on the tray 53, the tray 53 opens downward and the paper falls on the turntable 52. The turntable 52 receives about 90 sheets each time it receives paper.
The sheets are reciprocally rotated one by one, and the orientations of the sheets are alternately changed by about 90 degrees to be piled up and sorted by the job.

[0010]

However, as shown in FIG.
In the printing system shown in (1), there is the following problem regarding the paper discharge process when an error occurs. Now, Figure 1
As shown in FIG. 8, when the joint detector 31 detects the joint A (or the joint) and then detects the next joint B (or the joint) before the output of the blank page is started, the second joint B is detected. When the error is detected, it is determined that there is an error, and the printing operation is commanded to stop, and the operator is instructed to press the discharge switch.

From the joint detector 31 to the photosensitive drum 29,
The number of sheets up to the transfer position where M is provided is M, for example, M = 1
0 sheets and the number of sheets from the transfer position to the cutting device is N
It is assumed that the number of sheets is N = 30, for example. At this time, N = 30 sheets are idly fed by ejecting the paper based on the operation of the eject switch, and both the joints A and B have passed the transfer position, and the feeding state to the transfer position exceeding the blank page based on the skip command is performed. can get. However, 3 before and after the seam detection position
From the original process of blanking the page, it is sufficient if the second detected seam B is sent to the position of page 3 behind the transfer position, but 20 pages are transferred from the transfer position by the discharge process. The seam B is sent to the rear position, and there is a problem that the paper is wastefully sent.

Further, when the printing apparatus is stopped and the discharge switch is operated to discharge N = 30 sheets of paper, the paper discharge may stop within three pages before and after the transfer position. Since the processing based on the seam detection is not performed at the time of discharging the paper, if the printing operation is started as it is, the printing is performed within three pages before and after the seam, and there is a problem that the specified blank page cannot be secured.

On the other hand, the conventional simple printing system shown in FIG. 19 has the following problems with respect to the paper cutting process. After receiving the cut command from the host device, as shown in FIG.
It is assumed that a device abnormality such as a paper jam occurs before the sheet reaches the cutting position B. In this case, of course, the printed page cannot be used and thus needs to be reprinted, and the number of pages from the cut command position A to the tray 53 needs to be reprinted.

However, as shown in FIG. 20B, when the cut command position A instructed before the abnormality occurs by the reprint reaches the cut position B, the cutting operation is performed, and the cut paper is There is a problem that the first part has a paper part that is no longer needed due to an error, and the reprinted paper part follows the unnecessary part, and it is impossible to distinguish the paper to be discarded from the normal reprinted paper. there were.

Further, even if a device error such as paper clogging occurs during the printing operation, reprinting will be performed after the error is recovered. However, if the last page of the job is not reached, a cut command is not issued, so it is discarded. There is a problem in that it is impossible to distinguish the printed page from the reprinted page. The present invention has been made in view of the above conventional problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a control method of a printing system that can appropriately perform a paper discharge operation when a discharge switch is operated.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a control system for a printing system which is capable of appropriately cutting a sheet in the case of a device abnormality in a simple system including a printing device and a cutter device. ..

[0017]

FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of the present invention. First, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1A, a printing unit including a control unit 21 connected to the host device 10 and a mechanism control unit 22 for controlling a printing mechanism 23 including a printing process in response to a command from the control unit 21. The apparatus 20 includes a paper supply mechanism 32 for supplying a long folding continuous paper to the printing apparatus 20, a seam detector 31 for detecting a paper seam of the long folding continuous paper, and a mechanism 32 for connecting the long folding continuous papers. The present invention is directed to a printing system including a sheet feeding device 30 and a sheet post-processing device 40 that automatically collects, cuts, and sorts sheets after printing by the printing device 20.

According to the present invention as a control device for such a printing system, the seams or joints of the sheets detected when the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained during printing are traced, and the seams or joints are traced. Blank page processing means 24 for feeding the paper by stopping the printing operation so that the range before or after a predetermined number of pages centering on the printing position is a blank page, and blank page output processing by the blank page processing means 24. If the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained again before the start of the error detection, the abnormality processing means 25 that issues an error notification and prompts the operation of the discharge switch 27, and the discharge switch 27 in the error notification state by the abnormality processing means 25. Is detected, the preset number N of discharged sheets at the time of operating the discharge switch is switched to at least the smaller number M of sheets from the seam detector 31 to the printing position. Paper discharge control unit 2 to the paper discharge
6 and 6 are provided.

The paper discharge control means 26 is characterized in that the number of discharged paper sheets is switched to the sum of the number of sheets M from the joint detector 31 to the printing position and the number of blank pages as it is. Further, when the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained during the operation of discharging the predetermined number N of sheets based on the operation of the discharge switch 27, the detected seam position is traced to determine the predetermined number N of sheets.
When the required blank page reaches the printing position at the end of the paper discharge operation, the blank page processing means 24 is instructed to carry out a predetermined number of blank page feed processing, and the discharge processing is continued.

Further, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The printing device 20 including the control unit 21 connected to the higher-level device 10 and the mechanism control unit 22 that controls the printing mechanism 23 including the printing process according to the command of the control unit 21 and the sheet after printing by the printing device 20 are cut. Cutter mechanism 51, cutter mechanism 5
A simple printing system including a cutter device 50 provided with a turntable mechanism 52 that switches the direction of the tray 90 degrees each time the sheets cut by 1 are completely stored in the tray.

In the present invention as a control method for such a simple printing system, the control unit 21 of the printing apparatus 20 is used.
As a characteristic, the cutter device 50 is instructed to use a reprint start position after the printing operation is stopped as a cutting position when an apparatus abnormality occurs. In addition, the control unit 21 of the printing device 20 instructs the cutting position when a device error occurs when the cutting position instructed by the higher-level device 10 exists between the printing position and the cutting position of the cutter device 50. Is invalidated.

Further, the control unit 21 of the printing device 20 sends a cutting control command to the cutter device 50 as a cutting mechanism 5.
The first control command for instructing the operation of No. 1 and the operation of the turntable mechanism 52 and the second control command for instructing the operation of only the cutter mechanism 51 are provided.

[0023]

According to the control method of the printing system of the present invention having the above-mentioned structure, the following effects can be obtained. Figure 1
In the printing system of (a), if the discharge switch is operated when an error is detected when the next seam (or splicing) is continuously detected during blank page feeding, the number of discharged sheets is N = 30 when normal. (Number of sheets from transfer position to post-processing device)
To a smaller number, for example, the number M from the seam detector to the transfer position, for example M = 10, plus half the number of blank pages before and after the seam, and the same paper as blank page feed by operating the discharge switch. Can be obtained, and wasteful discharge of paper can be prevented.

The seam position detected by the seam detector is also tracked during the discharging operation, and the control is switched from the discharging process to the blank page feed when the seam reaches before the predetermined seal position, for example, three pages before. By the discharging process, the seam position can be prevented from stopping in the range of blank pages before and after the transfer position. Further, in the simple printing system shown in FIG. 1B, when an error such as a paper jam occurs during printing and reprinting is performed, the reprint start position is set as the cut instruction position, and an error occurs. Therefore, the unusable part and the reprinted part can be distinguished by cutting the paper.

If an error occurs before the cut command position designated by the host device reaches the cut position,
Unnecessary cutting operation can be prevented by invalidating the cutting instruction position.

[0026]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 2 is a system external view showing the construction of a printing system of the present invention, and FIG. 3 shows the internal mechanism. First, in FIG. 2, 20 is a laser printer as a printing device,
Reference numeral 30 denotes a sheet supply device, 60 denotes an intermediate slitter device, and 70 denotes a cutting device. The intermediate slitter device 60 and the cutting device 70
The sheet post-processing device 40 is constituted by.

More specifically, the sheet feeding device 30 will be described.
A paper hopper 82 is provided for the paper hopper 82.
For example, a long folding continuous printing paper 80 having a length of about 10,000 m is stacked by stacking, for example, standard continuous paper of B4 size by three sets of joint tapes. In the following description, the long folding continuous printing paper 80 will be simply described as continuous paper.

A seam detector 31 is provided on the continuous paper introduction side of the paper supply device 30 and detects the seam of the continuous paper 80 or the joining of three sets of continuous papers. The paper supply device 30 supplies the continuous paper 80 stacked in the paper hopper 82 to the laser printer 20. As is well known, the laser printer prints by an electrophotographic method using a built-in photosensitive drum 29.

The continuous paper 80 printed by the laser printer 20 is changed in direction by 90 degrees by the turnover mechanism 61 and guided to the intermediate slitter device 60. The intermediate slitter device 60 includes a tractor 62 that conveys a sheet and an intermediate slitter 63 that cuts the central portion of the sheet to divide the sheet into two.
Therefore, the intermediate slitter device 60 is installed in the laser printer 20.
The continuous paper 80 that has been printed with is cut in two at the center and overlapped and discharged to the paper buffer unit 64.

The paper buffer unit 64 stores the continuous paper 80 in a loop using a buffer roller 65, and has a jam detecting unit 66 at the bottom. Paper buffer unit 64
The continuous paper 80 that has passed through is supplied to the cutting device 70. The cutting device 70 includes a tractor 71 that conveys a sheet, a double-sided slitter 72 that cuts and removes both ends of the sheet, and a burst roller 7 that is provided on both sides to give tension when the sheet is cut.
3, 74. Between the burst rollers 73 and 74, a burst cutter that cuts the paper in the direction orthogonal to the traveling direction is provided on the lower side.

The sheets cut by the cutting device 70 for each form are supplied to the stacker device 76. The stacker device 76 includes a conveyer 77 that feeds cut sheets in form units, and a stacker guide 78 that abuts the sheets conveyed by the conveyor 77. Next, the processing operation of the printing system of FIG. 2 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. The continuous paper 80 stacked in the paper hopper 82 is introduced through the seam detector 31 by the tractor 32 built in the paper supply device 30,
It is supplied to the lower part of the laser printer 20.

In the laser printer 20, the paper feeding device 30
The continuous paper from the above is introduced through rollers, guided to the transfer section 28 through the splice table 35, and the photosensitive drum 29
On the other hand, the developed latent image formed by the image forming unit 34 including a charger and a laser optical system is transferred, fixed by the fixing unit 37, and then discharged from above. The continuous paper 80 printed by the laser printer 20 is bent 90 degrees by the turnover mechanism 61 and sent to the intermediate slitter device 60 provided in the preceding stage of the paper post-processing device 40.

In the intermediate slitter device 60, the intermediate sheet of the continuous sheet 80 is cut in half by the intermediate slitter 63 while feeding the continuous sheet 80 by the tractor 62, and the pair of overlapping guides 6
The two continuous sheets cut by 6 are superposed on each other and discharged to the sheet buffer section 64. In the paper buffer unit 64, a buffer roller 65 promotes superposition of continuous paper sheets, and at the same time, the continuous paper sheets are sent to the cutting device 70 while being stored in a loop.

In the cutting device 70, the tractor 71 is used to
While feeding a continuous sheet of continuous paper, a slitter 72 at both ends cuts off the ears having continuous paper feed holes, and two continuous sheets are stacked at the perforation position of the continuous sheet by burst rollers 73, 74 and a burst cutter 75. Is cut in page units. The sheet cut in page units by the burst cutter 75 is finally sent to the conveyor stacker device, and while being sent by the conveyor 77, it strikes the stacker guide 78 and stores the sheet in an inverted state.

A printing system using such a laser printer 20 has a printing capacity of, for example, about 10,000 lines per minute, and thus has a printing processing capacity of 200 to 300 sheets per minute. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an embodiment showing the control function of the printing system shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 for realizing the control system of the printing system according to the present invention.

In FIG. 4, a printing apparatus 20 using a laser printer is provided with a control unit 21 and a mechanism control unit 22. The control unit 21 is a higher-level device 10 such as a host computer.
Connected to the host computer 10, receives print commands and print data from the host device 10, and reports various print processing results to the host device 10. Under the control of the control unit 21, the mechanism control unit 22 operates as shown in FIG.
The printing mechanism of the laser printer including the splice table 35, the developing unit 36, the photosensitive drum 29, the transfer unit 28, and the fixing unit 37 shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the control unit 21 and the mechanism control unit 2 which use the MPU having independent control functions of the printing apparatus 20 are used.
Although it is divided into two, it goes without saying that it may be one control unit by a single MPU. Further, in the principle explanatory view of FIG. 1, the control section 21 is provided with a blank page processing means 24, an abnormality processing means 25 and a paper discharge control means 26 for realizing the control method of the present invention. Control unit 2
It is the same even if it is provided on the second side.

The post-processing apparatus 40 is provided with a post-processing control section 41, which receives various commands from the control section 21 of the printing apparatus 20 to perform various post-processing controls. Here, in the control method of the present invention, as a control function realized by the program control of the control unit 21 of the printing apparatus 20, (1) detection is performed when the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained during printing. A blank page that traces the seams or splices of continuous paper that has been formed and stops the printing operation and feeds the paper so that the seams or splices are blank pages within a predetermined number of pages centered on the print position. Processing function,
(2) If the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained again before the blank page output processing by the blank page processing function of (1) above is started, an error notification is issued and the discharge switch 2
When the operation of the discharge switch 27 is detected in the error notification state by the abnormality processing function (3) of the abnormality processing function for prompting the operation of No. 7, the predetermined number N of discharged sheets at the time of operating the discharge switch 27 is at least the seam detector 31. From the print position to the print position, the paper discharge control function is provided to switch the number of sheets to M (where N <M) and discharge the sheets.

Further, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the printing device 2
0 is provided with a discharge switch 27, and when the discharge switch 27 is operated by an operator, the cutting device 7 is moved from the transfer portion 28, which is the print position of the laser printer 20 shown in FIG.
A discharge operation can be performed in which the number N of sheets up to the burst cutter 75 at the 0 cutting position, for example, N = 30 sheets, is idly fed without performing a printing operation in the transfer unit 28.

The control method of the present invention based on the functions (1) to (3) provided in the control section 21 of the printing apparatus 20 will be described below with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is FIG.
In order to simplify the description, the continuous paper 80 in the printing system shown in FIG. 3 is fed linearly, and the paper supply path from the seam detector 31 to the burst cutter 75 is schematically shown.

First, in FIG. 5A, the seam detector 31 detects the seam A of the continuous paper 80, and the seam detector A is detected before the first detected seam A reaches the third page before the printing position determined by the photosensitive drum 29. 31 shows a state in which the second joint B is detected. When the first seam A is detected by the seam detector 31, the position of the detected seam A of the continuous paper 80 is tracked by the blank page processing function of (1), and the blank page output is, for example, 3 before and after the seam. If the process is to leave a total of 6 pages blank, the seam A is the photosensitive drum 2
When the number of pages before the printing position determined by 9 is reached, the printing operation is stopped, and blank pages are processed by idly feeding the paper by 6 pages.

However, in the case of FIG. 5A, the next joint B is detected before the first joint A detected reaches the third page before the printing position. When the seams A and B are continuously detected in this manner, it is considered that the abnormality is caused by damage to the paper. Therefore, the control unit 21 of the printing apparatus 20 issues an error notification, notifies the upper level apparatus 10 of the error, notifies the operator of the error occurrence by operating the alarm buzzer or the indicator lamp of the operation panel, and operates the discharge switch 27. Encourage. Of course, the printing operation is stopped at the same time as the error notification.

If the operator presses the discharge switch 27 based on the error notification, conventionally, the discharge operation of the paper is performed based on the number N of pages from the print position determined by the photosensitive drum 29 to the burst cutter 75. In the control system of the present invention, as shown in FIG.
The number of pages M from the seam detector 31 to the printing position determined by the photosensitive drum 29 is increased by 3 pages, which is half of the number of pages 6 for blank page output, to discharge (M + 3) sheets.

Therefore, when the paper is discharged from the error-stopped state of FIG. 5A, the position of the seam B detected second time in FIG. 5B is the third page after the printing position determined by the photosensitive drum 29. Then, the same discharge result as when the blank page is output can be obtained for the seam B detected for the second time by operating the discharge switch 27. 6 is a control unit 21 of FIG. 4 for realizing the control processing of the present invention shown in FIG.
6 is a flowchart showing the control processing of FIG.

In FIG. 6, first, during the printing operation in step S1, it is checked in the next step S2 whether or not a joint or a joint is detected, and if a joint or a joint is detected, a step S3 is performed. Directs blank page output. That is, the detected seam is traced, and a blank page is output when reaching a predetermined page before the print position.

While the seam is being traced based on the blank page output instruction in step S3, it is monitored in step S4 whether or not the next seam or joint is detected.
If the second joint or joint detection is performed, an error notification is given in step S5 to prompt the operator to operate the discharge switch 27, and the printing operation is stopped. When the ON operation of the discharge switch 27 is discriminated in step S6 in response to this error notification, the number of discharged sheets is set to the normal value N, for example N = 30 to (M + 3) sheets, for example (M
+30) = 10 + 3 = 13, switching to step S8
Then, the discharge processing for (M + 3) sheets is executed.

When the discharge process based on such an error notification is completed, the operator restarts the print operation to restart the print process. On the other hand, if no seam or joint is detected in step S4 while the first seam detection is being traced, blank output is started depending on whether or not the third page before the print position is reached in step S9. Is checked, 6 blank pages are output with 3 pages before and after the seam reaching the printing position 3 pages before the printing position being blank, and the process returns to step S1.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the discharge processing operation by the control unit 21 provided in the printing apparatus 20 of FIG. In the control method of the discharge process of the present invention shown in the flowchart of FIG. 7, the operator uses the discharge switch 27.
Is operated to monitor whether or not the seam detector 31 detects the seam during the operation of discharging a predetermined number N of sheets, and if the seam detection is performed, the seam position is traced to detect the position before the print position. A feature is that blank page processing is performed when the seam position reaches three pages, and then the processing is returned to the paper discharge processing.

That is, in the conventional paper ejection when the paper ejection switch 31 is operated, a predetermined N = 3.
Since only 0 sheets are ejected, when the paper is ejected, the seam position falls within the range requiring 3 blank pages before and after the print position, and 3 pages before and after the seam cannot be made blank pages. Although a printing failure occurs, the control process shown in FIG. 7 can surely realize a process of blanking the three pages before and after the joint even if the paper is discharged.

The paper discharge process of FIG. 7 is started by pressing the discharge switch 27. First, in step S1, sheet ejection is started without performing a transfer operation, and a counter N for counting the number of ejected sheets is incremented by one in step S2 every time the sheet is fed, for example, one page. Subsequently, in step S3, it is determined whether or not the number N of discharged sheets reaches the set number of 30 sheets. If the number of discharged sheets N reaches 30, the process proceeds to step S12 and the sheet discharge is stopped. If less than 30 sheets, step S
Check the presence or absence of seam detection in 4.

If a seam is detected during such paper discharge, the process proceeds to step S5 to start tracking the seam. During tracking of the seam, steps S6a, S6
When the end of the paper discharge is checked in b, and when the discharge of the N = 30 sheets is completed, if a blank page is being output in step S6c, the process proceeds to step S7, a blank page output request is issued, and a blank page is output in step S8. Start feeding. When the blank page feed is started, the counter A indicating the number of blank feed pages is incremented by 1 in step S9, and the blank page feed of step S8 is repeated until the counter A reaches the number of remaining blank pages in step S10.

When the number of blank feed pages reaches the remaining number in step S10, the process proceeds to step S11, the blank page output is stopped, the process returns to step S1 again, and the paper discharge is restarted. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, when a seam is detected during paper discharge, the number of discharged sheets N + (N + A) sheets of blank feed page A is fed, but in order to prevent useless sheet feed, When A = 6 blank pages have been fed,
The number N of sheets already ejected is added to the number of blank feed pages A (N + A), and if this exceeds the prescribed number of sheets ejected, for example, 30 sheets, the ejection process is stopped without restarting the sheet ejection. You may do so.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the control system of the present invention for a simple printing system composed only of a printing device such as a laser printer and a cutter device. In FIG. 8, the simple printing system includes a printing device 20 using a laser printer and a cutter device 50. The printing device 20 is provided with a control unit 21, a mechanism control unit 22, and a printing mechanism 23. The cutter device 50 includes a cutter mechanism 51, a turntable mechanism 52, and a cutter control unit 54.
Is provided. The control unit 21 of the printing device 20 is connected to the host device 10 such as a host computer, receives a print command and print data, and notifies the host device 10 of the print result.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory view showing the outline of the internal mechanism of the printing device 20 and the cutter device 50 of FIG. In FIG. 9, a folded continuous paper 81 is stacked in the printing device 20 using the laser printer, and the photosensitive drum 29
The printing process is performed at the transfer position determined by and is discharged to the cutter device 50. The cutter device 50 is provided with a cutter mechanism 51, and cuts the continuous paper 81 for each job instructed by the higher-level device 10.

The printed continuous paper 81 discharged from the printing device 20 is stacked on the tray 53, and when cut by the cutter mechanism 51 for each job, the bottom of the tray 53 opens and the turntable provided at the bottom. The printed continuous paper that has been cut is dropped onto the mechanism 52. FIG. 9 shows a state in which the continuous paper 81 is fed to the tray 53, and the cut sheets are stacked on the tray 53 at a position determined for each job. When the cutting is completed, the tray 53 opens downward and the turntable mechanism 52
Drop the printed stack of paper on the table.
The turntable mechanism 52 rotates about 90 degrees each time it receives a sheet, and divides the printed sheets of job units so that they are alternately shifted by 90 degrees and stacked.

FIG. 11 shows a file on the RAM used for cutting the continuous paper which is performed by the control unit 21 of FIG. 8. In this embodiment, the file for 16 pages of continuous paper is the address. Prepared by 0-15. Pointers in and out for RAM files
Is provided, and the pointer in indicates the transfer position in FIG.
The pointer out indicates the cut position in FIG. 10, and the interval between the pointer in and the pointer out is the number of pages from the transfer portion to the cut position.

The pointer in indicating the transfer position is a start command (start CND) for instructing printing for each page.
The pointer address is changed by -1 every time. Specifically, the initial value is 10, and each start command is 9, 8,
... Changes to 0 and returns to 15. Further, with respect to the file indicated by the pointer in, the cut control command of 00, 01, or 11 is written to the file indicated by the pointer in according to the parameter instructed by the host device in accordance with the start command at that time.

Here, there are three types of cut control commands: 00 no cut 01 cut 11 cut + turntable rotation.

On the other hand, in the conventional cutter control,
Two types of cut control commands, that is, no cut and cut + turntable rotation, are used, but in the present invention, even if the cut is performed in units of jobs, the turntable is not rotated and is not shifted 90 degrees alternately. A cut control command for stacking continuous sheets cut in job units, that is, a control command only for cutting is added.

On the other hand, the pointer out is a pointer which is decremented by -1 each time printing of one page is completed, and indicates the cut position of FIG. 10. The initial value is 15, and 14, 13, ... ･ ･ ･ Changes to 0 and returns to 15 again. Then, the content of the file indicated by the pointer out is checked every time printing of one page is completed for cut control, and 0 is checked.
0 means no cutter, "01" means cut, "1"
If it is "1", control of cutting and turntable rotation is performed.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the paper cutting process using the RAM file of FIG. 12
In step S1, when the start command is received, the contents of the parameter accompanying the start command are written in the RAM file designated by the pointer in at that time, and the pointer in is decremented by -1. Then, in step S2, it is checked whether or not one page has been printed. When it is determined that one page has been printed, the process proceeds to step S3, in which the contents of the RAM file indicated by the pointer out are checked. Checked RAM contents are "01" or "1"
If it is "1", the mechanism controller 22 is requested to stop printing in step S5, and printing is stopped in step S6.

Subsequently, in S7, it is checked whether or not the file content is "01". If the file content is "01", the control command is for cutting only. Therefore, the process proceeds to step S8, where a cutting command is issued to the cutter device 50, The cutting operation is performed by the mechanism 51. On the other hand, if the file content is "11" in step S7, the flow advances to step S9 to instruct the cutter device 50 to perform the cutting operation and the rotation of the turntable, and the cutting mechanism 51 performs the cutting operation, and then the cutting operation is performed. The completed continuous paper is dropped on the turntable, and the turntable mechanism 52 rotates the table 90 degrees.

When the processing of step S8 or S9 is completed, it is checked in step S10 whether or not the processing of the cutter device 50 is completed. If the processing is completed, the process proceeds to step S1 again to restart the printing operation by receiving the next start command. ..
In the paper cutting process shown in FIG.
RA of the control instruction for performing the cut control as shown in FIG.
Writing to the M file is performed in accordance with an instruction of a job unit parameter from a higher-level device. Therefore, for example, when an error stop occurs due to a paper jam of the continuous paper 81 or the like, the printed paper from the transfer position where the error has stopped to the tray 53 is discarded and reprinting is performed. At this point, the cut based on the end of the job is performed. Since no command has been issued, it is not possible to distinguish between the reprinted part and the printed part that has become unnecessary due to an error.

Therefore, as a first embodiment of the paper cutting process when an abnormality occurs by the control unit 21 of FIG. 8, as shown in FIG. 13, the pointer in of FIG. 11 is used as an abnormality process when an error such as a paper jam occurs. The cutting control command 11 is written on the side of the printer 20 regardless of the job-by-job cutting command from the host device. Therefore, when printing is restarted and the reprint start position reaches the cut position,
By the abnormal processing, the paper is cut by the cut control command “11” written in the RAM file, and it is possible to separate the print portion and the reprint portion that are no longer needed due to the error occurrence.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing a second embodiment of the paper cutting process when an abnormality occurs according to the embodiment of FIG. 8. In the second embodiment, if the abnormality occurs, the transfer position to the cut position will be changed. If there is a cut command position for each job up to, the cut command position is invalidated. Specifically, FIG.
As shown in (a), the cut control command 01 or 11 is written in the file by the pointer in of the RAM file in FIG. 11, and the cut command position A corresponding to this cut control command is transferred from the transfer position determined by the photosensitive drum 29 to the cutter. It is also assumed that an error such as a paper jam occurs before reaching the cutting position of the mechanism 51. In response to this error occurrence, the reprint start position B is instructed as a new cut position on the printing device 20 side as shown in FIG.

If reprinting is started after the error shown in FIG. 15A occurs, the cutting operation is started when the first cut command position A reaches the cutting position of the cutter mechanism 51 as shown in FIG. 15B. Will be done. In this case, the cutting operation is required at the error occurrence position B (reprinting start position) where the reprinting is started, and the cutting at the cut command position A is unnecessary.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, FIG.
As an abnormal process when an error occurs before the cut command position A reaches the cutter position 51, the cut control is performed on the file between the transfer position indicated by the pointer in and the pointer out on the RAM file to the cut position. If there is a command 01 or 11, it is rewritten to 00 without cut.

For example, as for the RAM file at the time of error occurrence shown in FIG. 16A, 01 written in the address 9 between the pointer in and the pointer out is set to 00 as shown in FIG. 16B, and at the same time, The cut command 11 is written in the pointer in indicating the reprint start position according to the processing of FIG. Although the cut control process in the embodiment of FIG. 8 is performed by the control unit 21 as an example, the cut control process may be performed by the mechanism control unit 22.

[0069]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following high cost can be obtained. First, in the discharge control method that accompanies the operation of the discharge switch of the printing system including the printing device, the paper supply device, and the paper post-processing device, the discharge switch operation at the time of an error in which a seam or a joint is detected twice consecutively However, since the discharge process is performed by switching the normal number of discharged sheets to a smaller number, it is possible to prevent wasteful discharge of sheets.

When a seam is detected during the discharging operation, the seam position is traced and a blank page process is performed when a predetermined page is reached before the print position for starting the blank page. Even when the paper is discharged, the seam stops within the range of blank pages before and after the print position, and it is possible to reliably prevent the state where a predetermined number of blank pages cannot be formed before and after the seam. On the other hand, as a control method of a simple printing system including a printing device and a cutter device, by designating a reprint start position as a cut position when an error occurs, a reprinted portion and an unnecessary portion can be separated. Further, if an error occurs before the cut command position reaches the cut position, the unnecessary cut operation can be prevented by invalidating the cut position.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the principle of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an external view of a system showing the configuration of the present invention.

3 is a mechanism explanatory view showing the internal mechanism of FIG.

4 is a block diagram of an embodiment showing the control function of FIG.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a sheet discharging process of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the paper discharge control of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of the paper discharge control of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an embodiment showing an embodiment of a simple printing system according to the present invention.

9 is a schematic explanatory view of the internal mechanism of FIG.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory view showing the feeding state of the paper of FIG.

11 is an RA of a cut command position used in the embodiment of FIG.
Explanatory drawing showing M file

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a paper cutting process according to the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of paper cutting processing when an abnormality occurs according to the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of paper cutting processing when an abnormality occurs according to the embodiment of FIG.

15 is an explanatory view showing the paper cutting process of FIG.

16 is an explanatory diagram of rewriting a RAM file in the paper cutting process of FIG.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional system.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem of the discharge processing of the conventional system.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of a conventional simple printing system.

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram showing a problem of the conventional simple printing system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Host device (host computer) 20: Printer 21: Controller 22: Mechanism controller 23: Printing mechanism 24: Blank page processing means 25: Abnormality processing means 26: Paper ejection control means 27: Ejection switch 30: Paper supply Device 31: Seam detector 32: Joining mechanism 33: Paper feeding mechanism 34, 62, 71: Tractor 35: Splice table 36: Developing unit 37: Fixing unit 40: Post-processing device 50: Cutter device 51: Cutter mechanism (cutter) ) 52: Turntable mechanism (turntable) 60: Intermediate slitter device 61: Turnover mechanism 63: Intermediate slitter 64: Paper buffer unit 65: Buffer roller 66: Paper guide 70: Cutting device 72: Both-end slitter 73, 74: Burst Roller 75: Burst cutter 76: Conveyor stacker device 7: Konbeta 78: stack guide

Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Office reference number FI Technical display area G06K 15/16

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus 20 comprising: a control unit 21 connected to a higher-level device 10; and a mechanism control unit 22 for controlling a printing mechanism 23 including a printing process in response to a command from the control unit 21; A sheet feeding device 30 including a sheet feeding mechanism 32 for feeding a long fold continuous sheet, a seam detector 31 for detecting a sheet seam of the long fold continuous sheet, and a mechanism 32 for joining the long fold continuous sheets. Collecting, cutting, and collating sheets after printing by the printing device 20.
And a paper post-processing device 40 which automatically performs sorting, in a printing system, tracing the seam or joining of the paper detected when the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained during printing, Blank page processing means 24 for feeding the paper after stopping the printing operation so that the range before or after a predetermined number of pages centering on the printing position is a blank page at the seam or joining, and blank by the blank page processing means 24 When the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained again before the end of the page output processing, an error processing means 25 for notifying an error and prompting the operation of the discharge switch 27, and an error notification by the error processing means 25 When the operation of the discharge switch 27 is detected in this state, at least the preset number of discharged sheets N when the discharge switch is operated is at least the seam detector 31.
To a printing position, the sheet ejection control unit 26 that ejects the sheet by switching to a smaller number of sheets M, and a control method of the printing system. 2. The control method for a printing system according to claim 1, wherein the sheet ejection control means 26 sets the number of ejected sheets to the number of sheets M from the joint detector 31 to the printing position to half the number of blank pages. A control method for a printing system characterized by switching to the number of sheets added. 3. When the detection output of the seam detector 31 is obtained during the operation of discharging a predetermined number N of sheets based on the operation of the discharge switch 27 in the control system of the printing system according to claim 1. By tracking the detected seam position and instructing the blank page processing means 24 to feed a predetermined number of blank pages when the required blank page reaches the printing position at the end of the discharge operation of the predetermined number N of sheets, the discharge processing is performed. A control method for a printing system characterized by continuation. 4. A printing apparatus 20 comprising: a control unit 21 connected to a higher-level device 10; and a mechanism control unit 22 for controlling a printing mechanism 23 including a printing process in response to a command from the control unit 21; A cutter provided with a cutter mechanism 51 for cutting the printed paper, and a turntable mechanism 52 for switching and rotating the tray 90 degrees each time the paper cut by the cutter mechanism 51 is completely stored in the tray. In the printing system including the device 50, the control unit 21 of the printing device 20 instructs the cutter device 50 to set the reprint start position after stopping the printing operation as the cut position when the device abnormality occurs. A control method for a printing system, which is characterized in that 5. The control system of the printing system according to claim 4, wherein the control unit 21 of the printing device 20 comprises a host device 1
A printing system characterized by invalidating the instruction of the cutting position when a device abnormality occurs when the cutting position designated from 0 exists between the printing position and the cutting position of the cutter device 50. Control method. 6. The control system for a printing system according to claim 4, wherein the control unit 21 of the printing device 20 operates a cutter mechanism 51 and a turntable mechanism 52 as a cut control command for the cutter device. A control method for a printing system, comprising: a first control command for instructing the operation of the cutter mechanism 51 and a second control command for instructing the operation of only the cutter mechanism 51.