JPH0563866A - Job controller for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent mis-copy even when a document bundle is set in mistake by seeking a white paper document when a rear side is recognized based on a front rear side identification mark of a job command sheet and applying normal processing to stored document other than the white documents. CONSTITUTION:A job command shee(JCS) and document bundle subject to picture processing by the operation set by the JCS are fed to a picture read block 3 by an automatic document feeder(ADF) 2. The carried document is optically read by the picture read block 3 and a picture signal is fed to a sheet indentification block 5, in which the general document and the JCS are identified. The JCS is described with a mark used for identifying the front side and the rear side and when the document picture is read, the result of white paper detection is stored on a disk 10 together with the picture information. When the rear side indicated by the JCS is recognized by the sheet identification block 5, a white document is sought by referencing the result of white paper detection to be stored and only stored documents other than the white document sheets are subject to normal processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a high speed image forming apparatus which uses an operation instruction sheet to increase the throughput of the apparatus and improve the efficiency of an operator.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying apparatus, a control sheet in the form of a special original is used in order to improve the efficiency of the apparatus, and processing control information for an original image in the electronic copying apparatus is provided in the electronic copying apparatus. It is known to use a so-called paper user interface in which the reading unit is expressed in a detectable data format, a control command is detected from the read image information, and batch processing is performed based on the detection result. For example, JP-A-6
The image forming apparatus is disclosed in JP-A-3-197965.

In the paper user interface disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-197965,
It also serves as a reading unit for detecting electronic copying apparatus control information of a formatted paper used as a paper user interface and an original reading section provided in the electronic copying apparatus. At this time, the electronic copying apparatus uses an automatic document feeder that automatically conveys each document to be scanned from the document stack to the scanning unit. The control information to be performed by the electronic copying apparatus is previously written on the formatted standard paper and attached to the page to be first conveyed by the automatic document feeder of the document bundle. Then, as long as the document subsets are stacked in the automatic document feeder, even if a plurality of document subsets are set in the automatic document feeder at the same time, the operator can use the control panel provided in the electronic copying apparatus to control the document subsets. It is possible to execute the processing requested by the operator for each document without requiring any key operation.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned electronic copying apparatus according to the prior art, when the automatic document feeder is used, the automatic document feeder has the orientation of the document surface with respect to the reading surface of the electronic copying device and the stacking page order. Since there is no unified standard for the method of setting the original bundle, the operator is likely to make a mistake in setting the original subset, and a large amount of miscopy may occur. For example, the stacking order of the originals set in the automatic document feeder is the so-called ascending order, in which the first page is first conveyed to the original reading section first and the last page is stacked last to be conveyed last. , The top of the last page is the top, and the top of the first page is the bottom, so-called descending order or there is no unified standard. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, the operation instruction sheets A and B are placed on the front pages of the original bundles A and B, and the original bundles A and B are stacked in the same order after the original subsets in ascending order. Sometimes C is placed in the opposite direction.

The document bundles A and B are sequentially subjected to image processing based on the control information read by the operation instruction sheets A and B. However, the original bundle C is sequentially read from the last page in the face-down direction. At this time, with respect to the document bundle C, not only the document image is processed based on the control information of the operation instruction sheet B, but also when the document of the document bundle C is a single-sided document, the back surface is a blank sheet, and this blank sheet surface is Will result in a large number of miscopys.

Therefore, the present invention is as normal as possible even if there is an operator's original bundle subset mistake in the specifications of the original bundle setting method such as the orientation of the original surface with respect to the reading surface by the automatic original feeder and the stacking page order. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of processing.

[0007]

The above object of the present invention can be achieved by the following constitutions. That is, a reading unit for reading images on sequentially conveyed sheets is provided, and it is identified whether the image read by the reading unit is a document image or an instruction image for instructing an operation, and when it is an instruction image for instructing an operation, In the job controller of the image forming apparatus that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus based on the content of the instruction image, (a) when the reading unit identifies the image on the conveyance sheet as the instruction image for instructing the operation. An operation instruction sheet front and back identifying means for identifying the front and back of the read surface by the front and back identification mark on the conveyed sheet; and (b) an instruction image for instructing the operation of the image on the conveyed sheet. If not, the original that identifies that the read side is blank depending on the presence or absence of an image on the conveyed sheet Blank sheet detecting means, (c) accumulating means for accumulating image data of the discrimination results of the blank sheet detecting means and the operation instruction sheet front and back identifying means for each sequentially conveyed sheet, and (d) operation instruction sheet front and back Based on the front and back identification mark detection results of the identification means and the blank sheet detection result of the blank sheet detection means, it is determined how the document stack is set, and the image data accumulated in the accumulating means is recorded on the printing surface or the blank surface of the document. And a job controller of an image forming apparatus including image processing instruction means for instructing to perform corresponding processing.

[0008]

The operation instruction sheet front / back identification means reads the front / back identification mark on the conveyed operation instruction sheet, and when the operation instruction sheet is identified as the front side, the control information (job) is set based on the operation instruction sheet. Then, the image data of the document to be subsequently read is stored in the storage means. The processing is executed based on the instruction of the image processing instruction means according to the setting job. However, when the operation instruction sheet front / back surface identifying means detects the back surface of the sheet, it is assumed that the original corresponding to the operation instruction sheet is set in the reverse direction in the automatic document feeder.

That is, the original corresponding to the operation instruction sheet is treated as read before the operation instruction sheet whose back surface is detected. At this time, if the document set in the automatic document feeder in the reverse direction is a one-sided document, it means that the blank side of the document has been read. Therefore, when the blank page detection unit detects the blank surface of the document, the blank detection is also stored in the storage unit. In this way, the image processing instruction means gives an instruction to execute the processing of only the accumulated image data other than the blank document. However, when using the double-sided automatic document feeder, even if one side is blank, the opposite side, that is, the front side of the original can be read, so in this case, it is assumed that the originals were set in the automatic document feeder in descending order. The means gives an instruction for processing.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus using an operation instruction sheet (job control sheet, which may be hereinafter referred to as JCS). In the figure, the solid line portion shows the flow of the image signal, and the broken line portion shows the flow of the control signal. Automatic Document Feeder (Automatic Document Feed)
r: Hereinafter referred to as ADF. ) 2 sends an operation instruction sheet and a bundle of general documents image-processed according to the operation (job) set on the operation instruction sheet to an image reading block 3 which is an image reading unit for reading a two-dimensional image. The system control block 1 performs control for realizing the functions of the image forming apparatus. The document reading block 3 is an automatic document feeder ADF2 that conveys documents and JCS.
And an original reading unit for optically reading an original conveyed by the ADF 2 onto the transparent platen. The original reading unit is one of a charge coupled device (CCD) mounted on the reciprocating table below the transparent platen. Or more linear scan arrays. The scanning array produces image signals or pixels which represent the image of the scanned original document. The image signal generated by the scanning array is used as the input image signal.

This image signal passes through the sheet identification block 5 to identify a general document and JCS. The system control block 1 determines a general document and JCS from the identification information sent from the sheet identification block 5, and operates the selector 6 based on the result to form an image signal read from the general document or the unrecognizable JCS. The image signal read from the block 12 side or the identified JCS is transferred to one of the processing blocks on the job recognition block 4 side that recognizes the operation instruction content.

If the document identification mark is not detected in the input image signal, it is determined that the document is a general document, the system control block 1 controls the selector 6 and the image signal is compressed by the image data compressor 7. It is processed and sequentially stored in the memory 9. The image is temporarily stored in the image storage device such as the hard disk 10 via the memory 9. Then, after image processing is performed by address-controlling data transfer between the memory 9 and the hard disk 10 in accordance with an instruction from the system control block 1, the image data decompressor 11 decompresses the image signal and sends it to the image forming block 12. And transferred.

When the image signal read by the sheet identification block 5 is identified as the operation instruction sheet (JCS), the system control block 1 controls the selector 6 to send the read image signal to the job recognition block 4. Forward. At the same time, read that JCS was read in memory 15
Memorized in. In the case of JCS, the origin / diagonal point recognition and the check circle recognition are performed to control the JC related to control information.
S Perform content recognition. The job recognition block 4 transfers the contents of the job set by the JCS to the system control block 1, and the system control block 1 issues a job operation instruction according to the job / coordinate information table 16. In addition,
When the JCS is not used, the image signal sent to the image forming block 12 can be subjected to image processing according to the job instructed by the user interface 13.

An example of the operation instruction sheet used in this embodiment is shown in FIG. The operation instruction sheet 20 includes two pieces of an operation instruction sheet front surface identification mark (bar code) 100 and an operation instruction sheet back surface identification mark 101 which are coded as recognition marks for recognizing that the operation instruction sheet 20 is the operation instruction sheet 20. Have a kind. The front surface identification mark 100 has an operation instruction sheet attribute such as a code indicating the type of the operation instruction sheet (JCS) 20. Further, the respective identification marks 100 and 101 are arranged at the positions of the operation instruction sheet 20 which can be detected at the initial stage of reading, and therefore, the operation instruction sheet 20 at an earlier stage.
It is possible to complete the judgment of whether or not it is, and it is considered that it can be rapidly advanced to the next process.

Further, the operation instruction sheet 20 is provided with a job designation column (check mark column) 102, and the operator selects a job to be processed by the apparatus from the job designation column 102. This selection method is performed by marking the check circle 103 at the position corresponding to each item. The job recognition of this designated mark is JCS2.
When the control information is read from 0 and the job contents are recognized, the coordinate origin 105 and the diagonal point 106 shown in FIG. 2 are extracted, the coordinates of the coordinate point are corrected, and the coordinates of the check circle 103 are calculated from the coordinate origin. It is determined whether or not the check circle 103 has a mark. Check circle 10
If there is a mark on 3, check circle 103
The job / coordinate information table 16 is searched for from the coordinates of, and the setting is changed based on the operation instruction information of the apparatus for the job. Needless to say, another instruction setting method may be used as long as the job instruction content can be detected on the device side.

The job / coordinate information table 1 shown in FIG.
6, the coordinate origin 105 of the operation instruction sheet 20, the diagonal point 106, the coordinate information of the check circle 103, and the like,
The content information code of the job to be performed when the user marks the check circle 103 is registered in advance, and this information is searched using the operation instruction sheet attribute obtained from the operation instruction sheet surface identification mark (bar code) 100. Be prepared to do so.

When setting the apparatus using the above JCS 20, as shown in FIG. 3, the JCS 20 having the information set by the operator is attached to the first page of the document stack 21 on which the job is to be performed. , The original stack 21
Place it in DF2. In this way, the sheets are sequentially sent to the reading unit of the image forming apparatus by the ADF 2, and this is the same as making a reservation for the job of the document bundle 21. If the next job is to be set while the current job is being executed, the operation instruction sheet 22 for the next job should be placed on the document stack 23 for which the next job is to be executed, as shown in FIG. Since the setting of the next job is completed by, the user does not have to wait for the end of the current job to set the next job.

Next, an outline of the operation of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment will be described. First, the document bundle placed on the ADF 2 is conveyed, sent to the document reading unit of the image forming apparatus, and converted into an image signal. This image signal is first sent to the sheet identification block 5 to determine whether it is a general document, the operation instruction sheets 20, 21, ... Or the operation instruction sheet front surface identification mark 100 or the operation instruction sheet back surface identification mark 1.
The presence or absence of 01 is detected. As the detection method, since the operation instruction sheet identification marks 100 and 101 are represented as bar codes, the pixel patterns of the two types of sheet identification marks 100 and 101 stored in the sheet identification block 5 in advance and the input image signal This is performed by matching with the pixel pattern of. If the operation instruction sheet 20 is detected as a table, the fact that the operation instruction sheet 20 has been read is stored in the memory 15. If this case is described in J. C. S. The flag is set to "1".
If already J. C. S. If the flag is "1", it is determined that there is an original bundle to be subjected to another process, the original bundle is finished, and the already set job is stored in the image stored in the disk 10. Do only for data. J. C. S. If the flag is “0”, the job recognition block 4 detects the information described in advance on the operation instruction sheet 20 and notifies the system control block 1 of the detection result. The system control block 1 controls to change the setting of the recognized job.

After that, the ADF 2 sequentially feeds the document to the document reading unit of the image forming apparatus, and the document reading unit continues scanning. When a general document is read in the image reading block 3, blank page detection is also performed as normal document processing at the same time, image data is compressed, and an attribute indicating whether the document is a blank document (in the case of a blank document, Temporarily Non-I
The image flag is set to "1". )
At the same time, the data is once stored in the memory 9 and then stored in the disk 10.

When the back surface of the operation instruction sheet 20 is detected, the operation of J. C. S. Refer to whether the flag is set to "1". And J. C. S. When the flag is set to "1", the Non-Image flag is referred to. If there is an image in which the Non-Image flag is "1", the image data (blank sheet data) is ignored and N
Image processing is performed only on images for which the on-Image flag is "0". When there is no image in which the Non-Image flag is "1", the back side of the operation instruction sheet is detected, and when there is no blank sheet data, the system control block 1 that has received the notification performs the abnormal processing operation,
That is, the image forming apparatus is stopped or an alarm is issued.

Next, a flow chart showing the operation of the system control block 1 when the single-sided automatic document feeder and the double-sided automatic document feeder are mounted will be described. It is assumed that the document subsets A, B and C shown in FIG. 8 are set in the ADF 2. Here, the operation instruction sheets A, B, and C are set on the front pages of the respective document subsets A, B, and C so that the front surface of the document is read first, but the document subset C is erroneously set to
It is assumed that the original is set in the reverse direction and that the original is a one-sided original.

(1) When single-sided automatic document feeder is mounted The operation when the ADF 2 is an automatic document feeder capable of single-sided transport is shown in the flow charts of FIGS. 4 and 5. First, the document subset A sent from the ADF 2 to the document reading unit of the image forming apparatus is scanned. First, the surface of the operation instruction sheet A is read. At this time, since the surface of the operation instruction sheet has not been read so far, J.
C. S. The flag is 0. So J. C. S. With the flag set to "1", a job related to the document subset A is set according to the operation instruction sheet A. The process returns to step 1 of document scanning again, and the documents in the document bundle A are read (steps 1 to 5). Since the document stack A is stacked in ascending order, no blank document is detected, and the non-image is detected.
With the ge flag set to 0, the original image data and Non-i
Accumulate the image flag (step 1 → 2 → 7-1)
0).

Next, the document is scanned for the document subset B. At this time, the surface of the operation instruction sheet B is first read. C. S. Since the flag is "1", the job of the data accumulated in step 10 is executed for the original bundle A, and the accumulated image for the original bundle A is deleted after the execution of this job (step 6). ). Next, the job for the operation instruction sheet B is set (step 5), the process returns to step 1, and the document bundle B
The image data of the surface of is accumulated.

Then, the document subset C set so that it is mistakenly read in the descending order from the back side is read. At this time, the image is read from the back side of the last page of the original bundle C and the image data is stored in step 10.
Since the back side of is a blank sheet (= one-sided blank sheet document) with no printing side, the non-image flag is set to "1" in step 9, and this is stored together with the image data. And
At the end of the document stack C, the back side of the operation instruction sheet C is read. In this case, go from step 3 to step 14,
With the operation instruction sheet B, J. C. S. Since the flag remains set to 1, the non-im among the image data accumulated in step 10 is determined in step 15.
Retrieval of single-sided blank original data classified by age flag = 1. Then, the job is executed for an original other than the single-sided blank original, that is, the original bundle B, and the accumulated image data of the original bundle B is erased. If the originals of the original bundle C are printed on both sides, there is no blank original, so step 19
Abnormal processing is done with.

When only the document subset C is set in the single-sided document feeder in descending order as shown in FIG. 8 (reverse orientation), first, the back side of the blank sheet of the document bundle C is read, and then the operation instruction is given. Read the back of Sheet C. In this case, J. C. S. Since the flag is not "1", the abnormality processing of step 19 is started. Further, when the original bundle includes only the original subsets A and B in FIG. 8 and is stacked in the ascending order (normal set), the job of step 12 is executed after reading the last page of the original bundle B. This operation ends.

(2) When the double-sided automatic document feeder is mounted The operation in this case is shown in the flowcharts of FIGS.
If the surface of the operation instruction sheet is read, J. C. S.
When the flag is set to 1 and the back side is read, J. C. S. The back flag is set to 1. First, the document subset A sent from the double-sided automatic document feeder to the document reading unit of the image forming apparatus is scanned, and the surface of the operation instruction sheet A is read. At this time, since the front and back sides of the operation instruction sheet have not been read so far, J. C. S. The back surface flag is "0", and J. C. S. The flag is "0". So J. C. S. A job related to the document subset A with the flag set to “1” is designated as the operation instruction sheet A
(Steps 20 to 25). Next, the back side of the operation instruction sheet A is read.
C. S. Since the flag is "1", step 3
Check the presence or absence of accumulated data in 5. Since the document surface has not been read yet, the process returns to step 20 of document scanning again, and the document of the document stack A is read. Since the original stack A is stacked in ascending order, no blank original is detected, and the original image data and the Non-image flag are accumulated with the Non-image flag set to "0" (steps 20 → 21 → 27 to 31). ). Since the double-sided document feeder is used, the back side of each document in the document stack A can be read, but the image data of the back side is stored in the same manner as the front side (steps 20 → 21 → 27 to 31).

Next, a document scan for the document subset B is performed. C. S. The flag is "1"
For the front and back sides of document stack A, step 3
The job of the data accumulated at 0 is executed, and after the execution of this job, the accumulated image of the document stack A is erased (step 26), and the job is set according to the operation instruction sheet B (step 25). .. Next, after reading the back surface of the operation instruction sheet B, the image data of the front and back surfaces of the document bundle B is accumulated.

Then, the document subsets C, which are mistakenly stacked in descending order, are read. At this time, the image data is read from the back side of the last page of the document bundle C, and the image data is read in step 3.
It is accumulated at 0. If it is assumed that the back side of the document stack C is a blank sheet (= one-sided blank sheet document) without a printing side, N is determined in step 29.
The on-image flag becomes "1". Then, the back side of the operation instruction sheet C is read at the end of the document bundle C. At this time, steps 22 to 34 are performed, but the operation instruction sheet B is used for J. C. S. Since the flag remains set to 1, step 36 is entered.
In step 36, the accumulated data is Non.
Search for single-sided blank document data classified by -image flag = 1. Then, the job is executed for documents other than the single-sided blank document, that is, the accumulated image data of the document bundle B, and the accumulated image data of the document bundle B is deleted. After executing the job, J. C. S. Since I read the back flag, I set this to “1” C. S. The flag is cleared and the process returns to the document scanning step 20 again. At this time, the surface of the operation instruction sheet C is read, but step 23
From step 41, the document management is corrected on the assumption that the document bundle C is stacked on the back side in descending order according to the job set on the front side of the operation instruction sheet C.
That is, the sheets of paper on which the image has been formed for the document bundle C are output in ascending order from the first page.

If the originals of the original bundle C are printed on both sides, there is no blank original, and therefore abnormal processing is performed in step 39. If only the document subset C is stacked in the descending order with the operation instruction sheets C on the double-sided document feeder at the top, first, the blank sheet back side of the document stack C and the front side having the print side are read, and then the operation is performed. Read the back of Instruction Sheet C. In this case, J. C. S. Since the flag is not "1", the J. C. S. The back flag is set to "1". Then, from step 23 to step 41, the document management of the document bundle C is corrected and the job is executed.

[0030]

According to the present invention, the identification mark of the operation instruction sheet is provided on the front and back sides together with the front and back information, and the original document is detected as a blank sheet, so that the original document bundle with the operation instruction sheet attached to the original document reading section. , Ascending / descending order, it can be roughly inferred what state they are placed on the front and back sides, the occurrence of miscopying due to a stack of document stacks is prevented, and the automatic document feeder can perform normal operation processing as much as possible. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an operation instruction sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a method of attaching an operation instruction sheet to a document bundle according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart according to an identification result when the single-sided automatic document feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 5 is an operation flowchart according to the identification result when the single-sided automatic document feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 6 is an operation flowchart according to an identification result when the double-sided automatic document feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart according to the identification result when the double-sided automatic document feeder according to the embodiment of the present invention is mounted.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a method of attaching an operation instruction sheet to a document bundle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 20, A, B, C operation instruction sheet 21, 23, A, B, C document stack 100 operation instruction sheet front side bar code with recognition information 101 barcode with operation instruction sheet back side recognition information 102 job designation column 103 Check circle 105 Coordinate origin 106 Diagonal point

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit for reading images on sequentially conveyed sheets is provided, and it is identified whether the image read by the reading unit is a document image or an instruction image for instructing an operation and an instruction image for instructing an operation. In the job controller of the image forming apparatus that controls the operation of the image forming apparatus based on the content of the instruction image, (a) the reading unit is an instruction image for instructing the operation of the image on the conveyance sheet. An operation instruction sheet front and back identifying means for identifying the front and back of the read surface by the front and back identification mark on the conveyed sheet, when (b), and (b) instructing the operation of the image on the conveyed sheet. When it is determined that the image is not the designated image, it is determined that the read surface is a blank sheet based on the presence or absence of the image on the conveyed sheet. Blank sheet detection means for the draft surface, (c) storage means for accumulating image data for each of the sequentially conveyed sheets of the identification results of the blank sheet detection means and the operation instruction sheet front / back identification means, and (d) operation instruction Based on the front and back identification mark detection results of the sheet front and back identification means and the blank sheet detection result of the blank sheet detection means, it is determined how to set the document stack, and the image data accumulated in the accumulating means is compared with the print surface or the blank surface of the document. A job controller for an image forming apparatus, comprising: an image processing instruction means for instructing to perform corresponding processing.