JPH06274497A - Business processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To certainly execute a task by outputting an alarm message when it passes the reserved day and time of the task. CONSTITUTION:A function setting part 20 inputs and sets the function of a composite device used for a reserving task, for example, copy and facsimile transmission from a panel, and a day and time reserving part 21 inputs and sets the day and time when the function set by the function setting part 20 is used. Also, a storage part 22 stores the function and the data and hour set by the function setting part 20 and the day and time reserving part 21. Then, a clocking part 23 always outputs the present time information from a battery backed-up clocking circuit, a day and time comparing part 24 always compares the present time from the clocking part 23 with the reserved day and time stored in the storage part 22, and activates a message display part 25 when they are coincided, or it passes the reserved day and time. Moreover, the activated message display part 25 displays the message indicating that its passes the reserved day and time, for example, on the display device of the panel.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an office processing apparatus, and in particular, it reserves a message such as a function and date and time of a regular business, and a business name, and can display a warning message when the reserved date and time has passed. The present invention relates to a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, or an office processing apparatus which is a composite machine of these.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique for making a reservation in an office processing apparatus which is a copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, or a complex machine of these. For example, JP-A-6
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-113167, a dead time is eliminated by making a reservation, and the reservation is used by inputting an identification number. It has been proposed to cancel the reservation with a timer to prevent being left unattended.

[0003]

The conventional reservation system as described above has a problem that it is not known who made the reservation when the reservation person forgets the reservation. Also, there is a problem that it cannot be used by others because it is necessary to input the identification number.

An object of the present invention is to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, and to provide an office processing apparatus capable of reserving a business and issuing a warning message when the reserved date and time has passed. It is in.

[0005]

According to the present invention, in an apparatus having at least one function of a copying function, a facsimile function, and a printer function, an inputting means for inputting a reserved function and a date and time, and storing the input information. Storage means, a clock means, a comparison means for comparing the reserved date and time stored in the storage means with the current time output from the clock means, and detecting that the reserved date and time has passed, and the comparing means. It is characterized by further comprising display means for displaying that the reservation date and time has passed based on the output of.

[0006]

According to the present invention, by such means, it becomes possible to issue a warning message when the reserved date and time has passed,
Even if you have forgotten to make a reservation, you can carry out your work more reliably. Also, if the user does not appear at the reserved time,
Other users can immediately use the device.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a multifunction machine to which the present invention is applied. This multifunction peripheral combines the functions of a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer into one device.

The CPU 1 controls the entire complex machine according to a program stored in the ROM 3. The RAM 2 stores image information or various control data. Panel 4
Is composed of a panel switch for inputting various instruction information by a user, and a display device such as an LCD display device for displaying the state of the device, the input key information and the like.

The clock circuit 5 is backed up by a battery and always holds current time information, which is stored in the CPU.
It is possible to read from 1 at any time. SRAM6
Also, it is backed up by a battery and stores various information such as reservation information set externally or usage result information.

The printer 7 prints image information data. The scanner 8 reads a document and outputs image information data.
The host interface 9 controls the interface with the host. The communication control unit 10 includes, for example, a NUC for telephone lines, a modem, a communication control circuit, and the like, and controls communication of a facsimile. The bus 11 connects each circuit in the device.

Although not shown, a card interface circuit for a magnetic card or an IC card, an external storage device such as a hard disk or floppy disk, or a LAN interface circuit may be provided.

Next, the outline of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the outline of the present invention. The function setting unit 20 inputs and sets the functions of the multi-function peripheral used in the reservation work, such as copying and facsimile transmission, from the panel. The date and time reservation unit 21 inputs and sets the date and time when the function set by the function setting unit 20 is used. This setting can be, for example, a specific day of the week or a specific day (s) of the month.

The storage unit 22 stores the function and date and time set by the function setting unit 20 and the date and time reservation unit 21. The clock unit 23 uses a battery-backed clock circuit,
The current time information is always output. The date / time comparison unit 24
The current time from the clock unit 23 is constantly compared with the reserved date and time stored in the storage unit 22, and if they match or the reserved date and time has passed, the message display unit 25 is activated. When activated, the message display unit 25 displays, for example, on the display device of the panel that the reservation date and time has passed. The present invention makes it possible to reliably carry out the reservation business by such a function.

Next, the operation will be described in more detail. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the reservation process of the first embodiment of the present invention. In step S1, a title such as "Product Meeting Minutes" and a name such as "Toriichi Toriichi" are input. In step S2, the functions to be used such as copying and facsimile transmission are input and set. For example, in the case of copying, the number of copies is set to 10 and the copy function binding margin selection of 50 mm is set.

In step S3, it is checked whether or not the reservation date is set by the date, and if it is set by the date, the process proceeds to step S4. In step S4, the reservation date is entered. It is possible to set a plurality of this date. If the setting is not based on the date in step S3, the process proceeds to step S5 and step S5.
In, it is checked whether or not the reservation date is set to the same day every month.

When the date is set in step S5, the process proceeds to step S6, and the date for reservation is input. This can also be set in plural. If it is not set by date in step S5, the process proceeds to step S7, and it is checked whether or not the reserved date is set every week on the same day.

If the reserved date is set by the day of the week, the process proceeds to step S8, and the day of the reserved date is input. Again, a plurality can be set. If it is not set by the day of the week in step S7, the process returns to step S3 and the process is repeated.

In step S9, a reserved time is set. In step S10, it is checked whether or not there is already a reservation at the set date and time. In this survey, the actual processing overlaps cannot be found simply by comparing the start times, so the approximate time required for each processing is calculated from the setting of the function of each reservation, and whether or not the time zones of each processing overlap to decide.

If there is a contract in step S10, the process proceeds to step S11. In step S11, a message is displayed to change the time because there is a contract, and the process returns to step S9. Set the time again. If there is no contract in step S10, the process proceeds to step S12, and the setting contents are registered in the reserved memory. By the above-mentioned processing, the reservation is made first.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the reservation execution process of the first embodiment. In step S20,
It is detected that the user has pressed the registration use switch in order to execute the registered reservation process.

In step S21, the contents (title, name, etc.) of the reservation closest to the current time of the reservations ahead of the current time are displayed on the panel. If this is not the reservation that the user wants to make, the switch is operated to display the next reservation in sequence.

In step S22, it is checked whether or not to cancel the reservation. If the user cancels the reservation, the process proceeds to step S27. If not, the process proceeds to step S23. In step S23, the function set at the time of reservation is read. In step S24, the reserved process is executed. In step S25, the reservation content is displayed again on the panel.

In step S26, it is checked whether the user has operated to delete or hold the reservation. This is for holding the reservation information when the reserved function is left as it is and only the reserved function is read and used.

If it is not erased in step S26, the execution process is terminated, but if it is erased, the process proceeds to step S27. In step S27, the reservation use result (use, cancellation, etc.) is recorded in the use result storage memory. In step S28, the executed or canceled reservation information is deleted from the reservation memory.

Note that the reservation information itself cannot be deleted if the reservation is made on the day of every month or every day of the week. Therefore, when these settings are made, an area for storing the closest one of the reservations ahead of the current time to the current time is provided, the reserved date and time is read from this area, and this area is deleted in step S28. In this case, the reserved date and time next to the current time may be written in the area. As described above, if the reservation process is executed or canceled before the reservation date and time, no warning message is output.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the warning message output process of the first embodiment. This process is activated, for example, at least once every minute, or when some process is completed. In step S30, the information with the oldest reservation date and time is read. In step S31, the current time is read. In step S32, it is checked whether or not the current time is past the reserved time. If it is not past, the warning need not be displayed, and the process is terminated.

If the current time has passed the reserved time in step S32, the process proceeds to step S33.
In step S33, it is checked whether or not the device is currently in the process of any processing, and if it is in the process of operation, it waits until the operation is completed. When the operation is completed, the process proceeds to step S34, and a warning message of reservation use forgetting is displayed on the panel. The displayed contents are the registered title,
A name, a reservation function, a reservation date and time, a reservation number, etc. are displayed.

In step S35, it is checked whether a switch other than the registered use switch has been pressed, that is, whether or not a person other than the reserved user who is displaying the warning is about to execute the process. In step S38, the warning message is erased. Then, the process proceeds to step S33 and waits until the operation is completed.

In step S35, if no switch other than the registered / used switch is pressed, the process proceeds to step S36, and it is checked whether or not the registered / used switch is pressed. If the registration use switch has not been pressed, the process returns to step S35 to continue monitoring, but if the registration use switch has been pressed, the process proceeds to step S37.

In step S37, the same processes as steps S21 to S28 in FIG. 4 are performed. As a result, the reservation is made or canceled. Even if the reservation process is executed, if the reservation is retained without being erased, the warning message is output again when the process is started next time.

By the above processing, a warning message is output when the reserved date and time has passed, so that the user can execute the processing more reliably, and if the user does not appear, another person immediately uses the device. can do. When there are a plurality of reservations whose reservation dates and times have passed, only the oldest ones may be displayed, only the newest ones may be displayed, or a plurality of reservations may be displayed simultaneously or sequentially. Further, if the reservation is not deleted even if the warning is displayed for a predetermined time, the reservation may be automatically canceled.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the report output processing of the first embodiment. In this process, according to an instruction from the user, a report showing a result of the reservation process or a list of reservation contents is output.

In step S40, it is checked whether or not the output of the reserved use result report is instructed from the switch of the panel, for example, and if it is not instructed, the process proceeds to step S41. In step S41, it is checked whether or not the output of the reservation content list report is instructed. If not instructed, the process returns to step S40.

When the output is instructed in step S40, the process proceeds to step S42, and the reservation work to be output is selected. This selection can be made by, for example, inputting a reservation number or displaying a reservation list and selecting with a switch. In step S43,
The usage result of the selected reservation is read from the usage result storage memory. On the other hand, if the output is instructed in step S41, the process proceeds to step S44 and all the registered reservation contents are read out.

In step S45, the read data is edited into a report according to the preset format of each report. In step S46, the process waits until the output start switch is pressed, and in step S47, the report is output from the printer. When the usage result report is output, the output result information is deleted from the memory.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the reservation content list report that is output. In the figure, the report output time and the output device ID are printed on the upper part, and subsequently the list of reservation contents is printed. Note that this figure shows an example of registering a reservation in the shortened memory and the job memory, which will be described later.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the reservation use result report. In the figure, the report output time and the output device ID are printed on the upper part, followed by the registration number, title name, name, registration function, reservation date and time, and then a list of reservation use results.

Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment, the example in which the memory for storing the reservation information is provided exclusively has been described. However, various functions have been conventionally registered in the multi-function peripheral, and the registered functions can be read as needed. There is a function to execute jobs, and there is a job memory for this. In the second embodiment, the job memory is expanded and an area for storing a title and a reservation date and time is added so that the processing can be reserved.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the reservation process of the second embodiment. In step S50, the user first operates the switch on the panel to select the job memory registration process. In step S51, the title and name are input. In step S52, the function to be used such as copying and facsimile transmission and its detailed information are input and set.

In step S53, it is checked whether or not to reserve the date and time. If the date and time are not reserved, the contents set in steps S51 and 52 are stored in the job memory in step S55 in the same manner as the normal job memory setting. Be registered with.

If there is an instruction to make a reservation in step S53, the process proceeds to step S54. Step S
At 54, a date and time reservation process is performed, which is the same as the process from step S3 to step S11 of FIG. 3 which is the reservation process of the first embodiment.

In step S55, step S5
The contents set in 1 and 52 and the reserved date and time set in step S54 are registered in the job memory. In this way, the present invention can be easily implemented by expanding the function of the existing job memory. In addition, the user's reservation operation is not complicated.

Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the second embodiment, an example in which the job memory in the multi-function peripheral has been expanded and a reservation function has been added has been shown. However, in the third embodiment, the conventional speed dial registration memory is also expanded. An area for storing a title and a reserved date and time is added so that processing can be reserved.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing the reservation process of the third embodiment. In step S60, the user first operates the switch on the panel to select the speed dial memory registration process. In step S61, the title and name are input. In step S62, detailed information such as the partner number, image quality, communication mode, etc. is input and set.

In step S63, it is checked whether or not to reserve the date and time. If the date and time are not reserved, steps S61 and 62 are performed as in the case of setting the normal speed dial memory.
The contents set in step S65 are registered in the speed dial memory in step S65.

If there is an instruction to make a reservation in step S63, the process proceeds to step S64. Step S
In 64, a date and time reservation process is performed, which is the same as the process from step S3 to step S11 in FIG. 3 which is the reservation process of the first embodiment.

In step S65, step S6
The contents set in 1 and 62 and the reserved date and time set in step S64 are registered in the speed dial memory. In this way, the present invention can be easily implemented by expanding the function of the existing speed dial memory. In addition, the user's reservation operation is not complicated. In the second or third embodiment, the reservation execution processing, the warning message output processing, etc. are the same as those in the first embodiment except that the stored memory is different.

Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. In the fourth embodiment, a predetermined period before the reservation date and time is designated, and when the reservation process is executed within this period, the reservation is automatically deleted. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the reservation processing of the fourth embodiment.

In step S70, a reservation registration process is performed, which is the reservation process of the first embodiment, as shown in FIG.
This is the same as the processing from step S1 to step S11. In step S71, it is checked whether or not the reservation cancellation period is set in days. If it is set in days, the process proceeds to step S73, but if not, the process proceeds to step S72.

In step S72, it is checked whether or not the cancellation period is set by time. If the cancellation period is set by time, the process proceeds to step S74. If not, the process returns to step S71 to wait for the input. Step S73
In, the reservation cancellation period is set in days. Further, in step S74, the reservation cancellation period is set by time. In step S75, the reservation information including the cancellation period is stored in the memory.

FIG. 12 is a flow chart showing the reservation execution process of the fourth embodiment. In step S80,
It is detected that the user has pressed the registration use switch in order to execute the reservation process registered.

In step S81, the contents (title, name, etc.) of the reservation closest to the current time in the reservations ahead of the current time are displayed on the panel. If this is not the reservation that the user wants to make, the switch is operated to display the next reservation in sequence.

In step S82, it is checked whether the reservation cancellation period has been set and is currently in the reservation cancellation period. If so, step S82
83. In step S83, the fact that the reservation is currently canceled is displayed on the panel.

In step S84, whether or not to cancel the reservation is checked. If the user cancels the reservation, the process proceeds to step S87. If not, the process proceeds to step S85. In step S85, the function set at the time of reservation is read. In step S86, the reserved process is executed.

In step S87, the reservation use result (use, cancellation, etc.) is recorded in the use result storage memory. In step S88, the executed or canceled reservation information is deleted from the reservation memory.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S82 that the cancellation period is not in progress, the process proceeds to step S89 to display on the panel that the reservation cancellation period is not currently in progress. In step S90, it is checked whether or not to cancel the reservation,
If the user has performed an operation to cancel the reservation, the process proceeds to step S87, but if not, step S9.
Move to 1.

In step S91, the function set at the time of reservation is read. In step S92, the reserved process is executed and the process ends. After the process in step S92, it may be possible to select whether or not to delete the reservation, as in the first embodiment.

Although the four embodiments have been described above, it is obvious that the present invention can be applied not only to the multi-function peripheral but also to the office processing apparatus such as the copying machine, the facsimile and the printer. Also, if the device is connected to a host or LAN,
It is also possible to set up reservations from the host or terminal and forward warning messages and reports to remote users and administrators.

[0059]

According to the office processing apparatus of the present invention as described above, the business can be more reliably carried out by issuing a warning message when the business reservation date and time has passed. Further, if the reservation can be registered in the job memory or the speed dial memory, the functions that can be conventionally registered in these memories can be reserved as they are.

Further, by displaying the title and name, not only the reservation person can confirm the reservation but also the third party can know who made the reservation and can contact the third party. Further, if the reservation is automatically canceled after the use, the operation of the user becomes easier.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of an office processing apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an outline of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a reservation process of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a reservation execution process according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a warning message output process.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a report output process of the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a reservation content list report output.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a reservation use result report.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a reservation process of the second embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a reservation process of the third embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a reservation process of the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a reservation execution process according to the fourth embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... CPU, 2 ... RAM, 3 ... ROM, 4 ... Panel, 5
... clock circuit, 6 ... SRAM, 7 ... printer, 8 ... scanner, 9 ... host interface, 10 ... communication control unit,
11 ... Bus, 20 ... Function setting section, 21 ... Date and time reservation section, 2
2 ... storage unit, 23 ... clock unit, 24 ... date / time comparison unit, 25 ...
Message display section

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Nobuyoshi Sakai 3-7-1 Fuchu, Iwatsuki City, Saitama Prefecture Fuji Zerox Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Ya Sakashita 3-7-1, Iwatsuki City, Saitama Prefecture Fuji Zelocks Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yoshiaki Komachi 3-7-1, Fuchu, Iwatsuki City, Saitama Prefecture Fuji Zelocks Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yukio Nakazawa 3-7-1, Fuchu, Iwatsuki City, Saitama Prefecture Fujize Within Rocks Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An apparatus having at least one function of a copying function, a facsimile function, and a printer function, an input unit for inputting a function and date and time of a device to be reserved, a storage unit for storing the input information, and a clock. Means and
The reservation date and time stored in the storage means is compared with the current time output from the clock means to detect that the reservation date and time has passed, and the reservation date and time has passed based on the output from the comparison means. An office processing apparatus, comprising: a display unit that displays a message. 2. The office processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a function registration memory. 3. The office processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit is a speed dial registration memory. 4. The office processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the input unit also inputs a message indicating the content of the reservation business, and the display unit also displays the message. . 5. The office processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a reservation canceling unit that automatically cancels a reservation when a reserved function is used.