JPH0691969A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To facilitate sorting per page in the case of printing a plurality of documents. CONSTITUTION:The printing operation control means 113 serves to print the same page continuously only in required number of copies. When the printing page number monitoring means 116 and printing number monitoring means 117 detect a finish of only required printing number on pages under printing the printing operation control means 113 acts to print the next page. At this time in the case that the printing number is two or more, a paper feeding cassette is changed by a paper feeding cassette changing means 118 so as to change the direction of paper. In this way, since the paper feeding direction is changed at the boundary of the documents or number of copies, paper can readily be judged, and thereby the use of the apparatus is improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a plurality of paper feed cassettes, which makes it easy to sort and take out sheets when a plurality of copies are printed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When instructing printing from a document editing device such as a word processor to a printing device having a plurality of paper feed cassettes such as a laser printer, a user needs to specify a paper feed cassette to be used. . At this time,"
Except when printing on special paper such as "colored", etc., in general, the user specifies automatic selection and leaves the selection of the paper feed cassette to the print control device. When the paper feed cassettes of the same paper size are installed, the print control device preferentially selects the currently selected paper feed cassette.

The prior art will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional print control device.

The word processor 120 transfers print information of a document to be printed to the print control apparatus 1000. The print information is stored in the print information storage unit 111 of the print control unit 1010 via the host interface 102. The print information is composed of control information and drawing information. The control information includes paper sizes from A3 to postcards, automatic or fixed selection of a paper feed cassette, the number of pages of a document, the number of copies, the page number of a page to be printed, and a print request. On the other hand, the drawing information includes character drawing information, graphic drawing information, and image drawing information. The character drawing information includes a drawing position, a drawing size, a character code, and the like. The figure drawing information is composed of a drawing position, a drawing size, a figure type, and the like. Image drawing information, drawing position,
It consists of drawing area and image data.

The image drawing means 112 converts the drawing information stored in the print information storage means 111 into image information and stores it in the page memory 105. That is, if it is the character drawing information, the dot information corresponding to the character code is displayed in the font ROM 10.
Page memory 1 after reading from 4 and converting to drawing size
It draws in the drawing position of 05. If it is graphic drawing information, a graphic having a drawing size corresponding to the graphic type is drawn at the drawing position of the page memory 105. Page memory 10 for image drawing information
Image data is drawn in the drawing area at the drawing position of 5.

On the other hand, the paper feed cassette selecting means 1140 is
Based on the paper size and paper feed cassette designation stored in the print information storage means 111, the first to Nth paper feed cassettes 1 of the laser printer 130 are sent via the printer interface 103.
Select one out of 31. That is, when the designation of the paper feed cassette is the Kth paper feed cassette fixed selection (1 ≦ K ≦ N), the paper feed cassette switching unit 1180 switches to the Kth paper feed cassette. When the paper feed cassette designation is the first to N-th paper feed cassette automatic selection, the paper feed cassette status inquiry unit 1150 confirms the paper size of the paper feed cassette and the presence / absence of paper, and then selects the currently selected paper feed cassette. Select the paper cassette with priority. In this case, if it is necessary to switch the selection of the sheet cassette, the sheet cassette switching unit 1180 switches the sheet cassette.

The print operation control means 1130 converts the image information stored in the page memory 105 into video data via the printer interface 103 based on the print request stored in the print information storage means 111, and outputs the laser data. It is transmitted to the printer 130 and is printed. The printed paper is ejected to the paper ejection tray 132.

A device related to this kind of device is, for example, one in which a plurality of word processors and a laser printer are connected by a network system and one laser printer is shared by a plurality of word processors. There is.

In addition to this, as an apparatus for distributing a plurality of identical print sheets, a sorter having a plurality of sheet discharge locations can be cited.

As a description of such a technique, for example, a word processor manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd. (trade name "Hitachi Document Word Processor SUPER300") is used.
There is a 0 ") operation manual (enhanced functions).

[0011]

In the first prior art described above, when printing a plurality of copies of a document having the same paper size, one paper feed cassette is always selected, so that the printed papers are aligned in the same direction. Will be ejected. Therefore, it is troublesome for the user to take out from a plurality of papers arranged in the same direction while checking the content. In addition, even when multiple copies of the same document are printed, multiple sheets of paper aligned in the same direction should be checked while checking their contents.
It was necessary to separate each part.

On the other hand, in the second prior art, that is, the sorter, it is impossible to distribute the number of copies exceeding the number of paper discharge locations. Also, the device is generally expensive.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus which allows a user to easily discriminate and take out a printed sheet from among a plurality of ejected sheets.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which can easily separate one copy when a plurality of copies of the same document are printed.

[0015]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to achieve the above object, and in one aspect thereof, a printing section for printing on a sheet, and a sheet feeding section for feeding the sheet to the printing section. And a control unit that changes the orientation of the paper supplied by the supply unit each time the page to be printed changes. The control means may include at least two paper feed cassettes, and the control means may include a paper feed cassette selection means that selects one of the paper feed cassettes that supplies paper to the printing unit. preferable.

When at least two paper feed cassettes having the same size and different orientations are stored in the paper feed section, the paper feed cassette selecting means feeds papers having different paper orientations. It is preferable that the cassettes are alternately selected and changed. It is preferable that the paper feeding cassette changing unit changes the selection of the paper feeding cassette only when the printing unit prints two or more copies of the same page continuously.

It is preferable that the printing unit changes the printing direction according to the direction of the paper supplied by the paper feeding unit.

The control means may detect the change of the page to be printed by monitoring the page number to be printed by the printing section.

In the case where the same page is continuously printed a predetermined number of times, the control means monitors the number of sheets printed by the printing unit, and every time the predetermined number of sheets are continuously printed. Alternatively, it may be determined that the page to be printed has been changed.

[0020]

The control means detects that the page to be printed has been changed by monitoring the page to be printed.
When the page is changed, the selection of the paper feed cassette is changed by the paper feed cassette selection means. In this case, the change is performed by alternately selecting paper feed cassettes having different paper orientations. However, the change is performed only when the printing unit prints two or more copies of the same page continuously.

The printing unit also changes the printing direction according to the direction of the paper supplied by the paper feeding unit.

When a page change is detected, the same page is continuously printed a plurality of times, and a plurality of copies of the document are printed by repeating the page several times, that is, [1 page × N copies,
2 pages × N copies, 3 pages × N copies, ...] × When printing once (N ≧ 2), the page was changed every time the predetermined N sheets were printed. You may perform it by judging that it is a thing.

[0023]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

In this embodiment, it is premised that paper feed cassettes having the same paper size but different paper feed directions are simultaneously attached to a printing apparatus such as a laser printer.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a print control apparatus according to the present invention. Except for the paper feed cassette selection means 114, the configuration is the same as that of the conventional print control device, and therefore its description is omitted.

The print control apparatus 100 of this embodiment has two printing methods. The first is a printing method (hereinafter referred to as "document priority method") in which the operation of printing a part of each page from the first page to the last page is repeated as many times as necessary. The second is a printing method (hereinafter referred to as "page priority method") in which each page is collectively printed by a required number of copies and then the next page is printed. Both printing methods are selected according to a command from the word processor 120.

The print information stored in the print information storage means 111 of this embodiment includes, in addition to the various types of information described in the above-mentioned prior art, information designating any of the above-described printing methods.

The print operation control means 113 controls the laser printer 130 in accordance with the information stored in the print information storage means 111. Further, a print number monitoring means 116 and a print copy number monitoring means 117 are provided in order to manage the change of the print target page and the number of times of printing according to each of the above-mentioned printing methods.

The print page number monitor means 116 monitors the page number of the page printed by the print operation control means 113. That is, it is monitored whether or not the first page of the document is printed, whether or not the printing is other than the last page, and whether or not the page to be printed has changed.

The number-of-prints monitoring means 117 determines, based on the number of prints performed by the printing operation control means 113 and the detection result of the print page number monitoring means 116, that the number of consecutive prints of the same page is the "continuous number" X. It is to monitor whether or not has reached. Here, the "continuous number" X refers to the number of times the same page has to be continuously printed. That is, when printing by the page priority method, the continuous number (X) = the planned print number (N). On the other hand, in the document priority method, the continuous number X = 1.

Further, the printing operation control means 113 has a function of counting the number of actually printed sheets of the document.

The paper cassette selection means 114 is for the paper size stored in the print information storage means 111, "automatic selection".
Alternatively, one of the first to N-th sheet feeding cassettes 131 of the laser printer 130 is selected through the printer interface 103 based on the designation of the "fixed selection" sheet feeding cassette.

The paper feed cassette selection means 114 comprises a paper feed cassette paper size inquiry means 115 and a paper feed cassette switching means 118.

Paper cassette status inquiry means 115
When the paper feed cassette designation is the first to N-th paper feed cassette automatic selection, the paper size of the first to N-th paper feed cassettes, the presence or absence of paper, and the paper feed direction are read. Further, the sheet feeding cassette status inquiry means 11 of the present embodiment.
Reference numeral 5 has a function of previously determining a paper feed cassette to be a target of paper feed cassette switching described later.

The paper feed cassette switching means 118 responds to instructions from the paper feed cassette paper status inquiry means 115 and the printing operation control means 113 to the laser printer 130.
The selection of the paper feed cassette is switched.

The image drawing means 112 has a function of arbitrarily changing the drawing direction. Therefore, for example, in the case of printing a document created in A4 portrait, when only the A4 paper set in landscape orientation is available in the laser printer 130, the drawing direction can be changed according to the orientation of the paper. .

In this figure, the print control device 100 has an independent structure, but it may be provided in the laser printer 130.

The operation of document printing when the paper cassette designation is automatic selection will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the paper feed cassette selecting means 114
By means of the paper cassette status inquiry means 115
The paper size, presence / absence of paper, and paper feed direction of each paper feed cassette mounted on the laser printer 130 are read. Then, according to the information obtained from the print information storage unit 111, the sheet cassette switching unit 118 is used to switch to a predetermined sheet cassette. (Step 201).

Subsequently, the print operation control means 113 confirms the number of sheets already printed, and determines whether or not the planned number of sheets to be printed (= the total number of pages of the document currently being printed × the planned number of copies N) has been reached. A judgment is made (step 202). If the planned number of prints has been reached, the printing ends. If the planned print number has not been reached, Step 203 to Step 2
The processing of 09 is repeated to continue printing.

In step 203, the print page number monitoring means 116 determines the page number of the page to be printed (step 203). As a result, if it is the first page, the sheet cassette switching means 118 switches the sheet cassette (step 204). In this case, the newly selected paper feed cassette has a paper feed direction different from that selected up to now. The paper size corresponds to the print information. As a result, regardless of whether the printing method is the document-priority method or the page-priority method, the orientation of the paper sheet changes depending on the section, so that the printed document can be taken out easily.

If it is determined in step 203 that the page is not the first page, the process directly proceeds to step 205.

In step 205, the image drawing means 112 draws the image information for one page in the page memory 105. Then, the printing operation control means 113 controls the laser printer 130 to print it (step 20).
6).

Thereafter, the print copy number monitoring means 117 determines whether or not the number of prints at this time has reached the continuous number X (step 207). As described above, the "continuous number" X is the number of copies that the same page must be continuously printed. Then, if the number of consecutive X has not been reached, the process returns to step 206 to print the same page. That is, when the printing method is the page priority method, steps 206 and 207 are continuously repeated as many times as the planned number of copies (N). On the other hand, in the case of the document priority method, since the same page is not printed continuously, steps 206 and 207 are not repeated continuously.

When the number of times of printing reaches the continuous number in step 207, the print page number monitoring means 116 determines the page number of the printed page (step 208). As a result, if it is the final page, the process returns to step 202. In addition,
In the page-priority method, it is necessary to advance to step 210 without actually performing the determination in step 202. In the document priority method, depending on the judgment result of step 202, step 203 or step 2
Go to any of 10.

On the other hand, if it is not the final page in step 208, the print copy number monitoring means 117 sets the continuous number X (that is, the planned print number (N) in the page priority system, 1 in the document priority system). The value is determined (step 209). When two or more copies are designated as the continuous number X, that is, in the case of the page priority method, the process returns to step 204, the paper feed cassette switching unit 118 is caused to change the paper feed cassette, and then the next page. Is printed by a predetermined number (steps 205 to 208). On the other hand, the continuous number X
If one copy is designated, that is, in the case of the document priority method, the process returns to step 205, and the printing process for the next page is immediately performed without changing the paper feed cassette (steps 205 to 208).

The above description is for the case where the designation of the paper feed cassette is "automatic selection". Paper cassette designation is Kth paper cassette fixed selection (1
In the case of ≦ K ≦ N), the selection of the paper feed cassette is the same as that of the print control device according to the related art, and the present invention cannot be applied.

The switching of the paper feed cassette does not necessarily have to be performed based on the above-mentioned processing. For example, in the page priority method, the paper feed cassette selection unit 114 may monitor the page number of the page to be printed and switch the paper feed cassette when the page number is changed. .

The paper discharge state after printing is shown in FIG. In this figure, three copies of the document A having a total page count of 3 pages in the document priority method, four copies of the document B having a total page count of three pages in the page priority method, and finally, a total page count of 8 pages The state when one copy of the document is printed is shown. The printed paper is discharged face-down to the paper discharge tray 132. Further, as a matter of course, this drawing shows the case where the designation of the paper feed cassette is "automatic selection".

Since the document A is printed by the document priority method,
The orientation of the paper has changed for each part. Since the subsequently printed document B is printed by the page priority method, the paper orientation is changed every page, that is, every several copies. The orientation of the paper on which the first page of the document B is printed is different from the orientation of the paper of the fourth copy of the document A. Although only one copy of the document C is printed, in this case, the state shown in this figure is obtained regardless of the document priority method or the page priority method. That is, even in the page-priority system, the sheet orientation is not changed for each page when the number of printed copies is one. This is because the paper feed cassettes are switched only when the number of copies for printing the same page continuously is two or more (see step 209 in FIG. 2).

As described above, according to this embodiment, the sheets are discharged in the different directions alternately in units of one document.
The user can easily identify and take out the printed sheet from the ejected plural sheets. Further, when a plurality of copies are printed by the copy priority method, the sheets are discharged in different directions for each page (that is, for each number of copies), so that it is possible to easily separate the sheets having the same content from the plurality of sheets. Further, when a plurality of copies are printed by the document priority method, the sheets are ejected in different directions for each copy (that is, for every several pages in total), so that the sheets can be easily separated one by one. Therefore, the work after printing can be reduced. This effect is particularly effective when one printing device is shared by a plurality of word processors or the like, or when a large number of copies of one document are printed. Further, in realizing the present embodiment, a printing apparatus to which a plurality of paper feed cassettes can be attached is hardly changed in terms of hardware, and thus is extremely advantageous in terms of cost as compared with the sorter apparatus. Moreover, since there is no complicated mechanism, there are few failures.

[0052]

According to the present invention, a user can easily take out printed sheets from a plurality of sheets and separate the sheets one by one, so that the usability of printing is improved. Further, the paper feed cassette is cheaper than the sorter, and a large number of sheets can be distributed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a print control apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a document printing operation.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of paper discharge after printing.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a conventional print control device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 ... Print control device 101 ... Print control unit 102 ... Host interface 103 ... Printer interface 104 ... Font ROM 105 ... Page memory 111 ... Print information storage means 112 ... Image drawing means 113 ... Print operation control means 114 ... Paper feed cassette Selection means 115 ... Paper feed cassette Paper size inquiry means 116 ... Printed page number monitoring means 117 ... Printed copy number monitoring means 118 ... Paper feed cassette switching means 119 ... Print number monitoring means 120 ... Word processor 130 ... Laser printer 131 ... Paper feed cassette 132 ... Paper discharge tray 1000 ... Print control device 1010 ... Print control unit 1130 ... Printing operation control means 1140 ... Paper feed cassette selection means 1150 ... Paper feed cassette Paper size inquiry means 1180 ... Paper feed cassette switching means

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location B65H 3/44 340 Z 9148-3F

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A printing unit for printing on paper, a paper feeding unit for feeding the paper to the printing unit, and a control for changing the orientation of the paper fed by the feeding unit every time the page to be printed changes. A printing device comprising: 2. The paper feed unit has at least two paper feed cassettes for storing paper, and the control means is one of the paper feed cassettes for feeding paper to the printing unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a paper feed cassette selection unit that selects one of the two. 3. When at least two paper feed cassettes storing paper of the same size and different orientations are mounted in the paper feed section, the paper feed cassette selection means has different orientations of the paper. The printing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the paper feed cassettes are alternately selected and changed. 4. The paper feed cassette changing means changes the selection of the paper feed cassette only when the printing unit prints two or more copies of the same page continuously. The printing device described. 5. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing unit changes a printing direction in accordance with a direction of a sheet supplied by the sheet feeding unit. 6. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit detects a change in the page to be printed by monitoring the number of the page to be printed by the printing unit. 7. When the same page is continuously printed a predetermined number of times, the control means monitors the number of sheets printed by the printing unit and continuously prints the predetermined number of sheets. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the page to be printed is changed every time.