JPH07156467A - Apparatus for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use an image forming apparatus effectively by accommodating the image data of a manuscript to be printed temporarily in a secondary storing device and print-outputting it at a predetermined timing. CONSTITUTION:The Image forming apparatus includes at least a central processing unit 1, a secondary storing device 3, a manuscript reading device 2 and printer 5, and it is further equipped with a time control device 4 in order to temporarily accommodate the image data read by the manuscript reading device 2 in the secondary storing device 3 and output it at the time designated by the time control device 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus which temporarily stores image data read by a document reading device in a secondary storage device and outputs the image data at a predetermined timing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a plurality of people use one image forming apparatus jointly, if there is a large amount of output, one person occupies the image forming apparatus and other people cannot use it. There are drawbacks. To solve this problem, some models are equipped with an interrupt function etc., but the ADF (Aut
o Document Feeder) cannot be used at the same time. Further, it also takes a long time to confirm the end of printing when a large amount of output is output, and it is difficult to know when to end the printing.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, in which image data of a document to be printed is temporarily stored in a secondary storage device and printed at a predetermined timing. The output is intended to efficiently use the image forming apparatus.

In particular, according to the first aspect of the invention, when there is a large amount of printed matter, one person occupies the image forming apparatus and cannot perform other printing processing at all. On the contrary, there are times when the printing process is hardly performed, such as at night. Therefore, in the time-consuming print process, only reading the original and registering it in the secondary storage device are performed.For output, the operator specifies the print start time, and when the time comes, the print process is started. Another object of the present invention is to enable other printing work and to effectively utilize the idle time of the image forming apparatus.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when there is a large amount of printed matter, and when it is desired to print as quickly as possible but not particularly urgently, the printing process is performed while looking at the interval between other printing operations, so that another printing operation is performed. The purpose is to allow a person's printing work to be performed normally and to efficiently perform his own printing process.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the end of the printing process is notified to an electronic mail, a telephone, a facsimile or the like via a communication device, so that the operator does not have to worry about the end of the printing to perform other work. It is also possible to take out a printed matter immediately after the printing process is completed.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus having at least a central processing unit, a secondary storage device, a document reading device, and a printing device. A device is provided, and the image data read by the document reading device is temporarily stored in the secondary storage device and output at a time designated by the time management device.

An image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus having at least a central processing unit, a secondary storage device, a document reading device and a printing device, wherein a non-priority print mode designating means is provided. The image data read by the method is temporarily stored in the secondary storage device and output when the printing device is not operating.

An image forming apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect, further comprising communication means for electronic mail, facsimile, etc., and notifying the end of the output processing via the communication means. It is characterized by doing.

[0010]

In the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the image data read by the document reading device is temporarily stored in the secondary storage device, and the operator is output at the time designated by the time management device. It Therefore, for example, if you want to make more than a dozen copies of a manuscript of several tens of pages, you can make a normal copy.
However, the processing time may take several tens of minutes when the sort processing, the stapler processing, and the like are included. However, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 only takes several minutes to read the original document, and then at night or the like. By performing the printing process at the designated time, the printing device is not occupied and the work efficiency can be improved.

In the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the image data read by the original reading device is temporarily stored in the secondary storage device, and the printing device is used by the non-priority printing mode means. Causes the printing process to be performed when it is not available. Therefore, for example, when it is desired to make a copy of dozens of copies for a document of several tens of pages, it may take several tens of minutes for a normal copy to include a sort process and a stapler process. However, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, it takes only a few minutes to read the document, and the printing process is performed when the printing apparatus is not in use, so that the printing apparatus is not occupied and at the same time, the work can be performed. Efficiency can be improved.

In the image forming apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 is further provided with a communication device, and an electronic mail is provided to the operator via the communication device. The end of printing is notified by a telephone, a telephone, a facsimile, or the like. Therefore, when it takes a long time to perform printing or when it is desired to confirm the end of printing, the operator can immediately respond, and forgetting to take the printed matter or improving the work efficiency.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, which is a central processing unit (CPU).
1, a document reading device 2, a secondary storage device 3, a time management device 4, a printing device 5, an operation panel 6 and a communication device 7. A central processing unit (CPU) 1 is a processing unit that controls each unit, and a document reading unit 2
Is a reading device that optically reads a printed document and outputs it as electrical digital image data. The secondary storage device 3 is a storage device that temporarily stores image data output from the document reading device, and is composed of a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like. The time management device 4 is a device that manages the date and time in the system, has a timer function, and generates an interrupt at a set time. The printing device 5 is a device that prints image data input from the document reading device 2 and image data stored in the secondary storage device 3, and the operation panel 6 receives input by the operator. A control panel to be controlled, which includes an input key, an LED for display, and the like. The communication device 7 is a communication device having a communication function for electronic mail, telephone, facsimile and the like.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the operation panel 6. The operator selects normal printing or delayed printing from this operation panel when printing is attempted. At this time, the non-priority printing key or the time designation printing key is pressed to shift to the delayed printing mode. However, if those keys are not pressed, it is the same as a conventional image forming apparatus (copier, printer, etc.). The printing operation can be executed depending on the operation method. The delay printing mode includes a time designation printing mode or a non-priority printing mode. Further, if there is a print end notification, and if there is a print end notification, the notification destination is registered. The details of the time designation print mode and the non-priority print mode will be described below.

[Time Designated Print Mode] Time Designated Print Mode
As described above, the mode is activated by pressing the time designation print key on the operation panel 6. When the time designated print key is pressed, a screen for designating the print end notification shown in FIG. 3 appears next, and whether or not to give the print end notification to the operator and, if so, the notification destination (in this case, Register the FAX number). Next, the screen for designating the print time shown in FIG. 4 appears, which causes the operator to designate the print time, and the designated time is stored in the time management device 4. After that, you can specify the number of copies, sort, etc. in the same way as you do for normal image forming equipment, and start key.
By pressing, the input from the document reading device 2 is started, the image data of each document is read up to the final document, stored in the secondary storage device 3, and the process ends. These operations are as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation when the time designated print mode is selected. When the designated print time is reached, an interrupt is generated from the time management device 4, and the target document is printed using the image data stored in the secondary storage device 3. Further, if it is designated to issue the print end notification, the print end notification is sent to the address (electronic mail or telephone number) designated by the communication device 7. As the print end notification, for example, the one shown in FIG. 5 is sent as an electronic mail or a facsimile. It should be noted that the print end notification may be a voice notification to the telephone using a voice synthesis LSI or the like.

[Non-Priority Printing Mode] The non-priority printing mode is activated by pressing the non-priority printing key on the operation panel 6. In this mode, first, a screen as shown in FIG. 3 as to whether or not to give a print end notification appears, and the operator is made to specify. After that, like the normal operation for the image forming apparatus, the number of copies and the sort are designated and the start key is pressed to start input from the document reading device 2 and the image of each document is read up to the final document. The data is stored in the secondary storage device 3 and the process is completed. These operations are as shown in the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the operation when the non-priority printing mode is selected. When there is no other print request to the printing device, the target document is printed using the image data stored in the secondary storage device 3. Here, if another print request is issued during execution of the delayed printing, the print processing being executed is interrupted and another print processing is executed. After the other print processing is completed, the interrupted print processing is restarted. After the printing of the target document is completed, if the print end notification is designated, the print end notification is sent from the communication device 7 to the designated address (electronic mail or telephone number). As the print end notification, for example, the one shown in FIG. 5 is sent as an electronic mail or a facsimile.

[0019]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention.
According to this image forming apparatus, since the image data read by the document reading device is temporarily stored in the secondary storage device and the operator is output at the time designated by the time management device, the document reading time However, the printing process is performed at a designated time such as at night, so that the printing apparatus is not occupied and the work efficiency can be improved. Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the image data read by the document reading apparatus is temporarily stored in the secondary storage device, and the printing apparatus is not used by the non-priority printing mode means. Since the printing process is sometimes performed, it only takes time to read the document, and by performing the printing process when the printing device is not used thereafter, the printing device is not occupied and the work efficiency can be improved. Further, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 3 of the present invention, the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 is further provided with a communication device, and an electronic mail is provided to the operator via the communication device. Since the end of printing is notified by a telephone, facsimile, etc., if the processing time for printing is long or you want to confirm the end of printing, the operator can immediately respond, forgetting to take printed materials and improving work efficiency Can be achieved.

[0020]

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an operation panel 6 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a screen for designating a print end notification according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a screen for specifying a print time according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a print end notification according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation flow of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a time designation mode of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a non-priority printing mode of the present invention.
It is

[0021]

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Central Control Unit (CPU) 2 Document Reading Device 3 Secondary Storage Device 4 Time Management Device 5 Printing Device 6 Operation Panel 7 Communication Device

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having at least a central processing unit, a secondary storage device, a document reading device, and a printing device, comprising a time management device, and temporarily storing image data read by the document reading device. An image forming apparatus, which stores in a next storage device and outputs at a time designated by the time management device. 2. An image forming apparatus having at least a central processing unit, a secondary storage device, a document reading device and a printing device, wherein non-priority print mode designating means is provided, and an image data read by the document reading device is provided. An image forming apparatus, which temporarily stores the data in the secondary storage device and outputs the data when the printing device is not operating. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising communication means for electronic mail, facsimile, etc., and notifying the end of output processing through the communication means. Forming equipment.