JPH07205506A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To carry out the image printing on both surfaces without the necessity of a complicated, expensive mechanism. CONSTITUTION:A printing section 6 is provided with a manual paper feed means for feeding a recording paper into the printing section, a paper feed changeover means for changing over the paper feed method, a paper feed stop means for stopping the paper feeding every time printing is completed for one page and a display means for displaying messages, and an instruction for stopping the paper feed operation after finishing the printing on one side at the time of carrying out the printing on both sides by an user and turning over the recorded paper is issued by an image processing/controlling section 7, and the above instruction is displayed as a message on a display by a display means based on the instruction to do so from the processing/controlling section.

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 such as a page printer, a copying machine or a facsimile which forms an image on a recording medium such as recording paper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A device for recording images on both sides of a recording sheet has been demanded in order to rationalize office equipment, reduce costs, etc., and the printed recording sheet recorded on the front side is automatically turned over to the image recording section and transferred to the back side. In some cases, an image forming apparatus equipped with a double-sided printing mechanism that automatically and continuously records and prints is used.

[0003]

However, in the image forming apparatus having the conventional double-sided printing mechanism, the paper feeding mechanism is required to have a function of automatically turning over the printed recording paper and re-feeding it to the image forming unit. In addition, there is a problem that the structure becomes complicated and the apparatus becomes large in size, such as a mechanism for temporarily storing the recording paper on which one-sided recording and printing have been performed, so that the cost of the apparatus also becomes high.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and provides an image forming apparatus capable of easily performing image printing on both sides without the need for a complicated and expensive double-sided printing mechanism of the related art. It is intended.

[0005]

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the paper feeding means for feeding the stored recording paper to the printing portion and the manual feeding for feeding the manually fed recording paper to the printing portion. Paper means, paper feed switching means for switching the paper feeding method, paper feed stopping means for stopping the paper feeding each time printing is performed in page units, display means for displaying a message, and control for controlling the image forming operation. An image forming apparatus including a means, the control means, when a user performs double-sided printing, temporarily stops the paper feeding operation after performing one-sided printing, and reverses the recorded paper to the manual paper feeding means. It is intended to achieve the above-mentioned object by a configuration characterized in that the display means is caused to display so as to be manually fed.

[0006]

With the above construction, when performing double-sided printing, the user stops the continuous operation of the sheet feeding means for feeding the stored recording sheets to the printing section by the control of the control means after printing on one side. Since it is displayed on the display means `` Turn over the recorded paper manually in the manual paper feeding means '', it is possible to print on the other side of the recording paper that was printed on one side without confusion, which is complicated and expensive. Although there is no double-sided printing mechanism, the double-sided printing can be performed easily and surely.

[0007]

EXAMPLES An image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to examples.

The image forming means, the image forming operation control means and the like of the embodiment are formed by a structure similar to that of the conventional image forming apparatus such as a page printer or a copying machine for forming an image on a recording medium such as a recording sheet. Is possible. The paper feed mechanism does not need a conventional double-sided printing mechanism such as a function of automatically turning over and feeding paper, and a mechanism for temporarily storing one-side recorded recording paper. Then, a sheet feeding means for feeding the recording sheet stored in the sheet storing section to the printing section, a sheet feeding port for manually inserting the recording sheet, a switching device for automatically and manually feeding the sheet, and a sheet feeding for each page printing A conventional mechanism such as a paper feed stopping device for stopping the printing and a message display device is provided.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of a printer according to the first embodiment.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a printing apparatus of this embodiment, which is composed of an image processing / control unit 7, a printing unit 6, and the like. An external device 1, such as a host computer, is connected to the image processing / control unit 7. It is also possible to connect via a network.

The external device 1 outputs print information including character code data and control commands, and the print device 2 outputs the print information.
Prints on a recording sheet based on the information output by the external device 1.

The image processing / control unit 7 includes a CPU 3 and a memory R.
It is composed of AM4 and ROM5. CPU3
Performs control of the entire printing apparatus 2 and image processing according to a program stored in the memory ROM 5. The memory RAM 4 functions as a buffer that temporarily stores various information and a bit image formed from print information by the CPU 3.

The print unit 6 forms and prints the bit image input from the image processing / control unit 7 on recording paper or the like and outputs it.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

2 and 3 are flowcharts showing an example of the operation procedure of this embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the CPU 3 waits for information to be input in step S1, and when the information is input, the type of the information is determined in step S2, and if the information is print information. If the information is other than the print information, the process proceeds to step S3, step S5, the "process other than the print process" is executed in the same step, and then the process returns to step S1.

In step S3, processing such as paper feed port switching for simple double-sided printing is performed, and step S3 is performed.
At 4, normal print processing is performed.

The process in step S3 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In FIG. 3, it is determined in step S6 whether the printing is double-sided printing or single-sided printing. If single-sided printing is completed, the process ends, and the process proceeds to step S4 shown in FIG. 2 to perform normal printing processing. If it is double-sided printing, the process proceeds to step S7. In step S7, it is determined whether the page to be processed is a front page or a back page. If the page is a front page, the process proceeds to step S4. If the page corresponds to the back page, the page of the recording sheet already discharged is turned over to the operation panel of the printing apparatus, and a message is displayed to set it in the manual feed slot (step S8). Then, when the recording sheet is set in the manual feed port, the paper is fed from the manual feed port to end the paper feed switching process, and the process proceeds to step S4 to print on the back surface.

As described above, simple double-sided printing is possible even with a printing apparatus that does not have a conventional double-sided printing mechanism.

(Second Embodiment) A printer device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The configuration of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the duplicate description will be omitted.

Instead of displaying the processing of step S8 described in the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 on the operation panel of the printer apparatus, in the second embodiment, the host computer 1 is operated via a bidirectional interface. By sending a message to, simple double-sided printing is possible.

(Third Embodiment) A printer device according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The configuration of the third embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the duplicate description will be omitted.

In the third embodiment, the process shown in FIG. 3 is further provided with a page counter for determining what page is to be processed. In the case of double-sided printing, the guide page is printed before the first page (first page) is printed. The guide page is for indicating the direction in which the paper is placed in the manual feed slot when printing the back side.

With the above configuration, it is possible to easily inform the user of the direction of manual feeding when performing simple double-sided printing.

(Fourth Embodiment) A printing apparatus according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described below. The configuration of the fourth embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the duplicated description will be omitted.

In this embodiment, a recovery process for a paper jam is added to each of the above embodiments.

With this configuration, when a paper jam occurs during printing of the back page, by requesting the host computer to retransmit the data from the front page, it is possible to prevent missing pages even if the paper jam occurs. it can.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When performing double-sided printing, when the user prints on one side after continuous printing, the continuous operation of the paper feeding means for feeding the stored recording paper to the printing section is stopped by the control of the control means, and the Since it is displayed on the display means "Turn the paper over and manually feed it", it is possible to print on the other side of the recording paper which has been printed on one side without any confusion.

That is, even in the image forming apparatus which does not have the conventional complicated and expensive double-sided printing mechanism, the double-sided printing can be carried out easily and surely.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a main part of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 External Device (Host Computer) 2 Printing Device 3 CPU 4 RAM 5 ROM 6 Printing Unit 7 Image Processing / Control Unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A paper feeding unit for feeding the stored recording paper to a printing unit, a manual paper feeding unit for feeding a manually fed recording paper to the printing unit, and a paper feeding switching unit for switching the paper feeding method. An image forming apparatus comprising: a paper feed stopping unit that stops paper feeding every time a page is printed; a display unit that displays a message; and a control unit that controls an image forming operation. When the user performs double-sided printing, once the one-sided printing is performed, the paper feeding operation is temporarily stopped, and the manual feeding device is displayed on the display device so that the recorded paper is turned over and manually fed. Forming equipment. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising information input / output means for inputting image print information from an external device to the control means and sending a message relating to image printing from the control means to the external device. An image forming apparatus characterized by. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising guide page printing means for indicating a direction of manually feeding the recording paper to the manual paper feeding means before printing on the first page. Image forming apparatus. 4. The control means, when a paper jam occurs during backside page printing during double-sided printing, the information input / output means issues a message to start printing again from the printed front side page by the external means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus sends the image to the image forming apparatus.