JPH0863310A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide an image processor which can improve the productivity by omitting the pre-processing or after-processing that is needed for the output processing of each job. CONSTITUTION: An image processor is provided with an image data input means, a storage means which stores the input image data, an image data output means, a job management means which manages all received jobs, and a main control means which manages and controls these means independently of each other. Then a job retrieving means (S201) is added to compare the parameter of a newly received job with each parameter of all received jobs and to retrieve the jobs having the same parameters, together with a job coupling means (S202) which produces a new job by coupling the newly received job with the job retrieved by the job retrieving means and having the same parameter as the newly received job, and a job changing means (S203) which changes the newly received job and the retrieved job for the job that is produced by the job coupling means. Thus the jobs of the same parameters are coupled with each other and outputted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus including a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, and more particularly, a composite image for improving productivity when there are a plurality of jobs to be processed independently. Regarding a processing device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital copying machines, printers,
2. Description of the Related Art Facsimile machines and multifunction machines that integrate image processing apparatuses that handle these digital image data have become widespread.

In such an image processing apparatus,
When a plurality of jobs can be processed in parallel, it is necessary to make the output processing as efficient as possible in order to improve productivity.

To improve the efficiency of output processing in an image processing apparatus that handles digital image data, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-268 is known.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 870 proposes a facsimile apparatus that collectively transmits a plurality of electronic messages addressed to the same destination and designated in different time zones in a single column processing.

Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-252333 proposes a method for improving the efficiency of output processing by changing the processing order of the received jobs according to an instruction from the operation unit. For example, if you select "Binding device first",
Give priority to jobs that use the bookbinding device. The job can be replaced according to the characteristics of the job and a predetermined priority order (FIFO, ascending order, etc.) or manually.

[0006]

However, although the facsimile apparatus proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-268870 is more efficient in transmission processing, in the case of a multi-function peripheral, processing of a plurality of different types of jobs can be performed. You will need
This alone is not enough.

The method proposed by Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-252333 does not improve the total productivity. In the method of sequentially outputting different jobs, there are only means such as increasing the transfer rate, reducing the paper gap, and outputting to a plurality of output devices, and the performance and cost are already limited.

In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus with improved productivity by omitting pre-processing or post-processing required for output processing of each job. That is.

[0009]

Therefore, according to the present invention, at least one input means for inputting image data, a storage means for storing the input image data, and at least one output means for outputting the image data, An image processing apparatus including a main control unit that controls each of the above units independently, a job search unit that compares the parameters of a newly accepted job with the parameters of a waiting job, and searches for a job having the same parameter. And a job combining unit that newly combines the job and the job having the same parameters searched by the job search unit to generate a new job, the newly received job, and the job search unit. Job replacement means that deletes the searched job and replaces it with the job generated by the job combination means Comprising a bind job of the same parameters, it is controlled to output.

Further, in addition to the invention described in claim 1, the present invention further comprises a waiting time detecting means for detecting waiting time of all jobs received after the job searched by the job searching means, According to the control, it is selected whether or not to connect.

[0011]

The image data input from at least one or more input means for inputting image data is temporarily stored in the storage means, and the stored image data is output from at least one or more output means. These means are independently controlled by the main control means.

In the case of a newly accepted job, the job search means compares the parameters of the accepted job with the parameters of all the jobs already accepted, and searches for a job having the same parameter. When there is a job having the same parameter, the job combining unit connects the newly received job and the job having the same parameter searched by the job searching unit to generate a new job. In this way, jobs having the same parameters are combined and output, so that productivity is further improved.

Further, the waiting time detecting means detects the waiting time of all jobs received after the job searched by the job searching means, and selects whether or not to connect according to the waiting time.

As described above, the present invention operates so as to combine jobs having the same parameter and output them as one job.

[0015]

【Example】

Example 1 Hereinafter, an example will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a copying machine will be described as an example of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a schematic structure of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied. Copiers are roughly classified into a copier body 1 that forms a copy by forming a toner image corresponding to a document image on a recording paper, and an automatic document feeder that automatically feeds a document onto a document mounting surface of the copier body 1. The document feeder 2 and the copies discharged from the copying machine body 1 are sorted,
It is composed of three parts of the post-processing device 3 which performs post-processing such as stapling.

Inside the copying machine main body 1, an image reading device 5 for reading an original image by scanning an original placed on a platen glass 4 which is an original placing surface from the upper side, and the image reading device 5. An image forming apparatus 6 that forms a toner image corresponding to an original image on a recording sheet based on the image information obtained in step 1, and a sheet feeding apparatus 7 that supplies the recording sheet to the image forming apparatus 6 are provided. There is.

The automatic document feeder 2 is a copying machine body 1.
The platen glass 4 provided on the upper part of the platen is provided so as to be openable and closable so that the originals stacked on the original placing tray 8 are sequentially transferred onto the platen glass 4 one by one by a feed roller (not shown) and a conveyor belt 9. Then, the original after copying is discharged to the original discharge tray 10 by the conveyor belt 9 and discharge rollers (not shown).

The image reading device 5 is provided with an exposure lamp 11, a plurality of reflection mirrors 12, a lens 13, an image sensor 14 and the like as an optical system, and the exposure lamp 11 and the reflection mirror 12 are moved along the platen glass 4. Then, the reflected light from the document is converged on the image sensor 14 and the density of the image of the document is converted into an electric image signal. The image signal is converted into digital image data by an A / D conversion circuit or the like provided as an electric system inside the image reading device 5. This image data is supplied to the processing unit described later, subjected to predetermined signal processing, and then supplied to the image forming apparatus 6.

The image forming device 6 forms a toner image on a recording sheet by a well-known electrophotographic method. The surface of the photosensitive drum 16 uniformly charged by the charging device 15 is transferred from the laser exposure device 17 to the surface. It is exposed to laser light to form an electrostatic latent image.

The laser exposure device 17 is a laser element (not shown) such as a semiconductor laser that modulates a drive current based on the image data from the image reading device 5, and a laser beam from the laser element on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16. Rotating polygon mirror 1 that periodically deflects in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of
8, a reflection mirror 19 and the like.

The developing device 20 or 21 develops the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 16 to form a toner image of a desired color. This toner image is transferred to the plurality of trays 7 a to 7 a of the paper feeding device 7.
Transfer is performed by the transfer device 22 on the recording paper conveyed along the path A from any of 7c, 7e and the path 7d. It should be noted that trays 7a to 7c are paper feed trays for storing papers of different sizes, and 7d is a paper path through which recording papers pass during double-sided copying. In the present embodiment, a maximum of three recording papers are simultaneously on this paper path. A large-capacity tray 7e which can be loaded and which stores hundreds of recording sheets. The residual toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 16 after the transfer is removed by the cleaning device 23.

The recording paper after the transfer is peeled off from the photosensitive drum 16 by using the peeling device 24, and is fixed by the conveyor 25 on the fixing device 2.
The sheet is conveyed to No. 6 and subjected to a fixing process. The path of the paper after fixing is
Path B to the post-processing device 3 by the switching gate 27
Then, for the double-sided copying, the route is switched to one of the routes C which goes to the route 7d through the reversing device 28. In the case of double-sided copying, the front and back of the recording paper is reversed by the reversing device 28, the paper is supplied again to the image forming device 6 along the path A via the path 7d, and after forming a toner image on the back surface of the recording paper this time. , Aftertreatment device 3
Send to

The recording paper discharged from the image forming device 6 to the post-processing device 3 is conveyed to either the route D or the route E by the switching gate 29. The recording paper that has advanced to the path D is sent to the path F with the image side facing up, and the recording paper that has advanced to the path E is reversed to the front and back by the reversing device 30 and then sent to the path F.

The recording paper traveling along the route F is switched to the switching gate 3
According to 1, the route G is directed to the top tray 32, and the route H is subjected to various types of post-processing. The recording paper that has advanced to the path H is conveyed downward along the path I by the vertical conveyor belt 33, and is sorted by the switching gate 34 into the path J to which stapling processing is performed and the path K toward the sorter bin 35 as it is. The recording paper that has advanced to the path J is discharged into the holding tray 36, and when the required number of recording papers are accumulated, the stapler 37 staples the recording paper. In addition,
In the case of signature output, staple is applied to the central portion of the recording paper, which is the fold line. The stapled recording paper is again conveyed downward by the vertical conveyance belt 33 and discharged to a predetermined position in the sorter bin 35.

FIG. 2 is a hardware block diagram showing an embodiment of the image processing apparatus according to the present invention.

In FIG. 2, ESS (Electron
ic Sub-System: image processing unit) 51 is U
I (job operation designation device: operation panel, etc.) 5
2. ADF (Auto Document Feed)
r: automatic document feeder) 2, IIT / IPS (image reading device) 5, IOT (image forming device) 6, and FIN
An ISHER (printing sheet post-processing device) 3 is connected and a SYS-CONT (main controller: System Controller) 53 for controlling according to a job operation, and a command / status signal and an image input signal for controlling I
IT-I / F (input interface) 54, command /
IOT-I for controlling status signal and image output signal
/ F (output interface) 55, a page buffer 56 for temporarily storing input image data, and a disk controller unit 57 as a large-capacity data storage memory.

When the document is set on the platen of the automatic document feeder 2 or the image reading device 5, the job operation is set by the operation unit 52, and the start button is pressed, the image reading device 5 photoelectrically converts the image of the document. The digital image data is sequentially stored in the page buffer 56 via the input interface 54 while reading the information, converting it into digital image data, and performing image processing. At that time, if the output is possible, the page buffer 56 directly transfers the image to the image forming apparatus 6 via the output interface 55, and the post-processing apparatus 3 executes the post-processing and simultaneously starts writing to the disk 57. If direct output is impossible, only writing to the disk 57 is started. Output is performed only from the page buffer 56, but image data is stored in the page buffer 56 in two ways: input from the image reading device 5 and read from the disk 57. The basic operation is such that the first copy directly outputs the input image data from the image reading device 5, and the second and subsequent copies output the image data read from the disk 57. The image data output to the output interface 55 is generated by the image forming apparatus 6 from the image data 2
Image formation is performed by controlling on / off of the laser light for each pixel based on the value data and reproducing a halftone image by halftone dots.

Simultaneous access to the page buffer 56 and each processing block can be realized by bus arbitration of the image bus. If the page buffer 56 and each processing block perform time-division processing, parallel processing of input processing and output processing is possible.

Next, the job operation realized on the hardware configuration of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of the control unit according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a table for managing jobs. In the control unit configuration diagram, the control unit includes a main control unit, an input control unit, and an output control unit, and performs real-time control. Therefore, each control unit can apparently be independently controlled. For example, the main control unit is a unit that receives a designation from the operator via the UI controller and requests the job scheduler to execute processing. The input control unit and the output control unit control the operations of the input device and the output device, respectively. It is the part to do. The job scheduler controls whether the input device and the output device are operated in synchronization or independently.

Further, in the management table explanatory view of FIG. 4, when a job request is received from the UI controller,
After generating the job ticket and storing the job parameter in a predetermined storage area in the job ticket, the job ticket is once queued in the request reception queue. When executing the process, the job ticket is sequentially moved to the “execution job” of the job table from the head of the queue, and the process is performed according to the job parameter in the job ticket.

Next, the control procedure according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
-It demonstrates, referring FIG.

As shown in FIG. 5, the processing section is roughly divided into an acceptance processing section (S1), an input processing section (S2), and a connection processing section (S).
3), an output processing unit (S4), usually S1 to S4
Are processed in this order. However, when the image data already exists in the system, the input process may be avoided and the connection process may be executed immediately after the reception process.
Hereinafter, each of the above processes will be described.

In the acceptance process shown in FIG. 6, when the processing request signal from the operation unit 52 shown in FIG. 2 is received, a job ticket is generated (S4) and the job parameters accepted from the operation unit 52 are stored therein (S5). After that, the job ticket is queued in the request reception queue (S
6). In the job status storage area in the job ticket, "input processing in progress", "output processing in progress", or "input / output processing in progress" is written according to the processing progress degree. When the reception processing as described above is completed, the control is transferred to the input processing unit or the connection processing unit.

The input process will be described with reference to FIG.
The input process is performed by first securing a page buffer area (S10). Once the area is secured,
The input process from the platen glass 4 shown in FIG. 2 is started (S11). At this time, if output is possible at the same time as input, output processing is also activated (S12). If the area cannot be secured, it is because the image data in the page buffer is being output or the transfer to the storage device has not been completed, and the processing ends and waits until the management table is updated (S1).
4). When the input process is completed, the process of writing the input image data to the storage device such as the hard disk is started (S1).
3). At the same time, if this input image data is not the final one, the process is repeated from S10 for the next input image data. If it is the final input image data, the job ticket is updated (the items such as the number of pages that can be known when the input processing is finished) are performed (S15), and the process proceeds to the next connection processing flow.

The connection process will be described with reference to FIG.
The linking process is performed only for double-sided output. If the last job received is not double-sided printing, the linking process ends. In case of double-sided printing, "Execution job" in the job table,
Search for a job ticket from the top of the "request reception queue",
A job for double-sided printing is searched (S16). In the case of single-sided printing, job connection is not performed, so the connection processing ends. If there is a double-sided printing job, the position is stored in the "insertion position" of the job table. If the found double-sided printing job is a running job, the processing (output processing) is temporarily stopped when the processing of the "processing page" in the job ticket is completed (S17). Further, the job queued after the found double-sided printing job is checked to see how much time has passed (that is, how much other jobs have overtaken it) (S18). If the elapsed time is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the connection process is not performed,
If it is less than the predetermined value, the job ticket of the found double-sided printing job is copied to the “concatenated job” of the job table for concatenation. Further, the job ticket of the job to be linked with the copied job ticket is merged (the number of pages, the elapsed time, etc. are changed) (S19). Finally, insert the job ticket of the job linked to the position stored in the "insertion position" of the job table, and the job ticket of the last job of the "request reception queue" (the double-sided printing job received last) , The job ticket of the double-sided printing job found in S16 is deleted, and if the found double-sided printing job is a running job, the output process is restarted (S20), and the process proceeds to the output processing flow.

The output process will be described with reference to FIG.
The output process is performed by first checking whether the output device can output. If the output is not possible, the output process of another job is being performed or there is an error, and the job is put in a waiting state. When the output processing of another job ends or the error is released, the management table is updated (S23), and it is checked again whether output processing is possible. When output is possible, predetermined image data is sequentially read from the disk 57 shown in FIG. 2 to the page buffer 56 (S21), and output processing is started (S22). When the output process ends, the management table is updated (S23). These processes are repeated, and the process exits when the final output number is detected. If the output has been completed up to the final output number, the image data in the page buffer 56 and the disk 57 shown in FIG. 2 is erased (S24), and job end processing such as resetting of management data is performed (S25), and the processing ends. .

By controlling as described above, the overall processing time is shortened. For example, 5 on both sides, 5 on one side
When there is a job such as one sheet, one sheet on both sides, it is better to process in the order of (and is connected) than in the order of. This is because, in the present embodiment, a maximum of three recording sheets are placed on the sheet path 7d at the same time during double-sided copying, so that the number of sheets is 6 when the and are connected, and the number of sheets conveyed to the sheet path 7d is reduced. It only needs to be done twice. But,
If there is a space between and, the number of times the paper is conveyed to the paper path 7d becomes 2 + 1 times, which is one more than when processed. Thus, the present invention reduces the overall processing time when double-sided / single-sided jobs are mixed.

Further, in this embodiment, the parameters of double-sided / single-sided are used for determining whether or not to connect, but the sheet size, the enlargement / reduction ratio, etc. may be used as parameters.

Although the processing of the post-processing apparatus 3 after being transferred to the image forming apparatus 6 shown in FIG. 2 is not described here, the operation unit 52 is also used to specify parameters regarding the processing of the post-processing apparatus 3 and manage them. Naturally, it is stored in the area. Further, it is needless to say that the page order can be freely specified by the processing inside the image processing unit 51, and the page order for double-sided output, the page order when creating a booklet, etc. is calculated and determined in the main control unit 53. Yes. Various other processes are performed in the main control unit 53, but they are omitted because they are not related to the present invention.

Although the image data is directly handled in the above embodiment, the internal page buffer 5 is configured so that the compression processing is performed at the input and the decompression processing is performed at the output.
6. The capacity of the disk 57 may be reduced. Also,
In the above configuration, it is possible to add a process of rotating an image or specifying a position. Furthermore,
The page buffer 56 may be any as long as it can absorb the difference in input / output speed in the DMA drive, and may be a line buffer. Even with the disk 57,
Any memory that can store multiple pages,
It may be a semiconductor memory, a magnetic tape or the like. However, since these are expensive at present or have a low read / write speed, a hard disk is used in the embodiment. Further, although the copying machine is taken up in the above embodiment, there is no problem even if it is a facsimile machine, a printer or a composite machine of these. That is, the input means can be used for any combination of a scanner, a facsimile receiving section, and a network processing section, and the output means can be used for any combination of a printing apparatus, a facsimile transmission section, and a network processing section.

Second Embodiment Another embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a printer will be described as an example of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a printer device to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 100 is a printer device, 200 is a host computer that outputs print data, and 300 is a print result that has been formed and output. The printer device 100 includes a CPU 10 that controls the entire printer device.
1 and the like have the following configurations.

Reference numeral 102 is a bus through which image data / control data flows, 103 and 104 are RAMs and ROMs for executing programs in the CPU 101, 105 is a DMA controller for transferring data on the bus, and 106 is image data. A hard disk device to be installed, 107 a receiving buffer for temporarily storing data from the host computer 200, 111 a font memory storing outline font data, 110 a font cache memory, 109 a page buffer for expanding image data, 108 Is a printer engine that actually prints based on the image data in the page buffer.

FIG. 11 shows a data structure for managing jobs in the printer. When the printer accepts the job, it creates a job ticket, stores the job parameter in a predetermined storage area in the job ticket, and then temporarily registers it in the area of the accepted job in the job table. Here, the acceptance process is performed, and then the job is queued in the queue of jobs waiting to be executed. One job ticket is generated for each job. In the job table, there are the area of the job being executed, the area of the received job, the queue of jobs waiting to be executed, and the like. Details will be described later in the description of the control.

12 to 18 show the CPU 101 for forming image data and printing after receiving the data.
5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure by.

FIG. 12 is a basic flowchart from the preprocessing to the printing processing. The pre-process and the print process operate in parallel. If the data is received by the reception buffer 107 (YES in S100), preprocessing (S10)
Execute 1). Details of the preprocessing will be described in the description of FIG. In other cases, the preprocessing routine goes into a waiting state. If there is a job in the "waiting job queue" (S
In the case of YES in 102), the first job ticket in the “waiting job queue” is moved to “execution job” in the job table. After that, the job is actually printed (S104: details will be described in the description of FIG. 18), and the job for which printing is completed is deleted from the job table (S105). Where S
Returning to step 102, the print processing is continued as long as there are jobs waiting to be processed. If there is no job in the "waiting job queue" (NO in S102), the print process is in a waiting state. Although the pre-processing and the print processing are operating in parallel, the print processing cannot retrieve the job ticket from the “waiting job queue” while the pre-processing is operating due to the processing relationship.

FIG. 13 shows a flowchart of S101 of the preprocessing of FIG. First, the job is accepted, and at that time, the job ticket is registered in the job table and the font used is determined (S200: details are shown in FIG.
4). Next, the “waiting job queue” is searched for a job that uses the same font as the received job (S201: details will be described in the description of FIG. 15).
After that, if there is a job that uses the same font, it is combined with the received job to form one job (S20).
2: Details will be described in the description of FIG. 16.) Finally, the combined job is moved to a predetermined position in the “waiting job queue” (S203: details will be described in the description of FIG. 17). The print process cannot take out the job ticket from the “waiting job queue” until the series of operations in S200 to S203 is completed.

FIG. 14 is a detailed flowchart of the job acceptance of FIG. First, the data received by the reception buffer 107 is transferred to the hard disk device 106 using the DMA controller 105. A unique file ID is given to the file created at this time (S30).
0). Next, a job ticket as shown in FIG. 11 is generated for that data (a unique job ID is generated), and each data (job ID, file ID, number of pages, etc.) in the job ticket is set (S301). . In the present embodiment, when connecting a plurality of jobs, a cover is added to the beginning of each job and the jobs are ejected, the cuts between the jobs are clarified, and it is easy for the user to classify the jobs. The "cover addition flag" of the job ticket is set to ON. If a cover is added / not added when combining jobs, the job ticket is set here. The generated job ticket is registered in the "reception job" of the job table (S30).
2). Here, the font used in the received job (data in the reception buffer 107 or the hard disk device 106) is checked (S303), and registered in the "used font" of the job ticket (S304). If there is no job waiting to be executed in the "waiting job queue" (NO in S305), the job ticket registered in the "reception job" is moved to the "waiting job queue" (S306), The pre-processing flow ends. If there is a job waiting to be executed in the “waiting job queue” (in the case of YES in S305), the job reception flow is terminated and the job search flow is entered.

FIG. 15 is a detailed flowchart of the job search shown in FIG. First, in the job reception of FIG. 14, based on the “used font” of the job ticket registered in the “reception job” of the job table, it is queued in the “execution job” or “waiting job queue” of the job table. The job ticket is checked from the beginning, and a job ticket having the same "used font" as the "used font" of the job ticket registered in the "reception job" is searched (S400). If a job ticket having the same "used font" is not found here (N in S401)
In the case of O), the job ticket registered in the “reception job” of the job table is moved (queuing) to the end of the “waiting job queue” (S402), and the flow of the preprocessing is ended. If a job ticket having the same "used font" is found (YES in S401), and if it is a job being executed (S40).
If YES in 3), the job ticket registered in the "reception job" of the job table is inserted at the head of the "waiting job queue" (S404), and the flow of the preprocessing is ended. If the found job ticket is not a running job (NO in S403), the position of the job having the same “used font” found in the “waiting job queue” is found in the “insertion position” of the job table. Is stored (S405), this job is moved to the "standby job" in the job table (S406), and the job search flow is terminated.

FIG. 16 is a detailed flowchart of the job combination shown in FIG. First, it is checked whether the "cover addition flag" of the job ticket of the "reception job" is turned on, and if it is turned on (YES in S500), a cover image is generated on the page buffer 109 (S50).
1) Using the DMA controller 105, this is merged with the file of the "reception job" in the hard disk device 106, and the "page number" of the job ticket of the "reception job" is changed (S502). If the "cover addition flag" of the job ticket of the "reception job" is off (S
(NO in 500), the process proceeds to step S503. Next, the job ticket registered in the "hold job" of the job table is copied to the "combined job" of the job table (S503). The job ticket of the "reception job" in the job table is merged with the job ticket of the "combined job" (S504). The merging is the change of the "page number" and the addition of the "file ID". After this,
The job combination flow ends.

FIG. 17 is a detailed flowchart of the job replacement shown in FIG. First, the job ticket registered in the "combined job" of the job table is inserted into the "waiting job queue" (S600). The insertion position is stored in the "insertion position" of the job table. Next, the job ticket registered in the "reception job" of the job table is deleted (S601), and finally, the job ticket registered in the "hold job" of the job table is deleted (S602), and the job is replaced. Ends the flow. At this point, the pre-processing flow ends.

FIG. 18 is a detailed flowchart of the printing process. First, data is read from the hard disk device 106 or the reception buffer 107 (S70
0), if the data is not a character (NO in S701), since it is vector data, the process proceeds to the expansion of the bitmap in step S705. If the data read in step S700 is a character (YES in step S701), it is checked whether or not there is a corresponding font in the font cache memory 110 (step S702). If it is not cached (step S702, NO). The corresponding font is expanded from the font memory 111 to the font cache memory 110 (S703). Next, the font data is read from this font cache (S70
4) It is expanded in the page buffer 109 (S705).
In the case of vector data, not the font but lines / curves are expanded in the page buffer (S705). If the expansion of the data for one page has not been completed (NO in S706), the next data is further read (S700). 1
If the page expansion has been completed (YES in S706), the data in the page buffer 109 is sent to the printer engine 108, and the print result 300 is obtained (S70).
7). If all pages of data are output (S
If YES in 708), the flow of the print processing ends. If the data still remains (NO in step S708), the process returns to step S700 to continue the print processing.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, since the processing as shown in the above flow chart is performed, even if jobs having different font types come alternately, jobs using the same font are continuously processed. Although the number of times fonts are expanded from the font memory to the font cache is reduced and the job output order is changed, the output processing time is shortened as a whole.

The font is held in the font memory 111 in the printer device 100. However, the font may be held in the hard disk device 106 in the printer device 100 and downloaded from there. Alternatively, the host computer 200 may store fonts and download the fonts. In these cases, it takes more time to download the font, which is more effective than the case of this embodiment.

[0057]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, jobs that perform similar processing are processed consecutively, and by omitting the pre-processing or post-processing required for each image, This has the effect of reducing the time required for output processing in the processing device and improving the processing capacity of the image processing device as a whole.

Since not only the waiting job but also the job being executed are the targets of connection, there is an effect that the time required for the output processing is further reduced.

The job searching means is provided with a waiting time detecting means for detecting waiting times of all jobs received after the job searched by the job searching means, and it is controlled to select whether or not to connect according to the waiting time.

Since the waiting time of all jobs received after the job to be linked is detected and whether the job is linked or not is determined based on the waiting time, if the waiting time among the jobs received after the job to be linked is When there is something that becomes long, there is an effect that the execution of the job already in the waiting state is not prevented by not connecting.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration of a control unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a management table according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a control unit of the copying machine according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a control unit of the copying machine according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a control unit of the copying machine according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a control unit of the copying machine according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a control unit of the copying machine according to the embodiment of this invention.

FIG. 10 is a hardware block diagram of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a management table according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a control unit of a printer device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Copier main body, 2: Automatic document feeder, 3: Post-processing device, 4: Platen glass, 5: Image reading device, 6:
Image forming device, 7: paper feeding device, 7a to 7c, 7e: tray, 7d: paper path through which recording paper passes during double-sided copying, 8: document placing tray, 9: conveyor belt, 10: document discharging tray, 11 : Exposure lamp, 12: reflection mirror, 13: lens, 14: image sensor, 15: charging device, 16: photoconductor drum, 17: laser exposure device, 18: rotating polygon mirror, 19: reflection mirror, 20, 21: Developing device, 22: transfer device, 23: cleaning device, 24: peeling device, 2
5: conveyor, 26: fixing device, 27: switching gate, 28: reversing device, 29: switching gate, 30: reversing device, 31: switching gate, 32: top tray, 3
3: vertical transport belt, 34: switching gate, 35: sorter bin, 36: holding tray, 37: stapler, 5
1: image processing unit (ESS), 52: operation unit (UI), 5
3: Main control unit (SYS-CONT), 54: IIT-I
/ F (input interface), 55: IOT-I / F
(Output interface), 56: page buffer, 5
7: disk controller unit, S1 to S25: processing steps of control unit, 100: printer device, 101:
CPU, 102: bus, 103: RAM, 104: RO
M, 105: DMA controller, 106: hard disk device, 107: reception buffer, 108: printer engine, 109: page buffer, 110: font cache memory, 111: font memory, 200:
Host computer, 300: print result, S100 to S
105, S200 to S203, S300 to S306, S
400-S406, S500-S504, S600-S
602, S700 to S708: Process steps of control unit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. At least one for inputting image data.
An image comprising one input means, 2) a storage means for storing the input image data, 3) at least one output means for outputting the image data, and 4) a main control means for independently controlling the above-mentioned means. In the processing device, a) a job search means for comparing the parameters of a newly accepted job with the parameters of a waiting job and searching for a job having the same parameter; and b) a newly accepted job and a job search means. Connect with the job with the same parameters searched in
Job combining means for newly generating as one job,
And an image processing apparatus that controls to combine and output jobs having the same parameters. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Further, c) image processing for controlling waiting time of all jobs received after the job searched by the job searching means, and for controlling whether to connect or not according to the waiting time apparatus.