JPH10129070A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus for simply arranging discharged image formed record sheet in order of pages even if a mechanism for arranging the sheets in order is not separately installed at a discharge unit of the sheets in the apparatus for forming in parallel a plurality of images. SOLUTION: In the case of a single print processing, image data are formed at an image position As side in rising order of page n/2, page n/2-1,..., page 3, page 2 and page 1, and images are formed at an image forming position Sb side in rising order of page n, page (n-1),..., page n/2+3, page n/2+2 and page n/2+1. In the case of multi-print processing, images are formed at image forming positions As side and Sb side in rising order of page n, page (n-1), page (n-2),..., page 3, page 2 and page 1.

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 capable of simultaneously forming an image on a plurality of recording sheets, such as a copier or a laser printer of a parallel transport type.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the field of image forming apparatuses such as copiers and laser printers, the demand for high-speed processing for forming images on a large number of recording sheets in a short time has arisen with the spread of such apparatuses. In the field of copiers, the demand is increasing. In order to respond to the demand for high-speed processing, the speed of the internal mechanical parts has been increased, for example, to increase the speed of rotation of the rotating drum and the speed of transporting the recording sheet, but from the viewpoint of image forming accuracy and paper handling. There is a limit.

Therefore, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-24673, a parallel transport type copying machine has been developed in which recording sheets are supplied in parallel through a plurality of transport paths and images are simultaneously transferred thereto. I have. FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a main part of an image forming unit of the copying machine disclosed in the above publication. In this copying machine, the image forming positions Sa and Sb on the surface of the photosensitive drum 902 are moved to 2 by exposure scanning by the optical system 901.
One electrostatic latent image is formed, and two electrostatic toner images are formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 902 by developing the electrostatic latent image with a developing unit (not shown). On the other hand, copy papers 904 a and 904 b are set in a paper feed cassette 904 in parallel, and these copy papers are
The sheets are fed in parallel by the conveyor belt 903 in synchronization with the image forming operation on the two surfaces, and the transfer charger 90
5, the toner images at the image forming positions Sa and Sb are transferred onto each copy sheet. Thereafter, the toner image is fixed on the copy paper by a fixing device (not shown), and is discharged onto a discharge tray (not shown).

Such a parallel-conveying type copying machine can copy onto two or more recording sheets in a single copying operation, so that the copying processing speed can be doubled without difficulty. By the way, in the field of copying machines, there are many products in which an automatic document feeder (hereinafter, referred to as ADF) can sequentially read and copy a plurality of pages of originals. Has been developed which is equipped with an ADF so that a plurality of pages of a document can be read continuously, and the read image data can be sorted to form an image at each image forming position. Can be copied at high speed.

[0005]

However, in such a parallel-conveying type copying machine capable of continuously copying a plurality of pages of an original, image data is normally sorted in the order in which the originals are read, that is, in the order in which the image data is input. In each image forming position, an image is formed on a recording sheet in the order in which it is sent, and is discharged onto a discharge tray for each transport path.

For this reason, the page order of the copied sheet bundle discharged onto each paper discharge tray often does not line up with the page order of the input image data. In that case, the operation of rearranging the copied sheets discharged on the tray in page order (page alignment)
Is required. This work is troublesome even if the number of copies is small, but the work efficiency becomes worse as the number of copies increases.

For example, in a copying machine having two conveyance paths, when a plurality of pages of an original are read using the ADF and one copy is copied, the copied sheets corresponding to the odd pages and the even pages of the original are each printed. It will be discharged from the transport path. Similarly, when reading a document and copying 10 copies at a time, the same page is continuously discharged from each transport path by 5 sheets. In any case, in order to sort the discharged sheets in page order, a complicated page alignment operation is required.

To solve such a problem, see, for example,
It is also conceivable to provide a mechanism for automatically aligning the pages at the discharge portion of the copied sheet, as in a parallel-conveying type copying machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-188357. But,
If such a mechanism is installed, it is inevitable that the configuration of the entire apparatus becomes more complicated. Such a problem is not limited to the parallel conveyance type image forming apparatus. For example, document data of a plurality of pages read by one document reading device is distributed to a plurality of printers, and the image data is simultaneously processed by these printers. The same applies to the case of forming, which is a common problem in an image forming apparatus capable of forming a plurality of images in parallel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and in an image forming apparatus capable of forming a plurality of images in parallel, a mechanism for aligning pages in a discharge section of an image-formed sheet is provided. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which discharged image-formed recording sheets can be easily arranged in page order without being separately provided.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus for forming a designated number of copies of image data of M pages (M is an integer of 2 or more) on a recording sheet. In the apparatus, a data distribution unit that distributes a set of image data to be used for image formation into N groups (N is an integer of 2 or more) and sends out the image data, and transfers the images of the sorted and sent image data to N image forming positions. Image forming means for forming the recording sheet on the recording sheet in parallel, discharging sheet means for sequentially discharging the image-formed recording sheet to N predetermined positions corresponding to the image forming positions, and a recording sheet at each image forming position. A page order control unit that controls the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting unit so that the page order of the formed image is unified in ascending order or descending order.

Here, the set of image data to be used for image formation indicates a set of image data obtained by multiplying each of the input image data of M pages by a designated number of copies. In the apparatus having such a configuration, since the data allocating unit performs the sorting and sending of the image data based on the control of the page order controlling unit, the page order of the image formed on the recording sheet at each image forming position may be in the ascending order or the ascending order. Are unified in descending order.

Accordingly, the bundle of recording sheets discharged to each of the N predetermined positions by the discharge sheet means is unified in the ascending or descending order of the image pages, so that they can be easily arranged in the page order. Can be.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below using a digital copying machine as an example. (1) Overall Configuration of Digital Copier FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the digital copier (hereinafter, simply referred to as “copier”).

As shown in FIG. 1, the copying machine includes an ADF 10 for automatically feeding a document, an image reading unit 30 for reading an image of the document, and a printer unit 40 for reproducing the read image on copy paper. Consists of The ADF 10 includes a document feed tray 11 for setting a document, a paper feed roller 12,
A separation roller 13, a separation pad 14, a guide 15, a registration roller 16, a conveyance belt 17, a discharge roller 18, a document discharge tray 19, and the like are provided.
The document set on the document feed tray 11 can be conveyed to the image reading section 30 by driving the drive motor 7 with the drive motor M3.

A document detection sensor SE for detecting the presence or absence of a document is provided at a position on the document feed tray 11 where the document bundle is placed. The document detection sensor SE is, for example, a reflection type photoelectric sensor including a combination of a light emitting element and a photoelectric conversion element. When a document is placed on the document feed tray 11, light from the light emitting element is reflected on the document surface. And is detected by the photoelectric conversion element, and the presence or absence of the original is determined based on the detection signal.

When reading a document, the document feed tray 11
The original located at the bottom of the original bundle placed on the paper feed roller 12, the separating roller 13, and the separating pad 14 is sent downward along the guide 15 by the feed roller 12,
The document is conveyed to a predetermined document reading position set on the platen glass 35 by the conveyance belt 17, and scanned by the scanner 31 of the image reading unit 30.

Thereafter, the transport belt 17 again returns to FIG.
, And is discharged onto the document discharge tray section 19 via the discharge rollers 18 and the next document is conveyed in the same manner. When the back side of the document is also read, the transport path of the document is switched to the reversing roller 21 by the switching claw 20, the document is reversed by the reversing roller 21 and transported again to the platen glass 35.
Is conveyed to the document reading position on the platen glass 35 and read.

The image reading section 30 includes a scanner motor M2.
There is a scanner 31 that moves in the direction of the arrow in FIG. The scanner 31 includes an exposure lamp 32 for irradiating a document, a rod lens array 33 for condensing light reflected from the document, and a contact-type CCD image sensor (hereinafter simply referred to as a CCD image sensor) for converting the condensed light into an electric signal. (Referred to as “CCD sensor”) 34.

The image of the document illuminated by the exposure lamp 32 of the scanner 31 is photoelectrically converted by the CCD sensor 34 into an electric signal, and the image data obtained by the A / D conversion is digitally converted by the control unit 100 and converted into a digital signal. After being subjected to necessary correction for improving the image quality, the signal is stored in an image memory 141 (see FIG. 3) in the control unit 100, read out as necessary, and converted into a drive signal for the laser diode 41. Is done.

The printer section 40 includes an optical system for exposing the surface of the photosensitive drum 47 around the photosensitive drum 47, an image processing system for visualizing the exposed image and reproducing the image on copy paper,
It comprises a paper feed system for supplying the copy paper. The laser light from the laser diode 41 of the optical system is output while being modulated by the drive signal from the control unit 100. The laser light passes through a collimator lens 42 and becomes a parallel light beam, is reflected by a polygon mirror 43 rotated at a constant speed by a polygon motor 44, passes through an fθ lens 45, and is further turned back by mirrors 46a and 46b. The surface of the photosensitive drum 47 is exposed and scanned in the axial direction (main scanning direction), and a predetermined electrostatic latent image is written at each of the image forming positions Sa and Sb (see FIG. 2).

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the structure of the main part of the printer section 40. In this figure, for convenience of explanation,
The folding mirrors 46a and 46b, the cleaner 48, the eraser lamp 49, the transport belt 53 and the like in FIG. 1 are omitted, and only the reflection surface of the polygon mirror 43 is shown. As shown in the figure, when a laser beam is incident at a scanning angle slightly smaller than the scanning angle of the image forming position Sb of the photosensitive drum 47, the SOS sensor 5 detects this.
8 are provided. The SOS sensor 58 is composed of a photoelectric conversion element such as a photodiode. When the laser beam reflected by the polygon mirror 43 passes through the fθ lens 45 and enters the SOS sensor 58, the laser beam is converted into an electric signal and converted into an SOS signal. To the control unit 100. The printer control unit 150 (FIG. 3) of the control unit 100
In response to the signal, the timing of starting image writing at each of the image forming positions Sa and Sb is determined.

Around the photosensitive drum 47, a charging charger 50 and a developing device 5 constituting an image processing system are arranged.
1. A transfer charger 54 is disposed in parallel with the rotation axis of the transfer charger 54, and forms an image on copy paper by electrophotography. That is, before the surface of the photoconductor drum 47 is exposed to the laser beam, the residual toner is removed by a cleaner 48 (see FIG. 1), and the surface of the photoconductor drum 47 is irradiated with an eraser lamp 49 to eliminate the charge. Is charged uniformly. Then, by receiving exposure in this state, an electrostatic latent image is formed.

Further, each electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device 51, and a predetermined toner image is formed at image forming positions Sa and Sb on the surface of the photosensitive drum 47. The developing device 51 is, for example, a two-component developing device, which agitates the toner and the carrier housed therein to apply electric charge to the toner, and applies the toner to the surface of the photosensitive drum 47 via the developing roller 511. And develop it.

As the paper cassettes, here, paper cassettes 52a and 52b in which A4-size copy papers 352a and 352b are stored in parallel, and a paper cassette 52c in which A3-size copy paper is stored horizontally (FIG. 1) ) And are attached. At the time of paper feeding, the printer control unit 150 of the control unit 100 controls the corresponding paper feeding rollers 353a and 353.
b or the paper feed roller 353c is driven to feed out the transfer paper.

When the copy paper 352a, 352b is fed, the timing of paper feeding is adjusted by the timing roller 354, and the photosensitive drum 4 is moved by the transport belt 53 (FIG. 1).
7 is transferred to the transfer position below. A transfer charger 54 for generating electric charges is provided on the back side of the portion of the conveyor belt 53 that comes into contact with the photosensitive drum 47, and the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 47 is transferred onto each copy paper by the electrostatic force. I do.

The toner image transferred to each of the copying papers 352a and 352b is in an unstable state in which the toner image peels off immediately when touched, and is conveyed to the fixing device 56 by the conveyance belt 55. The fixing device 56 fixes the toner between the paper fibers by pressing the copy papers 352a and 352b while heating them with a fixing roller 561 having a built-in heater. The copy paper 352a, 352b after the fixing is discharged from the discharge port 59 by the discharge roller 57 to the first of the discharge tray unit 60.
The image is discharged onto the tray 61 and the second tray 62 with the image forming surface facing upward. (2) Configuration of Operation Panel and Control Unit 100 An operation panel 36 is provided at an easily operable position (broken line in FIG. 1) on the front surface of the image reading unit 30. Although not shown, a numeric keypad for inputting the number of copies and the like, a start key for starting a copy operation, and a copy mode (copy magnification, copy paper size,
An input display unit for inputting and displaying density and the like is provided so that the operator can perform various settings and instructions.

The configuration of the control unit 100 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG.
Includes a main control unit 110, an image reading control unit 120,
It comprises an image signal processing section 130, a memory section 140, a printer control section 150, a document transport control section 160 and the like.
Each of these units 110 to 160 is configured around a respective CPU, and is provided with a ROM storing a program necessary for each control and a RAM serving as a work area when executing the program. , Data and commands are mutually transmitted and received via an image data bus (indicated by black arrows in the figure).

The main control unit 110 receives various key inputs from the operation panel 36, reports a copy mode set based on the key inputs to the units 120 to 160,
In addition to displaying the necessary contents on the operation panel 36 in response to the notification from the terminals 20 to 160, the operation timing is instructed to each of the units 120 to 160, and the entire unit is controlled in a unified manner, so that a smooth copy is performed. Implement the operation.

The image reading control unit 120 controls the ADF 10 and the image reading unit 30 to execute reading of a document.
That is, when the image reading control unit 120 receives a copy start instruction from the main control unit 110, the document detection sensor SE
The presence or absence of a document on the document feed tray 11 is confirmed based on the detection signal from FIG. 1 (FIG. 1). If there is a document, the operation of the ADF 10 is controlled to transport the document to a document reading position on the platen glass 35. Then, the operation of the image reading section 30 is controlled to cause the scanner 31 to scan to execute the document reading operation,
The image data of the document read by the D sensor 34 is sent to the image signal processing unit 130.

The image signal processing unit 130 includes an A / D converter, a shading correction unit, an MTF correction unit, a scaling unit,
A correction unit and the like are provided.
The signal is converted into a digital multi-level signal by a / D converter, the shading correction unit corrects the illuminance unevenness of the exposure lamp 32 and the sensitivity unevenness of the CCD sensor 34, and the MTF correction unit performs processing for improving image quality such as edge enhancement. Further, a scaling process is performed by a scaling unit, and a γ correction process is performed by a γ correction unit.

The memory unit 140 binarizes the image data (or further encodes and compresses the image data), stores the image data in page units in the image memory 141, and stores the image data in the main control unit 11.
When there is an instruction from 0, the image data of the target page is read from the image memory 141 (after decompression processing is performed if it is compressed), and sent to the printer control unit 150.

The printer control unit 150 includes the image memory 14
1 based on the image data read from
The operation of each part of the printer unit 40 is controlled by the control program stored in M to execute printing. That is, in addition to the rotation control of the polygon motor 44, the timing of the output of the drive signal to the laser diode 41 is obtained while counting the clock pulses generated from the internal clock pulse circuit in response to the SOS signal from the SOS sensor 58. This controls the writing start position on the photosensitive drum 47,
Performs image formation on copy paper by forming an electrostatic latent image at a predetermined position and controlling the paper feeding operation from the paper cassette and the operation of the image processing system based on detection signals from various sensors. Let it. (3) Description of page order control when copying a plurality of pages of document The operation of copying a plurality of pages of documents using the ADF 10 in the copying machine having the above configuration will be described with reference to the control flowcharts of FIGS. It will be described based on the following.

First, the operator operates n sheets (n ≧ 2) of originals to be read (the n originals are arranged in a descending order from the first page to the n-th page with the table facing upward). A
Set the DF 10 and operate the operation panel 36 to set the paper size mode (parallel conveyance mode for A4 size paper, A
(3 size paper mode) and the number of copies m are specified, and the start key is pressed.

The following description is based on the assumption that the paper size mode is set to "parallel conveyance of A4 size paper". FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of the main control unit 110 in this case. When the start key is pressed, the main control unit 110 controls the ADF 10 and the image reading unit 30 through the image reading control unit 120 and instructs the image signal processing unit 130 and the memory unit 140 to change the n sheets of the document into the n-th document. The pages are read in ascending order from the page, and the read document data for n pages are stored in the image memory 141 for each page (S
1 to S3).

If the set number m of copies is one, the main control unit 110 performs the single print processing in step S5. If the set number m of copies is two or more, the main control unit 110 performs multi-printing in step S6. Processing is performed (S4). In the single print processing (S5),
As described below, the (n / 2) th
The image data is formed in ascending order of page, n / 2-1 page,..., Page 3, page 2, and page 1. On the image forming position Sb side,
Page n, page n−1,..., Page n / 2 + 3, page n / 2 +
Images are formed in ascending order of page 2, n / 2 + 1 page. Here, when n is an odd number, n / 2 represents an integer rounded up to the nearest whole number.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a single print processing routine when n is an even number. The counter NA indicating the page number of the image to be formed at the image forming position Sa is set to n /
In step S51, a counter NB indicating a page number of an image to be formed at the image forming position Sb is set to n (S51).

Memory section 140 and printer control section 150
First, the image of the n / 2th page indicated by the counter NA is formed at the image forming position Sa, the image of the nth page indicated by the counter NB is formed at the image forming position Sb, and the transfer paper 352a, 352b is conveyed in parallel and transferred to it (S52). When printing of the n / 2th page and the nth page is completed (Yes in S53), the counter N
A and the counter NB are decremented by one (S54),
If the counters NA and NB are not 0 (No in S55), it is determined that there are still pages to be printed, and the images of the n / 2-1 and n-1 pages are printed in the same manner. (S52, S53). Such a printing operation is repeated until NA becomes 0 and NB becomes n / 2 in step S55.

When the counter NA becomes 0 and the counter NB becomes n / 2 (Yes in S55), it is determined that the printing of all the images on page n has been completed, and the single print processing routine ends. Note that the flowchart of the single print processing routine when n is an odd number is the same as that in FIG. 5, but in FIG.
1, it is determined whether NB = n / 2, and NA = 1, NB = n
At the point of time when the value reaches / 2, the image of the first page is formed at the image forming position Sa, copied, and the processing is terminated.

In the multi-print processing (S6),
As described below, on both the image forming position Sa side and the Sb side,
Page n, page n-1, page n-2, ..., page 3, page 2
Images are formed in ascending order of the page and the first page. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a multi-print processing routine when m is an even number.

The set copy number m is registered in the copy counter M (S61), and a counter NA indicating the page number of the image to be formed at the image forming position Sa and the page number of the image to be formed at the image forming position Sb are set. The indicated counters NB are both set to n (S62). And the counter N
The image of the n-th page indicated by A and NB is formed at the image forming position Sa and the image forming position Sb, and the transfer paper is conveyed in parallel and printed thereon (S63).

When the printing of the n-th page is completed (Yes in S64), the counters NA and NB are decremented by one (S65), and the counters NA and NB become 1 or more (S6).
If No), it is determined that there are still pages to be printed, and similarly the n-th counter indicated by the counters NA and NB.
The image of -1 page is printed (S63, S64). Such a printing operation is repeated until the counters NA and NB become zero.

If the counters NA and NB become 0 (Yes in S66), it is determined that two copies have been printed for the first to nth pages, and the copy counter M is set to "".
2 "is decremented (S67). The copy counter M is set to 1
If this is the case (Yes in S68), it is determined that the printing of the specified number of copies m has not been completed, and the processing of steps S61 to S67 is repeated. Then, when M becomes 0 (No in S68), the multi-print process ends.

The flow chart of the multi-print processing routine when m is an odd number is the same as that shown in FIG. 6. However, in FIG. 6, if M = 1 in step S68, only the image forming position Sa is determined in step S63. The processes of steps S61 to S67 are repeated while performing printing. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the page order of the image of the transfer paper bundle discharged onto the paper discharge tray unit 60 when the single print processing is performed.

As shown in the drawing, in the transfer paper bundle discharged onto the first tray 61, from the top, the first page, the second page, the third page,..., The n / 2-1 page, the n-th page That is, images are formed in the descending order of pages / 2. On the other hand, in the transfer paper bundle discharged onto the second tray 62, the n / 2 +
Page 1, n / 2 + 2 page, n / 2 + 3 page, ..., n-1
The images are formed in the descending order of the page and the nth page.

Accordingly, when the transfer paper bundle on the first tray 61 is superimposed on the transfer paper bundle on the second tray 62, the first, second, third,. The images are formed in the descending order of the (n-1) th page and the nth page. FIG.
When the multi-print processing is performed, the discharge tray 60
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a page order of an image of a transfer paper bundle discharged above.

As shown in the figure, the first tray 61 and the second tray 61
Each of the bundles of the transfer papers discharged onto the tray 62 is formed by repeating the descending order of the first page, the second page, the third page,..., The n-1th page, and the nth page from the top. Will be.
Therefore, when the stack of transfer papers on the first tray 61 is superimposed on the stack of transfer papers on the second tray 62, the first page, second page, third page,. , (N−1) th page, and nth page, the image formed in descending order is regarded as one copy, and m copies (first copy)
Parts to the m-th part) are stacked.

As described above, regardless of whether the single print processing or the multi print processing is performed, the transfer paper bundle discharged onto the first tray 61 is transferred to the transfer paper bundle discharged onto the second tray 62. By merely stacking the sheets on the stack, the stacked transfer paper bundles are arranged in a page order from the top down. (4) Modifications Although the image forming apparatus according to the present invention has been described based on the embodiments, it goes without saying that the contents of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and the following modifications are possible. Examples are possible.

(4-1) In the present embodiment, a copying machine capable of forming images simultaneously at two image forming positions has been described. However, a copying machine capable of forming images simultaneously at three or more image forming positions is also described. Applicable. That is, in a copying machine that forms images in parallel at N image forming positions, when one copy of a document for n pages is generally copied, the first image forming position corresponds to the first to n / Nth pages. Pages, the (n / N + 1) th page to the (2n / N) th page in the second image forming position, and the (N-1) n / N + 1th to nth pages in the Nth image forming position are unified in ascending order. By forming an image, the discharged transfer paper can be easily arranged in page order. Where n
If / N, 2n / N,..., (N-1) n / N is not an integer, it is assumed to be an integer that has undergone processing such as rounding up decimal places.

In this copying machine, when copying n or more pages of an original for n pages, image formation is performed in descending order on pages 1 to n at the first to Nth image forming positions. By performing the copying, N copies are made. Then, when the copying of all the copies is not completed, if the image is formed in the same manner for the remaining copies, the discharged transfer paper can be easily arranged in the page order. Can be lined up.

(4-2) In the above embodiment, the case where copying paper is used has been described. However, a recording sheet generally used in a copying machine, such as an OHP film sheet, can be used. Further, the present invention is widely applicable not only to a parallel transport type digital copying machine but also to a parallel transport type image forming apparatus such as a parallel transport type laser printer.

(4-3) In the above embodiment, the transfer paper is discharged to the paper discharge tray section 60 with the image forming surface facing upward, and the page order in which the image is formed at each image forming position. However, in an apparatus in which the transfer paper is discharged with the image forming side down, if the page order for forming the image at each image forming position is unified in the descending order, the page order of the discharged transfer paper bundle is Is the same as in the above embodiment.

(4-4) Further, the present invention is not limited to the image forming apparatus of the parallel transport type. For example, plural pages of document data read by one document reading device are distributed to a plurality of printers and sent out. As in the case where images are formed in parallel by these printers, the present invention can be similarly implemented in an image forming apparatus capable of forming a plurality of images in parallel.

[0053]

EXAMPLES In the following Examples 1 to 5, in the copying machine according to the above embodiment, when the originals of various pages are copied in various copies, the images formed at the image forming positions Sa and Sb are copied. Indicates page order. (Embodiment 1) When the number of pages of the document is 20 and the number of copies is 1: page order on image forming position Sa side → page 10, page 9,..., Page 2, page 1 image forming position Page order on Sb side → Page 20, Page 19,.
12th and 11th pages (Example 2) When the number of pages of the original is 20 and the number of copies is 2: page order on the image forming position Sa side → page 20, page 19,.
2nd page, 1st page Order of page on image forming position Sb side → 20th page, 19th page,.
Second page, first page (Embodiment 3) When the number of pages of the original is 20 and the number of copies is 3: page order on the image forming position Sa side → page 20, page 19,.
2nd page, 1st page, 20th page, 19th page, ..., 2nd page, 1st page Order of the image forming position Sb side → 20th page, 19th page, ...,
2nd page, 1st page (Example 4) When the number of pages of the document is 21 and the number of copies is 1: page order on the image forming position Sa side → page 11, page 10,.
2nd page, 1st page Order of page on image forming position Sb side → 21st page, 20th page,.
Pages 13 and 12 (Embodiment 5) When the number of pages of the document is 21 and the number of copies is 3: page order on the image forming position Sa side → page 21, page 20,.
2nd page, 1st page, 21st page, 20th page, ..., 2nd page, 1st page Order of page on image forming position Sb side → 21st page, 20th page, ...,
Second and First Pages In Examples 6 and 7 described below, in the copying machine of the above-described modified example (4-1), when originals of various pages are copied by various copies, the originals are formed at image forming positions. This shows the page order of the image.

(Embodiment 6) A copying machine for forming images at three image forming positions in parallel,
When copying one copy of 20 originals: page order at the first image forming position → page 7, page 6,.
Page, page 1, page order at second image forming position → page 14, page 13,.
Page 9, Page 8 Page order at the third image forming position → Page 20, Page 19,.
Page 16 and Page 15 (Embodiment 7) A copying machine for forming images in parallel at three image forming positions.
When copying five copies of 20 originals: Page order at the first image forming position → page 20, page 19,.
Page 2, Page 1, Page 20, Page 19,..., Page 2, Page 1 Page order at the second image forming position → Page 20, Page 19,.
Page 2, Page 1, Page 20, Page 19,..., Page 2, Page 1 Page order at the third image forming position → Page 20, Page 19,.
Page 2, Page 1

[0055]

As described above, the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for forming a specified number of copies of image data of M pages (M is an integer of 2 or more) on a recording sheet. N sets of image data to be provided to N (N is 2
Data distributing means for distributing and sending the image data to groups of the above (integer), image forming means for forming images of the distributed and sent image data on recording sheets in parallel at N image forming positions, and image forming means A sheet discharging means for sequentially discharging the formed recording sheet to N predetermined positions corresponding to the image forming positions, and the page order of the image formed on the recording sheet at each image forming position is unified in ascending order or descending order. And a page order control means for controlling the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting means, so that the sheet is discharged without a mechanism for aligning the pages in the sheet discharge section. The recording sheets can be easily arranged in page order.

Particularly, when the present invention is applied to a parallel transport type image forming apparatus, a great practical effect can be obtained. Here, the 1st page to the Mth page are divided into N sections substantially equally in the page order and distributed to the respective image forming positions, so that the images formed on the recording sheet at the respective image forming positions are in the predetermined page order. By controlling the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting means, the discharged recording sheets can be more easily arranged in page order.

When the designated number of copies is N or more, the data distribution is performed so that the page order of the images formed on the recording sheet at each image forming position is the descending order from the first page to the Mth page. By controlling the sorting and feeding operation of the means, the discharged recording sheets can be more easily arranged in page order. In addition, when the designated number of copies is 1, the first to M-th pages are almost equally divided into N in the order of the pages and distributed to the respective image forming positions. If the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting means is controlled so that the images to be printed have a predetermined page order, the discharged recording sheets can be more easily arranged in the page order.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a main part of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control unit in the copying machine.

FIG. 4 is a control flowchart of a main control unit 110.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a single print process in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a multi-print process in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a page order of transfer paper images discharged onto a paper discharge tray unit 60 when a single print process is performed by the copying machine.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the page order of transfer paper images discharged onto a paper discharge tray unit 60 when multi-print processing is performed by the copying machine.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing a main part of an image forming section of a conventional parallel transport type copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 10 automatic document feeder 30 image reading unit 36 operation panel 40 printer unit 47 photosensitive drum 60 paper ejection tray unit 100 control unit 110 main control unit 120 image reading control unit 130 image signal processing unit 140 memory unit 141 image memory 150 printer control Unit 160 Document Conveyance Control Unit Sa, Sb Image Forming Position

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Norihiko Nakano 2-3-1-13 Azuchicho, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Inside Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Naoki Ohashi Azuchi, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka Osaka International Building Minolta Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. Input M pages (M is an integer of 2 or more)
An image forming apparatus for forming a specified number of copies of image data on a recording sheet, wherein a set of image data to be used for image formation is sorted into N (N is an integer of 2 or more) groups and sent out. Image forming means for forming the image of the image data distributed and sent on the recording sheet in parallel at the N image forming positions; and N image forming units corresponding to the image forming positions. A sheet discharging means for sequentially discharging to a predetermined position of the image forming apparatus, and a sorting and sending means of the data sorting means so that a page order of an image formed on a recording sheet at each of the image forming positions is unified in ascending order or descending order. An image forming apparatus comprising: a page order control unit for controlling an operation. 2. The image forming device according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit forms N images on a recording sheet supplied to N conveying paths formed in parallel in accordance with the image forming position in one image forming operation. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus can be formed. 3. The page order control means divides the first page to the Mth page substantially equally into N in the page order and distributes the divided pages to respective image forming positions, and is formed on a recording sheet at each image forming position. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting unit is controlled so that the images are arranged in a predetermined page order. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the designated number of copies is N or more, the page order of the image formed on the recording sheet at each of the image forming positions is from page 1 to page M.
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting unit is controlled such that the order of ascending or descending pages is unified. 5. When the designated number of copies is 1, the page order control means divides the first to M-th pages substantially equally into N in the page order and distributes them to image forming positions. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the control unit controls the sorting and sending operation of the data sorting unit so that the image formed on the recording sheet at the image forming position has a predetermined page order.