JPH106587A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To divide printed papers discharged from a printer per document unit so as to be taken out easily from a discharging stacker. SOLUTION: A printing unit detecting portion 2 recognizes the division of a document so as to change the paper discharging direction by 90 degrees (longitudinal and horizontal) per a document unit. A paper feeding hopper selecting portion 7 selects from which of longitudinal and horizontal paper feeding stacker, papers are to be fed depending on the paper discharging direction. A printing portion 6 prints the content of an image buffer 5 such that the same result can be obtained regardless of the direction of a fed paper (longitudinal or horizontal).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a printer, and more particularly to a printer which facilitates identification of a printed matter for each print unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a printer device can continuously print print information sent from a computer or the like on a continuous sheet or a cut sheet. However, it is generally not possible to discharge a document (print unit) having an arbitrary number of pages separately after printing. Therefore, when printing a large number of documents, sorting work after printing is often extremely complicated.

In order to improve such inconvenience and facilitate sorting after printing, in the case of continuous paper, a symbol or the like is printed at a perforation for each printing unit to make it easier to see the document break position. I have. Further, in the case of cut sheets, the sheets are accumulated in a stacker with color sheets interposed for each print unit. Further, a sorter used in an object machine or the like may be used by connecting to a printer device.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional printer apparatus, there is an inconvenience beyond imagination in sorting the printed paper as a document for each printing unit or extracting a specific document. Often spend time. The size of a sorter such as a copier is too large, and is not suitable as an additional mechanism of a general-purpose printer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a printer device which can solve the above-mentioned drawbacks and can surely sort printed paper for each printing unit.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A printer apparatus of the present invention is configured to discharge printed sheets orthogonally for each print unit having an arbitrary number of pages.

The printing apparatus according to the present invention further comprises a print unit detecting unit for inputting print information, detecting a print unit having an arbitrary number of pages, and designating one of orthogonal print directions. A print direction storage unit for storing a print direction, an image developing unit for developing the print information into a print image, an image buffer for storing the print image, and printing and discharging the print image on a supplied sheet. A printing unit for discharging to a paper stacker, a vertical paper feed hopper for accumulating paper to be supplied to the printing unit in a vertical direction,
A horizontal paper feed hopper for storing paper to be supplied to the printing unit in the horizontal direction, and selecting the vertical paper feed hopper or the horizontal paper hopper according to the print direction specified by the print direction storage unit to print the paper. And a paper feed hopper selection unit for supplying the paper to the unit.

Further, according to the printer device of the present invention, in accordance with the printing direction specified by the printing direction storage unit, the paper to be supplied to the printing unit is printed in a vertical or horizontal direction for each printing unit. And a sheet feeding direction switching unit for switching and sending out.

Further, in the printer device according to the present invention, the printed sheet discharged by the printing unit is printed for each printing unit according to the printing direction specified by the printing direction storage unit. And a discharge direction switching unit for switching and transmitting in the vertical or horizontal direction.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a printing apparatus according to the present invention includes a printing unit detection unit 2 which receives printing information from a host computer 1, detects a printing unit having an arbitrary number of pages, and specifies one of orthogonal printing directions. A print direction storage unit 3 for storing a print direction for each print unit,
An image expansion unit 4 for expanding the print information into a print image; and an image buffer 5 for storing the print image
A printing unit 6 for inputting the print image and printing on the supplied paper and discharging the paper to a discharge stacker 10, and a vertical paper feed hopper 9 for storing the paper to be supplied to the printing unit in a vertical direction.
And a horizontal paper hopper 8 for storing paper to be supplied to the printing unit in the horizontal direction, and selecting the vertical paper hopper or the horizontal paper hopper according to the printing direction specified by the printing direction storage unit. Feeding hopper selecting unit 7 for supplying the printing unit to the printing unit
And is configured.

That is, the printer device of the present invention includes a horizontal paper feed hopper 8 and a vertical paper feed hopper 9, and the paper discharge stacker 10 can store print paper in any of the vertical and horizontal directions.

The print information sent from the host computer 1 is first checked by the print unit detection unit 2 to detect end data of the print unit. The printing direction storage unit 3 stores whether the current printing direction is portrait or landscape. When the printing unit detection unit 2 detects the end data, the printing unit storage unit 3 reverses the storage of the printing direction storage unit 3 (from portrait to landscape or landscape). To vertical).

Next, the print information is developed into a printable form (bitmap image) in the image buffer 5 by the image developing unit 4. Thereafter, the printing unit 6 instructs the paper feed hopper selection unit 7 to feed paper, and the paper feed hopper selection unit 7 follows the storage of the print direction storage unit 3. If so, the vertical feeding hopper 9 to the printing unit 6
Feed paper. Then, the printing unit 6 prints the data in the image buffer 5 according to the direction of the fed printing paper, and discharges the data to the discharge stacker 10.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between the contents of the image buffer 5 and the printing direction. In the drawing, the same printing result is obtained regardless of the direction in which the printing paper is fed.
In other words, the contents 21 of the image buffer 5 have exactly the same print results in the horizontal print 22 and the vertical print 23, and the paper direction is orthogonal when stored in the discharge stacker 10.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the second embodiment is
Instead of the horizontal paper feed hopper 8, the vertical paper feed hopper 9, and the paper feed hopper selection unit 7 in the first embodiment, a paper feed direction switching unit 31 and a paper feed hopper 32 are provided. The paper feed hopper 32 feeds the print paper only in the horizontal direction, and the paper feed direction switching unit 31 feeds the print paper directly to the print unit 6 when the direction stored in the print direction storage unit 3 is horizontal, and stores the print paper. When the direction is vertical, the paper is fed by switching the paper direction by 90 degrees.
The operation of the printing unit 6 after paper feeding is the same as in the first embodiment.

When the paper feed hopper 32 feeds the paper in the vertical direction, the paper feed direction switching unit 31 can operate in the reverse manner. That is, when the instruction in the printing direction storage unit 3 is in the vertical direction, the sheet is fed to the printing unit 6 as it is, and when the instruction is in the horizontal direction, the sheet is switched by 90 degrees and fed.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, the third embodiment is
The paper feed direction switching unit 31 in the above-described second embodiment is eliminated, and the paper is directly fed from the paper feed hopper 1 to the printing unit 6, and the paper sent out by the printing unit 6 is switched by the paper discharge direction switching unit 41, and the paper discharge stacker Store in 10. Here, the paper feed hopper 32 feeds the printing paper only in the horizontal direction, and the printing unit 6 prints only in the horizontal direction. The discharge direction switching unit 41 discharges the paper to the discharge stacker 10 when the direction stored in the print direction storage unit 3 is horizontal, and switches the paper direction by 90 degrees when the stored direction is vertical. And eject the paper.

When the paper feed hopper 32 feeds paper in the vertical direction, the printing unit 6 prints only in the vertical direction. Therefore, the sheet discharging direction switching unit 41 can perform the reverse operation similarly to the above-described second embodiment. That is, when the instruction in the print direction storage unit 3 is in the vertical direction, the sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge stacker 10 as it is, and when the instruction is in the horizontal direction, the sheet is 90
The paper is switched after switching.

[0020]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the direction of the paper stored in the paper discharge stacker can be switched vertically and horizontally for each printing unit, so that the separation between documents becomes clear. Therefore, a printer apparatus in which a plurality of users print one after another can quickly find a document printed by the user. Even when a plurality of copies of one document are printed, the division between each copy becomes clear in the same manner, which facilitates organizing and binding. Also, there is no need to insert colored paper or the like indicating a break between documents.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of printing the contents of an image buffer.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 host computer 2 print unit detection unit 3 print direction storage unit 4 image development unit 5 image buffer 6 print unit 7 paper feed hopper selection unit 8 horizontal paper feed hopper 9 vertical paper feed hopper 10 paper discharge stacker 21 image buffer contents 22 horizontal Direction printing 23 Vertical printing 31 Paper feed direction switching unit 32 Paper feed hopper 41 Paper discharge direction switching unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printer device wherein a printed sheet is discharged orthogonally for each print unit having an arbitrary number of pages. 2. A print unit detection unit for inputting print information, detecting a print unit having an arbitrary number of pages, and designating one of orthogonal print directions, and a print direction for storing a print direction for each print unit. A storage unit, an image expansion unit that expands the print information into a print image, an image buffer that stores the print image, and a print unit that receives the print image, prints the print image on a supplied sheet, and discharges the print image to a discharge stacker A vertical paper feed hopper for storing paper to be supplied to the printing unit in the vertical direction, a horizontal paper hopper for storing paper to be supplied to the printing unit in the horizontal direction, and the printing direction storage unit. A printer device comprising: a paper feed hopper selection unit that selects the vertical paper feed hopper or the horizontal paper feed hopper according to a designated printing direction and supplies paper to the printing unit. 3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein
A printer device, comprising: a paper feed direction switching unit that switches a paper to be supplied to the printing unit in a vertical direction or a horizontal direction for each printing unit according to a printing direction instructed by the printing direction storage unit and sends the paper. 4. The printer apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the printed paper discharged by the printing unit is vertically or horizontally printed for each printing unit according to the printing direction specified by the printing direction storage unit. A printer device comprising a paper discharge direction switching unit for switching and sending.