JPH1110959A - Image-forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve workability in setting of double face-printing, prevent troubles with the transfer of papers and eliminate waste of papers. SOLUTION: When double face-printing is set (S1-1), a paper size is detected. If the paper size does not allow the double face-printing (S1-2) and moreover a switchback door of a paper-reversing part is closed (S1-3), information on a preliminarily set countermeasure mode is taken out (S1-4). When the countermeasure mode neglecting the setting of double face-printing is set (YES in S1-5), papers of a suitable size are selected and supplied. The setting is changed to single face-printing (S1-7), and the printing is carried out (S1-8). If the countermeasure mode not neglecting the double face-printing is set (NO in S1-5), the printing is stopped (S1-6). The printing is started when the switchback door is opened (S1-8).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus applied to an image forming section capable of performing double-sided printing, such as a printer and a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of a schematic structure of an image forming apparatus. 1 is an image forming section for performing an image forming process for printing an image on a sheet and a printing operation. A paper reversing unit for causing the paper to be fed; 3 and 3 are upper and lower two-stage paper feed trays for storing paper; 4 is a paper feed roller installed on each of the paper feed trays 3 and 3 for feeding out paper; Is a door which is opened when reversing long and long size sheets, and 7 is a sheet discharge tray 5 for transferring sheets on which images are formed in the image forming section 1.
, A branch transport section for selectively transporting the paper to the paper reversing section 2 direction, a reversing roller 8 provided in the paper reversing section 2 to switch back the paper, and 9 to re-image the switched back paper. It is a transport roller that transports to the forming unit 1.

In FIG. 6, in the case of single-sided printing, a sheet fed from one of the sheet feeding trays 3 by a sheet feeding roller 4 passes through a conveying path a in the image forming section 1 to print the image on one side. Then, the sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 5 by the branch transport unit 7.

[0004] In the case of double-sided printing, similarly to the above, a sheet on which an image is printed on one side through a transport path a in the image forming section 1 is sent to a transport path b of the sheet reversing section 2 by a branch transport section 7. Then, it is switched back on the switchback path c of the reversing roller 8 and is again sent to the transport path a in the image forming section 1 by the transport path d of the transport roller 9 to print an image on the other surface. After printing on both sides in this way,
The sheet is discharged to the sheet discharge tray 5 by the branch transport unit 7.

[0005] Further, if long and long sheets are used for double-sided printing, the entire sheet may not be able to be inserted depending on the length of the switchback path c. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the door 6 of the sheet reversing unit 2 is opened, and a part of the long size sheet is taken out to enable switchback.

[0006]

In the sheet feeding structure of the conventional image forming apparatus, when long and long size sheets are used for double-sided printing, it is necessary to open the door 6 of the sheet reversing unit 2, and the door 6 is opened. Otherwise, the conveyed paper will be jammed.

However, opening and closing the door during double-sided printing is complicated, and there is a problem that a jam is caused by forgetting to open the door and a trouble is easily caused by forgetting to close the door.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, to improve the workability at the time of double-sided printing, to improve the workability at the time of setting, to prevent troubles in sheet conveyance, and to reduce waste of sheets. It is to provide a device.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing means for performing printing on a sheet and a sheet reversing means for enabling printing on both sides of the sheet during printing. In an image forming apparatus provided with a means for detecting whether or not double-sided printing is possible by detecting the paper size, and when the result of the determination indicates that double-sided printing is not possible,
Means for determining whether to perform single-sided printing or to stop the printing operation and executing the same. With this configuration, when double-sided printing is not possible, automatic single-sided printing or printing operation is performed. Is stopped, so that it is possible to prevent the setting work from being forgotten and the occurrence of troubles such as paper jam due to the setting work.

Further, the present invention provides an image forming processing means for performing an image forming process based on data sent from a computer, a printing means for performing printing on a sheet in response to the image forming process, In an image forming apparatus provided with a sheet reversing unit that enables printing on a sheet, a unit that detects a sheet size to determine whether double-sided printing is possible and determines whether double-sided printing is impossible based on the determination result. When possible, a means for executing whether to perform single-sided printing or to stop the printing operation by setting in the computer is provided. With this configuration, when double-sided printing is not possible, a single-sided printing is performed from the computer side. Automatically set whether to print or stop the printing operation, so that you can forget the setting work and cause the paper to jam. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of the condition. Further, it is not necessary to change the setting on the image forming apparatus side.

Further, the present invention provides a method for printing on both sides of a printable sheet if the size of the sheet to be printed on both sides is larger than the maximum printable sheet size when performing single-sided printing based on the determination result. It is characterized in that the image of the paper to be printed is divided and printed, and this configuration does not increase the area required for the printing, thereby eliminating waste of paper.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following description, members corresponding to the members described in FIGS. 6 and 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description is omitted.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus for explaining a first embodiment of the present invention.
The image forming apparatus 11 is connected to a host computer 12 and performs an image forming process based on data transmitted from the host computer 12, and receives the image forming process and prints it on paper. A printing unit 14 having a paper reversing unit 2 having the same configuration as that shown in FIG.
And storage means 15 such as a hard disk for storing settings of a single-sided and double-sided printing method, and a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 16 for controlling components.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart relating to the duplex printing operation in the image forming apparatus of the first embodiment. Prior to printing, it is determined whether the printing method is double-sided printing, and if double-sided printing is set (S1-1), it is checked whether the paper size is a printable size (S1-2). And the open / close state of the door 6 of the sheet reversing unit 2 is checked (S1-3).
Is done. If the size is not a printable size and the door 6 is closed, the information of the preset coping mode is taken out from the storage unit 15 (S1-4), and the setting of double-sided printing is ignored. When the mode is set (YE of S1-5)
S), paper of an appropriate size is selected from the paper feed trays 3 and 3 and fed, and the setting is changed to single-sided printing (S1-7), and printing is performed (S1-8). Further, if the coping mode of not ignoring the setting of double-sided printing is set (NO in S1-5), a warning is displayed and the printing operation is stopped until the door 6 is opened (S1-5).
1-6), printing is performed when the door 6 is opened (S1-
8).

By performing the double-sided printing control as described above, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of a jam due to sheet feeding in a state where double-sided printing is impossible. Further, when the setting of the double-sided printing is ignored and the printing is changed to the single-sided printing, the operator does not need to open the door.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a duplex printing operation in the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
The main configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment is the same as the configuration shown in FIG.

In FIG. 3, it is first determined whether or not the printing method is double-sided printing as described above. If it is set to perform double-sided printing (S2-1), the paper size is a printable size. Is checked (S2-2), and the open / closed state of the door 6 of the sheet reversing unit 2 is checked (S2-3). If the size is not a printable size and the door 6 is closed, the information of the coping mode preset in the host computer 12 is extracted (S2-4). By doing so, it is not necessary to change the setting on the image forming apparatus side, and by transmitting the control code from the host computer 12, the following setting of the coping mode and the like is performed.

Then, in the same manner as described above, when the coping mode of ignoring the setting of double-sided printing is set (YE in S2-5)
S), select paper of an appropriate size from the paper feed trays 3 and 3 and feed it, change the setting to single-sided printing (S2-7), and print (S2-8). If the coping mode of not ignoring the setting of double-sided printing is set (NO in S2-5), a warning is displayed and the printing operation is stopped until the door 6 is opened (S2-5).
2-6), printing is performed when the door 6 is opened (S2-
8).

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the main operation of double-sided printing in the image forming apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention. This flow corresponds to the step (S1-
7) or an operation that replaces the step (S2-7) of the flowchart of FIG.
This is performed according to the same flow as described above.

In FIG. 4, when the setting is changed so as to ignore the set double-sided printing, a sheet of the largest size capable of performing double-sided printing is selected from the paper feed trays 3 and 3 (S
3-7a). Then, according to the size of the selected sheet, the image for the double-sided printing is divided, and a process of printing the image on the front and back of the selected sheet is performed (S3-7b).

By performing such a single-sided printing process, for example, as shown in FIG. 5A, the size of the paper that can be printed on both sides is A4 size (horizontal), As shown in FIG. 5B, in the case of A3 size, the image of the A3 size paper is converted to A4 size.
The image is divided into two in the vertical direction in accordance with (horizontal) (represented as a front page and a back page in the figure), and the divided images are printed on the front and back of one A4 size sheet. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the area required for printing by allowing the image to be divided and printed on both sides of one sheet as described above, rather than simply changing to single-sided printing and printing on two sheets. It does not increase and paper resources are not wasted.

[0022]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, single-sided printing is automatically performed when double-sided printing is impossible by the apparatus itself or a connected computer. Or other appropriate settings, such as whether to stop the printing operation, can prevent forgetting the setting work and the occurrence of problems such as paper jams due to this, and also increase the area required for printing. This makes it possible to perform a printing process in which the number of sheets does not increase, thereby eliminating waste of paper.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus for describing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a duplex printing operation in the image forming apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a duplex printing operation in the image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a main operation of double-sided printing in an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a printing example by the apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a schematic structure of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram in the case of switching back a long-sized sheet in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming part, 2 ... Paper reversing part, 3 ... Paper feeding tray, 4 ... Paper feeding roller, 5 ... Discharge tray, 6 ... Paper reversing part door, 7 ... Branch conveyance part, 8 ... Reversing roller, 9 …
Conveyance rollers, 11: Image forming apparatus, 12: Host computer, 13: Image forming processing means, 14: Printing means, 15
... storage means, 16 ... central processing unit.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: printing means for performing printing on a sheet; and sheet reversing means for enabling printing on both sides of the sheet during printing. Means for determining whether or not printing is possible, and if the result of the determination indicates that double-sided printing is not possible,
Means for determining whether to perform one-sided printing or to stop the printing operation and to execute the printing operation, the image forming apparatus comprising: 2. An image forming processing means for performing image forming processing based on data sent from a computer, a printing means for performing printing on a sheet in response to the image forming processing,
In an image forming apparatus including a sheet reversing unit that enables printing on both sides of a sheet during printing,
Means for detecting the paper size to determine whether or not double-sided printing is possible, and when the result of the determination indicates that double-sided printing is not possible, whether to perform single-sided printing or stop the printing operation is executed by setting in the computer. An image forming apparatus, comprising: 3. When performing single-sided printing based on the result of the determination, if the paper size for double-sided printing is larger than the maximum printable paper size, the paper for double-sided printing is printed on both sides of the printable paper. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image is divided and printed.