JPH1198308A - Composite terminal equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a composite terminal by which a mail box can be further validly utilized, a time to be consumed by a user before a device can be reduced, and the efficiency of a work can be improved. SOLUTION: A user sets a parameter (S12), and inputs a job index on the screen. Then, print job data prepared by a work station(WS) are transmitted to a terminal, and when the input of the job data is completed, the terminal side checks the vacancy of a mail box (S14), and when some vacant mail boxes are present, the terminal side selects an arbitrary box from them, and communicates the No. to the WS (S18). At that time, a message is displayed in a work station. When any vacant mail boxes are not present, the result is communicated to the WS, and the message is displayed in the work station. In this case, the print job data are temporarily stored in a storage device as a print file by job units in a composite terminal (S16).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to paper handling of a multifunction peripheral in a network environment.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in a digital multifunction peripheral having a printer function, print data or image data sent from a host device can be stored in a storage device. Therefore, data of one set of originals (one job) consisting of one page or a plurality of pages is stored in this storage device, and by reading out the data from the memory, it is possible to output the required number of copies when necessary. Making it possible. However, execution of a print job and setting of job parameters depend on settings and instructions from a host device, and there is no concept of performing these controls in an actual printing device. Only the multiple copy printing is executed according to the parameters.

[0003]

By the way, in an environment where a printing terminal is connected to a network and used as a common high-speed and large-sized printing machine, a printing terminal is used in a state where it is shared by a large number of users. Often placed in an area like a corner. Some of these machines have a mailbox function,
As the number of users increases, if one tries to assign each user a mailbox, the mailbox unit becomes large and naturally has an upper limit due to space restrictions.

As a means for solving this space problem, an electronic mailbox using a storage device such as a hard disk can be considered. In such a device, when a user goes to the front of the device, It is necessary to select and print the stored file and wait until the print result is discharged, which wastes time unnecessarily. Conventional printers basically assume that data editing and printing instructions are performed on the host machine, so output pages and print settings are controlled from the host machine that is always online. ing. Therefore, the user interface related to the print instruction and the change of the condition setting on the terminal device has not been considered at all. It is therefore an object of the present invention to make more efficient use of limited mailboxes, without wasting office space, and by reducing the time a user wastes in front of the device, thereby increasing work efficiency. To provide a composite terminal capable of

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading means for reading a document image, an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium, a storage means for storing image data, and a storage means for storing image data. In a composite terminal device having compression / decompression means, image processing means for generating image data from codes / data, connection means for a host device including a network, and operation / control means for controlling these, a plurality of By automatically allocating and selecting a discharge destination according to the status of the discharge bins, a mailbox type peripheral device having a discharge bin and a print job sent from the host device are discharged. The above objective is achieved.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the multi-terminal device according to the first aspect, further comprising a function of notifying the host apparatus of the selected discharge bin together with a job input completion notification. According to the third aspect of the present invention, in the multi-terminal device according to the first aspect, when there is no empty bin in the mailbox, the file is temporarily stored, and a print job is executed when any bin becomes empty. It has a function. According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the multi-terminal device according to the third aspect, further comprising a function of displaying a result of allocation and discharge and a stored file list on a display panel of the device.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the composite terminal device according to the fourth aspect has a function of automatically updating the display on the panel by detecting the presence or absence of paper in the discharged mailbox bin. Features. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the composite terminal device of the fifth aspect, a function of forcibly printing stored files is provided. According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the composite terminal device of the fourth aspect, a function of designating a job index from a host is provided.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the entire system, and FIG. 2 is a basic configuration of the present apparatus. It is composed of a plurality of workstations (hereinafter abbreviated as WS), a server, a composite image processing terminal device (this device), and a network-OS required by a LAN (local area network) system to be used. In this configuration, the physical LA
There are N configurations, and some network-OS is incorporated, and by using them, an arbitrary WS, server, and this device can communicate bidirectionally.

This system comprises a scanner section, a plotter section,
These can be categorized into an engine unit that controls them (hereinafter, referred to as a base engine unit) and a scanner / printer controller (hereinafter, referred to as a controller). The base engine unit is a copier device that is complete on its own. It has a scanner engine with an ARDF (automatic reversing document feeder) and a print / printer with abundant paper handling (paper feed tray, duplex device, paper ejection device). An image processing unit (IP) for executing image processing of video data between a scanner and a printer;
U) A display / touch panel comprising a copier engine part comprising a copier engine part, a control of the copier engine part and a man-machine interface part of the present apparatus, an operation part having mechanical keys, and a base engine controller for controlling these parts It is configured.

In the operation panel unit, setting of a copier function, setting of a printer function, and setting of a scanner function can be performed while interacting with a user by using functions of a display unit, a touch panel, and mechanical keys. Further, a status message display required by the scanner / printer function is also possible. Control of the engine part means checking the configuration of the engine part (checking the connected options),
Check the status of each paper feed tray, the status of the duplexer, the status of the paper output device, the status of the document feeder, set the paper path for them, and start the print / scan operation. To check the progress of the process, and to check the status in detail when an error occurs. The scanner / printer controller includes a video interface (interface-A) for inputting read image data from a scanner and outputting image data to a printer, an operation control command for a base engine, a display command for an operation unit, and a base engine. It is connected by a command / status interface (interface-B) for exchanging status transition notification and operation notification from the PC as commands / status.

The scanner / printer controller is a network interface card (NI
C) is connected to the LAN, and the printer data stream, scanner operation / edit commands, and the read image data itself are transferred. The scanner / printer controller has a general parallel / serial interface as a printer connection interface, and an S / S as a scanner connection interface.
It also has a CSI-2 interface. Therefore, it can be used as a normal one-to-one connection printer and scanner. Hereinafter, description will be given on the assumption that all data input / output of the printer / scanner is performed through a network.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the controller section. The controller unit has a scanner data input / output function and a printer data input / output function centering on a page buffer memory. From the input of print data on the workstation on the system including this device, the confirmation of the status of the printing device, and the execution of the job, the designation of the job on the compound terminal (this device), the change of parameters, the execution and completion of the job The operation / operation sequence up to this point will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

Print data is created on a work station connected to the network (step 10). This operation is performed by a normal application such as a word processor. Next, the state of the device and the state of the peripheral device option are confirmed on the workstation (step 11). A driver / utility that displays the status of the printer on the host using the back channel on the network or parallel port,
This is a general one and will not be described in detail.

The user can select print parameters (paper size,
(For example, both sides) is set (step 12), and further, a job index (any ID that can be identified, such as the user's own name and document name) is input on a driver screen as shown in FIG. 6, for example. If you have not entered this information,
Headlines such as time / date and the first line of a document can also be automatically set on the compound terminal. Then, the print job data created in the workstation is sent to the composite terminal (step 13), and when the input of the job data is completed, the composite terminal checks the vacancy of the mailbox (checks the state of the mailbox). It is also possible to check periodically and always update the table) (Step 1)
4) If there is an empty mailbox (step 14;
Y), an arbitrary mailbox is selected from the selected mailbox, and the mailbox No. is notified to the workstation (step 18). At this time, at the workstation,
As shown in FIG. 7, “job index:
It is output to mailbox XX. Is displayed.

If there is no empty mailbox (step 14; N), this result is notified to the workstation. At this time, the workstation displays "job index: xxx" as shown in FIG. Is stored. "Is displayed (step 15). In this case, the print job data is temporarily stored in the storage device as a print file for each job in the multifunction terminal (step 16). At this time, even if the stored data is in a printer language state, for example,
Data or DisplayLis
It may be an intermediate language such as t. However, the job control data, the image data, and the job management information must be linked and stored as one job file.

In FIG. 3, print code data sent from a workstation is input to the apparatus from a network (I / F) interface and enters a buffer memory on a DRAM. In this apparatus, the print code data is expanded into Image Data and then compressed.
Compress each page using on Chip, HardD
Temporarily store it in the issue unit. Further, the job control data and the job management information are separately managed together with the respective job files, as a whole. It is a general file system. The process of image expansion and compression here is already known and will not be described here.

The files stored in the apparatus and the jobs discharged in the mailbox are displayed on a panel on the apparatus as shown in FIG. 9 together with the status information. When the user looks at the display panel in front of the machine (in the case of a job immediately discharged to a mailbox, the user already knows the mailbox No.) (FIG. 5, step 23).

If the user's own job has been accumulated and the discharge has not been completed (step 24; N), the apparatus is set to the "priority job printing" mode on the panel (step 26). (The user is preparing to print in front of the device,
If a large number of print jobs are entered remotely, the user will have to wait. In the "priority job printing" mode, data to be printed remotely is automatically spooled. At the same time, this state is notified to the user who has attempted to use the device remotely via the back channel, and, for example, the host machine side is currently executing a priority job as shown in FIG.
The data is spooled. Is displayed.

After entering the "priority job printing" mode, the user selects his or her own print file to be printed from the job data list on the panel display shown in FIG. 9 and performs forced printing. The forcibly printed job is discharged to the main tray. If the discharge of the job has already been completed (step 24; Y), the user takes out his / her print result from a predetermined mailbox according to the display on the panel (step 25). The mailbox contains
A “paper full / paper out” sensor is provided for each box, and as a result of taking out a document, a paper out state is notified to the controller. The controller deletes the job of the extracted mailbox from the list on the display panel in response to the notification (step 29).

When there is a job stored in the apparatus when there is a free space in the mailbox (step 2).
8; Y), the job is output to an empty mailbox (steps 30 and 31), and as a result, the job status display on the panel is updated as shown in FIG. 11 (step 32).

[0021]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mailbox-type peripheral device having a plurality of output bins, and a print job sent from a host device is changed according to the state of the output bins. Since the paper discharge destination is automatically allocated, selected, and discharged, the small number of mailboxes can be effectively utilized without bothering the user. Claim 2
In the invention described above, the function of notifying the selected output bin together with the job input completion notification to the host device is provided, so that the user can know the automatically selected mailbox on the host. , Can prevent confusion.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, if there is no empty bin in the mailbox, the file is temporarily stored, and
It has a function to execute a print job when one of the bins is empty, so that even if the mailbox is full, it is possible to complete the work on the host without waiting for the user, No time wasted. According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the user has the function of displaying the result of allocation and discharge and the stored file list on the display panel of the apparatus, so that the user can confuse the document discharged to the mailbox. You can get it without.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the user has the function of detecting the presence / absence of paper in the discharged mailbox bin and automatically updating the display on the panel. Documents to be obtained can be easily obtained. According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, since a function of forcibly printing stored files is provided, it is possible to cope with a user who hasten printing.

According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, since a function of designating a job index from the host is provided, the user can designate a display which is easily distinguishable by himself.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of the device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a controller unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a process according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a procedure of a process according to the embodiment, and is a continuation of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a driver screen.

FIG. 7 is an example of a screen on which a message is displayed.

FIG. 8 is an example of a screen on which a message is displayed.

FIG. 9 is an example of a display displayed on a panel on the device.

FIG. 10 is an example of a display displayed on the host machine side.

FIG. 11 is an example of a display indicating that the job status display on the panel has been updated.

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for reading a document image, an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium, a storage means for storing image data, a compression / decompression means for image data, and image data from codes / data. Image processing means for generating, connection means for connecting to a host device including a network,
In a compound terminal device having an operation / control means for controlling these, a mailbox-type peripheral device having a plurality of output bins and a print job sent from a host device are stored in a state of the output bins. A composite terminal device, wherein a discharge destination is automatically assigned according to the selected one, and is selected and discharged. 2. The composite terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a function of notifying the host device of the selected discharge bin together with a job input completion notification. 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a function of temporarily storing a file when there is no empty bin in the mailbox, and executing a print job when any bin becomes empty. Composite terminal device. 4. The composite terminal device according to claim 3, further comprising a function of displaying a result of allocation and discharge and a stored file list on a display panel of the device. 5. The composite terminal device according to claim 4, further comprising a function of detecting presence or absence of paper in the discharged mailbox bin and automatically updating the display on the panel. 6. The composite terminal device according to claim 5, further comprising a function of forcibly printing the stored file. 7. The composite terminal device according to claim 4, further comprising a function of designating a job index from a host.