JPS61273464A - Number of recording paper setting conrol mechanism for recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify operation, by providing means for determining a sorter operation mode and a control means for switching a setting of a number of printed paper depending upon the result determined so that the number of printed paper is adapted to the constructional condition of the sorter at the time when the number is set. CONSTITUTION:A microcomputer (NO.1 CPU) 100 incorporated in a printer assembly 1 integrally controls various operating elements of the printer through a program. On the other hand, a microcomputer (NO.2 CPU) 600 incorporated in a bin discharge contro unit 8 of a sorter 6 controls operation of the sorter 6 and the NOs.1 and 2 CPUs 100, 600 can transmit signals and data each other through interrupt operation thereof. Since it is so designed that setting of recording paper is made only within the constructional conditions of the sorter 6, a load on an operator is reduced. Further, since input data is regulated at an initial stage, operation and an operational logic are simplified.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] 1 Ai Go Δ Balance liver state! The present invention relates to a recording device, and more specifically, in a recording device such as a copying machine or a printer to which a sorter can be connected, and in which the number of recording sheets for the same information can be set in advance, the setting of the number of recording sheets can be set by the sorter. It is concerned with the mechanism that controls the structure by relating it to the structural conditions.

In the recording device to which the Sagi α sorter is connected, the setting range for the number of sheets to be recorded, that is, the number of sheets to be printed, differs depending on the operation mode of the sorter. In other words, in stack mode, it is the same as when no sorter is connected and can be set to any value, but in group mode, which accumulates print sheets of the same page in each bin, the number of copies that can be obtained at one time is maximum,
This is the maximum number of sheets that can be stacked in each bottle. In the sorting mode in which printed sheets are accumulated in each bin in alphabetical order, the maximum number of copies that can be obtained at one time is up to the number of bins provided in the sorter.

So, for example, when you select the sort mode and set a certain value, the device itself checks whether the value is within the set range, and if it is within the range, it can operate.

If it is outside the range, it is treated as an error (including an error display) and predetermined processing is performed. Conventionally, there are two main methods for this predetermined processing. One is that the device itself automatically switches from sort mode to stack mode, or that the device automatically sets the maximum number of bins and performs the actual operation. This is a method of giving priority.

The other method is to notify the operator with a buzzer or a buzzer to request resetting, and to not permit actual operation unless the setting is within the range.

However, in a system that prioritizes actual operation, the sorting function that has been put into use becomes meaningless when switched to stack mode, and the operator is forced to do so if only the maximum number of bins has been processed by itself. There is a problem in that the result is different from the desired processing, and subsequent processing or subsequent re-operation becomes extremely troublesome.

The second method prompts you to reset the settings, which is convenient because you know in advance the post-processing measures for the print process you are about to perform. However, this type of recording device usually has various setting functions. Since it can take various states,
Unless it's an error warning specific to an out-of-range setting,
There is also the problem that it is difficult for any operator to determine what kind of error it is simply by reporting the error.

One of the reasons why the various problems mentioned above occur is that although operators are aware of the function of the sorter, they are generally not aware of the structural conditions of the sorter, that is, the conditions of the number of bins and the number of sheets that can be stacked in the bins. Sometimes there isn't. Furthermore, it is common for a sorter to be attached to a recording device as an option, and there are different types of connected sorters depending on the number of bins and number of stacked sheets. On the recording device side, there is 7 AIL SAFE 8! It is undeniable that this is due to the technical simplicity of having only one function.

``Secondly, the present invention allows any operator to smoothly perform print processing using a sorter without any hindrance, by changing the setting control of the number of prints from 7-ail φ-safe to fool-proof.'' The purpose is to enable you to proceed.

For this reason, the present invention provides a recording device that is connected to a sorter and can perform continuous operation control with the sorter, and that allows the number of prints for the same information to be set in advance. A device capable of determining the operation mode of the sorter, and a control means for switching the range in which the number of prints can be set according to the determination result of the determination means, and at the time of inputting and setting the number of prints, The basic feature is that the number of identical records of the recording device is adapted to the structural conditions of the sorter.

According to the above-described means, only the number of sheets at which the sorter can operate can be set according to the operation mode of the sorter. As a result, even if an attempt is made to set an input that exceeds the structural conditions of the sorter, it will not be possible to set it, so this fact itself will serve as a warning, and any operator will know the structural conditions of the sorter and will be able to easily perform subsequent print processing. It will be possible to formulate countermeasures,
Further, it is possible to prevent an unexpected result from occurring in the entire printing process that was originally intended.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, taking up an embodiment in which a printer is applied to a recording device.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a laser printer that writes information on a photoconductor drum using a laser beam output from an information processing device and prints at high speed and high quality using an electrophotographic method. The printer body (1) is equipped with an operation panel (2),
Two upper and lower paper cassettes containing copy paper) (3), (
4) can be removably loaded. The printed copy paper is discharged to a paper discharge tray (5) which is detachably attached to the printer main body (1).

FIG. 2 shows a partial perspective view of the printer body (1) with a sorter connected to it with the paper discharge tray (5) removed. The sorter (6) is mechanically connected to the printer main body (1) and electrically connected via a connector (not shown).

The sorter (6) consists of 1 sorters arranged vertically at predetermined intervals.
0 bottles (70) l (71) t..., (79
) and a printer body (1).
The bin discharge control unit (8) controls the bin discharge position of the print paper discharged from the bin. Although not shown, the bin discharge control section (8) includes a motor whose operation is controlled by a microprocessor, a roller driven by the motor,
A print paper conveyance mechanism including a belt and various sensors are built in, and the operation thereof is controlled in relation to the operation of the printer main body (1).

The sorter (6) also includes a sorter operation panel (9) on the upper front side of the bin discharge control section (8).

This operation panel (9) includes a mode selection key (91) for selecting the operation mode of the sorter (6), and a display section (92) each composed of an LED and displaying the selected operation mode with alpha lights. ), (93), and a bin capacity over display section (94) that displays a warning that print paper has been discharged in excess of the capacity of the bin. When the mode selection key (91) is pressed, the display sections (92) and (93) will turn on alternately. For example, when the display section (92) lights up, the sorter (6) will execute the sort mode operation, (9
When 3) is lit, an operation other than the saw) mode, such as a stack mode, is executed.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the operation panel (2) of the printer main body (1). The vibration panel (2) is connected to the operation kiss part (2).
0) and a display section (30), with some operation keys (20)
is divided into a group of selection keys (210) for presetting operating conditions of the printer and a group of control keys (230) for controlling the operation of the printer. Control key group (230
) is a start key for starting printer operation.

The key (211) belonging to the selection key group (210) is a key for selecting 8 types of characters, 7 onts;
12), (213) prints the selected characters on the copy paper I11
/WjL Keys for selecting which direction to print in. Keys (214) and (215) are cassette selection keys for selecting one of the upper and lower two paper cassettes (3>, (4)). , when any key is selected and pressed, the LED in the upper left corner lights up. rOJ, rlJ, .
・・・・・・．

10 keys (numeric keypad) labeled "9" (220
).

(221), . . . , (229) are keys for inputting and setting the number of prints for the same information.

The display unit (30) also displays various statuses of the printer using LEDs.
a printer status display section (31) that is displayed by lighting up; a printer error display section (32) that displays the corresponding error when various abnormalities occur in the printer; 7-segment system/2-digit numerical display that displays the number of prints (33)
It is divided into

Printer-like! ! ! In the display section (31), when a sorter (6) is connected to this printer main body (1), an LED (311) indicating sorter connection lights up.

The operations in the printer body (1) are controlled in association with the operations of the sorter (6). FIG. 4 shows a schematic block circuit diagram of the main part of this embodiment.

(100) is a microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as 1st CPU) built into the printer body (1), which centrally controls various operational elements of the printer using programs. On the other hand, (600) is a microprocessor (hereinafter referred to as second CPU) built in the bin discharge control unit (8) of the sorter (6), which controls the operation of the sorter (6). 1st CPU (100) and 1st CPU (60
0) can communicate signals and data with each other through their respective interrupt operations.

The first CPU (100) is a key switch/display/
Through the controller (101), the thrust body part (20)
A key switch matrix consisting of key switches (
20') and a display section (30) including a numerical display section (33).
control both. When the first CPU (100) gives a control signal to the controller (101), the controller (101) generates scan data and sends it to the decoder (
102) and a decoder (103). decoder(
102) detects on a time-sharing basis which key in the operation key part (20) has been pressed. The switch signal in the key switch matrix (20゛) is the control key group (23゛).
0) as a control signal based on the fabrication, and also a selection key group (
It is input to the controller (101) as an input data signal based on the operation of the first CPU (10) from the controller (101) via a control signal line or a data bus.
0). On the other hand, the decoder (103) drives each light emitting segment of the 7-segment, 2-digit numerical display section (33) in a time-division manner. That is, when any switch related to the numeric keypad of the key switch matrix (20'') is turned on, the decoder (102) detects this,
Input data as a code signal is input to the controller (101
) via a data bus to the first CPU (100
) and stored in a predetermined buffer T. This stored data is output from the first CPU (100) to the 7-segment display section (33) via the controller (101), and the light-emitting segment of the corresponding numerical code is driven by the 7α lamp by the decoder (103).

Next, the first CPU (100
) will be explained based on the chart 70 in FIG. 5.

When the program starts, the first step (S101
) to (S103), initial settings are performed. Stella 7'
(SIOI)rl! , htn) 7 lags (FCOUNT)
rOJ is set. This count flag is a flag defined in the print number setting layer, and when it is "0", it indicates that the setting of the maximum 2-digit print number has been completed, and the next time the numeric keypad is available, the input data is Indicates that it is the first digit data. In the case of "1", the setting of the number of prints is completed only for the first digit, and then if there is a numeric keypad, the data of the current PIS 1st digit will be the data of the 2nd digit, and the current input data will be set as the 1st digit. Indicates the digit.

Note that the initial value set in this initial setting process is set to completion, that is, FCOUNT=0 remains. In the next step (S102), "1" is displayed as an initial value on the 7-segment display section (33). Then, in step (S103), initial processing for other processing is executed. Here, other processing means initial settings of keys other than the numeric keypad and the status display section (31) of the printer.

In step (S104), it is determined whether any key of the operation key part (20) has been pressed. If none of the keys are turned on, the process branches to step (S105) and displays the status display section (31) of the printer.
If the result is N, the process advances to step (Sloth) and determines whether the operated key is a numeric keypad. If it is not a numeric keypad, the process branches to step (S107) and input processing for keys other than the numeric keypad is performed. If it is a numeric keypad, the process advances to step (3108), where the code of the numeric key turned ON is set in the storage area defined as the variable name (A).

In the next step (S109), count 7 lag (FC
OUNT) is "0". That is, it is determined from this count flag whether the first digit of the numeric key just operated is the one of the second digit. If it is "O", the first digit is set, and if it is "1", the second digit is set. When rOJ, proceed to step (SLio), where variable name (
Move the contents of A) to the storage area of the variable name (B) defined in display m. Then, in step (S111), the count flag (F
COUNT) to "1".

X? 7' (S109) t'cow:')7? (FCO)
UNT) is not "0", step (S
112), that is, it is a two-digit setting, so currently,
The operation (BX10+A) is performed so that the contents of variable name (B) are moved to the second digit and the current input data is placed in the first digit, and the operation result is again set as the contents of variable name (B). Then, since the data input setting is completed or the next first digit is set, the count flag (
FCOUNT).

In step <8114), the operating mode of the sorter (6) is determined. This operation mode V is executed by the second CPU (600
)from! * communicated to the I CPU (100), where it is identified, for example, by a flag. If it is determined in step (S114) that the mode is stack mode, the process branches to step (S121). Otherwise, if it is determined that the mode is sort mode, the process advances to the next determination step (S115). In this step, it is determined whether the content of the variable name (B) is greater than or equal to the number of bins of the sorter (6).

The data on the number of bins of the sorter (6) is written in advance in the ROM built in the microprocessor (600).
When the sorter (6) is connected to the printer body (1), this data is stored in a predetermined storage area of the microcomputer (100). Alternatively, the pin position of the connector for connection may be changed depending on the type of sorter, and the data related to the number of bins may be determined by this pin position. In any case, if the input and set numerical value is equal to or greater than the number of bins (10 in this example), the process proceeds to step (SIIA), and if it is within the range, the process branches to step (S121).

In step (S116), it is determined whether a numerical value "0" has been input in the first digit in the input settings. In this flow, since step (S115) precedes (^) 20, rl OJl[20J, r30J
This is the case when... If (A) is not "0", in the next step (S117), the content of the variable name (A) of the input numerical value of the first digit is moved to the variable name (B), and the setting of the number of prints is set in the first digit. The count flag is set to "1" in step (3118) to complete the process, and the content of (B) is displayed on the 7-segment display section (33) in step (S121).

In step (S118), if it is determined that (A) is "0", this is a two-digit input in the sort mode, and it is a case where "2oJ, r30J, ..." is set. °In the next step (S119),
The contents of (B) are forcibly set to "10" which is the maximum number of bins, and a 2-digit value is set, so Stain 7' (S
120) l: #i: force'7n) 7 lag (FCOUNT
) to "0". In this case, when the process of step (S121) is performed, "10" is displayed on the 7-segment display section (33). When the display process ends in step (S121), the process returns to step (8104) and the above steps are repeated.

In this embodiment, since a sorter with 10 bins is used, the numerical value determined in step (S115) and the numerical value limited in step (S119) are set to "1o"; When using
10” is replaced with “20”.

Although not shown in this flowchart, if the sorter (6) is configured to perform the group mode described above, the maximum number of prints that can be set is the maximum number that can be stored in each bin. Therefore, in order to limit input settings when executing group mode, follow these steps.
It is possible to perform exactly the same way by following the 0-chart and setting in step (S115) "Is the number of sheets greater than or equal to what can be stored in the bin of sorter (6)?" and in step (S119) setting, for example, B=30. .

#IJ6 (a) - shi), Fig. 7 (a) - (g) and Fig. 8 (,) - (g), respectively, use the numeric keypad rlJ
, r2J, . . . , “6” .

FIG. 6 shows the case in stack mode, and FIG. 7 shows the case in sort mode of a 10-bin sorter.

In the case of stack mode, FIG. 6(c) = (e)
The reason why the second digit is not displayed and only the first digit is displayed is due to the processing in steps (S109) and (S110).

That is, since the count flag (FCOUNT) is rOJ, only the numerical value of the pressed key is displayed. The maximum number of stack mode settings is "99", which is the two-digit maximum value, as shown in Figure 6 (g), and 10 in Figure 7.
In the case of the bin sorter's sort mode, only the first digit changes to the numerical value of the sequentially pressed keys. Step (S11
4)-(8118). However, if the count flag is "1" and a key with a numerical value of "0" is pressed, the variable name (B) for display is set to "10" in steps (S116) and (S119), and as shown in FIG. As shown in g),
The maximum number of bins, "10", will be displayed.

FIG. 8 shows the sorting mode of a 20-bin sorter. In the same figure (b), "12" is the step (
This is because the process branches from step S115) to step S121. The reason why the display returns to "3" as shown in (c) in the figure is because the count flag (FCOUNT) is set to rOJ in the step (S113) of the previous loop and when the loop is repeated, the input content ( A) is the displayed content (
B) and steps (S115) to (S1
21). Also, when the numerical value rOJ key is pressed, the maximum number of bins is set to "20" in step (S119) unconditionally, as in the case of the 10-bin sorter in FIG. As shown, “2
0" is displayed.

Although the above-mentioned embodiment describes the case where a sorter is connected to a laser printer, it goes without saying that the recording format of the printer is not limited to laser, and may be one using liquid crystal, light emitting diode, etc. Further, the present invention is not limited to printers, but is not limited to application to copying machines in general.

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to input and set the number of sheets to record the same information in a recording device connected to a sorter only within the structural conditions of the sorter. This has the effect of reducing the burden on any operator during the entire process of recording operations and recording paper processing, and it also has the effect of reducing the burden on any operator during the entire process of recording operations and recording paper processing. Since the input data is regulated at the initial stage, that is, at the initial stage, there is an advantage that the operation itself can be simplified and the operation control logic can also be simplified.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an external view of the laser printer, Figure 2 is the laser printer.
FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the operation panel of the printer main body, FIG. 4 is a schematic profiler circuit diagram according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the printer main body. 70-, which extracts and shows the part related to the embodiment with the operation control performed by the built-in microcomputer.
Charts, Figures 6(a) to (g), Figures 7(a) to (g)
) and Figures 8(a) to (g), respectively, correspond to 7 in Figure 5.
FIG. 2 is a concrete explanatory diagram of the operation in the 0-chart. 1...Printer main body, 2...Operation panel, 6...
Sorter, 7... Bin section of the sorter, 8... Bin discharge control section, 9... Sorter operation panel, 33... 2-digit numerical display section, 100... Micrometer computer provided in the printer main body , 600... A microprocessor provided in the sorter.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In a recording device that can perform operation control related to a sorter by being connected to the sorter, and can set the number of sheets to be recorded for the same information in advance, the operation mode of the sorter is determined. A control mechanism for setting the number of recording sheets for a recording apparatus, comprising: means for controlling the number of recording sheets; and a control means for switching the settable range of the number of recording sheets according to the determination result of the determining means.