JP2001270162A - Image forming apparatus and image data output method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [PROBLEMS] To easily confirm and sort the contents of a plurality of print job outputs with a simple configuration. A memory unit constituting an image forming apparatus is provided.
The operation unit 102 can set one or more jobs and whether or not to output a cover page for each job from a plurality of pieces of print job information stored as additional information. The printer unit 105 outputs a carver page corresponding to the job selected according to the set presence / absence of cover page output, and prints out the job according to the job.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image data output method, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus and an image data output method capable of selectively executing a plurality of print jobs. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when photographing with a digital camera and printing image data stored in a memory medium such as a smart media, the image data is transferred to a personal computer and then output to a printer or a dedicated digital camera is used. Output has been mainly performed using a dedicated printer that can be connected to the camera body or smart media. There is also known a technique in which, in addition to image data, image attribute data, print settings, and the like are stored in a smart medium in accordance with a specific format, and printing is performed according to the stored print job settings.

[0003]

However, for example, when performing printing in accordance with a plurality of print jobs having different images to be printed and different numbers of prints, such as in the case of additional printing, it takes a great deal of trouble. In addition, when a plurality of print jobs are output in succession, outputs for a plurality of jobs are output on the discharge tray in an overlapping manner, and it has been difficult to organize the outputs for each job. Further, in order to know what image was printed for each job, it was necessary to check all outputs.

An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem, and an object of the present invention is to selectively execute a plurality of print jobs with a simple configuration and to easily output a plurality of print jobs. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus and an image data output method capable of sorting and further confirming an output image of each job at a glance.

[0005]

In order to solve such a problem, an image forming apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention comprises:
Print job selection means for selecting one or more print jobs from a plurality of print jobs stored in a removable memory means for storing image data and additional information including setting of a plurality of print jobs; and cover page output setting Means for controlling output of an index print of an image to be printed in each job as a cover page before output of each job in accordance with the presence or absence of the cover page output set by the cover page output setting means; and Control means for controlling the printing of the image data stored in the memory means on recording paper in accordance with the settings of one or more print jobs selected by the selection means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the control means includes, in addition to the index image in the index print,
Control may be performed to additionally output the additional information of the corresponding image stored in the memory means.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, an index print of an image to be printed in each job is output as a cover page before each job output according to the presence or absence of the cover page output set by the cover page output setting means. Outputting image data stored in a memory means on recording paper according to a setting of one or more print jobs selected by a print job selecting means, and reading the print job data. Determining whether a cover page is output when a next print job exists in the print job data; outputting the cover page; and outputting image data when the print job has a next image. Reading the image data and printing the image data. Characterized in that it obtain.

Further, the program stored in the storage medium according to claim 4 includes a step of reading a print job designated by the user stored in the detachable memory means mounted, and And if cover page output is specified, the cover page is output,
Printing the next job.

Thus, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention,
With a simple configuration, a plurality of print jobs can be selectively executed, and the outputs of the plurality of print jobs can be easily sorted. Further, the output image of each job can be checked at a glance.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The control unit 101 controls and manages the operation of each unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, and includes a microprocessor and its peripheral circuits. The operation unit 102 includes the control unit 1
01 to specify various operations.
For example, it is provided with an LCD and various operation buttons. The operation unit 102 sets whether or not to output a cover page. The memory unit 103
It stores image data and data related thereto, and includes, for example, a memory card used as an image storage medium of a digital camera and an external device itself having an image data input / output I / F.

The related data stored together with the image data includes attribute data of each image and print job settings. The memory input / output unit 104 is a unit related to input / output for reading image data and data related thereto from the memory unit 103 and writing the image data to the memory unit. The printer unit 105 prints images stored in the memory unit 103 on recording paper according to information specified by the operation unit 102 and print designation information stored in the memory unit 103.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a memory structure of image data and data related thereto stored in the memory unit shown in FIG. The memory 201 has basic information 202,
Three types of data, additional information 203 and image information 204, are stored. The basic information 201 includes information such as the number of images and an address where each image information is stored. The additional information 203 includes a plurality of print job information 205 for printing the stored image, together with additional information such as various attribute data of each image. The attribute data of each image includes information such as the shooting date and time and the photographer.

Each print job represents the number of prints for each image, and print job 1 (206)
Indicates that the job is to print one image, two images 2, one image 4, and three images 7. Operation unit 10
In 2, the user can select one or more jobs from a plurality of print job designations, and can print out from the printer unit 105 according to the selected job. The attribute data of the image as additional information and the contents of the print job are created on an external device such as a digital camera or a personal computer and written into the memory unit, or input from the operation unit 102, and the created data is stored in the control unit 101, the memory Input / output unit 1
It is also possible to write the data to the memory unit 103 via the server 04.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for a plurality of selected print jobs. When a plurality of print jobs are selected and print start is instructed, the process proceeds to step 301, where the selected print job data is read. Then, the process proceeds to step 302, where the presence or absence of the next print job is determined based on the print job data. If the next job exists, step 30
Proceed to 3 to determine whether or not there is a cover page output.

If the cover page is not output, the process proceeds to step 305. If the cover page is output, the cover page is output in step 304.
To determine from the print job whether there is an image to be printed next. If the next image does not exist,
Since the job is completed, the process returns to step 302 and proceeds to the processing of the next job. If the next image exists, the flow advances to step 306 to read the image data, and print the number of images specified in step 307. Thereafter, the process returns to step 305 to move to the processing of the next image.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the output of print jobs 1 and 2 printed according to the procedure of FIG. Reference numeral 402 denotes the bundle 401 output on the recording paper as viewed from the side. The bundle 401 includes an output 403 of print job 1 and an output 404 of print job 2. The top of each output is a cover page, and the cover page 405 of print job 1 and the cover page 406 of print job 2 are printed with the index of the image output by each job. In this index print, thumbnail images of images corresponding to each output in the job are arranged.

(Second Embodiment) In a second embodiment,
An example is shown in which the shooting date and time, the photographer, and the number of corresponding images output in the job are output together with the thumbnail images in the index page print of the cover page as additional information in the memory. The configuration of the device, the memory configuration, and the processing means are similar to those of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a cover page showing another embodiment of the present invention. In the cover page 505 of the print job 1, the corresponding shooting date and time, the photographer, and the number of prints are output as character information together with the thumbnail of the image output in the job.

In the above-described embodiment, only the number of prints of each image is dealt with as the content of the print job. However, the present invention is not limited to this. It goes without saying that the specification can be handled. Further, in the above-described second embodiment, in the index print used for the cover page, the photographer and the photographing date and time of the image are used as examples of the additional information output together with the image. However, it goes without saying that any information stored in the memory can be used as the attribute information of the image.

[0021]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Print job selection means for selecting one or more print jobs from a plurality of print jobs stored in a removable memory means for storing image data and additional information including setting of a plurality of print jobs; and cover page output setting Means for controlling output of an index print of an image to be printed in each job as a cover page before output of each job in accordance with the presence or absence of the cover page output set by the cover page output setting means; and Control means for controlling printing of the image data stored in the memory means on recording paper in accordance with the settings of one or more print jobs selected by the selection means. If you select any print job from Sometimes, it is possible to output the cover pages of each job according to the setting. In addition, since the index of the image output in the job is printed on the cover page, the contents can be checked at a glance.

For example, in the case of printing and distributing an image photographed by a digital camera to a plurality of persons, such as a reprint, the image differs for each distribution destination. In such a case,
By creating a print job corresponding to each distribution destination and performing continuous printing, and using the index print as a cover page, additional printing can be easily realized.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the control means for controlling the printing based on each means adds the corresponding image stored in the memory means in addition to the index image in the index printing. Since it is possible to perform control to output information together, attribute data of each image stored in the memory is printed on the cover page, so that information related to the image can also be confirmed together .

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a step of reading print job data, a step of determining whether or not a cover page is output when a next print job exists in the print job data; , A step of reading image data when the next image is present in the print job, and a step of printing image data, so that setting of a plurality of print jobs, setting of image data for each print job, It is also possible to set whether to output a cover page for each print job.

Further, according to the invention described in claim 4,
Reading the print job specified by the user stored in the attached detachable memory means; and outputting the cover page when the next job is present and the cover page output is specified. Since the method includes a step of printing a job, a plurality of print jobs can be selectively executed with a simple configuration, and outputs of the plurality of print jobs can be easily sorted. Further, the output image of each job can be checked at a glance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a memory structure for storing image data and data related thereto.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a plurality of selected print jobs.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating the contents of an index print output as a cover page.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a cover page by printing attribute information of an image together with an index image.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 101 control unit 102 operation unit 103 memory unit 104 memory input / output unit 105 printer unit 201 memory 202 basic information 203 additional information 204 image information 205 print job information 206 print job contents 301 print job data read processing 302 determination of presence / absence of next print job Processing 303: Cover page output determination processing 304 Cover page output processing 305 Determination processing of the next image to be printed 306 Next image data reading processing 307 Printing processing for a specified number of sheets 401 Job output bundle 402 Job output bundle from the side What I saw 403 Output bundle of print job 1 404 Output bundle of print job 2 405 Cover page of print job 1 406 Cover page of print job 2 501 Job output bundle 502 Job Printing portion 507 covers the print job 2 page 503 the print job first output beam 504 output beam 505 print job first cover page 506 image attribute data of the print job 2 as viewed Chikarataba Side

Claims (4)

[Claims] A print job selecting means for selecting one or more print jobs from a plurality of print jobs stored in a removable memory means in which image data and additional information including settings of a plurality of print jobs are stored; A cover page output setting unit, and performs control to output an index print of an image to be printed in each job as a cover page before each job output according to the presence or absence of the cover page output set by the cover page output setting unit. And control means for controlling the printing of image data stored in the memory means on recording paper in accordance with the settings of one or more print jobs selected by the print job selecting means. Forming equipment. 2. The control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit performs control to output additional information of a corresponding image stored in the memory unit in addition to the index image in the index print. The image forming apparatus as described in the above. 3. An index print of an image to be printed in each job is output as a cover page before each job output in accordance with the presence or absence of a cover page output set by the cover page output setting means, and is selected by the print job selection means. An image data output method for printing the image data stored in the memory means on recording paper in accordance with the settings of one or more print jobs, wherein the print job data includes the steps of: Determining whether a cover page is output if a print job exists; outputting the cover page; reading image data when the print job has a next image; printing the image data The step of performing Output method of chromatography data. 4. A step of reading a print job designated by the user stored in the attached detachable memory means, and a step of reading a cover page when there is a next job and a cover page output is designated. Outputting the next job and printing the next job.