JP2003012224A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation apparatus greatly reducing the control and identification time needed for a punching process. SOLUTION: A control part 8, based on punched hole number designation data and paper size data received by a print data receiving part 1, determines whether or not the number of punched holes, designated based on the relationship between the number of punched holes and the size/direction of effective paper, can be achieved on the designated paper size.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile and the like, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus equipped with a punch processing means for punching a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus has a plurality of paper feed units (paper feed trays and paper feed cassettes), and paper is placed by appropriately changing the paper size and paper direction in the paper feed unit. It is possible to print on various papers.

Further, various paper discharge processing devices can be mounted. For example, by mounting a sorter capable of punching, it is possible to perform a printing operation while punching.

[0004]

Generally, in punching, two holes, three holes, and four holes can be processed. However, in the conventional image forming apparatus, the number of punched holes and the paper size can be designated from an external device such as a host computer or the operating means. Depending on the combination of the designation of the number of punched holes and the paper size / direction, the user can make an intention. There was a problem that punching different from what was done, or that no punching was done at all. Furthermore, there is a problem in that it is not possible to know whether or not the original punching process is designated from a sheet discharged without punching, and it is difficult to know how many holes should be punched by one after discharging. there were.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and comprises a punch processing means for punching a sheet and a printing means for printing image data on the sheet. In the image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus is provided with a control unit that determines a sheet candidate to be fed from the number of punch holes designated by an external device or an operating unit when a print command is issued.

Alternatively, in an image forming apparatus equipped with a punching means for punching paper and a printing means for printing image data on the paper, the paper placed on a paper feed cassette, paper feed tray, or the like. Paper management means for managing the size and placement direction, and control means for judging whether the number of punched holes designated by an external device or operation means at the time of a print command is valid or invalid for the paper detected by the paper management means And an image forming apparatus including. Alternatively, in an image forming apparatus including a punch processing unit that performs punch processing on a sheet and a printing unit that prints image data on the sheet, the size of the sheet placed on a sheet feeding cassette or a sheet feeding tray, When the paper management unit that manages the orientation and the remaining amount of paper and the printing unit and the punch processing unit perform punch printing processing, and the paper management unit detects that the paper being fed is exhausted, printing is performed. Control so that you can choose to stop or continue,
In the case of continuing, the image forming apparatus includes a control unit that controls to select only a paper size that can process the number of punch holes during the punching process. Alternatively, in an image forming apparatus including a punch processing unit that performs punch processing on a sheet and a printing unit that prints image data on the sheet, the size of the sheet placed on a sheet feeding cassette or a sheet feeding tray, The paper management means for managing the orientation and the remaining amount of paper, and the number of punch holes designated by the paper management means from the external device or the operation means at the time of the print command can be punched with the paper size by the paper management means. When it is detected that a sheet of which the mounting direction is different by 90 degrees is mounted, the printing means rotates the image data by 90 degrees to perform print processing, and at the same time, print processing a mark at a punched position. The image forming apparatus includes a control unit that controls the image forming apparatus.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a printer which is an image forming apparatus of the present invention. This image forming apparatus includes a print data receiving unit 1 for receiving print data, paper size data, or punch hole number data from an external device, an operation display unit 2 for displaying and operating an error, a print state, and the like, a paper feed cassette. And a paper size on the paper feed tray, a mounting direction, and a paper management unit 3 for managing and managing the remaining amount of mounted paper, and an image processing unit 4 for converting print data received by the print data receiving unit 1 into image data. An image data storage unit 5 that stores and holds image data, a printing unit 6 that prints image data and marks at positions that will be described later as punch holes, a punch processing unit 7 that performs punch processing, and controls the entire image forming apparatus. The control unit 8 is provided.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart from reception of print data when the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1 performs punching processing to determination of validity / invalidity of designated punching processing. As shown in FIG. 2, first, the data sent from the host computer, which is an external device, is received by the print data receiving unit 1 (step 1), and the data is passed to the control unit 8. This data includes print data, paper size designation data, and punch hole number designation data. The control unit 8 passes the print data to the image processing unit 4, the image processing unit 4 creates the image data (step 2), and the created image data is stored and held in the image storage unit 5 (step 3).

On the other hand, the control unit 8 determines the number of punch holes and the effective paper size from the punch hole number designation data and the paper size data.
Based on the directional relationship, it is determined whether the specified number of punch holes can be processed or not for the specified paper size (steps 4 and 5). The relationship between the number of punch holes and the effective paper size / direction is a correspondence relationship as shown in FIG. 3, and the information of FIG. 3 is stored in a storage unit (not shown) in the image forming apparatus.
The control unit 8 may make the determination based on these pieces of information. If it is determined that the punching process is impossible (NO in step 5), the punching process section 7 is notified of the punching process cancellation, the created image data is passed to the printing unit 6, and printing is performed without punching process. Execute (Step 6).

The first aspect of the present invention relates to steps 4 and 5, and is characterized in that the control unit 8 controls so as to determine a sheet candidate to be fed from punch hole number designation data. That is, it is characterized in that the sheet candidates that can be fed are determined in accordance with the table of FIG. 3 from the number of punch holes initially designated. Further, the second aspect of the present invention relates to steps 4 and 5, and the number of punched holes by the punched hole number designation data is valid or invalid for the information on the sheet detected by the sheet management section 3 by the control section 8. It is characterized in that it is determined according to the table of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the judgment control when punching is performed following FIG. First, if it is determined that punching processing is possible (Yes in Step 5)
s), the control unit 8 obtains the paper information managed by the paper management unit 3 and determines whether or not there is a specified paper size that can be punched (step 11). If it exists, the paper feed position in which the paper size is stored is selected, and the process follows the flowchart of FIG. 5 described later. If it does not exist, an error display process is first performed on the operation display unit 2 (Step 12).

Here, as a further embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, in relation to Step 11, after the control unit 8 determines a paper candidate to be fed, the paper size designation data or the paper management unit 3 sends it. The feature is that the paper to be fed is determined based on the information.

At this point, it is possible to judge whether to continue printing or to stop printing (Step 13). When the print cancel is designated from the external device or the operation display unit 2, the cancellation of the error display on the operation display unit 2 is notified, and the print is stopped (Step 14). On the contrary, when the continuation is designated, the punch processing unit 7 can perform the punching process based on the designated punch hole number designation data, and the control unit 8 has the sheet size that can be fed based on the information from the sheet management unit 3. Another paper feed position is searched (Step 15).

If there is a paper feed cassette or paper feed tray that can feed paper (No in Step 16), the paper feed cassette or paper feed tray that can feed paper is set to the paper feed position, and an error display is displayed on the operation display unit 2. Is notified, and the process follows the flowchart of FIG. 5 described later. When continuation is executed without a paper cassette or paper tray that can be fed (Step
Yes in p16) indicates that the error display on the operation display unit 2 is canceled, the punching process unit 7 is notified of the punching process cancellation, and the created image data is printed by the printing unit 6 as the forced printing process.
And printing is performed (Step 17).

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the judgment of punch processing and punch mark processing. First, the paper management unit 3
It is determined whether or not the paper direction of the paper feeding position selected by the information from can be specified punching processing (St.
ep21). When the punching process is possible, the punching process unit 7 is notified of the punching process, the created image data is transferred to the printing unit 7 and printing is performed, and then the punching process is performed (Step 22). If you cannot punch,
The image data stored and held in the image storage unit 5 is rotated by 90 degrees, and this is newly set as image data (Step 23),
In addition, the punch mark image equivalent to the punch hole number designation data is overwritten on the image data (Step 24), the punch processing unit 7 is notified of the cancellation of the punch processing, and the recreated image data is passed to the printing unit 7 for printing. Execute (Step2
5). FIG. 6 is an image diagram of punch marks to be overwritten.

The determination in Step 21 is made such that the paper management unit is determined while the image data printing / punch processing is being performed by deciding the paper feed position that is the optimum prepared size / direction based on the punch hole number designation data and the paper size designation data. 3 may be determined when there is no paper being fed.

The third aspect of the present invention relates to a case where the printing / punching process is performed halfway, and the sheet management unit 3
When it detects that there is no paper currently being fed in,
It is controlled so that either printing is stopped or continued, and if it is continued, in Step 21, control is performed to select only a paper size that can process the number of punch holes during punch processing. Characterize.

As a further embodiment, Steps 23-S
As shown in step 25, when the paper management unit 3 detects that the paper size is punchable with respect to the number of punch holes being punched, but the paper is loaded in a direction in which the loading direction is different by 90 degrees, The print unit 6 rotates the image data by 90 degrees to perform print processing, and at the same time, prints a mark at a punched position.

A fourth invention of the present invention is Step2.
In relation to 1 to Step 25, control is performed when the paper management unit 3 detects that the paper can be punched by the paper size but the paper is loaded in a direction in which the paper loading direction is different by 90 degrees with respect to the punch hole number designation data. The printing unit 6 prints the image data 9
It is characterized in that the mark is controlled to be printed at the punched position at the same time as the printing process is performed by rotating it by 0 degree.

[0020]

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the control means controls so as to determine the paper candidate to be fed from the punch hole number designating data, and then the paper size designating data. Alternatively, control is performed so that the paper to be fed is determined based on the information from the paper management unit, or the number of punch holes specified by the number of punch holes is valid or invalid for the information about the paper detected by the paper management unit by the control unit. By controlling so as to determine whether or not it is, the image forming apparatus can prevent erroneous printing and punching.

Further, when it is detected by the paper management means that there is no more paper currently being fed, control is made so that printing can be stopped or continued, and if continued, punch processing is performed. Control is performed so that only a paper size that can process the number of punch holes in the medium is selected, and the paper management unit can punch the paper size with respect to the number of punch holes being punched, but the placement direction is 90 degrees. When it is detected that the papers in different directions are placed, the printing unit rotates the image data by 90 degrees to perform the print processing, and at the same time, the print processing is performed so that the mark is printed at the punched position. When the paper management means detects that the paper size can be punched with respect to the number-of-holes designation data but the mounting direction is different by 90 degrees, the control means is the printing means. If the punch processing cannot be performed as instructed by controlling the image data to be rotated by 90 degrees for printing processing and at the same time for printing the mark at the punched position, the processing is interrupted as an error processing. It is possible to avoid the punching process and to select the wrong paper. Moreover, by adding the punch mark and printing, it is easy to determine whether the paper is punched later, and the punching The image forming apparatus can confirm the contents.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of an image processing apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing processing of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a table showing the relationship between the number of punch holes and the effective paper size / direction.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing processing of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sheet printed by adding punch marks.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Print data receiving unit 2: Operation display section 3: Paper management department 4: Image processing unit 5: Image data storage unit 6: Printing department 7: Punch processing section 8: Control unit

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Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: punching means for punching a sheet; and printing means for printing image data on the sheet. A punch hole specified by an external device or an operating means when a print command is issued. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that determines a sheet candidate to be fed from the number of sheets. 2. A paper management means for managing the size and direction of paper placed on a paper feed cassette or paper feed tray is provided, and the control means prints after determining a paper candidate to be fed. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper to be fed is determined based on the paper size information at the time of the command or the information from the paper management means. 3. An image forming apparatus comprising a punching means for punching a sheet and a printing means for printing image data on the sheet, the sheet being placed on a sheet feeding cassette, a sheet feeding tray or the like. Paper management means for managing the size and placement direction, and control means for judging whether the number of punch holes specified by the external device or the operation means at the time of a print command is valid or invalid for the paper detected by the paper management means An image forming apparatus comprising: 4. An image forming apparatus comprising a punching means for punching a sheet and a printing means for printing image data on the sheet, the sheet being placed on a sheet feeding cassette, a sheet feeding tray or the like. Paper management means for managing size, placement direction, and remaining quantity of paper, and when the printing means and punch processing means detect that the paper management means has run out of paper during punch printing processing. , A control unit that controls whether to stop or continue printing, and if it continues, a control unit that controls to select only a paper size that can process the number of punch holes during punch processing. An image forming apparatus comprising: 5. The control unit detects that the paper being fed has run out during the punch printing process and continues printing, and the paper management unit determines the number of punch holes being punched. The paper size allows punching, but the loading direction is 90
When it is detected that the papers of different directions are placed, the printing means rotates the image data by 90 degrees to perform the print processing, and at the same time, controls to print the mark at the punched position. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, which is characterized in that. 6. An image forming apparatus comprising a punching means for punching paper and a printing means for printing image data on the paper, the paper being placed on a paper feed cassette, paper feed tray or the like. The paper management means for managing the size, placement direction, and remaining amount of paper, and the number of punch holes specified by the external device or the operation means at the time of the print command can be punched by the paper size by the paper management means When it is detected that a sheet having a direction different by 90 degrees is placed, the printing means controls to rotate the image data by 90 degrees to perform print processing, and at the same time, perform print processing of a mark at a punched position. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit.