JP2006044870A - Printer and printing control method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printer capable of detecting printing paper per sheet. <P>SOLUTION: The printing paper 2 fitted with IC tags with IDs written is enclosed in a paper feeding cassette 1. An IC tag reader 3 communicates with the IC tags of all the printing paper 2 in the paper feeding cassette 1 to acquire the IDs and sends them to a control part. The control part records the IDs in a memory, then reads the IDs one by one from the memory and counts the number while collating the IDs on whether there is duplication of the IDs. The control part records the residual quantity of printing paper obtained as a result, in the memory. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and a printing control method capable of acquiring the number of printed materials having an IC tag built therein in units of one sheet.

Conventionally, the remaining amount of printing paper set in a paper feed cassette of a printing apparatus such as a printer has been obtained by various detection methods. Various techniques have been proposed to increase the accuracy. For example, Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 can be cited, and the detection accuracy is further improved by using such a technique.
In addition, a technique as disclosed in Patent Document 3 that uses an IC tag to detect the presence or absence of roll-shaped printing paper has been proposed.
JP 2003-246495 A JP 2003-252484 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-145899

In the conventional detection method, it is difficult to detect exactly one sheet, and the accuracy is not reliable. In a printing machine that stores important documents such as contract documents (no columns for blanks) in the paper cassette, management of those printing papers is very important, but what percentage of the maximum allowable capacity is the same as before? With such a detection capability, it is almost impossible to detect when several print sheets are lost.
The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus and a printing control method that can detect the remaining amount of a printing material in units of one sheet.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention of claim 1 is directed to a substrate to which an IC tag in which identification information is written is attached, a substrate supply cassette for storing the substrate, and all the components in the substrate supply cassette. An IC tag reader that communicates with the IC tag of the substrate to obtain the identification information, and a first memory (for example, an ID storage area, in which the identification information obtained from the IC tag is recorded) A checked ID storage area), a first control unit that counts the remaining amount of the printed material based on each identification information from within the first memory, and a second memory that records the remaining amount of the printed material. (For example, a printing medium remaining amount storage area).

  The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1, when the same identification information is present in the first memory, it is not counted as the remaining amount of the printed material.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, the identification information is sent to the IC tag reader when the power is turned on, when the printed material supply cassette is opened or closed, or when the remaining amount of printed material is requested from a host computer. And the identification information from the IC tag reader is recorded in a first memory, and the printed material is based on the identification information in the first memory (for example, ID storage area, checked ID storage area). It is characterized by counting the remaining amount.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects requests a remaining amount of the printed material from a host computer, the IC tag reader requests the identification information, and the IC tag reader The remaining amount of the printing material is counted based on the identification information of the printer and responds to the host computer.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the number of prints performed since the last open / close of the substrate supply cassette is counted, and a third memory (for example, a substrate remaining amount storage area) is counted. Counting means for recording, obtaining a difference between the remaining amount of the printed material when the printed material supply cassette is opened and closed and the third memory to obtain the current remaining amount of the printed material, and responding to the host computer And a second control means.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a substrate to which an IC tag in which identification information is written is attached, a substrate supply cassette for storing the substrate, an IC tag reader for acquiring the identification information, and the IC tag. And a control unit that counts the remaining amount of the printed material based on the acquired identification information, wherein the IC tag reading device includes the ICs of all the printed materials in the printed material supply cassette. It communicates with a tag, acquires the identification information and transmits it to the control means, and the control means records the identification information acquired from the IC tag in a first memory, and stores the identification information in the first memory. The printing control method is characterized in that the remaining amount of the printing material is counted based on each identification information and the count result is recorded in a second memory.

  According to the first and sixth aspects of the invention, it is possible to check the remaining amount of the printed material in the printed material supply cassette in units of one sheet.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, even when the IC tag reader receives two or more responses from the same substrate, it is possible to detect the abnormality and accurately detect the remaining amount of the substrate.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the printing apparatus may cause an event in which the remaining amount of the printed material may have changed (power-on, opening / closing of the printed material supply cassette, or request for the remaining amount of the printed material from the host computer). ) Automatically starts counting the remaining amount of printed material, so that the latest information can always be held.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the latest printing status of each printed material in the printed material supply cassette can be grasped from the host computer via the network.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the printing status of each printing medium in the printing medium supply cassette is grasped from the host computer via the network, the re-counting process can be omitted, which is efficient. Processing is possible.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The printing apparatus of the present invention is an apparatus that has a substrate supply cassette capable of storing a substrate to be printed, and prints the substrate to be printed in the substrate supply cassette one by one or every fixed size. And a copy machine. In the following, an embodiment of a printer according to the present invention for storing a print sheet with an IC tag attached thereto and printing it in a paper feed cassette will be described.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a configuration example of a paper feed cassette in a printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 1 denotes a paper feed cassette that stores printing paper. Reference numeral 2 denotes a plurality of printing papers to which IC tags are attached. Reference numeral 3 denotes an IC tag reader for reading information of the IC tag.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
4a is an image forming unit that creates image data to be printed on printing paper from input data, 4b is a communication unit that communicates with the host computer, and 4c is a control unit that controls each part of the apparatus and performs data processing. Details of the processing performed by the control unit 4c will be described later. Reference numeral 4d denotes a mechanical drive unit that performs drive control of printing paper conveyance and the like inside the printing apparatus, and 4e denotes a fixing unit that fixes a printed image on the printing paper.

Next, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 3, the printing paper remaining amount counting operation of the control unit 4c in the embodiment will be described.
First, when the operator turns on the printer, the control unit 4c instructs the IC tag reader 3 to detect the number of print sheets currently stored in the paper feed cassette 1 (step S1). ).

  The IC tag reading device 3 issues a request to transmit an ID to the IC tag attached to each printing paper. The IC tags of all the printing sheets stored in the paper feed cassette 1 respond with IDs to the IC tag reader 3 accordingly. The IC tag reading device 3 transmits the received ID to the control unit 4c (step S2).

  The control unit 4c stores the ID transmitted from the IC tag reading device 3 in the ID storage area in the memory (step S3). The control unit 4c repeats this process until it is confirmed that all the IDs transmitted from the IC tag reader 3 are stored in the memory (step S4).

Next, the control unit 4c starts checking the stored ID and counting the remaining amount of printing paper (step S5).
First, the control unit 4c creates a remaining printing paper counter in the memory and sets its initial value to zero. Next, the first data is taken out from the ID storage area, written in the checked ID storage area in the memory, and 1 is added to the value of the remaining printing paper counter. Next, the second data is extracted from the ID storage area and collated with the data in the checked ID storage area (step S6a). If there is no identical data in the checked ID storage area as a result of the collation, the value of the remaining printing paper counter is incremented by 1, and if there is the same data, nothing is done (step S6b). After that, the next data check process in the ID storage area is performed (step S6c).
The control unit 4c repeats the above processing (steps S6a to S6c) for all data in the ID storage area (step S6).

Thereafter, the obtained printing paper remaining amount counter value is stored in the printing paper remaining amount storage area in the memory, and is set as the latest printing paper remaining amount value (step S7).
In addition, by installing an output device (for example, an audio output device or a liquid crystal display device) that informs the print paper remaining amount value to the outside, the user can check the accurate print paper remaining amount for each sheet. It becomes possible.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The feature of this embodiment is that the printing apparatus in the first embodiment is connected to a host computer via a network and has two processing modes.

The first mode will be described below. First, the host computer requests the remaining amount of printing paper from the printing apparatus. After detecting the remaining amount request, the printing apparatus performs the same operation as in the first embodiment. Thereafter, the remaining printing paper value is extracted from the remaining printing paper storage area in the first embodiment, and is transmitted to the host computer.
Next, the second mode will be described. First, the printing apparatus counts how many printing processes have been performed since the paper feed cassette was last opened and closed, and stores this in the printing number storage area. The host computer requests the remaining amount of printing paper from the printing apparatus. After detecting the remaining amount request, the printing apparatus extracts the remaining amount of printing paper from the printing paper remaining amount storage area in the first embodiment. Then, the difference between the print sheet remaining value and the value in the print number storage area is taken and transmitted to the host computer.

  As a result, the host computer periodically inquires of the printing apparatus about the remaining amount of printing paper, thereby enabling remote management of the remaining amount of printing paper via the network.

  Further, the printing apparatus itself can be put into a security-controlled state by turning on the power supply of the printing apparatus all day and managing the history of opening / closing of the paper cassette by the host computer. As a result, it is possible to detect the loss of the printing paper in the paper cassette, and to manage important documents such as contract documents and documents containing confidential information.

  The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes a design and the like within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the present invention can be applied to a printing apparatus that prints an IC card.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration example of a paper feed cassette in the printing apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the printing apparatus by the embodiment. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation for detecting a remaining amount of printing paper in the embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Paper feed cassette 2 ... Printing paper 3 ... IC tag reading device 4 ... Printing device 4a ... Image formation part 4b ... Communication part 4c ... Control part 4d ... Machine drive part 4e ... Fixing part

Claims (6)

A substrate to which the identification information is written and an IC tag is attached;
A substrate supply cassette for storing the substrate;
An IC tag reader that obtains the identification information by communicating with the IC tags of all the substrates in the substrate supply cassette;
A first memory in which the identification information acquired from the IC tag is recorded;
First control means for counting a remaining amount of the printing material based on each identification information in the first memory;
A second memory for recording the remaining amount of the substrate;
A printing apparatus comprising:   2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first control unit does not count the remaining amount of the printed material when the same identification information exists in the first memory.   The first control means requests the identification information to the IC tag reader when the power is turned on, when the substrate supply cassette is opened or closed, or when a remaining amount of substrate is requested from a host computer, and the IC tag reader The identification information from the apparatus is recorded in a first memory, and the remaining amount of the printing material is counted based on each identification information in the first memory. Printing device. In the case where the remaining amount of the printed material is requested from the host computer, the first control means
The identification information is requested from the IC tag reader, the remaining amount of the printed material is counted based on the identification information from the IC tag reader, and a response is made to a host computer. 4. The printing apparatus according to any one of items 3. Counting means for counting how many sheets have been printed since the last substrate supply cassette opening and closing, and recording them in a third memory;
A second control for obtaining a current remaining amount of the printed material by obtaining a difference between the remaining amount of the printed material and the third memory at the time of opening / closing the printed material supply cassette, and responding to a host computer Means,
The printing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: The printed material to which the IC tag is attached, the printed material supply cassette for storing the printed material, the IC tag reader for acquiring the identification information, and the identification information acquired from the IC tag. And a control unit that counts the remaining amount of the printing material based on
The IC tag reader communicates with the IC tags of all the printed materials in the printed material supply cassette, acquires the identification information and transmits it to the control means,
The control means is
Recording the identification information acquired from the IC tag in a first memory;
Count the remaining amount of the printed material based on each identification information from within the first memory,
A count control result is recorded in a second memory.

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