JP2006030629A - Image forming apparatus and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus and a control program for easily and accurately setting the size of an irregular size paper. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with: an image reading means reading the image on the irregular sized paper; a size detection means extracting the exterior size of the irregular size paper from a read image and finding the width and the length of the exterior shape; a paper supply tray specifying means specifying a paper supply tray to which the irregular sized paper is set; and a storing means storing the paper supply tray specifying information specified by the paper tray specifying means while relating the information to the width and the length of the paper found by the size detection means. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control program that perform printing using a non-standard size paper.

In the conventional image forming apparatus, the size of the non-standard paper is set by the key input of the width and length values from the operation panel, so that the paper size must be measured in advance, which is troublesome. Have. In order to solve such a problem, there is known an apparatus that automatically detects the size of a sheet by using an automatic document feeder, such as the apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-228561. Further, as in the apparatus described in Patent Document 2, it is known to detect the paper size using the document size detection means.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-202214 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-271890

  However, in the apparatus shown in Patent Document 1, since an automatic document feeder is indispensable, there is a problem that it cannot be used in an apparatus that does not include an automatic document feeder. In addition, the apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2 has a problem that it is impossible to detect the exact size of an arbitrary non-standard paper.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus and a control program capable of easily and accurately setting the size of an irregular sheet.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading unit that reads an image of an irregular sheet, a size detection unit that extracts an outer shape of the irregular sheet from the image, and obtains the width and length of the outer sheet, and an irregular shape. Paper feed stage specifying means for specifying a paper feed stage for setting paper, paper feed stage specifying information specified by the paper feed stage specifying means, and values of the width and length of the paper obtained by the size detection means And storage means for storing the data in association with each other.

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the paper feed stage specifying means specifies the paper feed stage in which the non-standard paper is set by detecting that the non-standard paper is set.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control program for controlling an image forming apparatus including a storage unit for storing a size of an irregular sheet, an image reading process for reading an image of an irregular sheet, and the image from the image The size detection process for extracting the outer shape of the non-standard paper and obtaining the width and length of the outer shape, the paper feed stage specifying process for specifying the paper feed stage for setting the non-standard paper, and the paper feed stage specifying process In this case, the storage unit stores the storage unit in association with the paper feed stage specifying information and the sheet width and length values obtained by the size detection process.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the paper feed stage specifying process specifies a paper feed stage in which an amorphous paper is set by detecting that an amorphous paper is set.

  According to the present invention, the image of the amorphous paper is read by the image reading means, the outline of the paper is extracted from the image of the irregular paper by image processing, and the width and length of the extracted outline are obtained. The effect that the size of the paper can be set easily and accurately is obtained. In addition, since the paper feed tray on which the paper is set is an irregular paper feed tray, the setting operation can be simplified.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a control unit that controls the overall processing operation of the apparatus. Reference numeral 2 denotes an input unit including a touch panel, function keys, numeric keys, and the like. Reference numeral 3 denotes a display unit composed of a liquid crystal display or the like. Reference numeral 4 denotes a scanner having a color CCD for image reading. Reference numeral 5 denotes an image memory for storing image data read by the scanner 4. Reference numeral 6 denotes a print processing unit that performs a series of printing processes including paper feeding, printing, and paper discharge in order to print image data stored in the image memory 5. The image memory 5 stores the original image data read by the scanner 4 when the image forming apparatus is used as a copying machine, and prints transmitted from the host computer when the image forming apparatus is used as a printer. Store the data. Reference numeral 7 denotes an image processing unit that performs image processing on the data stored in the image memory 5. Reference numeral 8 denotes a paper size storage unit that stores information on the detected irregular paper size. Reference numeral 9 denotes a magnification calculation unit that calculates the print magnification of image data in order to print an image on an irregular-size sheet. Reference numeral 10 denotes a document discrimination unit that discriminates the size of a document when the image forming apparatus is used as a copying machine. Reference numeral 11 denotes a cover open / close sensor that detects the cover open / closed state of the image reading surface (original table) of the scanner 4. Reference numeral 12 denotes a paper sensor that detects, for each paper feed stage, whether paper has been set in the manual paper feed stage or whether a paper feed cassette has been inserted.

  Next, the operation of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation for setting an irregular paper size. First, the user operates the input unit 2 to select a user-defined size setting function. In response to this, the control unit 1 displays a guidance display (for example, “please set the non-standard size paper”) for instructing to set the non-standard size paper to be defined on the image reading surface (original table) of the scanner 4 ( Step S1). In response to this instruction, the user places a non-standard paper to be set on the document table of the scanner 4 and presses the start key of the input unit 2 (steps S2 and S3). At this time, the irregular sheet may be conveyed to the document table using an automatic document feeder.

  In response to this, the control unit 1 instructs the scanner 4 to read an image. In response to this instruction, the scanner 4 reads the image of the irregular sheet placed on the image reading surface, and stores the obtained image data in the image memory 5 (step S4). Subsequently, the control unit 1 instructs the image processing unit 7 to execute processing for detecting an irregular sheet. In response to this, the image processing unit 7 reads out the image data stored in the image memory 5, extracts an irregular size paper portion by performing image processing, and extracts the extracted irregular size paper portion. The paper size (width and length) is obtained from the size. Then, the image processing apparatus 7 notifies the control unit 1 of the obtained paper size. In response to this, the control unit 1 stores the notified size of the irregular shaped paper in the paper size storage unit 8 (step S5). Then, the control unit 1 enters a paper feed stage setting confirmation waiting state (steps S6 and S7).

  Next, the user selects a paper feed stage in which the non-standard paper is set, and sets the non-standard paper. At this time, when inserting the irregularly shaped paper into the detachable paper feeding cassette, the irregularly shaped paper is put into the paper feeding cassette and the paper feeding cassette is inserted into the paper feeding stage. In addition, when an irregular sheet is set in the manual sheet feed stage, the irregular sheet is set in the manual sheet feed stage. The paper sensor 12 detects that the paper has been set, and notifies the control unit 1 of an identification number for identifying the paper feed stage in which the paper is set. In response to this, the control unit 1 stores the identification number of the paper feed stage in which the non-standard size paper is set in association with the size of the non-standard size paper stored in the paper size storage unit 8. As a result, the size of the irregular sheet and the identification number of the sheet feeder that feeds the irregular sheet are stored in the sheet size storage unit 8 in association with each other. Determine.

  Next, the control unit 1 displays on the display unit 3 the size of the irregular sheet and the identification number of the paper feed stage that feeds the irregular sheet for confirmation (step S8). The user confirms the setting contents by viewing this display. Then, the control unit 1 displays a message for inquiring whether or not to continue the paper size setting on the display unit 3. The user answers the message by operating the input unit 2. The control unit 1 reads the contents of the answer and returns to step S1 if the setting is continued, and repeats the process. If the setting is not continued, the control unit 1 exits the user-defined size setting function and shifts to the document reading mode.

  Then, after shifting to the document reading mode, when the user places the document on the document table of the scanner 4 and presses the star key, the document determination unit 10 determines the size of the document placed on the document table, and the magnification. The calculation unit 9 is notified. Subsequently, the control unit 1 instructs the scanner 4 to start image reading. In response to this, the scanner 4 reads the image of the document on the document table and stores it in the image memory 5. The magnification calculation unit 9 reads the size of the irregular sheet stored in the sheet size storage unit 8. The magnification calculation unit 9 calculates the magnification of the image from the document size notified from the document determination unit 10 and the size of the irregular sheet read from the sheet size storage unit 8, and outputs the magnification value to the control unit 1. In response to this, the control unit 1 notifies the image processing unit 7 of this magnification, and also notifies the print processing unit 6 of the identification number of the paper feed stage stored in the paper size storage unit 8. A print instruction is output to the unit 6. The image processing unit 7 performs a scaling process on the image data stored in the image memory 5 based on the magnification notified from the control unit 1. The print processing unit 6 reads the image data subjected to the scaling process from the image memory 5 and feeds the paper in the paper feed stage notified from the control unit 1 to execute the printing process. As a result, it is possible to perform printing using an irregular sheet.

  In this way, an image of an irregular sheet to be used is read, the sheet size is obtained by image processing, and the obtained size is stored in association with the selected paper feed stage, so the size of the irregular sheet is measured. Therefore, it is possible to easily and accurately set the size of the irregular sheet, and to reduce the burden of setting work.

  In the above description, the paper feed stage on which the non-standard paper is set is selected, and when the non-standard paper is set, the size of the non-standard paper is related to the paper feed stage. It may be operated to select a paper feed stage. Alternatively, the processing may be performed on the assumption that a paper feed stage opened in advance is selected. Furthermore, when no paper feed tray is opened, processing may be performed assuming that the manual paper feed tray is selected.

  Further, the control unit 1 reads the state of the start key of the input unit 2 and refers to the output value of the cover opening / closing sensor 11 when the start key is pressed. In contrast, an instruction for image reading may be output. In this way, since the read image of the target amorphous paper is read with the document table cover open, the extraction processing of the irregular paper portion is performed by setting the pixel value of the image to a predetermined threshold. It is possible to easily and accurately perform binarization by comparing the value with the magnitude.

  In addition, the program for realizing the function of the processing unit in FIG. 1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into the computer system and executed to execute the size setting process. You may go. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, and a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built in the computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of the apparatus shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part, 2 ... Input part, 3 ... Display part, 4 ... Scanner, 5 ... Image memory, 6 ... Print processing part, 7 ... Image processing part, 8 ... paper size processing unit, 9 ... magnification calculation unit, 10 ... document discrimination unit, 11 ... cover open / close sensor, 12 ... paper sensor

Claims (4)

An image reading means for reading an image of the non-standard paper;
A size detecting means for extracting the outer shape of the irregular sheet from the image and obtaining the width and length of the outer shape;
A paper feed stage identifying means for identifying a paper feed stage in which the non-standard paper is set;
A storage means for storing the paper feed stage specifying information specified by the paper feed stage specifying means and the width and length values of the paper obtained by the size detection means in association with each other; Forming equipment.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper feed stage specifying unit specifies a paper feed stage in which the amorphous paper is set by detecting that the custom paper is set. A control program for controlling an image forming apparatus including a storage unit for storing the size of an irregular sheet,
An image reading process for reading images on non-standard paper,
A size detection process for extracting the outer shape of the irregular-shaped paper from the image and obtaining the width and length of the outer shape;
Paper feed stage specifying processing for specifying the paper feed stage for loading the non-standard paper,
Causing the computer to perform a storage process of associating the paper feed stage specifying information specified by the paper feed stage specifying process with the width and length values of the paper obtained by the size detection process and storing them in the storage means. A control program characterized by that. The control program according to claim 3, wherein the paper feed stage specifying process specifies a paper feed stage in which the amorphous paper is set by detecting that the custom paper is set.

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