JP2009017081A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To restore a document by a very simple means even in the case that the document is lost partially or entirely. <P>SOLUTION: On reception of input of document identification information, a control part 14 reads out contents relating to the document from stored contents of an internal memory 28 on the basis of received document identification information and performs image formation of read-out contents relating to the document, whereby the entire document can be restored from only one piece of the document. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a document management function. In particular, even when a part or all of a document is lost, the document can be restored to its original state by a very simple means. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of performing the above.

  For example, if 10 documents are scattered on the floor, the page order may be scattered. It would be convenient if the page order of such documents could be aligned and printed out.

  In response to such a demand, when a plurality of documents are read by a reading device, the page number of the document in the read image data is recognized by the image recognition unit, and if the page number can be recognized, the image data is stored in the image storage device. The address and page number at the time of writing are stored in association with each other, the read image data is written into the image storage device, and when the reading operation is completed, the image data in the image storage device is processed and recognized by the output device. An image forming apparatus that forms images on paper in the order of page numbers is known (see Patent Document 1).

  According to the technique of Patent Document 1, even when the order of pages is not uniform when reading a plurality of originals, it is possible to perform print output in the same order when outputting.

  However, in the technique of Patent Document 1, when a part or all of a document is lost, it is impossible to recover the document as it is.

JP 2003-234858 A

  The problem to be solved is that in the conventional technology, when a part or all of a document is lost, it is not possible to restore the entire document.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of recovering all of a document by a very simple means even when part or all of the document is lost. In association with document identification information for identifying a document, a document storage means for storing the contents related to the document, a reception means for receiving input of the document identification information, and when the input of the document identification information is received by the reception means Document recovery control means for reading out the contents related to the corresponding document from the stored contents of the document storage means based on the received document identification information and executing image formation of the contents related to the read out corresponding document The main feature is that

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a document storage unit that stores the content of a document in association with document identification information for identifying the document, a reception unit that receives input of the document identification information, and a document described below Recovery control means, and the document recovery control means, when input of the document identification information is received by the reception means, based on the received document identification information, from the stored contents of the document storage means Since the contents related to the corresponding document are read out and image formation of the contents related to the read out document is executed, the user can manage the document even if part or all of the document is lost. As long as the document identification information of the corresponding document is input, the contents related to the corresponding document are read from the stored contents of the document storage means, and all the documents are restored to the original state. As a result of it becomes possible to perform the print output in a state, it is possible to provide a very highly convenient image forming apparatus to the user.

  Even if part or all of the document is lost, the document identification information can be input by the reception unit that accepts the input of the document identification information for the purpose of restoring the entire document to its original state with a very simple means. Is received, based on the received document identification information, the content related to the corresponding document is read out from the stored contents of the document storage means, and the image formation of the content related to the read corresponding document is executed. Realized by means of document recovery control.

  Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

[Entire configuration of image forming apparatus]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an operation panel unit of the image forming apparatus.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 1 according to the present invention is set on a platen glass (not shown), or image data of a document fed from a document feeding device 4 is scanned by a scanner unit (of the present invention). Corresponding to “accepting means” or “reading means”) 5, and photoelectrically converts the read image data and sends it to the image forming unit 6. The image forming unit 6 stores data selectively set and operated from the operation unit 3 on the recording material (copy paper, OHP film, etc.) supplied from the paper feed trays 7 and 8 or the duplex printing unit 10. It has a function of printing image data received from an external PC or the like via the network 22.

  Next, the image forming apparatus 1 sends the printed recording material to the post-processing device 2, and performs post-processing including punching and stapling on the recording material in the post-processing device 2. The recording material is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 12 of the recording material discharge unit 11. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 can discharge the printed recording material onto the paper discharge tray 12 of the recording material discharge unit 11 through the bypass conveyance path 13 without performing post-processing.

  The functional members constituting the image forming apparatus 1 will be described. The image forming apparatus 1 is controlled by a control unit 14 including a microcomputer and a dedicated hardware circuit as shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a scanner unit 5, an engine unit 16, a hard disk 17, an operation unit 3, and a printer controller 18 as input / output devices connected to the control unit 14 via an interface 15 and performing various functions. Of these, a post-processing unit 20 is connected to the engine unit 16 via an interface 15. The image forming apparatus 1 is connected to the network 22 via the LAN connection board 21 and communicates data or e-mail messages with another personal computer 23 or the printer 24 controlled by the personal computer 23 via the network 22. Has the function of transmitting and receiving.

  Of the components of the image forming apparatus 1, the scanner unit 5 includes a document feeding device 4 and a scanner (image reading unit) 5 a, and the document fed to the scanner 5 a by the document feeding device 4 is read by the image reading CCD 25. The image data read by the image reading CCD 25 is photoelectrically converted and transmitted to the memory copy unit 26 of the control unit 14.

  The control unit 14 includes a memory copy unit 26 capable of storing / reading image data, a CPU 27 (corresponding to “accepting unit”, “recognition unit”, and “document recovery control unit” of the present invention), and a ROM. And an internal memory 28 (corresponding to “document storage means” of the present invention) such as a RAM. For example, the internal memory 28 uses document identification information for identifying a document, a page number for each document, and document data transmitted from another personal computer 23 via the network 22. It has a function of storing the contents related to each page of the document in association with the document alignment information including the total number of pages. The internal memory 28 may be configured by a large capacity storage device such as a hard disk drive. On the other hand, the control unit 14 recognizes the document alignment information based on the image data read by the scanner unit 5, searches for a missing page related to the document based on the recognized document alignment information, Based on the missing page related to the searched document, the content related to the missing page is read out from the stored contents of the internal memory 28, and the image forming unit performs image formation of the content related to the missing page of the read corresponding document. 6 to be executed.

  Further, the control unit 14 takes in the image data sent from the scanner unit 5 or the external printer controller 18 into the memory copy unit 26, and the image data from the memory copy unit 26 to the laser scanning unit of the hard disk 17 or the engine unit 14. (LSU) 30 has a function of sending out. The control unit 14 can read the image data stored in the hard disk 17 to the memory copy unit 26 and send the image data of the memory copy unit 26 to the engine unit 14.

  The engine unit 14 includes various devices necessary for forming an image on a recording material (for example, LSU 30, a photoreceptor (not shown), a charger, an exposure device, a developing device, a transfer device, a fixing device, a cleaning mechanism, a paper feed). An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive member by the LSU 30, and the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member is visualized with toner supplied from a developing device. After the toner image is transferred onto a recording material by a transfer device, the toner image on the recording material is fixed by a fixing device.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the operation unit 3 displays a key input unit 31 for inputting various character codes including characters, graphics and symbols, a history including success / failure of user authentication, various job processing modes, A liquid crystal display unit 32 for displaying various data and an LED display unit 33 for emitting and displaying operation buttons and the like are provided. When the operation unit 3 is operated by the user, key input of a user identification number and a personal identification number (authentication information), for example, mode setting in a copy job, selection of the number of copies, and the like are made.

  In the post-processing apparatus 2, a recording material introduction port 34 is connected to a paper discharge port 35 of the image forming apparatus main body 1a, and a punch unit 36 for punching a printed recording material and a printed recording material are provided. And a post-processing unit (stapler unit) 20 for stapling. In the case of stapling, the post-processing apparatus 2 guides the recording material from the leading end side in the transport direction to the branch path 37 after the recording material introduced from the recording material introduction port 34 passes through the punch unit 36, and It is placed in a state of being positioned on the intermediate tray 38 of the post-processing unit 20. When a predetermined number of recording materials are stored on the intermediate tray 38, the end portions of the plurality of recording materials are stapled by the post-processing unit 20. Thereafter, the recording material subjected to the stapling process is discharged from the intermediate tray 38 to the paper discharge tray 12 of the recording material discharge portion 11 through the recording material discharge port 40. Note that the recording material discharge unit 11 has a function of moving the plurality of paper discharge trays 12, 12,.

[Operation of Image Forming Apparatus]
Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is an operation flowchart showing the flow of document recovery processing in the image forming apparatus.

  When a user who wants to use the document recovery processing according to the present invention performs a key input operation of user identification information and a personal identification number (authentication information) via the operation unit 3 (step S11), the control unit 14 receives the input user. By comparing the identification information and the like with the user identification information registered in the internal memory 28 in advance, user authentication relating to whether or not the accessing user is a regular user is performed. The purpose of performing the user authentication in step S11 is to prohibit the act of recovering a secret document maliciously in the document recovery processing according to the present invention. Note that the user authentication mentioned here includes, of course, user identification information and a personal identification number (authentication information), and allows document recovery processing only when the user is an authorized user. It also includes the concept of adding user-limited functions such as

  As a result of the user authentication, when it is determined that the user who has accessed this time is a regular user, the control unit 14 waits for a user to select a document recovery mode (step S12). Here, the document recovery mode includes a full-text recovery mode that recovers all of the same document from a single piece of document, and recovers all of the same document by complementing the missing page from the document including the missing page. A partial recovery mode is available. Here, the following description will be made assuming that the user has selected and operated the full text recovery mode as the document recovery mode.

  The control unit 14 waits for a scanner reading selection operation related to a document to be recovered. At this time, when the user sets a piece of one of the documents to be restored in the document feeder 4 and operates and inputs a start key, the control unit 14 causes the scanner reading process to be executed ( Step S13). Next, the control unit 14 reads the document identification information attached to the fragment of the document to be restored, and recognizes the read document identification information. Next, based on the recognized document identification information, the control unit 14 executes a process of searching for the corresponding document from the stored contents of the internal memory 28 (step S14).

  Based on the search processing result in step S14, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the content related to the document is stored in the internal memory 28 (step S15). The determination in step S15 is performed because the document recovery processing according to the present invention cannot be executed for a document that is not stored in the internal memory 28.

  As a result of the determination in step S15, when it is determined that the content related to the document is not stored in the internal memory 28, the control unit 14 regards that the document cannot be recovered and performs all the processes. Terminate.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S15 that the content related to the document is stored in the internal memory 28, the control unit 14 reads the content related to the document from the internal memory 28, and The image forming unit 6 is caused to perform image formation for the content related to the read document (step S16). In the full text recovery mode, all of the same document can be recovered from only one piece of document by the process of step S16.

  On the other hand, the operation in the case where the user selects and operates the partial recovery mode as the document recovery mode will be described along the flow of processing after step S13.

  The control unit 14 waits for a scanner reading selection operation related to a document to be recovered. At this time, when the user sets a document consisting of a plurality of pages including a missing page as a document to be restored in the document feeder 4 and inputs a start key, the control unit 14 executes a scanner reading process. (Step S13). Next, the control unit 14 sequentially reads the document alignment information attached to each page of a document including a plurality of pages including a missing page, which is a recovery process target, and sequentially recognizes the read document alignment information. . Here, the document alignment information includes document identification information for enabling identification of a plurality of documents, a page number for each document, and the total number of pages. At the same time, based on the recognized document alignment information, the control unit 14 executes a process for searching for the corresponding document from the stored contents of the internal memory 28 (step S14).

  Based on the search processing result in step S14, the control unit 14 determines whether or not the content related to the document is stored in the internal memory 28 (step S15). The determination in step S15 is performed because the document recovery processing according to the present invention cannot be executed for a document that is not stored in the internal memory 28.

  As a result of the determination in step S15, when it is determined that the content related to the document is not stored in the internal memory 28, the control unit 14 regards that the document cannot be recovered and performs all the processes. Terminate.

  On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S15, when it is determined that the content related to the corresponding document is stored in the internal memory 28, the control unit 14 determines that the corresponding document is based on the document alignment information recognized as described above. The missing page related to the document is searched, and the content related to the missing page is read out from the stored contents of the internal memory 28 based on the searched missing page related to the relevant document, and the missing page of the relevant document is read out. The image forming unit 6 is caused to execute image formation for such contents (step S16). In the partial recovery mode, it is possible to recover all of the document by complementing the missing page among the documents composed of a plurality of pages including the missing page by the process of step S16.

[Effect of Example]
As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention, when the full-text recovery mode is selected as the document recovery mode, the control unit 14 inputs document identification information (manual input). Or may be a recognition input through reading by the scanner unit 5). When received, the content stored in the internal memory 28 is determined based on the received document identification information. Since the contents related to the corresponding document are read out and image formation of the contents related to the read out document is executed, all of the same document can be recovered from a piece of the single document. In other words, even if a part or all of a document is lost, the user only has to input the document identification information of the document to be managed, and the corresponding content is stored in the internal memory 28. It is possible to read out the contents related to the document and perform printout in a state where the document is restored to the original state. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that is extremely convenient for the user.

  On the other hand, when the partial recovery mode is selected as the document recovery mode, the control unit 14 arranges the document that is attached to each page of the document including a plurality of pages including the missing page that is a recovery processing target. Information is read through the scanner unit 5 and the read document alignment information is sequentially recognized. Next, based on the recognized document alignment information, the corresponding document is searched from the stored contents of the internal memory 28, and the missing page related to the corresponding document is searched. Then, based on the searched missing page related to the document, the content related to the missing page is read out from the stored contents of the internal memory 28, and the image formation about the content related to the missing page of the read corresponding document is performed. Then, the image forming unit 6 is caused to execute. Accordingly, it is possible to recover all of the document by complementing the missing page among the plurality of pages including the missing page. That is, even when a part or all of a document is lost, if the user sequentially reads and recognizes document alignment information of a document including a plurality of pages (or one page) including a missing page, It is possible to read out the contents relating to the missing page from the stored contents of the internal memory 28 and perform printout in a state where the same document is restored to its original state. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that is extremely convenient for the user.

[Others]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the invention read from the claims and the entire specification or the technical idea, and image formation accompanied by such changes The apparatus is also included in the scope of the technical scope of the present invention.

  Finally, it goes without saying that the document alignment information according to the present invention may be added to a document in the form of a barcode.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus. FIG. It is a figure which shows the operation panel part of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 10 is an operation flowchart illustrating a flow of document recovery processing in the image forming apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 5 Scanner part (reading means)
14 Control unit (accepting means, recognition means, document recovery control means, and authentication means)
27 CPU (reception means, recognition means, document recovery control means, and authentication means)
28 Internal memory (document storage means)

Claims (6)

Document storage means for storing the contents of the document in association with the document identification information for identifying the document;
Receiving means for receiving input of document identification information;
When the input of the document identification information is accepted by the accepting means, based on the accepted document identification information, the contents related to the corresponding document are read out from the stored contents of the document storage means, and the read relevant information Document recovery control means for executing image formation of contents relating to a document;
An image forming apparatus comprising: Document storage means for storing the contents of the document in association with the document identification information for identifying the document;
Reading means for reading the document with the document identification information;
Recognition means for recognizing the document identification information based on the image data read by the reading means;
Based on the document identification information recognized by the recognizing means, the document recovery for reading the contents related to the corresponding document from the stored contents of the document storing means and executing the image formation of the contents related to the read corresponding document. Control means;
An image forming apparatus comprising: Document storage means for storing contents relating to each page of the document in association with document identification information for identifying the document and document alignment information including the page number and the total number of pages for each document;
Reading means for reading the document with the document alignment information;
Recognition means for recognizing the document alignment information based on the image data read by the reading means;
Based on the document alignment information recognized by the recognizing means, a missing page related to the corresponding document is searched, and based on the searched missing page related to the corresponding document, the missing page is stored in the stored contents of the document storing means. A document recovery control means for reading out the content related to the image and executing image formation of the content related to the missing page of the read document.
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the document alignment information is expressed by a barcode. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
A receiving means for receiving input of authentication information;
An authentication unit for performing user authentication by comparing the received authentication information with a pre-registered authentication information when an input of authentication information is received by the reception unit;
Further comprising
The image forming apparatus, wherein the document recovery control unit causes the image formation to be executed when user authentication is received by the authentication unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document recovery control unit executes the image formation when the authentication unit receives user authentication and the user is an approved user.

Images