JP2024034081A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

[Challenge] In an environment where only A4 printers are available, if a job with an A3-size deliverable is to be divided into two sheets of A4-size paper, and the result is actually printed to check the result, the joint It was not possible to confirm the continuity of the image at the (border area). [Solution] When printing a large size paper print job by dividing it into multiple small size papers, it is possible to set a processing mode that also prints the boundaries between the small size papers, and print according to the processing mode. Execute. [Selection diagram] Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine, and particularly relates to an A4 type printer or a multifunction device.

In recent years, when forming different images in succession, such as in page continuous copying mode or enlarged continuous copying mode, it is now possible to check what kind of images will be formed and in what order before copying starts. An image forming apparatus is known in which output images are preview-displayed in the same order as the output order during copying (Patent Document 1).

In addition, when displaying multiple divided previews that have been divided into a preset number of divisions into print previews individually, the divided preview There is also known an image forming apparatus that can individually enlarge and display an area wider than each boundary by a predetermined width as each of the divided previews (Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 9-93378 Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-154036

However, for example, in an environment where there is only an A4 printer, if a job with an A3-sized deliverable is to be divided into two sheets of A4-sized paper and the output is actually printed to check the resulting product, the joint There was a problem in that it was not possible to confirm the continuity of images at (border areas).

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can confirm the in-plane continuity of an A3 size image at its actual size.

In order to solve the above problems, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a receiving means (424) connected to an external network (300) or an external terminal (301) and receiving a print job from the outside, and the receiving means ( An image forming apparatus (100) comprising: a control means (426) for executing a print job received by the print job; and a setting means (200) for setting a processing mode for the print job; The control means (200) enables setting of a processing mode in which boundaries between small-sized papers are also printed when a large-sized paper print job is divided and printed on a plurality of small-sized papers, and the control means (426) is characterized in that printing is executed according to the processing mode.

According to the present invention, in addition to printing an A3 size job by dividing it into two sheets of A4 size paper, images at the seams (boundaries) are also printed, so the in-plane continuity of A3 size images is You can check the size.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a control block of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is a flowchart 1 of a CPU of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It is a setting flow in the job sending terminal of the present invention. 2 is a flowchart 2 of the CPU of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an output product of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of image processing for setting an output product of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a setting screen of an image forming apparatus and a job sending terminal according to the present invention.

[Example]
Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail using the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an A4 type image forming apparatus 100 equipped with the present invention. First, the cassette 111 is provided so as to be pulled out toward the front in FIG. 1, and paper, OHT, or the like is set by the user as a sheet S on which an image is to be formed. Further, after a user sets a document on the image reading unit 150 and reads the image data by inputting from the operation unit 200, or receives image data transmitted to the image forming apparatus 100 from a terminal such as a PC (not shown). After that, the image information is processed by a controller (not shown). Further, in response to a signal based on the processing result, a laser beam is emitted from the laser scanner unit 142 to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor drum 141, and the electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor drum 141 is developed by the developing device 143. , a toner image is formed on the photoreceptor drum 141. Thereafter, a predetermined pressing force and electrostatic load bias are applied by the primary transfer device 144, and the toner image is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 145. In the case of FIG. 1, the image forming section 140 described above is provided with four sets of yellow Y, magenta M, cyan C, and black Bk.

Next, the intermediate transfer belt 145 will be explained. The intermediate transfer belt 145 is conveyed and driven in the direction of arrow A in FIG. The image forming process for each color is performed at the timing of overlapping the upstream toner image that has been primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 145. As a result, a full-color toner image is finally formed on the intermediate transfer belt 145 and conveyed to the secondary transfer section 130.

On the other hand, the sheets S of paper, OHT, etc. stacked and stored in the aforementioned cassette 111 are separated and fed one by one by the paper feeding section 110. The fed sheet S is delivered to the first pair of transport rollers 120, and is transported toward the sheet skew correction device 10 disposed on the downstream side in the sheet transport direction, and the skew of the sheet S is corrected. Thereafter, the sheet S is transported to the secondary transfer section 130 by the second transport roller pair 30.

A full-color toner image is secondarily transferred onto the sheet S in the secondary transfer section 130 through the sheet S conveyance process and image forming process described above. Thereafter, the sheet S is conveyed to the fixing device 155. The fixing device 155 melts and fixes the toner on the sheet S by applying a predetermined pressing force from substantially opposing rollers or belts, and generally applying a heating effect from a heat source such as a heater. The sheet S having the fixed image obtained in this manner is transferred to the first paper ejection roller 160 or the second paper ejection roller 161 by a solenoid (not shown), and is directly transferred to the first paper ejection tray 170 or the second paper ejection tray. A route selection is made between discharging the paper onto the tray 171, or transporting the paper to the reversing conveyance device 180 by rotating the first paper discharge roller 160 in the reverse direction if double-sided image formation is required. A first paper discharge tray sensor 172 and a second paper discharge tray sensor 173 that detect the presence or absence of the discharged sheet S are arranged on the two paper discharge trays, respectively.

Next, a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus 100 implementing the present invention will be explained using FIG. 2.

A control unit 402 includes a CPU 426, a ROM 427, and a RAM 428. CPU 426 executes instructions based on a control program stored in ROM 427. The CPU 426 is also connected to each load such as an image forming section and a paper feed conveyance section (not shown), and controls each load based on instructions from the CPU 426. The CPU 426 communicates with a controller unit 425 that controls the operation unit 200 and controls the image forming apparatus 100 based on information input to the operation unit 200. On the operation unit 200, when a large size paper print job is divided into multiple small size papers and printed, which is a feature of the present invention, it is possible to set a processing mode in which the boundaries between the small size papers are also printed. It is. The controller section 425 is connected to an external I/F section 424 for connecting to the LAN 300 by wire or wirelessly.

In FIG. 2, the external I/F section 424 is connected to the LAN 300 by wire, but it can also be connected using a wireless LAN standard such as IEEE802.11a/b/g/n, and a PC that sends print jobs to the image forming apparatus 100. It is also possible to connect directly with a USB cable. A PC 301 that submits a print job to the image forming apparatus 100 is also connected to the LAN 300, and the image forming apparatus 100 executes print processing in response to the print job submitted from the PC 301. When printing the above-mentioned large-size paper print job by dividing it into multiple small-size papers, the processing mode that prints the boundaries between the small-size papers can be set on the print settings screen of the printer driver on the PC 301. However, it is configurable.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the CPU 426, which is the control means of the image forming apparatus 100 implementing the present invention. The control flow of the CPU 426 will be explained using this.

First, on the operation unit 200 of the image forming apparatus 100, when printing a large-size paper print job by dividing it into multiple small-size papers, set a processing mode that also prints the boundaries between the small-size papers. Execute (S101). Next, the CPU 426 confirms whether a print job has been received, and if a print job has been received, the process advances to S103 (S102). In S103, it is determined whether the document size of the received print job is a large size, which is larger than the paper size supported by the image forming apparatus 100. If the document size is not the large size in S103, the process advances to S104, where printing is performed on small size paper that is compatible with the image forming apparatus 100 (S104), and the process ends.

If the document size is large in S103, the process advances to S105, and the print job is a print job in which a large size image larger than the paper size compatible with the image forming apparatus 100 is divided into paper sizes compatible with the image forming apparatus 100 (for example, A decision is made as to whether or not to divide an A3 size image into two A4 size images and print them. If it is determined in S105 that the job is not to print a large size image in sections, the process proceeds to S106, where the large size image is reduced and printed on paper of a paper size compatible with the image forming apparatus 100 (S106), and the process ends.

In S105, if the job is to print a large size image in parts, the process advances to S107. In S107, when printing a large-size paper print job by dividing it into paper sizes compatible with a plurality of image forming apparatuses 100, a processing mode is set in S101 in which the boundaries between the divided images are also printed. Check the height. If the processing mode that also prints the boundaries between the divided images is not set, the process advances to S108, and the large size paper print job is divided into paper sizes compatible with the plurality of image forming apparatuses 100 and printed ( S108), ends. If the processing mode in which the boundaries between divided images are also printed is set in S101, the process proceeds to S109, in which the print job for large size paper is divided into multiple paper sizes compatible with the main image forming apparatus 100 and printed. , the boundaries between the divided images are also printed on paper of a paper size compatible with the image forming apparatus 100, and the process ends.

FIG. 4 shows the distance between the small size papers when a large size paper print job is divided into a plurality of small size papers and printed on the PC 301 that sends the print job to the image forming apparatus 100 implementing the present invention. This is a flow for explaining setting of a processing mode in which border parts are also printed.

First, on the print setting screen on the PC 301, settings are made to print a large-size paper print job divided into a plurality of small-size papers and to also print the boundaries between the small-size papers (S201). Subsequently, a print job is sent to the image forming apparatus 100 implementing the present invention (S202), and the process ends.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the CPU 426, which is the control means of the image forming apparatus 100, when the processing mode for printing the border area is set on the print setting screen of the printer driver on the PC 301 described above. The control flow of the CPU 426 will be explained using this.

First, it is assumed that the process starts from a print job reception waiting state. The CPU 426 checks whether a print job has been received, and if a print job has been received, the process advances to S302 (S301). Since the flow from S302 onward is the same as the flow from S103 onward in FIG. 3, the explanation will be omitted.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an output product of the image forming apparatus 100 implementing the present invention, and will be explained using A3 large size paper and A4 small size paper. FIG. 6(a) shows an A3-sized image labeled "ABC" printed in two parts on A4-sized paper using poster settings, etc. It is an output product. On the other hand, FIG. 6(b) shows the output in S109 of FIG. 3 and S308 of FIG. 5, and in addition to the image divided into two parts on A4 size paper, the border image was also printed on A4 size paper.

FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining image processing for setting an image obtained by dividing the A3 size image, which is the output product of FIG. 6(b), into two parts on A4 size paper, and an image of the boundary portion printed on A4 size paper. . First, the center of the large size paper (A3) is used as a reference (white triangle), and area 2 and area 3 from the reference to half the output paper size (105 mm = 210 mm/2 for A4) (black triangle) are the boundaries. Prepare as the output image data of the section. If border printing is set, in addition to area 1+area 2 and area 3+area 4 printed on large paper, the output image data of the border consisting of area 2+area 3 will be printed on small size paper (A4). Output.

FIG. 8 shows a plurality of print jobs for large size paper on the print setting screen of the printer driver on the operation unit 200 of the image forming apparatus 100 implementing the present invention or the PC 301 that sends the print job to the image forming apparatus 100. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating setting of a processing mode in which the boundaries between small-sized sheets are also printed when printing is divided into small-sized sheets. FIG. 8(a) shows a setting screen on the operation unit 200, and settings are made by selecting "border print setting" and enabling the border print setting on the next page (FIG. 8(b)). This corresponds to the process in S101 in FIG. FIG. 8C shows the print setting screen of the printer driver, and the user checks the "Print border area" checkbox to set the print setting screen. This corresponds to the process in S201 in FIG.

By adopting the above control flow, even if the image forming apparatus is an A4 type image forming apparatus, in addition to dividing a large size image job into paper sizes compatible with this image forming apparatus 100 and printing them, the boundary between the divided images can also be printed. Since the image is printed on paper in a paper size compatible with the image forming apparatus 100, the in-plane continuity of the large size image can be confirmed at the actual size.

100 Image forming apparatus 200 Operation unit 300 LAN
301 PC
424 External I/F section 426 CPU

Claims (3)

a receiving means connected to an external network or an external terminal and receiving a print job from the outside;
a control means for executing the print job received by the receiving means;
Setting means for setting a processing mode for the print job;
An image forming apparatus comprising:
The setting means is capable of setting a processing mode in which, when a print job for large size paper is divided and printed on a plurality of small size papers, a processing mode is also printed at the boundary between the small size papers,
An image forming apparatus characterized in that the control means executes printing according to the processing mode. 2. The control means and image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein printing at the boundary between the small size papers is also performed using small size paper. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting means is a print setting screen of a printer driver on an operation unit of the image forming apparatus or a terminal that transmits a print job to the image forming apparatus.