TWI508515B - Copying system - Google Patents

Description

Copy system

The present invention relates to a copying system, and more particularly to an elastic copying system comprising a plurality of printers and a plurality of scanners connected to each other via a cable or a network. The copying system of the present invention effectively distributes copying work to two printers.

In the self-photocopying area of a general photocopying shop or a chain stationery store, merchants usually provide multiple photocopiers for consumers to use for themselves, or small and medium-sized photocopying shops can purchase or rent refurbished photocopiers to save equipment costs. . Because the photo printing machine's printing engine consumes a lot of power, about 300W or more, even in the standby state, it is about 70W or more, and many photocopiers cause a huge amount of electricity and burden for the merchant. If the merchant uses a refurbished photocopier, the main parts of the photocopier must be old, and the toner and consumables are not supplied by the original manufacturer, which makes the quality of printing and copying not only difficult to maintain, but also distortion. Once the parts of the photocopier are broken, the maintenance is also difficult and the cost is increased.

In addition, when small and medium-sized photocopying shops perform photocopying functions, most of them use only one-page photocopying files of the photocopying machine platform. The speed and performance of the printing engine in the photocopying machine cannot be played, but they have to be in a hot state. As mentioned above, the print engine is a power consuming device. Such inefficient use is a waste of power and an increase in cost.

Therefore, the present invention provides a copying system that can replace the photocopier by using a low-power scanner, which not only solves the power consumption problem, but also fully utilizes the performance of the printing engine, and can also reduce the space occupied by the machine.

An object of the present invention is to provide a copying system in which a document image obtained by a scanning device in a system is collectively printed on the same printing device, thereby reducing the number of working machines, and the printing device can continue to work. It does not need to repeat the standby and operation state switching, and saves the warm-up time, which not only improves the printing efficiency, but also achieves the effect of energy saving and carbon reduction.

To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a copying system that performs a copying job. The copying system includes a first scanning device, a second scanning device, a first printing device, and a second printing device. The first scanning device performs a scan job to acquire a document image and convert the document image into a print material. The first printing device is connected to the first scanning device and the second scanning device, and receives a plurality of printing operations from the first scanning device and the second scanning device. The second printing device is connected to the first scanning device and the second scanning device. The first printing device has a printing working upper limit. When the printing operation in the queue of the first printing device reaches the printing working upper limit, the first scanning device and the second scanning device automatically transmit the subsequent printing work to the first Two printing devices.

The copying system of the present invention can improve work efficiency and reduce operating costs for photocopying shops; the copying system allows multiple copying operations to be performed simultaneously on a plurality of scanning devices, and all copying results are output from the same printing device. In this way, not only can the performance of the printing engine be fully utilized, but also because a plurality of scanning devices use a printing device in common, the cost of the copying device is greatly reduced, and the electricity cost is also saved.

The copying system of the invention can set the printing table according to different needs. The machine prints the upper limit of work, efficiently assigning copying work to another printer, but without reducing the performance of the first printer. The copying system of the invention breaks the concept of scanning and printing integration of the conventional copying machine, and changes to a modular design, so that the user can make an optimal arrangement according to his own needs. By reducing the purchase of printing engines, it not only reduces operating costs, but also responds to the government's policy of energy conservation and carbon reduction to achieve environmental protection.

In order to make the above description of the present invention more comprehensible, a preferred embodiment will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic illustration of a copying system 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. Please refer to FIG. 1. In the embodiment, the copying system 1 is composed of an automatic paper feeding scanner 100, two flatbed scanners 200 and 300, a multifunction printer 400 and a printer 500. The scanners 100, 200, and 300 are scanning devices, and the multifunction printer 400 and the printer 500 are printing devices. The multifunction printer 400 can also be a scanning device, and the scanned data is transmitted to the printer 500. Output. The MFP 400 can also be considered as a combination of the scanner 410 and the printer 420, thus having the functions of both devices.

In order to achieve the goal of saving resources and cost completely, the best implementation of the copying system is a plurality of single-function scanners, such as the scanners 100, 200, and 300 in this embodiment, with two printers or two. Multi-function machine. In this embodiment, the scanners 100, 200, and 300 are connected to the printer 500 and the multifunction printer 400 through the network 1000 (such as Ethernet); however, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the scanners 100, 200, The printer 300 can also be directly connected to the printer 500 and the multifunction printer 400 via a cable.

In the copy job performed by the copying system, the scanners 100, 200, 300 are responsible for performing the scanning operation, and the printer 500 and the multifunction printer 400 are responsible for executing the printing job. When the scanners 100, 200, 300 respectively complete the scanning operation, the scanners 100, 200, 300 will individually generate a printing job, and both are sent to the printer 500 for printing, that is, the printer 500 from the scanning device. 100, 200, 300 directly receive printing work. The printer 500 can arrange the order of printing according to the time of receiving the printing work, or arrange the printing order according to the nature, importance, and the like of the printed materials in the printing work.

2 is a functional block diagram of a copying system 1 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The scanner 100 includes a controller 110, a data processor 120, and a communication interface module 160. The controller 110 controls the operation of the scanner 100. The data processor 120 converts the file image obtained by performing the scan job into a print data, and transfers the print data to the temporary storage 130 for storage. The communication interface module 160 is used to connect to the network 1000 or directly output data and signals to devices in other copying systems 1. When the scan job is completed, the scanner 100 transmits a print job to the printer 500 in accordance with a transfer command, such as a user's instruction or a predetermined period of time.

Since the printer 500 is connected to a plurality of scanners, the printer 500 successively receives a plurality of printing jobs transmitted from the scanners 100, 200, and 300. All of the printing work is stored in the queue 530 of the printer, which in turn sequentially prints the print jobs in the queue 530. The printer 500 has a print job upper limit. When the print job in the printer 500 queue 530 reaches the print job upper limit, the scanner 100, 200, 300 automatically transmits the subsequent print job to the multifunction printer 400. Print output.

The details are as follows. The print job upper limit is, for example, the longest waiting time for the print job in the queue 530; if the longest wait time is set to ten minutes, the last print job in the queue 530 is calculated by the printer 500. After ten minutes of printing output, the printer 500 issues an upper limit notification to the scanners 100, 200, 300. According to the upper limit reaching notification, when a subsequent printing job is generated, the scanner 100, 200, 300 transfers the subsequent printing job to the multifunction printer 400 for print output. Alternatively, the print job limit may also be the maximum total amount of data for the print job in the queue 530 of the printer 500. If the printer 500 calculates that the printing job in the queue 530 has reached the maximum total amount of data, such as 50 MB, the printer 500 issues an upper limit notification to the scanners 100, 200, 300.

The time at which the printer 500 calculates whether the printing operation in the queue 530 reaches the printing working upper limit may be when the printing request is received by the scanner 100, 200, 300, or the timing is calculated and then the upper limit notification is sent. For the scanners 100, 200, 300, such as the latter, when the scanners 100, 200, 300 have print jobs to be transmitted, the scanners 100, 200, 300 will decide according to the upper limit to reach the notification time or the information contained therein. The print job is transferred to the printer 500 or the multifunction printer 400. Therefore, the printer further includes a processor 510 responsible for calculating whether the printing operation in the queue 530 reaches the upper limit of the printing operation.

The print job limit of the printer 500 can be set and adjusted by a user input. Therefore, the scanner 100 further includes an operation panel 140 for providing a print job upper limit setting option for the user to set the print job upper limit of the printer 500 at the scanner 100 end. The print job limit setting option can be A physical button or trigger, or an option on the touch screen. The operation panel 140 can also include a notification module, such as a display screen, to provide a message related to the user's copy job, thereby knowing the copy status of the copy system 1, and which printer is printing output by the printer. .

In addition to adjusting the print job limit at the scanner 100 end, the printer 500 can also be configured with an operation panel 540 to provide a print job upper limit setting option for the user to adjust the print job limit at the printer 500 end. .

In order to maximize the performance of the printer 500, the printer 500 also has a lower limit of the printing operation. When the printing operation in the array 530 of the printer 500 reaches the lower limit of the printing operation, the printer 500 starts to be listed. The print job in the print column 530 continuously prints the print jobs in all of the queues 530. Alternatively, the printer 500 is configured to begin printing in the queue 530 only for a certain period of time, such as every half hour.

In the present embodiment, a scanner 100 in the copying system is taken as an example, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and all or a part of the scanners in the copying system may have the same functions as those of the scanner 100.

Although the present invention has been disclosed in the above preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the invention, and those skilled in the art can make a few changes without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The scope of protection of the present invention is therefore defined by the scope of the appended claims.

100‧‧‧Automatic Paper Feed Scanner

110‧‧‧ Controller

120‧‧‧data processor

140‧‧‧Operator panel

160‧‧‧Communication interface module

200, 300‧‧‧ flatbed scanner

400‧‧‧Multifunctional machine

410‧‧‧Multifunction machine scanner

420‧‧‧Printer for multifunction printer

500‧‧‧Printer

510‧‧‧ processor

530‧‧‧伫

540‧‧‧Operator panel

1000‧‧‧Network

1 is a schematic illustration of a copying system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a functional block diagram of a copying system in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. .

100‧‧‧Automatic Paper Feed Scanner

110‧‧‧ Controller

120‧‧‧data processor

140‧‧‧Operator panel

160‧‧‧Communication interface module

200, 300‧‧‧ flatbed scanner

400‧‧‧Multifunctional machine

500‧‧‧Printer

510‧‧‧ processor

530‧‧‧伫

540‧‧‧Operator panel

1000‧‧‧Network

Claims (10)

A copying system, comprising: a first scanning device for performing a scanning operation for acquiring a document image and converting the document image into printing data; and a second scanning device for performing another Scanning a job to obtain a document image and converting the document image into print data; a first printing device connected to the first scanning device and the second scanning device, and from the first scanning device and the second The scanning device receives a plurality of printing operations; and a second printing device is coupled to the first scanning device and the second scanning device; wherein the first printing device has a printing upper limit, when the first printing When the printing operation in the queue of the device reaches the upper limit of the printing operation, the first scanning device and the second scanning device automatically transmit the subsequent printing operation to the second printing device. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first scanning device comprises an operation panel, and a print job upper limit setting option is provided, and the user sets the first printing device at the first scanning device end. This prints the upper limit of work. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first printing device further comprises an operation panel, and a printing job upper limit setting option is provided for the user to set the printing operation on the first printing device end. Upper limit. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the upper limit of the printing operation is the longest waiting time for the printing operation in the queue. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the upper limit of the printing operation is the maximum total amount of data for the printing operation in the queue. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first printing device further has a lower printing working limit, when the printing operation in the queue of the first printing device reaches the lower working limit of the printing, The first printing device starts printing the printing work in the queue. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first printing device is set to start the printing operation in the printing queue at a certain time. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first printing device and the second printing device are connected to at least one of the first scanning device and the second scanning device through a network. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first scanning device and the second scanning device comprise a notification module for providing a user with the information related to the copying operation. The copying system of claim 1, wherein the first printing device directly receives the printing operations from the first scanning device and the second scanning device.