Patent Grant
9925805
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms images on a continuous sheet and cuts the continuous sheet at each of the images to discharge printed products, and a creation method of the printed products.
Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-25667 discusses an apparatus that discharges printed products of each image group to a discharge unit in a state of shifting the printed products in a direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction through a sheet feeding mechanism.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-308517 discusses an apparatus that discharges printed products in a state of making a first sheet of subsequent image group to be a partition sheet when printed products of previous image group are stacked on the discharge unit.
However, with the apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-25667, product cost will be increased because it is necessary to provide a mechanism for shifting the printed products to be discharged in a direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction.
Further, with the apparatus discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-308517, running cost will be increased because it is necessary to discharge a partition sheet that is not a product.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus is provided that is capable of reducing the product cost and the running cost while easily defining printed products of each image group.
According to another aspect of the present invention, an image forming apparatus includes an image forming unit configured to sequentially form images of an image group including a plurality of images on a continuous sheet while providing a non-printing region between the images, a cutting unit configured to cut the continuous sheet, a discharge unit to which printed products, on which an image is formed by the image forming unit and cut and created by the cutting unit, is discharged, and a control unit configured to execute a first control for controlling the cutting unit to create a first printed product by cutting the continuous sheet at a leading end and a trailing end of a region in which an image is formed by the image forming unit and to discharge the first printed product to the discharge unit, and configured to execute a second control for controlling the cutting unit to create a second printed product by cutting the continuous sheet while having the non-printing region of a predetermined size at a leading end or a trailing end of a region in which a first or a last image of the image group is formed by the image forming unit and to discharge the second printed product to the discharge unit.
Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.
Hereinafter, an ink-jet type printing apparatus will be described as an example of an image forming apparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. A printing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment is a high-speed line printer that supports both of one-sided and two-sided printing modes using a continuous sheet. For example, the printing apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment is suitable for large volume printing performed in a professional printing shop. Herein, the continuous sheet refers to a long continuous sheet having a length longer than a repetitive printing unit (one page) in a conveyance direction. Further, one printing unit (one page) is referred to as a unit image when a plurality of pages is sequentially printed on the continuous sheet. In a case where a mixture of small images, characters, and spaces are included in a region of one printing unit (one page), these images, characters, and spaces included in that region are collectively referred to as one unit image. In addition, “unit image” may be simply referred to as “image”. Further, a length of the unit image in a sheet conveyance direction may vary according to a size of the image to be printed. For example, an L-size photograph has a length of 135 mm in a sheet conveyance direction, whereas an A4-size photograph has a length of 297 mm in a sheet conveyance direction thereof.
The present invention is widely applicable to printing apparatuses such as a printer, a multifunction printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and manufacturing apparatuses of various devices. Printing processing can be executed through any of the systems such as an ink-jet system, an electro-photographic system, a thermal transfer system, a dot impact system, and a liquid development system. Further, the present invention is also applicable to an apparatus for executing various kinds of processing (e.g., recording, treatment, coating, irradiation, reading, and inspection processing) on a continuous sheet in addition to the printing processing. Furthermore, in addition to the apparatus, the present invention is also applicable to a creation method of printed products employing the operations according to the present invention.
First, a basic configuration of the printing apparatus will be described.
The supply unit 1 stores and supplies a long roll sheet (continuous sheet). The supply unit 1 can respectively store roll sheets in two rolls R1 and R2, and selectively draw and supply the sheet therefrom. In addition, the number of the storable roll sheets is not limited to two. Further, any continuous sheet other than the continuous sheet wound in a roll state may be used. For example, a continuous sheet that is perforated at each unit length and folded at each perforation may be stacked on and stored in the supply unit 1.
The curl correction unit 2 reduces a curl (warp) arising in the sheet supplied from the supply unit 1. When the sheet passes through the curl correction unit 2, two pinch rollers with respect to one driving roller are used to cause the sheet to be bent by applying a warp in an orientation opposite to the curl of the sheet, so that the curl arising in the sheet is reduced thereby.
The skew correction unit 3 corrects a skew (i.e., inclination with respect to the original conveyance direction) of the sheet that has passed through the curl correction unit 2. An edge portion on one side of the sheet regarded as a reference is pressed against a guiding member, so that the skew of the sheet is corrected.
A printing unit 4 corresponds to an image forming unit according to the present exemplary embodiment. The printing unit 4 executes printing processing on the conveyed sheet from the above through a print head 14 to form an image. In addition to the print head 14, the printing unit 4 includes a plurality of conveyance rollers for conveying the sheet. The print head 14 is a line-type ink-jet recording head having a nozzle array for discharging ink across a full width of the sheet assumed to be used. The print head 14 is configured of a plurality of print heads arranged in parallel with respect to the conveyance direction. In the present exemplary embodiment, the print head 14 includes seven print heads corresponding to seven colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), light-cyan (LC), light-magenta (LM), gray (G), and K (black). In addition, according to the present invention, the number of the colors and the number of the print heads are not limited to seven. Further, various ink jet systems such as systems using a heating element, a piezoelectric element, an electrostatic element, and a micro electro mechanical system (MEMS) element can be employed. Various colors of ink are respectively supplied from ink tanks to the print head 14 via tubes.
The inspection unit 5 optically reads an inspection pattern or an image printed on a sheet by the printing unit 4 through a scanner to inspect a state of the print head nozzle, a conveyance state of the sheet, and an image position, and determines whether the image is printed correctly. The scanner includes a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.
The cutter unit 6 corresponds to a cutting unit according to the present invention. The cutter unit 6 includes a cutter 20 for cutting the sheet on which images are printed by the printing unit 4 into a predetermined length. The cutter 20 includes two mechanical cutters 20a and 20b. A non-printed region (hereinafter, referred to as “non-image region”) between regions where images are formed on a sheet (hereinafter, referred to as “image regions”) is efficiently cut off by the first cutter 20a on an upstream side and the second cutter 20b on a downstream side. A configuration for cutting off the non-image region between a first image region and a second image region subsequent to the first image region will be described. For example, an end portion on the trailing end side of the non-image region (i.e., an end portion on the leading end side of the second image region) is cut by the first cutter 20a, whereas an end portion on the leading end side of the non-image region (i.e., an end portion on the trailing end side of the first image region) is cut by the second cutter 20b.
The cutter unit 6 includes a cut mark sensor 19 (i.e., cut mark detection unit) capable of optically detecting a cut mark recorded on the sheet, a plurality of conveyance rollers for sending the sheet to the subsequent processing, and an edge sensor 21a used for detecting a leading end of the sheet. Further, a dust box 17 is provided in a vicinity of the cutter unit 6. The dust box stores a strip of paper (i.e., dust) of a non-image region cut off by the first and the second cutters 20a and 20b. The cutter unit 6 is provided with a sorting mechanism for sorting whether the cut sheet is to be discharged to the dust box 17 or to be transferred to the original conveyance path.
The information recording unit 7 records unique printing information such as a printing serial number or date on a back surface of the sheet cut into a unit image by the cutter unit 6. The information recording unit 7 records the printing information by printing characters or codes through the ink jet system or the thermal transfer system. The edge sensor 21b for detecting a leading end of the cut sheet is provided on the downstream side of the cutter unit 6 or the upstream side of the information recording unit 7. Timing for recording the information through the information recording unit 7 is controlled based on a detection timing of the edge sensor 21b.
The drying unit 8 heats the sheet printed by the printing unit 4 to dry the ink applied thereto in a short time. In the drying unit 8, hot air is applied at least from a lower surface of the sheet passing therethrough, so that the ink application surface is dried thereby. A drying method in which a surface of the sheet is irradiated with an electromagnetic wave (ultraviolet light or infrared light) may be employed instead of the drying method using hot air.
A conveyance path from the supply unit 1 to the drying unit 8 is referred to as a first path. The first path has a turn-around shape in a space between the printing unit 4 and the drying unit 8, and the cutter unit 6 is positioned partway through the turn-around shape.
The inversion unit 9 includes an inversion mechanism that temporarily winds up the sheet on which the printing is executed on a front surface (first surface) to invert front and back surfaces thereof when two-sided printing is executed. The inversion unit 9 supplies the sheet that has passed through the drying unit 8 to the printing unit 4 again. The inversion unit 9 is disposed partway through a conveyance path (referred to as a second path) where the sheet passes to reach the printing unit 4 from the drying unit 8 via the curl correction unit 2. The inversion mechanism includes a wind-up rotation member (drum) that rotates and winds up the sheet. The sheet the printing of which is executed on the front surface (first surface) is temporarily wound up by the wind-up rotation member. After the sheet is wound up, the wind-up rotation member rotates in a reverse direction, so that the wound sheet is supplied to the curl correction unit 2 and conveyed to the printing unit 4 in an order opposite to the wind-up order. Then, printing is executed on a back surface (second surface) of the sheet by the printing unit 4. The operation specifically executed in the two-sided printing mode will be described below.
The discharge conveyance unit 10 conveys the sheet cut by the cutter unit 6 and dried by the drying unit 8 to the sorter unit 11. The discharge conveyance unit 10 is disposed on a conveyance path (referred to as a third path) different from the second path where the inversion unit 9 is disposed. A path switching mechanism having a movable flapper, which guides the sheet conveyed through the first path to the second path or the third path, is provided on the printing apparatus.
The sorter unit 11 and the discharge unit 12 are disposed near the supply unit 1 at the end of the third path. The sorter unit 11 sorts the printed products for each group after the printing is executed. The printed products sorted by the sorter unit 11 are discharged to the discharge unit 12 configured of a plurality of discharge trays. As described above, the third path is a conveyance path for discharging the printed products after passing under the supply unit 1.
As described above, respective units such as the supply unit 1 to the drying unit 8 are sequentially disposed along the first path. The first path is branched into the second path and the third path in a region ahead of the drying unit 8, and the second path joins the first path in a region ahead of the inversion unit 9 disposed partway through the second path. The discharge unit 12 is disposed at the end of the third path.
The control unit 13 includes a control means for controlling respective units of the entire printing apparatus. The control unit 13 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a storage device, a controller including various control units, an external interface, and an operation unit 15 for allowing a user to execute an input-output operation. An operation of the printing apparatus is controlled based on an instruction from the controller or a host device 16 such as a host computer connected to the controller via the external interface.
A mark reading unit 18 is disposed between the skew correction unit 3 and the printing unit 4. The mark reading unit 18 includes a reflection type optical sensor that optically reads a reference mark recorded on the first surface of the sheet conveyed from the inversion unit 9 from the opposite side to the printed side. The mark reading unit 18 includes a light source (e.g., white light-emitting diode (LED)) for illuminating a surface of the sheet and a light receiving unit such as a photodiode or an image sensor for detecting reflection light from the sheet for each component of red, green, and blue (RGB components). The mark can be read through the change of signal level output from the light receiving unit or through the image analysis of captured image data.
A dedicated processing unit is prepared for a unit that requires high-speed data processing. The image processing unit 207 executes image processing of print data to be dealt with the printing apparatus. A color space of the input image data (e.g., YCbCr) is converted into a standard RGB color space (e.g., sRGB). Further, various kinds of image processing such as resolution conversion, image analysis, and image correction are executed on the image data as necessary. The print data acquired through the above-described image processing is stored in the RAM 203 or the HDD 204. Based on a control command received from the CPU 201, the engine control unit 208 executes driving control of the print head 14 of the printing unit 4 according to the print data. The engine control unit 208 further controls respective units within the printing apparatus. The individual-unit control unit 209 is a sub-controller for individually controlling the respective units such as the supply unit 1, the curl correction unit 2, the skew correction unit 3, the inspection unit 5, the cutter unit 6, the information recording unit 7, the drying unit 8, the inversion unit 9, the discharge conveyance unit 10, the sorter unit 11, and the discharge unit 12. Based on the instruction from the CPU 201, operations executed by the respective units are controlled by the individual-unit control unit 209. An external interface 205 is a local interface (I/F) or a network I/F serving as an interface for connecting the controller to the host device 16. The above-described constituent elements are connected to each other through a system bus 210.
The host device 16 serves as a supply source of image data that is to be printed by the printing apparatus. The host device 16 may be a general-purpose or a dedicated computer, or may be a dedicated imaging device such as an image capture device including an image reader unit, a digital camera, and a photo storage device. In a case where the host device 16 is a computer, an operating system (OS), application software for generating image data, and a printer driver for the printing apparatus are installed in a storage device included in the computer. In addition, an entire portion of the above-described processing does not have to be realized by the software, and all or a part of the processing may be realized by the hardware.
Next, operations executed by the printing apparatus when printing will be described. Because the printing apparatus executes different operations in the one-sided printing mode and the two-sided printing mode, the operations will be described respectively.
First, the operation in the one-sided printing mode will be described.
As described above, in the one-sided printing mode, the continuous sheet is processed while passing through the first and the third paths without passing through the second path. Accordingly, in the one-sided printing mode, the following sequences 1 to 6 are executed according to the control of the control unit 13.
Next, the operation in the two-sided printing mode will be described.
After the above-described front surface printing sequence is executed, the operation is switched to the back surface printing sequence. The wind-up rotation member of the inversion unit 9 rotates in a direction opposite to the wind-up direction (in
As described above, in the two-sided printing mode, the continuous sheet is processed while passing through the respective paths in the order of the first, the second, the first, and the third paths. Accordingly, in the two-sided printing mode, the following sequences 1 to 11 will be executed according to the control of the control unit 13.
Next, cutting and discharging operations executed by the printing apparatus having the above-described configuration will be described further in detail.
First, as illustrated in
In addition, with respect to the printed products stacked on the discharge tray 12-1, the post-processing process such as a cutting process and a bookbinding process will be executed for each image group later. In the post-processing process, the printed products are cut into a desired size and made up according to the selection of the user. As it is expected that the printed products will be cut when the post-processing process is executed, a mark may be printed on a cutting position when the image forming operation is executed. Even if the above-described printed product in which the image region and the non-image region are connected is included in the printed products for each image group, the non-image region is cut off from the printed product through the post-processing process. Therefore, the user can acquire the printed product similar to the other printed products, including the image region with an appropriate size.
Herein, the non-image region is provided on the leading end of the first image region of the image group. However, the same effect can be acquired when the non-image region is provided on the leading end of the last image region of the image group. Further, the non-image region can be provided on the trailing end of the first or the last image region of the image group. Furthermore, the non-image region can be provided on both of the leading end and the trailing end of the first and the last image regions of the image group. In other words, the non-image region can be provided on at least any one of the leading end and the trailing end of at least any one of the first and the last image regions of the image group.
As described above, in the two-sided printing mode, because the leading end side and the trailing end side are reversed at the inversion unit 9, one side that has been the trailing end side in the front surface (first surface) printing operation becomes the leading end side in the back surface (second surface) printing operation. Therefore, in order to make the non-image region stick out on the downstream side of the discharge unit 12 as described above, in the two-sided printing mode, the continuous sheet may be cut while a predetermined size of the non-image region is provided on the trailing end of the last image region after the last image of the image group is formed on the front surface (first surface).
Further, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the user may be allowed to select whether to execute the operation (second operation) for discharging the printed product including the non-image region to the discharge unit 12 or to execute the normal operation (first operation), through the operation unit 15 serving as the input unit illustrated in
As described above, according to the present exemplary embodiment, by using the non-image region efficiently, the running cost is not increased. Further, since an additional mechanism is not required for the main unit, the production cost will not be increased. Therefore, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of easily defining the printed products of each image group at low cost.
A basic configuration of the printing apparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention is similar to the configuration described according to the first exemplary embodiment, and thus illustration and description of the configuration thereof will be omitted.
In the present exemplary embodiment, operations different from those described in the first exemplary embodiment, i.e., operations from the image forming operation to the cutting and discharging operation executed by the printing apparatus, will be described in detail.
First, as illustrated in
In the present exemplary embodiment, a printed product on which the first image of the first image group is formed is a printed product in which the image region 1A and the non-image region 1A are connected. The second and the subsequent printed products each are a printed product including only the image region 2A. Similarly, the printed product on which the first image of the second image group is formed is a printed product in which the image region 1B and the non-image region 1B are connected. As illustrated in
In addition, with respect to the printed products stacked on the discharge tray 12-1, the post-processing process such as the cutting process and bookbinding process will be executed for each image group later. In the post-processing process, the printed products are cut into a desired size and made up according to the selection of the user. As it is expected that the printed products will be cut when the post-processing process is executed, a mark may be printed on a cutting position when the image forming operation is executed. Even if the above-described printed product in which the image region and the non-image region are connected is included in the printed products for each image group, the non-image region is cut off from the printed product through the post-processing. Therefore, the user can acquire the printed product similar to the other printed products, including the image region with an appropriate size.
In the second exemplary embodiment, the non-image region is provided on the leading end of the first image region of the image group. However, the same effect can be acquired when the non-image region is provided on the leading end of the last image region of the image group. Further, the non-image region can be provided on the trailing end of the first or the last image region of the image group. Furthermore, the non-image region can be provided on both of the leading end and the trailing end of the first and the last image regions of the image group. In other words, the non-image region can be provided on at least any one of the leading end and the trailing end of at least any one of the first and the last image regions of the image group.
Note that, in the two-sided printing mode, because the leading end side and the trailing end side are reversed at the inversion unit 9, one side that has been the trailing end side in the front surface (first surface) printing operation becomes the leading end side in the back surface (second surface) printing operation. Therefore, in order to make the non-image region stick out on the downstream side of the discharge unit 12 as described above, in the two-sided printing mode, the non-image region is provided on the trailing end of the image region when the last image of the image group is formed on the front surface (first surface). Then, the user may cut that non-image region provided on the trailing end.
Further, according to the present exemplary embodiment, the user may be allowed to select whether to execute the operation for discharging the printed product including the non-image region to the discharge unit 12 or to execute the normal operation through the operation unit serving as the input unit illustrated in
As described above, according to the present exemplary embodiment, it is possible to reduce the running cost because the printed products are provided with a small non-image region to distinguish the printed product of each image group. Further, it is possible to prevent increase in the production cost caused by the additional mechanism for the main unit. Therefore, it is possible to provide the image forming apparatus capable of easily defining the printed products of each image group at low cost.
In other words, according to the present invention, because at least any one of the first and the last printed products of each image group is discharged as a printed product having a non-image region serving as a partition, it is possible to provide the image forming apparatus capable of easily defining the printed materials of each image group at low cost.
While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of the following claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and equivalent structures and functions.
This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2014-249375, filed Dec. 9, 2014, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-249375 | Dec 2014 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120033006 | Murayama | Feb 2012 | A1 |
| 20130101329 | Kanazawa | Apr 2013 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2002-308517 | Oct 2002 | JP |
| 2003-25667 | Jan 2003 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20160159116 A1 | Jun 2016 | US |
