Patent Grant
7327477
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2002-183409, filed Jun. 24, 2002.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, which can form images on special paper other than plain paper.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, image forming apparatuses, which can form images on special paper such as tab paper, other than plain paper, have come into wide use. In apparatuses of this kind, an image is shifted in conformity with a position and width of a tab, and the image is formed on the tab paper.
As an image forming apparatus of this kind, known is an apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-19243, for example. The apparatus disclosed in the publication can set in advance the tab division number, an image shift amount, and page into which tab paper is inserted, etc. with an operation panel. Further, the apparatus has a function of test-copying one of a plurality of copies by a test copy key.
However, when an image is formed on tab paper, it is difficult to set the image shift amount. For example, processing of margins varies according to the application soft used. Further, the conveying position of tab paper is dislocated according to the position of the cassette which feeds the tab paper, thus it is difficult to properly set the image shift amount.
The image shift amount to tab paper can be adjusted by actually test-copying one copy and checking whether the image is dislocated or not, as in the apparatus disclosed in the above publication. However, this method has a problem that all the paper of the copy including the test-copied tab paper is wasted if the test-copied image is dislocated from the tab paper.
This invention has been made in view of the above points. The object of the invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method, which can form images on special paper without fail and efficiently.
To achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention extracts an print job from a storing section, and receives an input of changing printing conditions concerning special printing included in the print job. Its print section executes a print job extracted the storing section without no change, and also executes the print job including special printing whose printing conditions has been changed through an input section. Further, the apparatus prints, as a test, at least one page of the special printing included in the print job to be executed in the print section, with its test print key.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Users operate the respective personal computers 10, input data such as an image and characters necessary for printing, and transmit a command for executing printing based on the input data, as a print job. The printer 1 receives and stores print jobs transmitted from the personal computers 10, and executes the print jobs in order of reception basically.
The printer 1 has a control section 2. The control section 2 has a touch-panel-type operation panel 11 having a function as a display section 3 and a function as an input section 4, a receiving section 5 which receives print jobs transmitted from the personal computers 10, a storing section 6 which stores received print jobs, an image processing section 7 which processes page data included in the print jobs according to necessity, a print section 8 which executes the print jobs, and a paper feeding section 9 which feeds paper to the print section 8.
The paper feeding section 9 has two paper-feeding cassettes 9a and 9b (please refer to
The control section 2 also functions as a judging section of the present invention, and judges whether a print job received by the receiving section 5 includes printing on special paper such as tab paper (this print is referred to as “special printing” hereinafter). The term “special printing” here means special printing which easily causes jam in comparison with printing on plain paper.
The storing section 6 stores all the print jobs received from the personal computers 10 by the receiving section 5. In particular, it stores specific print jobs, which have been judged by the control section 2 as including special printing, in distinction from print jobs not including special printing.
The display section 3 displays a table (list) of the specific print jobs which have been judged as including special printing by the control section 2, among the print jobs stored in the storing section 6. As a method of displaying the list, there is a method of displaying user names of the personal computers 10, besides a method of displaying names of the print jobs. Further, the display section 3 switches a plurality of input pictures described below for receiving inputs of changing printing conditions for special paper.
The input section 4 receives various operation inputs by users. A user, for example, selects a print job to be executed from the list displayed by the display section 3, and inputs it by the input section 4. In this embodiment, since the display section 3 and the input section 4 are formed as the touch-panel-type operation panel 11, the user can perform an input operation by touching an item displayed on the display section 3.
The image processing section 7 shifts page data to be printed by the width of the tab, at the time of printing on tab paper, for example. Another way may be adopted in which the paper feeding section 9 shifts feeding timing of tab paper by the width of the tab.
The print section 8 prints images and characters in the page data included in a print job read from the storing section 6, on paper (including tab paper) fed from the paper feeding section 9. Further, the print section 8 executes a print job including the special printing whose printing conditions have been changed through the input section 4. The printing section 8 also selectively prints only special printing included in a print job by a “test print” button 31 described below.
Next, operations of the above printer 1 will now be described, with reference to examples of pictures of the operation panel 11 shown in
Firstly, as shown in
In the receiving process of Step 2, as shown in
Further, at the time of the receiving process of Step 2 (that is, Steps 21-28), the control section 2 judges whether the received print job includes special printing or not (Step 3). If it is judged in Step 3 that the print job does not include any special printing (Step 3: NO), the print job is read from the storing section 6 and executed immediately in the print section 8, and normal printing is performed (Step 4).
In the meantime, if it is determined in Step 3 that the print job includes special printing (Step 3: YES), the print job is not executed but maintained in the storing section 6 (Step 5). Specifically, print jobs including special printing are stored in the storing section 6 without being executed.
Further, a list of the print jobs including special printing, which are stored in the storing section 6, is displayed by the display section 3 (Step 6). In the state where the print jobs including special printing are displayed as a list by the display section 3 as described above, the printer 1 waits for the user's instructions to execute the print jobs.
In this state, as shown in
In this state, when a “change” button 21 is touched (Step 8: YES), the display section 3 successively displays the pictures shown in
In the meantime, if a “Not change” button 22 is touched in the state where the picture of
In this state, if the user touches a “test print” button 31 (test print key) (Step 11: YES), test print on a first sheet of tab paper is performed, on the basis of the tab width and the image shift amount inputted in Step 9 (Step 12). The number of sheets of tab paper to be test-printed can be set to any number, and different numbers are preset according to the type of the printer. In this embodiment, the printer 1 is set such that test print on only the first sheet of tab paper is automatically performed when the “test print” button 31 is touched.
After test print has been performed in Step 12, the picture of
In the meantime, in the state where the picture of
Thereafter, the display section 3 displays a picture (not shown) for user's determining whether job data concerning the print job executed in Step 14 is to be deleted or not, and the job data is selectively deleted (Steps 15, 16).
Further, if a “return” button 33 is touched in the state where the picture of
As described above, according to the embodiment, when the printer 1 has received a print job including printing on special paper such as tab paper, the printer 1 does not execute the print job immediately, but stores it in the storing section 6 and displays it by the display section 3. Further, when the user has inputted an instruction to execute the print job by the input section 4, the printer reads the print job from the storing section 6 and executes it by the print section 8.
Therefore, if special paper, such as tab paper, to be used for the print job is not ready or a jam has occurred at the time of printing on special paper, the user stands by the printer 1, and thus can cope with it immediately. Therefore, the waiting time of the following print jobs due to unnoticed paper out or jam can be greatly reduced, and this can increase the operation rate of the printer.
Further, since the printer 1 is configured to store print jobs including special printing in the storing section 6 and to display a list of the print jobs, the user goes to the printer and can make the desired print job executed at an appropriate timing, thus convenience is improved. Furthermore, when the print job is executed, the user can test special printing on tab paper, and adjust the print position on the tab by viewing the test-printed tab paper.
More specifically, in this embodiment, when an instruction to execute a print job has been inputted by the input section 4, change of the printing conditions concerning special printing included in the print job can be inputted. Further, after the printing conditions concerning the special printing has been changed, test printing on special paper can be performed. In particular, in test printing, printing is performed only on special paper.
Therefore, the user can change the printing conditions as to tab paper when executing a print job by operating the printer 1. Further, after at least one page of special printing on tab paper has been test-printed, the user can check the actual print of the tab paper and change the printing conditions again. The user does not need to test-print all the pages as in the above conventional apparatus, and can securely and efficiently perform printing on tab paper.
Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specific details and representative embodiments shown and described herein. Accordingly, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
For example, although printing on tab paper was explained in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to it, but can be applied to printing on special paper such as cardboard and foreign paper.
Further, although in the above embodiment only printing on a first sheet of tab paper is performed when the “test print” button 31 has been touched, printing on all sheets of tab paper included in the print job may be performed. The number of sheets to be test-printed may be set in advance in the printer used, or the apparatus may be configured to determine the number of sheets to be test-printed according to the number of times of touching the “test print” button 31. In this case, a timeout between button touching is set, and the number of successive touching of the button, with no timeout intervened between the touching, is counted as the number of sheets to be test-printed.
Furthermore, a plurality of “test print” buttons may be provided on the picture of
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002-183409 | Jun 2002 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6894793 | Roosen et al. | May 2005 | B1 |
| 20020180822 | Aritomi | Dec 2002 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2002-19243 | Jan 2002 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20040008376 A1 | Jan 2004 | US |
