Image forming apparatus, image forming method and image forming program

Abstract

An image forming apparatus, including an image forming section to form a cover image on a cover sheet to cover bundled printing sheets with the cover sheet folded in a U-shape, based on image data of the cover sheet, and a control section to determine a cover image forming area of the cover image to be arranged on the cover sheet based on a size of the printing sheet and a width of a spine cover, and to control the image forming section to form the cover image on the cover image forming area based on the image data of the cover sheet.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of the image forming apparatus relating to the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing the cover image forming process relating to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the image position determining process relating to the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a layout of front cover image forming area “a”, back cover image forming area “b” and spine cover image forming area “c”.

FIG. 5 shows an example of positioning of front cover image A and back cover image B.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the finalized arrangement of the cover images positioned on the cover sheets.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising: an image forming section to form a cover image on a cover sheet to cover bundled printing sheets with the cover sheet folded in a U-shape, based on image data of the cover sheet; anda control section to determine a cover image forming area of the cover image to be arranged on the cover sheet based on a size of the printing sheet and a width of a spine cover, and to control the image forming section to form the cover image on the cover image forming area based on the image data of the cover sheet.

2. The image forming apparatus in claim 1, wherein the cover image forming area includes a front cover image forming area and a back cover image forming area, between which a spine cover area is arranged.

3. The image forming apparatus in claim 2, wherein the front cover forming area and the back cover forming area are determined based on one side which represents an end section of a book which is produced of the bundled printing sheets covered with the cover sheet folded in the U-shape.

4. The image forming apparatus in claim 2, wherein a size of the front cover image forming area and a size of the back cover forming area are equal to a size of the bundled printing sheets.

5. The image forming apparatus in claim 1, wherein the control section controls the image forming section to form a front cover image and a back cover image to be placed at a center of the front cover image forming area and at a center of the back cover image forming area, respectively.

6. A cover image forming method, comprising the steps of: obtaining cover sheet data to form a cover image on a cover sheet;obtaining a size of bundled printing sheets to be covered by the cover sheet folded in a U-shape;obtaining a width of a spine cover;establishing a cover image forming area based on the size of the bundled printing sheets and the width of the spine cover; andforming the cover image on the cover image forming area by the step of establishing the cover image forming area based on cover image data.

7. A program for working a computer, comprising the steps of: obtaining cover sheet data to form a cover image on a cover sheet;obtaining a size of bundled printing sheets to be covered by the cover sheet folded in a U-shape;obtaining a width of a spine cover;establishing a cover image forming area based on the size of the bundled printing sheets and the width of the spine cover; andforming the cover image on the cover image forming area established by the step of establishing the cover image forming area based on cover image data.