1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming device which can staple printed documents, a method for printing and a program recording medium.
2. Description of Related Art
In this device, printing is performed from the first page of the document in order and the pages stacked in the intermediate tray 4 face-down (hereinbelow, simply referred to as the “face-down process”). Thus the sheaves of paper 6 stapled into a desired number of sheets are stacked in the catch tray 7. The sheaf of paper 6 is stapled at a staple point 8 located at the upper left of the sheaf with respect to the image printed thereon.
When printing on both sides, an image of an odd-numbered page is printed on one side of the paper 1. Then the paper 1 is reversed and an image of an even-numbered page is printed on the other side of the paper 1. The paper both sides of which are printed onto is fed to the intermediate tray 4 and stacked therein face-down.
An image forming device which staples using post-processing equipment has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2000-44109). An image forming device which can move its staple point when printing on one side, by stapling after reversing the paper when it is placed in landscape orientation has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2003-337508). In addition, an image forming device in which it is made possible for assembly and fixing of jams to be performed easily by having a first unit including an intermediate tray and a second unit with a carrying and branching function has also been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2001-235916).
In low-cost image forming devices which can perform stapling like the one shown in
For example, in
That is, in the cases shown in
An object of the present invention is to control an image forming device so as to set a staple point at the upper left of printed paper with respect to a printed image even when paper is fed as in pattern B or in pattern C in
A first aspect of the present invention is an image forming device having a printing unit, an intermediate tray, and a stapler fixed at a predetermined position, which stacks printed paper printed by the printing unit in the intermediate tray after either a face-down process or a face-up process (a process in which the printed paper is stacked in the intermediate tray face-up) when performing a normal operation and staples the printed paper when a number of sheets thereof reaches a predetermined number, the image forming device comprising: an input unit adapted to allow input of a choice of the face-down process or the face-up process and a choice of one-side printing or two-side printing; and a control unit which controls the image forming device so as to stack the printed paper in the intermediate tray after the printing unit performs two-side printing if a process selected using the input unit is different from one which is performed in the normal operation.
The control unit may control the printing unit so as to perform two-side printing, printing blank data on one side of the paper when one-side printing is selected using the input unit.
A second aspect of the present invention is a recording medium on which is recorded a program applicable to an image forming device having a printing unit, an intermediate tray, and a stapler fixed at a predetermined position, which stacks printed paper printed by the printing unit in the intermediate tray after either a face-down process or face-up process when performing a normal operation and staples the printed paper when a number of sheets thereof reaches a predetermined number, wherein the program comprises: a first step of receiving input of a choice of the face-down process or the face-up process and a choice of one-side printing or two-side printing; a second step of controlling the printing unit so as to perform two-side printing if a process chosen in the first step is different from one which is performed in the normal operation; and a third step of controlling the image forming device so as to stack the printed paper in the intermediate tray.
In the second step, the printing unit may be controlled so as to perform two-side printing, printing blank data on one side of the paper when one-side printing is selected in the first step.
A third aspect of the present invention is a method for image printing applicable to an image forming device having a printing unit, an intermediate tray, and a stapler fixed at a predetermined position, which stacks printed paper printed by the printing unit in the intermediate tray after either a face-down process or a face-up process when performing a normal operation and staples the printed paper when a number of sheets thereof reaches a predetermined number, the method for image printing comprising: a first step of receiving input of a choice of the face-down process or the face-up process and a choice of one-side printing or two-side printing; a second step of controlling the printing unit so as to perform two-side printing if a process chosen in the first step is different from one which is performed in the normal operation; and a third step of controlling the image forming device so as to stack the printed paper in the intermediate tray.
In the second step, the printing unit may be controlled so as to perform two-side printing, printing blank data on one side of the paper when one-side printing is selected in the first step.
An embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to the drawings.
This embodiment performs printing from the last page of images and performs a face-up process in which printed paper is stacked in the intermediate tray 4 face-up in order to set the staple point 8 at the upper left of the sheaf 6 with respect to the printed image. When performing the face-up process, the paper 1 on which the image is printed by the image forming portion 3 is fed to the intermediate tray 4 after being reversed at a switchback unit 9 which is used in conventional image forming devices in order to perform two-side printing. When the paper 1 stacked in the intermediate tray 4 reaches a predetermined number of sheets, the sheaf 6 is stapled by the stapler 5 and discharged to the catch tray 7. Thus the sheaves 6 of the predetermined number of sheets are stapled and stacked on the catch tray 7 face up. In this case, the staple point 8 is always located at the upper left of the sheaf 6 with respect to the printed image, as shown in
In
If copying is possible under the conditions set, the printing order of the image data to be printed is changed as shown in
Next, the paper 1 is fed from the feeding tray 2 as shown by symbol (1a) in
The printed paper is fed to the intermediate tray 4 face-up (step S9). Then it is determined whether a number of sheets of the printed paper has reached a predetermined number (e.g., five sheets) (step S10). If it is determined that the number of sheets of the printed paper has not reached the predetermined number, the next page of the image data is printed (step S11).
Steps S7 to S11 are repeated until the number of sheets of the printed paper reaches the predetermined number. When the last printed page (in this case, page 1) of the predetermined number has been stacked in the intermediate tray 4, the sheaf 6 of the printed paper is stapled by the stapler 5 (step S12), and is stacked on the catch tray 7 face-up (step S13). Through these processes, the five-sheet sheaf 6 of paper, being stacked in order of page 1, page 2, page 3, page 4, and page 5 and with the staple point 8 set at the upper left of the paper with respect to the printed image, can be obtained.
In the operation shown in
In the operations shown in
As described above, the face-up staple mode of the present embodiment is one in which face-up staple processing is performed by always performing two-side printing even if the user chooses one-side printing, and by starting printing from the last page of the image data to be printed. On the other hand, the conventional image forming device shown in
A personal computer (PC) 10, a host computer, has a central processing unit (CPU) 11, an operation and display unit 12 for operations including selecting the face-up staple mode and display thereof, a printer driver 13, and an information processing unit 14. An image forming device 20 has a device CPU 21 which controls the whole image forming device, an image processing unit 22, a printing unit 23, and post-processing equipment 24 having a stapler 5. The printing unit 23 has a printer controller 25, an engine controller 26, and a print engine 27. The post-processing equipment 24 may be removable from the image forming device 20 itself.
In the system of the aforementioned constitution, the change of printing order of image data to be printed shown in
The change of printing order of image data may be performed by the printer controller 25. In this case, the printing order is changed after all pages of the image data are saved in a memory device in the image forming device 20. Operation in the face-up staple mode may be performed by the engine controller 26. In this case, the engine controller 26 can handle the face-down stapling process. Insertion and changing the printing order of the blank data may be performed by a combination of the printer driver 13 and the printer controller 25, the printer controller 25 only, or the engine controller 26.
A program for carrying out a printing method of the present embodiment and a program recording medium on which the program is recorded are described below.
A program for the device CPU 21 in the computer system of the image forming device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention to control the image forming device 20 so as to perform the aforementioned operations and the processing shown in the flowchart of
A magnetooptical disc, an optical disc, semiconductor memory, or a magnetic recording medium may be used to record the program and these recording media may be in the form of read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), a CD-ROM, a flexible disc, a memory card, or the like. A recording medium which maintains the program for a certain period of time like volatile memory such as a RAM in a computer system used as a server or a client when the program is sent via a network or telecommunication lines such as phone lines is also included among the aforementioned recording media.
The program may be one sent from a computer system which saves the program in a memory device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmitted wave in the transmission medium. The phrase “transmission medium” means a medium which has a function of transmitting information such as the Internet (a communication network) or telecommunication lines such as phone lines (communication lines). The program may be one for performing a part of the aforementioned functions. The program may be a differential file (differential program) which enables the computer system to perform the aforementioned function in combination with a program recorded on the computer system.
Accordingly, the program or the recording medium on which the program is recorded may be located in a system or a device different from the system or the device shown in
While preferred embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Additions, omissions, substitutions, and other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as being limited by the foregoing description, and is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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5201517 | Stemmle | Apr 1993 | A |
5881212 | Morita | Mar 1999 | A |
6226473 | Kutsuwada | May 2001 | B1 |
Number | Date | Country |
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2000-044109 | Feb 2000 | JP |
2000-059552 | Feb 2000 | JP |
2001-235916 | Aug 2001 | JP |
2003-337508 | Nov 2003 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20070242999 A1 | Oct 2007 | US |