Image Forming System Including Finisher with Stapler for Binding Printed Papers

Abstract

In an image forming device, images of originals up to an upper limit number of stapling are read (S1 to S5) and image data thereof are processed (S6 to S8). If a paper sensor has detected a subsequent original even when the number of pages of the read images reaches NS0 (S1, S2), a finisher discharges a bundle of printed papers without stapling. Consequently, the number of the printed papers included in the discharged bundle is made less than the upper limit number. In a case where the number of the printed papers sent to the finisher (S12, S13) is less than a set number NS1 (S15), the bundle is discharged without being stapled after the number of the printed papers reaches NS1 (S17).

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be fully understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings. The accompanying drawings only show examples and are not intended to restrict the present invention. In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a view schematically showing the structure of an image forming system;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing copy processing of a first example;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing executed by a controller of a finisher according to the copy processing of the first example;

FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B are graphs showing concrete examples in a case where a total number of image formed papers Nm≦an upper limit number NS0 and staple processing is executed;

FIG. 4C and FIG. 4D are graphs showing concrete examples in a case where Nm>NS0 and the staple processing is not executed;

FIG. 5 is a view showing the operation when the finisher discharges a bundle of copies;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing copy processing of a second example;

FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B are time charts showing concrete examples of the copy processing in a case where the staple processing is selected prior to the start of a job;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing copy processing of a third example;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing processing executed by the controller of the finisher according to the copy processing of the third example;

FIG. 10A and FIG. 10B are graphs showing concrete examples in a case where Nm≦NS0 and the staple processing is executed;

FIG. 10C and FIG. 10D are graphs showing concrete examples in a case where Nm>NS0 and the staple processing is not executed; and

FIG. 11A and FIG. 11B are time charts showing concrete examples of the processing in FIG. 8 and the processing in FIG. 9 in a case where the staple processing is selected prior to the start of a job and Nm>NS0.

Claims

1. An image forming system comprising: an image forming device which processes image data in a unit of page, and prints, on a paper, an image formed based on the processed image data, to discharge the printed paper;a finisher which, in a case where stapling of a plurality of printed papers is requested in a print job given to said image forming device, holds the printed papers, which are discharged from said image forming device, on a stacker and staples a bundle of the printed papers held on the stacker to discharge the stapled bundle to a tray;a storage unit which stores a value of an upper limit number of printed papers that are staplable in said finisher; anda controller which, in a case where the stapling in said finisher is requested in the print job given to said image forming device, counts the number of pages of processed image data, and when determining that a pre-stage count value which is a value of the counted number of pages exceeds the upper limit number, performs control in which the bundle held on the stacker is discharged to the tray without being stapled in said finisher, before the number of the printed papers held on the stacker reaches the upper limit number.

2. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein said storage unit further stores a set number whose value is smaller than a value of the upper limit number,wherein said controller further has a post-stage count value which is a value of a counted number of printed papers sent to the stacker, and when determining that the pre-stage count value exceeds the upper limit number, said controller executes control in which:(a) if the post-stage count value exceeds the set number, the bundle held on the stacker is discharged to the tray; and(b) if, on the other hand, the post-stage count value does not exceed the set number, the bundle held on the stacker is discharged to the tray after the post-stage count value reaches the set number.

3. The image forming system according to claim 2, wherein, if there is any more printed paper to be sent to the stacker at an instant when the execution of the control of (b) is completed, said controller newly counts the post-stage count value from the instant, and executes the control of (b) again when a newly counted value exceeds the set number; andwherein, in a case where the sending of the printed papers to the stacker is finished before the post-stage count value reaches the set number during the execution of the control of (b), said controller executes the control of discharging the bundle held on the stacker to the tray.

4. An image forming apparatus comprising: a print engine which forms an image based on image data processed in a unit of page and prints the image on a paper; anda controller which, in a case where it is requested in a given print job that printed papers be sent to a finisher to be stapled in the finisher, counts the number of pages of image data processed for said print engine, and when determining that a count value of the pages exceeds an upper limit number of printed papers that are staplable, at a stage of completion of the sending of the printed papers in number less than the upper limit number, gives to the finisher a command that the received printed papers should be discharged without being stapled.

5. A finisher comprising: a stacker which receives printed papers discharged from an image forming device to hold a bundle of the printed papers, the image forming device being a device which prints, on a paper, an image formed based on image data processed in a unit of page;a stapler which staples the bundle held on said stacker;a conveyor which discharges the bundle held on said stacker;a storage unit which stores an upper limit number of printed papers that said stapler is capable of stapling and also stores a set number having a value smaller than a value of the upper limit number; anda controller which counts the number of the printed papers received by said stacker to hold a value of the counted number as a post-stage count value and which controls said stapler and said conveyor in such a manner that:if the post-stage count value exceeds the set number, the bundle held on said stacker is discharged without being stapled; andif the post-stage count value does not exceed the set number, the bundle held on said stacker is discharged without being stapled after the post-stage count value reaches the set number.

6. The finisher according to claim 5, wherein said controller supplies the value of the upper limit number to the image forming device from said storage unit, and when receiving a discharge command from the image forming device receiving the value of the upper limit number, said controller executes control regarding the discharge command, the discharge command being outputted when the image forming device counts the number of pages of processed image data to determine that a count value of the number of pages exceeds the upper limit number, in a case where stapling in said finisher is requested in a print job given to the image forming device.

7. An image forming system comprising: an image forming device which processes image data in a unit of page, and prints, on a paper, an image formed by a print engine based on the processed image data, to discharge the printed paper;a finisher which, in a case where stapling of a plurality of printed papers is requested in a print job given to said image forming device, holds the printed papers, which are discharged from said image forming device, on a stacker and staples a bundle of the printed papers held on the stacker to discharge the stapled bundle to a tray;a storage unit which stores a value of an upper limit number of printed papers that are staplable in said finisher, and also stores the processed image data; anda controller which, in a case where the stapling in said finisher is requested in the print job given to said image forming device, stores processed image data in said storage unit and counts the number of pages of the processed image data, and when determining that a count value of the number of pages exceeds the upper limit number, performs control in which, in a state where the request is cancelled, supply of the image data stored in said storage unit is started so as to enable the print engine to form an image, thereby avoiding sending of the discharged printed papers to the stacker in said finisher.

8. The image forming system according to claim 7, wherein, after canceling the request, said controller performs the following processings in parallel: processing for starting the supply of the image data stored in said storage unit; and processing for processing remaining image data not having been stored and storing the processed image data in said storage unit.

9. An image forming apparatus comprising: a print engine which forms an image based on image data processed in a unit of page and prints the image on a paper:a storage unit which stores an upper limit number of printed papers and the processed image data, the upper limit number being the number of printed papers staplable in a case where the papers printed in said print engine and sent to a finisher should be stacked into a bundle to be stapled in the finisher; anda controller which, in a case where it is requested in a given print job that printed papers be sent to the finisher to be stapled in the finisher, stores, in said storage unit, image data processed for said print engine and counts the number of pages of the processed image data, and when determining that a count value of the number of pages exceeds the upper limit number, executes control in which, in a state where the request is cancelled, supply of the image data stored in said storage unit is started so as to enable said print engine to form an image, thereby avoiding that the discharged printed papers are bundled in said finisher.

10. An image forming system comprising: an image forming device which processes image data in a unit of page, and prints, on a paper, an image formed by a print engine based on the processed image data, to discharge the printed paper;a finisher which, in a case where stapling of a plurality of printed papers is requested in a print job given to said image forming device, holds the printed papers, which are discharged from said image forming device, on a stacker and staples a bundle of the printed papers held on the stacker to discharge the stapled bundle to a tray;a storage unit which stores an upper limit number NS0 of printed papers that are staplable in said finisher and also stores a set number NS1 having a value smaller than a value of the upper limit number NS0; anda controller which, in a case where the stapling in said finisher is requested in the print job given to said image forming device, counts the number of pages N of processed image data and the number of pages M of images formed by the print engine regarding the job, and at the same time, executes control in which:(a) when it is determined that the number of pages M becomes equal to the set number NS1, further image formation by the print engine is suspended; and(b) when it is determined that the number of pages N exceeds the upper limit number NS0, said finisher is caused to discharge the bundle held on the stacker to the tray without stapling, and next, the image formation suspended in (a) is resumed.

11. The image forming system according to claim 10, wherein said controller further executes control in which,(c) in a case where it is determined that the number of pages N does not exceed the upper limit number NS0 after the image formation is suspended in (a), the suspended image formation is resumed and printed papers are discharged from said image forming device, and said finisher is caused to execute the stapling of the bundle of the printed papers held on the stacker after the discharge is finished, and then to discharge the stapled bundle to the tray.

12. The image forming system according to claim 10, wherein, when completing the execution of the control of (b), said controller newly counts the number of pages M from an instant of the completion, and executes the control of (b) when the newly counted number of pages M exceeds the upper limit number NS0, andwherein, in a case where the sending of the printed papers to the stacker is finished before the number of pages M reaches the set number NS1 during the execution of the control of (b), said controller executes control in which the bundle held on the stacker is discharged to the tray.

13. An image forming apparatus comprising: a print engine which forms an image based on image data processed in a unit of page and prints the image on a paper;a storage unit which stores an upper limit number NS0 of printed papers and a set number NS1 having a smaller value than a value of NS0, the upper limit number being the number of printed papers staplable in a case where the papers printed in said print engine and delivered to a finisher should be stacked into a bundle to be stapled in the finisher; anda controller which, in a case where it is requested in a given print job that printed papers be sent to the finisher to be stapled in the finisher, counts the number of pages N of image data processed for said print engine and the number of pages M of images formed by said print engine, and at the same time, executes control in which:(a) when it is determined that the number of pages M becomes equal to the set number NS1, further image formation by said print engine is suspended;(b) when it is determined that the number of pages N exceeds the upper limit number NS0, the finisher is caused to discharge a bundle of the printed papers without stapling, and next, the image formation suspended in (a) is resumed; and(c) when it is determined that the number of pages N does not exceed the upper limit number NS0 after the image formation is suspended in (a), the suspended image formation is resumed, printed papers are delivered to the finisher, and after the delivery of the printed papers is finished, the finisher is caused to execute the stapling of a bundle of the received printed papers and then to discharge the stapled bundle.