IMAGE RECORDING SYSTEM AND PROGRAM

Abstract

An image recording system is provided which includes two image recording apparatuses that can independently record images and can sequentially start up the two image recording apparatuses one by one rather than starting up at the same time. A bypass transporting path apparatus is disposed on a color image recording apparatus and a transporting path connecting apparatus is disposed between a front portion of a monochrome image recording apparatus and a rear portion of the color image recording apparatus. This system includes a start-up controlling portion that performs control such that after any one image recording apparatus is started up and put into a recordable state, the other image recording apparatus is started up and put into a recordable state.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view of the appearance of the configuration of an image recording system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an explanatory schematic view of exchanging of image data in the image recording system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example of the configuration of the image recording system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a color image forming portion in the image recording system of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the main part that executes image recording control in the image recording system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is an explanatory flowchart of an example of a start-up process in the image recording system described in FIGS. 1 to 5;

FIG. 7 depicts a setting example of a start-up order;

FIG. 8 is an explanatory schematic view of an example of a selection process of a warm-up preferential engine in the image recording system described in FIGS. 1 to 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an example of the configuration of an image recording system according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example of the main portion that executes image recording control in the image recording system of FIG. 9; and

FIG. 11 is an explanatory flowchart of a start-up process in a conventional image recording system.

Claims

1. An image recording system that comprises a first and a second image recording apparatuses disposed side by side and each capable of recording images independently, the system comprising a start-up controlling portion that performs control such that after any one image recording apparatus is started up and put into a recordable state, the other image recording apparatus is started up and put into a recordable state.

2. The image recording system of claim 1, wherein with regard to the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus, the first image recording apparatus is a color image recording apparatus including a monochrome image recording function and the second image recording apparatus is a monochrome image recording apparatus.

3. The image recording system of claim 1, comprising a start-up order setting portion that sets a start-up order of the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus, wherein the start-up controlling portion sequentially starts up the image recording apparatuses in accordance with the start-up order set by the start-up order setting portion.

4. The image recording system of claim 3, wherein the start-up order setting portion is set such that the apparatus with the larger number of recording modes is preferentially started up from the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus.

5. The image recording system of claim 3, wherein the start-up order setting portion is set such that the apparatus with a color image recording function is preferentially started up from the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus.

6. The image recording system of claim 1, wherein the start-up controlling portion can determine a type of a print job accepted by the image recording system and preferentially starts up the image recording apparatus depending on the determination result.

7. The image recording system of claim 6, wherein if the print job is a job including color data, the first image recording apparatus is preferentially started up.

8. The image recording system of claim 1, wherein the start-up controlling portion can count frequencies of usage of the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus and sequentially starts up the image recording apparatuses in the descending order of the counted frequency of usage.

9. The image recording system of claim 3, wherein a controlling portion of the first image recording apparatus acts as the start-up controlling portion, or the start-up controlling portion and the start-up order setting portion, to control a controlling portion of the second image recording apparatus.

10. The image recording system of claim 3, wherein controlling portions of both the image recording apparatuses include a monitoring portion that monitors the other image recording apparatus through the controlling portion of the other image recording apparatus, and the start-up controlling portion, or the start-up controlling portion and the start-up order setting portion.

11. The image recording system of claim 3, comprising a common controlling portion incorporated into a housing located between the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus, the common controlling portion acting as the start-up controlling portion, or the start-up controlling portion and the start-up order setting portion, to control both a controlling portion of the first image recording apparatus and a controlling portion of the second image recording apparatus.

12. A program to be incorporated in the controlling portion of the first image recording apparatus in the image recording system of claim 9, wherein the program causes a computer to function as the start-up controlling portion, or the start-up controlling portion and the start-up order setting portion.

13. A program to be incorporated in the controlling portions of both of the image recording apparatuses in the image recording system of claim 10, wherein the program causes a computer to function as the start-up controlling portion, or the start-up controlling portion and the start-up order setting portion.

14. A program to be incorporated in the common controlling portion in the image recording system of claim 11, wherein the program causes a computer to function as the start-up controlling portion, or the start-up controlling portion and the start-up order setting portion.

15. The image recording system of claim 2, comprising a start-up order setting portion that sets a start-up order of the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus, wherein the start-up controlling portion sequentially starts up the image recording apparatuses in accordance with the start-up order set by the start-up order setting portion.

16. The image recording system of claim 2, wherein the start-up controlling portion can determine a type of a print job accepted by the image recording system and preferentially starts up the image recording apparatus depending on the determination result.

17. The image recording system of claim 2, wherein the start-up controlling portion can count frequencies of usage of the first image recording apparatus and the second image recording apparatus and sequentially starts up the image recording apparatuses in the descending order of the counted frequency of usage.