JP4518478B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer capable of setting a priority for each print job and a multifunction machine having functions such as a copying machine and a facsimile.

In recent years, printers have become widespread, are used in a network environment, and printers are often shared by a plurality of users (PCs), so a plurality of jobs are often processed. For this reason, there are many cases in which print output cannot be obtained immediately while processing another job. In order to solve such a problem, for example, Patent Literature 1, Patent Literature 2, Patent Literature 3, Patent Literature 4, and Patent Literature 5 propose setting a priority for each print job.
JP 2000-158762 A JP 2000-31270 A JP 2000-353060 A JP 2001-111743 A JP 2003-058356 A

However, the reasons why the print output cannot be obtained immediately include the case where various functions (staple, punch, double-sided printing, etc.) cannot be used in addition to the above-mentioned sharing of resources, the absence of paper, and the specified size of paper. It may be due to the occurrence of an error such as no tray set. In normal use, unsupported functions cannot be specified by the printer driver. However, when an event such as out of paper or needle occurs, the printer stops and the job is processed until the cause is removed. It will be delayed. Therefore, there is a problem that it cannot be solved only by setting the priority.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and provides an image forming apparatus capable of efficiently performing print output even when used among a plurality of users in a network environment. With the goal.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1, in an image forming apparatus for processing a print job based on the priority, the failure occurs print job when printing is set in the print job A process control unit is provided that invalidates the priority of the print job when the invalidity designation is possible .
The invention of claim 2 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing control unit, on the basis of the print job has been set to time setting, disable the priority of the print job It is characterized by doing.
The invention described in 請 Motomeko 3, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the processing control unit, disabling the priority of the print job based on the type of prior SL generated defect Features.
The invention described in 請 Motomeko 4, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the processing control unit, and returning to the original priority of the print job is invalidated.
The invention described in 請 Motomeko 5, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processing control unit, when the return whether the specified set before Symbol print job is allowed, the priority of the print job It is characterized by returning the degree.
The invention described in 請 Motomeko 6, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the processing control unit, when the return whether designation is yes, based on the time setting which is set before Symbol print job The priority of the print job is restored.

According to the present invention, the printer does not stop due to an error or inconvenience in a high-priority print job, so that it is possible to prevent problems such as job stagnation and productivity reduction or that other people's print is not output. be able to.
In addition, since it is possible to enable the setting if it is desired to prevent the above-mentioned problem and to disable the setting if priority is to be placed on the priority, it is possible to provide a highly flexible image forming apparatus for various user needs. be able to.
In addition, since it is possible to set the time until the priority of the print job becomes invalid, it is possible to give a grace period to remove errors within the range where the defect is allowed, so that flexibility can be met for various user needs. A high printing system can be provided.
In addition, since it is possible to set whether or not to disable priority depending on the type of error, enable this setting for frequently occurring errors or errors that are easy to deal with, and errors that occur less frequently or are difficult to handle In this case, since the setting can be invalidated, a user-friendly printing system can be provided for the user.
In addition, if the priority of a disabled print job is restored, the job with the disabled priority may be automatically printed when the printer status or setting conditions change. Therefore, it is possible to provide a printing system that is more faithful to priority.
Also, if you want to prioritize priority, disable the priority return setting and reduce the productivity by returning to the original priority and re-checking whether printing is possible according to the current printer status and setting conditions. Since it is possible to enable the setting when it is desired to prevent it, it is possible to provide a highly flexible printing system for various user needs.
In addition, since it is possible to set the time until the priority of an invalid print job is restored, it is faithful to the priority to some extent, the priority is restored, and printing is performed according to the current printer status and setting conditions. Therefore, it is possible to cope with the case where it is desired to prevent a decrease in productivity due to re-checking whether or not it is possible, so that a highly flexible printing system can be provided for various user needs.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network environment in which the image forming apparatus of the present invention operates. The image forming apparatus 101 of the present invention and the host computer 100 are connected by a standard communication means (for example, an interface such as IEEE802.3 or IEEE802.11) capable of bidirectional communication. Further, there may be one host computer 100 or a plurality of host computers 100 as shown in FIG. Each host computer 100 is usually a personal computer, and runs application software such as document creation, spreadsheet, or web browsing software, and prints out the entire document or a part of it as necessary. The host computer 100 is installed with print control software called a device driver for the image forming apparatus 101 that prints out, and performs processing for sending data to be printed to the image forming apparatus 101 in units of jobs. By instructing the priority of print processing to this device driver, it is possible to instruct the handling when the output is desired in a hurry or when the output amount is large and later processing is acceptable. In addition, a job from the same host computer 100 or another host computer may be submitted while printing is not completed after a single print job is submitted. In that case, accumulation of jobs called spooling is performed on the image forming apparatus 101 side.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of a control unit (printer controller) in the image forming apparatus of the present invention.
The printer controller 200 is mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus 101, and is connected to the host computer 100 and the plotter unit 300 (not shown) by a predetermined communication method. The plotter unit 300 is attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus 101. The plotter unit 300 is a part that actually forms an image and prints it on paper. The plotter unit 300 prints the print data developed and interpreted by the printer controller 200, and changes the processing state. Is also notified to the printer controller 200.
The host I / F 202 is a part that exchanges data with the host computer 100, and notifies the host computer 100 of the state of the image forming apparatus 101 and receives print data of a document created by the host computer 100.
The image creating unit 201 interprets print data (usually a print data command) received by the host I / F 202 and develops it into electronic image data. Then, the image processing main control unit 203 performs control up to print output (paper feed / discharge / staple etc.), control of the printer processing state, determination of the time measured by the timer 205, and the like.
The plotter unit I / F 204 is a part that exchanges data with the plotter unit 300, receives the state of the plotter unit 300, and transmits print data developed and interpreted by the printer controller 200 to the plotter unit 300. The timer 205 is a means for measuring time.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 101 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus 101 when receiving print data.
The host computer 100 transmits print data to the image forming apparatus 101. The printer controller 200 receives the print data at the host I / F 202 (step 301), interprets the data at the image processing main control unit 203 (step 302), and determines whether a malfunction (hereinafter referred to as an error) has occurred. Is determined (step 303), and the following processing is performed.
If no error has occurred (NO in step 303), normal printing processing is performed. That is, the image creation unit 201 develops the image data (step 320), transmits the image data via the plotter unit I / F 204, and the plotter unit 300 starts printing (step 321).
If an error has occurred (YES in step 303), it is determined whether the priority invalidation setting of the print job is valid (step 304), and the following processing is performed.
That is, if the priority invalidity setting of the print job is invalid (NO in step 304), the printing process is stopped and the job is terminated (step 312).

If the print job priority invalidation setting is valid (YES in step 304), it is determined whether or not the error that occurred is set as a target for invalidating the print job priority (step 305). If the error is not set as a target for invalidating the priority of the print job (NO in step 305), the printing process is stopped and the job is terminated (step 312). If the error that has occurred is set as a target for invalidating the priority of the print job (YES in step 305), it is determined whether or not a time until the priority of the print job is invalid is set (step 306). If the time until the priority of the print job is invalid is set (YES in step 306), printing is stopped and the time is counted by the timer 205 (step 307). In the meantime, the passage of time is waited (step 308). The processing after the elapse of time is the same as the processing in the case where the time until priority of the print job, which will be described later, is not set.
When the time until the priority of the print job is invalid is not set (NO in step 306), the priority of the print job is invalidated (step 309), and it is determined whether there is a next job (step 310). If there is a next job (YES at step 310), the image processing main control unit 203 starts interpretation of the data of the next job (step 302). If there is no next job (NO in step 310), printing is stopped (step 311).

Next, an operation of returning (returning) the priority of the invalidated print job will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the process of restoring the priority.
It is determined whether or not the priority of the print job disabled by the image processing main control unit 203 is set to return to the original setting (step 401). The determination is continued until a print job is generated (step 402). If a print job is generated, it is determined whether or not a time until the priority is restored (step 403). Is set until the time is restored (step 403 is YES), the timer 205 measures the time (step 405), waits until the time elapses, and the time until the priority is restored. Is not set (NO in step 403), the priority is immediately restored (step 406). As a result, a job for print processing is generated.

1 is a diagram showing a network environment in which an image forming apparatus of the present invention operates. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration of a control unit in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus when receiving print data. The flowchart explaining the process which returns a priority.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Host computer 101 Image forming apparatus 200 Printer controller 201 Image creation part 202 Host I / F
203 Image processing main control unit 204 Plotter unit I / F
205 Timer 300 Plotter

Claims (6)

In an image forming apparatus that processes a print job based on priority,
The defect occurs print job when printing, when disabled propriety specified set in the print job is allowed, the processing control unit to disable the priority of the print job
An image forming apparatus comprising: a. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The image forming apparatus , wherein the processing control unit invalidates the priority of the print job based on a time setting set for the print job . The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2,
The processing control unit includes an image forming apparatus characterized by disabling the priority of the print job based on the type of prior SL generated trouble. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.
The image forming apparatus, wherein the processing control unit restores the priority of an invalid print job. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4.
Wherein the processing control unit, when the return whether the specified set before Symbol print job is allowed, the image forming apparatus characterized by undo the priority of the print job. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5.
Wherein the processing control unit, when the return whether designation is yes, before SL on the basis of the set The times set in the print job, the image forming apparatus characterized by undo the priority of the print job .

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