JPH0816045A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device with its reduced burden to users in the case of the designated manual insertion of the paper sheets in a manual insertion mode in which the paper sheets are supplied by manual insertion. CONSTITUTION:Documents are read one by one and temporarily stored in a document image storage memory once, and also a paper size suitable for copying is calculated by means of a stored image and its copying magnification and stored in a system memory. When operation of indicating 'Document End' as an read end instruction is achieved by pressing a display unit 41, a size of the paper sheet to be supplied by manual insertion is read from the system memory and displayed on a message display unit 25. When a paper sheet is set by manual insertion and a start switch is pressed, an image is read from the document image storage memory, and copying is performed based on this image.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a manual sheet feeding function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the widespread use of OA equipment, image forming apparatuses having high functions, such as copying machines, have been commercialized. When performing various processes in such a copying apparatus, for example, when performing an automatic scaling function that automatically scales according to the size of the paper, the size of the original document to be copied and the copy Both the size of the paper to be used must be known.

When the processing mode for executing such processing function is set, when the paper is fed by the cassette, the size of the paper can be known by discriminating the type of the cassette. When the paper is manually fed, the size of the paper to be fed is not fixed, so it is necessary to set the size of the paper to be manually fed in advance.

Therefore, in the processing mode in which the sheet is manually fed, there is a drawback that the setting becomes more complicated in addition to the normal setting operation such as the number of copies and the copy magnification.

As an improvement in the operability of such setting, there is an invention described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-67823. The present invention specifies the paper size to be manually fed in the processing mode in which manual paper feed is specified and the paper size to be manually fed is specified. The setting screen is displayed to allow the user to set the paper size.

[0006]

However, even the invention described in the above publication becomes complicated as the number of originals and the number of sheets to be manually fed increases, and therefore, for the user, It was not enough to improve the operability in the manual feed mode because the burden increased with checking the paper size and the copy magnification.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and reduces the burden on the user in the case where manual feeding is designated and the manual feeding mode in which manual feeding is performed is performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus of the type.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, in the invention described in claim 1, in an image forming apparatus having a manual paper feeding function, a storage means for storing an image to be formed. A recording paper size calculation means for obtaining the size of the recording paper to be manually fed from the image stored in the storage means, and a recording paper size obtained by the recording paper size calculation means for the user. It is characterized by comprising an informing means for informing.

According to a second aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the storage means reads and stores an original, and a copy magnification setting for setting a copy magnification of the original. The recording paper size calculating means obtains the size of the recording paper to be manually fed from the image stored in the storage means and the copy magnification set by the copy magnification setting means. Is characterized by.

According to a third aspect of the invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the storage means reads a plurality of originals and stores images of the respective originals.
The recording paper size calculating means has an image designating means for designating the image stored in the storage means, and the recording paper size calculating means obtains the size of the recording paper corresponding to the image designated by the image designating means. The image specified by is formed on a recording sheet that is manually fed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, there is provided copy number setting means for setting the number of copies per original manually fed, and the image designating means includes: When the copy of the original document for the number of copies set by the copy number setting means is completed, the image read next to the original document is designated.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the size of the recording paper suitable for forming an image is determined by the recording paper size calculating means and the user is notified by the notifying means when manually feeding the paper. . Therefore, when forming an image, the user does not need to be aware of the correspondence between the original and the recording paper, and only needs to feed the recording paper of the notified size.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the size of the recording paper suitable for copying the original is determined by also referring to the copy magnification set by the copy magnification setting means. Therefore, even if the correspondence between the original and the recording paper becomes complicated, the user may simply feed the recording paper of the notified size without being aware of it.

According to the third aspect of the invention, a plurality of originals are read and temporarily stored in the storage means. When one image is designated by the image designating means, the size of the recording paper to be manually fed and suitable for forming the image is obtained and the user is notified. When the paper is actually fed manually, the specified image is formed on this recording paper.

According to the invention of claim 4, claim 3
When the set number of copies is completed for one image, the image of the original read next to the one image is automatically designated by the image designating means.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below. First, the basic configuration that is the premise of this embodiment will be described.

<A. Basic Configuration> In reading an original in this embodiment, when the light emitted from the exposure lamp scans the original, the reflected light passes through a predetermined optical system,
The light enters the CCD in the document reading device. As a result, the document image is stored in the document image storage memory.

On the other hand, during copying, the photosensitive drum is irradiated with laser light in accordance with the data stored in the original image storage memory, whereby an electrostatic latent image of the original image is formed. Further, toner is attached to this electrostatic latent image to develop it. Then, the toner is transferred to the paper supplied from either the manual feed tray or the plurality of paper trays when passing through the lower surface of the photosensitive drum, and the transferred paper passes through the fixing unit. , Discharged to the discharge tray. Here, in each of the paper trays, for example,
A2, A3, and A4 standard size sheets are stored, and in the normal processing mode, one of the sheet trays is selected according to the document size and the copy magnification. Note that the “normal processing mode” in the present application refers to a processing mode other than the manual feeding mode in which the sheet is manually fed.

<A-1. Configuration of Embodiment> Next, the electrical configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of this embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a CPU that controls each unit via a bus, and performs various processes according to a control program stored in the system memory 12. The system memory 12 is also adapted to store paper size data calculated for a document, as will be described later.

Reference numeral 13 is a document reading device for converting a document placed on the contact glass into an electric signal. Documents are fed to the contact glass one by one by a known automatic document feeder or by a user setting them at a predetermined position. Further, the conversion of the original into an electric signal is performed by irradiating the original with light and scanning the reflected light with a CCD to receive the light. Reference numeral 14 denotes a document image storage memory that stores the images of the read documents in the order in which they were read.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a document reading unit display / operation panel which is composed of a liquid crystal display panel and a touch switch arranged on its display surface. As will be described later, various messages are displayed on the liquid crystal display panel. , The selection switch is displayed and the operation unit is provided to the user.

Reference numeral 16 is a manual paper feeding device for feeding the paper set in the manual paper feeding tray into the copying machine. This manual paper feed device 16 is effective when the manual paper feed mode is selected at the time of copying, and in the normal processing mode, paper is fed from a paper tray that stores standard size paper. ing.

An image forming / output unit 17 forms an image on the supplied paper. As described above, the image formation is performed under the control of the CPU 11 under the original image storage memory 14
This is performed by irradiating the photosensitive drum with laser light in accordance with the image data stored in.

<A-2. Manual display / operation panel> 2
Reference numeral 0 is a manual feed unit display / operation panel. FIG. 2 is a plan view showing the configuration of the manual feed unit display / operation panel 20. As shown in this figure, the manual feed unit display / operation panel 20 is
It is roughly divided into a display section for displaying various messages and an operation section for instructing various settings and operations.

Among these, the display units are message display units 21 and 22 indicating the cause of an error that has occurred in the copying machine, message display units 23 and 24 indicating the operating state of the copying machine, and a message display unit that prompts the user to perform the next operation. 25, 26, a copy number display unit 27, and the like. The operation unit includes a switch 31 for setting the quality of paper, a switch 32 for designating the next image in the document image storage memory 14 (see FIG. 1), and a start switch 33 for instructing the start of copying. Here, when the start switch 33 is pressed, the copying operation of the designated image is started at that time.

Note that, in FIG. 2, various messages are displayed all at once for the sake of explanation, and such displays are not displayed all at once in the course of the operation. In addition, in this embodiment, a switch for setting the copy magnification, a switch for setting the number of copies, a switch for specifying the processing mode, a switch for instructing the start of reading the original, and the like are also provided in the original reading section display / display unit. Since it is displayed appropriately on the operation panel, its illustration is omitted.

<B. Operation of Embodiment> Next, the operation of the above-described embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, reading of a document and image formation are performed independently, and after the document image is stored, image formation is performed based on the stored image image. Therefore, after the “processing on the original image reading device side” shown in FIG. 3A is first performed, the “processing on the manual sheet feeding device side” shown in FIG. 3B is then performed.

First, in step Sa1 shown in FIG. 3A, the processing mode of this copying apparatus is the "manual feed mode".
If it is determined that, it proceeds to the next step Sa2,
Various settings such as copy magnification are made. On the other hand, when it is determined that the "normal processing mode" other than the "manual feed mode" is not related to the present invention, the operation described below is not performed. When the processing mode is the "normal processing mode", the same operation as that of a known copying apparatus is performed. That is, in this case, a paper cassette that accommodates a paper size suitable for copying is selected, paper is supplied from this cassette, and the copying operation is performed.

When the setting in step Sa2 is completed, in the next step Sa3, reading of one document is performed by the document reading device 13, and the document image is stored in the document image storage memory 14. After the process of this step, a paper size calculation process is executed in step Sa4 described later to calculate a paper size according to the document size and the copy magnification, and data indicating the size is stored.

Next, in steps Sa5 and Sa6, it is judged whether or not the document is finished. In these steps, "end of original" means the end of reading all originals to be copied. That is, it is determined whether or not the reading of all the originals to be copied has been completed. Specifically, when an automatic document feeder or the like is used, by detecting that there are no more originals to be read, and when the user sets the originals,
The “document end” portion 41 (see FIG. 6B) displayed on the document reading unit display / operation panel 15 (touch panel) is
It is determined by detecting that the user has pressed the button.

On the other hand, if it is not "end of original", the processing of steps Sa2 to Sa4 is executed again in order to read the next original together with setting conditions such as the copy magnification. In this way, when the reading of all the originals is completed together with the condition setting for each original, next,
The "processing on the side of the manual paper feeding device" shown in FIG. 3B is executed.

First, in step Sb1, step Sa
The paper size data calculated in 4 is read from the system memory 12, and the paper size is displayed on the message display unit 25 (see FIG. 2) based on the read data. Here, the displayed paper size corresponds to the original specified in the original image storage memory 14 at present, and is “A1”, “A2”, “A3”, or “A4”.
Any one of these lights up and the user is notified. That is, the message display unit 25 displays the paper size to be fed by the manual feed tray when copying the document.

Next, in step Sb2, the paper of the displayed size is set in the manual feed tray by the supply user. Here, when the start switch 33 is pressed, copying is performed in step Sb3. This copying is performed by reading the currently specified document from the document image storage memory 14 as described above. That is, the photosensitive drum is irradiated with laser light in accordance with the read data, whereby an electrostatic latent image of the original image is formed, and toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image for development. Then, the sheet supplied from the manual feed tray transfers the toner when passing the lower surface of the photosensitive drum, passes through the fixing section, and is discharged to the discharge tray.

In step Sb4, it is determined whether or not copying of the original document is completed. If the number of copies has been set for the currently specified document, it is also determined whether copying for the set number of copies has been completed. If it has not been completed, the process returns to step Sb2 to manually copy the same document again, while if the copying has been completed, the instruction of "next document" is awaited in step Sb5. Here, the instruction of “next original” is to specify the original specified in the original image storage memory 14 as the next one, and step Sb4.
After the processing of, the user presses the switch 32 (see FIG. 2).

When the "next manuscript" is instructed, it is judged in step Sb6 whether or not the manuscript is completed. In this step, "end of original" means that there is no original designated by the instruction of "next original". Since the instructions of the next original are given in the order of reading, as described above, in the end, in step Sb6, it is determined whether or not all the originals stored in the original image storage memory 14 have been copied according to the set conditions. Will be.

If the determination result in step Sb6 is "No", the next original is designated in accordance with the instruction of "next original" in step Sb5, and step Sb1 is executed to perform manual copying of the original. On the other hand, if the determination result in step Sb6 is “Yes” while returning, the “processing on the manual sheet feeding device side” ends.

<B-1. Paper Size Calculation Process> Next, the paper size calculation process executed in step Sa4 described above will be described with reference to FIG. First, in step Sc1, the width of the read document (unit: m
m) and the copy magnification arbitrarily set for the original document, CW is calculated. Here, the width of the document refers to the length of the document in the direction orthogonal to the paper conveyance direction. That is, the product C
W indicates the width of the copied image desired by the user.

Then, the calculated product CW is calculated in step Sc.
The appropriate paper size for copying, which is determined by No. 2, is determined as follows. That is, when CW> 420, the paper size is A1, when 420 ≧ CW> 297, when the paper size is A2, when 297 ≧ CW> 210, and when the paper size is A3, 210 ≧ CW In addition, it is determined in steps Sc3 to Sc6 that the paper size is A4.

That is, when the original is copied at the set magnification, the smallest paper size in which all the images are copied onto the paper is determined as the paper size to be manually fed. Has become.

Note that steps Sc1 to Sc7 are the processing when the magnification is set in the arbitrary magnification mode. For example, the original of "A3" is reduced and copied to "A2", or vice versa. When the size is simply reduced or increased by one rank, such as when enlarging and copying to “A2”, the fixed magnification mode is set, and the paper size is set to the size determined by the fixed magnification with respect to the read original size. It has been decided.

Then, in step Sc7, the paper size determined according to the copy magnification is changed to the system memory 12
(See FIG. 1) and the paper size calculation process ends.

<C. Specific Operation> Next, a specific operation of the above-described embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In this description, it is assumed that the original document to be copied has the following structure. That is, regarding the size of the manuscript, the first page is “A1”, the second page is “A3”, the third page is “A4”, and the copy magnification for each page is the first page. “70.7%”, the second page is “7
0.7% ", the third page is" 100% ", and all the originals are aligned in the longitudinal direction as shown in the figure. Here, the copy magnification “70.7%” is a fixed magnification that is (√2 / 2) to be exact, and the standard size is 1
The rank should be smaller.

First, the user sets the copy magnification to "70.7%".
And the manual feed mode is designated, the document reading unit display / operation panel 15 is displayed as shown in FIG. 6 (a). Then, after the user selects "standard size",
When the first page of the document is set, the first page of the document is read by the document reading device 13, and the document image is stored in the document image storage memory 14. At this time, the paper size for the first page of the document is calculated and stored as “A2” by the above-described paper size calculation processing. After this,
The original reading section display / display on the operation panel 15 is as shown in FIG.
Switch to the one shown in.

Since the copy magnification of the second page of the original is "70.7%", which is the same as that of the first page, the operation is performed on the original reading section display / operation panel 15 shown in FIG. 6 (b). There is no need to add Then, like the first page of the original, the second page of the original is read, and the original image is
It is stored following the first page in the original image storage memory 14. At this time, the paper size for the second page of the document is calculated and stored as "A4" by the paper size calculation process.

Since the copy magnification of the third page of the original is different from that of the first and second pages, "function change of next original" on the original reading section display / operation panel 15 shown in FIG. 6B is performed.
The user presses, and then sets the copy magnification to “100%”. Then, the document reading section display / operation panel 15
The magnification display at is changed to "100%" (not shown). When the user sets the third page of the document, the third page of the document is read and the document image is stored in the document image storage memory 14 following the first and second pages.
At this time, the paper size for the third page of the document is calculated and stored as “A4” by the paper size calculation process.

In this way, since all the originals to be copied have been read by the original reading device 13, the user displays the "end of original" display portion 41 shown in FIG. 6B.
Press. Then, the document reading section display / operation panel 15
The display changes to the one shown in FIG. 6 (c). On the other hand, when copying a document, the data of the paper size corresponding to the first page is read from the system memory 12 to notify the user of the paper size to be manually fed, and based on this, the "paper is set" is set. The size display "A2" is selected together with the message "Please." And displayed on the message display unit 25 (see FIGS. 2 and 5).

According to this display, when the user sets the A2 size paper in the manual feed tray and then presses the start switch 33 (see also FIG. 2) for instructing the start of copying, the image data of the first page of the document is displayed. A reduced image of the read and set copy magnification "70.7%" is formed on the set paper. If the user needs three copies of the first page of the original, the user sets the paper and presses the start switch 33 two more times.

When the copying of the first page is completed, the user presses the switch 32 (see also FIG. 2) to copy the next original. By this pressing, the original data of the second page, which is the next original, is specified in the original image storage memory 14. Furthermore, the data of the paper size corresponding to the second page is
The size display "A4" is read out from the system memory 12, and based on this, the size indication "A4" is selected along with the message "Please set the paper" and is displayed on the message display unit 25.

Similarly, when the user sets A4 size paper in the manual feed tray according to this display and then depresses the start switch 33, the image data of the second page of the document is read out and set. Copy magnification "7
A reduced image of "0.7%" is formed on the set paper. If the user needs two copies of the second page of the document, the user sets the paper and depresses the start switch 33 one more time.

When the copying of the second page is completed, the user similarly presses the switch 32 to copy the next original. By pressing this button, the original data of the third page, which is the next original, is specified in the original image storage memory 14. Further, the data of the paper size corresponding to the third page is read from the system memory 12, and based on this, the message "please load the paper" and "A4"
Is displayed, the message display 25
Is displayed in.

According to this display, when the user sets A4 size paper in the manual feed tray and presses the start switch 33, the image data of the third page of the document is read out and the set copy magnification "100" is read. A “%” unity-size image is formed on the set paper. If the user needs two copies of the third page of the document, the user sets the paper and presses the start switch 33 one more time.

When the copying of the third page is completed, the user similarly presses the switch 32 to copy the next original. However, since the document data designated next in the document image storage memory 14 is not stored, the copying operation ends.

According to this embodiment, at the time of copying in the manual feed mode, by simply setting the paper of the paper size displayed in the message display section 25 on the manual feed tray and depressing the start switch 33, the copy magnification etc. Copying can be performed according to the setting conditions of. Therefore, the user can make a copy without being aware of the correspondence relationship between the original, the copy magnification, and the paper size manually inserted.

Although the above-described embodiment is a copying machine, the present application is not limited to this. The present application is directed to an image device having a manual paper feeding function, for example, a printer device for printing output data from a host computer or the like, and a copying / FA device.
It can also be applied to a multi-function peripheral having an X function. in this case,
The image data such as the print data and the received data may be temporarily stored in the memory while the sheet size to be fed is calculated from the stored data and notified when the image is formed by manual sheet feeding.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, when copying one original document a plurality of times, the paper is manually fed and the start switch 33 is depressed.
It was necessary to perform the operation procedure of pressing the switch 32 for instructing the next original after repeating the number of copies, but the following procedure may be performed. That is, the number of copies is set in advance, and when the number of copies manually set is performed, the next original is designated without pressing the switch 32. by this,
The user does not need to press the switch 32. Further, a sensor for detecting that the paper is set on the manual feed tray may be provided so that copying is automatically performed by the detection. By doing so, at the time of copying, the user can simply copy the size of the paper displayed in the message display unit 25, and the load on the user can be further reduced.

In this embodiment, the size of the paper to be supplied is manually notified by the message display 25, but the present invention is not limited to this.
For example, voice synthesis may be performed, or the message display unit 25 and voice synthesis may be performed together.

In this embodiment, the images stored in the original image storage memory 14 are specified in the order in which they are read by the switch 32. However, the images are directly specified such as the page number of the original. It may be.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the paper is manually fed in the vertical (longitudinal) direction has been described as an example, but the same method is applied to the case where the paper is fed in the horizontal direction. It goes without saying that you can do it.

[0059]

The present invention described above has the following effects.

When manually feeding the paper, the size of the recording paper suitable for copying the original is calculated by the recording paper size calculating means and is notified to the user by the notifying means. Therefore, it is not necessary to check the correspondence between the original and the recording paper, and it is only necessary to feed the recording paper of the notified size, and it is possible to reduce the burden on the user (claims). 1).

The size of the recording paper suitable for copying the original image is obtained by also referring to the copy magnification set by the copy magnification setting means. Therefore, even if the correspondence between the original and the recording paper becomes complicated, the user may simply feed the recording paper of the notified size without being aware of it. ).

A plurality of originals are read one by one and stored in the storage means. When one image is designated by the image designating means, the size of the recording paper to be manually fed and suitable for forming the image is obtained and the user is notified. When the paper is actually fed manually, the designated image is formed on this recording paper. Therefore, even if the correspondence between the manuscript and the recording paper becomes more complicated, the user does not need to be aware of it, and the burden on the user can be further reduced (claim 3).

When the set number of copies is completed for one image, the image of the original read next to the one image is automatically designated by the image designating means. Therefore, it is possible to further reduce the burden on the user (claim 4).

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a configuration of a manual feed unit display / operation panel in the same embodiment.

FIG. 3A is a flowchart showing a processing operation on the document reading device side in the manual feeding mode of the embodiment, and FIG. 3B is a processing on the manual feeding device side in the manual feeding mode of the embodiment. It is a flow chart which shows operation.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the paper size calculation process in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram for explaining a processing operation in a manual feed mode of the embodiment.

FIG. 6A is a plan view showing the display mode of the document reading unit display / operation panel when the processing mode of the embodiment is the manual feed mode, and FIG. 6B is the standard size in FIG. FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a display mode when is selected, and FIG. 13C is a plan view showing a display mode when the document is finished in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 11 ... CPU (recording paper size calculation means) 14 ... Original image storage memory (storage means) 25 ... Message display section (notification means) 32 ... Switch (image designation means)

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. In an image forming apparatus having a manual paper feeding function, a storage unit for storing an image to be formed, and a size of a recording paper to be manually fed is obtained from the image stored in the storage unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: a recording paper size calculating means; and an informing means for informing a user of the size of the recording paper obtained by the recording paper size calculating means. 2. The storage means is for reading and storing a document, and has copy magnification setting means for setting a copy magnification of the document, and the recording paper size calculation means is stored in the storage means. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the size of the recording paper to be manually fed is obtained from the copy magnification set by the copy magnification setting means together with the image. 3. The recording means reads a plurality of originals and stores the images of the respective originals, and has an image specifying means for specifying the images stored in the storage means. The size calculating means obtains the size of the recording paper corresponding to the image designated by the image designating means, and forms the image designated by the image designating means on the recording paper fed by hand. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 4. A copy number setting means for setting the number of copies per original by manual feeding, wherein the image designating means completes copying of the original for the number of copies set by the copy number setting means. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image read next to the original is designated.