JPH0899451A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] When copying and printing document data created by an external device, input settings such as printing conditions are simplified or omitted, and even if processed by other devices, the printing conditions etc. The setting operation is also simplified or omitted to improve work efficiency, and the time-specified printing process is easily executed. In an image forming apparatus for inputting data created by an external device and printing an image, an insertable / removable data storing means for storing a document and a control document describing an operation of the image forming apparatus, and the data storing means. 1. A control device 1 for reading out the control document, interpreting its contents based on a predetermined grammar, and executing control based on the control document.
01 and.

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 such as a digital copying machine, a printer, a scanner or a facsimile, to which a floppy drive device is connected (mounted). The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that sets a disk and executes a specified work at a specified time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus to which a floppy drive is connected (installed), a floppy disk containing document data is set in the floppy drive and various input settings are made on the operation panel of the main body. I went and selected a file to print.

Further, as a reference technical document relating to the present invention,
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-168262 discloses "a control system for an electrophotographic copying machine". This is to start preheating of the fixing device at a specific time using a timer. Further, in the "high-speed electronic copying / printing machine" of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-139467, a special document scanned with a document is used to identify image data of the special document from other document. , Which outputs the image by inputting the image data to the control means.

In addition to this, JP-A-63-30197
In the "copy mode program selection device" of Japanese Patent No. 2 publication,
There is disclosed a method in which a plurality of mode settings are stored, which is called by a key operation to be selected and a copy operation in the copy mode is executed after a lapse of a certain time.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-280225 discloses an "intelligent copy printer" in which a program and an image processing parameter are provided as separate files, and the image processing parameter is changed independently of the program.

[0005]

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, the input settings such as the number of copies, sort selection, print time, etc. can be directly input manually or the printing can be interrupted. If it becomes impossible to continue because of the above, there is a problem that the operator needs to perform a troublesome operation such as resetting in consideration of the part that has been completed so far, which impairs the work efficiency. In addition, there is a problem in that the printing work, which takes a long processing time, cannot be efficiently executed by setting the time, and the printing work is troublesome.

The technique disclosed in the above-mentioned reference art has the following problems, which are listed below. Only the preheat is started using the timer, and it is not possible to support the print processing with the specified time. Since the control information is obtained from the special document, a device for discriminating the image data of the special document from the image data of the original is required, which is complicated.
And it becomes expensive. The mode setting cannot be moved to another device for use. Since there is no means for automatically processing image processing parameters, the user will eventually select the parameter set. In addition, the printed document and the parameter set cannot be associated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above, and when copying and printing document data created by an external device, the input setting of the printing conditions and the like is simplified or omitted, and another device can be used. Even if the processing is performed, it is an object to improve the work efficiency by simplifying or omitting the setting operation of the printing conditions and the like, and to easily execute the printing processing of the time designation.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, in an image forming apparatus for inputting data created by an external device and printing an image, An insertable / removable data storage unit for storing a document and a control document describing the operation of the image forming apparatus, and a control document in the data storage unit is read out, the contents are interpreted based on a predetermined grammar, and the control is performed. And a control means for executing control based on the document.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, when the control means interprets that the setting of the printing time is described in the control document of the data storage means, the printing is performed at the designated time. The processing is executed.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect, in the image forming apparatus for inputting the data created by the external device and printing the image, the document and the control document describing the operation of the image forming apparatus are written. Insertable / removable data storage means for storing, data display means for displaying / selecting data, control document of the data storage means, and displaying the contents of the control document on the data display means, And a control unit that executes control based on the content instructed by the selection of the content.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the fourth aspect, in the image forming apparatus for inputting the data created by the external device and printing the image, the document, the operation of the image forming apparatus, and the setting of the print job are set. It comprises an insertable / removable data storage means for storing the described control document, and a control means for executing a print job based on the contents of the data storage means.

Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the fifth aspect, in the image forming apparatus for inputting the data created by the external device and printing the image, the setting of the document, the operation of the image forming apparatus, and the print job is performed. An insertable / removable data storage unit for storing the described control document, a control unit for executing a print job based on the contents of the data storage unit, and an error history recording unit for recording the error history when an error occurs. It is equipped with.

[0013]

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 1), the control means reads the control document describing the operating conditions of the image forming apparatus from the data storage means and executes the operation based on the contents.

Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 2).
Describes the time when the operation starts in the control document, and starts the operation of the image forming apparatus at this designated time.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention (claim 3).
Causes the user to select an appropriate one from the plurality of behavioral description data stored in the data storage means, and executes the designated behavior based on the data.

Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 4).
When a control document described by a predetermined grammar is set, the action is executed based on the instruction of the control document without user's operation.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 5).
When a location to record the error history is specified, will record the error history to that location.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the system configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, 101
Is a control device for controlling the entire device, and CP
It is composed of a microcomputer system having a control ROM, a non-volatile memory, and the like with U as a core. The control device 101 includes a floppy drive device 1 for driving a floppy disk storing document files and the like.
02, a display device 103 for displaying the file name and the number of times the uninterpretable description has occurred, an operation panel 104 for designating a file with a cursor key, a trackball, or a touch pen, and an IC for driving an IC card
A card driving device 105 and a scanner device 106 for optically reading a document image and inputting it as image data.
And a printing device 10 for printing image data on recording paper
7 and a timer 108 for measuring the print start time and the like.
And a storage device 109 for storing the usage status of the device, data, etc. are connected via each interface. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an external configuration of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is preferably applied, which constitutes a copying machine equipped with a floppy drive device 102.

The operation of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described. First, a user creates a document using a word processor or document creating software on a personal computer, and stores the created document as a file in a floppy disk. Then, the file document is printed by the printing device 107. In the present embodiment, for example, the file name "Sapporo business trip report" is stored in the floppy disk.

Next, the user creates a control document and also stores it on the same floppy disk. This control document
For example, a document as shown in FIG. 3 is described based on the following rules. That is, the command is composed of a plurality of lines, and the command ends with one line, but by continuing the last character of one line with a \ mark (or backslash), the command can be continued to the next line. Also,
The first tab or space on a line is ignored. And 1
Characters other than the first tab or space on the line to the character before the next tab or space indicate an instruction item.

If the first character of the instruction item is "#", the line is ignored as a comment. Lines that do not have characters other than tabs and spaces are ignored. In addition, the characters other than the first tab or space after the end of the command item to the end of the line indicate the set value.
Furthermore, when there are multiple set values, the values are separated from each other by a ":" (colon). In addition, lines that cannot be interpreted and lines that have incorrect parameters are ignored, and the processing is performed from the next line.

Therefore, in the control document example of FIG. The first to fourth lines are ignored, and the fifth line sets the command item "paper feed tray" to the value "upper tray". In the sixth line, the command item "paper size" is set to the value "A4". FIG. 4 shows command items used in the control document and settable values corresponding to the command items. Here, the print processing (density, number of copies, magnification, recording paper, etc.) and subsequent processing (sorting, punching, stapling, etc.) and the values that can be set for each function related to each are shown as the control syntax. .

Here, for example, the control document is stored with a file name "print command". At this point, it is assumed that the floppy disk has the files as shown in FIG.

Next, the operation of the control device 101 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the process up to printing a document on a floppy disk according to the present invention. In the figure, when this process is started, the user first inserts the floppy disk created as described above into the floppy drive device 102 of the printer 107 (S601). When the floppy disk drive device 102 detects that a floppy disk has been inserted, the floppy disk drive device 102 checks the file name stored in the floppy disk and determines whether or not there is an automatic print file (S602). If it is determined that there is an automatic print file, the control device 101 performs "automatic print".
If you find a file with the name "auto print" and it exists, it is judged as a control document, that is,
Assuming that the print command is stored, execution of automatic printing is started (S603). Then, the automatic print flag is set (S604), and the processing of the control file is executed based on the grammar shown in FIG. 4 (S605).

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S602 that there is no automatic print file, manual printing is started (S606). When the manual printing is started, the control device 1
01 attempts to interpret the documents of all files stored on the floppy disk as control documents (S60).
7). Here, the number of times the description does not match the grammar is recorded during the interpretation. The end of the file is interpreted as a control document, and the smaller the number of uninterpretable descriptions, the higher the possibility that the file is a control document.

When the interpretation of all the files is completed in step S607, the file name and the number of occurrences of the uninterpretable description are displayed on the display device 103 in order from the document with the least number of occurrences of the uninterpretable description (S60).
8). After that, the user uses the cursor keys, the trackball, or the touch pen of the operation panel 104 to select an appropriate file (S609) and gives an instruction as to whether the file is a control document or a print document (S).
610). When the file selected here is instructed to be a control document, the control device 101 interprets and executes the control command stored in the file (S61).
1).

If it is determined in step S610 that the selected file is a print document,
The control device 101 displays the current print condition setting on the display device 103 (S612). Then, it is judged to the user whether or not to change the printing condition (S61).
3). That is, the user is instructed to select whether to print under the current printing conditions. If it is determined that the printing condition is changed, the setting is changed (S614) and the printing process is executed (S615). On the other hand, the above step S613
When it is determined that the print condition is not changed in the process, the print process is executed under the condition (S615).

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the interpretation of a control document and its execution processing according to the present invention. In the figure,
When this process is started, the control device 101 first initializes all the set values to the system default settings stored in the nonvolatile memory (S701). And
The control document is read line by line (S702), and the command item is selected based on the grammar shown in FIG. 4 (S703). Then, it is determined whether the comment line or not (S70).
4). If it is determined that it is a comment line, the process returns to step S702. If it is determined that it is not a comment line, it is determined whether the command item = [document] (S705). If it is determined that the command item = [document] is not set here, the setting value is set to the corresponding item (S70).
6). Then, it is judged whether or not the control document is completed (S
707), if it is determined that the processing is not finished, the process returns to step S702, and if it is determined that the processing is finished, this processing is terminated.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S705 that the command item = [document], it is further determined whether or not there is time setting (S708). If it is determined that the time is set, the process is suspended until the designated time (S709), and when the time is reached, the normal operation is executed (S710). Also, in step S708 described above.
When it is determined that there is no time setting, it is further determined whether the automatic print flag is set (S71).
1). If it is determined that the automatic print flag is set, the process proceeds to the printing process of step S713, and if it is determined that the automatic print flag is not set, the print condition is confirmed (S712) and the print process is executed ( S713).

The above processing will be further described. In the above, when the character other than the space or tab at the beginning of the line is the end-of-line character, the process of this line is terminated and the process of the next line is started. Next, the first keyword and the part after the first keyword other than the command other than spaces and tabs are discriminated as parameters. Also,
When the first character of the keyword is "#", the process of this line is terminated and the process of the next line is started.

Next, the command items shown in FIG. 4 and the keywords are compared line by line, an appropriate process is executed for the matched command item, and the inspection of this command item and the setting of the set value or the printing process are controlled. Repeat until the document is finished. Then, if the keyword does not match any command item, the process moves to the next line.

Further, the keywords are paper feed tray, paper discharge tray, automatic tray switching, paper size, sort tray, stack tray, number of copies, staple, staple position,
When the command items such as punch, double-sided, darkness, paper size scaling, interruption, and print confirmation are matched, the parameter is recorded as the setting value of the command item. On the other hand, if they do not match, the processing of the line is terminated and the process moves to the next line. However, when the value of "Error history" is set to a valid file name, the control document file being interpreted at the same time. Name,
Write the number of the line that could not be interpreted, the keyword that could not be interpreted, and the reason why it could not be interpreted as an error history.

The process when the above error occurs is shown in the flowchart of FIG. In the figure, when this process is started, it is first determined whether or not there is an error history file setting (S801). If it is determined that the error history file is not set here, this process is ended, and if it is determined that the error history file is set, an error occurrence is recorded in the history file (S802), and this process is executed. To finish.

When the keyword matches the command item "document", the set value of "printing time" is checked. If this set value indicates a valid time, the control device 1
01 stores the read setting value until the interrupt processing routine of the timer 108 instructs to restart the processing. As a result, the processing of this control document is interrupted and the device can be used normally until the specified time. That is,
In the case of this embodiment, it operates as a copying machine. Control device 10
1 is interrupted by the timer 108 every minute, and the interrupt processing routine is executed based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

In FIG. 9, when the timer interrupt process is started, it is first determined whether or not there is a document for which the process is restarted (S901). If it is determined that there is no document for which processing is to be restarted, this interrupt processing is terminated, and if it is determined that there is a document for which processing is restarted, the corresponding processing is restarted (S902), and this processing is executed. finish.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the print execution processing according to the present invention. In the figure, when this process is started, it is first determined whether or not interrupt = YES (S1001). If it is determined that the interrupt is not YES here, the interrupt is excluded (S1002), while if it is determined that the interrupt is YES, the interrupt is accepted (S1003). Then, after executing step S1002 or step S1003, setting of printing conditions is executed (S1004), an image is created from the print document file, and the image is transferred to the printer 107 (S1005), and this processing is ended.

To further explain the above processing, if the "set time" has not been set or the "set time" has been reached and an instruction to restart processing is issued from the interrupt processing routine,
The control device 101 starts accepting the document. First,
Whether or not to accept an interrupt from the operation panel 104 during the printing process is set by the setting value of "interrupt". Next, the paper feed / discharge tray, automatic tray switching, paper size, sort tray, stack tray, number of prints, staple, staple position, punch, double-sided, darkness, and paper size scaling are set to each set value. Then, the document data is read from the document file designated by "document", a print image is created, and the image is recorded on the print medium such as recording paper by the printing device 107. If the file name of the control document is “automatic printing”, the control device 10
1 executes the printing of the file set to "document" with the current printing condition setting.

[0038]

As described above, in the image forming apparatus (Claim 1) of the present invention, the control means reads out the control document describing the operating conditions of the image forming apparatus from the data storage means, and based on the contents thereof. Settings to execute the operation.
The operations and documents can be collectively described in the data storage means, and it is possible to carry out the data storage means and print out at the destination without outputting the printed matter. Therefore, when the document data created by the external device is copied and printed, the input setting of the printing conditions and the like can be simplified or omitted, and the setting operation of the printing conditions and the like can be simplified or omitted even if processed by another device. The work efficiency can be improved by omitting it.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 2)
Describes the time to start the operation in the control document and starts the operation of the image forming apparatus at this specified time, so that the print processing with the time specification can be easily executed when there is a large amount of print processing. it can.

An image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 3)
Sets the print condition according to the purpose and the print processing thereof in order to allow the user to select an appropriate one from a plurality of operation description data stored in the data storage means and execute the operation specified based on the data. Can be done easily.

Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 4).
When a control document described in a predetermined grammar is set, the operation is executed based on the instruction of the control document without user's operation, so the corresponding job can be automatically executed. ， The operation can be simplified.

Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention (claim 5).
When the location where the error history is recorded is specified, the error history is recorded at that location, so that the error analysis of the control document and the cause analysis of the failed print job can be easily performed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an external configuration of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is preferably applied.

FIG. 3 is an example of creating a control document according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a table showing command items used in a control document according to the present invention and settable values corresponding to the command items.

FIG. 5 is an example of a file stored in a floppy disk according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process up to printing a document on a floppy disk according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the interpretation of a control document and its execution processing according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process when an error occurs according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a timer interrupt process according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing print execution processing according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Control Device 102 Floppy Drive Device 103 Display Device 104 Operation Panel 107 Printing Device 108 Timer 109 Storage Device

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for inputting and printing an image of data created by an external device, wherein an insertable / removable data storage means for storing a document and a control document describing an operation of the image forming apparatus; An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that reads out a control document from a storage unit, interprets the contents of the control document based on a predetermined grammar, and executes control based on the control document. 2. The control means, when interpreting that the setting of the print time is described in the control document of the data storage means, executes the print processing at the designated time. Image forming device. 3. In an image forming apparatus for inputting data created by an external device and printing an image, a removable data storage means for storing a document and a control document describing the operation of the image forming apparatus; Data display means for displaying / selecting, reading the control document from the data storing means, displaying the content of the control document on the data displaying means, and controlling based on the content instructed by the selection of the display content. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that executes the image forming apparatus. 4. An insertable / removable data storage for storing a control document that describes a document, an operation of the image forming apparatus, and a print job setting in an image forming apparatus that inputs and outputs an image of data created by an external device. An image forming apparatus comprising: means and a control means for executing a print job based on the contents of the data storage means. 5. An image forming apparatus for inputting data created by an external device to print an image, a removable data storage for storing a document, a control document describing an operation of the image forming apparatus, and a print job setting. An image forming apparatus comprising: a means, a control means for executing a print job based on the contents of the data storage means, and an error history recording means for recording the error history when an error occurs.