JPH1020587A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To simultaneously use all possible fed paper carrying paths and to attain an efficient image forming operation by processing a residual JOB through the use of a JOB completion carrying path, when a multiJOB is completed in one of the carrying paths, during simultaneous processing. SOLUTION: This image forming device comprises primarily an image reader part 10 for reading a document image and a printer part 20 for reproducing the read image. First, when a document is set on an ADF 12 and a starting button is depressed, two bundles of documents are read. When the reading of all the documents is completed, the number of the documents of each bundle is compared. When there is a difference of two or more in the number of the documents of each group, the documents on the front and rear sides are printed by using documents carrying paths on the front and rear sides respectively. A printing operation is advanced and when the printing operation in one of the carrying paths is completed, unprinted document images on the other carrying path are assigned to one carrying path by the number of sheets corresponding to the obtained calculated value, to continue printing.

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 copying machine or a laser printer, capable of simultaneously forming an image on a plurality of recording sheets fed in parallel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, particularly in the field of digital copying machines, there has been a demand for high-speed processing in order to achieve a large number of copies in a short time with the spread of digital copying machines. In order to realize such a high-speed processing of the copying machine, it is necessary to particularly speed up the operation of internal mechanical parts, for example, the rotation of the photosensitive drum and the transfer operation of the transfer paper. From the viewpoint of paper handling, there is a limit in increasing the speed of such mechanical parts.

For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 2-24673 discloses that a plurality of transfer sheets are supplied to a transfer section in parallel.
A copier that forms the same image on a plurality of transfer sheets at the same time is disclosed. FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing an outline of such a copying machine capable of parallel transfer. In the figure, 510
Denotes a paper feeding unit, and 520 denotes a transfer unit. Photoconductor drum 501
Indicates that two images are written in parallel by scanning of a laser optical system (not shown), while the two transfer papers 512a and 512b fed out of the cassette 511 by the paper feed rollers 513a and 513b of the paper feed unit 510 are synchronized with the timing. The sheet is conveyed in parallel to the transfer position through the conveyance belt 521 by the roller 514 in synchronization with the image forming operation on the photosensitive drum 501.

At the transfer position P, the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 505 is transferred onto the transfer papers 512a and 512b by the electric charge of the transfer charger 522 installed below the conveyor belt 521, and is fixed by a fixing device (not shown). Is fixed by This makes it possible to simultaneously copy two transfer papers in one copying operation, so that the processing speed can be doubled without difficulty.

[0005]

However, in the conventional copying machine capable of parallel transfer as described above, FIG.
As shown in the figure, when an odd number of originals A, for example, five copies are copied, a new copy of original B is copied five times, and two copies of originals A and B are copied, and the remaining one copy is copied. Is copied using one of the paper feed paths. For this reason, a total of six copy operations are required in spite of a total of 10 copies of the originals A and B, and there is room for improvement in copy efficiency.

As another case different from the above, for example, FIG.
While copying seven copies of Document A as shown in
When X reception is required and a copy thereof is required, the above-described apparatus executes one copy routine for copying a received fax document after completing seven copies of document A in four copy routines. Thus, although the total number of copies is eight, a total of five copies are required, and there is a problem similar to the above-described example.

As still another example, as shown in FIG. 20, an automatic document feeder (hereinafter, referred to as an ADF) is provided in the same number (two in the illustrated example) as the number of paper feed paths, and reading is performed using one ADF. In the case where the image data is configured to be copied using the corresponding paper feed path, there is no problem when the same number of originals are set in two ADFs. However, as shown in FIG. When two sheets of A are set and ten sheets of document B are set on the other ADF 2, a total of 12
Although the number of copies is enough, the number of copies is
In this case, there is the same problem as in the above examples.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel image forming apparatus capable of performing an image forming operation more efficiently by simultaneously using all the sheet feeding conveyance paths as much as possible.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a conveying means capable of conveying N recording sheets in parallel, and an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image in parallel on a plurality of recording sheets conveyed in parallel. Means in which an N number of jobs can be processed in parallel, if a job in one transport path is completed while N jobs are being processed in parallel, an unprocessed job in another transport path It is characterized by comprising a determination means for determining whether or not a job remains, and a job distribution means for distributing the job to the conveyance path where the job has been completed if the job remains.

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming means for forming N images in parallel in a direction perpendicular to the feed direction of the recording sheet, and the recording sheets are arranged in parallel in accordance with the formation position of each image. A sheet feeding unit for supplying, an image forming position allocating unit for determining which of the N image forming positions the input image data is to be allocated to, and N images are simultaneously formed at the determined allocation position. Means for detecting or predicting that there is no image data to be formed next for any one image forming position in the situation, and when the means detects or predicts that, at the same time, the other image forming positions Means for determining whether or not image data to be formed one after another remains, and, if determined to be remaining, replaces the remaining image data with an image forming position having no next image data to be formed. It is characterized in a distribution correcting means for correcting the distribution to process, in that it comprises.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below using a digital copying machine as an example. (1) Overall Configuration of Digital Copier FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of a digital copier (hereinafter, simply referred to as “copier”) according to the present invention.

The copying machine includes an image reader section 10 for reading a document image roughly divided into sections, and a printer section 20 for reproducing the image read by the image reader section 10. The image reader unit 10 includes a scanner 11 provided in the copier housing 1 and an automatic document feeder (hereinafter, referred to as an ADF) provided on the upper portion of the housing 1 so as to be opened and closed rearward.
It consists of 12.

The ADF 12 transports the original loaded on the original placing table 121 to a reading position along a platen glass 13 on the upper surface of the copier housing 1 by a feeding roller 122 and a transport belt 123, and transports the original again after reading. Belt 1
The sheet is conveyed through a paper 23 or the like and is discharged to a sheet discharge section 124. A document detection sensor 125 is provided on the document table 121 to detect the presence or absence of a document on the table 121.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, two originals A and B of small size such as A5 size can be simultaneously supplied to the ADF 12 in parallel, so that the original detection sensor 125 And B are provided one at a position where each of them is placed. A pass sensor 12 that detects the passage of each of the originals A and B is provided in front of the feed roller 122.
6 are provided. The number of passing documents A and B can be known by counting the passing signals of the sensor 126. Further, the ADF 12 has two originals A and B.
When the number of documents is different, the automatic document feeding operation is performed until the larger document is conveyed. That is,
Even if one of the document detection sensors 125 detects that there is no document, automatic feeding of the document continues as long as the other document detection sensor 125 detects the presence of the document.
Reference numeral 5 detects the absence of a document and terminates automatic feeding.

The scanner 11 irradiates the original at the reading position on the platen glass 13 with the exposure lamp 111 while scanning in the sub-scanning direction by the motor M, and condenses the reflected light from the original with the rod lens array 112. Then, the document is read by being incident on the CCD image sensor 113. The read signal output from the CCD image sensor 113 is subjected to predetermined processing such as digital processing and shading correction by the image processing circuit 114, and then output as a laser diode drive signal of the exposure unit 202.

When two documents are simultaneously transported to the reading position by the ADF 12 in parallel, the scanner 11 reads the two documents as one image without discrimination. A sensor (not shown) for detecting a document size is provided at a position where the sub-scanning of the scanner 11 is not obstructed.
Even when two originals are run side by side, since there is a slight gap between the two originals, the size of each original is detected by this sensor.

The printer section 20 is provided with an exposure unit 202, a charging charger 203, a developing device 204, a transfer charger 205 and the like around a photosensitive drum 201, and forms an image by an electrostatic copying method. As shown in FIG. 3, the apparatus is provided with two charging chargers, two developing units, and two transfer chargers so that images can be simultaneously and individually formed on two sheets S1 and S2.

The exposure unit 202 has a laser diode 2
06, collimator lens 207, polygon mirror 20
8, an image processing circuit 114 comprising an fθ lens 209 and the like.
The laser diode is optically modulated by a laser diode drive signal output from the printer, and an electrostatic latent image of a document image is formed on the photosensitive drum 201 by the rotation of the polygon mirror 208. This image is visualized as a toner image when passing through the developing device 204, and is transferred onto the transfer sheet S <b> 1 (S <b> 2) conveyed by the timing roller 210 in synchronization with the rotation of the photosensitive drum 201. The transfer sheets S1 and S2 are supplied as they are to the fixing unit 211, where the toner image is fixed.

The transfer sheet S1 (S2) is fed from one of the cassettes 220, 230, and 240 inserted in one side of the copying machine housing, and is fed out by rollers 221, 231, 241, and timing rollers 210 through sheet conveying paths 222a, 222b.
Is transported to the position and is waiting. The control unit determines from which cassette the transfer sheet is to be fed out based on the detection result of the size detection sensor provided near the scanner, the magnification specified through the operation panel, or the specification of the sheet size.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show the cassette 220,
The configuration of 230 and 240 is shown. The cassette 220 is provided with a partition plate 225 at the center of the cassette so that two rows of A5 size transfer sheets can be stored. The feeding rollers 221a and 221b are provided in the copier housing 1 into which the cassette 220 is inserted. Each of the feeding rollers 221a and 221b is connected to another driving mechanism (not shown) and is driven individually. Has become. The other cassettes 230 and 240 are shown in FIG.
It is a known configuration for storing a single transfer sheet as shown in FIG.

Next, a sorter 250 is provided on one side of the copier housing 1 in the sheet discharging direction from the fixing unit 211. The sorter 250 has bins 251... Protruding in a horizontal direction with a multi-stage structure vertically, and switching claws 252... For switching a passage to which bin 251. , And drive rollers 253 for conveying the sheet that has passed the position to the bin. The function itself of the sorter 250 is known, but in this embodiment, in order to cope with the case where two sheets of A5 size are fed together, the switching claws 252.
Are provided in pairs at positions corresponding to the extension paths of the sheet conveying paths 222a and 222b. And a pair of switching claws 252 of each stage ...
Are individually switched and controlled by an instruction from the control unit. Thereby, the recording sheet can be discharged to another bin 251 for each different type of document as shown in FIGS. 11 to 13 (the operation will be described later).

Next, the configuration of a control system installed inside the above-described copying machine will be described with reference to block diagrams of FIGS.
One control system includes nine CPUs 401 to 409 in all.
, And each of the CPUs 401 to 409 has a ROM storing a control program for each CPU.
411 to 419 and RAMs 421 to 429 serving as work areas when each program is executed are provided.

The CPU 401 receives instructions from an operation panel (not shown) provided on the front of the upper part of the copying machine and sends instructions to other CPUs.
To control the display of the operation panel, receive signals from various operation keys of the operation panel via the I / O port 431, and
The display contents of the liquid crystal display panel and the lighting of various display LEDs are controlled via the.

The CPU 402 controls each section of the image signal processing section 114. The image signal processing unit 114 performs A / D
Converter, shading correction unit, MTF correction unit,
The input image data is converted into a digital multi-level signal by an A / D converter under the control of the CPU 402, and is input to the exposure lamp 111 by a shading correction unit. After the illumination unevenness and the sensitivity unevenness of the CCD sensor 113 have been corrected, the MTF correction unit undergoes processing for improving image quality such as edge enhancement, and the scaling unit and the γ correction unit add a scaling process and a γ correction process. After that, the data is output to the memory unit 320.

The CPU 403 controls the driving of the scanner. That is, it executes scan control for determining the driving direction of the scanner motor M and the reading direction of the original image data in the main scanning direction, ON / OFF control of the exposure lamp 111, and the like. The CPU 404 controls the LD drive unit and the image forming system for optically modulating the laser diode, and executes a printing operation based on the image data output from the memory unit 320.

That is, the print control program is stored in the ROM 414, and the CPU 404
Is based on the memory unit 320
Is input to the LD drive unit, and the laser diode (L) installed in the optical unit 202
While controlling the output of D), the operation of the drive unit of each unit of the image forming system is controlled via the I / O port 444 to execute copying to the transfer sheet.

At this time, detection signals of various sensors of the image forming system are input via the I / O port 434. For example, in addition to a density detection sensor for detecting the amount of toner adhering to the photosensitive drum 201, a temperature sensor The output of the charging charger and the transfer charger is controlled by adjusting the output of the charger and the transfer charger, etc., based on the detection values of the sensor and the humidity sensor (not shown). The cassette 220 is detected by the size detection signal from the sensor.
To 240 are appropriately selected to control the sheet feeding operation, or the detection sensors S provided at various portions of the transfer sheet conveying path.
A paper jam is detected based on signals from E1a, b to SE3a, b (see FIG. 3), and the fact is displayed on the liquid crystal display panel 501 of the operation panel via the CPU 401.

The CPU 405 performs processing for adjusting the overall timing of the control system and setting the operation mode. The CPU 405 reads out a necessary control program from the ROM 415 and manages time using an internal timer.
By controlling the entire processing routine in a unified manner, a smooth copying operation is achieved. The CPU 406 is installed in the memory unit 320, temporarily stores the image data output from the image signal processing unit 114 in an internal memory, reads out the image data, and outputs the read data to the LD driving unit.
By temporarily writing the image data in the memory unit 320 in this manner, it is not necessary to control the image reader unit 10 and the printer unit 20 in synchronization with each other.
The original image reading operation and the printing operation can be efficiently controlled.

The CPU 407 (FIG. 6) controls the ADF 12, controls the drive circuits of the respective units via the I / O port 447 while taking timing according to the control program stored in the ROM 417, and sets the original. The original set on the table 121 is sent to the original reading position on the platen glass.
The control for transporting and discharging to 4 is executed.

In addition to a document size detection sensor via the I / O port 437, sensor inputs such as detection sensors provided at various places in the document conveyance path are performed, thereby detecting the document size and the number of sheets passing therethrough, and a paper jam. Is detected. As described above, in the case of an A5 size document, two sheets can be simultaneously fed and read at the same time, and in this case, the number of sheets passed is detected for each document conveyance path. CPU 408
Controls the sorter 250, and controls the I / O port 438 according to the control program stored in the ROM 418.
While monitoring the input from the sensor provided at the sorter entrance portion input from the controller, the drive control of the switching claw 252 and the roller 253 of the sorter is performed through the I / O port 448.

The CPU 409 controls the facsimile function. The CPU 409 controls the auto dialer and the line control unit 451 according to a control program stored in the ROM 419 to perform transmission and line connection processing, and is stored in the RAM 429. A communication procedure signal is transmitted and received, the data is set to a state in which data can be transferred to the other party facsimile, and
2, document data is transmitted and received. The document data to be transmitted is read from the memory unit 320, and the received document data is stored in the memory unit 320. Note that the auto dialer, the line control unit 451, the transmission / reception unit 452, and the modem 453 are all built in the copying machine.

In the copying machine having the above configuration, the copying operation of the original set on the ADF 12, the processing when facsimile is received during the original copying, and the sorter 25
The sorting control of 0 is shown in the flowcharts of FIGS. Next, each operation will be described with reference to these figures. For convenience, the size of the original and the FAX reception original are both set to A5 size, and the original is copied at the same size.

First, an original is set on the ADF 12, and
When the copy start button is pressed (S1), it is determined from the detection result of the sensor 125 on the document table 121 whether the document is one bundle or two bundles (S1).
2). If two bundles of originals are set, the process proceeds to S3, where two bundles of originals are read. The originals are read by the scanner unit 11 while the originals of each bundle are simultaneously fed out one by one from the original placing table 121 by driving the ADF 12. The read document image is subjected to predetermined image processing and stored in the memory unit 320. This reading is continued until all originals are left on the original mounting table 121. When reading is completed, the memory unit 32
In 0, all the images of the two bundles of originals are stored.
In the memory unit 320, management information indicating which bundle of originals each original image corresponds to and the number of originals from the first original is also stored in association with each original image. .

When reading of all originals is completed, the number of originals in each bundle is compared. If both bundles are the same or the difference is one (S4, S5), the document on the near side as viewed from the front of the copying machine is transferred to the near side transport path (first transport path 222a).
Point out. Hereinafter, for convenience, it is referred to as a near-side transport path. ) Is printed on the transfer sheet conveyed above, and the original on the back side is printed on the transfer sheet conveyed on the back side conveyance path (referred to as the second conveyance path 222b; hereinafter, referred to as the back side conveyance path for convenience). Is performed (S6). In this print processing, two original images are stored in the memory unit 320 in the order in which they are stored.
As a set, two lines are read out one line at a time, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to two original images is formed on the photosensitive drum 201 through the optical unit 202, and two transfer sheets simultaneously fed from the cassette 220 by the feed roller 221. And the image is fixed by the fixing unit 211. The fixed sheet is sent to a sorter 250, sorted, and discharged to a predetermined bin (S7, details will be described later).

The above printing process is repeated until no original image remains in the memory unit 320. In the case where the number of originals is an odd number, the print processing of the last original is performed by feeding out the transfer sheet to the corresponding transport path based on the detection result of the detection sensor 125 as to whether the last original is on the front side or the back side. The printed sheet is supplied to a sorter.

Next, in S5, if it is determined that there is a difference of two or more in each set of originals, it is determined whether the number of differences is an odd number or an even number (S8). The calculation in S9 is performed, and the calculation in S10 is performed in the case of an even number, and the calculation result is temporarily stored. Subsequently, the printing operation is performed in the order of reading the originals (S11, S12). This printing operation is performed in the same manner as in the printing operation in S6, by using the near-side document path for the near-side document and using the back-side document path for the far-side document. Then, the printing operation proceeds, and when the printing operation on one of the transport paths ends,
Unprinted document images on the other transport path are distributed to one transport path by the number of sheets corresponding to the calculated values obtained in S9 and S10, and printing is continued (S13). For example, as shown in the upper diagram of FIG.
Is 10 sheets, and the difference is 8 sheets. When printing of two documents A-2 and A-1 on the front side conveyance path is completed, the unprinted document B on the back side conveyance path -8 to B-
The four originals B-4 to B-1 from the last of the originals 1 are distributed to the front transport path, and printing of B-4, B-3,... In this case, since the remaining four originals are printed on the rear transport path, the same number of originals are printed on both transport paths.
The copier needs to print six times.

Printed sheets A-2, A-1, B
-10 to B-1 are sent to the sorter 250 and are subjected to predetermined sorting (S15). In the case of FIG. 14, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 14, copies A-2 and A-1 of the document A are located on the near side of the top bin 251 and the copy B of the document B is located on the far side of the bin 251. -10 to B-5 are respectively discharged, and the original B
Are discharged to the front side of the second bin 251. As described above, even if printing is performed on the same transport path, if the document type is different, the documents are sorted into different bins.
Sorting performance is also ensured. Incidentally, such a sorting process will be described later.

Next, when one bundle of originals is set on the original placing table 121 (S2), all the originals in the one bundle are read and stored in the memory unit 320 (S16). One original (S17) and the number of copies is 1
(S18), that is, if the total number of prints is 1, the process proceeds to S19 and S20 (FIG. 8), and normal print and discharge operations are performed.

If the number of print copies is two or more (S17, S18), but the number of print copies is two or more, the flow advances to S21 to determine whether the number of print copies is odd or even, and calculate S22 or S23. Do. Thereafter, the calculated number of prints is printed on the front transport path, and the remaining prints are printed on the rear transport path (S24), and are discharged to the sorter.
(S25).

On the other hand, if the number of read originals is two or more, the process proceeds from S17 to S26, and different processing is performed in view of the number of prints. If the number of copies is 1, the process proceeds to S27 (FIG. 1).
0), it is determined whether the number of originals read is an odd number or an even number. Based on the result, the calculation in S28 or S29 is performed, the number obtained by the calculation is printed on the first transport path, and the remaining number is printed on the second paper. (S30), and is discharged to a sorter (S31).

If the number of read originals is two or more and the number of print copies of each original is specified to be two or more, the process proceeds from S24 to S32 (FIG. 9) to determine whether the number of print copies is odd or even. If the number of print copies is even, the first read document (N = 1) is read from the memory unit 320 (S33), and two copies are printed using the transport paths on both sides to reach the designated number of prints. Repeat until (S
34, S35). When the specified number of copies is reached,
Next, the original to be printed is specified (S37), read from the memory unit, and the specified number of copies are printed in the processing of S34 and S35. This is repeated until there are no more documents (S
36) If not, the process ends. Note that S33, S3
7 corresponds to the reading order of the document images, and is stored in the memory unit 320 as management information.

Next, if the odd number of copies is specified in S32, the original of N = 1 is read from the memory unit (S38), and two copies are printed using the conveyance paths on both sides (S39). . Eventually, when the number of remaining copies becomes 1 (40), the remaining copies are transferred to the next original (N
+1) is simultaneously printed on the remaining conveyance paths (S42). Then, the remaining number of copies of the (N + 1) -th original is printed by two copies (S43). When the number of remaining copies reaches 0 (S44), the next original (N + 2 original) is further printed.
Is read from the memory unit 320, and two copies are printed using two transport paths (S39). Thereafter, until there is no document to be read from the memory unit 320 (S4
1, S45) The above processing is repeated.

Here, if there is no remaining document and there is no original to be printed next (S41), the process proceeds to S47, where the remaining one copy is printed using the one-sided conveying path, and the process is terminated. . If the remaining number of copies is 0 and there is no next original (S45), the process is terminated. S3
4, the processes of S39, S42, and S43 are different from the other drawings in that both printing and discharging to a sorter are performed.

FIG. 15 shows the state of conveyance of a transfer sheet when two originals A and B are printed by five copies. The upper part of the figure shows the originals A and B to be read. In this example, the originals A and B are set on the near side of the original placement 121st, and the original A and then the original B are read. Is shown. Therefore, in the flowcharts of FIGS.
The process proceeds from 1 → S2 → S16 → S17 → S26 → S32 → S38, and the print processing in S38 to S47 is executed. As shown in the middle part of FIG. 15, the execution result of the print processing is that the printing of the document A is performed twice for each two copies using the two transport paths, and the fifth printing of the document A
The first copy of the document B is simultaneously performed on the second transport path while the first copy is on the first transport path. After that, the remaining four copies of the document B are printed using the two transport paths. As shown in the lower part of FIG. 15, the printed sheet is the type of the original (A or B).
), The discharge bin 251 is switched. This sorting operation will be described later.

Next, FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing processing when facsimile reception is performed during a printing operation. First, S51 means one printing operation using one or two transport paths. Therefore, if the original to be printed next is stored in the memory unit 320 during this one printing operation, it is determined that there is a next job (S52), and which transport path should be used to execute the job. It is determined (S53 to S56). That is, if the near side transport path is not yet reserved for the next print (S53), the near side transport path is reserved for executing the job, and if the near side transport path is already reserved. It is determined whether the back side transport path has not been reserved (S54), and if not, it is reserved (S56). If the front conveyance path can be reserved for JOB execution, it is determined again whether the next document to be printed is stored in the memory unit 320 (S5).
2) If it is stored, an attempt is made to reserve the back side transport path for executing the job (S54, S56). If the reservation is established or the reservation has already been made, the print is started after waiting for the current print to be completed (S51, S57) (S58).

If there is no next job at the stage when the job is reserved on the front side transport path (S52), it is determined whether or not the document received through facsimile communication exists in the memory unit 320 (S59). If the received document does not exist, the printing is started using only the near-side transport path when the current printing operation is completed while the back-side sales path is not reserved (S57, S58). On the other hand, if it is determined in S59 that there is a received document, a conveyance path for printing the document is reserved (S59 → S53 →
S54 → S56). Then, printing is started after the current printing is completed. In this case, a document read by the ADF is printed on the front transport path, and a facsimile received document is printed on the rear transport path. FIG.
As an example of such a case, for example, seven copies of the document A read by the ADF 12 are printed, and a FAX that has been received and has been received up to that time is printed simultaneously with the seventh copy of the document A. In this case, the original FAX in the sorter is in a different bin 251 from the other originals A.
Is discharged.

FIGS. 12 and 13 are flowcharts showing the sorting operation of the sorter 250. In this flowchart, m1 and m2 are the numbers of bins from the top bin of the bins selected for sheet discharge in the first and second conveyance paths. The determination as to whether or not there is a distributed copy in S81 is made each time a fixed sheet arrives at the sorter, and whether or not the original image on which the sheet has been distributed from the other transport path is printed. This is the process of determining. The distribution process is S13 in FIG.
The case where the number of sheets calculated as in S24 of FIG. 8 is printed using the conveyance path where the printing of the original document has been completed, and the case where a plurality of sheets of one document are printed as in S34 and S39 of FIG. , There are two cases in which the original is printed using the conveyance path on the side (front side or back side) read by the ADF and the opposite side. Also, when printing the original B at the same time as printing the last copy of the original A as in the third copy in FIG. 15, it is determined that the original B has been sorted.

As in S74, S76, S82 and S84, the determination as to whether or not the original is a copy is made for the sheet to be sorted at that time and the sheet conveyed one sheet before in the same conveying path. This means determining whether the originals printed on both sheets are the same or the same type. Documents of the same type or the same are in the following two cases. First, as shown in FIG. 14, two sets of originals A and B are fed in
When reading the originals one by one and printing those originals, one set of originals A (or B) is determined to be the same type of original. For example, in FIG. 14, the original B is B-1 to B-10 in total of 1.
Although there are 0 sheets, these are all originals of the same type. On the other hand, the document A and the document B are different types of documents. Another one is Fig. 1.
5, a case where a plurality of copies of original A are printed using two transport paths as shown in FIG. In the case where the first sheet to be discharged to the sorter is the same type as the previous sheet cannot be determined, in this case, it is assumed that the sheet is regarded as being the same type as the previous sheet.

Based on the above, the sorting operation shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 will be described. This flowchart is started when the operator presses the copy start key to start copying. After the startup, first, the number m1 and m2 of discharge bin stages on each transport path side is set to 1 (S70). Subsequently, each time the fixed sheet reaches the sorter 250 (S71), it is determined whether two fixed sheets have been sent in parallel (S72), and a sorting process is performed based on the determination result. For example, as shown in FIG.
In the case of copying the original B, since the first to arrive is the copy of the A-2 original and the copy of the B-10 original, the process proceeds from S72 to S81. A-
Since neither the two originals nor the copy of the B-10 original have been sorted, the process immediately proceeds to step S78, where the number of output bin stages m1 and m2 is kept at one, and two copy sheets are set to one.
The paper is discharged to the near side and the back side of the tiered bin (S79). Subsequently, when the copy of the A-1 original and the copy of the B-9 original arrive (S71), the same steps are performed again in this case, and 1
Discharge each copy sheet in the bin in the tier. Next, the copy of the B-4 document and the copy of the B-8 document arrive (S71). Since the copy of the B-4 document has been sorted during printing (S81),
Proceeding to S82, it is determined whether or not the original is of the same type as the previous copy. In this case, since the previous document is A-2, it is determined that the document is a foreign document, and the value of m1 is incremented by one (S8).
3). For the copy side of B-8 original, the previous copy sheet is B
-9, the document is determined to be of the same type (S8
4) The value of m2 is not changed. Accordingly, the output bins are such that m1 is 2 and m2 is 1, and the copy sheet of the B-4 document is discharged to the front side of the second-stage bin, and the copy sheet of the B-8 document is discharged to the back side of the first-stage bin. You. Thereafter, the copy sheets arrive at two sheets, such as B-3 and B-7, then B-2 and B-6, but both are the same combination as the copy of the B-4 and B-8 originals. Is sequentially discharged to the second-stage bin and the back side is discharged to the first-stage bin. As a result, FIG.
4. Sorted as shown in the lower row.

Next, as shown in the middle part of FIG. 15, a case where five copies of the A document and five copies of the B document are copied will be described. First, when two copies of the copy sheet of the document A arrive (S72), it is determined that these sheets have been sorted (S81).
In S82 and S84, it is determined whether or not the copy is the same type as the previous sheet. In this case, the copy is the first copy, but since this is regarded as the same type as the previous copy, the bin number is kept at the time of the first setting (S70), and each bin is discharged to the first bin. The next sheet that arrives is similarly discharged to the first bin. When the third copy-processed sheet arrives, the process proceeds to S82 and S83 because the sheet on the back side is for the B document, and the same type and different types of the sheet conveyed last time are determined. Since it is determined that the document is a copy of a different type of document from the previous time on the back side transport path (S8
4), the number m2 of bin stages on the corresponding side is incremented by one (S85). As a result, the sheet on the near side is discharged to the first bin, and the sheet on the far side is discharged to the second bin (S
78, S79). When the fourth copy-processed sheet arrives, in this case, any of the sheets is turned into a copy of the document B, so that it is determined that the previous poem is a copy of a different kind of document on the front transport path (S82). , M1 by one. As a result, both m1 and m2 are 2
And both sheets are discharged to the second-stage bin. When the fifth copy-processed sheet arrives, it is a copy of the same type of original as the previous copy, and is discharged to the second-stage bin. As a result, a sorting result as shown in the lower part of FIG. 15 is obtained.

In FIG. 12, S73 to S77 describe processing to be performed when only one copy sheet arrives at the sorter. In this case, after it is determined which sheet is on the conveyance path (S7).
3) The same type or different type from the previous copy sheet is determined (S74, S76), and the number of bins is determined according to the result (S75, S77).

In the above embodiment, all the originals are read before the original image is printed. However, the present invention is not limited to such a kind of batch processing. You can also print. For example, reading a document is 2
In a configuration in which printing is performed in advance by the number of times of printing, even if printing is completed in one transport path during printing, the print processing on the other transport path side is stored twice, so that one of them is stored in one of the one transport path. It can be distributed to the transport path.

In the above configuration, the transfer sheet transport path has two rows, but three or more rows can be used. This is because the greater the number of transport paths, the higher the print processing efficiency.

[0054]

As described above, the present invention can be summarized as follows. In an image forming apparatus capable of simultaneously processing a plurality of jobs called print processing, when a job is completed in any one of the transport paths during simultaneous processing of multi-jobs, the job remains. JOB
Is performed using the transport path, so that all the transport paths can be used efficiently and a large amount of print processing can be realized in a short time. It further enhances the value.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine as one application example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an ADF.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a configuration of a printer unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing two examples of a cassette applied to the copying machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control unit in the copying machine.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a control unit in the copying machine.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for controlling the operation of the print processing.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for controlling the operation of the print processing.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for controlling the operation of the print processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for controlling the operation of the print processing.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart for controlling the operation of print processing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart for controlling a sorting operation of a sorter.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart for controlling the sorting operation of the sorter.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing one operation state for explaining the features of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing another operation state for explaining the features of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing still another operation state for explaining the features of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a conventional image forming apparatus.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional device.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional device.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a problem of the conventional device.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A printer comprising: a conveying unit capable of conveying N recording sheets in parallel; and an image forming unit capable of forming an image in parallel on a plurality of recording sheets conveyed in parallel. A determination unit configured to determine whether an unprocessed job remains in another transport path when a job in one transport path is completed while processing N jobs in parallel in the image forming apparatus capable of performing parallel processing; An image forming apparatus comprising: a job distributing unit for distributing the job to the conveyance path where the job has been completed if the remaining job remains. 2. An image forming means for forming N images in parallel in a direction perpendicular to a feed direction of a recording sheet, and a paper feeder for supplying recording sheets in parallel in accordance with the formation position of each image Means, image forming position allocating means for deciding which of the N image forming positions the input image data is to be allocated to, and any one of the methods in a situation where N images are simultaneously formed at the determined allocating position. Means for detecting or predicting that there is no image data to be formed next for one image forming position, and when the means detects or predicts that,
At the same time, means for judging whether image data to be successively formed at another image forming position remains, and when it is determined that there is remaining image data, an image forming position where there is no next image data to be formed An image forming apparatus, comprising: a distribution correcting unit that corrects a distribution so as to be processed by the processing.