JP4046892B2 - Printing apparatus and paper discharge control method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and paper discharge control how, more particularly, relates to a suitable printing apparatus and paper discharge control how when simultaneously parallel processing of multiple jobs.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in a printing apparatus that performs processing in units of pages such as a laser beam printer, jobs are generally processed serially in the order of input. Therefore, in this type of printing device, regardless of the output tray to which the printed paper is output, the job input later is always output later, so that the output results are mixed between jobs. There is no.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
Recently, printing apparatuses capable of processing a plurality of jobs at the same time have appeared, and the number of cases in which the total performance is increased is increasing. However, in the printing apparatus capable of processing a plurality of jobs at the same time as described above, when a plurality of jobs being processed at the same time select the same paper discharge tray as an output destination, output results are mixed in the same paper discharge tray. As a result, there is a problem that it is not possible to know which printed paper in the same paper discharge tray is output from which job.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing, an object of the result printed even when parallel processing of multiple jobs to provide a printing apparatus and paper discharge control how not mixed in the job.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing apparatus having a plurality of paper discharge ports, a job receiving unit that receives input of a plurality of jobs, and a page that interprets the job received by the job receiving unit. Creating means for associating, an associating means for associating, in page units, a paper outlet on which the paper on which the page is printed is discharged, and the creating means interprets a specific job. If the paper discharge port associated with the specific page created in this step is not in use by another job, the paper discharge port is registered as in use, and the discharge processing for all pages created from the specific job has been completed. particular registration means deletes the registration in accordance, discharge of the specific page if the sheet discharge outlet associated with a particular page is registered by the registration means as busy by another job Process was wait until the registration is canceled, when the sheet discharge outlet associated with a particular page is not registered as being used by another job met before discharge process of the other jobs are completed And a control unit that controls to execute the discharge process for the specific page.
[0011]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a paper discharge control method applied to a printing apparatus having a plurality of paper discharge ports. The job reception step receives a plurality of jobs, and the job reception step includes: A creation step for interpreting the received job to create a page, and an associating step for associating, in units of pages, which of the plurality of paper discharge ports the paper on which the page is printed is discharged. If the paper discharge port associated with the specific page created by interpreting the specific job in the creation step is not in use by another job, the paper discharge port is registered as in use and created from the specific job. a registration step of unregistering in response to discharge process of all pages has been completed that is, the sheet discharge outlet associated with a particular page before as being used by another job If if it is registered by the registration step that is waiting to discharge process of the specific page until the registration is canceled, the paper discharge port associated with the particular page is not registered as being used by another job Has a control step for performing control to execute the discharge process for the specific page even before the discharge process for the other job is completed .
[0012]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0013]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of hardware of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an input interface 104, a CPU 105, a ROM 106, a RAM 107, a system bus 108, a controller 103 having an engine device driver 109, a discharge tray A / 111, a discharge tray B / 112, A print engine 110 having a paper discharge tray C113 is provided. In the figure, reference numeral 101 denotes a network, and 102 denotes an entire printing apparatus including a controller 103 and a print engine 110. In FIG. 1, the illustration of an external device (information processing device such as a host computer) connected to the network 101 is omitted.
[0014]
Specifically, the configuration of each of the above units is described. In the controller 103, the input interface 104 receives a job from the network 101. The CPU 105 is a central processing unit that controls each part of the printing apparatus, and executes processing shown in flowcharts of FIGS. 3 to 5 described later based on a control program stored in the ROM 106. The ROM 106 is a read-only memory, and stores various data such as a control program executed by the CPU 105 and character fonts. The RAM 107 is a read / write memory as needed, and temporarily stores various data such as a display list and a page memory. The engine device driver 109 transfers image data to the print engine 110 and controls it. These components are connected to the system bus 108 on the controller 103.
[0015]
The print engine 110 feeds paper from a paper cassette to an image forming mechanism (not shown) in the print engine 110, and actually prints the fed paper by the image forming mechanism. The paper discharge trays A and 111, the paper discharge trays B and 112, and the paper discharge trays C and 113 are mounted on the print engine 110 and hold the printed paper that has been discharged. In the embodiment of the present invention, for example, three discharge trays are installed on the print engine 110, but the number of discharge trays is not limited to the above configuration.
[0016]
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the relationship between jobs, pages, and paper discharge trays processed by the controller 103 of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. In the illustrated example, job a is a job including page a4 (discharge destination A), page a3 (discharge destination B), page a2 (discharge destination A), page a1 (discharge destination A), and includes page a4, page a2, The page a1 is discharged to the paper discharge tray A, and the page a3 is discharged to the paper discharge tray B. Job b is a job including page b4 (discharge destination A), page b3 (discharge destination A), page b2 (discharge destination C), and page b1 (discharge destination C), and page b4 and page b3 are discharged. The paper is discharged to the tray A, and the pages b2 and b1 are discharged to the paper discharge tray C. 2 will be described in detail in the following operation description.
[0017]
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a conceptual example in which the program of the present invention and related data are supplied from the storage medium to the apparatus. The program and related data of the present invention are supplied by inserting a storage medium 171 such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM into a storage medium drive insertion slot 173 provided in the apparatus 172. Thereafter, the program and related data of the present invention are temporarily installed in the hard disk from the storage medium 171 and loaded from the hard disk into the RAM, or are loaded directly into the RAM without being installed in the hard disk. Can be executed.
[0018]
In this case, when the program of the present invention is executed in the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, the program and related data of the present invention are transmitted to the printing apparatus via a device such as a computer as shown in FIG. Or by storing the program of the present invention and related data in advance in the printing apparatus.
[0019]
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of the storage contents of the storage medium storing the program of the present invention and related data. The storage medium of the present invention includes storage contents such as volume information 161, directory information 162, a program execution file 163, a program related data file 164, and the like. The program of the present invention is a program code based on the flowcharts of FIGS.
[0020]
Correspondence between each component in the claims of the present invention and each part of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is as follows. Job receiving means, creation means, association means, the control means corresponds to a program executed by CPU105 and CPU105 of the controller 103, the sheet discharge outlet of the multiple corresponding to the discharge tray A~ discharge tray C in the print engine 110 To do.
[0021]
Next, the processing contents of the controller 103 of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.
[0022]
In the embodiment of the present invention, input data transmitted from an information processing apparatus such as a host computer via the network 101 is received by the input interface 104 of the printing apparatus, and the controller 103 processes it as one job.
[0023]
First, processing contents until output waiting in one job will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. In the process for each job, the controller 103 of the printing apparatus first creates a page according to the instruction content of the input job (step S1). Next, the controller 103 checks whether or not the output destination discharge tray specified on the creation page is in use in its own job (step S2). It is checked whether the paper discharge tray is being used by another job (step S3).
[0024]
If the output destination output tray is not being used by either one of its own jobs or other jobs, the fact that it is being used by the input job is registered for that output tray (step S4). It accumulates in an output waiting page queue in the page memory of the RAM 107 corresponding to the paper tray (step S5), and checks whether there is a next page (step S6). If there is a next page, a page is created in the same manner as the first page (step S1), and the output paper discharge tray to which the created page is designated is checked (step S2). If the same paper discharge tray as that of the first page is the output destination, it is in use in its own job, so the process immediately proceeds to step S5 and is registered in the output waiting page queue.
[0025]
If the output destination has changed, if it is being used by another job, it must wait until the output tray is no longer used by any job (step S7), and it must be used by any job. For example, the process immediately proceeds to step S5, is registered in the output waiting page queue corresponding to the paper discharge tray, and proceeds to processing of the next page. When the processing for all pages is completed, the in-use registration is deleted from all the paper discharge trays used in the job (step S8), and the job processing is ended. At this time, the page of the job may still remain in the output waiting page queue.
[0026]
Next, the contents of the output process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the controller 103 of the printing apparatus is activated, the process is started, the output waiting page queue corresponding to a certain paper discharge tray is checked (step S11), and if there is an accumulated page, it is output (step S12). If there is no accumulated page, the process proceeds to the next paper discharge tray (step S13), the same process is performed on the next paper discharge tray from the above step S11, and it is infinite until the power is turned off. Loop to.
[0027]
As shown in FIG. 2, the job a and the job b are simultaneously input to the controller 103 that performs the above processing. For example, page a1, page a2, page b1, page b2, page b3, page b4, Assume that pages are created in the order of page a3 and page a4. The discharge tray A is in use of the job a, the pages a1 and a2 are accumulated in the output waiting page queue, the job b accumulates the pages b1 and b2 in the discharge tray C, and the discharge tray A. Page b3 and page b4 are to be output, but another job is in use and is kept waiting. When the page a3 of the job a is registered in the output waiting page queue of the paper discharge tray B and the page a4 is accumulated again in the paper discharge tray A, all the processes up to the output waiting of the job a are completed. Tray A is not in use, and page b3 and page b4 of job b are accumulated. Thereafter, job b ends.
[0028]
As a result, page a1, page a2, page a4, page b3, and page b4 are output to the paper discharge tray A, page a3 is output to the paper discharge tray B, and page b1 and page b2 are output to the paper discharge tray C. Is output. Therefore, printed paper does not coexist across jobs.
[0029]
As described above, according to the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, a parallel processing function that receives and processes a plurality of jobs in parallel, a creation function that interprets input data and creates a page, and a page printed An associating function for associating which paper output tray out of a plurality of paper output trays, which job among a plurality of jobs used which paper output tray was used. A controller 103 having a registration function for registering, an erasing function for erasing the registration when processing of all pages is completed, an accumulation control function for accumulating the pages for each paper discharge tray created in an output waiting page queue, Since it includes the print engine 110 that has the paper discharge trays 111 to 113 and prints on the paper, the following operations and effects are achieved.
[0030]
If the output trays used by multiple jobs do not overlap, each job is processed in parallel, so you can output from the completed pages one after another, and the output trays used by multiple jobs will overlap. In this case, one job is output as a batch on one discharge tray and can be prevented from being mixed. That is, even when a plurality of jobs are processed in parallel, there is an effect that print results are not mixed in the job.
[0031]
The present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of a single device. A storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to the system or apparatus, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or apparatus stores the program code stored in the storage medium. Needless to say, this can also be achieved by executing read.
[0032]
In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.
[0033]
As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a CD-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.
[0034]
Further, by executing the program code read out by the computer, not only the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized, but also the OS operating on the computer based on the instruction of the program code performs the actual processing. Needless to say, a case where the function of the above-described embodiment is realized by performing part or all of the processing is also included.
[0035]
Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion is performed based on the instruction of the program code. It goes without saying that the CPU or the like provided in the board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.
[0036]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when a discharge port associated with a specific page created from a specific job is registered as being used by another job, the discharge processing for the specific page is registered. Therefore, the printed sheets discharged to a certain sheet discharge outlet do not coexist across jobs.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of hardware of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a relationship between a job, a page, and a paper discharge tray processed by a controller of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing job processing contents in the controller of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing job processing contents in the controller of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the contents of output processing in the controller of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration example of storage contents of a storage medium storing a program and related data according to the present invention.
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a conceptual example in which a program and related data of the present invention are supplied from a storage medium to an apparatus.
[Explanation of symbols]
101 Network 103 Controller 104 Input Interface 105 CPU
106 ROM
107 RAM
109 Engine device driver 110 Print engine 111-113 Paper discharge tray

Claims (4)

A printing apparatus having a plurality of paper discharge ports,
Job accepting means for accepting input of a plurality of jobs;
Creating means for interpreting the job accepted by the job accepting means and creating a page;
Associating means for associating, in units of pages, which paper discharge outlet of the plurality of paper discharge outlets the paper on which the page is printed;
If the paper discharge port associated with the specific page created by interpreting the specific job by the creating means is not in use by another job, the paper discharge port is registered as in use, and all of the paper discharge ports created from the specific job are registered. Registration means for deleting registration in response to completion of the page discharge process ;
When the paper discharge port associated with the specific page is registered by the registration unit as being used by another job, the discharge processing of the specific page is made to wait until the registration is deleted, and the specific page is displayed. Control for controlling the discharge processing of the specific page to be executed even before the discharge processing of the other job is completed when the associated discharge port is not registered as being used by another job. Means,
A printing apparatus comprising: The control unit registers the discharge processing of the specific page and a page subsequent to the specific page when the paper discharge port associated with the specific page is registered by the registration unit as being used by another job. If the paper discharge outlet associated with the specific page is not registered as being used by another job, the specific page is output even before the discharge processing of the other job is completed. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is controlled to execute the paper discharge process. A paper discharge control method applied to a printing apparatus having a plurality of paper discharge ports, a job reception step for receiving input of a plurality of jobs,
A creation step of interpreting the job received in the job reception step and creating a page;
An associating step for associating, in units of pages, a paper discharge port from which the paper on which the page is printed is discharged.
If the paper discharge outlet associated with the specific page created by interpreting the specific job in the creation step is not in use by another job, the paper discharge outlet is registered as in use, and all the paper created from the specific job is registered. A registration step for deleting registration in response to completion of the page discharge process ;
When the paper discharge port associated with the specific page is registered by the registration step as being used by another job, the specific page is discharged until the registration is canceled, and the specific page is displayed. Control for controlling the discharge processing of the specific page to be executed even before the discharge processing of the other job is completed when the associated discharge port is not registered as being used by another job. A paper discharge control method comprising steps. In the control step, when the paper discharge port associated with the specific page is registered by the registration step as being used by another job, the discharge processing of the specific page and a page subsequent to the specific page is registered. If the paper discharge outlet associated with the specific page is not registered as being used by another job, the specific page is output even before the discharge processing of the other job is completed. The paper discharge control method according to claim 3, wherein the paper discharge processing is controlled to be executed.

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