JP2003182871A - Image forming device and controlling method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the waste caused when automatic selecting of a tray for paper sheets in a pre-reading process in an image forming device. <P>SOLUTION: In the pre-reading process, the image of a document is read out and stored in a hard disk or the like, and the size of a paper sheet on for printing the document is calculated (S12), and stored (S14) only. In this step, a paper sheet tray is not selected. When all the documents are read completely, and preparation for printing is completed, referring to the information of the paper sheet size stored in S14 and tailored to the paper sheet size setting state of the paper sheet tray group at that time point, a tray from which a paper sheet used for printing each document is sent is selected (S20). If a paper sheet tray is selected in pre-reading, there is a fear that the paper sheets on the selected tray are changed before printing. However, such fear can be reduced by selecting a tray directly before the start of printing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having an automatic paper tray selection function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some image forming apparatuses of recent years are capable of executing automatic paper tray selection mode processing in a prefetch mode.

The read-ahead mode is a mode in which the original is read separately from the printing on the paper, the read original image is stored in the storage device, and the stored original image is printed on the paper later. According to the pre-reading mode, when the printing mechanism is used for printing a large number of copies, the next original can be read first, and the total work efficiency can be improved. On the other hand, in the automatic paper tray selection mode (hereinafter referred to as “APS mode”), the size of the original is detected, and based on this, the paper tray holding the paper of the proper size is automatically selected and the paper is fed from that tray. It is a paper printing mode.

In this type of image forming apparatus, when the APS process is executed in the prefetch mode, it is common to select the paper size required for printing the document each time the image of each document is read in the document prefetch process. is there. The information on the result of the paper tray selection performed in this manner is stored in the control unit of the image forming apparatus and is referred to when printing the stored original.

Further, in recent years, many image forming apparatuses are provided with a plurality of paper trays, and many are also provided with a so-called universal tray. The universal tray is a tray that can handle a plurality of types of paper sizes, and includes a sensor that detects the size of the stored paper. For example, when the universal tray is pulled out from the paper feed unit to set the paper and then returned to the paper feed unit, the sensor detects the size of the set paper. As a result, the control unit of the image forming apparatus main body can recognize the size of the paper stored in the universal tray. In this type of image forming apparatus, even during a job (for example, during prefetch processing or during printing on paper), the unused universal tray can be pulled out to replace the paper.

[0006]

In such an image forming apparatus, when the universal tray is selected in the automatic paper tray selection in the prefetch mode, from the time of prefetch processing until the actual printing on the paper is started. In the meantime, the size of the paper stored in the tray may be changed, and the paper size required at the time of printing may run out.

Further, in such an image forming apparatus, when it is determined that the paper size required for the read document is not in the paper tray group currently set in the apparatus during the prefetching process. At that point, it is common to interrupt the prefetching process and prompt the user to set the required size of paper in the tray. However, even if the required paper is set in the universal tray in accordance with this, the paper in the tray may be further changed before the printing as described above.

Further, by using the automatic paper tray selection function, even when a plurality of originals of different sizes are mixed and set in the ADF (automatic original feeder), each original can be copied onto a paper of a suitable size. . However, when a paper size larger than the number of types prepared (or assumed) by the user is required for automatic paper tray selection, it often takes time to prepare the necessary paper. In such a case, You have no choice but to stop the copying work that you started, or print on your own paper, knowing the size difference.

It is an object of the present invention to solve the above problems associated with automatic paper tray selection. It is an object of the present invention to realize appropriate processing as automatic paper tray selection in the prefetch processing mode. Another object of the present invention is to make it possible to notify the user at an early stage of a situation such as a shortage of paper types when performing document copying that requires a plurality of types of paper sheets using automatic paper tray selection. And

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is provided with a pre-reading processing function and an automatic paper tray selection function, and is capable of changing the size of the paper to be stored by one or more. In the image forming apparatus having the universal tray, if the execution of both the pre-reading process and the automatic paper tray selection is designated, the selection of the paper tray to be used by the automatic paper tray selection is performed by the original document stored by the pre-reading process. It is characterized in that it is carried out at the start of printing the image on the paper. Needless to say, the paper referred to here is not limited to a paper material and includes various image forming medium sheets that can be handled by the image forming apparatus.

The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a pre-reading processing function and an automatic paper tray selection function, and a universal tray capable of changing the size of the paper to be stored. When the execution of automatic paper tray selection in is specified, the size of the paper to be used for printing each original is calculated when the images of each original are read and stored in the prefetch process, and the calculated paper size is calculated. Even if the sheet of paper is not set in the paper tray group targeted for automatic paper tray selection of the image forming apparatus at that time, the read-ahead processing is continued and the calculated paper size of each original is stored in the storage unit. The control means and the respective originals stored in the storage means at the time of starting the printing of the images of the respective originals stored in the prefetch processing on the paper. Paper selection control means for selecting a paper tray to be used for printing each original based on the information on the paper size to be set and the paper size set in the paper tray group of the automatic paper tray selection target of the image forming apparatus at that time And are provided.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the paper selection control means determines that the paper size of the paper calculated by the prefetch control means is a target paper tray group of the automatic paper tray selection of the image forming apparatus at the start of printing. When not set in the inside, a means for notifying the user of the message to that effect is provided through the user interface means of the image forming apparatus.

In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the paper selection control means selects the automatic paper tray of the image forming apparatus at the time when the printing of the original starts when the paper of the paper size calculated by the prefetch control means is started. When not set in the target paper tray group, tray notification means is provided for notifying the user of the universal tray as a candidate tray to which paper of that paper size can be set. Here, it is also preferable that the tray notifying unit finds a tray that is not used when printing the document from the universal tray and notifies the user of this tray as a candidate tray.

In a preferred aspect of the present invention, when the type of paper size corresponding to each of the originals calculated by the prefetch control means is larger than the number of paper trays targeted for automatic paper tray selection of the image forming apparatus, The paper selection control means,
At that point, the selectable paper tray group is selected to start the printing process, and when the turn to print the originals for which the paper trays are not selected comes, the printing process is interrupted, and the universal tray is set to the paper size corresponding to the original. The user is notified to set the paper, and when the paper of that paper size is set accordingly, the printing process is continued.

Further, in a preferred aspect of the present invention, the prefetch control means does not set the paper of the calculated paper size in the paper tray group of the automatic paper tray selection target of the image forming apparatus at that time. Further, it has a continuation instruction receiving means for notifying the user of that fact and receiving an instruction as to whether or not to continue the prefetching processing, and when the instruction for continuation is received by this means, the prefetching processing is continued.

Further, in a preferred aspect of the present invention, the prefetch control means counts the calculated paper size types as the paper sizes corresponding to the respective originals are sequentially calculated, and the counted value is a predetermined value. When the upper limit is reached, it has a continuation instruction receiving means for notifying the user of that fact and for instructing whether or not to continue the prefetching processing. When the continuation instruction is received by this means, the prefetching processing is continued. To do.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Embodiment 1] First, a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, as viewed from the control side, will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 illustrates components necessary for explaining the present invention, and illustration of other components is omitted.

This image forming apparatus is a type of apparatus such as a digital copying machine or a digital multi-function machine which handles an image obtained by optically reading a document as digital data.

In this apparatus, the control section 100 is means for controlling the entire image forming process in this image forming apparatus. In the control unit 100, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 112 stores digital information such as a control program for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus. CPU (Central Processing Unit) 110 is this ROM
By executing the control program in 112, the control unit 100 as a functional entity is realized. RAM
The (random access memory) 114 is used as a storage area for various data associated with the execution of this program. Nonvolatile memory 116 (NVM: Non-Volatile Mem)
is also a memory for storing various semi-permanent setting information relating to control of the image forming apparatus, and is composed of, for example, an EEPROM or the like. The image memory unit 118 is means for storing image data to be printed on a sheet. The image memory unit 118 includes, in addition to the page buffer, a large-capacity storage device (for example, a hard disk) for the document prefetch processing function and a control mechanism for storing / retrieving an image from the storage device.

The operation panel 120 is a user interface means for displaying the user interface of the image forming apparatus and accepting input of various instructions from the user. The operation panel 120 typically includes mechanical operation buttons such as a copy start button and a liquid crystal touch panel. The liquid crystal touch panel displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) screen generated by a control program executed by the CPU 110, detects a touch position of the user on the display, and passes the touch position to the control program. The control program interprets the input content of the user from the information of the touch position.

The IIT (Image Input Terminal) 140 is
It is a device that provides a scanner function that optically reads a document to generate electronic image data. ADF (Auto D
The ocument feeder 130 is a device capable of placing a plurality of originals and feeding the originals to an image reading portion (platen or the like) of the IIT 140. IOT (Image Out
The put terminal) 150 is a device that provides a printer function for forming (printing) image data on paper. The paper feed unit 160 is a mechanism that feeds paper on which an image is formed to the IOT 150, and includes a plurality of paper trays 162. As the paper tray, in addition to a tray having a fixed paper size, there is a universal tray capable of accommodating a plurality of paper sizes and changing the paper size setting even during a job. It is assumed that the paper feeding unit 160 of the apparatus of this embodiment has one or more such universal trays.

This image forming apparatus has a pre-reading processing function and an automatic paper tray selection (APS) function. The pre-reading processing function is a function of performing only the image reading of the document first, even when the IOT 150 is performing the print processing of another job. In the case of job processing using the prefetch processing function, when the user sets the originals of the job in the ADF 130 and presses the copy start button, the originals are sequentially IIT1.
40 and is read. The read image of each original of the job is stored in the image memory unit 118, and waits for the printing order. The control unit 100 manages jobs, and when the print number of the pre-read job arrives, the image data of each document is sequentially read from the image memory unit 118 and supplied to the IOT 150 for printing.

The APS function is a function for automatically selecting a tray for feeding sheets used for copying each original. In this function, based on the size of the original document and the selection setting of various used functions selected for the job (for example, magnification setting for image enlargement / reduction, used function selection setting such as 2up (2in1)) The output image size of the original is obtained, and the paper tray in which the paper of the paper size suitable for the size is set is selected. The document size is, for example, ADF130.
It is detected by a sensor provided in the. This APS function can be used both in the normal mode in which a document is read and immediately printed on the paper (without accumulating images) and in the mode using the prefetch processing function described above. In this embodiment, the APS processing in the prefetch processing mode is improved.

That is, conventionally, when APS is designated in the prefetch processing mode, the paper tray used for each document is selected (determined) at the prefetch processing stage, whereas in the present embodiment, the preread processing is performed. In the step, the paper size is simply calculated and stored, and the paper tray is selected in the step of printing the job on the paper. The control procedure of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIG.

First, the flowchart of FIG. 2 is roughly divided into a processing flow for prefetch processing and a processing flow for printing. This flow focuses on the control of the APS, and the basic processing such as optical reading of an image and accumulation of the read image is omitted. When the user makes various settings from the operation panel 120, sets a bundle of documents to be copied in the ADF 130, and presses the copy start button, the process of FIG. 2 starts. However, here, the use of the APS function is instructed by the user's explicit designation or default setting, and the IOT 150 is processing another job, or the prefetch processing mode is designated by the user's explicit designation. I shall.

In the pre-reading process, the control unit 100 first reads the ADF 130 or IIT every time one page of the original is read.
The size of the document is acquired from the document size sensor provided in 140 or the like (S10). Next, the control unit 100
Of the setting information set for this job (here, the copy processing of the document stack set in the ADF 130) affects the size of the image (for example, magnification or 2
Based on the acquired original size and the acquired original size), the paper size necessary for forming an image of the original is calculated (S12). For example, the original size is B4 and the magnification is 81
If% is specified, the paper size is calculated as A4. Then, the calculated paper size is stored in the RAM 114 (or HD of the image memory unit 118) (S1).
4). The paper size information is stored in such a manner that it is possible to know later which document image information of which job is accumulated in parallel with this processing (for example, by ordering the document pages). . Step S10 above
The processes of to S14 are repeated until the reading of all the originals of the job set in the ADF 130 is completed (S
16). When all the originals have been read and the paper size has been stored, the prefetching process ends. After this, the control unit 100
The job management for the job is to wait until all the jobs to be processed before the job have been copied or printed, and the job is ready for the IOT 150 to start printing. And when that stage comes,
Shifts to the printing process shown on the lower right side of.

In the printing process, first, the control unit 100 obtains the information on the paper size set in each paper tray 162 of the paper feeding unit 160 at this time, and calculates and stores each original document of the job in the prefetch stage. The paper tray holding the paper size corresponding to is selected (S20). Here, the paper tray is selected from those which are designated in advance as the target tray of the APS process. In other words, the tray in which special paper (colored paper etc.) is set among the trays provided in the image forming apparatus should not be automatically selected even if the size is appropriate. In addition, in the image forming apparatus, the tray for APS (or the tray removed from the target) can be set. In this paper tray selection processing, for each original of the job, if there is a paper tray 162 that currently holds the paper size corresponding to the original, that is selected. In this case, even a document after the document for which the paper tray could not be selected, a document for which the paper tray can be selected is selected.

Next, the control unit 100 determines whether or not there is an original in which the corresponding paper size is not set in the paper tray group (hence the tray cannot be selected) (S22). If the paper trays of all the originals can be selected (that is, the determination result of S22 is N (negative)), the paper is fed from the selected paper tray 162 for each original, and the IOT 150 is made to execute the printing. (S2
4). This is repeated until the last document of the job is printed (S26).

When it is determined in step S22 that some of the originals do not allow the selection of the paper size, the control unit 100 displays a message on the operation panel 120 that prompts the user to change the paper size of the paper tray. (S28). For example, the paper size that is not enough and the paper tray to load it in (that is, the tray whose paper size is changed)
A message indicating and may be displayed. As the paper tray to be set, for example, a universal tray included in the image forming apparatus that is not used for paper feeding in the job (that is, a tray that has not been selected in S20) may be obtained and displayed. . In response to this request, when the user replaces the paper in the paper tray, the control unit 100 determines whether the newly set paper is the required size (S30), and if it is not the required size, the message in step S28 is again displayed. If the size is displayed, the print process is started (S32).

In step S28, there may be a case where there is not enough unselected universal trays due to the presence of a plurality of "insufficient paper sizes" to be set. In such a case, the printing process is started by sequentially allocating to the unselected universal tray from the paper size used first in the printing order of the originals in the job (S32). Then, each time printing of one sheet is completed, it is determined whether printing is completed up to the end of the job (S
34). Here, if there is a document that has not been printed yet, it is determined whether or not the document to be printed next is the paper tray not selected (S36). If not, the paper is fed from the selected paper tray. The original is printed (S32). Then, when the number of the document for which the paper tray has not been selected comes (the determination result of S36 is Y (affirmative)), the printing process in the IOT 150 is temporarily stopped, and the process returns to step S28 to set the paper corresponding to the document. Ask the user to replace the paper. In this step S28, it is determined whether or not a universal tray that will not be used later in this job is created (for example, by checking whether all the originals selected for the universal tray have been printed), and such a universal tray is used. If there is, you can display that the next required paper should be set for it. On the other hand, if there is no such universal tray, any one of the universal trays included in the image forming apparatus is selected as the target of paper exchange and displayed to the user.
In this case, from the information of the paper tray selection result made in S20, the slowest universal tray to be used in this job in the future can be known. Therefore, it is possible to control that tray to be the target of paper replacement. The frequency of replacement can be reduced. In this case, if you replace the paper,
An unprinted document that has been selected for that paper tray until then becomes a tray unselected state.

It is also possible that there is no unselected paper tray at the time when the determination process of step S28 is first performed. In this case, it is considered that the paper tray for the original to be printed is selected or not. In the former case, steps S28 and S30 may be skipped and printing on the paper (S32) may be started as it is. In the latter case, as in the case described above, step S
At 28, one of the universal trays is selected, the user is prompted to set the required paper on the tray, and printing is performed when the required paper is set on the tray (S32).

Then, the above processing is repeated and the printing of all the originals of the job is completed (the determination result of S34 is Y).
Then, a series of jobs ends.

The control procedure in this embodiment has been described above. According to this control, the paper tray is selected when printing is actually performed on the paper, not during the pre-reading process, so that the possibility that the paper in the selected paper tray is changed and a malfunction occurs is greatly reduced. be able to. Further, in the prefetch process, conventionally, when it was determined that the paper of the required paper size was not in the paper tray at the prefetch stage, the user was requested to change the paper size at that stage. There is a possibility that the paper tray may be changed again before printing, but since the size of the paper tray is changed at the time of printing in the control procedure of this embodiment, such a situation is extremely unlikely to occur. Low. Conversely, even if the required paper size is not set in the tray group at the time of pre-reading, the user or another user may set the required paper size in the tray before printing. In the present embodiment in which the paper tray is selected at the start of printing, it is not necessary to replace the paper in this case.

Further, in the present embodiment, all the selectable paper trays are selected once in step S20, so that the universal trays not selected as a result are
It is possible to change the paper size without affecting the printing of the document for which the tray is already selected. Then, if there is such a universal tray, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the work of changing the paper size by presenting this to the user as a paper tray in which the paper of the insufficient paper size should be set.

Although the method of selecting all the selectable trays in step S20 as described above is efficient, the control of the control unit 100 becomes slightly complicated. Alternatively, for each original of the job, the paper tray may be selected at the time when printing of the original in the IOT is started. In this method, if the paper tray cannot be selected at that time, a message may be notified to the user to set the required paper size. However,
Since the later document is not considered, the size of the paper tray is changed more frequently than in the above method.

[Embodiment 2] In the first embodiment, the paper size required for the prefetch processing is calculated.
All originals were read without considering whether or not they were in the paper tray 162 group. On the other hand, in the present embodiment, at the time of the prefetching process, the paper tray 16
When it is determined that a paper size that does not exist in the second group is necessary, the user is notified of that fact, and the user's judgment regarding subsequent processing is requested. The procedure of this process will be described with reference to FIG. Note that in FIG. 3, steps that perform the same processing as the steps of the procedure shown in FIG.

In this process, the size of the original is acquired (S
10) When the paper size used for printing the original is calculated (S12), it is determined whether there is a paper tray 162 that currently holds the paper of that paper size (S4).
0). If there is such a tray, the paper size is stored as in the case of the first embodiment (S14). On the other hand, if there is no such tray, the read-ahead reading process is temporarily interrupted, the user is notified that there is no paper of the required paper size, and an instruction for future treatment is requested (S42).
Here, for example, a message indicating that no paper is set, a message indicating the paper size, and a GUI button indicating options for possible treatments are displayed on the operation panel 1
It is displayed on the touch panel of 20 and requests the user's selection.
Options include "continuation of prefetch processing", "printing up to this point (up to the point where it has been read)", "cancellation of the entire job", and the like.

When the user selects to continue the prefetching process in response to this inquiry (the judgment result in S44 is Y),
The paper size may be stored by proceeding to step S14. On the other hand, when “print up to this point” is selected (the determination result in S46 is Y), the prefetching process ends and 1
The previous document (the required sheets are in the tray so far) is printed as one job. Also,
When "Cancel entire job" is selected (the determination result in S46 is N), the original image of the job and the information of the stored paper size accumulated in the prefetching process so far are discarded, and the job is ended. .

Although the procedure of the prefetch processing has been described above, the processing procedure at the time of subsequent printing may be the same as that of the first embodiment.

In the present embodiment, by notifying the user that the paper is not set at the time of pre-reading, it is understood that the user should prepare the paper before printing,
You can prepare. Further, if the notified paper size cannot be immediately prepared, the user can flexibly deal with canceling the job or printing the read part for the time being.

[Third Embodiment] In the second embodiment, the user is asked to make a judgment when the paper size calculated at the time of pre-reading is not set in the paper tray group. In contrast,
In the present embodiment, the number of types of paper sizes calculated at the time of prefetching is counted, and when the number exceeds a predetermined number, the user is requested to make a judgment.

FIG. 4 shows the procedure of the prefetching process of this embodiment. Note that in FIG. 4, steps that perform the same processing as the steps of the procedure shown in FIG.

In this procedure, the size of the original is acquired (S
10), the paper size used for printing the original is calculated (S12), and the size is stored (S14). In the present embodiment, thereafter, it is determined whether or not the newly calculated and stored sheet size is a new one that is not stored among those stored so far (S50). When the result of the determination in step S50 is N (when the size is not a new size), it is determined whether or not the read-ahead of all originals has been completed (S16), and if there is any remaining document, the process returns to step S10. The determination result of step S50 is Y
In the case of (if it is a new paper size), the count value of the paper size number is incremented by 1 (S52), and the count value is compared with the preset upper limit value (S54). If the number of paper sizes is less than the upper limit value in this comparison, it is determined whether or not the prefetching of all originals has been completed (S16), and if there are any remaining documents, the process returns to step S10.

If it is determined in step S54 that the number of paper sizes has reached the upper limit, the control unit 10
When 0, the prefetching process is interrupted and the user is requested to instruct future treatment (S56). Here, for example, a message notifying that the number of paper sizes has exceeded the upper limit and a GUI button showing the options of possible treatments are displayed on the operation panel 12
It is displayed on the touch panel 0, and the user's selection is requested. As the options, as in the second embodiment, “continuation of prefetching process”, “printing up to this point (up to the point of reading)”,
For example, "Cancel the entire job". When the user chooses to continue the prefetching process in response to this inquiry (S
If the determination result of 58 is Y), the process proceeds to step S16. On the other hand, when "print up to here" is selected (S60
If the determination result of Y is Y), the pre-reading process is terminated and the documents up to this point are printed as one job. Also,
When "Cancel whole job" is selected (the determination result in S60 is N), the original image of the job accumulated in the prefetching process and the information of the stored paper size are discarded, and the job is terminated. .

Although the procedure of the prefetch processing has been described above, the processing procedure at the time of subsequent printing may be the same as that of the first embodiment.

In the above processing, the upper limit number used for the determination in step S54 is set in advance by the administrator or the like who manages this image forming apparatus (in some cases, the general user may be allowed to set it).

As the upper limit number, for example, it is conceivable to use the number of tray groups set as APS targets in this image forming apparatus. If the number of paper sizes to be used exceeds the number of APS target trays, it becomes necessary to replace the paper in the paper tray in the middle of the printing process, and the user's work becomes complicated. Therefore, if you set the APS target and the number of cases as the upper limit, the number of paper sizes will be A
When it is found that the number of PS target trays is exceeded, the user can be notified that there is a need to replace the paper during printing. Based on this notification, the user can determine the action such as continuing the pre-reading as it is, or disabling the paper exchange and printing for the time being up to the read amount at that time. Although the number of APS target trays is used as the upper limit number here, the total number of paper trays included in the image forming apparatus may be used as the upper limit value in the same way.

Further, regardless of the number of paper trays, the kind of paper size prepared near the image forming apparatus can be set as the upper limit number. If the number of paper sizes to be used exceeds this upper limit, it is certain that paper of a paper size that is not in the vicinity (and therefore laborious to prepare) is required. By notifying the user when such a thing is found, the user can know in advance that it will take time and effort to prepare the paper. Then, when it is not necessary to prepare the paper, it is possible to make a selection such as printing up to the read position or stopping the job situation. Therefore, it is possible to reduce a situation in which it is known that there is a paper size that cannot be prepared after printing all the documents in advance after printing, and wasteful pre-reading processing can be reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, viewed from the control side.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating control of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.
9 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing when automatic paper tray selection is instructed in the prefetch processing mode.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow during prefetch processing according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow during prefetch processing according to the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 control unit, 110 CPU, 112 ROM, 1
14 RAM, 116 non-volatile memory, 118 image memory unit, 120 operation panel, 130 ADF, 140
IIT, 150 IOT, 160 paper feeder, 162
Paper tray.

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Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus having a pre-reading processing function and an automatic paper tray selection function, and further comprising one or more universal trays capable of changing the size of paper to be stored, the pre-reading processing and automatic paper tray selection. When both executions are designated, the image forming apparatus is characterized in that the selection of the paper tray to be used by the automatic paper tray selection is performed at the time of starting the printing of the document image stored by the prefetch processing on the paper. 2. An image forming apparatus having a pre-reading processing function and an automatic paper tray selection function, and further comprising a universal tray capable of changing the size of paper to be stored, wherein the automatic paper tray selection is executed in the pre-reading processing. When is specified, the size of the paper to be used for printing each original is calculated when the images of each original are read and stored in the prefetch process, and the paper of the calculated paper size is the relevant image at that time. Even when the paper is not set in the paper tray group of the automatic paper tray selection of the forming apparatus, the preread processing is continued and the calculated paper size of each document is stored in the storage means. At the time when the printing of the image of each of the originals on the paper is started, the paper size corresponding to each of the originals stored in the storage unit and the corresponding paper size at that time. Based on the automatic paper tray selection information of the paper size set in the paper tray group of the image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus including a sheet selection control means for selecting a paper tray to be used for printing their respective original, the. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the sheet selection control unit selects an automatic sheet tray of the image forming apparatus when a sheet having a sheet size calculated by the prefetch control unit starts printing. If it is not set in the target paper tray group, a message to that effect is displayed.
An image forming apparatus comprising means for notifying a user via a user interface means of the image forming apparatus. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the paper selection control unit automatically selects the paper of the paper size calculated by the prefetch control unit, when the image forming apparatus starts printing the original. Image forming, comprising tray notification means for notifying a user of the universal tray as a candidate tray that can set a sheet of paper size when it is not set in the paper tray group of paper tray selection target apparatus. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein:
An image characterized by comprising one or more of the universal trays, wherein the tray notifying unit obtains trays that are not used when printing the document from the universal trays, and notifies the trays to the user as the candidate trays. Forming equipment. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the type of paper size corresponding to each original calculated by the prefetch control unit is the number of paper trays targeted for automatic paper tray selection of the image forming apparatus. If there are more, the paper selection control means selects the paper tray group that can be selected at that time and starts the print processing, and interrupts the print processing when it becomes the order to print the originals for which the paper tray is not selected, An image forming apparatus characterized in that a user is notified to set a paper size corresponding to the original on the universal tray, and the printing process is continued when the paper size corresponding to the original is set. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the prefetch control unit causes the paper of the calculated paper size to be included in a paper tray group targeted for automatic paper tray selection of the image forming apparatus at that time. If it is not set, it has a continuation instruction receiving means for notifying the user of that fact and for instructing whether or not to continue the prefetching processing, and when the continuation instruction is received by this means, the prefetching processing is continued. An image forming apparatus characterized by the above. 8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the prefetch control unit counts the types of the calculated paper sizes as the paper sizes corresponding to the respective originals are sequentially calculated, and When the count value reaches a predetermined upper limit value, it has a continuation instruction receiving means for notifying the user of that fact and receiving an instruction as to whether or not to continue the prefetching process. An image forming apparatus, wherein the prefetching process is continued. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein, when the continuation instruction receiving unit receives an instruction not to continue, printing is performed up to the original document that has been prefetched by then. An image forming apparatus comprising: a unit that receives a selection instruction of whether to perform printing or cancel the entire printing of the document. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the upper limit number is the number of paper trays of automatic paper tray selection among paper trays included in the image forming apparatus. Image forming apparatus. 11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a user interface unit for setting the upper limit number. 12. A control method for an image forming apparatus, comprising a pre-reading processing function and an automatic paper tray selection function, and a universal tray capable of changing the size of paper to be stored even during job execution. When both paper tray selections are specified, the size of the paper to be used for printing each original is calculated and stored in the memory when reading and storing the image of each original in the prefetch process. Then, at the time of starting the printing of the images of the respective originals stored during the pre-reading process on the paper, the paper size corresponding to the respective originals stored in the storage means and the automatic paper tray of the image forming apparatus at that time. Based on the paper size information set in the selected paper tray group, select the paper tray to be used for printing each of those originals, and then select the selected paper tray. Printing the document and the paper feed a sheet from Ray method for controlling an image forming apparatus.