JP2005212303A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To sufficiently make the most of original effects of an IC chip-including sheet without bringing a disagreement between writing data in the IC chip and forming an image on the sheet in the IC chip-including sheet. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is equipped with a printer part (2) forming the image on the sheet based on the image data, and an IC chip writer (82) writing specified data in accordance with the content of the image data in the IC chip included in the sheet. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention belongs to the technical field of an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a facsimile machine, a printer, or a so-called multifunction machine having these functions.

  Conventionally, for example, it is known that various products are provided with an IC chip. Here, the IC chip includes a main body including an information storage unit, a transmission unit, a reception unit, and a power supply rectification unit, and an antenna provided in association with the main body. It is known that if this IC chip is used, for example, manufacture or production date of the product, confirmation of a distribution route, etc. can be performed, which greatly contributes to convenience for consumers. In addition, since inventory management, customer management, and theft prevention of the product can be performed, there is a possibility that the supply side can also enjoy great benefits. Although this technology has not yet reached the practical stage, research and development, trial operation, etc. are already at a stage where it is difficult to spread.

By the way, the image forming apparatus as described above performs image formation containing arbitrary characters and drawings on a sheet. As an example of the types of products that can be provided with the IC chip, Kinds are also mentioned. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes a technique for incorporating an IC chip into a postcard such as direct mail.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-105628

  However, the above-described technique has the following problems. That is, in the example in which the IC chip is provided on the paper as described above, no particular attention is paid to the cooperation between the data to be written on the IC chip and the image to be formed on the paper. For example, if there is no cooperation between the contents of the data written on the IC chip and the contents of the image formed on the paper, there is a possibility of causing a wrinkle between the two. In this case, since the paper is provided with the IC chip, the effect that should be originally obtained cannot be fully utilized, and there is a possibility of causing various harmful effects. The same applies to the hardware viewpoint, that is, the relationship between the IC chip writer that writes data to the IC chip and the image forming means including a photosensitive drum that actually forms the image on the paper. . That is, if no relationship is set between them, for example, data writing to the IC chip and image formation can be performed independently of each other independently of each other. May occur. Also in the above-mentioned patent document 1, there is no particular description about such a problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in a paper including an IC chip, the IC chip is formed without causing wrinkles between data writing to the IC chip and image formation on the paper. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of making full use of the original effect of a sheet including it.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet based on the image data, and an IC chip included in the sheet that has a predetermined amount corresponding to the content of the image data. And an IC chip writer for writing data.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, on a sheet including an IC chip, image formation is performed on the sheet based on the image data, and predetermined data corresponding to the content of the image data is applied to the IC chip. Write. Therefore, the risk of flaws between the contents of data written to the IC chip and the contents of image formation performed on the paper is extremely reduced. Here, the “predetermined data according to the content of the image data” preferably means that the predetermined data is all or part of the image data and is extracted from the image data. Good. In this case, it can be said that there is almost no risk of wrinkles between the contents of the predetermined data and the contents of the formed image. Or, more broadly, the predetermined data does not necessarily have all or part of the image data as its contents, but includes the case where the contents can be related to the image data. . Specifically, for example, when a confidential document is printed externally on paper, a unique ID number uniquely assigned to the document (the ID number does not form the content of image data) is used. It may be the content of predetermined data.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the original effect of the paper including the IC chip can be fully utilized without causing a flaw between writing data on the IC chip and forming an image on the paper. Can do.

  Such operations, effects and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the embodiments described below.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus includes a control unit 1, a printer unit 2, a storage device 3, a fax interface (hereinafter referred to as “FAX I / F”) 4, a network I / F 5, a scanner unit 6, an operation unit 7, and An IC chip reader 81, an IC chip writer 82, and a paper feeding means 9 are included.

  Among these, the printer unit 2 is, for example, image data configured based on image information sent from the personal computer 51 or read by the scanner unit 6 and further received by the FAX I / F 4. Process print jobs set up based on data. Specifically, the printer unit 2 includes, for example, a semiconductor laser, a photosensitive drum, a toner supply unit, a fixing unit, and the like that change the oscillation mode based on the image information or image data.

  The storage device 3 stores a print job scheduled to be executed or being executed, a print job in which an error has occurred, and the like. The FAX I / F 4 is connected to a device outside the network (not shown) via a telephone line, and transmits and receives image information using a FAX function. The network I / F 5 is connected to a network (not shown) and transmits and receives data within the network. For example, the image information sent from the personal computer 51 is taken into the image forming apparatus via the network I / F 5. The scanner unit 6 includes a platen, a light source unit, a CCD camera, and the like (not shown), and scans a document surface placed on the platen to read image information. The operation unit 7 is a user interface for the user to send various commands to the image forming apparatus.

  The paper feeding unit 9 feeds paper of various sizes and types toward the printer unit 2. In the present embodiment, in particular, a sheet including an IC chip can be included in the sheet. In the present embodiment, a transport mechanism (not shown) is provided from the paper feeding means 9 to the printer unit 2 and between the printer unit 2 and a paper discharge mechanism (not shown). The transport mechanism is composed of, for example, a plurality of rollers and transports the paper along a predetermined path in the image forming apparatus. The IC chip reader 81 and the IC chip writer 82 are provided in the middle of this transport path. The IC chip reader 81 can read the contents of the IC chip on the paper including the IC chip. The IC chip writer 82 can write predetermined data to the IC chip.

  The sheet feeding means 9, the IC chip reader 81, the IC chip writer 82, and the printer unit 2 are arranged in a predetermined order from the viewpoint of transporting paper by the transport mechanism. That is, as conceptually indicated by an arrow in FIG. 1, the paper supplied from the paper supply means 9 first reaches the IC chip reader 81, then the printer unit 2, and finally the IC chip writer 82. (However, the last one is a paper discharge mechanism (not shown)). The effect of taking such an arrangement will be described later.

  Finally, the control unit 1 controls the entire image forming apparatus through the above-described elements. The control unit 1 is composed of a CPU that issues a control command, a ROM that stores a control program, a RAM that temporarily stores data, and an NVRAM that stores nonvolatile data. Particularly in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the control unit 1 writes whether or not there is data to be written to the IC chip in the image data, or which part of the image data is written to the IC chip as being present. And so on. This point will be described later with reference to FIG.

  The image forming apparatus of the present embodiment configured as described above is operated as shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, for example, and as a result, the following effects can be achieved. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for performing data writing and image formation on a sheet including an IC chip in the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. 3 is a conceptual configuration example of image data, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of image formation on a sheet. In the following description, in order to make the description easy to understand, an example in which a concert ticket is issued by the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment will be described.

  In FIG. 2, first, the image forming apparatus receives image data (step S101 in FIG. 2). More specifically, the user who is considering obtaining a concert ticket inputs predetermined information to the personal computer 51 and transmits it to the image forming apparatus via the network, whereby the image forming apparatus That is, image data including the above information is received. In this case, the content of the image data is composed of items as shown in FIG. 3, for example, and may include information such as the user's name, gender, date of birth, address, telephone number, and email address. In addition, the contents of the image data include, for example, the venue name, seat number, start time, etc. of the concert. These are basically prepared in advance on the image forming apparatus side. This is the data to be stored (see FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 referred later).

  Next, the image forming apparatus checks whether there is data to be written to the IC chip (hereinafter referred to as “IC chip data”) in the received image data (step S102 in FIG. 2). Here, the contents of the IC chip data, that is, what data should be written to the IC chip, can be appropriately determined in advance by the administrator of the image forming apparatus. In particular, in this embodiment, the IC chip data is appropriately extracted from the image data. Specifically, the name, sex, and date of birth are selected from the various information described above. Extraction is performed (see hatching in FIG. 3). In FIG. 3, since there is IC chip data in the image data, it is confirmed (step S102 in FIG. 2; YES), and the IC chip data is extracted. . If it is determined that the IC chip data does not exist, the process is terminated (step S102 in FIG. 2; NO to END). As described above, in the present embodiment, when image data that does not include IC chip data is sent, the processing is terminated. For example, only image formation is performed on the paper. Thus, it is possible to avoid a problem such as wasting the paper.

  Next, paper feeding from the paper feeding means 9 is started (step S103 in FIG. 2), and subsequently, it is confirmed whether or not an IC chip is included in the paper for the paper feeding (FIG. 2). 2 step S104). Specifically, the IC chip existence confirmation process can be performed using the IC chip reader 81. That is, as described with reference to FIG. 1, the paper sent out from the paper supply means 9 first reaches the IC chip reader 81. If there is any reaction in the IC chip reader 81, the paper will be the IC chip. If there is no response, it can be determined that the paper does not include an IC chip. In this case, predetermined initial information may be written in advance in the IC chip, or nothing may be written in the IC chip (in the latter case, the IC chip reader 81 is an IC chip in which nothing is written). In other words, “null” is returned, so that it can be distinguished from data returned by the IC chip reader 81 when the IC chip is “absent”. .) Needless to say, other means or processing may be employed to confirm whether an IC chip is present.

  In step S104, when it is determined that the IC chip is not included in the sheet, an error message for prompting the administrator of the image forming apparatus to insert the IC chip built-in sheet is subsequently issued. After issuing, the said process is complete | finished (step S104 of FIG. 2; END through step S109 from NO). As described above, in this embodiment, when a sheet containing no IC chip is sent, the processing is terminated. For example, only image formation is performed on the sheet. Thus, it is possible to avoid a problem such as wasting the paper.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S104 that the paper contains an IC chip (step S104 in FIG. 2; YES), the following processing is subsequently performed. First, an image forming process is performed on the conveyed paper (step S105 in FIG. 2). Next, whether or not this image forming process has been completed normally, specifically, for example, whether or not there has been a failure in paper conveyance within the conveyance mechanism (that is, whether or not a so-called paper jam or jam has occurred). Are confirmed (step S106 in FIG. 2). If the image forming process is not normally completed, the process is terminated (step S106 in FIG. 2; NO to END). If the image forming process is normally completed, the IC chip is subsequently added to the IC chip. Data is written (step S106 in FIG. 2; YES to step S107). When the image formation on the sheet is completed in this way and the writing of the IC chip data to the IC chip is completed, the sheet is discharged out of the image forming apparatus (step S108 in FIG. 2).

  As described above, in this embodiment, first, image formation is performed on a sheet, and then writing processing to an IC chip is performed, as described with reference to FIG. This is because the printer unit 2 and the IC chip writer 82 are arranged in this order. When processing in this order is performed, the following effects can be obtained. In other words, if the IC chip writer 82 and the printer unit 2 are arranged in the reverse order, the image formation on the paper is performed after the writing of the IC chip data to the IC chip is completed. It will be. However, in this case, if a paper jam occurs in the transport mechanism after the writing process to the IC chip is completed, it seems that the paper is still blank even though the IC chip data is written on the IC chip. Paper may be produced. Such a sheet is considered to be bent due to a paper jam and is no longer usable. Therefore, after being taken out from the image forming apparatus, there is a high possibility that the sheet will be thrown into the trash box. However, this causes a problem that the data in the IC chip is read by someone.

  In this regard, in this embodiment, such a security problem can be effectively solved to a considerable extent. This is because in this embodiment, since the IC chip writer 82 is arranged on the downstream side, even if a paper jam occurs, there is a high possibility that no data is written in the IC chip. is there. Therefore, even if this is disposed of, the above problem does not occur.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the possibility that data in the IC chip is read by another person.

  Incidentally, the sheet discharged in step S108 is, for example, as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, on the paper P, the name of the user is described in addition to the venue name, seat number, and start time of the concert (not shown, but of course the artist name is also included). In addition, as described above, the IC chip data including the name, sex, and date of birth is recorded in the IC chip PC. Note that FIG. 4 shows an example in which only the user's name is described on the paper among the information input by the user shown in FIG. Thus, in the present invention, it is not always necessary to form all the contents of image data on a sheet.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment that is operated as described above, the following operational effects can be obtained. That is, in the present embodiment, in the paper including the IC chip, image formation is performed on the paper based on the image data, and predetermined data corresponding to the contents of the image data is applied to the IC chip. Specifically, IC chip data, which is a part of the image data, is written. Therefore, in this embodiment, since there is a very low risk of causing a gap between the content of the IC chip data written on the IC chip and the content of the image formation performed on the paper, the paper containing the IC chip is reduced. The original effect can be fully utilized. Specifically, in this embodiment, a concert ticket is issued and personal identification information of the user who ordered the concert ticket is written on the IC chip. When going to a concert venue, it is confirmed at the venue that the user is the identity of the user by checking the ID card presented by the user against the IC chip data written on the IC chip. And so on.

  In the present embodiment, in particular, as shown in FIG. 1, the printer unit 2 and the IC chip writer 82 constitute one image forming apparatus. In other words, the two are integrated as one. The image forming apparatus is configured in a housing. From this, for example, compared with the case where the printer unit 2 and the IC chip writer 82 are prepared as separate bodies and these are simply kept in electrical connection, the contents of the IC chip data written to the IC chip and It is possible to further reduce the risk of wrinkles between the contents of image formation performed on paper, and in particular, it is possible to more reliably avoid a situation in which data written to an IC chip leaks to the outside. This is because if the printer unit 2 and the IC chip writer 82 are prepared separately, the possibility that data writing to the IC chip and image formation are performed independently is increased.

  Furthermore, in this embodiment, image data can be sent from a remote user, and a part of the image data is automatically written in the IC chip. That is, according to the present embodiment, although the ticket can be ordered via the Internet, for example, in light of the fact that the above-described effects related to the identity verification can be obtained, the sheet of the IC chip including the IC chip can be obtained. It proposes one form to enjoy the effect more effectively.

  In the above embodiment, the concert ticket is issued as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this form. For example, when the content of an image to be formed on a sheet is treated as a top secret, information (for example, a unique ID number) for clarifying the origin of the sheet is written on the IC chip. I can leave. In this connection, it is needless to say that various contents of the IC chip data written in the IC chip can be assumed other than the name, sex and date of birth.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist or concept of the invention that can be read from the claims and the entire specification, and an image forming apparatus with such a change. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for performing data writing and image formation on a sheet including an IC chip in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment. It is explanatory drawing shown about the conceptual structural example of image data. It is explanatory drawing shown about the example of image formation with respect to a paper.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Control part 2 ... Printer part 3 ... Memory | storage device 4 ... FAX I / F
5 ... Network I / F
6 ... Scanner part 7 ... Operation part P ... Paper PC ... IC chip

Claims (6)

Image forming means for forming an image on a sheet based on image data;
An IC chip writer for writing predetermined data according to the content of the image data to an IC chip included in the paper;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined data is all or part of the image data and is extracted from the image data.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a determination unit that determines whether or not the predetermined data exists in the image data.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a housing that houses the image forming unit and the IC chip writer. Further comprising transport means for transporting the paper along a predetermined path in the image forming apparatus;
The IC chip writer is disposed on the downstream side along the direction in which the sheet is conveyed as viewed from the image forming unit.
5. The paper including the IC chip is first subjected to the image formation by the image forming unit, and secondly written to the IC chip. 6. The image forming apparatus described in 1.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an IC chip presence / absence confirmation unit configured to determine whether or not the IC chip is included in the sheet.

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