JP5097722B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for image data rotation processing performed in accordance with the print direction of print data and the direction of paper set in a paper feed cassette in an image forming apparatus.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus, when print data is converted into a bitmap, a bitmap is generated in accordance with the direction of the paper in the paper cassette, and the data of the bitmap data passed to the print engine at the time of printing is arranged. It was generated so that the order was first in the main scanning direction and then in the sub-scanning direction.

  In this case, for example, when the paper in the paper feed cassette is consumed and lost, or when the paper in the cassette in the appropriate paper feed direction is exhausted due to the processing for solving a problem such as a paper jam, it is generated. If the data arrangement direction of the bitmap data does not match the paper direction of the paper cassette, printing is not performed and the processing is stopped. In this case, in order to perform printing, data rendering processing (conversion from print data to image data) has to be performed again from the beginning, and there is a problem that processing takes time.

  As prior art, means for converting the address of pixel data based on document size information, image support size and paper feed information in order to automatically set the copying magnification and rotate the image as required There is a method of rotating an image using an image forming apparatus having the above (see Patent Document 1).

  However, this method only rotates the image according to the paper direction before printing, and cannot cope with the mismatch between the print data after the image data conversion process and the direction of the paper feed cassette. .

JP-A-6-86050

  The problem to be solved is that, in the image forming apparatus, the printing process stops when the printing direction of the print data does not match the direction of the paper in the paper cassette.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image data converting unit that converts print data into bitmap data, a paper feeding unit that stores and feeds paper to be printed, and a paper feeding unit that detects the paper direction of the paper feeding unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: a paper state detection unit; and a printing unit that receives the bitmap data from the paper supply unit and prints the paper , wherein the paper supply state is converted before the bitmap data is converted. A rotation determining unit configured to determine whether image data rotation processing is necessary based on a paper direction detected by the detection unit and a print direction of the print data, and the image data converting unit is rotated by the rotation determining unit; When it is determined that processing is necessary, the print data is converted into bitmap data in the order of arrangement of pixel data taking rotation processing into consideration, and the rotation determination unit is rotated by the image data conversion unit. Matching or order of the pixel data of the converted bitmap data into account is consistent with the direction of the paper detected by the paper feed state detection unit after conversion that takes into account the rotation process of the bit map data The rotation determination unit determines that the arrangement order of the pixel data of the bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing does not match the direction of the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit. In this case, the image processing apparatus includes an image rotation unit that rotates the bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing to match the direction of the sheet.

In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the paper feed state detection unit performs the detection when the printing unit returns after being stopped due to a failure, and the rotation determination unit returns after the printing unit is stopped due to the failure to detect a paper feeding state. When the image data is detected by the image data conversion unit, the arrangement order of the pixel data of the bitmap data converted by taking the rotation processing into consideration coincides with the paper direction detected by the paper feed state detection unit. It may be characterized by determining whether or not .

The image rotation unit of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention may perform rotation processing of bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing by image rotation hardware.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image data converting unit that converts print data into bitmap data, a paper feeding unit that stores and feeds paper to be printed, and a paper feeding unit that detects the paper direction of the paper feeding unit. An image forming apparatus comprising: a paper state detection unit; and a printing unit that receives the bitmap data from the paper supply unit and prints the paper , wherein the paper supply state is converted before the bitmap data is converted. A rotation determining unit configured to determine whether image data rotation processing is necessary based on a paper direction detected by the detection unit and a print direction of the print data, and the image data converting unit is rotated by the rotation determining unit; When it is determined that processing is necessary, the print data is converted into bitmap data in the order of arrangement of pixel data taking rotation processing into consideration, and the rotation determination unit is rotated by the image data conversion unit. Matching or order of the pixel data of the converted bitmap data into account is consistent with the direction of the paper detected by the paper feed state detection unit after conversion that takes into account the rotation process of the bit map data The rotation determination unit determines that the arrangement order of the pixel data of the bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing does not match the direction of the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit. In this case, the image processing apparatus includes an image rotation unit that rotates the bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing to match the direction of the sheet.

For this reason, the rotation determination unit determines that the pixel data arrangement order of the bitmap data converted from print data in consideration of the rotation process does not match the paper direction, and the image rotation unit considers the rotation process. It is possible to continue printing without stopping printing by rotating the bitmap data generated in, and without performing conversion processing from print data to bitmap data.

In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the paper feed state detection unit performs the detection when the printing unit returns after being stopped due to a failure, and the rotation determination unit returns after the printing unit is stopped due to the failure to detect a paper feeding state. When the image data is detected by the image data conversion unit, the arrangement order of the pixel data of the bitmap data converted by taking the rotation processing into consideration coincides with the paper direction detected by the paper feed state detection unit. It may be characterized by determining whether or not .

  For this reason, even if there is no paper in the print direction corresponding to the sequence of bitmap data already generated due to failure avoidance processing after paper consumption or paper jam, the rotation determination unit determines this and the image rotation unit By rotating the bitmap data, printing can be continued without stopping printing and without performing conversion processing from print data to bitmap data.

The image rotation unit of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention may perform rotation processing of bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing by image rotation hardware.

  For this reason, even when the printing direction of bitmap data converted from print data and the paper direction do not match, the image rotation hardware performs bitmap data rotation processing at high speed and continues without stopping printing. It becomes possible.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of image data generation directions depending on a difference between print data directions and paper feed directions. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 4 is a first half of a flowchart of an operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a second half of a flowchart of the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  In the image forming apparatus, when the rotation determination unit determines whether the arrangement order of the generated bitmap data matches the assumed printing direction for the fed paper, and does not match In this case, the bit map data is rotated by 90 °, 270 ° or the like by the image rotation unit, and printing is continued without being stopped.

[Print data direction and paper feed direction]
FIG. 1 is a table illustrating the print data direction and the paper feed direction. In FIG. 1, a case where printing is performed on A4 paper will be described as an example.

  FIG. 1A shows print data generated on the A4 sheet in the portrait direction, and FIG. 1B shows print data generated on the A4 sheet in the landscape direction.

  With respect to the direction of the paper feed cassette when printing is performed in the image forming apparatus, a normal paper feed direction in which the paper feed direction (indicated by arrow Z) coincides with the longitudinal direction of the paper is generally referred to as R in FIG. FIG. 1F shows a paper feed direction in the R direction in which the paper feed direction coincides with the short side direction of the paper. In FIG. 1C and FIG. 1F, the arrangement order of the image data on each screen is indicated by an arrow. The print engine performs scanning in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction (main scanning direction) to draw data, and the operation is repeated one after another along the paper feeding direction (sub-scanning direction). Therefore, pixel data is arranged in order in the bitmapped image data in accordance with these operation directions. The arrangement order of these pixel data is indicated by an arrow X in FIG. 1C and by an arrow Y in FIG.

  In FIG. 1D, since the print data direction is portrait, the paper feed direction is normal paper feed, and the two directions match, image data is generated without rotation of the print data. The image data is transferred to the printing unit and printing is performed. The arrangement order of the pixel data is represented by an arrow Xd.

  In FIG. 1E, since the print data direction is landscape, the paper feed direction is normal paper feed and the two directions do not match, the print data is rotated 270 ° clockwise (by 90 ° rotation). The print data may be converted into image data to generate image data, and the image data is passed to the printing unit for printing. The arrangement order of the pixel data after rotation is represented by an arrow Xe.

  In FIG. 1G, since the print data direction is portrait, the paper feed direction is R direction paper feed, and the two directions do not match, the print data is rotated 270 ° clockwise (90 °). (It may be rotation) Print data is converted into image data, image data is generated, and the image data is passed to the printing unit for printing. The arrangement order of the pixel data after rotation is represented by an arrow Yg.

  In FIG. 1H, since the print data direction is landscape, the paper feed direction is normal paper feed, and the two directions match and match, image data is generated without rotation of the print data. Thus, the image data is transferred to the printing unit and printing is performed. The arrangement order of the pixel data is represented by an arrow Yh.

  In the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, printing is performed when the image data once generated in accordance with the sheet feeding direction of the sheet feeding cassette of the image forming apparatus does not coincide with the sheet feeding direction of the sheet feeding cassette later. Rather than canceling, the image data is rotated, so that printing can be continued without interruption.

[Constitution]
The configuration of the image forming apparatus will be described below.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 101 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 101 includes an interface unit 111, a print data reception unit 113, a rotation determination unit 115, an image rotation unit 117, a PDL-DL conversion unit 119 (image data conversion unit), and a DL-BM conversion unit 121 (image data conversion unit). ), A paper feed state detection unit 123, a paper feed cassette unit 125 (paper feed unit), and a printing unit 127.

  The interface unit 111 is an interface unit that connects to a PC (Personal Computer) or the like. Print data generated by a PC or the like is received by the interface unit 111.

  The print data receiving unit 113 is a functional unit that receives and accumulates print data via the interface unit 111. The print data is normally written in a page description language (PDL).

  The rotation determination unit 115 determines whether image data generated by bitmap conversion from print data described in the page description language needs to be rotated with respect to the printing direction of the paper cassette in the printing unit. to decide.

  The image rotation unit 117 rotates image data when the rotation determination unit 115 determines that image data needs to be rotated. The rotation may be 90 ° clockwise or 270 °. The image rotation unit 117 of the image forming apparatus 101 can rotate an image at high speed by image rotation hardware.

  The PDL-DL conversion unit 119 (image data conversion unit) is a functional unit that converts print data described in a page description language into a display list that is an intermediate language.

  The DL-BM converter 121 (image data converter) is a functional unit that converts data converted into an intermediate language display list (Display List) into bitmap data (Bit Map) as image data. The two functional units of the PDL-DL conversion unit 119 and the DL-BM conversion unit 121 constitute an image data conversion unit, which converts print data into image data that is bitmap data.

  The control unit 122 has a central processing unit (CPU) and a peripheral control circuit, and controls the entire image forming apparatus. If the image forming apparatus 101 detects whether or not a failure has occurred and a return state from the failure, the printing unit 127 is controlled so that printing is resumed if printing after returning is possible.

  The paper feed state detection unit 123 determines whether the size of the paper fed to the paper feed cassette unit 125, the paper feed direction is the normal direction (the long side of the paper is the paper feed direction), or the R direction (the paper short side). Whether the side is the paper feed direction), the remaining amount of paper in the paper feed cassette, and the like are detected.

  The paper feed cassette unit 125 (paper feed unit) is a functional unit for storing paper to be fed to the printing unit 127.

  The printing unit 127 is a functional unit that has a print engine and prints image data (bitmap data) on paper.

[flowchart]
The operation of the image forming apparatus 101 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

  S11: The image forming apparatus 101 receives and accumulates print data in the print data receiving unit 113 via the interface unit 111.

  S13: The rotation determination unit 115 determines whether image data rotation processing is necessary based on the paper feed direction information of the paper feed cassette detected by the paper feed state detection unit 123 and the print direction of the print data. .

  S15: If rotation of the result image data in S13 is necessary, the operation proceeds to S17. If it is not necessary to rotate the image data, the operation proceeds to S16.

  S16: Since there is no need to rotate the image data, the PDL-DL conversion unit 119 converts the page description language (PDL) to the display list (DL), which is an intermediate language, in the print direction of the received print data. In the DL-BM converter 121, the generated display list is converted from the display list into bitmap (BM) data.

  S17: Since it is necessary to rotate the image data, the conversion from the page description language to the intermediate language in the PDL-DL converter 119 and the bitmap data from the display list in the DL-BM converter 121 are the same as in S16. In this case, the conversion is performed in consideration of the rotation processing of the image data.

  S19: The bitmap data converted in S16 or S17 is transferred to the printing unit 127, and printing is performed in the printing unit 127.

  S21: It is determined whether a failure has occurred during printing. A failure refers to a state where printing cannot be continued due to, for example, a paper jam or out of paper. If a failure has occurred, the operation proceeds to S25. If no failure occurs, the operation proceeds to S23.

  S23: Since no failure has occurred, printing ends normally.

  S25: A failure has occurred, but processing for eliminating the failure is performed. For example, in the case of the above-described paper jam, the user removes the jammed paper from the paper jam location.

  S27: The control unit 122 determines whether the failure has been solved or the state has returned to a state where printing can be resumed.

  S29: If printing is possible after returning, the operation proceeds to S33 (FIG. 4). If the return is impossible, the operation proceeds to S31.

  S31: Since the printing cannot be continued after returning, the operation is terminated (abnormal termination).

  From here, the flowchart proceeds to the latter half of FIG.

  S33: The control unit 122 determines whether image data for continuing printing after returning has already been generated. If image data has already been generated, the operation proceeds to S35. If the image data has not yet been generated, the operation proceeds to S13. Returning to S13, the print data and the paper feeding direction of the apparatus are confirmed again, and the operation is repeated from the process of converting the print data into image data.

  S35: The rotation determination unit 115 acquires information on the paper feed direction of the paper loaded in the paper feed cassette unit 125 from the paper feed state detection unit 123, and determines whether rotation processing of already generated image data is necessary. to decide. If the image data needs to be rotated, the operation proceeds to S37. If it is not necessary to rotate the image data, the operation proceeds to S39. For example, when the failure determination process is performed in order to determine the necessity of the rotation processing of the image data according to the state of paper feed at that time after the return from the failure, the rotation determination unit 115 performs the paper orientation. Is inserted in the direction rotated 90 degrees, the image data is rotated in the next step S37, so that printing can be performed without performing the conversion process from the print data to the image data again.

  S37: The image rotation unit 117 performs image data rotation processing.

  S39: The printing unit 127 prints image data. Thereafter, the operation is shifted to S21 to monitor whether or not a failure occurs.

  Through the series of operations described above, the image forming apparatus 101 determines the paper feed direction of the paper feed cassette when performing conversion of print data into image data, and performs an optimal conversion process. In addition, a failure occurs during printing. In this case, when the trouble is resolved and the printing is resumed, the paper feeding direction of the paper feeding cassette at that time is judged, and if rotation processing of the image data is necessary, the rotation processing is performed and printing is performed. As a result, it is possible to continue printing at high speed even without conversion processing from print data to image data again.

[Effect of Example]
The following effects can be obtained by the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  Printing is possible even if the print direction of the print data does not match the paper feed direction of the paper feed cassette.

This is a case where image data, which is bitmap data whose conversion order has already been determined after conversion from the print data, is generated, and the direction of the paper in the paper cassette is the order of the pixel data of the image data Even if the image data does not match, the rotation determination unit determines that image rotation is necessary, and the image rotation unit performs image data rotation processing, so that the conversion processing from print data to image data again (generally page description) There is no need to perform a two-stage conversion process from a language to an intermediate language into a bitmap image, and printing can be continued without interruption. For this reason, the time required for the printing process is shortened.

[Others]
In the image forming apparatus of the embodiment, the image rotation unit 117 having image rotation hardware can perform image rotation necessary at a high speed when the printing direction with the paper feed cassette does not match. Alternatively, a method of performing image rotation by image rotation processing by software without using image rotation hardware may be used.

  In the embodiment, an example of single-sided printing has been described. However, the present invention can also be applied to double-sided printing, and the degree of image rotation changes between the front and back sides due to different feeding directions during double-sided printing. Even in this case, processing is performed in units of pages as in the embodiment, and double-sided printing is supported.

  Some applications that generate print data may set the print data direction to a predetermined direction regardless of the paper feed direction of the paper feed cassette. The determination unit 115 determines the necessity / unnecessity of the rotation process and performs an appropriate operation.

  Although the paper feed cassette has been described as the paper feed unit, a manual paper feed unit other than the paper feed cassette is also included as the paper feed unit.

  Although the rotation direction of the image by the image rotation unit has been described with respect to 90 ° and 270 ° in the embodiment, 180 ° rotation processing may be performed.

101 Image forming apparatus 111 Interface unit (I / F unit)
113 Print Data Reception Unit 115 Rotation Judgment Unit 117 Image Rotation Unit 119 PDL-DL Conversion Unit (Image Data Conversion Unit)
121 DL-BM converter (image data converter)
122 Control unit 123 Paper feed state detection unit 125 Paper feed cassette unit (paper feed unit)
127 Printing Department

Claims (3)

An image data converter for converting print data into bitmap data;
A paper feed unit for storing and feeding paper to be printed;
A paper feed state detection unit for detecting a paper direction of the paper feed unit;
An image forming apparatus having a printing unit that prints the bitmap data by receiving the paper supplied from the paper feeding unit;
A rotation determination unit that determines whether rotation processing of image data is necessary based on a paper direction detected by the paper feed state detection unit before the bitmap data conversion and a print direction of the print data;
The image data conversion unit converts the print data into bitmap data in the arrangement order of the pixel data taking the rotation process into consideration when the rotation determination unit determines that the rotation process is necessary,
The rotation determination unit is configured such that the arrangement order of the pixel data of the bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing in the image data conversion unit is the paper feed state after conversion in consideration of the rotation processing of the bitmap data. Judge whether the paper direction detected by the detector matches or does not match,
When the rotation determination unit determines that the arrangement order of the pixel data of the bitmap data converted in consideration of the rotation processing does not match the direction of the sheet fed from the sheet feeding unit, the rotation processing An image rotation unit that rotates the converted bitmap data to take into account the direction of the paper,
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The paper feed state detection unit performs the detection when the printing unit returns after being stopped due to a failure,
The rotation determination unit is a pixel of bitmap data converted in consideration of rotation processing by the image data conversion unit when the printing unit returns after being stopped due to a failure and the paper feed state detection unit performs the detection. It is also determined whether or not the data arrangement order matches or does not match the paper direction detected by the paper feed state detection unit when the return is made .
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The image forming apparatus, wherein the image rotation unit performs rotation processing of bitmap data converted by image rotation hardware in consideration of the rotation processing.

Images