Image forming apparatus and image forming method

Abstract

In a case where a dedicated paper sheet having a plurality of RFID tags is processed, a decrease in the overall processing efficiency due to a poor RFID tag is suppressed. One embodiment of the present application is an image forming apparatus including: an image forming section that forms an image on a sheet having a plurality of wireless tags; a tag communication section that performs data write processing on the wireless tags; and a control section that, in a case where no error occurs in the write processing, forms an image corresponding to the data in a target region corresponding to the wireless tags on the sheet, performs write processing on another sheet related to data in which an error has occurred, and in a case where, when a plurality of data are sequentially processed, there is a vacancy of a wireless tag in a target sheet of a last write processing and there is error data in a sheet before the target sheet, performs write processing on the target sheet by including a part or all of the error data in a processing target.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present invention relate to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method. Background Technology

[0002] There exists an image forming apparatus capable of simultaneously writing information to the RFID tag (hereinafter, sometimes simply referred to as the tag, or wireless tag) and forming an image on dedicated paper with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags. Regarding such an image forming apparatus, a technique (retry printing) has been proposed: reading and writing to the tag is performed before forming the image on the dedicated paper; if an error occurs during this reading and writing process, image formation on that dedicated paper is not performed, and the process is retried on other dedicated papers.

[0003] However, when dealing with multi-label special paper (hereinafter referred to as paper) with multiple labels on a single special sheet, in previous reprints, the overall processing efficiency was sometimes reduced due to errors in some labels. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method that can suppress the reduction in overall processing efficiency caused by defective RFID tags when processing special paper with multiple RFID tags.

[0005] An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes: an image forming unit that forms an image on a wireless tag sheet, which is a sheet having a plurality of wireless tags; a tag communication unit that performs write data writing processing on the wireless tags; and a control unit that, if no error occurs in the write processing, performs image forming on an object area on the wireless tag sheet corresponding to the wireless tag, corresponding to the write data; if an error occurs in the write processing, the control unit performs write processing related to the erroneous write data on other wireless tag sheets different from the wireless tag sheet; and when processing a plurality of write data sequentially, if there is a vacancy of a wireless tag in the wireless tag sheet (i.e., the object sheet) where the last write processing is performed, and there is write data with a write processing error in the wireless tag sheet preceding the object sheet, the control unit includes part or all of the erroneous write data in the processing object to perform write processing on the object sheet. Attached Figure Description

[0006] Figure 1 This is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the structure of the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment.

[0007] Figure 2 This is a diagram illustrating an example of the hardware structure of the image forming apparatus 10 according to this embodiment.

[0008] Figure 3 This is a diagram showing an example of the position of the sheet S in the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment.

[0009] Figure 4 This is a diagram illustrating an example of the structure of sheet S in this embodiment.

[0010] Figure 5 This is a diagram representing an example of the ID stored in a wireless tag in its initial state.

[0011] Figure 6 This is a diagram illustrating an example of printing data supplied from an external device such as a PC for image forming processing of sheet S.

[0012] Figure 7 This is a diagram (one of many) illustrating the outline of the image forming process performed on sheet S.

[0013] Figure 8 This is a diagram (second part) illustrating the outline of the image forming process performed on sheet S.

[0014] Figure 9 This is a diagram (third one) illustrating the outline of the image forming process performed on sheet S.

[0015] Figure 10 This is a flowchart illustrating an example of the image forming process performed by the image forming apparatus 10 on the sheet S according to this embodiment.

[0016] Figure 11 This is a diagram representing an example of a set of printed data for processing objects.

[0017] Figure 12 This is a diagram illustrating an example of the processing result of the printing data set of the image forming apparatus 10 in this embodiment. Detailed Implementation

[0018] Hereinafter, the image forming apparatus and the wireless tag communication apparatus of the embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] First, use Figure 1 The structure of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the embodiment will be described. Figure 1 This is a cross-sectional view showing an example of the structure of the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment. For example, the image forming apparatus 10 is disposed in a workplace. Hereinafter, the medium on which the image forming apparatus 10 forms an image will be referred to as a sheet. The sheet is typically a paper medium, but any medium of material and shape that can be the object of the image forming process of the printing unit 18 described later will suffice.

[0020] exist Figure 1 In this image forming apparatus 10, there is a control panel 13, a wireless tag communication device 50, and a printing unit 18. The printing unit 18 includes a control unit 100, paper feed trays 16a and 16b, etc. The control unit 100 controls the control panel 13, the wireless tag communication device 50, and the printing unit 18. The control unit 100 controls the feeding of the sheet in the printing unit 18. Controlling the feeding of the sheet refers to controlling the feeding timing, the stopping position, and the feeding speed of the sheet.

[0021] The control panel 13 includes input keys and a display unit. For example, the input keys accept user input. For example, the display unit is a touch panel. The display unit accepts user input and displays it to the user. For example, the control panel 13 displays items related to the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 in a configurable manner on the display unit. The control panel 13 notifies the control unit 100 of the items set by the user.

[0022] Paper trays 16a and 16b hold wireless tag sheets (hereinafter referred to as "sheets") S with wireless tags T attached. It should be noted that paper trays 16a and 16b can also hold sheets S without wireless tags T. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, sheet S refers to sheet S with wireless tags T attached. Sheet S may be made of materials such as paper or plastic film.

[0023] The printing unit 18 performs the operation of forming an image. For example, the printing unit 18 forms an image represented by image data onto a sheet. In the following description, forming an image on a sheet is also referred to as "printing". It should be noted that in this embodiment, the printing unit 18 is a device for fixing toner images, but it is not limited to this and may also be an inkjet device.

[0024] The printing unit 18 includes an intermediate transfer belt 21. The printing unit 18 supports the intermediate transfer belt 21 via a driven roller 41 and a support roller 40. The printing unit 18 rotates the intermediate transfer belt 21 in the direction of arrow m. The printing unit 18 includes four image forming stations 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K. Each image forming station 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K corresponds to Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black), respectively. The image forming stations 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K are arranged below the intermediate transfer belt 21 along the rotation direction of the intermediate transfer belt 21.

[0025] The following explanation uses image forming station 22Y (yellow) as an example from image forming stations 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K. It should be noted that image forming stations 22M, 22C, and 22K have the same structure as image forming station 22Y, so detailed explanations are omitted.

[0026] The image forming station 22Y includes a charged charger 26, an exposure scanning head 27, a developing unit 28, and a photoreceptor cleaner 29. The charged charger 26, the exposure scanning head 27, the developing unit 28, and the photoreceptor cleaner 29 are arranged around the photosensitive drum 24, which rotates in the direction of arrow n.

[0027] The image forming station 22Y has a primary transfer roller 30. The primary transfer roller 30 is positioned opposite the photosensitive drum 24 across the intermediate transfer belt 21.

[0028] The charged charger 26 uniformly charges the photosensitive drum 24. The exposure scanning head 27 exposes the uniformly charged photosensitive drum 24, forming an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 24. The developing apparatus 28 develops the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 24 using a two-component developer composed of a toner and a carrier.

[0029] The primary transfer roller 30 transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 24 to the intermediate transfer belt 21 in one pass. The primary transfer rollers 30 of image forming stations 22Y, 22M, 22C, and 22K each transfer the toner image onto the intermediate transfer belt 21 in one pass, thereby forming a colored toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 21. The colored toner image is formed by sequentially overlapping toner images of Y (yellow), M (magenta), C (cyan), and K (black). The photoreceptor cleaner 29 removes any remaining toner from the photosensitive drum 24 after the primary transfer.

[0030] The printing unit 18 includes a secondary transfer roller 32. The secondary transfer roller 32 is positioned opposite the support roller 40 across the intermediate transfer belt 21. The secondary transfer roller 32 transfers the color toner image from the intermediate transfer belt 21 onto the sheet. The secondary transfer roller 32 functions as an image forming unit that forms an image on the sheet. It should be noted that in the following description, the term "toner image" can refer to either a color toner image or a toner image with only one color. Additionally, the toner image can also be a toner image using a non-toxic toner.

[0031] The conveyor path 33 is a path for conveying sheets through multiple conveyor rollers (e.g., conveyor roller 330, etc.). The conveyor path 33 includes a first conveyor path 33a, a second conveyor path 33b, and a third conveyor path 33c. The first conveyor path 33a is the conveyor path from the confluence section 44a to the branch section 44b. The second conveyor path 33b is the conveyor path that passes through the double-sided printing apparatus 38 and is different from the first conveyor path 33a, running from the branch section 44b to the confluence section 44a. The third conveyor path 33c is the conveyor path from the branch section 44b to the paper discharge tray 20.

[0032] Sheet S is taken out from any one of the sheet holding sections 16, namely, paper feed cassette 16a, paper feed cassette 16b, and manual tray 16c. Sheet holding sections 16 are equipped with sheet groups SS containing multiple sheets S. In the conveying direction of sheet S in the first conveying path 33a, a positioning roller 31 is located upstream of the secondary transfer roller 32. Sheet S taken out from sheet holding section 16 temporarily stops at the point where the two positioning rollers 31 are in contact. At this time, the leading edge of sheet S abuts against the positioning roller 31, and the tilt of sheet S is corrected. The control unit 100 starts rotating the positioning roller 31 according to the position of the toner image on the rotating intermediate transfer belt 21, moving sheet S to the position of the secondary transfer roller 32.

[0033] The toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 21 is transferred a second time onto the sheet by the secondary transfer roller 32. The secondary transferred toner image is then fixed onto the sheet by the fixing device 34. Thus, under the control of the control unit 100, an image is formed on the sheet. The control unit 100 then transports the sheet with the toner image fixed by the fixing device 34 to the third transport path 33c and discharges the sheet onto the paper discharge tray 20.

[0034] The paper discharge tray 20 has an upper tray 20U and a lower tray 20L. A dispensing mechanism 35 is located upstream of the paper discharge tray 20 in the sheet conveying direction. The dispensing mechanism 35 switches the sheet discharge position between the upper tray 20U and the lower tray 20L.

[0035] The wireless tag communication device 50 includes a computing unit, a storage unit, and an antenna 51. The wireless tag in this embodiment is, for example, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identifier) ​​tag. The wireless tag communication device 50 transmits radio waves, for example, in the direction of arrow k. The wireless tag communication device 50 communicates with a wireless tag T disposed on the sheet S via the antenna 51. For example, the wireless tag communication device 50 can wirelessly communicate with the wireless tag T on the sheet S, which is temporarily stopped by the positioning roller 31 and located on the first conveyor path 33a. Specifically, the wireless tag communication device 50 reads information from the wireless tag T and writes information to the wireless tag T.

[0036] The information written into the wireless tag includes the sheet's identification number, etc. For example, when the sheet is used for logistics, information indicating the contents, information indicating the recipient, and the content printed on the sheet can also be written into the wireless tag. In this embodiment, the wireless tag communication device 50 uses, for example, a 900MHz frequency band radio wave method (UHF). However, the RFID method and frequency band are not limited to this, and other methods and frequency bands can be used.

[0037] The control unit 100 controls each part of the image forming apparatus 10. The wireless tag communication device 50 can, as... Figure 1It can be configured separately from the image forming apparatus 10, or it can be configured as an integral part of the image forming apparatus 10.

[0038] Figure 2 This illustrates an example of the hardware structure of the image forming apparatus 10 according to this embodiment. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 91, a memory 92, an auxiliary storage device 93, etc., connected via a bus, and executes a program. By executing the program, the image forming apparatus 10 functions as a device including a printing unit 18, a control panel 13, a network interface 12, and a wireless tag communication device 50.

[0039] CPU 91 functions as control unit 100 by executing programs stored in memory 92 and auxiliary storage device 93. Control unit 100 controls the operation of each functional unit of image forming apparatus 10.

[0040] The auxiliary storage device 93 is constructed using storage devices such as magnetic hard disk devices and semiconductor storage devices. The auxiliary storage device 93 stores information.

[0041] Network interface 12 is a communication interface used to connect image forming apparatus 10 to a communication network. Network interface 12 can be either a wireless communication interface or a wired communication interface. Network interface 12 can be a LAN interface or a cellular communication interface. Image forming apparatus 10 can communicate with other devices via network interface 12.

[0042] Figure 3 This illustrates an example of the position of the sheet S in the image forming apparatus 10 of this embodiment. Figure 3 In this embodiment, sheet SA is sheet S placed in the paper feed tray 16a. Sheet Sb is sheet S placed in the paper discharge tray 20. Sheet Sc is sheet S placed in the manual tray 16c. Sheet Sd is sheet S being conveyed in the conveyor path 33a. In this embodiment, when sheet S is in the state of sheet Sd, information is written to the RFID tag of sheet S. Hereinafter, the position of sheet Sd in the conveyor path 33a will be referred to as the writable position of the RFID tag.

[0043] exist Figure 3 In the indicated state, the wireless tag communication device 50 transmits radio waves in the direction of arrow k. The wireless tag on the sheet Sd that receives the radio waves replies to the wireless tag communication device 50. The wireless tag communication device 50 receives radio waves from the wireless tag located on the sheet Sd.

[0044] Figure 4This illustrates a structural example of the sheet S in this embodiment. In this embodiment, three perforations PF are evenly spaced on the sheet S, allowing it to be cut into three sub-sheets S1 to S4 of equal width. Arrow A1 indicates the conveying direction of the sheet S. Figure 4 The sheet S shown has four wireless tags, with one wireless tag on each sub-sheet from left to right. These four wireless tags are named wireless tag T1, wireless tag T2, wireless tag T3, and wireless tag T4 from left to right, and their IDs are named T1 tag ID, T2 tag ID, T3 tag ID, and T4 tag ID, respectively.

[0045] The wireless tag has a storage unit for storing IDs. The wireless tag can provide the ID stored in the storage unit to other devices with wireless tag reader functionality, such as the wireless tag communication device 50. In the direction of arrow k (refer to...) from the wireless tag communication device 50... Figure 3 When transmitting radio waves, multiple wireless tags located on the sheet S may respond. That is, multiple wireless tags provide IDs, and the wireless tag communication device 50 may obtain the IDs of multiple wireless tags.

[0046] In this embodiment, the RFID tags in the initial state of the sheet S are pre-stored with IDs. The initial state RFID tags refer to the RFID tags contained in the unprocessed sheet S, the RFID tags before information is written by the RFID tag communication device 50. The ID includes location information indicating the position of the tag in the sheet S. The location information follows a predetermined rule. The RFID tag communication device 50 obtains the RFID tag's ID as its location information. Because the location information follows the predetermined rule, the RFID tag communication device 50 can determine the location of the RFID tag based on the obtained location information. Therefore, even if the RFID tag communication device 50 obtains multiple RFID tag IDs, it can write information to the RFID tags according to their positions on the sheet. It should be noted that in this embodiment, the RFID tags are correctly positioned on the sheet S as indicated by their IDs.

[0047] Figure 5 This represents an example of an ID stored in a wireless tag in its initial state. For instance, the ID might be stored in the USER memory inside the wireless tag. In the absence of USER memory, EPC memory could be used. Figure 5 In the example, the wireless tag has a storage area of ​​4 bits of information for 6 decimal numbers (24 bits in total). Figure 5This is an example where the location information is represented by the 24th bit, which is the most significant bit of the 24-bit array. That is, the location information for wireless tag T1 (the first wireless tag) is "0", the location information for wireless tag T2 (the second wireless tag) is "1", the location information for wireless tag T3 (the third wireless tag) is "2", and the location information for wireless tag T4 (the fourth wireless tag) is "3". In this case, the wireless tag communication device 50 can identify which wireless tag the ID was obtained from by referring to the first bit of the ID obtained from the wireless tag, and can also identify the location of that wireless tag on the sheet.

[0048] Therefore, for example, in Figure 4 In the case of sheet S, the wireless tag communication device 50 can write data for wireless tag T1 to wireless tag T1. The wireless tag communication device 50 can write data for wireless tag T2 to wireless tag T2. The wireless tag communication device 50 can write data for wireless tag T3 to wireless tag T3. The wireless tag communication device 50 can write data for wireless tag T4 to wireless tag T4.

[0049] Figure 6 This represents an example of data (hereinafter referred to as "print data") supplied from an external device such as a PC for image forming processing of sheet S. Figure 6 This represents an example of 10 print data entries. Each print data entry is managed to be identifiable by a serial number, and each print data entry contains data for writing to the wireless tag and data for printing on the sheet S. Figure 6 This is an example of setting the first, second, and third data as variable printing data, and setting the fourth data as fixed printing data. For example, the fourth data could be data used to print common frames between sub-sheets. Additionally, Figure 6 This is an example of using the first data in the variable printing data as the data to be written to the wireless tag.

[0050] Figures 7-9 This section provides an overview of the image forming process performed on sheet S. For simplicity, the explanation assumes all four wireless tags on sheet S are functioning correctly. Figure 7 In this embodiment, printing areas PR-1 to PR-4 are areas on sheet S where printing data is printed, and they correspond to sub-sheets S1 to S4 respectively. That is, in the image forming process of sheet S, image data IM1 for image forming is generated based on the four printing data corresponding to each sub-sheet S1 to S4. Figure 8 By printing image data IM1 onto sheet S, content associated with the corresponding wireless tags T1 to T4 is printed in each printing area PR-1 to PR-4 (see reference). Figure 6 ).

[0051] Figure 9 This is an example of the printing area for each sub-sheet. For instance, the printing area PR of each sub-sheet is divided into first to third areas SR1 to SR3, where first data (variable), second data (variable), and third data (variable) are printed, and a fourth area SR4, which is not printed as the installation location for the wireless tag. Alternatively, for example, the boundary lines of the first to fourth areas can also be printed in the printing area of ​​the sub-sheet using the fourth data (fixed).

[0052] Figure 10 This is a flowchart illustrating an example of the image forming process performed by the image forming apparatus 10 on the sheet S according to this embodiment. First, the image forming apparatus 10 acquires a set of printing data used in the image forming process of the sheet S from an external device such as a PC, and generates a job (ACT101) by dividing the acquired set of printing data into a predetermined number of sheets.

[0053] Figure 11 This represents an example of a group of printed data representing the object being processed. Figure 11 This is an example of acquiring 10 sets of print data and generating 3 jobs for every 4 sets of print data. When generating a job, the image forming apparatus 10 appends the location information of the wireless tag to be written to each set of print data. Figure 11 This is an example where location information is appended to the beginning of the first data. In this embodiment, since four wireless tags are set on a sheet S, three jobs are generated by dividing ten print data by four.

[0054] return Figure 10 Next, the image forming apparatus 10 selects the initial job and feeds the sheet S from the paper feed tray 16a or 16b to the writable position of the wireless tag in the printing unit 18 (ACT 102). Then, the image forming process 10 determines whether the job selected in ACT 102 is the last job (ACT 103). If the current job is not the last job, the image forming apparatus 10 enters "No" in ACT 103, attempts to read and write data on the wireless tag (processing target) of the sheet S fed in ACT 102 (ACT 104), and determines whether all read and write operations on the wireless tag of the processing target have failed (ACT 105).

[0055] More specifically, the image forming apparatus 10 attempts to read the ID from the wireless tag on the sheet S, and determines which of the wireless tags T1 to T4 the source of the transmission is based on the received ID. Thus, the image forming apparatus 10 can identify the location of readable wireless tags on the sheet S to be processed. If the image forming apparatus 10 cannot read the ID from all wireless tags, it proceeds to "Yes" in ACT105 and discharges the sheet S onto the upper tray 20U (ACT106).

[0056] Additionally, the image forming apparatus 10 attempts to write first data to wireless tags whose IDs have been successfully read, and determines whether the attempt was successful. For example, in Figure 11 If the printing data group with job number 1 is being processed and the wireless tag T1 is successfully read, an attempt is made to write the first data (the data whose first digit is 1 to 4) of the four first data (the data whose last digit is 1 to 4) to the wireless tag T1. If the same writing attempt is made on the wireless tag whose ID has been successfully read, and all writing attempts fail, the image forming apparatus 10 proceeds to "Yes" in ACT105 and discharges the sheet S to the upper tray 20U (ACT106).

[0057] On the other hand, regarding more than one wireless tag, if both reading and writing are successful, the image forming apparatus 10 proceeds to "No" in ACT 105, and performs image forming on the printing area corresponding to the wireless tag based on the printing data of the successfully read / written wireless tag (ACT 107). The image forming apparatus 10 then discharges the sheet S, in which image forming was performed in ACT 107, to the lower tray 20L (ACT 108). Next, the image forming apparatus 10 selects the next job (ACT 109) and sends the next sheet (ACT 110), returning the processing to ACT 103.

[0058] In ACT103, if the current job is the last job, the image forming process 10 proceeds to "Yes" in ACT103 and determines whether there is any printed data that has been written incorrectly (including cases where it was not written due to the unreadable nature of the RFID tag) in the jobs preceding the current job (ACT111). Here, if there is printed data with a write error, the image forming process 10 proceeds to "Yes" in ACT111 and determines whether there is any vacant RFID tag used on the sheet S to be processed (ACT112).

[0059] For example, in Figure 11In the case of the example print data group, job number 3 is the last job, and the last job has two print data sets. Therefore, two wireless tags are empty in the sheet S to be processed. Thus, when there are empty wireless tags in the sheet S to be processed, the image forming process 10 proceeds to "Yes" in ACT112, selects the number of empty wireless tags from the print data with writing errors, and includes it in the processing object (ACT113). Next, the image forming apparatus 10 assigns wireless tags to the write positions of the print data of the processing object (ACT114). Next, based on the wireless tag assignment determined in ACT114, the image forming apparatus 10 performs the writing process to the wireless tags and the image forming process to the sheet S (ACT115). The process of ACT115 is the same as the processes of ACT104 to ACT108 enclosed by dashed lines.

[0060] Next, the image forming apparatus 10 determines whether all print data has been processed (ACT 116). Here, if there is no unprocessed print data, the image forming apparatus 10 proceeds to "Yes" in ACT 116 and ends the series of processes. On the other hand, in ACT 116, if there is unprocessed print data, the image forming apparatus 10 proceeds to "No" in ACT 116, sends the next sheet (ACT 117), and selects a processing object from the unprocessed print data and returns the processing to ACT 114 (ACT 118).

[0061] On the other hand, if there is no erroneous printing data in ACT111, or if the sheet S being processed in ACT112 is empty of wireless tags, the image forming apparatus 10 omits ACT113 and ACT114 and proceeds to ACT115. If ACT111 is "No", since there is no erroneous printing data before the final job, if ACT115 ends normally for the final job, all printing data has been processed, and the series of processes ends.

[0062] Additionally, if ACT112 is "No", a new sheet S is fed after the final operation (ACT117), and the error printing data of the new sheet S is processed (ACT115). After all the error printing data has been processed, the series of processes ends.

[0063] Figure 12 This is an example of the processing result of the printing data set of the image forming apparatus 10 in this embodiment. Figure 12 yes Figure 11 An example of the processing results for the sampled print data set. Figure 12In this context, the "initial sheet number" is the sheet number used when all radio tags can be read and written normally; that is, it represents the sheet number when the maximum quantity is the minimum required number of sheets. The "final sheet number," on the other hand, is the sheet number required after adding sheets for retries based on radio tag errors.

[0064] Figure 12 The processing flow for the results is as follows.

[0065] (1) The result of executing job number 1 and job number 2 in sequence is that errors occur in the data written to data number 3 in job number 1 (written to wireless tag T3) and data numbers 7 and 8 in job number 2 (written to wireless tags T3 and T4), while other wireless tags are processed normally.

[0066] (2) When performing the last job number 3, the wireless tags T3 and T4 in the sheet of job number 3 (original sheet number 3) are empty, so they are assigned to the data written data of the incorrect data numbers 3, 7 and 8 in (1), and the job number 3 is executed.

[0067] The result of (3) and (2) is that an error occurred in the written data of data number 3 (written location is wireless tag T3), and other wireless tags were processed normally.

[0068] (4) Add a new sheet (final sheet number 4), and the written data of data numbers 3 and 8 that were not processed due to errors up to (3) are assigned to the wireless tags T1 and T2 of the target sheet in the order in which the errors occurred. Figure 12 In the example, the data written for data number 3 encountered a second error in job number 3, so the data written for data number 8 was assigned to wireless tag T1, and the data written for data number 3 was assigned to wireless tag T2.

[0069] At this time, the image forming apparatus 10 changes the location information contained in the written data according to the location of the assigned wireless tag. For example, in Figure 12 In the example, the location information of the data written for data number 3 changes from 3 (corresponding to wireless tag T3) to 2 (corresponding to wireless tag T2), the location information of the data written for data number 7 changes from 3 (corresponding to wireless tag T3) to 4 (corresponding to wireless tag T4), and the location information of the data written for data number 8 changes from 4 (corresponding to wireless tag T4) to 1 (corresponding to wireless tag T1).

[0070] The result of (5) and (4) is that the written data of data numbers 8 and 3 are processed normally, and the corresponding image is formed in the printing area of ​​the corresponding sub-sheet. Thus, the processing of all printing data is completed.

[0071] According to this processing flow, even if errors occur in some wireless tags, the normal processing results can be effectively utilized. More specifically, in the past, when errors occurred in some wireless tags, the processing of wireless tags that could be processed normally was also retried on other sheets, thus increasing the processing time. In response, the processing method of the embodiment clearly distinguishes between wireless tags that can be processed normally and those that have erroneous and provides them to the user, thereby effectively utilizing the normal processing results and suppressing the extension of processing time.

[0072] For example, according to this embodiment, image formation is performed only in the printing area corresponding to a normal wireless tag, so the user can easily and reliably identify which sub-sheet can be used visually. Furthermore, since sheets that do not contain normal processing results are transported to a different discharge location than sheets that contain normal processing results, the user can quickly and reliably determine which sheets are wasteable.

[0073] Furthermore, in the past, RFID tag sheets containing errors in some RFID tags were sometimes discarded even when they contained normal RFID tags. In response, the processing method described in this embodiment reduces waste of RFID tags or RFID tag sheets by handling the erroneous printing data in the final operation and subsequent sheets, thus preventing a decrease in overall processing efficiency.

[0074] According to at least one embodiment described above, when processing dedicated paper with multiple RFID tags, it is possible to suppress the reduction in overall processing efficiency caused by defective RFID tags.

[0075] Several embodiments of the present invention have been described, but these embodiments are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These embodiments can be implemented in various other ways, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. These embodiments and their variations are included in the scope and spirit of the invention, as well as in the scope of the invention described in the claims and its equivalents.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus, characterized in that, include: An image forming unit forms an image on a wireless tag sheet, which is a sheet having multiple wireless tags; The tag communication unit performs data writing processing on the wireless tag; The control unit, assuming no errors occur during the writing process, performs image formation on the object area corresponding to the wireless tag on the wireless tag sheet, corresponding to the written data; In the event of an error during the write process, the control unit performs write processing related to the erroneous write data on other wireless tag sheets that are different from the wireless tag sheet. When the control unit processes multiple write data sequentially, if there is a vacant wireless tag in the wireless tag sheet (object sheet) where the final write processing is performed, and there is write data with writing errors in the wireless tag sheet preceding the object sheet, the control unit includes part or all of the erroneous write data in the processing object to perform write processing on the object sheet.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The written data includes location information indicating the location of the wireless tag where the data was written. The control unit changes the location information contained in the written data where the error occurred to the location information of the wireless tag that became the writing location in the other wireless tag sheet.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, The control unit performs the write processing by including part or all of the write data with the write error in the processing object according to the order in which the errors occur.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, It also includes a storage unit that stores unit data, which is a combination of the written data and image formation data associated with the image formed in the image formation corresponding to the written data. The control unit performs image formation relative to the object region, corresponding to the image formation data written to the object being processed.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that, The control unit performs the image formation only on the object area corresponding to the wireless tag for which the error did not occur during the write process.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, After the control unit performs the write data process on the wireless tag, if it successfully reads the written data from the written wireless tag, it determines that no error occurred in the write process.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, When the target sheet is empty and has no wireless tags, the control unit performs write processing on other wireless tag sheets different from the target sheet to write data that caused write errors in the target sheet and the wireless tag sheets preceding the target sheet. Write data to other wireless tag sheets that are different from the target sheet, including write data of the processing object that is not included in the processing object of the wireless tag sheet that was written to the wireless tag sheet before the target sheet.

8. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that, Based on the writing processing of the write data not included in the processing object of the target sheet, the control unit performs writing processing on the other wireless tag sheets for the write data for which the writing processing in the target sheet resulted in the error.

9. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 7, characterized in that, The control unit, according to the order in which the errors occurred, includes the write data not included in the processing object of the target sheet and the write data of the target sheet in which the write processing occurred in the processing object in the processing object, and performs the write processing on the other wireless tag sheets.

10. An image forming method, wherein an image forming apparatus performs the following processing: Image forming processing is used to form an image on a sheet containing multiple wireless tags, i.e., a wireless tag sheet. Write processing: Write write data to the wireless tag; The control process, in the absence of errors, involves image formation on the object region corresponding to the wireless tag on the wireless tag sheet, corresponding to the written data, characterized in that... In the event of an error during the write process, the control process performs write processing related to the erroneous write data on other wireless tag sheets that are different from the wireless tag sheet. When the control process sequentially processes multiple write data, if there is a vacancy in the wireless tag sheet (object sheet) where the final write processing is performed, and there is erroneous write data in the wireless tag sheet preceding the object sheet, the control process includes part or all of the erroneous write data in the processing object to perform the write processing on the object sheet.

Images