Printing system, method for controlling the printing system, and program
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Applications
- Current Assignee / Owner
- CANON KK
- Filing Date
- 2023-05-26
- Publication Date
- 2026-06-11
Smart Images
Figure 00000000_0000_ABST
Abstract
Description
[Technical field] 【0001】 The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a static eliminator that eliminates static electricity from a charged sheet, and a control method and program for the image forming apparatus. [Background technology] 【0002】 Recording media (hereafter referred to as "sheets") used in printing work are transported in a statically charged state due to residual charge during the electrophotographic process or slight friction with transport rollers and guides that occurs during sheet transport. This static electricity can cause sheets to stick together. It can also cause dust and paper powder to adhere to the finished product, resulting in a decrease in the quality of the finished product. Here, since the electrical resistance of the sheet itself is low and charges move easily within the sheet, the amount of charge itself is small and is quickly eliminated. On the other hand, sheets made of synthetic resin (plastic), such as cardboard, synthetic paper, and coated paper, have high electrical resistance and are less likely to move charges within the sheet. As a result, sheets such as synthetic paper and coated paper tend to be more likely to become charged and retain charges. It is also generally known that sheets are more susceptible to the effects of the environment, especially humidity, and that the lower the humidity, the less discharged the air is into the air, making them more likely to become charged with static electricity. Plain paper, which has a high moisture content, is easily affected by humidity, but the amount of charge itself is small, while sheets made of synthetic resin with a low moisture content are less susceptible to humidity but are more susceptible to the effects of charging. If post-processing is performed while the sheets are stuck together, it will not only affect the sheet alignment process and reduce the quality of the post-processing, but it may also induce jams due to poor paper feeding or transport during post-processing, which could damage the sheets and the equipment. Therefore, in order to prevent such a risk from occurring, it is desirable to remove static electricity from the sheet after the printing process before carrying out post-processing.Therefore, a method has been proposed in which a voltage is applied to a pair of transport rollers located downstream in the sheet transport direction to cancel the charge on the sheet (Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents] 【0003】 [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-258881 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention] 【0004】 In the case of static elimination using a configuration in which a voltage is applied to a transport roller (hereinafter referred to as a "static elimination roller"), a charge opposite to the charge on the sheet is applied to the sheet via the static elimination roller, thereby canceling the static electricity. Therefore, static elimination control using the static elimination roller (application of a charge opposite to that of the sheet to the static elimination roller) needs to be performed according to the amount of charge on the sheet. This is because there is an optimal charge adjustment value for static elimination depending on the printing environment such as humidity and the brand of sheet. Regarding optimal static electricity removal adjustment, if a configuration is adopted that allows for hardware adjustment, adjustment can be made directly while checking the adjustment results, making the adjustment easy. However, since it is difficult from the standpoint of operability to provide a hardware adjustment function that can accommodate multiple types of sheets, adjustment for a single sheet is assumed. On the other hand, if a configuration is adopted that allows for software adjustment, while it can accommodate multiple types of sheets, it becomes time-consuming to make adjustments if frequent adjustments are required due to the susceptibility to environmental influences, such as with plain paper. It is desirable to have these two configurations that are easy to use and compatible with each other. An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for executing a charge removal process by appropriately and easily setting an adjustment value of a charge removal bias in terms of hardware or software in response to a user's request for a plurality of types of sheets. [Means for solving the problem] 【0005】 The present invention is an image forming apparatus equipped with a discharge device and a printing device, comprising an acquisition means for acquiring information relating to discharge control of a sheet related to a received print job from a management means for managing the information, and a setting means for setting an adjustment value of a discharge bias in the discharge device based on the information acquired by the acquisition means, wherein the setting means sets a value of an adjustment dial of the discharge device as an adjustment value of the discharge bias when the information relating to adjustment of the discharge bias acquired by the acquisition means is information indicating that a hardware setting is to be prioritized, and sets the adjustment value of the discharge bias when the information relating to adjustment of the discharge bias acquired by the acquisition means is an adjustment value of the discharge bias. Effect of the Invention 【0006】 According to the present invention, it is possible to execute the charge removal process by appropriately and easily setting the adjustment value of the charge removal bias in terms of hardware or software in response to the user's request for a plurality of types of sheets. [Brief description of the drawings] 【0007】 [Figure 1] Minimum system configuration diagram in this embodiment [Diagram 2] Printing device software block diagram [Diagram 3] Cross-sectional view of an image forming apparatus [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an operation unit provided in a printing device. [Diagram 5] Software block diagram of the static eliminator [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram of an operation unit provided in a static eliminator. [Figure 7] Schematic diagram of static elimination processing [Figure 8] A diagram of the sheet database reference and modification screen via the sheet data management means [Figure 9A] 11 is a flowchart of a charge removal control process according to each page of a sheet. [Figure 9B] Flowchart of static elimination control process [Figure 10]Screen asking the user whether to continue printing [Figure 11] Flowchart of static elimination control process considering the influence of environmental fluctuation [Figure 12] A diagram of the print start confirmation screen that asks the user to confirm the static elimination settings DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 【0008】 [Embodiment 1] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention as defined by the claims, and not all of the combinations of features described in the embodiments are necessarily essential to the solution of the invention. 1 shows the simplest configuration of this embodiment, which includes an image forming apparatus 1000 and a client computer 102 (hereinafter referred to as "PC 102"), which are connected to each other via a network 101. The PC 102 is capable of transmitting PDL (page description language) code data, which is a print job, to the image forming apparatus 1000 via the network 101. 【0009】 Next, the image forming apparatus 1000 will be described with reference to the system block diagram of FIG. 2. The image forming apparatus 1000 includes a printing apparatus 100, which is enclosed by a dotted line in the figure, and a sheet processing apparatus 200. Any number of sheet processing apparatuses 200 can be connected to the printing apparatus 100. In addition, in this embodiment, the printing apparatus 100 will be described as an example of an MFP (Multi Function Peripheral) having multiple functions such as a copy function and a printer function. However, the printing apparatus 100 may be a single-function printing apparatus having only a copy function or only a printer function. In this embodiment, as an example, the image forming apparatus 1000 is assumed to have various components described below. The image forming apparatus 1000 is configured so that sheet processing for sheets printed by the printing apparatus 100 can be performed by a sheet processing apparatus 200 connected to the printing apparatus 100. However, it is also possible to configure the image forming apparatus 1000 using only the printing apparatus 100 without connecting the sheet processing apparatus 200. The sheet processing apparatus 200 is configured so as to be able to communicate with the printing apparatus 100, and can receive instructions from the printing apparatus 100 and perform sheet processing as described below. A scanner unit 201 reads an image on a document, converts it into image data, and transfers it to other units. The external I / F 202 transmits and receives data to and from other devices connected to the network 101 . The printer unit 203 prints an image based on the input image data onto a sheet. 4, the operation unit 204 has a hard key input unit (key input unit) 402 and a touch panel unit 401, and receives instructions from a user via them. The operation unit 204 also displays various information on the touch panel unit 401 that the operation unit 204 has. 【0010】 The control unit 205, specifically a CPU, comprehensively controls the processing and operation of various units included in the image forming apparatus 1000. That is, it also controls the operation of the printing apparatus 100 and the sheet processing apparatus 200 connected to the printing apparatus 100. The ROM 207 stores various computer programs executed by the control unit 205. For example, the ROM 207 stores programs for causing the control unit 205 to execute various processes in flowcharts described below, and display control programs required to display various setting screens described below. The ROM 207 also stores programs for the control unit 205 to interpret PDL code data received from the PC 102 and expand it into raster image data. The ROM 207 also stores a boot sequence, font information, and the like. The RAM 208 stores image data and PDL code data sent from the scanner unit 201 and the external I / F 202, various programs loaded from the ROM 207, and setting information. The RAM 208 also stores information related to the sheet processing apparatus 200 (such as information related to the type and function of each sheet processing apparatus 200 connected to the printing apparatus 100). The control unit 205 can use the information related to the sheet processing apparatus 200 stored in the RAM 208 for control. The HDD (hard disk drive) 209 is composed of a hard disk, a drive unit for reading and writing data to the hard disk, and the like. The HDD 209 is a large-capacity storage device for storing image data input from the scanner unit 201 and compressed by the compression / decompression unit 210. The control unit 205 can print image data stored in the HDD 209 by the printer unit 203 based on an instruction from a user. The HDD 209 is also used as a spooler, and the control unit 205 can manage PDL code data received from the PC 102 as a print job and store it in the HDD 209. The control unit 205 can also manage the print jobs stored in the HDD 209, and can also acquire the number of print jobs stored and setting information made for the print jobs. The compression / decompression unit 210 compresses and decompresses image data stored in the RAM 208 and HDD 209 using various compression methods such as JBIG and JPEG. The sheet data management unit 211 manages information on control parameters used when printing sheets, priority information on static elimination control parameters, and environmental variation impact information for each sheet type and for each sheet brand. Examples of control parameters include information on sheet basis weight, surface properties, voltage adjustment value during transfer, and static elimination bias adjustment value during static elimination control. Although the block diagram is shown as above, the actual entity of the sheet data management unit 211 is a database in which a paper information table is stored, and the database itself is stored in the HDD 209. A specific example of the paper information table is shown in Table 1. 【0011】 [Table 1] 【0012】 In the name column of the paper information table, the names of sheets such as "plain paper", "synthetic paper", and "cardboard" are stored, the basis weight column stores basis weight indicating the thickness of the sheet, and the size column stores the size of the sheet. The surface property column stores information related to the surface property of the sheet such as "high quality paper" and "polypropylene", the characteristics column stores information related to the characteristics of the paper, and the environmental change effect column stores the magnitude of the change in the amount of charge when the environment changes. The static elimination bias adjustment column stores specific adjustment values or parameter information required for adjustment such as a priority setting to follow the setting of a HW switch. 【0013】 Furthermore, the sheet data management unit 211 has a dedicated screen for referring to and editing the contents of the paper information table. An example of this dedicated screen is shown in Fig. 8. The image forming apparatus 1000 is configured so that the user can call up a setting screen for each sheet via the operation unit 204. Then, upon receiving this call, the control unit 205 displays a sheet parameter list screen 801 of Fig. 8(a) on the touch panel unit 401 of the operation unit 204. The parameter list screen 801 has a field 802 for displaying each parameter and its current set value, and each parameter has a [Change] button that is pressed when changing the set value. For example, when the user presses the [Change] button 803 to change the parameter for adjusting the static elimination bias, the control unit 205 displays a static elimination bias adjustment screen 804 of FIG. 8(b) on the touch panel unit 401 of the operation unit 204. The static elimination bias adjustment screen 804 has a field for displaying a current static elimination bias adjustment value 805 and an input button 806 for inputting an increase or decrease in the set value. Then, the bias voltage of the static elimination process performed by the static elimination device 200-3a described later for the sheet can be set. In this embodiment, the bias voltage of the static elimination process set here is configured to be set not as a direct voltage value [kV] but as an intensity level having a +- sign in the range of -50 to 50. For the settings here, the actual operation is controlled such that, for example, a voltage of 0.1 [kV] per 1 is applied to the static elimination roller. Note that the units of the setting values and the settable ranges shown here are only some examples, and are not limited to these. In addition, in the HW priority setting 807 for setting the ON / OFF of HW priority, it is set whether the bias voltage set in the static elimination bias adjustment screen described above or the bias voltage set with the adjustment dial 602 of the operation unit 502 of the static elimination device 200-3a described below is to be valid. As another parameter example, in the item of environmental variation influence, it is possible to set the environmental variation influence mainly related to humidity, taking into account the moisture content of the sheet. The control unit 205 can access the paper information table via the sheet data management unit 211, and is configured to be able to obtain characteristic information of the sheet used for printing and parameter information used for print control. 【0014】 Hardware configuration of image forming device Next, the hardware configuration of the image forming apparatus 1000 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the printing apparatus 100 and the sheet processing apparatus 200 connected to the printing apparatus 100. In this figure, the sheet processing apparatus is configured to include a static eliminator 200-3a and a saddle stitching machine 200-3b. (Printing device) First, the printing device 100 will be described. An automatic document feeder (ADF) 301 separates a stack of documents set on a loading surface of a document tray in order of pages, starting from the first page, and transports the documents to a document glass table for document scanning by a scanner 302. The scanner 302 reads the image of the document transported to the document glass table and converts it into image data by a CCD. A rotating polygon mirror (polygon mirror, etc.) 303 causes a light beam, such as a laser beam, modulated according to the image data to enter the photosensitive drum 304, which is irradiated as reflected scanning light via a reflecting mirror. A latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 304 by the laser beam is developed with toner, and the toner image is transferred to a sheet material attached on a transfer drum 305. A full-color image is formed by sequentially executing this series of image formation processes for yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toners. After four image forming processes, the sheet material on the transfer drum 305 on which the full-color image has been formed is separated by a separation claw 306 and conveyed to a fixing device 308 by a pre-fixing conveyor 307. The fixing device 308 is composed of a combination of rollers and belts, and has a heat source such as a halogen heater built in, and melts and fixes the toner on the sheet material on which the toner image has been transferred by heat and pressure. The discharge flapper 309 is configured to be swingable around a swing shaft and determines the conveying direction of the sheet material. When the discharge flapper 309 is swinging in the clockwise direction in the figure, the sheet material is conveyed straight and is discharged outside the machine by a discharge roller 310. The control unit 205 controls the printing device 100 to execute single-sided printing by the above-mentioned series of sequences. 【0015】 On the other hand, when images are formed on both sides of the sheet material, the discharge flapper 309 swings in the counterclockwise direction in the figure, and the sheet material is changed to a downward direction and sent to the double-sided conveying section. The double-sided conveying section includes an inversion flapper 311, an inversion roller 312, an inversion guide 313, and a double-sided tray 314. The inversion flapper 311 swings about a swing axis to determine the conveying direction of the sheet material. When processing a double-sided printing job, the control unit 205 controls the inversion flapper 311 to swing in the counterclockwise direction in the figure, and to send the sheet, whose first side has been printed by the printer unit 203, to the inversion guide 313 via the inversion roller 312. Then, the inversion roller 312 is stopped once with the rear end of the sheet material being pinched by the inversion roller 312, and the inversion flapper 311 continues to swing in the clockwise direction in the figure. Also, the inversion roller 312 is rotated in the reverse direction. As a result, the sheet is switched back and conveyed, and the sheet is controlled so that the sheet is guided to the double-sided tray 314 with the trailing end and leading end of the sheet switched. The sheet material is temporarily stacked in the double-sided tray 314, and then the sheet material is sent again to the registration roller 316 by the re-feed roller 315. At this time, the sheet material is sent with the side opposite to the transfer process of the first side facing the photosensitive drum. Then, the second side image is formed on the second side of the sheet in the same manner as the process described above. Then, the images are formed on both sides of the sheet material, and the sheet is discharged from inside the main body of the printer 100 to the outside of the machine through the discharge roller 310 after the fixing process. The control unit 205 controls the printer 100 to perform double-sided printing through the above-mentioned series of sequences. 【0016】 The printing device 100 also has a paper feed section that stores sheets required for printing processing. The paper feed section includes paper feed cassettes 317 and 318 (each capable of storing, for example, 500 sheets), a paper feed deck 319 (capable of storing, for example, 5,000 sheets), and a manual feed tray 320. The paper feed cassettes 317 and 318 and the paper feed deck 319 can be used to set various sheets of different sizes and materials separately for each paper feed section. Furthermore, the manual feed tray 320 can be used to set various sheets including special sheets such as overhead projector sheets. 【0017】 (static eliminator) Next, the static eliminator 200-3a will be described. First, a system block diagram of the static eliminator 200-3a is shown in Fig. 5. The static eliminator also has a control unit 501, which is a CPU, separate from the printing device 100. This control unit 501 controls the entire static eliminator 200-3a while communicating with the control unit 205 of the printing device 100 in Fig. 2 via a bus (not shown). 【0018】 <Operation section> The operation unit 502 is configured as shown in FIG. 6, and the user can perform settings for the static elimination device 200-3a via the operation unit 502. A mode setting switch 601 in FIG. 6 switches whether or not static elimination is performed by the static elimination device 200-3a (ON / OFF), and when the switch is ON, the control unit 501 controls the static elimination processing in the static elimination processing unit 503 described later. Even when the switch is OFF, if the HW priority setting 807 on the static elimination bias adjustment screen 804 of the sheet parameters in FIG. 8(b) is set to invalid and the adjustment value 805 of the static elimination bias is set to a value other than 0, the control unit 501 controls the static elimination processing. Also, the adjustment dial 602 configured as a thumb rotary switch adjusts the strength of the static elimination control performed when the mode setting switch 601 is ON, and is controlled by the control unit 501 so as to be effective only when the mode setting switch 601 is ON. The adjustment value of the static elimination bias, which is the strength of static elimination control set by the adjustment dial 602, can be adjusted in the same unit as the adjustment value set by the current adjustment value 805 on the static elimination bias adjustment screen 804 described above. The static elimination processing unit 503 is composed of a static elimination roller 322 and an ionizer 323, which will be described later, and a voltage application controller 321 for each of them, and is responsible for eliminating static electricity from the conveyed sheet. The control unit 501 realizes control of applying voltage to the static elimination roller 322 and the ionizer 323 via the voltage application controller 321. The ROM 504 stores a boot program for the static elimination device 200-3a, a control program for the operation unit 204, a static elimination processing program for the static elimination processing unit 503, etc. Then, the control unit 501 loads necessary programs from the ROM 504 into the RAM 505 as appropriate and executes them. 【0019】 Here, the charge removal process performed by the charge removal processing unit 503 will be explained with reference to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a diagram that shows a schematic diagram of a state in which a charge removal process is performed by the charge removal device 200-3a on a sheet that has been printed by the printing device 100. The same numbers are used for parts common to FIG. 3. First, a sheet 701 is transported to a developing and transferring unit consisting of a photosensitive drum 304 and a transfer drum 305 via a transport path 704, and toner is placed on the sheet. The charged toner 702 placed on the sheet is negatively charged, and the sheet is then transported to the charge removal device 200-3a in a state in which the printing surface 703 side is negatively charged after being fixed through a fixing device 308. The charge removal device 200-3a is equipped with a positively charged charge removal roller 322, and a positive charge is applied to the negatively charged printing surface 703 by contact charge removal using the roller, thereby eliminating the charging state. However, it is assumed that negative charges that could not be removed by the static elimination process by the static elimination roller 322, or positive charges that have been reversely charged, remain on the sheet 705 after passing through the static elimination roller. Therefore, the static elimination device 200-3a described in this embodiment is further configured to include an ionizer 323 downstream of the static elimination roller 322. The ionizer 323 is a device that generates a corona discharge by applying a voltage to an electrode needle provided in the device itself, and uses the ions generated by this to eliminate the charge. In this way, rough static elimination is performed by the static elimination roller 322, and the remaining charge is further adjusted by the ionizer, so that the static elimination process-treated sheet 707 discharged from the static elimination device 200-3a is in a state where the charge has been eliminated. 【0020】 Returning to the explanation using the cross-sectional view of Fig. 3, the static eliminator 200-3a has a static elimination roller 322 and a pair of rollers, and the sheet transported to the static eliminator 200-3a is transported while being sandwiched between the two rollers, and the above-mentioned static elimination is performed by the static elimination roller 322. Thereafter, the sheet is transported outside the device by the transport roller 324, and the residual charge is eliminated by the ionizer 323. (Saddle stitch binding machine) Next, the saddle stitching machine 200-3b will be described. The sheet processing by the saddle stitching machine 200-3b includes, for example, saddle stitching, punching, cutting, shift discharge, folding, stapling, etc. Here, these jobs are called "saddle stitching jobs". When processing a saddle stitching job, the control unit 205 first conveys the sheets of this job printed by the printing device 100 to the saddle stitching machine 200-3b, and then the control unit 205 causes the saddle stitching machine 200-3b to execute sheet processing of this job. Then, the control unit 205 holds the printed matter of the saddle stitching job that has been subjected to sheet processing by the saddle stitching machine 200-3b in the discharge destination Z of the saddle stitching machine 200-3b. Note that there are multiple discharge destination candidates for the discharge destination Z. This is used when the saddle stitching machine 200-3b can execute multiple types of sheet processing and a discharge destination is divided for each sheet processing. In this embodiment, a detailed description of the conveying procedure of the saddle stitching job is omitted. 【0021】 Printing process Next, the process of printing using the adjustment value of the static elimination bias set by the static elimination device and the adjustment value of the static elimination bias set for each sheet will be described with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 9A (a). Note that this process is realized by the control unit 205, which is a CPU, expanding a program stored in the ROM 207 or HDD 209 onto the RAM 208 and executing it. First, in step S901 , the control unit 205 of the printing apparatus 100 receives a print job via the network 101 and the external I / F 202 . Next, in step S902, the control unit 205 interprets the settings of the print job received in step S901, and ascertains the designated contents, such as the number of copies to be printed, the paper discharge destination, and post-processing. Next, in S903, the control unit 205 acquires the static elimination processing setting of the static elimination device 200-3a. In this process, the control unit 501 of the static elimination device 200-3a, which has received an inquiry from the control unit 205 of the printing device 100, acquires the states of the mode setting switch 601 and the adjustment dial 602 of the operation unit 502 of the static elimination device 200-3a, and returns the state to the control unit 205 of the printing device 100. Next, in step S904, the control unit 205 reads one page of PDL data from the spooler, expands it, and determines the type of sheet to be used for printing that page. Then, in S905, the control unit 205 determines whether the page currently being processed is the first page, and if not, whether the type of sheet confirmed in S904 has changed from the page previously processed. If it is determined that the page is not the first page and the sheet type has not changed from the previous page (No in S905), the control unit 205 proceeds to S911. On the other hand, if it is determined that the page is the first page or the sheet type has changed from the page previously processed (Yes in S905), the control unit 205 proceeds to S906. 【0022】 By adding the determination control in S905 in this way, it is possible to control so that the print parameter acquisition process for the target sheet and the static elimination bias adjustment are executed only for the first page or when the sheet is changed during printing. By executing such control for each page included in the print job, it is possible to realize static elimination control according to the sheet type of each page, even for a print job that includes multiple sheet types. In S906, the control unit 205 acquires parameter information of the static elimination control set for the sheet via the sheet data management unit 211. Among the parameter information, the HW priority setting or the adjustment value of the static elimination bias is acquired as information regarding the adjustment of the static elimination bias. Next, in S907, the control unit 205 determines whether the HW priority setting acquired in S906 is enabled. If it is determined that the HW priority setting set for the sheet is enabled (Yes in S907), the control unit proceeds to S909. If it is determined that the HW priority setting set for the sheet is not enabled, that is, the control unit 205 proceeds to S918. If the HW priority setting is enabled, in S909, the control unit 205 instructs the control unit 501 of the static eliminator 200-3a to set the setting value of the adjustment dial 602 as the bias value of the static elimination roller 322, and the process proceeds to S910. If the HW priority setting is not valid, that is, if it is the adjustment value of the static elimination bias, in S918, the control unit 205 instructs the control unit 501 of the static elimination device 200-3a to set the static elimination bias adjustment value 805 for the designated sheet as the static elimination bias adjustment value. After that, the control unit 205 advances the process to S910. In the next step S910, the control unit 501 of the static electricity removal device 200-3a actually applies a static electricity removal bias voltage to the static electricity removal roller 322 via the voltage application controller 321 using the adjustment value of the static electricity removal bias received in step S806. Then, the control unit 205 of the printing device 100 is notified of the execution of application of the static electricity removal bias voltage (Ack). When the control unit 205 of the printing device 100 receives a notification of the execution of application of the static electricity removal bias voltage from the control unit 501 of the static electricity removal device 200-3a, the control unit 205 advances the process to step S911. In S911, the control unit 205 controls the printer unit 203 to print the page. Thereafter, in S912, the control unit 205 determines whether the printed page is the final page of the print job. If it is determined that it is the final page (Yes in S912), this process ends, and if it is determined that it is not the final page (No in S912), the control unit 205 returns the process to S904 and continues the process for the next page and onward. 【0023】 An additional flow for a case where the static elimination setting is not switched correctly when switching the static elimination setting between HW priority and non-priority in S907 will be described below with reference to FIGS. 9B(b) and (c). First, in the case where the answer is Yes in S907, the flow from S907 to S909 will be described with reference to FIG. 9B(c). In S908, the control unit 205 determines whether or not the static elimination setting of the static elimination device 200-3a is valid based on the state of the mode setting switch 601 acquired in S903. If it is determined that the static elimination setting of the static elimination device 200-3a is valid (Yes in S908), the control unit 205 advances the process to S909. In S909, the control unit 205 instructs the control unit 501 of the static eliminator 200-3a to set the setting value of the adjustment dial 602 as the bias value of the static elimination roller 322. If it is determined in S908 that the static elimination setting of the static eliminator 200-3a is invalid (No in S908), the control unit 205 advances the process to S913. In S913, the control unit 205 suspends the print job, displays a screen 1001 shown in FIG. 10A on the operation unit 204, and notifies the user that the setting of the static eliminator is invalid. The screen 1001 is a screen to be displayed in a case where the HW priority setting 807 of the sheet specified for printing is valid, but the mode setting switch 601 of the static eliminator 200-3a is in an OFF state, and there is a risk that the static elimination process will not be performed on the sheet that requires static elimination. If the user wants to continue printing after checking, or if the user wants to instruct the continuation of printing again after changing the static elimination process of the static eliminator to ON, the user presses a [Continue printing] button 1002. If the user wants to cancel printing, the user presses a [Cancel printing] button 1003. If it is determined that the [Continue printing] button 1002 has been pressed on the screen 1001 for confirming the start of printing in FIG. 10 (Yes in S914), the control unit 205 advances the process to S909. On the other hand, if it is determined that the [Cancel Printing] button 1003 has been pressed (No in S914), the control unit 205 of the printing apparatus 100 cancels the print job in accordance with the instruction and ends the process without doing anything. If it is determined in S907 that the HW priority setting set for the sheet is invalid (No in S907), the control unit 205 advances the process to S915. 【0024】 Next, the flow from S907 to S918 in the case where the answer is No in S907 will be described with reference to FIG. 9B(b). In S915, the control unit 205 determines whether or not the static elimination setting of the static elimination device 200-3a is valid based on the state of the mode setting switch 601 acquired in S903. If it is determined that the static elimination setting of the static elimination device 200-3a is valid (Yes in S915), the control unit 205 advances the process to S916. If it is determined that the static elimination setting of the static elimination device 200-3a is not valid (No in S915), the control unit 205 advances the process to S918. 10B on the operation unit 204, and displays a display for the user to confirm whether the neutralization bias adjustment value of the sheet is as intended. The screen 1004 is an example of a screen displayed in a case where it is necessary to confirm whether the neutralization bias adjustment value that is enabled is as intended when the mode setting switch 601 of the neutralization device 200-3a is in the ON state, even though the HW priority setting 807 of the sheet specified for printing is invalid. In S917, if the user wishes to continue printing after confirmation, the user presses the [Continue Printing] button 1005. If the user wishes to cancel printing once, or if the user wishes to print again after changing the sheet settings because he or she wishes to enable the static elimination process of the static elimination device rather than the sheet settings, the user presses the [Cancel Printing] button 1006. If it is determined that the [Cancel Printing] button 1006 has been pressed on the print start confirmation screen 1004 in FIG. 10(b) (No in S917), the control unit 205 of the printing device 100 cancels the print job in accordance with the instruction and ends the process without doing anything. If it is determined that the Continue Printing button 1005 has been pressed on the print start confirmation screen 1004 in FIG. 10(b) (Yes in S917), the control unit 205 advances the process to S918. In S918, the control unit 205 instructs the control unit 501 of the static elimination device 200-3a to set the static elimination bias adjustment value 805 for the designated sheet as the static elimination bias adjustment value. After that, the control unit 205 advances the process to S910. In this embodiment, the static electricity removal setting of the sheet type is confirmed for each page, but a flow may be such that the sheet information and static electricity removal setting of all pages are acquired and confirmed by the user before starting a print job. 【0025】 [Embodiment 2] In the first embodiment, the process of performing printing by switching between the adjustment value of the static elimination bias set by the hardware of the static elimination device and the adjustment value of the static elimination bias set by software for each sheet has been described. As described in the Background Art section, when considering sheet sticking due to static electricity, humidity is particularly influential among environmental changes, and the degree of influence of humidity varies depending on the moisture content of the sheet. Some types of sheets are more susceptible to the influence of humidity due to their different moisture contents. For example, plain paper and thick paper, which have a high moisture content, are more susceptible to the influence of environmental changes, especially humidity, while sheets with a low moisture content such as synthetic paper are less susceptible to such influences. In the second embodiment, a printing flow for a sheet that is susceptible to environmental fluctuations will be described with reference to the flowchart in Fig. 11. This printing process is realized by the control unit 205, which is the CPU of the printing device 100, expanding a program stored in the ROM 207 or HDD 209 into the RAM 208 and executing it. First, in step S1101 , the control unit 205 of the printing apparatus 100 receives a print job via the network 101 and the external I / F 202 . Next, in step S1102, the control unit 205 interprets the settings of the print job received in step S1101, and acquires, via the sheet data management unit 211, the setting values of the environmental variation influence that are set for all the specified sheets. Next, in S1103, the control unit 205 checks whether or not a sheet that is susceptible to environmental fluctuations is included based on the sheet information acquired in S1102. Whether or not each sheet is susceptible to environmental fluctuations is determined based on the setting of the environmental fluctuation influence item on the parameter list screen 801 for each sheet in FIG. 8, which is the static electricity removal setting for each sheet. The environmental fluctuation influence items may be set in advance by the user to large or small on an environmental fluctuation influence setting screen (not shown), or information previously set as default by the system may be used as is. If it is determined that a sheet that is susceptible to environmental fluctuations is included (Yes in S1103), the control unit 205 advances the process to S1104. In S1104, the control unit 205 suspends the start of the print job, and displays a screen 1201 shown in Fig. 12 on the operation unit 204 to prompt the user to reconfirm the static elimination settings. The screen 1201 is an example of a screen to be displayed in a case where the sheet specified for printing is a sheet that is susceptible to environmental fluctuations, particularly humidity, and there is a possibility that the static elimination settings are not appropriate because the environment has changed since the static elimination settings were made. If the user wishes to continue printing after checking, he or she presses a [Continue Printing] button 1202. If the user wishes to cancel printing, he or she presses a [Cancel Printing] button 1203. If it is determined that the [Continue Printing] button 1202 has been pressed on the print start confirmation screen 1201 in Fig. 12 (Yes in S1105), the control unit 205 advances the process to S1106. On the other hand, if it is determined that the [Cancel Printing] button 1203 has been pressed (No in S1105), the control unit 205 of the printing apparatus 100 advances the process to S1107. Follow the instructions to cancel the print job and end the process without doing anything. In S1106, the control unit 205 performs the static elimination setting, executes printing, and ends this process. In S1107, the control unit 205 cancels the print job in accordance with the instruction, and ends this process without doing anything. In the printing process of embodiment 1, if the acquired sheet data indicates that the sheet is easily affected by environmental fluctuations such as humidity, the user may be allowed to directly adjust the de-electrification bias of the de-electrification process using an adjustment dial on the operation unit according to the printing environment. (Other embodiments) The present invention can also be realized by a process in which a program for implementing one or more of the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in a computer of the system or device read and execute the program. The present invention can also be realized by a circuit (e.g., ASIC) that implements one or more of the functions. The disclosure of this embodiment includes the following configuration, method, and program. (Configuration 1) An image forming apparatus including a static eliminator and a printing device, an acquisition unit that acquires information related to the static elimination control of the sheet related to the received print job from a management unit that manages the information; a setting unit that sets an adjustment value of the static elimination bias in the static elimination device based on the information acquired by the acquisition unit; The setting means is When the information regarding the adjustment of the static elimination bias acquired by the acquiring means indicates that the setting of the hardware is to be prioritized, the value of the adjustment dial of the static elimination device is set as the adjustment value of the static elimination bias, When the information regarding the adjustment of the static elimination bias acquired by the acquiring means is an adjustment value of the static elimination bias, the adjustment value of the static elimination bias is set. 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: (Configuration 2) The acquiring means acquires information on charge removal control of the sheet from the management means every time the type of the sheet is changed in the print job. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, (Configuration 3) a first display means for displaying a screen for informing a user that a static elimination setting will be performed based on the acquired static elimination bias adjustment value when the information related to the static elimination bias adjustment value acquired by the acquisition means is an adjustment value of the static elimination bias. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second components are arranged in a same plane. (Configuration 4) and a second display means for temporarily suspending a print job and displaying a screen for notifying a user that the static elimination setting of the static elimination device is invalid when the information regarding the adjustment of the static elimination bias acquired by the acquisition means indicates that the hardware setting is to be prioritized and the static elimination setting of the static elimination device is invalid. 4. The image forming apparatus according to any one of configurations 1 to 3. (Configuration 5) An image forming apparatus including a static eliminator and a printing device, An acquisition means for acquiring sheet data, which is information regarding charge removal control of a sheet related to a received print job, from a management means for managing the sheet data; A display means is provided for suspending the start of a print job and displaying a screen for prompting a user to check a static elimination setting when the information regarding the influence of environmental fluctuations on the sheet obtained by the obtaining means indicates a large influence. 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: (Method 1) A method for controlling an image forming apparatus including a static eliminator and a printing device, comprising: an acquiring step of acquiring information related to the static elimination control of the sheet related to the received print job from a management unit that manages the information; a setting step of setting an adjustment value of the static elimination bias based on the information acquired in the acquisition step; The setting step includes: When the information regarding the adjustment of the static elimination bias acquired in the acquiring step indicates that the setting of the hardware is to be prioritized, the value of the adjustment dial of the static elimination device is set as the adjustment value of the static elimination bias, When the information regarding the adjustment of the static elimination bias acquired in the acquiring step is an adjustment value of the static elimination bias, the adjustment value of the static elimination bias is set as the adjustment value of the static elimination bias. 2 is a control method for an image forming apparatus according to claim 1 . (Program 1) A program for causing a computer to execute the control method for an image forming apparatus according to the first method. [Explanation of symbols] 【0026】 1000 Image forming device 100 Printing device 200 Sheet processing device 200-3a Static eliminator 211 Sheet Data Management Department
Claims
[Claim 1] A printing system, A printing method for printing an image onto a sheet, A storage means capable of storing static elimination setting values for each sheet, A printing system characterized by having a control means that controls the static elimination device to perform static elimination of a sheet based on a numerical value when the static elimination setting value stored in the storage means for the sheet is a numerical value, and controls the static elimination of the sheet based on a setting value set by the hardware setting unit when the setting value stored in the storage means for the sheet is a setting value that indicates the use of the setting value of the hardware setting unit of the static elimination device. [Claim 2] Further comprising an operating section, The printing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage means is capable of storing the static elimination setting value input by the operation unit for each sheet. [Claim 3] The printing system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that when the setting value stored in the storage means for a sheet is a setting value that indicates the use of the setting value of the hardware setting unit of the static eliminator, printing by the printing means is stopped before printing on the sheet. [Claim 4] The printing system according to claim 3, further comprising a display means for displaying to the user the settings made by the hardware setting unit of the static elimination device when printing is stopped. [Claim 5] The printing system according to claim 4, characterized in that, after the display means has performed a display, the control means controls the printing means to resume printing in accordance with instructions from the user. [Claim 6] The printing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage means is further capable of storing the basis weight of each sheet. [Claim 7] The printing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage means is further capable of storing the surface properties of each sheet. [Claim 8] A method for controlling a printing system, The static elimination setting value for each sheet is stored in the memory device. Print the image onto the sheet, A control method for a printing system, characterized in that, when the static elimination setting value stored in the storage means for a sheet is a numerical value, the system controls the static elimination device to perform static elimination on the sheet based on the numerical value, and when the setting value stored in the storage means for a sheet is a setting value that indicates the use of the setting value of the hardware setting unit of the static elimination device, the system controls the static elimination device to perform static elimination on the sheet based on the setting value set by the hardware setting unit. [Claim 9] A program for causing a computer to execute the control method for the printing system described in claim 8.