Driver, setting method for long sheet printing, and image forming apparatus

Abstract

To provide a driver that can easily perform settings related to a print job in which creases for folding are provided on a long sheet in a finished state.SOLUTION: A driver is installed in an information processing apparatus communicable with an image forming apparatus comprising an image forming unit that performs image formation on a long sheet and a creasing mechanism that provides creases for folding at a plurality of portions in the longer direction of the long sheet, and receives settings of a job related to the image formation and transmits an instruction to the image forming apparatus. The driver comprises a setting receiving unit that receives selection of the long sheet and settings of a creasing function for providing the creases on the selected long sheet. The setting receiving unit displays, on a screen of the information processing apparatus, an enlarged print document and initial positions of the creases superimposed on an image according to the size of the selected long sheet, and receives adjustment of the positions of the creases.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a driver that sends job instructions relating to image formation to an image forming apparatus, a setting method for long sheet printing, and an image forming apparatus. [Background technology]

[0002] There is known an image forming apparatus capable of performing saddle stitch printing by folding a sheet in half and stapling it in two central positions. The following image output system has been proposed as an image output system that realizes saddle stitch printing by borderless printing by cutting one side without the need to cut the margins on three or two sides during saddle stitch printing. The system includes an image forming apparatus and an information processing apparatus having a function of instructing the image forming apparatus to perform output processing. The image forming apparatus includes a printing unit that performs saddle stitch printing on a recording medium, a saddle stitch processing unit that performs saddle stitch processing on the recording medium, and a trimming unit that trims the edge of the recording medium. The printing unit has a function of performing borderless printing. The trimming unit also has a function of trimming one side of the fore-edge of the recording medium that has been saddle stitched, according to an instruction from the information processing apparatus (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Saddle stitch printing is a typical printing method that involves folding paper. For example, if you fold an A3 size sheet in the center of its long side and staple it, you will get a booklet with one A4 size page. If you use double letter size sheets for saddle stitch printing, you will get a booklet with one letter size page. On the other hand, long sheets are known that are not of the general size called standard size but are used for limited purposes such as banner printing. Long sheets are a general term for sheets that are longer in one direction than standard sizes, and examples that are relatively commonly used are those that are 297 mm long in the top-bottom direction, the same as the long side length of A4 size, and 900 mm or 1200 mm long in the long direction. These are typical examples of sizes used for banner printing, and image forming devices such as printers and multifunction machines that are compatible with printing such long sheets (long printing) are also known. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2008-302518 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] Printing that involves folding paper is not limited to saddle-stitch printing. For example, some restaurant menus and catalogs are folded in thirds to standard sizes (typically A4 or letter size). If an image forming device supports long-length printing, it may be able to handle such printouts. However, the settings required for printing on sheets that are not of a typical standard size and that require folding are complex, making it difficult to say that this is an easy print job for users to set up. The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and provides a driver that makes it easy to perform settings related to a print job that finishes a long sheet with creases for folding. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The present disclosure provides a driver that is installed on an information processing device capable of communicating with an image forming device having an image forming unit that forms an image on a long sheet and a creasing mechanism that adds creases for folding at multiple locations in the long direction of the long sheet, and that accepts settings for a job related to image formation and sends instructions to the image forming device, and that has a setting acceptance unit that accepts selection of the long sheet and settings for a creasing function that adds the creases to the selected long sheet and a creasing position, and a creasing position determination unit that determines a position for the creasing in accordance with the settings, and the setting acceptance unit superimposes a display image of a printed document and the position of the creases on a display image corresponding to the selected long sheet and displays them on the screen of the information processing device, and accepts the setting of the crease position.

[0007] From a different perspective, the present disclosure provides a setting method for long sheet printing, which is installed in an information processing device capable of communicating with an image forming device having an image forming unit that forms an image on a long sheet and a creasing mechanism that adds creases for folding at multiple locations in the long direction of the long sheet, and which accepts job settings related to image formation and sends instructions to the image forming device, and which includes a step of accepting selection of the long sheet and settings of a creasing function that adds the creases to the selected long sheet and a position of the creases, and a step of determining a position for the creases in accordance with the settings, and the step of accepting the settings includes a step of superimposing a display image of a print document and the position of the creases on a display image corresponding to the selected long sheet and displaying them on a screen of the information processing device, and accepting the setting of the position of the creases.

[0008] Furthermore, the present disclosure provides an image forming device comprising an image forming unit that forms an image on a long sheet, a creasing mechanism that adds creases for folding at multiple locations in the longitudinal direction of the long sheet, a communication circuit for communicating with an external information processing device, and a job control unit that performs processing in response to job settings and instructions related to image formation received from the information processing device via the communication circuit, wherein when the received job settings include a creasing function, the job control unit performs image formation on a specified long sheet and controls the long sheet to add creases at specified locations. Effect of the Invention

[0009] In the driver according to the present disclosure, the setting reception unit displays on the screen a display image of the print document and the position of the creases superimposed on a display image corresponding to the selected long sheet, and accepts settings for the position of the creases, making it easy to perform settings related to a printing job that finishes the long sheet with creases for folding. The setting method for long sheet printing according to the present disclosure also achieves the same advantageous effects. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the external appearance of a multifunction peripheral as an example of a printing device according to the present disclosure, viewed diagonally from the left front side; [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the multifunction peripheral shown in FIG. 1 and an information processing device capable of communicating with the multifunction peripheral. [Diagram 3] 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a pre-processing unit shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 4] 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a print setting screen that a driver causes an information processing device to display in the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. [Diagram 5] 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of sizes related to creasing of a long sheet among sizes selectable in the setting item of the output paper size shown in FIG. 5. FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed on a long sheet in an embodiment of the present disclosure (first embodiment). [Figure 7]FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed on a long sheet in an embodiment of the present disclosure (Embodiment 2). [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an image printed on a long sheet in an embodiment of the present disclosure (Embodiment 3). [Figure 9] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a print setting screen different from that in FIG. 4; [Figure 10] 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a print setting screen different from those in FIG. 4 and FIG. 9; [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a print setting screen different from those in FIGS. 4, 9, and 10; [Figure 12] 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a long paper tri-folding setting screen displayed by a driver in the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. [Figure 13] 11 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a details screen displayed by a driver in the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] The present disclosure will be described in further detail below with reference to the drawings. Note that the following description is illustrative in all respects and should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. Configuration of image forming apparatus and pre-processing unit Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the appearance of a multifunction peripheral as an example of an image forming apparatus to which a driver according to the present disclosure sends job instructions. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of an image forming system including a driver according to the present disclosure. The image forming system 20 shown in Fig. 2 includes the multifunction peripheral 10 shown in Fig. 1, an information processing device 24 capable of communicating with the multifunction peripheral 10, and a driver 26 installed in the information processing device 24.

[0012] The multifunction machine 10 shown in FIG. 1 has a main body 10B connected to peripheral devices. The main body 10B includes a main body feed tray 11B, a document feeder 16, an image forming unit 17 for forming an image, a scanner unit 18 for reading an image of a document, and an operation unit 19. A large-capacity feed tray 11L, a manual feed tray 11M, and a transport unit 11T are connected to the right side of the main body 10B when viewed from the front. Sheets are fed from one of the main body feed tray 11B, the large-capacity feed tray 11L, and the manual feed tray 11M. A curl correction unit 12, an inserter 13, a pre-processing unit 14, and a finisher 15 are connected to the left side of the main body 10B when viewed from the front. The pre-processing unit 14 in this embodiment can make creases on the sheets for folding. In addition, two-hole punching and multi-hole punching are also possible, but these processes can be performed alternatively. The finisher 15 can staple sheets at one or two places using a stapler. That is, the finisher 15 is equipped with the binding mechanism of the present disclosure.

[0013] The main body 10B includes a control unit 21 that controls the operation and processing of the multifunction device 10. The control unit 21 is mainly configured with a processor as hardware, and includes a storage unit configured with RAM and non-volatile memory, an input / output circuit, a timer circuit, etc. Furthermore, the main body 10B includes a communication circuit 22 that communicates with external devices such as an information processing device 24, and an operation unit 19 related to a user interface.

[0014] The processor of the control unit 21 realizes the functions of the operation control unit 21U, job control unit 21J, peripheral device control unit 21P, and image control unit 21M shown in Fig. 2. The operation control unit 21U displays an operation screen on the operation unit 19, recognizes a user's operation performed on the operation screen, and performs processing according to the operation. The job control unit 21J controls the execution of a job using, for example, the scanner unit 18 or the image forming unit 17. For a print job, the image forming unit 17 is used.

[0015] The peripheral device control unit 21P controls peripheral devices such as the large-capacity paper feed tray 11L, the pre-processing unit 14, and the finisher 15 connected to the main body 10B. The image control unit 21M processes an image of an original read by the scanner unit 18. It also processes print data to generate image data to be printed by the image forming unit 17. For example, in the case of a print job, the print data is received from a driver 26 of the information processing device 24 connected via the communication circuit 22.

[0016] The information processing device 24 shown in Fig. 2 is a device communicatively connected to the multifunction device 10. The information processing device 24 shown in Fig. 2 is assumed to be a PC (personal computer) as a specific embodiment. However, the information processing device of the present disclosure is not limited to a PC, and may be an information terminal such as a smartphone or a tablet terminal. The information processing device 24 includes a PC operation unit 24U, a PC control unit 25, a PC storage unit 24M, and a network communication unit 24N.

[0017] The PC operation unit 24U is a device related to the user interface, and includes a display device such as a monitor that displays a screen, and input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse that accept user operations. The PC storage unit 24M is composed of RAM and non-volatile memory, and stores programs and data such as an operation system, applications, and drivers. The PC control unit 25 is composed of hardware circuits centered around a processor, and executes programs stored in the PC storage unit 24M to perform processing as the operation system, applications, drivers, etc. The network communication unit 24N is hardware and software related to communication for the information processing device 24 to communicate with external devices such as the multifunction device 10.

[0018] The PC control unit 25 includes a PC operation control unit 25U and a driver 26. The PC operation control unit 25U displays an operation screen on the PC operation unit 24U, recognizes user operations performed on the operation screen, and performs processing according to the operations. The driver 26 includes a setting reception unit 26R. In addition, the driver 26 includes, as a printer driver, an image reduction / enlargement unit 26Z, a creasing position determination unit 26P, and a print data generation unit 26G.

[0019] The setting reception unit 26R displays the driver operation screen on the PC operation unit 24U via the PC operation control unit 25U and receives the user's settings related to the job to be executed by the multifunction device 10. For the print job, the printer driver operation screen is displayed on the PC operation unit 24U to receive the user's settings. In this embodiment, the user's settings include the selection of the sheet to be used, the creasing function for creasing the sheet, and the setting of borderless printing. The image reduction and enlargement unit reduces or enlarges the image of the print document according to the setting. When borderless printing is set, the image reduction and enlargement unit determines the enlargement ratio for suppressing the blank areas at the top and bottom of the print document, and instructs the image of the print document to be enlarged at the determined enlargement ratio and printed. The print data generation unit 26G generates print data for causing the image forming unit 17 of the multifunction device 10 to form an image and print it on the selected sheet based on the setting received by the setting reception unit 26R. Then, the generated print data is sent to the multifunction device 10 via the network communication unit 24N.

[0020] 1 and 2 show a state in which peripheral devices such as a pre-processing unit 14 and a finisher 15 are connected to the main body 10B. However, they may be configured as a single device. In this embodiment, the printing unit and the finisher are configured as an integrated device.

[0021] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the configuration of the pre-processing unit shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the pre-processing unit 14 has a U-shaped transport path 31 on which a plurality of transport rollers 32 are arranged. When the pre-processing unit 14 performs creasing processing, a pressing member 36 having a convex portion 35 and a receiving member 37 are attached to sandwich the bottom of the U-shaped transport path 31. The pressing member 36 including the convex portion 35 is made of a hard member made of steel, for example, and can move in the vertical direction by an eccentric cam, a spring, or the like not shown in FIG. 3 (see the arrow in FIG. 3). The receiving members 37, which face each other across the bottom of the U-shaped transport path 31, are made of a flexible member such as rubber, and are fixed in position.

[0022] The peripheral device control unit 21P guides the sheet S printed by the image forming unit 17 of the main body 10B to the conveying path 31. When a sensor (not shown in FIG. 3) detects that the center portion has reached a position where it passes under the convex portion 35 (see the sheet S shown in FIG. 3), the conveying of the sheet S is temporarily stopped and the pressing member 36 is lowered to press the sheet S against the pressing member 36. In this way, the sheet S is sandwiched between the pressing member 36 and the receiving member 37 and creased in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction. Thereafter, the pressing member 36 is raised to resume conveying the sheet S.

[0023] The long sheet is fed from the manual feed tray 11M so that the long dimension is the transport direction. In this embodiment, the peripheral device control unit 21P performs the operation of scoring the long sheet twice, scoring two locations in the top-bottom direction. Scoring is effective for sheets with a large basis weight (mass per unit area of ​​the base paper). According to this embodiment, the pre-processing unit 14 can score the long sheet in two locations for folding in three.

[0024] <Driver operation screen and job settings> 4 and 9 to 11 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of operation screens that the PC control unit 25 of the information processing device 24 causes the PC operation unit 24U to display, that is, operation screens of the driver 26. In FIG.

[0025] The operation screen shown in Fig. 4 is an example of an operation screen related to print settings. At the top of the print setting screen 40, multiple tabs 41, in which settings are categorized, are arranged side by side. Since it is not possible to display all the tabs at once on the print setting screen 40, the tabs can be scrolled by operating the scroll buttons on both the left and right ends. The driver 26 displays the setting items corresponding to the selected tab in the setting area 42 in the middle.

[0026] 4 shows a state in which the [Main] tab 41M is selected. The driver 26, acting as the setting reception unit 26R, displays the setting items related to the selected tab in the setting area 42 and receives the settings. The setting items displayed vary depending on the configuration of the connected peripheral devices. The driver 26 displays a machine illustration 44 indicating the current device configuration in the right half of the lower section of the print setting screen 40. In addition, the driver 26 displays an illustration indicating the finish state of printing according to the set functions and an icon according to the finish setting as a print image 43 in the left half of the lower section.

[0027] The driver 26 displays [Original Size] 45 and [Output Paper Size] 46 as part of the setting items in the left half of the setting area 42. As shown in FIG. 4, the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R receives the selection of one of a plurality of paper sizes that the multifunction device 10 can print. Among the sizes selectable as [Original Size] 45 and [Output Paper Size] 46, some paper sizes related to creasing of long sheets are shown in FIG. 5. The total of six long sheets shown in FIG. 5 are all folded in two places in the long direction to become the commonly used standard sizes of letter size or A4 size. The top three sizes become A4 size when folded in thirds, and the bottom three sizes become letter size when folded in thirds. In FIG. 5, the "Paper Size" column shows the top-bottom and long-length sizes of the long sheets. The "Display Name" column shows examples of the names of the long sheets displayed as options in [Original Size] 45 and [Output Paper Size] 46. The top row shows an example of a display name in Japanese, and the bottom row in parentheses shows an example of a display name in English.

[0028] (Embodiment 1) <<Job with "A4_Tri-fold" set as the output paper size>> For example, assume that A4 size is selected as [Document size] 45, the long sheet size "A4_Tri-fold" shown in FIG. 5 is selected as the output paper size, and other items are set to predetermined conditions described later. In this case, the driver 26 sends a print job to the multifunction device 10 for making creases for folding in three on a long sheet of the selected size. The print job includes print data related to the job generated by the print data generation unit 26G, settings received by the setting reception unit 26R, and data on the creasing position determined by the creasing position determination unit 26P. Then, the multifunction device 10 is caused to execute the print job according to the settings. It is assumed that the user sets a long sheet corresponding to the selected output paper size in the manual feed tray 11M and feeds it.

[0029] FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic image printed on a long sheet by the above-mentioned job. As shown in FIG. 6, the A4 size print documents 61L, 61C, and 61R are arranged adjacently in the long direction to form an image printed on the long sheet 60 of the "A4_tri-fold" size. The print documents 61L, 61C, and 61R each have a long length of 210 mm, and the long length of the print documents arranged adjacently is 630 mm, which is equal to the long length of the "A4_tri-fold". When "A4_tri-fold" is selected as the output paper size, the driver 26 provides a margin area at the four edges of each print document in the same manner as in normal printing, i.e., when not borderless printing. That is, a margin area 63L without an image is provided at the four edges of the print document 61L, a margin area 63C is provided at the four edges of the print document 61C, and a margin area 63R is provided at the four edges of the print document 61R. The driver 26, functioning as the creasing position determining unit 26P, determines the initial position of the left creasing line 64L to be the boundary between the print documents 61L and 61C, which is 210 mm from the left end. The initial position of the right creasing line 64R is the boundary between the print documents 61C and 61R, which is 420 mm from the left end. As will be described later, the positions of the creasing lines 64L and 64R are each adjustable.

[0030] The above is a job for printing with creases for folding in three when A4 size is set as [Document size] 45, "A4_Trifold" is set as [Output paper size] 46, and other items are set to predetermined conditions. On the other hand, there is a case where both [Document size] 45 and [Output paper size] 46 are set to "A4_Trifold". Such a setting is made when a print manuscript of "A4_Trifold" size is created on the application. In that case, the driver 26 as the print data generating unit 26G generates print data that matches the size of the selected long sheet and has margin areas on the edges of all four sides. Although the job when "A4_Trifold" is set as [Output paper size] 46 is described, when "Letter_Trifold" is set as [Output paper size] 46 (the size of the long sheet shown in the fourth position in FIG. 5), the size of the folded paper is the same as "A4_Trifold" except that the size of the folded paper is letter size.

[0031] (Embodiment 2) <<Job with "A4_Tri-fold_Borderless_Cut" set as the output paper size>> Next, a case will be described in which A4 size is selected as [Document size] 45, the long sheet size "A4_Fold in three_No top and bottom borders_Cut" shown in Fig. 5 is selected as the output paper size, and other items are set to predetermined conditions. As in the case where "A4_Fold in three" is selected, the driver 26 sends to the multifunction device 10 a print job for making creases for folding in three on a long sheet of the selected size.

[0032] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic image printed on a long sheet by the above-mentioned job. As shown in FIG. 7, A4-sized print documents 71L, 71C, and 71R are arranged adjacent to each other in the long length direction, enlarged to a magnification that makes the print documents borderless in the top and bottom directions, and printed on a long sheet 70 of the "A4_folded in three_borderless_cut" size. As the image reduction and enlargement unit 26Z, the driver 26 enlarges the image of the document so that the margin areas provided on the four edges of each print document are borderless in the top and bottom directions when normal printing, i.e., when not borderless printing, is performed. That is, the print document 71L is enlarged at a magnification that makes the margin area 73L of the print document 71L borderless. Similarly, the print document 71C is enlarged so that the margin area 73C of the print document 71C is borderless, and the print document 71C is enlarged so that the margin area 73R of the print document 71R is borderless. Furthermore, the job is set so that the one shown in the lower part of FIG. 7, which has a left margin 72L and a right margin 72R, is printed. The print documents 71L, 71C, and 71R each have a length of 210 mm, and the length of the print documents arranged adjacent to each other is 630 mm. On the other hand, the length of "A4_tri-fold_borderless_trimmed" is 650 mm, which is 20 mm longer than the print document. In this embodiment, the driver 26 generates a job in which the margins 72L and 72R are set to the same width of 10 mm.

[0033] As described above, the driver 26 provides a margin of a predetermined width on the four edges of each of the print documents 71L, 71C, and 71R in normal printing. An example of the predetermined width is 2 mm for each of the four edges. The long side (the side in the vertical direction shown in FIG. 7) of the A4 size is 297 mm. Therefore, the 293 mm inside the margin is the image area of ​​the print document in the vertical direction. The short side (the side in the long dimension shown in FIG. 7) of the A4 size is 210 mm. Therefore, the 208 mm inside the margin is the image area of ​​the print document in the long dimension. Since the top and bottom borderless printing is a state in which the size of the image area of ​​the print document is matched to the top and bottom size of the sheet, it is printed by enlarging it by a factor of 297 (mm) / 293 (mm) (approximately 101.4%) with the center as the base in the vertical direction.

[0034] If the print document is enlarged at the same rate in the long direction to maintain its aspect ratio, the size of the print document's image area in the long direction will be approximately 210.9 mm, which extends beyond the 210 mm area of ​​A4 size. The margins on both ends of the long direction are there to prevent paper jams, and cannot be eliminated in the first place. Therefore, for long sheets with "A4_tri-fold_borderless_trimmed" selected for borderless printing, the length in the long direction is made 20 mm longer than 630 mm, which is three times the length of the short side of A4 size, to ensure margins on both ends of the long direction. The 10 mm margins on both ends are intended to be trimmed by the user after printing.

[0035] However, an overlapping area is created at the boundary between the print manuscript 71L and the print manuscript 71C. FIG. 7 shows an overlapping area 75L. Similarly, an overlapping area 75R is created at the portion where the print manuscript 71C and the print manuscript 71R are adjacent. Although there may be cases where the overlapping areas 75L and 75R are created, it is expected that there may be cases where it is desired to avoid overlapping. In this embodiment, the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R receives adjustments to shift the positions of the print manuscripts 71L, 71C, and 71R. This allows the user to set the image areas of the enlarged print manuscripts so that they do not overlap. In that case, if the adjacent print manuscripts are too far apart, a margin will be created between them, so the position adjustment may be accepted within a range where no margin is created. According to this aspect, the range in which the print position of each print manuscript can be adjusted can be limited to a range in which the adjacent print manuscripts are not too far apart to create a margin between them. Alternatively, there may be an aspect in which it is preferable to accept a wide adjustment range even if there is some margin between them. In that case, adjustments beyond the range where no margin is created between the two may be accepted. Also, if a wide adjustment range is preferred, position adjustments in the vertical direction as well as the longitudinal direction may be accepted.

[0036] As in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the driver 26 as the creasing position determining unit 26P determines the initial position of the left creasing line 74L to be the position of the print documents 71L and 71C. This is 210 mm from the left end. The initial position of the right creasing line 74R is the boundary between the print documents 71C and 71R. This is 420 mm from the left end. The positions of the creasing lines 74L and 74R are adjustable. According to this embodiment, when the print documents do not correspond to the size of a long sheet but consist of a plurality of print documents of the same fixed size, the setting receiving unit displays on the screen an image of the print documents lined up on the long sheet and the positions of the creasing lines, and the user can make adjustments as necessary while checking the screen.

[0037] The above is a job for printing with creasing for folding in three when A4 size is set as [Document size] 45, "A4_fold in three_borderless_cut" is set as [Output paper size] 46, and other items are set to predetermined conditions. On the other hand, there is a case where both [Document size] 45 and [Output paper size] 46 are set to "A4_fold in three_borderless_cut". Such a setting is made when a print document of "A4_fold in three_borderless_cut" size is created on the application. In that case, the driver 26 as the print data generating unit 26G generates print data for borderless printing that fits the size of the selected long sheet. The job when "A4_fold in three_borderless_cut" is set as [Output paper size] 46 is described. When "Letter_Fold in Three_No Borders_Cut" is set as [Output Paper Size] 46 (the size of the long sheet shown in the fifth position in FIG. 5), the size of the paper folded in three is letter size, and is otherwise the same as "A4_Fold in Three_No Borders_Cut."

[0038] (Embodiment 3) <<Job with "A4_Tri-fold_Borderless" set as the output paper size>> Next, a case will be described in which A4 size is selected as [Document size] 45, the long sheet size "A4_fold in three_borderless" shown in Fig. 5 is selected as the output paper size, and other items are set to predetermined conditions. As in the case where "A4_fold in three" or "A4_fold in three_borderless_trimmed" is set, the driver 26 sends to the multifunction device 10 a print job for adding creases for folding in three to a long sheet of the selected size.

[0039] FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an image printed on a long sheet by the above-mentioned job. As shown in FIG. 8, A4-sized print documents 71L, 71C, and 71R are arranged adjacent to each other in the long length direction, and are enlarged to a magnification that makes the print borderless, and printed on a long sheet 80 of "A4_folded in three_borderless" size. This is the same as the job related to "A4_folded in three_borderless_cut" described in the second embodiment. However, the long sheet "A4_folded in three_borderless_cut" according to the second embodiment is assumed to be cut by the user at both ends after printing, and has a long length size of 650 mm, which is longer than three times the short side of the A4 size (630 mm). In contrast, the long sheet "A4_folded in three_borderless" according to this embodiment has a long length size of 630 mm, the same as that of the first embodiment. In the first embodiment, since the document is not enlarged to make it borderless, there is a margin of a certain width (2 mm in the above example) at both ends in the longitudinal direction. In this embodiment, however, each print document is enlarged to make it borderless as in the second embodiment, so there is no margin at both ends in the longitudinal direction (see the middle part of FIG. 8). Therefore, a gradation area is provided in which the image density at both ends of the print document gradually decreases the closer it is to both ends, thereby preventing paper jams. That is, as shown in the lower part of FIG. 8, a gradation area 86L is provided at the left end of the long sheet 80, and gradation areas 86R are provided at both ends.

[0040] The gradation areas 86L and 86R may be generated on an application that creates a print document, but the driver 26 as the print data generating unit 26G may set a job so that the gradation areas are generated in the print data generating unit 26G. In other words, the image forming unit 17 of the multifunction device 10 may be set to generate the gradation areas 86L and 86R.

[0041] As in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the driver 26 as the creasing position determining unit 26P determines the initial position of the left crease 84L to be the position of the print document 81L and the print document 81C. It is 210 mm from the left end. The initial position of the right crease 84R is the boundary position between the print document 81C and the print document 81R. It is 420 mm from the left end. The positions of the creases 84L and 84R are adjustable. Also, as in the second embodiment, the driver accepts adjustments of the positions of the print documents 81L, 81C, and 81R so that the overlapping area 85L and the overlapping area 85R are not formed. A long sheet is conveyed in the long direction, and according to this embodiment, when there is no or small margins at the leading and trailing ends required for printing in relation to the size of the long sheet, the image is formed so that the image density near both ends gradually decreases, thereby ensuring the required margins. This allows for borderless printing without the user having to cut both ends after printing.

[0042] The above is a job for printing with creasing for folding in three when A4 size is set as [manuscript size] 45, "A4_fold in three_borderless" is set as [output paper size] 46, and other items are set to predetermined conditions. On the other hand, there is a case where both [manuscript size] 45 and [output paper size] 46 are set to "A4_fold in three_borderless". Such a setting is made when a print manuscript of "A4_fold in three_borderless" size is created on the application. In that case, the driver 26 as the print data generating unit 26G generates print data for borderless printing that matches the selected long sheet size. The job when "A4_fold in three_borderless" is set as [output paper size] 46 has been described. When "letter_fold in three_borderless" is set as [output paper size] 46 (the size of the long sheet shown in the sixth position in FIG. 5), the size of the folded in three is letter size, but it is the same as "A4_fold in three_borderless".

[0043] <<Settings for other items related to the job settings for creasing printing for tri-fold>> In the above-mentioned first to third embodiments, it has been stated that a job for printing with creasing for folding in three is instructed when any of the long sheets shown in Fig. 5 is selected as the output paper size and other items are set to predetermined conditions. The settings of the other items in this case will be described below. Figs. 9 to 11 are explanatory diagrams showing examples of print setting screens related to the other items. FIG. 9 shows a state where the [Paper Feed] tab 91P is selected on the print setting screen 90 similar to that shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 9, the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R displays [Paper Type] 92 as one of the setting items in the setting area 42 and receives the selection of the paper type of the paper used for printing (long sheet in this embodiment). Some of the selectable paper types are described on the right side of the setting area 42. In this embodiment, the paper types for which creasing is effective are "Thick Paper-1" to "Thick Paper-2" among them. Since long paper with a small basis weight (thin) such as thin paper or plain paper tends to be more prone to skewed feeding than long paper with a large basis weight, thin paper and plain paper are excluded from the paper types for which creasing is effective in consideration of the stability of paper feeding. In addition to the above-mentioned "Thick Paper-1" and "Thick Paper-2", user types 1 to 11 (not shown in FIG. 9) linked to information related to paper created by the user themselves can also be paper types for which creasing is effective. The driver 26, acting as the setting reception unit 26R, will instruct a job for creasing printing for tri-folding, on the condition that “Thick Paper-1”, “Thick Paper-2”, or any of the user types 1 to 11 of suitable paper information is set as the [Paper Type] 92.

[0044] 10 shows a state in which the [Finishing] tab 101F is selected on the print setting screen 100. As shown in FIG. 10, the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R displays [Punch] 102 in the setting area 42 as one of the setting items of the finishing function, and receives the setting of the punch function. In this embodiment, the creasing function can be set as one type of [Punch] 102. This is because the creasing mechanism in this embodiment also functions as a multi-hole punch by replacing the unit. The driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R instructs a job of creasing printing for tri-folding on the condition that "Creasing press" is set as [Punch] 102. The settings related to [Paper type] 92 and [Punch] 102 described above are essential conditions for instructing a job of creasing printing for folding in three. The settings related to borderless printing and the settings related to the adjustment of the crease position and the position adjustment of the print document described below are not essential conditions for instructing a job of creasing printing for folding in three, but are conditions that can be set. FIG. 11 shows a state in which the [Layout] tab 111L is selected on the print setting screen 110. As shown in FIG. 11, the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R displays a check box for [Borderless printing for top and bottom] 112 and a setting button for [Long paper folding in three settings] 113 in the setting area 42 as one of the setting items of the finishing function, and receives those settings. The initial state of enable / disable of [Borderless printing for top and bottom] 112 is linked to the selection of [Document size] 45 and [Output paper size] 46 as shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8. It is also linked to the selection of various items shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 10. However, when an operation is performed to switch the setting of [Borderless printing] 112 between enabled and disabled, the driver 26 receives the operation as the setting reception unit 26R. [Long paper tri-fold setting] 113 will be described later, but if an operation is not performed to change the setting, the positions of the creases and the positions of each print document will be the initial positions shown in Figures 6 to 8.

[0045] When the setting button of [Long Paper Tri-Folding Setting] 113 is operated, the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R opens a window of the long paper tri-folding setting screen separately from the print setting screen 110. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the long paper tri-folding setting screen 120. As shown in FIG. 12, the long paper tri-folding setting screen 120 includes an image to be printed on the selected long sheet and a line position illustration 121 showing the line position. The line position illustration 121 shows the position of the left line from the left end of the long sheet as A and the position of the right line from the left end of the long sheet as B. To the right of the line position illustration 121, there are arranged selection items of line position adjustment 122 for the left line position A, line position adjustment 123 for the right line position B, and unit showing the line position. The driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R accepts the setting of line position adjustment 122 for the left line position A and line position adjustment 123 for the right line position B. 12, numerical input or an increase or decrease in numerical value in increments of 0.1 (mm) is accepted for each of the score positions A and B. The score position in score position illustration 121 is then updated in accordance with the adjustment. According to this embodiment, the setting acceptance unit presents a position according to the selected long sheet size as the initial score position, and the user can make adjustments as necessary while checking on the screen the print document and score position for the long sheet.

[0046] An [OK] button 125, an [Auto Adjust] button 126, and an [Advanced Settings] button 127 are located at the bottom of the long paper tri-fold setting screen 120. When the driver 26, acting as the setting reception unit 26R, accepts the operation of the [OK] button 125, it adopts the crease position set at that time and closes the window of the long paper tri-fold setting screen 120. When the driver 26 accepts the operation of the [Auto Adjust] button 126, it sets the initial position of the crease according to the selected output paper size as the crease position, regardless of the crease position set at that time. When the driver 26 accepts the operation of the [Advanced Settings] button 127, it opens a detailed settings window that accepts adjustments to the print position of each print document, separate from the long paper tri-fold setting screen 120.

[0047] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a detailed setting screen 130. As shown in FIG. 13, the detailed setting screen 130 includes a print position illustration 131 showing the print position of each print manuscript. The print position illustration 131 shows the position of each print manuscript of A4 size printed on a selected long sheet. When an operation for any print manuscript is accepted, the operated print manuscript is made the target of adjustment. In the example shown in FIG. 13, the print manuscript on the left end is in a selected state, and the outline is displayed in a thick color and an illustration of an arrow showing the adjustable direction is superimposed on the print manuscript. The adjustment to eliminate the overlapping area of ​​the print manuscript enlarged for top and bottom borderless printing is an adjustment in the length direction. However, it is also possible to accept adjustments in the top and bottom directions as well as the length direction. The detailed setting screen shown in FIG. 13 is an example in which adjustments in the top and bottom directions as well as the length direction are accepted.

[0048] To the right of the print position illustration 131, a print position adjustment 132 is arranged to receive adjustment of the print position of the selected print document. The print position adjustment 132 is an arrow button that moves the print position in each of the four directions. The driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R receives the operation of the print position adjustment 132 for the selected print document. Then, the position of the print document in the print position illustration 131 is updated according to the adjustment. An [OK] button 133 and a [Restore Default] button are arranged at the bottom of the detailed setting screen 130. When the driver 26 as the setting reception unit 26R receives the operation of the [OK] button 133, it adopts the print positions of each print document set at that time and closes the window of the detailed setting screen 130. When the driver 26 receives the operation of the [Restore Default] button, it sets the position of the selected print document to the reference position (initial position) shown in FIG. 6 to FIG. 8 regardless of the print position set at that time. The above is an example of the setting of other items when the driver 26 instructs a job of creasing printing for tri-folding. According to this aspect, when a print document is made up of a plurality of print documents of the same fixed size and is enlarged to print borderless, images of adjacent print documents may overlap depending on the size of the margins of the original print documents, but the overlap can be avoided by adjusting the print position of each print document.

[0049] It should be understood that the present disclosure also includes any combination of the above-described aspects. In addition to the above-described embodiment, various modifications of the present disclosure are possible. These modifications should not be interpreted as not belonging to the scope of the present disclosure. The invention according to the present disclosure should include all modifications that are equivalent to the scope of the claims and that belong to the scope of the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0050] 10: multifunction device, 10B: main body, 11B: main body paper feed tray, 11L: large capacity paper feed tray, 11M: manual feed tray, 11T: transport unit, 12: curl correction unit, 13: inserter, 14: pre-processing unit, 15: finisher, 16: document feeder, 17: image forming unit, 18: scanner unit, 19: operation unit, 20: image forming system, 21: control unit, 21J: job control unit, 21M: image control unit, 21P: peripheral device control unit, 21U: operation control unit, 22: communication circuit, 24: information processing device, 24M: PC storage unit, 24N: network communication unit, 24U: PC operation unit, 25: PC control unit, 25U: PC operation control unit, 26: driver, 26G: print data generation unit, 26P: creasing position determination unit, 26R: setting reception section, 26Z: image reduction / enlargement section, 31: transport path, 32: transport roller, 35: convex section, 36: pressing member, 37: receiving member, 40, 90, 100, 110: print setting screen, 41: tab, 41M: [Main] tab, 42: setting area, 43: print image, 44: machine illustration, 45: [Original size], 46: [Output paper size], 60, 70, 80: long sheet, 61C, 61L, 61R, 71C, 71L, 71R, 81C, 81L, 81R: print original, 63C, 63L, 63R, 73C, 73L, 73R: margin area, 64L, 64R, 74L, 74R, 84L, 84R: streaks, 72L,72R:Margins, 75L,75R,85L,85R:Overlap area, 86L,86R:Gradation area, 91P:[Paper source] tab, 92:[Paper type], 101F:[Finishing] tab, 102:[Punch], 111L:[Layout] tab, 112:[Borderless printing], 113:[Long paper tri-fold settings], 120:Long paper tri-fold settings screen, 121:Creasing position illustration, 122,123:Creasing position adjustment, 125,133:[OK] button, 126:[Auto adjustment] button, 127:[Advanced settings] button, 130:Advanced settings screen, 131:Printing position illustration, 132:Printing position adjustment

Claims

1. A driver installed in an information processing device capable of communicating with an image forming device including an image forming unit that forms an image on a long sheet and a creasing mechanism that makes creases for folding at a plurality of positions in a long direction of the long sheet, the driver receiving job settings related to image formation and sending instructions to the image forming device, a setting receiving unit that receives a selection of the long sheet, a setting of a creasing function for making the creasing marks on the selected long sheet, and a setting of a position of the creasing marks; a creasing position determination unit that determines a position where the creasing is to be performed in accordance with the setting, The setting reception unit is a driver that displays a display image of a print document and the position of the streaks superimposed on a display image corresponding to a selected long sheet on a screen of the information processing device and receives settings for the position of the streaks.

2. The setting reception unit displays a predetermined position corresponding to the selected size of the long sheet on a screen as an initial position of the crease, The driver according to claim 1 , wherein the setting reception unit receives an adjustment for changing a position of each streak in the longitudinal direction from the initial position, and moves and displays the position of the streak on the screen in accordance with the received adjustment.

3. The driver described in claim 2, wherein the setting reception unit arranges print documents of the same standard size, one more than the number of stitches, adjacent to each other in the long dimension, and if the long sheet is longer than the length of the lined up print documents, leaves margins on both ends in the long dimension, and sets the boundaries between adjacent print documents as the initial positions of each stitch.

4. an image reducing / enlarging unit that enlarges each print document in a top-bottom direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the long sheet so as to eliminate a margin area of ​​each print document; the print document is made up of a plurality of documents of the standard size, The driver according to claim 3, wherein the setting reception unit displays an image of each enlarged print document lined up in the long direction and each streak superimposed on an image corresponding to the size of the long sheet, and accepts adjustments to the printing position of each print document.

5. The driver according to claim 4 , wherein the setting reception unit receives the adjustment of the print position within a range in which no blank space is generated between adjacent print documents.

6. A print data generating unit is further provided for generating and outputting print data according to the setting. The driver described in claim 3, wherein the setting reception unit causes the print data generation unit to generate print data adjusted so that the density of images near both ends of the arranged multiple print documents gradually decreases as they approach both ends when the longitudinal lengths of the multiple print documents arranged in the longitudinal direction and the longitudinal length of a selected long sheet are the same or the difference is less than a predetermined value.

7. The driver according to claim 1 , wherein the setting receiving section receives a setting for the creasing function for folding the long sheet in thirds.

8. a driver processor installed in an information processing device capable of communicating with an image forming device having an image forming unit that forms an image on a long sheet and a creasing mechanism that makes creases for folding at a plurality of positions in the long direction of the long sheet, the driver processor receiving job settings related to image formation and sending instructions to the image forming device; A step of accepting a selection of the long sheet, a creasing function for creasing the selected long sheet, and a setting of a position of the creasing; determining a position for making the incision in accordance with the setting, The step of accepting the settings is a setting method for long sheet printing in which a display image corresponding to the selected long sheet is superimposed on a display image of a print document and the position of the grain, and the display image is displayed on the screen of the information processing device, and the setting of the position of the grain is accepted.

9. an image forming unit that forms an image on a long sheet; a scoring mechanism for scoring the long sheet at a plurality of positions in the long direction for folding; A communication circuit for communicating with an external information processing device; a job control unit that performs processing in response to job settings and instructions related to image formation received from the information processing device via the communication circuit, The job control unit is an image forming device that, when the settings of a received job include a creasing function, performs image formation on a specified long sheet and controls so as to create creasing at a specified position on the long sheet.

Images