Email Print Suspension for Missed Job Correction
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image forming apparatuses with email print functions do not allow users to easily cancel or modify print jobs sent from portable terminals, leading to a high frequency of unintended or incorrect prints due to the inability to suspend or change processes after the email is sent.
Innovation Solution
An image forming apparatus with a receiving part, a print outputting part, a stop controlling part, a determining part, and an email processing part that temporarily suspends the receiving and printing processes, allowing users to input instruction information to cancel or modify print jobs, enabling users to delete or change print settings even after the email is received.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the email print function automatically processes received emails without suspension capability, then the printing process is simple and fast, but the user cannot cancel or modify print jobs after sending emails, leading to high frequency of miss prints
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary suspension of the print process upon receiving an email, pausing before actual printing occurs. This allows the user to intervene and cancel or modify the print job before it is executed, preventing miss prints while maintaining operational simplicity
Solution Approach 2:
The print process is made dynamic by introducing a suspendable state. The system can transition from automatic processing to suspended state upon receiving control signals, allowing flexible intervention without complicating the basic automatic print function
2Reliability
If the system temporarily suspends the receiving and printing processes to allow user intervention, then users can cancel or modify print jobs, but the printing process becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The control logic for suspension and resumption is extracted as a separate functional module. This modular approach allows the complex control functionality to be added without significantly complicating the core print processing logic, maintaining system reliability while managing complexity
Solution Approach 2:
An intermediary control mechanism is introduced between email reception and print execution. This intermediary layer handles the suspension and resumption logic, isolating the complexity from both the email receiving process and the print output process
3Ease of operation
If the system allows user input to specify processing instructions after email reception, then user-friendliness is improved, but the processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic checking or event-driven activation for user input rather than continuous monitoring. The suspension state waits for user input signals, and resumption occurs periodically or upon detecting specific input events, balancing user-friendliness with processing efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus, comprises: a receiving part for receiving an email at a predetermined time; a print outputting part for producing a printed output of data contained in the received email; a stop controlling part for temporarily suspending the receiving process by the receiving part or the process to produce the printed output by the print outputting part; a determining part for receiving an input of instruction information specifying a processing to process the received email and determining the processing to process the received email in accordance with the input instruction information while the stop controlling part is temporarily suspending the process; and an email processing part for performing the processing determined by the determining part to process the received email while the process is being temporarily suspended by the stop controlling part or after the temporary suspension by the stop controlling part is cancelled.