CN101651765A

CN101651765A - Image forming apparatus

Info

Publication number: CN101651765A
Application number: CN 200910164845
Authority: CN
Inventors: 新井浩之; 工藤公生; 小沼繁雄
Original assignee: Konica Minolta Inc
Current assignee: Konica Minolta Inc
Priority date: 2008-08-11
Filing date: 2009-08-11
Publication date: 2010-02-17
Anticipated expiration: 2029-08-11
Also published as: CN101651765B; JP5051052B2; JP2010044141A

Abstract

Disclosed is an image forming apparatus including an image forming section to perform image formation based on a plurality of jobs, including: a control section to allow a display section to display switching information showing that a paper feeding tray to be used in performing the job is to be switched, the switching information displayed before the plurality of jobs are performed by the image forming section.

Description

Image forming apparatus with a toner supply unit

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an image forming system.

Background

Recently, in the field of image forming operations, in an image forming apparatus including a plurality of paper feeding trays, the image forming operations are performed by using paper having different characteristics such as various paper types, sizes, and the like.

In such an image forming operation field, a user performs various adjustments, paper replenishment, and the like on the image forming apparatus. In order to smoothly perform an image forming operation, a user needs to know which paper feeding tray is used in a job before the job is performed, and needs to adjust the paper feeding tray in advance, replenish the tray with paper, and the like.

Conventionally, in order to enhance the convenience of a paper replenishing operation or the like by a user, a printing system is disclosed in which the progress of each job is displayed on a display unit (see japanese patent application laid-open No. 2004-348713, hereinafter referred to as patent document 1). In the example of patent document 1, the progress is displayed as a graph on the screen of the display unit, in which the paper types are arranged along the vertical axis, and the operation time and the number of sheets used are arranged on the horizontal axis.

In the field of performing image forming operations, there are cases where a job (a large number of jobs) in which many sheets of paper are used is performed. In this case, the number of sheets is not sufficient in the case of using only the sheets stored in one paper feeding tray, and therefore the sheets stored in a plurality of paper feeding trays are used. Here, the paper feeding tray used in the job is automatically switched.

When such a large amount of jobs are performed, with the technique disclosed in patent document 1, information (switching information) relating to when paper in which paper feeding tray is used up and to which paper feeding tray the tray used in the job is to be switched cannot be displayed. In other words, with the technique disclosed in patent document 1, the user cannot know the switching information before executing the job.

In addition, in order to stably operate the image forming apparatus, there are cases where: the user desires to prohibit automatic switching to a paper feeding tray or the like in which front-back adjustment (adjustment of image forming positions of the front and back sides of paper) is not adjusted, so that automatic switching to the unadjusted paper feeding tray or the like is not performed. However, with the technique disclosed in patent document 1, the switching information cannot be displayed, so it is difficult to prohibit the automatic switching.

In addition, in order to stably operate the image forming apparatus, there is a case where a user desires to change the priority order of automatic switching of the paper feeding tray having a small remaining amount of paper among the plurality of paper feeding trays. However, with the technique disclosed in patent document 1, the switching information cannot be displayed, and thus it is difficult to change the priority order of switching.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is one of the main objects of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus which can easily use the image forming apparatus by obtaining information related to execution of a plurality of jobs before executing the jobs on the image forming apparatus in which the plurality of jobs can be reserved.

Another object is to provide an image forming apparatus in which a user can know switching information of a paper feeding tray to be used when a job is performed before the job is performed.

Another object is to provide an image forming apparatus in which a user can know which paper feeding tray to use when performing a job before performing the job.

Since the user can easily recognize in advance the number of sheets to be used in a plurality of reserved jobs in association with the respective tray information or sheet information, another object is to prevent a decrease in the operating rate in the image forming apparatus in which a plurality of jobs can be reserved.

In order to achieve at least one of the above objects, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including an image forming portion for performing image formation based on a plurality of jobs, the image forming apparatus including:

a control section for allowing the display section to display switching information showing that the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed is to be switched, and the switching information is displayed before the plurality of jobs are executed by the image forming section.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including an image forming portion for performing image formation based on a plurality of jobs, the image forming apparatus including:

a control section for allowing the display section to display the specified paper feeding tray information and the automatically selected paper feeding tray information on the same screen in a display form different from the specified paper feeding tray information, and these pieces of information are displayed before the plurality of jobs are executed by the image forming section.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including a reservation section that can reserve a plurality of jobs and an image forming section that executes an image forming process according to the job reserved by the reservation section, the image forming apparatus including:

a control section for displaying a job scheduling screen on a display section, wherein the job scheduling screen displays reservation information of each reserved job on a two-dimensional table in which a first axis shows tray information or paper information and a second axis shows the number of sheets of paper to be used; wherein,

the control section specifies a tray or a sheet to be used in each job based on a setting condition of each reserved job, and displays reservation information at a position on a first axis corresponding to the specified tray or sheet in a length of a second axis corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used in each job.

Drawings

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings, which are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention, wherein:

fig. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic cross-sectional structure of an image forming apparatus of a first embodiment;

fig. 2 is a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus of the first embodiment;

fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the ATS setting screen;

fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the ATS setting screen;

fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an automatic selection setting screen and a priority setting screen;

fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of an automatic selection setting screen and a priority setting screen;

fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a job scheduling screen;

fig. 8A is a diagram showing an example of display of a bar when ATS setting is not completed;

fig. 8B is a diagram showing an example of display of a bar when the ATS setting is completed and the ATS is possible;

fig. 8C is a diagram showing an example of display of a bar when the ATS setting is completed and the ATS is not possible;

fig. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a job scheduling screen;

fig. 10 is a flowchart showing a flow of the display processing;

fig. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of the display processing;

fig. 12 is a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus of the second embodiment;

fig. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an automatic selection setting screen and a priority setting screen;

fig. 14 is a diagram showing an example of an automatic selection setting screen and a priority setting screen;

fig. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a job scheduling screen;

fig. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a job scheduling screen;

fig. 17 is a flowchart showing a flow of the display processing;

fig. 18 is a flowchart showing a flow of the display processing;

FIG. 19 is a front view showing a schematic structure of an image forming apparatus of a third embodiment;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of an image forming apparatus of the third embodiment;

fig. 21 is an example of a disc information table for storing disc sheet information;

fig. 22 is a diagram showing an example of a job scheduling screen;

fig. 23 is a diagram showing an example of an updated job scheduling screen;

fig. 24 is a flowchart showing the flow of job progress screen display processing; and

fig. 25 is a flowchart showing the flow of job progress screen display processing.

Detailed Description

Preferred embodiments reflecting an aspect of the present invention are described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the scope of the invention is not limited to the illustrated examples.

First embodiment

A first embodiment of the present invention is explained with reference to fig. 1 to 11. First, a diagram showing a schematic cross-sectional structure of an image forming apparatus 1 of the first embodiment will be explained with reference to fig. 1.

As shown in fig. 1, an image forming apparatus 1 of the first embodiment is a digital multifunction peripheral including a main body portion 1a and a finisher (finisher)50 and the like, wherein the main body portion 1a is used to read an image from an original to form an image of the read image on a sheet P, or to receive job information of a job including page data of the image data or setting information such as an image forming condition of each piece of image data from an external apparatus or the like to form an image based on the received job information on the sheet P, and the finisher 50 is used to perform finishing processing and the like on the sheet having the formed image. The main body portion 1a includes an image reading portion 20, an operation/display portion 30, a printing portion 40, and the like.

The image reading section 20 includes an automatic document feeder section 21 called an Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) and a reading section 22, and realizes a function of reading images of a plurality of originals based on setting information received on the operation/display section 30. The original d placed on the original tray T1 of the automatic document feeding section 21 is conveyed to a contact glass (contact glass) where the original is read, an image on one side or both sides of the original d is read by an optical system, and the image of the original d is read by a Charge Coupled Device (CCD)22 a. Here, the image is not limited to image data such as graphics, pictures, and the like, and includes text data such as characters, symbols, and the like.

Image data (analog image signal) of the image read by the image reading portion 20 is output to a reading processing portion 140 of an image control substrate described later, and after the reading processing portion 140 performs analog-to-digital conversion (a/D conversion) and various image processing, the data is output to the printing portion 40.

The operation/display section 30 includes a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)31, a touch panel 32 provided to cover the LCD 31, and other operation key groups not shown. The operation/display section 30 receives an instruction from a user to output an operation signal to the control section 110, and displays various setting screens for inputting various operation instructions or setting information, various processing results, and the like according to the display signal input from the control section 110.

The LCD 31 functions as a display portion that displays an operation screen including a plurality of buttons to show various operation instructions, and outputs operation signals for showing the received instructions on the respective screens to a control portion 110 described later.

In addition, the touch panel 32 receives a selection instruction of a button on the operation screen according to a press signal on the operation screen.

The printing portion 40 performs an image forming process using electrophotography based on input print data, and includes a loading portion 41, a sheet conveying portion 42, an image forming portion 43, and a discharging portion 44.

The loading section 41 includes a plurality of

paper feeding trays

411a, 411b, 411c, a paper feeding section 41b, a manual paper feeding tray T2, and the like. Fig. 1 shows a structure including three

paper feeding trays

411a, 411b, 411c as a plurality of paper feeding trays, however, the structure may include three or more paper feeding trays (not shown). Each paper feeding tray stores paper P distinguished in advance according to paper type for each paper feeding tray, and the paper feeding section 41b conveys each paper P one by one from above to the paper conveying section 42.

The manual feeding tray T2 can load various types of paper sheets P according to the user's demand and feed the loaded paper sheets P one by one from the upper part to the paper conveying section 42 by the paper feeding roller.

The sheet conveying section 42 conveys the sheets P conveyed from the respective sheet feeding trays or manual sheet feeding trays T2 to the transfer device 43a by a plurality of intermediate rollers, registration rollers 42a, and the like. Further, the paper conveying section 42 conveys the paper P, on one side of which the image forming process is completed, to the duplex conveying path using the conveying path switching plate, and conveys the paper P to the transfer roller 43a by conveying the paper P again by the intermediate roller and the registration roller 42 a.

The image forming portion 43 includes a photosensitive drum, a charging device, an exposure device including a laser output portion for outputting laser light based on image data and a polygon mirror for allowing the laser light to scan in a main scanning direction, a developing device, a transfer device 43a, a cleaning portion, and a fixing device 43b, and includes a function of forming an image on a sheet based on job information. Specifically, an electrostatic latent image is formed by exposing laser light to the photosensitive drum charged by the charging device with an exposure device. Then, the developing device applies the charged toner to the surface of the photosensitive drum at which the electrostatic latent image is formed to develop the electrostatic latent image. The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum by the developing device is transferred to the paper P by the transfer device 43 a. In addition, after the toner image is transferred to the paper P, residual toner and the like on the surface of the photosensitive drum are removed by the cleaning portion.

The fixing device 43b thermally fixes the toner image transferred onto the paper P conveyed from the paper conveying portion 42. The paper P on which the fixing process is performed is nipped by the paper discharge rollers of the discharge section 44 and conveyed from the discharge port to the finisher 50.

The finisher 50 includes various finishing processing units such as a sorting unit for performing a sorting process on the sheets P on which images are formed, a folding unit for performing a folding process, a punching unit for performing a punching process, a stapling unit for performing a stapling process to staple a batch of sheets P at set stapling positions, and a discharge tray T3 for discharging and loading the sheets P on which images are formed by the main body portion 1a and the sheets P on which various finishing processes have been performed, and the like.

Fig. 2 is a diagram showing a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus.

As shown in fig. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a main body portion 1a, a printer controller 1b, and a finisher 50 connected to the main body portion 1 a. The image forming apparatus 1 is connected to enable transmission and reception of information to and from a PC2 on the network 3 and a PC2 on the network 3 through a Local Area Network Interface (LANIF)14 as a receiving portion of the printer controller 1 b.

The main body portion 1a includes an image reading portion 20, an operation/display portion 30, a printing portion 40, and an image control substrate 100. Incidentally, the same reference numerals are applied to the same structures as the respective portions described in fig. 1 and this specification, and the description thereof is omitted.

The image control substrate 100 includes a control portion 110 as a switching portion and a control portion, a nonvolatile memory 120, a Random Access Memory (RAM)130, a read processing portion 140, a compression IC150, a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) control IC 160, an image memory 170, a decompression IC 180, a write processing portion 190, and the like.

The control section 110 includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like. The control section 110 reads out a designated program from the system program and various application programs stored in the nonvolatile memory 120 to expand the program to the RAM 130, and executes various processes and centralized control of the respective sections of the image forming apparatus 1 in accordance with the program expanded to the RAM 130.

Specifically, when image formation based on a plurality of jobs is performed, the control section 110 displays switching information to show that the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is performed is to be switched on the LCD 31 before the plurality of jobs are performed.

Here, the switching information includes paper feeding tray information described later, information of job execution time or number of sheets of paper to be used, information showing estimated remaining amount of paper, information showing switching time, and information showing which paper feeding tray is to be switched.

The paper feeding tray information is information displayed in a later-described vertical axis display section 71B. The information of the job execution time or the number of sheets of paper to be used is information displayed in a horizontal axis display section 71c described later. The information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper is a display pattern displayed in the later-described horizontal bars 71E to 71M. The information showing the switching time is a line a described later. The information showing which paper feeding tray is to be switched is an ATS display section 71O (or ATS button icon 91A) described later.

Next, an operation of the control section 110 when the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray used when performing the job is used up when performing the job is explained. In this case, the control section 110 automatically switches the paper feeding tray storing paper having the same size as the paper stored in the paper feeding tray having no remaining amount of paper to the paper feeding tray used when performing the job in accordance with the priority of switching the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job.

For example, a job is performed with the paper feeding tray 1 (paper feeding tray having paper feeding tray number information 1 described later, the paper feeding tray is hereinafter represented in correspondence with the paper feeding tray number information), and a4 paper stored in the paper feeding tray 1 has no remaining amount. In addition, the priority order of the paper feeding tray 2 is high, and it stores a4 paper. In this case, the control section 110 switches the paper feeding tray used in the job from the paper feeding tray 1 to the paper feeding tray 2.

The nonvolatile memory 120 stores the display program of the present embodiment.

The RAM 130 forms a work area for temporarily storing various programs executed by the control section 100, various data related to the programs, and the like.

The reading processing section 140 performs various processes such as an analog process, an a/D conversion process, a shading process (shading), and the like on the analog image signal input from the image reading control section 200 of the image reading section 20 to generate digital image data. The generated image data is output to the compression IC 150.

The compression IC150 performs compression processing on the input digital image data and outputs the data to the DRAM control IC 160.

The DRAM control IC 160 controls compression processing of image data by the compression IC150 and decompression processing of compressed image data by the decompression IC 180 according to an instruction from the control section 110, and performs input-output control of image data to the image memory 170 and image data from the image memory 170.

For example, when there is an instruction to store the image signal read by the image reading section 20, the DRAM control IC 160 allows the compression IC150 to perform compression processing on the image data input from the read processing section 140 and store the compressed image data in the compression memory 171 of the image memory 170. In addition, when there is a print output instruction for the compressed image data stored in the compression memory 171, the compressed image data is read out from the compression memory 171 and subjected to decompression processing by the decompression IC 180 to be stored in the page memory 172. Then, when there is a print output instruction to the image data stored in the page memory 172, the image data is read out from the page memory 172 and output to the write processing section 190.

The image memory 170 includes a compression memory 171 made up of a dynamic ram (dram) and a page memory 172. The compression memory 171 is a memory for storing compressed image data, and the page memory 172 is a memory for temporarily storing image data (print data) for print output.

The decompression IC 180 performs decompression processing on the compressed image data.

The write processing section 190 generates image-forming print data based on the image data input from the DRAM control IC 160, and outputs the data to the printing section 40.

The image reading section 20 includes a CCD 22a and an image reading control section 200, and also includes other components not shown here but shown in fig. 1, such as an automatic document feeding section 21 and a reading section 22. The image reading control section 200 controls the automatic document feeding section 21, the reading section 22, and the like to perform scanning of exposing the surface of the original to light, so that the CCD 22a performs photoelectric conversion of reflected light to read an image. The read analog image signal is output to the read processing section 140.

The operation/display section 30 includes an LCD 31, a touch panel 32, an operation/display control section 300, and an operation key group such as a numeric keypad. The operation/display control section 300 displays various screens for inputting various setting conditions, various processing results, and the like on the LCD 31 according to the display signal input from the control section 110. In addition, the operation/display control section 300 outputs operation signals input from various switches or buttons, a numeric keypad, an operation key group, the touch panel 32, or the like to the control section 110.

The printing section 40 includes a print control section 400 and various print output-related sections such as the image forming section 43 shown in fig. 1. The print control section 400 controls the operations of the respective sections of the printing section 40 such as the image forming section 43 according to instructions from the control section 110 to perform image formation on the paper P based on the print data input from the write processing section 190, and outputs instruction signals to the finishing processing control section 500 according to instructions from the control section 110 to operate the respective sections of the finisher 50.

The finisher 50 is provided with various finishing processing units, a conveyance medium such as a conveyance roller for conveying the sheet P to the various finishing processing units, a sheet discharge tray T3 for discharging the sheet P conveyed from the various finishing processing units, and the like, and centrally controls the various finishing processing units by a finishing processing control section 500. The finishing control section 500 conveys the paper P to a predetermined finishing processing unit along the conveyance path according to an instruction signal of finishing processing input from the control section 110 via the print control section 400, controls driving of the respective sections to perform predetermined finishing processing on the paper P, and controls discharge of the paper to the paper discharge tray T3.

Next, each part of the printer controller 1b is explained. When the image forming apparatus 1 is used as a network printer, the printer controller 1b performs management and control of image data and jobs input to the image forming apparatus 1 from the PC2 connected to the network 3. The printer controller 1b receives data from the PC2, and sends the data to the main body portion 1a as image data or a job associated with an operation manual.

The printer controller 1b includes a controller control portion 11, a DRAM control IC 12, an image memory 13, and a LANIF 14.

The controller control section 11 centrally controls the operations of the respective sections of the printer controller 1b, and transmits data input from the PC2 as a job to the main body section 1a through the LANIF 14.

The DRAM control IC 12 stores data received through the LANIF 14 in the image memory 13, and controls reading of data from the image memory 13. In addition, the DRAM control IC 12 is connected with the DRAM control IC 160 of the image control substrate 100 by a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, and reads data as a printing target from the image memory 13 and outputs the data to the DRAM control IC 160 in accordance with an instruction from the controller control section 11.

The image memory 13 includes a DRAM, and temporarily stores input output data.

The LANIF 14 is a communication interface for connecting to a network 3 such as a LAN or the like of a Network Interface Card (NIC), a modem, or the like, and receives data from the PC 2. The received data is output to the DRAM control IC 12.

Next, an example of the ATS setting screen is explained with reference to fig. 3 and 4. ATS means automatic switching of a paper feeding tray used when performing a job. The display screen 31A shown in fig. 3 is an example of a screen displayed on the LCD 31 when the ATS setting is performed. On the display screen 31A, when the user presses the ATS enable setting button 31B, a display screen 41A shown in fig. 4 is displayed on the LCD 31. The display screen 41A is a screen for setting whether to perform ATS setting. When the user presses the ON button 41B and then presses the OK button 41D, the ATS is set. When the OFF button 41C is pressed, ATS is not set.

Next, an example of an automatic selection setting screen and a priority order setting screen of the paper feeding tray to be used for performing the job will be described with reference to fig. 5 and 6. The display screen shown in fig. 5 is the same display screen 31A as the display screen shown in fig. 3. On the display screen 31A, when the user presses the paper feeding tray automatic selection button 31C, a display screen 61A shown in fig. 6 is displayed on the LCD 31. The display screen 61A displays an automatic selection setting section 61B and a disc priority order setting section 61C. The automatic selection setting section 61B is a setting section for setting automatic selection of a paper feeding tray to be used when performing a job from among a plurality of paper feeding trays. The disc priority order setting section 61C is a setting section for setting a priority order.

For example, on the automatic selection setting section 61B, when the tray 1 button 61D, the tray 2 button 61E, and the tray 3 button 61F are pressed, the paper feeding tray 1, the paper feeding tray 2, and the paper feeding tray 3 are set as the automatically selected paper feeding tray. In addition, on the tray priority order setting section 61C, the priority order of the paper feeding trays (tray 1, tray 2, tray 3) set on the automatic selection setting section 61B is set by pressing the up button 61G and the down button 61H. In addition, when the user wants to make the priority order of the disc 3 higher, the user presses the disc 3 button 61K and presses the up button 61G to set the priority order of the disc 3 higher.

Next, an example of the job scheduling screen 71A displayed on the LCD 31 is explained with reference to fig. 7.

The job scheduling screen 71 is a screen displayed on the LCD 31 after the ATS setting, the automatic selection setting, and the priority setting have been performed and before the job is executed according to an instruction of the control portion 110. The job schedule screen 71 displays a job schedule 71A showing the execution schedule of the job. The job schedule table 71A includes a vertical axis display section 71B, a horizontal axis display section 71C, a vertical line 71D, horizontal bars 71E to 71M, and a switching state display section 71N.

The vertical axis display section 71B displays a plurality of paper feeding tray information. The paper feeding tray information includes, for example, paper feeding tray number information for identifying the paper feeding tray, paper size information, paper type information, and paper remaining amount information. For example, paper feeding tray display section 711 of vertical axis display section 71B displays paper feeding tray number information "1", paper size information "a 4", paper type information "plain paper", and current paper remaining amount information (corresponding to remaining amount display section 712).

The horizontal axis display section 71C shows information of the number of sheets to be used in the job. The vertical line 71D is a line displayed for separating the respective jobs.

The horizontal bars 71E to 71M are bars representing the following information: this information shows the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when executing the job. The information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper is a display pattern showing the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper. Specifically, the display patterns of the horizontal bars 71E to 71M are changed according to the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper. For example, the bar 71E is displayed in the same pattern (diagonal line). The display pattern shows that the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray 1 is sufficiently large (there is an estimated remaining amount of paper). On the other hand, for example, the horizontal bar 71G is displayed in three types of patterns. The display pattern shows: as the job is executed, the estimated remaining amount of the sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray 2 gradually decreases. For example, the left pattern shows that the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray 2 is sufficiently large (there is an estimated remaining amount of paper). The middle pattern shows: as the job is executed, the level of the estimated remaining amount of the sheet stored in the sheet feeding tray 2 will be small (the estimated remaining amount of the sheet is small). The right pattern shows: as the job is executed, the level of the estimated remaining amount of the sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray 2 becomes none (no sheet estimated remaining amount).

The switching status display section 71N displays

horizontal bars

71H, 71I, and 71J, a line a, and an ATS character 71O. Line a is a line for showing the switching time. Specifically, the line a connects the horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray before switching with the horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray after switching. The ATS character 71O is a character for showing the paper feeding tray to be switched to the paper feeding tray used in the job. Specifically, the ATS character 71O is displayed next to the horizontal bar to which the paper feeding tray is to be switched. For example, the paper feeding tray 4 is selected as the paper feeding tray used when performing the job, and the paper feeding tray 5 stores paper (a4 normal paper) having the same size as the paper (a4 high quality paper) stored in the paper feeding tray 4. In addition, the paper feeding tray 5 is set to have a priority order next to the paper feeding tray 4 as a paper feeding tray to be used in the job. In this case, when the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray 4 is used up when the job is performed, the paper feeding tray used when the job is performed is switched from the paper feeding tray 4 to the paper feeding tray 5. In this case, as shown in fig. 7, the line a and the ATS character 71O are displayed in the switching information display portion 71N.

In addition, the job schedule 71A is updated at a predetermined cycle when the job is executed. For example, when a new job is generated while executing a job, the job schedule 71A to which the new job is added is displayed.

Next, an example of display of the horizontal bar when the ATS setting is not performed is explained with reference to fig. 8A. Fig. 8A is a diagram showing the horizontal bar 71G shown in fig. 7 in detail. When the setting of the ATS is not performed, for example, the following pattern is displayed on the bar: a pattern showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is sufficient, a pattern showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is small, and a pattern showing that the estimated remaining amount of no paper is present. In this case, since the ATS setting is not performed, the ATS character is not displayed.

Next, an example of display of a bar when the ATS setting is performed and the ATS is possible is described with reference to fig. 8B. Fig. 8B is a diagram showing in detail the switching state display section 71N shown in fig. 7. In this case, when the pattern showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper on the horizontal bar 71H of the paper feeding tray 4 becomes a pattern showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is small (estimated remaining amount of paper is small), a line a connected from the horizontal bar 71H of the paper feeding tray 4 to the horizontal bar 71I of the paper feeding tray 5 is displayed. In addition, an ATS character 71O (or an ATS button icon 91A described later) is displayed next to the horizontal bar 71I of the paper feeding tray 5. In addition, after the ATS, the horizontal bar 71H of the paper feeding tray 4 is displayed to relieve the pressure in estimating the remaining amount of paper. Further, the horizontal bar 71I of the paper feeding tray 5 is displayed with a pattern showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper. By referring to fig. 8B, the user can see that ATS from the paper feeding tray 4 to the paper feeding tray 5 is possible, and can see the switching time from the paper feeding tray 4 to the paper feeding tray 5.

Next, an example of display of a bar when the ATS setting is performed and the ATS is not possible is described with reference to fig. 8C. For example, switching from the paper feeding tray 4 to the paper feeding tray 5 is planned, but no sheet is estimated as the remaining amount in the paper feeding tray 5. In this case, the line a and the ATS character 71O are displayed, whereas a pattern showing the estimated remaining amount of no sheet is displayed on the horizontal bar 71H of the sheet feeding tray 5. By referring to fig. 8C, the user can see that ATS from the paper feeding tray 4 to the paper feeding tray 5 is not feasible.

Next, an example of displaying the job scheduling screen 91 on the operation/display section 30 is explained with reference to fig. 9. Hereinafter, the same reference numerals are used for the same portions as those of the job scheduling screen 71, and the detailed description thereof is incorporated herein, while the different portions are mainly described.

The job schedule table 71A shown in fig. 9 displays an ATS button icon 91A and an ATS setting portion 91B. The ATS button icon 91A is a button icon that can be pressed and operated to perform various settings of ATS setting. The various settings are settings such as a setting to change the priority order or a setting to prohibit ATS. When the user presses the ATS button icon 91A, the ATS setting part 91B is displayed by an instruction of the control part 110. The ATS setting section 91B displays priority

order changing buttons

91C, 91D and an ATS disabling button 91E. The priority

order changing buttons

91C, 91D are buttons for changing the set priority order. For example, when the user presses the priority

order setting button

91C or 91D, the priority order of the paper feeding tray 4 is changed by an instruction of the control section 110. The ATS disable button 91E is a button for disabling ATS setting. For example, when the user presses the ATS disabling button 91E, the ATS is set to be disabled for the paper feeding tray 4 by an instruction of the control section 110.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 is explained. Fig. 10 shows a flow of display processing performed by the image forming apparatus 1.

In the image forming apparatus 1, for example, when the user presses an execution instruction of the display processing by the operation/display section 30 or the like, this serves as a trigger, and the display program read out from the nonvolatile memory 120 and appropriately developed to the RAM 130 works in cooperation with the CPU to execute the display processing.

Job information including job setting information is received from the PC2 through the LANIF 14 in advance. In addition, the ATS is set on the display screen 31A and the display screen 41A by the operation/display portion 30. Further, automatic selection of the paper feeding tray and priority order of the paper feeding tray are set on the display screen 31A and the display screen 61A.

First, the received job information is referred to, and the number of sheets of paper necessary to execute the job is calculated (step S11). Specifically, the number of sheets necessary to execute the job is calculated based on information included in the job information such as information on the number of sheets per copy, information on the number of copies, and information on whether an image is formed on both sides or one side. Then, the estimated remaining amount of paper for the selected tray is calculated (step S12). For example, the selected tray is the paper feeding tray with the highest priority order set in the tray priority order setting section 91C. For example, in the setting of the display screen 61A, the paper feeding tray 1 is the selected tray. In addition, the estimated remaining amount of paper is calculated based on the remaining amount of paper detected by a sensor (not shown) for detecting the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray. For example, when the sensor detects that the remaining amount of sheets is 1000 sheets and the job to be executed before the job as the target of the present process is a job using 300 sheets of the selected tray, 1000-300 sheets is calculated as 700 sheets as the estimated remaining amount of sheets. At this time, when there is no job to be executed before the job as the target of the present process, 1000 sheets are calculated as the estimated remaining amount of paper.

Then, a subtraction (remaining amount of paper — number of sheets of paper) is calculated by subtracting the number of sheets of paper calculated in step S11 from the estimated remaining amount of paper calculated in step S12 (step S13). It is then determined whether the estimated remaining amount of paper is small during the job (step S14). The determination in this step is performed, for example, by referring to the value (estimated remaining amount of paper — number of sheets of paper) calculated in step S13 and the number-of-sheets threshold when the estimated remaining amount of paper becomes small. For example, when the value calculated in step S13 is a value smaller than the number-of-sheets threshold, it is determined in this step that the estimated remaining amount of paper will be small during the job.

In step S14, when it is determined that the estimated remaining amount of paper is not small during the job (step S14; n), a bar display of the selected tray is displayed with a pattern showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is present (step S15). After step S15 is executed, the display processing ends.

In step S14, when it is judged that the remaining amount of paper will be small during the job (step S14; y), the bar display of the selected tray changes from a pattern showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper to a pattern showing that there is a small estimated remaining amount of paper when it will be small (step S16). Then, the paper feeding trays having the same size are searched for according to the priority order setting (step S17). Specifically, the paper feeding tray storing paper having the same size as that of the paper stored in the selected tray is searched from the highest order in the priority order set by the tray priority order setting section 91C.

After performing step S17, it is determined whether a disc (corresponding disc) is searched for in step S17 (step S18). In step S18, when it is judged that there is no corresponding tray (step S18; n), a pattern showing the estimated remaining amount of no sheet is displayed in the portion where there is no corresponding sheet (step S19). The non-corresponding paper section is one of items of the vertical axis of job progress, and corresponds to, for example, the non-corresponding paper section 713 on the job progress screen 71 shown in fig. 7. After step S19 is executed, the display processing ends.

In step S18, when it is judged that the corresponding tray exists (step S18; y), it is judged whether or not the sheets exist in all the corresponding trays (step S20). In other words, it is determined whether or not there is paper in all the searched paper feeding trays. When it is judged that there is no paper in all the corresponding trays (step S20; y), the paper feeding tray with a high priority order is displayed with a pattern showing an estimated remaining amount of no paper and ATS (step S21). For example, when the paper feeding tray 4 is selected as the selected tray and the paper feeding tray 5 is next to the priority order of the paper feeding tray 4, a horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 5 is displayed with a pattern showing the estimated remaining amount of no paper, and ATS character 71O is displayed next to the horizontal bar. Specifically, as shown in fig. 8C, a pattern showing the estimated remaining amount of no sheet and ATS characters 71O are displayed on the horizontal bar of the sheet feeding tray 5.

In step S20, when it is judged that there is not a case where there are no sheets in all the corresponding trays (step S20; n), the estimated remaining amount of sheets for the switching target tray is calculated (step S22). The switching target tray is a paper feeding tray to be switched to a paper feeding tray used in the job. For example, there are the following cases: in which the paper feeding tray 4 is selected as the selected tray, paper having the same size as that of the paper stored in the paper feeding tray 4 is stored in the paper feeding tray 5, and the priority order of the paper feeding tray 5 is second only to that of the paper feeding tray 4. In this case, the paper feeding tray 5 having a high priority order is determined as a switching target tray, and the paper remaining amount of the paper feeding tray 5 is calculated.

After step S22 is performed, the necessary number of remaining sheets is calculated again (step S23). The necessary number of remaining sheets is the number of remaining sheets of paper necessary to execute the job. For example, in step S11, when the necessary number of sheets is 1000 and the sheets stored in the selected tray is 500, the necessary remaining number of sheets is 1000 and 500-500. After step S23 is performed, the switching target tray is displayed with the pattern showing the presence of the estimated remaining amount of paper and the ATS (step S24). For example, when the paper feeding tray 5 is the switching target tray, a horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 5 is displayed with a pattern showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper, and ATS character 71O is displayed next to the horizontal bar. Specifically, as shown in fig. 8B, a pattern showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper is displayed on a horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 5, and ATS characters 71O are displayed next to the horizontal bar. In addition, when the display pattern of the horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 4 changes from showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper to showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper, the line a is connected from the horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 4 to the horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 5. Further, the horizontal bar of the paper feeding tray 4 is displayed to relieve the pressure in estimating the remaining amount of paper. After performing step S24, the process proceeds to step S13.

According to the image forming apparatus 1 of the first embodiment of the present invention, the user can refer to the switching information (for example, the paper feeding tray number information 4 to paper feeding tray number information 6 shown in the vertical axis display section 71B, the number of sheets of paper to be used when performing the job shown in the horizontal axis display section 71C, the horizontal bars 71H to 71J, the line A, ATS character 71O) before performing the job, and can know when the paper in which paper feeding tray is used up and to which paper feeding tray the used tray is to be switched before performing the job. Thus, for example, when there is no sheet of estimated remaining amount in any of the paper feeding trays 4 to 6 (such as the case shown in fig. 8C), it is possible to supply a sheet to a paper feeding tray having no estimated remaining amount of sheet before performing a job, and thus it is possible to supply a sheet to a paper feeding tray at an appropriate time.

In addition, the user can know which paper feeding tray (paper feeding tray 5, paper feeding tray 6) to switch the tray to be used before the job is performed, and therefore, the user can perform an adjustment operation such as front-back adjustment or the like on the paper feeding tray 5 and the paper feeding tray 6 before the job is performed.

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1 that can reserve a plurality of jobs, by obtaining information related to execution of the plurality of jobs before execution of the jobs, an image forming apparatus that can be easily used can be obtained.

In addition, the user can refer to the horizontal bars 71E to 71M showing the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper, so the user can know the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray used in the job.

In addition, the user can refer to the line a connecting, for example, the horizontal bar 71H and the horizontal bar 71I, so the user can know the timing of switching from the paper feeding tray 4 to the paper feeding tray 5.

In addition, the user can instruct whether to prohibit switching of the paper feeding tray used when performing the job by the ATS prohibition button 91E. Thus, for example, the user can instruct not to switch the paper feeding tray that is not adjusted to the paper feeding tray used in the job. Accordingly, settings with high flexibility can be made according to the state of the apparatus, and efficient operation of the apparatus can be achieved.

In addition, the user can change the priority order by the priority

order changing buttons

91C, 91D. This makes it possible to lower the priority of the paper feeding tray with a small remaining amount of paper, for example. Accordingly, settings with high flexibility can be made according to the state of the apparatus, and efficient operation of the apparatus can be achieved.

In addition, by referring to the vertical line 71D, the user can know, for each job, the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed and the estimated remaining amount of paper.

In addition, the user can know the paper remaining amount of the paper feeding tray by referring to the current information (for example, the remaining amount display section 712) of the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray.

Incidentally, the description of the above-described embodiment is an example of the image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

For example, the horizontal axis display section 71C displays the number of sheets used in the job, however, the display is not limited thereto. For example, the horizontal axis display section 71C may display the job execution time necessary to execute the job.

In addition, the horizontal bars 71E to 71M display at least three kinds of display patterns which are a display pattern showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper, a display pattern showing that there is little estimated remaining amount of paper, and a display pattern showing that there is no estimated remaining amount of paper, however, the display is not limited thereto. For example, three or more kinds of display patterns may be displayed.

In addition, the paper feeding tray set to have the highest priority order is selected as the selected tray, however, the selection is not limited thereto. For example, when the user performs setting of specifying a paper feeding tray to be used in a job, the paper feeding tray specified by the user may be selected as the selected tray.

In the above description, the computer-readable medium using the nonvolatile memory 120 as the program of the present invention has been described, however, the medium is not limited to this example.

As other computer-readable media, a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory or the like or a conventional recording medium such as a CD-ROM or the like can be applied.

In addition, as a medium for supplying data of the program of the present invention through a communication line, a carrier wave is applicable to the present invention.

Other detailed structures and operations of the image forming apparatus 1 of the above-described embodiment may be modified as appropriate without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Second embodiment

Next, a second embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is explained with reference to fig. 12 to 18.

Incidentally, in the following description, the same reference numerals are applied to the same structures as those of the first embodiment, and the duplicated description is omitted. In addition, in the second embodiment, only a portion different from that of the first embodiment is described, and the portion has the same structure as that of the first embodiment unless otherwise specified.

Fig. 12 is a diagram illustrating a control block diagram of an image forming apparatus 1A of the second embodiment.

As shown in fig. 12, the image forming apparatus 1A of the second embodiment includes a main body portion 1A, a printer controller 1b, and a finisher 50 connected to the main body portion 1A. The image forming apparatus 1A is connected to enable transmission and reception of information to and from a PC2 on the network 3 through a Local Area Network Interface (LANIF)14 of the printer controller 1 b.

The main body portion 1a includes an image reading portion 20, an operation/display portion 30, a printing portion 40, and an image control substrate 100A. Incidentally, the same reference numerals are applied to the same structures as the respective portions described in fig. 1, and the description thereof is omitted.

The image control substrate 100A includes a control section 110A, a nonvolatile memory 120, a Random Access Memory (RAM)130, a read processing section 140, a compression IC150, a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) control IC 160, an image memory 170, a decompression IC 180, a write processing section 190, and the like.

The control portion 110A includes a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and the like. The control section 110A reads out a specific program from the system program and various application programs stored in the nonvolatile memory 120 to expand the program to the RAM 130, and executes various processes and centralized control of the respective sections of the image forming apparatus 1 in cooperation with the program expanded to the RAM 130.

Specifically, when image formation based on a plurality of jobs is performed, the control section 110A displays the automatically selected paper feeding tray information on the same screen of the LCD 31 as the designated paper feeding tray information in a different display form before the plurality of jobs are performed, in addition to the designated paper feeding tray information.

Here, the specified paper feeding tray information includes paper feeding tray number information (paper feeding tray number information 1 described later) specified by the job generator. The automatically selected paper feeding tray information includes paper feeding tray number information (paper feeding tray number information 4 described later) selected by automatic tray selection. The automatic tray selection is to automatically select a paper feeding tray storing paper corresponding to paper information such as paper type, size, and the like.

In addition, a different display form is to display the APS character 51L (or APS button icon 610A) added to the automatically selected paper feeding tray.

Specifically, the automatically selected paper feeding tray information includes paper feeding tray information, information of job execution time or number of sheets of paper to be used, information showing estimated remaining amount of paper, and information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray. The paper feeding tray information is information displayed in a later-described vertical axis display section 51B. The information of the job execution time or the number of sheets of paper to be used is information displayed in a later-described horizontal axis display section 51C. The information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper is a display pattern displayed on a later-described horizontal bar 51H. The information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray is an APS character 51L (or APS button icon 610A) described later.

Next, an example of an automatic selection setting screen and a priority order setting screen of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job is described with reference to fig. 13 and 14. The display screen 310A shown in fig. 13 is an example of a screen displayed on the LCD 31 when automatic selection setting and priority setting are performed. On the display screen 310A, when the operator presses the paper feeding tray automatic selection button 310B, a display screen 410A shown in fig. 14 is displayed on the LCD 31. The display screen 410A displays an automatic selection setting portion 410B and a disc priority order setting portion 410C. The automatic selection setting section 410B is a setting section for setting automatic selection of a paper feeding tray to be used when performing a job from among a plurality of paper feeding trays. The tray priority order setting section 410C is a setting section for setting a priority order of automatic selection of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job.

For example, on the automatic selection setting section 410B, when the tray 1 button 410D, the tray 2 button 410E, and the tray 3 button 410F are pressed, the paper feeding tray 1 (a paper feeding tray having paper feeding tray number information 1 described later, which is hereinafter denoted as a paper feeding tray corresponding to the paper feeding tray number information), the paper feeding tray 2, and the paper feeding tray 3 are set as a paper feeding tray for automatic tray selection. In addition, on the tray priority order setting section 410C, the priority order of the paper feeding trays (tray 1, tray 2, tray 3) set on the automatic selection setting section 410B is set by pressing the up button 410G and the down button 410H. For example, when the user wants to make the priority order of the disc 3 higher, the user presses the disc 3 button 410K and presses the up button 410G to set the priority order of the disc 3 higher.

Next, an example of the job scheduling screen 51 displayed on the LCD 31 is explained with reference to fig. 15.

The job scheduling screen 51 is a screen displayed on the LCD 31 after the automatic selection setting and the priority setting have been performed and before the job is executed according to an instruction of the control section 110A. The job schedule screen 51 includes a job schedule 51A showing the execution schedule of the job. The job schedule 51A displays a vertical axis display section 51B, a horizontal axis display section 51C, a vertical line 51D, horizontal bars 51E to 51K, and APS characters 51L.

The vertical axis display section 51B displays a plurality of pieces of paper feeding tray information. The paper feeding tray information includes, for example, paper feeding tray number information for identifying the paper feeding tray, paper size information, paper type information, and paper remaining amount information. For example, the paper feeding tray display section 511 of the vertical axis display section 51B displays paper feeding tray number information "1", paper size information "a 4", paper type information "plain paper", and current paper remaining amount information (corresponding to the remaining amount display section 512).

The horizontal axis display section 51C shows the number of sheets of paper to be used when executing a job. The vertical line 51D is a line displayed for separating the respective jobs.

The horizontal bars 51E to 51K are bars representing the following information: the information shows the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when executing the job. The information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper is a display pattern showing the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper. Specifically, the display patterns of the horizontal bars 51E to 51K are changed according to the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper. For example, the bar 51E is displayed with the same pattern (diagonal line). The display pattern shows that the level of the estimated remaining amount of the sheet stored in the sheet feeding tray 1 is sufficiently large (there is an estimated remaining amount of the sheet). On the other hand, for example, the horizontal bar 51G is displayed with three types of patterns. The display pattern shows: as the job is executed, the estimated remaining amount of the sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray 2 gradually decreases. For example, the left pattern shows that the level of the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray 2 is sufficiently large (there is an estimated remaining amount of paper). The middle pattern shows: as the job is executed, the level of the estimated remaining amount of the sheet stored in the sheet feeding tray 2 will be small (the estimated remaining amount of the sheet is small). The right pattern shows: as the job is executed, the level of the estimated remaining amount of the sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray 2 will become none (no sheet estimated remaining amount).

The APS character 51L is a character for indicating the paper feeding tray selected by automatic tray selection. The paper feeding tray not displayed in the APS display section 51L is the paper feeding tray specified by the job generator. For example, in the display screen shown in fig. 15, the paper feeding tray 4 is displayed in the APS display section 51L, and therefore, the paper feeding tray 4 is a paper feeding tray selected by automatic tray selection. In this case, for example, the paper feeding tray number information 4 shown in the vertical axis display section 51B, the information of the number of sheets of paper shown in the horizontal axis display section 51C, the horizontal bar 51H, and the APS character 51L are included in the automatically selected paper feeding tray information. On the other hand, the paper feeding tray other than the paper feeding tray 4 (e.g., paper feeding tray 1) is a paper feeding tray specified by the job generator. In this case, for example, the paper feeding tray number information 1 shown in the vertical axis display section 51B, the information of the number of sheets of paper shown in the horizontal axis display section 51C, and the horizontal bar 51E are included in the designated paper feeding tray information.

In addition, the job schedule 51A is updated at a predetermined cycle when a job is executed. For example, when a new job is generated while executing a job, the job schedule 51A to which the new job is added is displayed.

Next, an example of the job scheduling screen 61 displayed on the LCD 31 is explained with reference to fig. 16. Hereinafter, the same reference numerals are used for the same portions as those of the job scheduling screen 51, and the detailed description thereof is incorporated herein, while the different portions are mainly described.

The job schedule table 51A shown in fig. 16 displays an APS button icon 610A, APS setting display portion 610B and a priority order changing button 610C. The APS button icon 610A is a button icon that can be pressed and operated. When the operator presses the APS button icon 610A, the APS setting display portion 610B is displayed according to an instruction of the control portion 110A. The APS setting display section 610B displays a priority order changing button 610C. The priority order changing button 610C is a button for changing the priority order of the automatically selected paper feeding tray. For example, when the operator presses the priority order changing button 610C, the priority order of the paper feeding tray 4 is changed according to the instruction of the control section 110A.

Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1A is explained. Fig. 17 and 18 show a flow of display processing performed by the image forming apparatus 1A.

In the image forming apparatus 1, for example, when it is supported that the operator presses an execution instruction of the display processing through the operation/display section 30 or the like, this serves as a trigger, and the display program read out from the nonvolatile memory 120 and appropriately expanded to the RAM 130 works in cooperation with the CPU to execute the display processing.

Job information including setting information of the job set by the job generator is received from the PC2 through the LANIF 14 in advance. In addition, the operator sets the priority order of whether there is automatic selection of the paper feeding tray and automatic selection of the paper feeding tray to be used in the job in the display screen 310A and the display screen 410A by the operation/display section 30.

First, it is determined whether the job is a job of automatic tray selection (step S31). Specifically, in this step, the determination is performed based on information relating to whether or not the job is an automatic tray-selected job included in the job information.

Then, according to the APS target tray setting, a paper feeding tray matching the specification is searched (step S32). The APS target tray is the paper feeding tray set in the automatic selection setting section 410B. For example, in the setting of the automatic selection setting section 410B, the APS target trays are tray 1 (paper feeding tray 1), tray 2 (paper feeding tray 2), and tray 3 (paper feeding tray 3). The paper feeding tray that matches the specification is a paper feeding tray that matches the contents included in the job information of the job of automatic tray selection. For example, when information for forming an image on a4 paper is included in the job information, the paper feeding tray matching the specification is a paper feeding tray storing a4 paper. Therefore, in this step, for example, when the paper feeding trays set in the automatic selection setting section 410B are the paper feeding tray 1, the paper feeding tray 2, and the paper feeding tray 3, the paper feeding tray matching the contents specified in the job information is searched for in the paper feeding tray 1, the paper feeding tray 2, and the paper feeding tray 3.

Then, it is judged whether or not there is a matching paper feeding tray (step S33). In other words, it is determined whether the paper feeding tray is searched in step S32. When it is judged that there is no matching paper feeding tray (step S33; n), a pattern showing the estimated remaining amount of no paper is displayed in the no corresponding paper section (step S34). The non-corresponding paper section is one of items of the vertical axis of job progress, and corresponds to, for example, the non-corresponding paper section 513 on the job progress screen 51 shown in fig. 15. After step S34 is executed, the display processing ends.

In step S33, when it is judged that there is a matching paper feeding tray (step S33; y), the paper feeding tray with the highest priority order among the paper feeding trays matching the specification is selected (step S35). For example, when the paper feeding trays matching the specification are paper feeding tray 1, paper feeding tray 2, and paper feeding tray 3 and the paper feeding tray 1 is set to have the highest priority order in the tray priority order setting section 410C, the paper feeding tray 1 is selected.

After step S35 is performed, the estimated remaining amount of paper when the job of the selected tray starts is calculated (step S36). Specifically, the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray selected in step S35 at the start of the job of automatic tray selection is calculated. The estimated remaining amount of paper is calculated based on the remaining amount of paper detected by a sensor (not shown) for detecting the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray. For example, when the sensor detects that the remaining amount of sheets is 1000 sheets at the start of the job and the job to be executed before the job as the target of the present process is a job using 300 sheets of the selected tray, 1000-300 is calculated as 700 sheets as the estimated remaining amount of sheets. At this time, when there is no job to be executed before the job as the target of the present process, 1000 sheets are calculated as the estimated remaining amount of paper.

Then, based on the estimated remaining amount of paper calculated in step S36, it is determined whether there is an estimated remaining amount of paper (step S37). Specifically, it is determined whether there is an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the selected tray. When it is judged that there is the estimated remaining amount of paper (step S37; y), an APS flag is displayed (step S38). Specifically, an APS mark (APS character 51L or APS button icon 610A) is displayed in the paper feeding tray having the highest priority order. Then, the bar of the selected tray is displayed with a pattern according to the estimated remaining amount of paper (step S39). For example, the horizontal bar 51H of the paper feeding tray 4 in the display screen 51 shown in fig. 15 is displayed with a pattern according to the estimated remaining amount of paper. After step S39 is executed, the display processing ends.

In step S37, when it is judged that no sheet is estimated as the remaining amount (step S37; n), it is judged whether or not there is a different paper feeding tray matching the specification (step S40). Specifically, a paper feeding tray that is different from the paper feeding tray selected in step S35 and that matches the content specified in the job information is searched for, and it is determined whether there is a paper feeding tray that matches the content specified in the job information. When it is judged that there is a different paper feeding tray matching the specification (step S40; YES), the paper feeding tray having the highest priority order among the paper feeding trays matching the specification is selected (step S41). After performing step S41, the process proceeds to step S36.

In step S40, when it is judged that there is no different paper feeding tray matching the specification (step S40; n), an APS flag is displayed (step S42). Specifically, similarly to step S38, the APS mark (APS display section 51L or APS button icon 610A) is displayed in the paper feeding tray having the highest priority order. Then, the bar of the selected tray is displayed with a pattern showing the estimated remaining amount of no sheet (step S43). After step S43 is executed, the display processing ends.

According to the image forming apparatus 1A of the second embodiment of the present invention, in addition to specifying the paper feeding tray information (e.g., paper feeding tray number information 1 shown in the vertical axis display section 51B, sheet number information shown in the horizontal axis display section 51C, horizontal bar 51E), the operator can refer to the automatically selected paper feeding tray information (e.g., paper feeding tray number information 4 shown in the vertical axis display section 51B, sheet number information shown in the horizontal axis display section 51C, horizontal bar 51H, APS character 51L) before performing the job, so the operator can know the paper feeding tray to be used in the job before performing the job. Thereby, the operator can perform an adjustment operation such as front-back adjustment of the paper feeding tray to be used in the job before (before) operating the image forming apparatus and performing the job.

In addition, the operator can know which paper feeding tray is used in the job before the job is executed, and therefore, when the remaining amount of paper in the paper feeding tray to be used in the job is small, the operator can execute the supply of paper.

In addition, the operator can know the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job before the operation, and therefore, the operator can prevent an unadjusted paper feeding tray or the like from becoming the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job.

Further, the operator can easily distinguish between the paper feeding tray selected by automatic tray selection and the tray specified by the job generator.

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1A that can reserve a plurality of jobs, by obtaining information related to execution of the plurality of jobs before execution of the jobs, an image forming apparatus that can be easily used can be obtained.

In addition, the operator can change the priority order of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job by the priority order changing button 610C. Thereby, it is possible to perform setting with high flexibility according to the state of the apparatus. For example, in a case where the paper feeding tray 1 is selected as the automatically selected tray, when the user knows before performing the job that the paper feeding tray 1 is an unadjusted paper feeding tray in which adjustment such as front-back adjustment has not been performed and the user wants to lower the priority order of the paper feeding tray 1, the user can lower the priority order of the paper feeding tray 1. Therefore, a setting with high flexibility according to the state of the apparatus is possible, and an efficient operation of the apparatus can be achieved.

In addition, by referring to the vertical line 51D, the operator can know, for each job, the paper feeding tray and the estimated remaining amount of paper to be used when the job is executed.

In addition, the operator can know the remaining amount of paper currently stored in the paper feeding tray by referring to the remaining amount of paper of the paper feeding tray (for example, remaining amount display section 512).

In addition, the operator can know in which job there is no paper before the operation, and therefore the operator can supply paper before the operation.

Third embodiment

Next, an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to fig. 19 to 25.

Fig. 19 is a front view showing a schematic structure of an image forming apparatus 1B of the third embodiment.

As shown in fig. 19, an image forming apparatus 1B of the third embodiment includes a main body portion 10, a large-capacity tray unit 20A optionally connected to the main body portion 10, and a finisher 30A.

The main body section 10 includes a scanner 2000, an automatic document feeder (automatic document feeder: ADF)300, an operation/display section 5000, and an image forming section 600. In other words, the image forming apparatus 1B of the present embodiment is a so-called digital multifunction peripheral including a scan function, a copy function, and a print function.

In addition, the main body section 10 includes, for example, three paper feeding trays FT1 to FT3 as trays for printing paper, and these trays store the paper for printing. A remaining amount detecting sensor D or the like is provided near each of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT3 as a remaining amount detecting section for detecting the remaining amount of paper stored in the respective paper feeding trays FT1 to FT 3.

The large-capacity tray unit 20A includes, for example, paper feeding trays FT4 to FT9 as trays for printing paper, and these trays store the paper for printing. A remaining amount detecting sensor D or the like is provided near each of the paper feeding trays FT4 to FT9 as a remaining amount detecting section for detecting the remaining amount of paper stored in the respective paper feeding trays FT4 to FT 9.

The finisher 30A is a finisher for performing various finishing processes on the sheets conveyed from the main body portion 10. For example, the finisher 30A includes a finishing unit for performing a finishing process on the sheet conveyed from the main body portion 10, a punching unit for performing a punching process on the sheet conveyed from the main body portion 10, a folding unit for performing a folding process on the sheet conveyed from the main body portion 10, a cutting unit for performing a cutting process on the sheet conveyed from the main body portion 10, and the like. A sheet discharge tray ET1, ET2 for discharging the conveyed sheet is provided on the left side of the finisher 30A, and the conveyed sheet is discharged.

In addition, at the top of the finisher 30A, two post-inserter trays, that is, an upper tray PI1 and a lower tray PI2, as trays for inserting sheets are provided, and various types of sheets can be loaded and fed according to the user's needs.

For example, by loading a tab sheet (tab sheet) including a tab portion in which a part of the sheet protrudes, color sheets having different colors, and a sheet on which an image is formed in advance (hereinafter referred to as "tab sheet or the like") in any of the post-inserters PI1 or PI2 and feeding the sheet according to the setting of the job, the sheet can be inserted between a plurality of print sheets conveyed from the main body portion 10.

In this image forming process, for example, an original placed on an original tray T1 of the ADF section 3000 is conveyed to a bearing glass as a reading section of the scanner 2000, and an image of the original is read by an optical system of the scanner 2000. Here, the image includes text data such as characters, symbols, and the like, and is not limited to image data such as graphics, pictures, and the like.

An image (analog image signal) read by the scanner 2000 is output to a state management section 1000 described later, a/D conversion is performed in the state management section 1000, and after various image processes are performed on the image, the image is output to the image forming section 600. Then, in the image forming section 600, an image based on the digital image data is formed on a sheet fed from any one of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 included in the main body section 10 or the large capacity tray unit 20A.

The sheet on which the image is formed is conveyed to the finisher 30A by the conveying section 610 in the image forming section 600, and after predetermined finishing processing is performed by the finishing processing mechanism of the finisher 30A, the sheet is discharged from any one of the sheet discharge tray ET1 or ET 2.

In other words, in the image forming apparatus 1B of the present embodiment, sheets can be fed from the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI 2. When it is impossible to feed paper from the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 or post inserters PI1, PI2, the image forming process of the image forming section 600 is stopped.

Incidentally, in the following description of the present embodiment, the above paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI2 are collectively referred to as "trays".

In addition, the forms of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9, post inserters PI1, PI2, and paper discharge trays ET1, ET2 are not limited to the form shown in fig. 19, and the number may be larger or smaller than that shown in the drawings, for example.

Fig. 20 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1B.

The main body section 10 includes a state management section 1000, a scanner 2000, an ADF section 3000, a print controller 4000, paper feeding trays FT to FT3, a remaining amount detecting sensor D, an operation/display section 5000, and an image forming section 600.

The state management section 1000 includes, for example, a control section 101, a program memory (read only memory: R0M)102, a system memory (random access memory: RAM)103, a nonvolatile memory 104, a read processing section 105, a write processing section 106, a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) control IC 107, a compression/decompression IC108, and an image memory 109.

The control section 101 includes, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) or the like. The control section 101 reads out a system program and various processing programs such as an image forming processing program, a finishing processing program, and the like stored in the ROM to expand to the RAM, and collectively controls the operations of the respective sections of the image forming apparatus 1B according to the expanded programs.

Specifically, the control section 101 stores setting information of a job reserved on a job reservation screen described later in the nonvolatile memory 104. The setting information includes job setting conditions, and the control section 101 executes image forming processing by the image forming section 600 based on the job setting conditions stored in the nonvolatile memory 104. A job is an operation sequence related to image formation, and for example, when a document including a plurality of sheets is copied, the operation sequence related to copying of the document including the plurality of sheets is one job. In addition, when copying of a plurality of copies is performed, an operation sequence related to copying of the plurality of copies is one job.

Here, the image forming apparatus 1B of the present embodiment can reserve a plurality of jobs, and the control section 101 executes the image forming process according to the reserved jobs in the reserved execution order.

In addition, as described later, the control section 101 performs control of displaying a job scheduling screen showing reservation information R of a plurality of reserved jobs on the display section 501 based on the setting conditions of the plurality of reserved jobs.

The ROM 102 includes, for example, a nonvolatile memory such as a semiconductor or the like, and stores a system program corresponding to the image forming apparatus 1B and various processing programs such as an image forming processing program, a finishing processing program, and the like that can be executed on the system program. The program is stored in the form of a program code readable by a computer, and the control section 101 sequentially performs operations according to the program code.

The RAM 103 forms a work area for temporarily storing various programs executed by the control section 101 and data related to these programs, and stores setting information of a job being executed and the like.

The nonvolatile memory 104 stores various setting data and the like relating to the image forming apparatus 1B.

Specifically, the nonvolatile memory 104 stores setting information of a job input on a job reservation screen described later.

In addition, the nonvolatile memory 104 includes a tray information table 104a described later, and stores tray sheet information relating to sheets stored in the respective trays.

In addition, as described later, the nonvolatile memory 104 stores information about the update time of the job scheduling screen set by the user.

The read processing section 105 performs various processes such as analog signal processing, a/D conversion processing, shading processing, and the like on the analog image signal input from the scanner 2000 to generate digital image data, and outputs the data to the DRAM control IC 107.

The write processing portion 106 generates a Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) signal based on the image data input from the compression/decompression IC108, and outputs the signal to the image forming portion 600.

According to the control of the control section 101, the DRAM control IC 107 performs control of compression/decompression processing by the compression/decompression IC108, and control of input of image data to the image memory 109 and output of image data from the image memory 109.

Specifically, the DRAM control IC 107 compresses digital image data input from the read processing section 105 or image data input from the print controller 4000 using the compression/decompression IC108, and writes the compressed image data in the compression memory 109a of the image memory 109 to temporarily store the data. In addition, the DRAM control IC 107 decompresses the image data stored in the image memory 109 by the compression/decompression IC108 and outputs the data to the write processing section 106. At this time, when a control signal for executing the combining process is output from the control section 101, the DRAM control IC 107 decompresses the image data by the compression/decompression IC108, rewrites the only image data in the nonvolatile memory 104, and outputs the data to the write processing section 106.

In addition, the DRAM control IC 107 outputs control data input from the print controller 4000 to the control section 101.

The compression/decompression IC108 performs compression processing and decompression processing of image data in accordance with control of the DRAM control IC 107.

The image memory 109 includes a compression memory 109a composed of, for example, a DRAM and a page memory 109 b. For example, the compression memory 109a temporarily stores the job file compressed by the compression/decompression IC108 in accordance with a control signal input from the DRAM control IC 107. For example, the page memory 109b temporarily stores an uncompressed job file as a target of printout before printout.

The scanner 2000 includes, for example, an image sensor such as a CCD 201 and a scanner control section 202. The scanner control section 202 controls driving of the respective sections of the scanner 2000 in accordance with a control signal from the control section 101. Specifically, the scanner control section 202 performs exposure scanning of the surface of the original placed on the face glass, and forms an image of reflected light with the CCD 201 to read the image. Then, photoelectric conversion is performed on the optical signal with the formed image to generate an analog image signal, and the signal is output to the reading processing section 105.

The ADF section 3000 includes an ADF control section 301, and the ADF control section 301 performs control of the ADF section 3000 based on a control signal from the control section 101, and the ADF section 3000 automatically feeds originals set in an original tray T1 one sheet at a time onto a bearing glass of the scanner 2000.

The paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 are trays storing printing paper, and these trays store paper of various paper types, paper sizes, and basis weights.

Here, the respective paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI2 store paper having a paper type, paper size, and basis weight set in advance. In addition to the remaining amount of paper for each tray detected by the remaining amount detection sensor D, information on the paper type, paper size, and basis weight of paper stored in each tray is stored in the tray information table 104a as tray paper information.

Fig. 21 shows a disc information table 140a storing disc sheet information.

As shown in fig. 21, the tray information table 104a stores, as tray sheet information, the sheet types, sheet sizes, and basis weights of sheets stored in the respective trays (the sheet feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and the post inserters PI1, PI2), and the remaining amount of sheets of the respective trays detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D. In the tray information table 104a, the sheets stored in the respective trays are set by making the sheet types, sheet sizes, and basis weights of the sheets stored in the respective trays correspond to the respective trays.

In fig. 21, for example, the paper feeding tray FT1 is set to store paper having a paper type of "plain paper", a paper size of "a 4", and a basis weight of "62 to 71g/m²"and the remaining amount of paper is" 1700 sheets ". In addition, for example, the paper feeding tray FT2 is set to store paper having a paper type "high quality paper", a paper size "A3" and a basis weight "of 50 to 61g/m²"and the remaining amount of sheets is" 130 sheets ".

In addition, in the tray information table 104a shown in fig. 21, each of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI2 is set to store any one of the following sheets: having the meaning of "plain paper, A4, 62 to 71g/m²"of paper; having the meaning of "plain paper, A4, 50 to 61g/m²"of paper; having a "high quality paper, A3, 50 to 61g/m²"paper, paper with" (something) Special-purpose, A4, 62 to 71g/m²"is used herein. In other words, it is set so that paper other than the above-described paper cannot be used in this image forming apparatus 1B.

The remaining amount detection sensor D is provided near each of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9, and detects the remaining amount of paper stored in each of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT 9. The remaining amounts of paper of the respective paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D are output to the control section 101 and stored in the tray information table 104a of the nonvolatile memory 104 as tray paper information.

The printer controller 4000 includes a controller control section 401, a DRAM control IC 402, an image memory 403, a LANIF 404, and the like. When the image forming apparatus 1B is used as a network printer, the printer controller 4000 performs management and control of a job input to the image forming apparatus 1B from an external apparatus connected to a network.

Specifically, as a reservation section, the print controller 4000 receives job setting information including job setting conditions from an external apparatus and transmits the data to the main body section 10. The job setting information transmitted from the printer controller 400 to the main body portion 10 is stored in the nonvolatile memory 104 in the order of execution of the reservation.

The controller control section 401 collectively controls the operations of the respective sections of the print controller 4000. In addition, the controller control section 401 converts print data input from the external apparatus through the LANIF 404 into image data in a data format printable on the image forming apparatus 1B in a predetermined page description language, and outputs the data to the DRAM control IC 402 along with job setting information input from the external apparatus.

The DRAM control IC 402 outputs job setting information and print data received through the LANIF 404 to the controller control portion 401, and executes control as follows according to an instruction from the controller control portion 401: job setting information and image data input from the controller control section 401 are temporarily stored in the image memory 403. In addition, the DRAM control IC 402 is connected to the DRAM control IC 107 of the control section 101 using a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, reads out job setting information and image data from the image memory 403 in accordance with an instruction from the controller control section 401, and outputs the information and data to the DRAM control IC 402.

The image memory 403 includes, for example, a DRAM, and temporarily stores input data.

The LANIF 404 includes, for example, a network interface card or the like, and performs transmission and reception of data such as job setting information, print data, facsimile image data, and the like to and from an external device connected to the communication network N. Job setting information, print data, and image data received from an external device are output to the DRAM control IC 402.

The operation/display portion 5000 includes a display portion 501, a touch panel 502 integrally included in the display portion 501 and the operation/display control portion 503, and other operation key groups not shown.

The display section 501 includes, for example, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), and performs display of various setting screens, display of image states, operation states of respective functions, and the like on a screen according to a display control signal from the operation/display control section 503.

In addition, a pressure-sensitive type (resistive film type) touch panel 502 is provided on the screen of the display portion 501, transparent electrodes are positioned in a grid-like pattern in the touch panel 502, and the touch panel detects X-Y coordinates of a point at which a force is applied by operating a finger, a touch pen, or the like using a voltage value and outputs the detected position signal as an operation signal to the operation/display control portion 503.

The operation/display control section 503 performs display control of the display section 501 in accordance with a control signal from the control section 101. Specifically, the operation/display control section 503 displays a job reservation screen for reserving a job, a job progress screen for showing job reservation information R described later, various setting screens, various processing results, and the like on the display section 501. In addition, the operation/display control section 503 outputs an operation signal input from the touch panel 502 or the operation key group on the display section 501 to the control section 101.

Specifically, as a reservation section, the user operates the touch panel 502 at the time of reserving a job. The user performs job reservation by setting job setting conditions by operating the touch panel 502 on the job reservation screen displayed on the display section 501.

Here, the job setting conditions include tray setting information, paper setting information, and the number of sheets of paper to be used. The disc setting information is information to set a disc to be used in the job, and specifically is information to set one or more discs of arbitrary paper feeding discs FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI2 as discs to be used in the job. In addition, the sheet setting information is information to set sheets to be used in the job, specifically information to set the sheet type, sheet size, and basis weight of the sheets to be used in the job.

The user operates the touch panel 502 on the job reservation screen displayed on the display section 501, and sets tray setting information (e.g., paper feeding tray FT1) and paper setting information (e.g., plain paper, a4, 62 to 71 g/m)²) One or both of them as job setting conditions to set a tray and/or a sheet to be used in the job. In addition, as the job setting condition, when the tray setting information is not set and only the paper setting information is set, in other words, when the tray is not set and paper is set, the tray storing the set paper is automatically selected based on the tray information table 104a described later.

Through the operation/display control section 503, the job setting conditions set by the operation to the touch panel 502 on the job reservation screen are output to the control section 101 as job setting information along with other information such as a mode, a user name, a file name, a finishing processing mode, a sheet discharge tray ET1, ET2, and the like, and the information is stored in the nonvolatile memory 104 in the order of execution of reservation.

In addition, when the user performs a display request for a job progress screen on the display portion 501, the touch panel 502 is operated. Specifically, a button B1 (see fig. 22 and 23) for requesting display of a job progress screen is displayed on the display section 501, and when a display request for the job progress screen is performed by operating the button B1 on the touch panel 502, the operation/display control section 503 outputs an operation signal to the control section 101 according to the operation. The control section 101 which has received the operation signal determines that it is time to display the job scheduling screen, and displays a job scheduling screen described later on the display section 501.

The image forming section 600 includes a conveying section 610, a Laser Diode (LD) section 620, and a printer control section 630, and forms an image on a sheet according to image data input from the write processing section 106.

The conveying section 610 includes, for example, various rollers such as a paper feed roller 611, registration rollers 612, paper discharge rollers 613, and the like for conveying the paper along the conveying path in the LD section 620, a conveying path switching plate 614, a reversing section 615, and the like. According to control from the printer control section 630, the conveying section 610 feeds sheets from the tray according to job setting conditions and conveys the fed sheets along the conveying path.

In addition, a plurality of sensors, not shown, are provided on the conveying path of the LD portion 620. These sensors generate detection signals when the sheet passes, and output the signals to the printer control section 630.

The LD section 620 includes an LD 621, a photosensitive drum 622, a charging section 623, a developing section 624, a transfer section 625, a fixing section 626, and the like.

The LD section 620 charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 622 of the LD section 620 with the charging section 623 according to an instruction from the printer control section 630, and exposes the surface of the photosensitive drum 622 with laser light by the LD 621 based on a PWM signal input from the write processing section 106 to form an electrostatic latent image. Then, in the developing portion 624, toner is applied to the surface of the photosensitive drum 622 on the region including the electrostatic latent image, and the toner is transferred on the paper sheet by the transfer portion 625 to form an image. Then, after the transferred image is fixed in the fixing section 626, the sheet with the formed image is conveyed to the finisher 30A by the discharge roller 613.

The printer control section 630 receives a control signal from the control section 101 to control the operations of the respective sections of the LD section 620. In addition, based on a detection signal from a sensor provided on the conveyance path, the printer control section 630 counts the number of fed sheets, and outputs the number to the control section 101.

In addition, the printer control section 630 counts the number of fed sheets by counting sensor signals output from a sensor (not shown) provided near the paper feed roller 611 while executing each job, and outputs the number to the control section 101.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus 1B of the present embodiment, when the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 or post inserters PI1, PI2 cannot feed paper, the image forming process of the image forming section 600 is temporarily suspended.

There are three kinds of stop factors that cause the image forming process to stop. When the job schedule screen is displayed or updated, the control section 101 predicts whether or not all the image forming processes of the respective jobs can be executed without stopping by determining whether or not the reserved job includes any one of three stop reasons for stopping the image forming processes based on the setting conditions of the reserved job and the tray paper information of the tray information table 104 a. Then, when there is a job including any one of the three stop reasons, as described below, reservation information R of the job is displayed on the job scheduling screen in a form corresponding to the stop reason.

In displaying or updating the job schedule screen, the control section 101 determines whether or not each job is applicable to any one of the first to third stop reasons described below in the order of the first stop reason, the second stop reason, and the third stop reason.

The first stop reason is when there is no tray paper information matching the tray setting information and the paper setting information. Specifically, a case where the set paper itself is not set to be stored in any tray when there is paper setting information without tray setting information (in other words, when only paper is set as a job setting condition). Incidentally, when there is disc setting information as a job setting condition (in other words, when a disc is set), the determination as to whether the first stop reason applies is not performed.

When the paper is set as the job setting condition, the control section 101 refers to the tray information table 104a, and judges whether the paper set as the job setting condition is set to be stored in any tray. Then, when the set paper is set to be stored in any tray, it is judged that the job is not applicable to the first stop reason. On the other hand, when the set paper is not set to be stored in any tray, it is determined that the job is applicable to the first stop reason.

For example, as described above, in the tray information table 104a shown in fig. 21, the respective paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI2 are set to store the paper "plain paper, a4, 62 to 71g/m²", paper" plain paper, A4, 50 to 61g/m²", paper" high quality paper, A3, 50 to 61g/m²"and paper" (something) special-purpose paper, A4, 62 to 71g/m²"and sheets other than the above sheets cannot be fed. Therefore, for example, when a sheet having a sheet size of "B5" is specified as the job setting condition, since all trays are not set to store sheets of that size, the control section 101 determines that the job is applicable to the first stop reason.

When the control section 101 determines that the job is not applicable to the first stop reason, the control section 101 causes the process to proceed to the determination of the second stop reason.

The second stop reason is when tray paper information matching the tray setting information and the paper setting information exists and the remaining amount of paper of the tray is 0. Specifically, a case where no paper is stored in the set tray when at least tray setting information exists (in other words, when at least the tray is set as the job setting condition), or a case where no paper is stored in the tray selected according to the setting of the paper when there is paper setting information without the tray setting information (in other words, when only the paper is set as the job setting condition).

When a tray is set as a job setting condition, or when a sheet stored in any tray is set as a job setting condition and the tray is selected based on the setting of the sheet, the control section 101 refers to the remaining amount of the sheet stored in the tray information table 104a detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D provided in the set or selected tray. Then, when the remaining amount of sheets of the set tray or the tray automatically selected based on the sheet setting is one or more sheets, it is determined that the job is not applicable to the second stop reason. On the other hand, when the remaining amount of paper of the set tray or the tray automatically selected based on the paper setting is 0 sheet, it is determined that the job is applicable to the second stop reason.

For example, when the paper feeding tray FT7 is set as a job setting condition or a set paper (e.g., plain paper, A4, 50 to 61 g/m)²) As a job setting condition, and when the paper feeding tray FT7 is automatically selected based on the setting, the control section 101 refers to the paper remaining amount of the paper feeding tray FT7 detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D included in the paper feeding tray FT7, and when the paper remaining amount is 0 sheet, in other words, when even one sheet of paper is not stored in the paper feeding tray FT7, determines that the job is applicable to the second stop reason.

When the control section 101 determines that the job is not applicable to the second stop reason, the control section 101 causes the process to proceed to the determination of the third stop reason.

The third stop reason is when there is tray sheet information that matches the tray setting information and the sheet setting information and the remaining amount of sheets of the tray becomes 0 when the job is executed. Specifically, a case where the remaining amount of paper of the tray set when at least tray setting information exists (in other words, when at least the tray is set as the job setting condition) is one or more and smaller than the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job, or a case where the remaining amount of paper of the tray is one or more and smaller than the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job is selected based on paper setting when there is paper setting information but no tray setting information (in other words, when only paper is set as the job setting condition).

When a tray is set as a job setting condition, or when sheets stored in any tray are set as a job setting condition and the tray is selected based on the setting of the sheets, the control section 101 refers to the remaining amount of the sheets stored in the tray information table 104a detected by the sheet remaining amount detection sensor D set in the set or selected tray. Then, when the remaining amount of paper of the set tray or the tray selected based on the setting of paper is not less than the number of sheets to be used, it is determined that the job is not applicable to the third stop reason. On the other hand, when the remaining amount of sheets of the set tray or the tray selected based on the setting of sheets is one or more and less than the number of sheets to be used, it is determined that the job is applicable to the third stop reason.

For example, when the paper feeding tray FT2 is set as a job setting condition, or when paper (e.g., high quality paper, A3, 50 to 61 g/m) is set²) When the paper feeding tray FT2 is automatically selected as a job setting condition and based on the setting, the control section 101 detects the paper remaining amount of the paper feeding tray FT2 with the remaining amount detection sensor D included in the paper feeding tray FT2, and compares the paper remaining amount with the number of sheets of paper to be used set as the job setting condition. Then, when the detected remaining amount of paper is "130 sheets" and on the other hand the specified number of sheets of paper to be used is "230 sheets", since the remaining amount of paper is smaller than the number of sheets of paper to be used set as the job setting condition, it is determined that the job is suitable for the third cause of stop.

On the other hand, when the control section 101 determines that the job is not applicable to the third stop reason, the job does not include any of the first to third stop reasons, and the control section 101 determines that all the image forming processes for the number of sheets to be used can be performed.

Fig. 22 shows a job scheduling screen displayed on the display section 501.

The job scheduling screen shown in fig. 22 displays a two-dimensional table including two axes perpendicular to each other. The first axis as the vertical axis shows the tray information, and the second axis as the horizontal axis shows the number of sheets to be used. In addition, reservation information R1 to R7 for each job is displayed above the two-dimensional table.

The disc information is information relating to discs that can be set as discs to be used (in other words, paper feeding discs FT1 to FT9 and post inserters PI1, PI 2). The disc information is linked with the disc information stored in the disc information table 104a, and when the disc information of the disc information table 104a is changed, the job scheduling screen is also updated. In addition, as described later, the reservation information R is information showing a tray to be used and the number of sheets of paper to be used by: the information is displayed in an area including a position of a first axis corresponding to the tray to be used and a position of a second axis which is a length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used.

Incidentally, on the job scheduling screen shown in fig. 22, reservation information R1 of the job being executed is displayed as the first job in the reserved execution order. For the job being executed, the remaining number of sheets of paper at the time of displaying or updating the job schedule screen is the number of sheets of paper to be used.

As shown in fig. 22, the first axis on the job schedule screen shows the tray information, and is divided into eleven rows each corresponding to the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 and the post inserters PI1, PI2 and one row corresponding to the first stop reason described above.

In other words, on the job schedule screen shown in fig. 22, the first row as the top row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 1", and displays the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT1 "plain paper, a4, 61 to 71g/m²”。

In addition, the second row is a row and "paper feeding tray FT 2"Corresponding area, and displays the paper "high quality paper, A3, 50 to 61 g/m" stored in the paper feeding tray FT2²”。

In addition, the third row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 3", and displays the paper (something) dedicated paper, a4, 62 to 71g/m, stored in the paper feeding tray FT3²”。

In addition, the fourth row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 4" and displays "high quality paper, A3, 50 to 61 g/m" of the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT4²”。

In addition, the fifth row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 5", and displays the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT5 "plain paper, a4, 50 to 61g/m²”。

In addition, the sixth row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 6", and displays the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT6 "plain paper, a4, 62 to 71g/m²”。

In addition, the seventh row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 7", and displays the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT7 "plain paper, a4, 50 to 61g/m²”。

In addition, the eighth row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 8", and displays the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT8 "plain paper, a4, 62 to 71g/m²”。

In addition, the ninth row is an area corresponding to the "paper feeding tray FT 9", and displays the paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT9 "plain paper, a4, 62 to 71g/m²”。

In addition, the tenth row is an area corresponding to "post inserter PI 1", and shows the sheets "plain sheet, a4, 62 to 71g/m 2" stored in post inserter PI 1.

In addition, the eleventh row is an area corresponding to "post inserter PI 2", and shows the sheets "plain sheet, a4, 62 to 71g/m 2" stored in post inserter PI 2.

In addition, as shown in fig. 22, the remaining amount of paper detected by the remaining amount detection sensor D provided in each paper feeding tray FT is schematically displayed in the first to ninth rows of the first axis corresponding to the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT 9. In fig. 22, the remaining amount of paper is indicated by the number of lines.

In addition, as shown in fig. 22, in the second axis on the job scheduling screen, a scale showing the number of sheets to be used is displayed. The origin of the second axis shows 0 and one marker shows 100.

The control section 101 specifies a tray to be used for each job based on tray setting information and paper setting information, which are setting conditions for each job, stored in the nonvolatile memory 104, and displays reservation information R1 to R7 for each job at positions on a first axis (in other words, first to twelfth lines) on the job scheduling screen corresponding to the specified tray.

In addition, the control section 101 stretches the lengths of the reservation information R1 to R7 of the respective jobs on the job scheduling screen in the second axis direction to a length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used, based on the number of sheets of paper to be used as the setting conditions of the respective jobs stored in the nonvolatile memory 104.

As described above, since the reservation information R of each job is displayed at the position on the job schedule screen corresponding to the tray to be used on the first axis and the position on the second axis as the length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used, it is possible to understand the number of sheets of paper to be used in each job and each tray in the entire job.

In other words, as shown in fig. 22, since the control section 101 displays the reservation information R1 of the first job in the reserved execution order in the first row corresponding to the paper feeding tray FT1 to be used, and stretches the length of the second axis direction of the reservation information R1 to the length of 9 marks corresponding to "900 sheets" as the number of sheets of paper to be used, it can be recognized that: 900 sheets of paper of the paper feeding tray FT1 will be used in the first job of the reserved execution order.

In addition, since the control section 101 displays the reservation information R3 of the third job in the reserved execution order in the second row corresponding to the paper feeding tray FT2 to be used, and stretches the length of the second axial direction of the reservation information R3 to the length of 2.3 marks corresponding to "230 sheets" as the number of sheets of paper to be used, it can be recognized that: 230 sheets of paper of the paper feeding tray FT2 will be used in the third job in the reserved execution order.

In addition, since the control section 101 displays the reservation information R4 of the fourth job in the reserved execution order in the fourth row corresponding to the paper feeding tray FT7 to be used, and stretches the length of the second axis direction of the reservation information R4 to the length of 4.7 marks corresponding to "470 sheets" as the number of sheets of paper to be used, it can be recognized that: 470 sheets of paper of the paper feeding tray FT7 will be used in the fourth job in the reserved execution order.

In addition, since the control section 101 displays the reservation information R6 of the sixth job in the reserved execution order in the first row corresponding to the paper feeding tray FT1 to be used, and stretches the length of the second axis direction of the reservation information R6 to the length of 9.5 marks corresponding to "950 sheets" as the number of sheets of paper to be used, it can be recognized that: 950 sheets of paper of the paper feeding tray FT1 will be used in the sixth job in the reserved execution order.

In addition, when a plurality of trays are used in one job, since the control section 101 separately displays the reservation information R of the job at positions on the first axis corresponding to the respective trays to be used and stretches the length of the reservation information in the second axis direction corresponding to the respective trays to a length corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in the tray, even when a plurality of trays are used in one job, it is possible to understand the number of sheets to be used in the entire job and the number of sheets to be used in the respective trays.

In other words, as shown in fig. 22, the control section 101 displays the reservation information R5 of the fifth job in the reserved execution order separately in the fourth to sixth rows corresponding to the paper feeding trays FT4 to FT6 to be used, and stretches the respective lengths in the second axis direction of the three separated reservation information R to the lengths of the marks corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used in the respective paper feeding trays FT4 to FT 6. From this it can be seen that: the fifth job in the execution order uses 500 sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray FT4, 450 sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray FT5, 450 sheets stored in the sheet feeding tray FT6, and 1400 sheets are used in the entire job.

In addition, the control section 101 displays reservation information R7 of the seventh job in the reserved execution order in the ninth to eleventh lines corresponding to the paper feeding tray FT9, post inserters PI1, PI 2. This makes it possible to recognize: in the seventh job in the reserved execution order, image formation is performed on the sheets fed from the paper feeding tray FT1, the sheets are fed from the post inserters PI1, PI2 so as to be inserted between the sheets on which the images are formed, and the sheets from the post inserters PI1, PI2 are inserted between which sheets.

In addition, as described above, the control section 101 determines whether any one of the first, second, and third stop reasons is applicable to each job, and when any one of the stop reasons is applicable to a job, displays the reservation information R of the job on the job scheduling screen in a form corresponding to the stop reason.

Thereby, it is possible to easily recognize the job including the stop reason and the job not including the stop reason at a glance, and it is possible to easily understand which of the first stop reason, the second stop reason, and the third stop reason is included in the job on the job scheduling screen for the job including the stop reason.

Specifically, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R of the job which is not applicable to any of the first stop reason, the second stop reason, and the third stop reason, with a first color (for example, blue).

For example, when the paper feeding tray FT1 and "900" as the number of sheets of paper to be used are specified as the setting conditions for the first job in the reserved order of execution, the control section 101 calculates the remaining amount of paper at the start of execution of the job based on the remaining amount of paper detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D provided in the paper feeding tray FT1 and the number of sheets to be used in a job using the same paper feeding tray FT1 with the earlier reserved order of execution. In other words, when the paper remaining amount of the paper feeding tray FT1 detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D is "1700 sheets" and there is no job using the same paper feeding tray FT1 and having an earlier reserved execution order, the paper remaining amount of the paper feeding tray FT1 at the time of starting execution of the first job in the reserved execution order is "1700 sheets". Further, the control section 101 compares the remaining amount of paper (which is "1700 sheets") of the paper feeding tray FT1 when the execution of the first job in the reserved order of execution with the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job (which is "900 sheets"), and when the control section 101 judges that the remaining amount of paper (which is "1700 sheets") of the paper feeding tray FT1 when the execution of the first job in the reserved order of execution is started is not less than the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job (which is "900 sheets"), the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R1 of the job in blue.

As described above, by displaying the entire reservation information R1 of the job in the first color on the job scheduling screen, the user can easily recognize that all image forming processes of the job can be performed.

In addition, for the reservation information R of the job applicable to the above-described first stop reason, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R of the job in a second color (for example, brown) at a position on the first axis where no tray corresponding to the set paper is shown (in other words, the twelfth line). The job scheduling screen shown in fig. 22 displays "no corresponding paper" on the twelfth line, and it is easy to understand that there is no setting itself for the paper set as the job setting condition.

For example,when not set as the sheets stored in any of the paper feeding trays FT1 to FT9 "plain sheet, B5, 50 to 61g/m²"is set as the setting condition of the second job in the reserved execution order, the control section 101 displays the reservation information R of the job in brown on the twelfth line displaying" no corresponding paper "on the first axis.

As described above, by displaying the reservation information R2 of the job in the second color at the position on the first axis showing that there is no tray corresponding to the set paper on the job scheduling screen, the user can easily recognize that the image forming process of the job is stopped due to the first stop reason, in other words, the user can easily recognize that the paper on which the setting condition that cannot be used as the job is set.

In addition, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R of the job suitable for the second stop reason in a third color (for example, red).

For example, when the paper feeding tray FT7 is specified as the setting condition of the fourth job in the reserved execution order, the control section 101 calculates the paper remaining amount at the start of execution of the job based on the paper remaining amount detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D provided in the paper feeding tray FT7 and the number of sheets to be used in the job using the same paper feeding tray FT7 with the earlier reserved execution order. Then, when the remaining amount of paper at the time of starting execution of the job is 0 sheets, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R4 of the job in red.

As described above, since the entire reservation information R4 of the job is displayed in the third color on the job scheduling screen, showing that the remaining amount of paper of the set tray is 0 or the remaining amount of paper of the tray selected based on the paper setting is 0, the user can easily recognize that: the image forming process of the job is stopped due to the second stop reason, in other words, the set tray or the tray corresponding to the sheets set as the job setting conditions does not store sheets, and the tray lacks all the sheets to be used set as the job setting conditions.

In addition, for the reservation information R of the job applicable to the third stop reason, the control section 101 displays the display region having the length corresponding to the remaining amount of paper in the second axis direction with the first color (for example, blue), and displays the display region having the length corresponding to the missing amount of paper in the second axis direction with the third color (for example, red).

For example, when the paper feeding tray FT1 and "950 sheets" as the number of sheets of paper to be used are specified as the setting conditions for the sixth job in the reserved execution order, the control section 101 calculates the remaining amount of paper when execution of the job is started based on the remaining amount of paper detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D provided in the paper feeding tray FT1 and the number of sheets to be used in the job using the same paper feeding tray FT1 with the earlier reserved execution order. In other words, when the remaining amount of paper of the paper feeding tray FT1 detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D is "1700" and the number of sheets to be used in the first job in the reserved execution order using the same paper feeding tray FT1 is "900", the remaining amount of paper of the paper feeding tray FT1 at the start of execution of the sixth job in the reserved execution order is "900", and the remaining amount of paper of the paper feeding tray FT1 at the start of execution of the sixth job in the reserved execution order is "800". Further, the control section 101 compares the remaining amount of paper (which is "800 sheets") of the paper feeding tray FT1 when execution of the sixth job in the reserved execution order is started with the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job (which is "950 sheets"), and when the control section 101 determines that the remaining amount of paper (which is "800 sheets") of the paper feeding tray FT1 when execution of the sixth job in the reserved execution order is started is less than the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job (which is "950 sheets"), the control section 101 calculates the difference between the number of sheets to be used and the remaining amount of paper. Then, the control section 101 displays reservation information R6 of the job in blue by a length in the second axis direction corresponding to the remaining amount of paper (in other words, a display area of 8 marks). In addition, the difference between the number of sheets to be used and the remaining amount of paper (which is "150 sheets") is a shortage amount, and the length in the second axis direction corresponding to the shortage amount (in other words, a display area of 1.5 marks) is displayed in red.

As described above, the reservation information R6 of the job is displayed on the job scheduling screen in the first color and the third color, showing that the remaining amount of paper of the set tray or the tray selected based on the set paper is one or more and less than the number of sheets of paper to be used. Thus, the user can easily recognize: the image forming process of the job is stopped due to the third stop reason, in other words, the remaining amount of sheets of the set tray or the tray corresponding to the sheets set as the job setting conditions is insufficient. In addition, in the reservation information R6 of the job, since the display area having the length corresponding to the shortage amount is displayed in the third color, the user can easily recognize the shortage amount of the paper.

The control section 101 adds the number of sheets to be used in each job in the reserved execution order based on the setting condition of each job stored in the nonvolatile memory 104. Then, on the job scheduling screen, the reservation information R of each job is displayed at a position in the second axis direction at which the number of sheets to be used in the job earlier than the job in the reserved execution order is added, and therefore, the user can know the total number of sheets to be used at a desired time when executing each job.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 22, the control section 101 displays reservation information R1 of the first job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis that takes the origin of the second axis as a start point and that takes a position shifted by 9 marks corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used in the job (which is "900 sheets") in the second axis direction from the start point as an end point.

Next, the control section 101 displays reservation information R2 of a second job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis that starts from a position on the second axis showing the number of sheets to be used in the first job in the reserved execution order (which is "900 sheets") (in other words, a position moved by 9 marks from the origin) and ends at a position that starts from the starting point in the second axis direction from a position moved by 4 marks corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in the job (which is "400 sheets") (in other words, a position moved by 13 marks from the origin).

Next, the control section 101 calculates an added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used in the first job and the second job in the reserved execution order, which is "1300 sheets". Then, the control section 101 displays reservation information R3 of the third job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis starting from a position on the second axis showing the added value of the number of sheets to be used in the earlier job in the reserved execution order (which is "1300 sheets") (in other words, a position moved 13 marks from the origin) and ending at a position moved in the second axis direction from the starting point by 2.3 marks corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in the job (which is "230 sheets") (in other words, a position moved 15.3 marks from the origin).

Next, the control section 101 calculates an added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used in the first to third jobs in the reserved execution order, which is "1530". Then, the control section 101 displays reservation information R4 of the fourth job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis starting from the position on the second axis showing the added value of the number of sheets to be used in the earlier job in the reserved execution order (which is "1530 sheets") (in other words, the position moved by 15.3 marks from the origin) and ending at the position moved by 4.7 marks corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in the job (which is "470 sheets") from the starting point in the second axis direction (in other words, the position moved by 20 marks from the origin).

Next, the control section 101 calculates an added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used in the first to fourth jobs in the reserved execution order, which is "2000 sheets". Then, the control section 101 displays reservation information R5 of the fifth job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis starting from a position on the second axis showing the added value of the number of sheets to be used in the earlier job in the reserved execution order (which is "2000 sheets") (in other words, a position moved by 20 marks from the origin) and ending at a position moved by 14 marks corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in the job (which is "1400 sheets") from the starting point in the second axis direction (in other words, a position moved by 34 marks from the origin).

Next, the control section 101 calculates an added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used in the first to fifth jobs in the reserved execution order, which is "3400 sheets". Then, the control section 101 displays reservation information R6 of the sixth job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis starting at a position on the second axis showing the added value of the number of sheets to be used in the earlier job in the reserved execution order (which is "3400 sheets") (in other words, a position shifted by 34 marks from the origin) and ending at a position shifted by 9.5 marks corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in the job (which is "950 sheets") from the starting point in the second axis direction (in other words, a position shifted by 43.5 marks from the origin).

Next, the control portion 101 calculates an added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used in the first to sixth jobs in the reserved execution order, which is "4350 sheets". Then, the control section 101 displays reservation information R7 of the seventh job in the reserved execution order at a position on the second axis which is a starting point at a position on the second axis showing the added value of the number of sheets to be used in the earlier job in the reserved execution order (which is "4350 sheets") (in other words, a position shifted by 43.5 marks from the origin) and which is an end point at the right edge of the two-dimensional table because the number of sheets to be used in the job is not less than "650 sheets" corresponding to the remaining 6.5 marks in the second axis direction.

In addition, on the job scheduling screen, the control section 101 displays the separation lines Sa to Sf parallel to the first axis showing the separation of the respective jobs in the second axis direction, so that the reservation information R of the respective jobs can be individually distinguished.

In other words, as shown in fig. 22, the control section 101 displays the dividing line Sa at the boundary between the reservation information R1 of the first job and the reservation information R2 of the second job in the reserved execution order. In addition, the control section 101 displays the partition line Sb at the boundary between the reservation information R2 of the second job and the reservation information R3 of the third job in the reserved execution order. In addition, the control section 101 displays the dividing line Sc at the boundary between the reservation information R3 of the third job and the reservation information R4 of the fourth job in the reserved execution order. In addition, the control section 101 displays the dividing line Sd at the boundary between the reservation information R4 of the fourth job and the reservation information R5 of the fifth job in the reserved execution order. In addition, the control section 101 displays a dividing line Se at the boundary between the reservation information R5 of the fifth job and the reservation information R6 of the sixth job in the reserved execution order. In addition, the control section 101 displays the dividing line Sf at the boundary between the reservation information R6 of the sixth job and the reservation information R7 of the seventh job in the reserved execution order. Thereby, information of the first to seventh jobs in the reserved execution order separated from information of the earlier or later job in the reserved execution order can be easily understood.

In addition, the control section 101 updates the display positions of the respective reservation information R on the job scheduling screen at a predetermined update time with the origin of the second axis as the current time.

Here, the predetermined update time is when the image forming process for a predetermined number of sheets of paper is ended or when a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since the latest update time, and the user can set in advance when the update time of the job scheduling screen is when by operating the touch panel 502 on the setting screen, not shown. Incidentally, when the update time has not been reached even once after the job scheduling screen is displayed, the display time of the job scheduling screen is the latest update time.

When the update time is set so that the image forming process for each predetermined number of sheets ends, the user can also set how many sheets to perform the update. The user may make settings such that the update of the job schedule screen is performed, for example, every sheet, every ten sheets, or every hundred sheets.

On the other hand, when the update time is set to be after a predetermined amount of time has elapsed from the latest update time, the user can also set how many seconds, minutes, and hours the update is performed. The user may make settings such that the update of the job scheduling screen is performed, for example, every 10 seconds, every 60 seconds, or every 10 minutes.

The information related to the update time set by the user is output to the control section 101 through the operation/display control section 503 and stored in the nonvolatile memory 104.

Fig. 23 shows a job scheduling screen after the update time is updated.

The job scheduling screen shown in fig. 23 is a screen updated at the update time based on the setting conditions of each job after the image forming process is newly performed on 100 sheets from the display time or the update time of the job scheduling screen shown in fig. 22 and the image forming process is ended.

Incidentally, although the explanation is omitted, the job scheduling screen is not limited to a screen in which the first axis shows the tray information, and may be a job scheduling screen in which the first axis shows the paper information. The paper information is information relating to paper that can be set as paper to be used in a job. On this job schedule screen, the first axis is divided into rows corresponding to various sheets stored in the tray based on the tray sheet information of the tray information table 104 a.

In particular, the first axis is constituted by four rows, each corresponding to: the sheets stored in six trays of paper feeding tray FT1, paper feeding tray FT6, paper feeding tray FT8, paper feeding tray FT9, post inserter PI1 and PI2 "plain sheets, A4, 62 to 71g/m²", stored in the paper feeding tray FT5 and the paper feeding tray FT7The sheets in these two trays "plain sheet, A4, 50 to 61g/m²"" high quality paper, A3, 50 to 61g/m stored in two trays of the paper feeding tray FT2 and the paper feeding tray FT4²", and the paper" (something) dedicated paper stored in the paper feeding tray FT3, A4, 62 to 71g/m²". In addition, the sheet information on the first axis of the job scheduling screen is linked to the tray sheet information stored in the tray information table 104a, and the job scheduling screen is also updated when the tray sheet information of the tray information table 104a is changed.

In the display processing for the job scheduling screen, the control section 101 specifies the paper to be used in each job based on the tray setting information and the paper setting information, which are the setting conditions of each job, stored in the nonvolatile memory 104, and displays the reservation information R of each job in the position corresponding to the specified paper on the first axis (in other words, the first to fourth rows) on the job scheduling screen. On the other hand, the control section 101 stretches the length in the second axis direction of the reservation information R of each job on the job scheduling screen to a length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used, based on the number of sheets of paper to be used as the setting condition of each job stored in the nonvolatile memory 104. As described above, since the reservation information R of each job is displayed on the job scheduling screen at the position corresponding to the paper to be used on the first axis and at the position corresponding to the length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used on the second axis, it is possible to understand the number of sheets of paper to be used for each paper in each job and the entire job.

Next, the flow of the job progress screen display process will be described with reference to fig. 24 and 25.

First, in step S101 shown in fig. 24, the control section 101 determines whether or not it is time to display based on a display request for a job scheduling screen or a predetermined update time. In step S101, when the control section 101 determines that the display time or the update time has not come (step S101; n), the control section 101 determines in step S102 whether there is an instruction to end the display of the job scheduling screen. In step S102, when the control section 101 determines that there is an instruction to end the display of the job scheduling screen (step S102; y), the process ends. On the other hand, in step S102, when the control section 101 determines that there is no instruction for ending the display of the job scheduling screen (step S102; n), the processing returns to step S101.

On the other hand, when the control section 101 determines in step S101 that the display time or the update time has come (step S101; y), in the next step S103, the control section 101 stores the remaining amount of paper currently detected for each tray by the remaining amount detection sensor D in the tray information table 104 a.

Next, in step S104, the control section 101 specifies a tray or a sheet to be used in the nth (N' S initial value is 1) job in the reserved execution order based on the tray setting information and the sheet setting information of the job.

Next, in step S105, the control section 101 calculates an added value of the number of sheets to be used in the first to N-1 th jobs in the reserved execution order, and takes the origin of the second axis as 0, and specifies a position on the second axis corresponding to the calculated added value as the start point of the reservation information R of the nth job in the reserved execution order.

Next, in step S106, the control section 101 determines whether the nth job in the reserved execution order includes the first stop reason based on the tray or sheet to be used in the nth job in the reserved execution order designated in step S104, the number of sheets to be used, and the tray sheet information stored in the tray information table 104 a. In step S106, when the control portion 101 determines that the nth job in the reserved execution order does not include the first stop reason (step S106; N), the processing proceeds to step S108.

On the other hand, in step S106, when the control section 101 determines that the nth job in the reserved execution order includes the first stop reason (step S106; yes), in the next step S107, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R of the nth job in the reserved execution order in the second color at a position on the job scheduling screen on the first axis showing that there is no tray or paper set in the job setting condition and at a position on the second axis corresponding in length to the number of sheets of paper to be used and starting from the position on the second axis specified in step S105, and the processing proceeds to step S113.

Next, in step S108, the control section 101 determines whether the nth job in the reserved execution order includes the second stop reason based on the tray or sheet to be used in the nth job in the reserved execution order designated in step S104, the number of sheets to be used, and the tray sheet information stored in the tray information table 104 a. In step S108, when the control portion 101 determines that the nth job in the reserved execution order does not include the second stop reason (step S108; N), the processing proceeds to step S110.

On the other hand, in step S108, when the control section 101 determines that the nth job in the reserved execution order includes the second stop reason (step S108; yes), in the next step S109, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R of the nth job in the reserved execution order in a third color at a position on the job scheduling screen on the first axis corresponding to the tray or paper to be used in the nth job in the reserved execution order designated in step S104 and a position on the second axis corresponding in length to the number of sheets of paper to be used and starting from the position on the second axis designated in step S105, and then the processing proceeds to step S113.

Next, in step S110, the control section 101 determines whether the nth job in the reserved execution order includes the third cause of stop based on the tray or sheet to be used in the nth job in the reserved execution order designated in step S104, the number of sheets to be used, and the tray sheet information stored in the tray information table 104 a. In step S110, when the control portion 101 determines that the nth job in the reserved execution order does not include the third stop reason (step S110; N), the processing proceeds to step S112.

On the other hand, in step S110, when the control section 101 determines that the nth job in the reserved execution order includes the third cause of stop (step S110; yes), in the next step S111, the control section 101 displays reservation information R of the nth job in the reserved execution order, in which the remaining amount of paper is displayed in the first color and the lacking amount of paper is displayed in the third color, at a position on the job scheduling screen on the first axis corresponding to the tray or paper to be used in the nth job in the reserved execution order designated in step S104 and a position on the second axis corresponding in length to the number of sheets of paper to be used and starting from the position on the second axis designated in step S105, in the next step S111.

Next, in step S112, the control section 101 displays the entire reservation information R of the nth job in the reserved execution order in the first color at a position on the job scheduling screen corresponding to the tray or paper to be used in the nth job in the reserved execution order specified in step S104 on the first axis and at a position on the second axis corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used in length and starting from the position on the second axis specified in step S105, and the processing proceeds to step S113.

Then, in step S113, the control section 101 determines whether there is a job that has not been displayed among the jobs that can be displayed on the job scheduling screen. When the control section 101 determines in step S113 that there is a job that has not yet been displayed (step S113; y), the control section 101 increments N by 1 in the next step S114, and returns to step S104.

On the other hand, in step S113, when the control portion 101 determines that there is no job that has not been displayed (step S113; n), the processing returns to step S101.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1B of the third embodiment of the present invention, in the two-dimensional table in which the first axis shows the tray information or the paper information and the second axis shows the number of sheets of paper to be used on the job schedule screen displayed on the display portion 501, the reservation information R is displayed at the position corresponding to the tray or the paper to be used in each job on the first axis by the length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used in each reserved job in the second axis.

Therefore, since the number of sheets of paper to be used in a plurality of reserved jobs can be easily recognized in advance for each tray information and/or paper information with the job scheduling screen displayed on the display portion 501, it is possible to know the tray and/or the paper to be supplied and the number of sheets of paper to be supplied that need to be supplied. Therefore, the operation of supplying the sheet in advance can be easily performed, and a decrease in operation efficiency can be prevented.

Therefore, in the image forming apparatus 1B that can reserve a plurality of jobs, by obtaining information related to execution of the plurality of jobs before execution of the jobs, an image forming apparatus that can be easily used can be obtained.

In addition, on the job scheduling screen, reservation information R of each reserved job is displayed at a position where the number of sheets to be used in a job earlier than the job in the order of execution of reservation is added in the second axis direction with the origin of 0 sheets. Therefore, the added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used at a desired time during execution of each job can be easily intuitively understood.

In addition, since the job scheduling screen is updated at the predetermined update time, the number of sheets of paper to be used in each of the reserved jobs at present can be recognized at each predetermined update time.

In addition, since the predetermined update time is when the image forming process of the predetermined number of sheets of paper is finished or a predetermined amount of time has elapsed from the latest update time, the number of sheets to be used in each of the reserved jobs at present can be recognized each time the image forming process is performed on the predetermined number of sheets of paper or the predetermined amount of time has elapsed.

In addition, when the remaining amount detected by the remaining amount detecting sensor D is smaller than the number of sheets to be used in the job, in the reservation information R of the job on the job scheduling screen, display of a display region having a length corresponding to the shortage amount of the paper in the second axis direction among the display regions of the reservation information R is displayed, unlike display of other display regions. Therefore, the shortage of the paper to be used can be recognized for each reserved job.

In addition, on the job scheduling screen, the dividing line S showing the division of each job is displayed along the first axis in the second axis direction, and therefore, the tray information and/or the paper information of the paper to be used and the number of sheets to be used can be more easily understood for each reserved job.

Further, the tray information includes information on a tray on which paper is printed and information on a tray on which paper is inserted, and therefore, the tray information can be displayed on the job scheduling screen regardless of whether the paper tray for printing is used or the paper tray for insertion is used.

Incidentally, in the third embodiment described above, on the job scheduling screen, the vertical axis is described as the first axis and the horizontal axis is described as the second axis, however, the directions of the first axis and the second axis may be opposite.

In addition, in the third embodiment described above, the reservation information R of each job is displayed at the position of the added number of sheets of paper to be used in the job earlier in the reserved execution order, but the reservation information R of each job may be displayed at a position starting from the origin of the second axis. In addition, in this case, the reservation information R may be displayed at a position of the added number of sheets scheduled to be used in a job having the same tray information or paper information earlier in the reservation execution order, so that the added value of the number of sheets of paper to be used for each tray information or paper information may be shown.

In addition, when both tray setting information and paper setting information exist, in other words, when there are settings for both the tray and the paper as job setting conditions, when the paper stored in the set tray is not identical to the set paper, it can be determined that there is a cause of the stop.

In addition, in the third embodiment described above, when there is tray sheet information that matches tray setting information and sheet setting information set as job setting conditions, when the remaining amount of sheets of the tray is 0, it is determined that the job is applicable to the first stop reason; on the other hand, when the remaining amount of sheets of the tray becomes 0 at the time of executing the job, it is determined that the job is applicable to the second cause of stop, however, when the remaining amount of sheets of the tray is smaller than the number of sheets to be used, it is possible to determine that the cause of stop exists in any job regardless of whether the remaining amount of sheets of the tray is 0 or one or more sheets exist.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and may be appropriately modified without departing from the scope of the invention.

According to an aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including an image forming portion for performing image formation based on a plurality of jobs, the image forming apparatus including:

a control section for allowing the display section to display switching information showing that the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed is switched, the switching information being displayed by the image forming section before the plurality of jobs are executed.

According to this aspect, the user can refer to the switching information of the paper feeding tray to be used in the job before the job is performed, and the user can know the switching information of the paper feeding tray to be used in the job before the job is performed. Thus, the user can know when the paper in which paper feeding tray is used up and to which paper feeding tray the tray to be used is to be switched before executing the job, and therefore, the user can supply the paper to the paper feeding tray at an appropriate time. Therefore, in an image forming apparatus that can reserve a plurality of jobs, by obtaining information related to execution of the plurality of jobs before execution of the jobs, an image forming apparatus that is easy to use can be obtained.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the switching information includes: information of the paper feeding tray arranged along the vertical axis or the horizontal axis of the display screen of the display section, and information of job execution time or the number of sheets of paper to be used arranged along the other axis, information showing an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, information showing a time of switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, and information showing the paper feeding tray to be switched.

Therefore, the user can know the paper feeding tray information, the information of the job execution time or the number of sheets of paper, the information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper, the information showing the switching time, and the information showing the switched paper feeding tray.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section allows the display section to display at least three pieces of information as information showing an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when executing the job: information showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper, information showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is small, and information showing that there is no estimated remaining amount of paper.

Therefore, the user can know the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used in the job.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section allows the display section to display information showing a switching time of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, when the information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed is changed from the information showing that there is the estimated remaining amount of paper to the information showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is small.

Therefore, the user can know the switching time of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, when the information showing the paper feeding tray to be switched is a button icon that can be pressed to be operated, the control section displays a prohibition button for prohibiting switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job based on a pressing operation of the button icon, and the control section prohibits switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job based on a pressing operation of the prohibition button.

Therefore, the user can set whether or not to prohibit switching of the paper feeding tray used when performing the job. Thereby, a setting with high flexibility according to the state of the apparatus can be made, and an efficient operation of the apparatus can be achieved.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, when the information showing the paper feeding tray to be switched is a button icon that can be pressed to be operated, the control section displays a change button for changing a priority order of switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job based on a pressing operation of the button icon, and the control section changes the priority order based on a pressing operation of the change button.

Therefore, the user can change the priority order. Thereby, a setting with high flexibility according to the state of the apparatus can be made, and an efficient operation of the apparatus can be achieved.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, when the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray used when performing the job is used up, the control section automatically switches the paper feeding tray storing paper having the same size as the paper stored in the paper feeding tray without the remaining amount of paper to be the paper feeding tray used when performing the job according to a priority order of switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job.

Therefore, when the remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray used when performing the job is used up, the paper feeding tray storing paper having the same size as the paper stored in the paper feeding tray used up in the remaining amount of paper is automatically switched to the paper feeding tray used when performing the job in accordance with the priority of switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section allows the display section to display the respective divided vertical lines for the job.

Therefore, the user can know, for each job, the paper feeding tray and the estimated remaining amount of paper to be used when the job is executed.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section allows the display section to display a remaining amount of the sheet currently stored in the sheet feeding tray.

Therefore, the user can know the remaining amount of paper currently stored in the paper feeding tray.

According to another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including an image forming portion for performing image formation based on a plurality of jobs, the image forming apparatus including:

a control section for allowing the display section to display the designated paper feeding tray information and displaying the automatically selected paper feeding tray information on the same screen in a display form different from the designated paper feeding tray information and displaying these before the plurality of jobs are executed by the image forming section.

According to this aspect, the operator can refer to the designated paper feeding tray information and the automatically selected paper feeding tray information before performing the job, and therefore, the operator can know the paper feeding tray to be used in the job before performing the job. Thereby, the operator can perform adjustment processing such as front-back adjustment of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job before operating the image forming apparatus and performing the job. Therefore, in an image forming apparatus that can reserve a plurality of jobs, by obtaining information related to execution of the plurality of jobs before execution of the jobs, an image forming apparatus that is easy to use can be obtained.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the automatically selecting paper feeding tray information includes: information of the paper feeding tray arranged along either one of the vertical axis or the horizontal axis of the display screen of the display section, and information of job execution time or the number of sheets of paper to be used arranged along the other axis, information showing an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when executing the job, and information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray.

Therefore, the operator can know the paper feeding tray information, information of job execution time or number of sheets of paper, information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper, and information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, when the information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray is a button icon that can be pressed to be operated, the control section displays a change button for changing the priority order of the automatically selected paper feeding tray based on a pressing operation of the button icon, and the control section changes the priority order based on a pressing operation of the change button.

Therefore, the operator can change the priority order of the automatically selected paper feeding tray. Thereby, a setting with high flexibility according to the state of the apparatus can be made, and an efficient operation of the apparatus can be achieved.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, when a job using the automatically selected paper feeding tray is to be executed, the control section searches for a paper feeding tray matching the job information of the job at the start of execution of the job, and automatically selects the paper feeding tray based on whether or not the estimated remaining amount of paper is stored in the searched paper feeding tray.

Therefore, when a job using an automatically selected paper feeding tray is to be executed, when the job is started to be executed, the paper feeding tray can be automatically selected by searching for a paper feeding tray matching the job information of the job and depending on whether the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the searched paper feeding tray is sufficient or not.

Therefore, the operator can know the estimated remaining amounts of the paper feeding tray and the paper to be used when performing the job for each job.

Therefore, the operator can know the remaining amount of paper currently stored in the paper feeding tray.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, when the control section determines that there is no paper feeding tray matching the job information of the job using the automatically selected paper feeding tray, the control section allows the display section to display information showing that there is no corresponding paper.

Therefore, the operator can know the job in which there is no corresponding sheet before executing the job.

According to another aspect of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including a reservation section that can reserve a plurality of jobs and an image forming section that can execute an image forming process according to a job reserved by the reservation section, the image forming apparatus including:

a control section for displaying a job scheduling screen on a display section, the job scheduling screen displaying reservation information of each reserved job on a two-dimensional table in which a first axis shows tray information or paper information and a second axis shows the number of sheets of paper to be used; wherein,

the control section specifies a tray or a sheet to be used in each job based on a setting condition of each reserved job, and displays reservation information at a position corresponding to the specified tray or sheet on a first axis by a length corresponding to the number of sheets of paper to be used in each job in a second axis.

According to the present aspect, with the job scheduling screen displayed on the display portion, the number of sheets of paper to be used in a plurality of reserved jobs can be easily recognized in advance for each of the tray information or the paper information. Therefore, the operation of supplying the sheet in advance can be performed more easily, and a decrease in the work rate can be prevented. Therefore, in an image forming apparatus that can reserve a plurality of jobs, by obtaining information related to execution of the plurality of jobs before execution of the jobs, an image forming apparatus that can be easily used can be obtained.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section adds the number of sheets to be used in each job in the reserved execution order, and displays reservation information of each reserved job with a position earlier in the reserved execution order than the added number of sheets to be used in the job as a starting point in a second direction with an origin as 0 sheets on the job scheduling screen.

Therefore, the added value of the number of sheets to be used at a desired time when each job is executed can be easily intuitively understood.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section updates the display position of the reservation information on the job scheduling screen at a predetermined update time with an origin of the second axis as a current time.

Therefore, the number of sheets to be used in each of the reserved jobs at present can be recognized at each of the predetermined update times.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the predetermined update time is when the image forming process for a predetermined number of sheets of paper is ended or a predetermined amount of time has elapsed since the latest update time.

Therefore, the number of sheets to be used in each of the reserved jobs at present can be recognized each time the image forming process is performed on a predetermined number of sheets or a predetermined amount of time has elapsed.

Preferably, the image forming apparatus further comprises:

a remaining amount detecting section for detecting a remaining amount of the sheet stored in the tray; wherein,

when the remaining amount detected by the remaining amount detecting section is less than the number of sheets to be used in the job, the control section displays the paper shortage amount by: a display area having a length corresponding to the paper shortage amount in the second axis direction is displayed on the job schedule screen so as to be different from the display of the other display area among the reservation information display areas in the reservation information of the job.

Therefore, the amount of paper to be used can be known for each reserved job.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the control section displays a separation line showing a separation for each job along the first axis in the second axis direction on the job scheduling screen.

Therefore, the tray or paper to be used and the number of sheets to be used can be easily recognized for each reserved job.

Preferably, in the image forming apparatus, the tray information includes information related to a printing paper tray and information related to an insertion paper tray.

Therefore, regardless of whether the reserved job uses a printing paper tray or an insertion paper tray, the tray information can be displayed on the job scheduling screen.

While various exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, the invention is not limited to the illustrated embodiments. Accordingly, it is intended that the scope of the present invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims, rather than by the foregoing description, and that the present invention cover modifications and variations within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus including an image forming portion that performs image formation based on a plurality of jobs, the image forming apparatus comprising:

a control section for allowing a display section to display switching information showing that the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed is to be switched, and the switching information is displayed before the plurality of jobs are executed by the image forming section.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switching information includes: information of a paper feeding tray arranged along either one of a vertical axis or a horizontal axis of a display screen of the display section, and information of job execution time or the number of sheets of paper to be used, information showing an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, information showing a switching time of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, and information showing the paper feeding tray to be switched, which are arranged along the other of the vertical axis or the horizontal axis.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the control section allows the display section to display at least three pieces of information as information showing an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed: information showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper, information showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is small, and information showing that there is no estimated remaining amount of paper.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the control section allows the display section to display information showing a switching time of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, when the information showing the estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed changes from information showing that there is an estimated remaining amount of paper to information showing that the estimated remaining amount of paper is small.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the information showing the paper feeding tray to be switched is a button icon that can be pressed to be operated, the control section displays an inhibition button for inhibiting switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed based on a pressing operation of the button icon, and the control section inhibits switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed based on a pressing operation of the inhibition button.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the information showing the paper feeding tray to be switched is a button icon that can be pressed to be operated, the control section displays a change button for changing a priority order of switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when performing the job based on a pressing operation of the button icon, and the control section changes the priority order based on a pressing operation of the change button.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when a remaining amount of paper stored in a paper feeding tray used when the job is executed is used up, the control section automatically switches a paper feeding tray storing paper of a size identical to that stored in the paper feeding tray without a remaining amount of paper to a paper feeding tray used when the job is executed, in accordance with a priority order of switching of the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control portion allows the display portion to display the respective divided vertical lines for the job.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control section allows the display section to display a remaining amount of paper currently stored in the paper feeding tray.

10. An image forming apparatus including an image forming portion that performs image formation based on a plurality of jobs, the image forming apparatus comprising:

a control section for allowing the display section to display the specified paper feeding tray information and the automatically selected paper feeding tray information on the same screen in a display form different from the specified paper feeding tray information, and the two kinds of information are displayed before the plurality of jobs are executed by the image forming section.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the automatically selected paper feeding tray information includes: information of the paper feeding tray arranged along either one of a vertical axis or a horizontal axis of a display screen of the display section, and information of job execution time or the number of sheets of paper to be used, information showing an estimated remaining amount of paper stored in the paper feeding tray to be used when the job is executed, and information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray, which are arranged along the other of the vertical axis or the horizontal axis.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein when the information showing the automatically selected paper feeding tray is a button icon that can be pressed to be operated, the control section displays a change button for changing a priority order of the automatically selected paper feeding tray based on a pressing operation of the button icon, and the control section changes the priority order based on a pressing operation of the change button.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when a job using the automatically selected paper feeding tray is executed, the control section searches for a paper feeding tray matching job information of the job at the start of execution of the job, and automatically selects the paper feeding tray based on whether or not an estimated remaining amount of paper is stored in the searched paper feeding tray.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the control portion allows the display portion to display the respective divided vertical lines for the job.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the control section allows the display section to display a remaining amount of paper currently stored in the paper feeding tray.

16. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein when the control section determines that there is no paper feeding tray matching the job information of the job using the automatically selected paper feeding tray, the control section allows the display section to display information showing no corresponding paper.

17. An image forming apparatus including a reservation section capable of reserving a plurality of jobs and an image forming section that executes an image forming process according to a job reserved by the reservation section, the image forming apparatus comprising:

the control section specifies a tray or a sheet to be used in each job based on a setting condition of each of the reserved jobs, and displays the reservation information at a position on the first axis corresponding to the specified tray or sheet in a length of the second axis corresponding to the number of sheets to be used in each job.

18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the control section adds the number of sheets to be used in each of the jobs in a reserved execution order, and displays the reservation information of each of the reserved jobs with a position of the added number of sheets to be used in a job earlier than the job in a reserved execution order as a starting point in a second axis direction with an origin being 0 sheets on the job scheduling screen.

19. The image forming apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the control section updates the display position of the reservation information on the job scheduling screen at a predetermined update time with an origin of the second axis as a current time.

20. The image forming apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the predetermined update time is when image forming processing for a predetermined number of sheets of paper is ended or a predetermined amount of time has elapsed from a latest update time.

21. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

when the remaining amount detected by the remaining amount detecting section is less than the number of sheets to be used in the job, the control section displays a paper shortage amount by: displaying, on the job scheduling screen, a display area having a length corresponding to a paper shortage amount in a second axis direction so as to be different from display of other display areas among the display areas of reservation information in reservation information for the job.

22. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the control section displays a separation line showing a separation of each job along the first axis in the second axis direction on the job scheduling screen.

23. The image forming apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the tray information includes information relating to a printing paper tray and information relating to an insertion paper tray.