Relay apparatus and image forming system
AssigneeKonica Minolta, Inc.
InventorHiroyuki Konishi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed is an image forming system including: the relay apparatus; the image forming device which is connected to the first communication control unit of the relay apparatus and which acquires the sheet interval information of the downstream post-processing device through the first communication system; and the second post-processing device which is connected to the second communication control unit of the relay apparatus, the second post-processing device being compliant with the second communication system.
Claims24
A relay apparatus to be communicatively connected to an image forming device which acquires sheet interval information indicating a sheet interval necessary for a first post-processing device by performing communication through a serial communication system for transmitting sheet information relating to a sheet on which an image is formed, to the first post-processing device and for receiving the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device from the first post-processing device as a response of the transmitted sheet information, and which discharges the sheet at a timing based on the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device, and to be communicatively connected to a second post-processing device which is arranged on a downstream side of the image forming device in a sheet carrying direction and which communicates with the relay apparatus through a parallel communication system which is different from the serial communication system, the relay apparatus comprising:
- a serial interface which communicates with the image forming device through the serial communication system;
- a parallel interface which communicates with the second post-processing device through the parallel communication system;
- and
- a storage unit which previously stores information relating to a sheet interval necessary for the second post-processing device,
- wherein when the relay apparatus receives the sheet information from the image forming device, the serial interface determines sheet interval information of the second post-processing device in accordance with the received sheet information and the information relating to the sheet interval, which is previously stored in the storage unit, and transmits the determined sheet interval information of the second post-processing device to the image forming device.
A relay apparatus to be communicatively connected to (i) an image forming device, (ii) a first post-processing device which is arranged on a downstream side of the image forming device in a sheet carrying direction and which communicates with a device arranged on an upstream side of the first post-processing device in the sheet carrying direction through a parallel communication system, and (iii) a second post-processing device which is arranged on the downstream side of the image forming device in the sheet carrying direction and which communicates with a device arranged on an upstream side of the second post-processing device in the sheet carrying direction through a serial communication system, the relay apparatus comprising:
- a first serial interface which communicates with the image forming device through the serial communication system;
- a parallel interface which communicates with the first post-processing device through the parallel communication system;
- a second serial interface which communicates with the second post-processing device through the serial communication system;
- and
- a storage unit which previously stores information relating to a sheet interval necessary for the first post-processing device,
- wherein the second serial interface transmits the sheet information received from the image forming device by the first serial interface to the second post-processing device and receives sheet interval information of the second post-processing device from the second post-processing device as a response of the sheet information transmitted from the second serial interface, and
- when the relay apparatus receives the sheet information from the image forming device, the first serial interface determines sheet interval information of the first post-processing device in accordance with the received sheet information and the information relating to the sheet interval, which is previously stored in the storage unit, and transmits both of the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and the sheet interval information of the second post-processing device, which is received by the second serial interface, to the image forming device, or transmits given sheet interval information determined based on the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and the sheet interval information of the second post-processing device, to the image forming device, so as to discharge a sheet from the image forming device at a timing based on the transmitted sheet interval information.
A relay apparatus to be communicatively connected to (i) an image forming device, (ii) a first post-processing device which is arranged on a downstream side of the image forming device in a sheet carrying direction and which communicates with a device arranged on an upstream side of the first post-processing device in the sheet carrying direction through a parallel communication system, and (iii) a second post-processing device which is arranged on the downstream side of the image forming device in the sheet carrying direction and which communicates with a device arranged on an upstream side of the second post-processing device in the sheet carrying direction through the parallel communication system, the relay apparatus comprising:
- a serial interface which communicates with the image forming device through a serial communication system;
- a first parallel interface which communicates with the first post-processing device through the parallel communication system;
- a second parallel interface which communicates with the second post-processing device through the parallel communication system;
- and
- a storage unit which previously stores information relating to a sheet interval necessary for the first post-processing device and information relating to a sheet interval necessary for the second post-processing device,
- wherein when the relay apparatus receives the sheet information from the image forming device, the serial interface determines sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and sheet interval information of the second post-processing device in accordance with the received sheet information, the information relating to the sheet interval necessary for the first post-processing device, which is previously stored in the storage unit, and the information relating to the sheet interval necessary for the second post-processing device, which is previously stored in the storage unit, and transmits both of the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and the sheet interval information of the second post-processing device, to the image forming device, or transmits given sheet interval information determined based on the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and the sheet interval information of the second post-processing device, to the image forming device, so as to discharge a sheet from the image forming device at a timing based on the transmitted sheet interval information.
An image forming system comprising:
- a first relay apparatus to be communicatively connected to (i) an image forming device, (ii) a first post-processing device which is arranged on a downstream side of the image forming device in a sheet carrying direction and which communicates with a device arranged on an upstream side of the first post-processing device in the sheet carrying direction through a parallel communication system, and (iii) a second post-processing device which is arranged on the downstream side of the image forming device in the sheet carrying direction and which communicates with a device arranged on an upstream side of the second post-processing device in the sheet carrying direction through the parallel communication system, the first relay apparatus comprising:
- a first serial interface which communicates with the image forming device through a serial communication system;
- a parallel interface which communicates with the first post-processing device through the parallel communication system;
- a second serial interface which communicates with the second post-processing device through the serial communication system;
- and
- a storage unit which previously stores information relating to a sheet interval necessary for the first post-processing device,
- wherein the second serial interface transmits the sheet information received from the image forming device by the first serial interface to the second post-processing device and receives sheet interval information of the second post-processing device as a response of the sheet information transmitted from the second serial interface, and
- when the first relay apparatus receives the sheet information from the image forming device, the first serial interface determines sheet interval information of the first post-processing device in accordance with the received sheet information and the information relating to the sheet interval, which is previously stored in the storage unit, and transmits both of the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and the sheet interval information of the second post-processing device, which is received by the second serial interface, to the image forming device, or transmits given sheet interval information determined based on the sheet interval information of the first post-processing device and the sheet interval information of the second post-processing device, to the image forming device, so as to discharge a sheet from the image forming device at a timing based on the transmitted sheet interval information;
- a second relay apparatus;
- the image forming device which is connected to the first serial interface of the first relay apparatus and which acquires the sheet interval information through the serial communication system;
- the first post-processing device which is connected to the parallel interface of the first relay apparatus, the first post-processing device being compliant with the parallel communication system;
- and
- the second post-processing device which is connected to a parallel interface of the second relay apparatus, the second post-processing device being compliant with the parallel communication system,
- wherein a serial interface of the second relay apparatus is connected to the second serial interface of the first relay apparatus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.