Electrophotography – Machine operation – Operator interface
Reexamination Certificate
2001-10-26
2003-04-15
Chen, Sophia S. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Machine operation
Operator interface
C270S058070, C399S082000, C399S407000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06549734
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer and a facsimile provided with a device that performs post-processing to form a punch hole for filing.
2. Related Art
For example, in the image forming apparatus such as the copier, various types of paper processing devices that perform processing such as sorting and stapling papers, on which an image is recorded by the image forming apparatus, punching for filing, stamping and adding information to the papers have been conventionally provided.
Many paper processing devices have been equipped with a device that performs punching for filing, that is, a punching device that performs punch processing.
There are various kinds of punch holes. For example, typical punch holes are a two-hole punch, a three-hole punch and a four-hole punch that can be seen in Japan and Europe. Regarding the paper, papers of an A4 and an A3 size are widely used in Japan and Europe, and papers of a legal size are widely used in North America. Although there are the same two-hole punch and three-hole punch, hole positions are different among Japan, Europe and North America. Punching devices are proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 9-136762 and No. Hei 10-6290 in which the punching devices are arranged at both of the two-hole punch position and the three-hole punch position in order to correspond to the two-hole punch and the three-hole punch by driving only the punching device desired.
Furthermore, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-267481, there is proposed a punching device that detects the size and the direction of paper and displays a sentence meaning punching cannot be performed if punching is impossible, and that informs a user of changing the paper size and direction by the sentence.
However, punching types are not frequently switched in normal filing. For example, in North America, the three-hole punch is used in regular filing, and the two-hole punch is used in the limited case of filing material to a public organization. The two-hole punch is used little, and the frequency of switching between the two-hole punch and the three-hole punch is very small. The user has to pay attention to the setting of desired punch hole type and confirm a caution by the sentence every time he/she uses the punching device, and thus an operation becomes complicated and leads to the possibility of causing copying mistake.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus with improved convenience.
To achieve the foregoing object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises: an image forming device; and a post-processing device having a punching device that forms punch holes of a plurality of types on the paper ejected from the image forming device. The image forming apparatus also comprises an indicator. The indicator indicates one of pictographs corresponding to each punch hole types, and when the indicated pictograph is selected, it indicates the indicated pictograph in a pictograph different from the one indicated before.
Furthermore, to achieve the foregoing object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises: the image forming device; and the post-processing device having the punching device that forms punch holes of a plurality of types on the paper ejected from the image forming device. The image forming apparatus also comprises the indicator. The indicator indicates each of the punch hole types and a plurality of different kinds of pictographs, and when a punch hole type is selected, it indicates the pictograph corresponding to the selected punch hole type as the pictograph different from the one indicated before.
Furthermore, to achieve the foregoing object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises: the image forming device; and the post-processing device having the punching device that forms punch holes of a plurality of types on the paper ejected from the image forming device. The image forming apparatus also comprises: the indicator; and a device to control the image forming device, the post-processing device and the indicator. The controller allows the indicator to indicate one pictograph corresponding to a punch hole type among the pictographs regarding the punch hole types on the indicator, and when the punch hole type corresponding to the pictograph is selected, the controller indicates the pictograph in a pictograph different from the one indicated before, and then the controller allows the punching device to form the punch holes corresponding to the selected punch hole type.
Still further, to achieve the foregoing object, the image forming apparatus of the present invention comprises: the image forming device; and the post-processing device having the punching device that forms punch holes of a plurality of types on the paper ejected from the image forming device. The image forming apparatus also comprises: the indicator; the image forming device; and a device to control the post-processing device and the indicator. The controller allows the indicator to indicate a plurality of the pictographs, which are related to each of a plurality of the punch hole types executed by the punching device and are different from each other, and when a punch hole type is designated, the indicator indicates the pictograph related to the designated punch hole type in a pictograph different from the one indicated before, and then the controller allows the punching device to form the punch holes corresponding to the designated punch hole type.
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Asami Shinji
Iida Jun-ichi
Okada Hiroki
Saitoh Hiromoto
Sasaki Takeshi
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