Image forming apparatus which detects a blank page from an image of a document, method for controlling the same, and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9497344-B2
Application number	US-201514629397-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2015
Priority date	Feb 25, 2014
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

In a case where a conveyed document is a first page, printing is started before a result of determination as to whether the document is a blank page is output, whereby a time until a first sheet is output can be shortened.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a reading unit configured to read an image of a conveyed document;
a printing unit configured to print, on a sheet according to notification of completion of image output preparation, the image of the document read by the reading unit;
a detection unit configured to detect a blank page from the image of the document read by the reading unit; and
a control unit configured to,
in a case where the document read by the reading unit is a first page, notify the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation before the detection unit detects a blank page, and
in a case where the document read by the reading unit is not a first page, notify the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation after the detection unit detects the blank page.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a judging unit configured to judge whether an operation mode is an operation mode for shortening a time until the image of the document read by the reading unit is output on a first sheet,
wherein, in a case where the judging unit judges the operation mode is the operation mode for shortening the time and the document read by the reading unit is a first page, the control unit notifies the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation before the detection unit detects the blank page.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the judging unit judges whether an operation mode is the mode, based on an image forming condition of the image of the document read by the reading unit.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the image forming condition includes a condition for printing the image of the document read by the reading unit on both sides of a sheet.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a compression unit configured to compress image data obtained by reading the document by the reading unit; and
a storage unit configured to store the image data compressed by the compression unit,
wherein, in a case where the document read by the reading unit is a first page, image data obtained by reading the document by the reading unit is stored in the storage unit without being compressed.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a charging unit configured to execute charging processing each time the printing unit prints an image on a sheet.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein, in a case where the document read by the reading unit is a first page and the detection unit detects a blank page, the charging unit does not execute the charging processing.

8. A method for controlling an image forming apparatus including a reading unit configured to read an image of a conveyed document and a printing unit configured to print, on a sheet according to notification of completion of image output preparation, the image of the document read by the reading unit, the method comprising:
detecting a blank page from the image of the document read by the reading unit; and
notifying, in a case where the document read by the reading unit is determined to be a first page, the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation before the detecting detects a blank page; and
notifying, in a case where the document read by the reading unit is determined to be not a first page, the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation after the detecting detects a blank page.

9. A non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute a method for controlling an image forming apparatus including a reading unit configured to read an image of a conveyed document and a printing unit configured to print, on a sheet according to notification of completion of image output preparation, the image of the document read by the reading unit, the method comprising:
detecting a blank page from the image of the document read by the reading unit;
determining whether the document read by the reading unit is a first page;
notifying, in a case where the document read by the reading unit is determined to be a first page, the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation before the detection unit detects a blank page; and
notifying, in a case where the document read by the reading unit is determined to be not a first page, the printing unit of the completion of the image output preparation after the detection unit detects a blank page.

Assignees

• Canon Kk

Inventors

• Kashiwagi Masaki

Classifications

• H04N1/00551 Primary

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