Image forming apparatus for reading information from and writing information to a non-contact medium

• US 8,179,557 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2007
• Issued: 05/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Brother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Ueno, Hideo, Suzuki, Masashi, Koie, Hiroshi, Taki, Kazunari, Ikeno, Takahiro, Hosokawa, Takahiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Haskins, Twyler
• Assistant Examiner(s): DICKER, DENNIS T
• Application Number:
  US11/861,617
• Publication Number:
  US 20080080007A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,693 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.9, 358/1.16, 358/1.18, 358/504, 358/3.28, 358/1.14, 358/1.12, 358/1.15, 358/1.13, 235/375, 235/382, 340/572.1, 399/8, 399/9, 399/10, 399/12, 399/24, 399/45, 347/14, 347/19
• US Class Current: 358/1.18
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/12 by photographic printing , e.g. by laser printers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 17/0025 the arrangement consisting of a wireless interrogation device in combination with a device for optically marking the record carrier

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: an image forming unit; a controller that controls the image forming unit to form, on a recording medium, an image based on image data in accordance with a first print setting; and a data recording unit that records original data of the image data and the first print setting on a non-contact tag attached to the recording medium.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:

an image forming unit;

a data reading unit that reads, from a first non-contact tag attached to a first recording medium, original data of an image formed on the first recording medium by another image forming apparatus and a first print setting in accordance with which the other image forming apparatus formed the image on the first recording medium,

a processing unit;

memory storing machine readable instructions, which when executed by the processing unit, cause the processing unit to function as;

a determination unit that determines whether the image forming unit is capable of forming an image in accordance with the first print setting; and

a controller that controls the image forming unit to form an image, wherein the controller controls the image forming unit to form, on a second recording medium,

an image based on the original data in accordance with the first print setting read from the first non-contact tag when the determination unit determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting, and

an image based on the original data in accordance with a second print setting which is modified from the first print setting when the determination unit determines that the image forming unit is not capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting, the image forming unit being capable of forming an image in accordance with the second print setting, wherein the second print setting is set as similar as possible to the first print setting as long as the image forming unit is capable of forming the image,

wherein the data reading unit reads performance data indicating a performance of the other image forming apparatus, which formed the image on the first recording medium, from the first non-contact tag,

wherein the determination unit determines whether the performance of the other image forming apparatus, which formed the image on the first recording medium, read by the data reading unit conforms to a performance of the image forming apparatus, and

wherein the controller is operable to change the first print setting according to a user instruction when the determination unit determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting and the performance of the other image forming apparatus read from the first non-contact tag does not conform to the performance of the image forming apparatus.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines whether the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting based on at least one of a performance of the image forming apparatus and a model number of the image forming apparatus.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data recording unit disposed on a transporting path along which the second recording medium is transported through the image forming unit, wherein the data recording unit records, on a second non-contact tag attached to the second recording medium, data read from the first non-contact tag by the data reading unit.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller controls the image forming unit to form the image without changing the first print setting when the determination unit determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting and the performance of the other image forming apparatus read by the data reading unit conforms to the performance of the image forming apparatus.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein the data reading unit further reads, from the first non-contact tag, a third print setting to form an image in an ideal condition required by a user, and

wherein when the image forming unit is capable of forming an image in accordance with a fourth print setting more similar to the third print setting than the first print setting, the controller controls the image forming unit to form an image based on the original data in accordance with the fourth print setting.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller converts the original data read by the data reading unit to image data by activating an application program installed in the image forming apparatus.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller transmits the original data read from the first non-contact tag to a computer and receives image data, which is converted by the computer from the original data, from the computer.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising a data recording unit disposed on a transporting path along which the second recording medium is transported through the image forming unit,

wherein the data recording unit records, on a second non-contact tag attached to the second recording medium, the image data converted by the controller.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising a data recording unit disposed on a transporting path along which the second recording medium is transported through the image forming unit,

wherein the data recording unit records, on a second non-contact tag attached to the second recording medium, the image data converted by the computer.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a data recording unit disposed on a transporting path along which the second recording medium is transported through the image forming unit,

wherein the data recording unit records, on a second non-contact tag attached to the second recording medium, a print setting in accordance with which the image forming unit forms the image on the second recording medium.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computer for controlling an image forming apparatus comprising:

an image forming unit; and

a data reading unit that reads, from a first non-contact tag attached to a first recording medium, original data of an image formed on the first recording medium by another image forming apparatus and a first print setting in accordance with which the other image forming apparatus formed the image on the first recording medium, causes the computer to perform operations comprising;

determining whether the image forming unit is capable of forming an image in accordance with the first print setting; and

controlling the image forming unit to form an image, wherein the controlling includes

controlling the image forming unit to form, on a second recording medium, an image based on the original data in accordance with the first print setting read by the data reading unit when the determining determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting, and

controlling the image forming unit to form, on the second recording medium, an image based on the original data in accordance with a second print setting which is modified from the first print setting when the determining determines that the image forming unit is not capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting, the image forming unit being capable of forming an image in accordance with the second print setting, wherein the second print setting is set as similar as possible to the first print setting as long as the image forming unit is capable of forming the image,

wherein the data reading unit reads performance data indicating a performance of the other image forming apparatus, which formed the image on the first recording medium, from the first non-contact tag,

wherein the determining determines whether the performance of the other image forming apparatus, which formed the image on the first recording medium, read by the data reading unit conforms to a performance of the image forming apparatus, and

wherein the computer readable medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform operations including changing the first print setting according to the user instruction when the determining determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting and the performance of the other image forming apparatus read from the first non-contact tag does not conform to the performance of the image forming apparatus.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11,

wherein the determining determines whether the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting based on at least one of a performance of the image forming apparatus and a model number of the image forming apparatus.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11,

wherein the image forming apparatus further comprises a data recording unit, and

wherein the computer readable medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform operations including controlling the data recording unit to record, on a second non-contact tag attached to the second recording medium, data read from the first non-contact tag.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11,

wherein the controlling controls the image forming unit to form the image without changing the first print setting when the determining determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting and the performance of the other image forming apparatus read from the first non-contact tag conforms to the performance of the image forming apparatus.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11,

wherein the computer readable medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform operations including converting the original data read by the data reading unit to image data by activating an application program installed in the image forming apparatus.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 11,

wherein the computer readable medium has further instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the computer, causes the computer to perform operations including transmitting the original data read from the first non-contact tag to another computer and receiving image data from the other computer, which is converted by the other computer from the original data.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computer for controlling an image forming apparatus comprising:

an image forming unit; and

a data reading unit that reads, from a first non-contact tag attached to a first recording medium, original data of an image formed on the first recording medium by another image forming apparatus and a first print setting in accordance with which the other image forming apparatus formed the image on the first recording medium, causes the computer to perform operations comprising;

determining whether the image forming unit is capable of forming an image in accordance with the first print setting; and

controlling the image forming unit to form an image, wherein the controlling includes

controlling the image forming unit to form, on a second recording medium, an image based on the original data in accordance with the first print setting read by the data reading unit when the determining determines that the image forming unit is capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting, and

controlling the image forming unit to form, on the second recording medium, an image based on the original data in accordance with a second print setting which is modified from the first print setting when the determining determines that the image forming unit is not capable of forming the image in accordance with the first print setting, the image forming unit being capable of forming an image in accordance with the second print setting, wherein the second print setting is set as similar as possible to the first print setting as long as the image forming unit is capable of forming the image,

wherein the data reading unit further reads, from the first non-contact tag, a third setting to form an image in an ideal condition required by a user, and

wherein when the image forming unit is capable of forming an image in accordance with a fourth print setting more similar to the third print setting than the first print setting, the controlling controls the image forming unit to form an image based on the original data in accordance with the fourth print setting.