Abstract:
An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof that provides a convenient print resume when printing is halted. The control method of the image forming apparatus includes obtaining image data to be printed which are selected among image data stored in a memory card, printing the selected image data, preparing a print list for the selected image data, if a printing operation is interrupted, preparing a list of image data suspended from printing and storing the list of unprinted image data. Therefore, although the printing operation may be interrupted before all image data to be printed are completely printed, the list of image data suspended from printing stored in the memory card makes it more convenient for a user to resume the printing operation on the unprinted image data without repeating the routine, namely, selecting image data to be printed and resetting the print options, to print the unprinted image data afterwards.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from Korean Patent Application No. 2005-68101, filed on Jul. 26, 2005, the entire content of which is incorporated herein in its entirety and by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present general inventive concept relates in general to an image forming apparatus and a control method thereof, and more specifically, to an image forming apparatus to store a list of unprinted image data in a memory card and to continue the printing operation later based on the list of unprinted image data, and a control method thereof.  
         [0004]     2. Description of the Related Art  
         [0005]     An image forming apparatus such as a photo printer can perform a printing operation on image data stored in a memory card which is used as a recording medium of an image photographing apparatus such as a digital camera. In general, users can continuously store image data until a storage capacity of the memory card is filled, and then print a large amount of image data stored on the full memory card at one time.  
         [0006]     Because the printing operation for each image takes some time to complete, the users face a long wait time until all the image data of the full memory card are completely printed. Unfortunately, however, the waiting time for the users is expected to become longer as technical advances continuously increase the storage capacity of new memory cards available to users. Partly because of the long wait time, some users give up on the print operation before all of selected image data are completely printed.  
         [0007]     Additionally, when printing is interrupted in the middle of a printing operation, a print list containing the selected image data to be printed and specific print options set for the print data are all deleted from the image forming apparatus. Therefore, if the user wants to print the image data stored in the memory card again, the user has to select the image data to be printed once again and then set the print options once again.  
         [0008]     Furthermore, when the user wants to print only the image data suspended from the previous printing, the user first needs to manually separate image data that are already printed from unprinted image data and then make the image forming apparatus print the unprinted image data only. Consequently, this causes a lot of inconvenience to users.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009]     The present general inventive concept provides an image forming apparatus to immediately perform a printing operation on image data suspended from a previous printing process by using a list of unprinted image data stored in at least one of a memory card and a storage unit built into the image forming apparatus, without asking a user to reselect image data to be printed and to reset print options, and a control method of the image forming device.  
         [0010]     Additional aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the general inventive concept.  
         [0011]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may be achieved by providing a method of controlling an image forming apparatus, including obtaining image data to be printed which are selected among image data stored in a memory card, preparing a print list for the selected image data, printing the selected image data, if a printing operation is interrupted, preparing a list of unprinted image data suspended from printing, and storing the list of unprinted image data.  
         [0012]     Printing of the selected image data may further include preparing a list of image data selected from printing.  
         [0013]     The list of unprinted image data may be prepared by displaying on a display unit a message asking a user to select whether to prepare the list of unprinted image data and obtaining an affirmative response from the user.  
         [0014]     The list of unprinted image data may be stored the memory card and/or a predetermined storage unit provided to the image forming apparatus.  
         [0015]     The storing of the list of unprinted image data, the memory card and/or the storage unit may be selected as a storage location for the list of unprinted image data.  
         [0016]     The list of unprinted image data may include file names of image data suspended from printing, print options, and a print sequence.  
         [0017]     Preparing the list of unprinted image data may include rearranging the print sequence in a manner that the unprinted image data having the same print options are grouped together.  
         [0018]     The control method of an image forming apparatus may include receiving a print resume request to print image data on the list of unprinted image data, and executing a printing operation on the image data included in the list of unprinted image data.  
         [0019]     The control method may include checking whether the list of unprinted image data is stored in the memory card.  
         [0020]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus, including a printing unit to perform a print operation according to image data of a plurality of images, a control unit to control the print unit, and a print list preparation unit to prepare an unprinted image list based on a control instruction from the control unit when the print operation stops printing before the print operation for all the image data is completed, the unprinted image list comprises image data of each of the plurality of images not printed in the print operation.  
         [0021]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus, including a control unit to control a print operation based on a command to print image data, and a print list preparation unit to prepare a print list upon receipt of the command to print image data from the control unit and to prepare an unprinted image list of image data not printed by the print operation upon an interruption of the print operation.  
         [0022]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing an image forming apparatus, including a printing unit to print image data, and a print list preparation unit to prepare a list of image data to be printed in a print operation and to prepare a list of unprinted image data when an interruption of the printing of the image data occurs.  
         [0023]     The foregoing and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept may also be achieved by providing a method of controlling an image forming apparatus, including performing a print operation on image data comprising a plurality of images, interrupting the print operation upon an interruption of the print, generating a list of unprinted image data comprising image data of the plurality of images not printed by the print operation when the print operation is interrupted, and storing the list of unprinted image data to be printed at a later time.  
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0024]     These and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
         [0025]      FIG. 1  illustrates an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept;  
         [0026]      FIG. 2  illustrates a print list prepared by the image forming apparatus of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0027]      FIG. 3  illustrates a list of unprinted image data prepared by of the image forming apparatus of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0028]      FIG. 4  illustrates another list of printed images prepared by the image forming apparatus of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0029]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating a method of storing the list of unprinted image data in a memory card according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept; and  
         [0030]      FIG. 6  illustrates a method of printing unprinted image data stored in the memory card according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0031]     Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.  
         [0032]      FIG. 1  illustrates an image forming apparatus  100  according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.  
         [0033]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the image forming apparatus  100  includes an input unit  110 , a display unit  120 , a storage unit  130 , a control unit  140 , a print list preparation unit  150 , a memory card interface  160 , a printing unit  170  and a communication interface  180 .  
         [0034]     The input unit  110  is provided with a plurality of function keys, number keys and alphabet keys. When a user inputs a command for the overall operation of the image forming device  100  or a print command for image data stored in a memory card (not shown), the input unit  110  transfers the command to the control unit  140 . Examples of the memory card may include a CF card, SD card, MMC card, XD card, SMC card, etc. Moreover, the input unit  110  receives the command from the user such as an interrupt command (print interrupt request) and a print resume command (print resume request), and transfers these commands to the control unit  140 . The interrupt command is input to the control unit  140  as a print interrupt request signal and the print resume command is input to the control unit  140  as a print resume signal.  
         [0035]     The display unit  120  displays data such as information on an overall operational status of the image forming apparatus  100  and system information to the outside, under the control of the control unit  140 . An LCD panel, for example, may be used as the display unit  120 . In addition, the display unit  120  displays, under the control of the controller  140 , a list of the image data stored in the memory card so that the user can select image data desired to be printed out. When the user issues the interrupt command through the input unit  110 , the display unit  120  displays, under the control of the control unit  140 , a message asking the user to select whether to prepare an unprinted image list). Furthermore, the display unit  120  displays, under the control of the control unit  140 , a message asking the user to select in which storage location the user wants to store the unprinted image list. In this case, the storage location may be either the memory card or the storage unit  130  of the image forming apparatus  100 . However, the user may store the unprinted image list in any appropriate storage device.  
         [0036]     The storage unit  130  consists of ROM  131  and RAM  133 .  
         [0037]     The ROM  131  is a non-volatile memory to store control programs necessary to implement functions of the image forming apparatus  100 . A nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM, not shown) may be used instead of the ROM  131 . In a case that the storage unit  130  of the image forming apparatus  100  is chosen as the storage location for the unprinted image list, the NVRAM can store the unprinted image list.  
         [0038]     On the other hand, the RAM  133  is a volatile memory to store the image data to be printed that is transmitted from a memory card (not shown) mounted at the memory card interface  160  or from an external equipment (not shown) connected through the communication interface  180 , and any data that is generated during the execution of the operation of the image forming apparatus  100 . Moreover, the RAM  133  stores a print list prepared by the print list preparation unit  150 , and temporarily stores image data transferred from the memory card.  
         [0039]     The control unit  140  controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus  100 . In an embodiment of the present general inventive concept, the control unit  140  reads the list of the image data from the memory card in response to a print request signal input by the user through the input unit  110 , and displays the list on the display unit  120 , whereby the user can choose desired image data to be printed. Also, the control unit  140  may process the image data stored in the memory card in a data format called thumbnail, and can allow the user to choose the desired image data to be printed.  
         [0040]     After the user chooses the image data to be printed, the controller  140  shows a print option set-up menu to the user through the display unit  120 , so that the user can set print options that the image forming apparatus  100  can support. For example, size of the printing paper, resolutions, and a printing direction may be included in the print options. The control unit  140  controls the printing unit  170  to execute the printing operation based on the print list provided by the print list preparation unit  150 .  
         [0041]     If the print interrupt request signal is input through the input unit  110  or an external host device (not shown) during the printing operation, the control unit  140  displays a message asking the user whether to prepare a list of unprinted image data (i.e., an unprinted image list) on the display unit  120 . If the user chooses to prepare the unprinted image list, the control unit  140  controls the print list preparation unit  150  to prepare the unprinted image list and stores the unprinted image list in the memory card. The external host device (not shown) may be connected to the image forming apparatus  100  through the communication interface  180 . Generally, a device, e.g., a computer, which is capable of transmitting the image data to be printed and the command to control the image forming apparatus  100  to the image forming apparatus  100  can be used as the external host device.  
         [0042]     Moreover, the control unit  140  displays a message asking the user in which storage location the user wants to store the unprinted image list on the display unit  120  to allow the user to select the storage location. The user can respond to the message asking where to store the unprinted image list through the input unit  110 . In another embodiment, the control unit  140  may store the unprinted image list directly in the memory card without displaying the message asking the user to select the storage location.  
         [0043]     When the user inputs the print request signal through the input unit  110  or the external host device (not shown) to print image data on the unprinted image list, the control unit  140  checks whether the unprinted image list exists in the memory card or the storage unit  130 . If the unprinted image list does exist, the control unit controls the printing unit  170  to execute the printing operation on the image data included on the unprinted image list. On the other hand, if the unprinted image list does not exist in the memory card or the storage unit  130 , the control unit  140  displays on the display unit  120  a message informing the user that the unprinted image list is not available.  
         [0044]     When the print interrupt request is withdrawn before the print list is deleted from the RAM  133 , the control unit  140  can control the print unit  170  to resume the printing operation based on the print list stored in the RAM  133 . Before the printing unit  170  actually starts printing the image data on the print list, the control unit  140  can display on the display unit  120  a message asking the user to select whether the user would like to resume the printing operation based on the print list stored in the RAM  133 .  
         [0045]     The print list preparation unit  150  prepares the print list for the image data to be printed. The print list may be prepared based on image data selected by the user or the print list may be prepared to print every image data contained in the memory card. The print list may include a file name of each of the image data to be printed, information on the print options set for the image data to be printed, and a print sequence of the image data to be printed.  
         [0046]     One example of the print list prepared by the print list preparation unit  150  will now be explained with reference to  FIG. 2 . As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the print list includes file names of eight image data that are selected among the image data stored in the memory card (not shown), print options set for the image data to be printed, such as, size of a printing paper, resolution, printing direction and other options provided by the image forming apparatus, and information on the print sequence. The print sequence is illustrated by arrows connecting the images. Thus, the print sequence of  FIG. 2  starts with Cow.JPG and ends with Mouse.JPG.  
         [0047]     In a case that the printing job is interrupted by the user for some reason, the print list preparation unit  150  prepares the unprinted image list under the control of the control unit  140 . One example of the unprinted image list is illustrated in  FIG. 3 . For convenience, let&#39;s assume that the printing job was being executed on the image data illustrated in  FIG. 2  and an interrupt command was issued when it was the image data with the file name Rabbit.JPG&#39;s turn to be printed. Then, the print list preparation unit  150  prepares the unprinted image list consisting of the image data with the file names Rabbit.JPG, Owl.JPG, Lion.JPG and Mouse.JPG, as illustrated in  FIG. 3 .  
         [0048]     Although  FIG. 3  illustrates the unprinted image list to which the same print sequence before the print interrupt request is applied, it is for illustrative purposes only. However, the print sequence may be reset by grouping unprinted image data under the same print options. For example, if the same size of the printing paper or the same resolution is applied to some image data, they can be printed consecutively, whereby the image forming apparatus  100  can execute the printing jobs more efficiently.  FIG. 4  illustrates another example of the unprinted image list where image data are rearranged in the order of the paper size.  
         [0049]     The memory card interface  160  is designed in a manner to satisfy the physical/logical/electrical interface standards for the memory card inserted into the card slot (not shown), and is in charge of data input/output between the inserted memory card and the image forming apparatus  100 .  
         [0050]     The printing unit  170  prints images corresponding to the image data input to the image forming apparatus  100  onto printing papers, under the control of the control unit  140 .  
         [0051]     The communication interface  180  is provided to connect the image forming apparatus  100  with an external host device. Examples of such communication interface may include a parallel port, a USB port, a wireless module, etc. Hence, the communication interface  180  receives the image data by being connected to the host device.  
         [0052]      FIG. 5  is a flow chart illustrating a method of storing a list of the unprinted image data in a memory card, which is performed in the image forming apparatus  100  of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.  
         [0053]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 5 , when a print request signal for the image data stored in the memory card is input through the input unit  110  or other means, the control unit  140  displays on the display unit  120  an image data list and a print option set-up menu stored in the memory card, so that the user may select image data desired to be printed and set print options to be applied to the image data to be printed (Operation S 210 ).  
         [0054]     Next, the print list preparation unit  150  prepares a print list including file names of the selected image data and the print options and a print sequence set by the user (Operation S 220 ).  
         [0055]     Then, the control unit  140  controls the printing unit  170  to execute a printing operation on the image data to be printed based on the print list prepared in Operation S 220 . And if a print interrupt request signal is input through the input unit  110  or the external host device (not shown), the control unit  140  displays on the display unit  120  a message asking the user to select whether to prepare an unprinted image list (Operation S 240 ).  
         [0056]     If the user selects to prepare the unprinted image list in Operation S 240 , the display unit  120  displays, under the control of the control unit  140 , a message asking the user to select where to store the unprinted image list (Operation S 250 ). As described above, the storage location may be either the memory card or the storage unit  130  of the image forming apparatus  100 . In another embodiment, the Operation S 240  may not be performed and the unprinted image list can be stored directly in a storage location selected by default.  
         [0057]     Afterwards, the control unit  140  controls the print list preparation unit  150  to prepare the unprinted image list for image data suspended from printing among the image data to be printed on the print list (Operation S 260 ).  
         [0058]     The control unit  140  then stores the unprinted image list provided by the print list preparation unit  150  in the selected storage location that was selected in Operation S 250  (Operation S 270 ).  
         [0059]      FIG. 6  is a flow chart illustrating a method of printing the unprinted image data stored in a memory card, which is performed in the image forming apparatus of  FIG. 1 , according to an embodiment of the present general inventive concept.  
         [0060]     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 6 , when a print request signal requesting to print the image data on the unprinted image list is input (Operation S 310 ), the control unit  140  checks whether the unprinted image list exists in the memory card or the storage unit  130  (Operation S 320 ).  
         [0061]     If the unprinted image list of concern is available, the control unit  140  reads the list from the memory card or the storage unit  130 , depending on where it is stored, and stores it in the RAM  133 . Then, the control unit  140  controls the printing unit  170  to execute the printing operation based on the unprinted image list (Operation S 330 ).  
         [0062]     On the other hand, if the unprinted image list does not exist, the control unit  140  displays on the display unit  120  a message informing the user that the unprinted image list of concern does not exist (Operation S 340 ).  
         [0063]     Even though the exemplary embodiments of the general inventive concept explained so far have been based on the assumption that the unprinted image list can be prepared when the user makes a print interrupt request through the input unit or an external host device, the unprinted image list may also be prepared and stored in the storage unit or the memory card in other situations, such as when the printing job is interrupted by mechanical errors in the image forming apparatus, e.g., paper jams, a cartridge ink shortage, etc., or other reasons like removing the memory card from the card slot.  
         [0064]     Therefore, the present general inventive concept provides an image forming apparatus with which the user can resume the print job any time using the list of the unprinted image data among the image data to be printed to prepare and to store the unprinted image list composed of comprising the image data suspended from printing in the memory card or the storage unit of the image forming apparatus.  
         [0065]     As such, the user does not need to repeat selecting the image data to be printed and resetting the print options, to print the unprinted image data afterwards.  
         [0066]     Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.