US-12623448-B2 - Laminating system, image forming apparatus, and recording medium

US12623448B2US 12623448 B2US12623448 B2US 12623448B2US-12623448-B2

Abstract

A laminating system including: a laminator that performs lamination processing on a plurality of sheets that are conveyed; a second sheet conveyor that is on an upstream side of the laminator and that overlaps a leading end and a trailing end of respective sheets among the plurality of sheets conveyed from a first sheet conveyor including an image former or reduces an interval between the sheets so as not to generate a gap between the sheets; and a hardware processor that determines whether or not specific processing operated by temporarily interrupting an image forming operation occurs in a job, and changes an execution timing of the specific processing to a timing before a start or after an end of the job in response to determination that the specific processing occurs.

Inventors

Takehiro Ogushi

Assignees

Konica Minolta, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230802
Priority Date: 20220906

Claims (15)

1 . A laminating system comprising: a laminator that performs lamination processing on a plurality of sheets that are conveyed; a second sheet conveyor that is on an upstream side of the laminator and that overlaps a leading end and a trailing end of respective sheets among the plurality of sheets conveyed from a first sheet conveyor including an image former or reduces an interval between the sheets so as not to generate a gap between the sheets; and a hardware processor that determines whether or not a specific processing that operates by temporarily interrupting an image forming operation has an execution timing that will occur in a job to be performed, and changes the execution timing of the specific processing to a timing before a start or after an end of the job in response to determination that the specific processing occurs in the job.
2 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the image former forms a toner image on a sheet among the plurality of sheets.
3 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the laminator includes a heater that heats a laminate film and a sheet among the plurality of sheets in a state in which the sheet is overlaid with the laminate film.
4 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the laminator performs the lamination processing by placing a laminate film having an adhesive layer on sheets among the plurality of sheets.
5 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the laminator performs the lamination processing on only one side of a sheet among the plurality of sheets.
6 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the specific processing is at least one of image stabilization processing, color registration adjustment processing, and toner deterioration prevention processing in an electrophotographic apparatus.
7 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor determines whether or not a type of the specific processing occurs in the job based on the type of the specific processing, a processed sheet count from previous execution of the type of the specific processing to a current time, an execution interval sheet count for the type of the specific processing, and a set sheet count for the job, and changes the execution timing of the type of the specific processing to the timing before the start or after the end of the job in response to determination that the type of the specific processing occurs in the job.
8 . The laminating system according to claim 7 , wherein the set sheet count for the job is included in information on the job, and the hardware processor uses the set sheet count for the job acquired from the information on the job to determine whether or not the type of the specific processing occurs in the job.
9 . The laminating system according to claim 7 , wherein the hardware processor calculates a difference between the execution interval sheet count and the processed sheet count as a predicted sheet count that is a sheet count until the type of the specific processing is executed next, and determines that the type of the specific processing occurs in the job in response to that the predicted sheet count is smaller than the set sheet count for the job.
10 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor determines whether or not the specific processing occurs in the job, in response to that the job includes the lamination processing.
11 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor changes the execution timing of the specific processing to a timing before the start of the job in response to the determination that the specific processing occurs in the job.
12 . An image forming apparatus that is connectable to a laminating apparatus that performs lamination processing after overlapping a leading end and a trailing end of respective sheets or after reducing an interval between the sheets so as not to generate a gap between the sheets, the sheets being a plurality of conveyed sheets, the image forming apparatus comprising a hardware processor that determines whether or not a specific processing that operates by temporarily interrupting an image forming operation has an execution timing that will occur in a job to be performed, and changes the execution timing of the specific processing to a timing before a start or after an end of the job in response to determination that the specific processing occurs in the job.
13 . A non-transitory recording medium storing a computer-readable program for a computer that controls an image forming apparatus that is connectable to a laminating apparatus that performs lamination processing after overlapping a leading end and a trailing end of respective sheets or after reducing an interval between the sheets so as not to generate a gap between the sheets, the sheets being a plurality of conveyed sheets, the program causing the computer to determine whether or not a specific processing that operates by temporarily interrupting an image forming operation has an execution timing that will occur in a job to be performed, and change the execution timing of the specific processing to a timing before a start or after an end of the job in response to determination that the specific processing occurs in the job.
14 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor determines whether or not the specific processing will occur in the job by determining whether or not the execution timing of the special processing is scheduled to occur during execution of the job to be performed.
15 . The laminating system according to claim 1 , wherein the laminator performs the lamination processing by continuously attaching a film unrolled from a film roll onto the plurality of sheets.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-141305 filed on Sep. 6, 2022, including description, claims, drawings and abstract is incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND Technical Field The present invention relates to a laminating system, an image forming apparatus, and a recording medium. Description of Related Art In the related art, a laminating apparatus that covers a printed material with a transparent resin film has been used. For example, a laminating apparatus using a long laminating member having an adhesive layer is known. In this laminating apparatus, the laminating member is continuously supplied in a longitudinal direction. The laminating apparatus overlaps and conveys a laminating member and sheets (media to be recorded) such as sheets of paper sequentially conveyed from the upstream side, and continuously laminates the sheets. In particular, there is a hot laminator that causes a laminating member and a sheet to adhere to each other while being compressed and heated by a heating unit. By using the hot laminator, the laminating member comes into close contact with the sheet, and a gap at the boundary surface between the laminating member and the sheet is eliminated. As a result, the gloss of the sheet surface becomes constant, and a high-quality output product can be obtained. As such a laminating apparatus, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H 06-023689 discloses a configuration in which a trailing end of a preceding sheet and a leading end of a following sheet are overlapped with respect to sheets that are successively conveyed. Accordingly, the adhesive applied to the laminating member is prevented from directly coming into contact with the sheet conveyance section. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-73668 has proposed a technology for controlling the conveyance speed and timing of a preceding sheet and a subsequent sheet in a laminating apparatus connected to an image forming apparatus. This laminating apparatus has a mechanism for reducing the interval between sheets conveyed one by one at an interval and conveying the sheets while overlapping the trailing end of a preceding sheet and the leading end of a succeeding sheet. As a result, even in a case where the laminating apparatus is connected to the image forming apparatus, a continuous lamination processing can be performed. SUMMARY However, the image forming apparatus on the upstream side of the laminating apparatus may temporarily interrupt the image forming operation and execute specific processing such as a correction operation in order to maintain the image. In this case, an interval between successively conveyed sheets is not constant. Therefore, in a case where the distance between the sheets is too large, it is difficult to stably overlap the sheets by the laminating apparatus in the related art. In a case where the sheets cannot be overlapped with each other, the adhesive of the laminating member comes into contact with not the sheet but the conveyance roller or the pressure roller, which may damage the conveying system member. The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problem in the related art, and an object of the present invention is to prevent a defect in a lamination processing caused by specific processing involving interruption of an image forming operation. To achieve at least one of the abovementioned objects, according to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a laminating system including: a laminator that performs lamination processing on a plurality of sheets that are conveyed; a second sheet conveyor that is on an upstream side of the laminator and that overlaps a leading end and a trailing end of respective sheets among the plurality of sheets conveyed from a first sheet conveyor including an image former or reduces an interval between the sheets so as not to generate a gap between the sheets; and a hardware processor that determines whether or not specific processing operated by temporarily interrupting an image forming operation occurs in a job, and changes an execution timing of the specific processing to a timing before a start or after an end of the job in response to determination that the specific processing occurs. To achieve at least one of the abovementioned objects, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus that is connectable to a laminating apparatus that performs lamination processing after overlapping a leading end and a trailing end of respective sheets or after reducing an interval between the sheets so as not to generate a gap between the sheets, the sheets being a plurality of conveyed sheets, the image forming apparatus comprising a hardware processor that determines whether or not specific processing operated by temporarily interrupting an image forming operation occurs in a job, an