JP2008304843A - Image forming system, setting support method in image forming system, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming system capable of reducing TCO in print operation by restraining the replacing time of a paper tray to the minimum. <P>SOLUTION: In the image forming system 1, a terminal device 2 acquires print history of an image forming apparatus provided with a recording medium supply part for supplying a recording medium, and decides relation between the recording medium supply part of the image forming apparatus and the kind of the recording medium supplied by the recording medium supply part on the basis of the acquired print history. The terminal device 2 displays a recommended tray constitution display screen 160. Recommended kind display parts 162a to 162c, a low frequency-in-use kind display part 164 and a setting reflection button 166 are included in the recommended tray constitution display screen 160. The recommended constitution of each tray is displayed on the recommended kind display parts 162a to 162c. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming system, a setting support method in the image forming system, and a program.

  Conventionally, in a window service such as a city hall, many application forms are printed on paper of various sizes and paper quality. Also, the number of trays that can be mounted on the printer is limited. Therefore, depending on the paper used, the paper in the tray needs to be replaced every time printing is performed.

  Despite such an environment, the replacement operation of the paper tray is not very conscious. For this reason, a great deal of time is spent on the replacement work. Therefore, for example, measures are taken such as presetting a sheet in the tray which is subjectively considered to be frequently used by the staff.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151561 discloses a technique for extending the life of an image forming apparatus by determining the priority of tray use from tray operation information and performing printing by distributing trays.

JP 2004-345757 A

  However, the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not consider efficient tray arrangement. For this reason, it is difficult to reduce TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of printing work.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system capable of minimizing the time required for replacing a paper tray and reducing the TCO of a printing job.

  The image forming system according to the present invention includes a recording medium supply unit that supplies a recording medium, a printing history acquisition unit that acquires a printing history, and the recording medium supply based on the printing history acquired by the printing history acquisition unit. Determining means for determining the relationship between the recording medium and the type of the recording medium supplied by the recording medium supply section, and display means for displaying the relationship determined by the determining means. According to the present invention, since the type of the recording medium to be set in the image forming apparatus is objectively indicated, it is possible to minimize the paper tray replacement time and to reduce the TCO of the printing job.

  Preferably, the printer further includes a server that stores a print history, and the print history acquisition unit acquires the print history stored in the server. According to the present invention, since it is not necessary to store the print history in the image forming apparatus, the cost of the image forming apparatus can be reduced.

  Suitably, the said determination means determines based on various use frequency. According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the type that is used less frequently from being set in the paper tray, and thus it is possible to reduce the number of times and time required for the paper tray replacement operation.

  Preferably, the determining means determines based on a printing history for a predetermined period. According to the present invention, it is possible to indicate the type of recording medium suitable for the set aggregation period.

  Preferably, the determination unit relates at least one of the plurality of recording medium supply units to a predetermined type. According to the present invention, it is possible to indicate the type of recording medium in consideration of the conditions of each user.

  Preferably, when the usage frequency of any type exceeds a predetermined value, the determination unit relates a plurality of the recording medium supply units to the type. According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the TCO of a printing job even when the capacity of the recording medium supply unit is small.

  Preferably, the apparatus further includes reflecting means for reflecting the relationship displayed on the display means to the printer driver. According to the present invention, it is possible to easily change the setting relating to the replacement of the paper tray.

  The setting support method in the image forming system according to the present invention acquires a print history, and supplies the recording medium based on the acquired print history and the recording medium supply unit. The relationship with the type of the recording medium is determined, and the determined relationship is displayed. According to the present invention, since the type of the recording medium to be set in the image forming apparatus is objectively indicated, it is possible to minimize the paper tray replacement time and to reduce the TCO of the printing job.

  A program according to the present invention includes a print history acquisition step for acquiring a print history in a terminal device including a computer, a recording medium supply unit that supplies a recording medium based on the acquired print history, and the recording medium A determination step of determining a relationship with the type of recording medium supplied by the supply unit and a display step of displaying the determined relationship are executed by the computer of the terminal device. According to the present invention, since the type of the recording medium to be set in the image forming apparatus is objectively indicated, it is possible to minimize the paper tray replacement time and to reduce the TCO of the printing job.

  According to the image forming system of the present invention, it is possible to minimize the paper tray replacement time and reduce the TCO of the printing job.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image forming system 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the image forming system 1 includes an image forming apparatus 10 and terminal apparatuses 2-1 to 10-n connected via a network 120. Note that n is an integer of 1 or more. Further, when any one of a plurality of components such as the terminal devices 2-1 to 10-n is indicated without being specified, the terminal device 2 may be simply abbreviated.

  The network 120 is configured by at least one of a LAN (Local Area Network) and a WAN (Wide Area Network). Therefore, the terminal device 2 and the image forming apparatus 10 transmit and receive predetermined data via the network 120. The network 120 may be wired or wireless.

  The terminal device 2 is a personal computer, for example, and generates a print job and transmits it to the image forming apparatus 10. For example, a print job is described in a predetermined page description language (PDL), and the print job controls image data created by document creation software, presentation software, and printing added by a printer driver or the like. Control data. Here, the control data includes the paper on which an image is formed, the size of a recording medium such as an OHP sheet (eg, A4, A3, B5, etc.), and the paper quality (eg, plain paper, recycled paper, cardboard, OHP sheet, etc.) , Presence / absence of double-sided printing, presence / absence of layout printing, and the like.

  The image forming apparatus 10 is, for example, a copying machine or a multifunction machine managed by SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), and has a printing function, a copying function, and a reading function. When the image forming apparatus 10 receives the print job transmitted from the terminal device 2, the image forming apparatus 10 analyzes the image data and renders the image, and based on the control data, the rendered image is a recording medium having a designated size and quality. To form and output.

  The image forming apparatus 10 stores an operation status, a print history, and the like. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 provides information such as operation status, apparatus configuration, tray configuration, print history, failure information, and print job status in response to a request from the terminal apparatus 2.

  More specifically, the image forming apparatus 10 discloses information such as an apparatus configuration, a tray configuration, and a print history as MIB (Management Information Base) information. The apparatus configuration information includes, for example, the presence / absence of a duplex printing module, the presence / absence of a manual feed tray, and the presence / absence of a post-processing apparatus. The tray configuration information includes, for example, the paper type (size, paper quality) of the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the paper supply status of the paper feed trays 16a and 16b. The print history includes, for example, the identifier (IP address, terminal name, etc.) of the terminal device 2 that executed printing and the type of paper used.

  Therefore, the terminal device 2 accesses the MIB information of the image forming apparatus 10 and acquires the information. Note that a method for acquiring information such as a print history is not particularly limited, and may not be a technique based on MIB.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of the image forming apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an image forming unit 12 and a document reading device 14. The image forming unit 12 is of a xerographic type, for example, and has, for example, two stages of paper feed trays 16 a and 16 b and a manual feed tray 18 on which sheets are stacked. An image is formed on a sheet supplied to the sheet conveyance path 20. Therefore, the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18 constitute a recording medium supply unit that supplies recording media such as paper and an OHP sheet.

  The image forming unit 12 includes an image carrier 22, a charger 24 that uniformly charges the image carrier 22, and exposure that forms a latent image on the image carrier 22 that is uniformly charged by the charger 24. A developing device 28 that visualizes the latent image on the image carrier 22 formed by the exposure device 26 with toner, a transfer device 30 that transfers the toner image formed by the developing device 28 to paper, And a cleaner 32 for cleaning the toner remaining on the image carrier 22. The exposure device 26 is, for example, of a laser scanning type, and outputs a laser on / off signal based on a drawn image or a read image read by the document reading device 14. The transfer device 30 is composed of, for example, a transfer roll, and the paper on which the toner image has been transferred by the transfer device 30 is sent to the fixing device 34. The toner image is fixed on the paper by the fixing device 34, and the toner image is fixed. The discharged paper is discharged to the discharge tray 36.

  A plurality of transport rolls 38 are provided in the paper transport path 20. As one of the transport rolls 38, a resist roll 40 is disposed in the vicinity of the upstream side of the transfer device 30. The registration roll 40 is controlled to temporarily stop the supplied paper and supply the paper to the transfer device 30 in synchronization with the timing at which the latent image is formed on the image holding member 22.

  The document reader 14 includes an optical system 42 that optically reads a document and an automatic document feeder 44 such as an ADF (Auto Document Feeder). The optical system 42 includes a lamp 46 that irradiates light on the document, reflection mirrors 48a, 48b, and 48c that reflect light from the document, a lens 50 that converges light from the reflection mirrors 48a to 48c, and the lens 50. And a reading sensor 52 for reading the converged light. The reading sensor 52 is composed of, for example, a CCD. This optical system 42 has a function of fixing the reading mirrors 48a to 48c and the like provided in the vicinity of the end portion thereof and scanning and reading a document sent by an automatic document feeder 44 described later, and the reflection mirrors 48a to 48c and the like. And a function of reading a document placed on the platen 54.

  The automatic document feeder 44 includes a document placement table 56 on which a large number of documents are placed, a document conveyance path 58 that conveys the document, and a discharge table 59 from which the document after the image is read is ejected. The automatic document feeder 44 can be opened and closed, and the lower surface of the automatic document feeder 44 functions as a platen cover that presses the document onto the platen 54.

  The image forming apparatus 10 may be a tandem type or a rotary type. Further, the image forming unit of the image forming apparatus 10 may be an ink jet type.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the control device of the terminal device 2 and the image forming apparatus 10.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the terminal device 2 includes a CPU 100, a memory 102, a storage device 104 such as a hard disk drive device, a communication device 106 that performs data communication with the image forming apparatus 10 via a network 120, and a touch panel or A user interface (UI) device 108 including a display device such as a liquid crystal display and an input device such as a keyboard is included. These components are connected to each other via a bus 110.

  The image forming apparatus 10 also has a control device equivalent to the terminal device 2. In the image forming apparatus 10, the CPU 100 controls each component of the image forming apparatus 10. Further, the image forming apparatus 10 stores the operation status, the print history, and the like in at least one of the memory 102 and the storage device 104.

  Next, an outline of tray configuration setting support in the image forming system 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. In the image forming system 1, the terminal device 2 acquires the print history of the image forming apparatus 10, and based on the acquired print history, the paper supply trays 16 a and 16 b and the manual feed tray 18 of the image forming apparatus, and the paper supply The relationship between the types of recording media supplied by the trays 16 a and 16 b and the manual feed tray 18 is determined, and the determined relationship is displayed on the UI device 108.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a tabulation condition setting screen 140 displayed on the terminal device 2.
As illustrated in FIG. 4, the totaling condition setting screen 140 includes a totaling period setting unit 142, a printer selection unit 144, an OK button 146, and a cancel button 148. The aggregation condition setting screen 140 is displayed on the UI device 108 of the terminal device 2.

  In the total condition setting screen 140, the total period setting unit 142 is a setting unit for setting a period used for setting support in the print history stored in the image forming apparatus 10, and is realized by, for example, a pop-down menu. . In this example, the total period setting unit 142 can set the start time and end time in date units.

  The setting method in the total period setting unit 142 is not limited to this example. For example, the start time and the total period may be set, or only one of the start time and the end time can be set. Also good. Moreover, the total period may not be set. In this case, the print history of all periods stored in the image forming apparatus 10 is a target. Further, the terminal device 2 may acquire the print history of the period set by the total period setting unit 142 from the image forming apparatus 10, or may acquire the print history of the period including the period, It may be used as a target.

  The printer selection unit 144 is a selection unit for selecting the image forming apparatus 10 to be counted, and is realized by, for example, a pop-down menu. When the image forming apparatus 10 is selected by the printer selection unit 144, the terminal apparatus 2 acquires the print history stored in the image forming apparatus 10 via the network 120.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a recommended tray configuration display screen 160 displayed on the terminal device 2.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, the recommended tray configuration display screen 160 includes recommended type display units 162 a to 162 c, a low usage frequency type display unit 164, a setting reflection button 166, an OK button 168, and a cancel button 170. The recommended tray configuration display screen 160 is displayed on the UI device 108 of the terminal device 2.

  On the recommended tray configuration display screen 160, the recommended type display units 162a to 162c display the recommended configuration of the tray determined based on the acquired print history. Specifically, the recommended type display sections 162a to 162c display the relationship between the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18 and the types of recording media supplied by these trays. In this example, the paper feed tray 16a (tray 1) has A4 plain paper (a recording medium whose size is A4 and the paper quality is plain paper), and the paper feed tray 16b (tray 2) has B5 thick paper and a manual feed tray 18. Each postcard is assigned.

  Note that a specific type may not be assigned to the manual feed tray 18, and for example, “free” may be displayed. Here, “free” represents a mode in which the type of recording medium is set every time printing is performed.

  The low usage frequency type display unit 164 displays a type with low usage frequency. Specifically, the low usage frequency type display unit 164 is a type that can be supplied by any of the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18 of the image forming apparatus 10, and is displayed on the recommended type display units 162a to 162c. A type different from the type indicated is displayed. In this example, B4OHP, A3 plain paper, and A5 thick paper are displayed, and other types are also displayed by moving the scroll bar at the right end of the low usage frequency type display unit 164 up and down.

  The setting reflection button 166 is a reflection means for reflecting the tray configuration displayed on the recommended type display sections 162a to 162c to the printer driver operating on the terminal device 2, and is realized by a button, for example. Therefore, when the setting reflection button 166 is pressed, the tray configuration displayed in the recommended type display sections 162a to 162c is reflected in the printer driver. For this reason, in the print processing after reflection, on the print setting screen (not shown), the recording medium types displayed in the recommended type display sections 162a to 162c are assigned to the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18, respectively. Is done.

Next, a program that operates in the terminal device 2 included in the image forming system 1 will be described.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of the tray setting support program 5 operating on the terminal device 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention.
As illustrated in FIG. 6, the tray setting support program 5 includes a tray configuration determination unit 200, an information acquisition unit 202, a condition reception unit 204, a UI unit 206, and a setting reflection unit 208. An acquisition unit 210, a tray configuration acquisition unit 212, and a print history acquisition unit 214 are included. The tray setting support program 5 is loaded into the memory 102 of the terminal device 2 and executed by the CPU 100.

  In the tray setting support program 5, the tray configuration determination unit 200, based on the print history acquired by the information acquisition unit 202 described later, the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18, and the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed. The relationship with the type of recording medium supplied by the tray 18 is determined.

  Specifically, the tray configuration determination unit 200 analyzes the print history and extracts a frequently used size and paper quality type. Based on the tray configuration information acquired by the information acquisition unit 202, the tray configuration determination unit 200 determines the types that can be used in the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18, and the capacity of sheets stacked on these trays. recognize. The tray configuration determination unit 200 determines a tray configuration that minimizes the tray replacement time based on the extraction result, the types that can be used in the paper feed trays 16a and 16b, and the capacity of the tray. Here, the tray configuration determining unit 200 sets the print history included in the counting period received by the condition receiving unit 204 described later as an analysis target.

  Further, the tray configuration determination unit 200 relates at least one of the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18 to a predetermined type. For example, when the condition “B4OHP is related to the manual feed tray 18” is received by the condition reception unit 204 via a setting screen (not shown), the tray configuration determination unit 200 is low in the use frequency of the B4OHP recording medium. Also, B4OHP is related to the manual feed tray 18. In this way, the tray configuration determination unit 200 may determine based on the individual conditions received by the condition reception unit 204.

  Further, when the usage frequency of any type exceeds a predetermined value, the tray configuration determination unit 200 associates two or more of the paper feed trays 16a and 16b and the manual feed tray 18 with the type. For example, if the tray configuration determination unit 200 analyzes that the usage frequency of A4 plain paper is high from the print history, the tray configuration determination unit 200 associates the paper feed trays 16a and 16b with A4 plain paper. For example, when the usage frequency of a single type exceeds 90% of all print jobs, the tray configuration determination unit 200 relates one type to a plurality of paper feed trays. Note that the tray configuration determining unit 200 may relate one type to all the paper feed trays 16 different from the manual feed tray 18 even when the paper feed trays 16 are provided in three or more stages.

  The information acquisition unit 202 acquires information about the image forming apparatus 10 and outputs the information to the tray configuration determination unit 200. Here, the information acquisition unit 202 acquires information based on the aggregation condition set on the aggregation condition setting screen 140.

  Specifically, in the information acquisition unit 202, the device configuration acquisition unit 210 acquires the device configuration information of the image forming apparatus 10 selected by the aggregation condition. The tray configuration acquisition unit 212 acquires the tray configuration information of the image forming apparatus 10 selected by the aggregation condition. The print history acquisition unit 214 acquires the print history of the image forming apparatus 10 selected by the aggregation condition. Here, the print history acquisition unit 214 acquires the print history related to the total period set on the total condition setting screen 140 from the print history of the selected image forming apparatus 10. The print history is also called a print log or a print record.

  The UI unit 206 displays a screen on the UI device 108 based on the screen data generated by each component of the tray setting support program 5, and outputs an input via the displayed screen to each component. Specifically, the UI unit 206 displays the aggregation condition setting screen 140 (FIG. 4) on the UI device 108 and outputs the input content to the condition receiving unit 204. Further, the UI unit 206 displays the recommended tray configuration display screen 160 (FIG. 5) generated by the tray configuration determination unit 200 on the UI device 108, and outputs the input content to the setting reflection unit 208. In this way, the UI unit 206 configures a display unit that displays the relationship determined by the tray configuration determination unit 200.

  The condition receiving unit 204 receives the contents set on the aggregation condition setting screen 140 and outputs them to the tray configuration determining unit 200 and the information acquiring unit 202. When the setting reflection unit 208 receives from the UI unit 206 that the setting reflection button 166 has been pressed on the recommended tray configuration display screen 160, the setting configuration unit 208 determines the tray configuration determined by the tray configuration determination unit 200 and displayed by the UI unit 206 as a printer. Reflect to the driver.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the setting support process (S10) in the image forming system 1.
As shown in FIG. 7, in step 100 (S <b> 100), the tray setting support program 5 (FIG. 6) that operates on the terminal device 2 displays the aggregation condition setting screen 140 on the UI device 108. When the aggregation condition is input via the aggregation condition setting screen 140, the condition receiving unit 204 of the tray setting support program 5 receives an input regarding the aggregation condition and outputs the input to the tray configuration determining unit 200 and the information acquiring unit 202. To do.

  In step 102 (S102), the information acquisition unit 202 acquires information such as a tray configuration and a print history related to the image forming apparatus 10 to be aggregated based on the aggregation condition, and sends this information to the tray configuration determination unit 200. Output.

In step 104 (S104), the tray configuration determination unit 200 determines the recommended tray configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 based on the information acquired by the information acquisition unit 202.
In step 106 (S106), the tray configuration determination unit 200 generates a recommended tray configuration display screen 160 including the determined recommended tray configuration. The UI unit 206 displays a recommended tray configuration display screen 160 on the UI device 108.

  In step 108 (S108), the UI unit 206 determines whether an end operation has been executed, that is, whether one of the OK button 168 and the cancel button 170 has been selected on the recommended tray configuration display screen 160. When the end operation is executed, the tray setting support program 5 ends the process without reflecting the determined recommended tray configuration on the printer driver. When the end operation is not executed, the tray setting support program 5 proceeds to the process of S110.

  In step 110 (S110), the UI unit 206 determines whether or not the setting reflection button 166 is pressed on the recommended tray configuration display screen 160. When the setting reflection button 166 is pressed, the UI unit 206 outputs the fact to the setting reflection unit 208, and the tray setting support program 5 proceeds to the process of S112. Otherwise, the tray setting support program 5 returns to the process of S108.

  In step 112 (S112), the setting reflection unit 208 reflects the recommended tray configuration determined by the tray configuration determination unit 200 and displayed by the UI unit 206 on the printer driver. The UI unit 206 deletes the recommended tray configuration display screen 160 from the UI device 108, and the tray setting support program 5 ends the process.

Next, an image forming system 3 according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an image forming system 3 according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 8, the image forming system 3 according to the present embodiment further includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10-1 to 10-m and a server 4, and the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10-1 to 10-m. Is different from the image forming system 1 according to the first embodiment in that information such as a print history and a tray configuration is stored in the server 4. Note that m is an integer of 1 or more.

  The server 4 has a configuration equivalent to the hardware configuration shown in FIG. 3, and stores information related to the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10-1 to 10 -m via the network 120. m and stored in at least one of the memory 102 and the storage device 104.

  In the tray setting support program 5 of the terminal device 2, the information acquisition unit 202 acquires information on the image forming apparatuses 10-1 to 10 -m stored in the server 4. Here, the information acquisition unit 202 acquires information about the image forming apparatus 10 selected on the aggregation condition setting screen 140 and outputs the information to the tray configuration determination unit 200. The tray configuration determination unit 200 determines a recommended tray configuration of the image forming apparatus 10 based on information regarding the image forming apparatus 10 selected on the aggregation condition setting screen 140.

  On the aggregation condition setting screen 140, a plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 may be selectable. In this case, the information acquisition unit 202 acquires information about the selected plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 and outputs the acquired information to the tray configuration determination unit 200. The tray configuration determination unit 200 determines a recommended tray configuration for the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10 based on information regarding the plurality of image forming apparatuses 10.

  Note that the information acquisition unit 202 acquires information about all the image forming apparatuses 10-1 to 10-m, and among the information, only the information about the image forming apparatus 10 selected on the aggregation condition setting screen 140 is configured as a tray configuration. You may output with respect to the determination part 200. FIG.

1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a control device of the terminal device 2 and the image forming apparatus 10. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the aggregation condition setting screen 140 displayed in the terminal device 2. FIG. It is a figure which illustrates the recommended tray structure display screen 160 displayed in the terminal device 2. FIG. It is a figure which shows the function structure of the tray setting assistance program 5 which operate | moves on the terminal device 2 which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 4 is a flowchart showing a setting support process (S10) in the image forming system 1. It is a figure which shows the image forming system 3 which concerns on the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming system 2 Terminal apparatus 3 Image forming system 4 Server 5 Tray setting assistance program 10 Image forming apparatus 16a, 16b Paper feed tray 18 Manual feed tray 100 CPU
102 Memory 104 Storage Device 106 Communication Device 108 UI Device 120 Network 140 Total Condition Setting Screen 142 Total Period Setting Unit 144 Printer Selection Unit 160 Recommended Tray Configuration Display Screen 162a, 162b, 162c Recommended Type Display Unit 164 Low Usage Frequency Type Display Unit 166 Setting reflection button 200 Tray configuration determination unit 202 Information acquisition unit 204 Condition reception unit 206 UI unit 208 Setting reflection unit 210 Device configuration acquisition unit 212 Tray configuration acquisition unit 214 Print history acquisition unit

Claims (9)

A recording medium supply unit for supplying the recording medium;
Print history acquisition means for acquiring a print history;
Determining means for determining a relationship between the recording medium supply unit and the type of the recording medium supplied by the recording medium supply unit based on the printing history acquired by the printing history acquisition unit;
An image forming system comprising: display means for displaying the relationship determined by the determining means. A server for storing a print history;
The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the print history acquisition unit acquires a print history stored in the server. The image forming system according to claim 1, wherein the determination unit determines the frequency based on various usage frequencies. The image forming system according to claim 3, wherein the determination unit further determines based on a print history for a predetermined period. The image forming system according to claim 3, wherein the determining unit relates at least one of the plurality of recording medium supply units to a predetermined type. The image forming system according to any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein when the usage frequency of any type exceeds a predetermined value, the determination unit associates the plurality of recording medium supply units with the type. The image forming system according to claim 1, further comprising a reflection unit configured to reflect a relationship displayed on the display unit on a printer driver. Get print history
Based on the acquired print history, a relationship between a recording medium supply unit that supplies a recording medium and a type of the recording medium supplied by the recording medium supply unit is determined,
A setting support method in an image forming system for displaying the determined relationship. In a terminal device including a computer,
A print history acquisition step for acquiring a print history;
A determination step of determining a relationship between a recording medium supply unit that supplies a recording medium and a type of the recording medium supplied by the recording medium supply unit based on the acquired print history;
A program for causing a computer of the terminal device to execute a display step of displaying the determined relationship.

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