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Multifunction printers are peripheral devices that are capable of performing several related tasks, such as document scanning, printing, duplicating, and facsimile transmission and reception. For example, a digital scanner and printer are commonly integrated into a single device. Printing and scanning can each be carried out by utilizing just one component of the integrated device, while both components are used for copying. Historically, copiers, printers, and facsimile or fax machines have been typically individualistic, operating singly in their own separate environments. In addition to their cost, the consumption of space by these devices may be a problem for today's limited office rooms and desktop spaces. The computer user already has a computer, a monitor, and a printer. The computer user, faced with steadily shrinking office space, has been reluctant to include additional computer peripherals in the confines of the user's immediate office space, especially if the device is not used frequently. Commonly, peripherals that are not in constant use are relegated to a common office area where the device is shared by all of the people in the office. The effect of relocating the peripheral away from the user produces a productivity loss, resulting from walking to and from the device, proportional to the number of times the user must use the device. Manufacturers have attempted to address these concerns by combining computer peripherals into so-called multi-function-peripherals incorporating one or more of the following: printer, copier, facsimile and scanner. In recent years, great advancements have been made in office automation technology, and various types of equipment such as a printer serving as computer peripheral equipment, a copying machine, or a facsimile machine serving as communication means are now widely used. All in one printer incorporating a plurality of functions owned by the office automation equipment has been developed. The multifunction printer is especially effective for use in a small office since it has only a small installation space, and thus; the multifunction printer has become popular in small offices. Multi-function printers have the capability of printing on several different types of record media in accordance with the requirements of a user's business. Multifunction peripherals not only afford a client multifunctional capability, but also the flexibility of printing/copying on both sides of the paper, a choice of at least four paper sizes, paper collation, and stapling. Multifunction peripherals have become commonplace in many commercial settings and are becoming affordable for personal use. There are several kinds of multifunction printers in which these functions are variously combined.Generally, a multi-functional printer is referred to a device including a scanner, a copier, a printer, a facsimile device and a modem, which is connected with a computer to print or store data scanned by the scanner or transferred through the modem from the other system in a hard disk of the computer. Thus, the multi-functional apparatus can act as the facsimile device, the printer, the scanner and the printer. Peripheral multifunction devices having a facsimile function, printer function and scanner function have recently been developed to serve as peripheral devices for information processing units such as personal computers. The multi-functional machine has been improved to include functions of various office automated machines such as a printer printing data processed in a computer on a printable paper, a copying machine copying a document, and a facsimile machine transmitting data of documents to the other machine. The peripheral multifunction device is constituted to be capable of simultaneously performing the three functions by multitasking. Each of the functions is accomplished in the peripheral multifunction device by transmitting and receiving to and from the information processing unit various data including printer data, scanner data, facsimile reception data and facsimile transmission data. Many printing systems, such as those employed by various laser printers, utilize a printing process that is known as electrophotographic printing or EP printing. In a multifunctional printer with a printer function, a printer driver inside a connecting PC has a status monitoring function monitoring the status of the multifunctional printer. Therefore, the PC monitors the status by periodically accessing the multifunctional printer even when the multifunctional printer is in an energy saver mode. The multifunctional printer is required to communicate with the PC to respond to the access from the PC. Typically, in an all-in-one printer having the functions of such office automated machines, a document feeding unit for supplying documents and a paper feeding unit for supplying papers are separately and independently installed in a paper feeding apparatus of the multi-functional machine. Memories such as RAM or EEPROM need to be used for processing the various data. |
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