JP2010145846A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such the problems that when uniformly applying thinning-out processing to line images as objects to be thinned-out (line images having a line length of ≥5 mm and a line width of 150 to 300 μm in a main-scanning direction), line image missing is caused due to the thinning-out processing of the line images where scattering and explosion are not caused, and the uniform thinning-out processing causes definition deterioration of the line image. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes a determination means for determining the line image which is subjected to thinning out by the image processing means and the line image which is not subjected to thinning out by the image processing means on the basis of the result obtained by extracting the line images included in the input image data and determining line intervals of the line images. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a facsimile, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that transfers a toner image formed on an image carrier onto a transfer material at a transfer nip portion. .

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer using electrophotographic technology, the photosensitive drum is uniformly charged by a charging roller or the like, and, for example, laser light is exposed to the photosensitive drum by an image signal based on the image data. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum. The formed electrostatic latent image is developed with toner by a developing device, and the developed toner image is transferred to a transfer material by a transfer roller or the like. The transfer material onto which the toner image has been transferred is permanently fixed by the fixing device and discharged outside the apparatus.

  In such an image forming apparatus, the toner loading amount (height) per unit area of the developed toner image in the solid image portion and the line image portion formed on the photosensitive drum according to the image data. Is different. This is because the line image portion performs processing such as edge emphasis, so that even if the density of the image data is the same in the solid image portion and the line image portion, the loading amount increases by the amount added. FIG. 28 shows the transfer material P formed by transferring onto the transfer material P a line image in which a plurality of line images formed in a line shape in the direction perpendicular to the transport direction X in the image forming apparatus are arranged in the transport direction X. It is the schematic diagram at the time of enlarging the image and the image which were enlarged locally. When such a line image is formed, when the portion surrounded by the dotted line is enlarged, the toner is scattered on the upstream side in the conveyance direction X of the line image (the rear end side of the transfer material P), thereby degrading the image quality. It can be seen that the phenomenon of so-called scattering and explosion has occurred. The transfer material transport direction X is equal to the sub-scanning direction, which is a direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, when the direction of the rotation axis of the photosensitive drum is the main scanning direction. It is also a direction to go straight.

  This problem occurs on the principle shown in FIG. When a plurality of line images are arranged in the transport direction X, when the first line image L1 passes through the transfer nip portion T, the transfer material P together with the transfer roller R by the height (layer thickness) of the toner is below the drawing. It is pressed in the direction (direction in which the nip at the transfer nip T decreases). Further, after the transfer material P is conveyed and the first line image L1 passes through the transfer nip portion T, the transfer material P and the transfer roller R are original when the transfer nip is maintained by the pressure of the spring B pressing the transfer roller R. Try to return to the position. At that time, when the next second line image L2 enters the transfer nip T, the pressure of the transfer nip T is suddenly applied to the second line image L2. Was disturbing.

  In recent years, in order to further improve image quality, the toner image formed on the photoconductive drum is primarily transferred to an intermediate transfer belt as a transfer material, and then secondary transferred from the intermediate transfer belt to a transfer material such as paper. Devices etc. have been proposed. In such an image forming apparatus, the phenomenon shown in FIG. 29 often occurs in the primary transfer portion between the photosensitive drum and the intermediate transfer belt (in this case, the transfer material P in FIG. 29 is used as the intermediate transfer belt). Relationship).

  FIG. 30 shows that when the interval between the line images (line interval) is 1.5 mm and 6.0 mm, no splattering / explosion phenomenon occurs, and when 3.0 mm, the splattering / explosion phenomenon occurs. It is a figure which shows typically.

  In any line interval, the first line image does not scatter or explode. The reason for this is that, as described above, when the line image passes, pressure is applied at once to fill the gap formed between the photosensitive drum and the transfer material or the intermediate transfer belt. However, it is considered that the toner is scattered to the rear under the influence. As a result, the scattering / explosion phenomenon does not occur depending on the line interval, but the scattering / explosion phenomenon occurs at a certain line interval.

  Of course, in consideration of the pressure generated between the photosensitive drum and the transfer material or the intermediate transfer belt, the occurrence of the scattering / explosion phenomenon becomes worse as the image forming apparatus is faster, and the more the line image is loaded, the more Needless to say, the occurrence is worse.

Therefore, an image forming apparatus that performs image processing on a line image in order to suppress scattering and explosion of the line image has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
JP 2001-80112 A

  In the above-mentioned patent document 1, in order to suppress scattering and explosion of a line image, a line image condition for performing image processing is determined in advance, and if the line image included in the image data satisfies this condition, the line image is processed. Thinning processing is performed on the image data of the non-edge portion of the image. This thinning process suppresses scattering and explosion. The conditions for performing the thinning process on the line image are when the line length (length) in the main scanning direction of the line image is 5 mm or more and the line width is 150 to 300 μm.

  The purpose is to determine the conditions regarding the line length (length) and the line width of the line image to be thinned out in advance, so that the quality of the line image such as a decrease in line image density or line thinning due to excessive thinning processing is reduced. It is to prevent the decline.

  Therefore, the inventor forms an image by changing the line interval from about 1.0 mm to about 4.9 mm by 0.3 mm for each line image having a line length of 5 mm in the main scanning direction and a line width of 200 μm as shown in FIG. Went. As a result, the scattering / explosion phenomenon of the line image generated in the primary transfer portion occurred at a fixed line interval (2.5 to 3.4 mm).

  Therefore, the thinning process proposed in Patent Document 1 is performed to prevent image scattering and explosion phenomena. In the method of Patent Document 1, a thinning process is uniformly performed on a line image to be thinned (a line image having a line length in the main scanning direction of 5 mm or more and a line width of 150 to 300 μm). As a result, it was possible to suppress the scattering / explosion phenomenon in the line image having a line interval (2.5 to 3.4 mm) where the line image was scattered and exploded.

  However, thinning processing is also performed for line images with line intervals (line intervals of 1 to 2.2 mm / 3.7 to 4.9 mm) in which scattering and explosion of line images did not occur in the first place. For this reason, it has been found that the quality of the line image is deteriorated at the same time as the line image as shown in FIG. FIG. 32 is a diagram showing a line image not subjected to the process of Patent Document 1 (before the thinning process) and a processed line image (after the thinning process) when a line image having a line interval of 1.6 mm is formed. It is. No scattering or explosion occurs in any line image, but it can be seen that line images are further missing due to the thinning process after the thinning process.

  SUMMARY An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that it provides an image forming apparatus that prevents the occurrence of scattering and explosion phenomena that occur in a transfer nip while suppressing chipping of line images and thinning of the line width due to excessive thinning processing.

  In order to solve this problem, the present invention transfers an image formed on an image carrier based on input image data to the recording material at a nip formed between the image carrier and the recording material. A forming device that extracts a line image included in the input image data and determines a line interval of the line image; an image processing unit that performs a thinning process on the line image; and And determining means for determining a line image to be thinned by the image processing means and a line image not to be thinned based on the determined result.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to form an image without causing problems such as chipping of a line image or thinning of the line width of the line image and without causing scattering and explosion phenomena.

  Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be exemplarily described in detail below with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited only to a following example.

<First Embodiment>
<Schematic configuration of image forming apparatus>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus as an embodiment of the present invention. An image forming apparatus (printer) 100 is connected to a host computer 200 as an image data transmission source via an input / output I / F (interface) 300. The image forming apparatus 100 includes an input / output I / F 300, a CPU (central processing unit) 400, an operation panel 410, a main memory 420, a bitmap memory 500, an image processing unit 600, and a printer engine unit 700.

  The input / output I / F 300 receives image data from the host computer 200 and transmits status information of the image forming apparatus 100 to the host computer 200. The CPU 400 controls the entire image forming apparatus 100. The operation panel 410 is an operation panel having operation buttons for performing various operations of the image forming apparatus 100 and a display unit for displaying various information.

  The main memory 420 is a memory that stores operation processing procedures, character patterns, and the like of the CPU 400. The bitmap memory 500 is a memory that can develop a dot image for one page in order to print image data received from the host computer 200 by the printer engine unit 700. The image processing unit 600 performs image processing on the image data, and has a characteristic configuration of the present invention. Details thereof will be described later. The printer engine unit 700 transfers and fixes a toner image formed on an image carrier based on image data onto a transfer material.

<Schematic configuration of printer engine>
FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the printer engine unit 700. The printer engine unit 700 is arranged around the photosensitive drum 1 as an image carrier, in order from the upstream to the downstream in the direction of the arrow R1, which is the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 1, and the developing unit 3 and the developing unit. The unit 4, the primary transfer roller 5, and the cleaning unit 6 are arranged in order. The printer engine unit 700 includes an intermediate transfer belt 7, a driving roller 8, a steering roller 9, a backup roller 10, a secondary transfer outer roller 11, a belt cleaner 12, and a fixing unit 13.

  The photosensitive drum 1 serving as an image carrier is an amorphous silicon drum having an outer diameter of φ108 mm and a positive charging polarity, and is driven to rotate at a constant speed in the direction of arrow R1 by a drive motor (not shown). First, the charging unit 2 is configured so that a bias voltage is applied by a power supply unit (not shown) while the photosensitive drum 1 is rotating, and thereby the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly and uniformly charged. Has been. The exposure unit 3 is disposed downstream of the charging unit 2 in the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 1.

  The exposure unit 3 exposes the photosensitive drum 1 by repeatedly scanning in the axial direction of the photosensitive drum 1 as an image carrier to be rotated, for example, while controlling the ON / OFF of the light beam L based on the image data. Therefore, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image data is formed on the photosensitive drum 1. The developing unit 4 is disposed on the downstream side of the exposure unit 3 and on the upstream side of the primary transfer roller 5 in the rotation direction of the photosensitive drum 1, and includes a container 4a for storing a one-component developer (black toner), and the container 4a. The developing sleeve 4b is rotatably installed in the opening facing the photosensitive drum 1. In the developing sleeve 4b, a magnet roller 4c for supporting the developer on the developing sleeve 4b is fixedly disposed so as not to rotate with respect to the rotation of the developing sleeve 4b.

  The developer (negative polarity) is spiked by the magnetic force of the developing main pole located in the developing area of the magnet roller 4 c and rubbed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1. At the same time, a developing bias is applied to the developing sleeve 4b by a power source (not shown) so that the developer adheres to the dark part of the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 and is developed. A toner image t is formed.

  On the other hand, an endless intermediate transfer belt 7 is stretched below the photosensitive drum 1. A steering roller 9 for controlling the shift of the intermediate transfer belt 7 is disposed downstream of the primary transfer and is supported by such a plurality of bridging rollers. The intermediate transfer belt 7 is conveyed at a speed equivalent to that of the photosensitive drum 1. The The intermediate transfer belt 7 is made of, for example, a resin such as polyimide or polycarbonate. On the conveyance path of the intermediate transfer belt 7, there are a primary transfer portion T and a secondary transfer portion T2.

  In the primary transfer portion T, the intermediate transfer belt 7 is conveyed between the nip portion between the photosensitive drum 1 and the primary transfer roller 5. The primary transfer roller 5 has a diameter of 16 mm and is opposed to the photosensitive drum 1 (offset amount: 0 mm). Both ends are pressed against the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 via the intermediate transfer belt 7 by a pressing member such as a spring, and a nip. Part is formed. The primary transfer roller 5 is driven to rotate in the direction of the arrow R2 as the photosensitive drum 1 rotates in the direction of the arrow R1. Here, the sum total of the pressing by the spring as the pressing member is about 1000 g. A predetermined voltage is applied to the primary transfer roller 5 from the plus terminal of the power source V1. As a result, the transfer charge determined by the surface potential of the primary transfer roller 5 is charged, and the toner image t on the photosensitive drum 1 as an image carrier is primarily transferred onto the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 7.

  In addition, the photosensitive drum 1 after the primary transfer is removed by the cleaning unit 6 from the attached matter such as toner remaining without being primary transferred. The cleaning unit 6 includes a cleaner blade 6a. The cleaner blade 6a is in contact with the photosensitive drum 1 at a predetermined angle and pressure by a pressing unit (not shown), and the toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 Collect etc.

  On the other hand, in the secondary transfer portion T2, a secondary transfer outer roller 11 is disposed at a position facing the backup roller 10, and the intermediate transfer belt 7 is conveyed between the secondary transfer outer roller 11 and the backup roller 10. .

  Both ends of the secondary transfer outer roller 11 are pressed against the backup roller 10 via the intermediate transfer belt 7 by a pressing member such as a spring. A predetermined voltage is applied to the secondary transfer outer roller 11 from the plus terminal of the power source V2. As a result, the transfer charge determined by the surface potential of the secondary transfer outer roller 11 is charged, and the toner image t primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 7 is secondarily transferred onto the surface of the recording material P.

  The belt cleaner 12 includes a cleaner blade 12a. The cleaner blade 12a is in contact with an intermediate transfer belt 7 wound around a driving roller 8 at a predetermined angle and pressure by a not-shown pressurizing unit. The toner remaining on the surface of the transfer belt 7 is collected. The transfer material P onto which the toner image t has been transferred is introduced into the fixing unit 13 and heated and pressurized, and the toner image t is fixed on the surface of the transfer material P.

  In the present invention, in order to suppress scattering and explosion of the line image generated in the printer engine unit 700 of the image forming apparatus as described above, the image processing unit 600 (determination unit) performs image processing on the input image data. It is determined whether the line interval is necessary for (thinning-out processing). If it is determined that the line interval requires image processing, the image processing is executed.

<Schematic configuration of image processing unit>
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a circuit configuration of an image processing unit 600 that performs image processing that suppresses scattering and explosion without causing problems such as missing line images and thin line widths, which is a feature of the present invention. FIG. Here, the line image is an image formed in a line shape in a direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction (sub-scanning direction) X of the transfer material P or the intermediate transfer belt 7, and the axial direction (main scanning direction) of the photosensitive drum 1. ) Is defined as an image formed in a line shape. The line interval refers to an interval in the sub-scanning direction between this line image and a line image formed in parallel with this line image.

  The image processing unit 600 detects a line image included in the image data, and when the detected line image satisfies a predetermined condition, that is, an interval (line interval) between each line image formed in parallel and the line image is set. Image processing (thinning-out processing) is performed at a predetermined interval.

  At this time, a pixel at a specific position in the line image portion is extracted from the image data, and processing such as thinning is performed on the pixel at the specific position. Thereby, the pixel at the specific position is converted from the original on state (black or color pixel) to the off state (white pixel) when the image data is converted into the video signal.

  3, the image processing unit 600 includes a delay circuit 610, a feature extraction unit 620, a feature pattern memory 630, a pattern matching unit 640, a pixel replacement unit 650, a replacement pixel memory 660, and a replacement pixel input unit 670. The operation of each configuration will be described later. The specific position refers to the position of the pixel converted to the off state (white pixel) shown in FIG.

<Line spacing that requires image processing (thinning)>
In this embodiment, it is determined whether or not to perform image processing (thinning processing) according to the line interval. Here, the line interval that requires image processing will be described.

  Experiments have shown that line image splattering and explosion phenomena occur at certain line intervals.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the principle of the occurrence of a line image scattering / explosion phenomenon. As shown in FIG. 4, when a line image (first line image) having a toner loading amount (height) h enters the primary transfer position P1, the toner is conveyed in the conveying direction X by the effect of the toner loading amount (height) h. The intermediate transfer belt 7 is pushed down to the primary transfer roller 5 side, that is, downward in the drawing. The amount by which the intermediate transfer belt 7 is pushed down differs at reference points A to C in the transport direction (X direction) through which the line image (first line image) in FIG. 4 passes, and changes as shown in FIG. . The intermediate transfer belt is gradually pushed down by the influence of the toner loading amount h entering the primary transfer position T in the region of the reference points A to B.

  Here, the positions of the reference points A, B, and C shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are such that the line image (first line image) of the toner loading amount h is the primary transfer portion in the primary transfer portion T forming the transfer nip. A position that has entered (transfer nip) T is defined as a reference point A. Further, a central point of the primary transfer portion (transfer nip) T is set as a reference point B, and a position passing through the primary transfer portion (transfer nip) T is set as a reference point C. Note that FIG. 4 shows a case where the offset amount in the X direction of the primary transfer roller 5 with respect to the photosensitive drum 1 is 0 mm, that is, arranged at the opposing position based on the configuration of the present embodiment.

  When the line image (first line image) reaches the reference point B in the primary transfer position T, the intermediate transfer belt 7 is pushed down most by the amount h of toner. When the line image passes the reference point B in the primary transfer portion (transfer nip) T, the pressed intermediate transfer belt 7 tries to return toward the photosensitive drum 1 again. At that time, a pressure is applied between the photosensitive drum 1 and the intermediate transfer belt 7 in a direction in which the intermediate transfer belt 7 returns to the direction of the photosensitive drum 1 (Y direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction X).

  The region where pressure is applied in the Y direction is a region of reference points B to C shown in FIG. The scattering / explosion phenomenon of the line image occurs when the next line image newly enters the transfer nip P1 while the line image is in the reference points B to C.

  Therefore, according to FIG. 4, the line interval W at which the line image scattering / explosion phenomenon occurs is (B−A) <W <(C−A). Note that the values of A, B, and C are known in advance from the configuration of the image forming apparatus. In this embodiment, the range of the line interval W on which image processing (thinning processing) is performed is registered in the image processing unit 600 in advance.

<Method for selecting area (line image) to be subjected to image processing>
The image data D1 output from the host computer 200 is output to the image forming apparatus 100 via the input / output I / F 300. The image forming apparatus 100 receives a multi-value digital image signal D1 of 256 gradations (8 bits) per pixel from the host computer 200. The image forming apparatus 100 converts the input multi-value digital image signal D1 into a binary signal and stores it in the bitmap memory 500. At that time, the input image signal is binarized so that the gradation of the image signal is reproduced in a pseudo manner. For example, error diffusion processing is performed. The binarized binary image signal is output to the image processing unit 600 as an image signal D2. The image signal D2 is subjected to image processing by the image processing unit 600 shown in FIG.

  The binary image signal D2 output from the bitmap memory 500 stores a signal necessary for the feature extraction processing (pattern matching for extracting a line image portion) by the delay circuit 610. Also, the feature extraction unit 620 uses the binary image signal stored in the delay circuit 610 and uses a predetermined matching pattern matrix size to match the binary image signal and the matching stored in the feature extraction unit 620. The line image portion is extracted based on the pattern. Pattern matching is a technique for extracting the same pattern as a detection pattern from an image using a detection pattern of M × N pixels.

  In this feature extraction process, when the image signal matches the matching pattern, the feature extraction unit 620 reads out a pixel corresponding to the matched matching pattern and outputs it to the pattern matching unit 640. However, if the image does not match the matching pattern, the binarized signal is output to the pixel replacement unit 650.

  Here, for simplification of description, the pattern matching matrix size is 9 × 9 pixels, the input resolution is 600 × 600 dpi, and the output resolution is 600 × 600 dpi. The matrix size of the matching pattern is 4 × 1 pixel. In addition, the feature extraction unit 620 may apply processing such as reference to image area information and filtering processing, which are well known to those skilled in the art. The image area information is referred to by separating multi-value information including halftones such as a character portion and fine line portion and a natural image in image data, and applying processing such as pattern matching and filter processing to the character portion and thin line portion. Use for.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for describing feature extraction processing according to the present embodiment. FIG. 6 is an example of a binary image signal stored in the delay circuit 610, and shows a 9 × 9 pixel that is a pattern matching matrix size.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a matching pattern stored in the feature extraction unit 620. The matching pattern here is formed by 4 × 1 pixels as shown in FIG. 7 and is compared with the binary image signal D2, but the positions of the black pixels of the original image and the black pixels of the matching pattern are If they match, pixel extraction is performed assuming that there is a match with the matching pattern.

  FIG. 8 is a pixel from which a pixel has been extracted on the assumption that there is a match with the matching pattern of FIG. 7 stored in the feature extraction unit 620. Since there is a portion on the image shown in FIG. 6 that matches the matching pattern shown in FIG. 7, a line image, which is a characteristic part, is extracted and output as an image signal D3 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 9 is an example of pattern matching, in which the vicinity of the target pixel is enlarged. When the adjacent pixel is 1 with respect to the target pixel, a portion where there is an image and 0 indicates a portion where there is no image. When the surroundings of the target pixel are in such a condition, the target pixel is a pixel of the line image and is a pixel replacement target pixel.

  FIG. 10 is a pattern of line intervals corresponding to the nip portion of the primary transfer portion T registered (stored) in the feature pattern memory 630 in advance. The pattern matching unit 640 determines whether there is a line image that needs thinning processing. The pattern matching unit 640 determines whether the line interval between the line images extracted by the feature extraction unit 620 matches the matching pattern stored in the feature pattern memory 630. If they match, the pixel corresponding to the matched matching pattern is read out and output to the replacement pixel input unit 670.

  However, if the line spacing does not match the matching pattern, the binarized signal is output to the pixel replacement unit 650 as it is. A characteristic point here is whether or not the line interval up to the portion (1) where the image is located upstream of the target pixel in the sub-scanning direction is W, focusing on the leading edge portion of the line image in the sub-scanning direction. It is a point to discriminate.

  Focusing on the tip line edge part, the line image splattering / explosion phenomenon, as mentioned above, among the line images lined up in the sub-scanning direction, the first line does not scatter / explode. This is because it occurs after the second one. If attention is paid to the leading edge portion, the thinning process is not performed on the first line image.

<Thinning pattern>
FIG. 11 shows a list of patterns stored in the replacement pixel memory 660. In the present embodiment, test images subjected to the thinning levels 1 to 4 in FIG. 11 are output in accordance with the line thickness and the toner loading amount (height) h, and the line image evaluation (line Confirmation of the degree of image chipping, line width narrowing, etc.). As a result of the evaluation, an optimum thinning pattern is set according to the thickness of the line and the applied amount (height) h of toner.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 11, the amount of thinning (from 3% to 17% with respect to the entire line) and its pattern are changed. As another characteristic part, the thinning process is not performed on the part that becomes the edge of the line image. This is because the shakiness of the line image becomes worse and the quality is lowered.

  FIG. 12 is an enlarged view of a thinned portion of a line image. In FIG. 12, a line image A indicates image data obtained by performing a thinning level 1 thinning process on image data. The line image B is an image when the image data of the line image A is printed using the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. The line image C is an ideal line image with no missing line image or thin line width of the line image.

  In the line image A, defects in the line image are conspicuous, and a reduction in image quality is seen on the image data. However, in the case of the line image B that is actually output by performing the thinning process used in this embodiment, the image It can be seen that the images are equivalent. It can be seen that when the thinned portion of the line image A is actually output by the image forming apparatus, it is filled with toner scattering.

  These thinning amounts are subjectively evaluated by the inventors in the image forming apparatus, and are created based on the thinning amounts in which line images are not chipped or thinned while suppressing the scattering and explosion phenomenon of the line images. Therefore, it is changed (set) depending on the configuration of the image forming apparatus. For this reason, it is necessary to perform subjective evaluation in advance and create a table as described below.

  In the present embodiment, the thinning amount is actually determined by the thickness (line width) of the line image and the amount of toner applied to the line image. Specifically, the thinning amount is determined by a table for setting the thinning amount (patterns of thinning levels 1 to 4 in FIG. 11) according to the line width and the toner loading amount as shown in FIG. In the present invention, the line loading amount is determined by the developing bias (developing Vcont) applied to the developing sleeve 4b in FIG.

  When the thinning amount (thinning pattern) is determined, the pattern is output from the replacement pixel memory 660 to the replacement pixel input unit 670, and the pixel replacement unit 650 performs the thinning process.

<Operation procedure>
FIG. 19 is a flowchart for explaining an image processing algorithm in the image forming apparatus configured as described above. The processing is executed by the image processing unit 600 and is controlled by the CPU 400 in FIG.

  The CPU 400 outputs the image data D2 output from the bitmap memory 500 to the delay circuit 610, and the feature extraction unit 620 extracts a line image (S001). Next, the CPU 400 determines whether the extracted line image is a line image to be thinned out. That is, the pattern matching unit 640 determines whether or not the line interval of the extracted line image matches the line interval stored in the feature pattern memory 630 (S002). Here, the line interval from the leading edge portion of the line image to the upstream line image in the transport direction X is registered in advance in the pattern matching unit 640 in relation to the nip portion T in the image forming apparatus. It is determined whether the interval (B−A) <W <(C−A) is satisfied. Here, when the line interval is the interval (BA) <W <(CA), it is determined as a line image to be thinned (Yes in S002). If they do not match (No in S002), the process proceeds to step S005.

  When the CPU 400 determines that the line image is to be thinned, the CPU 400 responds to the image forming conditions set by the printer engine unit 700, specifically, the developing bias (developing Vcont) applied to the developing device 4 and the thickness of the line image. Image processing is performed at the thinning processing level. Specifically, with reference to the thinning amount table shown in FIG. 13 stored in the replacement pixel memory 660 shown in FIG. 3, the thinning levels 1 to 4 are selected and set (S003), and the pixel replacement unit 650 performs thinning. The process is executed (S004).

  The CPU 400 combines the image data for which pixel replacement has been performed by the pixel replacement unit 650 with the image data that has not been subjected to thinning out in S001 (S005), and outputs it to the printer engine unit 700 (S006).

<Confirmation of effect>
The effect of the present invention was confirmed using the configuration of the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment.

  First, the line interval of a line image that requires image processing (thinning-out processing) is determined based on the configuration of the primary transfer portion T of the printer engine 700 described above. In this configuration, the photosensitive drum 1 has a diameter of 108 mm, the primary transfer roller 5 has a diameter of 16 mm, is opposed to the photosensitive drum 1 (offset amount is 0 mm), and abuts with a pressing force of about 1000 g. It is assumed that In this configuration, when the transfer nip area of the primary transfer nip T was examined, it was about 2.5 to 3.5 mm. The toner used has a toner particle size of about 7 μm, and the applied amount (height) h of the toner when a line image having the maximum density is formed is about 20 μm.

  From the above, the line spacing that required thinning-out processing was calculated to be 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm. Therefore, image processing (thinning-out processing) is executed when the line interval is 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm.

  In the present invention, the line interval that needs to be thinned out is calculated by measuring the transfer nip width. However, the line interval at which the line image scatters and explodes in advance using a test image in which the line interval is changed as shown in FIG. You may grasp.

  In order to show the effect of the present invention, an image as shown in FIG. 31 was output. Specifically, a line image having a line image length of about 5 mm in the main scanning direction and a line image thickness of about 170 μm is set to a line interval in the sub-scanning direction of about 1.0 mm to 4.9 mm. An image in which a plurality of line images changed every 3 mm were arranged was output. At this time, the density of the line image here is the maximum density.

  When the copy start button is pressed and the image forming operation is started, the pattern matching unit 640 in the image processing unit 600 determines that a thinning process is necessary for line images having a line interval of 2.5 mm to 3.4 mm. Further, it was recognized that the development contrast potential necessary for forming the line image was 200V.

  Therefore, the thinning amount of the target line image to be subjected to image processing is determined to be the thinning level 3: 10% in FIG. 11 from the thinning amount table prepared in advance shown in FIG. 13, and thinning processing (replacement of pixels) is executed. Then, image data is sent to the printer engine unit 700. Based on the image data, the image forming apparatus actually formed an image.

  FIG. 15 shows a result of an output image that has been subjected to the above-described image processing (thinning-out processing) and an output image that has not been subjected to image processing (thinning-out processing) at a line interval of 3.4 mm where actual line images are scattered or exploded. Is shown. As can be seen from FIG. 15, it can be seen that scattering / explosion of the line image is suppressed by the thinning process of the present invention.

  Further, FIG. 16 shows the output result of the line image when the thinning process is performed uniformly as in the conventional case with the line interval of 1 mm where the scattering and explosion of the line image do not occur and the thinning process by applying the present invention. It is a figure which shows the output result when not performing. As can be seen from FIG. 16, in this embodiment, line images that do not scatter or explode in the first place are not thinned out, so there is no missing line image and scatter or explosion of the line image occurs. You can see that they are not.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, it is possible to suppress the line image from being chipped and explode, and to suppress the lack of the line image and maintain the quality of the line image.

<Second Embodiment>
In the first embodiment, thinning processing is performed for a certain range of line intervals. That is, the thinning amount is constant in the line interval within the range, and the thinning amount is determined according to the development bias (development Vcont) and the thickness of the line image.

  However, due to the further increase in the speed of the image forming apparatus seen in recent years, if the transfer nip area is small, a sufficient transfer action cannot be performed, so the following configuration has been proposed. That is, in order to increase the transfer nip region, the offset amount of the primary transfer roller with respect to the photosensitive drum is increased and the outer diameter of the primary transfer roller is increased to widen the transfer nip region. Of course, as the speed increases, the pressure received by the line image at the transfer nip as described in the present invention also tends to increase.

  When the area of the primary transfer nip portion is expanded in this way, the range of line intervals at which line images scatter and explode also increases, and the pressure received by the line image also changes depending on the line intervals. In the system that does not change the thinning amount according to the line interval as in the first embodiment, the thinning amount is insufficient, and scattering and explosion cannot be suppressed, or conversely, excessive thinning is performed, resulting in missing lines. There is a concern that it will.

  The inventor actually printed an image as shown in FIG. 17 with the configuration of the image forming apparatus of the first embodiment. According to this, when the line interval is relatively small even within the line interval region where the line image scatters and explodes, the line image scatters and explodes at a better level (less) than when the line interval is large, and excessive decimation is performed. Has been confirmed.

  This is because when the line interval is small, the previous line image has not completely passed through the transfer nip, and the amount of the intermediate transfer belt returning toward the photosensitive drum is small, so the pressure applied to the rear line image is small. This is because becomes smaller.

  In the present embodiment, a configuration for solving such a problem is proposed. Actually, the image processing unit 600 of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment further adds a line interval parameter when determining the thinning amount of the line image. Therefore, in this embodiment, a schematic description of the image forming apparatus is omitted.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart of the thinning process in the present embodiment. This flowchart is almost the same as the procedure of FIG. 14 described in the first embodiment, except that step S010 is added. Therefore, a description of the same procedure as that described in FIG. 14 is omitted.

  In the second embodiment, the thinning level is determined according to the development bias (development Vcont), the thickness of the line image, and the line interval, for the thinning amount of the line image determined to be thinning processing by the pattern matching unit 640. Thus, the thinning process is performed. When the CPU 400 determines that the line image is to be thinned, the CPU 400 responds to the image forming conditions set by the printer engine unit 700, specifically, the developing bias (developing Vcont) applied to the developing device 4 and the thickness of the line image. Image processing is performed at the thinning processing level. Specifically, the thinning levels 1 to 4 are selected and set with reference to the thinning amount table shown in FIG. 13 stored in the replacement pixel memory 660 shown in FIG. 3 (S009). In the next step, the thinning amount determined in S009 is adjusted according to the line interval. The table is shown in FIG.

  The thinning amount to be adjusted in the present embodiment is increased by one level from the thinning amount determined based on the table of FIG. 13 from the development bias (development Vcont) and the thickness of the line image according to the line interval. Decreasing one level or not changing it.

  For example, when processing a line image as shown in FIG. 17, since the image was formed under the conditions of the first embodiment, the development contrast is 200 V and the line thickness is 170 μm. Therefore, the thinning amount is based on the table of FIG. Is 10% (thinning level 3). Here, in the portion of the line interval of 2.5 mm in FIG. 17, the thinning amount level is lowered by one (−1) from the table in FIG. 19, and the thinning amount of this line image is selected to be 6% (thinning level 2). It is. In FIG. 17, the line spacing of 3.5 mm is not changed from the table in FIG. 19 (0), and the line image thinning amount remains 17% (thinning level 4). . Here, the table is one lower (−1) and unchanged (0), but there is a case where the level is increased by one (+1).

  In this embodiment, a table as shown in FIG. 19 is created based on the results of investigation by the inventors. However, depending on the image forming apparatus, it may be necessary to increase the thinning correction amount due to the line interval. It is necessary to consider the level of splattering / explosion in line images.

  As described above, it is possible to further improve the quality of the line image by adding the line interval to the parameter for determining the thinning amount.

<Third Embodiment>
In the first and second embodiments, the monochromatic image forming apparatus has been described. In the present embodiment, a line image processing method in a full color image forming apparatus having a plurality of image forming units will be described.

  FIG. 20 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer engine unit of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.

  The printer engine unit 7000 is a tandem image forming apparatus in which image forming stations of four colors, that is, yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) are arranged in a line.

  In the image forming apparatus as shown in FIG. 20, the photosensitive drums 1Y, 1M, 1C, and 1K that form an electrostatic latent image, charging units 2Y, 2M, 2C, and 2K, exposure units 3Y, 3M, 3C, and 3K, development 4Y, 4M, 4C, 4K. Further, primary transfer rollers 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K for transferring the toner images formed on the respective photosensitive drums onto the intermediate transfer belt 7, cleaning units 6Y, 6M, 6C, and 6K, a secondary transfer outer roller 11, A belt cleaner 12 and a fixing unit 13 are provided. The primary transfer rollers 5Y, 5M, 5C, and 5K are the same as the transfer roller 5 used in the first embodiment.

  In the image forming units of the respective colors, the photosensitive drums 1Y to 1K are respectively charged in the charging units 2Y to 2K, and then scanned by the exposure units 3Y to 3K in accordance with the image signals, thereby the photosensitive drums 1Y to 1K. An electrostatic latent image is formed thereon. Thereafter, the toner images are developed in the developing units 4Y to 4K. In this embodiment, a two-component developer is accommodated, and toner images are formed on the photosensitive drums 1Y to 1K on the same principle as in the first embodiment.

  The development bias in the present embodiment is developed by a development bias having a variable DC component. The toner images formed on the photosensitive drums 1Y to 1K are transferred so as to be sequentially superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 7 by applying a primary transfer bias to the primary transfer rollers 5Y to 5K. The transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drums 1Y to 1K after the primary transfer is removed by the cleaning units 6Y to 6K.

  The toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 7 is secondarily transferred onto the recording material at the secondary transfer portion T2. The secondary transfer roller 11 used in this embodiment is the same as that in the first embodiment. The toner image transferred to the recording material in the secondary transfer portion T2 is fixed by the fixing portion 13 to obtain a full color image. In the secondary transfer portion T2, the transfer residual toner that has not been transferred is removed by the belt cleaner 12.

  In the image forming apparatus having a plurality of image forming units as described above, line image image processing that prevents the occurrence of line image scattering and explosion will be described. The schematic configuration of the image processing unit 600 is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  Now, using the image processing method of the first embodiment, a line image composed of yellow and magenta single colors as shown in FIG. 21 is output. In FIG. 21, as a line image, single color line images of yellow and magenta are alternately arranged in the sub-scanning direction at intervals of 2.5 mm.

  In such a full-color image forming apparatus, an input image signal is converted into C, M, Y, and K color components, and an image is formed at each image forming station. That is, the line images in FIG. 26 are classified into yellow and magenta line images, and are formed as line images at the respective image forming stations.

  First, a yellow St (image forming unit having a first image carrier) has a line image as shown in FIG. 22, and a magenta St (image forming unit having a second image carrier) has a line image shown in FIG. Will be created respectively. In each image forming station, the line image is discriminated and whether or not thinning processing is performed is performed according to the line interval, as in the first embodiment. Then, since the interval between the line images formed at each image forming station is 5 mm, it is determined that the thinning process is not performed.

  Image samples output using the image processing unit 600 of the first embodiment in this way are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 24, since the line image thinning process was not executed at each image forming station, the magenta horizontal line image was scattered and exploded.

  This cause will be described. When the image of FIG. 21 is formed, first, line images at intervals of 5 mm are formed at the yellow station YSt. The yellow line image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 7 directly enters the primary transfer nip portion of the magenta station MSt. The state at that time is shown in FIG. FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram showing the primary transfer nip portion of the magenta station MSt. In the transfer nip portion of the magenta station MSt, the line image formed at the yellow station YSt already exists on the intermediate transfer belt. For this reason, the intermediate transfer belt 7 has already been pushed down by the yellow line image before the line image formed on the photosensitive drum 1M (second image carrier) reaches the transfer nip portion. In other words, when the yellow line image has already passed through the primary transfer nip portion of the magenta station, if the magenta line image enters the primary transfer nip portion, the pressure generated between the photosensitive drum and the intermediate transfer belt is received. It is.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus as in the third embodiment, the image processing method in the most upstream station is the same as that in the first embodiment, and there is no problem. However, the second and subsequent stations (in this embodiment, M , C, K station) must take a new image processing method.

  Therefore, the present embodiment proposes an image processing method that can suppress scattering and explosion of a line image even in an image forming apparatus that creates a full-color image. A characteristic point is that in the image forming station where the image is formed secondly or later in each image forming station of YMCK, image processing is performed in consideration of the information of the line image formed in the station arranged upstream. .

  That is, in the third embodiment, the magenta station MSt performs image processing using the line image formed by the yellow station YSt + magenta station MSt as an input image. The cyan station CSt performs image processing based on line image information formed by the yellow station YSt + magenta station MSt + cyan station CSt. Of course, the same applies to the black station.

  In the present embodiment, image processing of a line image in the magenta station MSt will be described, but the same principle is executed in other stations.

  FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure of image processing in the image processing unit 600. First, as described in the first embodiment, the CPU 400 extracts a line image from the delay circuit 610 and the feature extraction unit 620 from the input image sent to the magenta station MSt (S014). If the line image is determined, the line image formed at the yellow station YSt and the line image formed at the magenta station MSt are combined (S015). Then, the CPU 400 uses the pattern matching unit 640 to set the line interval between the magenta line image (second line image) and the yellow line image (first line image) as shown in FIG. Determine. Further, a line interval between the magenta line image (second line image) and the line image (first line image) is determined (S016).

  If the relationship between the primary transfer nip region (nip width) formed at the magenta station Mst and the line interval W between these line images satisfies (BA) <W <(CA), magenta. It is determined that the thinning process is performed on the line image (Yes in S016). For the line image determined to require thinning processing, the thinning amount is determined based on the development contrast potential, the thickness of the line image, and the line interval (S017, S018).

  The CPU 400 executes the thinning process in the pixel replacement unit 650 (S019), and the image subjected to the thinning process is combined with the image not subjected to the thinning process in the image processing trunk unit 650 (S020), and outputs image data to the magenta station Mst (S021). ) Image formation is performed.

  As described above, by providing the image processing unit as in the present embodiment in the full-color image forming apparatus, it is possible to suppress chipping / explosion of the line image and to suppress the lack of the line image and to maintain the quality of the line image. Is possible.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the image processing unit recognizes whether the input image is a line image, detects the line interval of the line image, and determines whether to perform a thinning process according to the result. As a result, the problem of missing line images due to excessive thinning processing can be prevented, and scattering and explosion of horizontal line images that occur at specific line intervals can be suppressed.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a printer engine unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the circuit structure of the image process part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the schematic diagram which showed the mechanism of the scattering and explosion phenomenon of the line image which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an amount by which an intermediate transfer belt is pushed down when a line image passes through a transfer nip according to the first embodiment. It is a figure explaining a pattern matching processing method. It is a figure explaining a pattern matching processing method. It is a figure explaining a pattern matching processing method. It is the figure which showed the determination method of the line image which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the determination method of the line interval which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the thinning-out process pattern which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the effect of the thinning process which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the table which determines the thinning amount (thinning pattern) which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is the flowchart figure which showed the image processing procedure performed with the image processing part which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the printed image (Line space | interval 3.4mm) actually output in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the printed image (line space | interval 1.0mm) actually output in 1st Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the line image in which the line interval was irregularly arranged. It is the flowchart figure which showed the image processing procedure performed with the image processing part which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the table which changes the thinning-out amount according to the line space | interval which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the image forming apparatus which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the line image output in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the line image formed in the yellow station output in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the line image formed in the magenta station output in 3rd Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the color line image output with the image processing method in 1st Embodiment. It is the schematic diagram which showed the mechanism of the scattering and explosion phenomenon of the line image of the color image which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is the flowchart figure which showed the image processing procedure performed with the image processing part which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the determination method of the line space | interval which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. FIG. 4 illustrates scattering and explosion phenomena of a line image according to the present invention. FIG. It is the schematic diagram which showed the mechanism of the scattering of a line image and an explosion phenomenon. FIG. 4 illustrates scattering and explosion phenomena of a line image according to the present invention. FIG. It is a sample of a test image used in the present invention. It is an enlarged view of a line image when the thinning process according to the conventional method is performed.

Explanation of symbols

400 CPU
500 Bitmap Memory 600 Image Processing Unit 610 Delay Circuit 620 Feature Extraction Unit 640 Pattern Matching Unit 650 Pixel Replacement Unit

Claims (11)

An image forming apparatus for transferring an image formed on an image carrier based on input image data to the recording material at a nip formed between the image carrier and the recording material,
Determining means for extracting a line image included in the input image data and determining a line interval of the line image;
Image processing means for performing a thinning process on the line image;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a determining unit that determines a line image that is subjected to thinning processing by the image processing unit and a line image that is not subjected to thinning processing based on a determination result of the determining unit.   The determination unit does not perform the thinning process with the line image subjected to the thinning process by the image processing unit based on the result of comparing the line interval determined by the determination unit and the nip width formed at the nip portion. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a line image is determined.   The determination means performs thinning processing on the line image by the image processing means when the line interval determined by the determination means is substantially equal to the nip width formed at the nip portion. The image forming apparatus according to 2.   The line image on which the thinning process is performed by the image processing unit is a line image formed on the upstream side with respect to the conveyance direction of the recording material among the plurality of line images extracted by the determination unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image processing unit changes a thinning amount for performing the thinning process on the line image according to the line interval determined by the determining unit. Based on input image data, an image formed on the first image carrier and an image formed on the second image carrier are sequentially formed at the nip portion formed between each image carrier and the recording material. An image forming apparatus for transferring to the recording material,
A first line image formed on the first image carrier and a second line image formed on the second image carrier included in the input image data are extracted and the first line image is extracted. Discriminating means for discriminating the line interval between the line image and the second line image;
Image processing means for performing a thinning process on the second line image;
And determining means for determining the second line image to be thinned by the image processing means and the second line image not to be thinned based on the result of the judgment by the judging means. An image forming apparatus. The image processing unit is based on a result of comparing the line interval determined by the determination unit and a nip width of a nip portion formed between the second image carrier and the recording material.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image processing unit determines a line image to be subjected to a thinning process and a line image to be not subjected to the thinning process.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the image processing unit performs a thinning process on the second line image when the line interval determined by the determination unit is substantially equal to the nip width. .   The nip portion formed between the first image carrier and the recording material is closer to the recording material conveyance direction than the nip portion formed between the second image carrier and the recording material. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image forming apparatus is formed on an upstream side.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image processing unit changes a thinning amount for performing the thinning process on the line image according to the line interval determined by the determining unit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the image processing unit changes a thinning amount for performing the thinning process on the second line image according to the line interval determined by the determining unit.

Images