JP2003078687A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device that can properly discriminate the residual capacity left for image formation. SOLUTION: A hard disk stores image data obtained by reading the image of an original by using an image reader (102 to 112). In this case, the free areas of the hard disk are detected to calculate the capacity of the free areas as the residual capacity (116). When the residual capacity is greater than a prescribed capacity, the residual capacity of the hard disk is displayed in percentage (118, 120), and when the residual capacity is less than the prescribed capacity, the capacity of the hard disk is displayed in the number of images (118, 122, 124).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus equipped with a display device for displaying various settings and information for image formation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional technique, an image storage device such as a hard disk (HDD) is provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, the image data is compressed and stored, and the stored image data is used to generate the image data. An image forming apparatus having an electronic sort function has been proposed, which performs electronic sorting by rearranging images, collecting image data, and then forming an image.

The image forming apparatus having such an electronic sort function is provided with a display device for displaying various information for forming an image, and various information is displayed. For example, the display device displays information for performing the electronic sort, information for setting image forming information such as the number of image forming copies, and the like.

When performing an operation using the image storage device such as when the electronic sort function is executed, the capacity of the image storage device is detected and the image storage device can be used with respect to the total capacity of the image storage device. The remaining amount is displayed as a percentage, and the remaining amount of image data that can be stored in the image storage device can be easily estimated from the percentage display on the display device.

[0005]

However, since the conventional remaining amount display is a percentage display, the number of image data that can actually be stored in the image storage device cannot be grasped even if the remaining 1% is displayed. , There is a problem.

Further, since the number of pieces of image data that can be stored in the image storage device varies depending on the color mode of the original image and the size of the recording medium such as paper on which the image is formed, the actual remaining amount of the image storage device can be accurately determined. Can not.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above facts, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of appropriately determining the remaining amount of image formation.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 uses a display means for displaying various information for image formation and a medium having a predetermined capacity at the time of image formation. Detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of the medium that can be used to form an image on a recording medium, and displaying the remaining amount on the display means based on the detection result of the detecting means. And a display control unit that controls to display on the display unit by changing the unit of the remaining amount when the detection result of the detection unit is smaller than a predetermined value.

According to the first aspect of the invention, the display means displays various information for image formation (for example, information for setting the number of image forming copies and image formation).
The detection means detects the remaining amount of the medium that can be used for forming the image on the recording medium by using the medium having a predetermined capacity at the time of forming the image. The medium having a predetermined capacity includes, for example, a hard disk provided in the image forming apparatus, toner for forming an image, and the like, and the detection unit detects the hard disk remaining amount, the toner remaining amount, and the like.

Then, by the control of the display control means, the remaining amount of image formation is displayed on the display means based on the detection result of the detection means. Further, when the detection result of the detection means is smaller than the predetermined value, the unit of the remaining amount of image formation is changed and displayed on the display means. For example, as in the invention described in claim 3, when the detection result of the detection means is larger than a predetermined value, the remaining amount capable of image formation is displayed in percentage,
When the detection result of the detection means is smaller than the predetermined value, the remaining image-formable quantity is calculated from a predetermined value (for example, the quantity necessary for forming an image on one recording medium). By displaying the remaining amount of image formation as a quantity, the remaining amount of image formation can be accurately determined.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the display control means has a small number of detection results by the detection means,
The unit of the remaining amount of image formation may be controlled to display both the unit before the change and the unit after the change.

Further, as in the invention described in claim 4, the number as the remaining amount capable of forming an image during the image forming operation may be counted down, that is, displayed in real time.

Further, as in the invention described in claim 5,
The display control means displays the remaining image formable amount for each image forming condition including at least a color mode (for example, full color, black and white, sepia, etc.) and an image forming size (for example, A4, A3, B5 size, etc.). May be. In this way, by displaying the remaining amount for each image forming condition, it is possible to grasp the detailed remaining amount capable of image formation.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, an image storage means for storing image data for forming an image is further provided, and the detection means. Detects the remaining amount of the image storage means as the remaining amount.

According to the invention of claim 6, claim 1
The invention according to any one of claims 4 to 4, further comprising image storage means for storing image data for forming an image, for example, an order in which the image data is stored in the image storage means and read out. Electronic sort can be performed by exchanging etc. Then, by detecting the remaining amount of the image storage unit as the remaining amount of the medium by the detection unit, the remaining amount that can be stored in the image storage unit can be displayed on the display unit. Therefore, when the detection result of the detecting means is smaller than the predetermined value, for example, as in the invention described in claim 3, the display of percentage is displayed (eg, the number of image data capable of accumulating images, the number of originals, etc.). ), The remaining amount of the image storage means is displayed, so that the remaining amount of the image storage means can be accurately grasped.

According to the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 6, as in the invention described in claim 7, a notification means is further provided, and the detection result of the detection means is more than a predetermined value. If it is small, the fact may be notified. By further providing the notification means in this way, it is possible to notify the user that the remaining amount of image formation is small.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an automatic document feeder 12 that sends a document to an image reading device, an image reading device 14 that reads a document image, and a read document image as image data. As a primary memory 20, an image processing device 22 for performing various kinds of image processing on image data, and an image output device 16 for forming an image on a recording medium such as paper.
The image forming apparatus 10 includes a user interface 18 for making various settings and the like, and a control unit 24 for controlling the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 10.

The automatic document feeder 12, the image reading device 14, the primary memory 20, the image processing device 22, the image output device 16 and the user interface 18 are mutually connected to the control section 24 via a bus or the like. Has been done.

The automatic document feeder 12 is provided with a tray (not shown) for setting the documents to be read, and the image reader 1 is set at a constant speed for each document set on the tray.
Transport to 4. The image reading device 14 includes a reading optical system and a document table (not shown). Image reading device 14
Reads the document sent to the document placing table by the automatic document feeder 12 or the document manually placed on the document placing table (not shown) by the user to acquire the image information. The acquired image information is used by the control unit 2
It is transmitted to the primary memory 20 under the control of 4.

The primary memory 20 stores the image data acquired by the image reading device 14. The image output device 16 is
It operates based on the image data acquired by the image reading device 14, and records an image on the paper that has been taken out and conveyed from a paper tray (not shown).

The user interface 18 is provided with an operation panel (not shown), and is configured so that various settings for image formation and an instruction to start image formation can be given. For example, the operation panel of the user interface 18 includes a liquid crystal display unit 40 (see FIG. 3) and a key operation unit, and the liquid crystal display unit 40 is configured by stacking a touch panel on a liquid crystal display plate. By operating the panel, the number of copies, the type of paper, the post-processing, the image forming conditions (for example, so-called N-UP that forms a plurality of images on a recording medium such as one sheet or a plurality of images read by the image reading device 14). It is configured to be able to instruct various setting information (electronic sort function such as image replacement) and start image formation.

Further, the liquid crystal display section 40 of the user interface 18 is constructed so that the remaining amount of the hard disk of the electronic sort module, which will be described later, is displayed in percentage and in the number of originals. The display information for displaying the remaining amount of the hard disk is sent from an electronic sort module described later and is displayed based on this.

Further, the image forming apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention is provided with an electronic sort module 26 as shown in FIG. 1, and the order of the originals read by the image reading device 14 can be changed, It is possible to combine a plurality of documents on one sheet. In addition,
The electronic sort module 26 may be removable and may be an option of the image forming apparatus 10.

The electronic sort module 26 includes a secondary memory 28 for temporarily accumulating image data obtained from the image reading device 14 and other external sources (for example, a personal computer), and an encoding processing device for encoding the image data. Three
0, a hard disk 32 that stores encoded image data, a decoding processing device 34 that decodes encoded image data, and an electronic sort control unit 36 that controls the overall operation of the electronic sort module 26. ing.

The secondary memory 28 and the encoding processing device 3
0, the hard disk 32, and the decryption processing device 34,
The electronic sort module 26 is connected to the electronic sort module 26 via a bus or the like.
6 is connected to the control unit 24. When the electronic sort module 26 is detachable, it is detachably connected to the controller 24.

The encoding processing device 30 performs so-called compression processing of encoding image data to reduce the data size. The image data stored in the primary memory 20 is compressed while being stored in the secondary memory 28, and the compressed image data is transmitted to the hard disk 32. Note that when the transmission of the image data to the hard disk 32 is completed, 1
The control unit 2 so that the image data in the next memory 20 is deleted.
Controlled by 4.

The hard disk 32 stores the compressed image data. For the stored image data, the corresponding image data is read based on the electronic sort information set in the user interface 18, and the decoding processing device 3 is read.
Transfer to 4.

The decoding processor 34 is the encoding processor 3
The image data encoded by 0 and stored in the hard disk 32 is subjected to a decoding process (decompression process) and the decompressed image data is transmitted to the image output device 16.

The electronic sort control unit 36, based on the electronic sort information set in the user interface 18,
The image data stored in the hard disk 32 is rearranged and read out, or a plurality of image data is read out and aggregated into one image image to perform electronic sorting and transmit the image data to the image output device 16.

The electronic sort control section 36 has a function of detecting the remaining amount of the hard disk 32. By accessing the hard disk 32, the capacity of the unused area of the hard disk is detected, and the ratio of the unused area is determined. And the image forming information set in the user interface 18 (for example, output size (A4, A
No. 3, B5, etc.) and color mode (full color, black and white, sepia, etc.) setting information, and the user interface 18 calculates the calculation result.
It is designed to output to. For example, in black and white of A4 size, the capacity of the image data for recording one sheet can be roughly estimated, so the number of sheets that can be stored in the hard disk 32 can be calculated from the estimated capacity.

Next, an example of the operation of the image forming apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. A case where electronic sort is set in the user interface 18 will be described as an example of the operation.

In step 100, it is judged whether or not the electronic sort is set in the user interface 18. If the result of the judgment is negative, the processing is terminated and the normal image formation is carried out because it is not the electronic sort setting.

If the determination at step 100 is affirmative, the routine proceeds to step 102, at which it is determined whether the document is set on the automatic document feeder 12 and the user interface 18 is instructed to start image formation. Wait until affirmative. Whether or not a document is set on the automatic document feeder 12 can be detected by providing an optical sensor or the like on the document placing portion of the automatic document feeder 12.

If the determination in step 102 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 104, and the automatic document feeder 12
The image data is acquired by photoelectrically reading the original sent from the image reading device 14.

In step 106, the image data acquired by the image reading device 14 is stored in the primary memory 20.

Subsequently, in step 108, the image data stored in the primary memory 20 is sequentially transferred to the encoding processing device 30, encoded by the encoding processing device 30 and sequentially compressed into image data having a small data size. Then, the process proceeds to step 110, and the compressed image data is sequentially stored in the secondary memory 28.

The image reading operation in step 104 is executed regardless of the image transfer to the secondary memory 28 if the primary memory 20 has a free space.

In step 112, the compressed image data stored in the secondary memory 28 is transferred to the hard disk 32 and sequentially stored. That is, the hard disk 32 stores the document image set in the automatic document feeder 12 as compressed image data.

Then, in step 114, when the storage of the compressed image data in the hard disk 32 is completed,
The corresponding image data stored in the primary memory 20 is erased, whereby the image data subsequently acquired by the image reading device 14 can be sequentially stored in the primary memory 20.

In step 116, when a request for storing image data from the secondary memory 28 to the hard disk 32 is made, the electronic sort control unit 36 causes the hard disk 32 to be stored.
Unused area is detected, and the capacity of the unused area is calculated as the hard disk remaining amount.

Next, at step 118, the electronic sort control unit 36 determines whether or not the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 is smaller than a predetermined value (for example, 5% of the entire hard disk). If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step 120, the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 is calculated in percentage, and the calculation result is as shown in FIG. It is displayed in the right corner of the liquid crystal display unit 40). In addition,
FIG. 3 shows the case where the remaining amount of the hard disk is 80%. When the determination in step 118 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 122 and an alarm informs that the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 is less than or equal to a predetermined value. Then, the process proceeds to step 124. Then, in step 124, the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 is the number of sheets (the number of documents that can be read)
And the calculation result is calculated by the user interface 1
8 is displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 40. At this time, the percentage display may be displayed at the same time.

For example, the number of sheets as the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 is calculated for each combination of sheet size and color / black and white, and as shown in FIG.
The number of remaining sheets may be displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 40 of the user interface 18 for each combination of black and white. For example, only the A4 size color image is formed due to the regularity of the image forming operation performed so far. When performing A4, without displaying other useless information, A4
The number of storable sheets of the color document may be displayed, or the user may set any one of the above by operating the operation panel of the user interface 18.

When the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 becomes smaller than a predetermined value in this way, an alarm is given to the user and the liquid crystal display section 40 of the user interface 18 is used.
Since the remaining number of sheets that can be stored is displayed in, the user can accurately grasp the remaining amount of the hard disk 32.
Here, in the case of the conventional image forming apparatus, since the hard disk remaining amount cannot be accurately grasped, the image data may be stored beyond the capacity of the hard disk 32, resulting in an error. However, since the user can accurately display the remaining amount of the hard disk, that is, the remaining number of documents that can be stored is displayed, the user can pull out the document set in the automatic document feeder 12 so that the image forming apparatus 10 does not make an error. The image forming operation is normally ended depending on the user interface 18
It is possible to stop the image forming operation by operating the operation panel, and it is not necessary to perform complicated work such as processing for error elimination.

On the other hand, in step 126, it is determined whether or not all the documents set in the automatic document feeder 12 have been read, and the above-described step 10 is performed until the determination is affirmative.
The processes of 4-126 are repeated. And step 1
If the determination of 26 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step 128, where the image data stored in the hard disk 32 is read out by the control of the electronic sort control unit 36 and decoded by the decoding processing device 34 to be the image output device. 16 is output. As a result, the image output device 16 forms an image on a sheet based on the image data.

As described above, the document set on the automatic document feeder 12 is read by the image reading device 14 and stored in the hard disk 32 as image data.
Since the remaining amount of the hard disk decreases as it is stored in the hard disk 32, the number display as the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 displayed on the liquid crystal display unit 40 of the user interface 18 is counted down every time image data is stored in the hard disk 32. Because it will be done
The user uses the liquid crystal display unit 4 of the user interface 18.
By displaying 0, the hard disk capacity can be accurately grasped.

By the way, when a plurality of jobs (image forming operation in which the electronic sort is set) are being performed at the same time, the image data stored in the hard disk 32 is sequentially read out, so that the liquid crystal display unit 40 of the user interface 18 is read. The display of the number of sheets as the remaining amount of the hard disk is displayed in consideration of the number of read image data.

In the above embodiment, the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 is displayed as the number of sheets.
The present invention is not limited to this, and the remaining amount of toner for forming an image on a recording medium such as a sheet may be displayed as the number of sheets. In this case, the image output device 16 is provided with a detecting means for detecting the weight of toner and the like, and based on the detection result of the detecting means, the number of sheets on which the image can be formed is determined by the user interface 18 as in the above embodiment. It is possible to display on the liquid crystal display unit 40.

Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, when the remaining amount of the hard disk 32 becomes smaller than the predetermined value, the user is notified by an alarm. However, the notification to the user is not limited to the alarm. You may make it notify visually by making the display of the liquid crystal display part 40 of the interface 18 blink.

[0050]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image forming remaining amount is detected and displayed on the display means, and when the image forming remaining amount is less than a predetermined value, the image forming is performed. Since I changed the unit of the remaining capacity and displayed it,
By changing the unit of the image-forming remaining amount from the percentage display to the quantity display, there is an effect that the image-forming remaining amount can be accurately determined.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of the image forming apparatus according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a liquid crystal display unit in which the remaining amount is displayed in percentage.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a liquid crystal display unit displays the number of sheets as a remaining amount for each combination of paper size and color / black and white.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 image forming apparatus 18 User interface 24 Control unit 32 hard disk 36 Electronic Sort Control Unit 40 LCD display

Front page continued (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) // G09G 5/00 550 H04N 1/46 Z (72) Inventor Hiroshi Okubo 2274 Hongo, Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox stock Company Ebina Business Office (72) Inventor Satoru Miyazaki 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.Ebina Business Office (72) Hiroshi Shinoda 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.Ebina Business Office (72) ) Inventor Takashi Ajiro 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Prefecture Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.Ebina Business Office (72) Inventor Morio Oka 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Kanagawa Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. Ebina Business Office (72) Inventor Yasuyuki Shimizu Kanagawa 2274 Hongo, Ebina City, Ebina Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. F-term in Ebina Works (reference) 2H027 DA01 DA32 DB01 DE02 DE04 DE07 DE09 EB04 EC06 ED04 EE01 EE07 EE08 EF06 EF09 FD08 GA30 GA47 GA49 GA52 GA54 GB02 GB20 ZA07 2H030 AD09 AD13 BB02 5C062 AA05 AB23 AB46 AC58 AF15 BA00 5C079 HA13 LA01 LA27 MA01 MA11 MA17 MA20 NA29 PA02 5C082 AA31 BA02 BA12 BA26 BB25 BB42 BB43 BB44 BD02 CB03 CB05 DA02 DA42 DA42

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. Display means for displaying various kinds of information for image formation, and a medium which can be used for forming an image on a recording medium by using a medium having a predetermined capacity during image formation. Detecting means for detecting the amount, and displaying the remaining amount on the display means based on the detection result of the detecting means, and changing the unit of the remaining amount when the detection result of the detecting means is less than a predetermined value. An image forming apparatus comprising: a display control unit that controls the display unit to display on the display unit. 2. The display control means, when the detection result is smaller than a predetermined value, when changing the unit of the remaining amount and displaying the result on the display device, the display control unit displays the unit before the change. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is controlled so as to display the remaining amount expressed in a unit after the change in addition to the display of the remaining amount. 3. The display control means displays the remaining amount as a percentage and calculates the number of images that can be formed on the basis of a predetermined value when the detection result of the detection means is smaller than a predetermined value. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the remaining amount is displayed as a quantity. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the display control unit counts down the quantity as the remaining amount during the image forming operation. 5. The display control means displays the remaining amount for each image forming condition including at least a color mode and an image forming size.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. 6. The image storage device according to claim 1, further comprising an image storage device that stores image data for forming an image, and the detection device detects the remaining amount of the image storage device as the remaining amount. The image forming apparatus according to any one of 5 above. 7. The notification unit according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit that notifies that the detection result of the detection unit is smaller than a predetermined value. The image forming apparatus according to item.