JP2005176019A - Image adjusting method, image forming device, image adjusting program and storing medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device and an image adjusting method by which adjusting operations are efficiently performed and a uniformly adjusted state can be always obtained. <P>SOLUTION: When adjustment is performed at an image forming part 1, an image such as a test chart is formed on a recording material by the image forming part 1 and the image formed on the recording material is read by a reading part 2. Necessity of adjustment is judged according to the image data read by the reading part 2, and the amount of adjustment is calculated and is set in a storing part 4 by an adjusting part 3. At the setting process step, adjustment of the shape of the image itself is performed such as adjustment of parallelism, squareness, magnification and the like is performed in first and then adjustment of image forming position for adjusting the position of the image with respect to the recording material such as adjustment of side skew, lead registration, side registration, front and rear registration and the like. In this way, by controlling the order of adjustment operations, needless operations such as repetition of adjustment are prevented and a uniformly adjusted state is ensured. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming technique such as a copying machine and a laser printer, and more particularly to an image forming technique for forming an image with high accuracy.

  Along with the expansion of the short run color market, image forming apparatuses in recent years have come to require registration accuracy at a level comparable to that of plate printing, and the mounted positioning performance has also been enhanced. . In response to this request, the formed image is read by a scanner or a sensor disposed in the paper conveyance path, and a correction amount is obtained by calculation from the difference between the read image data and the original data, and the formation conditions of each image forming member An image forming apparatus for adjusting the above is considered. For example, Patent Document 1 describes that each part is corrected from the position of a mark in a read image.

  By the way, adjustment procedures in image formation include adjustment of parallelism, squareness, image magnification, etc. related to the image shape, skew, lead registration, side registration adjustment, etc. related to the image position. These adjustments have factors that affect each other, and even if adjustments are made in random order, it is impossible to form an image with a high degree of accuracy.

  On the other hand, it is extremely difficult to make adjustments by obtaining all correction amounts from one output image, that is, making adjustments without outputting adjustment results for each process and obtaining individual correction amounts. It is. Therefore, in general, the adjustment is performed by outputting an image of the adjustment result for each process, reading the image with a scanner or the like, and sequentially proceeding with the adjustment necessity determination.

  However, if the procedure of the adjustment work performed at this time is mistaken, there is a problem that useless processes and useless time due to repetitive work occur. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the adjustment work process according to an erroneous procedure. The example shown in FIG. 9 shows an example in which an image of a grid-like test pattern is formed. For example, when parallelism and skew adjustment are required as shown in FIG. 9A, if the skew adjustment is performed first, the skew is adjusted based on a certain part as shown in FIG. 9B. Resulting in. For this reason, if the parallelism is adjusted thereafter, the skew state is distorted as shown in FIG. 9C, and the skew needs to be readjusted.

  As another example, when skew and registration misalignment occur as shown in FIG. 9D, if skew adjustment is performed after the registration adjustment is performed first as shown in FIG. 9E. As shown in FIG. 9F, the registration deviation must be readjusted.

  As described above, if the adjustment work is performed with an incorrect adjustment procedure, it is difficult to perform the adjustment, and time is wasted. Moreover, even if there is sufficient adjustment performance if the image is adjusted without following the order, the output image cannot provide a high-accuracy image comparable to the print level.

JP 2000-305324 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and can perform adjustment work efficiently and can always obtain a uniform adjustment state, and an image adjustment method in such an image forming apparatus. Is intended to provide. It is another object of the present invention to provide an image adjustment program for executing such an image adjustment method by a computer, and a storage medium storing the image adjustment program.

  The present invention provides an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording material, and an image adjustment method in the image forming apparatus, based on image data obtained by reading an image formed on a recording material by the image forming means. According to a predetermined order, adjustment is performed for a plurality of adjustment items, and the image formed on the recording material is adjusted by the image forming unit.

  Adjustment items include image formation position adjustment that adjusts the position of the image relative to the recording material, such as skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, side registration adjustment, and image shape adjustment that adjusts the shape of the image itself, such as parallelism adjustment and squareness adjustment. , Magnification adjustment and the like can be performed. These adjustments are performed in the order of image formation position adjustment after image shape adjustment. Among image forming position adjustments, it is preferable to perform lead registration adjustment and side registration adjustment after skew adjustment. Regarding the image shape adjustment, the magnification adjustment may be performed after the parallelism adjustment and the squareness adjustment. Further, when the image forming unit can form images on both sides of the recording material, it is preferable to adjust the back surface after adjusting the front surface.

  At the time of adjustment for such adjustment items, the adjustment item to be adjusted next can be displayed on the display means, and an adjustment instruction can be given to the operator. At this time, it is possible to determine the necessity of adjustment based on the image data, and to perform an adjustment instruction to the operator when adjustment is necessary.

  Further, the above-described adjustment is performed for each type of recording material (including size, conveyance direction, etc.), and the setting value is stored in the storage unit, corresponding to the type of recording material used at the time of actual image formation. The image forming unit can be configured to form an image using the set value.

  According to the present invention, by adjusting the adjustment items in a predetermined order, unnecessary work such as readjustment can be reduced, and adjustment can be performed so that a uniform adjustment state is always obtained. In addition, since the work flow is fixed, the burden on the worker can be reduced, and even an unfamiliar worker can perform more accurate adjustment work. Further, by displaying a necessary adjustment instruction to the worker, erroneous work can be prevented.

  Further, by storing the adjustment result for each type of recording material, it is possible to make adjustments according to the type of each recording material, and to provide more accurate registration performance. In addition, since the adjustment result corresponding to the type of each recording material can be used by switching the adjustment result, it is possible to easily obtain an image registered with high accuracy. The present invention has various effects as described above.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an image forming unit, 2 is a reading unit, 3 is an adjustment unit, 4 is a storage unit, and 5 is a display unit. The image forming unit 1 forms an image on a recording material. When a general image is formed, a setting value stored in the storage unit 4 corresponding to the type of recording material on which the image is formed is used, and image formation control is performed according to the setting value. When performing the adjustment, in addition to correcting from the setting value using a setting value corresponding to the type of recording material used for the adjustment, the adjustment may be performed using a default setting value. The type of recording material includes not only the material (for example, paper quality) but also the paper size, the transport direction, and the like. The image forming unit 1 may have a function of forming images on both sides of the recording material.

  The reading unit 2 reads the image formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. The read image data is transferred to the adjustment unit 3.

  The adjustment unit 3 adjusts a plurality of adjustment items according to a predetermined order based on the image data read by the reading unit 2. The adjustment may be performed mechanically by the operator, and the setting values of the items that can be automatically adjusted by the image forming apparatus are adjusted and stored in the storage unit 4. This adjustment can be performed for each type of recording material on which the image forming unit 1 forms an image.

  The adjustment items include image formation position adjustment for adjusting the position of the image with respect to the recording material and image shape adjustment for adjusting the shape of the image itself. Image formation position adjustment includes skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, side registration adjustment, and the like. Image shape adjustment includes parallelism adjustment, squareness adjustment, magnification adjustment, and the like. Of course, other adjustment items may be included. Regarding these adjustment items, the predetermined order of adjustment is to perform image formation position adjustment after image shape adjustment. Among image forming position adjustments, after performing skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, side registration adjustment, and the like are performed. Regarding the image shape adjustment, the magnification adjustment is performed after the parallelism adjustment and the squareness adjustment. Further, when the image forming unit 1 can form images on both sides of the recording material, the rear surface is adjusted after the front surface is adjusted.

  Further, when adjustment is performed for each adjustment item, the adjustment item to be adjusted next is displayed on the display unit 5 and an adjustment instruction is given to the operator. At this time, it is possible to determine the necessity for adjustment based on the image data read by the reading unit 2 and to instruct the operator to make adjustments when adjustment is necessary.

  The storage unit 4 stores at least a setting value used when the image forming unit 1 forms an image on a recording material for each type of recording material. This set value may be stored in a storage area (storage device) that is not erased even when the power of the device is turned off. Of course, various information that needs to be stored in the apparatus can be stored.

  The display unit 5 provides various types of information to users such as workers and users. Here, an adjustment instruction is displayed to the worker, and it is used for a setting value adjustment operation performed by the worker.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of adjustment work in the embodiment of the present invention. In the present invention, when the adjustment operation of the image forming unit 1 is performed, the image shape is first adjusted, and then the image forming position is adjusted. As image shape adjustment, an image such as a test chart is formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1 in S61, and the image formed on the recording material is read by the reading unit 2 in S62. In S63, it is determined from the image data read by the reading unit 2 whether image shape adjustment is necessary. This determination can be easily performed using, for example, an image recognition technique. For example, a specific example will be described later, but using a grid-shaped test chart composed of horizontal and vertical line segments, the state of each line segment in the image data, for example, the parallelism and squareness of each line segment, The magnification can be determined.

  If image shape adjustment is necessary, image shape adjustment is performed in S64. In this adjustment, each part is automatically adjusted based on various recognition results acquired at the time of the determination made in S63, or a display for instructing the image shape adjustment work is displayed on the display unit 5, and the operator May perform adjustment work. Even in this case, the recognition result acquired in S63 can be presented to assist the operator's adjustment work. When the adjustment is performed by changing the set value, the changed adjustment value is stored in the storage unit 4. After such adjustment work is performed, the process returns to S61 again to form an image again, and the state of the image in the adjusted state is confirmed. If necessary, image shape adjustment is performed.

  When the image shape adjustment is completed, image formation position adjustment is performed next. Similarly, in S65, an image such as a test chart is formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1, and the image formed on the recording material is read by the reading unit 2 in S66. In S67, it is determined from the image data read by the reading unit 2 whether or not image formation position adjustment is necessary. This determination can also be easily performed using an image recognition technique or the like as in the case of image shape adjustment.

  If image formation position adjustment is necessary, image formation position adjustment is performed in S68. In this adjustment, each part is automatically adjusted based on various recognition results acquired at the time of the determination made in S67, or a display for instructing the image shape adjustment work is displayed on the display unit 5, and the operator May perform adjustment work. Even in this case, the recognition result acquired in S67 can be presented to assist the operator's adjustment work. When the adjustment is performed by changing the set value, the changed adjustment value is stored in the storage unit 4. After performing such adjustment work, the process returns to S65 again to form an image again, and the state of the image in the adjusted state is confirmed. If necessary, the image forming position is adjusted.

  As described above, the image forming position is adjusted after the image shape adjustment. Thereby, for example, readjustment as shown in FIG. 9 can be prevented, and adjustment work can be performed efficiently. The order of such adjustment is to first adjust the image from a so-called quadrangle to a rectangle and then adjust the position on the paper. Even if the position is adjusted first, the position is also shifted by changing the shape. Therefore, the image shape adjustment is performed first, and the image formation position adjustment is performed later.

  As specific examples of operations, a case where parallelism adjustment, squareness adjustment, and magnification adjustment are performed as image shape adjustment, and side skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, side registration adjustment, and front / back registration adjustment are performed as image formation position adjustment will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a specific example of the adjustment work according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an image formed by the adjustment work. In S71 to S79, image shape adjustment is performed. When parallelism adjustment, squareness adjustment, and magnification adjustment are performed, the magnification adjustment is performed after parallelism adjustment and squareness adjustment. This is because adjusting the image distortion such as parallelism and squareness affects the magnification. The order of parallelism adjustment and squareness adjustment largely depends on the adjustment direction. In the adjustment of the squareness, there are a method of adjusting the skew of the belt and a method of adjusting the skew mirror of the laser exposure unit. The latter method does not affect the parallelism, but the former method affects the parallelism. On the contrary, since the adjustment of the parallelism has some influence on the perpendicularity, the best procedure is to adjust the perpendicularity by adjusting the skew mirror after adjusting the parallelism.

  In S <b> 71, for example, an image of a lattice-shaped test chart composed of a plurality of vertical and horizontal line segments as shown in FIG. 4F is formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. Here, it is assumed that an image as shown in FIG. 4A is formed on the recording material despite the fact that the test chart is composed of vertical and horizontal line segments.

  First, in S72, the parallelism is confirmed. If it is necessary to adjust the parallelism, the parallelism is adjusted in S73. The adjustment of the parallelism can be performed, for example, by changing the nip pressure distribution of the transfer roll in the image forming unit 1. Then, returning to S71, the same test chart is again formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. As a result of such adjustment of the parallelism, the vertical lines are bent as shown in FIG. 4A and the horizontal lines are not parallel to each other, as shown in FIG. And an image in which the vertical lines are parallel to each other is obtained.

  If it is determined that the adjustment of the parallelism is completed by the image formed in S71, then the squareness is confirmed in S74. If it is necessary to adjust the squareness, the squareness is adjusted in S75. This squareness adjustment can be performed, for example, by adjusting the skew mirror as described above. In S76, a similar test chart is again formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. By adjusting the squareness as described above, an image in which a line segment that is a horizontal line and a vertical line does not intersect vertically as shown in FIG. 4B is shown in FIG. Thus, an image in which the horizontal line and the vertical line are orthogonal to each other is obtained.

  If it is determined in S74 that the squareness adjustment has been completed, the magnification is checked in S77. If the magnification needs to be adjusted, the magnification is adjusted in S78. The magnification may be adjusted by adjusting the image forming speed such as the conveyance speed of the recording material for the vertical magnification, for example. The lateral magnification can be adjusted by adjusting the writing frequency at the time of writing the latent image, the rotation speed of the rotating mirror, and the like. In S 79, the same test chart is again formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. By adjusting the magnification as described above, for example, an image whose size is adjusted as shown in FIG. 4D is obtained. If it is determined in S77 that the magnification adjustment has been completed, the image shape adjustment is completed.

  Next, image formation position adjustment is performed in S80 to S88. Here, as image formation position adjustment, side skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, side registration adjustment, and front / back registration adjustment are performed. At this time, skew adjustment is performed first. This is because the skew adjustment affects the registration adjustment. Since the lead registration adjustment and the side registration adjustment are independent, they can be adjusted regardless of the order or simultaneously.

  In addition, when image formation is possible on both sides of the recording material, it is desirable to prepare each adjustment for each image forming surface. If the front and back sides can be adjusted independently, it may be possible to adjust the front side and then the back side, or to adjust the image position on the front and back after adjusting the image shape on both sides . If the image shape on the back surface does not need to be adjusted due to the structure, the registration of the back surface may be adjusted after the front surface adjustment is completed. FIG. 3 shows such a case.

  First, in S80, the side skew is confirmed. If it is necessary to adjust the side skew, the side skew is adjusted in S81. The adjustment of the side skew can be performed, for example, by adjusting a side guide on the recording material conveyance path. In S82, the same test chart as described above is formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. By adjusting the side skew as described above, an image that is slanted as shown in FIG. 4D and an image in which vertical and horizontal lines are vertical and horizontal as shown in FIG. 4E are obtained. .

  If it is determined that the side skew adjustment has been completed, then in S83, the registration error is confirmed. If it is necessary to adjust the registration, the side registration and the lead registration are adjusted in S84. The read registration can be adjusted, for example, by adjusting the timing of image formation or the conveyance speed of the recording material. Further, the adjustment of the side registration can also be realized by adjusting the conveyance path or adjusting the actual image forming position. In S85, a similar test chart is again formed on the recording material by the image forming unit 1. As a result of such adjustment of the registration, an image formed in a biased manner as shown in FIG. 4E is formed at a predetermined position as shown in FIG. 4F.

  When the registration adjustment is completed, the adjustment for image formation on one side is completed. Next, the misregistration between the front and back sides is adjusted. Therefore, in S86, the above-described test charts are formed on both sides of the recording material by the image forming unit 1, and in S87, the registration of the test chart images on the front and back surfaces is confirmed. If adjustment of the registration is necessary, in S88, for example, adjustment on the back surface conveyance path or adjustment of the position for image formation is performed. In S86, test charts are again formed on both sides of the recording material by the image forming unit 1, and the adjustment result is confirmed.

  In this way, a series of adjustment operations can be performed. For each adjustment item, whether or not adjustment is necessary is automatically performed by image recognition processing or the like from image data read by the reading unit 2, and a message for inquiring whether or not necessary is displayed on the display unit 5 to instruct the operator. You may make it receive. With such a display, a series of adjustment operations can be performed in the order as described above.

  In addition, the adjustment of each adjustment item may be performed automatically by setting values or by manual setting by the worker, or may be mechanically adjusted by the worker. When the operator adjusts, guidance or the like in the adjustment work can be displayed on the display unit 5 to support the adjustment work. In addition, although an example is given in the above description about the adjustment method of each adjustment item, the actual adjustment method is not limited to this, and other adjustment methods may be applied to each adjustment item. Is possible. When the adjustment work is completed, a message prompting the operator to form an image of the test chart may be displayed on the display unit 5.

  FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a control-related configuration. It is. In the figure, 11 is an image forming apparatus, 12 is an image reading unit, 13 is an image forming unit, 14 is a paper supply unit, 15 is a paper discharge unit, 21 is an image forming unit, 22 is an intermediate transfer belt, 23 is an idle roll, 24 is a secondary transfer unit, 25 is an attitude correction unit, 26 is a registration roll, 27 is an adjustment image reading unit, 28 is an operation unit, 31 is a control unit, 32 is a CPU, 33 is a ROM, 34 is an NVM, and 35 is a RAM. , 36 is an input interface, 37 is an output interface, 41 is a transfer nip width adjusting motor, 42 is a mirror drive motor, 43 is a belt drive motor, 44 is a belt displacement motor, 45 is a side guide drive motor, and 46 is a resist roll drive motor. , 47 are side shift motors, and 48 is an LD drive unit.

  The full-color image forming apparatus 11 shown in FIG. 5 is a so-called tandem type intermediate transfer type image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus 11 mainly includes an image reading unit 12 that reads an image of a document, an image forming unit 13 that forms an image on a sheet, a sheet supply unit 14 that supplies a sheet to the image forming unit 13, and an image The paper discharge unit 15 is configured to discharge the formed paper.

  The image forming unit 13 includes an image forming unit 21, an intermediate transfer belt 22, an idle roll 23, a secondary transfer unit 24, an attitude correction unit 25, a registration roll 26, an adjustment image reading unit 27, an operation unit 28, and the like. ing. Here, only the part related to the adjustment is shown.

  The image forming unit 21 forms a toner image of each color component on the intermediate transfer belt 22 by electrophotography. Each intermediate transfer belt 22 sequentially transfers (primary transfer) and holds each color component toner image formed by the image forming unit 10. The idle roll 23 stretches the intermediate transfer belt 22. The secondary transfer unit 24 transfers (secondary transfer) the toner image transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 22 onto a sheet as a recording material. The posture correction unit 25 corrects the posture of the paper conveyed from the paper supply unit 14. The registration roll 26 is composed of a pair of rolls held in pressure contact with each other, and a secondary transfer is performed by rotating the roll pair at a timing based on a predetermined start signal while nipping the paper between the pair of rolls. A sheet is fed into the section 24. In this example, the adjustment image reading unit 27 is provided in the paper reversal path, and is used when the formed image is read from the paper on which the image is formed and each part is adjusted. Of course, the image reading unit 27 may be provided anywhere after the image is formed on the paper, and may be configured without being provided if it is not automatically read. The operation unit 28 presents various types of information to the user and receives instructions from the user and the like.

  In addition, the image forming unit 13 and the control unit 31 for controlling the entire image forming apparatus 11 are provided. FIG. 6 shows an outline of an example of an electrical connection configuration centered on the control unit 31. The control unit 31 includes a CPU 32, a ROM 33, an NVM 34, a RAM 35, and the like. The CPU 32 executes processing while using the RAM 35 according to the program stored in the ROM 33. In addition, a non-volatile memory (NVM) 34 is provided, which can store data that needs to be stored even when the power is turned off.

  Various instructions from the operator are input from the operation unit 28 to the control unit 31 via the input interface 36, and image data read by the image reading unit 12 and the adjustment image reading unit 27 are input. . Further, the transfer nip width adjustment motor 41, mirror drive motor 42, belt drive motor 43, belt displacement motor 44, side guide drive motor 45, registration roll drive motor 46, side shift motor 47, and the like are controlled via the output interface 37. . Also, display control for the operation unit 28 can be performed via the output interface 37. In addition, although the structure which adjusts each part is mainly shown here, in fact, many structures other than these are connected to the input interface 36 and the output interface 37.

  The transfer nip width adjustment motor 41 is a motor for adjusting the transfer nip width when the toner image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 22 to the paper in the secondary transfer unit 24. The parallelism can be adjusted by operating the transfer nip width adjusting motor 41 and adjusting the nip pressure distribution of the transfer roll in the secondary transfer portion 24.

  The mirror drive motor 42 is a motor for adjusting the skew mirror provided in the image forming unit 21. The squareness can be adjusted by operating the mirror drive motor 42 and adjusting the skew mirror.

  The belt drive motor 43 is a motor for driving the intermediate transfer belt 22. By adjusting the speed of the belt drive motor 43, the vertical magnification can be adjusted.

  The belt displacement motor 44 is a motor for displacing the idle roll 23 that stretches the intermediate transfer belt 22. The perpendicularity can be adjusted by driving the belt displacement motor 44 to displace the idle roll 23.

  The side guide drive motor 45 is a motor for swinging the side guide provided in the posture correction unit 25. The side skew can be adjusted by driving the side guide drive motor 45 and adjusting the side guide.

  The registration roll drive motor 46 is a motor for rotationally driving the registration roll 26. By adjusting the rotation start timing of the registration roll 26 by the registration roll driving motor 46, the lead registration can be adjusted.

  The side shift motor 47 is a motor for moving the registration roll 26 in the axial direction. The side registration can be adjusted by driving the side shift motor 47 to displace the registration roll 26 in the axial direction.

  The LD driving unit 48 drives and controls a laser diode (LD) provided in the image forming unit 21 to write a latent image on the photosensitive member. The lateral magnification can be adjusted by adjusting the writing frequency to the photosensitive member by the LD driving unit 48.

  As described above, in the configuration shown in FIG. 6, the parallelism adjustment performed as the image shape adjustment is driven by the transfer nip width adjustment motor 41, and the squareness adjustment is driven by the mirror drive motor 42 and the belt displacement motor 44. The adjustment can be performed by controlling the speed of the intermediate transfer belt 22 by the belt driving motor 43, and the lateral magnification can be adjusted by adjusting the writing frequency of the LD driving unit 48. Further, side skew adjustment performed as image formation position adjustment can be performed by driving the side guide drive motor 45, lead registration adjustment can be performed by adjusting the rotation start timing of the registration roll drive motor 46, and side registration adjustment can be performed by the side shift motor 47. it can.

  These motors can be driven and controlled electrically from the control unit 31. For example, values can be set in the NVM 34 or the like, and each unit can be driven and adjusted according to the values. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus having such a configuration, each part can be easily adjusted by changing the setting value and storing it in the NVM 34 by the adjustment work as described above. After the adjustment, the CPU 32 may read the set value from the NVM 34 at the time of image formation and control each unit according to the set value.

  In the configuration shown in FIG. 5 described above, the image formation on the recording material of the test chart and the reading of the formed image can be automatically performed continuously. It is also possible to automatically make an adjustment by determining whether or not adjustment is necessary, and by obtaining and setting an adjustment amount by calculation when the adjustment is necessary. For example, the adjustment can be performed by setting the adjustment mode and instructing the start. When the operation example shown in FIG. 3 is followed, a maximum of six recording materials are used and only discharged. Also, taking advantage of the ability to make full-automatic adjustments, instead of the adjustment mode, during normal image formation, temperature changes, elapse of a predetermined time, when the total number of sheets reaches a predetermined value, etc. Adjustments may be made. In such a case, it is desirable that a tray for discharging the recording material on which an image is formed for adjustment is prepared separately, and the recording material used for the adjustment is discharged separately from the user output.

  Of course, you may comprise so that an operator can adjust part or all manually. In that case, it is preferable to display the adjustment state and the content of the adjustment work on the operation unit 28. Further, in a place where manual work is required, the contents of the adjustment work may be displayed at the same time as calling attention such as sounding a sound.

  Such adjustment work can be performed for each paper type as long as the paper type, size, and the like are selectable, and the adjustment value can be stored in the NVM 34. At the time of image formation, an adjustment value corresponding to the selected paper type is used, and an image can be formed in an optimal state for each paper type.

  5 and FIG. 6 shows an example in which the adjustment image reading unit 27 for adjustment work is provided. However, in the configuration in which the adjustment image reading unit 27 is not provided, a test chart or the like is used at the time of adjustment. An image is formed, and an operator may set the recording material discharged from the paper discharge unit 15 in the image reading unit 12 to perform reading.

  FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing another example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In the figure, 51 is an image forming apparatus, 52 is a computer, and 53 is a scanner. In this example, a configuration for adjusting the image forming apparatus when the image forming apparatus is not provided with a means for reading an image is shown. In the example shown in FIG. 7, an image forming apparatus 51 and a scanner 53 are connected to a computer 52. The connection method is arbitrary, and may be directly connected by a cable or connected through a wired or wireless network.

  In such a configuration, the computer 52 proceeds with the adjustment work of the image forming apparatus 51 in accordance with the adjustment procedure described above. For example, an image formation instruction is sent from the computer 52 to the image forming apparatus 51 to form an image such as a test chart on the recording material. The operator sets the recording material on which the image is formed on the scanner 53, and the scanner 53 reads the image in accordance with an instruction from the computer 52. The computer 52 analyzes the image data read by the scanner 53 and gives an instruction on whether or not adjustment is necessary, and when adjustment is necessary. The computer 52 manages the adjustment process at this time.

  Note that the actual adjustment is automatically performed by the computer 52 or an operator for the computer 52 when the image forming apparatus 51 has a mechanism capable of performing the adjustment automatically in response to an instruction from the computer 52. The image forming apparatus 51 can be adjusted in response to the settings from. Further, when such a function is not provided, the operator changes the setting value for the image forming apparatus 51 or makes a mechanical adjustment.

  FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a computer program and a storage medium storing the computer program when the adjustment function or the image adjustment method of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is realized by the computer program. In the figure, 101 is a program, 102 is a computer, 103 is an image forming apparatus, 111 is a magneto-optical disk, 112 is an optical disk, 113 is a magnetic disk, 114 is a memory, 121 is a magneto-optical disk apparatus, 122 is an optical disk apparatus, and 123 is It is a magnetic disk device.

  Part or all of the adjustment function or image adjustment method of the image forming apparatus of the present invention described above can be realized by a program 101 that can be executed by a computer (including the image forming apparatus). In that case, the program 101 and data used by the program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. A storage medium is a signal format that causes a state of change in energy such as magnetism, light, electricity, etc. according to the description of a program to a reader provided in the hardware resources of a computer. Thus, the description content of the program can be transmitted to the reading device. For example, a magneto-optical disk 111, an optical disk 112 (including a CD and a DVD), a magnetic disk 113, a memory 114 (including an IC card and a memory card), and the like. Of course, these storage media are not limited to portable types.

  The program 101 is stored in these storage media, and these storage media are loaded into, for example, the magneto-optical disk device 121, the optical disk device 122, the magnetic disk device 123 of the computer 102 or the image forming apparatus 103, or a memory slot (not shown). As a result, the program 101 can be read from the computer and the function of the image processing apparatus or the image processing method of the present invention can be executed. Alternatively, a storage medium is installed in the computer 102 or the image forming apparatus 103 in advance, and the program 101 is transferred to the computer 102 or the image forming apparatus 103 via a network, for example, and the program 101 is stored in the storage medium and executed. May be. Furthermore, for example, the program 101 may be stored in the storage medium of the program 101 in the computer 102 and then transferred to the image forming apparatus 103.

  Of course, some functions may be configured by hardware, or all may be configured by hardware. Alternatively, it can be configured as one program together with other control programs. Of course, integration with programs for other purposes is also possible.

It is a block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the adjustment operation | work in one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the specific example of the adjustment work in one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of an example of the image formed by the adjustment operation | work in one Embodiment of this invention. 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control relationship in an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. It is a block diagram which shows another example of the image forming apparatus with which this invention is applied. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a computer program and a storage medium storing the computer program when the adjustment function or the image adjustment method of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is realized by a computer program. It is explanatory drawing of the process of adjustment work by an incorrect procedure.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming part, 2 ... Reading part, 3 ... Adjustment part, 4 ... Memory | storage part, 5 ... Display part, 11 ... Image forming apparatus, 12 ... Image reading part, 13 ... Image forming part, 14 ... Paper supply part, DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 15 ... Paper discharge part, 21 ... Image formation unit, 22 ... Intermediate transfer belt, 23 ... Idle roll, 24 ... Secondary transfer part, 25 ... Attitude correction part, 26 ... Registration roll, 27 ... Adjustment image reading part, 28 ... Operation unit 31 ... Control unit 32 ... CPU 33 ... ROM 34 ... NVM 35 ... RAM 36 ... Input interface 37 ... Output interface 41 ... Transfer nip width adjusting motor 42 ... Mirror drive motor 43 ... Belt drive motor, 44 ... belt displacement motor, 45 ... side guide drive motor, 46 ... registration roll drive motor, 47 ... side shift motor, 48 ... LD drive unit, 51 ... image forming apparatus 52 ... Computer, 53 ... Scanner, 101 ... Program, 102 ... Computer, 103 ... Image forming apparatus, 111 ... Magnetic disk, 112 ... Optical disk, 113 ... Magnetic disk, 114 ... Memory, 121 ... Magnetic disk apparatus, 122 ... Optical disk device, 123... Magnetic disk device.

Claims (20)

  In an image adjustment method in an image forming apparatus having an image forming unit for forming an image on a recording material, a predetermined order is obtained based on image data obtained by reading an image formed on the recording material by the image forming unit by an image reading unit. And adjusting an image formed on the recording material by the image forming means.   The adjustment items include image formation position adjustment for adjusting the position of the image with respect to the recording material, and image shape adjustment for adjusting the shape of the image itself, and in the order in which the image formation position adjustment is performed after the image shape adjustment. The image adjustment method according to claim 1, wherein adjustment is performed.   The image adjustment method according to claim 2, wherein the image formation position adjustment includes skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, and side registration adjustment, and the image shape adjustment includes parallelism adjustment, squareness adjustment, and magnification adjustment. .   The image adjustment method according to claim 3, wherein the image formation position adjustment is performed in the order in which lead registration adjustment and side registration adjustment are performed after skew adjustment.   The image adjustment method according to claim 3, wherein the image shape adjustment is performed in the order in which magnification adjustment is performed after parallelism adjustment and squareness adjustment.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming unit is capable of forming images on both sides of the recording material, and adjusting the back surface after adjusting the front surface. Image adjustment method.   The image adjustment method according to claim 1, wherein at the time of the adjustment, an adjustment item to be adjusted next is displayed on a display unit, and an adjustment instruction is given to an operator.   The image adjustment method according to claim 7, wherein the adjustment instruction to the worker is performed when the necessity for adjustment is determined based on the image data and adjustment is necessary.   The adjustment is performed for each type of the recording material and the setting value is stored in the storage unit, and the setting value corresponding to the type of the recording material used at the time of actual image formation is used in the image forming unit. The image adjustment method according to claim 1, wherein the image adjustment method is used for image formation.   An image forming unit that forms an image on a recording material; and an adjusting unit that adjusts a plurality of adjustment items according to a predetermined order based on image data obtained by reading the image formed on the recording material by the image forming unit. An image forming apparatus that adjusts an image formed on the recording material by the image forming unit.   The adjustment means includes, as the adjustment item, image formation position adjustment for adjusting the position of the image with respect to the recording material and image shape adjustment for adjusting the shape of the image itself. The image formation position adjustment is performed after the image shape adjustment. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the adjustment is performed in an order of performing.   12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the image forming position adjustment includes skew adjustment, lead registration adjustment, and side registration adjustment, and the image shape adjustment includes parallelism adjustment, squareness adjustment, and magnification adjustment. .   The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the adjustment unit performs the image forming position adjustment in an order in which lead registration adjustment and side registration adjustment are performed after skew adjustment.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the adjustment unit performs the image shape adjustment in an order in which magnification adjustment is performed after parallelism adjustment and squareness adjustment.   15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image forming unit can form images on both sides of the recording material, and the adjusting unit adjusts the back surface after adjusting the front surface. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   16. The apparatus according to claim 10, further comprising a display unit, wherein the adjustment unit displays an adjustment item to be adjusted next on the display unit and instructs an operator to make an adjustment. 2. The image forming apparatus according to item 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the adjustment unit determines the necessity for adjustment based on the image data, and instructs the operator to make an adjustment when the adjustment is necessary. .   Further, the storage unit stores a set value to be set in the image forming unit for each type of the recording material, and the adjustment unit performs adjustment for each type of the recording material and stores the set value in the storage unit. 18. The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the image forming means stores the image and uses the set value corresponding to the type of recording material used at the time of actual image formation for image formation by the image forming means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   10. An image adjustment program for causing a computer to perform image adjustment in an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording material, wherein the image adjustment method according to claim 1. An image adjustment program that is executed by a computer.   A computer-readable storage medium storing an image adjustment program for causing a computer to perform image adjustment in an image forming apparatus having an image forming means for forming an image on a recording material, wherein A computer-readable storage medium storing an image adjustment program for causing a computer to execute the image adjustment method according to claim 1.

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