JP2005351936A - Thermal fixing control device and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve further saving of power without causing fixing failure, by determining a heated area based on an actual image area while a copy mode is taken into account as well. <P>SOLUTION: An image forming apparatus has branched electric paths (a-b, b-c, c-d, and d-e) into which a heating body 1 for fixing an image formed on recording paper is divided in its lengthwise direction that is a direction intersecting the movement of the recording paper, and which are selectively controlled in power supply. In the thermal fixing control of the image forming apparatus, the power supply is controlled after a branched electric path is determined so as to be restricted to a length corresponding to the image area on the recording paper formed according to a copy mode. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a heat fixing control apparatus suitable for use in a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and the like, and an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and the like equipped with the apparatus.

  In an image forming apparatus, there is a thermal fixing device as a fixing device for fixing an unfixed image transferred on a recording paper to the recording paper. This heat fixing apparatus is provided with a heat generating layer made of a resistor on the peripheral surface of a roller, and heats the recording paper while sandwiching the recording paper with a roller while heating the layer.

By the way, conventionally, there is known an image forming apparatus capable of fixing by selectively heating only a portion where an image is formed. For example, an image forming apparatus capable of energizing and heating only a heat generating layer corresponding to an area corresponding to a recording paper size, and heating only a reduced document size in the case of reduced copy (for example, see Patent Document 1). A heating element used in a partially heatable fixing unit (for example, refer to Patent Document 2), only a portion where a toner image is formed is selectively heated and fixed, and image data is read from a buffer. An image forming apparatus that determines a heating portion (see, for example, Patent Document 3), a fixing device that heats by energizing only a sheet passing area (for example, Patent Document 4), and the like.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-53461 JP-A-6-95538 JP-A-6-270431 JP-A-11-202664

  However, the techniques disclosed in Patent Documents 1 to 4 can reduce power consumption by heating only the area where an image is formed even when zooming is specified and the image is not transferred to the entire recording paper. When the image is not formed at the original zoom position by the copy mode such as aggregation, writing margin, centering, etc., the heating range does not match the image position, and there is a problem that fixing failure may occur. is there.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances. By considering the copy mode and determining the heating area with reference to the actual image area, further power saving can be achieved without causing fixing failure. An object of the present invention is to provide a thermal fixing control device and a control program.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the longitudinal direction is a direction intersecting the moving direction of the recording paper, the branch circuit is branched to that direction and selectively energized, and connected to the branch circuit, the longitudinal direction A heating body for selectively heating and heat-fixing the image transferred onto the recording paper, and a region where the image is transferred onto the recording paper are calculated, and the energization control is performed according to the region. And a control unit that performs energization control by determining a power branch circuit.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, the control unit performs the energization control by determining the branch circuit to be energized according to the conveyance amount of the recording paper during thermal fixing.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus in which a heat generating layer made of a resistor is provided on a peripheral surface of a roller, a recording paper is sandwiched between the rollers, and an image is thermally fixed on the recording paper while being conveyed. A heating element comprising the heat generating layer provided with a branching electric circuit that is branched in the direction and selectively controlled to be energized, the direction intersecting the moving direction of the recording paper, and the image on the recording paper The image forming apparatus includes a heat fixing control device including a control unit that calculates a transfer area, determines a branch circuit to be energized according to the area, and performs energization control.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a longitudinal direction is a direction that intersects the moving direction of the recording paper, and a branch circuit that is branched in that direction and is selectively energized and connected to the branch circuit, the longitudinal direction A control program for controlling a heat fixing control device including a heating body that heats and selectively heats the image transferred onto the recording paper, wherein the image is transferred onto the recording paper. And calculating a branch electric path to be energized according to the area, and causing a computer to perform control processing for energization control.

  According to the present invention, the control unit selects not only the magnification information but also the copy mode information in consideration of the copy mode information. Therefore, the control unit is limited to a range corresponding to the image area on the recording paper. Accordingly, the branch electric circuit is determined, so that the power consumed by the heating element can be suppressed and the fixing failure can be avoided.

  Hereinafter, a thermal fixing control device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of the embodiment, and shows a relationship between a roller 2 including a heating body 1 and a recording sheet when a copy mode such as aggregation and writing margin is designated. The heating element 1 is configured to be branched and selectively energized at a plurality of positions in the longitudinal direction of the heat generating layer. Here, the longitudinal direction refers to a direction in which the heating body 1 that thermally fixes an image formed on the recording paper intersects the moving direction of the recording paper. It has branch electric circuits ab, bc, cd, and de that are branched in a direction along the length and selectively energized.

  FIG. 1A shows two recording sheets. Of these, 2 in 1 means that two pages of images are collected and printed on one recording sheet, and 4 in 1 means four recording sheets. This means that the image of the page is printed on one sheet of recording paper. However, the 2in1 example shown in FIG. 1A employs a reduction ratio of 2in1, and only the first page image (“AAA”) is the upper half of the recording paper (the longitudinal direction of the heating element 1). In the example shown in FIG. The 4in1 example also employs a reduction ratio of 4in1, and only the first and second page images ("AAA" and "BBB") are the upper half of the recording paper (the upper half of the heating body 1 in the longitudinal direction). This is an example of printing.

  Here, a case where a margin in which an image is not printed on the recording paper is specified is illustrated, and when an image region and a non-image region exist in the longitudinal direction of the heating body 1 (FIG. 1A), the control unit ( (Not shown), the branch electric circuits ab and bc corresponding to the image region are selected and heated.

Next, the configuration of the control unit 3 will be described with reference to FIG. The control unit 3 includes a branch circuit determination unit 31, a timer monitoring unit 32, and an energization control unit 33.
The branch circuit determination unit 31 is supplied with setting information such as a copy mode in addition to the size information from the outside. Here, a plurality of branch circuits (ab, bc, c) of the heating body 1 are supplied. -D, de), the branch circuit to be energized is determined.

  The energization of the heating element 1 is set by default so that the cutting paper width energization in the longitudinal direction is performed at the start of energization. When the timer monitoring unit 32 confirms that a predetermined time has elapsed, the size information, copy mode It switches to the optimal energization control according to. Specifically, the branch circuit determination unit 31 calculates the position on the recording paper on which the image is formed from the size information (original size, orientation, recording paper size) supplied from the outside and the copy mode. A branch circuit to be energized in the plurality of branch circuits in the heating element 1 is determined according to the position. Here, the energization control unit 33 is activated and energized according to the determined branch circuit.

  For example, in the case of the recording paper shown in FIG. 1 (a), only the branch circuits (ab, bc) are turned on, the branch circuits (cd, de) are turned off, and the image is displayed. Only the part that needs to be printed is energized. As a result, only the position where the image exists can be energized, so that the heating area is reduced and power saving can be expected.

  Next, with reference to FIG. 1B, an operation for controlling the energization of the heating body 1 in accordance with the conveyance timing of the recording paper will be described. The recording paper shown in FIG. 1 (b) employs 4in1 and prints only the first and second page images ("AAA" and "BBB") on the left half of the recording paper (upper half of the recording paper feed direction). This is an example. In this case, all the branch electric circuits (ab, bc, cd, de) are turned on, and when the conveyance of the recording paper exceeds 1/2 of the recording paper size, Only the portion where the image needs to be printed is energized in accordance with the recording paper conveyance timing so that the branch circuit is turned off. As a result, only the position where the image exists can be energized, so that the heating area is reduced and power saving can be expected.

  In addition, you may make it use the control shown to Fig.1 (a) and (b) together for the electricity supply control of the heating body 1. FIG. That is, when only the first page image (“AAA”) is printed on the recording sheet shown in FIG. 1B, only the branch circuit (ab, bc) is turned on, and the branch circuit (c -D, de) are set to the OFF state so that the branch circuit (ab, bc) is turned OFF when the conveyance of the recording paper exceeds 1/2 of the recording paper size. . In this way, since it is possible to energize only the position where the image exists, the heating area is reduced and further power saving can be expected.

As described above, according to the thermal fixing device of the present invention, heat necessary for fixing is supplied only to an image area to be actually transferred. At this time, the heating area is set to print settings (original size, orientation, It is determined by the image area determined by the recording paper size and copy mode. Note that the heating area is determined for each page in consideration of a case where a margin is formed on the last page by the consolidated copy.
In the present invention, the branch circuit is determined so as to be limited to the length range corresponding to the image area on the recording paper generated by the copy mode. In consideration of this, the branch circuit of the heating element 1 can be controlled, so that only the area where the image actually exists can be heated, and the electric power consumed by the heating element can be suppressed and fixing defects can be prevented. It can be avoided.

Further, in the image forming apparatus provided with the above-described thermal fixing control device, it is possible to perform appropriate energization, so that energy saving can be realized and fixing failure can be avoided.

  1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read by the computer system and executed, thereby executing the thermal fixing control process. May be performed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a portable medium such as a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, and a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built in the computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

FIG. 6 is a diagram cited for explaining the relationship between a roller 2 including a heating member and a recording sheet when a copy mode is designated. It is a block diagram which shows the internal structure of the control part concerning this invention embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Heating body, 2 ... Roller, 3 ... Control part, 31 ... Branch electric circuit determination part, 32 ... Timer monitoring part, 33 ... Current supply control part, ab, bc, cd, de ... Branch Electric circuit

Claims (4)

A branch circuit that has a longitudinal direction that intersects the direction of movement of the recording paper and is selectively controlled by energization by branching in that direction;
A heating body connected to the branch electric circuit, branched in the longitudinal direction and selectively heated, and thermally fixing an image transferred onto the recording paper;
A heat fixing control device, comprising: a control unit that calculates a region where the image is transferred onto the recording paper, determines a branch circuit to be energized according to the region, and performs energization control. .   The thermal fixing control device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines the branch electric path to be energized and controlled according to the conveyance amount of the recording paper during thermal fixing and performs the energization control. An image forming apparatus in which a heat generating layer made of a resistor is provided on a peripheral surface of a roller, the recording paper is sandwiched between the rollers, and the image is thermally fixed on the recording paper while being conveyed,
A heating element composed of the heat generating layer provided with a branch electric circuit that is branched in that direction and selectively controlled to be energized is a direction that intersects the moving direction of the recording paper, and the image is transferred onto the recording paper An image forming apparatus comprising: a heat fixing control device configured to calculate a region to be processed, and to determine a branch circuit to be energized and to control energization according to the region. A direction that intersects with the moving direction of the recording paper is defined as a longitudinal direction, a branch circuit that branches in that direction and is selectively energized, and is connected to the branch circuit and is branched and selectively heated in the longitudinal direction. A control program for controlling a heat fixing control device comprising a heating body for heat fixing the image transferred onto the recording paper,
A control program for calculating a region where the image is transferred onto the recording paper, determining a branch circuit to be energized according to the region, and causing a computer to perform a control process for energization control.

Images