JP2006091349A - Image forming apparatus and image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To stabilize quality after image formation even when sheets are different in physical properties from each other. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes: an image forming section 6 for forming an image on the surface of a sheet; a conveying means for supplying the sheet to the image forming section 6 and ejecting the sheet with the image formed by the image forming section 6; a storage section 5 for storing image formation parameters and conveyance parameters so as to correspond to the values of the physical properties of the sheet; a tag reader 70 for reading the values of the physical properties of the sheet written in the sheet; and a control means for reading the image formation parameters or conveyance parameters corresponding to the read values of the physical properties, then controlling the image forming section 6 by the use of the image formation parameters, and also controlling the conveyance of the sheet by the use of the conveyance parameters. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for controlling an image forming apparatus according to the type of sheet.

Technology for embedding information (attribute data) representing sheet attributes in a sheet used for image formation in advance, causing the image forming apparatus to read the attribute data during image formation, and controlling the image forming apparatus based on the sheet attributes Is known (for example, Patent Document 1). The attribute data to be embedded is information representing the material, size, thickness, etc. of the sheet, for example. As a method of embedding attribute data in a sheet, a method of writing attribute data in an IC (Integrated Circuit) tag attached to the sheet, a method of forming a barcode image representing the attribute data on the sheet surface using invisible toner, etc. There is. The image forming apparatus stores control parameters in accordance with sheet attributes. The image forming apparatus reads a control parameter corresponding to the attribute data read from the sheet, and performs control related to sheet conveyance and image formation using the control parameter. By using this technique, it is possible to perform control for conveyance and image formation according to the type of sheet.
JP 2002-86862 A

However, the above technique has the following problems. There are a wide variety of physical property values representing the characteristics of the sheet. For example, even if sheets of the same material, size, and thickness are used, the finish after image formation will be different if the physical property values are different. For example, although an image is formed under the same conditions, a situation may occur in which curl or wrinkle occurs on a specific brand sheet.
The present invention has been made under the above-described background, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of stabilizing the quality after image formation even if the physical property values of the sheets are different.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an image forming unit that forms an image on the surface of a sheet in which the physical property values of the sheet are embedded, the sheet is supplied to the image forming unit, and the image forming unit A conveying unit that discharges a sheet on which an image is formed by the image forming unit, an image forming parameter that is used to control the image forming unit, and a conveying parameter that is used to control the conveying unit in association with the physical property value of the sheet. Storage means, reading means for reading physical property values embedded in the sheet, and image forming parameters or conveyance parameters corresponding to the physical property values read by the reading means are read from the storage means, and the image forming parameters are read out. Control means for controlling the image forming means, and control means for controlling the transport means using the transport parameters. Providing that the image forming device.
According to the image forming apparatus, the physical property value of the sheet embedded in the sheet is read by the reading unit, and the image forming parameter or the conveyance parameter corresponding to the physical property value is read from the storage unit. Then, the image forming unit is controlled using the image forming parameter, and the conveying unit is controlled using the conveyance parameter.

In the above image forming apparatus, the physical property values are the transmittance, reflectance, resistance value, smoothness, heat capacity, moisture content, glossiness, stiffness, fluorescence, thickness, size, weight, basis weight of the sheet. Preferably, at least one of them is included.
In the image forming apparatus, the image forming unit includes a transfer unit that transfers the image to the sheet, and a fixing unit that fixes the image transferred by the transfer unit to the sheet. The formation parameter preferably includes at least one of a transfer current and a transfer voltage in the transfer unit, a fixing temperature and a fixing pressure in the fixing unit.
In the image forming apparatus, it is preferable that the conveyance parameter includes at least one of a conveyance speed and a nip pressure in the conveyance unit.
The image forming apparatus preferably includes image processing means for performing predetermined processing on the input image, and the image forming parameters include image processing conditions in the image processing means.
In the image forming apparatus, it is preferable that the reading unit reads a physical property value written on an IC tag attached to the sheet.

  Further, the present invention provides an image forming system comprising a sheet in which physical property values of the sheet are embedded and an image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus forms an image on the surface of the sheet; The sheet is supplied to the image forming unit, and the conveying unit that discharges the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit, the image forming parameter used for controlling the image forming unit, and the control of the conveying unit. Storage means for storing the conveyance parameter associated with the physical property value of the sheet, reading means for reading the physical property value embedded in the sheet, and image forming parameter or conveyance corresponding to the physical property value read by the reading means The parameter is read from the storage unit, and the image forming unit is controlled using the image forming parameter. To provide an image forming system characterized by a control means for controlling said conveying means using the transfer parameters.

  According to the present invention, the quality after image formation can be stabilized even if the physical property values of the sheets are different.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The present embodiment will be described using an example of a copying machine, but the present invention can also be applied to a printer or the like.
The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 4 including a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. (all not shown), and a computer stored in the ROM. Each part of the image forming apparatus 1 is controlled by the CPU executing the program. The instruction input unit 41 includes a keyboard 40 including a numeric keypad and a start button and a display unit 39 including a liquid crystal panel having a touch panel function, and can input an instruction to the image forming apparatus 1. In addition, information can be displayed on the touch panel when an abnormality or the like occurs in the image forming apparatus 1.

The sheet feed tray 9 accommodates a sheet 100 with an IC tag for forming an image. When the user inputs an image formation instruction using the instruction input unit 41, the paper feed roller 33 is driven to rotate, and the IC-tagged sheets 100 are sent out from the paper feed tray 9 one by one. The IC-tagged sheet 100 sent out from the paper feed tray 9 is conveyed along a conveyance path 36 by roller pairs 34, 35, and 37.
The transfer belt 8 is stretched around rollers 26, 27, 28, and 29, and is circulated and driven in the direction of arrow B.

The image input unit 12 is a scanner device that optically reads a document and generates image data. The original placed on the platen glass 2 is irradiated with light from the light source 13, and the reflected light is processed by the optical system 3. The reflected light is received by the light receiving unit 17 via the mirrors 14, 15 and 16. Then, the image processing unit 18 converts the reflected light into an electrical signal and generates image data.
The control unit 4 generates signals of each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black based on the image data generated by the image input unit 12, and supplies the signals to an exposure apparatus described later.
The storage unit 5 stores control parameters used for controlling the image forming apparatus 1. This control parameter will be described later.

The image forming unit 6 includes image forming engines 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K, a transfer belt 8, and the like.
The image forming engines 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K respectively form yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toner images. Since the configuration of each image forming engine is common, only the image forming engine 7Y will be described here.
The image forming engine 7Y includes a charging device 21Y, an exposure device 19Y, a developing device 22Y, a cleaner 24Y, and the like around a photosensitive drum 20Y as an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed.

The charging device 21Y charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 20Y that is rotationally driven in the direction of arrow A to a predetermined potential.
The exposure device 19Y is a ROS (Raster Output Scanner) that irradiates the photosensitive drum 2Y charged to a predetermined potential by the charging device 3Y with an exposure beam LB based on image data. The exposure device 19Y emits a laser beam based on image data from a semiconductor laser (not shown), and forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 20Y by deflecting and scanning the laser beam. On the surface of the photoreceptor drum 20Y, the potential of the portion irradiated with the laser light is reduced to a predetermined level due to the photoconductivity of the photoreceptor drum 20Y. As described above, when the surface potential of the photosensitive drum 20Y changes, an electrostatic latent image based on the image data is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 20Y.

The developing device 22Y is a device that visualizes the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 20Y. Toner (charged color material) is supplied from the toner tank 23Y, and a toner image is obtained by reversal development of the electrostatic latent image with toner charged to the same polarity as that of the photosensitive drum 20Y.
The photosensitive drum 20Y is in pressure contact with the transfer belt 8 positioned below the photosensitive drum 20Y, and the toner image formed as described above is transferred to the transfer belt 8.
The cleaner 24Y is a device that removes the toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 20Y.

  The above is the configuration of the image forming engine 7Y. In the image forming engines 7M, 7C, and 7K, toner images corresponding to the respective colors are formed and transferred onto the transfer belt 8 in an overlapping manner. Hereinafter, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the image forming engines 7Y, 7M, 7C, and 7K, they are simply referred to as the image forming engine 7. Similarly, for other components, the Y, M, C, and K notations are omitted when it is not necessary to distinguish between Y, M, C, and K.

The IC-tagged sheet 100 sent out from the paper feed tray 9 onto the conveyance path 36 enters a nip portion formed by the transfer belt 8 and the transfer roller 30 and is pressed against the transfer belt 8. The toner image is transferred to the surface of the IC tag-attached sheet 100 by this pressure contact force and electrostatic attraction force.
The IC-tagged sheet 100 to which the toner image has been transferred is guided to the fixing device 11 by the roller pair 31. In the fixing device 11, the IC tag-attached sheet 100 is pressurized and heated, and the toner image is fixed to the IC tag-attached sheet 100. The IC-tagged sheet 100 on which image formation has been performed in this manner is discharged to the paper discharge tray 32.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the IC tag-attached sheet 100. The sheet 101 is, for example, JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) A4 size plain paper, and an IC tag 102 is attached to the upper corner. The IC tag 102 is a so-called wireless IC tag that can exchange data with an external device in a non-contact manner. The IC tag 102 includes a nonvolatile semiconductor memory that holds written data, a coiled antenna, and the like, and can perform data communication with an external device using a microwave, an induction electromagnetic field, or the like. . The IC tag 102 has a transmittance, reflectance, resistance value, thickness, size, smoothness, weight, heat capacity, moisture content, basis weight, glossiness, stiffness, fluorescence of the sheet to which the IC tag is attached. At least one of the data (physical property values) representing is written in advance. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of physical property values written in the IC tag 102.

  The storage unit 5 of the image forming apparatus 1 stores a lookup table in which control parameters used for controlling the image forming apparatus 1 are associated with the above physical property values. The control parameters are roughly classified into image formation parameters used for control relating to image formation and conveyance parameters used for control relating to sheet conveyance. The types of image forming parameters include transfer current, transfer voltage, fixing temperature and fixing pressure in the fixing device 11, and image processing conditions in the image processing unit 18 when the toner image is transferred to the transfer belt 8 or the IC tagged sheet 100. is there. The types of conveyance parameters are the conveyance speed and nip pressure of the IC tag-attached sheet 100.

  A tag reader 70 for reading data from the IC tag 102 is provided in the vicinity of the paper feed roller 33. When the IC tag-attached sheet 100 is sent out from the sheet feeding tray 9, the physical property value written in the IC tag 102 attached to the IC tag-attached sheet 100 is read by the tag reader 70. The control unit 4 of the image forming apparatus 10 reads out a control parameter corresponding to the physical property value from the lookup table LUT stored in the storage unit 5 and uses this control parameter for control of each part of the image forming apparatus 1.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the image forming unit and the conveying unit are controlled using the control parameters corresponding to the physical property values embedded in the sheet. As a result, the quality after image formation can be stabilized even if the physical property values of the sheets are different. The physical property value includes at least one of sheet transmittance, reflectance, resistance value, smoothness, heat capacity, moisture content, glossiness, stiffness, fluorescence, thickness, size, weight, and basis weight. Therefore, fine control is possible.

<Modification>
The present invention is not limited to the form described above, and can be implemented in various forms. For example, the embodiment described above can be modified as follows.
In the above-described embodiment, an example in which the physical property value of the sheet written on the IC tag attached to the sheet is read has been described. However, a barcode image representing the physical property value may be formed on the sheet. . In this case, it is preferable to form an image of a barcode using an invisible recording material that absorbs only ultraviolet rays or infrared rays and transmits visible light because unnecessary information is not visually recognized by the user.
In the above-described embodiment, an example using a non-contact type IC tag that transmits and receives data using a microwave or an induction electromagnetic field is shown, but a contact type IC tag may be used.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows the structure of the sheet | seat 100 with an IC tag. It is a figure which shows the example of the physical-property value currently written in the IC tag.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus, 12 ... Image input part, 2 ... Platen glass, 3 ... Optical system, 4 ... Control part, 5 ... Memory | storage part, 41 ... Instruction input part, 39 ... Display part, 40 ... Keyboard, 9 ... Supply Paper tray, 33 ... feed roller, 34, 35, 37 ... roller pair, 36 ... conveying path, 8 ... transfer belt, 26, 27, 28, 29 ... roller, 12 ... platen glass, 13 ... light source, 14, 15 , 16 ... mirror, 17 ... light receiving unit, 18 ... image processing unit, 6 ... image forming unit, 7Y, 7M, 7C, 7K ... image forming engine, 20Y ... photoconductor drum, 21Y ... charging device, 19Y ... exposure device, 22Y ... developing device, 24Y ... cleaner, 30 ... transfer roller, 31 ... roller pair, 32 ... discharge tray, 100 ... sheet with IC tag, 101 ... sheet, 102 ... IC tag, 70 ... tag reader.

Claims (7)

Image forming means for forming an image on the surface of the sheet in which the physical property values of the sheet are embedded;
A conveying unit for supplying the sheet to the image forming unit and discharging the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit;
Storage means for storing image forming parameters used for controlling the image forming means and conveyance parameters used for controlling the conveying means in association with physical property values of the sheet;
Reading means for reading physical property values embedded in the sheet;
The image forming parameter or the conveyance parameter corresponding to the physical property value read by the reading unit is read from the storage unit, and the image forming unit is controlled using the image forming parameter, and the conveyance parameter is used for the conveyance. An image forming apparatus comprising: control means for controlling the means.   The physical property value includes at least one of transmittance, reflectance, resistance value, smoothness, heat capacity, moisture content, glossiness, stiffness, fluorescence, thickness, size, weight, and basis weight of the sheet. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The image forming unit includes a transfer unit that transfers an image to the sheet, and a fixing unit that fixes the image transferred by the transfer unit to the sheet.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming parameter includes at least one of a transfer current and a transfer voltage in the transfer unit, a fixing temperature and a fixing pressure in the fixing unit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveyance parameter includes at least one of a conveyance speed and a nip pressure in the conveyance unit. Image processing means for applying predetermined processing to the input image;
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming parameter includes an image processing condition in the image processing unit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit reads a physical property value written on an IC tag attached to the sheet. In an image forming system composed of a sheet in which physical property values of the sheet are embedded and an image forming apparatus,
The image forming apparatus includes:
Image forming means for forming an image on the surface of the sheet;
A conveying unit for supplying the sheet to the image forming unit and discharging the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit;
Storage means for storing image forming parameters used for controlling the image forming means and conveyance parameters used for controlling the conveying means in association with physical property values of the sheet;
Reading means for reading physical property values embedded in the sheet;
The image forming parameter or the conveyance parameter corresponding to the physical property value read by the reading unit is read from the storage unit, and the image forming unit is controlled using the image forming parameter, and the conveyance parameter is used for the conveyance. An image forming system comprising: a control unit that controls the unit.

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