JP2007180879A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make the system performance optimize by grasping a transmission speed with removable media. <P>SOLUTION: In an image forming apparatus which performs data communications with removable media 13, a media control unit 15 which manages the controlling for obtaining data communications with the removable media 13, is provided with a communication speed detection unit 22 which detects a communication speed with the removable media 13. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that performs data communication with a removable medium.

In an image forming apparatus, input data is processed and output as a basic operation. At that time, image processing and input / output control are performed via a data buffer memory inside the apparatus. Here, in order to efficiently bring out the performance of the installed input / output means, the capacity of this buffer memory is important, and the functions and performance of the system as a whole are actually constrained by the capacity of this buffer memory. There are many.
Therefore, it is possible to provide the best functions and performance in terms of the component configuration by simply installing the memory capacity that satisfies the performance of the input / output means, but the increase in memory capacity simply leads to an increase in cost. Needless to say.

Conventionally, it has been proposed to use a large-capacity external storage device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk as an image buffer, but it has not yet been provided with a new function that makes use of detachability. While the evolution of optical disks, the evolution of semiconductor storage devices such as flash memories is also remarkable. These devices can be hot-docked with a device through an I / F such as a USB, and have removable properties and mobility due to miniaturization. In the removable media, products having improved communication speed are being developed one after another even though the physical I / F is the same (initially, about 2 MB / s is 10 times faster).
Based on such a background, a technique for recording a captured image on a removable medium is already known. However, an improved technique for optimizing system performance is required.
Therefore, the present invention aims to optimize the system performance by grasping the communication speed with the removable medium when using the performance of the removable medium as an image memory instead of the main body built-in memory.

In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in an image forming apparatus that performs data communication with a removable medium, the media control unit that controls the data communication with the removable medium is provided with a removable medium. An image forming apparatus including a communication speed detecting unit that detects a communication speed with the main feature is the main feature.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the media control unit mainly includes an image forming apparatus that performs control for storing the detected communication speed with the removable medium in the removable medium. .
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the second aspect, the media control unit mainly controls the image forming apparatus that performs control to generate the communication speed value stored in the removable medium as identifiable communication speed information. Features.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, the media control unit is a main feature of the image forming apparatus that performs control to search communication speed information of the inserted removable medium. And

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the media control unit controls the communication speed detection operation to stop when the communication speed information of the inserted removable medium is detected. The main feature is an image forming apparatus that performs the above.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, the media control unit determines whether or not to store the image data according to the communication speed with the removable medium. It is characterized by performing control.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, an operation unit having a function of confirming whether the detected communication speed with the removable medium may be stored in the removable medium. The image forming apparatus provided is a main feature.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to seventh aspects, when the media control unit overwrites the removable media with the image data, the media control unit stops overwriting the stored communication speed information. The main feature is an image forming apparatus that performs the above.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the sixth aspect, when the media control unit uses the removable medium as the image memory, the media processing speed is set to the pre-processing speed of memory writing and the post-processing speed of reading. The main feature is an image forming apparatus that performs control to be changed accordingly.

  According to the present invention, since the communication speed with the removable medium is detected, it is possible to grasp the amount of data that can be handled within a certain time when the removable medium is used as a printing image memory.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. Basic functions include a copy function, a print function, a scanner function, and a FAX function.
There is a CPU 1 for instructing and controlling each block, and a program to be executed is stored in the ROM 2. Depending on the system, there is a system that improves processing performance by installing a plurality of programs. The RAM 3 is used for temporary storage of data of processing of each block including the CPU 1 via the RAM control unit 4.
There is a scanner engine 5 as an image input means in the copy and scanner functions, a scanner control unit 6 that controls the image, and an image reading unit 7 that captures output data from the scanner engine 5. An image processing unit 10 is connected to the image reading unit 7.

During FAX reception, the FAX control unit 10 decodes print data and the like via an NCU (Network Control Unit) 9 connected to a general public line. There is a host I / F (interface) control unit 12 that receives print data from the external host device 11 as an image input means in the print function. Examples of the I / F include local connections such as IEEE 1284 and USB, and network connections such as wired and wireless Ethernet (registered trademark).
Further, a direct print function using a removable medium 13 that does not require the external host device 11 is installed. Examples of the removable media 13 include, but are not limited to, CF (compact flash (registered trademark)), SD card, MMC (multimedia card), memory stick, USB memory, CD, and DVD.

The media I / F 14 is means for physically connecting supported media and includes electrical and optical connections. The media control unit 15 performs control for realizing data communication with various media. In the FAX function, image input means at the time of FAX transmission can input data from the external host device 11 in addition to the scanner engine 5 described above.
The operation unit 16 is a man-machine interface unit with device operators, such as buttons for device operation and indicators (displays such as LEDs and LCDs, speakers, etc.) for displaying the device status, and controls the operation unit I / F. The unit 17 performs information input / output with the operation unit 17. The printer control unit 18 controls the printer engine 19 as a print output unit.
The printer engine 19 includes image forming methods such as a laser method, an LED method, and an ink jet method. The printer engine 19 receives print data from the image writing unit 20. The NVRAM 21 is a non-volatile memory, and is used for holding device-specific information (for example, a counter value of the number of copies).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration of the main part of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the communication speed detecting unit shown in FIG. Here, the copy operation will be described.
Document data output from the scanner engine 5 controlled by the scanner control unit 6 is subjected to signal processing such as A / D conversion by the image reading unit 7 and then input to the image processing unit 8. Here, the image processing is performed on the print data and is stored in the main body RAM 3 by the RAM control unit 4 in a general processing flow.
Here, the communication speed detection unit 22 is provided in the media control unit 15 that controls the removable media 13. When the removable media 13 is inserted, the media control unit 15 notifies the CPU 1 by an interrupt or the like. The communication speed detection unit 22 is activated to detect the communication speed.

Here, the detailed operation of the communication speed detection unit 22 shown in FIG. 3 will be described with reference to the flow shown in FIG. 4 until the communication speed detection is detected and the communication speed register is updated. In this block, the speed detection sequence control unit 31 controls the overall speed detection operation. First, the test data generation unit 32 is activated and the cycle counter 33 is started (S1).
The test data generated from the test data generation unit 32 is temporarily stored in the data transmission / reception buffer 34 for writing to the removable medium 13, and a memory write cycle is generated by the output control unit 23 to output the data. Following writing (S2), a read cycle is generated to read the data (S3).
The test data generated at this time may be arbitrary data, but when performing a read / write operation a plurality of times, the data may be distinguished by incrementing each time. When the read data is stored in the data transmission / reception buffer 34 (S4), the cycle counter 33 is stopped.
The counter value is read from the CPU 1 as a speed, the speed detection operation is completed, and is temporarily stored in the communication speed register 24 of FIG. 2 (S6). At the same time, whether or not the information can be written in the removable medium 13 is checked. The user is confirmed through the display unit of the operation unit 16. Whether or not writing is OK is input from the operation unit 16, and if OK, information is written into the removable medium 13.

Here, an example of information written in the removable medium 13 is shown in FIG. The writing position in the removable medium 13 is set to a predetermined address, and the writing information is data having a configuration capable of determining that the data is speed information.
In the illustrated example, “identification ID” and “registration date information” are arranged before and after the “communication speed” information. Data including these supplementary information is managed and generated by the CPU 1. For example, if the data size is composed of 64 bits, the “identification ID” is 16 bits, the speed value is 24 bits, and the “registration date” is 24 bits.
Returning to FIG. 2, the CPU 1 determines from the speed information stored in the communication speed register 24 whether the removable medium 13 can be used as an image memory. (Various examples are conceivable as judgment criteria at this time. For example, whether or not the input / output of the image data amount is in time for the speed performance of the printer engine 19, and how far the printing speed can be increased.) (In order to increase the printing speed, the performance bottleneck may be in the throughput of the main memory.)
If it is determined that the removable medium 13 can be used as the image memory, the storage destination selector 25 switches the image data storage destination to the removable medium 13 side and uses it as the image memory.

Next, the control will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. When the removable medium 13 is inserted, first, it is checked whether communication speed information is written in the removable medium 13 (S1, S2). The area to be checked is an area to be written on the medium when the communication speed is detected.
Here, in order to identify the communication speed information, it can be recognized by the identification ID in the example of FIG. 5, but whether the subsequent data is communication speed information or not is determined if the range of the value is determined in advance. Can raise the system.

In the example of FIG. 5, the communication speed is 0x03d090 (250 μs)> communication speed> 0x003d04 (12.5 μs), and this range is a range of 2 MB / s to 40 MB / s when 512-byte data is transferred. It is a value indicating that The validity of the subsequent registration date information can be judged by examining the data within a range of the current date from a certain time when the system is operated.
If the communication speed information is not found here, the speed detection operation described above is performed (S3), the speed information is obtained, and the user is confirmed via the operation unit display whether the speed information can be written to the removable medium 13 ( S4).
If writing is OK by input from the operation unit 16 (S5), writing control is performed in the removable medium 13 as speed information as in the example of FIG. 5 (S6), and copying is made to the communication speed register 24 (S7). . If the communication speed information already exists in the removable medium 13, the speed detection operation is not performed and the information is copied to the communication speed register 24. Based on the obtained speed information, it is determined whether it can be used as an image memory as described above (S8). If it can be used, the storage destination selector 25 switches the image storage destination to the removable medium 13.

As described above, according to the present invention, since the communication speed with the removable medium is detected, when the removable medium is used as a printing image memory, it is possible to grasp the amount of data that can be handled within a predetermined time.
In addition, since the communication speed with the detected removable medium is stored in the removable medium, the detected communication speed can be recorded in correspondence with the target removable medium.
Further, since the communication speed value stored in the removable medium is generated as the identifiable communication speed information, the information can be retrieved and reused even after the removable medium is inserted / removed.
In addition, since the communication speed information of the inserted removable medium is searched, it is possible to detect the previous communication speed and re-acquire the recorded information.
In addition, when the communication speed information of the inserted removable media is detected, the operation of detecting the communication speed is canceled and the speed detection operation is not performed again for the removable media that has been detected previously. This saves speed.

In addition, since the image data storage destination is switched according to the communication speed with the removable media, if the amount of data that can be handled within a certain time is large compared to the case of the main memory only, the image data storage destination By switching from the main memory, more image data can be handled.
In addition, by confirming with the user whether the communication speed with the detected removable media can be saved in the removable media, if there is no intention to use the removable media as an image memory, user data etc. are deleted from the removable media. If there is troublesome data, data disappearance due to overwriting can be prevented.
In addition, since the communication speed information stored when the image data is overwritten on the removable medium is not overwritten, the recorded communication speed information can be reused.
In addition, when using removable media as image memory, the pre-processing speed of memory writing and the post-processing speed of reading are changed according to the media communication speed, so the system operation can be optimized according to the memory speed. System performance can be improved by taking advantage of memory speed.

1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a detailed configuration of a main part of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a communication speed detection unit shown in FIG. 2. It is a flowchart which shows the process of a communication speed control part. It is a figure which shows the address and the content of communication speed information. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

13 Removable media 15 Media control unit 22 Communication speed detection unit

Claims (9)

  In an image forming apparatus that performs data communication with a removable medium, the media control unit that controls the data communication with the removable medium includes a communication speed detection unit that detects the communication speed with the removable medium. An image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media control unit performs control to store the detected communication speed with the removable medium in the removable medium.   3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media control unit performs control to generate a communication speed value stored in the removable medium as identifiable communication speed information.   4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media control unit performs control to search communication speed information of an inserted removable medium. 5.   5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media control unit performs control to stop the communication speed detection operation when detecting the communication speed information of the inserted removable medium. Image forming apparatus.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media control unit performs control to determine whether or not to store image data according to a communication speed with a removable medium. Image forming apparatus.   7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an operation unit having a function of confirming whether the detected communication speed with the removable medium can be stored in the removable medium. Forming equipment.   8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the media control unit performs control to stop overwriting of saved communication speed information when overwriting image data on a removable medium. Image forming apparatus.   7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein when the removable medium is used as an image memory, the media control unit performs control to change a pre-processing speed of memory writing and a post-processing speed of reading according to the media communication speed. An image forming apparatus.

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