JP2008040031A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device constituted to correctly recognize the number of sheets reduced by each sheet reduction function. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming device forming images on sheets has a sheet reduction means to reduce the number of sheets to use for forming images, and a sheet number counter to count the sheets reduced by this sheet reduction means. The sheet reduction means is a tray 7 to form images on the sheets in the backing sheet storage tray 7 storing the sheets with image already formed on the one surface, or a plotter 8 to form images of the two pages on both sides of a single sheet. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a digital copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, or an image forming apparatus in which these are combined to control paper used for image formation.

In recent years, an image forming apparatus typified by a copying machine consumes a large amount of paper, so that there is a high need for reducing the consumption of paper. In view of such needs, a function for reducing paper consumption has been proposed for image forming apparatuses (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 to 5).
Conventionally, however, there is a counter corresponding to the image forming mode, but there is no counter for counting the number of sheets reduced, and the number of sheets with a reduction effect cannot be determined. The image forming apparatus administrator calculates the number of reduced sheets from the counter of the searched function, for example, the double-sided printed sheet counter, etc. (Patent Documents 1 to 5)
JP 2004-74530 A JP 2005-195725 A JP-A-2005-84164 JP 2004-325490 A JP 2005-153226 A

However, even with the above-described prior art, the exact number of sheets reduced from the double-sided printing counter or the like is not known. For example, if one original is copied with the double-sided printing setting, even if the double-sided printing counter is incremented, the paper is not reduced, so there is no way to know the exact number of papers to be reduced from the double-sided printing counter.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus configured to accurately recognize the number of sheets reduced by the individual sheet reduction function in consideration of the above-described actual situation.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention described in claim 1 is an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet, and is deleted by the sheet reducing unit that reduces the sheet used for image formation, and the sheet reducing unit. And a sheet number counting means for counting the number of sheets.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the paper reduction unit is an image forming unit that forms an image on a paper stored in a backing paper storage tray that stores an image-formed single-sided paper. An image forming apparatus is characterized.
The invention according to claim 3 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet reducing means is a double-sided printing means for forming an image of two pages on both sides of one sheet.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming unit according to the first aspect, the sheet reducing unit is an image forming unit that reduces the image to a predetermined magnification and forms an image on a half-size sheet at the same magnification. Features a forming device.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the paper reduction unit is an aggregate printing unit that reduces an image to a predetermined magnification and forms a plurality of reduced images on one side of the paper. The image forming apparatus is characterized.
The invention according to claim 6 comprises a plurality of the sheet reduction means, and the sheet number counting means counts the number of sheets reduced by the plurality of sheet reduction means. The image forming apparatus described in the item is characterized.

  According to the present invention, the paper reduction effect can be grasped by providing the paper reduction means for reducing the paper used for image formation and the paper number counting means for counting the number of papers deleted by the paper reduction means. , The natural environment protection effect can be grasped.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the scanner of FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the engine ASIC of FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the main configuration of the plotter of FIG. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the controller ASIC of FIG.
With reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, the system configuration of the image forming apparatus A according to the present embodiment is, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, controlling the engine unit 1 that performs image formation and the entire image forming apparatus. The controller 2 is configured to be connected by a PCI (peripheral device interconnection) bus 3 which is a general-purpose bus.
The engine unit 1 that is a hardware resource used in the image forming process includes an ADF (automatic document feeder) 5 that feeds a document to the scanner 4 at a predetermined timing, a scanner 4 that reads the document, image processing, and CPU I / O. Engine ASIC (application specific IC) 6 incorporating F, PCI II / F, etc., tray 7 for storing paper, plotter 8 for forming an image on paper, engine CPU (central processing unit) 9 for controlling the engine unit 1 such as paper feeding Although not shown, it is composed of a non-volatile memory for holding various counter values.
The controller 2 includes an operation unit 10 that performs processing and operation settings of the image forming apparatus, an operation unit I / F, a CPU I / F, a PCI II / F, a controller ASIC 11 that includes a memory controller, and a CPU 12 that controls the entire image forming apparatus. , A system work area, a stack, a memory 13 serving as an image memory, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 14 for storing image data, and the like.

Although not shown, the operation unit 10 is a device for setting a print start key for instructing start of an image forming operation, a numeric keypad used for setting the number of copies, a function provided in the digital copying machine, for example, a 2-in-1 function, etc. A function setting key, a liquid crystal touch panel for displaying set functions, data, and the like are provided. Further, by switching the liquid crystal screen, it is possible to check information and counter values inside the image forming apparatus.
The ADF 5 includes sensors for detecting the size of the set document, transmits the detected document size data to the CPU 9, and reads the set document at a predetermined timing according to the command of the CPU 9 (see FIG. (Not shown), the document is fed, and the document is discharged at a predetermined timing.
The tray 7 includes, for example, a paper tray that stores A4 paper, a paper tray that stores A3 paper, a double-sided tray that stores image-formed single-sided paper that is used for duplex printing, and a back that stores backing paper. A paper storage tray is provided, and the paper stored in these paper trays is fed to the plotter 8 by a control signal from the CPU 9.

As shown in FIG. 2, the scanner 4 shown in FIG. 1 irradiates a document with light from a lamp (not shown) and photoelectrically converts the reflected light through a mirror group, filter, and lens (not shown). And an A / D conversion unit 16 that performs A / D conversion on the photoelectrically converted signal, a shading correction unit 17 that corrects signal deterioration caused by the lamp, mirror, lens, and CCD 15, and the like.
The configuration of the engine ASIC 6 shown in FIG. 1 includes, as shown in FIG. 3, a filter unit 18 that removes moire or the like generated when scaling the multi-valued image data read by the scanner 4, and when scaling is set. A scaling unit 19 that performs a predetermined scaling process and a compression unit 20 that performs fixed-length compression in units of 4 × 4 blocks, for example, are included.
Further, the engine ASIC 6 decompresses the data compressed by the PCI unit 21 that includes the PCI3 bus protocol execution part and the DMAC and transfers the image data to the controller 2 and the compression unit 20 stored in the memory 13. A decompression unit 22, a gamma correction unit 23 for matching the image data scaled by the scaling unit 19 with plotter engine characteristics, a tone processing unit 24 for performing tone processing according to the operation mode, an engine It consists of a CPU I / F 25 and the like connected to the CPU 9.

Although not shown, each unit of the engine ASIC 6 is set by the engine CPU 9 via the CPU I / F 25. The PCI unit 21 is also a unit that transmits a command from the controller 2 to the engine unit 1.
Also, the filter unit 18 smoothly reproduces the filter coefficient that enhances the edge and the pattern unit according to the operation mode of characters / photos and the like set by the operation unit 10 and the scaling setting for reduction / enlargement. This is a unit that can be switched to a filter coefficient that performs smoothing so that the fine line does not disappear when the filter coefficient is reduced.

As shown in FIG. 4, the configuration of the plotter 8 shown in FIG. 1 includes an LD unit 26 that writes to the plotter engine in accordance with the gradation processed data, and an electrostatic latent written by the LD unit 26 (not shown). A photosensitive unit that carries an image, a developing unit that visualizes the image with toner, a transfer unit that transfers the visualized image onto a sheet, and an image transferred onto the sheet conveyed from the tray 7 by fusing It is composed of a fixing unit and the like.
As shown in FIG. 5, the controller ASIC 11 shown in FIG. 1 has a CPU I / F 27 connected to the controller CPU 12 that controls the entire image forming apparatus, an HDD I / F 28 connected to the HDD 14, a PCI unit 29, and the like. The arbiter 30, the memory controller 31, and the operation unit I / F 32 connected to the operation unit 10 are included.
Although not shown, each unit of the controller ASIC 11 is set by the controller CPU 12 via the CPU I / F 27. The HDD I / F 28 is a unit that writes data into and reads data from the memory 13.
The PCI unit 29 includes a part that executes a PCI bus protocol and a DMAC, and is a unit that transfers image data in the memory 13 to the engine unit 1 and transmits commands from the controller 2 to the engine unit 1. The arbiter 30 is a unit that arbitrates devices that access the memory 13.

Hereinafter, the operation of the paper reduction counter will be described with reference to FIG. 1, but the paper size is limited to A3 and A4 in order to simplify the description. First, an example will be described in which copying is performed on paper stored in the backing paper storage tray.
An image-formed single-sided paper is set in advance on a backing paper storage tray (tray) 7 and a document is set on the ADF 5. Select the backing paper storage tray from the operation unit 10, set the number of copies, and press the start key. Then, the ADF 5 sequentially feeds all the set originals from the first page onto a reading glass (not shown), and the scanner 4 sequentially reads these original images, and image data subjected to predetermined processing. Are sequentially stored in the memory 13 via the PCI bus 3.
The plotter 8 is activated when a little image data is written in the memory 13 and at a timing at which the plot operation does not overtake the scan operation. The image data is subjected to predetermined processing by the engine unit 1 via the PCI bus 3 and is output to the plotter 8.
An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive unit with the image data output to the plotter 8, visualized with toner, and the toner image is transferred onto the backing paper sheet conveyed from the tray 7. The backing paper having the toner image fused and fixed by heat is discharged out of the apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining a paper reduction counting operation by copying the back paper. As shown in FIG. 6, in the paper reduction count by the back paper printing, first, it is determined whether the back paper feed tray is selected (S1), it is determined whether the paper size is A3 or A4 (S2), and the A3 size is selected. In this case, the A3 paper reduction counter (A3URA) by using the back paper is set to 1 (S3).
If it is determined in step S2 that the paper size is A4, the A4 paper reduction counter (A4URA) by using the back paper is incremented by 1 (S4). These counter values (A3URA, A4URA) are stored in a nonvolatile memory that is not erased even when the power is turned off.
The user confirmed the above counter values (A3URA, A4URA) via the operation unit 10 or a PC (personal computer) connected to a network (not shown), thereby reducing the use of backing paper. You can know the number of sheets. Thus, since the number of sheets reduced by using the backing paper can be grasped, it becomes possible to grasp the natural environment protection effect by using the backing paper.

Next, an example of performing double-sided copying will be described. Referring to FIG. 1, an original is set on ADF 5, duplex copying is selected from operation unit 10, the number of copies is set, and the start key is pressed, and ADF 5 sequentially sets all the originals from the first page. Feed on reading glass (not shown).
The scanner 4 sequentially reads these document images, and the image data subjected to predetermined processing is sequentially stored in the memory 13 via the PCI bus 3. The plotter 8 is activated when a little image data is written in the memory 13 and at a timing such that the plot operation does not overtake the scan operation. The image data is processed by the engine unit 1 via the PCI bus 3 in a predetermined process. Is output to the plotter 8.
An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive unit with the image data output to the plotter 8, visualized with toner, and the toner image on the surface is transferred to the sheet conveyed from the tray 7. The sheet having the toner image melted and fixed by heat is conveyed again to the double-sided tray of the tray 7.
Next, the image data for the back side of the paper is read from the memory 13, and the paper after completion of the single-sided image formation is conveyed from the double-sided tray at a predetermined timing. It is discharged outside the machine.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining a sheet reduction count operation by double-sided copying. In the paper reduction counting operation by double-sided copying (printing), first, it is determined whether double-sided copying is selected (S11), whether it is an image forming operation for the back side (S12), and then, whether the paper size is A3 or A4 is determined. (S13).
In the case of A3 size in step S13, in the case of the back side, the A3 paper reduction counter (A3DBL) by double-sided copying is set to plus 1 (S14). If it is determined in step S13 that the surface is the surface, the count-up is not performed.
If it is determined in step S13 that the paper size is A4, it is determined whether the image forming operation is performed on the back side (S15). If it is determined in step S15 that the surface is the surface, the count-up is not performed.
These counter values (A3DBL, A4DBL) are stored in a nonvolatile memory that is not erased even when the power is turned off. The user can know the number of sheets reduced by duplex printing by checking the counter values (A3DBL, A4DBL) via the operation unit 10 or a PC connected to a network (not shown). It is possible to grasp the natural environment protection effect by double-sided printing.

Next, an example in which A3 → A4 paper size designation variable magnification copy is performed will be described. Referring to FIG. 1, an original is set in ADF 5, A3 → A4 paper size designation scaling copy is selected from operation unit 10, the number of copies is set, and the start key is pressed.
As a result, the ADF 5 sequentially feeds all set originals from the first page onto a reading glass (not shown), and the scanner 4 sequentially reads these original images to reduce the size of A3 → A4 and the like. The image data subjected to the above process is sequentially stored in the memory 13 via the PCI bus 3.
The plotter 8 is activated when a little image data is written in the memory 13 and at a timing at which the plot operation does not overtake the scan operation. In this case, the image data is subjected to predetermined processing by the engine unit 1 via the PCI bus 3 and is output to the plotter 8.
An electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive unit by the image data output to the plotter 8, visualized with toner, and the toner image is transferred onto A4 size paper conveyed from the tray 7. The sheet onto which the toner image has been transferred is melted and fixed by heat and discharged outside the apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a paper reduction count operation by A3 → A4 paper size designation variable copy. First, it is determined whether the A3 → A4 paper size designated variable copy (printing) is selected (S21). If the A3 → A4 paper size designated variable copy is selected, the half-size paper reduction count is determined. , A3 → A4 paper size designation A4 paper reduction counter (A4HAF) is changed to plus 1 (S22).
The counter value (A4HAF) is stored in a nonvolatile memory that is not erased even when the power is turned off. The user can know the number of sheets reduced by using the half-size sheet by checking the counter value (A4HAF) via the operation unit 10 or a PC connected to a network (not shown). it can.
Thus, since the number of sheets reduced by using half-size paper at the same magnification can be grasped, the natural environment protection effect by using half-size paper can be grasped.

Next, an example of performing aggregate copy will be described. Referring to FIG. 1, a document is set in ADF 5, and a consolidated copy of Min1 is selected from operation unit 10 to set the number of copies. M is set to 2, 4, and 8, for example. When the start key of the operation unit 10 is pressed, the ADF 5 sequentially feeds all set originals from the first page onto a reading glass (not shown), and the scanner 4 sequentially reads these original images. The image data whose size has been reduced is sequentially stored in the memory 13 via the PCI bus 3.
The plotter 8 is activated when the image data reduced in the memory 13 becomes an image for one sheet. The image data for one sheet is subjected to predetermined processing in the engine unit 1 via the PCI bus 3. Applied to the plotter 8. An electrostatic latent image is formed on a photosensitive unit (not shown) based on the image data, the electrostatic latent image is visualized with toner, and the toner image is transferred onto a sheet conveyed from the tray 7. The toner image on the paper is melted and fixed by heat, and the paper is discharged out of the machine.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the sheet reduction count operation by the aggregate copy. In FIG. 9, in the paper reduction counting operation by the aggregate copy (printing), first, it is determined whether the aggregate copy is selected (S31), and the read document number counter N (initial value 0) is counted up according to the number of read documents. (S32).
Next, it is determined whether the paper size is A3 or A4 (S33). If the paper size is A3, the A3 paper reduction counter (A3SYK) by the aggregate copy is changed to a value represented by the following calculation formula (S34).
A3SYK = A3SYK + N-INT ((N + M-1) / M)
Here, if X is a natural number, INT (X) is the maximum integer that does not exceed X.
The original set on the ADF 5 (FIG. 1) is read, and it is determined whether or not the job is finished (S35). If the job is finished, N is set to an initial value “0” (S36) and prepared for the next job.

If there is still a document on the ADF 5 in step S35, N is counted up in step S32 when the next document is read. If it is determined in step S33 that the paper size is A4, the A4 paper reduction counter (A4SYK) by the aggregate copy is changed to a value represented by the following formula (S37).
A4SYK = A4SYK + N-INT ((N + M-1) / M)
Here, if X is a natural number, INT (X) is the maximum integer that does not exceed X.
If there is still a document on the ADF 5 in step S35, N is counted up in step S32 when the next document is read. The counter values (A3SYK, A4SYK) are stored in a nonvolatile memory that is not erased even when the power is turned off.
The user knows the number of sheets reduced by using half-size sheets by checking the counter values (A3SYK, A4SYK) via the operation unit 10 or via a PC connected to a network (not shown). be able to.
Since the number of sheets reduced by intensive printing can be grasped, the natural environment protection effect by intensive printing can be grasped.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the sheet reduction counting operation in the entire apparatus. Even when a plurality of functions are combined to reduce the number of sheets, each used sheet reduction counter operates, and the sheet reduction counter value is added for each reduced sheet size as shown in step S41 of FIG. As a result, it is possible to confirm the paper reduction effect in the entire device.
The total number A4TAL of A4 size sheets reduced by the device is obtained as follows.
A4TAL = A4URA + A4DBL + A4HAF + A4SYK
The total number A3TAL of A3 size sheets reduced by the apparatus is obtained as follows.
A3TAL = A3URA + A3DBL + A3SYK
The counter values (A3TAL, A4TAL) are stored in a nonvolatile memory that is not erased even when the power is turned off. The user knows the number of sheets reduced in the entire image forming apparatus by checking the counter values (A3TAL, A4TAL) via the operation unit 10 or a PC connected to a network (not shown). And the natural environment protection effect of the entire device can be grasped.

1 is a block diagram showing a system configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the scanner of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the engine ASIC of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the plotter of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the main structures of the controller ASIC of FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a paper reduction counting operation by backing paper copying. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a sheet reduction count operation by double-sided copying. 10 is a flowchart showing a sheet reduction counting operation by A3 → A4 sheet size designation variable copy. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a sheet reduction count operation by aggregate copy. 10 is a flowchart for explaining a sheet reduction count operation in the entire apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

A image forming apparatus, 1 image forming engine unit, 2 controller, 4 scanner, 5 ADF (automatic document feeder), 6 engine ASIC, 7 tray, 8 plotter, 9 CPU, 10 operation unit, 11 controller ASIC, 12 CPU, 13 memory, 19 scaling unit, 20 compression unit

Claims (6)

  An image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet includes a sheet reduction unit that reduces the number of sheets used for image formation, and a sheet number counting unit that counts the number of sheets deleted by the sheet reduction unit. Image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet reducing unit is an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet stored in a backing sheet storage tray that stores an image-formed single-sided sheet.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper reduction unit is a double-sided printing unit that forms an image of two pages on both sides of a single sheet.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet reducing unit is an image forming unit that reduces an image to a predetermined magnification and forms an image on a half-size sheet at the same magnification.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet reducing unit is an aggregate printing unit that reduces an image to a predetermined magnification and forms a plurality of reduced images on one side of the sheet. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of sheet reduction units, wherein the sheet number counting unit counts the number of sheets reduced by the plurality of sheet reduction units. apparatus.

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