JP2010217742A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which is free from risk of reduction in productivity and increase in cost due to setting work even for many types of paper. <P>SOLUTION: Print processing is indicated in response to depression of print start button (step 1), and a paper is fed from a paper feed tray (step 2), and it is confirmed whether or not print processing contents are set by a user (step 3). When they are not set by the user, characteristics of the paper are detected by a sensor (step 7), and a control parameter is calculated (step 8), and image forming processing is performed (step 5), and the paper is output (step 6). Meanwhile, when they are set by the user, steps 7 and 8 are skipped, and a corresponding print condition is read out and a control parameter is set (step 4), and image forming processing is performed (step 5), and the paper is output (step 6). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, and a complex machine thereof, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus suitable for a production printing business requiring high-quality image formation on various types of paper. .

In recent years, due to the increasing demand for higher image quality in image forming apparatuses, functions for changing printing conditions in accordance with the characteristics of paper have been realized, particularly in image forming apparatuses for production printing work.
For example, according to a certain prior art (first prior art), an image forming apparatus that can further stabilize the moving paper type detection and the automatic setting function of the printing condition and can output a stable image quality. It has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  According to the image forming apparatus according to the first prior art, the reflection type optical sensor capable of setting information relating to the characteristics of the recording material, and the apparatus control capable of automatically setting the printing conditions based on the measurement result by the sensor. Information corresponding to the measured recording material characteristics and the correspondence control means that can arbitrarily set the correspondence between the printing conditions set at the time of printing, and information that can be called from the outside by the means Information is acquired from the management means, and the correspondence between the information regarding the characteristics of the recording material and the printing conditions can be set.

According to another prior art (second prior art), an image forming apparatus capable of forming an appropriate image on various types of paper is proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
The image forming apparatus according to the second prior art allows the user to set a custom paper type in addition to the pre-registered paper type (preset paper type). Among the parameters, the user can input the values of paper quality-dependent parameters such as transfer bias voltage, fixing temperature, and paper transport speed from the touch panel, and the custom parameter set is used as the custom paper type setting value for printing. When started, a custom paper type setting value is transmitted from the system control unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus to the printing control unit that controls the printing unit, and the printing control unit performs printing according to the values of each parameter of the custom paper type setting value. Each part of the part is controlled.

Furthermore, according to another prior art (third prior art), as a printer device that eliminates the need for a user to set the paper type and obtains a normal printing result, the characteristics of the paper type and process printing corresponding to the characteristics. There has been proposed an apparatus having a function for registering conditions, a function for detecting a fed sheet and determining an optimum process printing condition, and a function for executing printing under the process printing condition (see, for example, Patent Document 3). ).
In the printer device according to the third prior art, the above function is realized by the user manually setting the paper type and the corresponding image forming parameter from the touch panel.

  By the way, when the user wants to handle paper of different paper types, especially when it is necessary to handle paper of many paper types such as for production printing work, the printing condition is frequently changed. In the case of the image forming apparatus according to the technology, since the setting is manual, when the user wants to handle a large amount of paper types, the cost of the setting operation increases.

  Here, in the case of the image forming apparatus according to the first prior art, the characteristic of the paper is automatically detected, and the optimum printing condition can be automatically set based on the result, so there is a risk of an increase in cost due to the setting work. Absent. However, since it is necessary to detect the characteristics of the paper for each printing, it is necessary to wait for the time from the start of printing until the detection, and until the obtained parameters are reflected in the image forming apparatus, which reduces productivity. There is a fear.

On the other hand, in the case of the printing apparatus according to the third prior art, since the sample printing mode for detecting the characteristics of the paper and registering the optimum printing condition from the detection result, the printing condition is optimum. It is possible for the user to check whether or not from the print result, and since it has a function to register the automatically obtained printing conditions in association with the paper characteristics, it detects the paper characteristics during printing. As a result, in the case of a paper type that has already been registered, the registered printing conditions can be used. Therefore, in this respect, there is no possibility that productivity will be reduced.
However, since it is necessary to detect the characteristics of the paper for each printing, productivity is reduced at this point.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus in which there is no risk of a decrease in productivity and an increase in cost due to setting work even for many types of paper.

  In order to achieve the above object, the first means includes a paper type detection means for detecting the characteristics of the conveyed paper in an image forming apparatus of a system that forms an image on paper using a preset control parameter as a printing condition. A printing condition determining unit that determines a printing condition according to a detection result by the paper type detecting unit and automatically registers a control parameter corresponding to the printing condition as a user setting control parameter, and forms an image on a sheet. When executing the series of processing, when the user setting control parameter is used, the detection processing by the paper type detection unit included in the series of processing is omitted.

Next, a second means is characterized in that, in the first means, a printing condition changing means capable of changing the user setting control parameter is provided.
The third means includes a user identification means for identifying a user and an administrator registration means for registering a specific user as an administrator in the first means or the second means. The use of the printing condition determination unit is permitted only when the identification result is a user registered as an administrator by the administrator registration unit.

Further, the fourth means is any one of the first to third means, wherein the control parameter is at least one of a fixing temperature control parameter, a paper transport control parameter, and an image formation control parameter. And
The fifth means is any one of the first to third means. The paper type detecting means is means for detecting the thickness of the paper and means for detecting the reflectance of the paper with respect to light. And at least one means for detecting the light transmittance of the paper.

  According to the present invention, the user can automatically register printing conditions suitable for the characteristics of the paper, and invalidate the paper detection when the user uses the registered printing conditions. As a result, a decrease in productivity can be prevented.

6 is a flowchart for explaining processing in a registration mode according to an embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the invention. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a printing process according to an embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the invention. 6 is a flowchart for explaining authentication processing according to an embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an example of a digital copying machine to which an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied. 1 is a system control block diagram in an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to embodiments shown in the drawings.
First, an example of a digital copying machine to which the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.
The scanner unit 203 reads an original when an instruction to start copying is given by an operation unit (not shown). The read image data is written on the photosensitive belt 217 in order for each color by the writing unit 214. At this time, the photosensitive belt 217 is uniformly charged in advance by the charging unit 211.

In the writing unit 214, there is an LD unit, and when a laser beam emitted from the LD unit is irradiated onto the photosensitive belt 217, an electrostatic latent image for each color of, for example, yellow, magenta, cyan, and black is thereby generated. 217 is formed.
The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor belt 217 is developed with the toner in the toner cartridge 215 by the developing unit 216 corresponding to the color, and a toner image is formed on the photoreceptor belt 217.
The printing paper is set in the first paper feeding tray 213 or the second paper feeding tray 212, and is fed at an appropriate timing when an instruction to start copying is given.
At this time, the media sensor 219 measures characteristics such as paper thickness and glossiness. Examples of media sensors include infrared transmission light amount detection, specular reflection light amount detection, paper surface unevenness detection sensor, and the like, as well as ultrasonic sensors and electrical resistance detection sensors. Measurement is performed using one kind or plural kinds.

The toner image formed on the photoreceptor belt 217 is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 218 of the intermediate transfer belt unit 206, and the toner image transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 218 is further transferred to the first paper feed tray 213 or the second paper feed. The sheet is transferred onto the sheet fed from the tray 212 using the roller of the secondary transfer unit 207.
The toner image transferred onto the paper is thermally fixed by the fixing unit 205 and fixed on the paper.

The paper on which the toner image has been thermally fixed by the fixing unit 205 is discharged by the paper discharge unit 204, whereby a copy image is obtained.
At this time, the toner remaining without being transferred to the photoreceptor belt 217 and the intermediate transfer belt 218 is cleaned by the photoreceptor cleaning unit 209 and the intermediate transfer belt cleaning unit 201, and the photoreceptor waste toner bottle 210 and the intermediate transfer waste toner, respectively. Accumulated in the bottle 208 as waste toner.
The fixing unit 205 is coated with a small amount of silicon oil by the fixing unit coating unit 202 in order to improve separation of the paper after fixing.

Next, a system control block in the image forming apparatus to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the system controller 630 controls the entire system, and can have a function of a single application such as a scanner application, a copy application, a FAX application, a printer application, or a function of a plurality of applications.
Next, the operation panel control device 631 is a device that displays setting input and the contents of the state.
The image control device 632 reads a document image and writes an image on a transfer sheet by a known electrophotographic technique.
At this time, the image data bus / control command bus 620 is a bus through which image data and control commands are transferred in a time-sharing manner, and accesses the system controller 630 via the bus controls 611, 612, 613, and controls the bus control 619. The operation panel control device 631 is accessed via the bus control, and the image control device 632 is accessed via the bus controls 621 and 622.

First, in the system controller 630, the CPU 605 controls the system controller 630. At this time, a control program for the system controller 630 is written in the ROM 604.
On the other hand, the RAM 603 is a working memory used by the CPU 605, and the NVRAM 602 is a non-volatile memory that stores information on the entire system.
A network I / F controller 606 controls connection to the network, and a system I / F 607 controls transfer of FAX data and printer data processed in the system according to a command from the CPU 605.
A work memory 600 is an image development work memory used by the printer, and a frame memory 601 is a work memory that stores image data of a read image and a write image. The image data at this time may be encoded or a dot image.

The FIFO buffer 609 performs data transfer speed conversion when writing an input image to the frame memory. Similarly, the FIFO buffer 608 performs speed conversion when transferring image data in the frame memory as an output image.
The memory controller 610 controls input / output of images between the frame memory and the HDDC 650 and the bus without control by the CPU 605. For this reason, the HDDC 650 has a well-known HDD inside, and performs input / output control of image data to this HDD. .
Therefore, the image read by the image reading device 623 and the image acquired via the network are stored in the HDD.
The CPU 617 controls the operation panel control device 611. At this time, the control program of the operation panel control device 611 is written in the ROM 616. On the other hand, the RAM 618 is a working memory used by the CPU 617.

The input device 614 is a device for the user to input system settings. At this time, the display device 615 is a device for displaying them so that the user can confirm the setting contents and status of the system.
The CPU 625 controls the image input / output control device 632. Therefore, a control program for the image input / output device 632 is written in the ROM 629. On the other hand, the RAM 628 is a working memory used by the CPU 625.
An image writing unit 623 is a control unit of a known optical writing device that turns on laser light at a pixel frequency and scans it with a polygon scanner. An image reading unit 624 reads lamp light reflected from a document with a CCD, This is a unit for controlling a known optical scanner.
The image reading unit 624 also performs image processing to separate visible and invisible identifiers from the image data. The separated identifier is encoded by the CPU 625 and sent to the system controller 630 to identify the image processing apparatus and computer existing on the network.

The document transport control unit 634 transports documents read by the image reading unit 623 one by one from a plurality of stacked documents. The document conveyance control unit 634 also detects the size of the document.
The electrophotographic process unit 626 is a unit that controls a well-known electrophotographic technique in which a latent image written on a photosensitive member with a laser beam is converted into a real image with toner, transferred onto a sheet, and fixed. The unit 627 performs conveyance control of a sheet onto which an image is transferred in the electrophotographic unit 626.
Note that the description of the document conveyance control unit 634 and the area recognition unit 635 is omitted.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
Here, as for the operation at this time, there are a registration mode and a printing process in this registration mode, and further there is an authentication process used when the registration mode is limited to the implementation by the administrator. It has a form.
The registration mode at this time is an operation mode in the case of automatically detecting the paper type and automatically registering printing conditions suitable for it.

First, the first embodiment in the registration mode will be described using the flowchart of FIG.
In this case, first, the paper type registration function is called by the input device 614 (FIG. 5), and this is recognized by the CPU 617. Therefore, the CPU 617 displays the A screen on the display device 615, and then recognizes that the automatic registration button 300 has been pressed (step 1), the CPU 617 notifies the CPU 625 that the automatic registration mode has started. To do.
Therefore, the CPU 625 feeds paper from the paper feed tray 213 (step 2), and detects the characteristics of the paper by the media sensor 219 (step 3).

Next, the CPU 625 calculates an optimal control parameter from the detected paper characteristic result by the control parameter calculation program stored in the ROM 629, and stores it in the NVRAM 602 (step 4). This parameter calculation method uses a parameter calculation method in which a result selected in advance according to the paper type is obtained by trial printing or the like.
The CPU 625 notifies the CPU 617 of the calculation result, and the CPU 617 displays the screen B on the display device 615 so that the calculated control parameter is visually recognized by the user (step 5).

The CPU 617 waits for any of the control parameters 302 and the registered paper type name 303 to be input by the input device 614. When the input is recognized, the CPU 617 saves the correspondence table between the registered paper type name and the control parameter in the NVRAM 602 (step 601). 6) Do.
As a result, the user can automatically obtain the control parameter corresponding to the paper type as the user registration control parameter simply by pressing the automatic registration button 300.
When the CPU 617 recognizes that the OK button 301 has been pressed, it ends the registration mode (step 7).
As a result, simply by pressing the automatic registration button 300, the user can automatically obtain the control parameter corresponding to the paper type, and thus the user setting is registered with a minimum of effort.

  According to the registration mode according to the first embodiment, the paper type detection unit that detects the characteristics of the conveyed paper, the user registration function that allows the user to register arbitrary printing conditions as user settings, and the paper type detection A printing condition determination unit that determines a printing condition according to a detection result by the unit, a registration mode in which the printing condition determined by the printing condition determination unit is associated with the characteristics of the paper, and is automatically registered as a user setting by a user registration function. Accordingly, the image forming apparatus is provided, and therefore, it is not necessary for the user to register printing conditions in accordance with the characteristics of the paper, so that the user's trouble can be saved.

Next, the operation when the paper type detection is skipped when printing is performed using the user settings registered in the registration mode will be described as a second embodiment with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
In FIG. 2, when the CPU 617 recognizes that the paper type selection function has been called by the input device 614, the screen C is displayed on the display device 615. When the input device 615 recognizes that the user setting on the screen C has been selected, the CPU 617 notifies the CPU 605. The same applies to other settings.
When the CPU 617 recognizes that a print start button (not shown) has been pressed by the input device 614, it notifies the CPU 605.

Therefore, the CPU 605 adds the above-described setting contents and instructs the CPU 625 to perform printing processing (step 1). The CPU 625 feeds paper from the paper feed tray 213 (step 2).
In addition, the CPU 605 confirms whether or not the print processing content is a user setting (step 3), and if it is a user setting, skips step 7 and step 8, reads the corresponding printing condition from the NVRAM 602, and sets a control parameter ( Step 4). Thereafter, image forming processing is performed by a known method (step 5), and the paper is discharged (step 6).
On the other hand, if the print processing content is not a user setting, the CPU 625 detects the characteristics of the paper by the media sensor 219 (step 7) and calculates control parameters (step 8). Thereafter, the same processing as in the case of user setting is performed.

  According to the registration mode in which the paper type detection is skipped, when the user registration control parameter is set, the processing by the paper type detection unit is skipped and omitted, so it is necessary for paper type detection at the time of printing. Time and the time required to reflect the printing conditions according to the detection result can be eliminated, and a reduction in productivity can be prevented.

Next, the operation when the user arbitrarily changes the printing condition automatically calculated in the registration mode will be described using the flowchart of FIG.
First, steps up to step 5 are performed according to the flowchart of FIG. Here, when the input device 614 recognizes that the parameter display content 302 of the screen B has been changed by the user (step 8), the CPU 617 rewrites the printing conditions stored in the NVRAM 602 (step 9). When the CPU 617 recognizes that the registered name 303 has been input by the input device 614, it stores a correspondence table of registered names and control parameters in the NVRAM 602 (step 6). Then, when the CPU 617 recognizes that the OK button 301 has been pressed, it ends the registration mode (step 7).

  In the embodiment in which the user can arbitrarily change the printing condition automatically calculated in the registration mode, the printing condition changing unit that can arbitrarily change the printing condition determined by the printing condition determining unit by the user registration function is an image. As a result, the user can arbitrarily change the printing conditions determined by the printing condition determination unit in accordance with the user's own usage and preference.

Next, authentication processing will be described as a third embodiment with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
As described above, this authentication processing is used when the registration mode is restricted from being performed by a user other than the administrator, and is used to authenticate whether the user is an administrator. In the flowchart of FIG. 3, when the CPU 617 recognizes that the user authentication function has been called by the input device 614 (step 1), the screen D is displayed on the display device 615, and the user name and password are input to the user. (Step 2).

When the CPU 617 recognizes that the user name and password have been input (step 3), the CPU 617 searches the correspondence table of the user name and password stored in the NVRAM 602 (step 4). The screen E is displayed on the device 615 (step 5).
The user name / password correspondence table may be stored in an external device connected via a network or the like.

The user name / password correspondence table also stores a flag indicating whether or not the user is an administrator.
Therefore, if the authenticated user is an administrator, the paper type registration function can be called, and the flowchart of FIG. 1 is executed (step 6). As a result, the paper type is automatically detected and printing conditions suitable for it are detected. Will be automatically registered.

  The authentication processing according to the third embodiment has a user identification function for identifying each user and an administrator registration function for registering a specific user as an administrator. Only when the user is registered as an administrator by the user registration function, the use of the registration mode is permitted. As a result, it is possible to greatly contribute to the protection and management of the automatic registration contents by the user setting.

  Next, as a fourth embodiment, when calculating parameters in Step 4 of FIG. 1, for example, control parameters for known fixing processing such as target temperature, PID control parameters, fixing pressure, and the like are calculated and set in the fixing unit 205. In this case, since the printing condition becomes the fixing temperature control parameter, high image quality of the image forming apparatus can be easily realized.

  Further, as a fifth embodiment, at the time of calculating the above-described parameters, for example, a paper conveyance control parameter in a known paper conveyance process such as a conveyance speed and a contact amount to the registration roller is calculated and set in the transfer paper conveyance control unit 627. In this case, since the printing condition becomes the paper conveyance control parameter, an image forming apparatus with stable paper conveyance can be easily realized.

  Similarly, in the sixth embodiment, image formation control parameters in known image formation processing such as transfer bias and development bias are calculated and set in the electrophotographic process unit 626 at the time of the above-described parameter calculation. In this case, since the printing condition becomes the image formation control parameter, it is possible to easily realize high image quality of the image forming apparatus.

  Similarly, as the seventh embodiment, there is an image forming apparatus in which the media sensor 219 is a known displacement sensor, for example, and the displacement detected from before feeding to after feeding is determined as the thickness of the sheet. In this case, since the characteristic of the paper is recognized as the paper thickness, a control parameter depending on the paper thickness such as a fixing temperature parameter can be set, and accordingly, the image quality of the image forming apparatus can be set. This can further contribute to the realization.

  Similarly, in the eighth embodiment, the media sensor 219 is a known infrared reflection sensor, for example, and the paper is irradiated with infrared rays after feeding, and the intensity of the reflected light received by the light receiving element is determined as the reflectance of the paper. In this case, since the paper characteristics are recognized as the reflectance with respect to light, a control parameter depending on the reflectance of the paper such as a fixing temperature parameter can be set, for example. This can greatly contribute to the improvement of the image quality of the image forming apparatus.

  Similarly, as the eighth embodiment, the media sensor 219 is, for example, a known infrared transmission amount detection sensor, the paper is irradiated with infrared light after paper feeding, and the intensity of the transmitted light received by the light receiving element is determined as the paper transmittance. In this case, since the sheet characteristic is recognized as the light transmittance, a control parameter depending on the sheet thickness such as a fixing temperature parameter can be set. Therefore, the image forming apparatus can further contribute to high image quality.

201 Intermediate transfer belt cleaning unit 202 Fixing unit coating unit 203 Scanner unit 204 Paper discharge unit 205 Fixing unit 206 Intermediate transfer belt unit 207 Secondary transfer unit 208 Intermediate transfer waste toner bottle 209 Photoconductor cleaning unit 210 Photoconductor waste toner bottle 211 Charging Unit 212 Second paper feed tray 213 First paper feed tray 214 Writing unit 215 Toner cartridge 216 Development unit 217 Photosensitive belt 218 Intermediate transfer belt 219 Media sensor 600 Work memory 601 Frame memory 602 NVRAM (nonvolatile memory)
603 RAM
604 ROM
605 CPU
606 Network I / F controller 607 System I / F
608 FIFO buffer 609 FIFO buffer 610 Memory controller 611, 612, 613 Bus control 614 Input device 615 Display device 616 ROM
617 CPU
618 RAM
619 Bus control 620 Image data bus / control command bus 621, 622 Bus control 623 Image writing unit 624 Image reading unit 625 CPU
626 Electrophotographic process unit 627 Transfer paper conveyance control unit 628 RAM
629 ROM
630 System controller 631 Operation panel control device 632 Image input / output control device 633 Billing device I / F unit 634 Document conveyance control unit 635 Area recognition unit

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-108569 JP 2003-270827 A JP 2004-61755 A

Claims (5)

In an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet using a preset control parameter as a printing condition,
A paper type detection unit for detecting the characteristics of the conveyed paper, a printing condition is determined according to a detection result by the paper type detection unit, and a control parameter corresponding to the printing condition is automatically registered as a user setting control parameter. Printing condition determining means,
When executing the series of processes for forming an image on a sheet, when the user setting control parameter is used, the detection process by the paper type detection unit included in the series of processes is omitted. An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a printing condition changing unit capable of changing the user setting control parameter. User identification means for identifying a user and administrator registration means for registering a specific user as an administrator are provided, and the identification result by the user identification function is a user registered as an administrator by the administrator registration means. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the use of the printing condition determination unit is permitted only when the printing condition is determined. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control parameter is at least one of a fixing temperature control parameter, a sheet conveyance control parameter, and an image formation control parameter. The paper type detection means is at least one of means for detecting the thickness of the paper, means for detecting the reflectance of the paper with respect to light, and means for detecting the transmittance of the paper with respect to light. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.

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