JP2016009130A - Image forming device and control method of image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device that causes an appliance to operate taking into consideration noise countermeasure of the appliance and convenience of a user.SOLUTION: An [alternation permission setting] is set with a [permission] when a [quiet sound mode] of a [manager setting] is [on], and when a user puts on the [quiet sound mode] of the [user setting], a job is executed by the [quiet sound operation] of (k3), and when the [quiet sound mode] is put off, the job is executed by the [quiet sound operation] of (k4). When the manger [permits] the [alternation permit setting], the job is executed by the [user setting], and when the [alternation permit setting] is [prohibited], the job is executed by the [manager setting].

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming apparatus control method capable of switching noise priority or performance priority to a device included in the image forming apparatus.

  An image forming apparatus, which is a printer, a multifunction printer, a multifunction peripheral device, or a multifunction peripheral (MFP), develops an electrostatic latent image of a document formed on a photoreceptor with toner supplied from a developing device. Then, the toner image is transferred to a sheet taken out from the paper feed cassette and fixed, and the sheet on which the toner image is transferred is discharged from the image forming apparatus. In the process of printing the document on the paper as described above, the roller rotates when the paper is taken out from the paper feed cassette and when the paper is discharged from the image forming apparatus. In recent years, it has become possible to improve the printing speed by increasing the rotation of the roller. However, if the rotation of the roller is made faster, there is a problem that the noise caused by the motor that rotates the roller increases. For this reason, according to recent technology, when it is desired to suppress the noise of the motor, the user performs a quiet setting that can slow down the rotation of the motor. For example, in the silent operation mode management system for a printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, the print speed is reduced or the normal operation while executing the print job based on attributes such as the job size, repetition, and used medium of the print job. By transitioning to speed, an increase in volume generation due to a high operating speed of a motor or the like is suppressed.

JP 2012-020881 A

  However, the silent operation mode management system for a printing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 can suppress the noise of the printing apparatus by changing the printing speed according to the characteristics of the print job. However, there is a problem in that it cannot be executed at a high operation speed due to the transition of the printing speed.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of solving the above-described problems.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus including a mechanism that operates in a silent mode in which priority is given to noise suppression or performance improvement, and the manager sets the silent mode. Administrator setting means, change permission setting means for setting permission or prohibition of change of the silent mode of the administrator, user setting means for setting the silent mode of the user, and silent operation or normal to the mechanism An operation mode selection means for selecting an operation mode of operation, and when the change permission setting is permitted, the operation mode selection means selects the silent mode of the user, and the change permission setting is prohibited And selecting the silent mode of the manager.
In the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the user setting unit is set before starting execution of the job, and the job is executed in the silent mode selected by the operation mode selection unit.
Further, the silent mode of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is set for each mechanism.
Further, the mechanism of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is a mechanism for conveying paper.
An image forming apparatus control method according to the present invention is a method for controlling an image forming apparatus including a mechanism that operates in a silent mode in which priority is given to noise suppression or performance improvement. An administrator setting step for setting the silent mode, a change permission setting step for setting permission or prohibition of the change of the silent mode of the administrator, a user setting step for setting the silent mode of a user, and the mechanism. An operation mode selection step for selecting an operation mode of silent operation or normal operation, and when the change permission setting is permitted, the operation mode selection step selects the silent mode of the user and the change permission When the setting is prohibited, the silent mode of the manager is selected.
Further, the user setting step of the image forming apparatus control method of the present invention is set before starting execution of the job, and the job is executed in the silent mode selected in the operation mode selection step. Yes.
The silent mode of the image forming apparatus control method of the present invention is set for each mechanism.
Further, the mechanism of the control method of the image forming apparatus of the present invention is a mechanism for conveying paper.

  The present invention provides an image forming apparatus capable of operating a device in consideration of noise countermeasures for the device and user convenience, and a control method for the image forming device.

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a control block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a table | surface which shows the operation mode selection list which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the operation mode selection execution process which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described with reference to the drawings. An image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment is an image forming apparatus that forms an image such as a printer, a multifunction printer, a multifunction peripheral device, or a multifunction peripheral. Referring to FIG. A unit 3, a main body unit 4, and an operation unit 5 are provided. The document reading unit 2 is disposed on the top of the main body unit 4, and the document feeding unit 3 is disposed on the top of the document reading unit 2.

  On the front side of the image forming apparatus 1, an operation unit 5 for setting and operating instructions of the image forming apparatus 1 is disposed. The operation unit 5 is provided with a liquid crystal display unit 51 and operation buttons 52. The user operates the operation unit 5 to input an instruction, thereby performing various settings of the image forming apparatus 1 and executing various functions such as image formation. The liquid crystal display unit 51 displays the state of the image forming apparatus 1, displays the image forming status and the number of copies, and can be used as a touch panel to perform various settings such as functions such as double-sided printing and black-and-white reversal, magnification setting, and density setting. It has become. The operation buttons 52 include a start button for instructing start of image formation, a stop / clear button for instructing to stop image formation, a reset button used when various settings of the image forming apparatus 1 are set to a default state, a numeric keypad, and the like. Is provided.

  Referring to FIG. 2, the document reading unit 2 includes a scanner 21, a platen glass 22, and a document reading slit 23. The scanner 21 includes a light source 24 using an LED (Light Emitting Diode) and a light receiving unit 25 including a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) line sensor, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) line sensor, and the like. The unit 3 is configured to be movable in the conveyance direction of the document MS (manuscript). The document reading slit 23 is a slit formed in a direction orthogonal to the transport direction of the document MS by the document feeding unit 3.

  The document feeding unit 3 includes a document placement unit 31, a document discharge unit 32, and a document transport mechanism 33. The document MS set on the document placement unit 31 is sequentially fed out one by one by the document transport mechanism 33, transported to a position facing the document reading slit 23, and then discharged to the document discharge unit 32. The document feeding unit 3 and the document reading unit 2 are connected to each other by a hinge mechanism on the back side of the image forming apparatus 1, and the document feeding unit 3 functions as a platen cover that opens and closes the upper surface of the platen glass 22. . By opening the document feeder 3 upward, the upper surface of the platen glass 22 is opened, and the document MS can be set on the platen glass 22.

  When reading of the document MS is instructed by the operation button 52 of the operation unit 5 in a state where the document MS is not set on the document placement unit 31 or in an opened state where the document feeding unit 3 (platen cover) is opened. A document MS set on the platen glass 22 is read. When reading the document MS placed on the platen glass 22, the scanner 21 is moved to a position facing the platen glass 22, and the document MS set on the platen glass 22 is moved in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction. The image data is obtained by scanning while scanning from the sub-scanning direction reference line B, and the obtained image data is output to the control unit 7 (FIG. 3) in the main body unit 4.

  When reading of the document MS is instructed by the operation button 52 of the operation unit 5 in a state where the document MS is set on the document placement unit 31, the document MS conveyed by the document feeding unit 3 is read. The document MS is set on the document placement unit 31 with the front surface (surface from which a document image is read) facing up. Then, the document MS set on the document placement unit 31 is conveyed from the left side by the document feeding unit 3, and the surface of the document MS is guided to a position facing the document reading slit 23. Further, when reading the document MS conveyed by the document feeding unit 3, the scanner 21 is moved to a position facing the document reading slit 23 and is synchronized with the conveying operation by the document feeding unit 3 via the document reading slit 23. Then, the original MS is read to acquire image data, and the acquired image data is output to the control unit 7 (FIG. 3) in the main body unit 4.

The main body 4 includes a recording unit 6, and includes a paper feed unit 41, a paper feed roller 42, a paper transport path 43, a registration roller 44, and a discharge roller 45. The paper feed unit 41 is a paper feed cassette that stores a plurality of sheets of paper P, and the paper feed roller 42 feeds the paper P from the paper feed unit 41 to the paper transport path 43 one by one. The paper P that has been fed to the paper transport path 43 by the paper feed roller 42 is transported to the recording unit 6 by the registration roller 44. The registration roller 44 conveys the paper P so that the leading edge of the paper P supplied from the paper feed cassette and the leading edge of the image read from the document are aligned. The paper P on which recording has been performed by the recording unit 6 is discharged by a discharge roller 45 into a discharge space 46 formed between the document reading unit 2 and the main body unit 4. As described above, the paper feed roller 42, the registration roller 44, and the discharge roller 45 function as a conveyance unit for the paper P.
The paper feed roller 42 operates at a speed slower than the normal paper feed speed (hereinafter referred to as “low speed paper feed speed”) or a normal paper feed speed (hereinafter referred to as “high speed paper feed speed”). It can be executed in "normal operation" that operates in

  The recording unit 6 includes a photosensitive drum 61, a charging unit 62, an exposure unit 63, an image forming unit 64, a transfer unit 65, a fixing unit 66, and a cleaning unit 67. The exposure unit 63 is an optical unit including a laser device, a mirror, and the like. The exposure unit 63 outputs a laser beam based on image data to the photosensitive drum 61 uniformly charged by the charging unit 62 and exposes the photosensitive drum 61. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the drum 61. The image forming unit 64 is a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 61 using toner, and forms a toner image based on the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 61. The transfer unit 65 transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 61 by the image forming unit 64 to the paper P. The fixing unit 66 heats the paper P on which the toner image is transferred by the transfer unit 65 to fix the toner image on the paper P. The toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 61 is removed by the cleaning unit 67.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. The document reading unit 2, document feeding unit 3, transport unit (feed roller 42, registration roller 44, discharge roller 45), operation unit 5, recording unit 6, storage unit 8, and communication unit 9 are the control unit 7. And the operation is controlled by the control unit 7. The control unit 7 includes an operation mode selection processing unit 71.

The control unit 7 is an information processing unit such as a microcomputer including a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. The ROM stores a control program for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 7 reads out a control program stored in the ROM and develops the control program in the RAM, thereby controlling the entire apparatus according to predetermined instruction information input from the operation unit 5.
The operation mode selection processing unit 71 selects either an operation mode in which the administrator and the user execute a print job while suppressing noise from the operation unit 5 or an operation mode in which the print job is executed with priority on performance over noise suppression. Then, a request to operate in the selected operation mode is output to the paper feed roller 42. Details of the processing of the operation mode selection processing unit 71 will be described later.

  The storage unit 8 is a storage unit such as a semiconductor memory or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and stores image data of the document MS read by the scanner 21 as well as various management information and setting information. .

  The communication unit 9 has a function of transmitting / receiving various data to / from a peripheral device 11 such as a personal computer and another image forming apparatus 1a via a network 10 such as a LAN. The communication unit 9 is configured to be connectable to the Internet 13 via the network 10 and the router 12. The communication unit 9 has a function of transmitting / receiving various data to / from various communication devices connected to the Internet 13.

Next, an operation mode selection list 80 indicating operation modes selected from the administrator setting and the user setting will be described with reference to FIG.
The operation mode selection list 80 includes items of “manager setting” and “user setting”. In addition, items “ON” and “OFF” for “silent mode” are provided in “manager setting” and “user setting”. When the “silent mode” is “on”, the noise reduction operation is performed to suppress the noise that the sheet feeding roller 42 operates at a low sheet feeding speed. When the “silent mode” is “off”, the sheet feeding roller 42 is at a high speed. Normal operation gives priority to performance that operates at the paper feed speed. The “manager setting” includes an item “change permission setting”, and the “change permission setting” includes items “permitted” and “prohibited”. Whether the sheet feeding roller 42 operates in a silent operation or a normal operation with respect to such “manager setting” and “user setting” will be described below.

  First, a case will be described in which “silent mode” of “manager setting” is “on” and “permitted” is set in “change permission setting” in the operation mode selection list 80. In such a case, when the user sets “silent mode” of “user setting” to “on”, the sheet feeding roller 42 becomes “silent operation” shown in (k1), and the user sets “silent operation” of “user setting”. When the “mode” is set to “off”, the paper feed roller 42 is set to “normal operation” shown in (k2). In other words, because the administrator has set “Allow” for “Change permission setting”, “On” of “Silent mode” set by the user regardless of “On” of “Silent mode” set by the administrator Or it can be changed to “off”.

  Next, a case where “silent mode” of “manager setting” is “on” and “prohibition” is set to “change permission setting” in the operation mode selection list 80 will be described. In such a case, even if the user sets “silent mode” of “user setting” to “on” or “off”, the sheet feeding roller 42 performs the “silent operation” shown in (k3) or (k4). In other words, because the administrator has set “change prohibition setting” to “prohibited”, the “silent mode” set by the administrator regardless of whether the “silent mode” is set to “on” or “off”. Cannot be changed to “On”.

  Next, a case will be described in which “silent mode” of “manager setting” is “off” and “permitted” is set in “change permission setting” in the operation mode selection list 80. In such a case, when the user sets “silent mode” in “user setting” to “on”, the sheet feeding roller 42 becomes “silent operation” shown in (k5), and the user sets “silent operation” in “user setting”. When the “mode” is set to “off”, the sheet feeding roller 42 is set to “normal operation” shown in (k6). In other words, because the administrator has set “Allow” for “Change permission setting”, “On” of “Silent mode” set by the user regardless of “Off” of “Silent mode” set by the administrator Or it can be changed to “off”.

  Next, a case where “silent mode” of “manager setting” is “off” and “prohibition” is set to “change permission setting” in the operation mode selection list 80 will be described. In such a case, even if the user sets “silent mode” of “user setting” to “on” or “off”, the sheet feeding roller 42 is in “normal operation” shown in (k7) or (k8). In other words, because the administrator has set “change prohibition setting” to “prohibited”, the “silent mode” set by the administrator regardless of whether the “silent mode” is set to “on” or “off”. Cannot be changed.

Next, the operation mode selection process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
First, the administrator selects either “On” or “Off” of “Silent Mode” of “Administrator Setting” displayed on the touch panel of the liquid crystal display unit 51 in advance, and then “Allow” of “Change Permission Setting” "Or" Prohibited ". When the operation unit 5 inputs “ON” or “OFF” of “silent mode” selected by the administrator and “permit” or “prohibition” of “change permission setting” and outputs them to the control unit 7, the control unit 7 Stores “on” or “off” of “silent mode” and “permission” or “prohibition” of “change permission setting” in the storage unit 8. Note that before the administrator performs “administrator setting” and “change permission setting”, the administrator inputs a password, and the administrator can be set when the password is authenticated.

  Next, when the user executes a print job, either the print setting such as the number of prints or the print paper size is selected from the touch panel of the liquid crystal display unit 51, and “ON” or “OFF” of “Silent Mode” of “User Setting” is selected. The operation button 52 starts printing. With this operation, the operation unit 5 inputs print settings, “user settings”, and print start, and outputs them to the control unit 7. When the print setting, “user setting”, and print start are input, the control unit 7 first activates the operation mode selection processing unit 71. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 prints image data received from the peripheral device 11 or another image forming apparatus 1a (hereinafter referred to as “reception printing”), or prints such as FAX transmission / reception history (hereinafter referred to as “report”). The control unit 7 also activates the operation mode selection processing unit 71 when “print” is started. When the operation mode selection processing unit 71 is activated, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 starts the operation mode selection processing.

(Step S101)
First, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 inputs “manager setting” and “change permission setting” stored in the storage unit 8.

(Step S102)
Next, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 determines whether it is the start of printing from the operation button 52 by the user. When printing is started by the user (Yes in step S102), the process proceeds to step S103. When it is not printing start by the user but reception printing or report printing is started (No in step S102), the process proceeds to step S107.

(Step S103)
In step S102, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 determines whether the “change permission setting” is “permitted”. When the “change permission setting” is “permitted” (Yes in step S103), the process proceeds to step S104. When the “change permission setting” is not “permitted” but “prohibited” (No in step S103), the process proceeds to step S107.

(Step S104)
In step S103 Yes, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 determines whether the “silent mode” of the “user setting” is “on”. When the “silent mode” of “user setting” is “ON” (Yes in step S104), the process proceeds to step S105. When the “silent mode” of “user setting” is not “on” but “off” (No in step S104), the process proceeds to step S106.

(Step S105)
In step S <b> 104 Yes, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 ends the operation mode selection processing when a request for “silent operation” is output to the paper feed roller 42.

(Step S106)
When the operation mode selection processing unit 71 outputs a “normal operation” request to the paper feed roller 42 in No in step S <b> 104, the operation mode selection processing ends.

(Step S107)
In step S102 No or step S103 No, the operation mode selection processing unit 71 determines whether the “silent mode” of the “manager setting” is “on”. When the “silent mode” of the “manager setting” is “ON” (Yes in step S107), the process proceeds to step S108. When the “silent mode” of “manager setting” is not “on” but “off” (No in step S107), the process proceeds to step S109.

(Step S108)
In step S107, when the operation mode selection processing unit 71 outputs a “silent operation” request to the paper feed roller 42, the operation mode selection processing ends.

(Step S109)
When the operation mode selection processing unit 71 outputs a “normal operation” request to the paper feeding roller 42 in step S107 No, the operation mode selection processing ends.

  As described above, when “change permission setting” is set to “permitted” by the administrator, the print job is executed by “ON” or “OFF” of “silent mode” of “user setting” regardless of “administrator setting”. . When the administrator sets “change permission setting” to “prohibited”, the print job is executed by “on” or “off” of “silent mode” of “administrator setting” regardless of “user setting”. Accordingly, in consideration of the environment in which the image forming apparatus 1 is installed, the administrator performs “manager setting” and “change permission setting”, and the user performs “user setting”, so that the image forming apparatus 1 is configured. Either priority can be given to noise suppression or improvement of print job performance can be selected as appropriate.

  In the embodiment, the silent mode in which the administrator performs “administrator setting” and “change permission setting” in advance and the user performs “user setting” when starting the job has been described. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. . For example, it is possible that the user performs “user setting” but the administrator does not perform “administrator setting”. In such a case, the paper feed roller 42 operates in the “silent mode” of “user setting”. It is also possible for the administrator to perform “administrator setting” but not to perform “user setting”. In such a case, the paper feed roller 42 operates in the “silent mode” of the “manager setting”.

  In the embodiment, when the user starts printing from the operation button 52, the user performs “user setting”. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when a print job is executed from a PC, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet terminal, or the like on which the print driver of the image forming apparatus 1 is installed, “user setting” can be performed by the print driver.

  In the embodiment, the image forming apparatus 1 including one sheet cassette 41 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of sheet cassettes 41 may be included. In such a case, since the paper feed roller 42 is attached to each paper feed cassette 41, it is also possible to perform “manager setting” and “user setting” for each paper feed roller 42.

  Further, in the embodiment, it has been described that the sheet feeding roller 42 is operated by switching to either the low sheet feeding speed for suppressing noise or the high sheet feeding speed for improving performance. Since the registration roller 44 and the discharge roller 45 are transported in conjunction with each other, the entire transport mechanism is effective. In addition to such a mechanism for transporting paper P, if the mechanism of the image forming apparatus 1 can be switched to either suppress noise or improve performance, one “ “Administrator settings” and “user settings” can be set, and “manager settings” and “user settings” that are different for each mechanism can be set. When performing different “Administrator Settings” and “User Settings” for each mechanism, set “Silent Mode” to “On” for the mechanism with the highest noise, and set “Silent Mode” to other mechanisms. It can also be turned “off”.

  In the embodiment, the case where the user executes a print job has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the image forming apparatus 1 such as document reading (scanning) or FAX transmission gives priority to noise suppression or performance. It can be applied to any job that operates and executes a device that can be switched to either one of priority.

  The image forming apparatus and the control method for the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can operate the apparatus in consideration of noise countermeasures of the apparatus and user convenience.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by specific embodiment, it cannot be overemphasized that the said embodiment is an illustration of this invention and is not limited to this embodiment.

  The present invention is suitable for an image forming apparatus and a control method for the image forming apparatus, but is not limited to the image forming apparatus and the control method for the image forming apparatus. Can be generally applied to a device and a device control method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image forming apparatus 1a ... Image forming apparatus 2 ... Document reading part 3 ... Document feeding part 4 ... Body part 5 ... Operation unit 6 ... Recording unit 7 ... Control unit 8 ... Storage unit 9 ... Communication unit 10 ... Network 11 ... Peripheral device 12 ...... Router 13 ... Internet 21 ... Scanner 22 ... Platen glass 23 ... Original reading slit 24 ... Light source 25 ... Light receiving unit 31... Document placement unit 32... Document discharge unit 33... Document transport mechanism 41. ··········· Paper transport path 44 ··· Registration roller 45 ··· Eject roller 46 ··· Eject space 51 ··· ... Liquid crystal display part 52 ... Operation buttons 61 ... Photosensitive drum 62 ... Charging part 63 ... Exposure part 64 ... Image forming part 65. ... Transfer section 66 ... Fixing section 67 ... Cleaning section 71 ... Operation mode selection processing section 80 ... Operation mode selection list

Claims (8)

An image forming apparatus including a mechanism that operates in a silent mode in which priority is given to noise suppression or performance improvement.
An administrator setting means for setting the silent mode of the administrator;
Change permission setting means for setting permission or prohibition of the change of the silent mode of the administrator;
User setting means for setting the silent mode of the user;
An operation mode selection means for selecting an operation mode of silent operation or normal operation for the mechanism;
The operation mode selection means selects the silent mode of the user when the change permission setting is permitted, and selects the silent mode of the administrator when the change permission setting is prohibited. Image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the user setting unit is set before starting execution of a job, and the job is executed in the silent mode selected by the operation mode selection unit.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the silent mode is set for each mechanism.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mechanism is a mechanism that conveys a sheet. A control method for an image forming apparatus including a mechanism that operates in a silent mode in which priority is given to noise suppression or performance improvement.
An administrator setting step for setting the silent mode of the administrator;
A change permission setting step for permitting or prohibiting a change of the silent mode of the manager;
A user setting step for setting the silent mode of the user;
An operation mode selection step of selecting an operation mode of silent operation or normal operation for the mechanism,
The operation mode selection step selects the silent mode of the user when a change permission setting is permitted, and selects the silent mode of the administrator when the change permission setting is prohibited. Control method for image forming apparatus.   6. The control of an image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the user setting step is set before starting execution of a job, and the job is executed in the silent mode selected in the operation mode selection step. Method.   The method of controlling an image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the silent mode is set for each mechanism.   The method of controlling an image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the mechanism is a mechanism that conveys a sheet.

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