JP3148785B2 - Copy machine with trial copy function - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copying machine having a trial copy function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A copying machine is usually provided with an automatic density adjusting device, which controls image forming conditions so that an appropriate recorded image density can be obtained in accordance with the density of a document. However, depending on the type of the original, the optimum image quality may not be obtained by the automatic density adjustment.

Therefore, in such a case, the automatic density adjustment is canceled and the density is adjusted manually, or the reference density in the automatic density adjustment is adjusted.

Normally, the density of a copying machine is adjusted by changing a developing bias or an exposure lamp voltage by operating a density adjusting volume or a density adjusting key on an operation panel. In most cases, a density adjustment key that is excellent in use is used. The density adjustment key includes a pair of keys for instructing an increase and a decrease. Each time one of the keys is pressed, the developing bias or the exposure lamp voltage increases or decreases in a stepwise manner, and a plurality of keys are displayed on the operation panel. The display element corresponding to the currently selected density among the arranged display elements such as LEDs is turned on.

The display element is usually provided with about 7 to 15 steps so that the density difference between steps is not so large, but the actual density difference between steps is adjusted automatically or manually. However, there is also a problem that it is difficult to intuitively grasp the relationship between the lighting position of the display element and the actual density, since it differs between the steps.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 221457/1990 discloses that an image is formed at a desired density by using a fine adjustment key to make the density change between steps smaller than a standard value. . However, the apparatus described in the publication has a problem in that it is not possible to determine which step corresponds to the density desired by the user unless copying is actually repeated many times.

To solve this problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No.
According to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-80071, at the time of trial burning operation,
Exposure in which the exposure amount is increased or decreased over a plurality of steps centering on the exposure dial setting value at that time is arranged in a slit shape on one piece of copy paper for trial printing, and then a visualization process is performed. There has been proposed a trial printing apparatus which enables an appropriate exposure value to be determined by visually observing images at various densities appearing in a slit shape in parallel on a copying paper for printing.

[0008]

However, in the test printing apparatus described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-80071, it is intuitive to which range of the set value each density of the test printed image corresponds. However, there is a problem that it is difficult to grasp the situation. If the set value step and the density change step do not correspond one-to-one,
There was a problem that the relationship between the set value and the density could not be known.

An object of the present invention is to make it possible to intuitively grasp which range of a set value corresponds to each density of a test printed image.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a density selecting means for selecting the density of an image recorded on a recording paper, and a plurality of display sections corresponding to different densities. A density display means for displaying the density selected by the density selection means, and a test copy function of recording an image on recording paper while changing the density stepwise around the density selected by the density selection means. In a copying machine equipped with the above, the range of density to be changed stepwise is specified on the display unit by specifying the division value of the image of the test copy.
Each step before and after the selected concentration to be displayed
Characterized in that a means for displaying on the density display means by.

[0011]

Since the density step range in the test copy is displayed by the display element, the relationship between the actual density and the density step can be easily recognized.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The features of the present invention will be specifically described below based on embodiments with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an operation panel of a copying machine having a test copy function according to the present invention. Operation panel 1
The density adjustment keys 2, 3 for selecting the density of the copy density
A density display unit 4 having a plurality of display elements such as LEDs (light emitting diodes) corresponding to different densities, a test copy mode button 5 for setting the operation mode of the copier to the test copy mode, and an operation mode of the copier. A trial copy mode selection display element 6 indicating that the trial copy mode has been set, a copy number display portion 7 for displaying the set number of copies, a numeric keypad 8 for setting the number of copies, and the like, for canceling the setting. Clear switch 9, start switch 10 for instructing start of copying
Etc. are provided.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electric circuit of the copying machine.

The operation panel 1 provided with the various keys and the display unit is connected to a control unit 11. This control unit 11
A bias voltage or the like is applied to a main motor 12 that rotationally drives a photosensitive member or the like, an exposure device 13 that exposes a uniformly charged photosensitive member to form an electrostatic latent image, and a developing device 14 that develops the electrostatic latent image. , A feeder 16 for feeding out a sheet on which a developed image is transferred, and a fixing device 17 for fixing an image on the sheet. In the present embodiment, the control unit 11 controls the high voltage circuit 15 so that the developing bias in the developing device 14 can be changed. When the trial copy mode button 5 provided on the operation panel 1 is pressed, a trial copy mode selection flag is set, and the state of the trial copy mode selection flag is stored inside the control unit 11.

Next, the operation of the copying machine having the above-described test copy function will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Prior to the start of copying, an original is set on the original platen of the copying machine, the number of copies is input from ten keys 8 provided on the operation panel 1, and the density is set by the density adjusting keys 2 and 3. Shall be

First, the operation during normal copying will be described.

First, it is determined whether or not the trial copy mode button 5 has been pressed. Since it has not been pressed, the process proceeds to step 102, where it is determined whether or not the density adjustment keys 2 and 3 have been pressed. If not, or if the test copy mode has not been selected after being pressed (step 103), the mode setting in the normal copy mode is performed (step 104), and then the start key 1
When 0 is pressed (step 105), the test copy mode flag is checked (step 106). Since the flag has not been set here, the process proceeds to step 107, where the set number of copies is set in the normal copy mode. Performed at the specified concentration. At this time, in the developing device 14, a developing bias corresponding to the density step set by the setting keys 2 and 3 is used. Note that the developing bias is set between a normal mode for copying a character original or the like and a photo mode for copying a halftone photograph or the like.
Different development biases are assigned to the same step. Table 1 shows an example of the relationship between the density step and the developing bias in each mode.

[0019]

[Table 1] Next, the operation in the test copy mode will be described.

First, it is determined whether or not the test copy mode button 5 has been pressed. Since the test copy mode button 5 has been pressed, the routine proceeds to step 108, where the test copy mode flag is checked. When the trial copy mode button 5 is pressed for the first time, the trial copy mode flag has not been set so far, so the process proceeds to step 109, the trial copy mode selection flag is set, and the trial copy mode selection display element 6 is set. Light. Next, the initial value of the split value, for example,
"5" is read (step 110). The division value designates the number of divisions of the test copy image in the process direction, and an odd value is set. Next, this initial value is set as a division value, and the time T for one division is obtained by calculating T = paper size / division value / process speed, and is selected to be displayed on the density display section 4. The number of steps S before and after the density is obtained by the calculation of S = (divided value−1) ÷ 2 (step 111). Next, the display elements for S steps before and after the density selected in the density display section 4 are turned on (Step 112), and Step 10 is performed.
Proceed to 2. If the density adjustment keys 2 and 3 are pressed and the test copy mode flag is set (step 103), the division value is increased or decreased according to the density adjustment keys 2 and 3 (step 113). That is, each time the density adjustment key 2 is pressed, the division value is increased by one, and each time the density adjustment key 3 is pressed, the division value is decreased by one, and the process proceeds to step 111.

When the setting of the division value is completed, step 102
The process proceeds from step 104 to step 104 to set the mode in the normal copy mode (step 104).
Is pressed (step 105), the test copy mode flag is checked (step 106). Since the flag is set here, the process proceeds to step 113, where one copy is executed in the test copy mode (step 11).
4). That is, development is performed while changing the developing bias stepwise at such a timing as to divide the paper in the step corresponding to the set division value. Thereafter, the test copy mode selection flag is reset, the test mode selection display element 6 is turned off, and only the display element of the selected density is turned on (step 115).

If the trial copy mode button 5 is pressed while the trial copy mode has already been selected, the process proceeds to steps 101, 108 and 116, where the flag for trial copy mode selection is reset. The selected display element 6 is turned off, and the process proceeds to step 102.

As described above, by performing development while changing the developing bias stepwise during the copying operation of one sheet, the original as shown in FIG. A test copy is obtained. When one trial copy operation is completed, the operation mode of the copier is automatically returned to the normal copy mode. However, the trial copy mode button 5 is pressed again to return to the normal copy mode.

As described above, by performing one test copy, the actual copy density of several steps before and after the currently selected density step can be confirmed. In addition, since the range of the density step corresponding to the density change range at the time of the test copy can be easily known, the density step to be set when creating a final copy based on the result of the test copy is determined. No more getting lost or lost. FIG. 5A shows a display state of the density display unit 4 in the normal copy mode when the density step is set to “5”, and FIG.
Shows the display state of the density display section 4 when the trial copy mode is selected, when the division value is set to "5" in the density step "5".

In the test copy mode, even when the number of copies set on the operation panel 1 is two or more, control is performed so that only one copy is performed.
As a result, it is possible to prevent unnecessary copying from occurring due to a user operation error. During the copying operation or during the process for changing the density level stepwise, the display elements within the density step range of the density display unit 4 may be blinked in correspondence with the processing order. In this case, there is an advantage that the processing state can be easily recognized. In the above-described embodiment, one density step on the image and one display element of the density display unit 4 correspond to each other on a one-to-one basis. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The display unit 4 may correspond to one display element. In this case, there is an advantage that a wider range of density steps can be displayed with the same number of display elements.

In the above embodiment, an image having a plurality of density steps is formed on one copy. However, images having different density steps may be output on different copies. Good. In this case, it is desirable to print a number indicating the density step on the copy. This is because the density difference between each copy is small,
This is because when the copies are separated, it becomes difficult to distinguish each copy.

[0027]

As described above, in the present invention, since the density step range in the test copy is displayed by the display element, the relationship between the actual density and the density step can be easily recognized. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an operation panel of a copying machine having a test copy function according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an electric circuit of the copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of the copying machine.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a density display example in a density display unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a document and a test copy.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Operation panel, 2, 3 ... Density adjustment key, 4 ... Density display part, 5 ... Trial copy mode button, 6 ... Trial copy mode selection display part, 7 ... Copy number display part, 8 ... Numeric keypad,
9 ... clear switch, 10 ... start switch, 11 ...
Control unit, 12: Main motor, 13: Exposure device, 14:
Developing device, 15: High voltage circuit, 16: Paper feeding device, 17: Fixing device

Continuation of front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G03G 15/00 G03G 21/00

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A density selecting means for selecting a density of an image recorded on a recording sheet, and a density displaying means having a plurality of display sections corresponding to different densities and displaying the density selected by the density selecting means. In a copying machine having a test copy function of recording an image on recording paper while gradually changing the density around the density selected by the density selecting means, Image of trial copy of range
Is selected to be displayed on the display unit by specifying the division value of
A copying machine having a trial copy function, characterized by comprising means for displaying on said density display means at each step before and after the density .