JP4553744B2 - Image forming apparatus and image processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a plurality of types of calibration functions, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that performs efficient image processing by performing predetermined competition control when performing calibration.

Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus typified by a color printer or the like, the electrical or mechanical state of the image forming output changes due to a change in the environment in which the apparatus is placed, deterioration or wear of parts, Even when the same image is output, the color and density of the output image may be different before and after that.
Therefore, an image forming apparatus such as a color printer is provided with a color correction function called calibration that suppresses color change and density reduction of an output image so that the output image maintains a constant image quality.

  Here, as the type of calibration, bias calibration in which correction is performed by adjusting a bias, or color density gradient (γ table) at the time of actual image output is set by arithmetic processing and correction is performed. There are a plurality of types of calibration functions such as / O calibration, and various calibrations are executed according to the specifications, settings, usage mode, and the like of the image forming apparatus (see Patent Document 1).

  By the way, although the calibration as described above has an advantage that the output image can be maintained at a constant image quality, other processing such as printing cannot be performed while the calibration is being performed, and extra calibration is required for generating a test pattern. In addition, there is a negative aspect that a toner is used, and it is not preferable that calibration is performed unnecessarily. In view of this, an image forming apparatus has been proposed in which the calibration execution timing is efficiently controlled according to the output mode and the like, and the frequency of calibration is minimized (see Patent Document 2). .

JP 2002-296851 A (pages 8-9, FIG. 6) Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-177822 (page 1-2, FIG. 2)

However, with the calibration control methods proposed so far, it is possible to control the calibration execution timing suitable for each image characteristic to be output, but multiple calibrations competed. In some cases, the execution timing of each calibration could not be controlled.
For this reason, when the same type of calibration competes at the same timing, the same type of calibration is performed repeatedly or repeatedly, and the conventional problems remain unresolved. .

  The present invention has been proposed in order to solve the above-described problems of the conventional technology. When performing calibration, the same type of calibration is repeatedly performed by performing predetermined competition control. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus and an image processing program that can reliably prevent the occurrence of the image and perform efficient image processing.

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is provided with two or more kinds of calibration functions performed to maintain an output image at a predetermined image quality. A calibration execution unit that executes a predetermined calibration, a calibration execution management unit that controls the calibration execution unit based on a predetermined calibration request, and executes the predetermined calibration according to the request. The calibration execution management unit, when there is a request for bias calibration during execution of bias calibration and IO calibration, does not permit execution of bias calibration according to the request, and the bias being executed Continue until calibration is complete It is constituted to control the calibration executing section as that.

  According to another aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus of the present invention, when the calibration execution management unit generates another calibration request related to a different type from the calibration during execution of one calibration. The calibration execution unit is controlled to execute different types of calibration related to the request after completion of the calibration being executed.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus of the present invention further includes a calibration history management unit that stores calibration history information including the type and end time of the calibration executed by the calibration execution unit. When the calibration execution management unit generates a single calibration request, the same type of calibration as the calibration request is received within a predetermined time based on the calibration history information stored in the calibration history management unit. When it is executed, the calibration execution unit is controlled so as not to execute the calibration related to the request.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention having such a configuration, the same type of calibration that occurs at a predetermined timing is not executed during or after execution of a certain calibration, and duplicate calibration processing is performed. Will be avoided. Specifically, if there is a calibration being performed, the same type of calibration as that being performed is not performed, and if there is no calibration being performed, it is set in advance. The execution of the same type of calibration within a predetermined time is avoided.

As a result, in the present invention, effective calibration processing is performed while suppressing unnecessary execution, image formation / output maintaining a constant image quality is possible, wasteful toner consumption can be suppressed, and Further, the standby time during which the printing process cannot be performed by executing calibration can be shortened as much as possible, and the work efficiency of the entire image forming apparatus can be improved.

In addition, it is possible to set the optimal calibration execution interval according to the type of calibration, and it is possible to flexibly respond to the type and content of the image, the usage status of the user, etc., and more efficient image Formation processing is possible.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image processing program comprising: a computer that constitutes an image forming apparatus having two or more types of calibration functions performed to maintain an output image at a predetermined image quality. Calibration execution means for executing a predetermined calibration, calibration execution management means for controlling the calibration execution means based on a predetermined calibration request and executing a predetermined calibration according to the request, calibration execution means causes calibrated history managing means for storing a calibration history information including the type and end time of the executed calibration function as, by, the calibration execution management unit, the bias calibration and IO calibration When running a request for bias calibration, it does not permit execution of the bias calibration to the request, and controls the calibration execution means so as to continue until terminated bias calibration running one When another calibration request related to a different type from the calibration occurs during the calibration of the current calibration, the calibration is performed so that the different type of calibration related to the request is executed after completion of the calibration being executed. When the first calibration request is generated, the same type of calibration as the calibration request is performed for a predetermined time based on the calibration history information stored in the calibration history management unit. To when running is an image processing program for functioning as a means of controlling the calibration execution means so as not to execute the calibration according to the request.

Thus, the present invention can also be provided as a program.
Thus, the present invention can be realized by installing the program not only in the image forming apparatus but also in various apparatuses including a computer, and can be provided as an image processing program excellent in versatility and expandability.

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, by performing predetermined competition control when performing calibration, it is possible to reliably prevent the same type of calibration from being repeatedly executed, and to perform efficient image processing. It becomes.
As a result, it is possible to perform image output while maintaining a constant image quality while suppressing the number of calibration executions, reducing the unusable time (waiting time) during calibration as much as possible, and wasting Toner consumption can be reduced, and efficient operation of the entire image forming apparatus can be realized.

A preferred embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.
Here, the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment described below is realized by processing, means, and functions executed by a computer in accordance with instructions of a program (image processing program, software). The program sends a command to each component of the computer to perform predetermined processing and functions as shown below. That is, each process / means in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment is realized by specific means in which a program and a computer cooperate.
Note that all or part of the program is provided by, for example, a magnetic disk, optical disk, semiconductor memory, or any other computer-readable recording medium, and the program read from the recording medium is installed in the computer and executed. The The program can also be loaded and executed directly on a computer through a communication line without using a recording medium.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
An image forming apparatus 10 according to the present invention includes an image forming unit 11, a system control unit 12, a mechanical control unit 13, an operation / display unit 14, an I / F unit 15, and an image output unit 16. A host computer 30 is connected.
The image forming unit 11 generates image data such as bitmap data based on the image information sent from the host computer 30 and sends it to the image output unit 16.

The system control unit 12 performs various kinds of control or arithmetic processing on each unit constituting the image forming apparatus 10, and specifically stores a CPU constituting the microcomputer and an image processing program. ROM (Read Only Memory), and RAM (Random Access Memory) for temporarily storing data are included.
The mechanical control unit 13 mainly controls the image output unit 16, and particularly plays a central role in calibration competition control in the present embodiment.
Therefore, the mechanical control unit 13 includes a calibration execution management unit 131, a calibration execution unit 132, and a calibration history management unit 133, each having a function necessary for calibration competition control.

The calibration execution management unit 131 receives a predetermined calibration request and controls execution of the calibration.
Specifically, a calibration request is received from the image forming unit 11, the system control unit 12, the operation / display unit 14, etc., and the request is rejected or executed to the calibration execution unit 132 based on a predetermined condition. It performs control such as issuing commands.
Here, the type of calibration includes, for example, bias calibration for adjusting the grid potential and development bias potential of the photosensitive drum, and updating the content of the gamma correction table in image processing together with bias calibration, etc. There are a plurality of types such as I / O calibration for correcting the gradation characteristics, and requests are made at their own timing.

In the present embodiment, for a plurality of types of calibration, when the same type of calibration conflicts / overlaps at a predetermined timing, the calibration execution management unit 131 performs a predetermined process for avoiding duplication processing. Contention control is performed.
Here, the same type of calibration that conflicts and overlaps refers to bias calibrations and I / O calibrations, but other than that, for example, during I / O calibration, for example. Since the same processing as the bias calibration is performed, the case where a bias calibration request is generated during or after the execution of the I / O calibration is also applicable.
Details of the calibration competition control will be described later.

The calibration execution unit 132 executes various calibrations in accordance with instructions from the calibration execution management unit 131.
The calibration history management unit 133 temporarily stores the end time and type of calibration executed by the calibration execution unit 132, and is used as data necessary for calibration competition control described later. .

The operation / display unit 14 is a unit that is directly operated by the user when the calibration is arbitrarily executed.
In addition, a display function for displaying a result of the operation, assisting operation, and the like is also included, and is usually configured by a liquid crystal panel, keys, and the like.
The I / F unit 15 is an interface with an external device. In this embodiment, the I / F unit 15 takes in image data transmitted from the host computer 30 through the communication line 20 and controls the image under the control of the system control unit 12. Transferring to the forming unit 11 is a main function.
The image output unit 16 prints out the image data generated by the image forming unit 11 mainly under the control of the mechanical control unit 13.

Next, calibration competition control of the image forming apparatus configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing calibration competition control of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.
First, image data from the host computer 30 is sent through the communication line 20, and printing is performed by the image forming apparatus 10 that has received the data is a basic operation.
Here, assuming that the image forming apparatus 10 has a calibration function, a calibration request is generated at various timings, such as every certain number of printed sheets, every time a certain amount of time has elapsed, or any user. Therefore, there are cases where these calibration requests and executions overlap.
The present embodiment is characterized by competition control when the calibration processes overlap in this way.

First, when a new calibration request is generated (step S1), it is confirmed whether or not another calibration is being executed.
Then, if there is no other calibration being executed, the process proceeds to step S3, and if another calibration is already being executed, the process proceeds to step S6 (step S2).

In step S6, the type of calibration currently being executed is confirmed. If the type is the same, calibration is not executed (steps S6 and S8). When the calibration being executed is completed (step S9), data such as the end time and the type of calibration is acquired and stored (step S11), and the series of calibration processing is completed (step S12).
On the other hand, if the type of calibration is different in step S6, the process proceeds to step S3 after waiting for completion of the calibration being executed (steps S6, S7, S3).

In step S3, if a calibration executed within a predetermined time before a request for a new calibration is extracted and the same type of calibration as the requested one exists, the request is detected. Calibration is not executed (steps S3 and S10), and the calibration process is terminated as it is (step S12).
On the other hand, if there is no same type of calibration as requested within a predetermined time in step S3, the requested calibration is executed (steps S3 and S4). Then, after the execution of calibration is completed (step S5), the end time and the type of calibration are acquired and stored (step S11), and the series of calibration processing is completed (step S12).
The data acquired in step S11 is stored in the calibration history management unit 133 as data necessary for subsequent calibration competition control, and is used for the determination in step S3 described above.

Next, details of calibration competition control of the image forming apparatus having the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 3 relates to an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and illustrates competitive control when a request for bias calibration occurs during execution of I / O calibration (including bias calibration). It is a sequence diagram.

First, it is assumed that there is a request for I / O calibration from the system control unit 12 to the mechanical control unit 13 (S101).
In response to this, the mechanical control unit 13 checks whether there is another competing calibration (S102).
As a result, when it is confirmed that there is no conflicting calibration, the requested I / O calibration is permitted to be executed, and a series of calibration processes is started.
Then, the image output unit 16 is notified that the calibration process has started (S103).

When the mechanical control unit 13 confirms that the image output unit 16 has received the notification (S104), the mechanical control unit 13 notifies the system control unit 12 that the request for calibration has been permitted (S106). A calibration display request is made to the display unit 14 (S105).
The operation / display unit 14 that has received the calibration display request displays that the calibration is being executed (S107). Thereby, the user can recognize that the calibration is currently being executed.
On the other hand, in the next stage, the system control unit 12 that is the request source of calibration transmits bias calibration data and I / O calibration data necessary for execution of I / O calibration to the image forming unit 11. (S108 to S116).

Here, in order to perform bias calibration first, first, bias calibration data is transmitted to the image forming unit 11 (S108).
Upon receiving the bias calibration data, the image forming unit 11 issues a print request to the mechanical control unit 13 (S109), and the mechanical control unit 13 subsequently issues a bias chart print request to the image output unit 16 (S110). ).
S111, S112, and S113 are response signals corresponding to S110, S109, and S108, respectively.

Next, in order to execute I / O calibration, the system control unit 12 transmits I / O calibration data to the image forming unit 11 (S114).
The image forming unit 11 that has received the IO calibration data makes a print request to the mechanical control unit 13 (S115), and then the mechanical control unit 13 makes an IO chart print request to the image output unit 16 (S116). ).

As shown in FIG. 3, at this time, the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment is executing two calibration processes of bias calibration and IO calibration.
Under such circumstances, in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, it is determined that bias calibration is necessary based on the original determination of the image output unit 16 (S117), and the request is made (S118). ).

In this case, the mechanical control unit 13 confirms whether or not there is another competing calibration as in S102 described above (S119).
In the case of the present embodiment, there are calibrations being executed (bias calibration and IO calibration), and the same type of calibration as the requested calibration is included therein.
Accordingly, execution of bias calibration requested by the image output unit 16 is not permitted, and the fact is notified to the image output unit 16 (S120).

Note that the two calibrations that are being executed continue to be executed until the respective processes are completed.
The calibration competition control sequence has been described above with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. 3. This mainly describes in detail the operations from steps S1 to S8 in the flowchart of FIG.

  As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment, the calibration being executed by mutual control by the calibration execution management unit 121, the calibration execution unit 122, and / or the calibration history management unit 123. If there is a calibration, the same type of calibration is not performed, and the same type of calibration within a predetermined time is also performed when there is no calibration being performed. Will be avoided.

As a result, the image forming apparatus 10 of the present embodiment performs effective calibration processing while suppressing unnecessary execution, enables image formation / output while maintaining a constant image quality, and wasteful toner. Consumption can be suppressed, and the waiting time during which the printing process cannot be performed by executing calibration can be shortened as much as possible, and the working efficiency of the entire image forming apparatus can be improved.
In addition, it is possible to set the optimal calibration execution interval according to the type of calibration, and it is possible to flexibly respond to the type and content of the image, the usage status of the user, etc., and more efficient image Formation processing is possible.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiment. However, the calibration competition control according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the present invention. It goes without saying that changes can be made.
For example, the image forming apparatus of the present invention is not limited to a printer, but may be a copier, a FAX, or a combined apparatus having these functions.

  The present invention can be used for image forming apparatuses such as printers, copiers, and fax machines, and can be suitably used particularly for image forming apparatuses having a plurality of types of calibration functions.

1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart showing calibration competition control in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram illustrating contention control when a request for bias calibration occurs during execution of IO calibration and bias calibration in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 11 Image forming part 12 System control part 13 Mechanical control part 131 Calibration execution management part 132 Calibration execution part 133 Calibration history management part 14 Operation / display part 15 I / F part 16 Image output part 20 Communication line 30 Host computer

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus having two or more types of calibration functions performed to maintain an output image at a predetermined image quality,
A calibration execution unit for executing predetermined calibration;
A calibration execution management unit that controls the calibration execution unit based on a predetermined calibration request to execute a predetermined calibration according to the request, and
When there is a request for bias calibration during execution of bias calibration and IO calibration , the calibration execution management unit does not allow execution of bias calibration according to the request and ends the bias calibration being executed. An image forming apparatus that controls the calibration execution unit so as to continue the operation until the operation is performed. When another calibration request related to a different type from the calibration is generated during execution of one calibration, the calibration execution management unit ends the calibration being executed for the different type of calibration related to the request. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calibration execution unit is controlled so as to be executed after waiting. A calibration history management unit for storing calibration history information including the type and end time of calibration executed by the calibration execution unit;
When one calibration request is generated, the calibration execution management unit executes the same type of calibration as the calibration request within a predetermined time based on the calibration history information stored in the calibration history management unit. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the calibration execution unit is controlled so that the calibration according to the request is not executed. A computer constituting an image forming apparatus having two or more kinds of calibration functions performed to maintain an output image at a predetermined image quality,
Calibration execution means for executing a predetermined calibration, calibration execution management means for controlling the calibration execution means based on a predetermined calibration request and executing a predetermined calibration according to the request, and a calibration execution means While functioning as calibration history management means for storing calibration history information including the type and end time of calibration performed,
Calibration execution management means
If there is a request for bias calibration during execution of bias calibration and IO calibration, execution of bias calibration related to the request is not permitted, and it is continued until the bias calibration being executed is completed. Control the calibration execution means,
When another calibration request related to a type different from the calibration occurs during execution of one calibration, the different type of calibration related to the request is executed after the calibration being executed is completed. Control the calibration execution means,
Furthermore, when one calibration request is generated, if the same type of calibration as the calibration request is executed within a predetermined time based on the calibration history information stored in the calibration history management means An image processing program for functioning as a means for controlling calibration execution means so as not to execute calibration according to the request.

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