JPH01274178A - Image recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To securely set a power saving mode and to improve the reliability and safety by without decreasing the operability by detecting the outside brightness and controlling the temperature of a fixing means according to the detection result. CONSTITUTION:A preheating control means 10 judges that the lighting in the room is turned off when the brightness detected by an optical sensor 11 detects becomes lower than a certain set level, and then weakens the preheating of a fuser 28 or sets the power saving mode; when incoming or a document is detected in the power saving mode, the fuser 28 is turned on to set the fixing means at constant temperature, and recording paper where an image is recorded is fixed thermally. When the image recording is finished, the fuser 28 is turned off and the power saving motor is entered. Consequently, the power saving mode can securely be set without decreasing the operability and the reliability and safety can be improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for thermally fixing recording paper on which an image has been recorded.

[Conventional technology]

A conventional image recording device includes a facsimile device using a laser printer or the like. Many such devices have been put into practical use in recent years because they have advantages such as good recorded image quality and good storage stability.

- For boat fishing, the above device performs image exposure by modulating laser light according to image information read from a document or image information received from another facsimile device, and then develops the image exposure and transfers it to recording paper. The recording paper on which the image has been recorded is thermally fixed with a fixing roller and discharged onto a discharge tray or the like.

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, unlike a thermal printer, in the above device, unless the user of the fixing roller is kept at a constant temperature,
Thermal fixing by the fixing roller is not performed well, resulting in defects in the image on the recording paper. Therefore, in order to bring the user to a constant temperature, it is necessary to make the warm-up time extremely long. In addition, with the above devices, the long warm-up time is not a problem once the received image information is stored in the memory (memory reception); Since the warm-up time cannot be increased, it is necessary to preheat the user in a standby state. Furthermore, since the power of the facsimile machine is never turned off due to its nature, there is a problem of wasted power consumption, especially late at night, and a resulting reduction in safety and reliability.

One way to deal with this is to set a power-saving switch similar to copying machines and set it to a power-saving mode that reduces power consumption late at night, but since setting the power-saving mode depends on the user's manual effort, There was a problem that performance and operability deteriorated.

The present invention was developed in view of the above problems, and the purpose is to provide an image recording device that can be reliably set to power saving mode without reducing operability, and that can improve reliability and safety. shall be.

(Means and effects for solving the problems) The present invention includes a light detecting means such as a light sensor that detects external brightness such as lighting in a room in which an image recording device such as a facsimile machine is installed; and a preheating control means for controlling preheating to maintain the fixing means at a constant temperature according to the brightness detected by the sensor, and when the brightness detected by the optical sensor falls below a certain set level, the indoor When it is determined that the lights have been turned off, the preheating of the user is weakened or stopped, and the power saving mode is set. If a call is received or a document is detected during the power saving mode, the user is turned on and the fixing means is kept at a constant temperature. The recording paper on which the image has been recorded is thermally fixed by the fixing means, and when the image recording is completed, the user is turned off again and the power saving mode is set.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings of FIGS. 1 to 3.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an image recording apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, a control circuit 10 is comprised of a CPU, ROM, etc. (not shown), and controls each device of the facsimile machine and controls the input/output of information, signals, and the like.

The light detection circuit 12 detects the brightness of the room in which the facsimile machine is installed based on the detection signal of the light sensor 11 composed of a photocell, a phototransistor, etc., and supplies the detection result to the control circuit 10. .

A transmission control circuit (hereinafter referred to as rNcUJ) 13 controls data transmission of image information with other facsimile devices, etc., and the received image information is once stored in the image storage memory 14 and then stored in the image storage memory 14. memory 14
The image is read out from the image and sent to the laser printer 15 as an image recording target.

As shown in FIG. 2, the laser printer 15 includes a laser light generator 20 that generates laser light, an optical modulator (A10) 21 that modulates the laser light based on the image information,
A rotating polygon 5122 that scans the modulated laser beam and irradiates it onto the photosensitive drum 24 via a reflecting mirror 23 to form an exposed image, a developing device 25 that develops the exposed image, and a photosensitive drum 24 that is transferred onto a recording paper 26. It is composed of a fixing row 527 and the like that thermally fixes the image. The fixing roller 27 is provided with a user 28 that keeps the temperature of the roller constant, and the temperature of the user 28 is controlled by the control circuit 10.

The scanner 16 has detection means such as a switch 29 for detecting a document, and the control circuit 1o causes the scanner 16 to read the document based on the detection of the document by the detection means.

Next, the power saving mode operation of the control circuit 10 shown in FIG. 1 will be explained.

First, the control circuit 10 determines the brightness or darkness of the room based on whether the detection result of the optical sensor 11 is longer than a predetermined period, and also determines whether or not image information is received from the NCU 13.
The presence or absence of image information of a document to be printed in the image storage memory 14 and the presence or absence of a document on the scanner 16 by turning on/off a switch 29 are detected. And control 0 circuit 1
0 is a condition when the detection result of the optical sensor 11 is at least a predetermined time, that is, when the room is brighter than the brightness set for the above-mentioned time (see Figure 3), or the above-mentioned incoming call, image information to be printed. , when any one of the documents on the scanner 16 is detected, temperature control is performed by turning on the heater 28, and preheating the heater 28 keeps the fixing roller 27 at a constant temperature. Creates a special state where biographies can be recorded. Also, as a condition, if the detection result of the optical sensor 11 is below a predetermined period, that is, the room is darker than the brightness set in the above period (see Figure 3), and the above-mentioned incoming call, image information to be printed, and the image information to be printed are displayed on the scanner 16. If none of the originals is detected, the control circuit 10 determines that it is nighttime and the indoor lighting is damp and there is no image to be printed, and sets the power saving mode to weaken or stop the preheating of the user. Then, the user is controlled (see FIG. 3). When an incoming call or a document is detected during the power saving mode, the user is turned on, the fixing roller is set at a constant temperature, and the recording paper on which the image has been recorded is thermally fixed by the fixing roller;
When image recording is completed, the user is turned off again and set to power saving mode.

Note that the threshold for determining the brightness of the room can be set in advance in memory, or can be set arbitrarily by the user.

Therefore, with this Komei, the temperature of the user can be automatically controlled according to the brightness and darkness of the room lighting and the above conditions, eliminating the need for the user to switch the facsimile machine to power saving mode, and This will reduce waiting time. That is, according to the present invention, power consumption can be reduced by using the power saving mode in a normal facsimile machine without reducing operability. Also,
According to the present invention, it is also possible to control the temperature of the user only by the brightness and darkness of the indoor lighting.

(Effects of the Invention) As explained above, in this Komei, the external brightness is detected and the temperature of the fixing means is controlled according to the detection result. Can be set to power saving mode, improving reliability and safety

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the schematic configuration of the image recording device 9 according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the schematic configuration of the laser printer shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 1
It is a figure which shows the relationship with the preheating of the user shown in the figure. 10... Control circuit, 11... Optical sensor, 12...
Photodetection circuit, 13...Transmission control circuit (NCU), 14
...Image storage memory, 15...Laser printer, 1
6... Scanner, 20... Laser generator, 21.
... Light modulator (A10), 22 ... Rotating polygon mirror, 23
...Reflector, 24...Photosensitive drum, 25...Developer, 26...Recording paper, 27...Fixing roller.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) An image recording apparatus that has a fixing means set at a constant temperature and heat-fixes a recording paper on which an image has been recorded by the fixing means, comprising: a light detection means for detecting external brightness; and a light detection means for detecting external brightness; An image recording apparatus comprising: preheating control means for controlling preheating for maintaining the fixing means at a constant temperature according to detected brightness. (2) A document detecting means for detecting a document to be recorded, an incoming call detecting means for detecting an incoming image information, and a fixing means set at a constant temperature, and the image information of the document detected by the document detecting means. and an image recording apparatus in which the recording paper on which an image is recorded based on the image information detected by the incoming call detection means is thermally fixed by the fixing means, comprising: a light detection means for detecting external brightness; and a light detection means for detecting external brightness; and a preheating control means for controlling preheating to maintain the fixing means at a constant temperature in accordance with detection of image information by the incoming call detection means and detection of brightness by the light detection means. image recording device.