JPH03140955A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the waiting time for operation and to allow the ending of many sheets of copying in a short period of time by resetting a panel operation flag at the start of a copying operation by a flag control means to disable the panel operation and setting the flag to able the panel operation upon ending of exposing. CONSTITUTION:A memory section ROM 2 in which programs for making copying operations, etc., are stored is connected to a central processing unit CPU 1 and various kinds of control for the purpose of copying are executed by the CPU 1 in accordance with the information in the ROM 2. The panel operation flag in the CPU 1 is reset by the CPU 1 when the copying operation is started. The operation of the copying operation button to be started at the point of this time is disabled. The panel operation flag is set and the operation on the panel 3 is able when the scanning for exposing ends. The operation to start the next copying or mode selection operation is, therefore possible from the end of the exposing without waiting for the completion of paper discharge. Thus, the operator's waiting time for the operation is eliminated and the execution of copying in a short period of time is possible.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and particularly to control contents of an image forming apparatus that copies an original by exposure scanning.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, copying machines (PP) that use plain paper as image forming devices have been used.
C) and a photosensitive and pressure sensitive copying machine using a photosensitive recording medium are well known.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 9, etc., a photosensitive recording medium made of microcapsule paper and developer paper is exposed to light reflected from an original to form a latent image of the original. The latent image on the microcapsule paper is then transferred to color developer paper, and this color developer paper is heat-fixed to complete the copying of the original.

In such RPC and photosensitive pressure-sensitive copying machines, the validity and invalidation of panel operations are controlled, and panel operations are disabled from the end of exposure until the ejection of paper is completed.

Therefore, after the paper has been completely discharged and the panel operation becomes valid, the operation button is used to start copying.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, in conventional image forming apparatuses, it may take some time from the end of exposure to the completion of paper ejection, and in this case, panel operations are disabled, so it is difficult to make the next copy. There was a problem in that the panel operations for preparation for starting, mode selection, etc. could not be performed at all, which was inconvenient.

In other words, in the case of copying machines that use plain paper, this is not a problem because the time until the paper is ejected is relatively short, but in the case of light- and pressure-sensitive copying machines in particular, the sensitivity of the photosensitive recording medium is low, so the exposure The copying speed is slow, and it takes a considerable amount of time from the end of exposure to the completion of paper ejection. Therefore, until the paper is ejected and the panel operations become valid, the operator cannot start the next copy or operate the panel to prepare for the next copy, and the operator is forced to wait until the paper is ejected, wasting time. will be spent.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to eliminate the operator's waiting time for operations,
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can perform copying in a short time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a flag control means for controlling validity/invalidity of a panel operation using a panel operation flag, and a copy start operation when the panel operation is valid. In an image forming apparatus that starts an image forming process including exposure and resets the panel operation flag at the start of a copy operation to disable the panel operation, the flag control means sets the panel operation flag after the exposure is completed. This feature is characterized in that panel operations are enabled.

[Function] According to the image forming apparatus having the above configuration, the panel operation flag is reset by the flag control means and stage at the start of the copying operation, so the panel operation becomes invalid, and after the exposure is completed, the panel operation flag is reset by the flag control means. Since this is set, panel operations are enabled. Therefore, the next panel operation such as copy start operation or mode selection operation can be performed after exposure is completed without waiting for the completion of paper ejection.

[Example] Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the internal configuration of the control unit of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment, and a central processing unit (CPU) 1 having a built-in storage unit (RAM) has a program for performing a copy operation. A storage unit (ROM) 2 in which information such as the following information is stored is connected, and based on the information in this ROM 2, a CPU performs various controls such as copy failure, and this CPU also functions as a flag control means, which is a feature of the present invention. do.

Further, operation information from the operation panel 3 is input to the CPUI, and the CPUI is configured to output a control command to the drive unit 4 according to this operation information.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of a photosensitive and pressure sensitive copying machine which is an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment, and this photosensitive pressure sensitive copying machine uses a photosensitive recording medium consisting of microcapsule paper and developer paper. This enabled full-color copying.

In FIG. 2, a copying machine 50 has a document table cover 11 and a document table glass 12 whose top plate portion is movable in the horizontal direction. I will put it there.

A light source consisting of an lXX rosin pump 13 and a semi-cylindrical reflecting mirror 14 extending in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the original platen glass 12 is fixed to the upper right side of the copying machine 50. Light is irradiated towards 12.

Therefore, the light emitted from the halogen lamp 13 sequentially illuminates the entire surface of the document table glass 12 from the left end to the right end as the document table glass 12 moves in the left-right direction. The light is transmitted through the transparent platen glass 12
The light passes through the light and is reflected by the document placed on top of it. In this case, since the document table cover 11 is provided to cover the upper surface of the document table glass 12, the irradiated light will not leak from any part other than the document.

Further, in order to irradiate the document with light emitted from the halogen lamp 13 with high efficiency, a full-color beam 15 is arranged to the left of the light source to reflect the light that is not directed directly toward the document and use it again to irradiate the document. To the right of the halogen lamp 13, there is a fan 16 and a looper 7 that blow out air to the outside.
is provided, thereby making it possible to lower the ambient temperature near the halogen lamp 13 and to also cool the document table glass 12.

Irradiated from the halogen lamp 13 as described above,
The light reflected from the original placed on the original table glass 12 enters the lens 19 via the filter 18, and the filter 18 changes the light transmission characteristics according to the sensitivity characteristics of the microcapsule paper 47. The color tone of the copied image is adjusted, and the lens 19 is attached to a plate 20, allowing minute angle adjustment with respect to the optical path.

The direction of the light collected by the lens 19 is changed by 180 degrees by the two reflecting mirrors 21, and an image is formed on the microcapsule paper 47 closely positioned below the exposure table 29. Note that the two reflecting mirrors 21 are mounted on the plate 2.
2, and adjustment of the optical path length, focus adjustment, mirror attachment, and attachment of the plate 22 are performed by fine adjustment of the position.

On the other hand, a long microcapsule paper 47 is wound around a cartridge shaft 23 and stored in a removable cartridge 23 disposed below the document platen glass 12, and one end of the paper is connected to the pressure developing device 30. through the winding shaft 35
is supplied to.

That is, the microcapsule paper 47 coming out from the lower part of the cartridge 24 is guided by the feed roller 25 and the tie roller 27 and passes below the exposure table 29, and then passes through the pressure developing device 3.
0. Thereafter, the microcapsule paper 47 that has passed through the pressure developing device 30 is guided by a peeling roller 33 and a meandering adjustment roller 34, and then wound onto a winding shaft 35. Note that the unexposed microcapsule paper 47 after leaving the cartridge 24 is maintained in an unexposed state by the light shielding cover 26.

The transport speed of the microcapsule paper 47 is controlled to be constant by the capsule paper feed roller 32, and is made to match the moving speed of the document table glass 12. Predetermined latent images of the original are sequentially formed on the images.

Further, a developer paper cassette 42 that stores cut paper type developer paper 48 is provided below the pressure developing device 30, and the developer paper 48 is taken out one by one by a half-moon roller 43 and transferred to the developer paper roller 44 and the resist. After the leading end is aligned by the gate 45, the paper is transported to the paper entrance of the pressure developing device 30.

The pressure developing device 30 is supplied with a microcapsule paper 47 and a color developer paper 48 in close contact with each other and integrated, and the microcapsule surface of the microcapsule paper 47 and the color developer coated surface of the color developer paper 48 are supplied. are integrated with each other in contact with each other on the inside, and pressure is applied to both by being sandwiched between the small diameter roller 31 and the backup roller 41. Therefore, in the pressure developing device 30, the unexposed microcapsules are destroyed by the pressure applied by the roller, and an image is formed on the color developing paper 48.

The microcapsule paper 47 and the color developer paper 48 conveyed from the pressure developing device 30 are separated by a capsule paper feed roller 33 in a direction in which the microcapsule paper 47 is upward and the color developer paper 48 is in the perpendicular direction. After the color developing paper 48 is prompted to develop color by the heat fixing device and an image is formed, the color developing paper 48 is transferred to the paper output tray 37.
The microcapsule paper 47 is conveyed out with the image side facing upward, and the microcapsule paper 47 is then passed through a meandering adjustment roller 34 and wound around a winding shaft 35. The heat fixing device includes a hollow heat roller 39 having a heater 40 therein, and a developing paper feed roller 38.

According to the copying machine 50 having the above configuration, first, the document table glass 12
moves to the right in FIG. 2 and stops at a position where the left end of the document table glass 12 faces the light source.

Thereafter, the halogen lamp 13 is turned on and the document table glass 12 is moved to the left. After the light emitted from the halogen lamp 13 is reflected by the original, a filter 18,
The microcapsule paper 47 is reflected by the lens 19 and two reflecting mirrors 21 and is then positioned below the exposure table 29.
imaged on top.

At this time, the microcapsule paper 47 is
The image on the document is formed as a latent image on the microcapsule paper 47 because the microcapsule paper 47 is moved leftward on the exposure table 29 at the same speed as the movement speed of the microcapsule paper 47 .

0 Then, as the document table glass 12 moves to the left,
The color developer paper 48 is transferred to the color developer paper cassette 4 by the half-moon roller 43.
2, and is supplied to the pressure developing device 30 in a state where it is overlapped with the exposed microcapsule paper 47. As a result, the latent image on the microcapsule paper 47 is developed into a color and is transferred onto the color developer paper 48. transcribed.

Thereafter, the color developing paper 48 is thermally fixed by a thermal fixing device, and is discharged from the copying machine 50. On the other hand, the microcapsule paper 47 that has passed through the pressure developing device is sequentially wound around the winding shaft 35. When the right end of the document platen glass 12 finishes moving to a position facing the light source, copying of the document is completed and the halogen lamp 13 is turned off.

Next, the copy operation control of this embodiment will be explained in detail based on FIG.

First, when a copy start button on a panel (not shown) is pressed, a copy operation is started in step 1 (hereinafter simply referred to as Sl, and other steps are treated similarly). Then, in S2, the panel operation flag in the CPU is reset by the CPU that controls the copy operation, so the operation of the copy operation button after this point becomes invalid.

In the next step 83, the document table glass 12 is returned to the exposure stop position, the lamp is turned on in S4, and at the same time, the paper feeding operation is started in S5.

Then, in S6, exposure scanning is started, and after a predetermined time, S6
At step 7, pressure development is started and the process moves to step S8.

In S8, it is determined whether or not the exposure scan in S6 has been completed, and when it is determined that the exposure has been completed, a panel operation flag is set in S9. Therefore, at this point, operations on the copy start button, mode setting button, etc. on the panel become effective.

In the next step 810, it is determined whether or not the discharge of the copied paper has been completed, and if "YES", the copying operation ends.

Here, if a panel operation is performed before paper ejection is completed in SIO, an interrupt request is input from the panel operation section to the CPUI, and the CPU checks that the 2 panel operation flag is set.
The system executes the operation corresponding to the panel operation within the interrupt routine and returns.

If the content of the panel operation is an operation of the copy start button, the copy restart flag is set in the interrupt routine and the process returns.

Therefore, in the case of "NO" in S10, the following 811
After returning, it is determined whether the copy restart flag is set, and if it is detected that the copy restart flag is set (“YES”),
The process advances to S12, where the copy restart flag is reset, and the process returns to S1, where the next copy operation is started.

Furthermore, when the panel operation flag is reset,
Even if a panel operation is performed, the CPU detects that the panel operation flag has been reset in the interrupt routine, so the CPU ignores the panel operation and returns to the main routine.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments,
Various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

For example, due to problems such as the processing power of the CPU mentioned above, S1
If the sheet ejecting operation of 0 and the mechanical operation corresponding to the panel operation cannot be performed simultaneously, it is also possible to perform only the panel display following the panel operation and execute the mechanical operation after the sheet ejecting operation is completed.

Since the photosensitive and pressure sensitive copying machine described above can perform continuous copying using photosensitive recording paper, it is possible to reduce the amount of unnecessary conveyance of photosensitive recording paper such as microcapsule paper, which is a major effect in reducing running costs. There is also.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, the flag control means resets the panel operation flag at the end of the copy operation to disable the panel operation, and sets the panel operation flag at the end of the exposure to disable the panel operation. Since this is enabled, there is no waiting time for the operator's operations, and it becomes possible to complete a large number of copies in a short time.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus No. 4-, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing copy operation control in the embodiment. 1... CPU (including panel control means), 2...
ROM, 3... Operation panel, 4... Drive unit, 12.
・・Document table glass, 13・Halogen lamp, 19・
... Lens, 21 ... Reflection mirror 29 ... Exposure stage, 30 ... Pressure developing device, 37 ... Paper output tray, 42 ... Color developer paper cassette, 47 ... Microcapsule paper, 48 ...Developer paper, 50...Copy machine.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] It has a flag control means for controlling validity/invalidity of the panel operation using a panel operation flag, and starts the image forming process including exposure by the copy start operation when the panel operation is valid, and also starts the copy operation. In the image forming apparatus that sometimes resets the panel operation flag to disable the panel operation, the flag control means sets the panel operation flag after exposure is completed to enable the panel operation. Image forming device.