JPH03279135A - Method of operating image processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten the sheet transfer time and the print-out time by preferentially transferring sheets to an image processing device from an upper sheet tray or in its longitudinal direction in a case such that sheets having a same size are loaded in a plurality of trays. CONSTITUTION:An input data is transmitted from a data input unit 31 to an image processing device body through a printer control device 40, and then, an image processing section processes an image with the use of xerography for a sheet transferred from one of sheet trays 19-1 through 19-5. In this case, if sheets having a same size are loaded in these sheet trays 19-1 through 19-5, sheets are transferred to the image processing device, preferentially from an upper one of the sheet trays.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus using xerography, and more particularly to a method of operating an image processing apparatus having a print function.

[Prior Art] A schematic configuration diagram of an image processing device has been developed in which a fluorescent display tube is attached to an image processing device using xerography, which is used exclusively as a copy machine, and has a print function. is shown in FIG. 1, in which information signals input in print or image from a computer or word processor (hereinafter sometimes referred to as a data input device) 31 are sent via a 7-link control device 40 to the main body of the image processing apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a data input device). (Sometimes referred to as a base machine.) 1 writing device, the information signal is written on the photosensitive drum using the writing device, and after a series of processing is performed, it is transferred to paper.

The information input by the data input device 31 is converted into a bitmap in the page memory 45 (see FIG. 3) of the printer control device 40 using the font information, etc. possessed by the printer control device 40, and is output to the base machine 1. .

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, the image processing apparatus described above has a problem in that it takes time to develop input information from the data input device 31 into the page memory 45 of the printer control device 40.

For code information such as characters from the data input device 31, the data development time to the page memory 45 is fast, but for graphic information etc., the data development time to the page memory 45 is slow.

The reason for this is that there are many input processing operations for graphic information on the input device 31 side, and the use of the Centro type interface 42 (see Figure 3), which has only an 8-bit transfer line, allows the printer to control large amounts of graphic data. 84 size of device 40, 240 D P I
(Dot per inch) 1MB, A3 size, 1.4MB page memory 45 at 240DPI
It may take about 60 seconds to develop.

In addition, it is also necessary to redeploy the data in order to adapt the output from the data input device 31, which is 160 DPI, to the specifications of the printer main body (base machine) l, which is 240 DPI, for example, and in that case, it takes even more time to develop the data. .

In the current situation where copied paper is required to be carried out from the base machine 1 within a few seconds from the copy start command, it takes a long time to develop the data into the page memory 45, and it takes time to print out the data. This is a major bottleneck for image processing devices with printing functions.

On the other hand, on the base machine 1 side, at least time is required to convey the paper to the transfer section 10 (FIG. 2) of the base machine 1.

Therefore, in this type of image processing apparatus, in which it takes a long time to develop data into the page memory 45, one of the major product development issues is how to shorten the printout time.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to speed up the printout time of an image processing apparatus as much as possible.

Another object of the present invention is to print out images as quickly as possible without impairing the operability of the image processing apparatus.

Furthermore, an object of the present invention is to shorten paper conveyance time.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following configuration.

That is, input information from a data input device is output to the image processing apparatus main body via a printer control device, and an image processing unit performs image processing using xerography on paper conveyed from a paper tray of the image processing apparatus main body. In an image processing device, when paper of the same size is placed in multiple paper trays, an image processing device operation method that allows the paper to be conveyed to the image processing section preferentially from the upper paper tray, or When the side paper tray runs out of paper, the paper is transported from the lower paper tray. When the upper paper tray is refilled with new paper, paper transport from the lower paper tray is stopped, and the upper paper tray is refilled. A method of operating the above-mentioned image processing device that transports paper from a paper tray to an image processing unit, or a method of operating the above-mentioned image processing device that transports paper from its longitudinal side to an image processing unit, or a method of operating the above-mentioned image processing device that transports paper from the longitudinal side of the paper to an image processing unit, or In an image processing device, input information is output to the image processing device main body via a printer control device, and the image processing unit uses xerography to perform image processing on paper conveyed from the paper tray of the image processing device main body. If it is detected that the paper is not newly placed on the image processing apparatus, the image processing apparatus starts transporting the paper to the image processing unit after a certain period of time has elapsed after the detection of the paper.

[Example] Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The base machine 1 shown in FIG. 1 is connected to a computer or word processor (data input device) 31 via a printer control device 40. The base machine 1 shown in FIG.

The information inputted by the data input device 31 is converted into a bitmap via the printer control device 40 using font information, etc. possessed by the printer control device 40 itself, and the information is sent to the base machine 1 to instruct the base machine 1 to start printing, the output drive to be used, and the output. A command is given as to which bin of the tray to output or which size of paper to select, and if the base machine 1 is in a printable state, a printing operation is performed.

Further, the outline of the base machine 1 using this fluorescent display tube will be explained using FIG. 2.

A photosensitive drum 2 is arranged inside the base machine 1.

In the figure, the photoreceptor 3 is formed in a layered manner on the outer peripheral surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 . This photosensitive drum 2 is connected to a drive device (not shown) so as to rotate in the direction of the arrow. A charge corotron 5, a condensing lens 7, a writing device 8 with a built-in fluorescent display tube, a developing device 9, a transfer corotron 10, and a cleaning device 11 are arranged around the outer periphery of the photosensitive drum 2.

In this image processing apparatus, as the photosensitive drum 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow, the photosensitive member 3 is moved to the charge corotron 5.
After being uniformly charged, an electrostatic latent image is formed upon irradiation with light from a fluorescent display tube. The condenser lens 7 is an arrangement of a large number of converging rod lenses 7 in order to condense light emitted from a large number of light emitting elements constituting a fluorescent display tube onto the photoreceptor 3.

The photoreceptor 3 on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is then developed using a developing device. The toner image formed on the photoreceptor 3 is transferred onto a sheet of paper by a transfer corotron 10, thermally fixed between a heat roll 26 and a pressure roll 27, and then transported out. On the other hand, the photoreceptor 3 is cleaned by a cleaning device 11 and is reused.

Further, when this image processing apparatus is used as a copying machine, the photoreceptor 3 on the charged surface of the photoreceptor drum 2 is exposed at the exposure point 13 . Here, the exposure point 13 is placed on the top surface of the base machine 1! A light image of a document (not shown) placed on the platen glass 12 is made incident thereon.

For this purpose, an exposure lamp 15 and a plurality of mirrors 16 and optical lenses 17 that transmit reflected light from the surface of the original illuminated by the exposure lamp 15 are arranged, and a predetermined one of these is used for scanning in order to read the original. It is now possible to do so.

Now, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original is formed on the photosensitive drum 2 by the image information exposed in a slit shape at the exposure portion 13. This electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device 9 to create a toner image.

The toner image moves as the photosensitive drum 2 rotates and passes near the transfer corotron 10.

On the other hand, the supply tray 19 disposed in the base machine 1
The paper 20 stored in the paper 20 or the paper 20 that is manually fed along the manual feed tray 21 is transferred to the feed roll 2.
2 or 23, and is guided by a transport roll 25 and passes between the photosensitive drum 2 and the transfer corotron 10.8 At this time, the toner image is transferred onto the paper 20. After the transfer, the paper 20 passes between a heat roll 26 and a pressure roll 27 and is thermally fixed. Then, the sorter 3, which is an output tray, passes between the conveyor rolls 29.
Exported to 0.

Further, the circuit configuration of the printer control device 40 of this image processing apparatus is shown in FIG.

The printer control device 40 is controlled by a CPU 68000. Information input from the data input device 31 is temporarily stored in the RAM 43A of the memory 43 in the printer control device 40 via an interface 42 such as the Centro system, and is developed into a bit map in the page memory 45 from the RAM 43A in the memory 43. Information in the page memory 45 is transmitted to the base machine 1 via the video interface 46.
Video data 47 is sent to. When the printing of the data in the page memory 45 is completed, the next data input device 3
The input data from 1 is transferred from RAM 43A of memory 43 to page memory 45.

Also, based on input information from the data input device 31, the printer control device 40 uses an interface 4 such as R5232C.
9, a print operation start command is sent to the base machine 1,
Instruct the paper tray to be used, output tray, which bin to output from the output drive, select the paper size, etc., and check from the base machine 1 whether the current operation mode of the base machine 1 is copy mode or print mode. or the number of bins used in the print paper output tray.

Therefore, for example, if the base machine 1 is in the copying state, the printer control device 40 outputs an output standby signal for the printer to the data input device 31 via the interface 42 such as the Centro system, and if the base machine 1 is in the printable state, Data is transferred from the data input device 31 to the RAM 43A of 43, developed into a bitmap in the page memory 45, and after completion of development, the data in the page memory 45 is transferred to the base machine 1 according to the command 50,
A print operation is performed.

Note that the ROM 43B of the memory 43 stores a program for operating the printer control device 40 and printer font information.

A non-volatile memory (NVM) 43C is also connected, so that necessary data can be saved even when the printer control device 40 is powered off.

In this way, the operation of the base machine 1 can be controlled based on commands from the operation panel of the data input device 31.

This printer control device 40 is also provided with an operation panel 41 similar to the console panel 32 of this base machine 1. That is, in addition to keys for setting the number of sheets to be printed and magnification, keys for setting print density are also arranged on the printer control device.

Although not shown, this base machine 1 is a distributed CPU using serial communication centered around the main CPU.
architecture is adopted.

That is, in addition to the main CPU, the following CPUs are prepared and connected to the communication line. The main CPU also plays the role of supervising these CPUs.

That is, a display used to display various information in kanji on the liquid crystal display attached to the console panel 32 (FIG. 1) of the sorter CPU and base machine 1, and to display an area for editing. Card CPU used when using an IC card to specify the coordinates of a document, etc.
, a slave CPU and the like for an interface between the base machine 1 and the data input device 31 are connected.

The main CPU's RAM (not shown) is connected to a battery for data backup, and the main CPU's RAM (not shown) is connected to a battery for data backup.
It is NVM-enabled so that necessary data can be saved even when the power is turned off.

Also, a driver circuit for the main CPU (not shown).

) is equipped with a well-known D/A (digital-to-analog) converter and PWM (pulse width converter), and is connected to a high-voltage power supply bag ff (HVPS) not shown.
The developer bias of the developing device 9 shown in FIG. 2 is set, the amount of light emitted from the exposure lamp 15 is set, the voltage value of the charge corotron 5, etc. is set.

Although not shown, this main CPU also controls the tray control section, sorter, paper size sensor, temperature sensor, light amount sensor, and the liquid crystal display section of the console panel.

For other control mechanisms of the base machine 1, please refer to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-283274.

Next, the paper conveyance system will be explained using FIG. 4.

The first to fifth supply trays 19-1 to 19-5 include a no-vapor sensor 90, a size sensor 91, and a clutch 9.
2 are provided respectively. Here, the no-vapor sensor 90 is a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of paper in the supply trays 19-1 to 19-5. The size sensor 91 is a sensor for determining the size of paper stored in the tray.The clutch 92 drives each of the feed rolls 22-1, 22-2, etc. This is a part for on/off control.

The paper is fed by a specially provided feed motor 93. A step motor is used as the 6-feed motor 93. A feed sensor 95 detects whether paper is being fed normally. The gate solenoid 96 is a registration solenoid for aligning the leading edge of the paper that has been sent out with the writing point. This gate solenoid 96 is
Unlike ordinary solenoids of this type, the gate opens when the current is not energized to allow paper to pass through.

That is, in a standby state where no paper arrives, no power is supplied to the gate solenoid 96, and the gate remains open. Just before the paper arrives, the gate solenoid 96 is energized and the gate closes to prevent passage. Then, when paper conveyance is resumed at a predetermined timing, the energization is stopped and the gate is opened. This type of control reduces fluctuations in the gate position when the leading edge of the paper is blocked from passing through, making it possible to accurately position the paper even when it is pressed against the gate with a relatively strong force. It can be carried out.

The manual feed switching solenoid 97 is connected to the first feed tray 19.
-0 manual feed tray sensor 99, which is a solenoid for switching the drive between the feed roll 22 for paper sent out from the manual feed tray 21 and the drive roll 23 for the paper fed manually from the manual feed tray 21, feeds multiple sheets of paper from the manual feed tray 21. This is a sensor for detecting the presence or absence of paper when feeding. The tray interlock 100 is an interlock switch attached to a mechanism that is opened and closed to remove paper jams when they occur. The tray path sensor 101 is a sensor that detects the paper sent from the second and third supply trays 19-2, 19-3, and is connected to the base machine 1 and these supply trays 19-2.
It is placed near the joint of 19-3. Further, the main board 102 is a board on which a main CPU (not shown) is arranged. Although not shown, the main motor is used to drive the photosensitive drum 2, the heat roll 26, or the conveyance system from the time of alignment (registration) of the conveyance timing of the sheet until it is ejected.

In this embodiment, all preparations for the print work of the base machine 1 are completed during the time-consuming data expansion of the printer control wave f40 into the page memory 45.

That is, the paper 20 is transported to the registration position A shown in FIG. 2 while the data is being expanded into the page memory 45, and the drive device such as the main motor of the base machine 1 and the high voltage power supply device are started. I'll let you.

Therefore, the drive device, which takes a certain amount of time (approximately 150 milliseconds for the main motor) to achieve a stable driving state, is heated up during page development, so the base machine starts printing as soon as the page development is completed. can.

Also, while the data is being expanded to the page memory 45, the high-voltage power supply device that also serves as the power source for the charge corotron 5 is activated, the photosensitive drum 2 is charged in advance, and the photosensitive drum 2 is moved to the corresponding part of the writing device 8. Then, the photosensitive drum 2 is charged by the charge corotron 5, and the time (approximately 0.5 seconds) required for the charged portion of the photosensitive drum 2 to reach the corresponding portion of the writing device 8 from the charge corotron 5 can be saved. Also, paper is transported to registration position A using tray 1, which is the shortest.
0.8 seconds even when conveying from 9-1, the longest tray 19-
Since it takes 3 seconds to transport from No. 5, that time can be saved.

Furthermore, if the printing operation does not start even after a certain period of time (5 to 10 seconds) has passed since the data has been loaded in the page memory 45, it may be because data is being transferred, which takes a very long time to load into the page memory. , printer control device 4
The paper 20 was transported to the registration position A in advance because it was determined that a problem had occurred at 0 etc.
is transferred to the intermediate tray 33 (FIG. 2), and the operation of the high-voltage power supply device, main motor, etc. is stopped.

This eliminates unnecessary driving of the above-mentioned devices of the base machine 1 and also eliminates noise accompanying the driving. Further, the photoreceptor 3 on the photoreceptor drum 2 is not inadvertently consumed.

Since text data is data that is transferred only by code, it takes 2 to 3 times to expand to the page memory 45 even if it is A4 size.
It only takes a few seconds, but graphic data requires about 60 seconds or more to develop. Since the majority of print data is text data, it is assumed that data with a development time of 20 to 30 seconds is small, and the paper 20 is transferred to the intermediate tray 3 as described above.
3.

In this way, when printing multiple sheets of the same document, taking into account that it takes time to convey the paper 20, the number of prints is also commanded to the base machine 1 at the same time as the print command, and during the printing operation of the -th sheet, Paper 2 for the next print is placed in advance from the supply tray 19 to the registration position A.
0, especially the fourth and fifth trays 19-4 and 19-5 from the top, which take a long time to convey.
This is highly effective in conveying the paper 20 from the beginning.

Next, the features of the present invention will be explained based on the flowchart of FIG.

In this embodiment, when there is a command to print multiple copies of the same document, the print number command is also transferred to the base machine 1 side, and the number of copies to be printed is sequentially conveyed from the tray to the registration position A.

At this time, since the conveyance time for the lower tray 19 is longer, if sheets of the same size are placed on a plurality of trays, the sheets are conveyed from the upper tray 19.

Moreover, at this time, when printing the same print on a certain number of sheets, for example, 5 or more sheets, the top row of "rA4 portrait"
When there is a sheet of paper of "rA4 size" in the next stage, the paper is fed horizontally, that is, the paper is conveyed from the longitudinal side of the paper (Long Edge Feed).

By doing this, as shown in FIG. 6, when the number of sheets to be printed is large, the data writing time can be saved by the difference B between the vertical and horizontal lengths of the sheets.

At this time, the control program for the CPU of the base machine 1 is set up so that when the upper tray 19 runs out of paper, the paper is automatically conveyed from the lower tray 19. When paper is newly supplied to the tray 19, the paper is immediately transported from the upper tray 19. In other words, each paper is transported from the paper trays 19-1, 19-2, 19-2, and 19-2. . . and select the trays 19-1, 19-2, . . . to which the paper should be conveyed.

In addition, if paper of the same size is placed on multiple trays, the upper tray 19 will run out of paper, and while the paper in the lower tray 19 is being conveyed, new paper will be refilled in the upper tray 19. As mentioned above, if the paper is loaded into the paper tray 19, the paper should be transported immediately from the upper tray 19. If paper conveyance is started immediately after the vapor sensor 90 detects the paper, paper jams may occur because the paper conveyance is not stable.

Therefore, when the no-vapor sensor 9o detects that a new sheet of paper has been placed on the paper tray 19, the start of sheet conveyance is delayed for a certain period of time, for example, one second.

This delay in the start time of paper conveyance is also performed when paper is placed on the manual feed tray 21. This is because the operator has placed paper on the manual feed tray 21 and has not yet released the paper. Furthermore, when the paper is drawn into the feed roll 23, the paper may be pulled against each other. At this time as well, the paper cannot be stably conveyed. Therefore, even if the manual tray sensor 99 detects that the paper is placed on the manual tray 21, the start of paper conveyance is delayed for a certain period of time, for example, 3 seconds.

To delay the start of paper transport, base machine 1
There is a method of outputting to the printer control device 40 the information that paper has been placed on the paper tray 19.
There is a method to delay the paper transport drive. Further, even if the base machine 1 outputs to the printer control device 40 that the paper has been placed on the paper tray 19, 21, the printer control device 40 may delay the print data by a certain period of time and then transfer the print data.

The reason for setting such a temporary delay in starting paper conveyance is to prevent paper conveyance from starting at the same time as paper detection, but such a phenomenon can only occur during printing.

That is, during copying, the operation for placing paper on tray 19 and the operation for issuing a copy start command are different, so the operator cannot perform a copy start command operation when placing paper on paper tray 19. Copy start command operation cannot be performed while paper is placed in the
At the time of printing, the print data has already been transferred to the base machine 1 from the data input device 31, so
Ready to print at any time. Moreover, since there is no need to perform a print start command operation, there is a risk that the operator starts transporting the paper as soon as the paper is placed on the tray.

Further, in this embodiment, the base machine 1 and the printer control device 40 each include a display device 32,41. The base machine 1 is configured to select, for example, the first paper tray 19-1 unless otherwise instructed.

Therefore, if the base machine 1 is not equipped with the tray 19 for B5 size paper, for example, but the printer control device 40 makes settings to use 85 paper, the display device 4 of the printer control device 40
1, please replenish rB5 paper.'', and the display device 32 of the base machine 1 displays, ``You can print/copy.''

Therefore, in order to eliminate such discrepancies between the display devices 32 and 41, a dummy paper tray like this is set up in the software so that the base machine 1 always has a virtual paper tray for paperless paper. By using
The display device 32 of the base machine 1 displays commands such as ``Unable to print,'' ``No print paper,'' or ``Please change the size of print paper.''
Output the paper size selection command and display the above! Eliminate discrepancies between

Also, at this time, the display device 32 of the base machine 1 displays "There is no paper of the size selected by the printer control device".
or display on the display device 41 of the printer control device 40.
A message such as "The printer does not have B5 size paper" may be displayed.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the present invention provides the following effects.

When paper of the same size is placed in multiple paper trays, the paper is transported to the image processing section from the upper paper tray first or from its longitudinal direction, reducing the paper transport time. It is possible to speed up printout time.

In addition, when it is detected that paper is newly placed in the paper tray, the paper is transported to the image processing unit after a certain period of time after the paper is detected, so that operability is not impaired. , you can print it out as quickly as possible.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of the image processing device, Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of the base machine, Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of the printer control device, Fig. 4 is a circuit diagram of the paper transport system, and Fig. 5 is a paper transport system diagram. The control flowchart, FIG. 6, is an explanatory diagram of the paper conveyance direction. 19...Paper tray, 31...Data input device, 4
0...Printer control device, 45...Page memory 2nd figure L--------j Conveying direction is ↑ Procedural amendment May 19, 1990

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) The input information from the data input device is output to the image processing device main body via the printer control device, and the image processing section uses xerography to perform image processing on the paper conveyed from the paper tray of the image processing device main body. An image processing apparatus characterized in that when sheets of the same size are placed on multiple paper trays, the paper is conveyed to the image processing section preferentially from the upper paper tray. Method of operation. (2) When the upper paper tray runs out of paper, paper is transported from the lower paper tray, and when the upper paper tray is refilled with new paper, paper transport from the lower paper tray is stopped. 2. The method of operating an image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising transporting the paper from the upper paper tray to the image processing section. (3) The method of operating an image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the paper is conveyed to the image processing section from the longitudinal side thereof. (4) The input information from the data input device is output to the image processing device main body via the printer control device, and the image processing section uses xerography to perform image processing on the paper conveyed from the paper tray of the image processing device main body. When an image processing device detects that paper is newly placed in the paper tray, the image processing device starts transporting the paper to the image processing unit after a certain period of time has passed after detecting the paper. Method of operation.