JPH04201276A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To transmit and receive program data between first and second devices by receiving the program data from the outside by the first device and outputting this data and the control signal showing the output of the program data to the second device. CONSTITUTION:In the constitution consisting of a printing control circuit 53 developing image forming data as image data and an engine control circuit 52 forming an image corresponding to the image data from the printing control circuit 52, when program data is transmitted from the printing control circuit to the engine control circuit, the control signal showing the output of program data is also outputted and the engine control circuit receives supplied data as the program data on the basis of the control signal to load an RAM 73 with said data and, after down-loading, the processing corresponding to the program data is executed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention, for example, receives image data from an external device in an image forming section and develops the received data into pit image data. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer that prints a recorded image on a sheet of paper in a print section after the printing is performed.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, a laser printer receives image data from an external device in an image forming unit, develops the received data into bit image data, and then prints a recorded image on paper in a print unit (engine unit). Image forming apparatuses such as the following have been put into practical use.

Image formation in such a laser printer is performed through various steps such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, peeling, cleaning, and fixing. In such an image forming apparatus, a charging device, an exposure device, a developing device, a transfer device, a peeling device, a cleaning device, etc. are sequentially arranged around the photoreceptor drum.
Furthermore, it is provided with a fixing device that receives the paper from the peeling device, and executes each of the above image forming steps by driving each of the above devices according to the rotational movement of the photoreceptor drum to form an image on the paper. It has become.

In the print sequence between the image forming section and the printing section of such a laser printer, first, the printing section issues a data transfer request (PRINT PEQ), and if there is a page to be printed, the image forming section issues a print request to the printing section. Send (PRINT). The print unit receives a print request and starts transporting the paper, and when the paper is transported to a position where printing can start, it issues a data transfer start request (
VSYNCREQ). The image forming unit issues a print start request (VS
Send and issue YNC). Thereafter, the print unit sends a synchronization clock, the image forming unit transfers data (VDAT) in synchronization with the clock, and printing is started.

Therefore, conventionally, the data sent and received between the image forming section and the printing section is limited to control data such as commands and status, and data that informs the status of the printing section. It is being said.

For this reason, the data sent and received between the image forming section and the printing section includes a verity check bit for error detection, so all bits of the sent and received data are used to send and receive program data that requires The disadvantage is that it cannot be done.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, the present invention includes a first device that develops image forming data into image data, and a second device that forms an image according to the image data from the first device. 2, the data sent and received between the first device and the second device includes a parity check bit for error detection, so all bits of the data sent and received are This eliminates the drawback of not being able to send and receive necessary program data, and includes a first device that develops image forming data into image data, and an image forming device that processes image data according to the image data from this first device. and a second device that performs
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of transmitting and receiving program data to and from other apparatuses.

[Configuration of the Invention (9 Means for Solving the Problems) The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a first device that develops image forming data 3 into image data, and a device corresponding to the image data from the first device. and a second device for forming an image, wherein the first device is provided with receiving means for receiving program data from the outside, and a control signal indicating the output of the received program data and the program data. and an output means for outputting to the device No. 2,
When the second device is supplied with a control signal from the output means of the first device, a determination means for determining the content of the supplied data; storage means for storing the data from the output means of the first device when it is determined that the stored data is program data; and execution means for executing processing corresponding to the program data stored in the storage means. It was established.

(Function) The present invention provides the above-mentioned device comprising a first device that develops image forming data into image data and a second device that forms an image corresponding to the image data from the first device. A first device receives program data from the outside, outputs the received program data and a control signal indicating output of the program data to a second device, and the second device outputs the received program data and a control signal indicating output of the program data to a second device. When a control signal is supplied from the output means of the first device, the content of the supplied data is determined, and according to the result of this determination, if the supplied data is determined to be program data, the above-mentioned The data from the output means of the device J is stored, and processing corresponding to the stored program data is executed.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of an image forming apparatus of the present invention, for example, an image forming unit apparatus as a laser printer.

That is, the laser printer 1 includes a laser optical system 12.
, a photoreceptor tram 17, and a charging device 1 consisting of a scorotron.
8, a developing device 19, a transfer device 20 consisting of a corotron,
In addition to process systems such as the pre-exposure device 21 as a static eliminator, the fixing device 37, and the cleaning device 45, there are also paper feed cassettes 22a, 22b, delivery rollers 23a, 23b, aligning roller pair 25, conveyance guide 38, cage 3B, and ejector. Pairs of paper rollers 39, 42, etc. are provided. The laser optical system 12 includes a semiconductor laser oscillator (not shown) that generates laser light, a collimator lens (not shown) that corrects the laser light from this oscillator into parallel light, and a collimator lens (not shown) that converts the laser light from this lens into one scanning line. A polygon mirror (rotating mirror) 13 as a rotating body having a portion of an octahedral mirror that reflects each other, an f/θ lens 14, a mirror 15, and a mirror motor 16 that rotates (drives) the polygon mirror 13. It is configured.

During the image forming operation, the laser beam from the laser optical system 12 corresponding to an image signal from the external device (host device) 2 or the operation panel 62, which will be described later, forms an image on the surface of the photoreceptor tram 17. .

The photosensitive drum 17 rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and the surface thereof is first charged by the charging device 18, and then exposed by the laser optical system 12 in accordance with an image signal. That is, the laser beam generated from the semiconductor laser oscillator is scanned at a constant speed from the left to the right of the photoreceptor drum 17 as the polygon mirror 3 is rotated by the mirror motor 16, so that the laser beam remains static on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 17. A latent image is formed. This electrostatic latent image is made visible by applying toner by the developing device 19.

On the other hand, the paper P as the image forming medium in the paper feed cassette 22a or 22b is transferred to the feed roller 23a1 or 23a.
3b, the sheets are taken out one by one, guided through a paper guide path 24 to a pair of aligning rollers 25, and sent to a transfer section by the pair of rollers 25.

Further, the paper P supplied from the manual paper feed section 44 and guided to the aligning roller pair 25 is sent to the transfer section in accordance with a specification from the host device 2 or the operation panel 62, which will be described later. It has become.

The paper P sent to the transfer section is brought into close contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum 17 at the transfer device 20, and the toner image on the photoreceptor drum 17 is transferred by the action of the transfer device 200. The transferred paper P is peeled off from the photoconductor tram 17 and sent to the fixing device 37 via the conveyance guide 36.
The transferred image is thermally fixed by the heat roller 37a, which generates heat for fixing by passing through this. A heater lamp (not shown) for heating is built into the heat roller 37a. After fixing, the paper P is sent by a pair of paper ejection rollers 39 via a gate 38 onto a paper ejection tray 40 or by the gate 38 to an upper conveyance path 41, and then transported onto a paper ejection tray 43 by a pair of paper ejection rollers 42. It is designed to be discharged.

Also, the photosensitive drum after transfer] 7 is a cleaning device 4
After the residual toner is removed in Step 5, the afterimage is erased by the pre-exposure device 21, thereby making it possible to perform the next image forming operation.

The photoreceptor tram 17, the charging device 8, the developing device 19, the pre-exposure device 2, the fixing device 37, and the cleaning device 45 are integrated into a unit, and are integrated into the printer main body as an electrophotographic process unit 60. It is designed so that it can be attached and detached independently.

Further, in front of the aligning roller pair 25, there is an aligning switch 48 for detecting a paper feeding error to the transfer section by the aligning roller pair 25, etc., and in front of the paper ejecting roller pair 39, respectively. A paper ejection switch 49 is also provided to detect a paper ejection error caused by the paper ejection roller pair 39.

Further, between the paper feed cassettes 22a and 22b, an engine control circuit (a second device niblint section) is provided which controls each electrical device provided in the main body 1 of the apparatus to control operations for completing the electrophotographic process. ) 52, and a printed control circuit (first device: image forming unit) 53 for controlling the operation of the engine control circuit 52.

Up to three boards for the printed control circuit 53 can be installed depending on the degree of function addition (for example, adding more types of fonts, kanji, etc.). Two IC card connectors 51a and 5 are provided on the front edge of the board 53.
Further functions can be added by inserting a function-adding IC card (not shown) into the main body 1b through an opening (not shown) in the main body l. In addition, on the left end surface of the printed control circuit 53 located at the bottom,
A connector (not shown) is provided to connect to a host device W2, which is an external device such as an electronic computer, a personal computer, or a word processor.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system including an engine control circuit 52, a print control circuit 53, and a host device 2 according to the present invention. In the figure,
The print control circuit 53 is provided with a CPU 61 that controls the print control circuit 53 as a whole. Further, an operation panel 62 is connected to the print control circuit 53, and the IC card connectors 1a, 5
The IC card C1 for adding functions is set to 1b.

The operation panel 62 includes a liquid crystal display section 63 and various keys.

The engine control circuit 52 includes a CPU 71 that controls the entire engine control circuit 52, a ROM 72 that stores a control program, and a RAM 73 that stores data. The ROM 72 stores programs such as a communication task with a bootstrap loader, an engine control task, and a kernel.・RAM73
has a program load area and a work area, and the program loaded by the bootstrap loader is stored in the program load area.

The print control circuit 53 and the engine control circuit 52, as shown in FIG.
(data), VCLK (data clock), H
8YN (line synchronization signal), VSREQ (request signal), VSYNC (print start request signal)
, CHD, STS (
status signal), CBSY (busy signal), 5BSY
(Busy signal), PPRDY (Ready signal), CPR
DY (ready signal), -BT (program load signal), etc. are exchanged.

As a result, the engine control circuit 52 operates as shown in the flowchart shown in FIG. That is, the CPU 71 initializes the bootstrap loader in the ROM 72 by detecting the falling edge of the BT signal, and then downloads the program supplied from the print control circuit 53 to be stored in the program load area in the ROM 73. , After this download is completed, the program will be executed.

The bootstrap loader is the opening character (O
OH), the program including the opening character is stored in the program load area in the RAM 73, that is, in 128 bytes between address 90h and loFH. While receiving data, the bootstrap loader returns (echoes) the received data to the print control circuit 53. Therefore, during downloading, all data received from the print control circuit 53 is treated as program data and is not analyzed as a command in a normal interface protocol.

Timing charts at this time are shown in FIGS. 5 and 6.

After receiving 128 bytes of data, RAM 7
The program from address 90h of No. 3 is executed by the CPU 71.

While the above program is being downloaded to the RAM 73, the normal interface protocol is being used, so the PPRDY signal is at a low level. Then, when the download of the 128-byte program is completed, P
The PRDY signal goes high and the downloaded program is executed. When the program finishes running,
Bootstrap loader is initialized and PPRDY again
The signal becomes low level. (See Figure 6).

When the print control circuit 53 checks the returned data and detects a transfer error, it changes the BT signal from high level to low level. As a result, the bootstrap loader is initialized on the engine control circuit 52 side. (See Figure 7).

Also, after starting the download mote, CP RD Y
When the signal is changed from low level to low level, the operation mode on the engine control circuit 52 side is initialized. Therefore, even if the CPRDY signal is changed from low level to high level, the BT signal must be kept at low level when the program mode is to be continued. On the other hand, when the CPRDY signal is changed from a low level to a high level while the BT signal is at a high level, the operation mode on the engine control circuit 52 side is initialized to normal mode. (8th
(See figure) Next, in the above configuration, the program rotor will be explained with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 9 to 14.

For example, an IC card C as shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. A case will be described in which the program is supplied to the circuit 52, downloaded to the internal RC1i 73, and then the downloaded maintenance/test program is executed.

The maintenance/test program is composed of an information section and a program section, as shown in FIG. The capacity of the information section and program section is -
For example, 2.048 Hyde and 33,552.3 respectively.
It is assumed to be 48 bytes. The program section has 128 bytes as a unit. In order to execute the program, it is necessary to download it from the print control circuit 53 to the engine control circuit 52, and one download is performed in units of 128 bytes.

Each program in units of 128 hides is executed by the CPU 7 in the engine control circuit 52 in a format in which the 1st byte is r00J and the 128th byte is rE7. In this format, it becomes one of the programs or subroutines downloaded to the CPU 71 and is executed by the CPU 71.

As shown in FIG. 16, the information section is as follows:
Displays data indicating how many types of programs are stored in the IC card (maximum 255 as indicated by progcut) and the program name indicating the contents of each program on the display so that service personnel can recognize them. Data for (Namel, Name2, -Naie2
55), data indicating how many 128 Hyde units one program consists of (conl, con
2, -con255), address data (addl, add
2, -=add255). This information data allows the service person to select and execute the program he or she wishes to execute from the operation panel 62.

In this state, a service person disconnects the host device 2 from the interface cable (not shown) connected to the printer control circuit 53 and inserts the maintenance/test program IC card C into the IC card connector 51.
a or 51b and turn on the power. The serviceman selects the emulation switching menu using the operation panel 62, specifies the cartridge, and presses the selection key.

In this state, if you press the eject key, the CPU 61
determines whether the IC is for maintenance/test program, and if it is determined that it is for maintenance/test program,
A program execution processing routine is performed, and if it is determined that the program is not for maintenance/testing, normal processing is performed.

In the program execution process, the CPU 7 initializes one of the internal registers (not shown), and then displays the program name based on name data on the display section 63. Initially,
Use name 1 data.

When executing the program displayed on the display section 63, the selection key on the operation panel 62 is pressed. Then, C.P.
U61 checks how many 128-byte programs the program is made up of using the rcon IJ data, and checks the program storage address using the ra'ddlJ address data.

The first 128 bytes of the program are sent to the engine control circuit 5.
Output to CPU 71 in 2. Then, the CPU 71 downloads the supplied program to the RAM 73 and executes processing corresponding to the program.

[When conl=IJ, the process of the flowchart shown in FIG. 12 ends and returns to [phase] in FIG. 11.

When rconl<IJ, the next 128-byte program is output to the CPU 71 in the engine control circuit 52. Then, the CPU 71 transfers the supplied program to the RAM 73.
The program is downloaded to the computer, the process corresponding to the program is executed, and the process returns to [phase] in FIG.

An example of rcon*-140 is a simple on/off cycle such as checking the operation of a solenoid, which requires less than 128 bytes of program capacity.

An example of "rcon*>1" is to check the operation of the main motor, and in the case of "Icon*=2", the CPU 61 first sends a 128-byte motor-on control program to the engine control circuit 52 from the address indicated by radd*j. CP within
Output to U71. Then, the CPU 71 downloads the supplied program to the RAM 73 and executes processing corresponding to the program. Next, CPU71 is 30
After seconds have passed, subtract “1” from con*J (con*=
con*-1), the result is "Con*≠0", and we need to calculate the address of the next 128 bytes: add*-add*+1
29), output the motor-off control program to the CPU 71 in the engine control circuit 52;

Then, the CPU 71 transfers the supplied program to the RAM 7.
3 and execute the process corresponding to that program. After 30 seconds have elapsed, the CPU 71 subtracts "1" from rcon*J (con*-con*-1), the result becomes "con*-OJ," and the process returns to [phase] in FIG.

To exit the program download mode, turn off the printer.

As described above, in a system consisting of a print control circuit that develops image forming data into image data and an engine control circuit that forms an image according to the image data from this print control circuit, the print control circuit controls the engine. When sending program data to the circuit, a control signal indicating the output of the program data is also output, and the engine control circuit accepts the supplied data as program data according to the control signal, downloads it to RAM, and after this download, the program is The system executes the process corresponding to the .

This allows program data to be transmitted and received between the print control circuit and the engine control circuit.

Also, since the program from the IC cart connected to the print control circuit is downloaded to the engine control circuit, various types (unlimited) can be created by changing the IC card.
You can download the program. Also,
The program downloaded to the engine control circuit can be selected from the operation panel, making it easy to operate.

In the above embodiment, an IC card storing program data is used, but the present invention is not limited to this; a cartridge may also be used.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, the first device for developing image forming data into image data;
and a second device that forms an image in accordance with image data from the device, it is possible to provide an image forming device that can transmit and receive program data between the first device and the second device. .

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an example of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an image forming system, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal structure of a laser printer, and FIG. 3 shows a print control circuit. A diagram to explain the exchange of signals with the engine control circuit, Figure 4 is a flowchart to explain program download, and Figures 5 to 8 explain the transfer timing of each signal when downloading the program. Timing charts for
The figure is a flowchart for explaining downloading of the maintenance/test program, and FIGS. 15 and 16 are diagrams for explaining the structure of the maintenance/test program. 1... Laser printer (image forming device), 2... Host device (external device), 52... Engine control circuit (second
device, printing unit), 53...Print control circuit (first device: image forming unit), 61.71...CPU, 7
2...ROM, 73...RAM, P...paper. Applicant's representative Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue BT-Ro Fig. 4 w, Fig. 5', 4'J6 Fig. Figure 12 Figure 151 Figure R61-

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An image forming apparatus comprising a first apparatus that develops image forming data into image data and a second apparatus that forms an image corresponding to the image data from the first apparatus, The first device is provided with a receiving means for receiving program data from the outside, and an output means for outputting the received program data and a control signal indicating output of the program data to the second device, The above-mentioned first
determining means for determining the content of the supplied data when a control signal is supplied from the output means of the device; and determining that the supplied data is program data according to the determination result of this determining means. an image forming apparatus comprising: storage means for storing data from the output means of the first device; and execution means for executing processing corresponding to program data stored in the storage means. Device.