JPH0423866B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a copying machine having a multi-copy mode for creating a plurality of copies on recording paper using one original. [Prior Art] A transfer type thermal recording device exists as a non-impact type recording device that can perform clear recording on plain paper. FIG. 1 shows an example of this transfer type thermal recording apparatus. The ink donor sheet 11 of this device is wound around a supply roll 12. The ink donor sheet 11 fed out from the supply roll 12 is transferred to a guide roller 13 and a thermal head 14.
and the cross roller 15, between the drive roller 16 and the pinch roller 17, and the guide roller 18.
The film is wound up on a take-up roll 19 through sequential steps. The drive roller 16 receives the driving force of the step motor 20 via a toothed pulley 21, a toothed belt 22, and a toothed pulley 23, and rotates intermittently in the direction of the arrow. The take-up roll 19 receives the driving force of the step motor 20 via a pulley 24, a belt 25, and a pulley 26, and rotates in the direction of the arrow. On the other hand, the recording paper 28 sent out from the paper feed tray 27 is overlapped with the ink donor sheet 11 and sent to the thermal head 14 and the back roller 15.
pass between. At this time, the thermal head 14 is driven according to the supplied image signal. By driving the thermal head 14, the ink donor sheet 11 is selectively heated, and the ink in the heated portion is transferred onto the recording paper 28, thereby performing recording. After recording, the recording paper 28 is peeled off from the ink donor sheet 11 and directed toward an output tray (not shown) in the direction of arrow A.
conveyed in the direction. By connecting such a transfer type thermal recording device and a reading section, a copying machine can be constructed as a machine for making copies of original documents. However, when attempting to copy originals of various sizes using such a copying machine, there is a problem in that ink donor sheets are wasted for small-sized originals. For example, as shown in Figure 2, an A4 document size 31
When trying to obtain a copy of A6 size (the size of an official postcard) 32 using the ink donor sheet 11 prepared for the ink donor sheet 11, at least 50% of the ink donor sheet 11 was wasted. Conventionally, when copying a large number of sheets, a technique has been used to arrange a plurality of originals on a platen to make effective use of the ink donor sheet. FIG. 3 corresponds to the example shown in FIG. 2, in which four originals are used and the A6 original size 32 is quadrupled to achieve an A4 original size. However, such measures cannot be implemented if only one original exists. Of course, if a large number of copies are to be made, a copy of the original can be set on the platen as a second original. However, in this case, there was a problem that not only the office work became complicated, but also the image deteriorated because the copied image was further copied. [Object of the Invention] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention is capable of automatically creating the number of copies set by the operator, making effective use of recording paper with a simple operation, and saving time. The purpose is to provide a copying machine capable of making a large number of copies in one hour. [Structure of the Invention] The present invention specifies a reading unit that photoelectrically converts image information obtained by scanning an original, and a multi-copy mode that creates multiple copies by dividing the surface of one recording paper. a multi-copy mode specifying means for specifying a multi-copy mode; and a multi-copy mode specifying means for receiving information on the recording paper size, original size, and reduced size when the multi-copy mode is specified, and determining the maximum copy of the original in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction of one recording paper. A maximum number of copies calculation means for calculating the number of copies, a number of copies calculation means for specifying the number of copies of the original in multi-copy mode, and a number of copies specified by the number of copies specified by the number of copies specified by this number of copies and the maximum number of photographs described above. A recording paper sheet number calculation means for calculating the number of recording sheets; a data compression section for compressing the image information output from the reading section according to the aforementioned reduction size; and a data compression section for compressing the image information compressed by the data compression section in line units. Alternatively, there is a storage means for storing information in page units, and image information stored in this storage means is sequentially read out line by line or page by page in the main scanning direction of recording paper, and an initialization operation is performed for each reading operation in the main scanning direction. A control means, a sub-scanning direction control means for repeating the reading of image information in the sub-scanning direction according to the number of copies of the document with respect to the sub-scanning direction of the recording paper, a main-scanning direction control means, and a sub-scanning direction control means. and a recording means for recording the output image information on the recording paper in the number calculated by the recording paper number calculation means. With such a configuration, in the copying machine of the present invention, the operator can calculate the maximum number of copies of the original in the main scanning direction and the sub-scanning direction by simply specifying the respective sizes of recording paper, original, and reduction. The number of sheets of paper is calculated. Therefore, a plurality of copies set by the operator can be automatically created. [Example] The present invention will be described in detail with reference to Examples below. FIG. 5 shows the main parts of the copying machine of this embodiment. Components that are the same as those in FIG. 4 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their descriptions will be omitted as appropriate. This copying machine is designed to be set to either a normal mode or a multi-copy mode. Here, the normal mode refers to a mode in which one copy image is created on one sheet of recording paper. For example, when creating a same-size copy on A4-sized recording paper using an A4-sized original, one copy is created on each recording paper.
Therefore, in this example, the normal mode is used even if a plurality of copies are made. On the other hand, the multi-copy mode is a mode in which multiple copies are created on one sheet of recording paper.
For example, when creating full-size copies on A4-sized recording paper using an A6-sized original, a maximum of four copies can be created on one sheet of recording paper. Therefore, in this example, when creating a plurality of copies, the multi-copy mode is used. This type of mode specification of the copying machine is performed using the operation section 61.
It is carried out by. The operating section 61 includes a copy mode switch 62 as shown in FIG. Each time the copy mode switch 62 is pressed, the display lamp 63 lights up alternately. The user selects the normal mode or multi-copy mode by lighting the desired lamp. In addition to this, the operation section 61 has three switches 65 to 65.
67 is provided. Original size switch 65
is a switch for specifying the size of the original, and each time this switch is pressed, the illumination of the original size display lamp 68 is shifted by one. The recording paper size switch 66 is a switch for specifying the size of the recording paper set in the copying machine, and is designed to selectively turn on the recording paper size display lamp 69. The reduced size switch 67 is a switch for specifying the size of the copy image, and similarly displays the size by sequentially lighting the reduced size display lamps 71 one by one. Now, with A3 size recording paper set,
Assume that you need 32 copies of an A3 size manuscript reduced to A7 size. In this case, the user selects the multi-copy mode and uses the operation section 61 to set the data. The number of copies (32) is also set using the ten keypad (FIG. 5) 72. The calculation unit 73 receives a total of five types of signals from the operation unit 61: a normal mode signal 74, a multi-copy mode signal 75, an original size signal 76, a recording paper size signal 77, and a reduced size signal 78. A maximum number of copies display signal 7 indicates the maximum number of copies per sheet of recording paper.
9, and a sub-scanning size signal 81 and a main-scanning size signal 82 for scanning the original. Of these, the maximum number of copies display signal 79 is written as a digital signal in a read-only memory in the calculation section 73. That is, the read-only memory outputs the maximum number of copies display signal 79 using the recording paper size signal 77 and reduced size signal 78 as address information under the condition that the multi-copy mode signal 75 is active. It's summery. The data written into the read-only memory is as shown in Table 1.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained in detail above, according to the copying machine of the present invention, the maximum number of copies of an original for one recording paper is calculated according to the recording paper size, the original size, and the reduced size, and the specified number of copies is within this maximum number of copies. The image information is reduced according to the number of sheets that have been printed, the image information after the reduction is stored in a storage means in line units or page units, and the image information is stored from this storage unit in line units or page units in the main scanning direction of the former recording paper. The unit is sequentially read out, and an initialization operation is performed for each reading operation.Meanwhile, in the sub-scanning direction of the recording paper, the image information is read out repeatedly according to the maximum number of copies of the original in that direction. Since the image information read out by the operator is recorded on the recording paper, the operator only needs to specify the recording paper, original, and reduction sizes, as well as the number of copies of the original, and the image information can be adjusted in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction. The maximum number of copies of the original document is calculated, and the number of required recording sheets is also calculated. Therefore, it is possible to automatically create the number of copies set by the operator, and to make effective use of recording paper with simple operations, it is also possible to make a large number of copies in a short period of time. effective.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a transfer type thermal recording device, Figure 2 is a plan view showing the relationship between an ink donor sheet and a copy image in a conventional copying machine using this device, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing the relationship between an ink donor sheet and a copy image in a conventional copying machine using this device. A plan view showing the relationship between the ink donor sheet and the copy image in this case, FIG.
Figure 6 is for explaining one embodiment of the present invention, of which Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the main parts of the copying machine, Figure 5 is a plan view of the operation section, and Figure 6 is A3 size. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the relationship between originals of various sizes and data compression when creating an A7 size copy on recording paper. 41...Reading unit, 42...Recording paper, 43...Multi-copy mode specifying means, 44...Line buffer, 45...Main scanning direction control means, 46...Sub-scanning direction control means, 47...Ink donor sheet , 48... Supply roll, 49... Thermal head, 51... Thermal head driving means, 61...
Operation unit, 73...Arithmetic unit, 102, 103...Line buffer memory, 109...Thermal head drive circuit.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reading unit that photoelectrically converts image information obtained by scanning a document, and a multi-copy mode that specifies a multi-copy mode that creates multiple copies by dividing the surface of one recording sheet. A copy mode specifying means, and with the multi-copy mode specified, receiving information on the recording paper size, original size, and reduced size, and calculating the maximum number of copies of the original in the main scanning direction and sub-scanning direction of one recording paper. A maximum number of copies calculation means to calculate, a number of copies designation means to designate the number of copies of an original in multi-copy mode, and a number of copies specified by the number of copies designation means and the maximum number of copies to calculate the number of required recording sheets. a recording paper number calculation means for calculating the number of sheets; a data compression section for compressing the image information output from the reading section according to the reduced size; and a data compression section for compressing the image information compressed by the data compression section in line units or page units. a storage means for storing the image information in the storage means; and a main scanning direction control means for sequentially reading out the image information stored in the storage means line by line or page by page in the main scanning direction of the recording paper, and performing an initializing operation for each reading operation. and a sub-scanning direction control means for repeating the reading of the image information in the sub-scanning direction according to the number of copies of the document in the sub-scanning direction of the recording paper; and by control of the main-scanning direction control means and the sub-scanning direction control means. 2. A copying machine comprising: said means for recording the read image information on said recording paper in the number calculated by said recording paper sheet number calculation means.