JPH04362860A - Digital copying machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enhance the operating efficiency of a digital copying machine by eliminating the necessity of waiting for the image preparation processing relating to a new copy until the image preparation processing is released from an impossible state. CONSTITUTION:When reserve key 10 is operated with the image preparation processing in an impossible state, this digital copying machine activates both a CCD driver 25 and a motor driver 26 for driving control to read image data from a copy and inputs in GRAM 24 the image data together with a priority sequence that was set and keyed in by priority key 11. When the image preparation processing is made possible, this digital copying machine supplies the image data stored in GRAM 24 to a driver 27 executes the image preparation processing in accordance with the keyed-in priority sequence.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a digital copying apparatus, such as a laser printer, which reads image data of a document and executes image forming processing based on the read image data.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In general, digital copying devices charge a photoconductor and then expose it to light to form an image, toner is attached to the electrostatic latent image formed by this, and this toner image is transferred to paper. I'm trying to make it stick. In this image forming process, image forming exposure is obtained by driving an exposure device such as a laser device based on image data read from a document. In such digital copying devices, the paper is heated and pressurized at a relatively high temperature in the process of fixing the toner image on the paper, and after the copying device is powered on, there is a warming-up process in which the fixing device is raised to a certain temperature. is executed, and the image forming process is disabled during this time. Furthermore, during multi-copying, in which images are formed on multiple sheets of paper based on single image data, image forming processing is performed continuously on multiple sheets of paper, and during this time, image forming processing on other originals is not performed. Not accepted.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] In the conventional copying apparatus described above, image forming processing for a new document cannot be executed until warming-up and multi-copying for other documents are completed. There is a problem in that the user must always keep in mind that the forming process is completed, and that the user has to visit the copying machine many times.

[0004] An object of the present invention is to enable image reading means to read image data of a document in a state where image forming processing is disabled, and to set and input a priority order for each image data read by the image reading means. Image forming processing is automatically executed based on priority when image forming processing becomes possible, eliminating the inconvenience of waiting for warm-up or other image forming processing to finish, and improving image forming processing work. An object of the present invention is to provide a digital copying device that can improve efficiency.

[0005]

[Means for Solving the Problems] A digital copying apparatus of the present invention is a digital copying apparatus that includes an image reading means for reading image data of a document, and an image forming means for executing an image forming process based on the read image data. In the apparatus, a priority input means sets and inputs a priority for each image data read by the image reading means; an image storage means stores the image data together with a priority set and input by the priority input means; The present invention is characterized by further comprising an image supply means for supplying the image data stored in the storage means to the image forming means in accordance with the priority order of the image data.

[0006]

[Operation] In this invention, the image data of the document read by the image reading means is stored in the image storage means along with its priority, and the image supply means stores the image data stored in the image storage means according to the priority. Supplied to image forming means. Therefore, when image forming processing is disabled, such as during warm-up or multi-copying of other originals, the image data of the original is read in advance by the image reading means, and when image forming processing becomes possible, the desired original is immediately copied. Such image processing operations are automatically started according to their priority order.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view showing the structure of a digital copying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The digital copying device 51 includes a document table 1 on the top surface, and an image reading section 52 including a CCD sensor 3 reads an image of a document 2 placed on the document table 1 . This image reading section 5
A laser device 4, which is an exposure means, is driven based on the image data read by the laser oscillator 2, and the laser light emitted from the laser oscillator is distributed onto the surface of the photoreceptor drum 6 as image-forming exposure via mirrors 5a to 5c. Ru. This photosensitive drum 6
The surface of the surface is charged with a monopolar charge in advance by the charger 53, and an electrostatic latent image is formed by image-forming exposure. Toner is supplied from the developing device 7 to this electrostatic latent image,
Visualized as a toner image. A sheet of paper is fed from the sheet feeding section 54 in synchronization with the rotation of the photoreceptor drum 6, and the toner image formed on the photoreceptor drum 6 is transferred onto the sheet by the transfer charger 8. The sheet of paper that has passed through the transfer charger 8 is guided to a fixing roller 55 and is heated and pressurized to fix the toner image thereon, and then is discharged to a paper discharge section 56 .

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the main parts of the control section of the digital copying apparatus. The CPU 21 includes a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a GRAM 24, a CCD driver 25, a motor driver 26, a laser driver 27,
and a panel controller 28 etc. are connected. R
A program that defines the operation of the CPU 21 is written in advance in the OM 22, and the CPU 21 centrally controls each input/output device according to this program. Data input/output at this time is temporarily stored in a predetermined memory area of the RAM 23. Furthermore, a memory area MA1 of the RAM 23 is allocated to a counter C, which will be described later. GRAM24
The image data of the document read by the image reading section 52 is stored. The GRAM 24 has a capacity capable of storing image data for a plurality of sheets of the largest original that can be placed on the original platen 1.

The CCD sensor 3 of the image reading section 52 is connected to the CCD driver 25, and the CCD sensor 3 is connected to the CCD driver 25, and the CCD sensor 3 of the image reading section 52 is connected to the CCD driver 25.
Read the output signal of D3. A scanning motor 29 is connected to the motor driver 26 . This scanning motor 2
Reference numeral 9 supplies a driving force for scanning and moving a document with respect to the document table 1 of the document reading section 52. The laser device 4 is connected to the laser driver 27, which drives a laser oscillator at a predetermined timing and controls the driving of the polygon mirror. The reservation key 10, priority key 11, condition setting key 12, etc. provided on the operation panel 31 shown in FIG. 3 are connected to the panel controller 28. The panel controller 28 inputs the operation status of each of these keys to the CPU 21, and drives the display 13 provided on the operation panel 31 based on display data output from the CPU 21.

FIGS. 4 to 6 are flowcharts showing the processing procedure of the control section of the digital copying apparatus. When the digital copy device 51 is powered on, the CPU 2
1 starts warming up the fixing roller 55 to a predetermined temperature. After the start of warm-up, the CPU 21 monitors the operating state of the reservation key 10, and
Wait for completion of warm-up (n2, n3). When the warm-up is completed, it is determined whether or not image data is stored in the GRAM 24 (n4), and if no image data is stored, the operation of the print key 9 is awaited (n5).

When the print key 9 is operated, the image reading section 52 is driven to read the image data of the document 2 placed on the document table 1 (n6). At the same time, the laser device 4, photosensitive drum 6, etc. are driven to execute image forming processing (n7). When the image forming process for one sheet of paper is completed, it is checked whether the reservation key 10 has been operated or not (n8), and if the reservation key 10 has not been operated, the image forming process for the set number of sheets is continuously performed. Execute (n9→n
7). When the image forming process for the set number of sheets is completed, the GRAM
It is determined whether or not image data is stored in 24, and if no image data is stored, the process returns to n5 and waits for the operation of the print key 9 (n10).

The above processes n1 to n10 are the main routine process steps that do not include reservation of image forming process. If the reservation key 10 is operated at n3 or n8 during this process, a reservation key interrupt routine shown in FIG. 5 is executed. That is, when the reservation key 10 is operated, the image reading section for storing image processing conditions, storing priorities, and reading image data is activated in accordance with the operations of the condition setting key 12, the priority key 11, and the reservation key 10. Execute 52 drives (
n11-n16). Here, the image forming processing conditions refer to conditions related to copying processing such as image density, image magnification, and set number of sheets. Therefore, when the condition setting key 12 is operated, the setting state of each key provided on the operation panel 31 is read as the image forming processing condition. In addition, when the priority key 11 is operated, the next reservation key 1
The image data read by the image reading process started by the operation of
Specifies that image forming processing is to be performed with priority over the image data stored in M24. These image forming processing conditions and priorities are stored in the GRAM 24 together with the image data read after the next operation of the reservation key 10 (n
17).

When the reservation key 10 is operated during the processing of the main routine shown in FIG. 4 and the reservation key interrupt routine shown in FIG.
Image data will exist in AM24. At this time, the CPU 21 proceeds to n21 shown in FIG. 6, and determines whether or not image data having the priority specified by the contents of the counter C described above is stored in the GRAM 24. The content of this counter C is set to "1" in the initial state, and the image data with the highest priority is set as the image data to be read (n22).

After that, the contents of the counter C are incremented (n23), and the image data set for reading is stored in the GRAM2.
4 and supplies it to the laser driver 27, and executes image forming processing related to this image data (n24, n2
5). Next, it is determined whether or not other image data is stored in the GRAM 24 (n26), and if other image data is stored, it is determined whether or not there is image data whose priority is the contents of counter C. (n26)
→n21). If image data whose priority is the contents of counter C is not stored in GRAM24, GR
The image data stored in the first storage area of AM24 is read and set as the data to be processed for image formation next (n
27), after setting the contents of counter C to 1 (n28)
, executes the image forming process by supplying the read-out image data to the laser driver 27 (n24,
n25).

As described above, according to this embodiment, if the reservation key 10 is operated during warm-up or while image forming processing for another document is being performed, one sheet of the original document is After the completion of the image forming process, the image data of the reserved document is read and stored in the GRAM 24 along with the priority order and image forming process conditions. GRAM2 after completing warm-up or after completing the image forming process for the set number of other originals.
The image data of the reserved document stored in 4 is read out based on the priority order, and the image forming process related to the reserved document is executed in accordance with the priority order.

[0016] When setting and inputting the priority order of reserved manuscripts, the priority order may be entered numerically by operating the numeric keypad 14 after operating the priority key 11. Also,
If the reservation key 10 is operated multiple times during the processing of the main routine, and only the priority key 11 is operated in each reservation key interrupt routine, the priority order is set in the order of the image data reserved first. You can also do this.

[0017]

According to the present invention, when image formation processing for a new original document is unavailable, such as during warming up or during multi-copying for other original documents, the image data of the next original document for which image formation processing is desired can be performed in advance. This can be read and stored in the image storage means along with its priority order, and when the image forming process for a new document becomes executable, the image forming process for the image data stored in the image storage means can be executed. This has the advantage that it can be executed automatically, and that it is possible to improve work efficiency by eliminating the disadvantages caused by waiting for a state in which image forming processing is disabled.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a digital copying apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing main parts of a control section of the digital copying apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of an operation panel provided in the digital copying apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a main routine processing procedure of the control unit of the digital copying apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of a reservation key interrupt routine of the control unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an image forming process procedure for a reserved document in the control unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

24-GRAM (image storage means) 4-Laser device (image forming means) 52-Image reading section 11-Priority key (priority input means)

Claims (1)

[Claims] Claims: 1. A digital copying apparatus comprising: an image reading means for reading image data of a document; and an image forming means for executing an image forming process based on the read image data; a priority order input means for setting and inputting a priority order for each image data, an image storage means for storing the image data together with the priority order set and input by the priority order input means, and an image storage means for storing the image data stored in the image data according to the priority order. A digital copying apparatus comprising: an image supplying means for supplying the image to the image forming means.