JPH0664331B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus for a color document and a monochrome document such as a character contour image.

<Prior Art and Problems Thereof> As an image forming apparatus for a color original, there are known ones based on a color electrophotographic method, a silver halide color photographic method, and a pressure-sensitive color material method.

In the color electrophotographic system, a color original is generally exposed by using a blue, green, or red color separation filter to form an electrostatic latent image on a charged photosensitive drum, and then the latent image is yellow, magenta, or cyan. Then, the color toner image is reproduced by transferring the color toner image onto a transfer paper, and then the color toner image is fixed. Then, the same process is repeated for each color to reproduce the color image.

In the silver halide color photographic system, a color image is reproduced and copied using a certain silver halide color light-sensitive material.

Further, in the light and pressure sensitive color material system, a color image is reproduced by using a light and pressure sensitive color light sensitive material.

As the light-sensitive and pressure-sensitive color light-sensitive material, for example, a polymerizable compound is imagewise cured by exposure, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 57-179836 of the applicant of the present invention, and then pressure can be applied. There is a type to get a visual image. This material carries a synthetic polymer resin wall capsule containing a vinyl compound, a photopolymerization initiator and a colorant precursor on a support.

Further, after the silver halide is contained and exposed to light, heat development is performed to develop the silver halide, and the polymerizable compound is simultaneously cured corresponding to the development, and then pressure is applied to obtain a visible image. As a type, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-121284 or Japanese Patent Application No. 61-5388 related to the applicant's application
There is a material disclosed in No. 1.

The material disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-121284 is a material for obtaining an image on an image-receiving material by transferring a color image-forming substance to the image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer after being subjected to heat development. At least a light-sensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound and a color image forming substance are coated, and at least the polymerizable compound and the color image forming substance are encapsulated in the same microcapsule. .

Further, the material disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-53881 obtains an image on a light-sensitive material without using an image-receiving material, and the silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color-forming reaction in a contact state. Including the two types of substances that cause a color reaction, one of the substances that cause a color reaction and the polymerizable compound are in a state of being contained in a microcapsule, and the other of the substances that cause a color reaction include a polymerizable compound. Of the microcapsules present on the support.

A method for obtaining an image using this light-sensitive material is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-121284.

In this image forming method, first, imagewise exposure is performed to form a latent image, and the polymerizable compound in the portion where the latent image exists is polymerized by heating or light energy at the time of latent image formation to form a polymer compound. To cure the microcapsules. Then, pressure is applied to the image receiving material having an image receiving layer to which the color image forming substance can be transferred, and at least a part of the microcapsules where the latent image does not exist are ruptured to transfer the color image forming substance to the image receiving material. To obtain an image on the image receiving material.

To obtain a color image by the color electrophotographic method,
Since the steps of charging, exposing, developing, transferring, etc. are repeated at least three times, it takes time to form an image, and the apparatus becomes complicated and large. Further, it is difficult to obtain a line image of a clear character or the like due to a color shift caused by superimposing toner images of at least three colors.

In the silver halide color photographic method, the exposure is 1
However, complicated wet processing steps such as development, bleaching, fixing, and washing of the light-sensitive material must be carried out. Therefore, a tank for storing the processing solution for each step is required and the apparatus is large. In addition, complicated maintenance such as replenishment and replacement of processing liquid is required.

In order to solve the problems of these color electrophotographic system and silver halide color photographic system, the above-mentioned light and pressure sensitive color material system has been proposed in order to obtain a color image with a simple structure. However, in the conventional color image forming apparatus for color originals including this method, since a color image is premised, a color image with good color reproduction can be obtained. When the above-mentioned color image forming apparatus is used, it is impossible to obtain a high-quality monochrome image with high density and good quality as compared with the monochrome photographic method, and the cost per image formation becomes expensive.

For this reason, in order to obtain a color image with good color reproduction and a character isoline image with good high density, a color original is formed by a color image forming method. An image forming apparatus configured to form a monochrome image by another monochrome electrophotographic forming method has been proposed by the present applicant in Japanese Patent Application No. 62-187831.

Since this image forming apparatus is equipped with two units, one for performing the color image forming method and the other for performing the monochrome image forming method, both images are of high quality in terms of image quality, and the cost per image forming is also high. Although it is not expensive, two image recording devices are required, one for monochrome and the other for color, which increases the cost of the image forming device itself and the total cost including copy paper is also expensive.

In order to obtain high-quality and low-cost images with this image forming apparatus, a color image forming apparatus must be used for color originals and a monochrome image forming apparatus for monochrome originals. In other words, it is inconvenient because it is necessary to select the image forming apparatus to be used for each after determining whether it is color or monochrome.

<Objects of the Invention> An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and, in an apparatus that performs the same image forming method, reads a document image, determines its color tone, and determines the color tone of the read document image. Accordingly, at least 2 with different tones in the final image
By configuring so that the optimum photosensitive material can be automatically selected from more than one type of photosensitive material, photosensitive materials corresponding to original images with different color tones, such as color photosensitive materials for color originals and monochrome photosensitive materials for monochrome originals, can be selected. To provide an image forming apparatus in which the material can be selected, the final image obtained is high in terms of image quality regardless of the color tone of the original, and the cost per image forming operation can be reduced. is there.

<Brief Description of the Invention> According to the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus for performing substantially the same image forming method on at least two kinds of photosensitive materials,
Means for reading a manuscript image to determine a color tone, and means for automatically selecting an optimum light-sensitive material from at least two kinds of light-sensitive materials having different color tones in the final image in accordance with the judged color tone of the manuscript image. An image forming apparatus comprising:

Further, it is preferable that the image forming method is an image forming method in which a latent image or a visible image is formed in an image form by utilizing a chemical reaction.

The light-sensitive material is preferably a silver halide light-sensitive material.

Further, the photosensitive material is preferably a photosensitive resin material.

Further, the photosensitive material is preferably a photosensitive pressure-sensitive material.

The light-sensitive materials having different color tones are preferably full-color light-sensitive materials and monochrome light-sensitive materials.

<Specific Structure of the Invention> Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail.

The image forming method used in the present invention may be any method as long as it can use at least two kinds of bad photosensitive materials having different color tones in the final image to be copied by almost the same image forming method. It is preferable that the image forming method is to form a latent image or a visible image by utilizing

Such an image forming method is preferably carried out by an image forming apparatus having one developing device.

As the photosensitive material used in such an image forming method, for example, a silver halide photosensitive material, a photosensitive resin material, a photosensitive pressure-sensitive material and the like can be used.

The light and pressure sensitive material used in the present invention is a material for obtaining a visible image by transferring an image obtained by imagewise exposure to an image receiving material having an image receiving layer by pressure.

An example of such a material is a type in which a polymerizable compound is imagewise cured by imagewise exposure and then pressure transfer is performed to obtain a visible image, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. The materials disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 57-179836 are mentioned. This material comprises a support carrying a synthetic polymer resin wall capsule containing a vinyl compound, a photopolymerization initiator, and a colorant precursor. The light-sensitive material of the present invention may be preliminarily heat-developed or wet-developed before pressure transfer, and after imagewise exposure after containing silver halide, heat development is carried out. In order to develop a silver halide, the polymerizable compound is simultaneously cured corresponding to the development, and then a pressure is applied to obtain a visible image. -1212
The materials disclosed in the specification of No. 84 are mentioned. This photosensitive material has at least a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound and a color image forming substance coated on a support, and at least the polymerizable compound and the color image forming substance are contained in the same microcapsule. It is enclosed.

As the above-mentioned photosensitive material, it is possible to prepare at least two kinds of photosensitive materials having different color tones, for example,
Representative examples thereof include a color light-sensitive material and a monochrome light-sensitive material. A full-color light-sensitive material is particularly preferable as the color light-sensitive material.

Preferred embodiments of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the above example, a photosensitive pressure-sensitive material is used as the photosensitive material,
It has a heat development process, the color tone is full color and black and white, full color photosensitive material for color image originals,
This is an image forming apparatus having a color tone determination function capable of automatically selecting a monochrome photosensitive material for a monochrome original document.

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this image forming apparatus basically includes an imaging optical system 140, a sensitive material selection system 190 having a color tone detection device 170, a color tone determination device 180, and an operation control device 184, and a sensitive material. The supply unit 12, the heat development layer 40, and the transfer device 88 are included.

A document table 2 made of a transparent glass plate or the like for supporting the placed document is attached to the upper surface of the housing 1. An imaging optical system 140 and a photosensitive material selection system 190 are arranged below the document table 2, and are separated from other parts by the partition wall 3.

Here, the image forming optical system 140 may be configured by a known image forming lens moving type image forming optical system.

That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the imaging optical system 140 includes an illumination lamp 142, a mirror 144, an imaging lens 150, an illumination lamp 142, etc., which integrally scan the lower surface of the original plate 2 made of a glass plate. Mirrors 146 and 148 that move in the same direction at a speed of 1/2 and reflect the light of the illumination lamp 142 in a predetermined direction.
A fixed half mirror 152 that reflects the light adjusted by the imaging lens 150 to the exposure device 32 side and transmits it to the color tone detection device 170 side, and the light reflected by the mirror 152 is reflected to the exposure position 32. Fixed mirrors 154 and 156.

Rays of the imaging optical system 140 reflected by the fixed mirror 156.
An opening 160 is provided in a portion where 158 passes, and a shutter device 162 and a shutter control device 164 are arranged in the opening 160.

The sensitive material selection system 190 is a system for selecting a photosensitive material according to the color tone of the original material, and is a color tone detecting device 170 for detecting the color tone of the original image, and the detected color tone is color or black and white. An operation for controlling whether to drive only one of the color sensitive material transport system 17a and the monochrome sensitive material transport system 17b of the sensitive material supply unit 12 according to the determination of the color tone determination device 180 and the color tone determination device 180. And a control device 184.

Here, the color tone detection device 170 is arranged in front of the half mirror 152 (on the light traveling direction side), and time-divisionally divides the light from the half mirror 152 into three colors, with respect to the optical axis as shown in FIG. It is composed of a liquid crystal filter unit 172 divided into three color regions on a vertical plane, an imaging lens 174, and a CCD sensor 176 that performs photoelectric conversion. And the filter
By rotating the unit 172 at a high speed by a driving device (not shown), the light from the half mirror 152 is repeatedly time-divided into three colors, and the light of each color is sequentially applied to the CCD sensor 176.

By synchronizing the scan of the CCD sensor 176 and the rotation of the filter unit 172, a certain color of light is emitted for each scan.
By irradiating the CCD sensor 176, it is possible to sequentially read the three-color signals of R (red), G (green), and B (blue) as shown in FIG.

A photosensitive supply unit 12 is provided on a side portion of the housing 1, and a color photosensitive material cassette 14a in which a sheet-shaped color photosensitive material (hereinafter, referred to as a color photosensitive material) Sa is stacked and accommodated on an upper side,
A monochrome photosensitive material cassette 14b in which sheet-shaped monochrome photosensitive materials (hereinafter referred to as black and white photosensitive materials) Sb are stacked and accommodated on the lower side is detachably attached. The color sensitive material cassette 14a and the monochrome sensitive material cassette 14b have the same configuration, and these cassettes 14a and 14b have tension springs 15a at openings 11a and 11b formed at the tops of the box portions 13a and 13b, respectively. , 15b which are biased to the right in FIG. 1 by lid members 18a, 18b which are light-shielding. The lid members 18a and 18b are moved relative to the box portions 13a and 13b by the side walls of the housing 1 by setting the color and monochrome sensitive material cassettes 14a and 14b in the housing 1 as shown in FIG. Openings for sending out the color sensitive material Sa and the black-and-white sensitive material Sb are formed respectively.

Sensitive material feed rolls 16a and 16b are arranged on the sending sides of the color sensitive material Sa and the monochrome sensitive material Sb of these color and black and white sensitive material cassettes 14a and 14b, respectively. , The front means the downstream in the traveling direction of the photosensitive material such as the color sensitive material Sa or the black and white sensitive material Sb), and a pair of sensitive material feeding rolls 19a, 20a and 19b, 20b, and a guide plate, respectively. 21a and 21b are arranged, and each of the photosensitive materials (hereinafter, simply referred to as the photosensitive material or the photosensitive material S when it is not necessary to specify the color photosensitive material Sa or the black-and-white photosensitive material Sb) by the guide plates 21a and 21b. It is configured so that it can be conveyed to a pair of registration rolls 22 and 23 provided in the front. A guide plate 24 is arranged in front of the registration rolls 22 and 23, and an operation control device 18 described later is provided.
In accordance with the instruction of 4, either one of the color sensitive material Sa and the black and white sensitive material Sb is taken out from each cassette 14a or 14b, conveyed, and the exposure timing is adjusted by the resist rolls 22 and 23, and the guide plate 24 After that, the sheets are sent to the exposure position 32 one by one at a predetermined time.

In front of the guide plate 24, an exposure sensitive material support roll 26 and two sensitive material nip rolls 28, 30 pressed against the exposure sensitive material support roll 26 are arranged. The light-sensitive material S guided by the guide plate 24 is brought into close contact with the exposure light-sensitive material support roll 26 by the light-sensitive material nip rolls 28 and 30, and the exposure position between the light-sensitive material nip rolls 28 and 30 is exposed.
At 32, imagewise exposure is provided by the imaging optics 140.

In front of the exposure sensitive material support roll 26, a heat developing device 40 for heating and developing the exposed photosensitive material S is arranged. The heat developing device 40 includes a developing housing 42 having a heat insulating function.
And a heating roll 44 and four belt supporting rolls 46, 47, 4 arranged in the developing housing 42 and heated to about 120 ° C.
It has an endless belt 50 which is supported by 8, 49 and is wound around the outer circumference of an arc of about 270 ° of the heating roll 44, and a nip roll 52 which is pressed against the support roll 49.

The heat developing device 40 further guides the photosensitive material S sent from the exposure sensitive material supporting roll 26 onto the heating roll 44 and separates the photosensitive material S from the heating roll 44 after the heat development, and a supporting roll. It has a vertical guide device 58 for guiding the developed photosensitive material S sent by the nip roll 52 and the nip roll 52 to the outlet 56, and the outlet 56 is provided with a sensitive material tip detection sensor 60.

Immediately below the outlet 56, a pair of pressure contact rolls 62 and 64, a nip roll 66 pressed against the pressure contact roll 64, and the image receiving paper C sent by the pressure contact roll 64 and the nip roll 66 are pressed against each other.
A photosensitive material image receiving paper superposing device 70 including a guide member 68 for guiding to the abutting portions of 62 and 64 is arranged.

An image receiving paper feeding device is provided on the side of the photosensitive material image receiving paper superposing device 70.
72 are placed. The image receiving paper supply device 72 is provided with an image receiving paper supply cassette 74 that is detachably attached and projects from the housing 1, an image receiving paper feeding roll 76 for feeding the image receiving paper C in the cassette 74, and a feeding roll 76. The image receiving paper C thus formed is composed of a pressure contact roll 64 and a guide plate 78 for guiding it to the contact portion of the nipro roll 66. Here, the width of the image receiving paper C is about 6 mm smaller than the width of the photosensitive material S.
Are overlapped with each other so as to be in the center of the photosensitive material S in the width direction. Here, as the image receiving paper C, any image can be used as long as it can transfer the image carried by the photosensitive material S under pressure.
Examples include cut sheets, roll paper, and overhead projector paper.

A pair of pressure nip rolls 80 and 82 and a backup roll for uniformizing the pressure of the pressure nip rolls 80 and 82 in the axial direction are provided below the photosensitive material image receiving sheet superposing device 70.
A transfer device 88 including 84 and 86 is provided. The pressure nip rolls 80 and 82 are pressed against each other by a pressure of about 200 to 600 kg / cm ² .

Below the transfer device 88, a photosensitive material image receiving paper peeling device 90 is provided. The photosensitive material image receiving paper peeling device 90 includes a guide member 92, a first feed roll 94, a second feed roll 96, and a first feed roll 94.
The peeling belt 102 is wound around the guide rolls 98 and 100 so as to be in pressure contact with only the photosensitive material S at both upper end portions.

A sensitive material discarding unit 104 is provided on one side of the peeling device 90, and a fixing device 106 is provided on the other side. The sensitive material discarding unit 104 includes a guide member 108 and a pair of feed rolls 110, 1
12 and a waste box 114, the photosensitive material S sent from the peeling device 90 and guided by the guide member 108 is put into the waste box 114 by the sending rolls 110 and 112.

The fixing device 106 includes a guide member 120 having an irradiation opening 121.
And an ultraviolet irradiation lamp 124 with a reflecting member 122, and a pair of feed rolls 126, 128, sent from the peeling device 90,
The image receiving paper C guided by the guide member 120 is irradiated with ultraviolet light for about 5 seconds to perform fixing.

In front of the fixing device 106, a take-out tray 130 for receiving the image receiving paper C is attached so as to project from the housing 1.

In addition to the fixing device as described above, or instead of the fixing device, the image receiving paper may be post-heated to increase the image density.

In the example shown in FIG. 1 of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the color light-sensitive material Sa and the black-and-white light-sensitive material Sb are configured to be supplied. You may use a sensitive material, or instead of the black and white sensitive material Sb,
Monochromatic monochrome photosensitive materials of blue, green, red, yellow, and other colors may be used. Further, it is also possible to use a combination of light-sensitive materials having different color tones, not limited to color and monochrome.

Further, in the present embodiment, the photosensitive material supplying section 12 is provided with two color photosensitive material cassettes 14a and monochrome photosensitive material cassettes 14b, but it is needless to say that three or more photosensitive material cassettes may be provided. .

Further, in the present embodiment, the color sensitive material Sa and the black and white sensitive material Sb are configured to be supplied from the sheet-shaped cassettes 14a and 14b, but they are supplied in a roll shape and cut into a required length by a cutter before use. It may be configured.

Further, in this embodiment, the shutter 162 is configured to open and close the opening 160 by the shutter control device 164, but the shutter may be omitted.

Further, in the present embodiment, the copying machine using the type that performs heat development as the light and pressure sensitive photosensitive material is shown, but when using the type that does not perform heat development, the heat developing device 40 is It will be omitted.

In this embodiment shown in FIG. 1, an original is placed on a transparent original table 2 such as a glass plate and fixed, and an image forming optical system 140 having a light source 142 is moved from below the transparent original table 2. Although the light source moving type for scanning by scanning is used, the light source may be fixed and the document moving type for moving the document table on which the document is placed may be used.

In this embodiment, when copying an original having only a black and white image, the black and white photosensitive material conveying system 17b is operated, and the black and white photosensitive material S
b is supplied, a monochrome image is formed, and when copying an original having a color image, the color sensitive material conveying system 17a is operated, and the color sensitive material Sb is supplied to form a color image. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the color tone detection device 17 of the sensitive material selection system 190 is not limited to this.
The supply of the black-and-white sensitive material or the monochrome sensitive material and the color sensitive material may be controlled independently of the color tone of the original image without operating the color-tone determination device 180. In this case, a black-and-white original can be formed with a color sensitive material, or a color original can be formed with a black-and-white sensitive material, a monochrome sensitive material, or a color sensitive material having a color tone different from that of the full-color sensitive material.

<Specific Action of the Invention> The image forming apparatus according to the present invention is basically configured as described above, and its specific action will be described below.

In FIG. 1, when an original is placed on the original table 2 with the image surface facing downward and the copy start button is pressed, an illumination lamp is displayed.
142 is turned on, and the imaging optical system 140 scans the original at high speed.
The light emitted by the illumination lamp 142 and reflected by the document is reflected by the mirror 144 that moves together with the illumination lamp 142, and the mirror 14 that moves at half the speed of the illumination lamp 142.
The light is reflected by the lenses 6 and 148, the focus is adjusted by the imaging lens 150 that moves integrally with the illumination lamp 142, the light passes through the fixed half mirror 152, and enters the color tone detection device 170 of the sensitive material selection system 190. At this time, the shutter 162 preferably closes the opening 160.

The light that has entered the color tone detection device 170 is first time-divided into three colors by the liquid crystal filter unit 172 (see FIG. 2) that rotates at a constant high speed, and the light of each color sequentially passes through the imaging lens 174 and the CCD sensor 176. Is radiated to, as shown in FIG.
The signals of three colors of R, G, and B are sequentially read.

As shown in the block diagram of FIG. 4, the color tone signal of the original image read by the color tone detecting device 170 is the color tone determining device 180.
And determines whether the tone signal indicates a monochrome image or a color image. Based on the color tone of the original image determined by the color tone determination device 180, a signal to that effect is transmitted to the operation control device 184, and if the operation control device 184 is a color image, it drives the color sensitive material transport system 17a, Color sensitive material S
Control is performed so that a is conveyed to the exposure position, and if it is a monochrome image, the monochrome photosensitive material conveying system 17b is driven so that the monochrome photosensitive material Sb is conveyed to the exposure position.

Here, the imaging optical system 140 is returned to the initial scanning start position after scanning and moving a length of the original image that allows color tone determination, that is, a part or the whole of the original.

Here, a method of determining the color tone will be described.

Assuming that the color tone information of the original read by the color tone detecting device 170 is S _R , S _G , and S _B , the image forming optical system 140 scans the original, and S _R , S _G , and S _B are set to the fifth value. Figure (a),
It is represented as (b). FIG. 5A is a graph showing the color tone information of a monochrome image, and the waveforms of S _R , S _G , and S _B are almost equal. FIG. 5B is a graph showing the color tone information of the color image, and the waveforms of S _R , S _G and S _B are different from each other. That is, since the color tone information of the color image is completely different for each color, it is possible to determine whether the image is monochrome or color by comparing S _R , S _G , and S _B by the color tone determination device 180. More specifically, by comparing the difference between S _R and S _G , the difference between S _G and S _B , and the difference between S _B and S _R with a predetermined threshold value, it is possible to determine whether the image is black and white or color. .

As described above, the color tone determination device 180 selects one of the color sensitive material Sa and the monochrome sensitive material Sb. When the color sensitive material Sa is selected, the sensitive material feeding roll 16a and the sensitive material feeding rolls 19a and 20a are instructed by the operation control device 184.
The color sensitive material conveying system 17a including the above is driven, the color sensitive material cassette 14a, the guide plate 21a, the registration roll 2
It is transported to 2, 23, and the timing for exposure is adjusted. At this time, the monochrome photosensitive material conveying system 17b on the side of the monochrome photosensitive material Sb is not driven.

On the contrary, when the black and white photosensitive material Sb is selected, the operation control device 184 controls the photosensitive material feeding roll 16b and the photosensitive material feeding rolls 19b and 20b.
The monochrome sensitive material transport 17b including b is driven, and the registration roll is passed from the monochrome sensitive material cassette 14b through the guide plate 21b.
It is transported to 22, 23 and the timing for exposure is adjusted. At this time, the color sensitive material transport system 17a is not driven.

When the photosensitive material S such as the color sensitive material Sa or the black and white sensitive material Sb enters the resist rolls 22 and 23, it is conveyed on the guide plate 24 at the timing when the imaging optical system 140 returns to the scanning start position. The nip roll 28 or 30 and the sensitive material support roll 26 sandwich and convey the same. Here, the shutter 162 opens immediately before the tip of the photosensitive material S reaches the exposure position 32, and the light ray 158 starts to pass through the opening 160. When the tip of the photosensitive material S reaches the exposure position 32, the illumination lamp 142, the mirror 144, the imaging lens 150, and the mirrors 146, 148 of the imaging optical system move in synchronization with the conveying speed of the photosensitive material S, The original image is projected on the photosensitive material S having a suitable color tone and imagewise exposed. At this time,
The imaging lens 150 is configured to focus on the photosensitive material S.

In this way, as the photosensitive material S, a photosensitive material suitable for the color tone of the original image is selected, and the whole surface is exposed imagewise.

The imagewise exposed light-sensitive material S is sent to the heat developing device 40, pressed against the heating roll 44 by the endless belt 50, heated at about 120 ° C., and developed. The light-sensitive material tip detection sensor 60 detects that the tip of the developed photosensitive material S has passed through the outlet 56.

On the other hand, in the image receiving paper supply device 72, the image receiving paper C is fed out from the image receiving paper cassette 74 in synchronization with the timing of pressing the copy start button or the exposure start, and the leading end of the image receiving paper C is nipped by the pressure contact roll 64 and the nip roll 66. The image receiving paper C is stopped.

In the light-sensitive material image receiving sheet superposing device 70, the image receiving sheet C having a small width is used.
Is located in the center of the width of the photosensitive material S having a larger width, and the leading end of the photosensitive material S is superposed so as to be along the leading end of the image receiving paper C or precede by several millimeters.
It is sent to 88 and pressed with a pressure of about 200 to 600 kg / cm ² to be transferred to the image receiving paper.

The photosensitive material S after transfer is separated by the separating belt 90 in the separating device 90.
It is peeled off from the image receiving paper C by 2 and sent to the sensitive material discarding section 104. On the other hand, the image receiving paper C is sent to the fixing device 106, where it is irradiated with ultraviolet light for about 5 seconds to be fixed, and then sent to the take-out tray 130 by the sending rolls 126 and 128.

Thus, on the image receiving paper C, a color image with good color reproduction is formed when the original image is in color, and a monochrome image with good high density is formed when the original image is black and white such as a character contour line image. It has been done.

Although the image forming apparatus according to the present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a plurality of discharged image forming image receiving sheets may be grouped, A device having various processing functions such as a sorter for automatically collating documents, a finisher for automatically folding and aligning the image receiving sheets, and an automatic document feeder for automatically feeding a large number of documents to a document table. It is needless to say that various improvements and design changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention such as addition of the above.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above in detail, according to the present invention, in the case where the original image is a color image by using the image forming method of forming a latent image or a visible image in an image form by utilizing a chemical reaction, for example. Can perform the above-mentioned image forming method on a color light-sensitive material to obtain a color image with good color reproduction, and when the original image is a monochrome image such as a character contour line image, the above-mentioned image forming method on a monochrome light-sensitive material. By carrying out, it is possible to obtain a monochrome image with high density and good quality.

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the photosensitive materials having different color tones such as color images and monochrome images are used to be formed by the same image forming method, a high quality image can be obtained at low cost. And an inexpensive image forming apparatus can be provided.

Further, according to the present invention, it is automatically judged whether the original image is color, black and white or monochrome, and based on this result, a photosensitive material having a different color tone, for example, a color photosensitive material or a monochrome photosensitive material is automatically selected. Since it is controlled as described above, an appropriate and high-quality image can be obtained for a document, and an image forming apparatus that meets user needs can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a filter used in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a time course of a filter and a CCD sensor used in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram showing the operation of the photosensitive selection system for automatically selecting the photosensitive material according to the color tone of the original image used in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIGS. 5A and 5B are graphs showing an example of color tone information signals of black and white and color images respectively detected by the color tone detecting device of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. Explanation of symbols Sa …… Color sensitive material, Sb …… Black and white sensitive material (monochrome sensitive material), S …… Photosensitive material, C …… Receiving paper, 1 …… Housing, 2 …… Original plate, 3 …… Separator, 11a, 11b ... Opening part, 12 ... Sensitive material supply part, 13a, 13b ... Box part, 14a ... Color sensitive material cassette, 14b ... Monochrome sensitive material cassette, 15a, 15b ... Tension spring, 16a, 16b ... Sensitive material feed roll, 17a ... Color sensitive material transport system, 17b ... Monochrome sensitive material transport system, 18a, 18b ... Lid member, 19a, 19b, 20a, 20b ... Sensitive material feeding roll, 21a, 21b, 24 ... Guide plate, 22, 23 ... Resist roll, 26 ... Exposure sensitive material support roll, 28, 30 ... Sensitive material nip roll, 32 ... Exposure position, 40 ... Heat developing device, 42 ... Developing housing, 44 ... Heating roll, 46, 47, 48, 49 ... Belt support roll, 50 ... Endless belt, 52 ... Nip roll, 54 ... Guide device, 56 …… Exit, 58 …… Vertical guide device, 60 …… Sensor, 62, 64 …… Pressure contact roll, 66 …… Nip roll, 68 …… Guide member, 70 …… Sensitive material image superimposing device, 72 …… Image receiving paper supply device, 74 …… Image receiving paper supply cassette, 76 …… Image receiving paper feeding roll, 78 …… Guide plate, 80, 82 …… Pressing nip roll, 84, 86 …… Backup roll, 88 …… Transfer Device, 90 ... Peeling device, 92 ... Guide member, 94 ... First feed roll, 96 ... Second feed roll, 98, 100 ... Guide roll, 102 ... Peeling belt, 104 ... Sensitive material disposal Part, 106: fixing device, 108: guide member, 110, 112: feed roll, 114: waste box, 120: guide member, 121: irradiation opening, 122: reflecting member, 124: ultraviolet ray Irradiation lamp, 126, 128 …… Feed roll, 130 …… Tray, 140 …… Imaging optical system 142 …… Illumination lamp, 144,146,148,154,156 …… Mirror, 150 …… Image lens, 152 …… Fixed half mirror, 158 …… Ray, 160 …… Aperture, 162 …… Shutter, 164… ... Shutter control device, 170 ... Color tone detection device, 172 ... Liquid crystal filter unit, 174 ... Imaging lens, 176 ... CCD sensor, 180 ... Color tone determination device, 184 ... Actuation control device, 190 ... Sensitive material selection system,

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for carrying out substantially the same image forming method on at least two kinds of photosensitive materials, and means for reading a document image to judge a color tone, and at least two kinds having different color tones in a final image. An image forming apparatus having means for automatically selecting an optimum photosensitive material from the above photosensitive materials in accordance with a determined color tone of an original image. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming method is an image forming method which forms a latent image or a visible image in an image form by utilizing a chemical reaction. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the photosensitive material is a silver halide photosensitive material. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the photosensitive material is a photosensitive resin material. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the photosensitive material is a photosensitive pressure-sensitive material. 6. The photosensitive material having different color tones is a full-color photosensitive material or a monochrome photosensitive material.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of items 1 to 5.