JPH08295065A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To greatly reduce consumption of electric power by facilitating on/off control of a power source for each functional block. CONSTITUTION: Switch circuits 20-25 on/off controlling a power source for each functional block are connected to a power source circuit 11. An on/off control signal generating circuit 26 carries out on/off control of the switch circuits 20-25, as occasion demands, according to a job command from an external computer received with a computer interface part 18. When the computer interface part 18 receives the job command from the external computer 27, a CPU 19 sends a content of the job to the on/off control signal generating circuit 26. The on/off control signal generating circuit 26 turns on only those corresponding to the functional blocks necessary for processing in the switch circuits 20-25. Since power sources for excess functional blocks do not turn on, the consumption of electric power can be sharply cut down.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus such as a digital copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to a mechanism for controlling on / off of its power source.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, digital copying machines have become widespread, and, for example, by connecting to a processing device having a FAX or printer function, they have various functions. In other words, digital copying machines have come to be used by being connected to various devices. Also, with the spread of computers, a huge number of printers are operating in the market.

Digital copiers and printers only use a seesaw switch or the like as a power switch to turn on / off the power of the apparatus, and have a function of controlling the power on / off by an external signal. do not have.

However, in the above-mentioned conventional example, when it is desired to print, for example, it is necessary to first turn on the power switch of a device such as a digital copying machine or a printer, and then perform a printing operation, which is troublesome for the user. Furthermore, the print operation may be performed without knowing that the power switch is off, which wastes time. Therefore, there is a case where the power switch is turned on all day in order to avoid these useless operations even a little, but in this case, the power switch is turned on even when the device is not used, which is a waste. There was a problem that power consumption would increase.

In order to solve such a problem, a proposal such as Japanese Patent Application No. 6-18525 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-319003) has been made. Even in this case, the power of the entire apparatus is turned on / off remotely. Is controlled,
Since the power of the functional blocks that are not used is also turned on, there is a problem that wasteful power consumption is not small.
For example, when trying to use the printer function of a digital copying machine, unnecessary power for the scanner section and the image processing section is wasted.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the drawbacks of the conventional example, and is configured so that power supply ON / OFF control can be performed for each functional block and only the necessary functional blocks are powered on. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus in which the power supply of the functional blocks that are not used can be saved and the power consumption can be greatly saved by controlling the above.

[0007]

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of switch means provided for each functional block for turning on / off a power supply to each functional block, and an on / off state for each of these switch means. And a control means for controlling the off state.

Here, the control means may be constructed so as to control ON / OFF of each switch means in response to a command from a computer provided inside or outside the image forming apparatus.

The switch means may be provided only in some functional blocks.

[0010]

With the image forming apparatus of the present invention configured as described above, the control means controls the on / off of the switch means so that power is always supplied only to the necessary functional blocks.

These controls can be performed by a command from a computer inside or outside the image forming apparatus.

If the switch means is provided only in a part of the functional blocks, and not in the functional blocks requiring a standby time, the processing desired by the user can be performed immediately.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment.

In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes the entire image forming apparatus of this embodiment. Reference numeral 11 is a power supply circuit, which generates power to be supplied to each unit described later.

Reference numeral 12 denotes a scanner unit, which comprises a light source for irradiating an original image, a drive circuit for scanning the original image, and a CCD for reading the original image.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an image processing section, which is a scanner section 12
Image data read by the CCD of the computer and external computer 2
The image data from 7 is properly processed.

An image forming unit 14 modulates laser light to form an image, and transfers and fixes the image on a sheet to output the image.

Reference numeral 15 is a sorter section, which is an image forming section 14.
It sorts and collates the sheets of paper printed out from the tray to a predetermined position.

Reference numeral 16 denotes a FAX unit, which transmits the image data from the scanner unit 12 as predetermined FAX code data, and the received data as image data in the image processing unit 1.
Output to 3.

Reference numeral 17 denotes a PDL developing unit, which develops the image data sent from the external computer 27 into a bit map and outputs it to the image processing unit 14.

Reference numeral 18 denotes a computer interface section for performing data communication with the external computer 27.

Reference numeral 19 denotes a CPU (central processing unit), which analyzes a command from the computer interface section 18 and controls transmission / reception of data for each functional block through the video bus 28 through the CPU bus 29.

Numerals 20 to 25 are switch circuits for ON / OFF controlling the supply of power to each of the above functional blocks, and are connected to the power supply circuit 11.

Reference numeral 26 is an on / off control signal generating circuit, which performs on / off control of the switch circuits 20 to 25 as necessary according to a job command from the external computer 27 received by the computer interface section 18.

The operation of this embodiment will be described below.

First, the case where the image data sent from the external computer 27 is printed out will be described.

When the computer interface unit 18 receives such a job command from the external computer 27, the computer interface unit 18 sends the command to the CPU 19, and the CPU 19
Responds to the external computer 27 through the computer interface 18 and at the same time sends the job contents to the on / off control signal generating circuit 26. The on / off control circuit 26 outputs a control signal to turn on the switch circuits 21, 22, and 25 so that power is supplied to each block of the image processing unit 13, the image forming unit 14, and the PDL developing unit 17. Become.

Then, the image data sent from the external computer 27 is sent to the PDL developing unit 17 through the computer interface unit 18 and the video bus 28, and the image data that has been bit map expanded here is imaged through the video bus 28. After being sent to the processing unit 13 and subjected to appropriate processing, it is sent to the image forming unit 14 and printed out from there.

In this case, if the job command of the external computer 27 has a content for instructing the sorting function, the on / off control signal generation circuit 26 generates a control signal so that the switch circuit 22 is also turned on.

Next, a case where the original image is fax-transmitted through the scanner section 12 will be described.

When such a job command is received from the external computer 27, the on / off control signal generating circuit 26 is switched to the switch circuit 2 by the same operation as described above.
A control signal is output to turn on 0, 21, and 24, and power is supplied to each block of the scanner unit 12, the image processing unit 13, and the FAX unit 16.

Then, a document placed on a document table (not shown) is read by 12, and the read image data is sent to the image processing unit 13 through the video bus 28 and appropriately processed, and then the FAX unit 16 is operated. To the FAX code, and the FAX code is transmitted.

When receiving a FAX, the switch circuits 21, 22 and 24 are turned on by the same operation as described above, the FAX code received by the FAX unit 16 is converted into video data, and then the image processing unit is operated. 13, image forming unit 1
It is printed out through 4.

In the above-described embodiment, the switch circuits 20 to 20 are operated by the job command from the external computer 27.
Although the ON / OFF of the switch 25 is controlled, a computer is incorporated in the image forming apparatus 1 and the switch circuits 20 to 20 are operated by a job command from the internal computer.
On / off of 25 may be controlled. In this case, it is necessary to configure the internal computer so that power is always supplied unless the main power is turned off.

Further, unlike the other functional blocks, the image forming unit 13 requires a standby time from power-on until the image forming unit 13 is ready for use. Alternatively, the power may be constantly supplied.

As described above, the power can be supplied only to the necessary functional blocks according to the job command from the computer, so that the power consumption can be saved. In particular, at night, by controlling so that only the power supply of the FAX unit 16 is turned on, the power consumption can be greatly saved.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention,
It is configured to control the power on / off for each functional block, and by controlling to power on only the required functional blocks, the power of the unused functional blocks is saved and the power consumption is greatly saved. It becomes possible to do.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, it is possible to eliminate the waiting time for using the device.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Image Forming Apparatus 11 Power Supply Circuit 12 Scanner Section 13 Image Processing Section 14 Image Forming Section 15 Sorter Section 16 FAX Section 17 PDL Development Section 20-25 Switch Circuit 26 ON / OFF Control Signal Generation Circuit 27 External Computer

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a plurality of switch means provided for each functional block for turning on / off a power supply to each functional block; and a control means for controlling on / off of each of these switch means. apparatus. 2. The control means controls ON / OFF of each switch means according to a command from a computer provided inside or outside the image forming apparatus.
The image forming apparatus according to item 1. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the switch means is provided only in a part of the functional blocks.