JPH09190113A - Recording medium classifying device and recording medium calssifying method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the decision performance of the type of a recording medium with respect to the recording medium having the potential to be erroneously judged because it is hard to be judged with only the absolute level of a sensor output. SOLUTION: This device is a recording medium classifying device discriminating the type of the recording medium (for example, a recording paper) of an output device and reads out reflection characteristics of plural areas of the recording medium with a reflection type sensor 36 to extract difference values among respective areas as the degree of uniformity expressing the uniformity of the surface of the recording paper in a degree of uniform arithmetic part 43 and then judges whether the type is of an exclusive paper or a general purpose paper in a recording paper judging part 44 by the magnitude of the degree of uniformity. Then, the setting of an image processing and a motor control most suitable for the paper of the type is executed in accordance with the judged result in a processing parameter setting part 45. The processings suitable for the recording paper are applied in such a manner that the setting of the image processing is applied in an image processing part 47 and the setting of the motor control is applied in a motor control part 49 and then a satisfactory image is outputted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an output device such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile machine, and a word processor with a built-in printer, and more particularly to a plurality of types of recording media (sheet members such as paper, non-woven fabric and plastic film (also referred to as material). ), That is, it does not have to be paper, but will be referred to as recording paper for convenience hereinafter).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional recording apparatus uses only a specific recording paper such as a special paper coated on the surface of the recording paper in order to output an image with high definition. On the other hand,
By improving the performance of ink and the like, it is becoming possible to record on various general-purpose papers that are generally commercially available. When recording is to be performed on a large number of types of recording paper in this way, the recording paper is classified because it is necessary to set the image processing parameters suitable for each recording paper and change machine control conditions such as paper feeding. There is a need.

Special recording paper such as transparency for OHP among recording papers is obviously different from special papers and general-purpose papers in terms of transparency and glossiness. Classification was possible by reading the surface of the paper and comparing the output level of the output sensor with a predetermined reference level.

[0004]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, the level difference between the special paper and the general-purpose paper is small by simply comparing the output levels of the sensors, and the difference in the levels is small, so that the paper may be misclassified. There was a nature. Therefore, it is necessary to realize a recording medium classifying device that can correctly classify a recording sheet whose output level of a sensor is relatively close.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide a recording medium classification device and a recording medium classification method that can correctly classify a recording medium having a relatively close sensor output level. To do.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording medium classification device of the present invention comprises a sensor means for reading the reflection characteristics of a plurality of areas on the surface of the recording medium, and data read by the sensor means. And a uniformity calculating means for calculating the uniformity showing the degree of uniformity of the surface of the storage medium based on the data stored in the storing means, and the uniformity calculating means. A recording medium determination unit that determines the type of the recording medium by comparing the value of the uniformity calculated by the unit with a predetermined threshold value, and a recording medium determination unit that determines the type of the recording medium determined by the recording medium determination unit. Processing parameter setting means for setting various processing parameters relating to the recording processing of the recording medium.

In another aspect, the device of the present invention is
A parallel sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter which is mounted in a direction perpendicular to a recording medium and receives specularly reflected light from a plurality of regions on the surface of the recording medium and outputs the sensor output, and the recording medium is inclined. The inclination sensor of the reflection type photointerrupter that receives the diffused reflection light from a plurality of areas on the surface of the recording medium and outputs it as a sensor output, and the output data of the parallel sensor and the output data of the inclination sensor are temporarily stored. A storage means for storing the storage means, a uniformity calculating means for calculating a uniformity showing a degree of uniformity of the surface of the storage medium based on the output data of the parallel sensor stored in the storage means; When the difference between the output data of the parallel sensor read from the means and the output data of the tilt sensor is larger than a first threshold value, the recording medium is determined to be transparency. A first recording medium determining means, the output data of the parallel sensor read from said storage means second
When the value is smaller than the threshold value of, the second recording medium determining means for determining that the recording medium does not exist, the uniformity value calculated by the uniformity calculating means and the third threshold value are compared, A third recording medium judging means for judging that the recording medium is the first special paper if the uniformity is smaller than the third threshold value, and otherwise judging the recording medium as a general purpose paper; If the output data of the parallel sensor read from the means is larger than a fourth threshold value, the recording medium is determined to be the second special paper, and if not, the recording medium is determined to be general-purpose paper. The recording medium determination means and the processing parameter setting means for setting various processing parameters regarding the recording processing of the recording medium according to the determination result determined by any of the first to fourth recording medium determination means. thing And it features.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The sensor means has a single sensor, and the plurality of areas can be read while moving the single sensor.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The sensor means is composed of a plurality of sensors, and the plurality of areas can be read at once by the plurality of sensors.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
Each of the parallel sensor and the tilt sensor has a single sensor element, and the plurality of regions can be read while moving the single sensor element.

In another form, the apparatus of the present invention is
The parallel sensor includes a plurality of sensor elements, and the plurality of sensor elements can read the plurality of regions at once.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The uniformity calculating unit may extract a plurality of data from the storage unit, detect a maximum value and a minimum value in the plurality of data, and determine a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value as the uniformity.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The uniformity calculating means can retrieve two pieces of data from the storage means and use the difference between the two pieces of data as the uniformity.

As another form of the apparatus of the present invention,
The uniformity calculating means may extract a plurality of data from the storage means and use a variance value of the plurality of data as the uniformity.

In another form, the apparatus of the present invention is
The uniformity calculation means performs the uniformity calculation a plurality of times on different data retrieved from the storage means, and outputs a cumulative value of the plurality of uniformity as the final uniformity to the recording medium determination means. be able to.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
When the uniformity calculating unit performs the uniformity calculation a plurality of times on different data extracted from the storage unit, the sampling unit shifts the sampling position from the storage unit by a predetermined sampling width, and the data is arranged at predetermined intervals. It can be thinned out and taken out.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The recording medium determination unit can determine the type of the recording medium by combining the uniformity obtained by the uniformity calculation unit and the sensor output level data extracted from the storage unit.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The various processing parameters set by the processing parameter setting means control the image processing parameters used in the image processing means for processing the image signal supplied to the output head, and the drive motor that conveys the recording medium. It may include control parameters for the motor control means.

In another form, the device of the present invention is
The recording medium classification device can be installed in an output device such as a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile device, or another electronic device with a built-in printer that records information on a recording medium.

In order to achieve the above object, the recording medium classification method of the present invention comprises a reading step of reading the reflection characteristics of a plurality of areas on the surface of the recording medium using a sensor, and the data read by the sensor in a memory. A storage step of temporarily storing, a uniformity calculation step of calculating a uniformity showing a degree of uniformity of the surface of the storage medium based on the data stored in the memory, and a calculation step of the uniformity calculation step. A recording medium determining step of determining the type of the recording medium by comparing the value of the uniformity with a predetermined threshold value; and the recording medium according to the type of the recording medium determined in the recording medium determining step. And a processing parameter setting step for setting various processing parameters relating to the recording processing.

[0021] The method of the present invention, as another aspect,
A parallel sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter which is mounted in a direction perpendicular to a recording medium and receives specularly reflected light from a plurality of regions on the surface of the recording medium and outputs the sensor output, and the recording medium is inclined. A recording medium classification method of an output device having a tilt sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter, which is installed as a sensor and receives diffused reflected light from a plurality of areas on the surface of the recording medium as sensor outputs. A reading step of reading the reflection characteristics of the region of using the parallel sensor and the tilt sensor; a storage step of temporarily storing the data read by the parallel sensor and the tilt sensor in a memory; When the difference between the output data of the parallel sensor and the output data of the tilt sensor is larger than a first threshold value, the recording medium is loaded. And a second recording medium determination step of determining that there is no recording medium when the output data of the parallel sensor read from the memory is smaller than a second threshold value. A uniformity calculation step of calculating a uniformity indicating a degree of uniformity of the surface of the storage medium based on output data of the parallel sensor stored in the memory; and the uniformity calculated in the uniformity calculation step. The uniformity value is compared with a third threshold value, and if the uniformity value is smaller than the third threshold value, the recording medium is determined to be the first special paper, and if not, the recording medium is used for general purpose. A third recording medium determination step of determining that the sheet is paper, and if the output data of the parallel sensor read from the memory is larger than a fourth threshold value, the recording medium is determined to be the second dedicated sheet. If not, the recording medium of the recording medium is determined according to the determination result determined in any one of the fourth recording medium determination step of determining the recording medium as general-purpose paper and the first to fourth recording medium determination step. And a processing parameter setting step for setting various processing parameters relating to the recording processing.

The method of the present invention, in another form,
The uniformity calculating step may extract a plurality of data from the memory, detect a maximum value and a minimum value in the plurality of data, and determine a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value as the uniformity.

The method of the present invention, in another form,
The uniformity calculating step may extract two data from the memory and set a difference between the two data as the uniformity.

The method of the present invention, in another form,
The uniformity calculation step may extract a plurality of data from the memory and use a variance value of the plurality of data as the uniformity.

The method of the present invention, in another form,
In the uniformity calculation step, the uniformity calculation is performed a plurality of times on different data retrieved from the memory, and the cumulative value of the plurality of uniformity is output as the final uniformity to the recording medium determination step. You can

In addition, the method of the present invention, in another form,
In the uniformity calculation step, when the uniformity calculation is performed a plurality of times on different data extracted from the memory, the sampling position is shifted from the memory by a predetermined sampling width, and the data is thinned at predetermined intervals. Can be taken out.

[0027]

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

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a recording medium sorting apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 11 denotes a recording paper, which is fed to the position shown in FIG. 1 by a paper feeding mechanism (not shown). 12
Is a reflection type optical sensor including a light emitting portion and a light receiving portion. Light output from the light emitting portion such as a photodiode is reflected by the recording paper 11 which is an object, and is received by a light receiving transistor or a CCD. It is possible to obtain the reflection characteristic of the recording paper 11, which is the object, by the amount of light obtained in one part. The sensor 12 is attached to, for example, a carriage (not shown) of a recording head, scans the recording paper, and reads the state of the surface thereof.

The data read by the sensor 12 is stored in the memory 13. As the data stored in the memory 13, the value for each position of the sensor 12 is stored as shown by the graph of 14. The horizontal axis of the graph 14 represents the moving position of the sensor 12 moving on the recording paper 11, and the vertical axis represents the sensor 1.
2 represents the output level. FIG. 1 shows that the output of the sensor 12 varies depending on the position of the sensor 12.

Next, using the data stored in the memory 13, the calculation block 15 calculates the difference between a plurality of areas of the recording paper as the uniformity of the recording paper surface and obtains it. The details of this uniformity calculation will be described later. It is determined whether the paper is a special paper or a general-purpose paper based on the magnitude of the uniformity value, and the setting of the parameters of various recording processes is changed according to the judgment result.

In the case of FIG. 1, one sensor 12 is moved to read the recording paper 11 at a plurality of places, but even if a plurality of sensors 22 are installed as shown in FIG. Good. This line sensor type sensor 22
According to this, the movement control device for moving the sensor 12 as shown in FIG. 1 is unnecessary. In FIG. 1, since a serial printer is assumed, it is necessary to move the carriage originally for printing.
Since it is attached to the carriage, it is not necessary to provide a movement control device exclusively for the sensor. However, if the printing method is not of the serial type such as the line printer, there is no control device for moving the carriage, so that the line sensor type sensor 22 having a plurality of sensors as shown in FIG. 2 is effective.

For the calculation of the uniformity in the calculation block 15, for example, a plurality of data are fetched from the memory 13, the maximum value and the minimum value among them are extracted, and the difference (difference value) between the maximum value and the minimum value is calculated. Obtained as the uniformity (evaluation value of uniformity).
Alternatively, two pieces of data are taken out from the memory 13 at random or at a predetermined position, and the difference value between the two pieces of data is used as the uniformity value. Alternatively, a plurality of pieces of data are fetched from the memory 13, a variance value of the fetched data is calculated, and the variance value is set as the uniformity value.

It is preferable that the processing for calculating the uniformity is performed a plurality of times for the read data at different positions on the recording paper, and the value of the accumulated uniformity is used as the final value of the uniformity.

Furthermore, when determining the type of recording paper,
It is preferable to set the output level of the sensor 12 or 22 as the determination target together with the value of the uniformity.

The present invention focuses on the fact that the special paper and the general-purpose paper have a difference in the uniformity of the reflection characteristics on the surface thereof, and in general, the special paper has a higher homogeneity. Since the type of the recording medium is determined based on the property value, it is possible to correctly classify the recording medium having a relatively close output level of the sensor such as special paper and general-purpose paper.
In addition, by combining the sensor output levels at the same time and making them judgment targets, it is possible to correctly classify a plurality of types of special paper, transparency and the like.

[0036]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic construction of an ink jet type color copying machine having the recording medium sorting apparatus of this embodiment.
Here, 31 is a paper feed cassette for recording paper. By rotating a pickup roller and a conveyance roller (not shown), one sheet of recording paper is conveyed from the paper feed cassette 31 to the paper feed roller 33. When the recording paper is manually fed, the recording paper is conveyed from the manual feed tray 32 to the paper feed roller 33 via the manual paper feed roller not shown in the figure.

The paper feed roller 33, in combination with the paper discharge roller 34, conveys the recording paper with high precision. When the recording paper is conveyed below the carriage 35 between the rollers 33 and 34, the carriage 35 scans the recording paper as described in FIG. At the proper position of this carriage 35,
For example, a sensor 36 similar to the sensor 12 described in FIG. 1 is attached to the side portion in the traveling direction. The data read by the sensor 36 is taken into the memory (see 42 in FIG. 4) and calculated as described above with reference to FIG.

The carriage 35 carries an ink jet color recording head (not shown), and in the initial state,
It is located at the home position at the left end of FIG. 3 and moves to the right end at the same time as printing starts, and at the same time, the sensor 36 reads the data for classifying the recording paper, and returns to the right end after the processing for classifying the recording paper ends. Further, printing is performed on the recording paper by a recording head (not shown) while moving from the right end to the left end in FIG.

After the one-band printing is completed, the control section (not shown) rotates the paper feed roller 33 and the paper discharge roller 34 to convey the recording paper for a predetermined distance. At the same time, the carriage 35 moves from the left end to the right end for the next printing. When the recording paper is conveyed and the carriage is moved, printing of the next band is started. By repeating these series of operations,
An image of one page is formed on recording paper.

Next, FIG. 4 shows the overall construction of the recording paper classification process of this embodiment. The output value sampled by the sensor 36 for reading the surface state (reflection characteristic) of the recording paper is stored in the memory 42. This memory 42 is shown in FIG.
Of the memory 13. The data stored in the memory 42 is sent to the uniformity calculator 43, and the uniformity of the recording paper is calculated based on the data. This calculation method will be described in detail later.

The recording paper determination unit 44 determines the type of recording paper by combining the uniformity calculated by the uniformity calculation unit 43 and information such as the absolute value of the output of the recording paper classification sensor 36.
This determination method will also be specifically described later.

Using the judgment result of the recording paper judgment unit 44, the processing parameter setting unit 45 calculates the image processing parameters and
Set the motor control parameters. Specifically, the parameters of this image processing are optimized for the recording paper by the processing performed by each image processing block of the image processing unit 47 on the image data obtained from the image reading sensor 46 of the document scanner. Is set as follows. As the image processing block, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, an input gamma processing circuit, an input masking circuit, a black character processing circuit, a logarithmic conversion circuit (LOG), a black extraction circuit, an HS circuit, an output masking circuit, an output gamma processing circuit. And a binarization circuit. When setting the image processing parameters, for example, if the type of recording paper is special paper, the output gamma processing is normally bypassed because the ink absorption performance is good, but in the case of general-purpose paper, the same processing is performed when recording paper is used. Cannot fully absorb the ink, the ink overflows onto the recording paper, and the discharge roller 3
It can stain 4. Therefore, by setting the processing parameter setting unit 45 so as to perform the output gamma processing having the characteristic that the density becomes low in the high density portion, it is possible to perform the image processing suitable for the recording paper.

The motor control unit 49 adjusts the paper feed amount according to the recording paper, so that the processing parameter setting unit 4
5, processing such as changing the creation of the motor drive table is performed.

Next, the details of each block shown in FIG. 4 will be described with reference to the characteristic diagram of FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of the output waveform of the recording paper classification sensor 36, which corresponds to the data value stored in the memory 42. The horizontal axis represents the movement distance of the carriage 35, and the vertical axis represents the output value of the sensor 36. The output waveform of 51 is for the special paper, and the output value does not relatively vary depending on the movement position of the carriage 35. On the other hand, the output waveform 52 indicates the output value in the case of general-purpose paper, and the fluctuation of the sensor output value due to the movement of the carriage 35 is larger than the output waveform 51 in the case of the special paper.

Next, the output waveform of 53 shows the sensor output value when three sheets of special paper are stacked. Since the sensor 36 is a reflection type photo interrupter, the amount of light that passes through the recording paper naturally decreases, and the amount of light reflected by the recording paper and taken into the sensor increases, as shown by the output waveform 51 in the case of one dedicated paper. It is larger than the value. However, since the special paper is originally highly uniform, the variation characteristics depending on the moving position of the carriage hardly change. However, in the output waveform 54 when three sheets of general-purpose paper are stacked, the output level of the sensor rises, and at the same time, the variation in the output value of the sensor due to the position of the carriage is reduced as compared with the output waveform 52 when one sheet of general-purpose paper is used. doing. This indicates that the transparent unevenness of the recording papers was eliminated by stacking a plurality of general-purpose recording papers.
Conversely, it can be said that the fluctuation of the sensor output indicated by 52 extracts the transparent unevenness which is a characteristic of general-purpose paper. These data are stored in the memory 42 and used for the uniformity calculation processing in the uniformity calculation unit 43.

Next, the uniformity calculating section 4 which is the core of the present invention.
Details of No. 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. The vertical and horizontal axes of the graphs in both figures are the same as in the case of FIG. The sampling interval of the output of the sensor 36 is one pulse interval of a stepping motor (not shown) for moving the carriage 35, and thereby the sampling position accuracy is obtained. These data are stored in the memory 4 shown in FIG.
It is in the state stored in 2. Uniformity calculation unit 43
First, the reading is skipped to a point where the output value of the sensor 36 becomes stable. This skipped portion is a section when the sensor 36 does not reach the position where the recording paper exists, and is a portion indicated by 64. Then stable 6
Data is extracted from the position indicated by 1 with a certain sampling width. This stable condition may be determined in advance, for example, within the minimum value of the usable recording paper size (for example, the width of the B5 plate). The uniformity is calculated from the data extracted in the section 61. There are three methods of calculating the degree of uniformity as shown in FIG. 7, and the value is small if the value is uniform and the value is large if the value is not uniform.

Method 1: The difference between the data at both ends of the sampling width is used as the uniformity.

Method 2: The variance within the sampling width is used as the uniformity.

Method 3: The difference between the maximum value and the minimum value within the sampling width is used as the uniformity.

In the above method 1, the width of method 1 in FIG. 7 is extracted as the uniformity. This has the advantage that only the data at both ends is needed and the calculation is simple, but the sensor output fluctuates significantly within the sampling width, but if the data at both ends happens to be the same, the uniformity cannot be extracted correctly. There is a drawback that.

In the method 2, the area of the region shown in the method 2 of FIG. 7 is extracted as the uniformity. This has the advantage that the degree of variation can be calculated accurately, so that the uniformity can be calculated correctly, but there is the disadvantage that the amount of calculation such as the calculation of the average value is large in order to obtain variance.

In the method 3, the width of the method 3 shown in FIG. 7 is extracted as the uniformity. Although the calculation amount is larger than that of the method 1, the calculation amount is not so large as that of the method 2, and the difference between the maximum and the minimum is obtained, so that there is no practical problem in terms of accuracy. Therefore, the method 3 will be described in detail in the present invention. To do. Of course, it is also possible to adopt the method 1 and the method 2.

Hereinafter, the steps of obtaining the uniformity using the calculation method of Method 3 will be described step by step.

Step 1: The maximum value and the minimum value are obtained from the data sampled in the section 61.

Step 2: Find the difference between the obtained maximum value and minimum value.

Step 3; If the obtained difference is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the difference is added to the cumulative value of the uniformity as the uniformity.

If the calculated difference is less than a certain value, no addition is made.

Step 4; Next, the sampling width is set to 6 in FIG.
Slide to the sampling window shown by 2 and execute the above steps 1 to 3.

Then, the above steps 1 to 4 are repeated while sequentially moving the sampling windows 63 and 64 in FIG. 6, the uniformity in each sampling window is calculated, and the calculated uniformity is accumulated. And repeats until a predetermined sampling window width is reached.

As a supplementary explanation, the reason why step 3 is performed will be described. In this step 3, since the output of the sensor 36 has a noise component, when the difference between the maximum value and the minimum value is small, it is regarded as a noise component and is discarded. As a result, it is possible to prevent the cumulative value of the uniformity of uniform recording paper such as special paper from increasing due to noise components.

Next, speeding up of the uniformity calculation will be described with reference to FIG. Here, 81 indicates a state in which the sampled data is stored in the memory 42. Data marked with X in the squares in the figure are data not used in the calculation of uniformity, and data without X are used in calculation. For concrete description, assume that the amount of sampled data is 500 data and the sampling window width for calculating the uniformity is 64 data, as shown in FIG.

When the above-described calculation method is simply performed on all the sampling data, all the sampled data are used as shown at 82 in FIG. 8 when calculating the uniformity. In addition, since the slide amount of the sampling window was set to 1 at that time, the size of 64 data was compared in one uniformity calculation, and this was repeated 437 times while moving the sampling window to accumulate the uniformity. It will be necessary to do. This is not a problem when implemented by a hardware circuit or a high-speed CPU,
CPU that operates with a clock of several MHz or a dozen MHz
In order to process the data in a very short time after the sensor 36 reads the data until the print head 48 starts printing, the load on the CPU is large.

Therefore, in order to increase the speed, n data (8 data in FIG. 8) are skipped in the sampling window for calculation, as indicated by 83 in FIG. By doing so, the number of comparisons of magnitude comparison can be reduced to 1 / n of the above method. Further, the slide amount of the sampling window is set to n-1 data (7 data in FIG. 8). As a result, the number of times of accumulation is reduced to 1 / (n-1) times described above. If the above example is applied, the number of magnitude comparisons is 8/64 and is 1/8
Since the cumulative number of times is 62/437 and is reduced to about 1/7, the total amount of calculation can be reduced to 1/56.

In this method, data is thinned out for calculation, but by shifting the reading skip amount within the sampling window width and the slide amount such as sampling by 1,
Although there is some data that is not used for calculation (in 20 × 2 = 40 data / 500 data in FIG. 8), it is not an amount that affects the accuracy of uniformity.

By performing the above-mentioned calculation, the uniformity calculating section 4
The cumulative value of the uniformity is efficiently calculated from 3.

Finally, the operation of the recording paper judgment unit 44 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The present embodiment employs a method of making a judgment by combining the method of judging the recording paper according to the present invention with the method of judging the recording paper based on the absolute value level of the sensor output.

First, at step 91, a sensor which is mounted in parallel (vertical direction) with respect to the recording paper as an output value of the sensor 36, receives specularly reflected light and outputs the sensor output (hereinafter referred to as a parallel sensor). Output value and a sensor that is attached to the recording paper with an inclination and receives diffused reflected light and outputs it as a sensor output (hereinafter referred to as an inclination sensor)
If the difference between the two output values is larger than a predetermined threshold value, the recording paper is determined to be transparency (trapping sheet) in step 96, and the recording paper determination process is performed. To finish. The reason for this is that the trapen sheet has a much higher glossiness than other recording papers, and the reflectance is good, so the output of the parallel sensor is high.
This is because the tilt sensor has a characteristic that the output is low because the amount of light returning to the light receiving unit is small.

If a negative determination is made in step 91, the process proceeds to step 92. In step 92, if the output of the parallel sensor is smaller than another predetermined threshold value, it is determined in step 97 that the platen is the platen and there is no recording sheet, and the recording sheet determination process is ended.

If a negative determination is made in step 92, the process proceeds to step 93. If the output level of the parallel sensor is close to that of general-purpose paper and is smaller than another predetermined threshold value, step 93 moves to step 94, which is just a problem in the present invention. In step 94, based on the cumulative value of the uniformity calculated by the uniformity calculating section 43, if the cumulative value is smaller than another predetermined threshold value, the recording paper has high uniformity. It is judged that the recording paper is the special paper 2 in step 98, and the recording paper judgment processing is ended. If not,
When it is determined that the recording paper is not uniform, it is determined that the recording paper is general-purpose paper in step 99, and the recording paper determination process ends.

In the case of a negative determination in step 93, the process proceeds to step 95, and if the output value of the parallel sensor is larger than another predetermined threshold value, step 1
When it is 00, it is determined that it is the special paper 1, and if it is not, it is determined that it is the general-purpose paper, and the processing is ended. The general-purpose paper judged at this time has a relatively high output level of the sensor 36 among a large number of general-purpose papers, and there is no problem even if the uniformity is not included in the judgment criterion.

By the above-described processing, the recording paper judgment unit 44
The only type of recording paper is output from the printer, and as described above, the processing parameter setting unit 45 performs optimum image processing and motor control settings for that type of recording paper. That is, the image processing setting data is supplied to each block of the image processing unit 47, the motor control setting data is supplied to the motor control block of the motor control unit 49, and the processing suitable for the recording paper is performed. It is possible to obtain a good image output.

[0073]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Focusing on the fact that there is a difference in the uniformity of the reflection characteristics depending on the type of recording medium, based on the value indicating the uniformity calculated from the output of the recording medium sensor (uniformity or cumulative value of uniformity), Since the type is judged, it is difficult to judge only by the absolute value level of the sensor output, and the judgment performance is improved for recording media (for example, special paper and general-purpose paper) that may have been erroneously judged. be able to.

Further, according to the present invention, a large number of recording media can be correctly separated by combining the above-mentioned uniformity and the output level of the sensor as a judgment target.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an operation outline of recording paper classification according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing another operation outline of recording paper classification according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway perspective view showing an internal structure of an output device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a processing block according to an embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a graph showing an example of data loaded into a memory from the recording paper classification sensor of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a graph illustrating a sampling width of data captured by the uniformity calculator of FIG.

7A and 7B are graphs showing three types of uniformity calculation methods of the uniformity calculator of FIG.

8 is a timing diagram illustrating a method of accelerating the uniformity calculation in the uniformity calculation unit of FIG.

9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure (judgment operation) of a recording paper judgment unit in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 Recording Paper 12, 22, 36 Recording Paper Classification Sensor 13, 42 Memory 15 Calculation Block 31 Paper Feed Cassette 32 Manual Feed Tray 33 Paper Feed Roller 34 Paper Ejection Roller 35 Carriage 43 Uniformity Calculation Section 44 Recording Paper Judgment Section 45 Processing Parameters Setting unit 46 Image reading sensor 47 Image processing unit 48 Print head 49 Motor control unit 51 Sensor output when one sheet of special paper 52 General sensor output when one sheet of special paper 53 Sensor output when three sheets of special paper are stacked 54 General purpose Sensor output when three sheets of paper are stacked 61 Sampling window for first uniformity calculation 62 Sampling window for second uniformity calculation 63 Sampling window for third uniformity calculation 81 Sampling data of recording paper 82 Uniformity calculation Range of sampling window for sampling 83 Sampler for speeding up homogeneity calculation Range of grayed window

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Eiichi Motoyama 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshinori Ito 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Within the corporation

Claims (21)

[Claims] 1. A sensor means for reading the reflection characteristics of a plurality of areas on the surface of a recording medium, a storage means for temporarily storing the data read by the sensor means, and data stored in the storage means. A uniformity calculating means for calculating the uniformity showing the degree of uniformity of the surface of the storage medium, and comparing the value of the uniformity calculated by the uniformity calculating means with a predetermined threshold value. A recording medium determination unit that determines the type of the recording medium, and a processing parameter setting unit that sets various processing parameters relating to the recording process of the recording medium according to the type of the recording medium determined by the recording medium determination unit. A recording medium classifying device, comprising: 2. The sensor means comprises a single sensor,
The recording medium sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of areas are read while moving the single sensor. 3. The recording medium sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor means is composed of a plurality of sensors, and the plurality of areas are read at a time by the plurality of sensors. 4. A parallel sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter which is attached in a direction perpendicular to a recording medium and receives specularly reflected light from a plurality of regions on the surface of the recording medium and outputs the sensor output as a sensor output. A tilt sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter which is attached with an inclination with respect to the sensor and receives diffused reflection light from a plurality of areas on the surface of the recording medium as sensor output, and output data of the parallel sensor and output of the tilt sensor. Storage means for temporarily storing the data and a uniformity calculation for calculating the uniformity showing the degree of the uniformity of the surface of the storage medium based on the output data of the parallel sensor stored in the storage means. Means, and if the difference between the output data of the parallel sensor read from the storage means and the output data of the tilt sensor is larger than a first threshold value, the recording medium is transposed. And a second recording medium determination unit that determines that the recording medium does not exist when output data of the parallel sensor read from the storage unit is smaller than a second threshold value. Means for calculating the homogeneity value calculated by the homogeneity calculating means, and
And the uniformity is smaller than the third threshold, the recording medium is determined to be the first special paper, and if not, the recording medium is determined to be general-purpose paper. If the output data of the recording medium determining means and the parallel sensor read from the storage means is larger than a fourth threshold value, the recording medium is set to the second recording medium.
No. 4 special recording medium, and if not, the fourth recording medium determination unit that determines the recording medium as general-purpose paper, and the determination result determined by any of the first to fourth recording medium determination units. And a processing parameter setting means for setting various processing parameters relating to the recording processing of the recording medium according to the above. 5. The parallel sensor and the tilt sensor each have a single sensor element, and the plurality of regions are read while the single sensor element is moved. Recording medium classification device. 6. The recording medium sorting device according to claim 4, wherein the parallel sensor is composed of a plurality of sensor elements, and the plurality of sensor elements read the plurality of areas at a time. 7. The uniformity calculating means retrieves a plurality of data from the storage means, detects a maximum value and a minimum value in the plurality of data, and sets a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value as the uniformity. The recording medium sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium sorting device is a storage medium sorting device. 8. The uniformity calculation means fetches two data from the storage means and sets the difference between the two data as the uniformity. The recording medium classification device described. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the uniformity calculating means extracts a plurality of data from the storage means and sets a variance value of the plurality of data as the uniformity. Recording medium classification device. 10. The uniformity calculating means performs the uniformity calculation a plurality of times on different data retrieved from the storage means, and a cumulative value of the plurality of uniformity is used as a final uniformity of the recording medium. The recording medium sorting device according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the recording medium sorting device outputs the determination medium. 11. The uniformity calculating means, when performing the uniformity calculation a plurality of times on different data fetched from the storage means, while shifting the sampling position from the storage means by a predetermined sampling width, and 11. The recording medium sorting apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the recording medium sorting device extracts the thinned sheets at predetermined intervals. 12. The recording medium determining means determines the type of the recording medium by combining the uniformity obtained by the uniformity calculating means and the sensor output level data retrieved from the storage means. 4. The recording medium sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium sorting device is a storage medium sorting device. 13. The various processing parameters set by the processing parameter setting means convey an image processing parameter used in an image processing means for processing an image signal supplied to an output head and the recording medium. 13. The recording medium sorting device according to claim 1, further comprising a control parameter of a motor control means for controlling the drive motor. 14. The recording medium classification device includes a copying machine, a printer, a facsimile device for recording information on a recording medium,
14. The recording medium sorting device according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium sorting device is installed in an output device such as another electronic device with a built-in printer. 15. A reading step of using a sensor to read the reflection characteristics of a plurality of areas on the surface of a recording medium, a storage step of temporarily storing the data read by the sensor in a memory, and a storage step of storing the data in the memory. A uniformity calculation step for calculating the uniformity showing the degree of uniformity of the surface of the storage medium based on the obtained data, and comparing the uniformity value calculated in the uniformity calculation step with a predetermined threshold value. A recording medium determination step for determining the type of the recording medium by the above, and a processing parameter setting step for setting various processing parameters relating to the recording processing of the recording medium according to the type of the recording medium determined in the recording medium determination step A recording medium classification method comprising: 16. A parallel sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter which is mounted in a direction perpendicular to a recording medium and receives specularly reflected light from a plurality of regions on the surface of the recording medium and outputs the sensor output, and the recording medium. A recording medium classification method of an output device, comprising: a tilt sensor of a reflection type photointerrupter, which is attached with an inclination with respect to the surface of the recording medium and receives diffused reflected light from a plurality of regions on the surface of the recording medium and outputs the sensor output as a sensor output. A reading step of reading the reflection characteristics of a plurality of regions on the surface of the medium using the parallel sensor and the tilt sensor; a storage step of temporarily storing the data read by the parallel sensor and the tilt sensor in a memory; When the difference between the output data of the parallel sensor read from the memory and the output data of the tilt sensor is larger than a first threshold value, A first recording medium determining step of determining the recording medium as transparency; and a second determining step of determining that the recording medium does not exist when output data of the parallel sensor read from the memory is smaller than a second threshold value. A recording medium determining step, a uniformity calculating step for calculating a uniformity indicating a degree of uniformity of a surface of the storage medium based on output data of the parallel sensor stored in the memory, and the uniformity calculating step. The value of the degree of uniformity calculated in step 3 is compared with a third threshold value, and if the degree of uniformity is smaller than the third threshold value, the recording medium is determined to be the first special paper, and if not, A third recording medium determination step of determining that the recording medium is a general-purpose paper; if the output data of the parallel sensor read from the memory is larger than a fourth threshold value, the recording medium is determined to be a first recording medium. No. 2 dedicated paper, and if not, the fourth recording medium determination step of determining the recording medium as general purpose paper, and the determination made in any of the first to fourth recording medium determination steps. And a process parameter setting step of setting various process parameters relating to the recording process of the recording medium according to the result. 17. The uniformity calculating step retrieves a plurality of data from the memory, detects a maximum value and a minimum value in the plurality of data, and sets a difference between the maximum value and the minimum value as the uniformity. The recording medium sorting method according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that. 18. The uniformity calculation step retrieves two pieces of data from the memory and sets a difference between the two pieces of data as the uniformity.
6. The recording medium classification method described in 6. 19. The recording medium sorting method according to claim 15, wherein the uniformity calculating step extracts a plurality of data from the memory and sets a variance value of the plurality of data as the uniformity. . 20. The uniformity calculating step performs the uniformity calculation a plurality of times on different data retrieved from the memory, and judges the recording medium as a final uniformity by using a cumulative value of the plurality of uniformity. 20. The recording medium sorting method according to claim 17, wherein the recording medium sorting method outputs the recording medium to a step. 21. In the uniformity calculation step, when the calculation of the uniformity is performed a plurality of times on different data retrieved from the memory, the sampling position is shifted from the memory by a predetermined sampling width, and the data is collected. 21. The recording medium sorting method according to claim 20, wherein thinning out is performed at predetermined intervals.