JPH09281859A - Consumed power reducing device for page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce power for preheating a fixing roller, while a page printer stands by for printing. SOLUTION: The consumed power reducing device for the page printer is provided with a printing data storage part 2 for transiently storing printing data from a computer 1 and setting a printing data input flag 5, when the printing data is present, a printing data preserving part 3 for preserving the printing data, until the page printer 8 becomes a printable state and setting a printing data output flag 6, when the printing data is present, a printing data monitoring processing part 4 for judging the presence of the printing data from the printing data input/output flags 5 and 6, turning off the power of the page printer 8 and the printing data preserving part 3, when a state where the printing data to the page printer 8 is absent is continued for a specified time and outputting power turning on and off signals for reducing the power consumed during standing by for printing and a power source control processing part 7 for turning on and off the power of the page printer 8 and the printing data preserving part 3, with the power turning on/off signals.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a power consumption reducing apparatus for a page printer, and more particularly, to a power consumption due to preheating of a toner thermocompression type page printer in a system for printing print data from a host apparatus by using the page printer. The present invention relates to an apparatus for reducing power consumption of a page printer that makes it zero.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a power consumption reducing apparatus for a page printer of this type has a preheating temperature when it detects that there is no print data from a host apparatus for a certain period of time, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-146452. It was customary to reduce power consumption by setting a low value or by adopting flash fixing that does not require preheating.

[0003]

The conventional power consumption reducing apparatus for a page printer cannot reduce the power consumption to zero even if the preheating temperature is set to a low value during the print standby. Further, when the print data is interrupted due to a trouble of the host device while the print data is incomplete, the printer does not remain in the printing state and is not in the print standby state, so that it is not possible to reduce the power consumption for the residual heat.

Further, when performing flash fixing, it is possible to reduce the power consumption during printing standby to zero, but since a high voltage is required to perform flash fixing, it is difficult to handle, and an expensive flash bulb is Since it needs to be replaced on a regular basis, there is a disadvantage that running cost is higher than that of the toner thermocompression bonding method.

An object of the present invention is to turn off the power supply of the page printer in the print standby state to reduce the residual heat consumption for fixing to zero, and to send the warm-up time from the reapplying of the power supply to the ready-to-print state from the host device. It is an object of the present invention to provide a page printer power consumption reduction apparatus that apparently reduces the printer print waiting time when viewed from a higher-level device by temporarily storing the print data to be stored in the print data storage unit.

[0006]

A page printer power consumption reducing apparatus according to the present invention stores print data from a host apparatus temporarily and sets a print data input flag when the print data exists. Unit, a print data storage unit that stores the print data until the page printer is ready to print, and sets a print data output flag when the print data exists, and monitors the print data input flag and the print data output flag Then, the presence / absence of the print data is judged, and when the state in which there is no print data to the page printer continues for a certain time, the power of the page printer and the power of the print data storage unit are turned off, and the preheat consumed during the print standby and A print data monitoring processing unit that outputs a power ON / OFF signal that reduces the power consumed by the print data storage unit; Serial power ON · OFF signal power ON · of the page printer and the print data storage unit by OF
And a power control processing unit for performing F.

[0007]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 which is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, a power consumption reducing apparatus for a page printer according to this embodiment temporarily stores print data from a computer 1 and prints the print data. Print data storage unit 2 that sets the print data input flag 5 when there is a print data and print data is stored until the page printer 8 becomes printable, and print data output flag 6 is set when the print data exists The data storage unit 3, the print data input flag 5 and the print data output flag 6 are monitored to determine the presence or absence of print data, and if there is no print data to the page printer 8 for a certain period of time, the page printer 8
Print power monitoring processing unit 4 that outputs a power ON / OFF signal for turning off the power supply of the print data storage unit 3 and preheating consumed during printing standby and reducing the power consumption of the print data storage unit 3 And this power ON / OFF
The page printer 8 and the print data storage unit 3 according to the signal
And a power supply control processing unit 7 for turning on / off the power supply.

2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are flowcharts of processing in the print data storage unit, print data storage unit and print data monitoring unit, respectively. The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 together with FIG.

The print data storage unit 2 receives the print data from the computer 1 (steps 21 and 2).
2) The print data input flag 5 is set (step 23), and the print data is stored until the print data storage unit 3 can store the print data. When the print data storage unit 3 can store the print data, the print data storage unit 2
Transmits the print data 9 received first to the print data storage unit 3 in order (step 24), and the computer 1
The print data input flag 5 is cleared at the time when the print data 9 from the above is lost (step 25).

The print data storage unit 3 receives the print data 9 from the print data storage unit 2 (steps 31 to 3).
3) The print data output flag 6 is set (step 34), and the print data is stored until the page printer 8 is ready to print (step 35). Page printer 8
Becomes available for printing (steps 36 and 37), the page printer 8
To the page printer 8 (step 38), and when the print data to the page printer 8 is exhausted, the print data output flag 6 is cleared (step 39). Here, in order not to interrupt the output of the print data of the computer 1, the print data storage unit 3 stores the print data output from the power-on of the page printer 8 until the print becomes possible, for example, about one minute. It has the capacity to store everything.

The print data monitoring processor 4 monitors the print data output flag 6 (step 41), and when the state without print data (step 42) continues for a certain period of time, for example, 3 minutes (step 43), prints. When it is determined that there is no data 9, the power supply control processing unit 7 is instructed to turn off the power supply (step 44). When the print data input flag 5 is set in the power-off state (steps 45 and 46), the power-supply control processing section 7 is instructed to turn on the power (step 47). The power supply control processing unit 7 turns on / off the power of the print data storage unit 3 and the page printer 8 according to an instruction from the print data monitoring processing unit 4.

[0013]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When the print data from the host device is temporarily stored and the print data input flag is set when there is print data, and the print data is saved until the page printer can print, and there is print data If there is no print data to the page printer for a certain period of time by monitoring the print data input flag and print data output flag to determine the presence of print data and setting the print data output flag A print data monitoring processing unit that outputs a power ON / OFF signal that turns off the power of the page printer and the print data storage unit to reduce preheating consumed during printing standby and power consumption of the print data storage unit. , ON / OFF of the power supply of the page printer and print data storage unit by the power ON / OFF signal
By providing a power control processing unit that performs F, when the print data to the page printer does not exist for a certain period of time, the power of the page printer and the print data storage unit are turned off to perform printing. It is possible to reduce the preheating consumed during standby and the power consumed by the print data storage unit.

Further, since attention is paid to the phenomenon that the print data in the apparatus does not exist for a certain period of time, even if the print data from the host apparatus is interrupted due to a trouble of the host apparatus, the page printer and the print data are saved. Since it is possible to turn off the power of the unit, it is possible to reliably reduce the power consumption.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in a print data storage unit.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in a print data storage unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a processing flow in a print data monitoring processing unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Computer 2 Print Data Storage Section 3 Print Data Storage Section 4 Print Data Monitoring Processing Section 5 Print Data Input Flag 6 Print Data Output Flag 7 Power Control Processing Section 8 Page Printer 9 Print Data

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A print data storage unit for temporarily storing print data from a higher-level device and setting a print data input flag when the print data is present; and storing the print data until the page printer is ready to print. And a print data storage unit that sets a print data output flag when there is print data, and a page printer for a certain period of time by monitoring the print data input flag and the print data output flag to determine the presence or absence of the print data. If there is no print data to the printer, turn off the power of the page printer and print data saver, and turn on the power to reduce the preheat consumed during print standby and the power consumed by the print data saver. A print data monitoring processing unit that outputs an OFF signal, and a page printer and print data by the power ON / OFF signal A power consumption reducing device for a page printer, comprising: a power supply control processing unit for turning on / off a power supply of a storage unit.