JPH10312136A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize optimum printing speed and to improve the printing speed in the case of printing the originals of plural pages by deciding an optimum operating condition and controlling the device. SOLUTION: A PSU detection signal is inputted in a scanner 3 from a PSU 2 in the case of one-power supply constitution, and it is inputted in the scanner 3 from a PSU 8 only used for a scanner in the case of two-power supply constitution. According to the PSU detection signal, whether the power supply constitution of the scanner 3 and a printer 5 is one power supply or another power supply is judged. The content of a page memory incorporated in the printer 5 is detected so as to judge whether it is the original of one page or the originals of plural pages. In the case of another power supply, original reading operation and energizing a scanner lamp 4 and printer writing operation are simultaneously performed and the on/off control of a heater 6 is always performed. In the case of one-power supply, the printer writing operation is performed after the original reading operation and energizing the lamp 4, and the heater 6 is energized in the case of the carriage return of the scanner and at the time of performing the operation of the printer. When the page memory has the capacity equivalent to plural pages, the originals of plural pages are consecutively read and then printed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A four-drum digital copying machine or the like uses a large number of motors, and a single 100 V power supply is insufficient in power supply. When a general 100 V power supply is used, a scanner operation and a printer operation are performed in a time-division manner, that is, a document is read by a scanner and then printed by a printer. This is done by turning off the fixing heater.

[0003]

However, on the other hand, if the original is read by a scanner and then printed by a printer, if a plurality of originals for one page are to be copied, the printing operation is the first operation. Although the reading operation for one page is only redundant, when reading and copying an original for a plurality of pages, a reading operation is required for each page of the original, which causes a problem that the printing speed is reduced. is there.

Further, when the scanner lamp and the fixing heater of the printer, which consume the largest power, are driven in a time-division manner, the heat of the heater is taken away by printing, so that the fixing temperature is lowered and the number of sheets is reduced. In one-sheet printing, there is also a problem that an operation of increasing the heater temperature is included, and the actual printing time is delayed.

[0005] As described above, performing the scanner operation and the printer operation in a time-division manner and simultaneously performing the operations in a parallel manner have both advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is necessary to realize an optimum printing speed.

[0006] Therefore, a first object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to enable an image forming apparatus to determine and control an optimum operating condition, thereby realizing an optimum printing speed. Is to do so.

A second object of the present invention is to improve the printing speed when printing a multi-page document.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided image reading means for reading a document, image forming means for forming an image based on image data of the read document, and image reading means. Determining means for determining whether the power supply to the image forming means is the same power supply or another power supply; and, if the power supply is different power supplies, the image reading means and the image forming means are driven simultaneously and in parallel to determine the same power supply. In the case of a power supply, the image forming apparatus further includes a control unit that drives the image reading unit and the image forming unit in a time-division manner.

Therefore, it is determined whether the power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is the same power supply or another power supply. If the power supplies are different, the image reading means and the image forming means are driven simultaneously and in parallel. In the case of a power supply, the image reading unit and the image forming unit can be driven in a time sharing manner.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the image reading means includes a scanner lamp for irradiating the original with light, and receives the reflected light from the original to read the original in page units. An image forming unit configured to write an electrostatic latent image based on image data on an electrostatic latent image carrier, and a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image with toner to make the image visible Means, a transfer unit for transferring the image after the visualization to a transfer target, and a heater for heating the transfer target after transfer and fixing the toner. It is a feature.

Therefore, it is determined whether the power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is the same power supply or another power supply. If the power supplies are different, the image reading means and the image forming means are driven simultaneously and in parallel. In the case of a power supply, the image reading unit and the image forming unit can be driven in a time sharing manner.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when power is supplied to the image reading means and the image forming means by the same power supply, the control means stops the image reading operation of the image reading means. The image forming means performs an electrostatic latent image writing operation.

Therefore, when power is supplied to the image reading means and the image forming means with the same power supply, the writing operation of the electrostatic latent image by the image forming means is stopped when the image reading operation of the image reading means is stopped. Can be performed.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, when the power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is performed by the same power supply, the control means controls the power supply to the heater when the power supply to the scanner lamp is stopped. It is characterized by conducting electricity.

Therefore, when power is supplied to the image reading means and the image forming means with the same power supply, the fixing heater of the image forming means is driven when the scanner lamp which consumes a large amount of power is stopped. You can make it.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, when the power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is performed by the same power supply, the control means controls the image forming means when the power supply to the scanner lamp is stopped. And means for performing a writing operation of an electrostatic latent image.

Therefore, when the power supply to the image reading unit and the image forming unit is performed by the same power supply, the operation of writing the electrostatic latent image of the image forming unit is performed when the power supply to the scanner lamp is stopped. You can do so.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a page memory for storing image data of a document read by the image reading means for a plurality of pages of the document, and the control means controls the operation of reading the document by the image reading means. A plurality of pages of the document are continuously performed in accordance with the memory capacity of the page memory, the read image data is stored in the page memory, and a writing operation based on the stored image data is performed by a plurality of pages of the document. It is characterized in that a plurality of pages are continuously performed after the reading operation for the pages is completed.

Therefore, the reading operation of the original by the image reading means is performed continuously for a plurality of pages of the original according to the memory capacity of the page memory, and the read image data is stored in the page memory. Can be continuously performed for a plurality of pages after the reading operation for a plurality of pages of the document is completed.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the page memory is composed of a plurality of modules, and by changing the number of used modules, the number of pages of a document that can be stored simultaneously can be changed. It is characterized by having.

Therefore, by adding a module, the number of pages of a document that can be stored simultaneously can be increased.

[0022]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a power supply configuration of a digital color copying machine (image forming apparatus) according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1A shows an example in which the digital color copying machine is constituted by one power supply.
The scanner 3 is connected to a well-known PSU 2 connected to a power supply 1.
(Image reading means) by providing DC power to the scanner 3
AC power is also provided to the scanner lamp 4 composed of the halogen lamp described above, a DC power is provided to the printer 5 (image forming means), and an AC power is provided to the fixing heater 6 (heater) of the printer 5.

The scanner 3 includes the scanner lamp 4
Is illuminated to illuminate the original, and the original is scanned one page at a time.

The printer 5 (electrostatic latent image forming means, developing means, transfer means) is a four-drum type laser printer, and uses K (black), M (color) based on image data of a document read by the scanner 3. (Magenta), C (cyan), and Y (yellow) electrostatic latent images are written, developed with toner, and the developed image is transferred to a transfer target. This is a known configuration in which the toner is fixed by heating with the heater 6.

A PSU detection signal for detecting a method of inputting power from the PSU 2 to the scanner 3 is input to the PSU 2.

FIG. 1B shows an example in which the digital color copying machine is composed of two power supplies. In addition to the AC power supply 1 and the PSU 2, an AC power supply 7 and this AC power supply Scanner P of well-known configuration connected to P7
SU8 is provided. When the PSU 2 is thus configured with two power supplies, the PSU 2 provides DC power to the printer 5 and AC power to the fixing heater 6 as in the case of the single power supply. Supply of power and supply of AC power to the scanner lamp 4
Performed by SU8.

In this case, the PSU detection signal is input from the scanner dedicated PSU 8 to the scanner 3.

The scanner 3 includes a well-known IPU for performing various image processing on image data of a read document.

As shown in FIG. 2, the printer 5 has page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14. The video memory control ASICs 15, 16, 17, and 18 perform input and output of image data transmitted from the scanner 3 via the video I / F 24 to the page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14, respectively. Then, a synchronization signal generated by a synchronization signal of a motor for driving the polygon mirror of the printer is transmitted from the optical writing device via the printer I / F 23 to the video memory control ASICs 15, 16, 17, and 18.
, Image data is transferred from the page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14 to the LD control boards 19, 20, 21, and 22 corresponding to K, C, M, and Y, respectively. Then, based on this image data, writing is performed on each of the four drums using an LD (Laser diode) by the optical writing device, and printing is performed.

Each of the page memories 11, 12, 13, 1
Reference numeral 4 denotes a module, and a memory for a plurality of pages can be added as required.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a control system of the digital color copying machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 31
The digital color copier is constituted by a U, a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The control unit 31 is connected to a scanner control circuit 33 and a printer control circuit 34 via a bus 32. Both the scanner control circuit 33 and the printer control circuit 34
U, ROM, RAM, etc., which control the scanner 3 and the printer 5, respectively.

Next, the operation of the digital color copying machine will be described focusing on the timing of driving the scanner 3, the printer 5, and the like.

4 and 5, the power supply of the digital color copying machine is turned on and the scanner control circuit 3 is turned on.
3 is a flowchart illustrating an operation when initialization is performed by the printer control circuit 34.

As shown in FIG. 4, first, when the power of the digital color copying machine is turned on, the scanner 3 is initialized by the scanner control circuit 33 (determination means, control means) (step S1).

When the control system of the scanner 3 detects the PSU detection signal (step S2), the connection state of the power supply of the digital color copying machine, that is, FIG.
1 or the two power sources shown in FIG. 1B. Then, this determination result indicating the status of the PSU is also notified to the control system of the printer 5 via the video I / F 24 (step S3). In the control system of the printer 5, the operating conditions of the scanner 3 are determined as described later. When the determination result is notified from the control system of the printer 5 (step S4), the control system of the scanner 3 is notified. The entered operating conditions are input (step S5), and the scanner 3 operates under the operating conditions.

As shown in FIG. 5, when the power of the digital color copying machine is turned on, the printer 5 is also initialized by the printer control circuit 34 (control means) (step S11).

When the scanner 3 notifies the PSU status indicating the power connection status of the digital color copying machine (step S12), the notification is input to the control system of the printer 5 (step S13). The state of the page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the printer 5 is detected (step S14).

If the power supply of the scanner 3 is different from the power supply of the printer 5 according to the notification of the PSU state (the state shown in FIG. 1B), the scanner 3 and the printer 5 are operated simultaneously. Is determined to be possible (steps S15 and S16).

When the power supply of the scanner 3 is the same system as the power supply of the printer 5 according to the notification of the PSU state (the state of FIG. 1A), the page memory 1 of the printer 5
It is determined whether the memory capacity of 1, 12, 13, and 14 is sufficient to store a plurality of pages of the document (steps S15 and S17).

Thus, when the memory capacity is one page, the operation of the scanner 3 and the printer 5 is to read the original in units of one page, and it is determined that the operation is a time-division operation of the scanner 3 and the printer 5. (Step S1
8).

When there is a memory capacity for a plurality of pages, the operation of the scanner 3 and the printer 5 is to continuously read an original for a plurality of pages. Is determined (Step S1
9).

Then, steps S16, S17, S
The operating condition of the scanner 3 determined as in 18 is notified to the control system of the scanner 3 as described in step S4 (step S20).

FIG. 6 shows a case where the scanner 3 and the printer 5 operate simultaneously as described above (step S1).
It is a timing chart of 6). As shown in the figure,
The reading operation of the original in the scanner 3 and the energization of the scanner lamp 4 are performed simultaneously with the writing operation in the printer 5. In this case, the heater 6 is always energized.

FIG. 7 shows page memories 11, 12,.
13 and 14 are timing charts in a case where there is a memory capacity for a plurality of pages of a document (two pages in this example) and operating conditions are such that the scanner 3 and the printer 5 are driven in a time-division manner (step S19). The reading operation of the original in the scanner 3 and the energization of the scanner lamp 4 are continuously performed for a plurality of pages of the original, and thereafter the printer 5
Is performed. The power supply to the heater 6 is performed during a period during which the carriage of the scanner 3 returns to the home position (hereinafter, referred to as “carriage return”) or during a writing operation of the printer 5.

FIG. 8 shows page memories 11, 1
FIG. 9 is a timing chart in the case where there is a memory capacity for one page of a document in 2, 13, and 14 and operating conditions for driving the scanner 3 and the printer 5 in a time-division manner (step S18). The reading operation of the document in the scanner 3 and the energization of the scanner lamp 4 are performed for one page of the document, and then the writing operation of the printer 5 is performed.
The power supply to the heater 6 is performed during the carriage return of the scanner 3 or during the writing operation of the printer 5.

When the page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14 exist as in the above-described respective operating conditions, the scanner 3
As described above, the image data sent via the video I / F 24 from the video memory control ASIC 15, 1
6, 17, and 18, the page memories 11, 12, 1
The stored image data is sequentially stored in the page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14 according to the synchronization signal generated by the polygon motor synchronization signal from the optical writing device of the printer 5. Will be transferred.

On the other hand, the page memories 11, 12, 1
If there is no such information, the image data is sent in synchronization with the scanner 3 and the video I / F 24 by the synchronization signal of the optical writing device, and the optical writing is performed as described above.

As described above, in the digital color copying machine, the power supply system of the scanner 3 and the printer 5 is the same or different, and the storage capacity of the page memories 11, 12, 13, and 14 is one page of the document or plural. It is possible to control the digital color copier by deciding the optimum operating conditions by self-determining whether it is for all pages or not, thereby realizing the optimum printing speed.

Each of the page memories 11, 12, 13,.
14 is modularized and can add memory for a plurality of pages as desired, so that by increasing the number of pages of documents that can be stored at the same time, the printing speed is improved when printing a document of multiple pages. Can be done.

[0052]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading means for reading an original, an image forming means for forming an image based on the image data of the read original, the image reading means and the image forming means. Determining means for determining whether the power supply to the power supply is the same power supply or another power supply; and, if the power supply is different power supplies, the image reading means and the image forming means are simultaneously driven in parallel, and Is characterized by comprising the image reading means and a control means for driving the image forming means in a time-division manner, so that it is determined whether the power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is the same power supply or another power supply. When the power supply is different, the image reading unit and the image forming unit can be driven simultaneously in parallel, and when the power supply is the same, the image reading unit and the image forming unit can be driven in a time-division manner. In response to differences in the power supply configuration of deposition apparatus, to determine the optimum operating conditions make it possible to control the image forming apparatus, it is possible to achieve optimum printing speed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the image reading means includes a scanner lamp for irradiating the original with light, and receives reflected light from the original to form the original. An image reading unit that reads an image on a page basis; an image forming unit that writes an electrostatic latent image based on the image data on an electrostatic latent image carrier; and an image developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image with toner Developing means for developing the image by visualizing the image, transfer means for transferring the image after the visualization to the transfer-receiving body, and a heater for heating the transfer-receiving body after the transfer and fixing the toner. The power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is determined to be the same power supply or another power supply. The image forming means is driven in parallel and the same power supply In some cases, since the image reading unit and the image forming unit can be driven in a time-division manner, it is necessary to determine the optimal operating conditions and control the image forming device in accordance with the difference in the power supply configuration of the image forming device. And an optimum printing speed can be realized.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the invention, when power is supplied to the image reading means and the image forming means by the same power supply, the control means controls the image of the image reading means. Since the writing operation of the electrostatic latent image of the image forming unit is performed when the reading operation is stopped, the supply of power to the image reading unit and the image forming unit is performed by the same power supply. In the case where the image reading operation is performed by the image reading device, the writing operation of the electrostatic latent image by the image forming device can be performed when the image reading operation of the image reading device is stopped, so that the optimum operating condition in this case is realized. Thus, an optimum printing speed can be realized.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, when power is supplied to the image reading means and the image forming means by the same power supply, the control means supplies power to the scanner lamp. Since the heater is energized when stopped,
In the case where power is supplied to the image reading unit and the image forming unit with the same power supply, the fixing heater of the image forming unit is driven when the scanner lamp that consumes a large amount of power is stopped. Therefore, the optimum operating conditions in this case can be realized, and thus the optimum printing speed can be realized.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the third aspect of the present invention, when power is supplied to the image reading means and the image forming means by the same power supply, the control means supplies power to the scanner lamp. Since the writing operation of the electrostatic latent image of the image forming unit is performed when the image forming unit is stopped, the power supply to the image reading unit and the image forming unit is performed by the same power supply. In the above, the writing operation of the electrostatic latent image of the image forming means can be performed when the power supply to the scanner lamp is stopped, so that the optimum operating condition in this case is realized, and Printing speed can be realized.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention,
The invention according to any one of 3, 4, and 5, further comprising a page memory for storing image data of the document read by the image reading unit for a plurality of pages of the document, wherein the control unit reads the document by the image reading unit. The operation is continuously performed for a plurality of pages of the document according to the memory capacity of the page memory, the read image data is stored in the page memory, and the writing operation based on the stored image data is performed for a plurality of pages of the document. Since the operation for reading a plurality of pages is continuously performed after the completion of the reading operation for the pages, the reading operation of the original by the image reading means is performed according to the memory capacity of the page memory. , The read image data is stored in the page memory, and the writing based on the stored image data is performed. Operation because it can be performed continuously a plurality of pages after the completion of the read operation for a plurality of pages of the document, it is possible to improve the printing speed when printing multiple-page documents.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the sixth aspect of the present invention, the page memory is composed of a plurality of modules, and by changing the number of modules used, the page memory of the original can be stored simultaneously. The feature is that the number of documents can be changed, so by adding modules, the number of pages of documents that can be stored simultaneously can be increased. The printing speed can be improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a power supply configuration of a digital color copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, where (a) shows a case of one power supply and (b) shows a case of two power supplies.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing input / output of image data in a page memory of the digital color copying machine.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control system of the digital color copying machine.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the operation of the digital color copying machine.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the operation of the digital color copying machine.

FIG. 6 is a timing chart of the operation of the digital color copying machine.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart of the operation of the digital color copying machine.

FIG. 8 is a timing chart of the operation of the digital color copying machine.

[Explanation of symbols]

Reference Signs List 3 image reading means, determination means, control means 4 scanner lamp 5 image forming means, control means, electrostatic latent image forming means, developing means, transfer means 6 heater

Claims (7)

[Claims] An image reading unit that reads an original, an image forming unit that forms an image based on image data of the read original, and whether the power supply to the image reading unit and the image forming unit is the same or different. A determination unit for determining whether the power source is a power source, and, if the power source is different, the image reading unit and the image forming unit are simultaneously driven in parallel. Control means for driving the means in a time-division manner. 2. The image reading device according to claim 1, further comprising a scanner lamp configured to irradiate the document with light, receiving reflected light from the document, and reading the document in page units. Electrostatic latent image forming means for writing an electrostatic latent image based on the electrostatic latent image carrier, developing means for developing the electrostatic latent image with toner to visualize the image, and 2. The image according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer unit configured to transfer the image to the transfer target, and a heater configured to heat the transfer target after the transfer and fix the toner. Forming equipment. 3. When the same power supply is used to supply power to the image reading means and the image forming means, the control means controls
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when the image reading unit stops the image reading operation, the image forming unit performs an electrostatic latent image writing operation. 4. When the power supply to the image reading means and the image forming means is performed by the same power supply, the control means controls
3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein power is supplied to the heater when power supply to the scanner lamp is stopped. 5. When the power supply to the image reading unit and the image forming unit is performed by the same power supply, the control unit controls
4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the operation of writing the electrostatic latent image by the image forming unit is performed when the power supply to the scanner lamp is stopped. 6. A page memory for storing image data of a document read by the image reading means for a plurality of pages of the document, wherein the control means controls the reading operation of the document by the image reading means to a memory capacity of the page memory. The plurality of pages of the document are continuously performed in response to the read image data, and the read image data is stored in the page memory. The writing operation based on the stored image data ends the reading operation of the plurality of pages of the document. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of pages are continuously performed later.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of 2, 3, 4, and 5. 7. The page memory is composed of a plurality of modules, and by changing the number of used modules, the number of pages of a document that can be stored simultaneously can be changed. Item 7. An image forming apparatus according to Item 6.