JPH11242080A - Image formation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image formation apparatus which can estimate a change in the weather. SOLUTION: An image formation apparatus which is provided with a means to measure an ink concentration is provided with a measured-data storage part 3 which measures and stores a change in the ink concentration in a prescribed time, with a statistical-data storage part 5 in which weather information and statistical data on the change in the ink concentration in the prescribed time are stored in advance and with a comparison means 6 in which measured data on the change is compared with the statistical data. The image formation apparatus is constituted in such a way that they are compared and collated on the basis of compared data and that the weather information is estimated.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image forming apparatus capable of performing a weather forecast.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, in a service business such as a convenience store, a forecast of a weather forecast is printed on a receipt for a service of a customer, and the service is provided.
In addition, in recent years, convenience stores have been increasing the number of stores in which copy machines (image forming apparatuses) are installed due to an increase in the number of users of the copy service. However, there is no need to provide a weather forecast service with the copy machine, and there is a demand for improved service for copying.

[0003]

According to such a copying machine (image forming apparatus), it is known that the environmental condition of the ink density changes with temperature and humidity. Various measures have been proposed for preventing the ink density from fluctuating, however, there is no proposal for predicting an environmental change, contrary to the fluctuation of the ink density that changes due to the environment.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and an image forming apparatus having means for measuring the ink density measures the change in the ink density over a predetermined time. A measurement data storage unit to store, a statistical data storage unit in which weather information and statistical data of a change in ink density at a predetermined time are stored in advance, a comparison unit that compares the measurement data with the statistical data, And performing comparison and collation based on the comparison data to predict weather information.

According to the configuration of the present invention, the temporal change of the ink density is measured, and the measured temporal change of the ink density is compared with the statistical data of the relationship between the ink density and the weather information, which is measured in advance, and is compared with the weather information. Therefore, it is possible to use an existing measuring means for measuring a change in concentration, and to provide a device capable of providing a weather forecast service with a simple configuration.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. It comprises a chart image storage unit 7, a display unit 8, a control unit 9, and an image forming unit 10.

The ink density measuring section 2 measures the ink density of the printed matter by an ink density sensor (not shown). The measurement object may use patch data or the like in which the level is specified in advance, and may measure the ink density and the amount of adhesion on the printed matter after fixing, for example, the adhesion on the intermediate transfer body or the transfer body, etc. The density and amount may be measured with ink. The measurement of the ink density may use an optical reflection type sensor or a magnetic permeability sensor.

The measurement target may be a chart image whose level is specified in advance and which is formed at a predetermined location, for example, patch data of several square cm in which the position on the paper surface and the dot ratio are specified. This data is stored in the 7 chart image storage unit. Further, as a chart image, a chart prepared for another purpose, for example, a color calibration chart, a gray scale chart, or the like may be used.

[0009] The measurement data storage unit 3 is an ink density measurement unit 2
This is the part that stores the data measured in. The measurement data storage unit 3 has a capacity to store a plurality of data,
A plurality of past measurement data is stored, and the measurement data is updated.

The time counter 4 is for measuring the time change data of the ink density, and the storage section 5 stores statistical data in which the relationship between the weather, the ink density and these time changes is stored.

The comparison and collation unit 6 compares and compares the measured ink density and the time change of the ink density with the statistical data of 5, and predicts a weather change. The time change data of the ink density is obtained by periodically measuring using the time counter 4.

The chart image storage section 7 stores chart image data, and stores an image created with known data. Note that the data stored in the statistical data storage unit 5 is data in which the ink density when the chart image is printed under various environmental changes is measured in advance. The display unit 8 displays the predicted weather change. The control unit 9 controls the entire apparatus.

The image forming unit 10 includes a laser light source and an optical scanning system using the laser light source, a photosensitive drum, a transfer drum, and the like, if the image forming apparatus is a laser beam printer. It corresponds to a color toner supply unit, a drum cleaner, a fixing device, and the like.

Next, the operation in such a configuration will be described. The control unit 9 reads the chart image from the chart image storage unit 7 at predetermined time intervals or upon request, and sends the chart image to the image forming unit 10 while counting time. The image forming unit 10 forms the read chart image. Then, the ink adheres to the transfer member, the intermediate transfer member, or the paper at an ink concentration corresponding to the environmental conditions at that time. The ink density is measured by the ink density measuring unit 2 and the measured data storage unit 3
And the measurement time.

By repeating this work periodically, the measured data of a plurality of times are stored together with the time data in the past, and the change of the ink density and the time change due to the environmental change are stored in the memory 3. Become. This is read out at the request of the control unit 9 and compared with statistical data in which the relationship between the weather or the weather change of 5 and the time change of the ink density or the ink density is stored and compared with the statistical data. Predict. The predicted weather change is displayed on the display unit 8 via the control unit 9 or sent to the image forming unit 10 and printed as accessory information of a general print.

Incidentally, the configuration of the present invention may be improved to have a configuration as described below. Further, the measurement of the ink density may be performed separately from the periodic measurement as required. Further, simultaneously with the regular measurement of the ink density, the weather change may be predicted, and the prediction result may be updated and displayed. In addition to the regular prediction, the prediction may be performed according to a request. If the weather change is likely to be predicted, the measurement time interval may be narrowed. Conversely, if weather stability is predicted, the time interval of measurement may be extended. The chart image 7 is compressed and held, and may be expanded and used as needed. When comparing with the statistical data, not only the absolute value comparison of the ink density but also the relative value comparison may be performed.

[0017]

As described above, according to the configuration of the present invention, the time change of the ink density of the image forming apparatus is captured and compared with the statistical data storing the relationship between the weather change and the time change of the ink density. This makes it easy to predict the weather.

A new function called a weather prediction function is added to an existing image forming apparatus only for the purpose of forming an image, and the added value is added to the image forming apparatus. Become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1: Image forming apparatus 2: Ink density measuring section 3: Measurement data storage section 4: Time counter 5: Statistical data storage section 6: Comparison and collation section 7: Chart image storage section 8: Display section 9: Control section 10: Image formation Department

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus comprising means for measuring ink density, a measurement data storage section for measuring and storing a change in ink density for a predetermined time, and a weather data and an ink for a predetermined time. A statistical data storage unit in which statistical data of a change in concentration is stored; and a comparing means for comparing the measured data with the statistical data, and performs comparison and collation based on the comparative data to predict weather information. An image forming apparatus.