JPS6273859A - Picture forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To output a picture in high speed with high quality by changing the state of a fixing device from the state not suited to the fixing into the state suited to the fixing in a time equal to a specific time or a shorter time so as to prevent the deterioration of the fixing device, a developer or a photosensitive body. CONSTITUTION:There is a time margin of t1+t2+t3+t4+t5 from the application of transmission switch at the sender side until a printer starts printing, where t1 is a time to confirm the state of the reception side, t2 is a time to read a picture by the sender side, t3 is a time for picture processing by the sender side, t4 is a time at which a picture signal is sent through a communication line and t5 is a time for picture processing at the reception side. The state is changed from the standby state into the print state by using the time margin. Since the fixing device is at a low temperature during most time awaiting a transmission signal, the deterioration of an ethylene-fluoride or silicone resin due to heat used for the fixing device is prevented and the temperature rise in the inside of a printer is less. Thus, a picture with high accuracy is formed in high speed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Field) The present invention relates to a device such as a facsimile for transmitting all images, and more particularly to a device that performs all image formation using an electrophotographic method.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in image communication devices such as facsimiles, output devices using a thermal type, a thermal transfer type, a wire dot type, or an electrostatic recording type have been mainstream.

However, these printers have disadvantages such as low pixel density, inability to obtain fine images, noise during printing, slow printing speed, and use of special paper.

Therefore, LE is suitable as a high-speed, high-quality image output device.
Devices that use all electrophotographic methods, such as D printers and laser beam printers, are eagerly awaited.

However, many of these electrophotographic printers use a heat fixing method as a method for fixing the developer onto the transfer material. For this reason, it is necessary to always be on standby in a state where instant printing is possible, such as Facun Milli. A view may appear. In addition, the fixing device itself deteriorates due to heating, and its lifespan is shortened.
there were.

For these reasons, it has been difficult to apply the electrophotographic method to printers such as facsimiles, which require a constant standby state.

(Objective) The object of the present invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional examples described above, and to provide a complete printer that can output high-quality images in full at high speed while preventing deterioration of the fixing device, developer, and photoreceptor due to heat. It is possible to do so.

(Embodiment) FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a reader that reads a document, and 2 is a device that stores an image signal from the reader in a memory, reads it out, or completes the redundant part of the image signal. Controller A is used for compression. 3 is a memory for temporarily storing image signals. 4 is
Communication lines such as telephones and radio waves. 5 is through the entire communication line - C is sent and the image signal is stored in the entire memory,
At the same time, it also restores signals that have been completely compressed. A memory 6 temporarily stores the sent image signal. Reference numeral 7 denotes a single printer using an electrophotographic method, which prints out an image according to an image signal.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the electrophotographic printer.

9, a photosensitive layer of Cds, Se, amorphous silicon, OPC, etc. is provided on a conductive drum.

8 is a light source such as a laser, LED, OFT, etc. 15
is a developing device. 16 is a paper feed cassette, 17 is a transfer material such as paper, 18 is a transfer charger, 19 is a cleaner, 14 is a pre-exposure lamp, 11 is a fixing roller, 12 is a pressure roller, 1
3 heater, 20 is a temperature detection element such as a thermistor, 21
is a temperature adjustment circuit.

In such an apparatus, image formation is performed as follows. The photosensitive drum 9 rotates in the direction of the arrow, is uniformly charged by the charger 10, and then subjected to image exposure by the light source 8. By this exposure, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 9, and the developing device 15 selectively adsorbs the toner, thereby making it visible. The toner image on the photosensitive drum 9 is transferred onto the transfer material by being subjected to corona discharge of opposite polarity to the toner from the back side of the transfer material 17 by the transfer charger 18.

Toner and paper powder remaining on the photosensitive drum 9 without being transferred are removed by a cleaner 19.

Further, the charge remaining on the first photosensitive drum 9 is brightly attenuated by the pre-exposure lamp 14. The photosensitive drum 9 from which charges and dirt have been completely removed is returned to the charger 1
The image forming process is performed again after the entire corona charge is zero.

On the other hand, the transfer material 17 carrying the toner image is transferred to the fixing roller 11
and the pressure roller 12, and the toner image is fixed. Inside the fixing roller, there is a heater 13 for heating the roller, and around the roller there is a temperature detection element 20 for detecting the temperature of the roller. The temperature adjustment circuit 21 operates according to the output of the temperature detection element 20, and the lighting of the heater 13 is controlled.1. Ru.

In the above configuration, when a transmission switch (not shown) is pressed on the reader side of a facsimile machine, etc., a transmission signal is simultaneously sent from controller A shown in the first part to controller B on the receiving side. , controller B1 on the receiving side
The state of the receiving side (whether printing is possible) is determined, and a reception signal (whether reception is possible) is sent to controller A. Controller A starts the operation of the reader when the receiving side is ready for reception, reads the image and sound, and stores it in memory C as an image signal. After that, this image signal is passed through controller A, band compression is carried out,
Pass through all communication lines 4 and send it to the receiving side. On the receiving side,
Controller B restores image No. 14 and stores it in memory D. Thereafter, the entire contents of memory D are output as a hard copy using a printer.

Therefore, the time it takes for the printer to monitor the status of the receiving side after the sending switch is turned on on the sending side and before the printer starts all printing operations [1. When reading the image sound on the transmitting side,
Image processing (dither processing) is performed during transmission.

31 Time for all image signals to be transmitted over the communication line t41 Time for image processing (restoration from compressed signals, etc.) on the receiving side
There is enough time for j, +ta +t4+t.

In the present invention, the state of the printer on the receiving side is switched from the full standby state to the uU printable state (hereinafter referred to as print state) K at the same time that a transmission signal enters the receiving side, and the above-mentioned time margin j + 10 is possible. tt +tr +t*
+tk is used to change from standby state to print state.

In particular, the present invention is effective for printers having a thermal fixing device, in which the fixing device is kept in a low temperature state in the standby state.
As soon as a transmission signal is received, the temperature control is switched to the high-temperature state of the print state. That is, when waiting for a normal transmission signal, the temperature of the constant inertizer is controlled at a low temperature, and when the transmission signal is received, the setting temperature of the fixing device is switched to fjr: high r: and then the image signal is transmitted. , the unfixed image formed by the printer is heated to the temperature of the fixing device in the printing state immediately before entering the fixing device.

By adopting such a configuration, the fixing device is in a low temperature state most of the time when the transmission signal is being sent.
This prevents the tetrafluoroethylene resin and silicone resin used in the fixing device from deteriorating due to heat. Also, because the printer spends most of its time in a low-temperature state, there is less temperature rise inside the printer.
The negative effects can also be prevented. In addition, less power is consumed by the fixing device, resulting in energy savings and running cost savings.

Specifically, a laser beam printer was used as the printer, and a heat roller type fixing device was used.

Time required to check the status on the receiving side t + "" 0 # Time for reading the image on the sending side tt = Lsec + Image processing time on the sending side 1. = o, 5 sec (per A4) Time for transmitting all image signals on one communication line ea ==4
sec・Time required to fully restore the compressed image signal on the receiving side Lm = 0.5 sec plus time 6
If sec is a margin, set the temperature of the fixing roller to 120℃ in standby state and 180t in printing state.
And so. This fuser is a quick start type that has become popular in recent years and is used in PC10/20 etc.
This is because heating of about 10 degrees/second is possible, and the above-mentioned 6
This is because it is possible to change the temperature from 120T in standby state to ISO'C in printing state in seconds.

A configuration like this? By using this method, deterioration of the fixing device due to heat can be prevented, and energy and cost savings can be achieved.

Note that when the printer is out of toner or in a jam state, the sequence of the present invention is not performed.

This is to prevent accidents such as fires due to unnecessary heating of the fixing device.

In addition, when an image is already being output from another reader, the fixing device is also in state B (printing state) where it is sufficiently heated.
Is it just a print from the next rider? Just do it.

With the above configuration, it is unnecessary to switch the fixing device from the printing state to the standby state at the same time as the image is ejected from the fixing device after printing is completed.

The present invention particularly relates to facsimiles where lead 1 and f 2 are
Any other image processing apparatus may be used, in which case any image processing apparatus may be used as long as it generates a signal for confirming the state of the printer at the beginning of the J111 image processing process.

Compared to traditional wire dot printers and thermal transfer printers, this makes it faster and has a higher sugar content! 11 r (The image is
It became 1c in formation.

In addition, in the present invention, heat roller fixing has been described, but
Alternatively, flash fixing or oven electrodeposition may be used. That is, it is possible to allocate the image processing time and transmission time to the charging time for a capacitor used for flash fixing and the warm-up time for oven fixing.

Further, the present invention is not limited to the electrophotographic method, but may also be a method such as an electrostatic recording method in which a toner image is formed and fixed by heat.

As described above, by using the receiving M confirmation signal sent from the sending side to the receiving side to switch the fixing device of the printer on the receiving side from the standby state to the printing state, it is possible to significantly extend the life of the printer. It became.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Is Fig. 1 an embodiment of the present invention? The block diagram shown in FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of an electrophotographic printer used in an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, IG1 is an image reader, 2 is a controller, 3 is a memory, and 7 is a printer.

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) In a device that transmits images and outputs them from a printer, a signal is sent from the sending side to the receiving side to confirm the reception status, and the signal is used to switch the receiving side printer from a standby state to a printable state; Time t_1 required to check the status on the receiving side and image reading time t_2 on the sending side
The sum of the image processing time t_3, the time required for propagation within the communication line t_4, and the image processing time t_5 on the receiving side t_
An image forming apparatus characterized by changing the state of a fixing device from a state unsuitable for fixing to a state suitable for fixing within a time equal to or shorter than 1+t_2+t_3+t_4+t_5. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the state unsuitable for fixing is a low temperature state, and the state suitable for fixing is a high temperature state.