JPS63305665A - Copy starter - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the interruption in operation of a system and errors in registration, and to improve the quality of an image by providing a controller which starts either a scanner or a printer only when they are respectively in the copy-able state and registration-stand-by state, and which starts the other of the two after the lapse of time corresponding to the length of the moving of an image in the subscanning direction. CONSTITUTION:The controller 103 monitors the state, of the printer 102 and that of the scanner 101, and accepts a key to start copying only when both area ready for copying. At this time, the controller 103 executes the moving of an image in the subscanning direction instructed by an operator by varying the registration-on time of the printer 102 and the read start time of the scanner 101. In case the length of the moving in the subscanning direction is (l) as shown in the figure, if the carrier speed is (v), the printer 102 is started earlier by l/v by comparing the respective times in case l/v>=0 and in case no moving. In case l/v<0, the print start is delayed by l/v, i.e. the scanner 101 is started earlier than the printer by l/v.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a start device for scanners and printers in digital and analog copiers.

[Prior art]

In conventional copiers that have an integrated scanner, printer, and control unit, the control unit only needs to check the position of the scanner carriage by itself, but in a system copier that has a scanner, printer, and controller as separate units, each In the case of a system in which a start signal is issued from the controller at the beginning of the process, the controller generally checks the status of the scanner and printer by polling, but this is wasteful.

Further, if it takes more than a predetermined time for the paper to reach the registration rollers from the paper feed roller due to a skew error in the printer, an error or an error in registration occurs.

〔the purpose〕

The present invention was made based on this background,
In a copying system consisting of a scanner, a printer, and a controller, if it takes longer than a specified time for the scanner to become ready to copy again after reading a document, or if it takes longer than the specified time for the printer to feed paper, the system The purpose is to obtain good images without stopping, errors, or errors in registration.

〔composition〕

To this end, the present invention includes a scanner that starts reading a document in response to a start signal, sends a message to the controller that it is ready to copy immediately after returning to the home position, and a scanner that feeds paper in response to a start signal so that the paper reaches the registration roller. There are printers that have means for detecting that the registration is in standby mode when the paper reaches the registration rollers, and that send a message to the controller that the registration is in standby mode when paper reaches the registration rollers. It consists of a controller that starts one side and starts one side of time-lapse repeating according to the amount of movement of the image in the sub-scanning direction.

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external view of the entire copying system according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a scanner, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a printer.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the system, and FIG. 5 is a timing chart of each part in the copy process.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes a scanner that starts reading an original in response to a start signal and transmits the read original data to other modules. A printer 102 is activated by a start signal and reproduces an image according to data from another module, in this case the scanner 101. 103
is the system controller and sends start signals and other control signals to the scanner 101 and printer 102.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the scanner 101.

201 is a document reading device, and 202 is a light source that illuminates the document. Both constitute a carriage that moves from a home position (indicated by C in the figure) toward a point B in the figure. The shaded area 203 is a document, and 204 is a pressure plate that presses the document.

When the scanner 101 receives a start signal from the controller 103 when it is in a copy-enabled state, it starts the carriage and, according to the reading area data also sent from the controller 103, points A (point A is the home position C and point B). The document is read up to (the point between) and returns immediately. However, points A, B, and home position C
is a value only in the sub-scanning direction. When the carriage returns to the home position C, the scanner 101 immediately notifies the controller 103 that it is ready for copying. When the scanner 101 is in a copyable state, the controller 103
When the start signal is received, the above process is repeated.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of printer 102.

301 is a paper feed cassette, 302 is a paper feed roller, 303.
304, 305, 306.311 are writing systems,
They are a developing section, a laser, a charger, a cleaning section, and a photoreceptor, respectively. 307 is a fixing unit, 308 is a paper ejection tray,
309 is a conveyance roller, and 310 is a registration roller.

Further, 312 is a pre-registration sensor.

When the printer 102 receives a start signal from the controller 103, the printer 102 immediately causes the paper feed roller 302 to feed the paper to ONL and in front of the registration roller 310.

In this state, when a registration on signal is received from the controller 103, the registration roller 310 is activated and conveyance of the paper is started. The writing system is also started by a start signal from the controller 103, and the scanner 10
According to the data sent from 1, the laser 304 is controlled to write an electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor 311, and this electrostatic latent image is developed in the developing section 303. After the paper is transferred to a transfer paper, the transfer paper is transferred to a fixing unit 307.
The paper is then ejected. After the first paper feed is completed (the trailing edge of the paper passes the paper feed roller 302) and the return time of the scanner 101 has elapsed, the second paper feed is performed according to the number of copies sent from the controller 103 in advance. After feeding the paper, the above steps are repeated until the number of copies is equal to the number of fed sheets.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the system. 401 indicates image data, which is transferred from the scanner o1 to the printer 102.
sent to. 402 indicates the transmission of the status of the printer 102 to the controller 103; 403 indicates commands such as a start signal, the number of copies, and a registration signal sent from the controller 103 to the printer 102; 404 indicates the transmission of the status of the scanner 101 to the controller 103; 405 indicates transmission from the controller 103 to the scanner 10.
It represents a command such as a start signal to 1. 406
is an erase signal and serves as a gate for image data.

Controller 103 connects printer 102 and scanner 10
1 is monitored, and when both are in a copyable state, the copy start key (switch) is turned on. Further, the movement of the image in the sub-scanning direction inputted by the operator at this time is realized by changing the timing of registration on of the printer 102 (start signal of the registration roller 310) and reading start of the scanner 101. If the amount of movement in the sub-scanning direction is l as shown in Figure 5 (the direction of the arrow is positive movement), and the conveyance speed is V, then when l/v≧0 [in the same figure], there is no movement. At the time of [same figure (a
)), it is only necessary to start the printer 102 earlier by l/v, and when l/v<0 [same figure (C
)] delays printer start by l/V. That is, it is sufficient to start the scanner 101 earlier by 1/v.

The timing chart is shown in Figure 6.7.8.

Figure 6 is when there is no movement, Figure 7 is when l/v≧O, and Figure 8 is when there is no movement.
The figure is for II/v<Q.

In each figure, (1) is the print start, (2)
(3) shows the paper feed roller, (3) shows the registration roller, (4) shows the pre-registration sensor, (5) shows the scanner start, (6) shows the scanner carriage, and (7) shows the scanner ready. (8) indicates erase.

When the non-movement controller 103 in FIG. 6 accepts the copy start, the controller 103 sends the printer 10
2, a printer start is sent to start the first paper feed. When the pre-registration sensor 312 detects paper after paper feeding, the printer 102 immediately notifies the controller 103 that the registration is in a standby state. At the same time, the paper feed roller 302 is stopped. controller 10
3 indicates that the registration of the printer 102 is in standby state. ! When a start signal is sent to the scanner 101, a start signal is immediately sent to the scanner 101. When the scanner 101 receives a start signal, it starts the carriage and performs sub-scanning of the paper (sent in advance to the scanner 101 from the controller 103).
When read, the carriage returns immediately. The carriage of scanner 101 is at HP (home position)
When it returns to copyable state, immediately switch controller 1.
03 to inform that it is in a copyable state. At this time, the controller 103 transmits a registration-on signal to the printer 102 after a certain period of time (after t2 in FIG. 6) after the scanner starts. When the printer 102 receives the registration on signal, it immediately starts the registration motor, and
At the same time as conveying the paper, the paper feed roller 302 is turned on again to complete paper feeding (from the paper sub-scanning to the paper feed roller 302).
02), the printer 102 waits for a certain period of time t after the registration is turned on.
4 (determined by the number of copies in the paper), if the number of copies is 2 or more, the second paper feed is performed. When the pre-registration sensor 312 detects paper, the printer 102 immediately sends a message to the controller 103 indicating that the registration is on standby. Let me know something. At the same time, the paper feed roller 302 is stopped. Each time the controller lO3 receives the copy ready state of the scanner 101 and the registration standby state of the printer 102,
(Refer to the memory in the controller 103 that changed the status of the scanner 101 and printer 102 at the time of reception)
, when the scanner 101 is ready for copying and when the printer 10
2 is in the registration standby state, the scanner 101
After t2, a registration on signal is transmitted to the printer 102.

Hereafter, the steps from the second paper feed onwards are repeated until the number of copies and the number of fed sheets match. When It/v≧O in Fig. 7, the scanner start during no movement in Fig. 6 is set as the registration on signal. At this time, when the printer starts, that is, the first paper feed is performed, and the registration is in standby mode, if t2≧j/v, the scanner start turns on the registration. Leading, t2-
After J/v, the registration roller 310 is turned on. t2<
j! /v, the registration on precedes the scanner start, and the scanner starts after I t 2-11V I.

At this time, the signal of the scanning area S that the controller 103 sends to the scanner 101 is the value obtained by subtracting l from the middle of the sub-scan, which is 5 -
After continuing for L-1, the scanner 101 returns.

As a result, the time t3' for scanner lO1 to become ready for copying after starting is t3' wL/v +L/v' - (S/v +
S/v') 2 It/v 1 It/y' (v/ is the return speed of the scanner 101). In other words, the scanner start is delayed by l/V,
The state where copying becomes possible is l/v + It/
It becomes faster by v'. As a result, no matter how large l is, the time from the first paper feed to the second paper feed will not be delayed, and therefore the CPM will not decrease (However, from registration on to the start of the next paper feed, t4 Therefore, it does not depend on l).

When II/v < 0 in Fig. 8, the scanner start when not moving in Fig. 6 is l/V based on the registration on signal.
only in advance. Even without this standby mode, the erase signal 406 is turned on during II/V after the scanner returns. This allows the image data sent by the scanner 101 to be erased during return. As a result, it becomes equal to t2-1/v in the timing chart of FIG.

As described above (by sending the scanner start and registration on signals from the controller 103 only when the scanner 101 is in the copy ready state and the printer 102 is in the registration standby state, when the scanner 101 returns,
If it takes more than a predetermined time, or if the paper transport time from the start of paper feeding to before registration takes longer than a predetermined time due to a paper feeding error in the printer 102, an error may occur or the sub-scanning of the image may be delayed. There is no error in direction.

Hereinafter, FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of the controller side, showing an embodiment in which the above-described control is carried out.

701 is the I10 port for the printer, and has a data transmission/reception port, an accompanying handshake signal line, and a C
It consists of an INTR signal line that prompts the PU 704 to send and receive data. The lNTR signal is not directly input to the CPU 704, but is sent to the 8259 programmable interactive controller 7.
03, receives support such as priority order with other interwoven signals and input retention, and notifies the CPU 704 that there is an interwoven input. The printer 102 is
It monitors whether it is in a copyable state or not.
When the state is enabled, a code indicating a predetermined copy-enabled state is transmitted to the controller 103. Similarly 7
02 is the I10 port for the scanner, and the scanner 101
When the is ready for copying, the scanner I10 port 7
The information is transmitted to the CPU 704 via 02. The CPU 704 stores a memory that indicates the status of the printer 102 and scanner 101 in advance (hereinafter referred to as printer status and scanner status).
are secured on the RAM 706, and each time one status is transmitted, the other status is referenced. In addition, both are in the copyable state and when the start key is pressed by the operator, the 6th
A start signal (according to a predetermined code) according to the timing charts shown in FIGS. printer 10
2 feeds paper in accordance with the received code, and when the pre-registration sensor 312 detects it, it notifies that the registration standby state has entered by transmitting a predetermined code. When the CPU 704 determines that the code from the printer 103 is in the registration standby state, it refers to the scanner status in the RAM 706, and if it is in a copy ready state (hereinafter referred to as scanner ready), it starts the scanner at a timing corresponding to the amount of movement in the sub-scanning direction. Send start and register on signals (both pre-coded) to each 110 port. At this time, the number of copies (coded) has been sent to the printer 102, and the reading area (coded) has been sent to the scanner 101, and the scanner 101 and printer 102 store them internally.
01 and printer 102, the first return and the second
Paper feeding is performed according to the timing charts shown in FIGS. 6, 7, and 8.

The scanner 101 transmits a scanner ready signal as soon as the carriage returns to the home position and the second dismounting becomes possible. Further, the printer 102 detects the paper with the pre-registration sensor 312 after the second paper is fed, and immediately sends the registration standby to the controller 103 when the printer 102 enters the registration standby state (hereinafter referred to as "registration standby"). Each time the controller 103 receives each code, it refers to the scanner status and printer status, and transmits the second scanner start or register on only when the scanner is ready and the register is standby. Thereafter, this process is repeated until the number of copies is equal to the number of fed sheets, and the process is completed.

〔effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the scanner does not return to a copyable state within a predetermined time when returning after scanning, or if the printer cannot feed paper to the front of the registration roller within a predetermined time when feeding paper, both If these conditions are not met, the machine will not start, so it is possible to obtain a good image without errors or misalignment of the image registration.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an external view of the entire copying system according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of a scanner, and Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of a printer.
, Figure 4 is a block diagram of the system, Figure 5(a), (
b), (e) are diagrams showing the amount of image movement in the sub-scanning direction;
6, 7, and 8 are timing charts of each part in the copy process in that case, and FIG. 9 is a block diagram inside the controller. 101...Scanner, 102...Printer, 103
···controller. Figure 4 Figure 5 Cσ secondary LfL direction (b)
(c) Figure 6 Figure 7 Figure 8

Claims (1)

[Claims] A scanner that starts reading a document in response to a start signal, returns to the home position, and immediately sends a message to the controller that it is ready for copying, and a means that feeds paper in response to a start signal and detects when the paper has reached the registration rollers. a printer that has a printer that sends a message that the registration is in standby state to the controller when paper reaches the registration roller; and a printer that starts either the scanner or the registration roller only when the scanner and printer are in a copy-ready state and a registration standby state, respectively; A copy start device comprising a controller that starts the other one after a period of time corresponding to the amount of movement of the image in the sub-scanning direction.