KR100222695B1 - Method for transcribing environment on reference at sheet feeding by hand-work - Google Patents

Abstract

end. The technical field to which the invention described in the claims belongs

A method of setting a transfer voltage in manual feeding of an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic developing method.

I. The technical problem that the invention is trying to solve

Resolves the lack of time to search the enterprise environment during manual feeding.

All. Summary of Solution of the Invention

When power is applied to the image forming apparatus, an initial transfer environment retrieval step of retrieving the transfer environment and storing the transfer environment information accordingly, and a transfer environment while retrieving the transfer environment while the paper is fed to the image forming apparatus during automatic paper feeding, are transferred accordingly. Automatic feed transfer environment search step for storing environmental information and adjusting the transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information, automatic feed print step for printing when the automatic feed transfer environment search is finished, and recent transfer during manual feed print A transfer voltage adjustment step of reading environmental information and adjusting a transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information, a manual feed printing step of performing printing when the adjustment of the transfer voltage is completed, and a post-printing of the sheet during the manual feed printing; And a manual feed enterprise environment search step for searching the enterprise environment at the time point and storing the enterprise environment information accordingly. The.

la. Important uses of the invention

It is used in an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic developing method.

Description

How to search enterprise environment in manual feeding

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic development method, and more particularly, to a method for searching a transfer environment.

In general, image forming apparatuses such as copiers, laser beam printers, LPH (LED Print Head) printers, and general paper facsimile machines have developed process conditions for obtaining optimum image density at room temperature and humidity. That is, the conventional image forming apparatuses set the optimal development process conditions in order to minimize the problems caused when the printing environment changes, such as temperature and humidity. Problems that may occur when the printing environment is changed is that the image density is lowered when the temperature of the atmosphere is increased.

The reason why the image density decreases with temperature change is as follows. If the temperature in the air increases, the electrical resistance value is relatively decreased, and thus the transfer bias voltage applied to the transfer roller is decreased. As a result, the amount of toner transferred from the photosensitive drum to the paper is reduced, and the image density is lowered.

Accordingly, in the image forming apparatus using the conventional electrophotographic development method, the image transfer apparatus is searched for the transfer environment by feeding back the amount of current applied to the transfer roller, and then the optimum transfer bias voltage is set.

Hereinafter, a conventional transfer environment search process will be described with reference to FIG. 1, which illustrates an engine mechanism of a laser beam printer using a one-component nonmagnetic contact development method.

When a print command is transmitted to the laser beam printer, the engine control unit (not shown) drives the pickup roller 12 to pick up the paper embedded in the paper cassette 10. The picked-up paper is conveyed to the register roller 18 by the feed roller 16, and the register roller 18 aligns the leading edge of the paper and transfers the paper to the transfer roller 22 of the image forming unit 20. Transfer.

As described above, the engine control unit searches for the transfer environment while the paper is picked up and transferred until the transfer roller 22. The engine control unit provides the transfer roller 22 with a transfer voltage suitable for the retrieved transfer environment. Providing an appropriate transfer voltage according to the transfer environment to the transfer roller 22 as described above is possible by controlling the output of the high voltage supply unit for supplying a high voltage to the transfer roller 22 by the engine control unit.

After the engine control unit provides the transfer roller 22 with the transfer voltage suitable for the transfer environment, the electrophotographic developing unit 20 forms an image on the paper through charging ⇒ exposure ⇒ development ⇒ transfer process.

As the paper formed as described above passes through the fixing roller 32, the image is fixed to the paper, and the paper on which the image is fixed is discharged to the outside by the delivery roller 34.

That is, the retrieval of the conventional transfer environment and the provision of a new transfer voltage are performed while the paper is picked up from the paper cassette 10 and conveyed before the transfer roller 22.

By the way, the laser beam printer can be fed in two ways: automatic feeding from the paper cassette 10 and manual feeding.

When the manual feed is inserted into the arrow portion indicated by the user at A in FIG. 1, the engine control unit detects this through the manual feed sensor 14, and then drives the feed roller 16 to feed the paper. have.

In this manner, during manual feeding, as the paper is directly inserted into the feed roller 16, the distance from the paper to the transfer roller 22 is shorter than that of the automatic feeding. Therefore, the time for conveying the sheet before the transfer roller 22 is shortened. Nevertheless, the enterprise environment search is performed in the same manner as before. As a result, it was too much time for the engine control unit to search the enterprise environment normally. Therefore, during manual feeding, the transfer environment could not be normally retrieved and the transfer voltage could not be provided.

As described above, when manual feeding is conventionally performed, there is a problem that the transfer environment cannot be normally searched because the time for the transfer environment search is not sufficient.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for retrieving a transfer environment during manual feeding that provides a transfer roller with a transfer voltage according to the transfer environment by searching for a transfer environment normally even during manual feeding.

1 shows an engine mechanism of a conventional laser beam printer,

2 is a block diagram of a conventional laser beam printer;

3 is a flowchart of a method for searching an enterprise environment during manual feeding according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an initial transfer environment retrieval step of retrieving a transfer environment and storing transfer environment information when power is supplied to the image forming apparatus, and feeding paper to the image forming apparatus during automatic paper feed printing. The automatic paper transfer environment search step of searching for the transfer environment, storing the transfer environment information according to the transfer environment, and adjusting the transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information, and printing the automatic paper feed when the automatic feed transfer environment search is completed. And a transfer voltage adjusting step of adjusting the transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information by reading recent transfer environment information upon manual feeding printing, and a manual feeding printing step of performing printing when the adjustment of the transfer voltage is finished. Manual feed transfer to search for the transfer environment and store transfer environment information according to post-printing of paper when printing the manual feed. And an environment search step.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and the annexed drawings, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. And a detailed description of known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

An example in which the present invention as described above is applied to a laser beam printer which is an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic developing method will be described. First, the configuration of the laser beam printer will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which shows a block diagram of the laser beam printer. The laser beam printer is largely composed of a video controller 36, a print engine unit 46, and an operation panel 44. The video controller 36 includes a computer interface 38, a video control unit 40, and an engine interface 42. The computer interface 38 is connected between the host computer and the video control unit 40 to interface the transmission and reception signals between the host computer and the video control unit 40. The video controller 40 includes a ROM having a control program and a RAM temporarily storing various data. Also, the video controller 40 converts the print data received from the host computer through the computer interface 38 into image data that the print engine 46 can process and transmits the image data to the print engine 46. The engine interface 42 interfaces the input / output signals between the video control unit 40 and the print engine unit 46.

The operation panel 44 is controlled by the video controller 40 and includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to the operation of the laser beam printer.

The print engine unit 46 includes a video interface 48, an engine control unit 50, an input / output (I / O) interface 52, a sensor circuit 54, an instrument driving unit 56, and an electrophotographic developing unit 58. Is connected to the video controller 36. The video interface 48 provides an interface for input and output signals between the video controller 36 and the engine controller 50. The engine controller 50 controls the mechanical drive unit 56 and the electrophotographic developing unit 58 under the control of the video controller 36 and forms an image according to the image data received from the video controller 36 on the paper. In addition, the engine control unit 50 detects an operation state of each part of the print engine unit 46 through the sensor circuit 54. The I / O interface 52 is connected between the engine controller 50, the sensor circuit 54, the mechanical driver 56, and the electrophotographic developing unit 58 to interface the input / output signals of the engine controller 50. The sensor circuit 54 drives various sensors for detecting the operation state of each part of the print engine unit 46, the paper feeding and conveying state, the developer amount, and the like, and the detection signal of each sensor is transmitted to the engine control unit 50. to provide. The mechanism driver 56 drives various mechanisms for feeding and conveying paper and forming images under the control of the engine controller 50, and the electrophotographic developing unit 58 controls image data under the control of the engine controller 50. The image is formed on paper by the electrophotographic developing method.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a transfer environment search method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention applicable to the laser beam printer as described above. With reference to Figures 2 to 3 will be described in detail the transcription environment search method of the present invention.

When power is applied to the laser beam printer, the video controller 40 performs step 60. In step 60, the video controller 40 initializes the laser beam printer. The initialization may be warm-up or various self tests.

When the initialization ends, the video controller 40 performs step 62. In step 62, the video controller 40 commands the engine controller 50 to search for a transcription environment. The engine controller 50 searches the transfer environment by measuring the resistance value of the transfer roller from the current amount fed back to the current amount applied to the transfer roller of the electrophotographic developing unit 58 in response to the command. When the search of the transcription environment is finished, the engine controller 50 performs step 64. In the step (64), the engine controller 50 stores the transcriptional environment information generated by the transcriptional environment search in the memory in the engine controller 50. When the storing is completed, the video controller 40 performs step 66. In step 66, the video controller 40 searches whether a print command is provided from the host. At this time, if a print command is provided from the host, the video controller 40 performs step 70, and if a print command is not provided from the host, step 68 is performed. In operation 68, the video controller 40 performs a corresponding operation.

In step 70, the engine controller 50 searches whether the manual feed sensor detects paper. At this time, the engine control unit 50 performs step (72) if the manual feed sensor detects the paper, and performs step 82 if the manual feed sensor does not detect the paper. In step 82, the engine control unit 50 drives a main motor (not shown) to pick up the paper embedded in the paper feeder and transfer it to the electrophotographic developing unit 58. While the paper is being conveyed, the engine controller 50 searches the transfer environment by measuring the resistance value of the transfer roller from the amount of current fed back to the amount of current applied to the transfer roller of the electrophotographic developing unit 58. When the search of the transcription environment is completed, the engine controller 50 performs step 84. In step 84, the engine controller 50 stores the transfer environment information in the memory in the engine controller 50. When the storage is completed, the engine controller 50 adjusts the transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information. At this time, the adjustment of the transfer voltage is possible by controlling the output of the high voltage supply unit (High Voltage Supply) that the engine control unit 50 provides a high voltage to the transfer roller. When the adjustment of the transfer voltage is finished, the engine controller 50 performs step 88. In step (88), the engine controller 50 performs printing. When the printing is finished, the engine controller 50 performs step 66.

In the step 72, the engine control unit 50 transfers the paper which is manually fed. The engine control unit 50 reads the transfer environment information from the memory while the manually fed sheet is transferred. When the read of the transfer environment information is finished, the engine controller 50 performs step 74. In step 74, the engine controller 50 adjusts the transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information. When the adjustment of the transfer voltage is finished, the engine controller 50 performs step 76. In step 76, the engine controller 50 performs printing. During the printing, the engine controller 50 performs step (78). In step (78), the engine control unit 50 searches the transfer environment while printing the rear end of the paper. When the search of the transcription environment is finished, the engine controller 50 stores the transcription environment information. When the storage of the transcription environment information is finished, the engine controller 50 performs step 66.

The present invention searches for the transcription environment after initialization as described above and stores the retrieved transcription environment information. The reason for searching for the transfer environment after initialization as described above is to prepare for manual feeding printing after initialization.

In addition, the present invention searches for the transfer environment in a normal manner in automatic sheet feeding, and stores the retrieved transfer environment information. The reason for searching the transfer environment and storing the transfer environment information at the time of automatic sheet feeding is to prepare for the case of manual sheet feeding after the automatic sheet feeding.

In addition, the present invention searches for the transfer environment at the rear of the paper during manual feeding printing, and stores the retrieved transfer environment information. The reason for searching for the transfer environment at the rear of the paper during the manual feed printing as described above is to provide the transfer roller with the transfer voltage according to the new transfer environment during the manual feed printing to be performed later.

As described above, the present invention stores the transfer environment information for use in manual feed printing in advance and uses the manual feed. Accordingly, there is an advantage that can accurately search the transfer environment even in manual feed printing.

As described above, the present invention has an advantage of improving image quality by providing an optimal transfer voltage to the transfer roller by searching the transfer environment normally even in manual feeding printing.

Claims (1)

In the manual environment transfer method, when the power is supplied to the image forming apparatus, an initial transfer environment retrieval step of retrieving the transfer environment and storing transfer environment information accordingly, and the paper for automatic feeding printing to the image forming apparatus An automatic paper feed environment search step of searching for a transfer environment while storing the feed, storing the transfer environment information accordingly, and adjusting a transfer voltage according to the transfer environment information, and an automatic paper feed that performs printing when the automatic feed transfer environment search ends. A printing step, a transfer voltage adjusting step of adjusting a transfer voltage in accordance with the transfer environment information by reading recent transfer environment information during manual feeding printing; and a manual feeding printing step of performing printing when the adjustment of the transfer voltage is finished. And a manual feed that searches for a transfer environment at the time of printing the manual feed and prints the transfer environment information accordingly. Method can search transfer environment equivalent instructions comprising the use environment detection phase.

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