KR100229509B1 - Method for aligning and detecting a side end of paper in a multi function peripherals - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method capable of performing insertion detection and tip alignment of a paper without using a paper detection sensor in an inkjet printer multifunction printer equipped with a shuttle scanner.

Configure the line feed motor to feed the paper, scan the first shuttle block of the paper to calculate the position and feeding step of the paper, and ensure that the edge of the paper is in the correct printing position. It proceeds to the feeding process using the line feed motor.

By using the line feed motor and the scanner module, it is possible to perform insertion detection and alignment of paper.

Description

How to detect and align the leading edge of paper in the Shuttle scanner-type MFP

The present invention relates to a multi-function shuttle scanner, and more particularly, by using a small bulb at both ends of the read width of the scanner module formed on the same axis as the inkjet printer head so that the output value of the read width can be represented uniformly. It relates to a scanner module.

Generally, computers, printers, copiers, scanners, and fax machines used in offices are called office equipment. These office devices have their own functions.

A printer is a representative output device for outputting a file such as a document created by a computer in the form of text on an original. A copier is a device for forming an original or other form of image on an original as it is. This is very useful for large quantity copying of the same image.

Among these printers, inkjet printers are typical printers that can be purchased at a low price and have excellent print quality.

On the other hand, scanners have many similarities in copiers and driving methods. The only difference is that the output form of the scanned image appears as a data file.

As such, the office equipment maintains different independent forms to implement its functions.

In recent years, products have emerged to combine the functions of each office equipment. Among them, a multifunction apparatus capable of implementing the functions of an inkjet printer and a scanner and a fax machine will be described.

1 shows a schematic system configuration of such a multifunction apparatus. The CPU 1 is a part for controlling the entire system and controls the system memory 6 in which a program for driving the entire system is embedded.

The image processing unit 2 is controlled by the CPU 1 to control shadowing, gamma correction, resolution conversion, and edge enhancement of image data coming from the shuttle scanner module 3. Edge emphasis, Error Diffusion, etc.

Under the control of the CPU 1, the modem unit 9 performs fax transmission of the processed image data, and printing on the PC or printing at the reception of the fax is performed by the ECP 7-2.

The shuttle scanner module 3 performs a shuttle scanning as a part for reading image data.

The rasterizer 4 is a part for rasterizing the three-dimensional image data read into the vertical block.

The image memory 5 is a buffer for image data processing required for image processing by the image processing unit 2.

The system memory 6 is composed of an EPROM in which the entire system program is embedded and an SRAM for processing system data.

The ECP 7-2 is a module for direct parallel interface with a PC. It is a part for transmitting scanned data to a PC and receiving data to be printed on the PC.

The printer driver 7-1 performs printhead injection control, drive control of carriage motor and line feed motor, and printing data handling necessary for printing.

Looking at the configuration of such a system as a whole can be represented as shown in FIG.

The scanner module 3 and the ink cartridge module 13 move along the same horizontal moving axis 14. Therefore, it drives by using the moving belt 12 and the carriage return motor 11.

The document 100 is fed and discharged by the line feed roller 16 which is rotated according to the drive of the line feed motor 15.

In order to perform printing in the multifunction apparatus configured as described above, a paper sensor must be used as shown in FIG. 3 to feed the paper and recognize the feeding position. It detects the insertion of paper and sends it to the CPU as an electrical signal. The information is used again as a control signal for driving the line feeding motor. Therefore, separate I / O port should be allocated to CPU.

For this reason, the production cost has increased, and the efficiency is reduced because the input / output port is used in the utilization of the system. In addition, when the sensor is broken, the inconvenience is difficult to repair.

An object of the present invention to solve this problem is to be able to detect whether the paper is inserted in the printing position by using the scan module without using the paper sensor.

Another object of the present invention is to scan the first shuttle block of paper to detect the leading edge of the paper and to align it to feed to the correct printing position.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for detecting a feeding state of a paper without using a sensor in a multifunction printer using a shuttle scanner method. Scanning the block to calculate the position (Position) and the feeding step of the paper, and the process of feeding the feed using a line feed motor so that the edge (Edge) of the paper to the correct printing position.

1 is a block diagram briefly showing an internal configuration of a shuttle scanner-type MFP;

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the system of FIG. 1 from a mechanical perspective; FIG.

3 is a configuration diagram of a paper recognition system using a conventional sensor;

Figure 4 is a side view showing the scanning process during operation of the multifunction device,

5 is an exemplary diagram of scanning an original divided into a plurality of blocks;

6 is a flowchart of a paper detection and tip alignment method according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary view showing a layout relationship between scanning a shuttle block and storing the data in a memory. FIG.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings will be described in detail the method and operation of the present invention. Before describing the operation of the present invention, a scanning method for applying the present invention will be described. 4 is a side view illustrating a scanning process of a multifunction device centered on a scanner module. Such a shuttle-type scanning device can be configured together with the inkjet head module to use the same drive system.

The scanner module 3 and the ink cartridge module 13 constrained by the moving belt 12 reciprocate left and right along the original surface by rotating the carriage return motor 11.

This drive uses a method of implementing image reading and printing.

The document 100 stored in the paper cassette 40 is drawn between the drive roller 41 and the pinch roller 42 by the paper feed roller 45. After the scanning process of the scanner module 3 is completed, it is discharged by the rotational force of the discharge roller 43 and the pinch roller 44.

The printing function is to transfer the ink of the inkjet head of the cartridge module 13 to the document 100 while the scanner module 3 and the ink cartridge module 13 move left and right.

In the scanning function, the lamp 31 in the scanner module 3 irradiates light onto the document 100 while the scanner module 3 and the cartridge module 13 move left and right. At this time, the amount of light reflected on the original surface, that is, the image data of the original surface passes through the scanner glass 32 and passes through the lens 33 to reach the CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor 34 by focusing the image data. To poison.

Here, the CCD 34 is a sensor for converting light energy into voltage which is electrical energy. The CCD sensor used in the scanner module uses 128-160 dots. This results in A4 size documents (2551 × 3507: 300 DPI), divided into 22-27 shuttle blocks for reading. 5 is an exemplary diagram for scanning a document of A4 size into 27 blocks.

The inkjet printing module consists of a print head capable of printing 208 nozzles 600 DPI, divided into 34 printing blocks (5102 × 7014: 600 DPI).

The read resolution and the number of print nozzles are given to help the understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is applicable to all modules without being limited by the resolution (DPI) and the number of nozzles (Nozzle).

The operation process according to the present invention proceeds as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 6.

When printing is performed, the paper is initially fed by driving a line feed motor.

In this case, be careful not to exceed the width (1 slice) of the optical sensor of the shuttle scanner module. This is because the edge area may not be detected when the edge area is fed to the light sensor area. Therefore, the line feed motor is controlled to move a little more than one slice to detect the edge region. (S1 course)

As you scan the first block, you can recognize the insertion of the paper based on the scanning result and find the leading edge of the paper. If no paper is inserted as a result of scanning, line feeding is performed again.

For example, when performing one shuttle block as shown in FIG. 7, the read for one shuttle block is horizontal by a carriage return motor after reading a vertical 1 line (Slice) as shown in FIG. 7A. Move in the direction of (A4 size: 2551 Slice reading: 300 DPI standard) (S2 process)

Scanning data stored in the memory is pixel data having the same Y-axis coordinates is regularly stored in the memory when the direction of the scanner module is viewed in the X-axis. That is, if the slice scans 160 pixels, the scanning data at this time is stored as shown in FIG. 7B. Data of the first pixel of the first slice is stored at 0000 of the memory, and data of the first pixel of the second slice is stored at 0160 of the memory.

That is, it can be seen that pixel data on the same horizontal line are regularly stored in the memory.

Data near the edge of the paper is clearly distinguished. Data on the same horizontal line scanning the non-paper portion will have pixel data values close to absolute black.

If the scanning value of the pixel is expressed in 8 bits, absolute black has a value of "0" or "0" and absolute white has a value of "255" or "11111111". Therefore, when scanning white paper, the original part will have a value close to the absolute white level, and the original part will have a value close to the absolute black level because it accepts the light input reflected from the bottom.

By comparing pixel data values on each horizontal line in one shuttle block, the boundary point at which pixel data values close to absolute black and pixel data values close to absolute white appear can be viewed as an edge. (S3 course)

The position of the paper can be calculated from the data on the same horizontal line that changes from the absolute black proximity value to the absolute white proximity value. In addition, the step of the stepping motor required to transfer the paper to the correct printing position is calculated accordingly (S4 process).

What is necessary is to drive a line feed motor according to the calculated number of steps, and feed the current paper position to a predetermined print position. (S5 course)

If you need to do precise feeding, scan all one shuttle block. If you want fast feeding, you can fix the scan module in one spot and scan one slice or just a few slices to detect the paper in the same way and place the paper in the printing position.

As described above, the present invention has an effect of performing insertion detection and alignment of paper using a line feed motor and a scanner module without using a paper sensor in a shuttle scanner and an ink jet printer.

Claims (7)

In the multifunction device using the shuttle scanner method to detect the feeding state of the paper without using the sensor, Configuring the line feed motor to feed the paper, Calculating the position and feeding step of the paper by scanning the first shuttle block of the paper; A method of detecting and aligning paper leading edges in a multifunction printer, characterized in that the feeding process is performed using a line feed motor so that the edge of the paper is placed at the correct printing position. The method of claim 1, And the paper tip detection process uses the scanning levels of pixel data on the same horizontal line to be regularly stored. The method of claim 2, The scanning level recognition process is a front end detection and alignment method for a multifunction machine, characterized in that the level is determined by separating the level in 256 gray (Grey). The method of claim 3, wherein And the 256 gray levels are separated by starting black from "0" and white from "255", respectively. The method of claim 1, The paper leading edge detection process is a paper leading edge detection and alignment method characterized in that to find the boundary point at which the scanning result is a pixel data value close to the absolute black value and the pixel data value close to the absolute white value to the leading edge of the paper. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, Feeding after detecting the leading edge of the paper, detecting and aligning the leading edge in the multifunction machine, characterized in that the feeding in the forward or reverse direction. The method of claim 6, And the feeding in the forward or reverse direction moves little by little than one slice area of the scanner module.

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