KR100433514B1 - Image forming apparatus for discriminating remaining amount and feeding time of image forming materials - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: An image forming apparatus is provided to discriminate a remaining amount and feeding time of image forming materials without a user's factitious discrimination and a additional remaining amount sensing sensor. CONSTITUTION: An image processor(2) changes inputted printing information into image data. A calculator(3) calculates the total size of the image data. A memory(4) stores information on a consumption amount of the image forming materials. A manipulating panel(6) displays a feeding message of the image forming materials. A controller(5) estimates the present consumption amount of the image forming materials from the total size of the image data, calculates accumulatively the present consumption amount of the image forming materials and the storage consumption amount of the image forming materials stored to the memory. The controller also compares the accumulated consumption amount of the calculated image forming materials with a predetermined reference consumption amount. When the accumulated consumption amount of the image forming materials exceeds the predetermined reference consumption amount, the feeding message of the image forming materials is displayed to the manipulating panel by the control of the controller.

Description

Image Forming Device

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 such as an inkjet printer or a laser printer, which forms an image on recording paper using image data provided from an original, wherein the image forming agent is formed from the size of the image data. An image forming apparatus which calculates the consumption amount of ink (toner, toner, etc.), estimates the remaining amount of the image forming agent and the replenishment timing according to the calculated consumption of the image forming agent, and displays the replenishment timing of the image forming agent.

In general, an image forming apparatus includes a copier, a color copier, a color laser printer, and the like.

The inkjet image forming apparatus includes an image forming agent of four colors such as monochromatic or yellow, magenta, cyne, and black when the recording paper is fed and reaches the printing area. Ink) The image forming agent is sprayed onto the recording paper while the cartridge is supported on the cartridge support to form an image.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus using the laser, as the charging roller rotates, the charging roller evenly charges the photosensitive member coated on the outer circumferential surface of the photosensitive device at high voltage.

The charged photosensitive member forms an electrostatic latent image by light rays output from an exposure apparatus (for example, a light source such as a laser diode or a light emitting diode (LED)) that converts a digital signal into a laser beam.

At this time, the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive device is developed by an image forming agent (toner) while passing through a developing machine, and is converted into a visible image, and the visible image is transferred to a recording sheet which is transported and fed by a pickup roller, thereby forming an image on the recording sheet. . Then, the image transferred to the recording paper is discharged after being fixed to the recording paper by the heat and pressure of the fixing apparatus.

When power is supplied to the image forming apparatus, warm-up is performed for a predetermined time according to the characteristics of the apparatus, and when warm-up is completed, an on-line mode for executing a print command is performed. When the print command is not received for a predetermined time in the ready mode, the process returns to the standby mode. When the print command is received in the standby mode, the printing is performed through a warm-up process.

In the conventional image forming apparatus, the method of displaying the remaining amount and replenishment time of the image forming agent is roughly divided into the following two methods.

(1) A method of visually confirming the printing state of a printed recording paper by the user. If the print density of an image printed on the recording paper is lower than the print density of a previously printed image, it is determined that it is time to replenish the image forming agent.

(2) A method of mounting an image forming agent residual amount detection sensor, wherein the sensor detects the remaining amount of the image forming agent and displays a supply message of the image forming agent if the detected residual amount is less than or equal to the reference value.

However, according to the conventional image forming apparatus as described above, the following problems occur.

(1) Since the image printed on the recording paper must be visually checked to determine whether the image forming agent is insufficient, the recording paper is unnecessarily consumed, and the reliability must be lowered because the user must rely on artificial judgment of the user.

(2) In order to detect the remaining amount of the image forming agent, a separate remaining amount detection sensor must be attached, so that an additional additional expense occurs.

Accordingly, the present invention is to solve the above problems, the first object of the present invention is to form the image to enable the user to determine the remaining amount of the image forming agent and the dispensing time without the need for artificial determination and the remaining amount detection sensor In providing a device.

In addition, a second object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that displays the user so as to recognize the time of dissemination of the image forming agent determined according to the first object.

1 is a schematic block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention;

Figure 2 is a detailed view of the operation panel shown in FIG.

3 is an operation flowchart of the controller illustrated in FIG. 1.

<Description of the code used in the main part of the drawing>

1: input unit 2: image processor

3: operator 4: memory

5: Controller 6: Operation Panel

7: Print head drive unit 8: Motor drive unit

Features of the present invention for achieving the above objects,

An image forming apparatus for forming an image to be printed on a recording sheet from coded print information provided from an original, comprising: an image processor for converting the inputted print information into image data; A calculator for calculating the total size of the image data; A memory in which information on the consumption amount of the image forming agent is stored; An operation panel displaying a supply message of the image forming agent; And estimating a current consumption amount of the image forming agent based on the total size of the image data, cumulatively calculating a current consumption amount of the image forming material and a storage consumption amount of the image forming agent stored in the memory, and accumulating the accumulated consumption amount of the image forming agent. The controller is configured to control a display message of the image forming agent to be displayed on the operation panel when the cumulative consumption amount of the image forming agent is greater than the reference consumption amount in comparison with a preset reference consumption amount.

Preferably, the controller calculates the cumulative consumption amount of the image forming agent individually for each color, and compares the cumulative consumption amount of the image forming agent and the standard consumption amount for each color to the operation panel according to the result. An image forming agent dispensing message for each color is displayed.

Optionally, the operation panel may include an optical signal output device for generating a color corresponding to each color of the image forming agent; It may also include a voice output device for generating a voice message indicating each color of the image forming agent.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus applied to the present invention includes an input unit 1 into which coded print information provided from an original is input, and a bit map of the print information input from the input unit 1. The image processor 2 for converting the image data into the form of image data, the calculator 3 for calculating the size of the image data from the bit map image data converted by the image processor 2, and the information on the consumption of the image forming agent. The memory 4 to be stored, the image forming agent consumption is estimated from the size of the image data calculated by the calculator 3, and the estimated current image forming agent consumption (hereinafter, abbreviated as 'current consumption') and the memory 4 Cumulatively calculates the stored image forming agent consumption (hereinafter, abbreviated as 'storage consumption') and stores the calculated cumulative image forming agent consumption (hereinafter, referred to as 'cumulative consumption') in the memory 4 and accumulates it. Consumption and advance Control of the controller 5 and the controller 5 for comparing the predetermined reference imager consumption (hereinafter, abbreviated as 'reference consumption') and outputting a control signal for generating an image forming agent supply message according to the result. A display device for displaying an image forming agent dispensing message, an operation panel 6 in which various function keys are arranged, and a print head driving unit for driving a print head to print image data processed by the image processor 2 ( 7) and a motor driver 8 for controlling driving states of various motors such as a feed motor and a carriage return motor under the control of the central processing unit 5.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, the operation panel 6 includes' Check Print Catridge M (Magenta), C (Cyne), Y (Yellow), and K (Black). ) 'Display unit.

The operation of the present invention having such a configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

When the coded print information is input through the input unit 1 (S1), the print information is converted into image data in the form of a bit map by the image processor 2 (S2), and the calculator 3 receives the image processor 2 Compute the total size of the image data converted by the (S3).

Thereafter, the calculated total size of the image data is transmitted to the controller 5, and the controller 5 estimates the current consumption amount estimated from the total size of the transmitted image data (S4). Further, the controller 5 cumulatively calculates the estimated current consumption and the storage consumption stored in the memory 4 (S5), and stores the calculated cumulative consumption again in the memory 4 (S6).

Thereafter, the controller 5 compares the calculated cumulative consumption amount with a preset reference consumption amount (S7), and outputs a control signal for generating an image forming agent dispensing message to the operation panel 6 when the cumulative consumption amount is higher than the reference consumption amount. (S8). Accordingly, the image forming agent supply message is displayed on the operation panel 6.

On the other hand, the present invention is also applied to a color printer, wherein the above process may be set so as to be repeated for four colors of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black.

In addition, the operation panel 6 may include an optical signal output device having the same color as each color of the image forming agent to display the image forming agent supply message, or may be set to display as a voice message or an alarm signal. Obviously, it can be easily carried out in the technical field of the present invention.

As a result, according to the image forming apparatus according to the present invention as described above, there are the following advantages.

(1) Calculate the total size of the image data to be printed on the recording paper, estimate the current consumption from the calculated total size, cumulatively calculate the estimated current consumption and storage consumption, and then accumulate the cumulative consumption by comparing with the preset reference consumption. If the consumption amount is more than the standard consumption amount, the image forming agent supply message is outputted, thereby preventing unnecessary consumption of the paper generated when visually confirmed.

(2) By applying the remaining amount calculation method by a program, reliability is improved.

(3) It is possible to suppress the occurrence of additional expenses by detecting the remaining amount of the image forming agent only by a program without the need to attach a separate residual amount detection sensor.

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus for forming an image to be printed on a recording sheet from coded print information provided from an original: An image processor for converting the input print information into image data; A calculator for calculating the total size of the image data; A memory in which information on the consumption amount of the image forming agent is stored; An operation panel displaying a supply message of the image forming agent; And Estimating a current consumption amount of the image forming agent from the total size of the image data, cumulatively calculating the current consumption amount of the image forming material and the storage consumption amount of the image forming agent stored in the memory, and calculating the cumulative consumption amount of the accumulated image forming agent. And a controller configured to display a dissemination message of the image forming agent on the operation panel when the cumulative consumption amount of the image forming agent is greater than the reference consumption amount in comparison with a preset reference consumption amount. The method of claim 1, wherein the controller, Computing the cumulative consumption of the image forming agent for each color individually, comparing the cumulative consumption of the image forming agent and the reference consumption for each color and according to the result the image for each color on the operation panel An image forming apparatus for displaying a forming agent supply message. The method of claim 2, wherein the operation panel, And an optical signal output device for generating a color corresponding to each color of the image forming agent. The method of claim 2, wherein the operation panel, And an audio output device for generating a voice message indicating each color of the image forming agent.

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