KR100542351B1 - Image formation device of electrophotography form and method of controling Laser scanning unit motor thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

According to the present invention, an electrophotographic method is provided in which a LReady signal is enabled faster by driving a laser scanning unit (LSU) motor in advance when printing can be predicted in a warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus and a method of controlling a laser scanning unit motor of the apparatus, and the method of controlling a laser scanning unit motor of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the image forming apparatus wake-up in a sleep mode. up) a warm-up mode which is an initialization step when a signal is received or the power of the image forming apparatus is turned on; Comparing print predictability in a warm up mode; Driving a laser scanning unit motor when printing is predictable in the warm-up mode; Outputting a signal indicating that the laser scanning unit motor is at a constant speed to the controller; When the control unit receives a signal indicating that the laser scanning unit motor is in constant speed, the controller receives a print command in the standby mode and outputs the print data to perform the print mode. If the print predictable in the warm-up mode, the LSU motor is driven in advance. For example, after entering the standby mode, the print command is received and the LSU motor is driven in the print mode to shorten the waiting time until the speed is constant. As a result, the overall time taken for printing is shortened.

Warm up mode, Laser scanning unit, LSU, Laser printer, Printing forecast

Description

Image forming device of electrophotography form and method of control Laser scanning unit motor

1 is a schematic block diagram of a configuration of a general electrophotographic image forming apparatus;

2 is a flowchart of a printing state transition according to the prior art;

3A is a graph illustrating a print mode of a general image forming apparatus;

3B is a graph illustrating a print mode transition state when printing is predictable in a warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus according to the prior art;

3C is a graph illustrating a print mode transition state when printing is predictable in a warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention;

4 is a flowchart relating to a print mode transition of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

1 control unit 2 LSU (laser scanning unit)

3: motor control unit 4: photosensitive member

5 Developing unit 10 Feeding cassette

11: feed roller 12: paper feed roller

13: transfer roller 14: fixing unit

15: exit roller P: paper

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present invention provides a method of driving a laser scanning unit motor of a laser beam printer in advance according to a condition when performing warm-up. The present invention relates to a method for shortening the execution time of printing on a page.

In general, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus applied to a printing apparatus such as a copy machine, a facsimile machine, a printer, etc., has a laser scanning unit (LSU) as an exposure means and a photosensitive member such as a photosensitive drum installed inside the main body. do.

The laser scanning unit converts the image data sent from the computer or the control unit into an optical signal to form a negative electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image data on the negatively charged photosensitive member. The laser scanning unit includes a semiconductor laser, a light emission driving control unit for controlling light emission and driving of the semiconductor laser, a polygon mirror, a driving motor for rotating the polygon mirror, a lens, and a reflection mirror.

A general electrophotographic image forming apparatus having the above structure will be described with reference to the drawings.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a configuration of a general electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

Referring to FIG. 1, when a control unit 1 controls overall operations of each unit for receiving print data output from a computer and forming an image corresponding thereto, and an optical signal corresponding to the print data is output from the control unit 1. A laser scanning unit 2 which performs an exposure operation so that an electrostatic latent image is formed according to an optical signal, and a motor control unit which controls motors (not shown) for driving each unit device according to a control signal output from the controller 1; 3) and a photoconductor 4 having an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface upon exposure by the laser scanning unit 2, and a developer attached to the surface of the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member 4 to form a visible image ( A developing unit 5 containing toner).

In addition, the paper feed cassette 10 for storing paper, the pickup roller 11 for picking up the paper P stored in the paper cassette 10, and the paper picked up by the pickup roller 11 It further comprises a paper feed roller 12, a fixing unit 14 for fixing and discharging the paper transferred by the transfer device 13 and the discharge roller 15.

Looking at the printing operation of the conventional image forming apparatus having such a configuration as follows.

When print data is output from the computer, the controller 1 outputs a drive control command to each unit device, and the motor controller 3 outputs a signal for driving each motor according to the control signal of the controller 10. . When the motor for rotating the photoconductor 4 is driven under the control of the motor control unit 3, the electrostatic latent image is selectively formed by performing scanning by the laser scanning unit 2 on the surface of the photoconductor 4. The developing unit 5 applies a developer (toner) to an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive member 4 to form a visible image.

On the other hand, during the process as described above, the paper P is picked up from the paper feed cassette 10 by the pickup roller 11 and fed to the transfer device 13 by the paper feed roller 12. When the paper is fed into the transfer device 13, the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive member 4 is transferred to the paper, the fixing unit 14 fixes the toner image to the paper, and then the final image is transferred through the discharge roller 15. The formed paper is ejected.

These processes are generally performed under the control of the control unit 1, and each print mode processed by the control unit 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2 as follows.

2 is a flowchart of a printing state transition according to the prior art.

First, when the image forming apparatus receives a wake-up signal of the controller in the sleep mode or the power of the image forming apparatus is turned on (100), the warm-up mode is activated. Is performed (120). At this time, in the warm-up mode, the initialization of the device and preheating of each unit are performed.

When the warm-up mode is completed, the printer enters the print standby mode until a print command is received (120). When the print command is received, the operation is switched to the print mode 130 to perform a print job, and when an error (paper jam, cover open, etc.) occurs, the operation mode is switched to the error mode 140.

When the error problem is solved, the process is switched to the warm-up mode step 110 to perform the normal operation after receiving the print command in the standby mode again after performing the initialization.

However, if each print mode is performed in the conventional manner as described above, if printing is expected in the warm-up mode state, the standby mode is checked since there is a print command only after entering the standby mode after performing the warm-up mode. After receiving the print command in the mode, the printer enters the print mode, drives the laser scanning unit (hereinafter referred to as 'LSU') motor, waits until the normal speed (constant speed) is reached, and then starts the printing operation. Therefore, there is a problem that the total printing time becomes long.

In particular, even when printing is predicted, such as opening or closing the cover due to a paper jam (jam: jam), or operating a machine button for adjusting the resolution, the printer enters the standby mode after performing the entire warm-up mode as described above. After the warm-up mode, the LSU motor has to wait until the constant speed after driving the LSU motor again.

Herein, the driving of the LSU motor will be described in detail. When the LSU motor is driven at a constant speed, the LSU enables the LReady signal and outputs the LReady signal to the controller. Therefore, the control unit is a structure in which the print data is actually output after the LReady signal is enabled to switch to the print mode.

Therefore, even though all preparations are completed, the print job cannot be performed while the LReady signal is disabled.

The LReady signal is a signal indicating whether the motor driving the polygon mirror of the LSU has reached a constant speed state.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and when printing is expected in the warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus, the laser scanning unit motor is driven in advance so that the LReady signal is enabled more quickly. An object of the present invention is to provide an electrophotographic image forming apparatus and a method of controlling a laser scanning unit motor of the apparatus.

The electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object is a photosensitive member for forming an image using the potential characteristics of the surface, by scanning an optical signal in accordance with the data to form the image by the electrical potential difference to the photosensitive member A laser scanning unit for forming an electrostatic latent image, a developing unit for attaching a developer to an electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member so that a visible image is formed, a controller for controlling the overall apparatus, and a developed image Is transferred to the paper through the transfer roller which rotates in contact with the photosensitive member, and a fixing unit for fusion bonding the developer transferred to the paper by the transfer device to the paper using a pressure roller, the warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus. If printing is expected in the warm-up mode, then the polygon mirror of the laser scanning unit It characterized by comprising an emitter to drive.

In addition, the laser scanning unit motor control method according to the present invention for achieving the above object, performing a warm-up mode (warm-up mode) which is an initialization step when the power of the image forming apparatus is turned on; Determining whether printing is predictable in a warm-up mode; Driving a laser scanning unit motor when printing is predictable in the warm up mode; Outputting a signal indicating that the laser scanning unit motor is at a constant speed to the controller; The controller may be configured to perform a print mode by outputting print data after receiving a print command in a standby mode when a signal indicating that the laser scanning unit motor is at a constant speed is received.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention.

Since the configuration of the present invention is the same as the prior art shown in Figure 1 will not be described.

However, since only a portion of the control unit 1 and the laser scanning unit (LSU: Laser Scanning Unit) 2 that transmits or receives the LReady enable signal even in the warm-up mode has been changed, this part will be described later in the method description of the control unit. do.

In addition, the print state transition process will be described with reference to the graph of FIG. 3 so that the present invention may be solved.

3A is a graph illustrating a printing mode of a general image forming apparatus, FIG. 3B is a graph illustrating a print mode transition state when printing is predictable in a warm-up mode of an image forming apparatus according to the prior art, and FIG. 3C is a graph of the present invention. Is a graph showing a print mode transition state when printing is predictable in the warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus.

3A illustrates a general print state transition and is a graph representing a case where a print command is received in a standby mode.

Referring to FIG. 3A, when the power is turned on, the warm-up mode is performed, and when the warm-up is completed, the standby mode is entered. Thereafter, when reception of a print command occurs, a general image forming process of performing a print operation is performed. If an error such as paper jam or cover open occurs, the printer warms up again, enters the standby mode, and then prints according to whether a print command is received.

3B is a graph representing a state in which a print job is actually performed when print prediction is possible in the warm-up mode state of the image forming apparatus according to the related art.

Referring to FIG. 3B, even when printing is predicted in the warm-up mode, once the warm-up mode is completed, the printer enters the standby mode. After entering the standby mode, the print mode is received by receiving a print data reception command. After that, the LSU motor drive starts and the print job starts only after the LSU motor reaches constant speed.

동안 웜업 모드를 수행한 이후 대기모드로 진입 후 인쇄 명령을 받고 인쇄모드로 들어가면서 LSU 모터의 구동이 시작된다. 따라서,

동안 LSU 모터가 구동되어 정속된 이후 인쇄 작업이 시작되므로 웜업시간 이후 인쇄 모드로 들어간 후 LSU 모터가 정속이 되어지는

만큼 기다려야 인쇄작업이 시작된다.In this case, even if print prediction is possible

After the warm-up mode is executed, the printer enters the standby mode, receives a print command, enters the print mode, and starts driving the LSU motor. therefore,

Since the print job starts after the LSU motor is driven and fixed, the LSU motor is driven after the warm-up time.

Wait as long as the print job starts.

만큼 기다 려야 실제로 인쇄작업이 시작된다.In addition, even after an error such as paper jam or cover open, the LSU motor is driven at a constant speed after receiving a print command after the warm-up time and entering the print mode.

Wait as long as the print job actually starts.

For reference, when the printing is predicted, the paper jam occurs and the paper is removed before the printing is performed, such as the operation of removing the paper, the user inserting the paper for printing, and the button operation for adjusting the resolution. The actions will be.

The printing prediction case can be determined because the main controller of the image forming apparatus recognizes all situations through each sensor.

On the other hand, the operation of simply opening and closing the cover of the image forming apparatus does not belong to the case where printing is predicted because it is determined that the user is not related to the operation for printing.

지난 후 LSU 모터가 정속이 되고 또한 화상형성장치가 대기 모드로 전환된 상태가 되면, 인쇄 동작이 시작되도록 함으로써 인쇄에 걸리는 시간을 단축시키는 것이 본 발명의 목적이다.Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3C, when printing is expected in the warm-up mode, the LSU motor starts to be driven immediately.

It is an object of the present invention to shorten the time taken for printing by causing the printing operation to start when the LSU motor becomes constant speed and the image forming apparatus is switched to the standby mode after the past.

In order to ensure that the LSU motor is driven at a constant speed, the LSU motor outputs a driving signal to the LSU motor (polygon mirror motor) when printing is expected in the warm-up mode. Two to three seconds after the LSU motor is driven, the LSU motor reaches normal speed (constant speed).

The control sequence of the control unit for performing the print transition process as described above is performed as follows.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a print mode transition of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, first, when the image forming apparatus receives a wake-up signal in a sleep mode or power is turned on (200), a warm-up mode (warm-), which is an initialization step, is performed. up mode) (210).

It is determined whether the printing is predictable in the warm-up mode (211).

If it is determined in the print predictable state in step 211, if the drive signal is output to the laser scanning unit (LSU) motor, the LSU motor is fixed after 2 to 3 seconds to enable the LReady signal (enable) and output to the control unit .

Therefore, if the control unit has already received the print command, the print data is output to the LSU by receiving the LReady enable signal to operate the image forming apparatus in the print mode (220).

On the other hand, if the printing is not predicted in step 211, the switch to the standby mode immediately after the warm-up mode is complete (230).

In operation standby mode, it is determined whether a print command is received (231), and when a print command is received, a print mode is performed (240).

Thereafter, if an error (paper jam, etc.) occurs (241), after the error is resolved (250), the warm-up mode must be performed and initialized again (210).

When the printing is predicted in the warm-up mode through the above method, the LSU motor LReady enable signal is received early by the controller because the LSU motor is accelerated by driving the LSU motor during the warm-up process.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be appreciated that various modifications or changes can be made. Therefore, changes in the future embodiments of the present invention will not be able to escape the technology of the present invention.

As described above, according to the present invention, when printing is predicted in the warm-up mode, the LSU motor is pre-driven in advance to enter the standby mode and receive a print command to drive the LSU motor in the print mode until the speed is constant. Since it is shortened by the waiting time, the result is that the overall time taken for printing is shortened.

Claims (7)

Photosensitive member that forms an image using potential characteristics of the surface, laser scanning unit that forms an electrostatic latent image due to electrical potential difference by scanning an optical signal according to data to form an image, and a visible A developing unit for attaching the developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member to form an image, a control unit responsible for overall control of the device, and a transfer unit transferring the developed image to the paper through a transfer roller rotating in contact with the photosensitive member. In the electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprising a fixing unit for fusion bonding the developer transferred to the paper by the transfer device to the paper using a pressure roller, An electrophotographic image forming apparatus characterized by driving a polygon mirror motor of a laser scanning unit when printing is expected in a warm-up mode of the image forming apparatus. The method of claim 1, wherein when printing is predicted in the warm-up mode, When the jam is solved by inserting the paper into the image forming apparatus feeder or when the paper jam is generated, the electrophotographic image is characterized in that it is one of arbitrary operations for printing such as a button operation for adjusting the resolution. Forming device. The electrophotographic image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the laser scanning unit enables the LReady signal to be output to the control unit when the motor is driven at a constant speed according to the driving of the polygon mirror motor. Photosensitive member that forms an image using potential characteristics of the surface, laser scanning unit that forms an electrostatic latent image due to electrical potential difference by scanning an optical signal according to data to form an image, and a visible A developing unit attaching the developer to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive member to form an image; In the laser scanning unit motor control method of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus comprising a fixing unit for fusion bonding the developer transferred to the paper by the transfer device to the paper using a pressure roller, Performing a warm-up mode that is an initialization step when the image forming apparatus receives a wake-up signal in a sleep mode or when the image forming apparatus is powered on; Determining whether printing is expected in a warm up mode; Driving a laser scanning unit motor when printing is expected in the warm up mode; Outputting a signal indicating that the laser scanning unit motor is at a constant speed to the controller; When the control unit receives a signal informing that the laser scanning unit motor has reached the constant speed, the controller receives the print command in the standby mode and outputs the print data to perform the print mode of the electrophotographic image forming apparatus. How to control the laser scanning unit motor. The method according to claim 4, wherein when printing is predicted, When the jam is solved by inserting the paper into the image forming apparatus feeder or when the paper jam occurs, the electrophotographic image forming method may be any one of operations for printing such as a button operation for adjusting the resolution. How to control the laser scanning unit motor of the device. 5. The method of controlling a laser scanning unit motor of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the signal indicating that the laser scanning unit motor is at constant speed is determined by enabling an LReady signal. 5. The method of controlling a laser scanning unit motor of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein when printing is not expected in the warm-up mode, the standby mode is switched to the standby mode as soon as the warm-up mode is completed.

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