JPH03268672A - Facsimile equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Object of the Invention (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a facsimile machine that uses a laser beam printer as a means for recording image data.

(Prior Art) Recently, facsimile machines of a plain paper recording type using a laser beam printer as a recording means for image data have been put into practical use.

However, facsimile machines using such laser beam printers use toner as a recording medium, and form a received image as a latent image on a photoreceptor.
A recorded image is obtained by developing with toner and transferring and fixing the developed image onto recording paper.

By the way, in a facsimile machine using such a laser beam printer, when the amount of toner, which is a recording medium, decreases below a predetermined amount, the laser beam printer becomes inoperable and becomes unusable. In this case, the operator who confirms by some means that there is no toner replenishes the toner, but the output of the received image remains temporarily stopped during this replenishment operation. On the other hand, laser beam printers require a fairly complex process to fix the received image on recording paper and output it as a recorded image, so they are prone to breakdowns and therefore require frequent maintenance and inspection. However, this causes the facsimile machine to temporarily stop operating during the work. moreover,
In the event of an actual failure, the operator is often unable to deal with the problem, and in this case, a service person is contacted for repair, which can take quite a long time before the machine can actually be repaired and recovered. The device may stop working.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) As described above, facsimile machines using conventional laser beam printers operate during frequent maintenance inspections, including when replenishing toner in the printer section. Furthermore, in the case of an actual failure, the operation may be stopped for a long time until recovery, so this has the disadvantage that it is not easy to use as a facsimile machine that is normally used frequently.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and is a facsimile device that can continue recording image data as necessary even when the recording operation of the laser beam printer section is stopped, thereby improving usability. The purpose is to provide

[Structure of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problem) The facsimile apparatus of the present invention includes a laser beam printer section and a thermal recording section as image recording means for recording image data of a data conversion means for converting a facsimile signal into image data. toner remaining amount detection means for detecting the remaining amount of toner in the laser beam printer section at least from a state in which the laser beam printer section is performing a recording operation, or stopping the recording operation of the laser beam printer section; When an output is generated from the operation stop detection means for detecting, the recording operation by the laser beam printer section can be switched to the recording operation by the thermosensitive recording section.

(Function) As a result, according to the present invention, during the recording operation of the laser beam printer unit, the remaining amount of toner decreases to a predetermined value or less and the recording operation stops, or the laser beam printer unit stops due to some reason. When the recording operation stops, it is possible to switch the recording operation of the laser beam printer unit to the recording operation of the thermal recording unit, which saves time for toner replenishment, maintenance inspection, and recovery of the laser beam printer unit, for example. Even in the case of such a failure, the image data recording operation can be continued by the thermal recording section as necessary, and the operator can quickly obtain the required image output.

(Example) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the circuit configuration of the same embodiment. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a data receiving section, and this data receiving section 1 is designed to receive facsimile signals sent via a telephone line. In this case, the facsimile signal consists of compressed encoded data.

The encoded data received by the data receiving section 1 is sent to the decoding section 2.
and decoded into image data. This image data is then written into the image memory 4 by the memory control section 3.

On the other hand, the main control section 5 performs control related to the recording operation of image data, and performs control for recording the image data written in the image memory 4 into the recording section 6. Here, the recording section 6 has a laser beam printer section 7 and a thermal recording section 8, and the one selected by the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 performs the recording operation of image data. There is.

An operation display section 9 is connected to the main control section 5.

This operation display section 9 has an operation section 9 for instructing recording operations and a display section 92 for displaying various displays necessary for operator operations. The recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 or the thermal recording section 8 can be designated by manually switching the selection contents of the means 51.

Note that the laser beam printer section 7 of the recording H6 uses toner as a recording medium as described above, forms image data as a latent image on the photoreceptor, develops it with the toner, and records the developed image. A recorded image is formed by transferring and fixing onto paper, and the thermal recording section 8 is configured to directly form a recorded image on the thermal recording paper using a thermal head.

In this case, the laser beam printer section 7 is provided with a remaining toner amount detection section 71 that detects the remaining amount of toner. The output of the remaining toner amount detection section 71 is given to the main control section 5 so that it can be displayed on the display section 92 of the operation display section 9.

The recording unit 6 is also provided with an operation stop detection unit 10 that detects the stop of the recording operation. This operation stop detection section 1
0 is designed to provide the output to the main control section 5 when it detects that the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 or the thermal recording section 8 of the recording section 6 has stopped. This operation stop detection section 1
The detection output of 0 is given to the main control section 5 and can be displayed on the display section 92 of the operation display section 9.

Next, the operation of the embodiment configured as above will be explained.

First, a case will be described in which the operation section 91 of the operation display section 9 specifies the recording operation by the laser beam printer section 7 as the selection content of the recording section selection means 51.

Now, when a facsimile signal consisting of compressed encoded data is received by the data receiving section 1 via the telephone line, this received signal is sent to the decoding section 2, where it is decoded into image data and sent to the memory control section. 3 is written into the image memory 4.

From this state, the image data written in the image memory 4 is read out according to the instructions of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5, and is sent to the laser beam printer section 7 of the recording section 6, where a recording operation is performed. .

In this case, the laser beam printer section 7 forms the image data read from the image memory 4 as a latent image on the photoreceptor, develops it with toner, and transfers the developed image onto recording paper and fixes it. By doing so, a recorded image can be created.

By the way, when the remaining amount of toner drops below a predetermined level during the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7, the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 stops and the output from the remaining toner amount detection section 71 decreases. is sent to the main control section 5, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display section 92 of the operation display section 9. Thereby, the operator confirms from the display on the display section 92 that the toner has run out and the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 has stopped.

In this case, if it is not necessary to obtain a recorded image immediately, the operator can replenish toner and perform the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 again to obtain a recorded image. If you want to get it immediately,
The selection content of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 is manually switched to the recording operation by the thermal recording section 8 using the operation section 91 of the operation display section 9 . Then, the image data read from the image memory 4 is then sent to the thermal recording section 8 of the recording section 6 according to the instruction from the recording section selection means 51, and a recording operation is performed. In this case, the thermal recording section 8 uses a thermal head to directly record an image on the thermal recording paper.

If the amount of toner decreases below a predetermined value during the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7, the operation section 91 changes the selection of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 to the thermal recording section 8. By switching to the recording operation according to the method described above, it becomes possible to immediately obtain the required recorded image without waiting for time for toner replenishment.

On the other hand, if a failure occurs in the laser beam printer section 7 of the recording section 6 for some reason while the laser beam printer section 7 is performing the recording operation as described above, the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 will be interrupted. stops. Then, the output from the operation stop detection section 10 is sent to the main control section 5, and a message to that effect is displayed on the display section 92 of the operation display section 9. As a result, the operator confirms from the display on the display section 92 that an abnormality has occurred in the laser beam printer section 7 and that the recording operation has been stopped. In this case, the operator immediately manually switches the selection content of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 to the recording operation by the thermal recording section 8 using the operation section 91 of the operation display section 9.

Then, the image data read out from the image memory 4 is
According to an instruction from the recording section selection means 51, the information is sent to the thermal recording section 8 of the recording section 6, where a recording operation is performed.

In this way, even if a failure occurs in the laser beam printer section 7 for some reason and the recording operation stops,
By manually switching the selection content of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 to the recording operation by the thermal recording section 8 using the operation section 91, the necessary recording can be performed immediately without waiting for the laser beam printer section 7 to recover from a failure. You will be able to obtain images.

In addition, when the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 is stopped for maintenance inspection, the selection contents of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 can be changed to the thermal recording section 8 without waiting for the display section 92 to display the information. By manually switching to the recording operation, it becomes possible to quickly obtain the required recorded image from the thermal recording section 8 during maintenance and inspection.

In the above description, a case has been described in which the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7 is stopped due to a failure or the like while the recording operation is being performed by the laser beam printer section 7. If the thermal recording section 8 malfunctions for some reason, the output from the operation stop detection section 10 is sent to the main control section 5, and the display section 92 of the operation display section 9 A message to that effect will be displayed. As a result, the operator confirms that an abnormality has occurred in the thermal recording section 8 and that the recording operation has stopped, and then uses the operation section 91 of the operation display section 9 to change the selection contents of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 to the laser beam printer. When the recording operation is switched to the recording operation by the recording section 7, the image data read out from the image memory 4 is sent to the laser beam printer section 7 of the recording section 6 according to the instruction of the recording section selection means 51, and the recording operation is performed here. will be carried out.

Therefore, in this way, when the toner decreases to a predetermined value or less during the recording operation of the laser beam printer section 7, the operation section 91 controls the recording section selection means 5 of the main control section 5.
By switching the selection content of 1 to the recording operation of the thermal recording section 8, the required recorded image can be obtained quickly without waiting for toner replenishment, and furthermore, maintenance of the laser beam printer section 7 can be performed. If a failure occurs due to inspection or for some other reason and the recording operation stops,
Since it is possible to manually switch the selection content of the recording section selection means 51 of the main control section 5 to the recording operation of the thermal recording section 8 using the operation section 91, frequently performed maintenance and inspection work such as toner replenishment can be easily performed. Compared to the case where the recording operation is stopped every time the laser beam printer unit 7 recovers, and in the case of an actual failure, the operation is stopped for a long time until the laser beam printer unit 7 recovers. This greatly improves the usability of frequently used facsimile machines.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be implemented with appropriate modifications without changing the gist.

In the embodiment described above, a case has been described in which the selection contents of the recording section selection means 51 are manually switched using the operation section 91.
When the main control section 5 receives the outputs from the remaining toner amount detection section 71 and the operation stop detection section 10, it determines whether the current recording operation is being performed by the laser beam printer section 7 or the thermal recording section 8. The selection contents of the recording section selection means 51 may be switched automatically.

[Effects of the Invention] The facsimile apparatus of the present invention includes a laser beam printer section and a thermal recording section as an image recording means for recording image data of a data conversion means for converting a facsimile signal into image data. Output from remaining toner amount detection means for detecting the remaining amount of toner in the laser beam printer section while recording operation is being performed by the beam printer section or operation stop detection means for detecting the stoppage of the recording operation of the laser beam printer section. When this occurs, the recording operation by the laser beam printer section is switched to the recording operation by the thermal recording section, so the remaining amount of toner decreases to below a predetermined value during the recording operation of the laser beam printer section. Even if the recording operation of the laser beam printer section stops due to some reason, the recording operation of the laser beam printer section can be switched to the recording operation of the thermal recording section. For example, even in the event of a failure in the laser beam printer that requires time to replenish toner, perform maintenance and inspection, and recover, the thermal recording unit can continue recording image data as necessary, allowing the operator to output the required image. can be obtained promptly, etc.
The usability of the device can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Data receiving part, 2... Decoding part, 4... Image memory, 5... Main control part, 51... Recording part selection means,
6... Recording section, 7... Laser beam printer section, 7
1... Toner remaining amount detection section, 8... Heat sensitive recording section, 9.
...operation display section, 91...operation section, 92...display section, 10...operation stop detection section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] a data conversion means for converting a facsimile signal into image data; an image recording means having a laser beam printer section and a thermal recording section for recording the converted image data; and a toner for detecting the remaining amount of toner in the laser beam printer section. a remaining amount detecting means; an operation stop detecting means for detecting a stoppage of the recording operation of the laser beam printer section and the thermal recording section of the image recording means; A facsimile apparatus comprising: recording operation switching means for switching a recording operation by the laser beam printer section to a recording operation by the thermal recording section when an output is generated from the toner remaining amount detection means or the operation stop detection means.