JPH041075A - Picture image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to fetch a list of characters to be used easily by a usable symbol set, based on an indication, by a method wherein a font consisted of symbol sets by combination between the typeface of characters and characters are stored, and from the stored fonts, a desirable symbol set is selection-designated. CONSTITUTION:A control panel 100 is equipped with a liquid crystal display unit 100a to display the quantity of a medium on which image is formed, mode, guidance and message, etc., an LED display apparatus 100b to light-up display various conditions by a light emitting diode and a switch 100c to indicate various types of motions. The switch 100c consists of a menu key, value key and online key. The menu key consists of two keys for 'next item', and increment for a plurality of menu information displayed on the left half of the crystal liquid display unit 100a is done each time the 'next item' key is pressed, and decrement of the said information is done each time a 'previous item' key is pressed, and they are respectively displayed, and these display motions are periodically repeated.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) This invention provides a list of characters used in character typefaces and symbol sets of character combinations, as needed. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that can be taken out by an operator.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus that has a function of handling one or more symbol sets of a combination of text A and characters, as a method of informing an operator of available symbol sets, the identification name of the symbol set is manipulated. Measures were taken such as displaying it on a panel, printing the name of the symbol set on paper, or printing some of the characters used in the symbol set on paper.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) However, according to such an image forming apparatus, although the operator can obtain the identification name of the usable symbol set or some of the characters used in the symbol set, A drawback is that the operator cannot obtain from the image forming device a list of characters used in the possible symbol sets.

This invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances in conventional image forming apparatuses, and it is possible to easily retrieve a list of characters used in a usable symbol set based on instructions from an operator. The present invention aims to provide an image forming apparatus.

[Ashes of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that records an image based on image data transmitted from an external device. , a storage means for storing fonts consisting of symbol sets of character fonts and character combinations, an input means for selecting and specifying a desired symbol set from among the fonts stored in the storage means, and the input means. and printing means for displaying a list of characters used in the symbol set stored in the storage means based on the input information inputted by.

(Operation) As described above, there is a storage means that stores at least a set of fonts consisting of symbol sets of combinations of character fonts and characters, and a desired symbol set is selected from among the fonts stored in this storage means. It has an input means for specifying, and a printing means for displaying a list of characters used in the symbol set stored in the storage means based on the input information input by the input means. can obtain a list of characters used in the available symbol sets from the image forming apparatus as needed.

(Embodiment) An embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a main part of an image forming apparatus (for example, a laser printer equipped with optional equipment) according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing its internal structure.

The image forming apparatus of this embodiment includes a multi-cassette feeder 2 that feeds a thin image forming medium (for example, copy paper) P such as plain paper into the printer 1, and a multi-cassette feeder 2 that feeds a thick image forming medium A such as an envelope into the printer 1. An envelope feeder 3 that feeds the image forming medium into the printer, and optional equipment such as a jogger 4 that distributes the image-forming media into predetermined numbers of sheets after image formation are connected to a printer (for example, a laser printer).

The printer 1 is equipped with a paper feed cassette 22, a multi-cassette feeder 2, a spare paper feed cut 30, 31 for supplying image forming media, and further includes a multi-cassette feeder 2, an envelope feeder 3, and a jogger 4.
is connected online to the control section in the main body of the printer 1.

Further, inside the printer 1, for example, a laser optical system 12, a drum-shaped photoreceptor 17, a charging device 18, a developing device 19, a transfer device 20, a static elimination lamp 21, a peeling device 35, a fixing device 3, etc.
7. In addition to the process system such as the cleaning device 45,
A first paper feeding system consisting of a paper feeding cassette 22, a delivery roller 23, etc., a pair of aligning rollers 25, a gate, etc. are provided.

The laser optical system 12 includes a semiconductor laser oscillator (not shown) that generates laser light, a collimator lens (not shown),
Polygon mirror 13, f/θ lens 14, mirror 15.
16, etc., and when forming an image, a laser beam is transmitted to the laser optical system 12 in response to an image signal from an external device (not shown) or an operation panel (not shown).
An image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor 17.

The photoreceptor 17 rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and the surface is first charged by the charging device 18, and then exposed to light corresponding to the image signal by the laser optical system 12, so that an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image signal is formed on the surface. It is formed. This electrostatic latent image is made visible by applying toner to the surface of the photoreceptor 17 using the developing device 19.

On the other hand, the image forming media P in the paper feed cassette 22 are taken out one by one by a delivery roller 23 and sent to a transfer section by a pair of rollers 25.

Further, the sheets are taken out one by one by a delivery roller 32 from a paper feed cassette 30 of a multi-cassette feeder 2 as a second supply system to the above-mentioned transfer section, and are taken out one by one through a medium guide path 34 for image forming media.
．． 29 to the aligning roller pair 25 or the multi-cassette feeder 2
The image forming medium is taken out one by one by the feed roller 33 from the paper feeding cassette 31 and guided to the aligning roller pair 25 through the image forming medium guide path 34.29, or as a fourth paper feeding system. Envelope feeder 3 (second
The sheets are taken out one by one by a delivery roller 27 from the stacker 26 in the image forming medium guide path 28 (see figure).
The image forming medium A is guided to the pair of aligning rollers 25 through the image forming medium guide path 29, and is further supplied from the manual paper feed section 44 as a fifth paper feeding system and passed through the image forming medium guide path 29 to the aligning roller pair 25. The image forming medium P guided to the pair 25 is sent in response to a paper designation signal from the external device (or operation panel).

Then, the image forming medium P or A sent to the transfer section is brought into close contact with the surface of the photoreceptor 17 by the transfer device 20, and the toner image on the photoreceptor 17 is transferred to the image forming medium by the action of the transfer device 20. Make a transcription. The image forming medium P or A on which the toner image has been transferred in this way is peeled off from the surface of the photoreceptor 17 by the action of the peeling device 35, and is sent to the fixing device by the conveyor belt 36, where it is placed on the image forming medium P or A. The transferred toner image is fixed.

The image forming medium P1 or A after fixing passes through the gate 38.
through the paper ejection roller pair 39 onto the paper ejection tray 40 (see FIG. 2), or through the gate 38 on the conveyance path 4.
1, and is discharged by a pair of paper discharge rollers 42 to a paper discharge tray 43 which is movably designated by a jogger.

In addition, paper detection means 50, 51° 52 for detecting the image forming medium P in the paper feeding cassette 22, 30. Detect each.

Note that 48 and 49 are paper detection means on the conveyance system.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the operation panel 100 provided in the printer 1 shown in FIG. LED indicator 1 that lights up and displays various states using light emitting diodes (hereinafter abbreviated as rLEDJ)
00b and a switch 100c for instructing various operations. This LED loob indicates whether it is connected to an external device, that is, "online" to indicate the online/offline status, "ready" to indicate that the entire device is ready for operation, and "ready" to indicate that the image is being transferred.
"data", operator call, for example "operator" which requests the selection and specification of the symbol set described below, service call, for example, the symbol set used in - from among the fonts consisting of symbol sets of character fonts and character combinations described later. It consists of the following indications: ``Service'', which requests printing of a list of characters, and ``Mode J'', which indicates manual/automatic feeding.

The switch 100C is composed of a menu key, a value key, and an online key.

The menu keys are composed of two keys, ``next item'', and a plurality of menu information displayed on the left half of the product display section 100a are incremented each time the next item j key is pressed, and ``previous item'' is displayed. Each time a key is pressed, the number is decremented and displayed, and these display operations are periodically repeated.

The operator selects and instructs a desired operation by operating the menu keys and value keys.

The online key is a key for switching whether or not the device is connected to the external device 409 (see FIG. 4).

Next, the configuration of the engine control section will be explained.

FIG. 4 shows an engine control section 300 and a printer control circuit 40.
5 is a circuit block diagram showing the connection state of 0, and FIG.
A block diagram of the main parts of FIG. 4 is shown.

In FIG. 4, 302 is a power supply device of the image forming apparatus, and the main switch 301 is turned on. : +5V and +24V are output. A voltage of +5V is supplied to the engine control circuit 300 and further to a printer control circuit 400 connected to this engine control circuit 300.

On the other hand, +24V is sequentially connected to cover switches 303 and 304, and then supplied to engine control circuit 300.
The scanner control circuit 101, high-voltage power supply 305, and mechanism drive circuit 306 are each supplied with a semiconductor laser 90, a mirror motor 92, a high-voltage power supply 305, a pre-exposure device 21, a main motor 307, a cassette feed solenoid 308, and a manual feed. It is used as a power source for driving the paper solenoid 309, aligning solenoid 310, toner replenishment solenoid 31], cooling fan 500, and the like.

Further, the power supply device 302 is provided with a heater lamp drive circuit (not shown) of a zero-cross switch and a TRIAC system (not shown) which drives the heater lamp 501, for example, consisting of a phototriac coupler and a TRIAC. The above + as a driving power source for LED
A voltage of 24V is used. In the heater lamp drive circuit with this configuration, as is well known, when the LED on the light emitting side is turned on or off, the phototriac on the light receiving side is turned on or off at the zero cross point of the AC power supply, and becomes the next stage main switch element. By turning on and off the triac, AC power is supplied to and cut off from the heater lamp 37a. A heater control signal 3]8 for turning on and off the light emitting side LED is connected from the engine control circuit to the power supply 302, and a thermistor 37b provided in the fixing device 37 is connected to the engine control circuit. It is connected.

Further, the cover switch 303 is turned off when the top cover 60 is rotated upward, and the cover switch 303 is turned off when the top cover 60 is rotated upward.
4 is adapted to be turned off when the rear cover 64 is opened. Therefore, when the top cover 60 or the rear cover 63 is opened, the switch 303
．． 304 cuts off the +24V, the semiconductor laser 90, mirror motor 92, high voltage power supply 305, main motor 307, solenoids 308 to 311, cooling fan 500, heater lamp 37a, etc. stop operating, and the operator It is designed so that there is no problem even if the device body (1-1) is touched.

The CPU 350, as shown in FIG.
It controls the entire ROM 351 and operates according to a control program stored in the ROM 351. Further, the RAM 352 is used as a work buffer for the CPU 350. F2 PROM
353 stores the total number of prints and the like. The printer control circuit interface 354 mediates the exchange of interface signals 3]-7 with the printer control circuit 400.

The laser modulation control circuit 355 controls the periodic forced lighting of the semiconductor laser 90 in order to generate a laser light detection signal 315 to be described later, and also controls the laser light detection signal 315 sent from the printer control circuit 4 by the interface signal 317. The semiconductor laser 90 is modulated and controlled according to image data, and a laser modulation signal 3]4 is output to the scanner control circuit 101. The output register 356 receives control signals 313 and 316 that control the mechanism drive circuit 306, the scanner control circuit 101, the high voltage power supply 305, and the heater lamp drive circuit, respectively.
, 318, 31.9 are output. A/
The voltage generated by the thermistor 376 and the toner sensor 324 is input to the D converter 357, and this voltage value is converted into a digital value.

Furthermore, the input register 358 includes the paper empty switches 50, 51 . ．． 52, manual switch 321
, the paper ejection switch 322, the mounting switch 323, and the status signals from the aligning switch 48, and the +24V
On/off status signals are input. Further, the internal bus 359 includes the CPU 350, ROM 351, RA
Data is exchanged between the M352, F2 PROM 353, printer control circuit interface 354, laser modulation control circuit 355, output register 356, A/D converter 357, and input register 358.

The mechanical unit drive circuit 306 is provided with a drive circuit for driving a motor, a solenoid, etc., and receives one of the control signals 313 output from the output register 356.
．． On/off is controlled by a binary value of 0. That is,
For example, each drive circuit is turned on when it is 1, turned off when it is 0,
+24 to the pre-exposure device 21, the main motor 307, the solenoids 308 to 311, and the cooling fan 500.
V is energized or cut off. The scanner control circuit 101 is provided with a semiconductor laser 90 and a drive circuit for the mirror motor 13.
is turned on and off by 1.0 of the laser modulation signal 314 output from the laser modulation control circuit 355, and the mirror motor 13 is turned on and off by 1.0 of the control signal 319 output from the output register 356. It is now possible to do so. Further, a PIN diode is used in the laser light detection sensor 312, and when the laser light a passes through the laser detection sensor 312, a current proportional to the light energy flows. Therefore, within the scanner control circuit 101, this current is converted into a voltage and amplified, and is output as a laser light detection signal 315 to the laser modulation control circuit 35.
It is now sent to 5. Furthermore, high voltage power supply 30
5, a developing bias 305a and a charging 305c are supplied to the developing bias power supply section (not shown), the charging device 18, and the wire high voltage power supply section of the transfer device 20, respectively.

Each high voltage of the transfer 305e is output. These on and off are controlled by the control signal 316 output from the output register 356.
1.0.

As described above, within the engine control unit 300, power is supplied to each electric circuit via the engine control circuit 300, and the 01 output from the engine control circuit 300 is
It is controlled by a binary signal. The engine control section 300 and the printer control section 400 are coupled via an interface signal 317.

Next, the configuration of the printer control section 400 will be explained.

FIG. 6 shows the main parts of the electric circuit of the printer control section 400. In the figure, a CPU 401 controls the entire printer control section 400. ROM402
1 stores a control program, and the CPU 401 operates according to this program. The ROM 402 also stores data regarding the image forming medium P, such as a password, top margin, left margin, paper type, etc., which are checked when changing data. RAM403 is the host device, that is, external device 4
It is used as a page buffer for temporarily storing image data sent from 09, and as a work buffer for the CPU 401. When the image data sent from the external device 409 is a large amount of data such as bitmap data, the expansion memory 404
The RAM 403 is a large-capacity memory used when data for one page cannot be stored.

Video RAM 405 stores image data expanded into bit images, and its output is supplied to serial-parallel conversion circuit 406. The serial-parallel conversion circuit 406 converts the video RAM
In step 405, the image data developed into a bit image and sent as parallel data is converted into serial data and sent to the engine control circuit.

The host interface 408 transfers data between the printer control unit 400 and a host device 409, which may be, for example, a computer or an image reading device, and has two types: a serial transfer line 410a and a parallel transfer line 410b. We are prepared. Then, it can be used appropriately depending on the type of data transferred between the external device 409 and the external device 409. The engine interface 411 mediates the exchange of the interface signal 317 between the printer control circuit 400 and the engine control circuit 300.

The connection circuit 413 operates when the IC card 51 is inserted into or removed from the connector 16.
The power supply and signal line supplied to the IC card 517 are cut off, and the noise generated when inserting and removing the IC card 517
This is to prevent the data stored in 7 from being destroyed.

The operation panel control circuit 407 performs control to display a guidance message on the liquid crystal display]00a of the operation panel 1°O.
It controls lighting, turning off, and blinking of the D display 100, and controls sending data input from the switch 100c to the CPU 401. In addition, internal bus 41
2 is the CPU 401, ROM 402, RAM 403
, expansion memory 404, video RMA 405, operation panel control circuit 407, host interface 408, engine interface 411, and connection circuit 413.

Further, the IC card 517 is a non-volatile memory, for example, a static RAM with battery backup, an E2 PR
It is composed of OM, EPROM, mask ROM, etc. These IC cards 517, 51.
7, 51.7, for example, Fig. 16, Fig. 17 (a), (
As shown in b), character fonts, emulation programs, etc. are stored.

Next, the configuration of the interface signal 317 will be explained.

FIG. 7 shows each signal of the transmission signal 317. In the figure, Do-D7 is a bidirectional data bus that transmits status from the engine control circuit 300 to the printer control circuit 400 and commands from the printer control circuit 400 to the engine control circuit 300, at the timing shown in FIG. Status and command can be switched.

That is, when the busy signal SYO output from the engine control circuit 300 is 1, if the bus direction signal DIR is set to 0, Do-D7 is switched in the direction from the engine control circuit 300 to the printer control circuit 400, and the status becomes Do.
-D7, the printer control circuit 400 can read the status. On the other hand, when the printer control circuit 400 sends a command, the busy signal BSY
If the bus direction signal DIE is set to 1 when O is 1, Do
-D7 is printer control circuit 400-engine control circuit 3
Since it can be switched in the direction of 00, output the command,
Next, the strobe signal 5TBO is set to O. At this time,
The engine control circuit 300 reads the command on Do-D7, sets the busy signal BO3YO to 0, and performs processing such as command analysis. Busy signal B
When SYO is set to 0, printer control circuit 400 returns strobe signal 5TBO to 1 and ends the command transmission. Then, when the command processing in the engine control circuit 300 is completed, a busy signal BsY is generated.

is set back to 1 again. Note that commands sent while the busy signal BSYO is 0 are not received by the engine control circuit 300.

Further, the status on the data bus Do-D7 does not change immediately when there is a change in the state of the engine control unit 300, but is updated only after the state changes to the status corresponding to the received command.

The attention signal ATN1 is transmitted to the engine control circuit 300.
This is output when the basic status on the printer control circuit between the printer controller 400 and the printer control circuit 400 changes.
When the engine control circuit 3 CI O becomes able to receive a print command or a VSYNC command, which will be described later,
It is set to 1 when the image data for one page has been received, and becomes 1 when the attention reset command is received.
It is now reset to . However, when the attention signal ATN1 changes from 0 to 1, the printer control circuit 400 sends an attention reset command onto the data bus DO-D7, and the attention signal AT
N1 is reset from 1 to 0, and then the data bus Do-
You can read the status on F7 and know the changed basic status. In addition, the basic status is also output on the data bus by the basic status request command that requests the basic status, so the content of the changed basic status can be known by the basic status request command prior to the attention reset command. It is now possible to do so.

When the ready signal PRDYO is 0, the engine control unit 30
0 indicates a ready state, and 1 indicates a not ready state. When this signal is 0, the engine control unit 300 is capable of printing.

System clear signal 5CLRI is printer control circuit 40
200~ after +5V rises with 0 reset signal
It becomes 1 for 500m5eC, and the printer control circuit 400 is in a reset state during this time.

The prime signal PRIMEO is a reset signal to the engine control circuit 300, and while this signal is 0, the busy signal BO
SYO becomes 0, ready signal PRDYO becomes 1, and engine control circuit 400 returns to a predetermined initial state.

The horizontal synchronization signal H'5YNCO is the laser light detection signal 3 generated by the laser exposure unit 12 every time the laser exposure unit 12 operates.
15, the number of lines corresponding to the effective print length in the transport direction of the paper P after receiving the VSYNC command is output in synchronization with the laser light detection signal 315.

The video clock VCLKO is the horizontal synchronization signal HSY
This is a synchronous clock for inputting one line of video data (image data) VDO to the engine control circuit following the NCO, and is output in numbers corresponding to the effective print width in the horizontal scanning direction of the image forming medium P. . and,
The video data VDO is received by the engine control circuit 300 in synchronization with the falling edge of the video clock VCLKO, and is recorded as a latent image on the photoreceptor 17 by the laser exposure unit 12. Note that when the video data VDO is 0, it is visualized on the image forming medium P as a dot image.

Next, in the above-described configuration, while referring to the flow chart shown in FIG. 9 and the timing charts shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, the engine control section 30 of the image forming apparatus will be explained.
The operation of 0 will be explained.

When the main switch 301 is turned on, a reset signal (not shown) is generated in synchronization with the rise of +5V, and the engine control circuit 300 is reset, and this reset signal also resets the printer control circuit 400. The reset signal 5CLRI (see FIG. 9) is output, and the printer control circuit 400 is also reset. Then, after +5V rises, 20
After 0 to 500 m5ec, the value of the reset signal is inverted, the reset state is released, and the CPU 350 starts executing the program stored in the ROM 351.

First, data such as RAM 352 (see Figure 5) is stored in the 9th
It is initialized as shown in the flowchart shown in the figure (step 550), and the states of each switch are read into the input register 358, and operator call states such as paper jam, cover oven, process unit not installed, and paper empty are checked ( Step 551). If an operator call has occurred, it is checked whether only paper empty has occurred (step 52), and if an operator call other than paper empty has occurred, the process returns to step S51 and the operator call status is wait for it to be released.

On the other hand, if only paper empty occurs in step S52, or if no operator call occurs in step 51, heating of the fixing device 37 is started (step 53), and then the initialization of the electrophotographic process is started. To do this, the main motor 307 and pre-exposure device 23 are turned on (step 554), the charging 305C is turned on sequentially at time intervals determined by the program (step 555), and the developing bias 305a is turned on. (step 556). In this state for a certain period of time (about 30
sec) has elapsed (step 5).
57), it is checked whether or not a cover open occurs until the time elapses (step 590), and when a cover open occurs, steps 853 to S5 described above are performed.
6 and turn off each output that was turned on (step 591).
The process returns to step S51 again. On the other hand, when it is confirmed in step S57 that a certain period of time has elapsed, the charging 305c is turned off (step 358), and the developing bias is turned off in sequence at the timing determined by the program (step 55).
9), the main motor 307 and the pre-exposure device 21 are turned off (step 560). Steps 353-S above
Through the series of operations up to step 60, the warming-up operation of the image forming apparatus is completed. Then, the ready signal P
RDYO is output (1-40) and data bus DO-D
7, a print request is set and an attention signal TNI is output (0-1) (step 5).
61), the printer becomes ready for printing. In addition,
The fixing device 37, which has started heating in step S53, is in a sufficiently good state for a fixing operation in the process leading to step S61. Further, when an operator call occurs, its contents are outputted onto the data bus as operator call status.

On the other hand, in the state of step S61, the printer control circuit 40
0 sends the above-mentioned attention reset command to reset the attention signal ATN1 to 0, and at the same time reads the above-mentioned status on the data bus to recognize the print request.

In FIG. 10, this attention reset command and the reset of the attention signal ATN 1- (1-0
) and the operation of printing the second sheet are omitted.

Next, it is checked whether a print command has been received (step 562), and if a print command has not been received, it is checked whether an operator call has occurred (step 592), and if an operator call has occurred. When the print request is caught, the operator call status is set and the ready signal PRDYO is set to 1 (step 594).
) Then, it is checked whether or not a cover open has occurred in the operator call (step 595), and if a cover open has occurred, the process returns to step S51. On the other hand, if no cover open occurs, step S
The process returns to step 92 and waits for the operator call to be released.

In step S92, if no operator call has occurred, it is checked whether the ready signal PRDYO is 0 (step 893). If this signal is 0, the process returns to step S62 and waits for a pre-command; if it is 1, Since it is already in the not-ready state in step S94, the process returns to step S61 and returns to the ready state again. That is, the above step S 62-392-393-
The flow to 362 is a state of waiting for a print command, a so-called standby state.

In step S62, when the print command is received, the print request is reset and a series of print operations are performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, first, the mirror motor 13 is turned on (step 8).
63), the main motor 307 and the pre-exposure device 21 are turned on sequentially at time intervals (step 564), the charging 305c and the cassette feed solenoid 308 are turned on, and the basic status ``transporting'' is set. (
Step 565), the developing bias 305a is turned on (
Step 566), the cassette paper feed solenoid 308
is turned off (step 567). Here, while the cassette paper feed solenoid 308 is on, the paper feed roller 27 rotates once, and the paper feed cassette 2
The image forming medium P is taken out from the roller 2 and conveyed toward the aligning roller pair 25 . Then, after a certain period of time has passed since the image forming medium P is fed, it is checked whether or not the aligning switch 48 is turned on (step 568), and if this step is not turned on, the image forming medium P is It is determined that the medium P has not reached the pair of aligning rollers 25 and is treated as a paper jam.The operator call status (jam) is set and the ready signal PRDYO is set to 1 (step 5).
96).

Further, each device that was turned on in the process from step 563 to step S66 is turned off in sequence at a timing determined by the program (step 597), and the process returns to step S66 to wait for the jam to be cleared. On the other hand, when the aligning switch 48 is on in step 36g, the VSYNC request is set and the attention signal ATN1 is output (from 0 to 1). Then, a check is made to see if a VSYNC command has been received (step 570), and if so, the VS
The YNC request is reset, data transfer in progress is set, laser exposure is started, the horizontal synchronization signal H5YNCO and video clock VCLKO are sent out, and the reception of video data VDO is started. An image pattern based on the data VDO is exposed (step 571). Note that step S71
Up to this point, the pair of aligning rollers 25 remains stopped, so the image forming medium P stops when the leading edge reaches the pair of aligning rollers 25. After a certain period of time has elapsed, the aligning solenoid 310 is turned on (step 572), the aligning roller pair 25 begins to rotate, and the image forming medium P is conveyed toward the image transfer section 20. The aligning solenoid 310 is turned on at a timing such that the leading edge of the image on the photoreceptor 17 whose exposure has been started in step 571 coincides with the leading edge of the image forming medium P. and,
The transfer 305e is turned on at the timing when the leading edge of the image forming medium P reaches the image transfer section 20 (step 8).
73).

The toner image formed on the photoreceptor 17 by the developing device 19 is transferred to the image forming medium P transported in this manner at the image transfer section 20 . Furthermore, when the rear end of the image forming medium P has completely passed through the paper cassette 22 and the next sheet can be fed, a print request for the second image forming medium P is set, and an attention Signal ATN1 is output (〇-
1) is done (step 574). On the other hand, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the image forming medium P was conveyed from the pair of aligning rollers 25, it is checked whether or not the paper ejection switch 322 is turned on (step 575). It is determined that the leading edge of the image forming medium P has not reached the discharge roller unit 42, the print request is reset, and the operator call status (jam) is set. At the same time, the ready signal PRDYO is set to 1 (step 598), and the devices that have been turned on up to step S74 are sequentially turned off (step 599), and the process returns to step S92.

On the other hand, if the paper ejection switch 322 is on, the process waits until one page of the image data that was started to be received in step S71 is captured (step 576). When the reception of the image data is completed, the data transfer status is reset and the attention signal ATN1 is output (0
-1) (step S77'), and then the aligning solenoid 310 is turned off at the timing when the rear end of the image forming medium P passes the aligning roller pair 25 (
Step 878), the aligning roller pair 25 stops.

Further, at the timing when the rear end of the image forming medium P passes through the transfer device 20, the transfer 305e is turned off (step 579), and the aligning solenoid 310 is turned off, so that after a certain period of time has elapsed, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, it is checked whether the paper ejection switch 322 is off (step 580). And if it's not off,
It is determined that the rear end of the image forming medium P has not passed through the paper ejection roller unit 42, and the process branches to step 898, where jam processing is performed. On the other hand, when the switch is off, it is determined that the image forming medium P is normally ejected, the paper conveyance status is reset, and the charging 305c is sequentially turned off (step 582), and the developing bias 305a is turned off. (Step 883), the mirror motor 13 is turned off (Step 584), and furthermore, the pre-exposure device 21 and the main motor 307 are turned off (Step 585), completing the series of printing operations, and returning to step S62 again to enter the standby state. Become.

Next, the operation of the printer control circuit section 400 according to the data transfer procedure described above will be explained using the flowchart of FIG. 14.

For example, if the image forming device is currently offline,
When the CPU 401 determines that it is in the offline state (step S1), the host device 4
It is checked whether the printing process for the data received from 09 is completed (step S2), and if it is not completed, the process branches to step S12 to continue the printing process.

On the other hand, if the printing process is completed, the above step S1
, S2 are repeatedly executed to create an idling state and wait for the image forming apparatus to be placed on-line.

On the other hand, if the image forming apparatus is online, it is checked whether the data sent from the external device 409 corresponds to a command (Step 1.B S4), and if it is a command, an operation corresponding to the command is performed. (Step S4)
If it is not a command, execution of the above command is skipped and the process proceeds to step S5.

The above commands, for example, define the attributes of the data that follows, or control the printer without sending or receiving data.

Next, it is checked whether the page buffer provided as a buffer for data reception in the RAM 403 is full (step S5), and if it is not full, the external device 40
It is checked whether the data sent from 9 is image data (step S6). If it is not image data, the process returns to step S1 and waits for the command or image data to be received by repeating the above series of steps. In this state, if it is determined in step S6 that image data has been received, the received image data is sequentially stored in the page buffer (step S7). Next, it is checked whether storage for one page has been completed (step S8), and if it has not been completed, the LED display section 14b provided on the operation panel 100 displays "
data” lamp starts blinking (step 510).
.

Next, the process returns to step S1- and executes the series of steps described above, thereby waiting until image data for one page is accumulated in the page buffer. When it is determined that storage of image data for one page is completed by repeatedly executing the series of steps described above, the "data" lamp is turned off (step S9), and the data reception process is ended. Then, the process moves to the printing process from step S12 onwards. If it is determined in step S5 that the page buffer is full, the data reception operation is stopped (step 5ll).
, in this case as well, the process moves to the print processing from step 51.2 onwards. In this way, during data reception operation, the above "data"
The lamp flashes to notify the operator.

Next, when the page buffer is filled with images for one page, it is checked whether the scan buffer provided on the video RAM 405 is full (Stella P5
12). Here, if it is determined that the scan buffer is not full, the CPU 401 converts it into image data of the character image stored in the page buffer and stores it in the video RAM 405 as a scan buffer (step 13). On the other hand, if the scan buffer is full, step 31.3 is skipped.

It is then checked whether the print command has already been sent (step 31.4), and if so,
The following print command sending processing (steps S15 to 519) is skipped and the process proceeds to step S20, where if no print command has been sent, it is checked whether a print request has been sent (step 515). Here, if it is determined that a print request has not been issued, it is determined that the print preparation on the engine side has not been completed, and the process returns to step S1 to re-execute the above series of steps to issue a print request. wait for it to come. Also, when it is determined that a print request has been made,
A print command is sent (step 519). Next, it is checked whether the VSYNC command has been sent (step 520), and if it is determined that the VSYNC command has not been sent, the VSYNC command is sent from the engine side.
It is checked whether a VSYNC request has been issued or not (step 521). If it is determined that a VSYNC request has not been issued, the process returns to step S1 and the above series of steps are executed again before a VSYNC request is issued. Wait for it to be served. Then, in step 521, VSYNC
Once it is determined that a request has been made, VSYNC
The command is sent to the engine side (step 522), and the process returns to step S1 to wait for the horizontal synchronization signal H8YNCO and video clock VCLKO to be input.

In this state, in step S20 above, VSYN
When it is determined that the C command has already been sent,
It is checked whether the transfer of image data for one page has been completed (step 526), and if the transfer of image data has not been completed, the image data of the bit image stored in the scan buffer is horizontally It is sent to the engine side in synchronization with the synchronization signal H5YNCO and the video clock VCLKO (step 525).

On the other hand, the CPU 401 returns to step S1 and waits for the transfer of one page's worth of image data to be completed while following the above series of steps again.

In this way, when the transmission of the image data for one page is completed, the process returns to step S1, and the printer control circuit 400 returns to the initial state and becomes ready to transfer the image data of the next page.

Next, regarding a device that receives image data from an external device and records the image on the image forming medium, a font (f An example of an image forming apparatus that prints a list of usable characters from (on t) on a sheet of paper based on an operator's instructions will be described.

An example of a character list of a symbol set consisting of character fonts and character combinations used in this example is as follows:
Figures 16 and 17(a).

An example is shown in (b) (however, the symbol set in Fig. 17 is rRoman-8J and [ECMA-94
This is a list of the characters in the two symbol sets of J). The symbol set name 110 and typeface name 120 in FIG. 16 serve as the title of the list. The character code represents the upper 4 bits in the row direction 130 and the lower 4 bits in the column direction 131.

Therefore, for example, the code for the capital letter rAJ in hexadecimal is r41J (rHex41" and below,
Hex represents a hexadecimal number).

Also, in Fig. 17, the Roman-8 code “HexA
EJ character 141 and ECMA-94 code rHexA
The character 142 of EJ is different.

In addition, Roman-
In order to print the same characters as the code rHexAEJ of 8, you must use the hood rHexDBJ 143.

Such a symbol set is stored in the printer control circuit 400.
The above-mentioned symbol set is stored in the ROM 402 (see FIG. 6) in advance, and the LE of the operation panel 100
When the D display 100b is pressed, it is determined whether or not the stored symbol set can be used, as shown in FIG. 15. If it is usable (YES), a list of characters in the symbol set is displayed on the image forming medium. If the symbol set is printed and cannot be used (NO), it is displayed on the display panel that the symbol set cannot be used.

In the above embodiment, the operation panel 100 and the ROM 402
Although an embodiment has been described in which a list of characters of a symbol set is printed according to the above, in addition to this device configuration, for example, an IC card 517 in which a symbol set and an operation flow are stored in advance may be used. (see figure).

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the operator can obtain a list of characters used in the usable symbol set from the image forming apparatus as necessary. Obtainable.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the internal configuration of FIG. 1.
, FIG. 3 is a front view of the operation panel section of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the connection state of the engine control section and printer control circuit, and FIG. 5 is the main part of FIG. 4. Detailed view, Figure 6 is a block diagram of the electric circuit of the printer control section,
FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing the interface signal transmission function between the engine control section and the printer control section, FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the timing of status and command switching, and FIG.
13 are flowcharts of the operation of the engine control section of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, FIG. 14 is a flowchart of the data transfer procedure in the printer control section, and FIG. 15 is a flowchart of the operation of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the flow of operations when printing a list of usable characters from a font represented by a symbol set based on instructions from the symbol set. 17(a) and 17(b) are character lists of two symbol sets of the embodiment used in the image forming apparatus of the present invention. 1... Printer (image forming unit device) 2... Multi-cassette feeder 3... Envelope feeder 4... Jogger 12... Laser optical system 18... Charging device 19... Developing device 20... Transfer device 22 .30.31...Paper feed cassette 37...Fixing device 40.43...Paper output tray 100...Operation panel 300...Engine control unit 400...Printer control unit 409...External equipment

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] An image forming apparatus that records an image based on image data transmitted from an external device, comprising a storage means for storing a font consisting of a character font and a symbol set of a combination of characters, and the storage means. input means for selecting and specifying a desired symbol set from among the fonts stored in the storage means; and input means for selecting and specifying a desired symbol set from among the fonts stored in the storage means; An image forming apparatus comprising: printing means for displaying a list.