JPH0467979A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain an image forming apparatus capable of confirming a required code without performing printing by providing a display means displaying the indicated code among the image data codes received from an external apparatus during the execution of the processing of an image forming means. CONSTITUTION:When the indication code of the image data received from an external apparatus is indicated, a power supply is closed to input an objective code by an operation panel 100 and an image forming apparatus 500 is allowed to perform the reception and decoding of image data to judge the presence/absence of the indicated code in receiving data and, when it is judged that the indicated code is present, the indicated code is displayed on a liquid crystal display part and, when it is judged that there is no indicated code, the reception and decoding of the image data and the judgement of the presence/absence of the indicated code are repeated. In such a case that the emulation of HDDL language is carried out, when the same data as the previous one is again transmitted after EDDY is indicated by a code from the operation panel 100, EDDY is not displayed on a display device unless EDDY is received on the side of the image forming apparatus. As a result, a required code can be confirmed without performing printing.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Purpose of the Invention (Industrial Application Field) This invention generates and develops a bit image based on image data received from an external device such as a laser printer or a copying machine. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that outputs this onto an image recording medium to form an image.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, the operation panel of this type of image forming apparatus is composed of a liquid crystal display section, a light emitting diode (hereinafter abbreviated as rL E DJ) display section, switches, etc. The number of prints on the recording paper (image recording medium) to be formed, the zoom magnification for enlargement and reduction, etc.
Operation guide messages and the like are displayed, and the LED display section lights up to indicate various operating states of the image forming apparatus.

On the other hand, the coat of received image data is printed as normal printing or in a form that includes control code when printing the image.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) Therefore, in a conventional image forming apparatus, when checking a control code etc. that should be included in image data transmitted from an external device, the code of the received image data is There is no other way than to print as is, and there is a problem in that it requires time and manpower when receiving a large amount of image data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of confirming a required coat without printing a code of image data received from an external device.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problem) In order to solve the above problems, the present invention generates and generates a bit image based on image data received from an external device.
an image forming means that expands the bit image and outputs the generated and expanded bit image to an image recording medium to form an image; The present invention is characterized by providing a display means for displaying information while processing is being executed.

(Function) As described above, the specified code among the codes of the image button received from the external device is displayed on the display means while the image forming means is processing, so there is no need to print the code. Become. Furthermore, a human confirms the desired code.

(Example) An image forming apparatus according to an example of the present invention will be described below. However, the speed at which image data is transferred from an external device such as a host computer is several tens of kilometers per second.
It becomes c. Therefore, it is impossible to display all received data in real time because liquid crystal display devices cannot currently handle the data transfer speed. Further, even if the display device enables real-time display of all data, it is naturally impossible for the human eye to recognize all the data. For these reasons,
In this embodiment, an image forming apparatus having a function of displaying only a preliminarily designated code will be described.

1 to 3 are an external perspective view of the image forming apparatus of this embodiment, a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of main parts showing the internal structure of the apparatus main body, and a front view of the operation panel.

As shown in FIG. 1, the apparatus of this embodiment includes a multi-cassette feeder 2 that feeds thin recording paper P such as plain paper into the printer 1, and a multi-cassette feeder 2 that feeds thick recording paper A such as an envelope into the printer 1. The enhero feeder 3 that feeds the paper, and the optional equipment such as the Noyoger 4 that distributes the paper P or paper A after image formation into a predetermined number of sheets,
It is configured to be connected to a laser printer 1. It is connected online to a control section (not shown) of the main body of the laser printer 1.

Also, inside the laser printer l, a laser beam scanning system 12,
Photosensitive drum 17, charging device 18, one developing device, transfer device 20, static eliminator 21, peeling device 35, fixing device 37
, cleaning device 45 and other process systems, a first paper feeding system consisting of a paper feeding cassette 22, a delivery cola 23, etc., a pair of aligning rollers 25, a gate 38, a conveyor belt 36, and a pair of paper ejection rollers 39. .42 etc. are installed. The laser beam scanning system 12 includes a semiconductor laser oscillator (not shown) that generates a laser beam, a collimator lens (not shown), a polygon mirror 13, an f lens, and a θ lens 1.
4, mirrors 15, 16, etc.

During the image forming operation, the light that is moved and scanned by the laser beam scanning system 12 corresponding to an image signal from an external device (not shown) (or an operation panel not shown) forms an image on the surface of the photoreceptor drum 17. . Photosensitive drum 17
rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure, and first the surface is uniformly charged by the charging device 18, and then the charged photosensitive drum 7 is exposed to light corresponding to the image signal by the laser beam scanning system 12, and the charged surface is exposed to light in accordance with the image signal. An electrostatic latent image corresponding to the image signal is formed. This electrostatic latent image is visualized by depositing toner on the photoreceptor tram 17 by a developing device fi'19.

On the other hand, the paper P in the paper feed cassette 22 is fed by the feed roller 23.
The paper is taken out micro by micro, guided by the paper, and conveyed to the transfer section by a pair of rollers 25. Further, to the transfer section, the paper is taken out one by one by the paper feeding roller 32 by the paper feeding cassette 3o in the multi-cassette feeder 2, which is the second paper feeding system, and passes through the paper guide path 34.29 to the aligning roller pair 25. The guided paper P or the paper feed cassette 31 in the multi-cassette feeder 2 as the third paper feed system is taken out one by one by the delivery roller 33 and passes through the paper guide path 34.29 to the aligning roller pair 25. The guided paper P or the feed roller 27 from inside the stacker 26 in the envelope feeder 3 as a paper feed system.
The paper A1 is taken out one by one and guided to the pair of aligning rollers 25 through the paper guide paths 28 and 29. Furthermore, the paper A1 is fed from the manual paper feed section 44 as a paper feed system in FIG. The paper P guided through the aligning roller pair 25 is sent in response to a paper designation signal from the external device (or operation panel). Then, the paper P or paper A sent to the transfer section comes into close contact with the surface of the photoreceptor drum 17 by the transfer device 20, and the toner image on the photoreceptor tram 17 is transferred by the action of the transfer device 20. This transferred paper P or paper A is peeled off from the photosensitive drum 17 by the action of the peeling device 35, and after the letter is removed,
The transferred image is sent to a fixing device 37 by a conveyor belt 36, and is fixed by heating (or pressure) by passing through this belt. Then, the paper P or paper A after fixing is transferred to the paper ejection tray 40 by a pair of rival paper rollers 39 via a gate 38.
the upper conveying path 4]
The paper is sent to the jogger 41 by the paper ejection roller pair 42.
From this, the paper is discharged onto a movably supported paper discharge tray 43.

Also, paper detection means 50, 51.52 for detecting the paper P in the paper feed cassettes 22, 30.31 are arranged, and the paper P in the paper feed cassettes 22, 30.31, respectively, is arranged.
Detect the presence or absence of.

322 is a paper detection means on the conveyance system.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the operating unit 00 in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

The operation panel 100 includes a liquid crystal display 100a that displays the number of transferred sheets, mode, guidance messages, etc., and an LED that displays various statuses.
It is composed of an LED display 100b that lights up and displays, and a switch 100c that instructs various operations. The LDE display 100b indicates whether or not it is connected to an external device, that is, "online" indicates that the device is online, "data" indicates that the device is operational, and "data" indicates that an operator call is requested. It consists of a table display for "operator" requesting a service call and "service manual/automatic" mode. The switch 100C is composed of a menu key, a value key, and an online key.The menu key is composed of two keys, "next item" and "previous item", and is displayed on the left half of the liquid crystal display 100a. Each time the "next item" key is pressed, a plurality of pieces of menu information are incremented and each time the "previous item" key is pressed, the menu information is incremented and displayed, and these display operations are repeated in a Cyflick manner. In addition, the "value" is also composed of two keys, "previous item" and "next item", and a plurality of value information corresponding to the menu information is incremented each time the "next item" key is pressed, and each time the "previous item" key is pressed, the value information corresponding to the menu information is incremented. Each display is decremented and displayed, and these display operations are repeated periodically.The operator can select and instruct the desired operation by operating the previous menu and values. There is.

The online key is a key for switching whether or not the device is connected to an external device.

Furthermore, the image forming apparatus 500 of the embodiment generates a visual image based on image data received from an external device. It has a printer control section 400 for rendering, and an engine control section 300 for outputting the bit image generated and developed by the printer control section 400 to form an image on recording paper.

First, the configuration of engine control section 300 will be explained. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the engine control section 300 as the second control section and its peripheral parts, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the control circuit of the engine control section and its peripheral parts.

4 and 5, 302 is a power supply device of the image forming apparatus, and when the main switch 30 is turned on, +
5V and +24V are output.

When the main switch 301 is turned on, +5V and +24
V is output. +5V is supplied to the engine control circuit and further to the printer control circuit connected to this engine control circuit, while +24V is sequentially connected to the cover switch 303304 and is connected to the high voltage power supply 3.
05 and component circuit 306, and are respectively supplied to the scanner control circuit 101, high voltage power supply 305, and component drive circuit 306, and are respectively supplied to the semiconductor laser 90, mirror motor 92, high voltage power supply 305, pre-exposure device 21, It is used as a driving device for a main motor 307, a cassette paper feed solenoid 309, a manual paper feed solenoid 308, an alignment solenoid 310, a toner replenishment solenoid 311, and the like.

Furthermore, the heater lamp 37a is provided in the power supply device 302.
to drive. For example, the above +24V is used as a driving power source for the LED on the light-emitting side of a heater lamp of a zero-cross switch type consisting of a phototriac coupler and a triac. 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 the main switch element of the next stage is turned on or off. By turning on and off the triac, AC power is supplied to and cut off from the heater lamp 37a. And a heater control signal 3 for turning on and off the light emitting side LED.
18 is connected from the engine control circuit to the power supply device 302, and a thermistor 37b provided in the fixing device 37 is connected to the engine control circuit.

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.
04 is turned off when the rear cover 64 is opened. Therefore, when the top cover 60 or the rear cover 63 is opened, the switch 30
3,304 cuts off the +24V, so the operations of the semiconductor laser 90, mirror motor 92, voltage power supply 305, main motor 307, solenoids 308 to 311, cooling fan 500, heater lamp 37a, etc. are digitally controlled. , the operator or the main body of the device] so that there is no impact when the inside is touched.

In FIG. 5, the CPU 350 is the engine control section 300.
It performs overall control, and is stored in the ROM 351 and operates according to a control program.

The RAM 352 is used as a work buffer for the CPU 350. The E2PROM 353 stores the total number of prints, etc. The printer control circuit interface 354 mediates the exchange of the interface signal 317 with the printer control circuit. Laser modulation control circuit 355
controls the semiconductor laser 90 to be forced to turn on periodically in order to generate a laser light detection signal 315 to be described later, and also controls the semiconductor laser 90 according to the image data sent from the printer control circuit 4 using the interface signal 317. 90, and outputs a laser modulation signal 314 to the scanner control circuit 101. The output register 356 is configured to output control signals 313316 318 319 for controlling the mechanism drive circuit 306, the laser beam scanning control circuit 101, the high voltage power supply 305, and the heater lamp drive circuit, respectively. The A/D converter 357 has
The voltage generated by the thermistor 37b and the toner sensor 324 is input, and this voltage value is converted into a digital value.

The input register 358 receives state signals from the paper empty switches 50, 51, 52, manual feed switch, 7-chip 321, paper ejection switch 322, mounting switch 323, and alignment switch 48, as well as on/off signals of the +24V. status signal is input. In addition, internal bus 3
59 is the above CPU350, ROM351, RAM35
2, E2PRM353, printer control circuit interface 354, laser modulation control circuit 355, output register 3
56, an A/D converter 357, and a manual register 358.

The mechanical unit drive circuit 306 is provided with a drive circuit for driving a motor, a solenoid, etc., and the control signal 313 output from the output register 356 is
On and off are controlled by binary values of ``1'' and ``0''. That is, for example, each drive circuit is on when it is "1" and is on when it is "0".
'', the +24V is turned on or off to the exposure device 21, the main motor 307, the solenoids 308 to 311, and the cooling phage (not shown). The scanner control circuit 101 includes a semiconductor laser 90,
and mirror motor] 3 drive circuits are provided,
The semiconductor laser 90 is turned on and off by "1" and "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 the control signal 3]9 output from the output register 356. "1", "0"
On/off is controlled by. Further, a PIN diode is used for the laser light detection sensor 312, and when the laser light a passes through the laser light detection sensor 312, a current proportional to the light energy flows. Therefore, in the laser beam scanning control circuit]01, this current or voltage is converted and amplified, and the laser beam detection signal 3
15 and is sent to the laser modulation control circuit 355. Further, from the high voltage m[305, only the wire high voltage power supply section of the charging device 18 of the development bias power supply section (not shown) and the transfer device 20 are outputted with high voltages for the development bias 305a, charging 305c, and transfer 305e, respectively. . These on and off are controlled by the output register 356.
It is controlled by "]" and "0" of the control signal 316 output from the control signal 316.

As described above, within the engine control unit 300, power is supplied to each electric circuit via the engine control circuit, and "0", "1" and 1 are output from the engine control circuit.
It is controlled by a binary signal. This engine control section 300 and a printer control section 400, which will be described later, are connected 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
Since the CPU 401 stores a control program, the CPU 401 operates according to this program.

Further, the ROM 402 stores data related to the paper P, such as a password, top margin, left margin, paper type, etc., which are verified when data is changed. R
AM403 is stored in data etc. sent from the host device 409. RAM403 is host device t4
It is used as a page buffer for temporarily storing image data sent from 09, and as a buffer for the work of the CPU 401. The extended memory 404 is a large-capacity memory used when the RAM 40B cannot store one page of data in the case of a large amount of data such as image data or bitmap data sent from the host device 409. It is. Video RA
M405 stores image data developed into a bit image, and its output is supplied to a serial-parallel conversion circuit 406. The serial-parallel conversion circuit 406 converts the image data developed into a bit image in the video RAM 405 and sent as parallel data into serial data, and sends the serial data to the engine control circuit.

The host interface 408 transfers data between the printer control unit 400 and a post device 409, which is composed of, for example, an electronic 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 host device 409 and the host device 409. The engine interface 411 mediates the transfer of the interface signal 317 between the printer control circuit 4 and the engine control circuit. The connection circuit 413 is an IC
When inserting or removing the cart 517 from the connector 16, the IC card 51
This is to prevent the data stored in the IC card 517 from being damaged by noise generated during insertion and removal by cutting off the power supply and signal line supplied to the IC card 517.

The operation panel control circuit 407 includes the operation panel 1, 00
A guidance message is displayed on the liquid crystal display 100a, and the LED
It controls lighting, turning off, and blinking of the display 100b, or sends data manually entered from the switch 100C to the CPU 401. In addition, internal bus 41
2 is the above CPU 401, ROM 402, RAM 403
, expansion memory 404, video RAM 405, operation panel control circuit 407, host interface 408, engine interface 411, and connection circuit 413.

Further, the IC card 517 is constituted by a non-volatile memory, for example, a static RAM with battery backup, an E-mask ROM, or the like. These IC cards 517 store, for example, character fonts, emulation programs, and the like.

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

FIG. 7 shows each signal of the interface signal 317. In the figure, Do-D7 is the engine control circuit 2
A bidirectional data bus that transmits status from the printer control circuit to the printer control circuit and commands from the printer control circuit to the engine control circuit allows the status and command to be switched at the timing shown in FIG. 32. That is, the busy signal BS output from the engine control circuit
When YO is "1", if the bus direction signal is set to "0", D
o-D7 is switched in the direction of engine control circuit-printer control circuit, and the status is output on D0-D7, so the printer control circuit can read the status. On the other hand, when the printer control circuit sends a command, if the bus direction signal DIR is set to ``]'' when the busy signal BSYO or 11'', Do-D7 is switched in the direction of the printer control circuit - the engine control circuit, so the command and then output strobe signal 5TBO as "
0". At this time, in the engine control circuit, DO-D7
The command above is read and the busy signal B
SYO is set to "0" and processing such as command analysis is performed. When the busy signal BSYO is set to "0", the printer control circuit returns the strobe signal 5TBO to "1" and finishes sending the command. Then, when the command processing in the engine control circuit is completed, the busy signal BSYO is returned to "1" again. Note that commands sent while the busy signal BSYO is 0 are not received by the engine control circuit.

Furthermore, the status of 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 change in the state with respect to the received command.

Attention signal ATN 1 is output when the basic status on the print sequence changes between the engine control circuit and the printer control circuit, and the engine control circuit becomes able to receive a print command or VSYNC command, which will be described later. It is set to "1" when the image data for one page has been received and is reset to "0" when an attention reset command is received. Therefore, attention signal A
When TN1 changes to "0"-, the printer control circuit sends an attention reset command to the data bus DO-D7, resets the attention signal ATN1 to "1"-, and can know the next step. In addition, the above basic status is also output on the data bus by the basic status request command that requests the basic status, so the contents of the basic status can be known by the basic status request command prior to the above attention reset command. It looks like this. When the ready signal PRDYO is "0", the engine control unit 30
0 indicates a ready state, and when it is "]" it indicates a not ready state, and when this signal is "10", the engine control unit 300 can perform a printing operation.

The system clear signal 5CLRI is a reset signal for the printer control circuit, and after it rises to +5V, it is 200-500V.
It becomes "1" during m5ec, and the printer control circuit between printers is in a reset state.

The prime signal PRIMEO is a reset signal to the engine control circuit, and while this signal is "0", the above busy signal B
SYO becomes "O", the ready signal PRDYO becomes "]", and the engine control path returns to the predetermined initial state.

The horizontal synchronization signal H5YNCO is the laser light detection signal 315 generated by the laser exposure unit 2 for each scan.
Of these, the number of lines corresponds to the effective print length in the transport direction of paper P after receiving the VSYNC command,
It is designed to be output in synchronization with the laser light detection signal 315.

The video clock VCLKO is the horizontal synchronization signal H5Y.
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 of the paper P in the horizontal scanning direction. The video data VDO is received by the engine control circuit 2 in synchronization with the fall of the video clock VCLKO, and is recorded as a latent image on the photoreceptor 7 by the laser exposure unit 2. Note that the video data VDo is "0"
At this time, it is visualized on the paper P as a dot image.

Next, in the above configuration, the operation of the engine control section 300 of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 and the timing chart shown in FIG. 10.

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 2 is reset, and this reset signal further resets the engine control circuit 4. The reset signal 5CLRI (see FIG. 7) is output (1), and the printer control circuit 4 is also reset. Then, after rising +5V, 200 to 500
After 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, FIG. 9(a) l:: As shown <, RAM352
etc. are initialized (step 550), the state of each switch is read into the manual register 358, and operator call states such as paper jam, cover open, process unit not installed, and paper empty are checked (step 551). ) If an operator call has occurred, it is checked whether only vapor empty has occurred (step 552), and if an operator call other than vapor empty has occurred, only paper empty has occurred in step S52. If so, the process returns to step S51 and waits for the operator state to be released.On the other hand, if only paper empty occurs in step S52, or if no operator call occurs in step S551, Heating of the fixing device 37 is started (step 353), and then the main motor 307 and the pre-exposure device 2 are turned on to initialize the electrophotographic process.
The charger 305c is turned on (step 555), and the developing bias 305a is turned on (step 556). In this state for a certain period of time (
After approximately 30 seconds have elapsed, a check is made to see if t2 has elapsed (step 557), and until this time has elapsed, a check is made to see if the cover has opened (step 590).
), when a cover open occurs, the above 353-85
Turn off each output turned on in step 6 (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 858), and the developing bias is turned off in sequence at the timing determined by the programmer (step 85).
9) Main motor 307 and pre-exposure device 21 are turned off (step 560). Upper S self step 553~
Through the series of operations up to S60, the warm-up operation of the image forming apparatus is completed. Then, the ready signal PRDYO is output (rlJ - rOJ), a print request is set on the data bus Do-D7, and the attention signal ATNI is output (from "0" to "
1'') (step 561), and becomes ready for printing.

Note that the fixing device 37, which started heating in step 53,
In the process leading to step S61, the state is sufficiently good for the fixing operation. Further, when an operator call occurs, the contents are outputted on the data bus as operator call status.

On the other hand, in the state of Step S6, the printer control circuit sends the above-mentioned attention reset command to reset the attention signal ATN 1 to "0", and then:
A print request can be recognized by reading the status on the data bus using the above procedure. In FIG. 9, this attention reset command and the reset of the attention signal ATNI (rlJ - rOJ
) and the operation of printing the second sheet will be omitted.

Next, a check is made to see if a print command has been received (step 562). If a print command has not been received, a check is made to see if an operator is full (step 592). , the print request is canceled, the operator call is set, and the ready signal PRD is issued.
YO or "1" is set (step 594). Then, it is checked whether or not a cover open operation has occurred among the operator calls (step 595). If a cover open operation has occurred, the process returns to step S51. On the other hand, if the cover is not open, the process returns to step S92 and waits for the operator call to be canceled. 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, step S6
The process returns to step 2 and waits for a print command, and since it is already in the not-ready state in step S94 when it is "1", the process returns to step 561 and returns to the ready state again. That is, the flow of steps S62→592-593→S62 is a state of waiting for a print command, a so-called standby state.

When the print command is received in step S62, the print request is reset and a series of print operations are performed. That is, as shown in FIG. 9(C), the mirror motor 13 is first turned on (step 863), and then the main motor 307 and the pre-exposure device 21 are turned on in sequence at time intervals (step 5).
64), charging 305c, cassette paper feed solenoid 308
is turned on, paper conveying is set in the basic status (step 565), and the developing bias 305 is turned on.
a is turned on (step 566), and 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.
A sheet P is taken out from the sheet cassette 22 and conveyed toward the aligning roller pair 25. Then, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the paper P was fed, it is checked whether or not the aligning switch 48 is on (step 5).
68), when this switch is not on, it is determined that the paper P has not reached the aligning roller pair 25 and is treated as a paper jam, and the operator call status (Nyam) is set. ready signal PR
DYO is set to "1" (step 596).

Furthermore, each device turned on in the process from step 363 to step S66 is sequentially turned off at a timing determined by the program (step 597), and the process returns to step S to wait for the jam to be cleared. on the other hand,
When the aligning switch 48 is on in step 368, the upper gQVSYNC request is set and the attention signal ATN1 is output (rOJ-rlJ). It is then checked whether a VSYNC command has been received (step 57).
0), when received, the VSYNC request is reset and set to indicate that data is being transferred, laser exposure is started, and the video data VDO is transmitted while transmitting the horizontal synchronization signal H3YNCO and video clock VCLKO.
video data VD is recorded on the photoreceptor 20.
The image pattern according to O is exposed (step 571).
. It should be noted that in step S71, since the pair of aligning rollers 25 remains stopped, the paper P is stopped when its leading edge reaches the pair of aligning rollers 25. Therefore, 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 paper P is conveyed toward the image transfer section 20 . Note that the aligning solenoid 3]0 is turned on at a timing such that the leading edge of the image on the photoreceptor 17 and the leading edge of the paper P coincide with each other when exposure was started in step 571. And paper P
The transfer 305e is turned on at the timing when the leading edge of the image transfer section 20 is reached (step 873). The toner image formed on the photoreceptor 17 by the developing device 19 is transferred to the paper transported in this manner at the image transfer section 20 . Furthermore, when the trailing edge of the paper P has completely passed through the paper cassette 22 and the next paper can be fed, a print request for the second paper P is set and an attention signal ATN1 is output (rOJ -rll) (step 574), and on the other hand, after a certain period of time has elapsed since the paper P was conveyed from the pair of aligning rollers 25, it is checked whether the paper ejection switch 322 is on (step 575); If it is not turned on, the leading edge of the paper P or the paper ejection roller unit 4
2 has not been reached, the print request is reset, and the operator call status (jam) is determined.
is set, and the ready signal PRDYO or "1" is set.
” (step 598), and each device that has been turned on up to step S74 is turned off in sequence (step 599).
Return to step S92.

On the other hand, if the paper ejection switch 322 is turned on, the process waits until the image data for which reception has started in step S71 has been taken in for pages worth (step 576). When the reception of the image data is completed, the data transfer status is reset and the attention signal ATN1 is output (r
OJ −rlj ) (step 577), and then
At the timing when the rear end of the recording paper P passes the aligning roller pair 25, the aligning solenoid 310 is turned off (step 578), and the aligning roller pair 25 stops. Further, at the timing when the trailing edge of the recording paper P passes the image transfer section 20, the transfer 305e is turned off (step 579). Next, the aligning solenoid 31
0 is turned off, it is checked whether the paper ejection switch 322 is turned off (step 580), and if it is not turned off, the trailing edge of the paper P passes the paper ejection roller unit 42. If it is determined that the process has not been carried out, the process branches to step S98 and the jam processing is performed.

On the other hand, when the switch is off, it is determined that the paper P is always being ejected from the iTE, the paper P is set during paper transport, and the charging 305C is sequentially turned off (step 582), and the developing The mirror motor 3 is turned off (step 883), and the pre-exposure device 2 and main motor 307 are turned off (step 585), completing a series of printing operations and returning to step S62. It goes into standby mode.

Next, the printer control circuit 4 according to the above data transfer procedure
The operation of 00 will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG.

For example, if the image forming apparatus is currently offline and C
When the PU 401 determines whether it is in the offline state (step S1), the host device 40
It is checked whether the printing process for the received data from 9 has been completed (step S2), and if it has not been completed, the process branches to step S12 to continue the printing process. On the other hand, if the printing process has been completed, the above-mentioned step 51.degree. S2 is repeatedly executed to create an idle link 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 host device 409 is a command (step S3), and if it is a command, the operation corresponding to the command is performed (step S3). 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 40B is full (step S5), and if it is not full, the data sent from the host device 409 or image data is used. It is checked whether there is one (step S6). If it is not image data, the process returns to step S1 and waits for a 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 S6).
7). Next, it is checked whether or not the storage for one peice has been completed (step S8), and if it has not been completed, the operation panel 1
“Data” on the LED display 14b installed in 00
The lamp starts blinking (step 510), and then 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 the storage of one page's worth of image data 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 terminated. and,
The process moves on to the print processing from step S12 onwards. Note that if it is determined in step S5 that the page buffer is full, step S5 is executed to stop the data reception operation.
1.1), in this case as well, the process moves to the print processing from step 512 onwards. In this way, during the data reception process,
The above-mentioned "data" lamp blinks to notify the operator.

Next, when one page's worth of image data has been stored in the page buffer, it is checked whether the scan buffer provided on the video RAM 405 is full (step S12). Here, if it is determined that the scan buffer is not full, the CPU 401 converts it into the image data of the character image stored in the page buffer and transfers it to the video RAM 405 as a scan buffer.
(step 513). On the other hand, if the scan buffer is full, step 813 is skipped.

Next, it is checked whether the print command has already been sent (step 514), and if it has been sent, the following print command sending process (steps 515 to 5) is performed.
19) and proceed to step S20. On the other hand, if the print request has not been sent yet, it is checked whether a print request has been sent (step 515). 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. On the other hand, if it is determined that a print request has been made,
A print command is sent (step 819). Next, a check is made to see if a VSYNC command has been sent (step 520). Then, when 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 SYNC request has been issued (step 521). When it is determined that no VSYNC request has been issued, the process returns to step S1 and the above series of steps are executed again.
Wait for a request to be made. And step S2
Step 522: When it is determined that a VSYNC request has been issued, a VSYNC command is sent to the side.
), returning to step S1, horizontal synchronization signal H3YNCO
Then, it shifts to a state where it waits for the 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 the image data for the page has been completed (step 526), and if the transfer of the image data has not been completed, the image data of the bit image stored in the scan buffer is transferred to the horizontal synchronizing signal H5YNCO and It is sent to the engine side in synchronization with 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 without executing the above series of steps again. When the transmission of the image data for one page is completed in this way, the process returns to step S1, and the printer control circuit returns to its initial state, becoming ready to transfer the image data of the next page.

When this apparatus specifies a specified coat of image data received from an external device, the image data is scanned in the order shown in the flowchart of FIG. First, after starting by turning on the power (step S-100), input the desired code using the operation panel 100 (step S-101), and then transmit the specified code to the image forming apparatus to (receive and decode) the image data. Washing (Step S-102)
.

The presence/absence of the designated code in the received data is determined (step S-103). When it is determined that there is a designated code in the received data, the designated code is displayed on the liquid crystal display section (step S-104), and when it is determined that there is no designated code, the process returns to step 5102 again, and step S- 10
Steps up to 3 are repeated.

An example of emulating the HDDDL language will now be shown. Most image data control commands in the HDDDL language take the form EREDOO, but here we use EREDOO.
A command called RDY will be explained as an example.

FRDY handles commands sent after this command as ER.
This is a command to print without executing commands other than the reverse commands of DZ and ERDY and CR (carriage turn). After sending ERDY from a host computer or the like, if data is sent, the commands included in the data will be printed in the same way as other data. If the control command is not printed on what is printed here, it is considered that ERDY was not sent by some mistake.

The purpose of this embodiment is to check whether such ERDY is actually being sent.

First, from the operation panel 100 shown in FIG.
After specifying Y with the code, the same data as last time is transferred again. If ERDY is not actually received by the image forming apparatus due to an error in the input stage of the host computer, the display will not display ERDY related to the ready state, indicating that ERDY has not been sent. Can be confirmed.

Further, when ERDY is received, a display as shown in FIG. 11 is displayed on the display device. The displayed contents are the number of times the designated coat has been received, the designated code, and the code following the designated code.

The number of times the specified code is received is incremented each time the specified code is received. By displaying this and the code following the designated code, the position of the designated code in the received data can be easily and reliably searched.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above explanation, this device requires less effort than printing and searching the codes of all image data when checking commands that were sent but are not executed. , and compared to traditional methods in terms of ease and reliability.
The effects obtained are significant.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional view of main parts showing the internal configuration of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view similar to that shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a front view of the operation panel of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the relationship between the engine restraint section and its surrounding parts of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the connection relationship between the printer control unit and its peripheral parts of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.
The figure is an explanatory diagram of the interface signal performed between the engine control section and the printer control section, FIG. 8 is a timing chart showing the timing of the interface signal signal, and FIG. 9 is a timing chart showing the timing of the interface signal signal.
Figures (a) to (e) are flowcharts showing the order of image formation in the engine control section; The figure is a front view showing an example of the display status of the designation code displayed on the liquid crystal display section of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the order of code display steps. 100...Operation panel 100a...Liquid crystal display 100b...LED display 5o○ Figure 100c...Switch 300...Engine control unit (second control unit) of image forming apparatus 400...Image Printer control unit (first control unit) of the forming device 409...external device

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] Image forming means that generates and expands a bit image based on image data received from an external device, and outputs the generated and expanded bit image to an image recording medium to form an image; An image forming apparatus comprising: a display means for displaying a specified code among codes of image data received from an external device during execution of processing by the image forming means.