JPH0483677A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To shorten a time from a power supply or a process for a jam to a process for a first image formation by providing starting means for controlling simultaneous processes of developing means and image formation means without discrepancy. CONSTITUTION:In a process immediately after a power supply or a process for a jam, an image development controller 105 controls, after an interior interface 134 becomes ready to receive, an image development section 103 to perform an image developing process immediately without condition, not waiting for a ready signal to be sent from a printer controller 106 in a printer engine 104. Therefore, when the interior interface 134 becomes ready to communicate, the image development controller 105 in the image developing section 103 starts to process an image development at the same time, receives a print data from a print data generating device 102 simultaneously with a temperature rise control of a fixing device 115 of the printer engine 104, and converts it into a print image in an image memory 109 for developing. Thus, a printing will be started earlier by an overlapping time of the image development process during the rise of the temperature of the fixing device 115.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field]

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that forms images by an electrophotographic process.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a laser beam printer, after the initialization process, which mainly consists of the fixing unit temperature rise time when the power is turned on or after jam removal, the image data development unit The image development is controlled. In general, an image forming apparatus includes an image development section that develops print data from a connected print data generation device into a corresponding image data pattern and outputs it, and an image development section that outputs the image data from the image development section onto recording paper or the like. It consists of a printer engine section that provides permanent visible display. When printing is performed immediately after turning on the power or clearing a jam, the printer engine recognizes the steady state after the temperature of the fuser rises, as shown in the flowchart in Figure 8, and when the steady state is reached, all print preparations are completed. In addition to turning on the ready flag indicating that the image is ready, the image development section performs image development for the first time after seeing that the ready flag is turned on. FIG. 9 shows an operation timing chart for the conventional fixing device temperature raising process and image development process described above.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above conventional example, if it takes time to develop image data from a print data such as an outline font, the image data is generated after initialization processing such as heating up the fixing device, which is performed after turning on the power or clearing a jam. ,
There was a drawback that the time from turning on the power to the first print was significantly longer.

[Means to solve the problem]

The present invention was made for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems, and includes the following configuration as one means for solving the above-mentioned problems. That is, a developing means for developing code data into an image signal consisting of dot pattern data, an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium using an electrophotographic process from the image signal developed by the developing means, and immediately after power is turned on and immediately after abnormality processing. and activating means for activating the developing means asynchronously with the ready condition of the image forming means when forming an image on the image forming apparatus.

[Operation] In the above configuration, by providing a starting means for controlling the parallel processing of the developing means and the image forming means,
The time from power-on or jam removal to the first image forming process can be shortened.

[Embodiment] Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment FIGS. 1 to 3 are diagrams showing a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a laser beam printer of the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, 101 is a laser beam printer, 102 is a print data generator that supplies print data represented by a print code to the laser beam printer lot, and 103 is an image that develops the print data into a corresponding print image. Developing section, 104 is image developing section 1
This is a printer engine unit that permanently displays the print image developed in step 03. The laser beam printer 101 also includes a power supply system 121 that supplies power to the image development section 103 and printer engine section 104, and a safety circuit 122 that works to clear jams, prevent heating of the fixing device 115, etc., and acts directly on the power supply. have In the image development unit 103 and printer engine unit 104, 105 is an image development control unit, 106 is a printer control unit, 107 is an image development processing unit, and 108 is an external interface (external I/O) that controls the interface with the print data generation device 102. F), 114 is a fixing device temperature control system, 115
116 is a fixing device, 116 is a photosensitive drum, 110 is a video signal generator, 123 to 126 are sheets that are recording media,
Each one is a different size. 134 is an image development unit 103 and a printer engine unit 104;
Internal interface (internal I
/F). In the image expansion unit 103, print data sent from the external print data generation device 102 via the communication bus 135 is received by the external I/F 108, expanded into corresponding image data by the image expansion processing unit 107, and stored in the image memory. 109. This image data is converted into a corresponding video signal by the video signal generating section 110 and output to the blink engine section 104. Note that the image development section 103, that is, the image development processing section 10
7. Image memory 109, video signal generator 110, etc.
It is controlled by an image development control section 105. Furthermore, in the printer engine section 104, the video image signal sent from the image development section 103 is transmitted to the printer control section 104, which controls the entire printer engine section 104.
It is taken in by. Then, the printer control unit 106 sends the captured video signal to the laser scanner system 113, and uses a known electrophotographic process to scan each drive system 111.
, high pressure system 112, and fixing device temperature control system 114, and prints out on recording paper or the like. Laser beam printer 1 of this embodiment having the above configuration
The printing process of 01 will be further explained with reference to FIGS. 2(A) and 2(B). FIG. 2(A) shows the image development control section 10 of the image development section 103.
7, and FIG. 2(B) shows the control of printer engine section 1.
2 shows the control of the printer control unit 106 of No. 04. In Fig. 2, the major difference from the conventional control shown in Fig. 8 is that in the process immediately after turning on the power or clearing a jam,
The image development control unit 105 waits for a ready signal sent from the printer control unit 106 of the printer engine unit 104 after the internal interface 134 becomes ready to receive data ((immediately after the power is turned on or the jam is cleared, after the temperature of the fuser is increased) The point is that the control is performed so that the image expansion processing in the image expansion unit 103 is immediately executed unconditionally, rather than waiting for the steady state of As shown in the timing chart, when the internal interface 134 becomes capable of communication, the image development control unit 105 of the image development unit 103 simultaneously starts image development processing and controls the temperature increase of the fixing device 115 of the printer engine unit 104 in parallel. The printer receives the print data from the print data generator 102, converts it into a print image, and develops it in the image memory 109. Therefore, the overlap time of image development processing while the temperature of the fixing unit 115 is rising (printing is As explained above, according to this embodiment, immediately after the power is turned on,
Or, in the print operation immediately after jam removal, the image development unit 10 simultaneously initializes the printer engine unit 104.
By performing the image development process in step 3, there is an effect that the first print can be obtained quickly. In particular, processes that require time to develop images, such as out-of-print fonts, which will become widespread in the future, can be processed in parallel for a longer period of time, resulting in significant effects. [Second Embodiment] In the first embodiment described above, the internal I/F 134
Although an example has been described in which the image development process is performed immediately when the computer becomes communicable, the present invention is not limited to the above example, and the present invention is not limited to the above example, but can also be performed in parallel with the image development process and the fixing unit temperature raising process. The control may be performed after checking the ready flag from the printer control section 106 of the printer engine section 104 and a wait signal indicating a state of waiting for the temperature of the fixing device to rise. A second embodiment of the present invention controlled in this manner will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. In the second embodiment as well, the hardware configuration of the printer is as shown in FIG. 1. In the second embodiment, when the image development control unit 105 sends and receives control signals through the internal I/F 134, a wait signal indicating a state of waiting for the fuser temperature to rise is checked together with a ready signal of the printer engine unit 104. . The control flowchart of this second embodiment is shown in FIG.
Shown in (B). FIG. 4(A) shows the image development control section 10 of the image development section 103.
7, and FIG. 4(B) shows the control of printer engine section 1.
2 shows the control of the printer control unit 106 of No. 04. In the process shown in FIG. 4, unlike the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, which starts the image development process immediately when the internal I/F 134 becomes able to communicate, When the ready flag is on, image development processing is executed as a matter of course, and when the ready flag is off, the wait signal indicating the state of waiting for the fuser temperature to rise is checked.
If this signal is on, it is determined that the fuser is waiting for the temperature to rise normally, and image development processing is executed. If this signal is off, it is determined that an abnormality such as a jam is being processed, and in this case, image development processing is performed. It is controlled so that it does not occur. FIG. 5 shows the control timing chart of the second embodiment according to the above control. By controlling as described above, image expansion is not performed when there is a high possibility that data will be lost due to power off or the like even if image expansion is performed, such as in case of jam processing or malfunction. Therefore,
It is possible to prevent the print data generation device 102 from outputting unnecessary print data, and it is possible to obtain an effect that the print data is not lost. Note that in this embodiment as well, as in the first embodiment, the overlap time during the temperature rise of the fixing device with image development processing is earlier (prints can be obtained). Although the image development was controlled not to be performed in the event of a failure by checking the wait flag during heating, the present invention is not limited to the above example.
By processing image development processing and fixing unit temperature raising processing in parallel, and by having paper feeding and pre-rotation processing performed in parallel with image development processing, it is possible to further speed up the first print. can. The third embodiment of the present invention constructed in this way is shown in FIG.
This will be explained below with reference to FIG. In the third embodiment as well, the hardware configuration of the printer is as shown in FIG. 1. The control flowchart of this third embodiment is shown in FIG.
Shown in (B). FIG. 6(A) shows the image development control section 10 of the image development section 103.
7, and FIG. 6(B) shows the control of printer engine section 1.
2 shows the control of the printer control unit 106 of No. 04. In the process shown in FIG. 6, compared to the second embodiment described above,
When starting the image development process, the image development control unit 105 turns on (true) a prefeed signal that causes the paper feed/pre-rotation process to be performed in advance as a means to process the paper feed/pre-rotation process in parallel with the image development process. ) and then performs image expansion processing. Then, in the printer engine unit 104, the print signal is checked and the print signal is turned on (true).
When the print signal is off (false), it is checked whether the pre-feed signal is on or not, and if the pre-feed signal is on, the paper feed and pre-rotation are performed immediately. When the process is executed and the print signal is turned on (true), it is confirmed that the fixing device has reached a steady temperature, and after VSREQ is generated, the process waits for VSYNC. FIG. 7 shows an operation timing chart in the third embodiment controlled in this manner. As shown in FIG. 7, according to this embodiment, the printer engine unit 104 continuously performs paper feeding and pre-rotation operations based on the pre-feed signal from the image development unit 103.
As the printer engine initialization process, the temperature increase process of the fixing device 115 and the paper feeding/pre-rotation operation image development process are overlapped by the overlap time (printing can be started. This is just one example of the invention, and the present invention can be implemented in various other ways.For example, in each of the above embodiments, the image development control section and the blink engine control section were considered separately, but the image development control section and the printer engine control section were considered separately. In addition, since printer initialization processing such as fuser control, paper feed/pre-rotation control, etc. is sufficiently slow compared to image development control processing, polling control may be performed using one CPU, for example. Alternatively, interrupt control may be performed.Furthermore, the control processing of the printer engine unit 104 may be implemented in hardware, and its status may be controlled by the image development control unit 105 by polling or interrupts. The object of the present invention is to obtain a first print quickly by providing a means for performing image development processing at the same time as printer initialization processing in a printing operation immediately after power is turned on or immediately after jam removal. [Effects of the Invention] As explained above. According to the present invention, by providing means for performing image development processing at the same time as printer initialization processing during printing operation immediately after power-on or immediately after jam removal, the first print can be obtained quickly. be.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block configuration diagram of a laser beam printer according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a control operation flowchart of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a laser beam printer according to the first embodiment. Operation timing chart in control, FIG. 4 is a control operation flowchart of the second embodiment according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is an operation timing chart in the control of FIG. 4 of the second embodiment, and FIG. A control operation flowchart of the third embodiment. FIG. 7 is an operation timing chart for the control of FIG. 6 of the third embodiment. FIG. 8 is a control operation flowchart of a conventional laser beam printer. FIG. 9 is a control operation flowchart of a conventional laser beam printer. 9 is an operation timing chart in the control shown in FIG. 8 in the beam printer. In the figure, 101... laser beam printer, 102...
・Print data generation device, 103...image development section,
104... Printer engine section, 105... Image development control section, 106... Printer control section, 107...
Image expansion processing unit, 108...External I/F, 114...
Fixing device temperature control system, 115... Fixing device, 116... Photosensitive drum, 110... Video signal generation section, 123-12
6... Seat, 134... Internal I/F.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A developing means for developing code data into an image signal consisting of dot pattern data; an image forming means for forming an image on a recording medium using an electrophotographic process from the image signal developed by the developing means; 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: a starting means for starting said developing means asynchronously with a ready condition of said image forming means when forming said image forming means.