JPH0654938B2 - Equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improvement of a facsimile apparatus using sheet paper as recording paper.

[Technical background of the invention]

In recent years, facsimile machines have been rapidly spread with the promotion of office automation, but the facsimile machines generally use roll paper as recording paper. The facsimile machine using the roll paper has an advantage that the paper feed mechanism can be simplified, but on the other hand, it requires a storage space for the maximum diameter of the roll paper, which makes it difficult to downsize the apparatus. That is, in general, many roll papers have a length of 100 to 200 m, but the diameter of such roll paper becomes 100 to 150 mm or more, and the diameter of the roll paper determines the height of the device, and It cannot be miniaturized.

Therefore, a device has recently been conceivable in which sheet paper, which has been cut into a predetermined size one by one in advance, is used as a recording sheet, and the sheet recording sheet is supplied to a recording head to perform information recording such as reception recording and copying. There is. According to such a device,
Since the height of the case for accommodating the sheet paper is generally about 5 cm, the height of the device can be reduced and the device for cutting the recording paper need not be provided in the device, so that the device can be downsized.

[Problems of background technology]

However, in the conventional device of this type, the case for accommodating the sheet cannot be inserted deeply into the device because of the space in the device and the operability of attaching and detaching the case, and the device is separated from the recording head to some extent. There is no choice but to place it in the right position. Therefore, it takes time until the sheet is supplied to the recording position of the recording head after the start of the recording operation, and this time becomes a dead time and the time required for the recording operation becomes long. Depending on the situation, the dead time may not be allowed and immediate communication may not be possible, which is very undesirable.

[Object of the Invention]

The present invention enables printing on a sheet immediately after the start of a printing operation, thereby reducing dead time to shorten the printing time, and at the same time, the reception recording can be surely performed regardless of the communication control means. The purpose is to provide a device.

[Outline of Invention]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention sets the leading edge of the sheet of paper in advance at a recording position of the recording head or a predetermined position immediately before the recording head and waits for the next recording.

Example of Invention

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is a recording head, and 2 is a cassette case in which sheet sheets 3 as recording sheets are stacked and accommodated. The cassette case 2 is guided by a guide (not shown) and is detachably housed in the direction of arrow A from the outside of the apparatus. A recording roller 4 is arranged at a position facing the recording surface of the recording head 1, and a pair of conveying rollers 51, 52 are arranged in a sheet paper conveying path between the cassette case 2 and the recording head 1. Has been done. The recording roller 4 and the conveying roller 51 are driven by the step motor 6 in synchronization with each other. A paper feed roller 7 is arranged at a position facing the sheet paper 3 of the cassette case 2. The paper feed roller 7 is driven by a DC motor 8.

On the other hand, this apparatus is provided with two control units, which are a main control unit 10 and a recording control unit 20, as circuits for controlling the sheet paper feeding operation. These control units 10 and 20 are composed of a microcomputer, and the main control unit 10 has a function of comprehensively controlling various operations of the facsimile apparatus such as communication control and recording control. Further, the recording control unit 20 performs various controls relating to the recording operation in accordance with the instruction of the main control unit 10. In addition to the recording head control function 21 and the sub-scanning control function 22 for the sheet 3 as shown in FIG. It has a load control function 23 for the sheet paper 3. The load control function 23 of the sheet paper 3 is
This is for loading the sheet paper 3 housed in the cassette case 2 to the position immediately before the recording head 1 at a predetermined timing when the cassette case 2 is inserted and when recording operation is performed. Reference numeral 30 in the figure is an operation panel used by the operator to cause the apparatus to perform various operations.
The stepping motor 6 according to the instruction of the recording control unit 20.
And a motor drive circuit for driving the DC motor 8, 31 and 32 respectively detect a sheet paper sensor for detecting whether or not the sheet paper 3 is loaded at a predetermined position and whether or not the cassette case is inserted. 2 shows a cassette sensor for.

Next, the operation of the apparatus configured as described above is controlled by the main controller 1
0 and the control procedure of the recording control unit 20 will be described.
When the power is turned on, the main control unit 10 first initializes its own operating state (at this time, the flag FG is set to "0") and the operating state of each unit of the apparatus, and then, in Step 3a of FIG. The output signal of the sensor 32 is input and it is determined in step 3b whether or not the cassette case 2 is set to a predetermined value. If the cassette case 2 is not set, the cassette case 2 is set, while if the cassette case 2 is already set, the process directly proceeds to step 3c, and in this step 3c, it is determined that the flag FG = 0. For example, in step 3d, the recording control unit 2
An instruction to load the sheet 3 is issued to 0.

Now, when this load instruction is issued, the recording control unit 20
Recognizes the arrival of the load instruction in step 4b of FIG. 4, and thereafter executes sheet paper load control as follows.
That is, first, in step 51 of FIG. 5, a drive control signal is output to the motor drive circuit 9 to drive the DC motor 8 (M2) in the forward direction by this circuit 9, whereby the sheet paper accommodated in the cassette case 2 is driven. The conveyance of the uppermost sheet of No. 3 is started. During this time, time monitoring is performed in step 5b, and when the predetermined time T1 has elapsed, it is determined that the leading edge of the sheet of paper 3 has reached the transport rollers 51, 52, and in step 5c the motor drive circuit 9 causes the step motor 6 ( M1) is driven to rotate the transport roller 51 in the forward direction, and thereby the sheet paper 3 is further transported toward the recording head 1. Then, in step 5d, the output of the sheet paper sensor 31 is monitored, and when the output becomes "1", it is determined that the sheet paper 3 is securely sandwiched by the transport rollers 51 and 52, and in step 5e, the DC The motor 8 is stopped, and then, when it is determined in step 5f that the predetermined time T2 has elapsed, it is determined that the leading end of the sheet paper 3 has reached the position immediately before the recording head 1, and the step motor 6 is activated in step 5g. After that, the load end signal is output to the main control unit 10 at the stair 5h, and the sheet paper 3
End the load control operation of.

When the load end signal arrives, the main control unit 10
In step 3e of the figure, the arrival of this signal is recognized, then in step 3f the flag FG is set to "1", and then in step 3g it is determined whether or not the recording operation accompanying the request for image signal reception or copying is required. If there is no need, the process returns to step 3a.

On the other hand, if reception occurs at this time and a recording operation is required due to this, the main control unit 10 causes the main control unit 10 to perform step 3h in FIG.
Then, a recording start instruction is output to the recording control unit 20. On the other hand, the recording control unit 20 recognizes the arrival of the recording start instruction in step 4a of FIG. 4, and subsequently executes the recording control shown in FIG. That is, first, in step 6a, the stepper motor 6 is driven by the motor drive circuit 9 to cause the transport roller 51 and the recording roller 4 to rotate in the normal direction,
As a result, the sub-scanning of the sheet paper 3 is started. At this time, the recording control unit 20 outputs the image signals received and reproduced at the same time to the recording head 1 to cause the recording head 1 to perform main recording scanning.

Then, the recording on the sheet paper 3 proceeds, and step 6b
When it is detected that the output of the sheet paper sensor 31 has become “0”, the recording control unit 20 determines that the recording on the sheet paper 3 has come to an end, and in step 6C, the motor drive circuit 9 directs the DC current. The motor 8 is driven to rotate the paper feed roller 7 in the normal direction, whereby the sheet paper 3 is loaded from the cassette case 2 in preparation for the next recording or the recording of the next page. At this time, if the speed of the DC motor 8 is appropriately set, it is possible to load and set the leading end of the sheet of paper to the position immediately in front of the recording head 1 substantially at the same time as the end of the recording operation on the sheet of paper 3. . Then, the recording on the sheet 3 is completed, and when this is recognized in step 6d, the recording controller 20 stops the driving of the step motor 6 and the DC motor 8 in step 6e,
If it is determined in step 6f that there is recording on the next page, the process returns to step 6a to repeat the above control operation, and if it is determined that there is no recording, a recording end signal is output to the main control unit 10 in step 6g, and then FIG. Load instruction arrival monitoring (step 4b) Operation and recording start instruction arrival monitoring (step 4)
a) Return to operation. The main controller 10 returns to step 3a at the time when the arrival of the recording end signal is recognized in step 3i, and then enters the recording standby state. In this recording standby state, the flag FG is set to "1", and the determination effect of step 3c becomes "NO". Therefore, the main control unit 1
0 determines that the sheet 3 has been loaded, skips the procedure from step 3d to step 3f, and proceeds to monitor the generation of the recording request in step 3g. Thereafter, the cassette case 2 is pulled out and the flag FG is set to " The above operation is repeated unless it becomes "0".

In the recording standby state, once the operator changes the size of the sheet or pulls the cassette case 2 out of the apparatus in order to supplement the gist, the flag FG is set to "0" at step 3j at this point. become. Therefore,
When the cassette case 2 is inserted after this, the determination result of step 3c is YES, so the main control unit 10 executes the control for loading the sheet paper of steps 3d to 3f, and as a result, the recording control unit 20. The sheet paper 3 is loaded by.

As described above, according to this embodiment, by using the sheet paper as the recording paper, it is possible to obtain the effects that the apparatus can be downsized and the operations such as changing the size of the paper and replenishing the paper can be simplified. That is, when the power is turned on, when the cassette case 2 is inserted, and at a predetermined timing before the recording of one sheet is completed, the sheet paper 3 is automatically loaded at the position immediately before the recording head 1 When a request is made, it is possible to immediately perform the recording operation on the sheet paper 3, thereby reducing the dead time and the recording time. Further, even when the communication procedure set to perform the immediate recording operation from the time of reception is used, the recording can be surely performed without the communication being disabled, and the invention can be applied to any model.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, the sheet may be loaded so that the leading end of the sheet is set at the recording position of the recording head 1. A step motor may be used instead of the DC motor as the sheet feeding motor. Other configurations, control procedures, control contents, and the like of the main control unit and the recording control unit can be variously modified and implemented without departing from the scope of the present invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, the recording operation is started by setting the leading edge of the sheet paper in advance at the recording position of the recording head or a predetermined position immediately before the recording head in preparation for the next recording. To provide a facsimile apparatus capable of performing immediate recording on a rear sheet of paper, thereby reducing dead time and recording time, and capable of always surely receiving and recording regardless of communication control means. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining a facsimile apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a portion of the apparatus relating to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of a recording control unit. FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the control operation procedure of the main control section, and FIGS. 4 to 6 are flow charts showing the control operation procedure of the recording control section. 1 ... Recording head, 2 ... Cassette case, 3 ... Sheet paper, 4 ... Recording roller, 51, 52 ... Conveying roller,
6 ... Step motor, 7 ... Paper feed roller, 8 ... DC motor, 9 ... Motor drive circuit, 10 ... Main control unit, 2
0 ... Recording control unit, 21 ... Recording head control function, 22
...... Sheet paper sub-scanning control function, 23 ...... Sheet paper load control function, 30 ...... Operation panel, 31 ...... Sheet paper sensor, 32 ...... Cassette sensor

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yukio Tsuda, 1-chome, 3-1, Asahigaoka, Hino-shi, Tokyo Inside the Toshiba Hino Plant, a manufacturing company (72) Inventor Masayoshi Aihara 3-1-1, Asahigaoka, Hino-shi, Tokyo Incorporated company Toshiba Hino factory (72) Inventor Fumio Owada 1-3-1, Asahigaoka, Hino city, Tokyo Incorporated company Toshiba Hino factory

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A facsimile apparatus for accommodating a case for accommodating a recording sheet, wherein a sheet is conveyed from the case to a recording head one by one by a paper feeding mechanism to perform recording, in preparation for the next recording, A facsimile machine comprising a paper feed control means for driving the paper feed mechanism so as to set the leading edge of the sheet paper in advance to a recording position of the recording head or a predetermined position immediately before the recording position and wait. 2. A paper feeding control means drives the paper feeding mechanism when the power of the apparatus is turned on, when the case is attached, and at a predetermined timing during a recording operation for a sheet of paper one sheet before. The facsimile apparatus according to claim (1).