JP2782982B2 - Printer device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer capable of switching resolutions.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the spread of computers and word processors, a large number of printer devices such as laser beam printers for recording documents and images created by them have been used. Since images sent from a host computer or the like to such a printer device have various resolutions, the resolution is switched to correspond to the resolution, for example, in response to a resolution switching request from the host computer. There is also a printer device.

Since the resolution cannot be switched during printing in the printer device whose resolution can be switched as described above, conventionally, the following two methods are used for receiving a resolution switching request and actually switching the resolution. Had been.
One is a method in which a request to switch the resolution is not accepted until the normal end of printing. However, this method can limit the control from the host computer. To solve this problem, as disclosed in JP-A-63-108852, JP-A-63-108862, and JP-A-63-108864, switching of the resolution from the host computer even during printing is performed. There is a method in which a request is received by the printer device and the resolution is actually switched after printing is completed.

However, according to the second method, the resolution is switched even when a failure such as a paper jam occurs, instead of eliminating the restriction on the control of the host computer. In the case of outputting, there is a problem that it is necessary to switch to the original resolution.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to receive a resolution switching request even during printing and to request a resolution switching during printing, and when a failure such as a paper jam occurs during the printing, the printing at the time of occurrence of the failure is performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide a printer device capable of outputting again at the resolution before the switching request.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printing apparatus for printing a printing image generated based on input printing information, a request receiving unit for receiving a resolution switching request, and a failure during printing. Determining means for determining the presence / absence of printing, and first resolution switching for switching the printing resolution by the printing means based on the request when the request receiving means receives a request for switching the resolution while the printing means is waiting for printing. Means, and when the request receiving means receives a request for switching the resolution during printing by the printing means, the request is only received after the printing is completed and the determining means determines that no failure has occurred. And a second resolution switching means for switching the resolution based on the resolution.

In this printer device, when a resolution switching request is made during the printing standby, the resolution is switched by the first resolution switching means based on the switching request.
On the other hand, if a resolution switching request is made during printing, the second resolution switching means only after printing is completed and when the determination means determines that no failure has occurred during printing. The resolution is switched based on the switching request.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 8 relate to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of a laser beam printer according to one embodiment of the present invention. Note that FIG.
Is a side view of the laser beam printer, and the left side of the figure is the front of the laser beam printer.

The laser beam printer 100 includes a laser scanning device 101. Laser scanning device 101
, A semiconductor laser (not shown) that modulates and outputs a laser beam in accordance with an image signal is arranged. The laser beam emitted from this semiconductor laser is
And is deflected according to this rotation. After the deflected laser beam passes through the fθ lens 103, the mirror 1
The direction of travel is changed by 04 and 105, and the laser beam is output from this laser scanning device.

On the extension of the laser beam output from the laser scanning device 101, there is arranged a photosensitive drum 106 which rotates at a constant speed in the direction of the arrow. The laser beam output from the laser scanning device 101 repeatedly scans a predetermined exposure position 107 of the photosensitive drum 106 in the axial direction, that is, the main scanning direction. A charge corotron 108 is disposed slightly in front of the exposure position 107 so as to face the photosensitive drum 106 so as to uniformly charge the surface of the photosensitive drum 106.
By irradiating the charged photosensitive drum 106 with a laser beam, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to image information is formed on the drum surface. This electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 109 on the drum surface downstream of the exposure position. In the developing device 109, a developing roller 110 for magnetically attaching toner (also called ears) to develop an electrostatic latent image and a toner for supplying toner in a cartridge to the developing roller 110 are provided. The components such as the toner supply mechanism 111 are arranged. A predetermined developing bias is applied to the developing roll 110.

The toner image formed by the development of the developing device 109 is moved to a position facing the transfer corotron 112 by the rotation of the photosensitive drum 106, where it is electrostatically transferred to recording paper (plain paper). Will be. Note that the charge corotron 1 used in this embodiment is
08 and the transfer corotron 112 stretch a single corotron wire into a space covered with a shield member,
It has a structure in which a voltage application terminal is provided at one end.

Next, the conveyance path of the recording paper will be briefly described. A recording sheet (not shown) is fed from a cassette tray 114 inserted from the front into a sheet feeding device 113 detachably disposed below the laser beam printer 100.
It is to be laminated on. Cassette tray 114
The recording paper arranged on the uppermost layer is sent out of the tray 114 by a half moon roll 115 having a half moon shape. Note that another means such as a retard roll may be used instead of the half-moon roll 115.

The sent recording paper advances along the path as shown by the broken line by the transport roll 128, and stops its progress once it reaches the leading end of the registration roll 129. Thereafter, in synchronization with the rotation position of the photosensitive drum 106, an electromagnetic clutch (not shown)
9, the recording paper is conveyed stably at a constant speed. Thus, the recording paper passes between the photosensitive drum 106 and the transfer corotron 112 at a desired timing. Only at the time of this passage, the transfer corotron 112 discharges, whereby the toner image on the photosensitive drum 106 is electrostatically attracted toward the transfer corotron 112, and the toner image is transferred onto the recording paper. . The recording paper on which the transfer has been performed is discharged from the back surface by a discharging needle (not shown) disposed downstream of the transfer corotron 112, and is peeled off from the drum surface. The peeled recording paper is transported on a transport path of a predetermined length in order to release the tension, and then the heat roll 116 and the pressure roll 11 are released.
7 is carried to a fixing device 118 which is a pair of the fixing device 118. In the fixing device 118, the recording paper passes between the heat roll 116 and the pressure roll 117 which are nipped with a predetermined width. At this time, the side of the recording paper on which the toner image has been transferred is the heat roll 116 side, and the pressure roll 1
17 presses the recording paper against the heat roll 116 to enable efficient heat transfer. The heat roll 116 is controlled at a constant high temperature. In this state, the toner image on the recording paper is heat-fixed to the paper surface.

An exit roll 1 is provided on the exit side of the fixing device 118.
The recording paper conveyed to the exit roll 119 is discharged to the upper part of the laser beam printer 100. The recording paper is ejected with the recording surface down since it passes through the above-described path, and the printed sheets one by one can be closed by the stapler in the ejected order.

On the other hand, the toner image not transferred to the recording paper is removed from the drum surface by a cleaning device 120 disposed further downstream of the transfer corotron 112. The cleaning device 120 includes a blade 120b for scraping toner from the drum surface,
A film 120a for preventing toner leakage is provided.

In the laser beam printer 100 of this embodiment, the photosensitive drum 106, the cleaning device 120, the charge corotron 108, and the developing device 10
9 are integrally formed as an EP cartridge 121. Further, the laser beam printer 106 of this embodiment has a front cover 123 which is opened and closed about a hinge 122 and is indicated by a dashed line. By opening the front cover 123, the user can very easily remove paper jams and replace the EP cartridge 121 and the transfer corotron 112. Further, the laser beam printer 100 of this embodiment is configured so that the user can easily attach and detach the fixing device 118.

A power supply unit 124 composed of a low-voltage power supply and a high-voltage power supply is disposed behind the laser scanning device 101.
The necessary power is supplied to each component. Power supply unit 124
A control device 125 is disposed behind the printer, and controls the laser beam printer 100 electrically. Above the power supply unit 124 and the control device 125, the image information processing device 1
The image information sent from a computer or the like is translated into the language of the laser beam printer 100 and sent to the control device 125.

As described above, in the laser beam printer 100 of this embodiment, the so-called mechanical components are arranged in front of the apparatus, and the so-called electrical components 127 are arranged in the rear.

Next, the scanning of the photosensitive drum 106 by the laser scanning device 101 will be described in detail.

FIG. 3 shows a portion related to laser scanning in the laser beam printer of FIG. However, in this figure, those which are not important for explanation are omitted.

The laser scanning device 101 includes a laser oscillator 1
1, a modulator 12 that modulates a laser beam emitted from the laser oscillator 11 based on an image signal, a polygon mirror 102 that reflects a laser beam 13 from the modulator 12, and a rotational drive of the polygon mirror 102. And a motor 14 that operates. The polygon mirror 102 is configured to rotate in the direction of the arrow R at a constant speed by the motor 14. This polygon mirror 102 has six surfaces 1
02a to 102f, the laser beam 13 incident from the laser oscillator 11 via the modulator 12 is sequentially deflected, and is moved at a constant speed in the main scanning direction M of the photosensitive drum 106 via the fθ lens 103 (FIG. 2). Scan with.

The laser beam reflected by the polygon mirror 102 scans the photosensitive drum 106 rotated at a constant speed by the motor 34, and changes the angle at the position of the beam 16 by the reflecting mirror 21 so that the beam detector 22
Is incident on. The beam detector 22 detects the incidence of a laser beam, and outputs a pulsed beam detection signal 24 to a horizontal synchronization signal control circuit 31 in a control device 125.

The control device 125 includes the horizontal synchronizing signal control circuit 31, the laser control circuit 32 for controlling the laser oscillator 11 and the modulator 12, and the motor control circuit 33 for controlling the motor 14. . The horizontal synchronization signal control circuit 31 performs a shaping process or the like on the pulse waveform of the beam detection signal 24 and outputs the result to the image information processing device 126 as a horizontal synchronization signal 34. The laser control circuit 32 controls the laser oscillator 11 and the modulator 12 based on the image signal 35 input from the image information processing device 126. Further, the motor control circuit 33 switches the rotation speed of the motor 14 based on the resolution switching signal 36 input from the image information processing device 126.

The image information processing device 126 is supplied with input data 30 including print data and control data from a host computer or the like (not shown).

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image information processing apparatus 126. An image information processing device 126 is a CPU (central processing unit) that performs a central function of various controls.
41 are provided. The CPU 41 is connected to various circuit devices via a CPU bus 42. The panel interface circuit 43 is a circuit for interfacing with an operation panel (not shown). For example, when the operator of the apparatus operates the operation panel, an instruction signal corresponding to the operation is output and transferred on the CPU bus 42.

The host interface circuit 44 is a circuit for interfacing with a host such as a host computer. For example, the host interface circuit 44 is configured to receive input data 30 input from the host based on the RS232C standard. . The non-volatile memory (NVM) 45 is a memory backed up by a battery (not shown), and can hold necessary data even when the power of the laser beam printer 100 itself is turned off. The programmable timer counter (PTC) 47 is a type of a known counter circuit, and performs processing such as time measurement and timing generation. The RAM 48 is a working memory, and temporarily stores data necessary for performing various controls of the laser beam printer 100 and print data input from the host interface circuit 44. The program memory 49 is a memory storing a program for controlling the image recording apparatus. The character pattern memory 51 is a so-called font memory, and stores character patterns used for printing out. The bitmap memory 52 is a memory for performing electronic editing by pasting the generated character pattern in correspondence with one page of recording paper. The recording unit interface circuit 53 includes the bit map memory 5
2 is supplied to the control device 125 shown in FIG. 3 as an image signal 35 as raster data, and the horizontal synchronizing signal 34 and the resolution switching signal 3 shown in FIG.
6 for transmitting and receiving various instruction signals transmitted from the image information processing device 126 to the control device 125 and various status signals transmitted from the control device 125 to the image information processing device 126 to and from the control device 125. An interface circuit. The bitmap controller 44 controls such image transfer.

Since the image recording apparatus can be connected to various hosts as described above, a program or a character pattern corresponding to print data and control data sent from the host may be required. The program memory 56 and the character pattern memory 57 are both removable read-only memories in the form of cartridges, and are selectively connected to these various types of hosts or selectively implemented in order to realize special functions required by the operator. Is to be connected to.

Next, referring to FIG. 1, an outline of the configuration relating to the resolution switching of the laser beam printer 100 of this embodiment will be described. As shown in the figure, a laser beam printer 100 receives input data 30 from a host computer 62 or the like, and performs input processing means 63 for performing processing in accordance with print data and control data. And a printing unit 65 for printing the image on paper. The input processing unit 63 and the image generation unit 64 are realized by the CPU 41 of FIG. 4 executing a program stored in the program memory 49. That is, the input processing means 63 creates page print information for each page based on print data from the host computer or the like under the control of the CPU 41, and stores the page print information in the RAM. In the image generating means 64, the CPU 41
Reads a character pattern from the character pattern memory 51 or the character pattern memory 57 based on the page print information stored in the RAM 48 and pastes the character pattern on the bitmap memory 52. This bitmap memory 52 stores 1
When the image for the page is developed, the bitmap controller 54 outputs the image signal 3 as raster data.
5 is supplied to the control device 125. The printing means 65
In FIG. 2 is constituted by a portion excluding the image information processing device 126.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the input processing means 63 receives a resolution switching request 75 while the printing means 65 is waiting for printing, the laser beam printer 100
A first resolution switching means 71 for switching the printing resolution by the printing means 65 based on the switching request 75, and a resolution when the input processing means 63 receives the resolution switching request 75 during printing by the printing means 65. Switching information generating means 72 for generating switching information 76 indicating that there is a resolution switching request without switching, failure occurrence determining means 73 for determining whether a failure has occurred during printing, and switching information 76 Of the switching information 76
Is occurring and the failure occurrence determination means 73
When the occurrence of a failure is not confirmed by the
And a second resolution switching means 74 for switching the resolution of printing by the printing means 65 based on the fifth resolution. These first resolution switching means 71, switching information generating means 72, fault occurrence determining means 73 and second resolution switching means 74
Is realized by the CPU 41 of FIG. 4 executing a program stored in the program memory 49.

The switching request 75 is transmitted as one of the control data in the input data 30 as the laser beam printer 100.
Is input to When switching the resolution, the first resolution switching means 72 and the second resolution switching means 74 send the resolution switching signal 36 to the printing means 65 (control device 125). Further, the failure occurrence determining means 73 determines whether or not a failure has occurred during printing from the status signal 67 from the printing means 65 (control device 125). This state signal 67 is also sent to the image generating means 64. The status signal 67 indicates the status of the printing unit 65 such as the status of paper transport based on the outputs of a plurality of sensors provided in the paper transport path.

Next, the operation relating to the resolution switching in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the input processing in the input processing means 63. In this input processing, first, in step (hereinafter, referred to as S) 101, the CPU 4
1 determines whether the input data 30 input via the host interface circuit 44 is print data. YE
In the case of S, this print data is processed in S102,
It returns to S101. If NO in S101, that is, if the input data 30 is control data, it is determined in S103 whether the control data is a switching command as a resolution switching request 75. In the case of NO, it is other control data. In this case, the processing of other control data is performed in S104, and S1
Return to 01. In the case of YES in S103, the subroutine of the switching command control is executed in S105, and the process returns to S101.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine for switching command control. This switching command control corresponds to the operation of the first resolution switching means 71 and the switching information generating means 72 in FIG. In this switching command control, in S111, the CPU 41 determines whether or not printing is being performed based on the state signal 67 from the printing unit 65 (control device 125). In the case of NO, that is, in the case of printing standby, in S112, the first resolution switching means 71 sends the resolution switching signal 36 to the printing means 65 (control device 125) to switch the resolution, and proceeds to S101 in FIG. Return. On the other hand, if YES in S111, that is, if printing is being performed, resolution switching is not performed, and in S113, the switching information generating means 72 sets a print end check flag as switching information, and returns to S101 in FIG. .

As described above, when the switching command is input during the printing standby, the resolution is switched based on the switching command by the first resolution switching control means 71, but the switching command is input during the printing. In this case, the resolution is not switched, and a print end check flag indicating that there is a resolution switching request is set by the switching information generating means 72.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the output processing. In this output process, first, in S121, the image generating means 64 (CPU 41) executes printing based on the page print information stored in the RAM. Next, S
At 122, it is determined whether or not printing is completed.
Returning to 121, in the case of YES, a subroutine for switching control is executed in S123. Next, in S124, the CPU 4
1 determines whether or not a trouble such as a paper jam has occurred during printing based on the status signal 67 from the printing means 65 (control device 125). In the case of NO, preparation for printing the next page is made in S125, and the process returns to S121. On the other hand, in the case of YES in S124, the operator performs processing such as removing the paper in which the paper jam has occurred as necessary, and then prepares for reprinting the page in which the trouble has occurred in S126, and returns to S121.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of the switching control. This switching control corresponds to the operation of the second resolution switching means 74 in FIG. In this switching control, the second resolution switching means 74 (CPU 4
1) It is determined whether or not the print end check flag is set. In the case of NO, the process returns to S124 of FIG. Therefore, naturally, the resolution is not switched. on the other hand,
If YES in S131, that is, if the print end check flag is set, in S132, the second resolution switching unit 74 (CPU 41) causes the failure occurrence determination unit 73 to generate a trouble such as a paper jam during printing. Is checked, and if a trouble has occurred, the process returns to S124 of FIG. Accordingly, the resolution is not switched, and thereafter, the process proceeds to S126 in FIG. 7, and the page in which the trouble has occurred is reprinted.
If NO in S132, it means that the print end check flag is set and no trouble has occurred. In this case, in S133, the second resolution switching means 74 sets the printing means 65 ( Control device 125)
The resolution switching signal 36 is sent to the printer to switch the resolution. Next, the print end check flag is cleared in S134, and the process returns to S124 in FIG.

In this way, after the printing is completed, the switching control subroutine is executed, and the switching control subroutine is executed based on the switching command only when the switching command is input during printing and when no trouble occurs. To switch the resolution. In other words, the switching information generating unit 72, the failure occurrence determining unit 73, and the second resolution switching unit 74 perform the printing without any trouble during and after printing and when a trouble occurs. Switching of resolution is prohibited until printing is completed.

The resolution is switched, for example, as follows. That is, in FIG. 3, the rotation speed of the motor 14, that is, the rotation speed of the polygon mirror 102 is switched by the motor control circuit 33 based on the resolution switching signal 36 input from the image information processing device 126. The speed of the laser beam scanning on the drum 106 is switched. When the resolution is switched, the frequency of the clock of the image signal 35 input to the laser control circuit 32 is also switched, and
The time of the data for the pixel is switched. Therefore, when the rotation speed of the photosensitive drum 106 is constant,
The scanning line density, that is, the resolution is switched with the switching of the rotation speed of the polygon mirror 102 and the frequency of the clock of the image signal 35.

The method of switching the resolution is not limited to the above-described method. For example, it is possible to change the rotation speed of the photosensitive drum 106 without changing the rotation speed of the polygon mirror 102.

As described above, in this embodiment, the resolution is switched immediately when the switching command is input during the printing standby, but when the resolution switching request is input during the printing, the resolution is changed. Instead of switching, the resolution is switched only when no trouble has occurred after printing is completed. Therefore, even if a switching command is input during printing, if a trouble such as a paper jam occurs during the printing, the resolution cannot be changed. Can be output again. If the reprinting is normally completed, the resolution is switched thereafter, and there is no restriction on the control of the host computer.

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a resolution switching request is made during printing, the resolution is switched only after printing is completed and no failure has occurred. Therefore, even when a resolution switching request is issued during printing and a failure such as a paper jam occurs during the printing, the print at the time of occurrence of the failure can be output again at the resolution before the switching request.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram illustrating an outline of a configuration relating to resolution switching of a laser beam printer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a laser beam printer of one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a portion related to laser scanning in the laser beam printer of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image information processing apparatus in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an input process according to one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of switching command control in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an output process according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of switching control in FIG. 7;

[Explanation of symbols]

63 ... input processing means, 64 ... image generation means, 65 ...
Printing means, 71: first resolution switching means, 72: switching information generating means, 73: fault occurrence determining means, 74: second resolution switching means, 100: laser beam printer

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 29/46 H04N 1/23

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing means for printing a printing image generated based on input printing information, a request receiving means for receiving a resolution switching request, a determining means for determining the presence or absence of a failure during printing, When the request receiving unit receives a request for switching the resolution while the printing unit is waiting for printing,
First resolution switching means for switching the resolution of printing by the printing means based on the switching request, and if the request receiving means receives a resolution switching request during printing by the printing means, after the printing is completed. And a second resolution switching means for switching the resolution based on the switching request only when the determination means determines that a failure has not occurred.