JP2861782B2 - Image information recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image information recording apparatus, and more particularly to an image information recording apparatus capable of improving a printing speed without requiring a page memory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional image information recording apparatus employs a configuration in which image information compressed by encoding is decoded and stored in a page memory, and then the image information is read from the page memory and sent to a printer. doing. As this printer, for example, a laser printer is used. In this laser printer, as is well known, recording paper is stored in a paper supply cassette, and when a command for drawing in paper comes from a control device, the recording paper is sent to a paper transport path. The sent recording sheet is sent to the registration position and is made to wait. On the other hand, the image information decoded by the decoder (decoder) is converted into optical information and scanned on a photoconductor rotating at a constant speed. When the photoreceptor is irradiated with the optical information,
An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface, and the electrostatic latent image is developed by a developing device during rotation. The developed image information is guided to a transfer unit by further rotating the photoconductor, and is transferred onto the recording paper conveyed from the registration position in synchronization with the rotation of the photoconductor. The recording paper onto which the image information has been transferred is sent to the fixing unit along the paper transport path, and is discharged to a discharge tray after fixing.

Next, an outline of the operation of the conventional image information recording apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 7 is a timing chart of the operation, and FIG. 8 is a flowchart.

As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, at time t
When a print start operation such as turning on a start button is performed on the image data 1, decoding of encoded image information is started by the decoder (step S 1). At the same time, the printer starts drawing in the recording paper (step S2). Next, it is determined whether or not the drawing-in of the recording sheet has been completed (step S3). If the determination is affirmative, the drawing-in of the sheet is ended at time t2 (step S4), contributing to the drawing-in of the sheet. The driving of the rollers and the like that have been stopped is stopped. Subsequently, it is determined whether or not the operation of decoding one page has been completed (step S5),
If this determination is affirmative, decoding is stopped at time t3. At this point, the decoded image information has been developed in the page memory. When the development of the image information in the page memory is completed, printing is started (step S7),
When printing of one page is completed at time t7 (Yes at step S8), printing is stopped (step S8).
9).

In this conventional apparatus, as shown in FIG. 7, when a print instruction is issued, image information is decoded, and when the decoding is completed, printing is started. From the start of printing to the end of printing, it takes time from t1 to t7.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-48358 discloses a technique for decoding image information compressed by encoding, expanding the image information in a page memory, and printing the image information with a printer operating at a constant speed. There is an official gazette.

[0007]

Conventionally, as described above, since the printing is started after the decoding of the image information is completed, there has been a problem that the operation speed is low. Also, if you try to print continuous pages at high speed,
There is a problem that a large number of page memories are required and the apparatus becomes expensive.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image information recording apparatus which eliminates the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and can print one or continuous pages at high speed without using a page memory. .

Another object of the present invention is to provide an image information recording apparatus capable of high-speed printing without using a page memory when an abnormality relating to printing such as a jam occurs. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image information recording apparatus which releases a preceding operation and can execute a function other than printing.

[0010]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image information recording apparatus comprising a storage unit, a decoder, a buffer, and a printer.
Means for instructing to start decoding of the decoder and drawing in of recording paper of the printer when a print start operation is performed; means for detecting that data accumulated in the buffer is full; It is characterized in that a means is provided for initiating printing to the printer when both conditions of the completion of the drawing of the recording paper into the predetermined position and the filling of the data stored in the buffer are satisfied.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image information recording apparatus of the first aspect, after activating the printer, the image information signal of the next page is read from the storage means, and the image information signal of the next page is read. Means for detecting whether or not there is an image information signal, and means for instructing, when there is an image information signal of the next page, a pull-in of a recording sheet to a predetermined position immediately after the printing operation of the current page is completed and a start of a decoding operation of the decoder. It is characterized by having the following.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image information recording apparatus of the second aspect, a means for immediately starting printing of the next page immediately after the discharge of the sheet of the current page is completed.

Further, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the image information recording apparatus of the second aspect, when an abnormality occurs in the apparatus,
It is characterized in that it comprises means for closing the document file in the storage means, stopping the operation of the decoder, and initializing the buffer.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the printer is activated when both the conditions of the completion of the drawing of the recording paper into the predetermined position and the fullness of the data stored in the buffer are satisfied.
As a result, the printing start time of the printer is made earlier than that of the conventional apparatus, and high-speed printing becomes possible.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when there is an image information signal of the next page, immediately after the printing operation of the current page is completed, the recording paper is pulled into a predetermined position and the decoding operation of the decoder is started. . For this reason, the preparation for printing the next page is performed before the printing of the current page is completed, and the continuous printing of the image information of a plurality of pages can be performed at high speed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the printing of the next page is started immediately after the discharge of the sheet of the current page is completed. For this reason, continuous printing of image information of a plurality of pages can be performed at high speed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when an abnormality occurs in the apparatus, the means previously operated for high-speed printing is released, so that these means can be used for other functions. . For this reason, it is possible to provide an image information recording device with high use efficiency.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. First, a hardware configuration of a facsimile apparatus as an example of the image information recording apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG.

In the figure, 1 is a scanner for reading a document and converting it into an electric signal, 2 is a buffer for storing image information converted into an electric signal, 3 is an encoder for coding and compressing the image information, and 4 is an encoder. A storage device for storing the encoded image information. Reference numeral 5 denotes a decoder (decoder) for decoding coded image information; reference numeral 6 denotes a buffer for temporarily storing decoded data of less than one page of a print document in accordance with the decoding speed of the decoder 5; Is a printer for printing the image information sent via the buffer 6. Reference numeral 8 denotes a CPU that performs control processing of the entire facsimile apparatus, facsimile transmission control procedure processing, and the like, 9 denotes a program ROM that stores a program that controls the entire facsimile apparatus, and 10 denotes a program ROM required during execution of the program. The RAM is a RAM that provides a work area for storing various data according to a request from the panel control unit 14 or the like. A line control unit 11 for controlling connection of the facsimile apparatus to the public network, a modem 12 for modulating and demodulating transmission / reception signals, a buffer 13, a key input unit 15 disposed on an operation panel of the facsimile apparatus, Reference numeral 16 denotes a display unit.

In the facsimile apparatus having the above configuration, image information read from the scanner 1 is encoded by the encoder 3 and stored in the storage device 4. The image information received via the communication line is stored in the storage device 4 after being demodulated by the modem 12. When copying a document set on the scanner 1 or printing out received image information, the image information stored in the storage device 4 is read from the storage device 4 and decoded by the decoder 5. . The decoded image information is accumulated in the buffer 6, and when the accumulated amount reaches a predetermined amount, the printer 7 is activated and printing is started.

Next, the configuration of the main part of this embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. 1, the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 6 denote the same or equivalent components. It should be noted that only the control signals necessary for the description of the present embodiment are shown in the figure, and the description of other control signals is omitted.

The storage device 4 stores the coded image information as described above.
When 1 is output, reading of the image information from the storage device 4 is started. The next page signal 43 is output from the storage device 4 every time one page of image information is read. When reading of one document or all documents is completed, the end signal 42 is output from the storage device 4. The decoder 5 starts and stops according to a start / stop signal 51 from the control unit 8,
When the decoding is completed, an end signal 52 is output. The buffer 6 is activated by an activation signal 61 from the control unit 8,
It stores the input data and outputs the data in response to a request from the printer 7. And buffer 6
When the amount of data stored in is full, a full signal is output, and when it becomes 0, an empty signal 62 is output.
Also, the printer 7 receives the pull-in activation signal 71 from the control unit 8.
As a result, the recording paper is sent out from the paper supply cassette. The sent sheet is sent to the registration position, where it stands by. When the print start signal 72 is output from the control unit 8, the printer 7 starts printing. At this time, the sheet waiting at the registration position is sent to the transfer unit.
As is well known, a plurality of paper detection sensors are arranged in the recording paper conveyance path of the printer 7, and signals 73 from these sensors are input to the control unit 8. Further, the printer 7 outputs a print signal 74 indicating that printing is in progress.
Is output.

Next, the operation of the control unit 8 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG. When the print start button is pressed at time t1, start signals 41, 51 and 61 are applied to the storage device 4, the decoder 5 and the buffer 6. As a result, the decoder 5 and the buffer 6 are activated. Further, the printer 7 sends a paper pull-in activation signal 71
Is applied, and the drawing in of the sheet is started. When activated, the decoder 5 decodes the encoded image information from the storage device 4. At time t2, it is detected from the sensor signal 73 from the printer 7 that the paper has been pulled in. At time t3, when a full signal indicating that the buffer 6 is full is input to the control unit 8, the control unit 8 The print start signal 72 is output, and the printer 7 starts printing. The printer 7 outputs a print signal 74 during printing.

After the time t3, the decoding operation by the decoder 5 and the printing operation of the printer 7 are performed in parallel. The decoding speed varies depending on the content of the image information. If the data stored in the buffer 6 becomes full at time t4, the control unit 8 sends a stop signal 51 to the decoder 5.
And the operation of the decoder 5 is temporarily stopped. Then, at t5 after a predetermined time, the control unit 8 sends an activation signal to the decoder 5 and restarts the operation of the decoder 5.
When the above operation is repeatedly performed and the decoder 5 finishes the decoding, the control unit 8 outputs the stop signal 51 to stop the operation of the decoder 5. The printer 7 receives the data from the buffer 6 and continues the printing operation. When the data in the buffer 6 runs out, the printer 7 ends the printing at time t7. The above operation of the control unit 8 can be summarized by a flowchart as shown in FIG.
become that way. That is, in step S1, it is determined whether or not the start button has been turned on. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to steps S2, S3, and S4, where the control unit 8 issues an instruction to start the buffer 6, and An operation start instruction and a paper pull-in start instruction are issued. Step S5
Then, it is determined whether or not the buffer 6 is full, and in step S6, it is determined whether or not the drawing of the paper is completed.
If these determinations are affirmative, the process proceeds to step S8, and a print start instruction is issued.

In step S9, a determination is made as to whether or not the decoding process for one page has been completed. If the determination is negative, the process proceeds to step S10 to determine whether the buffer 6 is full of the decoded data. A determination is made as to whether or not it is. Until the buffer 6 becomes full (No at step S10),
The decryption processing of step S9 is continued, and step S10
If the result is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S11 to temporarily stop the operation of the decoder 5. In step S12, it is determined whether or not the full state of the buffer 6 has been resolved. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S13, where the operation of the decoder 5 is restarted. When the decoding process of one page is completed by the above operation (Yes at Step S9), the process proceeds to Step S14, and the operation of the decoder 5 is stopped. In step S15, it is determined whether or not the buffer 6 is empty. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S16 to stop the printing operation.

The data in the buffer 6 is not allowed to be empty during printing. Therefore, a method for determining the capacity of the buffer 6 will be described. Now, printer 7 is 1
Assume that the apparatus prints at a speed of about 1 ms (1 ms / line) per line. The slowest decoding speed of the decoder 5 is 1.25 ms / line, and the maximum speed is 0.5 ms / line.
Suppose it was a line. Since the buffer 6 is operated as a ring buffer, if the processing of the decoder 5 cannot keep up with the processing of the printer 7, the image information in the buffer 6 continues to decrease. Conversely, if the processing of the decoder 5 is faster than the processing of the printer 7, The image information in the buffer 6 keeps increasing. Therefore, the capacity of the buffer 6 may be determined so that the buffer 5 does not become empty even when the decoder 5 operates at the slowest speed.

The printing speed of the printer 7 is 1 ms / line, and the slowest decoding speed of the decoder 5 is 1.25 m.
If the decoder 5 is operating at the slowest decoding speed from the second / line, 0.25 ms of image information per ms remains unprocessed. The amount is represented by the number of bytes as follows. 4864 × (1.25-1) ÷ 1.25 / 8 = 121.
6 bytes Now, if the maximum document size is A3, 6614 lines are read in the case of 400 PPI. Since the data of 121.6 bytes is reduced from the buffer 6 every time one line is read, the following number of bytes is reduced at the end of printing for the entire A3 size. 121.6 bytes x 6614 = 804262.4 bytes = 785.4125 Kbytes Therefore, according to the method of this embodiment, the capacity of the buffer 6 may be set to about 800 Kbytes. This is A
The buffer amount is considerably smaller than 3927 Kbytes for one document page. In other words, decoding and printing can be realized with a much smaller buffer amount than a page memory having a capacity of one page of an A3 document.

FIG. 2A shows that the decoding speed of the decoder 5 at the beginning of the printing operation is slow, and the time for the decoded data to fill the buffer 6 is that the paper is moved from the cassette to the registration position. The case where the time for filling the buffer 6 with the data decoded by the decoder 5 is smaller than the time for the sheet to be drawn from the cassette to the registration position is shown. Is as shown in FIG. That is, when the buffer 6 becomes full at time t3, the operation of the decoder 5 is temporarily stopped, and when the drawing in of the paper is completed, the printing is started and the printing operation is started.

As is clear from the above description, according to this embodiment, the printing time for one page can be reduced by the time T in FIG. 7 as compared with the conventional method, and the printing operation can be greatly reduced. Speed can be increased.

Next, the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to the timing chart of FIG.
This embodiment is intended to increase the speed when printing a plurality of sheets continuously. In FIG. 4, when the print start button is pressed at time t1, the decoder 5 starts operating, and the recording paper starts to be drawn from the paper supply cassette to the registration position. Next, a print start signal 72 is output from the control unit 8 to the printer 7 in synchronization with the later of the time when the coded image information fills the buffer 6 or when the drawing of the paper is completed, whichever is later. Then, the printer 7 starts the printing operation. Printer 7
Outputs a print signal 74 to the control unit 8 when the print operation is started.

At time t3, which is a predetermined time after the output of the print start signal 72, the paper discharge signal of the printer 7 is turned on, and the printer 7 starts discharging paper. By the above operation, the first document to be printed is
The printing of the page is executed. The decoder 5 decodes the image information in parallel with the printing, and when the data stored in the buffer 6 becomes full, stops the coding operation for a predetermined period and restarts the decoding operation after the predetermined period. I do. This operation is the same as the operation described in the first embodiment.

Time t at which printing of the first page ends
At 4, the control unit 8 outputs a pull-in signal for the second sheet to the printer 7. The decoder 5 sets parameters (for example, parameters for decoding coded data such as MH and MR) based on the page information obtained from the storage device 4 at the same time or after a predetermined time from the time t4, and
The decoding of the image information of the page starts. Normally, the time when the sheet is completely pulled in and the time when the buffer 6 becomes full due to the operation of the decoder 5 are earlier than the time t5 when the sheet is completely discharged. Therefore, when the control unit 8 detects the completion of the paper discharge of the printer 7 at the time t5, the control unit 8 starts printing the image information of the second page. Thus, when the printing operation starts, the discharge of the second sheet starts at a time t6 after a predetermined time. At time t7, when the printing of the image information of the second page is completed, 3
The pull-in of the sheet and the decoding of the image information of the third page are started. Hereinafter, the third page, the fourth page,
Are performed in the same manner as described above.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the above operation. This flowchart shows the operation of the control unit 8 of the second embodiment. When a print start operation is performed, the control unit 8 opens a document file to be printed in step S31. In step S32,
The first page information of the document file is retrieved from the storage device 4. In step S33, parameters obtained from the page information are set in the decoder 5. For example, if the data stored in the storage device 4 is data encoded by the MR encoding method, a parameter for decoding the data is set in the decoder 5. In step S34, the size of the recording paper is determined from the page information, and the printer 7 is activated to draw the paper. In step S35, the operation of the decoder 5 is started.

Next, in step S36, it is determined whether or not the buffer 6 is full of data, and subsequently, in step S37, it is determined whether or not the drawing in of the paper is completed.
If both determinations are affirmative, the process proceeds to step S38 to start printing and start printing. In step S39, it is determined whether or not there is a next page. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S40 to retrieve the page information of the next page from the storage device. On the other hand, if the determination in step S39 is negative, the process proceeds to step S41 to determine whether decoding of one page is completed.
If this determination is affirmative, the operation of the decoder 5 is stopped in step S42. In step S43, it is determined whether or not printing of one page has been completed. If the determination is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S44 to stop printing. In step S45, it is determined whether or not there is a next page. If the determination is affirmative, the flow advances to step S46 to determine a recording sheet from the page information and start drawing in.

In step S47, parameters obtained from the page information are set in the decoder 5, and in step S4
At 8, the operation of the decoder 5 is started. Step S
At 49, it is determined whether or not the buffer 6 is full of data. If this determination is affirmative, step S5
Proceeding to 0, a determination is made as to whether the recording and retraction has been completed. If this determination is affirmative, a determination is made in step S51 as to whether or not the ejection of the first page of recording paper has been completed. If this determination is affirmative, it is determined in step S52 whether there is a next page. If there is a next page, the flow advances to step S38 to start printing immediately. On the other hand, when it is determined in step S52 that there is no next page, the process proceeds to step S53 to close the document file. Then, the printing operation ends.

As described above, in this embodiment, after starting printing of a certain page, it is determined whether or not there is a next page. If there is a next page, the image information of the page is decoded. During this operation, the information of the next page is taken out (steps S39 and S40). Then, when the printing is stopped (step S44), drawing in of the paper for recording the next page is started. Therefore,
In this embodiment, the recording paper of the next page can be pulled in before the discharge of the recording paper of the first page is completed. In other words, the leading in of the recording paper can be performed. As a result, the start of printing the next page can be hastened, and the printing speed of a plurality of pages can be improved. In this embodiment, if printing is started before the end of the discharge of the recording sheet, the recording sheet may interfere with the recording sheet of the next page and cause a jam. The printing of the next page is started after the two conditions that the recording paper of the page has reached the registration sensor are satisfied. For this purpose, the control unit 8 may monitor both the discharge sensor and the registration sensor of the printer.

Next, in the image information recording apparatus of this embodiment, when an abnormality such as a paper jam occurs,
The abnormality processing of the control unit 8 will be described. For example, it is conceivable that a paper jam occurs during the discharge processing or the pull-in processing of the recording paper. The timing at which such a paper jam occurs is often between steps S49 and S50 in FIG. At this timing, the operation state of the image information recording device is as follows.

(1) The document file is open. (2) The file on the next page is also opened, and the image information has been read halfway. (3) The decoder 5 starts operating and is temporarily stopped. (4) The buffer 6 is full of data and can be read at any time.

When the jam occurs, if the operator is near the apparatus and the jam is removed, the printing operation can be resumed immediately. However, if the operator is not near the apparatus and the jam is not removed, the printing operation can be resumed. Do not know when the jam will be removed. Until the jam is removed, the image information recording device cannot be used.
Therefore, until the jam is removed, the above (1) to (4)
Saving the state is useless from the viewpoint of effective use of resources. Therefore, when an abnormality such as a jam occurs, the control unit 8 of the present embodiment immediately or after a predetermined time
Cancel the status of (1) to (4). That is, the document file is closed, the operation of the decoder 5 is completely stopped,
It performs operations such as initializing the buffer.

When the control unit 8 executes the above-described abnormal processing, the image information recording apparatus can be used for other purposes without using a printer. For example, an operation of transmitting a document in the storage device 4 can be performed. In addition, since the decoder is usually the same unit as the encoder 3, the original information can be read from the scanner 1 and encoded and stored.

[0041]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, printing can be performed at low cost and at high speed by using a buffer for temporarily storing decoded data less than one page of a printed document without using a page memory. An image information recording device can be provided.

According to the second to fourth aspects of the present invention, when a plurality of pieces of image information data are continuously printed, the recording paper is drawn into a predetermined position and decoded prior to the start of printing the next page. Can be executed, so that a plurality of pages can be printed at a high speed.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, if any abnormality occurs during high-speed printing, the means that performed the preceding operation can be released from the printing operation. This makes it possible to provide an image information recording device with high use efficiency.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a main part of an image information recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a facsimile apparatus incorporating the image information recording apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart for explaining the operation of the conventional device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the operation of the conventional device.

[Explanation of symbols]

4 storage device, 5 decoder, 6 buffer, 7 printer, 8 control unit.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tetsuji Morimoto 3-7-1, Funai, Iwatsuki-shi, Saitama Prefecture Inside Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (72) Yoshiharu Okazaki 3-7-1, Fuchu, Iwatsuki-shi, Saitama Fuji Xerox JP-A-4-49079 (JP, A) JP-A-4-123223 (JP, A) JP-A-4-235460 (JP, A) JP-A-4-65258 (JP, A A) JP-A-7-156471 (JP, A) JP-A-6-292023 (JP, A) JP-A-5-122532 (JP, A) JP-A-5-75873 (JP, A) (58) Survey Field (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 5/30 B41J 2/505 G06F 3/12 H04N 1/00 108 H04N 1/21

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. A storage means for managing and storing a code-compressed image information signal for each page, a decoder for decoding the code-compressed image information signal, and a printing original according to a decoding speed of the decoder. When a print start operation is performed in an image information recording apparatus including a buffer for temporarily storing decoded data less than one page and a printer that operates continuously and prints an image at a constant speed, Means for instructing to start decoding of a decoder and drawing of recording paper by the printer; means for detecting that data accumulated in the buffer is full; and drawing of the recording paper to a predetermined position. Means for initiating printing to the printer when both conditions of completion and full of data stored in the buffer are satisfied. 2. The image information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein after activating said printer, an image information signal of a next page is read from said storage means to determine whether there is an image information signal of the next page. Means for detecting, and, when there is an image information signal for the next page, means for instructing pull-in of recording paper to a predetermined position immediately after printing operation of the current page and start of decoding operation of the decoder. An image information recording device characterized by the above-mentioned. 3. The image information recording apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: means for immediately starting printing of the next page upon completion of discharging the sheet of the current page. 4. The image information recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the decoder stops a decoding operation for a predetermined time when the data accumulated in the buffer is full, and performs the decoding after the predetermined time. An image information recording device, wherein the operation is restarted. 5. The image information recording apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a unit that closes a document file in the storage unit, stops the operation of the decoder, and initializes a buffer when an abnormality occurs in the device. An image information recording device, characterized in that: