JP4288149B2 - Image forming system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming system related to an image data input / output apparatus that inputs and outputs digital image data.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, some digital copying machines are equipped with a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as HDD), and this HDD is used for a function of storing and using image data once such as an electronic sort function and an image registration function. The electronic sort function reads a document, stores it in the HDD, reads all images, stores them in the HDD, reads these images from the HDD in order of pages, and prints them out.

  As a result, even without a sorter device having a plurality of bins, the copy sheets can be discharged in a sorted state. Further, the image registration function stores a plurality of form images in advance as registered images in the HDD, so that it can be printed out as many times as necessary without being read again by the scanner.

In addition, a hard disk controller is provided that can transfer high-speed image data to a plurality of HDDs with a simple configuration and that can efficiently manage a plurality of HDDs as one HDD (Patent Literature). 1).
JP 2002-354217 A

  By the way, since the model change of the HDD is generally performed in about six months, it is necessary to change the HDD installed in the digital copying machine to a different model during the production period. Each time the manufacturer needs to switch to a different model several times.

Each time the manufacturer needs to evaluate the performance of the system equipped with HDDs of different models and the evaluation of the electrical drop characteristics, it requires a lot of costs.
Furthermore, since the HDD is very vulnerable to impact, when the HDD is mounted on the apparatus, there are many cases where the HDD breaks down depending on how it is handled during transportation.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and in an apparatus that stores digital images of a digital copying machine and realizes various functions, the HDD stores digital image data in an external apparatus through a network. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming system capable of avoiding the disadvantages of mounting the camera.

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming system according to claim 1, wherein a page memory for storing at least one page of input image data, and storage and reading of the image data with respect to the page memory. Memory control means for controlling, and network control means for storing and reading the image data by transmitting and receiving the image data in the page memory read by the memory control means to a server device via a network; And an image forming system in which a plurality of server apparatuses that receive and store the image data from the image forming apparatus are connected to each other via the network. , among the plurality of server devices, and a fraction image data amount of pages that are to be transferred, said image forming The server apparatus according to the lowest value operation status indicator obtained by the product of the printing speed that location is requested, and selects as a server apparatus for receiving and storing of the image data.

  From the above description, according to the present invention, when digital image data is stored in a digital copying machine or the like and an HDD is mounted by storing digital image data in an external device through a network in a device that realizes various functions. The various disadvantages can be avoided. In addition, a plurality of image forming apparatuses and server apparatuses on the network are connected to each other, and when a certain image forming apparatus selects one server apparatus, it is possible to work on the efficiency droplets.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
An object of the image forming system of the present invention is to avoid the disadvantages of installing an HDD in the apparatus by accumulating and using the image data stored in the HDD in a server apparatus on a network.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a digital copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In the digital copying machine, the scanner unit 101 and the laser recording unit 102 form images and print on paper, and the post-processing unit 103 performs output paper alignment, stapling, and punch hole processing. The scanner unit 101 includes a transparent glass platen 104, an automatic double-sided document feeder 105 (hereinafter referred to as RADF) that feeds a document on the top surface of the document table, and reads an image of a document placed on the top surface of the document table. The scanner unit 106 is used.

  Image data read by the scanner unit 101 is output to the laser recording unit 102. The RADF 105 reverses the front and back surfaces of a document on which a single-sided image has been read by the scanner unit 106 from a document tray (not shown) to a discharge tray (not shown) via a document table and guides it to the document table again. It has a double-sided document feed path and can handle both single-sided and double-sided originals. The scanner unit 106 irradiates a document with a lamp, and forms an image of reflected light of the document on a light receiving surface of a photoelectric conversion element with a lens, a mirror, or the like.

  The photoelectric conversion element converts the reflected light on the image surface of the document into an electrical signal and outputs the electrical signal to an image processing unit described later. The laser recording unit 102 includes a paper transport unit 107 that transports paper, a laser writing unit 108, and an electrophotographic process unit (image forming unit) 109. In the double-sided copying mode in which images are formed on both sides of the sheet, the sheet conveying unit 107 includes a sub-conveying path that reverses the front and back surfaces of the sheet that has passed through the fixing roller and guides the sheet again to the electrophotographic process unit.

  The laser writing unit 108 is a semiconductor laser that emits laser light based on the image data supplied from the image processing unit, and the light emitted from the semiconductor laser is arranged on the surface of the photosensitive drum of the electrophotographic process unit 109 through a mirror or a lens. Shine. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and the toner image is made visible by supplying toner from the developing device.

  The toner image is transferred onto the paper guided from the paper transport unit 107, and then heated and pressurized by the fixing roller, and the toner image is melted and fixed on the surface of the paper. After writing on the paper is completed in this way, a portion of the output paper is aligned in the post-processing unit 103, staple and punch hole processing is performed, and the paper is discharged to the tray.

Next, the control unit of the copying machine will be described with reference to FIG.
The control unit of the copying machine controls the devices constituting each unit through a CPU 202 mounted on the unit by a CPU 202 mounted on the image processing board 201. That is, the control unit of the copying machine includes an operation panel board 229 for managing an operation panel 226 provided on the upper surface of the copying machine, a machine control board 232 for managing each crisis in the copying machine, and a CCD having photoelectric conversion elements mounted along with peripheral components. The board 211 includes an image processing board 201 on which a CPU for performing various kinds of image processing on image data is mounted together with peripheral components.

Next, processing of image data in the copy mode in the copying machine will be described.
The image of the document fed to the document table via the RADF is sequentially read by the scanner unit. Driven by the CCD control unit 213 on the CCD board 211 in the scanner unit, the output signal is subjected to gain adjustment by the analog circuit 215, and is sent from the A / D conversion unit 212 to the image processing board 201 as 8-bit image data. Sent.

  After predetermined image processing is performed in the image processing unit 204, image data for one page is stored in the page memory 206 once by the memory and network control unit 205. The image stored in the page memory 206 is then read out and stored in the server device via the network.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the connection configuration between the copying machine and the server apparatus will be described.
These processes are executed for all documents set in the RADF. After the image reading is completed, a plurality of image data stored in the server device are repeatedly read out by the memory and network control unit 205 in the order of pages by a set number of times, and the image processing unit 204 performs predetermined image processing. The laser writing unit 210 is supplied via the laser control unit 207. Accordingly, even when a plurality of copies of each original image are formed, it is only necessary to read the original image once. In this way, in the present invention, image data is stored and used in an external server device via a network, and an image typified by the sort function is stored and used without mounting the HDD in the device. Various functions can be realized.

Also, as shown in FIG. 4, in a configuration in which a plurality of copying machines are connected to the network and a plurality of server apparatuses are connected, the copying machine selects the server apparatus so that the performance is further improved. FIG. 5 shows a procedure for the copying machine to select a server. When the user selects a function for using the server device, the copying machine inquires each server on the network for an operation status index. This operation status index is calculated from the amount of image data for one page transferred from the copying machine to the server and the printing speed requested by the copying machine. If the server is not working on any copying machine, the operation status index is zero. An operation status index of a server used in a copier that requires a printing speed of 45 sheets per minute when the data amount of one page is 9.5 Mbytes is 9.5 × 45 = 427.5. For servers that are simultaneously performing a plurality of operations, this operation status index is cumulatively added. The copier that has selected the server selects the server with the lowest operation status index, and executes the process on the selected server.
In this way, even when a plurality of servers and a plurality of copying machines are connected on the network, each copying machine can execute an operation on an efficient drop.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit of the copying machine according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a connection between a copying machine and a server in an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing connection of a plurality of copying machines and servers to a network in the embodiment of the present invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing operation in which the copier according to the embodiment of the present invention selects a server.

Explanation of symbols

101 Scanner Unit 102 Laser Recording Unit 103 Post-Processing Unit 104 Document Stand 105 RADF
106 Scanner unit 107 Paper transport unit 108 Laser writing unit 109 Electrophotographic process unit

Claims (1)

A page memory for storing the input image data for at least one page, a memory control means for controlling the storage and reading of the image data in the page memory, and the page read by the memory control means Network control means for storing and reading the image data by transmitting and receiving the image data in the memory to a server device via a network; and
The server apparatus that receives and stores the image data from the image forming apparatus is an image forming system in which a plurality of servers are connected via the network,
The image forming apparatus includes:
Among the plurality of server devices, the server device that shows the lowest value of the operation status index obtained by the product of the image data amount corresponding to the number of pages to be transferred and the print speed requested by the image forming device Is selected as a server device that receives and stores the image data.

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