JPH0769655B2 - Image forming method - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document image forming method, and more particularly, to a color image, a character contour image, and an image forming method for a document including both images. .

<Prior Art and Problems Thereof> As an image forming apparatus for a color original, there are known ones based on a color electrophotographic method, a silver halide color photographic method, and a pressure-sensitive color material method.

In the color electrophotographic system, a color original is generally exposed by using a blue, green, or red color separation filter to form an electrostatic latent image on a charged photosensitive drum, and then the latent image is yellow, magenta, or cyan. Then, the color toner image is reproduced by transferring the color toner image onto a transfer paper, and then the color toner image is fixed. Then, the same process is repeated for each color to reproduce the color image.

In the silver halide color photographic system, a color image is reproduced by using a certain kind of silver halide color light-sensitive material.

In the light-sensitive pressure sensitive color material system, a color image is reproduced using a light-sensitive pressure sensitive color light-sensitive material.

Examples of the light-sensitive and pressure-sensitive color light-sensitive material include those disclosed in JP-A-57-179836 filed by the present applicant.
There is a type in which a polymerizable compound is imagewise cured by exposure and then a pressure is applied to obtain a visible image. This material is one in which a synthetic polymer resin type capsule containing a vinyl compound, a photopolymerization initiator, and a colorant bricarcer is carried on a support.

Further, after the silver halide is contained and exposed to light, heat development is carried out to develop the silver halide, and the polymerizable compound is simultaneously cured in accordance with the development, and then pressure is applied to obtain a visible image. As a type, Japanese Patent Application No. 60-121284 or Japanese Patent Application No. 61-53881 filed by the present applicant.
There are materials disclosed in the specification.

The material disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-121284 is a material for obtaining an image on an image-receiving material by transferring a color image-forming substance to the image-receiving material having an image-receiving layer after being subjected to heat development. At least a light-sensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound and a color image forming substance are coated, and at least the polymerizable compound and the color image forming substance are encapsulated in the same microcapsule. is there.

Further, the material disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 61-53881 obtains an image on a light-sensitive material without using an image-receiving material, and the silver halide, a reducing agent, a polymerizable compound, and a color-forming reaction in a contact state. Including the two types of substances that cause a color reaction, one of the substances that cause a color reaction and the polymerizable compound is in a state of being encapsulated in a microcapsule, and the other of the substances that cause a color reaction includes a polymerizable compound. Of the microcapsules present on the support.

A method for obtaining an image using this light-sensitive material is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 60-121284.

In this image forming method, first, imagewise exposure is performed to form a latent image, and the polymerizable compound in the portion where the latent image exists is polymerized by heating or light energy at the time of latent image formation to form a polymer compound. To cure the microcapsules. Then, pressure is applied to the image receiving material having an image receiving layer to which the color image forming substance can be transferred, and at least a part of the microcapsules where the latent image does not exist are ruptured to transfer the color image forming substance to the image receiving material. To obtain an image on the image receiving material.

To obtain a color image by the color electrophotographic method,
Since the steps of charging, exposing, developing, transferring, etc. are repeated at least three times, it takes time to form an image, and the apparatus becomes complicated and large. Further, it is difficult to obtain a line image of a clear character or the like due to a color shift caused by superimposing toner images of at least three colors.

Further, in the silver halide color photographic system, one exposure is sufficient, but complicated wet processing steps such as development, bleaching, fixing and washing of the light-sensitive material must be carried out. A tank for storing the solution is required, the apparatus becomes large in size, and complicated maintenance such as replenishment and replacement of the processing solution is required.

The light and pressure sensitive color material method has been proposed in order to obtain a color image with a simple structure in order to solve the problems of the color electrophotographic method and the silver halide color photographic method. In a color image forming apparatus for a document, it is possible to obtain both a color image having good color reproduction and a character image having good high density for a document including a color image and a character contour image. There is nothing.

Therefore, in order to obtain both a color image with good color reproduction and a character contour image with high density and good image quality, the applicants have used a chemical reaction to produce a latent image on a color image. An image forming apparatus that implements the image forming method and the monochrome electrophotographic forming method is proposed (Japanese Patent Application No. 62-187831).
issue).

Further, the applicant sets the color image range of the original with a digitizer, forms an image in this range by a color image forming method, and forms the character isoline image range by another monochrome electrophotographic forming method or the like. An image forming apparatus configured to synthesize and form an image has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application No.
62-214045).

According to this image forming apparatus, the color image and the character isoline image can be respectively designated and combined.

However, in such an image forming apparatus, when an analog / digital converting apparatus is used for the image reading apparatus and the exposure apparatus, a large number of semiconductor lasers, LEDs and the like must be used, and the apparatus becomes very expensive. Will end up. Further, the entire apparatus is large, and the configuration and control are complicated. Furthermore, when an analog / digital converter is used to form a color image, the image quality including color reproduction is generally inferior as compared with the case of the direct exposure method.

Further, in the case of direct exposure, in order to obtain both a color image and a character contour image in a single exposure scan, the color image forming apparatus or the monochrome electrophotographic image forming apparatus is stopped in the exposed state and the other I have to wait for the end of transcription,
Problems such as dark decay of the electrostatic latent image remain.

<Object of the Invention> An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to obtain a color image with good color reproduction and high image quality, and a character line image with high density and good sharpness. In addition, each image forming range can be set, a color image and a character contour line image can be combined in one exposure scan, and it is inexpensive, has a simple structure, and is a small image that is easy to scan. It is to provide a forming method.

<Brief Description of the Invention> The present invention relates to an image forming method for performing color image formation, in which a latent image or a visible image is formed in an image form by utilizing a chemical reaction, and a monochrome electrophotographic image formation. When scanning a document in which a monochrome image is mixed to form a reproduced image in which the color image and the monochrome image are combined, the color image region and / or the monochrome image region of the document is set in advance, and the document is scanned. After scanning once, the color image formation of the set color image area is performed by direct exposure, and the monochrome electrophotographic image formation of the set monochrome image area is branched by the exposure path of the color image formation, and analog / analog An image forming method is characterized in that an image is formed by performing digital conversion and exposing.

Further, it is preferable that the exposure path is branched by a half mirror.

<Specific Configuration of the Invention> In the present invention, a color image is obtained as a high-quality color image with good color reproduction by a color image forming method in which a latent image or a visible image is formed in an image form by utilizing a chemical reaction. It is possible to obtain a high density image with good sharpness for the character isoline image by the monochrome electrophotographic image forming method. Moreover, the exposure for forming the color image is performed by directly exposing the light-sensitive material in an analog method, and the exposure for forming the monochrome electrophotographic image is performed by an analog / digital conversion by a digital method. It is obtained in the state of

Further, since the exposure for forming the monochrome electrophotographic image is performed by branching the exposure path for forming the color image, the color image and the monochrome electrophotographic image can be combined by one-shot exposure once. If the exposure path is branched by a half mirror or the like installed in the exposure path, an image forming apparatus having a simple structure, a small size, and a low cost can be obtained.
In addition, by setting the range of color image formation and / or monochrome electrophotographic image formation, the image forming range of the color image with good color reproduction and high image quality and the high-density, sharp image of the contour lines is formed. It is also possible to specify and synthesize.

In such a case, in order to prevent the other image from overlapping the one image forming range, by setting the range in which one image forming method is carried out, the other image forming method is set in the setting range. It is preferable to be able to erase so as not to execute.

In the present invention, each of the different image forming methods can be carried out independently, and as described above, for example, in addition to carrying out the monochrome electrophotographic forming method on the color image forming paper on which the color image forming method is carried out, In addition, it is possible to carry out only the color image forming method alone, or to select only the monochrome electrophotographic image forming method and carry out this independently.

In this case, the exposure path can be switched, and this switching is
It is preferable to use a movable mirror.

In the color image forming method, as described above, it is preferable to use a light and pressure sensitive material as the light sensitive material, and the light and pressure sensitive material is as described above. Further, as the light-sensitive material, a silver halide light-sensitive material or a photosensitive resin material can also be used.

As for the monochrome electrophotographic image forming method, any of various known image forming methods of forming an electrostatic latent image on a photoconductor and developing the latent image with toner can be used.

Hereinafter, the image forming method of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, with reference to preferred embodiments in which a photosensitive pressure-sensitive material is used as a photosensitive material and a heat developing step is included.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image forming apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, this image forming apparatus basically includes an image forming optical system 200, a photosensitive material supply unit 12, and a heat developing device 40.
A transfer device 88 and a monochrome electrophotographic image forming device 500.
And a digitizer input device 600.

A document table 2 made of a transparent glass plate or the like for supporting a document placed thereon is attached to the upper part of the housing 1. An imaging optical system 200 is arranged below the document table 2 and is shielded from other parts by the partition wall 3.

The image forming optical system 200 may be configured by a known image forming lens moving type image forming optical system. That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the imaging optical system 200 includes an illumination lamp 208, a mirror 210, and a half of the illumination lamp 208, which integrally scans the entire lower surface of the original table 2 made of a glass plate or the like. Mirrors 212, 214 that move in the same direction at a speed and reflect the light of the illumination lamp 208 in a predetermined direction.
An image forming lens 220, a mirror 216 that reflects the light adjusted by the image forming lens 220 in a predetermined direction, and a half mirror 250 that distributes the light reflected by the mirror 216 to the monochrome electrophotographic image forming apparatus side. Mirrors 217 and 218 that reflect the light distributed by the mirror 250 to the CCD sensor 240
A CCD sensor 240 that converts the traveling optical signal into an electric signal, and an aperture 230 for the light reflected by the half mirror 250.
And a mirror 219 that reflects the light to the exposure position 32 of the color image.

That is, in this case, the exposure path is branched by the half mirror 250 into the exposure path 264 on the side of the monochrome electrophotographic image forming apparatus and the exposure path 262 on the side of the color image forming apparatus, and the heat-sensitive development color of light and pressure sensitivity for color image formation is formed. Photosensitive material S
(Hereinafter, referred to as photosensitive material S) is directly exposed, and the photoconductor 510 for monochrome electrophotographic image formation passes through the CCD sensor 240,
Monochrome exposure device 310 performs analog / digital conversion for exposure.

A photosensitive material magazine 14 accommodating a photosensitive material roll 12 around which the photosensitive material S is wound is detachably attached to the side portion of the housing 1.

At the exit 16 of the photosensitive material S of the photosensitive material magazine 14, a pair of photosensitive material feeding rolls 22 and 22 housed in a magazine-connected dark box 20 are arranged, whereby the photosensitive material S wound on the photosensitive material roll 12 is transferred. It is rolled out for a certain length at a predetermined time.

The photosensitive material feeding rolls 22 and 22 move in directions away from each other as indicated by an imaginary line when the leading end portion of the photosensitive material S advances, and facilitate the progress of the photosensitive material S. A cutter unit 23 for cutting the photosensitive material S and a guide plate 24 are arranged in front of the magazine-connected dark box 20 (hereinafter, the front means a downstream in the traveling direction of the photosensitive material and the like).

In front of the guide plate 24, an exposure sensitive material support roll 26 and two sensitive material nip rolls 28, 30 pressed against the exposure sensitive material support roll 26 are arranged. The light-sensitive material S guided by the guide plate 24 is brought into close contact with the exposure light-sensitive material support roll 26 by the light-sensitive material nip rolls 28 and 30, and the light traveling on the light-sensitive path 262 at the position 32 between the light-sensitive material nip rolls 28 and 30. Provides direct imagewise exposure.

At this time, the monochrome electrophotographic image area B other than the color image area A is erased (white exposure) slightly upstream of the color exposure position 32 of the photosensitive material S supported and conveyed on the exposure sensitive material support roll. A white dot array light source 620 is provided. In front of the exposure sensitive material support roll 26, a heat developing device 40 for heating and developing the exposed photosensitive material S is arranged. The heating and developing device 40 includes a developing housing 42 having a heat insulating function, a heating roll 44 disposed in the developing housing 42 and heated to about 120 ° C., and four belt supporting rolls 46, 4
It has an endless belt 50 which is supported by 7, 48 and 49 and is wound around the outer periphery of an arc of about 270 ° of the heating roll 44, and a nip roll 52 which is pressed against the support roll 49.

The heat developing device 40 further guides the photosensitive material S sent from the exposure photosensitive supporting roll 26 onto the heating roll 44 and guides the photosensitive material S away from the heating roll 44 after heat development, and a supporting roll 49. And a vertical guide device 58 for guiding the developed photosensitive material S sent by the nip roll 52 to the outlet 56, and the outlet 56 is provided with a sensitive material tip detection sensor 60.

Immediately below the outlet 56, a pair of pressure contact rolls 62 and 64, a nip roll 66 pressed against the pressure contact roll 64, and the image receiving paper C sent by the pressure contact roll 64 and the nip roll 66 are pressed against each other.
A photosensitive material image receiving paper superposing device 70 including a guide member 68 for guiding to the abutting portions of 62 and 64 is arranged.

An image receiving paper feeding device is provided on the side of the photosensitive material image receiving paper superposing device 70.
72 are placed. The image receiving paper supply device 72 is composed of an image receiving paper supply cassette 74 that is detachably attached and protrudes from the housing 1, an image receiving paper feeding roll 76 for feeding out the image receiving paper C in the cassette 74, and a feeding roll 76. The received image receiving paper C is pressed onto the pressure roller 64 and the nip roller 66.
And a guide plate 78 that guides the contact plate to the contact portion. Here, the width of the image receiving paper C is about 6 mm smaller than the width of the photosensitive material S.
Are overlapped with each other so as to be in the center of the photosensitive material S in the width direction.

Here, as the image receiving paper C, any image can be used as long as it can transfer the image carried by the photosensitive material S under pressure, and examples thereof include cut sheets, roll paper, and overhead projector paper.

A pair of pressure nip rolls 80 and 82 and a backup roll for uniformizing the pressure of the pressure nip rolls 80 and 82 in the axial direction are provided below the photosensitive material image receiving sheet superposing device 70.
A transfer device 88 including 84 and 86 is provided. The pressure nip rolls 80 and 82 are pressed against each other by a pressure of about 200 to 600 Kg / cm ² .

Below the transfer device 88, a photosensitive material image receiving paper peeling device 90 is provided. The photosensitive material image receiving paper peeling device 90 includes a guide member 92, a first feed roll 94, a second feed roll 96, and a first feed roll 94.
The peeling belt 102 is wound around the guide rolls 98 and 100 so as to be in pressure contact with only the photosensitive material S at both upper end portions.

A photosensitive material discarding unit 104 is provided in front of one of the peeling devices 90, and a monochrome electrophotographic image forming apparatus 500 is provided in front of the other.
Is provided.

The sensitive material discarding unit 104 includes guide members 108, 115, 116, 117,
The peeling device 90 has two pairs of feed rolls 107, 109 and 110, 112, guide rolls 105, 106, and a waste box 114.
Material S sent from the sheet and guided by the guide member 108
Guide roll 105, feed rolls 107, 109, guide roll 1
Waste box 11 fed by rolls 110, 112 fed through 06
It is thrown into 4.

The monochrome electrophotographic forming apparatus 500 includes a monochrome exposure apparatus 310 for imagewise exposure, a drum-shaped photoreceptor 510 coated with an organic photoconductive substance having a peak in the vicinity of 780 nm as spectral sensitivity, and a photoreceptor 510. Charger for charging electric charge
519, a magnetic brush type toner developing device 514 for developing an electrostatic latent image like an image formed by exposure on the photoconductor 510 with toner, and the toner image on the photoconductor 510 to the image receiving paper C. A transfer charger 516 for transferring, a cleaner 518 for removing residual toner on the photoconductor 510 after the transfer, an exposure lamp 519 for removing residual charge of the photoconductor 510, and an image receiving paper C. Separation roll 524 for separating from the photoconductor 510
And a feed roller 506, 508, and a heating roller 530 for heating and fixing the toner image on the image receiving paper C. The photoconductor 510 rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure and is sequentially charged by the charger 512. The toner image is exposed imagewise by the exposure device 310 to form an electrostatic latent image and then developed by the toner developing device 514 to form a toner image on the photoconductor 510.

The image receiving paper C sent from the peeling device 90 is guided by the feed roll 96 and the guide member 120, and the registration rolls 122 and 124 adjust the timing for transfer to the photoconductor 510.
The toner is sent out and guided by the guide members 504 and 505, is sent along the outer circumference of the photoconductor 510 at the same speed as the outer circumferential speed of the photoconductor 510, is brought into close contact with the toner image on the photoconductor 510, and is transferred and charged. The toner image on the photoconductor 510 is transferred onto the image receiving paper C by the container 516, and is separated by the separating roll 524.
Then, the image receiving paper C is guided by the heating roller 530 arranged in front of the photoconductor 510 by the guide member 525, and the toner image on the image receiving paper C is heated and fixed.

In this case, the fixing may be pressure fixing.

A take-out tray 130 that receives the image receiving paper C is attached to the front of the heating roll 530 so as to project from the housing 1. The image receiving paper C is sent to the tray 130 by the feed rolls 126 and 128.

The photoconductor 510 may be an inorganic photoconductive substance as long as it has a peak of spectral sensitivity close to the wavelength of the laser light source used in addition to the above organic photoconductive substance. Not only the magnetic brush method but also the cascade method may be used.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the digitizer input device 600 is provided outside the housing 1 of the image recording apparatus of the present invention by a signal code 602, and is placed on the digitizer table 606 using a cursor 604. It is configured so that a range in which a different image forming method is performed can be designated according to a placed document.

In the digitizer input device 600, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, a document 610 is placed on a digitizer table 606, and the color image area A of the document 610 is two points (x ₁ , y ₁ ) and (x ₂ , Y
₂ ) It is set by pushing the two points (x ₃ , y ₃ ) and (x ₄ , y ₄ ) with the cursor 604.

In this embodiment, the document 6 is displayed on the digitizer input device 600.
Although the rectangular color image area A is set by placing 10 and specifying two points with the cursor 604, any method may be used as long as the color image area A can be set at a predetermined position. The color image area A having an arbitrary shape may be set by designating two or more points. On the contrary, the monochrome electrophotographic image area B may be set.

Here, regarding the exposure control method of the set image forming area,
This will be described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

First, the range of the color image area A (A area) is set by the digitizer input device 600. The erase light control device 6 receives the area A setting signal from the digitizer input device 600.
24 is synchronized with the moving speed of the platen 2 and the photosensitive material S,
By controlling the white dot array light source 620, the color photosensitive material S
Only the area B in B is exposed by white dot array light. At this time, a region A, which is a color image forming region of the photosensitive material S, is unexposed, and a latent image or a visible image corresponding to white light is formed in region B. After that, the entire surface is scanned and exposed as a color image by the imaging optical system 200. Since the area B has already been exposed to white and cannot receive additional recording information, a full color image is formed only in the area A. This photosensitive material S
Is transferred to the image receiving paper C, the full-color image is transferred to the area A and the area B becomes white.

Further, the A area setting signal from the digitizer input device 600 is received via the signal code 602.

The exposure control circuit 228 controls the monochrome electrophotographic exposure device 310 to expose the entire area A of the charged monochrome electrophotographic photoreceptor 510 to form no image, and to expose the area B of the monochrome electrophotographic photoreceptor 510. Is exposed with a monochrome image.

As a result, a monochrome image is formed in the area B of the monochrome electrophotographic photosensitive member 510, and no image exists in the area A.

By transferring the monochrome image carried by the monochrome electrophotographic photoreceptor 510 thus obtained to the above-mentioned image receiving paper C on which a color image has been formed, a monochrome image is formed in the area B of the image receiving paper C. However, the area A on which the color image has already been formed is not changed.

In the above description, by setting only the range of the color image area A by the digitizer input device 600, the outside of the set range is automatically determined to be the monochrome electrophotographic image area B. In addition to this, in the digitizer input device 600, by setting the range of the color image area A and the range of the monochrome electrophotographic image area B at the same time, a color image and a monochrome image are formed only in each image setting range. It can also be done.

In this way, an image forming range is set on one sheet of image-receiving paper, and a color image with good color reproduction and a monochrome image with high density and good character separation lines can be simultaneously formed.

Here, the white dot array light source used in the present invention may be any light source as long as it completely exposes the B region of the photosensitive material S. For example, red, green, blue or red, green, infrared light or the like can be used.
Color semiconductor laser (LD) or light emitting diode (LE
A large number of combinations of light sources such as D) may be used,
A large number of these two-color synthetic wavelength light and the remaining one-color light source may be used in combination, or two two-color synthetic wavelength light may be used.
It may be configured to use a large number of types, or it is possible to use a large number of ordinary white light sources.

In the monochrome exposure apparatus 310, as shown in FIG. 3, the read signal from the CCD sensor 220 is supplied to the analog / digital conversion circuit 222 and the exposure control circuit 228, and the signal from the digitizer 606 is supplied to the exposure control circuit. The exposure amount is controlled by 228, and the photoconductor 510 is exposed from the monochrome exposure device 310.

At this time, the signal from the digitizer 606 is applied to the exposure control circuit 228.
To control the exposure area.

In the monochrome electrophotographic exposure device 310, the semiconductor laser 3
The laser light with a wavelength of 780 nm emitted from 12 is shaped through the collimator lens 313, is reflected by the rotating polygon mirror 315, passes through the fθ lens 316, and is mirrored.
It is exposed on the photoconductor 510 which is reflected and charged by 317. Here, as the semiconductor laser 312, for example, HL7801E manufactured by Hitachi, Ltd. can be used.

At this time, as the polygon mirror 315 rotates, the laser light is scanned and exposed in the rotation axis direction of the photoconductor 510.
Then, by rotating the photoconductor 510 in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction of the laser beam, an image-like electrostatic latent image is formed in the monochrome electrophotographic image area B of the photoconductor 510, and toner development is performed. The toner image is transferred onto the image receiving paper C on which the color image is formed in the color image area A, and a monochrome electrophotographic image is formed in the monochrome electrophotographic image area B of the image receiving paper C.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the monochrome electrophotographic device 500 is arranged in front of the color image transfer device 88, and a monochrome electrophotographic image is formed after a color image is formed in a predetermined area of the image receiving paper C. However, like the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 4, the monochrome electrophotographic image forming apparatus 500 is arranged upstream of the transfer device 88, and the image receiving paper C before the color image is transferred from the photosensitive material S is received. In addition, the same effect can be obtained by forming a monochrome electrophotographic image.

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 4 is exactly the same as the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 except that the transfer order of the color image and the monochrome electrophotographic image is different, and the same components are designated by the same reference numerals. The description is omitted.

In the example shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, the original is placed on the transparent original table 2 such as a glass plate and fixed, and the transparent original table 2 is fixed.
Although the image forming optical system 200 having the light source 208 is moved from below to perform scanning, the light source moving type is used. However, the image forming optical system 200 may be fixed and the document moving type may be moved to move the original table on which the original is placed. Good.

Further, in the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the copying machine of the type that performs heat development as the light and pressure sensitive color light-sensitive material is shown. The device 409 is omitted.

In the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the color image of the photosensitive material S and the monochrome photographic image of the photoconductor 510 are configured to be transferred to the image receiving paper C.
The monochrome electrophotographic image of the photoconductor 510 may be transferred to form the monochrome electrophotographic image. In this case, the transfer device is of course unnecessary.

Further, in the example shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the white electrophotographic image area B is white dot array exposure so that the area B becomes white, but by controlling these exposures, what color is used in analog exposure? By preparing such a dot array light source, it is possible to add a background color of any color to any position in the monochrome electrophotographic image area.

Although the digitizer input device is configured separately from the document table of the image forming apparatus in the example of FIGS. 1 and 4, the document table is configured to also serve as the digitizer input device. The range may be specified above.

Further, in the examples shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, an example in which a color image and a monochrome electrophotographic image are selectively formed on the image receiving paper C is shown, but the color image is formed on the image receiving paper C, The monochrome electrophotographic image can be formed by transferring it onto a separately prepared sheet feeding device or plain paper supplied.

As another aspect of the present invention, when each image formation is performed independently, a movable total reflection type mirror 255 is used instead of the half mirror 250 as shown in FIG. Exposure path 262, 264 due to movement of mirror 255
The exposure path may be switchable so that can be selected.

In this case, when the color image forming apparatus is selected, the mirror 255 is installed at the position shown by the solid line in the same manner as the half mirror 250, and the original image is reflected along the exposure path 262. Further, in the case of selecting monochrome electrophotography, the mirror 255 may be moved to the position of the broken line 255 'in the figure and reflected so as to pass through the original image exposure path 264.

The method of moving the mirror is rack and pinion, etc.
A conventionally known method may be used.

<Specific Action of the Invention> The image forming apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention is basically configured as described above, and its specific action will be described below.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, the original is a digitizer input device 600.
After the color image area A is designated, the original is placed face down on the original table 2, the color photosensitive material S is fed out from the photosensitive material magazine 14, and the predetermined length is set by the cutter unit 23. It is cut into small pieces, and the rolls 28 and 30 are brought into close contact with the exposure light-sensitive material supporting roll 26 and conveyed. At this time, the photosensitive material S is exposed to white by the white dot array 620 which receives a signal from the erasing light control device 624 except for the color image area A. Further, the original document is illuminated by an illumination lamp 208 that moves in synchronization with the photosensitive material. When illuminating the original on the illumination lamp 208, the illumination lamp 208 and the mirror 210 scan the entire lower surface of the original placing table 2, so that the distance between the illumination lamp 208 and the imaging lens 220 does not change at this time. Mirror 212
And 214 are 1/2 in the same direction as the illumination lamp 208 and the mirror 210.
Move at the speed of.

The light emitted from the illumination lamp 208 is reflected by the original document placed on the original document table 2 and by the mirrors 210, 212, and 214, and travels toward the imaging lens 220 along a predetermined path. The light adjusted by the imaging lens 220 is reflected by the mirror 216 in a predetermined direction. This light is half-reflected by the half mirror 250, and is reflected by the mirror 218 via the exposure path 262 to directly analog-expose the photosensitive material S at the exposure position 32.

The exposed photosensitive material S is sent to the heat developing device 40, heated by the heating drum 44, and the leading end position is detected by the sensitive material leading edge detection sensor 60 at the exit 56, and is sent to the sensitive material image receiving paper superposing device 70. . When the front end position of the photosensitive material S is detected, the image receiving paper C is also sent from the image receiving paper supply device 72 to the photosensitive material image receiving paper superposing device 70, and the color photosensitive material S and the image receiving paper C are superposed in a predetermined positional relationship. They are combined and sent to the transfer device 88.
In the transfer device 88, the pressure nip rollers 80 and 82 transfer the color image of the area A carried by the color sensitive material S onto the image receiving paper C. Even if the area B is transferred, it becomes white. The pressure-transferred photosensitive material S and the image receiving paper C are separated by the separating device 90,
The photosensitive material S is sent to the sensitive material discarding section 104, and the image receiving paper C is sent to the monochrome electrophotographic apparatus 500.

On the other hand, for monochrome electrophotographic images, the exposure control circuit
A read image signal 228 transmitted from the CCD sensor 240 and an A region setting signal 228 control the exposure amount so that the A region becomes white by full exposure and the B region forms a monochrome image. According to this control, the monochrome exposure device 31
0 exposes the photoconductor 510 of the monochrome electrophotographic apparatus 500.
In this way, nothing is formed in the area A of the photoconductor 510, and an electrostatic latent image is formed in the area B, which is then developed to form a monochrome toner image.

Also in the monochrome electrophotographic image formation, it is possible to separately install a light source for erasing exposure and preliminarily perform erasing exposure for the area A by a signal from the digitizer 600.

Thereafter, the image-receiving paper C on which the color image has been transferred is separated by the peeling device 90.
And the timing is adjusted by the resist rolls 122 and 124, and the toner is conveyed in close contact with the photoconductor 510 in synchronization with the rotation speed of the photoconductor 150. Here, the toner image on the area B of the photoconductor 510 is transferred onto the image receiving paper C by the transfer charger 516, and is heated and fixed by the heating roll 530, and the take-out tray 1
Sent to 30.

In this way, the image receiving paper C has a color image with good color reproduction in the area A, and has a monochrome electrophotographic image such as a character contour image with good density in the area B.

Note that, as described above, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention can be made to select a color image and a monochrome electrophotographic image.

Although the image forming method according to the present invention has been described above with reference to the preferred embodiments, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a plurality of discharged image forming image receiving sheets are grouped, A device having various processing functions such as a sorter for automatically collating documents, a finisher for automatically folding and aligning the image receiving sheets, and an automatic document feeder for automatically feeding a large number of documents to a document table. It is needless to say that various improvements and design changes can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention such as addition of the above.

<Effects of the Invention> As described above in detail, according to the present invention, a color image is formed by a color image forming method in which a latent image or a visible image is formed in an image form by utilizing a chemical reaction. An image can be obtained as an image, and a character isoline image can be obtained as a high-density image with good sharpness by a monochrome electrophotographic image forming method.

In addition, since the color image formation exposure is performed by direct exposure and the monochrome electrophotographic image formation exposure is performed by analog / digital conversion, each image can be obtained in the best condition.

Moreover, since the exposure path for color image formation is branched to perform exposure for monochrome electrophotographic image formation and the range for color image formation and / or monochrome electrophotographic image formation is set, a color image with good color reproduction and high image quality In addition, it is possible to simultaneously obtain a high density and sharp crisp image of characters.

Since the color image is formed by the analog method, a color image with good color reproduction and high image quality can be obtained, and the exposure device has a simple structure and is easy to operate.

Further, since the monochrome electrophotographic image formation is performed by the digital exposure method, it is easy to control the transfer and transfer of the photosensitive material during image combination, and the image quality is not deteriorated due to dark attenuation.

If the exposure path is branched by a half mirror or a movable mirror, it is possible to obtain an inexpensive image forming apparatus having a simple structure, a small size, easy manufacture, maintenance and handling.

In the present invention, each of the different image forming methods can be carried out independently, and as described above, for example, a monochrome electrophotographic forming method is carried out on a color image forming paper on which the color image forming method has been carried out. In addition, it is possible to independently perform only the color image forming method and only the monochrome electrophotographic forming method, respectively.

In this case, each exposure path can be switched,
If this switching is performed by a movable mirror, it is possible to obtain an image forming apparatus which has a simple structure, is small in size, is easy to manufacture, maintain and handle, and is inexpensive.

Further, according to the present invention, by performing different image forming methods in the same setting range, for example, by performing the color image forming method and the monochrome electrophotographic forming method overlapping the setting range, the monochrome image portion Color can be added to the background of letters, tables, marks, etc.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the operation of the digitizer used in the image forming apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a path diagram showing light and signal transmission paths of a monochrome exposure apparatus used in an image forming apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of another embodiment of an image forming apparatus for carrying out the image forming method of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of another embodiment of the present invention. Explanation of symbols A ... color image area, B ... monochrome electrophotographic image area, S ... photosensitive material, C ... image receiving paper, 1 ... housing, 2 ... manuscript table, 3 ... partition, 12 ... Sensitive material roll, 14 …… sensitive material magazine, 16 …… exit, 20 …… magazine connecting dark box, 22 …… sensitive material feeding roll, 23 …… cutter unit, 24 …… guide plate, 26 …… exposure sensitive material support Rolls, 28, 30 ... Sensitive material nip rolls, 32, 34 ... Exposure position, 40 ... Heat developing device, 42 ... Development housing, 44 ... Heating roll, 46, 47, 48, 49 ... Belt support roll , 50 …… Belt, 52 …… Nip roll, 54 …… Guide device, 56 …… Exit, 58 …… Vertical guide device, 60 …… Sensor, 62, 64 …… Pressure contact roll, 66 …… Nip roll, 68 …… Guide member, 70 ... Sensitive image receiving device, 72 ... Image receiving paper feeding device, 74 ... Image receiving device Supply cassette, 76 ... Image receiving paper roll, 78 ... Guide plate, 80, 82 ... Pressure nip roll, 84, 86 ... Backup roll, 88 ... Transfer device, 90 ... Peeling device, 92 ... Guide Member, 94 ... First feed roll, 96 ... Feed roll, 98, 100 ... Guide roll, 102 ... Peeling belt, 104 ... Sensitive material disposal section, 105, 106 ... Guide roll, 107, 109 ... … Feed roll, 108 …… Guide member, 110,112 …… Feed roll, 114 …… Disposal box, 115,116,117,120 …… Guide member, 122,124 …… Registration roll, 121a, 121b, 123a, 123b, 126, 128 ... Feed roll, 130 ... Take-out tray, 200 ... Imaging optical system, 208 ... Illumination lamp, 210, 212, 214, 216, 217, 218, 219 ... Mirror, 220 ... Imaging lens, 240 …… CCD sensor, 250 …… Half mirror, 255 …… Mirror, 222 …… Analog / digital conversion 228 ... exposure control circuit, 230 ... aperture, 262,264 ... exposure path, 310 ... monochrome electrophotographic exposure apparatus, 312 ... semiconductor laser, 313 ... collimator lens, 315 ... polygon mirror, 316 ... f.theta. Lens, 317 ... Mirror, 500 ... Monochrome electrophotographic forming device, 504, 505 ... Guide member, 506, 508 ... Feed roll, 510 ... Monochrome electrophotographic photoreceptor, 512 ... Charger , 514 ... Toner developing device, 516 ... Transfer charger, 518 ... Cleaner, 519 ... Exposure lamp, 524 ... Separation roll, 525 ... Guide member, 530 ... Heating roll, 600 ... Digitizer input device , 602 ... signal code, 604 ... cursor, 606 ... digitizer stand, 610 ... original, 620 ... white dot array light source, 624 ... erase light control device

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI Technical display location G03G 15/04 113 15/22 103 Z (56) References JP-A-60-238823 (JP, A) ) JP-A-62-108236 (JP, A) JP-A-56-120253 (JP, A) JP-A-58-43481 (JP, A) JP-A-56-149029 (JP, A) JP-A-62- 14153 (JP, A) JP 60-30238 (JP, A) JP 62-35352 (JP, A) JP 48-39032 (JP, A) Actual development 62-195143 (JP, U) Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-2802 (JP, B1) Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-51835 (JP, B2) Actual Publication No. 62-30034 (JP, Y2)

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming method in which a color image is formed by using a chemical reaction to form a latent image or a visible image and a monochrome electrophotographic image is formed, and a color image and a monochrome image are mixed. When the original is scanned to form a reproduced image in which the color image and the monochrome image are combined, a color image area and / or a monochrome image area of the original is set in advance, and the original is scanned once, The color image formation of the set color image area is performed by direct exposure, and the monochrome electrophotographic image formation of the set monochrome image area is branched by exposing the exposure path of the color image formation, and exposed by analog / digital conversion. An image forming method is characterized in that an image is formed thereby. 2. The image forming method according to claim 1, wherein the exposure path is branched by a half mirror.