JP2003078712A - Image reading device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To automatically determine whether a printer connected to a color scanner is color or black and white, and switch between color warm-up and black-and-white warm-up accordingly, so that an optimal warm-up time for each printer is provided. Select SOLUTION: When it is determined that the printer is a black-and-white printer by communication after power-on, first warm-up and CCD adjustment are performed to enable black-and-white reading. If it is determined that the printer is a color printer, a second warm-up and a CCD adjustment are further performed.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention comprises a white light source,
The present invention relates to an image reading device in which an image reading device that reads an image of a document and an image recording device that outputs the read image to a recording medium can be separated or integrated.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image information of an original or the like is imaged on a line sensor such as a CCD via an image forming optical system, and color image information is digitally read based on an output signal from the line sensor. Various image reading devices have been proposed.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a main part of an optical system in a conventional color image reading apparatus.

In the figure, 10 is a platen glass for storing a document, 11 is a white light source for illuminating the document, and 12 is a reflector for improving the illumination efficiency.

A document (not shown) illuminated by the white light source 11 and the reflector 12 has a mirror 13-a provided on the first mirror stand and 13-b and 13-c provided on the second mirror stand.
The light is guided to the image forming optical system 14 via the, and the image forming optical system 14 forms an image of the document image on the line sensor 15.

White light source 11, reflector 12, mirror 13-
a indicates that the image information of the original is moved in the sub-scanning direction A at the scanning speed v, and the mirrors 13-b and 13-c move at the speed v / 2 in synchronization with the scanning speed v, so that the sensors of the line sensor 15 are aligned. Image information can be read by two-dimensional scanning in combination with the direction (main scanning direction).

In such a structure, the line sensor 15
The image information formed on the top is converted into an electric signal. Then, when the image information is sent to the image recording device 16 and the image information is output as a print output, or when it is sent to the storage device or the like,
The input image information may be stored in some cases, and is used as each image reading device.

A halogen lamp, a fluorescent lamp, a xenon lamp or the like is used as a light source of the image reading apparatus having such a structure. Although a halogen lamp has been often used as a light source of an image reading apparatus, the halogen lamp has high brightness, but on the other hand, the temperature rise of the apparatus is large due to the temperature rise of the lamp, and power consumption of 200 to 300 W is consumed. Therefore, it has been a factor of increasing the power consumption of the entire apparatus.

In recent years, in order to avoid such problems, high-luminance fluorescent lamps and xenon lamps have been developed and are being used as light sources for image reading devices.

For a fluorescent lamp or a xenon lamp, a small amount of mercury particles and several Torr of Ar or K are contained in a rod-shaped glass tube.
r, Xe, etc. are encapsulated, a reflective film is applied to the inner wall of the tube, and various phosphors are applied to the inside thereof. Electrodes of a tungsten coil coated with an electron emitting material are arranged at both ends of the glass tube to seal the tube.

When the fluorescent lamp is turned on, the electrons emitted from the electrodes collide with the mercury electrons, and the mercury electrons are excited and emit ultraviolet rays. This ultraviolet light excites the phosphor coated on the inside of the tube, and visible light is emitted according to the emission characteristics of the phosphor. As the phosphor, a phosphor is selected according to the spectral energy characteristic required as the light source.

Particularly in a color image reading apparatus, RG
When a light source having a wide wavelength range corresponding to B is required, and particularly when a light source with high brightness is required, a technique of mixing phosphors of a plurality of colors and coating the mixture on the inner wall of the tube is used.

On the other hand, in an image reading apparatus using a light source using a phosphor as a light emitting source such as a fluorescent lamp or a xenon lamp, a spectrum emitted from mercury or various gases is stabilized in order to maintain a constant image density. It is desirable to read the image afterwards. Therefore, when the lamp is not lit, such as during standby, a heater is attached to the outside of the glass tube in order to stabilize the spectrum and the temperature inside the tube is controlled to a certain value to stabilize the emission spectrum.

However, when there is a large difference between the temperature inside the tube and the target temperature, such as in the winter when the ambient temperature is low or immediately after the power is turned on in the morning, there is a drawback that it takes much time to stabilize the mercury spectrum. there were. Therefore, it took a lot of time to switch to standby after turning on the power.

Further, conventionally, when a monochrome image is produced by a color image reading apparatus, it is produced from an RGB signal of a line sensor or a G signal which is relatively stable and has a relative visual sensitivity. From the spectral sensitivity characteristics of the line sensor, the sensitivity of RGB is high at about 350 nm.
The band is wide at 900 nm, whereas the band is narrow at about 500 nm to 600 nm for G signals only. If a black-and-white signal is generated only from the G signal, it is approximately 500 nm to 600 nm.
It is only necessary that the mercury spectrum of nm be stable. On the other hand, when creating a color signal, it is necessary that the respective spectra of RGB are stable. Based on the above, in order to ensure the minimum required read image quality, the warm-up time at power-on is relatively short for black and white scanning, whereas for color image scanning. Requires a long warm-up. Then, in the case of an apparatus capable of both color reading and black-and-white reading, there is a problem that black-and-white reading cannot be performed until the warm-up necessary for color reading is completed, even though the user wants to perform black-and-white reading soon after the power is turned on. Therefore, in order to solve these problems, a first light source warm-up period in which neither color image reading nor monochrome image reading is performed, and a second light source warm in which color image reading is not performed but black and white image reading is performed if instructed There has been proposed an image reading apparatus including a control means for providing an up period.

[0016]

However, in the above configuration, the image reading device and the image recording device can be separated and combined, and the image recording device can be connected to the image reading device directly or via a network regardless of whether the image recording device is monochrome or color. In the case of an image forming apparatus having a possible configuration, for example, when an image reading apparatus and an image recording apparatus capable of outputting only a monochrome image are combined, a color image is not output, and thus the second warm-up period may be unnecessary. Instead, the first warm-up and the second warm-up are executed uniformly, which adversely affects the consumption of extra power and the shortening of the life of the light source.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and automatically determines whether the image recording apparatus connected to the image reading apparatus is monochrome or color, and accordingly, the first warm-up and the second warm-up are performed. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading device in which a warm-up combination is selected.

[0018]

The present invention can solve the above problems by providing the following constitutions.

(1) A signal which is provided with a white light source having a plurality of phosphors, forms image information of an original on a plurality of line sensors through an image forming optical system, and extracts a signal component from a line sensor output signal. It has a processing means, an adjusting means for adjusting the offset and gain of the signal component, an output controlling means for controlling the adjusting means, and a light source controlling means for controlling lighting of the light source, and the light source is controlled by the light source controlling means when the power is turned on. After the first lighting for the time, the output adjusting means performs the first adjustment of the line sensor output, and after the completion, the light source controlling means again turns on the light source for the second time for the predetermined time, and then the output adjusting means outputs the line sensor. In the image reading device that performs the second adjustment of the above, when the power is turned on, the type of the image recording device connected is determined, and the first lighting, the adjustment and the second lighting, Implementation of the integer, the image reading apparatus, characterized in that switching the unexecuted.

(2) The image reading apparatus described in (1) above, characterized in that the type of the image recording apparatus is a monochrome image output dedicated or a color image output function.

(3) The image reading apparatus according to (1), wherein the image reading apparatus and the image recording apparatus are connected in a one-to-one manner or a plurality of each is connected through a network line.

(4) When the type of the image recording apparatus is a monochrome image output machine, only the first lighting and adjustment are performed, and when the type is a color image output machine, the first lighting and adjustment and the second lighting and adjustment are performed. The image reading device described in (1) above.

(5) If the result of determining the type of the image recording device is a monochrome image output device, the information is stored, and the next time the power is turned on, only the first lighting and adjustment are unconditionally performed. In the case of a color image output machine, the image reading apparatus according to the above (1) is characterized in that the first lighting and adjustment and the second lighting and adjustment are performed unconditionally.

[0024]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0025]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 is a color line sensor for converting reflected light from a light source into an electric signal. 101
Is an analog signal processing circuit for extracting a signal component from the signal of the color line sensor 100, and adjusting the offset and the gain. Reference numeral 102 is an A / D conversion circuit for converting the signal output from the analog signal processing circuit 101 into a digital signal. A circuit 103 performs image processing such as shading correction and input masking on the output signal of the A / D circuit. Reference numeral 105 is a fluorescent lamp unit, and 105-a is a white fluorescent lamp having a plurality of phosphors. Further, 105-b is a fluorescent lamp heater for heating the entire fluorescent lamp, and 105-c is a thermistor for detecting the temperature of the fluorescent lamp. Reference numeral 107 is an inverter circuit that controls lighting of the fluorescent lamp. Reference numeral 108 denotes an A / D conversion circuit for converting the thermistor output into a digital signal, which is connected to the CPU of 104 and has a fluorescent lamp heater 105-b via the amplifier of 106 by the feedback signal thereof. Control so that the temperature becomes constant.

The CPU 104 is a fluorescent lamp heater 105-b.
Not only the lighting control of the inverter 107, the adjustment circuit (analog signal processing circuit) 101, and the image processing circuit 103 are controlled. Also, the buffer 110
Image data is transmitted to the image recording apparatus 109 via the external I / F through the I / F and bidirectional communication is performed.

FIG. 2 shows the emission spectrum of the fluorescent lamp and the spectral sensitivity characteristic of the color line sensor. When a spectrum change occurs outside the band of the G signal and within the bands of the R and G signals, color reading causes a difference in the signal output of the line sensor due to the spectral sensitivity of the R and B signals.

In the case of color reading, this change causes a change in tint, and even when the spectrum of the fluorescent lamp is stable and unstable, the same color original cannot be read.

Similarly, when monochrome signals are read and RGB signals are used, if a spectrum change occurs outside the G signal band and within the R and G signal bands, the line depending on the spectral sensitivity of the R and B signals is used. Since the signal output of the sensor is different, the density of the black and white signal is changed. If black and white reading is used and the G signal is used, even if a spectrum change occurs outside the G signal band and in the R and G signal bands, if the G signal is stable, the density of the black and white signal is It doesn't change.

Next, FIG. 4 shows a control flow in the case where the image reading device and the image recording device are connected one-to-one as shown in FIG.

Immediately after the power is turned on (S1), the image reading device communicates with the image recording device to determine whether the image recording device is a monochrome output device or a color output device (S2). At this time, the image recording device sends a predetermined function identification code to the image reading device. Here, when the code indicating that the image recording device is the monochrome output device is returned to the image reading device, the image reading device performs the first lighting of the fluorescent lamp for a predetermined time (S3, S4). This predetermined time is the time required for the spectrum to stabilize only in the G signal band.

After the end, the first adjustment (gain adjustment, offset adjustment) of the line sensor output is carried out (S5).
If a black-and-white image reading is requested during the first lighting and the first adjustment (S6), the environment is such that only the G signal can be stably captured by the first lighting and the first adjustment. Therefore, after the completion of the first adjustment, the black-and-white image reading requested is carried out (S7, S8).

When a code indicating that the image recording device is a color output device is returned to the image reading device, the first lighting,
After the completion of the first adjustment, if there is no request for reading a monochrome image, the second lighting of the fluorescent lamp is performed for a predetermined time (S9, S1).
0). This predetermined time is the time required for the spectrum of the entire RGB signal band to stabilize. Then, the second adjustment (gain adjustment, offset adjustment) of the line sensor output is performed (S11).

When a monochrome image reading is requested during the second lighting and the second adjustment, the first adjustment value (gain / offset) is set and the requested monochrome image reading is executed. (S12, S13). After the image reading is completed, the second lighting is performed again, and after the completion of the second adjustment (gain adjustment, offset adjustment).

If there is a color image reading request before the end of the second adjustment, color reading is performed after the end of the second adjustment.

Similarly, when a plurality of image reading devices and a plurality of image recording devices are connected via a network as shown in FIG. 5, each image recording device for each image reading device is normally set in advance as an initial setting value. Therefore, the image recording device 50 is used as an image output destination of the image reading device 501.
When 3 (here, color output machine) is selected, immediately after the power is turned on, communication with the selected image recording apparatus is performed and it is determined whether the image recording apparatus is a monochrome output apparatus or a color output apparatus as described above. However, hereinafter, the operation is performed according to the control flow shown in FIG. After that, the first and second lighting and adjustment are always performed in the warm-up when the power of the image reading apparatus is turned off / on in this connection state. Next, when the image recording apparatus is switched to the black-and-white output machine 502 for some reason, it operates according to the control flow shown in FIG. 4 in the first warm-up. Then, in the next warm-up, only the first lighting and adjustment are performed.

By doing so, the optimum warm-up operation can be performed according to various image recording apparatuses.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is automatically determined whether the image recording device connected to the image reading device is monochrome or color, and if it is color, the first and second warm-ups are performed. In the case of black and white, by performing only the first warm-up, the optimum warm-up operation can be performed according to the connected image recording apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a graph showing an emission spectrum of a fluorescent lamp and a spectral sensitivity characteristic of a line sensor.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a connection between an image reading apparatus and an image recording apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control flow in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a connection between an image reading apparatus and an image recording apparatus according to the present invention via a network.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an outline of an optical system main part of a conventional image reading apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Platen glass 11 White light source 12 Reflective shade 13-a, 13-b, 13-c mirror 14 Imaging optical system 15 line sensor 16 Image recording device 100 color line sensor 101 Analog signal processing circuit 102 A / D conversion circuit 103 image processing circuit 104 CPU 105 fluorescent lamp unit 105-a fluorescent lamp 105-b Fluorescent lamp heater 105-c thermistor 106 amplifier 107 inverter 108 A / D conversion circuit 109 image recording device 110 buffer 501 image reading device 502 Image recorder (black and white output machine) 503 Image recording device (color output machine)

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) H04N 1/46 H04N 1/46 C F term (reference) 2H108 AA01 CA01 CB01 2H109 AA02 AA15 AA23 AB01 AB51 AB55 5B047 AA01 AB04 BB02 BC11 BC14 BC23 CA01 CB18 5C072 AA01 BA06 CA04 CA10 CA12 EA05 QA20 SA10 XA01 5C079 HA11 HB01 JA02 JA26 KA00 LA01 LA31 NA25 PA03

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A signal process comprising a white light source having a plurality of phosphors, which image-forms an image of a document on a plurality of line sensors through an image-forming optical system and extracts a signal component from a line-sensor output signal. Means, adjusting means for adjusting the offset and gain of the signal component, output controlling means for controlling the adjusting means, and light source controlling means for controlling lighting of the light source, and when the power is turned on, the light source is controlled by the light source controlling means for a predetermined time. After the first lighting, the output adjusting means performs the first adjustment of the line sensor output, and after the completion, the light source controlling means again lights the light source for the second time for a predetermined time, and then the output adjusting means changes the line sensor output. In the image reading apparatus that performs the second adjustment, when the power is turned on, the type of the connected image recording apparatus is discriminated, and the first lighting, the adjustment and the second lighting, the adjustment An image reading device characterized by switching between execution and non-execution. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the type of the image recording apparatus is a black-and-white image output dedicated or a color image output function. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus and the image recording apparatus are connected in a one-to-one manner or a plurality of each is connected through a network line. 4. When the type of the image recording apparatus is a monochrome image output machine, only the first lighting and adjustment are performed, and when the image recording apparatus is a color image output machine, the first lighting and adjustment and the second lighting and adjustment are performed. The image reading device according to claim 1. 5. If the result of determining the type of the image recording device is a monochrome image output device, the information is stored, and the next time the power is turned on, only the first lighting and adjustment are unconditionally performed. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first reading and adjusting and the second lighting and adjusting are unconditionally performed in the case of a color image output machine.