JP2005017390A - Image forming apparatus, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

An image forming apparatus capable of selecting a preset temperature for fixing during standby and selecting whether to give priority to initial print speed or low power.
The image forming apparatus develops an image on a latent image carrier, a latent image carrier that carries a latent image, an exposure forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier. A developing unit, a transfer material onto which an image developed by the developing unit is transferred, a conveying unit that conveys the transfer material, and an image on the transfer material is transferred to a transfer sheet, and the image on the transfer sheet is fixed by heat. A fixing means for obtaining a copy image. In such an image forming apparatus, a standby fixing temperature setting, a warm-up time, and a power consumption correspondence table, a setting unit 50 for setting a standby fixing temperature selected from the displayed correspondence table, and the standby time And a controller 10 that controls warm-up from the fixing set temperature so that the user can select whether to place importance on the initial print speed or on low power.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a program, and a recording medium, and more particularly to control of a rise time related to a fixing temperature and power consumption.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a toner image formed on a photoconductor by an electrophotographic process is transferred onto a sheet, and the sheet is pressed / heated by a fixing device to fix the toner image on the sheet. It has been broken.
As a heating element for heating the fixing roller of the fixing device, a heating wire, a halogen lamp or the like is generally used, and the temperature of the fixing roller is controlled by controlling the current flowing through these heating elements. In order to reduce power consumption, the temperature is kept low or the supply of current is stopped.
By the way, with the recent improvement in energy saving awareness, devices that automatically control so as not to use as much extra power as possible are increasing. In particular, since the fixing device is a portion that consumes a relatively large amount of power, when the state in which no recording operation is performed continues for a predetermined time, the amount of current supplied to the heating element is reduced or stopped to reduce the power consumption. Has been done more.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus, in order to improve the initial print speed, which is the time until the first first sheet is output after returning from the standby state, it is one of the best measures to raise the fixing temperature early. Has been. This is because, unless the fixing temperature is raised to a temperature at which the toner can be fixed to the transfer paper, the copying operation cannot be started and no output can be obtained. If this mechanical initialization operation is completed early, a printing operation can be performed.
However, as described above, in recent image forming apparatuses, the power consumption is suppressed as much as possible due to environmental problems, and the set temperature for fixing during standby is lowered, so that it takes a long time to warm up, This is inconsistent with the initial print speed-up that has been requested by the user.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described circumstances, and allows the user to select a set temperature for fixing during standby so that priority can be given to initial print speed or low power. An object is to provide an image forming apparatus, a program, and a recording medium.
Another object of the present invention is to make it possible for a user to easily select and set a fixing setting temperature during standby by exemplifying warm-up time and power consumption with respect to the fixing setting temperature during standby.
[0004]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, claim 1 of the present invention provides a latent image carrier that carries a latent image, an exposure forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier, and a latent image carrier. Developing means for developing the image on the body, transfer material to which the image developed by the developing means is transferred, conveying means for conveying the transfer material, and transferring the image on the transfer material to transfer paper, In an image forming apparatus that includes a fixing unit that fixes an image on paper with heat and obtains a copied image, a setting unit that inputs and sets a fixing temperature during standby, and warm-up control based on the fixing temperature during standby And a control unit so that the user can select whether to place importance on the initial print speed or on low power.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, the image forming apparatus further includes a table that holds the warm-up time and the power consumption in correspondence with the standby fixing set temperature. The table is displayed and the standby fixing temperature is selected from the table.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for causing a computer to execute the function of the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect.
A fourth aspect of the present invention is a computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to the third aspect is recorded.
With the above configuration, the set temperature of the fixing device during standby can be selected, so that it is possible to select whether priority is given to the initial print speed or low power according to the user's needs.
Furthermore, since the warm-up time and power consumption with respect to the fixing setting temperature during standby are exemplified, the user can easily select and set the setting temperature of the fixing device during standby.
[0005]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments according to an image forming apparatus of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
First, the operation of the full-color image forming apparatus will be described with reference to FIG.
The full-color image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 3 has four developing units of black, yellow, cyan, and magenta, a latent image carrier, a charging unit, an exposure unit, a cleaning unit, a charge eliminating unit, a fixing unit, and the like to form an image. It is possible to do. In this configuration, an image is formed on a sheet by the following procedure.
First, the latent image carrier is neutralized with light output from the neutralization unit, and then uniformly charged. Next, in the exposure unit, the LD is driven in accordance with the image data to irradiate the polygon mirror with laser light, thereby forming an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier. Four color images are developed on the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier with cyan, yellow, magenta and black, which are the three primary colors, and are sequentially superimposed on the transfer body (intermediate transfer belt) and the superimposed image (development) Image, toner image) is transferred to transfer paper, the toner image transferred to the transfer paper is heated and fixed at the fixing unit, and the fixed transfer paper is discharged to the discharge port to form a full color image on the paper. Can do.
[0006]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of main functional units related to fixing temperature control according to the present embodiment. The control unit 10, a fixing heater 20 in the fixing unit, a PSU (power supply unit) 30, various fans, a motor, and a clutch. The fixing heater 20 is connected to the PSU 30 at least.
The PSU 30 supplies power to each unit and performs ON / OFF control of the fixing heater 20 with a control signal from the control unit 10. The various drive units 40 and the setting unit 50 are controlled by the control unit 10.
First, since the warm-up time and power consumption values due to differences in the fixing temperature setting during standby are determined in advance, the fixing temperature during standby and the warm-up time and power consumption when using this fixing temperature are determined. The corresponding table 60 is stored in the nonvolatile memory.
The value set here is a rough value because it varies depending on the environment. However, when the fixing temperature is high, the time required for warm-up is shortened and the initial copy speed is increased. When the set temperature for fixing is low, the warm-up time is long, but the power consumption is low.
[0007]
Next, the user touches a button for setting a fixing temperature during standby from an operation panel provided in the image forming apparatus.
Thus, when the control unit 10 activates the setting unit 50, the setting unit 50 reads the table 60 and displays a selection screen as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, three types of fixing set temperatures are displayed. When such fixing set temperatures are set, a warm-up time until shifting from the energy saving state to the standby state (a state in which the engine side can print) is necessary at that time. An indication of how much power consumption will be displayed is displayed.
The user touches and selects from the displayed options according to the user's preferences (including environmental awareness).
For example, when the first option is selected, priority is given to low power, and energy saving is selected although the initial copy speed is slow.
If the third option is selected, the warm-up time is prioritized and the initial copy speed is increased.
When the user selects the standby fixing temperature on the display unit of the operation panel, the setting unit 50 stores the selected fixing temperature in the nonvolatile memory and returns the control to the control unit 10.
Thereafter, the control unit 10 warms up the heater to continuously increase the temperature by continuously energizing the fixing heater 20 in accordance with a copy start signal based on the standby fixing temperature stored in the nonvolatile memory. After completion of the control and warm-up, the PSU 30 is ON / OFF controlled so as to perform normal control for intermittently energizing the fixing heater 20 based on the elapsed time or the like and maintaining it at a predetermined control temperature.
[0008]
In the present invention, the functions of the image forming apparatus of the above-described embodiment are programmed, written in a recording medium such as a ROM in advance, the ROM is installed in the image forming apparatus, and the stored program is executed by a microprocessor. Needless to say, the object of the present invention is achieved.
In this case, the state read and executed from the recording medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program and the recording medium on which the program is recorded also constitute the present invention.
Note that a program that realizes such a function includes a semiconductor medium (eg, ROM, nonvolatile memory, etc.), an optical medium (eg, DVD, MO, MD, CD, etc.), a magnetic medium (eg, magnetic tape, flexible disk, etc.). Etc.) may be provided in any form of recording medium.
Alternatively, the program stored in the storage device of the server computer may be directly supplied via a communication network such as a network. In this case, the storage device of this server computer is also included in the recording medium of the present invention.
Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and corrections can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
[0009]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, the set temperature for fixing during standby can be selected, so that it is possible to select whether to prioritize the initial print speed or prioritize low power according to the user's needs. became.
Furthermore, since the warm-up time and power consumption with respect to the fixing setting temperature during standby are exemplified, the user can easily select and set the fixing temperature during standby.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of main functional units related to fixing temperature control according to an exemplary embodiment.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen for setting a standby fixing temperature displayed on a display unit of an operation panel.
FIG. 3 is an overall schematic diagram of a full-color image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied.
[Explanation of symbols]
10 control unit, 20 fixing heater, 30 PSU, 40 drive unit, 50 setting unit, 60 non-volatile memory.

Claims (4)

A latent image carrier that carries a latent image, an exposure forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier, a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image on the latent image carrier, and a developing unit. A transfer material to which the developed developed image is transferred; a conveying means for conveying the transfer material; and a fixing means for transferring the image on the transfer material onto the transfer paper and fixing the image on the transfer paper with heat. An image forming apparatus that obtains a copy image has a setting unit that inputs and sets a fixing temperature during standby, and a control unit that performs warm-up control according to the fixing temperature during standby. An image forming apparatus in which it is possible to select whether to place importance on low power or low power. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a table that holds the warm-up time and power consumption corresponding to the standby fixing set temperature in correspondence with each other, and the setting unit displays the table and includes the table. An image forming apparatus, wherein the standby fixing temperature is selected from the image forming apparatus. A program for causing a computer to execute the function of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1. A computer-readable recording medium on which the program according to claim 3 is recorded.

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