JP2011255671A - Image forming apparatus and method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that can form a quality image even if the image is formed by reusing paper that is partly deteriorated by an erasing device, and to provide an image forming method.SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus includes: a plurality of recording medium housing units in which recording mediums to be reused are discriminated and housed for respective degradation regions that are erased image regions; an acquisition unit for acquiring image data; a printing region discriminating unit for discriminating a printing region at the time of printing from the acquired image data to the recording medium; a selection unit for selecting the recording medium housing unit in which the recording medium not including the degradation region corresponding to the printing region discriminated by the printing region discriminating unit is housed from the plurality of the recording medium housing units; and a printing unit for printing the image data acquired in the acquisition unit on the recording medium supplied from the recording medium housing unit that is selected by the selection unit.

Description

  Embodiments described herein relate generally to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method for erasing and reusing a printed sheet image using an erasable recording material.

  In recent years, there has been an increasing need to reduce paper consumption in order to reduce environmental burdens and CO2 emissions. For this reason, there is known an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet using an erasable recording material, and that reuses the sheet by erasing the image by applying heat or light to the sheet once formed. .

  Also, when erasing an image formed using such an erasable recording material with an erasing device, the number of times the paper passes through the erasing device is counted, and jamming is performed on paper exceeding a predetermined number of times. Devices that prohibit reuse are also known.

  However, by combining such an image forming apparatus and an erasing apparatus, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of a physical stress on the paper, for example, a jam due to paper damage such as a crease or a wrinkle while reusing the paper. However, there still remains a problem that printing quality is deteriorated by printing on partially deteriorated paper.

JP-A-11-268409 JP-A-7-234617

  The problem to be solved by the present invention is an image forming apparatus capable of forming a high quality image even when an image is formed by reusing paper partially deteriorated by passing the paper through the erasing device And an image forming method.

    According to the embodiment, the image forming apparatus acquires a plurality of recording medium storage units in which a recording medium to be reused is identified and stored for each deteriorated area that is an erased image area, and acquires image data. A printing area discriminating unit for discriminating a printing area when printing on the recording medium from the acquired image data, and a recording medium not including the deterioration area corresponding to the printing area discriminated by the printing area discriminating unit A selection unit that selects a recording medium storage unit in which the recording medium is stored from the plurality of recording medium storage units, and the image data acquired by the acquisition unit to a recording medium supplied from the recording medium storage unit selected by the selection unit. A printing unit for printing.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the printing area | region recorded on the recording paper based on this Embodiment. It is a figure which shows the position of the degradation area | region which concerns on this Embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining recording paper stored in a recording medium storage unit. 6 is a flowchart illustrating image forming processing according to the present embodiment. It is a figure for demonstrating the content of the table which selects a recording paper from a printing area | region. It is a flowchart which shows the erasure | elimination process which concerns on this Embodiment. It is a flowchart which identifies the kind of deterioration area pattern. It is a figure for demonstrating the content of the table which identifies a degradation area | region.

(This embodiment)
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. A multifunction peripheral (hereinafter referred to as MFP) 100, which is an image forming apparatus, reads an image set on an automatic document feeder 11 one by one, or optically reads an image set on a platen (not shown). C (cyan), M (magenta), Y (yellow), and K (black) inks are ejected from an ink head (not shown) onto a document reading unit 10 that generates data and recording paper P as a transported recording medium. A printing unit 20 that prints an image, a recording paper transport unit 30 that transports the recording paper P fed from one of the paper feed trays 31 to 35, which is a recording medium storage unit, to the printing unit 20, and a network. And an external information input unit 40 for receiving print data transmitted from an external terminal, for example, a PC (personal computer). In addition, the MFP 100 applies a heat of a predetermined temperature to the erasing paper tray 50 for storing the recording paper S printed with erasable ink as an erasable recording material, and the recording paper S supplied from the erasing paper tray 50. An erasing unit 52 that erases an image and an image area that is arranged upstream of the erasing unit 52 in the erasing paper conveyance direction, reads a recording surface before the image is erased, or has been erased in the past by a predetermined erasing device And a scanner 51 which is an image reading unit that reads a management code recorded on the recording paper S with a unique code, bar code, QR code or the like as print area log information. The recording paper from which the image has been erased by the erasing unit 50 is a storage paper feeding unit provided with a paper distribution mechanism (not shown) in one of the recording paper trays 31 to 35 as a paper feeding destination based on a result of identification of a deteriorated area described later. 60 is stored.

  FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the MFP 100 shown in FIG. 1, and the same components as those shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the MFP 100 includes a control unit 1 that performs overall control of the entire system. The control unit 1 stores a CPU 2 that controls the image forming operation of the MFP, a control program, and is read by the document reading unit. HDD (Hard Disc Drive) that stores image data, other settings data, memory that stores parameters as a table or ROM (Read Only Memory) that functions as a work memory, RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The apparatus 3 includes an arithmetic I / O unit 4 connected to each device described later, and a function execution unit 5 that reads and executes a program stored in the storage device 3 under the control of the CPU 2.

  The arithmetic I / O unit 4 includes a document reading unit 10 as a device, a printing unit 20, a recording paper transport unit 30, paper feed trays 31 to 35 as a recording medium storage unit, an external information input unit 40, an erasing paper tray 50, Connected to the image reading unit 51, the erasing unit 52, and the storage paper feeding unit 60, respectively, sends a command from the control unit 1 to each device, notifies the control unit 1 of information from each device, Exchange information and data between them.

  The function execution unit 5 acquires an image data of a document read by the document reading unit 10 or image data such as print data received via the external information input unit 40, and the acquisition unit 6 acquires the image data. The print area discriminating unit 7 for discriminating the print area when printing on the recording paper P from the image data thus selected, and one of the paper feed trays 31 to 35 storing the recording paper P under the conditions described later are selected. A selecting unit 8 and a deteriorated region identifying unit 9 for identifying an image to be erased on the recording paper S printed with erasable ink as a deteriorated region in a predetermined image region unit.

  FIG. 3 shows a print area in which an image is printed on a recording sheet as a recording medium in the present embodiment. Specifically, one page of recording paper is divided into three areas from a print area 1 to a print area 3 and is input from the image data of the document read by the document reading unit 10 or the external information input unit 40. The print data represents in which area of the print area 1 to the print area 3 the print data is printed. A method for determining in which area the image to be printed is printed will be described later.

  FIG. 4 shows a pattern of an area printed with an erasable ink as a recording material in the present embodiment and an image to be erased is printed. In other words, it can be said that a pattern of an erasing area (hereinafter, this erased area is referred to as a deteriorated area) where the recording paper S is fed and an image is erased by the erasing unit 52 is shown. Deterioration here refers to image deterioration that may occur when printing is performed using reused recording paper. For example, in the erasing performed in the erasing unit, the dye itself is decolored by heat. However, the recording material itself remains on the recording paper, and if printing is performed again on this portion, there is a possibility that blurring or blurring of printing may occur. Further, when printing and erasing are repeated, the erasing performance deteriorates, and a printed image remains slightly on the recording paper. Therefore, here, the print level before erasure that causes deterioration, in particular, the image density at the time of printing is higher than a certain level, and when the area is large, it is referred to as a deteriorated region as a region that may be deteriorated. ing.

  This deteriorated area is also divided into three areas of an upper stage, a middle stage, and a lower stage so as to correspond to the three-divided printing area shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the deterioration area pattern composed of combinations of the deterioration areas is pattern 1 where no deterioration is recognized in any area, pattern 2 where there is a deterioration area only in the lower stage, and middle to lower stages. The pattern 3 is deteriorated over time. In addition, a pattern 4 has a deterioration only in the middle stage, and a pattern 5 has a deterioration in the upper and lower stages. When there is deterioration over the entire surface from the upper stage to the lower stage, it is not suitable for reuse as recording paper, and therefore, it is not subjected to subsequent processing, such as being separately discharged to a waste tray (not shown). A method for identifying the pattern of the deteriorated area will be described in detail later.

  Next, the relationship between the recording medium storage unit and the recording paper stored therein will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 shows a deterioration pattern of recording paper stored in each paper feed tray which is a recording medium storage unit, and the user does not indicate which paper feed tray stores which deterioration pattern recording paper. It can be set arbitrarily from the operation panel. Here, the recording paper having the deteriorated area pattern 1 is stored in the paper feed tray 31, the recording paper having the deteriorated area pattern 2 is stored in the paper feed tray 32, and the recording paper having the deteriorated area pattern 3 is stored in the paper feed tray 33. , The recording paper having the deteriorated area pattern 4 is stored in the paper feed tray 34, and the recording paper having the deteriorated area pattern 5 is stored in the paper feed tray 35. Further, data indicating this correspondence relationship is held in the storage device 3 as a table.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an image forming process according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6, MFP 100 executes a program stored in storage device 3 under the control of CPU 2 of control unit 1. First, the image data obtained by developing the image data of the document read by the document reading unit 10 or the print data received via the external information input unit 40 into a bitmap is acquired (ACT1), and the acquired image is acquired. A print area is determined while image processing for printing is performed on the data. As a method for determining the print area, for example, the acquired image data is binarized, and a circumscribed rectangular area for each connected pixel in the binarized image obtained by binarization is specified as an image area to be processed. The image areas to be printed by associating each identified image area with coordinate information are the areas 1, 2, 3, 1 + 2, 1 + 3 and 2 + shown in FIG. 3. 3. It is determined which of the region 1 + region 2 + region 3 is located (ACT2). Next, the CPU 2 selects a deteriorated area pattern that does not include the print area determined by ACT 2 with reference to the table storing the selection order of the print area and the deteriorated area pattern shown in FIG. A paper feed tray storing recording paper having an area pattern is selected with reference to the paper storage table of FIG. 5 (ACT 3). Next, the recording paper transport unit 30 transports the recording paper stored in the selected recording paper tray to the printing unit 20 (ACT 4), and the printing unit 20 transports image data that has undergone predetermined image processing. Printed on the printed recording paper (ACT5).

  Here, the selection order of the print area and the deteriorated area pattern shown in FIG. 7 will be described with reference to the deteriorated area pattern of FIG. First, when an image is printed in the print area 1, a recording sheet having a deteriorated area pattern 3 is first selected. The deteriorated area pattern 3 is deteriorated from the middle stage to the lower stage. For example, as long as the image is printed only in the print area 1, that is, the upper part of the recording paper, the middle and lower areas of the recording paper have different areas. This is because even if it is deteriorated, it is not affected by the quality of the printed image. On the other hand, when there is no recording paper of the deteriorated area pattern 3 selected first, the recording paper of the deteriorated area pattern 4 is selected as the next candidate. Next, when there is no recording paper of the deteriorated area pattern 4, the recording paper of the deteriorated area pattern 2 is selected, and when there is no recording paper of the deteriorated area pattern 2, the deteriorated area pattern 1 is finally added. Recording paper is selected. As described above, the deteriorated area pattern is selected in order from the least wasteful print area in consideration of the efficiency when the recording paper is reused. Further, the degradation area pattern is selected in the same procedure from the remaining printing area shown in FIG. 7, that is, from the printing area 2 to the area 1 + area 2 + area 3.

  On the other hand, when an image is printed in the print area 3, simply selecting a recording paper of the deteriorated area pattern 3 (the same applies to the subsequent patterns 4 and 2) causes the image to be printed in the lower deteriorated area. Further, the image data is rotated 180 degrees. Thereby, printing can be performed in the upper stage without a deterioration area. Another example of rotating the image by 180 degrees is when the deteriorated area pattern 2 is selected when printing in the area 2 + area 3. Thus, by rotating the image by 180 degrees, it is possible to prevent the apparatus from becoming large and expensive without requiring a mechanism for reversing the recording paper conveyance direction upstream of the printing unit.

  Next, a method for erasing an image using the erasing unit in the present embodiment and sorting and storing the recording paper from which the image has been erased into a paper storage unit according to the deteriorated area pattern will be described with reference to FIGS. I will explain.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing processing for erasing an image from a recording sheet printed with erasable ink as a recording material in the present embodiment. The recording paper S printed with the erasable ink is stored in the erasing paper tray 50 by the user, and then the processing is executed by operating a start button (not shown).

  The erasing recording sheets S stored in the erasing paper tray 50 are conveyed one by one toward the erasing unit 52 (ACT 11). The transported recording sheet S is once read by the scanner 51, and the deteriorated area is identified according to the deteriorated area identifying method described later (ACT12). The identification result of the degraded area is classified into any one of the degraded area pattern 1 to the degraded area pattern 5 described above. Next, the erasing recording paper S passes through the erasing unit 52 heated to a predetermined temperature to erase the image (ACT 13), and the recording paper from which the image has been erased is sent to the storage paper feeding unit 60 ( ACT14). The storage paper feeding unit 60 determines which of the paper feed trays 31 to 35 as the recording medium storage unit is to be stored according to the deteriorated area identified by ACT 12 with reference to the table of FIG. Store in the tray (ACT 15).

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart for identifying a pattern of a deteriorated area when image deletion is performed based on an image scanned by the scanner 51 serving as an image reading unit. In the identification, a table in which the identification value and the degradation area pattern shown in FIG. 10 are stored in the storage device 3 in advance is used.

  When the flow starts, first, 0 is assigned to the identification value, and each flag is initialized (ACT 21). Next, the upper image divided into three as a divided region is read (ACT 22). Since the read image signal is an RGB signal representing luminance, it is converted into a CMYK image indicating density information (ACT 23), and the converted CMYK image is decomposed into each plane and a total value of each pixel value is calculated ( ACT24). Here, the total value of each pixel value is compared with a certain threshold value 1 (ACT 25), and if it is determined that the total value is larger than the threshold value 1, the read pixel is counted as a print pixel. On the other hand, when it is determined that the threshold value is smaller than 1, it is not counted as a pixel. The setting of the threshold value 1 is determined according to the image density that is regarded as image degradation after erasure when an image printed using the erasable ink in the present embodiment is erased. Subsequently, it is determined whether or not scanning has been completed for all pixels in the first selected area (ACT 27), and the printing pixel count is repeated until scanning of all pixels is completed.

  Next, the ratio of the total number of pixels in the read divided area, here the area corresponding to the upper stage, and the number of print pixels counted in ACT 26 is calculated (ACT 28). Thereafter, the ratio of the number of pixels is compared with a preset threshold value 2 (ACT 29). When the ratio of the number of pixels is larger than the threshold value 2, the current processing area is an upper divided area. +1 is substituted for the identification value, and +3 is substituted for the middle divided area, and +5 is substituted for the lower divided area (ACT 30). Further, when the ratio of the number of pixels is smaller than the threshold value 2, the identification value is not added with the score, and remains as it is. The ratio of the threshold 2 indicates the ratio of the area occupied by a pixel having a certain density or more in the region. When the pixel exceeds a predetermined area, a point is added as an identification value, which means that there is a degraded region. Is. Subsequently, it is determined whether reading has been completed for all three divided areas (ACT 31), and the addition of the identification value is repeated until reading of all the areas is completed.

  From the identification value added in this way, the deteriorated area of the erasing recording sheet can be identified using the deteriorated area pattern and the identification table of FIG. That is, when the identification value is 0, the degraded area pattern 1 is deteriorated, when the identification value is 1 or 5, the degraded area pattern 2 is degraded, when the identification value is 4 or 8, the degraded area pattern 3 is degraded, and when the identification value is 3, the degradation is degraded. When the area pattern 4 has an identification value of 6, it is identified as a deteriorated area pattern 5.

  Another method for identifying a deteriorated area pattern in the present embodiment uses a management code. For example, an image area previously erased by a predetermined erasing device is converted into print area log information into a unique code, bar code, or QR code and recorded on the recording paper S, and these management codes are read by the scanner 51. . The read code reading information is sent to the CPU 2 via the arithmetic I / O unit 4, and the deteriorated area of the recording paper S can be identified by analyzing the deteriorated area information. Further, the method of reading the image data shown in FIG. 9 and the method of reading the management code information can be combined to determine the final deterioration area. For example, in FIG. 10, when the deteriorated region determination result is determined to be the deteriorated region pattern 2 and the result based on the print log information is the deteriorated pattern 4, the final deteriorated region may be the deteriorated pattern 3 that is a combination of the two patterns. it can. As described above, the use of the past erasure history information makes it possible to identify the degradation region more reliably.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, although the print area and the degradation area are divided into three, the number of divisions may be three or more, and the division direction is the recording paper conveyance. The direction may be the sub-scanning direction or the main scanning direction.

  Furthermore, although the ink jet recording method is used as the printing method in this embodiment, an electrophotographic method may be used. In that case, an erasable toner may be used instead of the erasable ink. Further, as a method for erasing an image, either a method using heat or a method of irradiating light may be used.

  Furthermore, as a method for identifying a print area, a method for identifying a deteriorated area pattern shown in FIG. 9 may be used.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this embodiment is shown as an example and is not intending limiting the range of invention. The novel embodiment can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. This embodiment and its modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the invention described in the claims and the equivalents thereof.

1 ... Control unit 2 ... CPU
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 3 ... Memory | storage device 4 ... Operation | movement I / O part 6 ... Acquisition part 7 ... Print area discrimination | determination part 8 ... Selection part 9 ... Degradation area | region identification part 20 ... Printing part 31-35 ... Recording medium storage part (paper feed tray)
51. Image reading unit (scanner)
52 ... Erasing part 60 ... Storage paper feeding part

Claims (11)

A plurality of recording medium storage units that are identified and stored for each deteriorated area that is an erased image area,
An acquisition unit for acquiring image data;
A print area discriminating unit for discriminating a print area when printing on the recording medium from the acquired image data;
A selection unit that selects, from the plurality of recording medium storage units, a recording medium storage unit that stores a recording medium that does not include the degradation region corresponding to the printing region determined by the printing region determination unit;
A printing unit for printing the image data acquired by the acquisition unit on a recording medium supplied from the recording medium storage unit selected by the selection unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording medium storage unit selected by the selection unit is selected based on a predetermined priority order from the arrangement of the print area and the deteriorated area.   The recording medium storage unit selected by the selection unit stores a recording medium that does not include the print area when the image data acquired by the acquisition unit is rotated and printed in the deteriorated area. Alternatively, the image forming apparatus according to 2. An erasing unit for erasing an image printed on a recording medium using an erasable recording material;
A deteriorated area identifying unit for identifying an image to be erased from the recording medium as a deteriorated area in a predetermined image area unit;
And a storage paper feeding unit that stores a recording medium from which an image has been erased by the erasing unit in one recording medium storage unit selected from the plurality of recording medium storage units based on the degradation region identification result. Item 2. The image forming apparatus according to Item 1.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising an image reading unit that reads an image recorded on a recording medium.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the deteriorated area identifying unit estimates a deteriorated area based on a density and an area of an image to be erased in the predetermined image area read by the image reading unit. Get image data,
Determine the printing area when printing on the recording medium from this acquired image data,
A recording medium storage unit that stores a recording medium that does not include a deteriorated area that is an erased image area corresponding to the determined print area is selected from a plurality of recording medium storage units,
An image forming method for printing the acquired image data on a recording medium supplied from the selected recording medium storage unit.   The image forming method according to claim 7, wherein the selected recording medium storage unit is selected based on a predetermined priority order from an arrangement of the print area and the deteriorated area.   9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the selected recording medium storage unit stores a recording medium that does not include the print area when the acquired image data is rotated and printed. Method. Erasing images printed on recording media using erasable recording materials,
Identifying the image to be erased of the recording medium as a degraded area in a predetermined image area unit;
8. The image forming method according to claim 7, wherein a recording medium from which an image has been erased by the erasing unit is stored in one recording medium storage unit selected from the plurality of recording medium storage units based on the degradation region identification result. .   The image forming method according to claim 10, wherein the deterioration area is identified by estimating the deterioration area based on a density and an area of an image to be erased in the predetermined image area.

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