KR20040048552A - Apparatus and method of determining type of printing media for image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus and method for determining a print media type of an image forming apparatus are disclosed. An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a media sensor for sensing a type of a printing medium and outputting a detection signal, a sensing signal processor for receiving and processing a sensing signal output from the sensing sensor, and outputting a media classification signal, and a medium type. The reference value of the media classification signal according to the reference value, the boundary region range of the reference value, and the preset media type are stored, and the type of the printing medium is determined according to the signal level of the media classification signal, wherein the signal level is determined according to the media type. When included within a predetermined range of the boundary of the reference signal is provided with a microcomputer to set the current media type to the previously set media type to perform the printing operation according to the media type. Therefore, when determining the type of the print media by using the output signal of the media sensor, the print quality is lowered by misprinting to another print media even when the reference signal for each print media overlaps with another print media. Can be prevented.

Description

Apparatus and method of determining type of printing media for image forming apparatus}

The present invention relates to a method of determining the type of a recording medium of the image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to another printing medium at a position where the reference signal for each printing medium overlaps when determining the type of the printing medium by using the output signal of the printing medium detecting sensor. The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for determining a print media type of an image forming apparatus which can prevent a problem in which print quality is deteriorated due to misprinting and printing in a print mode not suitable for a print media.

Image forming apparatuses, such as printers and copiers, can print on many types of media, such as commonly used printing paper, as well as having transparency or glossy characteristics. For example, printing can be carried out on media such as plain paper, transparencies, and coated paper.

Accordingly, the image forming apparatus is configured to impart appropriate printing conditions according to the characteristics of each printing medium and to perform a printing operation in order to have a desired resolution and image quality. That is, the volume of ink is adjusted for each type of medium, and the printing effect can be enhanced by varying the firing rate for drying the ink according to characteristics. Such an image forming apparatus needs to determine the type of the medium every time a print job is performed, so that the type of the print medium can be detected quickly.

1 is a block diagram of a conventional printer capable of detecting a type of print medium and performing a print job in a corresponding print mode.

Referring to the drawings, the printer includes a light emitting diode (LED) 10-1, first and second light receiving sensors 10-2 and 10-3, and first and second amplifiers 20-1 and 20. -2), first and second analog-to-digital converters (hereinafter referred to as 'ADC') 30-1, 30-2, first and second memories 40-1, 40 -2), an interface 50, a printing unit 60 and a control unit 70.

The LED 10-1 illuminates the surface of the print medium when the print medium 5 is transferred through the paper transfer path. The first and second light receiving sensors 10-2 and 10-3 respectively transmit the light reflected from the LED 10-1 to the print medium 5 at a 45 ° position and a 90 ° position with respect to the surface of the print medium, respectively. It receives from and outputs electrical signals according to the amount of light. The first and second amplifiers 20-1 and 20-2 amplify the electrical signals output from the first and second light receiving sensors 10-2 and 10-3, respectively. The first and second ADCs 30-1 and 30-2 convert and output the electrical signals detected by the first and second light receiving sensors 10-2 and 10-3 into digital signals, respectively. The first memory 40-1 stores printing conditions according to the type of the printing medium. The second memory 40-2 stores the received print data. The interface 50 interfaces data with a personal computer (PC). The printing unit 60 performs a printing operation according to the control signal. The control unit 70 controls the second memory unit as a corresponding printing condition stored in the first memory 40-1 according to the digital values output from the first and second ADCs 30-1 and 30-2, respectively. The printing unit 60 is controlled so that the print data stored in 40-2) can be printed.

When the print data is received from the PC in the above configuration and recorded in the second memory 40-2, the control unit 70 moves the print medium 5 to the transfer path, while controlling the lighting on the LED 10-1. Output the signal. Then, the LED 10-1 irradiates light to the transferred print medium 5, and the first and second light receiving sensors 10-2 and 10-3 output electrical signals according to the amount of light received. Done. The first and second ADCs 30-1 and 30-2 convert the electrical signals into digital values and transmit them to the controller 70. Then, the control unit 70 prints the print unit 60 with corresponding printing conditions stored in the first memory 40-1 according to the digital values output from the first and second ADCs 30-1 and 30-2, respectively. ) So that the print data can be printed under the printing conditions according to the characteristics of the medium.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of determining a print media type. Since the ratios of the output signals of the first and second light receiving sensors 10-2 and 10-3 are different according to the characteristics of the printing medium, the type of the printing medium is determined according to the ratio of the output signals of the light receiving sensors. The embodiment shown in FIG. 2 is a method for determining a print media type that distinguishes four types of paper, such as transparent paper, glossy paper, general paper, and coated paper. The detection value of the print media is the largest in transparent paper, and then decreases in the order of glossy paper, general paper and coated paper. The paper type is determined by setting a threshold value b according to the type of the recording medium and determining where the ratio of the output signal calculated on the basis thereof is.

When the printing command is input (S10), the image forming apparatus drives the recording medium sensor to determine the paper type. Then, the output values of the two light receiving elements are read, and the medium type division signal is output by calculating the ratio (R = D1 / D2) of the output values (S20).

If the media type classification signal is larger than the boundary value b1, the detected paper is judged as transparent paper (S30, S31), and if it is larger than b2, it is judged as glossy paper (S40, S41), and if it is larger than b3, plain paper (S50, S51), b3 The following is determined as coated paper (S60). If the paper type is determined, the print mode is set according to the paper type and a printing operation is performed (S70 and S80).

As described above, when the type of the print medium is determined by the ratio of the output value of the media sensor, the ratio R of the output value is slightly different even if the print media is the same type of medium. For example, when there are a plurality of plain papers, each has different characteristics. Some plain papers are clearly included in a predetermined range of bound values, while others are out of bounds.

That is, types of print media having adjacent boundary values have regions where the ratios of output values overlap. Therefore, when determining the type of the print medium based on the actual boundary value, a lot of errors occur in the overlap area, and there is a problem in that proper printing is not performed by incorrectly determining the type of the print medium.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, an object of the present invention, the media type reference value detected by the output value of the media sensor when the type of printing paper is determined, the boundary value that is the criterion overlaps It is to provide a type determination device and a determination method for a print medium of the image forming apparatus so that an error does not occur even if the position is at the position.

1 is a block diagram showing a conventional printing medium type determination apparatus;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of the apparatus for determining a print medium type shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a graph illustrating a media classification signal reference value and a border region according to a print medium;

4 is a block diagram showing an apparatus for determining a print media type according to the present invention;

5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation procedure of FIG. 4.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention, a media detection sensor for detecting the type of the print medium to output a detection signal, a detection signal processing unit for outputting a media classification signal by receiving and processing the detection signal output from the detection sensor, and The reference value of the media classification signal according to the media type, the boundary area range of the reference value, and the preset media type are stored, and the type of the printing medium is determined according to the signal level of the media classification signal, wherein the signal level is the media type. And a microcomputer that sets a current medium type to a previously set medium type to perform a printing operation according to the type of medium when included in a boundary area of the reference value according to the present invention.

The detection sensor may include a light emitting device that emits light by applying a voltage, and a plurality of light receiving devices that sense light reflected from the surface of the print medium and emit current according to the amount of light detected by the light emitted from the light emitting device. It is preferable to comprise an element.

The medium classification signal may be determined by calculating a ratio of signals output from the plurality of light receiving elements.

On the other hand, the present invention, a) driving a media sensor when a print command is input, detecting the media classification signal for determining the type of medium using the output value of the sensor, b) detection in step a) Determining a media type of an area in which the media classification signal is included, c) determining whether the media classification signal is included in a predetermined range of a boundary of a reference value according to the paper type, and d) the c) step. If it is determined that the current medium type is set to a previously set medium type, e) if it is determined that the step is not included in step c), setting the current medium type to the medium type determined in step b), and f) And performing printing according to the media type set in step d) or e).

The sensing sensor may include a light emitting element and a plurality of light receiving elements, and in the step a), the media classification signal may be detected by calculating a ratio of an output value of the light receiving element.

The present invention may further include a sensor for detecting whether the cartridge in which the print medium is loaded is opened, and determining whether a cartridge open detection signal is applied to the microcomputer from the sensor after performing step b). In addition, when the cartridge open detection signal is not applied, the process proceeds to step c), and when the cartridge open detection signal is applied, it is preferable to set the current medium type as the medium type determined in the step b).

As a result, it is possible to prevent an error from occurring in determining the medium type at a position where the boundary of the medium type classification signal overlaps.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a printing medium type determination apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the drawing, the apparatus for determining the type of print media includes a microcomputer 100 for controlling the determination device as a whole, a medium sensor 110 composed of a light emitting element 111, and a light receiving element 112, 113, and a detection signal processor 120. , A cartridge open detection sensor 130, and a printing unit 140.

When the print medium P is transferred through the paper transfer path, the light emitting device 111 irradiates light on the surface of the print medium by a lighting signal transmitted from the microcomputer 100. Alternatively, the light emitting device can always emit light from the time of system initialization. The plurality of light receiving elements 112 and 113 are provided at different angles with respect to the print medium surface P so as to receive light reflected from the light emitting element 111 onto the print medium surface P. The sensing signal processing unit 120 calculates a ratio of electrical signals output from the light receiving elements 112 and 113 and outputs a media separation signal. The cartridge open detection sensor 130 outputs a signal when a cartridge on which a print medium is loaded is opened by a user. The printing unit 140 performs a printing operation according to the control signal.

The microcomputer 100 determines the type of the printing medium according to the media classification signal input from the detection signal processor 120, and sets the printing conditions according to the type of the printing medium to control the printing unit. The microcomputer 100 includes or includes a separate memory to store the reference value and the information about the boundary area of the media classification signal according to the print medium in the memory. If the microcomputer 100 determines that the open detection signal is not input by the cartridge open detection sensor 130 and the input media classification signal corresponds to the boundary area in which the input detection signal is input, the microcomputer 100 sets the current media type to the previously set media type. .

The control method of the apparatus for determining the media type of the present invention configured as described above is as follows.

First, when a print command is input, the microcomputer 100 drives the media sensing sensor 110, and the light receiving elements 111 and 112 of the media sensing sensor 110 apply a sensing signal to the sensing signal processor 120. . The sensing signal processor 120 applies a media classification signal to the microcomputer 100 to determine the type of medium by calculating a ratio of output values.

The microcomputer 100 compares the applied media classification signal with the media signal reference value stored in the memory to determine the media type of the included area. In addition, it is determined whether the media classification signal is included in a predetermined range of the boundary of the reference value, and if it is included, the current media type is set to a previously set media type, and when not included in the predetermined range of the boundary, the area in which the media classification signal is included. Set the current media type to media type. The microcomputer 100 controls the printing unit 140 to perform printing in a print mode suitable for the set media type.

In addition, the cartridge open detection signal is applied to the microcomputer 100 from the cartridge open detection sensor that detects whether the cartridge on which the print medium is loaded is opened. When the cartridge open detection signal is applied, a new print medium may be loaded in the cartridge. If the media classification signal is included in the boundary area, the media type corresponding to the media separation signal is set to the current media type.

An embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The present embodiment relates to an image forming apparatus which performs printing by setting a printing mode according to four types of print media (transparent paper, glossy paper, general paper, coated paper). Figure 4 shows the area of the media classification signal according to the type of media, b _n is the reference value of the transparent paper, b _m is the reference value of the glossy paper, b _l is the reference value of the normal paper, coated paper is less than b _l . ± α is the boundary region around the reference value. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation procedure of the determination method for determining the media type of the four types of print media (transparent paper, glossy paper, general paper, coated paper).

First, when the print command is input (S110), the microcomputer 100 drives the medium sensor 110, and detects the amount of light reflected from the print medium to detect the light receiving elements 111 and 112 of the medium sensor 110. The media separation signal R _k is detected according to the output signal (S111). The detected media classification signal R _k is compared with the reference values bn, bm, bl for the media type (S121, S122, S123). After comparison with the reference value, it is determined whether R _k is included in the boundary region corresponding to each reference value (S131, S132, S133, S134, S135, and S136). If it is determined to be included in the boundary region, in the memory of the previous print medium before the print medium in the upper and lower print media of reading the print medium kind of (P _k-1) and the border area printing for the (P _k-1) medium accumulated determined to be set to (S151, S152, S153, S154 , S155, S156, S157, S158, S159, S160, S161) the type currently in the print medium _{(P k) (S171 ~ S181} ).

Then, the microcomputer 100 sets the print mode according to the set print media type (S190), and performs printing according to the print mode (S191).

In the case where the media separation signal is larger than the reference value of the transparent paper, the determination section of the media type will be described in detail as follows. If the media classification signal R _k is larger than the transparent paper reference value b _n (S121), it is determined whether it is included in the boundary region (S131). If it is determined that it is not included in the boundary area (R _k > b _n + α), the print medium is set to transparent paper (S171). If it is determined that it is included in the boundary area (R _k ≤ b _n + α), it is determined whether the type of the previous print medium P _k-1 is transparent (S151), and the previous print medium P _k-1 is transparent. In the case of paper, the type of the current print medium is set to transparent paper (S171). If it is determined that the previous print medium (P) is not transparent paper, it is determined whether the glossy paper (S152). If it is determined that the previous print medium is not glossy paper, the current print medium is set to transparent paper (S171). If it is determined as glossy paper, the type of the current print medium is set to glossy paper (S172).

Glossy paper, plain paper, and coated paper are also determined by the type of print media by the same operation procedure.

While the above has been shown and described with respect to preferred embodiments of the present invention, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, it is usually in the technical field to which the invention belongs without departing from the spirit of the invention claimed in the claims. Various modifications can be made by those skilled in the art, and these modifications should not be individually understood from the technical spirit or the prospect of the present invention.

According to the present invention, when the type of the printing medium is determined by using the output signal of the printing medium detecting sensor, the printing is performed in a printing mode that is not suitable for the printing medium because it is misjudged to another printing medium even when the reference signal for each printing medium overlaps. The problem of deterioration in quality can be prevented.

Claims (6)

A media sensor for sensing a type of print media and outputting a detection signal; A sensing signal processor configured to receive and process a sensing signal output from the sensing sensor to output a media classification signal; The reference value of the media classification signal according to the media type, the boundary area range of the reference value, and the preset media type are stored, and the type of the printing medium is determined according to the signal level of the media classification signal, wherein the signal level is the media type. And a microcomputer for setting a current medium type to the preset medium type to perform a printing operation according to the type of the medium when included in the boundary region of the reference value. The method of claim 1, The sensing sensor may be a light emitting device that emits light by applying a voltage, and a light receiving device that senses light reflected from the surface of a print medium and emits current according to the amount of light detected. And a printing medium type determining apparatus of the image forming apparatus. The method of claim 1, And the light receiving element includes a plurality of photo transistors, and the medium classification signal is determined by calculating a ratio of signals output from the plurality of photo transistors. a) driving a media sensing sensor when a print command is input, and detecting a media classification signal for determining a media type using an output value of the sensing sensor; b) determining a medium type of an area in which the medium classification signal detected in step a) is included; c) determining whether the medium classification signal falls within a predetermined range of a boundary of a reference value according to paper type; d) setting the current medium type to a previously set medium type if it is determined to be included in step c); e) setting the current media type to the media type determined in step b) if it is not determined in step c); and f) performing printing according to the type of the medium set in step d) or e). The method of claim 4, wherein The sensing sensor includes a light emitting element and a plurality of light receiving elements, and in the step a), a media classification signal is detected by calculating a ratio of an output value of the light receiving element. The method of claim 4, wherein And a sensor for detecting whether the cartridge on which the print medium is loaded is opened, and determining whether a cartridge open detection signal is applied to the microcomputer from the sensor after performing step b). If the open detection signal is not applied, go to step c), and if the cartridge open detection signal is applied, the current medium type is set as the medium type determined in step b). How to determine media type.