JP2794416B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that selectively receives power from a commercial power supply or a battery, drives an image recording unit, and records and outputs an input image on a predetermined recording sheet. About.

[Related Art] In recent years, small and lightweight portable facsimile machines have been provided. Such a portable facsimile machine is
For example, it is used when transmitting a drawing from an office to a construction site.

When using a facsimile apparatus outdoors, it is not possible to take power from a commercial power supply, so such a portable facsimile apparatus can be equipped with a built-in or external battery, and this battery is used outdoors. Like that.

Also, when using a facsimile machine outdoors,
Since a wired transmission line such as a telephone line cannot be used as a transmission line, image transmission is performed using a wireless device.

By the way, the facsimile apparatus that consumes the most power is a recording apparatus for recording and outputting a received image.

Therefore, conventionally, when receiving images continuously,
The disadvantage is that the battery is quickly consumed.

[Purpose] The present invention has been made to solve such disadvantages of the related art, and has as its object to provide an image recording apparatus capable of suppressing battery consumption.

[Configuration] The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus that selectively receives power from a commercial power supply or a battery to drive an image recording unit to record and output an input image on a predetermined recording sheet. Power supply detecting means for detecting whether the power supply or the battery, a recording pixel number detecting means for detecting the ratio of the number of recording pixels based on the input image, based on the detection results of the power supply detecting means and the recording pixel number detecting means Control means for controlling the recording energy for driving the image recording section, wherein the control means detects the first recording energy when the commercial power supply is selected by the power supply detection means. While driving the image recording means, and detecting that the battery is selected by the power supply detection means, and detecting the recording image detected by the recording pixel number detection means. When the ratio of the prime numbers is equal to or more than a predetermined value, the image recording unit is driven with a second recording energy smaller than the first recording energy.

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

FIG. 1 shows a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. This facsimile apparatus can selectively use a telephone line and an antenna as transmission lines.

Referring to FIG. 1, a scanner 1 is for reading a transmission original at a predetermined resolution, and an image signal output from the scanner 1 is output to an encoding / decoding unit 3 via a line buffer 2.

The plotter 4 is of a thermal recording system for recording and outputting a received image at a predetermined resolution. An image signal corresponding to the received image to be recorded and output by the plotter 4 is sent from the encoding / decoding unit 3 to a line. The data is input via the buffer 5.

The encoding / decoding unit 3 encodes and compresses image information and transmits the image information. The encoding and decoding unit 3 encodes and compresses the image signal output from the scanner 1 and outputs the image signal to the modem 7 via the data buffer 6. , And decodes the encoded image data received from the modem 7 via the data buffer 6 into the original image signal and outputs it to the plotter 4.

The modem 7 executes a modulation / demodulation process in a predetermined format in order to transmit digital data as a transmission signal in a voice band.

The network control device 8 is for connecting the facsimile apparatus to the telephone line when the telephone line is used as a transmission line, and the wireless device 9 is for using the antenna as a transmission line.

The operation display unit 10 includes various operation keys and a display required for operating the facsimile machine.

The system control unit 11 controls the operation of the facsimile machine and executes a predetermined transmission control procedure.

The scanner 1, the line buffers 2 and 5, the encoding / decoding unit 3, the plotter 4, the data buffer 6, the modem 7, the network control device 8, the wireless device 9, and the operation display unit 10 are connected to the system via a system bus 12. Connected to the control unit 11,
The exchange of control information and the like between these elements and the system control unit 11 is performed via the system bus 12.

The power supply device 13 converts a commercial power supply 15 supplied via a power switch 14 into a DC power supply used inside the facsimile apparatus.

The voltage converter 16 converts a DC voltage output from the battery 17 into a voltage used inside the facsimile apparatus.

The output of the power supply device 13 and the output of the voltage converter 16 are supplied to each element of the facsimile machine via a switch 19 that is linked to a power supply selection switch 18 operated by an operator.

In the power supply selection switch 18, a voltage signal of a logical H level is applied to a contact connected when the power supply 13 is selected, and a ground level ( (Logic L level) voltage signal is applied.

This allows the power control switch 18 to switch
When the power supply 13 is selected, the power supply selection signal SL output to the
Is at the logical L level when is selected.

Thereby, the system control unit 11 can know which of the power supply device 13 and the battery 17 is selected.

The system control unit 11 raises the power setting signal DL output to the plotter 4 to a logic H level when the power supply device 13 is selected, and changes the power setting signal DL to a logic H level when the battery 17 is selected. Fall to L level.

The plotter 4 records the received image at the maximum density when the power setting signal DL is at the logic H level, and records the received image at a readable low density when the power setting signal DL is at the logic L level.

 Here, the writing system of the plotter 4 is shown in FIG.

In the figure, heating resistors R1 to Rn constitute a thermal head for recording an image in units of lines on a thermosensitive recording paper used as a recording paper. Shift register SR
Is for storing the recording signal DT for one line outputted from the line buffer 5, and each recording signal is
Driver for supplying drive current to heating resistors R1 to Rn
It is applied to one input terminal of D1 to Dn.

When the pulse generation signal LS is added from the system control unit 11, the write control unit 21 applies the strobe signal STB1 of the voltage Vd to each of the seven groups of drivers D1 to Dn.
To STB7 are sequentially applied.

As a result, the drivers D1 to Dn to which the strobe signals STB1 to STB7 are applied operate to supply a drive current to the heating resistors R1 to Rn corresponding to the pixel (black pixel) for which the recording signal is “1”. Is done.

As a result, the heating resistors R1 to Rn corresponding to the black pixels generate heat, the heat energy is applied to the thermosensitive recording paper, and that portion is colored black.

The color density of the thermal recording paper changes as shown in FIG. 3 according to the amount of heat supplied per unit area. Further, assuming that the driving current supplied to the heating resistors R1 to Rn is a constant value, the amount of heat generated by the heating resistors R1 to Rn is proportional to the pulse width of the strobe signals STB1 to STB7.

Therefore, when the power setting signal DL is at the logical H level, the write control unit 21
When the pulse width of STB7 is set to T1 corresponding to the maximum color density D1 of the thermal recording paper (see FIGS. 4A to 4E), and when the power setting signal DL is at the logical L level, Pulse width corresponding to density D2 low enough to read recorded images
The pulse width of the strobe signals STB1 to STB7 is set to T2 (see FIGS. 5A to 5E).

As a result, the power is supplied from the power supply device 13 and the power setting signal DL is at the logical H level, the power consumption when the recording image is recorded at the maximum density state, and the power supply from the battery 17. And the power setting signal DL becomes logic L
In the power consumption when a print image is printed in a state in which the density is low, the latter is significantly smaller.

That is, since the power consumption of the plotter 4 when power is supplied from the battery 17 is reduced, the usable time when the facsimile apparatus is operated using the same battery 17 can be extended.

With the above configuration, when the operator operates the operation display unit 10 to specify that the telephone line is used, the system control unit
A step 11 sets the operation of the network control device 8 to an effective state thereafter, thereby enabling facsimile transmission using a telephone line.

When the operator operates the operation display unit 10 to specify the use of the wireless device, the system control unit 11 sets the operation of the wireless device 9 to an effective state thereafter, and performs facsimile transmission using the wireless device 9. To be feasible.

When the operator switches the power supply selection switch 18 to the power supply side, a power supply selection signal SL at a logical H level is output to the system control unit 11.

Thereby, the system control unit 11 sets the power setting signal DL to be output to the plotter 4 to the logical H level. Therefore, the density of the received image recorded and output from the plotter 4 thereafter becomes the maximum.

Further, when the operator switches the power supply selection switch 18 to the battery side, the power supply selection signal SL at the logical L level is provided.
Is output to the system control unit 11.

Thereby, the system control unit 11 sets the power setting signal DL to be output to the plotter 4 to the logic L level. Therefore, the density of the received image recorded and output from the plotter 4 thereafter becomes a low value that is readable.

In this way, the power consumption of the facsimile apparatus when using the battery 17 is reduced, so that the same battery 17 can be used to some extent continuously even when receiving images frequently.

In the above-described embodiment, the operator switches between the power supply and the battery to be used. However, the present invention is also applied to a device that automatically switches to the battery when the external power supply is not used. Can be applied.

FIG. 6 shows a main part of the embodiment in such a case. In this figure, the same parts as those in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are omitted.

In this embodiment, a relay 25 that operates when the power switch 14 is turned on and the commercial power supply 15 is connected to the power supply 13
Is used to switch between the power supply 13 and the battery 17.

That is, the output terminal of the power supply 13 is connected to the input terminal of the normally open contact 25a ₁ of the relay 25, the output terminal of the voltage converter 16 is connected to the input terminal of the normally closed contact 25b ₁ , and these normally closed contacts 25a 1 ₁ and the output terminal of the normally closed contact 25b ₁ are interconnected, power to each element of the facsimile apparatus is supplied.

The input terminal of the normally open contact 25a ₂ of the relay 25 is supplied with a voltage signal of a logic H level, and the input terminal of the normally closed contact 25b ₂ is supplied with a voltage signal of a logic L level.
25a ₂ and an output terminal of the normally closed contact 25b ₂ are interconnected, the signal is outputted to the system control unit 11 as a power supply selection signal SL.

Therefore, when the power switch 14 is turned on and the commercial power
Is connected to the power supply 13, and when power is output from the power supply 13, the relay 25 is turned on, thereby turning on the normally open contact 25a ₁ and simultaneously turning off the normally closed contact 25b _1. Thirteen output power supplies are provided to each element of the facsimile machine.

Also at this time, the normally closed contact 25b ₂ at the same time normally open contact 25a ₂ is turned on is turned off so that the power supply selection signal SL of logic H level is output to the system control unit 11.

When the power switch 14 is not turned on,
Output power of the voltage converter 16 through the normally closed contact 25b ₁ is supplied to each element of the facsimile apparatus. At the same time, the power supply selection signal SL at the logic L level is output to the system control unit 11.

In this way, the power supply is automatically switched, and the power supply selection signal SL indicating the selected power supply is output to the system control unit 11.

By the way, in the above-described embodiment, a primary battery is used as the battery 17, but the present invention can be applied to a case where a secondary battery is used.

An embodiment in such a case is shown in FIG. In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted.

In the figure, when a commercial power supply 15 is supplied through a power switch 14, a charging device 30 generates a power supply for charging a battery 31, and its output is supplied to a diode 32 for backflow prevention. Battery 31 and voltage converter through
16 has been added.

When commercial power supply 15 is supplied, charging device 30 outputs switching signal TG to switch 33.

A voltage signal of a logic H level is applied to one input terminal of the switch 33, and a voltage signal of a logic L level is applied to the other input terminal. When the switching signal TG is not input, the switch 33 is switched to the input terminal of the logic L level, and when the switching signal TG is input, the switch 33 is connected to the input terminal of the logic H level. Switch connection.

The output of the switch 33 is applied to the system control unit 11 as a power supply selection signal SL.

Therefore, when the power switch 14 is turned on and the commercial power
Is supplied to the charging device 30, this charging device
The battery 31 is charged by the output of the battery 30, and the output of the charging device 30 is voltage-converted by the voltage converter 16 and supplied to each element of the facsimile machine as a power source.

At the same time, the power supply selection signal output from the switch 33
Since SL goes to the logic H level, the system control unit 11 outputs a logic H level power setting signal DL to the plotter 4.

As a result, the received image is recorded and output at the maximum density.

When the power switch 14 is not turned on,
The output of the battery 31 is voltage-converted by the voltage converter 16 and supplied to each element of the facsimile apparatus as a power supply.

At the same time, the power supply selection signal output from the switch 33
Since SL is at the logic L level, the system control unit 11 outputs a logic L level power setting signal DL to the plotter 4.

As a result, the received image is recorded and output at a maximum density that is low enough to be readable, and the consumption of the battery 31 is reduced.

In the above-described embodiment, the power supply selection signal is formed by the switch, but the power supply selection signal may be directly output from the charging device.

By the way, the power consumption of the plotter 4 is large when many black pixels appear on the line recorded by the plotter 4, and particularly when the image is all black, the power consumption becomes maximum.

Therefore, when the pulse width of the strobe signals STB1 to STB7 of the plotter 4 is reduced only for the all black lines in the state where the battery is used, deterioration of the image quality of the recorded image is suppressed and power consumption is suppressed. be able to.

FIG. 8 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
In the figure, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 and corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

The image signal output from the encoding / decoding unit 3 to the plotter 4 is input to the black pixel counting unit 40. The black pixel counting section 40 counts the number of black pixels appearing in the image signal for one line. When the counted value matches the number of pixels for one line, that is, for one line, In this case, the all black signal AB is output to the system control unit 11.

In a state where the power supply selection signal SL is at the logic L level and the battery 17 is selected, the system control unit 11 outputs the power setting signal DL output to the plotter 4 for the line from which the all black signal AB is output. The power setting signal DL is set to a logic H level otherwise.

Therefore, the pulse width of the strobe signals STB1 to STB7 applied to the drivers D1 to Dn of the thermal head is set to the small pulse width T2 only when all black lines are recorded while the battery 17 is in use. , When other lines are recorded, the strobe signals STB1 to STB7
Is set to a large pulse width T1.

As a result, the power consumption of all black lines, which consume particularly large power, is suppressed, so that the power consumption required for recording is suppressed, and as a result, the life of the battery 17 is extended.

In this embodiment, the strobe signal is used only when recording all black lines when the battery 17 is used.
When the pulse width of STB1 to STB7 is reduced, but the ratio of black pixels is very large, for example, when recording a line in which 80% or more of the pixels are black pixels, a strobe signal is used.
The pulse width of STB1 to STB7 can be set small.

The number of pixels of one line determined by the black pixel counting unit 40 as an all black line is a value corresponding to the size of the thermal recording paper set on the plotter 4 or the image size specified by the partner device at the time of reception. Is set in advance to a value according to. This setting can be made by the system control unit 11.

By the way, in each of the above-described embodiments, the commercial power supply is used as the external power supply, but a battery mounted on the vehicle may be used as the external power supply.

In each of the above-described embodiments, only the power consumption of the plotter is reduced when the battery is used. In addition, the power applied to the light source of the scanner may be reduced. In this case, the power consumption can be further reduced, so that the battery usable time can be further extended. However, in this case, if a document having a large background stain is transmitted, the image quality may be greatly degraded.

Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to a facsimile apparatus using a recording apparatus other than the thermal recording method.

[Effects] As described above, according to the present invention, an image recording apparatus that selectively receives power from a commercial power supply or a battery to drive an image recording unit, and records and outputs an input image on a predetermined recording sheet In the power supply detecting means for detecting whether the selected power supply is a commercial power supply or a battery, and a recording pixel number detecting means for detecting a ratio of the number of recording pixels based on the input image,
Control means for controlling recording energy for driving the image recording unit based on the detection result of the power supply detecting means and the number of recording pixels, and wherein the control means detects that a commercial power supply is provided by the power supply detecting means. When it is detected that the battery is selected, the image recording means is driven with the first recording energy, and when the battery detection is detected by the power supply detecting means, When the ratio of the number of recording pixels detected by the number-of-pixels detecting means is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the image recording unit is driven with a second recording energy smaller than the first recording energy. When a battery is selected, the power consumption is controlled according to the content of printing, thereby reducing battery consumption and recording and outputting more images. Such an effect that can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a writing system of a plotter, and FIG. 3 is a graph illustrating the relationship between recording density and pulse width. FIG. 4 is a waveform diagram showing an operation example when recording at the maximum density, FIG. 5 is a waveform diagram showing an operation example when recording at a lower density, and FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to still another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a facsimile apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 ... System control unit, 13 ... Power supply device, 17,31 ... Battery, 18 ... Power selection switch, 19 ... Switch, 21
…… Write control unit, 25 …… Relay, 25a ₁ , 25a ₂ … Normal contact, 25b ₁ , 25b ₂ … Normal contact, 30… Charging device, 32
... Diode, 33 ... Switcher, 40 ... Black pixel counting section.

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-62-30461 (JP, A) JP-A-61-166260 (JP, A) JP-A-58-127706 (JP, U) JP-A-61-44247 (JP) , Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04N 1/00 H04N 1/23 B41J 29/38

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image recording apparatus for selectively receiving power supply from a commercial power supply or a battery to drive an image recording unit and record and output an input image on a predetermined recording paper, wherein the selected power supply is a commercial power supply A power supply detecting means for detecting whether the battery is a battery, a recording pixel number detecting means for detecting a ratio of the number of recording pixels based on an input image, and the image based on a detection result of the power supply detecting means and the recording pixel number detecting means. Control means for controlling the recording energy for driving the recording section, wherein the control means uses the first recording energy when the commercial power supply is selected by the power supply detection means. While driving the image recording means, when the power supply detecting means detects that the battery is selected, and the number of recording pixels detected by the recording pixel number detecting means An image recording apparatus for driving the image recording section with a second recording energy smaller than the first recording energy when the ratio of the first recording energy is equal to or more than a predetermined value.