JP3160898B2 - Image output device performance monitoring device and density control device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a performance monitoring device for monitoring the performance of an image output device such as a facsimile device or a copying device, and a density control device for automatically controlling the density. About.

[Related Art] In recent years, FAX apparatuses that rapidly transmit documents or drawings have been used in various places. This device reads and transmits originals, stores the transmitted signals and prints them on paper, etc., but transmits or receives data due to performance deterioration or density change due to aging, accumulation of dirt, etc. The image quality may be degraded. For this reason, conventionally, the operator has to judge the work time for maintenance based on the subjective judgment visually, or regularly adjust the inside of the apparatus.
This is the same in a copying apparatus.

As for the density, for example, it is possible to read the density of the document and control the average value of a plurality of documents to be a constant value. However, conventionally, it is difficult to discriminate between a case where there are a large number of documents with a low density and a case where there are a small amount of documents with a high density, and it is difficult to automatically control the density. The density was manually switched by subjective judgment.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, when the judgment is based on the subjective judgment of the operator, there is variation in the judgment contents of the image quality. When the periodic adjustment is performed internally, the maintenance time is too early or late. In some cases, it is difficult to set an appropriate maintenance time.

Therefore, the present invention provides an apparatus that can efficiently set an appropriate maintenance time and an apparatus that does not require concentration adjustment.

Means for Solving the Problems To achieve this object, a performance monitoring device for an image output device according to claim 1 is a device for monitoring the performance of an image output device which prints an image corresponding to image data on paper or the like and outputs the image. In the performance monitoring device, reading means for reading an image printed on paper or the like, image quality evaluation of the image read by the reading means, and image quality evaluation value calculating means for calculating the evaluation value, and image quality evaluation value calculating means Average value calculating means for storing the obtained evaluation values for a plurality of predetermined images and calculating an average value of the stored plurality of evaluation values; and an average calculated by the average value calculating means and a predetermined reference value. And notifying means for notifying information in a predetermined shape based on the comparison result.

3. The performance monitoring device for an image output device according to claim 2, wherein the image monitoring device reads the image of a document, converts the image into image data, and transmits the image data to a telephone line or the like. Image quality evaluation value calculating means for calculating the evaluation value, and storing the evaluation values calculated by the image quality evaluation value means for a plurality of originals, and storing the stored plurality of evaluation values. Average value calculating means for calculating the average value of the average value, the average value calculated by the average value calculating means is compared with a predetermined reference value, based on the comparison result,
Notification means for notifying information in a predetermined format.

[Operation] In the performance monitoring device for an image output device according to claim 1, an image printed on paper or the like is read, and the state is notified based on a comparison result between the average value of the image quality evaluation and the reference value. Therefore, appropriate maintenance is performed.

In the performance monitoring device for an image output device according to the second aspect, the state is notified based on the comparison result between the average value of the image quality evaluation of the image transmitted to the telephone line or the like and the reference value. Maintenance is performed.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an image reading unit which reads information of a document 2 and outputs image data, 3 denotes an image coding unit which converts image data supplied from the image reading unit 1 into coded data, and 4 denotes image coding. An image data transmission unit 5 for converting the coded data output from the unit 3 into a transmission signal adapted to the characteristics of the transmission line and transmitting the same is provided between the apparatus and a transmission line 6 such as a telephone line or a dedicated line. It is a communication control unit (notification means) for controlling transmission and reception of signals.

Reference numeral 7 denotes an image data receiving unit that converts received data taken in from the transmission line 6 via the communication control unit 5 into encoded data, and 8 denotes an image that converts encoded data supplied from the image data receiving unit 7 into image data. A decoding unit 9 is an image printing unit that prints the image data supplied from the image decoding unit 8 as a document 10.

The above configuration is the same as that of a general FAX. However, in the present invention, in addition to the above-described functions, the above-described image reading unit 1 has a status signal A indicating that an image is being read for transmission. Is output. It is also characterized by the following components.

An image printing print reading unit (reading unit) 11 reads the document 10 and outputs image data and a status signal B indicating that the document is in a receiving state. A multiplexer (MPX) 13 for switching and outputting the image signal and the image data from the reading unit 11 at the time of image printing; 13, an image quality evaluation unit (image quality evaluation value calculating means) for evaluating the image quality of the image data output from the MPX 12; The switching state of the MPX 12 is controlled based on a state signal supplied from the image reading unit 1 or the image printing reading unit 11, and a signal such as a maintenance message is output based on the image quality evaluation data supplied from the image quality evaluation unit 13. This is a maintenance control unit.

The keyboard 15 and CRT 16 (notification means) are devices for a man-machine interface.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the maintenance control unit 14, where 141 is a CPU that performs comprehensive control, 142 is an image quality evaluation interface unit that exchanges signals with the image quality evaluation unit 13, and 143 is a communication control unit 5 A communication control unit interface unit that exchanges signals with the keyboard 15, a keyboard interface unit that exchanges signals with the keyboard 15, a CRT interface unit 145 that exchanges signals with the CRT 16, 146, a ROM storing an operation program, and 147, Variable data is stored
RAM, 148 is a battery backup RAM storing the maintenance data shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, 149 is a calendar clock, 150 is an MPX select interface unit for outputting data for selecting the MPX 12, and 151 is an image reading A status signal input unit to which a status signal A from the unit 1 or a status signal B from the reading unit 11 during image printing is input.

At the time of transmission, the information of the original 2 read and converted into image data by the image reading unit 1 is converted into coded data by the image coding unit 3 and converted into a signal suitable for the transmission line 6 by the image data sending unit 4. After that, it is output to the transmission line 6 via the communication control unit 5. At the time of reception, the received data sent via the transmission line 6 is taken in by the communication control unit 5 and is received by the image data receiving unit 7.
Are converted into encoded data by the image decoding unit 8 and converted into image data by the image decoding unit 8, and then printed on the document 10 by the image printing unit 9.

On the other hand, at the time of transmission, a state signal A indicating that the apparatus is in the transmission state is output from the image reading unit 1, and at the time of reception, a state signal B indicating that printing is being performed is output from the image printing reading unit 11. The maintenance control unit 14 to which the signal is supplied switches the MPX 12 to supply the image data from the side to which the signal is supplied to the image quality evaluation unit 13.

The image data input to the image quality evaluation unit 13 is a grayscale image. The image quality evaluation unit 13 determines an optimal threshold value for binarizing the grayscale image data and an image quality evaluation value at the threshold value (the smaller the image quality, the better the image quality). ) Is output. The image quality evaluation unit
Details of 13 are disclosed in, for example, JP-A-64-51586.

The calculated image quality evaluation values are stored in a list and statistically processed. Then, if the image quality evaluation value is deteriorated below a predetermined standard, a display indicating the deteriorated portion is displayed on the CRT 16 (notified). Then, the fax number and telephone number of the maintenance company of the fax machine, the name data of the maintenance company, and the like are read from the battery backup RAM 148. Next, the location, name, and device type data of the user of the fax device are read from the battery backup RAM 148 in the same manner. These messages are combined with a message indicating the image quality deterioration state to form a message as voice synthesis or character data.
Automatically notify (notify) to the maintenance company via.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the maintenance control unit 14. In the figure, at step 100, the status signals A and B are read. At this time, both readings are being performed, but only one of the status signals is generated.
Actually, only one of the signals is fetched. Therefore, when the state signal A is captured, it is determined in step 101 that the image reading unit 1 has started operation, and as shown in step 103, the image data of the image reading unit 1 is selected. Controls MPX12. On the other hand, when the state signal B is captured, it is determined in step 102 that the image printing reading section 11 has started operation, and as shown in step 104, the image data of the image printing reading section 11 is selected. To control the MPX12.

Then, in step 105, the image quality evaluation value calculated by the image quality evaluation unit 13 is read, and in step 106, the image quality evaluation value is stored in each list according to the subject of image reading. In step 107, for example, for the past five images, The data in the list is updated so that only the image quality evaluation value of is left in each list. Thereafter, in step 108, the average value of the image quality evaluation values of the output image of the image reading unit 1 is set to the reference value 1 (first
It is determined whether or not the value is smaller than the reference value. If the average value is smaller than the reference value 1, a message indicating the deterioration of the image reading unit 1 is selected as shown in step 111.
Then, the necessity of maintenance and the message are displayed on the CRT 16 as shown in step 112, and the message is transmitted to the maintenance company by fax or TEL as shown in step 113. At that time, the location, name, and type of fax device of the fax user are automatically reported.

On the other hand, in step 108, if the average value of the image quality evaluation values of the image reading unit 1 is smaller than the reference value 1 or if the state signal A has not been generated, this step is determined to be “NO”. Move on to processing. Here, it is determined whether or not the average value of the image quality evaluation values of the output image of the image printing reading unit 11 is smaller than the reference value 2 (second reference value). If it is determined that the average value is smaller than the reference value 2, there is no abnormality, and the flow returns to step 100. However, if the average value is larger than the reference value 2,
At 110, a message indicating the deterioration of the image printing unit 9 is selected, the processing of the above-described steps 112 and 113 is performed, the display on the CRT 16 and the notification to the maintenance company are made, and then the flow returns to step 100. Thereafter, the same operation is repeated.

In the above description, the notification is automatically made to the maintenance company. However, the user may contact the maintenance company while watching the display on the CRT 16. Further, only one of the outputs of the image reading unit 1 and the image printing reading unit 11 may be evaluated.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram when the present invention is applied to a copying apparatus.

A glass plate 32 is disposed on the upper surface of the main body 31, and a document 33 can be placed on the glass plate 32, and can be pressed by a pressing plate 34. An optical reading device (not shown) is built in the main body 31. When the start button 35 is operated, the optical reading device reads the document 33. The read image is printed on paper by a printing unit (not shown) built in the main body 31, and is printed as a document (copy) 36 via a reading unit 37 (reading means) and a support plate 38 through the main body 31. Emitted from 31.

The reading unit 37 is configured, for example, as shown in FIG. LED array 6 in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which document 36 is discharged
1 and the CCD line sensor 62 are arranged in parallel. An end of the CCD line sensor 62 is a detection unit 63 for detecting the presence or absence of the document 36.
It has been. The read control unit 64 drives the LED array 61,
Turn on. The light emitted from the LED array 61 is applied to the document 36, and the reflected light is incident on the CCD line sensor 62 via a lens (not shown). The detector 63 receives only the reflected light from the end of the document 36 (an image is not usually recorded there). When the document 36 does not exist, the amount of reflected light received by the detection unit 63 decreases drastically as compared with when the document 36 exists. The reading control unit 64 compares the output of the detecting unit 63 with a predetermined threshold value, and from the result of the comparison, a copy signal e indicating the presence or absence of the document 36 (for example, a signal that becomes logic H when there is the document 36 and a logic L when there is no document 36) Occurs. Further, the CCD line sensor 62 reads an image printed thereon from the reflected light incident from the document 36, and the reading control unit 64 outputs an image signal (data) corresponding to the reading result.

This image signal is input to the image quality evaluation unit 39 and is temporarily stored in a built-in memory. The image quality evaluation unit 39 calculates the optimum threshold value θ _k and the image quality evaluation value q _k in the same manner as in the case of the image quality evaluation unit 13 in FIG. 1, and supplies them to the memories 40 and 44, respectively. The memories 40 and 44 have a FIFO configuration, and operate using the copy signal e as a clock. That is, the memory 40 stores N latest thresholds θ _k of the documents 36, and stores N thresholds θ _{k
k1 to} θ _kN are output to the average value calculation unit 41 in parallel. The average value calculation unit 41 calculates the average threshold value aθ from the following equation.

aθ = (1 / N) (θ _k1 + θ _k2 +... + θ _kN ) Similarly, the memory 44 stores the N latest image quality evaluation values q _k of the documents 36 and performs N image quality evaluations. The values q _{k1 to} q _kN are output in parallel to the average value calculation unit 45 (average value calculation means).
The average value calculation unit 45 calculates the image quality average value aq from the following equation.

aq = (1 / N) ( q k1 + q k2 + ··· + q kN) average threshold aθ is input to the control signal generating unit 42. The control signal generator 42 also receives a reference density d set by an operator (or a serviceman performing maintenance) operating the density indicating volume 43. The control signal generator 42 calculates a density control signal D for controlling the density of the document 36 from the following formula, and outputs it to the main body 31.

D = T ₁ · aθ + T ₂ · d Here, T ₁ and T ₂ are 0 or positive coefficients.

A control device (not shown) built in the main body 31 controls the density of the document 36 according to the density control signal D.

The average threshold aθ increases as the density of the document 36 decreases, and decreases as the density increases. As a result, the density control signal D decreases as the density of the document 36 increases, and the density control signal D increases as the density of the document 36 decreases. As a result, the density of the document 36 is automatically set, and the density adjustment becomes unnecessary.

The higher the reference density d, the higher the density. Therefore, the density can be manually adjusted by appropriately changing the value of the reference density d to an appropriate value.

On the other hand, the image quality average value aq output by the average value calculation unit 45 is input to the comparison unit 46. The register 47 is stored in image quality evaluation reference value q ₀ set by the service person (or operator), this value is supplied to the comparator 46. Comparison section
46 compares the quality average value aq and quality evaluation reference value q _0, is turned LED48 the (notification means) when the latter is greater than the former,
LED4 when the former is equal to or greater than the latter
Turn on 9 (notification means). The value of the image quality average value aq and quality evaluation reference value q ₀ is smaller as if a good image quality. Therefore, when the LED 48 is turned off and the LED 49 is turned on,
Appropriate measures can be taken, such as calling a serviceman.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, according to the performance monitoring device for an image output device of the first aspect, an image to be printed on a plurality of sheets of paper is read, and the average value and the reference value of the image quality evaluation are read. Because we announced the state based on the comparison result of
Appropriate maintenance can be performed.

Further, according to the image output device of the second aspect, according to the performance monitoring device, the state is notified based on the comparison result between the average value of the image quality evaluation of the image transmitted to the telephone line or the like and the reference value. As a result, proper maintenance is possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a performance monitoring device for an image output device according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a maintenance control unit in FIG.
FIG. 4 and FIG. 4 show the battery backup in FIG.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents of the RAM, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the maintenance control unit in FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a configuration of another embodiment of the performance monitoring device and the density control device of the image output device according to the present invention. FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing the configuration of an embodiment of the reading unit in FIG. 1 image reading unit, 2 originals, 3 image encoding unit,
4 image data transmitting section, 5 communication control section (notifying means), 7 image data receiving section, 8 image decoding section, 9
... Image printing unit, 10 Document, 11 Image reading unit (reading means), 12 Multiplexer (MP
X), 13 image quality evaluation section (image quality evaluation means), 14 maintenance control section, 16 CRT (notification means), 37 image reading section (reading means), 39 image quality evaluation section (calculation means) ), 42 ...
... Control signal generator (concentration control means), 48,49 ... LED (notification means).

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-237661 (JP, A) JP-A-63-114366 (JP, A) JP-A-1-228372 (JP, A) JP-A-1-130945 (JP) JP-A-3-44542 (JP, A) JP-A-64-36259 (JP, A) JP-A-64-61172 (JP, A) JP-A-64-51586 (JP, A) 2-17362 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108 H04N 1/23-1/31 H04N 1/40-1/409 B41J 29/00-29/70

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A performance monitoring device for an image output device that prints an image corresponding to image data on paper or the like and outputs the image, wherein: a reading unit that reads the image printed on the paper; and an image that is read by the reading unit. Image quality evaluation value calculating means for calculating the image quality evaluation value and calculating the evaluation value; storing the evaluation values calculated by the image quality evaluation value calculation means for a predetermined plurality of images; Average value calculating means for calculating the average value of the evaluation values, and comparing the average value calculated by the average value calculating means with a predetermined reference value, and notifying information in a predetermined format based on the comparison result. A performance monitoring device for an image output device, comprising: a notification unit. 2. A performance monitoring device of an image output device for reading an image of a document, converting the image into image data and transmitting the image data to a telephone line or the like, wherein the image quality of the image data transmitted to the telephone line or the like is evaluated. Image quality evaluation value calculation means for calculating a value; storing the evaluation values calculated by the image quality evaluation value means for a predetermined plurality of originals; and calculating an average value of the stored plurality of evaluation values. Average value calculating means, comprising a notifying means for comparing the average value calculated by the average value calculating means with a predetermined reference value, and notifying information in a predetermined format based on the comparison result. A performance monitoring device for an image output device.