US20040190084A1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Image copying device
Assignee: Brother Industries Ltd
•
Filing: 2004-03-31
•
Granted: —
•
Expires: 2024-03-31
Abstract
Abstract A copy machine completes the reading in of the front surfaces of a plurality of documents, before starting reading in of the rear surfaces of the documents, and starts forming images before the reading in of the rear surfaces of all the documents has been completed. After the front surfaces of all the plurality of documents have been read in, the reading of the rear surfaces starts. It takes a period of time from a time T 2 to a time T 7 to read in image data of a quantity (Q 2 −Q 1 ) from the rear surface of one document as apparent from a line segment 200 a that is indicative of the speed at which the read-in image data is stored. The timing of printing start is offset to ensure that the line segment 200 a and the line segment 300 b do not intersect with each other. This makes it possible to start printing based on image data for the rear surface of the document while the reading of the subject surface of the subject document. It is possible to prevent the image data from running out regardless of the difference between the storing speed and the read-out speed.
Inventors
- 👤 Takaaki Shirai
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 11:30
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/32; H04N1/32358; H04N1/3248; H04N1/32443; H04N2201/00; H04N2201/0098; H04N2201/32; H04N2201/3285; H04N2201/3288; H04N2201/3297
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 23
Claim 1
Independent Claim
234 words
1 . An image copying device, comprising: a reading portion that reads in an image formed on one surface of a document; a storage portion that stores image data that is read in by the reading portion; an image forming portion that forms an image on a recording medium based on the image data stored in the storage portion; a reading control portion that provides control such that, when a plurality of documents having images formed on both sides thereof are to be read by the reading portion, images formed on one surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion, and then, after the reading in of the one surfaces of the documents is completed, images on the other surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion; and image forming control portion that reads out, from the storage portion, image data for the one surfaces of the documents and the corresponding image data of the other surfaces of the documents, that controls the image forming portion to form images sequentially on the recording medium based on the image data, and that causes the start of the forming of images on the recording medium by the image forming portion before the reading in of all of the other surfaces of the documents by the reading portion has been completed.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
234 words
1 . An image copying device, comprising: a reading portion that reads in an image formed on one surface of a document; a storage portion that stores image data that is read in by the reading portion; an image forming portion that forms an image on a recording medium based on the image data stored in the storage portion; a reading control portion that provides control such that, when a plurality of documents having images formed on both sides thereof are to be read by the reading portion, images formed on one surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion, and then, after the reading in of the one surfaces of the documents is completed, images on the other surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion; and image forming control portion that reads out, from the storage portion, image data for the one surfaces of the documents and the corresponding image data of the other surfaces of the documents, that controls the image forming portion to form images sequentially on the recording medium based on the image data, and that causes the start of the forming of images on the recording medium by the image forming portion before the reading in of all of the other surfaces of the documents by the reading portion has been completed.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
97 words
2 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image forming control portion sets, into a pair of image data, image data for one surface of each document and image data for the other surface of the subject document, which is stored in the storage portion, and forms an image based on the image data for the one surface of the document on one surface of a recording medium and an image based on the image data for the other surface of the subject document on another surface of the recording medium.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
71 words
3 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image forming control portion performs control in such a manner that, after the images on the one surfaces of all the documents has been read in by the reading portion, the reading of the other surfaces and the forming of images onto the recording medium by the image forming portion are executed in parallel with each other.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
72 words
4 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image forming control portion performs control in such a manner that the forming of images onto the recording medium by the image forming portion is started after the reading of the other surfaces of the documents has started and when image data for the other surface of at least one document has been stored in the storage portion.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
152 words
5 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image forming control portion determines an estimated value of the time required until the reading in of the other surfaces of all of the documents by the reading portion has ended and an estimated value of the time required until image forming based on image data for both surfaces of all of the documents by the image forming portion has ended, and offsets, based on the estimated values, the start time of image forming by the image forming portion with respect to the start time of the reading of the other surfaces of the documents by the reading portion in such a manner that the end time of the reading of the other surfaces of all of the documents is earlier than the end time of image forming based on the image data for all of the documents.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
182 words
6 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein image forming based on image data for the other surface of a document by the image forming portion is performed before image forming based on the one surface of the subject document; and the image forming control portion determines an estimated value of the time required until the reading in of the other surface of the document by the reading portion has ended and an estimated value of the time required until the image forming based on image data for the other surface of the document has ended, and offsets, based on the estimated values, the start time of image forming of the other surface of the document by the image forming portion with respect to the start time of the reading of the other surface of the subject document, in such a manner that the end time of the reading of the other surface of the document is earlier than the end time of image forming based on the image data of the other surface of the document.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
179 words
7 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein image forming based on image data for the one surface of a document by the image forming portion is performed before image forming based on the other surface of the subject document; and the image forming control portion determines an estimated value of the time required until the reading in of the other surface of the document by the reading portion has ended and an estimated value of the time required until the image forming based on image data for both surfaces of the document has ended, and offsets, based on the estimated values, the start time of image forming for the one surface of the document by the image forming portion with respect to the start time of the reading of the both surfaces of the document, in such a manner that the end time of the reading of the other surface of the document is earlier than the end time of image forming based on the image data of both surfaces of the document.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
112 words
8 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein: the reading in of the other surface of a document and the image forming based on the image data for the other surface of the document are performed in parallel; and the image forming control portion temporally stops the operation of the image forming portion when an amount of image data for the other surface of the document that is to be formed by the image forming portion and that is stored in the storage portion is smaller than a reference value before the reading in of the other surface of the document by the reading portion has completed.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
95 words
9 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein; the reading in of the other surface of a document and the image forming based on the image data for the other surface of the document are performed in parallel; and the reading control portion controls the operation of the reading portion in such a manner that the reading in of the other surface of a document next to the subject document starts after the image forming of the other surface of the subject document by the image forming portion has ended.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
223 words
10 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein: the one surfaces of the documents are sequentially read in by the reading portion in an order in which the documents are arranged and data for the one surfaces of all the documents is stored in the storage portion, and the other surfaces of the documents are sequentially read in by the reading portion in another order opposite to the order in which the documents are arranged and data for the other surfaces is stored in the storage portion; and the image forming control portion performs control in such a manner that image data for the one surfaces of the documents that is stored in the storage portion and image data for the other surfaces of the documents that is stored in the storage portion is read out alternately in page units and images are formed by the image forming portion, and in such a manner that image data for the one surfaces is read out in an order opposite to the order in which the image data for the documents have been read in by the reading portion so that the one surface for one document is read out before the one surface of another document that has been read in before the one surface for the subject document.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
228 words
11 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein: the one surfaces of the documents are sequentially read in by the reading portion in an order opposite to an order in which the documents are arranged and data for the one surfaces of all the documents is stored in the storage portion, and the other surfaces of the documents are sequentially read in by the reading portion in the order the same as the order in which the documents are arranged and data for the other surfaces is stored in the storage portion; and the image forming control portion performs control in such a manner that image data for the one surfaces of the documents that is stored in the storage portion and image data for the other surfaces of the documents that is stored in the storage portion is read out alternately in page units and images are formed by the image forming portion, and in such a manner that image data for the other surfaces is read out in an order opposite to the order in which the image data for the documents have been read in by the reading portion so that the other surface for one document is read out before the other surface of another document that has been read in before the one surface for the subject document.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
39 words
12 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image data stored in the storage portion is deleted after the image forming for the image data has been completed by the image forming portion.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
115 words
13 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the storage portion is provided with: a first storage area that stores image data for one surfaces of the documents; and a second storage area that stores image data for the other surfaces of the documents, the first and second storage areas being independent from each other, wherein image data for the other surface of one document that has been newly read in by the reading portion is stored in the second storage area by being overwritten onto image data which has been already stored in the second storage area and for which image forming by the image forming portion has ended.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
74 words
14 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the image data is stored in the second storage area in the unit of one page, and image data for the other surface of one document that has been stored in the second storage area is overwritten by image data for the other surface of a next document that is read in by the reading portion next to the subject document.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
52 words
15 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 14 , wherein image data for the other surface of each document is prohibited from being stored in the first storage area and image data for the one surface of each document is prohibited from being stored in the second storage area.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
36 words
16 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 13 wherein the second storage area is set to have a capacity for storing image data that is less than that of the first storage area.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
79 words
17 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising: a verification portion that checks, upon receipt of a copy instruction, available capacities of the first storage area and the second storage area, wherein the reading by the reading portion is prohibited when the available capacity of the first storage area is less than a predetermined first amount or when the available capacity of the second storage area is less than a predetermined second amount.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
62 words
18 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the reading by the reading portion is started when the verification portion has checked that the available capacity in each of the first storage area and the second storage area is larger than or equal to the capacity of image data to be read from at least one document.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
19 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 13 , further comprising a compression portion that compresses the image data before the image data is stored in either one of the first storage area and the second storage area.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
37 words
20 . The image copying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the image forming portion is provided with a double-sided print portion that is capable of forming images on both sides of a recording medium.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
229 words
21 . An image copying device, comprising: a reading portion that reads in an image formed on one surface of a document; a storage portion that stores image data that is read in by the reading portion; an image forming portion that forms an image on a recording medium based on the image data stored in the storage portion; and a controller that provides control such that, when a plurality of documents having images formed on both sides thereof are to be read by the reading portion, images formed on one surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion, and then, after the reading in of the one surfaces of the documents is completed, images on the other surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion, and that reads out, from the storage portion, image data for the one surfaces of the documents and the corresponding image data of the other surfaces of the documents, that controls the image forming portion to form images sequentially on the recording medium based on the image data, and that causes the start of the forming of images on the recording medium by the image forming portion before the reading in of all of the other surfaces of the documents by the reading portion has been completed.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
229 words
21 . An image copying device, comprising: a reading portion that reads in an image formed on one surface of a document; a storage portion that stores image data that is read in by the reading portion; an image forming portion that forms an image on a recording medium based on the image data stored in the storage portion; and a controller that provides control such that, when a plurality of documents having images formed on both sides thereof are to be read by the reading portion, images formed on one surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion, and then, after the reading in of the one surfaces of the documents is completed, images on the other surfaces of the documents are read in sequentially and are stored sequentially in the storage portion, and that reads out, from the storage portion, image data for the one surfaces of the documents and the corresponding image data of the other surfaces of the documents, that controls the image forming portion to form images sequentially on the recording medium based on the image data, and that causes the start of the forming of images on the recording medium by the image forming portion before the reading in of all of the other surfaces of the documents by the reading portion has been completed.
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