IMAGE FORMING DEVICE CAPABLE OF CONTROLLING SCANNING UNIT AND METHOD TO CONTROL SCANNING UNIT THEREOF

Abstract

An image forming device capable of controlling a scanning unit and a method to control the scanning unit, the image forming device including a rate error calculator to calculate a rate error from a difference between a practical rotation rate and a target rate of a motor that drives the scanning unit, a position error calculator to calculate a position error from a difference between a current position and a target position of the motor, and a rate/position controller to output a control pulse to control a rate and a position of the motor by applying the rate error and the position error.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1A is a graph showing a moving distance (i.e., a rotation position of a motor) detected by a conventional image forming device capable of controlling a scanning unit;

FIG. 1B is a graph showing a position error generated by P_cmd and P_mea of FIG. 1A;

FIG. 2 shows an image forming device capable of controlling a scanning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows waveforms to describe a method to measure a practical rotation rate and a current position of a motor of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a rate/position controller of FIG. 2 in more detail;

FIG. 5A is a graph showing a moving distance, that is, a rotation position of the motor detected by the image forming device of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5B is a graph showing a position error generated by P_cmd and P_mea of FIG. 5A; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a method to control a scanning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.

FIG. 2 shows an image forming device 200 capable of controlling a scanning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, the image forming device 200 includes a motor driver 210, a motor 220, a load unit 230, an encoder 240, and an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) 250. Description or explanation of elements related to forming images is omitted to focus on aspects of the present invention.

The image forming device 200, according to an aspect of the present invention, may be applicable to all devices that use a DC servo motor and increases control performance of a rotation rate and rotation position of the motor using certain control methods. That is, the image forming device 200 is not limited to use with a scanning unit. The control methods include, although not limited to, a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control method, a Proportional Integral (Pi) control method, an Integral Derivative (ID) control method, a Proportional Derivative (PD) control method, a proportional control method, an integral control method and a rate control method. Hereinbelow, a PID control method is described as an example.

The motor driver 210 applies a practical voltage necessary to drive the motor 220 to the motor 220 by a pulse output from the ASIC 250. The motor 220 is a DC servo motor and drives a device mounting the image forming device 200 by rotation. For example, if the image forming device 200 is mounted in a scanner, the motor 220 drives a sensor such as a CCD. The load unit 230 outputs a load value put when driving the motor 220.

The encoder 240 may be mounted at a rotation axis of the motor 220 or the load unit 230. According to an aspect of the present invention, the encoder 240 is mounted at the load unit 230. The encoder 240 penetrates a light beam incident from a light source (not shown) through a film of a script form or a rotation flat of a wheel form, and outputs two pulses corresponding to channels A and B, having a phase difference of 90°. The two pulses have the same cycle and the waveform of each pulse varies according to a rotation rate of the motor 220.

The ASIC 250 is a chip to calculate an optimal driving voltage considering a rate and moving distance of the motor 220 using the two pulses output from the encoder 240 and a system clock provided from an external clock generator (not shown), and includes a memory (not shown) to store a program necessary to perform the above function. To this end, the ASIC 250 includes a practical rotation rate measurer 251, a current position measurer 252, a motor state controller 253, a rate commander 254, a rate error calculator 255, a position error calculator 256, and a rate/position controller 257.

The practical rotation rate measurer 251 measures a practical rotation rate of the motor 220 using a time interval and distance interval of the two pulses output from the encoder 240.

The current position measurer 252 measures the current position P_mea of the motor 220 (i.e., a current moving distance of the motor 220) by counting the number of edges whenever the edge is generated from the two pulses output from the encoder 240.

FIG. 3 shows waveforms to describe a method to measure a practical rotation rate and a current position of the motor 220 of FIG. 2. Referring to FIG. 3, the encoder 240 outputs two pulses corresponding to channels A and B having the same cycle and a phase difference of 90°. The practical rotation rate measurer 251 measures a time interval between the two pulses by counting the number of clocks (n) in an area where an edge is generated whenever a rising edge E_R-A or E_R-B or a falling edge E_F-A or E_F-B is generated in the pulses of channels A and B.

The practical rotation rate measurer 251 measures a practical rotation rate V_mea using the measured time interval and a physically preset distance interval between the pulses. Then, the practical rotation rate V_mea of the motor 220 is automatically updated to a rate register (not shown) by counting the number of clocks whenever a rising edge or a falling edge is generated.

The current position measurer 252 determines that the motor 220 is rotated from a previous edge to a current edge whenever a rising edge or a falling edge is generated, and automatically updates the current position P_mea of the motor 220 (i.e., a moving distance of the motor 220) in a position register (not shown). The pulse varies according to the practical rotation rate V_mea of the motor 220, and thus the moving distance also varies according to the practical rotation rate V_mea.

Referring to FIG. 2 again, the motor state controller 253 determines the state of the motor 220 using the measured practical rotation rate V_mea, the measured current position P_mea, and a time interrupt t_int generated in a central processing unit (CPU) (not shown). The state of the motor 220 is divided into an acceleration section, a uniform section, and a deceleration section, and the time interrupt t_int occurs every control cycle. The motor state controller 253 operates the rate commander 254 at time intervals when the time interrupt t_int is generated, so as to output a target rotation rate V_cmd optimal to the determined state of the motor 220.

For example, the motor state controller 253 operates the rate commander 254 to stop acceleration and maintain a uniform state if the measured practical rotation rate V_mea is equal to or greater than a particular rate, or operates the rate commander 254 to enter a deceleration state if the measured current position P_mea is equal to or greater than a particular position.

The rate commander 254 outputs the target rotation rate V_cmd optimal to the state of the motor 220 by control of the motor state controller 253.

The rate error calculator 255 calculates a rate error V_err, which is a difference between the target rotation rate V_cmd required by the rate commander 254 and the practical rotation rate V_mea output by the practical rotation rate measurer 251. That is, the rate error calculator 255 calculates the rate error V_err using the following equation:

V _err =V _cmd −V _mea  [Equation 1]

where V_err is the rate error, V_cmd is the target rotation rate, and V_mea is the practical rotation rate.

The position error calculator 256 calculates a position error P_err, which is a difference between a target position, where the motor 220 is required to be placed according to a driving time, and the current position P_mea of the motor 220 output from the current position measurer 252. That is, the position error calculator 256 calculates the position error P_err using the following equation:

P _err(∫V_cmd×T)−P_mea  [Equation 2]

where P_err is the position error, V_cmd is the target rotation rate, T is a cycle to calculate the position error, and P_mea is the current position.

The position error calculator 256 calculates the target position using the required target rate V_cmd and the time interval of the time interrupt t_int generated from the CPU (not shown), and then calculates the position error P_err by subtracting the measured current position P_mea from the target position. The time interval indicates a preset cycle to calculate a position error, and (∫V_cmd×T) indicates accumulation of a moving distance by a time unit.

The rate/position controller 257 outputs a control pulse necessary to control a rate and position of the motor 220 by applying a, for example, PID control method to the calculated rate error V_err and position error P_err.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the rate/position controller of FIG. 2 in more detail. Referring to FIG. 4, the rate/position controller 257 includes a rate controller 410, a position controller 420, an adder 430, and a pulse width modulator (PWM).

The rate controller 410 outputs a rate control voltage necessary for rate control by applying a, for example, PID control method to the rate error V_err calculated by the rate error calculator 255. To this end, the rate controller 410 includes a first amplifier 411, a rate error integrator 412, a second amplifier 413, a rate error differentiator 414, a third amplifier 415, and a first adder 416, and calculates the rate control voltage using the following equation:

$\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{Rate}\mathrm{control}\mathrm{voltage}=\begin{array}{c}\left(V_{\mathrm{err}}\times G_{P-V}\right)+\\ \left(\left(\int V_{\mathrm{err}}\right)\times G_{I-V}\right)+\\ \left(\left(\frac{}{t}V_{\mathrm{err}}\right)\times G_{D-V}\right)\end{array}& \left[\mathrm{Equation}3\right]\end{array}$

where V_err is the rate error, G_P-V is the preset rate proportional gain, G_I-V is the preset rate integral gain, and G_D-V is the preset rate differential gain.

The rate proportional gain, rate integral gain, and rate differential gain are values preset in a memory (not shown) of the rate controller 410 or a separate memory (not shown).

The first amplifier 411 amplifies the rate error V_err using the rate proportional gain. The rate error integrator 412 integrates the rate error V_err to calculate the accumulated amount of the rate error V_err. The second amplifier 413 amplifies the calculated accumulated amount of the rate error V_err, using the rate integral gain. The rate error differentiator 414 differentiates the rate error V_err to calculate a changed amount of the rate error V_err. The third amplifier 415 amplifies the changed amount of the rate error V_err using the rate differential gain. The first adder 416 adds the values output from the first, second, and third amplifiers 411, 413 and 415, and outputs the rate control voltage necessary for rate control.

The position controller 420 outputs a position control voltage necessary for position control by applying a, for example, PID control to the position error P_err calculated by the position error calculator 256. To this end, the position controller 420 includes a fourth amplifier 421, a position error integrator 422, a fifth amplifier 423, a position error differentiator 424, a sixth amplifier 425, and a second adder 426, and calculates the position control voltage using the following equation:

$\begin{array}{cc}\mathrm{Position}\mathrm{control}\mathrm{voltage}=\begin{array}{c}\left(P_{\mathrm{err}}\times G_{P-P}\right)+\\ \left(\left(\int P_{\mathrm{err}}\right)\times G_{I-P}\right)+\\ \left(\left(\frac{}{t}P_{\mathrm{err}}\right)\times G_{D-P}\right)\end{array}& \left[\mathrm{Equation}4\right]\end{array}$

where P_err is the position error, G_P-P is the preset position proportional gain, G_I-P is the preset position integral gain, and G_D-P is the preset position differential gain.

The position proportional gain, position integral gain and position differential gain are values preset in a memory (not shown) of the position controller 420 or a separate memory (not shown).

The fourth amplifier 421 amplifies the position error P_err using the position proportional gain. The position error integrator 422 integrates the position error P_err to calculate the accumulated amount of the position error P_err. The fifth amplifier 423 amplifies the calculated accumulated amount of the position error P_err using the position integral gain. The position error differentiator 424 differentiates the position error P_err to calculate a changed amount of the position error P_err. The sixth amplifier 425 amplifies the changed amount of the position error P_err using the position differential gain. The second adder 426 adds the values output from the fourth, fifth, and sixth amplifiers 421, 423 and 425, and outputs the position control voltage necessary for position control.

The adder 430 adds the rate control voltage output from the first adder 416 and the position control voltage output from the second adder 426 so as to output a final control voltage. The final control voltage is applied to the motor 220.

The PWM 440 outputs a control pulse necessary to control a rate and a position of the motor 220 by applying a PWM method to the final control voltage output from the adder 430. That is, the PWM 440 outputs the control pulse proportional to the final control voltage and provides the control pulse to the motor driver 210.

The motor driver 210 applies a practical voltage to the motor 220 according to the control pulse to generate torque. The motor 220 is rotated by the motor driver 210. Ultimately, the position error P_err calculated by the position error calculator 256 is minimized.

FIG. 5A is a graph showing a moving distance, that is, a rotation position of the motor detected by FIG. 2, and FIG. 5B is a graph showing a position error generated by P_cmd and P_mea of FIG. 5A.

Referring to FIGS. 5A and 5B, P_cmd is the target position of the motor 220, P_mea is the current position of the motor 220, P_err, is the error between P_cmd and P_mea, and t is the time. FIGS. 5A and 5B show a minimized difference between P_cmd and P_mea.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a method to control a rate and position of a motor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 2-6, in operation 610, the practical rotation rate measurer 251 measures a practical rotation rate V_mea of the motor 220 using a time interval and a distance interval of two pulses output from the encoder 240 as in FIG. 3.

In operation 620, the current position measurer 252 measures the current position P_mea of the motor 220 (i.e., the moving distance of the motor 220) by counting the number of edges whenever the edge is generated from the two pulses output from the encoder 240 as in FIG. 3.

The motor state controller 253 determines the state of the motor 220 using the practical rotation rate V_mea, the current position P_mea, and a time interrupt t_int generated in the CPU (not shown), and operates the rate commander 254 to output a target rotation rate V_cmd optimal to the determined state of the motor 220, in operation 630.

Subsequently, the rate error calculator 255 calculates a rate error V_err using Equation 1 and the position error calculator 256 calculates a position error P_err using Equation 2, in operation 640.

In operation 650, the rate/position controller 257 calculates a rate control voltage necessary for rate control by applying a, for example, PID control method to the rate error V_err using Equation 3, and calculates a position control voltage necessary for position control by applying a, for example, PID control method to the position error P_err using Equation 4.

The adder 430 outputs a final control voltage by adding the rate control voltage and the position control voltage, and the PWM 440 outputs a control pulse necessary to control a rate and a position of the motor 220 by applying a PWM method to the final control voltage, in operation 660.

The motor driver 210 drives the motor 220 using the control pulse in operation 670. Accordingly, the motor 220 is rotated by the motor driver 210 and the position error P_err, calculated by the position error calculator 256 is minimized. That is, if the image forming device 200 described above according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted in devices having a scanning function such as a scanner or a multi-function device, the image forming device 200 may control a sensor such as a CCD to be rotated to a specified position at a specified rate.

As can be appreciated from the above description of an image forming device capable of controlling a scanning unit according to an embodiment of the present invention and a method to control the scanning unit thereof, rate control performance and position control performance is enhanced by adjusting a voltage necessary to drive a motor according to the rate and moving distance of the motor, and accordingly the reliability of controlling a motor increases.

In particular, if scanning is performed by the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, a sensor such as a CCD is controlled to be rotated to a specified position at a specified rate, so that distortion (such as a difference in a size of an image) can be resolved.

Although a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in this embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An image forming device controlling a motor that drives a unit, the device comprising: a rate error calculator to calculate a rate error from a difference between a practical rotation rate and a target rotation rate of the motor;a position error calculator to calculate a position error from a difference between a current position and a target position of the motor; anda rate/position controller to output a control pulse to control a rotation rate and a position of the motor by applying the rate error and the position error.

2. The image forming device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position error calculator calculates the target position using the target rotation rate and a preset position error calculation cycle.

3. The image forming device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a motor state controller to determine a state of the motor using the practical rotation rate, the current position, and a time interrupt; anda rate commander to output the target rotation rate that is optimal for the determined state of the motor.

4. The image forming device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position error calculator calculates the position error using the following equation: Perr(∫Vcmd×T)−Pmea where Perr is the position error, Vcmd is the target rotation rate, T is a position error calculation cycle, and Pmea is the current position.

5. The image forming device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the rate/position controller comprises: a rate controller to calculate a rate control voltage for rate control;a position controller to calculate a position control voltage for position control; anda pulse width modulator (PWM) to output the control pulse by applying a pulse width modulation method to a sum of the rate control voltage and the position control voltage.

6. The image forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the rate/position controller further comprises: an adder to add the rate control voltage and the position control voltage.

7. The image forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the rate controller calculates the rate control voltage using the following equation:

8. The image forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the position controller calculates the position control voltage using the following equation:

9. The image forming device as claimed in claim 5, wherein: the rate controller calculates the rate control voltage for rate control by applying a control method to the rate error; andthe position controller calculates the position control voltage for position control by applying the control method to the position error.

10. The image forming device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: an encoder to output at least two pulses that vary according to the practical rotation rate of the motor;a practical rotation rate measurer to measure the practical rotation rate using a time interval and a physical distance interval of the at least two pulses; anda current position measurer to measure the current position by counting a number of edges whenever each of the edges is generated from the at least two pulses.

11. The image forming device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the control method is one of a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control method, a Proportional Integral (PI) control method, an Integral Derivative (ID) control method, a Proportional Derivative (PD) control method, a proportional control method, an integral control method, and a rate control method.

12. The image forming device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the unit is a scanning unit.

13. A method of controlling a scanning unit, the method comprising: calculating a rate error from a difference between a practical rotation rate and a target rotation rate of a motor that drives the scanning unit;calculating a position error from a difference between a current position and a target position of the motor; andoutputting a control pulse to control a rotation rate and a position of the motor by applying the rate error and the position error.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the calculating of the position error comprises: calculating the target position using the target rotation rate and a preset position error calculation cycle.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the calculating of the rate error comprises: determining a state of the motor using the practical rotation rate, the current position, and a time interrupt; andcalculating the target rotation rate to be optimal for the determined state of the motor.

16. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the calculating of the position error comprises calculating the position error using the following equation: Perr(∫Vcmd×T)−Pmea where Perr is the position error, Vcmd is the target rotation rate, T is a position error calculation cycle, and Pmea is the current position.

17. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the outputting of the control pulse comprises: calculating a rate control voltage for rate control;calculating a position control voltage for position control; andoutputting the control pulse by applying a pulse width modulation method to a sum of the rate control voltage and the position control voltage.

18. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the calculating of the rate control voltage comprises calculating the rate control voltage using the following equation:

19. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein the calculating of the position control voltage comprises calculating the position control voltage using the following equation:

20. The method as claimed in claim 17, wherein: the calculating of the rate control voltage comprises calculating the rate control voltage for rate control by applying a control method to the rate error; andthe calculating of the position control voltage comprises calculating the position control voltage for position control by applying a control method to the position error.

21. The method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising: outputting at least two pulses that vary according to the practical rotation rate of the motor;measuring the practical rotation rate using a time interval and a physical distance interval of the at least two pulses; andmeasuring the current position by counting a number of edges whenever each of the edges is generated from the at least two pulses.

22. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the control method is one of a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control method, a Proportional Integral (PI) control method, an Integral Derivative (ID) control method, a Proportional Derivative (PD) control method, a proportional control method, an integral control method, and a rate control method.

23. A device to control a motor, the device comprising: a rate controller to calculate a rate control voltage for rate control based on a rate error calculated from a difference between a practical rotation rate and a target rotation rate of the motor;a position controller to calculate a position control voltage for position control based on a position error calculated from a difference between a current position and a target position of the motor;a pulse width modulator (PWM) to output a control pulse by applying a pulse width modulation method to a sum of the rate control voltage and the position control voltage; anda rate/position controller to output the control pulse to control a rotation rate and a position of the motor.

24. The device as claimed in claim 23, further comprising: a rate error calculator to calculate the rate error from the difference between the practical rotation rate and the target rotation rate of the motor that drives the unit; anda position error calculator to calculate the position error from the difference between the current position and the target position of the motor.

25. The device as claimed in claim 24, wherein the position error calculator calculates the target position using the target rotation rate and a preset position error calculation cycle.

26. The device as claimed in claim 23, further comprising: a motor state controller to determine a state of the motor using the practical rotation rate, the current position, and a time interrupt; anda rate commander to output the target rotation rate that is optimal for the determined state of the motor.

27. The device as claimed in claim 24, wherein the position error calculator calculates the position error using the following equation: Perr(∫Vcmd×T)−Pmea where Perr is the position error, Vcmd is the target rotation rate, T is a position error calculation cycle, and Pmea is the current position.

28. The device as claimed in claim 23, wherein the rate/position controller further comprises: an adder to add the rate control voltage and the position control voltage.

29. The device as claimed in claim 23, wherein the rate controller calculates the rate control voltage using the following equation:

30. The device as claimed in claim 23, wherein the position controller calculates the position control voltage using the following equation:

31. The device as claimed in claim 23, wherein: the rate controller calculates the rate control voltage for rate control by applying a control method to the rate error; andthe position controller calculates the position control voltage for position control by applying the control method to the position error.

32. The device as claimed in claim 23, further comprising: an encoder to output at least two pulses that vary according to the practical rotation rate of the motor;a practical rotation rate measurer to measure the practical rotation rate using a time interval and a physical distance interval of the at least two pulses; anda current position measurer to measure the current position by counting a number of edges whenever each of the edges is generated from the at least two pulses.

33. The device as claimed in claim 31, wherein the control method is one of a Proportional Integral Derivative (PID) control method, a Proportional Integral (PI) control method, an Integral Derivative (ID) control method, a Proportional Derivative (PD) control method, a proportional control method, an integral control method, and a rate control method.

34. The device as claimed in claim 23, wherein the motor drives a scanning unit of an image forming device.

35. An image forming device controlling a motor that drives a unit, the device comprising: a rate/position controller to output a control signal to control a rotation rate and a position of the motor by applying a rate error and a position error of the motor.

36. The image forming device as claimed in claim 35, further comprising: a rate error calculator to calculate the rate error from a difference between a practical rotation rate and a target rotation rate of the motor; anda position error calculator to calculate the position error from a difference between a current position and a target position of the motor.

37. The image forming device as claimed in claim 35, wherein the position error calculator calculates the position error using the following equation: Perr(∫Vcmd×T)−Pmea where Perr is the position error, Vcmd is a target rotation rate, T is a position error calculation cycle, and Pmea is a current position.

38. The image forming device as claimed in claim 35, wherein the rate/position controller comprises: a rate controller to calculate a rate control voltage for rate control;a position controller to calculate a position control voltage for position control; anda pulse width modulator (PWM) to output the control signal by applying a pulse width modulation method to a sum of the rate control voltage and the position control voltage.

39. The image forming device as claimed in claim 38, wherein the rate/position controller further comprises: an adder to add the rate control voltage and the position control voltage.

40. The image forming device as claimed in claim 36, further comprising: an encoder to output at least two pulses that vary according to the practical rotation rate of the motor;a practical rotation rate measurer to measure the practical rotation rate using a time interval and a physical distance interval of the at least two pulses; anda current position measurer to measure the current position by counting a number of edges whenever each of the edges is generated from the at least two pulses.