IMAGE OUTPUT APPARATUS, OUTPUT IMAGE CONTROL METHOD AND OUTPUT IMAGE CONTROL PROGRAM

Abstract

An image output apparatus capable of controlling the image density for a specific level in a short time and with accuracy and no control failure. When the values of manipulated variables that are control parameters of the output image quality or a controlled variable are calculated and the parameter values become out of the practically settable range in the course of obtaining new manipulated variables adjusted for controlling the output image quality for a specific level, the image density control unit of the image output apparatus corrects the data in the image density database that are used for comparison in obtaining the parameter values according to the current environmental state and repeats the calculation, whereby no control failure occurs and optimum parameter values are obtained; consequently, the output image quality can be controlled for a target level in a stable manner.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration showing the structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions regarding the image density control of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing an exemplary reference pattern (density patches).

FIG. 4 is an illustration for explaining an exemplary structure of the image density database.

FIG. 5 is an illustration showing exemplary image densities of the solid density patch stored in the image density database.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the steps of the output image control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an illustration showing an image density space for explaining the correction step of the image density database.

FIG. 8 is another illustration showing an image density space for explaining the correction step of the image density database.

FIG. 9 is further another illustration showing an image density space for explaining the correction step of the image density database.

Claims

1. An image output apparatus for outputting an image, the apparatus having a function to manipulate characteristics regarding qualities including an optical density of the image outputted by the apparatus through adjustment for controlling the qualities for a specific level in relation to environmental states including an environment in which the apparatus is placed and changes over time in performance characteristics, the apparatus comprising: a data storage unit configured to store representative data indicating a relationship between manipulated variables and controlled variables for predetermined representative manipulated variables in a specific environmental state, said manipulated variables being variables used for manipulating characteristics regarding said qualities, said controlled variables being indices of said qualities in a reference pattern that is an image used as a reference for obtaining the indices; anda manipulated variables adjustment unit configured to obtain new manipulated variables adjusted for controlling said qualities for a specific level by comparing the data indicating the relationship between said variables for the manipulated variables determined or calculated at the time in said environmental state at the time with representative data stored in said data storage unit in the course of controlling said variables for a specific level,and wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit corrects the data in said data storage unit based on the data indicating the relationship between said variables in said environmental state at the time when necessary in the course of controlling said qualities for a specific level to obtain said new manipulated variables.

2. The image output apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit temporarily corrects and uses the data in said data storage unit to obtain said new manipulated variables once again when said new manipulated variables are out of the manipulation available range of the apparatus.

3. The image output apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit corrects and updates the data in said data storage unit to obtain said new manipulated variables once again when said new manipulated variables are out of the manipulation available range of the apparatus.

4. The image output apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit temporarily corrects and uses the data in said data storage unit or corrects and updates the data in said data storage unit to obtain said new manipulated variables once again when said new manipulated variables are out of the manipulation available range of the apparatus.

5. The image output apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus determines whether the data in said data storage unit is temporarily corrected and used or updated based on said environmental state.

6. The image output apparatus of claim 1, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit corrects the data in said data storage unit by linearly transforming the data in said data storage unit based on the relationship between said variables in said environmental state at the time.

7. An image forming apparatus for forming a toner image according to an image signal, the apparatus having a function to manipulate characteristics regarding qualities including an optical density of the toner image formed by said apparatus through adjustment for controlling said qualities for a specific level in relation to environmental states including an environment in which the apparatus is placed and changes over time in performance characteristics, the apparatus comprising: an electrifier configured to uniformly charge the surface of a photo conductor on which an electrostatic latent image that is an electrostatic image is formed, to a bias voltage of an arbitrary level within a specific range;a laser output unit configured to form said electrostatic latent image according to the image signal on said photo conductor surface by exposing said uniformly charged photo conductor surface with an arbitrary exposure rate within a specific range;a developing unit configured to develop said electrostatic latent image on the photo conductor surface using toner at a second bias voltage within a specific range according to said bias voltage of an arbitrary level so as to form said toner image on said photo conductor surface;a sensor configured to detect the optical density of said toner image formed on said photo conductor surface in a reference pattern, said reference pattern being an image used as a reference for obtaining indices;a database configured to store representative data indicating a relationship between the values of said bias voltage and exposure rate that are the manipulated variables with said electrifier and laser output unit and the detected density that is a detected value of the optical density of the toner image in said reference pattern used as an index of said qualities for predetermined representative manipulated variables in a specific environmental state; anda manipulated variables adjustment configured to obtain said manipulated variables adjusted for controlling said qualities for a specific level by comparing the data indicating the relationship between said values for the manipulated variables determined or calculated at the time in said environmental state at the time with representative data stored in said database in the course of controlling said qualities for a specific level,and wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit corrects the data in said database based on the data indicating the relationship between said values in said environmental state at the time when necessary in the course of controlling said qualities for a specific level to obtains said new manipulated variables.

8. The image forming apparatus of claim 7, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit temporarily corrects and uses the data in said database to obtain said new manipulated variables once again when said new manipulated variables are out of the manipulation available range of the apparatus.

9. The image forming apparatus of claim 7, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit corrects and updates the data in said database to obtain said new manipulated variables once again when said new manipulated variables are out of the manipulation available range of the apparatus.

10. The image forming apparatus of claim 7, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit temporarily corrects and uses the data in said database or corrects and updates the data in said database to obtain said new manipulated variables once again when said new manipulated variables are out of the manipulation available range of the apparatus.

11. The image forming apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus determines whether the data in said database is temporarily corrected and used or updated based on said environmental state.

12. The image forming apparatus of claim 7, wherein said manipulated variables adjustment unit corrects the data in said database by linearly transforming the data in said database based on the relationship between said variables in said environmental state at the time.

13. An output image control method for controlling, with an image output apparatus being capable of image output and having a function to manipulate characteristics regarding qualities including an optical density of an image outputted by the apparatus, the qualities for a specific value in relation to environmental states including an environment in which said apparatus is placed and changes over time in performance characteristics, the method comprising the steps of: storing representative data indicating a relationship between manipulated variables and controlled variables for predetermined representative manipulated variables in a specific environmental state, said manipulated variables being variables used for manipulating characteristics regarding said qualities, said controlled variables being indices of said qualities in a reference pattern that is an image used as a reference for obtaining the indices; andobtaining new manipulated variables adjusted for controlling said qualities for a specific level by comparing the data indicating the relationship between said variables for said manipulated variables determined or calculated at the time in said environmental state at the time with representative data stored in said database in the course of controlling said qualities for a specific level,and wherein the step of obtaining said new manipulated variables is a step of obtaining said new manipulated variables after the data in said database is corrected based on the data indicating the relationship between said variables in said environmental state at the time when necessary.

14. A machine readable medium bearing an output image control program for causing the apparatus to execute the steps of the method according to claim 13.