U.S. patent application number 14/598669 was filed with the patent office on 2015-05-07 for method of controlling scan speed of scanner including automatic document feeder and scanner performing the same.
This patent application is currently assigned to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.. The applicant listed for this patent is Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.. Invention is credited to Byung-jun SUNG.
Application Number | 20150124298 14/598669 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49447961 |
Filed Date | 2015-05-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150124298 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
SUNG; Byung-jun |
May 7, 2015 |
METHOD OF CONTROLLING SCAN SPEED OF SCANNER INCLUDING AUTOMATIC
DOCUMENT FEEDER AND SCANNER PERFORMING THE SAME
Abstract
A scanner having an automatic document feeder, the scanner
including a communication interface unit to perform a communication
with an external device; a scan operation performing unit to
perform a scan operation; an automatic feeding unit to feed
scan-target documents to the scan operation performing unit; and a
controller to control the scan operation. In the scanner, when the
communication interface unit receives a request speed for a scan
operation from the external device, the controller adjusts a
feeding interval between the scan-target documents that are fed
from the automatic feeding unit based on the received request
speed.
Inventors: |
SUNG; Byung-jun; (Seoul,
KR) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. |
Suwon-si |
|
KR |
|
|
Assignee: |
Samsung Electronics Co.,
Ltd.
Suwon-si
KR
|
Family ID: |
49447961 |
Appl. No.: |
14/598669 |
Filed: |
January 16, 2015 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
14022758 |
Sep 10, 2013 |
8964260 |
|
|
14598669 |
|
|
|
|
61714788 |
Oct 17, 2012 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
358/474 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04N 1/121 20130101;
H04N 1/00347 20130101; H04N 1/00822 20130101; H04N 2201/0074
20130101; H04N 2201/3335 20130101; H04N 1/00278 20130101; H04N
1/0476 20130101; H04N 1/36 20130101; H04N 2201/04756 20130101; H04N
2201/0081 20130101; H04N 2201/0094 20130101; H04N 1/32117 20130101;
H04N 1/00933 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
358/474 |
International
Class: |
H04N 1/12 20060101
H04N001/12; H04N 1/047 20060101 H04N001/047; H04N 1/32 20060101
H04N001/32; H04N 1/00 20060101 H04N001/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Feb 14, 2013 |
KR |
10-2013-0016061 |
Claims
1. A scanner comprising an automatic document feeder, the scanner
comprising: a communication interface unit to perform a
communication with an external device; a scan operation performing
unit to perform a scan operation; an automatic feeding unit to feed
scan-target documents to the scan operation performing unit; and a
controller to control the scan operation, wherein when the
communication interface unit receives a request speed for a scan
operation from the external device, the controller adjusts a
feeding interval between the scan-target documents that are fed
from the automatic feeding unit based on the received request
speed.
2. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the controller comprises: a
feeding interval calculator to calculate the feeding interval
between the scan-target documents to make a scan speed of the
scanner correspond with the received request speed; and a feeding
interval controller to control the automatic feeding unit to feed
the scan-target documents according to the calculated feeding
interval.
3. The scanner of claim 2, wherein the controller further comprises
a speed selector to determine whether there is a basic setting
speed corresponding with the received request speed from among one
or more basic setting speeds which are supported by the scanner and
select a basic setting speed, which is higher than the received
request speed, if it is determined that there is no basic setting
speed corresponding with the received request speed, wherein the
feeding interval calculator calculates the feeding interval when
the scan speed corresponds with the received request speed while
maintaining a scan time for each document according to the basic
setting speed selected by the speed selector.
4. The scanner of claim 3, wherein when there are two or more basic
setting speeds that are higher than the received request speed, the
speed selector selects the lowest basic setting speed from among
the two or more basic setting speeds.
5. The scanner of claim 3, wherein the basic setting speed is a
scan speed which the scanner supports without adjusting the feeding
interval.
6. The scanner of claim 3, wherein the communication interface unit
transmits a scan speed adjusted according to the calculated feeding
interval to the external device.
7. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the communication interface unit
receives a scan speed corresponding to a printing speed of the
external device as the request speed.
8. The scanner of claim 7, wherein the communication interface unit
receives a data packet comprising the request speed from the
external device, and the data packet comprises an identifier (ID)
indicating what apparatus the data packet is transmitted from, data
indicating a speed, and a check sum indicating whether there is a
loss of the data.
9. The scanner of claim 1, wherein the automatic feeding unit
comprises a pickup roller that picks the scan-target documents up,
and the feeding interval controller adjusts a cycle, on which the
pickup roller contacts the scan-target documents, according to the
calculated feeding interval.
10. A method of controlling a scan speed of a scanner comprising an
automatic document feeder, the method comprising: receiving a
request speed for a scan operation from an external device;
calculating a feeding interval between scan-target documents based
on the received request speed; performing a scan operation by
feeding the scan-target documents according to the calculated
feeding interval; and transmitting a result obtained by the scan
operation to the external device.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the calculating of the feeding
interval comprises: determining whether there is a basic setting
speed corresponding with the received request speed from among one
or more basic setting speeds that are supported by the scanner; if
it is determined that there is no basic setting speed corresponding
with the received request speed, selecting a basic setting speed
that is higher than the received request speed; adjusting a scan
speed by changing the feeding interval while maintaining a scan
time for each document according to the selected basic setting
speed; and calculating the feeding interval when the adjusted scan
speed corresponds with the received request speed.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the selecting of the basic
setting speed comprises: if there are two or more basic setting
speeds that are higher than the received request speed, selecting
the lowest basic setting speed from among the two or more basic
setting speeds.
13. The method of claim 11, wherein the basic setting speed is a
scan speed which the scanner supports without adjusting the feeding
interval.
14. The method of claim 11, further comprising transmitting a scan
speed adjusted according to the calculated feeding interval to the
external device.
15. The method of claim 10, wherein the receiving of the request
speed comprises receiving a scan speed corresponding to a printing
speed of the external device as the request speed.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the receiving of the request
speed comprises receiving a data packet comprising the request
speed from the external device, wherein the data packet comprises
an identifier (ID) indicating what apparatus the data packet is
transmitted from, data indicating a speed, and a check sum
indicating whether there is a loss of the data.
17. The method of claim 10, wherein the performing of the scan
operation comprises adjusting a cycle, on which a pickup roller for
picking the scan-target documents up from the automatic document
feeder contacts the scan-target documents, according to the
calculated feeding interval.
18. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having
recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 10.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser.
No. 14/022,758, filed on Sep. 10, 2013, which claims the benefit of
U.S. Patent Provisional Application No. 61/714,788, filed on Oct.
17, 2012, in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and the benefit
of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2013-0016061, filed on Feb. 14,
2013, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures
of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by
reference.
BACKGROUND
[0002] 1. Field
[0003] The present disclosure relates to a method of controlling a
scan speed of a scanner including an automatic document feeder and
a scanner performing the method.
[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art
[0005] Recently, scanners including an automatic document feeder
are generally used, and an image forming system performing a
function of a multi-function printer is made by connecting the
scanners including the automatic document feeder with a plurality
of printers. A scanner included in such an image forming system
performs a scan operation according to a request of a printer, and
the printer performs an operation of printing scan data when the
scanner transmits the scan data to the printer.
[0006] A scan speed of a scanner is determined according to the
performance of an image sensor and a driving motor, and a
supportable scan speed is limited according to a scan mode.
However, a plurality of printers that are connected to the scanner
support different printing speeds due to a difference in the
performance of their respective print engines.
[0007] Accordingly, the scanner may not effectively cope with
various printing speeds of the plurality of printers, and thus an
operation efficiency of the image forming system may
deteriorate.
SUMMARY
[0008] The present disclosure provides a method of controlling a
scan speed of a scanner including an automatic document feeder, in
response to a request of various scan speeds.
[0009] The present disclosure also provides a scanner performing
the method.
[0010] Additional aspects and/or advantages will be set forth in
part in the description which follows and, in part, will be
apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the
invention.
[0011] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, there is
provided a scanner including an automatic document feeder, the
scanner including: a communication interface unit to perform a
communication with an external printer; a scan operation performing
unit to perform a scan operation; an automatic feeding unit to
automatically feed scan-target documents to the scan operation
performing unit; and a controller to control the scan operation and
a scan speed, wherein when the communication interface unit
receives a request speed for a scan operation from the external
printer, the controller adjusts a feeding interval between the
scan-target documents that are fed from the automatic feeding unit,
so that the scan operation is performed at the received request
speed.
[0012] The controller may include: a feeding interval calculator to
calculate the feeding interval between the scan-target documents to
make a scan speed of the scanner correspond with the received
request speed; and a feeding interval controller to control the
automatic feeding unit to feed the scan-target documents according
to the calculated feeding interval.
[0013] The controller may further include a speed selector to
determine whether there is a basic setting speed corresponding with
the received request speed from among one or more basic setting
speeds which are supported by the scanner and select a basic
setting speed, which is higher than the received request speed, if
it is determined that there is no basic setting speed corresponding
with the received request speed, wherein the feeding interval
calculator calculates the feeding interval when the scan speed
corresponds with the received request speed while maintaining a
scan time for each document according to the basic setting speed
selected by the speed selector.
[0014] When there are two or more basic setting speeds that are
higher than the received request speed, the speed selector may
select the lowest basic setting speed from among the two or more
basic setting speeds.
[0015] The basic setting speed may be a scan speed which the
scanner supports without adjusting the feeding interval.
[0016] The communication interface unit may transmit a scan speed
adjusted according to the calculated feeding interval to the
printer.
[0017] The communication interface unit may receive a scan speed
corresponding to a printing speed of the printer as the request
speed.
[0018] The communication interface unit may receive a data packet
including the request speed from the printer, and the data packet
may include an identifier (ID) indicating what apparatus the data
packet is transmitted from, data indicating a speed, and a check
sum indicating whether there is a loss of the data.
[0019] The automatic feeding unit may include a pickup roller that
picks the scan-target documents up, and the feeding interval
controller may adjust a cycle, on which the pickup roller contacts
the scan-target documents, according to the calculated feeding
interval.
[0020] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a method of controlling a scan speed of a scanner
including an automatic document feeder, the method including:
receiving a request speed for a scan operation from an external
printer; calculating a feeding interval between scan-target
documents to make the scan speed of the scanner correspond with the
received request speed; performing a scan operation by
automatically feeding the scan-target documents according to the
calculated feeding interval; and transmitting a result obtained by
the scan operation to the printer.
[0021] The calculating of the feeding interval may include:
determining whether there is a basic setting speed corresponding
with the received request speed from among one or more basic
setting speeds that are supported by the scanner; if it is
determined that there is no basic setting speed corresponding with
the received request speed, selecting a basic setting speed that is
higher than the received request speed; adjusting a scan speed by
changing the feeding interval while maintaining a scan time for
each document according to the selected basic setting speed; and
calculating the feeding interval when the adjusted scan speed
corresponds with the received request speed.
[0022] The selecting of the basic setting speed may include: if
there are two or more basic setting speeds that are higher than the
received request speed, selecting the lowest basic setting speed
from among the two or more basic setting speeds.
[0023] The basic setting speed may be a scan speed which the
scanner supports without adjusting the feeding interval.
[0024] The method may further include transmitting a scan speed
adjusted according to the calculated feeding interval to the
printer.
[0025] The receiving of the request speed may include receiving a
scan speed corresponding to a printing speed of the printer as the
request speed.
[0026] The receiving of the request speed may include receiving a
data packet including the request speed from the printer, wherein
the data packet includes an identifier (ID) indicating what
apparatus the data packet is transmitted from, data indicating a
speed, and a check sum indicating whether there is a loss of the
data.
[0027] The performing of the scan operation may include adjusting a
cycle, on which a pickup roller for picking the scan-target
documents up from the automatic document feeder contacts the
scan-target documents, according to the calculated feeding
interval.
[0028] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there
is provided a non-transitory computer readable recording medium
having recorded thereon a program for executing the method.
[0029] According to the present disclosure, a scan speed may be
controlled in response to a request of various scan speeds by
adjusting a feeding interval between scan-target documents that are
fed by an automatic document feeder of a scanner, and thus, an
operation efficiency of an image forming system may be
improved.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0030] The above and other features and advantages of the present
disclosure will become more apparent by describing in detail
exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the attached
drawings in which:
[0031] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming system in
which a scanner including an automatic document feeder is connected
to a plurality of printers, according to an embodiment of the
present disclosure;
[0032] FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of a scanner including
an automatic document feeder according to an embodiment of the
present disclosure;
[0033] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating processes in which a
scanner including an automatic document feeder and a printer
connected to the scanner perform an image forming operation,
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0034] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a data
packet for transmitting a request speed, according to an embodiment
of the present disclosure;
[0035] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating types of data included in a
data packet for transmitting a request speed, according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0036] FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts for describing a method of
controlling a scan speed of a scanner including an automatic
document feeder, according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0037] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a multi-function printer (MFP)
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and
[0038] FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a
scan speed in the MFP of FIG. 8, according to an embodiment of the
present disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0039] The present disclosure will now be described more fully with
reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary
embodiments of the present disclosure are shown, wherein like
reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout.
[0040] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an image forming system in
which a scanner 100 including an automatic document feeder is
connected to a plurality of printers 210, 220, and 230, according
to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 1, in
the image forming system according to the embodiment, the plurality
of printers 210, 220, and 230 may be connected to the single
scanner 100. The scanner 100 performs a scan operation with respect
to scan-target documents. When scan data obtained as a result of
the scan operation is transmitted to any one of the plurality of
printers 210, 220, and 230, a printer receiving the scan data may
perform an operation of printing the received scan data. In this
case, a request for a scan operation may be directly received from
a user through a user interface included in the scanner 100.
[0041] A scan speed of the scanner 100 may be determined according
to the performance of an image sensor, such as a charge coupled
device (CCD) or a contact image sensor (CIS) and the performance of
a driving motor, and may be set differently according to a scan
mode. The scan mode is referred to a mode in which it is determined
whether images of scan data are black and white or color and a
resolution of the images is determined. The scan speed that is
determined according to the performance of the scanner 100 may be
limitedly supported according to the scan mode. A scan speed that
is limitedly supported by the scanner 100 is referred to as a basic
setting speed of the scanner 100. For example, if the scanner 100
supports a scan speed of 10 images per minute (ipm), 20 ipm, and 30
ipm for each scan mode, the basic setting speed of the scanner 100
includes 10 ipm, 20 ipm, and 30 ipm. That is, the basic setting
speed means a scan speed which the scanner 100 basically supports
without adjusting a feeding interval between scan-target
documents.
[0042] The plurality of printers 210, 220, and 230 support
different printing speeds according to the performance of their
respective print engines. When it is assumed that a first printer
210 prints scan data transmitted from the scanner 100, if a
printing speed of the first printer 210 is slower than a basic
setting speed that is supported by the scanner 100, the scan data
should be stored in a storage medium included in the printer 210,
and then the stored scan data should be printed. If the storage
medium in which the scan data is stored is a random access memory
(RAM) included in the first printer 210, the printing speed is
virtually not influenced. However, if the storage medium is a hard
disk drive (HDD), the printing speed is influenced by the
performance of an interface that is used for a compression of the
scan data or the transmission of the scan data. On the contrary, if
the printing speed of the first printer 210 is faster than the
basic setting speed that is supported by the scanner 100, the
printer 210 does not perform continuous print operations and should
wait for scan data to be transmitted from the scanner 100, and
thus, the printing speed slows down.
[0043] In this manner, since the scanner 100 supports a limited
basic setting speed, it does not effectively cope with various scan
speeds that are requested by the plurality of printers 210, 220,
and 230, and thus the efficiency of an overall image forming
operation may deteriorate. In order to solve such a problem, the
scanner 100 of the image forming system according to the current
embodiment of the present disclosure adjusts a feeding interval
between scan-target documents, which are fed from the automatic
document feeder, to thereby cope with various scan speeds that are
requested by the plurality of printers 210, 220, and 230. A method
of controlling a scan speed by adjusting the feeding interval is
described in detail below.
[0044] FIG. 2 is an internal block diagram of a scanner 100
including an automatic document feeder according to an embodiment
of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 2, the scanner 100 may
include a communication interface unit 110, a controller 120, an
automatic feeding unit 130, and a scan operation performing unit
140. The controller 120 may include a speed selector 121, a feeding
interval calculator 122, and a feeding interval controller 123.
Detailed operation of each component is described in detail with
reference to FIG. 3 below.
[0045] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating processes in which a
scanner 100 including an automatic document feeder and a printer
210 connected to the scanner 100 perform an image forming
operation, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
Below, an operation of the scanner 100 including the automatic
document feeder is described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2
and 3.
[0046] In operation S301, the communication interface unit 110 of
the scanner 100 receives a request speed for a scan operation from
the printer 210. The communication interface unit 110 transmits the
received request speed to the controller 120. In operation S302,
the controller 120 adjusts a feeding interval between scan-target
documents that are automatically fed from the automatic feeding
unit 130, so that the scan operation may be performed at the
received request speed.
[0047] A concrete method of adjusting the feeding interval, which
is used in operation S302, is as follows. The speed selector 121 of
the controller 120 determines whether there is a basic setting
speed corresponding with the received request speed from among
basic setting speeds that are supported by the scanner 100. If
there is a basic setting speed corresponding with the received
request speed, the speed selector 121 selects the basic setting
speed and the controller 120 controls the scan operation performing
unit 140 to perform a scan operation at the selected basic setting
speed.
[0048] If there is no basic setting speed corresponding with the
received request speed, the speed selector 121 selects a basic
setting speed that is higher than the received request speed. In
this case, if there are two or more basic setting speeds that are
higher than the received request speed, the speed selector 121 may
select the lowest basic setting speed from among the two or more
basic setting speeds.
[0049] If the speed selector 121 selects a higher basic setting
speed than the received request speed since there is no basic
setting speed corresponding with the received request speed, the
feeding interval calculator 122 adjusts a scan speed while
maintaining a scan time for each document according to the selected
basic setting speed and changing a feeding interval between
scan-target documents that are fed from the automatic feeding unit
130, and calculates the feeding interval when the adjusted scan
speed corresponds with the received request speed. Since the basic
setting speed selected by the speed selector 121 is higher than the
request speed, the scan speed gradually decreases when gradually
increasing a feeding interval between scan-target documents, which
are automatically fed from the automatic feeding unit 130, while
maintaining a scan time for each document according to the selected
basic setting speed, and in the end, a feeding interval when the
request speed and the scan speed correspond with each other may be
calculated.
[0050] When the feeding interval calculator 122 calculates the
feeding interval, the feeding interval controller 123 controls the
automatic feeding unit 130 to feed scan-target documents according
to the calculated feeding interval. For example, in order to adjust
the feeding interval between the scan-target documents, the feeding
interval controller 123 moves a pickup roller of the automatic
feeding unit 130. The pickup roller is an element which picks the
scan-target documents up in the automatic feeding unit 130. The
feeding interval controller 123 moves the pickup roller between a
position where the pickup roller contacts the scan-target documents
and a position where the pickup roller does not periodically
contact the scan-target documents according to the calculated
feeding interval. The feeding interval between the scan-target
documents may be adjusted by adjusting a movement period of the
pickup roller according to the calculated feeding interval. In
addition, a scan speed controlled by the adjustment of the feeding
interval may be transmitted to the printer 210 so that the printer
210 may check a scan speed at which an actual scan operation is
performed.
[0051] If a scan speed of the scanner 100 corresponds with the
request speed received from the printer 210 by the adjustment of
the feeding interval, a scan operation is performed at the scan
speed (operation S303) and scan data is transmitted to the printer
210 (operation S304). Finally, in operation S305, the printer 210
performs a printing operation according to the scan data.
[0052] The scanner 100 may receive a request speed in a form of
data packet from the printer 210. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating
a structure of a data packet for transmitting a request speed,
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 5 is
a diagram illustrating types of data included in the data packet
for transmitting the request speed, according to an embodiment of
the present disclosure.
[0053] Referring to FIG. 4, the data packet for transmitting the
request speed may have a structure of 5 bytes. The first byte of
the 5 bytes is an identifier (ID) indicating what apparatus the
data packet is transmitted from, the second through fourth bytes of
the 5 bytes are data included in the data packet, and the fifth
byte of the 5 bytes is a check sum indicating whether there is a
loss of the data. "Type" of the first byte identifies whether the
data packet is transmitted from a scanner, whether the data packet
is transmitted from a printer, or whether the data packet is a
response to a transmitted packet. "Case" of the first byte is
additionally used when it is difficult to identify only with
"Type", and "Length" is a length of the entire data.
[0054] The data that is indicated by the second through fourth
bytes includes the types illustrated in FIG. 5. A printer may
transmit a request speed by using data corresponding to "Requested
Speed", and a scanner may transmit a selected scan speed by using
data corresponding to "Selected Scan Speed". In addition, the
scanner or the printer checks a check sum of a received data
packet, transmits an "Ack" signal if the check sum is normal, and
transmits a "Nak" signal if the check sum is abnormal.
[0055] FIGS. 6 and 7 are flowcharts for describing a method of
controlling a scan speed of a scanner including an automatic
document feeder, according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure. Below, the method of controlling a scan speed is
described in detail with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7.
[0056] Referring to FIG. 6, in operation S610, a scanner receives a
request speed for a scan operation from a printer. If the request
speed is received, the scanner calculates a feeding interval to
make a scan speed of the scanner correspond with the received
request speed (operation S620). The feeding interval means an
interval with which scan-target documents are automatically fed
from the automatic document feeder included in the scanner. By
adjusting the feeding interval between the scan-target documents
that are fed from the automatic document feeder included in the
scanner, the scan speed of the scanner may be controlled.
Accordingly, a feeding interval when the scan speed of the scanner
corresponds with the received request speed may be calculated. A
concrete method of calculating a feeding interval is described with
reference to FIG. 7 below.
[0057] Subsequently, in operation S630, the scan-target documents
are automatically fed according to the feeding interval calculated
in operation S620, and a scan operation is performed. For example,
in order to adjust the feeding interval between the scan-target
documents, a pickup roller of the automatic feeding unit is
periodically moved. The pickup roller is an element which picks the
scan-target documents up in the automatic feeding unit of the
scanner. The pickup roller is moved between a position where the
pickup roller contacts the scan-target documents and a position
where the pickup roller does not periodically contact the
scan-target documents periodically according to the calculated
feeding interval. The feeding interval between the scan-target
documents may be adjusted by adjusting a movement period of the
pickup roller according to the calculated feeding interval. When
the scan operation is completed, the scanner transmits scan data,
which is a result obtained by the scan operation, to the printer
(operation S640).
[0058] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating detailed operations of
operation S620 of FIG. 6, in which the feeding interval is
calculated. Referring to FIG. 7, in operation S710, the scanner
receives a request speed for a scan operation from the printer. If
the request speed is received, the scanner determines whether there
is a basic setting speed corresponding with the received request
speed from among basic setting speeds that are supported by the
scanner (operation S721). The basic setting speed means a scan
speed which the scanner basically supports without adjusting the
feeding interval between the scan-target documents.
[0059] If in operation S721, it is determined that there is a basic
setting speed corresponding with the received request speed, the
basic setting speed corresponding with the received request speed
is selected in operation S725. Next, in operation S726, a scan
operation is performed with the selected basic setting speed.
Finally, in operation S740, scan data is transmitted.
[0060] If in operation S721, it is determined that there is no
basic setting speed corresponding with the received request speed,
a basic setting speed that is higher than the received request
speed is selected in operation S722. In this case, if there are two
or more basic setting speeds that are higher than the received
request speed, the lowest basic setting speed from among the two or
more basic setting speeds may be selected.
[0061] If the basic setting speed is selected in operation S722, a
scan speed is adjusted by changing the feeding interval while
maintaining a scan time for each document according to the selected
basic setting speed (operation S723). Subsequently, in operation
S724, the feeding interval when the adjusted scan speed corresponds
with the received request speed is calculated. Since the basic
setting speed selected in operation S722 is higher than the
received request speed, the scan speed gradually decreases when
gradually increasing the feeding interval between the scan-target
documents, which are automatically fed from the automatic feeding
unit of the scanner, while maintaining a scan time for each
document according to the selected basic setting speed, and in the
end, a feeding interval when the request speed and the scan speed
correspond with each other may be calculated.
[0062] If the feeding interval is calculated, scan-target documents
are automatically fed according to the calculated feeding interval
and a scan operation is performed at an adjusted scan speed
(operation S730). Next, in operation S740, scan data is transmitted
to the printer.
[0063] In this manner, a scan speed may be controlled in response
to a request of various scan speeds by adjusting a feeding interval
between scan-target documents that are fed by an automatic document
feeder of a scanner, and thus, an operation efficiency of the image
forming system may be improved.
[0064] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, a
feeding interval may be also adjusted in a multi-function printer
(MFP) including a printing unit and a scanning unit, in which a
printing speed which is supported by the printing unit does not
correspond with a scan speed that is supported by the scanning
unit.
[0065] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a MFP according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart
illustrating a method of controlling a scan speed in the MFP of
FIG. 8, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0066] Below, the method of controlling a scan speed of the MFP
with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9 is described.
[0067] Referring to FIG. 8, the MFP 800 may include a scanning unit
810, a controller 820, a storage unit 830, and a printing unit 840,
and the controller 820 may include a scan speed selector 821, a
feeding interval extractor 822, and a feeding interval controller
823.
[0068] The scanning unit 810 and the printing unit 840 each support
a plurality of scan speeds and a plurality of printing speeds.
However, the plurality of printing speeds that are supported by the
printing unit 840 do not necessarily correspond with the plurality
of scan speeds that are supported by the scanning unit 810. That
is, some of the plurality of printing speeds that are supported by
the printing unit 840 may not correspond with the plurality of scan
speeds that are supported by the scanning unit 810. For example,
the printing unit 840 may support first through sixth speeds as the
printing speeds, and the scanning unit 810 may support only the
first, third, and sixth speeds of the first through sixth speeds as
the scan speeds.
[0069] When performing an image forming operation in which the
printing unit 840 prints image data scanned by the scanning unit
810, if a printing speed of the printing unit 840 does not
correspond with a scan speed of the scanning unit 810, an
operational efficiency may deteriorate. Accordingly, in this case,
by adjusting an automatic feeding interval in the scanning unit
810, the scan speed of the scanning unit 810 is adjusted to
correspond with the printing speed of the printing unit 840. A
detailed process of adjusting the scan speed is described with
reference to FIG. 9 below.
[0070] Referring to FIG. 9, in operation S901, the printing unit
840 transmits a printing speed, which is required to perform a
printing operation, to the controller 820. In operation S902, the
controller 820 determines whether a scan speed corresponding with a
received printing speed exists. That is, the controller 820
determines whether the scanning unit 810 supports a scan speed
corresponding with the received printing speed. If a scan speed
corresponding with the received printing speed exists, the scan
speed selector 821 selects the scan speed corresponding with the
received printing speed and the scanning unit 810 performs a scan
operation at the selected scan speed (operation S903). However, if
a scan speed corresponding with the received printing speed does
not exist, the scan speed selector 821 selects a scan speed that is
higher than the received printing speed (operation S904).
[0071] For example, if the printing speed transmitted in operation
S901 is the first speed in a state in which it is assumed that the
printing unit 840 supports the first through sixth speeds as the
printing speeds and the scanning unit 810 supports only the first,
third, and sixth speeds as the scan speeds, the scan speed selector
821 selects the first speed as a scan speed and the scanning unit
810 performs a scan operation (operation S903). However, if the
printing speed transmitted in operation S901 is the second speed,
the scan speed selector 821 selects the third speed, which is
higher than the second speed, as a scan speed since the scanning
unit 810 does not support the second speed (operation S904). In
this case, it is assumed that speed becomes gradually higher from
the first speed toward the sixth speed.
[0072] Next, in operation S905, the feeding interval extractor 822
of the controller 820 extracts a feeding interval corresponding to
a received printing speed and a selected scan speed from a table in
which feeding intervals corresponding to various printing speeds
and scan speeds are stored. The table, in which feeding intervals
corresponding to various printing speeds and scan speeds are
stored, is stored in the storage unit 830 beforehand. For example,
a feeding interval that should be adjusted to make a scan speed
correspond with a printing speed when the printing speed is the
second speed and the scan speed is the third speed, is calculated
beforehand and then stored in the table. Similarly, various feeding
intervals, which correspond to a plurality of scan speeds, which
are supported by the scanning unit 810, and a plurality of printing
speeds, which are supported by the printing unit 840, are
calculated beforehand and then stored in the table. Accordingly,
the feeding interval extractor 822 may extract a feeding interval,
which corresponds to the printing speed received in operation S901
and the scan speed selected in operation S904, from the table
stored in the storage unit 830.
[0073] If a feeding interval is extracted in operation S905, the
scanning unit 810 automatically feeds scan-target documents
according to the extracted feeding interval and then performs a
scan operation (operation S906). If the scan operation is
completed, the scanning unit 810 transmits scan data to the
printing unit 840 (operation S907), and then the printing unit 840
prints the scan data received from the scanning unit 810 (operation
S908).
[0074] While the present disclosure has been particularly shown and
described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will
be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various
changes in form and details may be made therein without departing
from the spirit and scope of exemplary embodiments of the present
general inventive concept as defined by the following claims.
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