Image forming system, image forming apparatus, and method of recovering from energy saving mode
AssigneeRicoh Company, Ltd.
InventorKohhei YAMAGUCHI
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An energy-saving control unit detects a supply of power to an image forming apparatus and performs an energy saving control of an external controller. A switching unit switches a start and a stop of supply of power to an onboard circuit of the external controller. Upon detecting the supply of power to the image forming apparatus, the energy-saving control unit sends a power control signal for instructing a start of the supply of power to the onboard circuit to the switching unit. Upon receiving the power control signal, the switching unit switches to the start of the supply of power to the onboard circuit.
Claims15
An image forming system in which an image forming apparatus and an external controller are connected to each other via a network, wherein
- the image forming apparatus includes a power supply unit that supplies power to the image forming apparatus,
- the external controller includes
- an energy-saving control unit that detects a supply of power to the image forming apparatus by the power supply unit and performs an energy saving control of the external controller based on a detection of the supply of power to the image forming apparatus, and
- a switching unit that switches a start and a stop of supply of power to an onboard circuit of the external controller,
- upon detecting the supply of power to the image forming apparatus by the power supply unit, the energy-saving control unit sends a power control signal for instructing a start of the supply of power to the onboard circuit to the switching unit, and
- upon receiving the power control signal, the switching unit switches to the start of the supply of power to the onboard circuit.
An image forming apparatus configured to be connected to an external controller via a network, the image forming apparatus comprising:
- a power supply unit that supplies power to the image forming apparatus;
- and
- a signal transmitting unit that transmits, when the power supply unit starts supplying the power to the image forming apparatus, a signal indicating that supply of power to the image forming apparatus is started to the external controller.
An energy saving recovery method for an image forming system including an image forming apparatus and an external controller connected to each other via a network, the energy saving recovery method comprising:
- energy-saving controlling including an energy-saving control unit of the external controller detecting a supply of power to the image forming apparatus by a power supply unit and performing an energy saving control of the external controller based on a detection of the supply of power to the image forming apparatus;
- and
- switching including a switching unit of the external controller switching a start and a stop of supply of power to an onboard circuit of the external controller, wherein
- upon detecting the supply of power to the image forming apparatus by the power supply unit, the energy-saving controlling further includes sending a power control signal for instructing a start of the supply of power to the onboard circuit to the switching unit, and
- upon receiving the power control signal, the switching further includes switching to the start of the supply of power to the onboard circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.