System controller

A system controller comprising:

• manipulation value output means for supplying a manipulation value to a system to be controlled;
• control example storage means for storing the manipulation value and a controlled variable which is output from the system in response to the manipulation value as a control example;
• control rule extracting means for extracting a control rule from among a plurality of control examples stored in the control example storage means;
• and
• manipulation value computation means for calculating a manipulation value which matches the controlled variable with a target figure using said control rule extracted by the control rule extracting means, and causing the manipulation value output means to output the thus obtained manipulation value;
• wherein:
• said control example storage means stores a set of said manipulation value, said control variable and a quantity of state which exerts an influence upon the controlled variable from the system as a control example, and creates a cluster by collecting control examples having similar quantities of state among the control examples stored in the control example storage means;
• said control rule extracting means extracts a control rule for each cluster;
• and
• said manipulation value computation means obtains a conformity for a control rule extracted by the control rule extracting means, averages each of the control rules by weighing corresponding to the conformity, obtains a manipulation value which matches the controlled variable with a target figure using a synthetic rule obtained as a result of averaging, and causes the manipulation value output means to output the thus obtained manipulation value.

A system controller comprising:

• manipulation value output means for supplying a manipulation value to a system to be controlled;
• control example storage means for storing the manipulation value and a controlled variable which is output from the system in response to the manipulation value as a control example;
• control rule extracting means for extracting a control rule from among a plurality of control examples stored in the control example storage means;
• and
• manipulation value computation means for calculating a manipulation value which matches the controlled variable with a target figure using said control rule extracted by the control rule extracting means, and causing the manipulation value output means to output the thus obtained manipulation value;
• wherein said control rule is extracted for each controlled variable as an n-dimensional plane obtained by processing each control example coordinate using a least square method, within an n+1 dimensional space made of the controlled variable and a number (n) of manipulation values associated with the controlled variable.

An image forming apparatus which determines a manipulation value effecting an influence to a control variable of a controlled device so as to achieve a target quality of the control variable, said apparatus comprising:

• specify means for specifying a control target value of said control variable;
• manipulation value output means for applying a manipulation value to the controlled device;
• detection means for detecting the control variable with respect to a currently manipulation value of the controlled device;
• control rule memory means for storing a plurality of control rules representing a plurality of control examples which are specified by said manipulation value and said control variable, in a coordinate system of said manipulation value and said control variable;
• calculation means for calculating a conformity of the control variable detected by said detection means with all of control rules stored in said control rule memory means;
• synthetic means for preparing a synthetic control rule which contains the control example representing said control variable detected by said detection means from said control rules in accordance with said conformity calculated by said calculation means;
• and
• determination means for determining a new manipulation value corresponding to said control target value according to said synthetic control rule;
• whereby said manipulation value output means is operated by the new manipulation value determined by said determination means.