Image forming apparatus and image processing method for limiting the communication between print controller and print engine based on load of the print engine
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorTakashi Nonaka
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The state of an engine control section is detected, it is determined on the basis of the state of the engine control section whether communication between a printer controller and the engine control section can be performed, and control is performed to limit communication. Even when a plurality of controllers are present, a composite operation is allowed without excessively increasing the communication load.
Claims14
An image forming apparatus in which a reader controller is inserted between a printer controller and an engine control section to allow a composite functional operation, comprising:
- first communication means for communicating between the printer controller and the reader controller;
- second communication means for communicating between the reader controller and the engine control section;
- detection means for detecting a load state of the engine control section through said second communication means;
- update means for, in accordance with a request of status information from the reader controller, acquiring latest status information of the engine control section through said second communication means and communicating with the reader controller to update the status information;
- communication control means for, in communication for a confirmation request of the status information of the engine control section from the printer controller, when the load of the engine control section is large on the basis of the detected load state, communicating the updated status information to the printer controller through said first communication means, and when the load of the engine control section is small, communicating the latest status information updated by said update means through said second communication means to the printer controller through said first communication means,
- wherein said communication control means limits communication between the printer controller and the engine control section in accordance with a change in the state of the engine control section to control a communication amount.
An image forming method in which an image forming apparatus having a reader controller inserted between a printer controller and an engine control section is used, and information is processed by a composite functional operation of said image forming apparatus to form an image, comprising:
- the first communication step of processing communication between the printer controller and the reader controller;
- the second communication step of processing communication between the reader controller and the engine control section;
- the detection step of acquiring information representing a load state of the engine control section in the second communication step and detecting the load state of the engine control section on the basis of the information;
- the update step of, in accordance with a request of status information from the reader controller, acquiring latest status information of the engine control section through the second communication step and communicating with the reader controller to update the status information;
- the communication control step of, in communication for a confirmation request of the status information of the engine control section from the printer controller, when the load of the engine control section is large on the basis of the detected load state, communicating the updated status information to the printer controller through the first communication step, and when the load of the engine control section is small, communicating the latest status information updated in the update step through the second communication step to the printer controller through the first communication step,
- wherein the communication control step comprises limiting communication between the printer controller and the engine control section in accordance with a change in the state of the engine control section to control a communication amount.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.