PRINTER

• US 20120076523A1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Oki Data Corporation (OKI Electric Industry Company Limited)
• Original Assignee: Oki Data Corporation (OKI Electric Industry Company Limited)
• Inventors: KOJIMA, Naosato
• Application Number:
  US13/241,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20120076523A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 399/70
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/2039 with means for controlling the fixing temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5004 Power supply control, e.g. power-saving mode, automatic power turn-off

Abstract

A printer having operational modes including a sleep mode, includes, an operation display unit, a sleep-mode setting-value table in which a warm-up time from the sleep mode and an estimated amount of power consumption per certain unit of time in the sleep mode are stored in association with values for setting items to set up conditions of the sleep mode, and a first setup unit. The first setup unit is configured to, when setting up the conditions of the sleep mode, extract the estimated amount of power consumption and the warm-up time in reference to the sleep-mode setting-value table by using, as a key, values of the setting items inputted through the operation display unit, and display the extracted estimated amount of power consumption and warm-up time in the operation display unit.

Claims

1. A printer having operational modes including a sleep mode in which power consumption is saved, the printer comprising:

an operation display unit configured to receive data inputted by a user and to display a notification to the user;

a sleep-mode setting-value table in which a warm-up time from the sleep mode and an estimated amount of power consumption per certain unit of time in the sleep mode are stored in association with each combination of values for setting items to set up conditions of the sleep mode; and

a first setup unit configured to, when setting up the conditions of the sleep mode, extract the estimated amount of power consumption and the warm-up time in reference to the sleep-mode setting-value table by using, as a key, values of the setting items inputted by the user through the operation display unit, display the extracted estimated amount of power consumption and warm-up time in the operation display unit, and confirm the values of the setting items in the operation display unit as the set-up values in response to an operation by the user through the operation display unit.

2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the estimated amount of power consumption per certain unit of time in the sleep mode is a value calculated beforehand using the values of the setting items as variables on the basis of a predetermined standard defining an energy-saving criterion.

3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined standard is a standard specified by the International Energy Star Program and defines the amount of power consumption per certain unit of time on the basis of a characteristic and printing speed of the printer.

4. The printer according to claim 1 further comprising:

a fuser unit including a heater and configured to apply heat and pressure to fix toner to a print medium;

an operation-panel backlight configured to illuminate the operation display unit from a backside of the operation display unit; and

a controller configured to cut off or reduce power supply to the heater and the operation-panel backlight in the sleep mode.

5. The printer according to claim 4, wherein the setting items include:

a transition time from a completion of a last print job to a transition to the sleep mode; and

a heater temperature of the heater.

6. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the setting items include a transition time from the completion of the last print job to a transition to the sleep mode.

7. The printer according to claim 4, wherein the setting items include a heater temperature of the heater.

8. The printer according to claim 5, wherein the first setup unit searches the sleep-mode setting-value table by using the set-up value of the heater temperature as a key, thereby extracts combinations of the transition time, the estimated amount of power consumption, and the warm-up time corresponding to the heater temperature, and displays the extracted combinations in the operation display unit.

9. The printer according to claim 5, wherein the first setup unit searches the sleep-mode setting-value table by using the set-up value of the transition time as a key, thereby extracts combinations of the heater temperature, the estimated amount of power consumption, and the warm-up time corresponding to the transition time, and displays the extracted combinations on the operation display unit.

17. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the operational modes include a print mode, a standby mode, and the sleep mode.

10. A printer having operational modes including a sleep mode in which power consumption is saved, the printer comprising:

an operation display unit configured to receive data inputted by a user and to display a notification to the user;

an eco mode setting-value table in which eco mode levels with different power saving levels are stored and values of setting items, an estimated amount of power consumption, and a warm-up time which are set for each eco mode level are stored; and

a second setup unit configured to, when setting up the conditions of the sleep mode, extract the values of the setting items in reference to the eco mode setting-value table by using, as a key, the eco mode level inputted by the user through the operation display unit, and confirm the extracted values of the setting items as the set-up values.

11. The printer according to claim 10 further comprising:

a fuser unit including a heater and configured to apply heat and pressure to fix toner to a print medium;

an operation-panel backlight configured to illuminate the operation display unit from a backside of the operation display unit; and

a controller configured to cut off or reduce power supply to the heater and the operation-panel backlight in the sleep mode.

12. The printer according to claim 11, wherein the setting items include:

a transition time from a completion of the last print job to a transition to the sleep mode;

a heater temperature of the heater; and

a selection from color printing and monochrome printing.

13. The printer according to claim 10, wherein the setting items include a transition time from a completion of a last print job to a transition to the sleep mode.

14. The printer according to claim 10, wherein the setting items include a heater temperature of the heater.

15. The printer according to claim 11, wherein the setting items include a selection from color printing and monochrome printing.

16. The printer according to claim 10, wherein when the user performs a predetermined operation through the operation display unit, the second setup unit displays, on the operation display unit, combinations of values of the setting items, the estimated amount of power consumption, and the warm-up time on the basis of the eco mode setup table, the combinations respectively set for the eco mode levels.

18. The printer according to claim 10, wherein the operational modes include a print mode, a standby mode, and the sleep mode.