Image forming apparatus and method of fixer temperature control in a power-saving mode

摘要

Upon recovery from a power-saving mode to a normal mode and then restart of fixing temperature control from a state in which the fixing temperature control is stopped, a control part (display control part 10 obtains a current temperature of a fixing part based on output of a temperature detector and required stabilization time T1 based on required stabilization time data, and based on necessary time data A and the number of remaining setting screens on which settings need to be made in a wizard format, issues a restart signal RS for restarting the fixing temperature control between a first time point TP1 reached by tracing back by the required stabilization time T1 from a predicted time point at which making the settings is predicted to complete and a second time point TP2 as a time point the necessary time before the first time point.

主权项

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
an operation part including an input part for inputting settings related to the image forming apparatus and a display performing display in a wizard format in which setting screens for a plurality of predefined functions are sequentially displayed in an interactive manner; a fixing part having therein a heater for fixing a toner onto paper, the fixing part performing fixing temperature control for maintaining a temperature at a printable temperature as a temperature required for fixing a toner image, the fixing part shifting from a normal mode to a power-saving mode under a condition that a predefined time has passed while no inputting has been made on the input part, a condition that instructions for a shift to the power-saving mode have been provided to the input part, or both conditions, and then stopping the fixing temperature control, the fixing part restarting the fixing temperature control after a restart signal for restarting the fixing temperature control is issued; a temperature detector for detecting a temperature of the fixing part; and a storage part storing at least: required stabilization time data for defining a required stabilization time required for reaching the printable temperature when the fixing temperature control has been performed starting with a current temperature of the fixing part; and necessary time data for defining a necessary time required for making a setting for one of the setting screens in the wizard format; and a control part recognizing inputting of settings to the input part, the control part, upon recovery from the power-saving mode to the normal mode since inputting to the input part has been performed and/or an operation detection part has detected that the operation on the image forming apparatus has been performed then restarts the fixing temperature control from a state in which the fixing temperature control is stopped, obtains a current temperature of the fixing part based on output of the temperature detector and the required stabilization time based on the required stabilization time data, the control part, based on the necessary time data and a number of remaining setting screens on which settings need to be performed in the wizard format, issues the restart signal at a time point of switching of the setting screens between a first time point as a time point reached by tracing back by the required stabilization time from a predicted time point at which making the settings is predicted to be complete and a second time point as a time point traced back by the necessary time from the first time point.