Motor control device, image forming apparatus, and non-transitory computer-readable medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9768718-B2
Application number	US-201414164574-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 27, 2014
Priority date	Feb 6, 2013
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

A motor control device includes a first control unit and a second control unit. The first control unit includes an issuing unit that issues a command that schedules a next operation of a motor according to an instruction from a controller. The second control unit includes a receiving unit that receives the command, a detecting unit that detects a state of the motor, a determining unit that makes a determination as to whether to drive the motor to perform the operation according to the state detected by the detecting unit, and an executing unit that drives the motor to perform the operation scheduled by the command as determined by the determination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A motor control device comprising:
a first control unit configured to issue a start command requesting to start a motor and a schedule command such that the first control unit issues the schedule command instructing a next operation of the motor when the state of the motor reaches a set condition while operating based on the start command, and the schedule command includes the set condition; and
a second control unit configured to output a control signal instructing the motor to perform the next operation when the state of the motor reaches the set condition while operating based on the start command such that the first control unit pre-instructs the second control unit to output the control signal in advance of the motor reaching the set condition and subsequent to issuance of the start command.

2. The motor control device according to claim 1 , wherein the first control unit and the second control unit are embodied in independent hardware entities.

3. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
the motor control device of claim 1 ; and
an image forming unit that forms on a recording medium conveyed by the motor that is controlled by the motor control device.

4. The motor control device according to claim 1 , wherein the schedule command is a command that schedules the second control unit in advance to execute control of stopping the motor when a state of the motor meets a set requirement.

5. The motor control device according to claim 4 , wherein the schedule command designates, as the requirement of the state of the motor, a distance traveled by rotation of the motor.

6. The motor control device according to claim 4 , wherein the second control unit is configured to monitor the state of the motor based on sensor signals output from sensors and determines whether the state of the motor has entered the state designated by the schedule command.

7. The motor control device according to claim 4 , wherein the first control unit and the second control unit do not exchange a command relating to a monitoring result of the state of the motor.

8. The motor control device according to claim 1 , wherein the second control unit includes:
a receiving unit configured to receive the start command and schedule command from the first control unit;
a determining unit configured to, when the receiving receives the schedule command after receiving the start command, determine whether the state of the motor has reached the set condition; and
an executing unit configured to, when the determining unit is configured to determine that the state of the motor has reached the set condition, output the control signal instructing the next operation to the motor.

9. The motor control device according to claim 8 , wherein
the second control unit further includes a sequence generating unit configured to generate a sequence for designating the operation of the motor according to the command, and
the executing unit is configured to drive the motor according to the sequence.

10. The motor control device according to claim 9 , wherein the determining unit is configured to make the determination depending on which one of states in the sequence the state detected by a detecting unit.

11. The motor control device according to claim 9 , wherein
the first control unit is configured to issue the command that includes designation of a travel distance to be traveled by the operation of the motor, and
the sequence generating unit is configured to generate, as the sequence, a sequence containing a target speed that is set based on the travel distance included in the command.

12. The motor control device according to claim 11 , wherein the sequence generating unit is configured to generate, as the sequence, a sequence containing the target speed that is set so as to cause the travel distance to be traveled in a shortest period of time, during which a drive speed of the motor is increased from zero at which the motor is stopped to the target speed and then decreased to zero.

13. The motor control device according to claim 11 , wherein the sequence generating unit is configured to generate, as the sequence, a sequence that contains a target speed that is set for the motor driven at a fixed speed, the sequence causing a drive speed of the motor to change from the fixed speed to the target speed and thereafter decrease to zero, at which the motor is stopped and the travel distance has been traveled.

14. The motor control device according to claim 8 , wherein the determining unit is configured to accumulate a rotation angle of the motor, and is configured to determine whether a distance traveled by rotation of the motor has reached a designated travel distance designated by the schedule command based on the accumulated rotation angle.

15. The motor control device according to claim 14 , wherein the travel distance is determined with a moving period in a decelerating period, during which the motor decelerates.

16. The motor control device according to claim 14 , wherein the determining unit is configured to calculate the distance traveled by rotation of the motor from when the motor starts decelerating to when the motor is stopped based on the rotation speed of the motor and acceleration of the motor during the decelerating period.

17. The motor control device according to claim 14 , wherein the determining unit is configured to determine whether the distance traveled by rotation of the motor has reached a distance that is obtained by subtracting the calculated travel distance during the decelerating period from the travel distance designated by the schedule command fed from the first control unit.

18. The motor control device of claim 1 , wherein the second control unit is configured to,
maintain the set condition in a memory device while operating the motor based on the start command, and
output the control signal instructing the motor to perform the next operation when the state of the motor reaches the set condition while operating based on the start command.

19. The motor control device of claim 1 , wherein the second control unit is configured to output the control signal instructing the motor to perform the next operation when the state of the motor reaches the set condition while operating based on the start command such that the second control unit receives the schedule command and performs the next operation without sending sensor information to the first control unit.

20. The motor control device of claim 1 , wherein the second control unit is configured to output the control signal instructing the motor to perform the next operation when the state of the motor reaches the set condition while operating based on the start command such that, when the motor reaches the set condition, the second control unit performs the next operation without further instructions from the first control unit.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program codes that cause, when executed by a motor drive device, the motor drive device to perform a method comprising:
issuing, by a first control unit, a start command requesting to start a motor and a schedule command such that issuing issues the schedule command instructing a next operation of the motor when the state of the motor reaches a set condition while operating based on the start command, and the schedule command includes the set condition; and
outputting, by a second control unit, a control signal instructing the motor to perform the next operation when the st

Assignees

• Ishizuka Natsuko
• Watahiki Tatsuya
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Ishizuka Natsuko
• Watahiki Tatsuya

Classifications

• G05B2219/45187

  Printer · CPC title

• G03G2215/00599

  Timing, synchronisation · CPC title

• G03G2215/00603

  Control of other part of the apparatus according to the state of copy medium feeding · CPC title

• G05B19/0421

  Multiprocessor system · CPC title

• B41J29/38

  Drives, motors, controls or automatic cut-off devices for the entire printing mechanism · CPC title