CN111505919A

CN111505919A - Method for detecting whether paper is contained in paper supply box or not and image forming device

Info

Publication number: CN111505919A
Application number: CN202010467186.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 杨起龙
Original assignee: Zhuhai Pantum Electronics Co Ltd
Current assignee: Zhuhai Pantum Electronics Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-05-28
Filing date: 2020-05-28
Publication date: 2020-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 2040-05-28
Also published as: CN111505919B

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for detecting whether a paper supply box contains paper or not and an image forming device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along a first direction, so that the pickup roller carries out pickup operation; the controller determines that paper is contained in the paper supply box if the paper detection sensor detects that paper exists on the paper path channel. The method for detecting whether the paper box contains paper or not provided by the embodiment can avoid the situation that the image forming operation cannot be normally carried out due to paper shortage, the waste of the developer, the consumption of the photosensitive drum due to unnecessary image forming operation and the like can be avoided, and the resource waste is reduced.

Description

Method for detecting whether paper is contained in paper supply box or not and image forming device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of image forming technology, and more particularly, to a method of detecting whether a sheet cassette contains sheets and an image forming apparatus.

Background

The image forming apparatus performs image forming jobs such as generating, printing, receiving, and transmitting image data, and examples of the image forming apparatus include a printer, a scanner, a copier, a facsimile, and a Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP) that performs the above functions in a single device.

In recent years, with the increase in demand for high-speed processing, there is an increasing need to improve the paper conveying speed in a paper conveying system. In order to achieve such high-speed printing, conventionally, the image forming operation has been started already when the conveyance of the sheet is started. If it is determined that there is no paper after the image forming operation is started, the image being operated cannot be printed, and the developer required for the operation is wasted, and the photosensitive drum is consumed due to unnecessary image forming operations, resulting in waste of resources.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method for detecting whether a paper supply box contains paper or not and an image forming device, which can avoid the situation that image forming operation cannot be normally carried out due to paper shortage, avoid the situations that developer is wasted, a photosensitive drum is consumed due to unnecessary image forming operation and the like, and reduce resource waste.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for detecting whether a paper feeding cassette holds paper, which is applied to an image forming apparatus, where the image forming apparatus includes a paper feeding cassette with a paper outlet, a pickup roller for sending paper held in the paper feeding cassette from the paper outlet to a paper path channel for transfer printing, a paper detection sensor arranged on the paper path channel, a driving mechanism for driving the pickup roller, and a controller for controlling the driving mechanism, where the controller is electrically connected to the paper detection sensor, and the paper detection sensor sends detection result information of whether paper is present on the paper path channel to the controller, and the method includes:

the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along a first direction, so that the pickup roller carries out pickup operation;

and if the paper detection sensor detects that paper exists on the paper path channel, the controller determines that paper is contained in the paper supply box.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

the paper detection sensor is a sensor for correcting the front end of the paper corresponding to the pickup roller, and the method further comprises the following steps:

and if the paper detection sensor does not detect that the paper exists on the paper path channel within the preset times when the times of the paper twisting operation of the paper twisting roller reach the preset times, the controller determines that the paper is not contained in the paper supply box.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the paper detection sensor is a paper leading end correction sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and after the controller determines that paper is contained in the paper supply cassette, the method further includes:

the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along a second direction so as to send the paper on the paper path channel back to the paper supply box.

With reference to the first aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the image forming apparatus further includes a laser scanning unit, and the method further includes:

the controller judges whether paper is contained in the paper supply box based on a request signal of requesting, and controls the laser scanning unit not to perform exposure operation in the process of controlling the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along the first direction.

With reference to the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the controller is triggered to generate the request signal when any one of the following conditions is met:

detecting that the image forming device is changed from a power-off state to a power-on state;

detecting that the paper feeding cassette is changed from an open state to a closed state;

detecting that the image forming device receives a printing job, namely when printing on a first page of the printing job is to be started;

during printing, it is detected that the transfer of the last print page of the print job is completed, i.e., when printing of the next page of the print job is to be started.

In a second aspect, the embodiment of the application provides an image forming apparatus, image forming apparatus including be provided with the exit slot paper supply box, be used for with the paper of splendid attire is followed in the paper supply box the exit slot is sent into paper path passageway and is supplied to the pickup roller of rendition demand, set up in paper detection sensor, drive on the paper path passageway the actuating mechanism and the control of pickup roller work the controller of actuating mechanism work, the controller with paper detection sensor electric connection, paper detection sensor will whether there is the testing result information transmission of paper to give on the paper path passageway the controller.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the paper detection sensor is a sensor for correcting a front end of paper corresponding to the pickup roller, and if the number of times of pickup operation by the pickup roller reaches a preset number, the paper detection sensor does not detect that paper exists on the paper path channel within the preset number, and the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper supply box.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the paper detection sensor is a sensor for correcting a front end of the paper corresponding to the pickup roller, and after the controller determines that the paper is contained in the paper supply box, the controller is further configured to control the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate in a second direction, so as to feed the paper on the paper path channel back into the paper supply box.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the image forming apparatus further includes a laser scanning unit, the controller determines, based on a request signal for requesting whether paper is contained in the paper supply box, and in a process of controlling the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate in the first direction, the controller controls the laser scanning unit not to perform an exposure operation.

With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the controller is triggered to generate the request signal when any one of the following conditions is met:

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, whether paper exists in the paper supply box is detected by the paper detection sensor carried on the paper path channel of the image forming apparatus, and the driving mechanism drives the pickup roller to pick up the paper to the paper detection sensor to detect whether the paper exists in the paper supply box, so as to achieve the detection of whether the paper exists, and avoid the situations that the image forming operation cannot be normally performed due to paper shortage, the developer is wasted, and the photosensitive drum is consumed due to unnecessary image forming operation, etc.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of detecting whether a sheet feeding cassette contains sheets according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an application scenario of the method for detecting whether a sheet feeding cassette contains sheets according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another application scenario of the method for detecting whether a paper feeding cassette contains paper according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another application scenario of the method for detecting whether a paper supply cassette contains paper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

For better understanding of the technical solutions of the present invention, the following detailed descriptions of the embodiments of the present application are provided with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

In the present application, "at least one" means one or more, "a plurality" means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone, wherein A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship. "at least one of the following" or similar expressions refer to any combination of these items, including any combination of the singular or plural items. For example, at least one (one) of a, b, or c, may represent: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, or a-b-c, wherein a, b, c may be single or multiple.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 1, an image forming apparatus 100 is used to perform image forming jobs, such as generating, printing, receiving, and transmitting image data, and examples of the image forming apparatus 100 include a printer, a scanner, a copier, a facsimile machine, and a Multi-Functional Peripheral (MFP) that performs the above functions in a single device.

As an example of an image forming apparatus 100, the image forming apparatus 100 includes photosensitive drums 101Y-K, charging rollers 102Y-K, developing rollers 103Y-K, powder bins 104Y-K, a transfer belt 105, a secondary transfer roller 106, a paper feed cassette 107, a manual paper feed tray 108, a pickup roller 109, a conveying roller 110, a paper detection sensor 120, a laser scanning unit (L SU, &lttttranslation &l &ltt/t &gttaaserase scanning unit)111, a heat roller 112, a pressure roller 113, a discharge roller 114, a discharge paper cassette 115, and the like, and generally, process cassettes C-M include the photosensitive drums 101Y-K, the charging rollers 102Y-K, the developing rollers 103Y-K, and the powder bins 104Y-K for holding toner, respectively.

L SU 111 is in the form of a single L SU, and includes four light paths, four charging rollers 102Y-K for respectively charging the surfaces of the four photosensitive drums 101Y-K, L SU 111 for respectively emitting laser beams to form electrostatic latent images on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 101Y-K, four developing rollers 103Y-K for respectively developing toner images of one color on the surfaces of the photosensitive drums 101Y-K, and the image forming apparatus 100 adopts a secondary transfer method, i.e., the four photosensitive drums 101Y-K sequentially transfer the toner images onto the transfer belt 105, and then the color toner images formed on the transfer belt 105 are secondarily transferred onto paper by the secondary transfer roller 106, a paper supply cassette 107 for storing paper, a paper pickup roller 109 for carrying the stored paper to a carrying path (hereinafter paper path), and a carrying roller 110 for carrying the paper to the secondary transfer roller 106.

The secondary transfer roller 106 carries the image-formed sheet to a nip of a heat roller 112 and a pressure roller 113, the heat roller 112 and the pressure roller 113 are used for fixing toner images on the sheet, the heat roller 112 may be a ceramic heating type, the heat roller 112 and the pressure roller 113 carry the fixed sheet to a discharge roller 114, and the discharge roller 114 discharges the sheet to a discharge paper cassette 115 and stacks it.

Among them, the laser scanning unit 111 acquires an optical analog image signal of the original/source document by exposure of the optical print head. The paper detection sensor 120 is used to detect whether there is paper in the paper path where the paper detection sensor is located.

The paper feeding cassette 107 is provided with a paper outlet, the pickup roller 109 is specifically configured to send paper contained in the paper feeding cassette 107 from the paper outlet into a paper path for transfer printing, and the image forming apparatus 100 further includes a driving mechanism (not shown) for driving the pickup roller 109 to operate, where the driving mechanism is a driving motor for driving the pickup roller 109 to move, so as to implement a pickup operation. The driving mechanism 181 is electrically connected to a controller (not shown) of the image forming apparatus to control the operation of the driving mechanism. The controller is electrically connected to the paper detection sensor 120, which sends the detection result information of whether there is paper on the paper path to the controller.

The image forming apparatus 100 further includes an operation panel (not shown) including an operation portion (not shown) composed of various keys and a touch panel type display portion (not shown).

It is to be understood that the image forming apparatus 100 listed above is only an example, and the component configuration and component arrangement of the image forming apparatus 100 can be adjusted according to actual situations without affecting the idea of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of detecting whether a sheet feeding cassette contains sheets according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to fig. 2, a method for detecting whether a sheet feeding cassette contains sheets includes:

step S11: the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along a first direction, so that the pickup roller carries out pickup operation;

step S12: the controller determines that paper is contained in the paper supply box if the paper detection sensor detects that paper exists on the paper path channel.

It can be understood that the embodiment of the present invention detects whether there is paper in the paper feeding cassette 18 by the paper detecting sensor 120 carried on the paper path of the image forming apparatus 100, and the driving mechanism drives the pickup roller 109 to pick up the paper to the paper detecting sensor 120 to detect whether there is paper in the paper feeding cassette 107, so as to achieve the detection of whether there is paper, and avoid the situations that the image forming operation cannot be normally performed due to paper shortage, and the developer is wasted and the photosensitive drum is consumed due to unnecessary image forming operation.

The following describes a specific technical solution of the method for detecting whether a paper supply cassette contains paper or not according to an embodiment of the present disclosure in detail.

the first direction may be a positive clock direction or a negative clock direction, and in a normal case, when the driving mechanism drives the pickup roller 109 to perform a pickup operation, if a sheet is contained in the sheet feeding cassette 107, the sheet will reach a position corresponding to the sheet detecting sensor 120 in the sheet path.

Step S12: if the paper detection sensor detects that paper exists on the paper path channel, the controller determines that paper is contained in the paper supply box;

specifically, if the paper detection sensor 120 detects that paper exists in the paper path within a preset time after the paper pickup operation, the detection result information of the paper (i.e., the sensing signal of the paper) is sent to the controller, so that the controller can know that the paper exists in the paper path, and the controller determines that the paper is contained in the paper supply cassette 107.

In a possible embodiment, the paper detecting sensor is a paper tip correcting sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and the method of detecting whether the paper feeding cassette contains paper may further include:

step S13: and if the paper detection sensor does not detect that the paper exists on the paper path channel in the preset times when the times of the paper twisting operation of the paper twisting roller reach the preset times, the controller determines that the paper is not contained in the paper supply box.

The preset times can be set flexibly according to actual requirements, such as 1 time, 2 times, 3 times and the like.

Taking the preset number of times as 3 as an example, within the preset time length after the first paper twisting operation of the paper twisting roller 109, if the paper detecting sensor 120 does not detect the presence of paper on the paper path, the controller controls the pickup roller 109 to rotate in the first direction again, so that the pickup roller 109 performs the second pickup operation, and when the pickup roller 109 performs the second pickup operation within the preset time period, if the paper detecting sensor 120 still does not detect the presence of paper on the paper path, the controller controls the pickup roller 109 to rotate in the first direction again, so that the pickup roller 109 performs the third pickup operation, and when the pickup roller 109 performs the third pickup operation within the preset time period, if the paper detecting sensor 120 still does not detect the presence of paper on the paper path, the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper feeding cassette 107, and the pickup roller 109 stops the pickup. In the above process, if the paper detection sensor 120 detects the presence of paper on the paper path, the controller determines that the paper supply cassette 107 contains paper.

In one possible embodiment, after the controller determines that the paper is contained in the paper supply cassette, the method of detecting whether the paper supply cassette contains the paper may further include:

step S21: the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along the second direction so as to feed the paper on the paper path back to the paper supply box.

The second direction is opposite to the first direction, when the first direction is a positive clock direction, the second direction is a negative clock direction, and when the first direction is the negative clock direction, the second direction is the positive clock direction.

In other embodiments of the present invention, for example, when the image forming apparatus performs a print/copy job or is performing a print/copy job, the direct controller may start the image forming operation by controlling the laser scanning unit 111 to perform exposure without performing step S21.

It can be understood that, after the paper pickup operation, the embodiment of the present invention reversely rotates to feed the paper back to the paper feeding box 107, so as to ensure that the paper paths are consistent, and achieve the function of detecting whether the paper is in the paper feeding box without arranging a paper sensor in the paper feeding box, thereby saving the cost of the paper sensor.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the method for detecting whether the paper supply cassette contains paper further includes:

step S22: the controller judges whether paper is contained in the paper supply box based on a request signal of requesting, and controls the laser scanning unit not to perform exposure operation in the process of controlling the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along the first direction.

In an embodiment of the present invention, after the feeding the paper on the paper path back into the paper supply box, the method for detecting whether the paper supply box contains paper may further include:

step S23: the controller controls the laser scanning unit to perform exposure, thereby initiating an image forming operation.

It can be understood that, in the prior art, when a print job is started, generally, paper pickup by the pickup roller and exposure by the laser scanning unit are performed synchronously and correspondingly, and compared with the prior art, in the embodiment of the present invention, a controller determines, based on a request signal, whether paper is contained in the paper supply box, and in a process of controlling the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate in a first direction, that is, in a process of detecting the presence of paper on a paper path channel, the controller controls the laser scanning unit not to perform an exposure operation, and after the paper on the paper path channel is sent back into the paper supply box (detection is completed), an image forming operation is started according to the print job, so that waste of resources such as a developer, a photosensitive drum, and the like is avoided.

In the specific implementation, the laser scanning unit 111 obtains an optical analog image signal of the original through exposure of the optical printing head, the four photosensitive drums 101Y-K generate images according to the optical analog image signal of the laser scanning unit 111, the four photosensitive drums 101Y-K sequentially transfer the toner images onto the transfer belt 105, and then the color toner images formed on the transfer belt 105 are secondarily transferred onto paper by the secondary transfer roller 106, so that image formation is completed.

In one possible embodiment, the controller is connected to a display portion that displays the status of the paper supply cassette 107, for example, when the controller determines that paper is contained in the paper supply cassette 107, the display portion may display: there is paper, or it may show: the state is normal; when the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper supply cassette 107, it may display: and (5) paper shortage. Thereby enabling the user to know whether the paper supply cassette 107 contains paper to realize a normal image forming operation.

In a possible embodiment, after the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper supply cassette, the method of detecting whether the paper supply cassette contains paper may further include:

step S25: the controller displays the state of the paper feeding box as a paper shortage state through the display part.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the controller may be triggered to generate the request signal when any one of, but not limited to, the following conditions is satisfied:

detecting that the paper feeding box is changed from an open state to a closed state;

detecting that the image forming device receives a printing job, namely when printing of a first page of the printing job is to be started;

The detection of the open and closed states of the paper feed cassette 107 is realized by a switch sensor for detecting the open and closed states of the paper feed cassette 107, and when the state of the paper feed cassette 107 changes from open to closed, the switch sensor sends a state change signal corresponding to the state change to the controller, so that the controller generates a request signal for requesting to judge whether paper is contained in the paper feed cassette 107.

Several implementation scenarios of the method for detecting whether the paper supply box contains paper are listed below:

scene one: after the user closes (or installs) the paper supply box

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an application scenario of the method for detecting whether a paper supply cassette contains paper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 3, when the user closes or installs the paper supply cassette, the image forming apparatus is normally free of print jobs, a paper cassette sensor for detecting whether the paper cassette is closed or not is provided in the image forming apparatus for determining whether an operation of inserting or extracting the paper cassette is provided, and when the paper cassette sensor detects that the user closes or installs the paper supply cassette, the paper detection sensor needs to detect whether paper is contained in the paper cassette.

When the user closes the paper supply box, the process of detecting whether the paper supply box contains paper may include:

step S31: the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along the first direction, and the step S32 is carried out;

step S32: the pickup roller picks up paper, and the step S33 is carried out;

step S33: the controller judges whether the sheet reaches the sheet detection sensor, and if so, proceeds to step S34, and if not, proceeds to step S35;

step S34: the controller updates the state of the paper feed cassette to the presence of paper, and proceeds to step S36;

wherein, the controller controls the display unit to update the paper feeding cassette to have paper.

Step S35: the controller judges whether to wait for timeout, if yes, the step proceeds to step S37, and if no, the step continues to be performed at step S35;

step S36: the controller controls the pickup roller to rotate reversely to return the paper to the paper supply box;

step S37: the controller judges whether the paper twisting times is larger than or equal to N, if so, the step S38 is carried out, and if not, the step S32 is carried out.

Wherein N may be a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

Step S38: the controller updates the state of the paper supply cassette to be out of paper.

Scene two: when the image forming apparatus receives a print job, i.e., is about to print a first page

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another application scenario of the method for detecting whether a paper supply cassette contains paper according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, when the image forming apparatus receives a print job and is about to print a first page, the process of detecting whether the paper supply cassette contains paper may include:

step S41: the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along the first direction, and the step S42 is carried out;

step S42: the pickup roller picks up paper, and the step S43 is carried out;

step S43: the controller judges whether the sheet reaches the sheet detection sensor, and if so, proceeds to step S44, and if not, proceeds to step S45;

step S44: the controller updates the state of the paper feed cassette to the presence of paper, and proceeds to step S46;

Step S45: the controller judges whether to wait for timeout, if yes, the step proceeds to step S47, and if no, the step continues to be performed at step S45;

step S46, the controller informs L SU to expose the first page;

wherein L SU initiates the print job by exposing the optical print head to acquire an optical analog image signal of the first page of the source document.

Step S47: the controller judges whether the paper twisting times is larger than or equal to N, if so, the step S48 is carried out, and if not, the step S41 is carried out.

Wherein N may be a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

Step S48: the controller controls the image forming apparatus to stop printing and updates the state of the paper feed cassette to a paper shortage.

Scene three: when the image forming apparatus has finished printing the previous page of the job, i.e. is about to print the next page (i.e. when the image forming apparatus prints continuously)

As shown in fig. 5, when the image forming apparatus has finished printing a previous page of the print job, that is, printing a next page, the process of detecting whether the paper supply cassette contains paper may include:

step S51: the controller judges whether the previous sheet leaves the sheet detection sensor, if so, proceeds to step S52;

step S52: the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate along the first direction, and the step S53 is carried out;

step S53: the pickup roller picks up paper, and the step S54 is carried out;

step S54: the controller judges whether the sheet reaches the sheet detection sensor, and if so, proceeds to step S55, and if not, proceeds to step S56;

step S55: the controller updates the state of the paper feed cassette to the presence of paper, and proceeds to step S57;

Step S56: judging whether the waiting time is out, if yes, entering the step S58, and if not, continuing to execute the step S56;

step S57, the controller informs L SU to expose next page;

here, L SU acquires an optical analog image signal of the next page of the source document by exposure of the optical print head, thereby performing printing of the next page.

Step S58: the controller judges whether the paper twisting times is larger than or equal to N, if so, the step S48 is carried out, and if not, the step S52 is carried out.

Wherein N may be a natural number greater than or equal to 1.

Step S59: the controller controls the image forming apparatus to stop printing and updates the state of the paper feed cassette to a paper shortage.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the paper detection sensor 120 disposed on the paper path of the image forming apparatus detects whether there is paper in the paper feeding cassette, and the driving mechanism drives the pickup roller 109 to pick up the paper to the paper detection sensor 120 to detect whether there is paper in the paper feeding cassette, so as to achieve the detection of whether there is paper, and avoid the situations that the image forming operation cannot be performed normally due to paper shortage, and the developer is wasted and the photosensitive drum is consumed due to unnecessary image forming operation.

With reference to fig. 1, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an image forming apparatus 100, where the image forming apparatus 100 includes a paper feeding cassette 107 having a paper outlet, a pickup roller 109 for sending paper contained in the paper feeding cassette 107 from the paper outlet into a paper path for transfer printing, a paper detection sensor 120 disposed on the paper path, a driving mechanism for driving the pickup roller 109, and a controller for controlling the driving mechanism to operate, where the controller is electrically connected to the paper detection sensor 120, and the paper detection sensor 120 sends information of a detection result indicating whether there is paper on the paper path to the controller;

the controller controls the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller 109 to rotate along the first direction, so that the pickup roller 109 performs pickup operation;

if the paper detection sensor 120 detects the presence of paper on the paper path, the controller determines that the paper supply cassette 107 contains paper.

It can be understood that the embodiment of the present invention detects whether there is paper in the paper feeding cassette by the paper detection sensor 120 carried on the paper path of the image forming apparatus, and the driving mechanism drives the pickup roller 109 to pick up the paper to the paper detection sensor 120 to detect whether there is paper in the paper feeding cassette 107, so as to achieve the detection of whether there is paper, and avoid the situations that the image forming operation cannot be normally performed due to paper shortage, and the developer is wasted and the photosensitive drum is consumed due to unnecessary image forming operation.

In one possible embodiment, the paper detection sensor is a paper tip correction sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and if the paper detection sensor 120 does not detect the presence of paper on the paper path channel when the pickup operation by the pickup roller 109 reaches a preset number, the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper supply cassette 107.

In one possible embodiment, the paper detecting sensor is a paper tip correcting sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and after the controller determines that the paper is contained in the paper feeding cassette 107, the controller is further configured to control the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller 109 to rotate in the second direction so as to feed the paper on the paper path back into the paper feeding cassette 107.

In a possible embodiment, the image forming apparatus further includes a laser scanning unit 111, and the controller determines whether or not the paper is contained in the paper supply cassette based on a request signal requesting that the paper be contained in the paper supply cassette, and controls the laser scanning unit 111 not to perform an exposure operation while controlling the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller 109 to rotate in the first direction.

In one possible embodiment, the controller may be triggered to generate the request signal when any one of, but not limited to, the following conditions is met:

In one possible embodiment, after the sheet on the sheet path is fed back into the sheet supply cassette 107, the controller is also configured to control the laser scanning unit 111 to perform exposure, thereby initiating an image forming operation.

In one possible embodiment, the image forming apparatus further includes a display portion, and the controller is further configured to display the state of the paper supply cassette 107 as an out-of-paper state through the display portion after the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper supply cassette 107.

It is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the image forming apparatus described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, and is not described herein again.

The above embodiments are only specific embodiments of the present application, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure, and all the changes or substitutions should be covered by the protection scope of the present application. The protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for detecting whether a paper feeding box contains paper or not is applied to an image forming device, the image forming device comprises the paper feeding box with a paper outlet, a pickup roller for sending the paper contained in the paper feeding box into a paper path channel from the paper outlet so as to meet the requirement of transfer printing, a paper detection sensor arranged on the paper path channel, a driving mechanism for driving the pickup roller to work and a controller for controlling the driving mechanism to work, the controller is electrically connected with the paper detection sensor, and the paper detection sensor sends the detection result information of whether the paper exists on the paper path channel or not to the controller, and the method is characterized by comprising the following steps:

2. The method of detecting whether a sheet supply cassette contains sheets of paper as set forth in claim 1, wherein the sheet detection sensor is a sheet leading end correction sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, the method further comprising:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sheet detection sensor is a sheet leading end correction sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and wherein after the controller determines that the sheet is contained in the sheet supply cassette, the method further comprises:

4. The method of detecting whether a sheet supply cassette contains sheets of paper as set forth in claim 3, wherein the image forming apparatus further includes a laser scanning unit, the method further comprising:

5. The method of detecting whether a paper supply cassette contains paper according to claim 4, wherein the controller is triggered to generate the request signal when any one of the following conditions is satisfied:

6. The utility model provides an image forming device, image forming device is including the paper feed box that is provided with the exit slot, be used for with the paper of splendid attire in the paper feed box follow the exit slot is sent into paper path passageway in order to supply the pickup roller of rendition demand, set up in paper detection sensor on the paper path passageway, drive the actuating mechanism and the control of pickup roller work the controller of actuating mechanism work, the controller with paper detection sensor electric connection, paper detection sensor will whether there is the testing result information transmission of paper on the paper path passageway for the controller, its characterized in that:

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the paper detection sensor is a paper leading end correction sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and the controller determines that no paper is contained in the paper feed cassette if the paper detection sensor does not detect the presence of paper on the paper path passage for a preset number of times when the pickup roller performs a pickup operation for the preset number of times.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the sheet detection sensor is a sheet leading end correction sensor corresponding to the pickup roller, and the controller is further configured to control the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate in a second direction to feed the sheet on the sheet path back into the sheet feed cassette after the controller determines that the sheet is contained in the sheet feed cassette.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a laser scanning unit, wherein the controller determines a request signal for determining whether or not the paper is contained in the paper feed cassette based on the request signal, and wherein the controller controls the laser scanning unit not to perform an exposure operation in controlling the driving mechanism to drive the pickup roller to rotate in the first direction.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the controller is triggered to generate the request signal when any one of the following conditions is satisfied: