JP2005331751A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem that when communication is performed with one communication port during an image forming operation, time in which the communication is allowed is basically limited to the time needed for development, in the case of which, depending on the amount of communication, a developing device may have rotated before all the communication finishes, with the result that the communication may be disconnected in midstream. <P>SOLUTION: In the image forming apparatus of a rotary development system, each replaceable development cartridge 4 attached to the rotary developing device 11 has a storage means. The image forming apparatus is provided with communication lines (50a and 50b) for simultaneous writing in the storage means. Thus, high quality communication between the apparatus and the storage means is ensured by parallelly controlling the plurality of communication lines without degrading the performance of the image forming apparatus. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a process cartridge used for electrophotographic image formation, such as a printer, a copying machine, and a facsimile machine, and an image forming apparatus that mounts the process cartridge to form an image, and particularly relates to an image forming apparatus including a plurality of process cartridges.

  In a rotary developing type image forming apparatus, Patent Document 1 shows a configuration in which a developing unit, a toner cut ridge, or an integrated process cartridge thereof has a storage unit such as a nonvolatile memory, and stores unit-specific information. ing.

  In this configuration, in order to communicate with the storage means attached to the process cartridge, a connector or a communication antenna for non-contact communication is provided on the main body side, and the rotary developer is rotated and attached to the process cartridge. The rotary developer is stopped at a position where the connector or the communication antenna faces the connector or communication antenna on the main body side, and a communication path is secured by attaching the connector and the communication antenna as necessary.

  Further, Patent Document 2 discloses an image forming apparatus including a non-contact IC memory in which necessary information is stored in a non-contact state in a cylindrical process cartridge.

  FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram showing a configuration of a laser printer having a conventional rotary developing device. The rotary developing device includes a developing cartridge 4 containing yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toners, a wireless antenna 30a for communicating with a non-contact IC memory, and transmission / reception. A vessel 50 is provided.

  In these operations, the rotary developing device is rotated to stop the wireless antenna 30a on the apparatus body side at the developing position facing the non-contact IC memory on the process cartridge for communication purposes.

  Next, the control unit of the apparatus reads the contents of the IC memory via the wireless antenna 30a, and writes the operation time, the amount of toner consumption, and the like to the process cartridge 4 as necessary.

  When the development is completed, the rotary developer is rotated by a quarter to stop in order to develop the next color. Similarly, development for four colors and reading / writing of the IC memory are performed. Here, when a communication error occurs between the control unit and the IC memory on the process cartridge, the control unit needs to retry communication until data consistency can be ensured.

  However, when the development has already been completed, the development of the next color is prioritized, so it is necessary to rotate the rotary developer. Therefore, the non-contact IC memory on the process cartridge can communicate with the antenna on the apparatus main body side. The area of the IC memory and the data on the main body of the device remain inconsistent until it goes out of the area, communication is interrupted, and then rotates once and then enters the communicable area again. There is a risk of disappearing.

JP 11-338329 A JP 2002-49206 A

  FIG. 8 is a time chart showing communication waiting for reducing the overall processing speed in the conventional communication sequence. In the communication sequence, first, mutual authentication between the image forming apparatus and the process cartridge is performed, and then the image forming apparatus reads and writes data. Since there are four-color process cartridges, the same processing occurs four times, but some of them are omitted in FIG.

  In the normal sequence, the image formation time for one image is about 10 seconds, but in the lower part of FIG. 8 where communication errors frequently occur, the first authentication fails and a retry process occurs due to the authentication retry and the writing error. However, the communication time becomes longer than usual and becomes about 15 seconds. In such a case, the speed at which printing can be performed is greatly reduced from 6 ppm (number of sheets that can be printed per minute) to 4 ppm in this example.

  However, in order to give priority to the printing speed, when communication is performed during the image forming operation, the communication time is basically limited to the time required for development. May rotate and communication may be interrupted.

  In addition, there is a system in which communication is performed before and after the image forming operation. However, since a cycle for rotating the rotary developer occurs only for communication, there is a problem that the performance of the system is greatly reduced.

  In view of the above problems, the present invention has a storage unit in a replaceable unit mounted on a rotating developing device in an image forming apparatus of a rotary development system, and the apparatus side includes the storage unit. An object of the present invention is to provide a configuration including a plurality of communication lines that perform reading and writing at the same time, and to realize a configuration capable of performing high-quality communication between the apparatus side and a storage unit without deteriorating system performance.

  In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a developing unit having a writable non-volatile memory in a rotor that can be mounted in plural, and the developing unit is rotated by rotating the rotor. In the image forming apparatus for forming an image on a print medium by sequentially switching, a first communication means for communicating information with a non-volatile memory provided in one of the developing units mounted on the rotor, and mounted on the rotor And a non-volatile memory provided in the developing unit not communicating with the first communication means, and a second communication means for communicating information.

  Further, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the rotor can be mounted with a developing unit at a predetermined angular period along the rotation direction, and the first communication unit and the second communication unit include: It is characterized in that it is installed around the rotor with an angular period corresponding to an integral multiple of the predetermined angular period along the rotational direction.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the first communication unit communicates with a developing unit that is performing development among the developing units attached to the rotor.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, temporary storage means for temporarily storing information to be stored in the developing unit, and temporarily stored information to the developing unit by the first communication means and the second communication means. And a communication control means for controlling the communication. A plurality of communication means are controlled in parallel.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the first communication unit reads information on the developing unit, and the second communication unit performs writing.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the first communication unit reads information on the developing unit, and the second communication unit collates with the information in the temporary storage after the reading. To do.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the first communication unit and the second communication unit are continuously installed around the rotor along the rotation direction.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the first communication unit and the second communication unit are disposed around the rotor with the center of the rotor sandwiched in the rotation direction. Features.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the rotor is rotatable in a direction opposite to the rotation direction, and the first communication unit or the second communication unit is rotated at a rotation angle smaller than the rotation direction. And communicating information with the developing unit.

  Furthermore, in the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, the first and second communication means perform wired communication or wireless communication by a connector or a communication antenna provided on the main body side that holds the rotary developer. To do.

  By using the present invention, the communication time between the main body and the storage unit on the rotary developer can be maintained without stopping the image forming operation even if a communication error or reading or writing failure occurs and it is necessary to retry communication. Therefore, it is possible to ensure the reliability of communication with the storage means on the rotary developer unit without degrading the system performance.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as embodiments) will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a laser printer having a rotary developing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. The image forming apparatus is a laser printer or the like that can form a four-color full-color image having yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K) toners.

  Next, the configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described. A photosensitive drum 1 which is a drum-type electrophotographic photosensitive member as a first image carrier is driven by a driving unit (not shown). Further, a charger 2 that uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 1, an exposure device 3 that irradiates a laser beam based on image information to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 1, and an electrostatic latent A developing cartridge 4 integrally having a plurality of developing means for developing a toner image by attaching toner as a developer to the image, and a second image carrier on which the toner image on the photosensitive drum 1 is primarily transferred. A transfer device 5 and a cleaning device 6 for removing transfer residual toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 after the primary transfer are installed.

  The developing cartridge 4 for developing the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 1 is detachably held by the rotary developing unit 11. The developing cartridges 4Y, 4M, 4C, and 4K having toners of four colors (yellow, magenta, cyan, and black) constituting the developing unit are arranged concentrically around the rotation center of the rotary developer.

  Each developer cartridge 4 is provided with a developer carrying roller 4b facing the photoconductive drum 1, and the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive drum 1 can be developed by the developer carrying roller 4b.

  The transfer device 5, which is the second image carrier, can transfer the toner image on the photosensitive drum 1 to the surface of the paper 12 conveyed toward the transfer device 5 after primary transfer. The sheet 12 is conveyed from the sheet cassette to the transfer unit 5 through the sheet feeder 7 at a predetermined timing.

  Further, the toner image on the paper 12 after the secondary transfer is heated and pressurized to pass through the fixing device 8 that fixes the toner image on the paper 12 and is discharged to the paper discharge tray 10 by the transport device 9.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a control block of the rotary developer in the embodiment of the present invention. A developing cartridge 4 is mounted on the rotary developing device 11, and a nonvolatile memory unit 20 is provided in each developing cartridge.

  When the developing cartridge 4Y comes to a position facing the photosensitive drum 1, the wireless antenna 30a can communicate with the nonvolatile memory unit 20 wirelessly. Further, the wireless antenna 30a is connected to a transceiver 50a having a RAM memory 54a, and is further connected to the control unit 51 by a data line and a control signal line (hereinafter referred to as a first transceiver). Further, the radio antenna 30b is similarly connected to the control unit 51 via the transceiver 50b (hereinafter referred to as a second transceiver).

  The control unit 51 includes a RAM memory 55 that stores information necessary for image formation, and outputs a command for image formation to the exposure unit 3 and a motor that rotates the rotary development unit in order to replace the development cartridge 4. A command is output to the drive unit 52 that drives 53.

  FIG. 5 is a data configuration diagram showing data stored in the memory of the process cartridge according to the embodiment of the present invention. For each of the four color developing cartridges, a serial number, page count, toner remaining amount, developing roller total rotation time, cartridge life information, information indicating that the cartridge is at life, and other information are stored. These pieces of information are read and written every time the image is formed.

  FIG. 6 is an external view showing the external appearance of the developing cartridge 4 in the embodiment of the present invention. The developing cartridge 4 includes a developer carrying roller 4b and a non-volatile memory unit 20. The non-volatile memory unit 20 is mounted with a non-volatile memory IC 21 and a flexible circuit board 23, which is a thin circuit board on which an antenna pattern 22 is formed. It is formed in a film shape.

  The nonvolatile memory unit 20 does not have a battery serving as a power source, and is supplied with power from an opposing radio antenna 30 by electromagnetic field coupling. The distance for electromagnetic coupling is set to about 1 cm, and at least about 5 cm is provided between the non-volatile memory units 20 to avoid interference with other non-volatile memory units 20 adjacent to each other. In the present embodiment, wireless communication is used. However, wired communication via an electrical contact may be used, or a combination may be used.

2. Description of Operation FIG. 3 is a main routine showing the flow of image formation in the embodiment of the present invention. The image forming process is executed in the main routine S11, but reading / writing with the developing cartridge 4 is processed through the reading / writing subtask S101. Furthermore, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the read / write subtask S101 showing the flow of read / write processing of the rotary developer in the embodiment of the present invention.

  After executing various processes necessary for the image forming process in the main routine (step S11) (step S12), when a read / write (step S13) occurs in the developing cartridge 4, the read / write subtask (step S101) is started. In this process, a read / write process (step S120), which will be described later, is executed, and a rotary developing device rotation command (step S14) from the main routine can also be received and processed.

  Next, the reading subtask S101 will be described. Note that a serial number is assigned to the developing cartridge, and is specified by a serial number (n-th) instead of a development color. When the reading subtask (step S101) is started, the rotary developing device is rotated until the nth developing cartridge 4 designated from the main routine comes to a position facing the wireless antenna 30 (step S102).

  The control unit 51 transmits necessary information from the RAM memory 55 to the RAM memory 54 of the transmitter / receiver by using the waiting for rotation. If it is determined in step S103 that the nth developer cartridge 4 has arrived, communication with the developer cartridge 4 is started in step S105 in step S104.

  Next, the control unit 51 confirms whether there is a feed remaining one cycle (rotation) before (step S106). If there is a feed remaining, the data is set in the communication buffer, and the communication of the developing cartridge corresponding to the previous one is performed. The remaining buffer is confirmed (step S107), and the information shown in FIG. 5 is read and written simultaneously using the first transceiver (step S109) and the second transceiver (step S108) (step S110). .

  In step S107, if the previous communication with the transmitter / receiver has not been completed and information remains in the communication buffer area on the RAM memory 54 of the transmitter / receiver 50, the control unit 51 performs the second operation at step S108. The contents of the communication buffer are transmitted by the transceiver, and reading / writing is performed by the first transceiver (step S109).

  In data communication, every time a 1-parameter data block is read or written, the presence / absence of a rotation command is confirmed in step S111, it is determined whether communication is continued, and communication is continued while there is no rotation command. If a rotation command is received in step S111, the contents of the remaining communication buffer that must be communicated are stored in the RAM memory 55 of the control unit 51, and the process exits from the read / write subtask.

3. Other Process Flows As described above, the read / write subtask rotates and stops the rotary developing unit so that the developing cartridge 4 and the photosensitive drum 1 face each other in order to perform development. During communication, communication is performed between the main body side of the image forming apparatus and the non-volatile memory unit mounted on the developing cartridge 4 by using the first transmitter / receiver and the second transmitter / receiver to read / write data. I do.

  Basically, communication is performed with the developing cartridge 4 during development, but this is not always necessary. For example, communication with the cartridge after completion of development may be performed. If the rotary developer is equipped with four developing cartridges, a communication error will occur and the amount of communication will increase due to the need to perform communication again. The required communication time will exceed the development time for one page. When this happens, the communication is interrupted once, and the rotary developing device is rotated by a quarter so that the next developing cartridge 4 faces the photosensitive drum 1.

  Then, while the current developing cartridge 4 is developing, the communication with the nonvolatile memory unit of the developing cartridge 4 that has been developed earlier is resumed through the second transmitter / receiver, and the data at the location where the communication failed is read and written. Communication can be completed.

  In the present embodiment, the two transmitters / receivers, ie, the first transmitter / receiver and the second transmitter / receiver, are used. More preferably, the same number of transmitters / receivers as the developing cartridge 4 may be provided. In that case, it is possible to read and write necessary information without rotating the rotary developer.

  Further, in an image forming apparatus having a function of rotating the rotary developer in the reverse direction, it is needless to say that useless rotation time can be prevented by rotating the developing cartridge having the remaining communication buffer in the shortest direction. Furthermore, although the present embodiment is adapted to the developing cartridge, it goes without saying that it can be used in general for a process cartridge.

1 is a configuration diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a laser printer having a rotary developing device in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control block of the rotary developing device in embodiment of this invention. 6 is a main routine showing a flow of image formation in the embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart of the read / write subtask showing the flow of read / write processing of the rotary developer in the embodiment of the present invention. It is a data block diagram which shows the data memorize | stored in the memory of the process cartridge in embodiment of this invention. 1 is an external view showing an external appearance of a process cartridge in an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the laser printer which has the conventional rotary developing device. It is the time chart which showed the communication waiting which reduces the whole processing speed in the conventional communication sequence.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Photosensitive drum, 2 Charging device, 3 Exposure device, 4 Developer cartridge, 4b Developer carrying roller, 5 Transfer device, 6 Cleaning device, 7 Paper feed device, 8 Fixing device, 9 Transport device, 10 Paper discharge tray, 11 Rotary Developing device, 12 paper, 20 non-volatile memory unit, 22 antenna pattern, 23 flexible circuit board, 30 wireless antenna, 50 transceiver, 51 control unit, 52 driving unit, 53 motor, 55 memory, 100 image forming apparatus.

Claims (10)

A development unit having a writable non-volatile memory is provided in a rotor that can be mounted plurally,
In the image forming apparatus for sequentially switching the developing units by rotating the rotor to form an image on a print medium,
First communication means for communicating information with a non-volatile memory included in one of the developing units mounted on the rotor;
A second communication means for communicating information with a non-volatile memory provided in a developing unit that is not in communication with the first communication means mounted on the rotor;
An image forming apparatus comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
The rotor can be mounted with a developing unit at a predetermined angular period along its rotational direction,
The first communication unit and the second communication unit are installed around the rotor at a cycle of an angle corresponding to an integral multiple of the cycle of the predetermined angle along the rotation direction. Image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first communication unit communicates with a developing unit performing development among the developing units attached to the rotor. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Temporary storage means for temporarily storing information to be stored in the developing unit;
Communication control means for controlling communication of the temporarily stored information to the development unit by the first communication means and the second communication means;
With
An image forming apparatus that controls a plurality of communication units in parallel. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first communication unit reads information of the developing unit, and the second communication unit performs writing. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first communication unit reads information on the developing unit, and the second communication unit collates with the information in the temporary storage after the reading. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6,
The image forming apparatus, wherein the first communication unit and the second communication unit are continuously installed around the rotor in a rotation direction. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 7,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first communication unit and the second communication unit are installed around the rotor with a center of the rotor sandwiched in a rotation direction. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
The rotor is rotatable in a direction opposite to the rotation direction thereof, and communicates information with the developing unit by the first communication unit or the second communication unit at a rotation angle smaller than the rotation direction. Image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first and second communication units perform wired communication or wireless communication by a connector or a communication antenna provided on a main body side that holds a rotary developing device.

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