JP2006044847A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device preventing the output of defectives by displaying the number of bindable sheets before forming images to enable an operator to be conscious of the number of documents and to take measures such as reducing or dividing if the number of documents is large. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming device capable of displaying the number of bindable sheets by a stapling means, is provided with a sheet thickness detecting means 100 at a paper feeding part, a computing means 101 for computing the number of paper sheets bindable by a stapler, from the paper thickness, and a display means 102 for displaying the number of bindable sheets at least before forming the images. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer that includes a stapling apparatus that binds sheet materials after image formation.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, or a printer, an apparatus configuration including a binding tool (stapler) that binds a sheet material after image formation is known (for example, Patent Documents 1 to 3). 3).
In Patent Document 1, a sheet thickness input unit (input from a detection sensor installed in a paper feed conveyance path or input from a key on an operation panel) is calculated, and the number of sheets that can be bound is calculated. A technique for issuing an alarm at the same time without driving the motor is disclosed.
Patent Document 2 includes a control unit that selects and replaces a replaceable needle cartridge having a different needle length according to the number or thickness of a bundle of paper, and selects whether or not to process if inappropriate. A technique for displaying that the needle cartridge should be replaced is disclosed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-151561 discloses a technique that includes a thickness detection unit for a stack of sheets stacked on a sheet stacking unit, a plurality of staple storage units, and a staple selection unit that selects a staple storage unit according to the thickness. .
Patent No. 2916033 JP 2003-054154 A JP 2000-086073 A

A binding tool (stapler) provided in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine that binds sheet materials after image formation has an upper limit on the number of sheets M that can be bound, and a sheet bundle exceeding the upper limit results in a binding failure.
In order to avoid this, as described above, in Patent Document 1, the sheet thickness input unit is provided, the number of sheets that can be bound is calculated, and when the number of sheets is over, the binding tool is not driven and an alarm is issued at the same time. It is configured as follows.
However, in Patent Document 1, the binding tool is not driven after the image formation is started (after the start of copying). As a result, an output desired by the operator cannot be obtained, and a defective product is output.
In view of the above-described circumstances, the object of the present invention is to display the number of sheets that can be bound before image formation so that the operator can be aware of the number of documents. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that prevents an output of a defective product by an operator performing measures such as dividing.

In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is directed to an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet fed from a sheet feeding unit, and a plurality of sheets that have undergone image formation. An image forming apparatus including a stapling unit that performs a binding process, and capable of displaying the number of sheets to be bound by the stapling unit; and a detecting unit that detects a thickness of a sheet fed by a sheet feeding unit; A calculating unit that calculates the number of sheets that can be stapled from the sheet thickness detected by the detecting unit, and a display unit that displays at least the number of sheets that can be bound before image formation. .
The invention according to claim 2 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the display means has a plurality of paper feed stages, the number of sheets that can be bound for each paper feed stage can be displayed simultaneously. And
The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that the display means displays the number of sheets that can be bound when the staple function is selected and does not display when the staple function is not selected. .
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect is characterized in that the display unit can display the number of sheets that can be bound during duplex printing.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect is characterized in that the display means can display a warning when the relationship between the number N of documents and the number M of sheets that can be bound is N> M. And
The invention according to claim 6 is the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display means is a display device of a computer electrically connected.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the sheet thickness detecting means is an input method by an operator.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to make the operator aware of the number of documents by displaying the number of sheets that can be bound before image formation, and the operator performs a procedure such as decreasing or dividing the document if the number of documents is large. This has the effect of preventing the output of defective products.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic overall view showing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, an image forming unit 1 is disposed substantially at the center of the color image forming apparatus, and a paper feeding unit 2 is disposed immediately below the image forming unit 1.
The sheet feeding unit 2 includes a sheet stacking unit 21 (sheet feeding tray) in each stage. Another sheet feeding device 22 can be added as necessary. Above the image forming unit 1, a reading unit 3 for reading a document is disposed. A paper discharge storage section 4 is formed on the left side of the image forming section 1, and an image-formed sheet 20 (recording paper) is discharged and stored.
In the image forming unit 1, a plurality of image forming units 6 are arranged in parallel on a belt-like intermediate transfer belt 5, and each image forming unit 6 has a photosensitive member 10 around a drum-like photoconductor 10. A charging device 11 for performing a charging process on the surface of the body 10 and an exposure device 7 for irradiating image information to the surface of the photoreceptor with laser light are disposed.
Further, each image forming unit 6 includes two developing devices 12 that visualize the electrostatic latent image formed by exposure on the surface of the photoconductor 10, and a cleaning device that removes and collects toner remaining on the photoconductor 10. 13 is arranged. As an image forming process, the intermediate transfer belt 5 rotates to form one color image.
First, yellow (Y) toner is developed and transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5 in the yellow (Y) image forming section. Next, magenta toner is developed and transferred in the magenta (M) image forming section. Next, in the cyan (C) image forming unit, cyan toner is developed and transferred, and finally, black (BK) toner is developed and transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5.

A transfer device 14 for transferring the four color toner images developed on the intermediate transfer belt 5 to a sheet (recording paper) and an intermediate transfer cleaning device 15 for removing and collecting the toner remaining on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 5 after transfer are arranged. Has been.
A fixing device 8 for fixing the toner on the sheet from which the toner image is obtained is disposed downstream of the image forming device (means) (downstream in the sheet conveyance path). The sheet 20 that has passed through the fixing device 8 is discharged and stored in the discharge storage unit 4 by a discharge roller 41.
At the time of duplex printing, the branching unit 16 branches the sheet, the sheet is reversed via the duplex device 9, the sheet skew is corrected by the registration roller 23, and the back surface image forming operation is performed.
In the sheet feeding unit 2, unused sheets 20 are accommodated in the sheet stacking unit 21, and the bottom plate 24 that is rotatably supported raises the uppermost sheet 20 to a position where the pickup roller 25 can abut. .
The uppermost sheet separated into one sheet by the reverse roller 27 is sent out from the sheet stacking unit 21 by the rotation of the paper feed roller 26 and is conveyed to the registration roller 23.
The registration roller 23 is controlled so as to start rotation at a timing so that the conveyance of the sheet is temporarily stopped and the positional relationship between the toner image on the surface of the photoconductor 10 and the leading edge of the sheet 20 is a predetermined position.

In the reading unit 3, in order to read and scan a document (not shown) placed on the contact glass 31, the reading traveling bodies 32 and 33 including a document illumination light source and a mirror reciprocate.
Image information scanned by the reading traveling bodies 32 and 33 is read as an image signal into a CCD 35 installed behind the lens 34. The read image signal is digitized and subjected to image processing.
Based on the image-processed signal, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoconductor 10 by light emission of a laser diode LD (not shown) in the exposure device 7. The optical signal from the LD reaches the photoconductor 10 through a known polygon mirror or lens. An automatic document feeder 36 for automatically feeding a document onto the contact glass 31 is attached above the reading unit 3.
In addition to the function as a so-called digital color copying machine, the color image forming apparatus scans, reads, digitizes and copies a document to a sheet as described above, and remotely controls image information of the document by a control device (not shown). It has a facsimile function to exchange with the ground.
The color image forming apparatus is a multifunctional image forming apparatus having a so-called printer function for printing image information handled by a computer on a sheet. All images formed by any function are discharged and stored in one discharge storage unit 4.
When the sheet is branched by the branching claw 16, the sheet is reversed via the double-sided device 9, and is discharged from the discharge roller 41 via the reverse discharge roller 17, the sheets stacked in the discharge storage unit are image planes. Is in a state of being on the lower surface.
Even if the processing order of the originals handled by the copier, facsimile, and printer is printed from the first page, when the paper is taken out from the paper discharge storage section, the first page is the top and the work such as aligning the pages anew Is released from.

Next, detailed contents according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an enlargement of the paper feed unit of the image forming apparatus. First, the sheet feeder provided with the sheet thickness detecting means 100 will be described.
2 includes a sheet storage unit 21, a separation unit 27 that separates the sheet 20 into one sheet, and a sheet thickness detection unit 100 that detects the transmittance of the sheet 20. When a new sheet 20 is set in the sheet storage means 21 or when the main power is turned on, a sheet thickness acquisition operation is performed.
In the operation of acquiring the thickness of the sheet 20, the sheet 20 is separated into one sheet by the separating unit 27, fed by a predetermined amount, and the sheet thickness detecting unit 100 acquires sheet thickness information.
As the sheet thickness detection means 27, a means for measuring the physical thickness of the sheet 20, a means for measuring the reflectance of light, and recognizing the surface property can be considered. In the present embodiment, the light emitted from the light emitting means a and transmitted through the sheet 20 is converted into an electrical signal by the light receiving means b, thereby measuring the light transmittance of the sheet 20. Since the transmittance is proportional to the thickness of the sheet 20, the sheet thickness can be calculated from the transmittance.
In this case, since the transmittance of the sheet 20 by light is measured, after the thickness information of the sheet 20 is acquired, the sheet 20 may be kept waiting until a feeding command is received, or the sheet storage unit 21 may store the sheet 20. May be returned.
FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus. Information from the sheet thickness detection means 100 is sent from the control means to the calculation means 101 to calculate the number of sheets that can be bound. Further, the number of sheets that can be sent to the display means (display unit) 102 and displayed is displayed. Note that the calculation unit 101 may be provided in other parts such as the controller control unit 103, a paper feeding unit, and a display unit.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing a first display example for displaying the number of staples according to the present invention. In this display example, the number of sheets to be bound is displayed at least before the image is formed.

FIG. 5 is a schematic view showing a second display example for displaying the number of staples according to the present invention. In this display example, the number of sheets to be bound is displayed for each paper feed stage.
If there are multiple paper feed stages, the number of sheets that can be bound for each paper feed stage can be displayed at the same time. If the number of originals cannot be increased, thin paper (thin paper is thicker than thick paper) The operator's options increase, such as selecting “Able to bind”.
FIG. 6 is a schematic view showing a third display example for displaying the number of staples according to the present invention. In this display example, since the staple is not selected by the operator, the number of sheets that can be bound is not displayed.
By displaying the number of sheets that can be bound at the time of duplex printing, the option of duplex printing is increased when it is not possible to bind by simplex printing, and an image forming apparatus that is more operator friendly can be provided.
Of course, when staples are not selected, there is no need to display the number of bindings, etc., and even if displayed, only the operator is confused. Further, by displaying the number of sheets that can be bound when the stapling function is selected, an effect of effectively making the operator aware of the number of sheets that can be bound is generated.
FIG. 7 is a schematic view showing a fourth display example for displaying the number of staples according to the present invention. In the fourth display example, the number of sheets that can be bound on one side and both sides during duplex printing is displayed.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view showing a fifth display example for displaying the number of staples according to the present invention. In the fifth display example, a warning is displayed when the relationship between the number N of originals and the number M of possible bindings is N> M.
For example, when the image forming apparatus is a printer, it is possible to send information on the number of documents to the image forming apparatus before a print command, and a warning is displayed when the relationship between the number of documents N and the number M of sheets that can be bound is N> M. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the output of defective products.
The first and fifth display examples in FIGS. 4 to 8 can be displayed on a display device of a computer electrically connected to the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
For example, when the image forming apparatus is a printer, if the display unit 102 is on a display device of a computer electrically connected to the image forming apparatus, the operator can obtain predetermined information without going to the image forming apparatus. .
FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a sixth display example for displaying the number of staples according to the present invention. In this sixth display example, the display means 102 is a touch panel, and is configured such that the operator inputs the thickness of the sheet. The sheet thickness detecting means 100 may of course be an operator input method.

1 is a schematic overall view showing an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing an enlargement of a sheet feeding unit of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus. Schematic which shows the 1st example of a display which displays the staple number of sheets by this invention. Schematic which shows the 2nd example of a display which displays the staple number of sheets by this invention. Schematic which shows the 3rd example of a display which displays the number of staples by this invention. Schematic which shows the 4th example of a display which displays the staple number of sheets by this invention. Schematic which shows the 5th example of a display which displays the number of staples by this invention. Schematic which shows the 6th example of a display which displays the staple number of sheets by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  100 sheet thickness detection means, 101 calculation means, 102 display means

Claims (7)

  An image forming apparatus comprising: an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet fed from a sheet feeding unit; and a stapling unit that performs a binding process on a plurality of sheets that have undergone image formation. The number of sheets that can be bound by staples from the sheet thickness detected by the detecting means and the detecting means for detecting the thickness of the sheet fed by the sheet feeding unit in which the stapling means can display the number of bound sheets An image forming apparatus comprising: a calculation unit that calculates the image size; and a display unit that displays at least the number of sheets that can be bound before image formation is performed.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the display unit has a plurality of paper feed stages, the number of sheets that can be bound for each paper feed stage can be displayed simultaneously.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the number of sheets that can be bound when the staple function is selected and does not display when the staple is not selected.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is capable of displaying the number of sheets that can be bound during duplex printing.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit can display a warning when the relationship between the number N of originals and the number M of possible bindings is N> M.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit is a display device of an electrically connected computer.   2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sheet thickness detecting means is an input method by an operator.

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