JP2006293137A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus detecting waste toner amount in a simple structure and with accuracy. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with an image carrier and a toner image forming means forming a toner image on an image carrier and a toner calculating means calculating the used toner amount on the basis of the size and density of the formed toner image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus mainly used for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, and a FAX, and more particularly to an apparatus for detecting the amount of waste toner.

  In a known image forming apparatus including a step of transferring a toner image electrostatically formed on the surface of an image carrier onto a transfer material such as paper, the residual toner remaining on the image carrier without transferring to the transfer material during transfer Must be removed sufficiently each time, and this is removed by an appropriate cleaning means such as a cleaning blade at the position after transfer. For this reason, since the removed toner gradually accumulates, the toner is stored in a waste toner storage container, and when the fullness of the container is detected, the toner or the container is discarded. Means for detecting the amount of toner in the waste toner container include a transparent portion provided in the container and detected by an optical detection means from the outside, and the amount of torque applied to the conveying screw for guiding the toner from the cleaning device to the waste toner container. Something has been proposed. However, in the case of the former type, if the transparent window provided in the container is contaminated by the scattering of toner inside, it causes a false detection, and in the latter type, the torque amount detection mechanism becomes complicated. It was disadvantageous in cost and had practical problems.

As means for solving such a problem, there is a technique (for example, see Patent Document 1) that accumulates the toner replenishment amount and patch density and detects the fullness of the waste toner bottle from the integrated value and the transfer efficiency. .
JP 09-258620 A

  However, when detecting the fullness of the waste toner bottle from the integrated value of the toner replenishment amount and the transfer efficiency, the primary transfer from the photosensitive member to the intermediate transfer member and the secondary transfer from the intermediate transfer member to the transfer material are performed by a color image forming apparatus or the like. In such a system, it is difficult to accurately determine the transfer efficiency of the two transfers, and as a result, there is a problem that the accuracy of calculating the amount of waste toner is lowered. In addition, a rotary drum system (or, in which a developing rotary drum equipped with a multi-color developing device and a toner cartridge is rotated, and a developing device of a color corresponding to an image to be formed sequentially approaches (or contacts) the latent image carrier. In an image forming apparatus adopting a rotary color developing system), replenishing toner inside a conveying screw that guides toner from a toner cartridge to a developing device is moved by rotating (revolving) a developing rotary drum. There is also a problem that it is difficult to calculate an accurate toner replenishment amount.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems and problems of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of accurately detecting the amount of waste toner with a simple configuration. With the goal.

  This invention can solve the said subject by providing the following structure.

  (1) Toner amount calculation having an image carrier and toner image forming means for forming a toner image on the image carrier, and calculating a used toner amount based on the size and density of the formed toner image An image forming apparatus comprising: means.

  (2) a counter value determining unit that determines a counter value based on the size and density of the formed image; and a count integrating unit that integrates the counter value determined by the counter value determining unit. An image forming apparatus, wherein the durability of a predetermined part related to image formation is determined based on the count integrated value integrated in (1).

  (3) a counter value determining unit that determines a counter value based on the size and density of the formed image; and a count integrating unit that integrates the counter value determined by the counter value determining unit. An image forming apparatus, wherein predetermined processing relating to image formation is executed in accordance with the count integrated value integrated in step (1).

  In other words, according to the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, by calculating the used toner amount based on the size and density of the formed toner image, a means for detecting the toner consumption amount is not required, and the cost is reduced. Reduction is possible.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the fourth aspect, by referring to the counter based on the size and density of the formed toner image, the lifetime of the parts of the image forming apparatus can be measured without a special detection means. Cost reduction is possible.

  Further, according to the image forming apparatus of the fifth aspect, a counter based on the size and density of the formed toner image is referred to, and based on the counter value, the lifetime of the component is measured without special detection means. By performing an emergency stop process or the like, it is possible to reduce the cost and implement a measure for preventing damage to the image forming apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment when applied to a color image forming apparatus as an example of a sheet adsorbing and conveying apparatus according to the present invention and a recording apparatus including the same will be described in detail.

  First, the configuration of the color reader unit 1 will be described (see FIG. 1).

  Reference numeral 101 denotes a platen glass (platen), and 102 denotes an automatic document feeder (ADF). In place of the automatic document feeder 102, a specular pressure plate or a white pressure plate (not shown) may be mounted. Reference numerals 103 and 104 denote light sources for illuminating the original, and light sources such as halogen lamps, fluorescent lamps, and xenon tube lamps are used. Reference numerals 105 and 106 denote reflection umbrellas that condense light from the light sources 103 and 104 onto the original. Reference numerals 107 to 109 denote mirrors, and 110 denotes a lens that collects reflected light or projection light from a document on a CCD (charge coupled device) image sensor (hereinafter referred to as CCD) 111. Reference numeral 112 denotes a substrate on which the CCD 111 is mounted, 100 denotes a control unit that controls the entire image forming apparatus, 113 denotes a digital image processing including a part excluding the image processing part 111 in FIG. 4 and parts 401 and 402 in FIG. Part.

  A carriage 114 accommodates the light sources 103 and 104, the reflectors 105 and 106, and the mirror 107. A carriage 115 accommodates the mirrors 108 and 109. The carriage 114 is moved at a speed V and the carriage 115 is moved at a speed V / 2 in the sub-scanning direction Y orthogonal to the electrical scanning direction (main scanning direction X) of the CCD 111. Scan the entire surface.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 100 includes a CPU 301 having an I / F for exchanging information for controlling the digital image processing unit 113 and the printer control unit 250, an operation unit 303, and a memory 302. It is configured. The operation unit 303 is configured by a liquid crystal with a touch panel for inputting processing execution contents by the operator, notification of processing information to the operator, and warnings. Reference numeral 116 denotes an external interface with another device. Specifically, the external interface can be connected to a facsimile machine (not shown), a LAN interface machine (not shown), or the like. Note that the procedure for exchanging image information and code information with the facsimile apparatus and the LAN interface apparatus is performed by mutual communication between a control unit (not shown) of each connection apparatus and the CPU 301.

  Next, the digital image processing unit 113 and the control unit 100 will be described in detail. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a detailed configuration until image signal data is output to the digital image processing unit 113 and the printer control unit 250 of the control unit 100.

  The original on the platen glass reflects the light from the light sources 103 and 104, and the reflected light is guided to the CCD 111 and converted into an electrical signal (when the CCD 111 is a color sensor, the RGB color filter is on one line CCD. Or inline in RGB order, or a 3-line CCD with an R filter, G filter, and B filter arranged for each CCD. The filter is on-chip or the filter is configured separately from the CCD. It doesn't matter if it becomes

  The electrical signal (analog image signal) is input to the image processing unit 113, sampled and held (S / H) by the clamp & Amp & S / H & A / D unit 502, and the dark level of the analog image signal is clamped to the reference potential. Amplified to a predetermined amount (the above processing order is not necessarily in the notation order), A / D converted, and converted into, for example, an RGB 8-bit digital signal. The RGB signal is subjected to shading correction and black correction by the shading unit 503, and then, when the CCD 111 is a three-line CCD in the stitching & MTF correction & document detection unit 504, the stitching process differs in the reading position between lines. The delay amount for each line is adjusted in accordance with the reading speed, the signal timing is corrected so that the reading positions of the three lines are the same, and the MTF correction changes the reading MTF depending on the reading speed and variable magnification. In the document detection, the document size is recognized by scanning the document on the platen glass.

  The digital signal whose reading position timing is corrected is corrected by the input masking unit 505 for the spectral characteristics of the CCD 111 and the spectral characteristics of the light sources 103 and 104 and the reflectors 105 and 106. The output of the input masking unit 505 is input to a selector 506 that can be switched to an external I / F signal. The signal output from the selector 506 is input to the color space compression & background removal & LOG conversion unit 507 and background removal unit 514. After the background is removed, the signal input to the background removal unit 517 is input to the black character determination unit 515 that determines whether the document is a black character in the document, and a black character signal is generated from the document.

  In the color space compression & background removal & LOG conversion unit 507 to which the output of the other selector 506 is input, the color space compression determines whether or not the read image signal is within a range that can be reproduced by the printer. If not, the image signal is corrected so that it can be reproduced by the printer. Then, background removal processing is performed, and the LOG conversion unit converts the RGB signal into the YMC signal. Then, in order to correct the signal and timing generated by the black character determination unit 515, the timing of the output signal of the color space compression & background removal & LOG conversion unit 507 is adjusted by a delay 508. The moire removal unit 509 removes the moire from the two types of signals, and the scaling processing unit 510 performs scaling processing in the main scanning direction.

  Reference numeral 511 denotes a UCR & masking & black character reflecting unit. The signal processed by the scaling processing unit 510 is a YMCK signal generated from the YMC signal by UCR processing, and the masking processing unit corrects it to a signal suitable for the output of the printer. At the same time, the determination signal generated by the black character determination unit 515 is fed back to the YMCK signal. The signal processed by the UCR & masking & black character reflection unit 511 is subjected to density adjustment by the γ correction unit 512 and then smoothed or edge processed by the filter unit 513. The processed image data information is temporarily stored in the page memory 514 on the control unit 100, and the printer control unit 250 sequentially synchronizes with the video clock as the image data signal in accordance with the image writing reference timing of each color from the printer control unit 250. Is transmitted to the printer controller 250.

  Next, the configuration 2 of the color printer unit will be described.

  In FIG. 1, a printer control unit 250 serves as a control signal receiving port from a CPU 301 on a control unit 100 that is a control unit of the entire image forming apparatus. The printer control unit 250 performs print control of the printer unit 2 in accordance with a control signal such as printing start from the control unit 100.

  Reference numeral 201 denotes a laser scanner. As shown in FIG. 5, the laser light corresponding to the image data signal is emitted from the laser driver circuit board 601 and the laser light converted into parallel light by the collimator lens 602 and the cylindrical lens 603 is fixed at a constant speed by the scanner motor 605. The light enters the rotating polygon mirror 604. The laser beam reflected from the polygon mirror 604 passes through an imaging lens 606 and a reflection mirror 607 disposed in front of the polygon mirror 604, scans in the main scanning direction, and irradiates the photosensitive drum 202. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 202 reaches the sleeve position of one color in each of the four-color developing rotary colors by rotating the photosensitive drum 202 in the clockwise direction. The toner corresponding to the potential amount formed between the surface of the photosensitive drum 202 on which the electrostatic latent image is formed and the developing sleeve surface to which the developing bias is applied is transferred from each color developing device 291/292/293/294 to the surface of the photosensitive drum 202. The electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 202 is developed.

  FIG. 6 illustrates each stop position of the rotary color developing device 203.

  The rotating color developing unit 203 is held at a predetermined rotating position, that is, the HP position 701 except when image formation is being performed. The HP position 701 is a place where the visualization position 226 is located between the black developing unit 291 and the cyan developing unit 294. When the rotating color developing unit 203 is rotated to the HP position, the CPU 301 rotates a stepping motor (not shown) at a constant speed via a motor driver (not shown), and the optical mounted near the rotating color developing unit 203. The rotating color developing device 203 is moved to the HP position 701 by rotating the motor by a predetermined pulse from the time when a sensor (not shown) detects a home position flag (not shown).

  The home position detection operation for moving the rotary color developing device 203 to the HP position 701 is performed by jam processing or the like when the image forming apparatus is turned on, when returning from the low power consumption mode to the normal mode. This process is performed when the front door cover (not shown) of the image forming apparatus is closed, and whenever the black development process is completed during image formation.

  If the optical sensor does not detect the home position flag even if a pulse corresponding to one rotation is sent to the stepping motor that rotates the rotating color developing device 203 during the home position detection operation, Based on the program stored in the ROM 304, it is determined that the rotating operation of the rotating color developing device 203 is abnormal. The detection result of the optical sensor is transmitted to the CPU 301 of the main body control unit 100. Further, a pulse is sent to the stepping motor that rotates the rotating color developing unit 203 from the CPU 301 of the main body control unit 100 to the motor driver that controls the stepping motor.

  The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 202 is transferred to the intermediate transfer member 205 that rotates counterclockwise by the clockwise rotation of the photosensitive drum 202. For example, PET [polyethylene terephthalate] or PVDF [polyvinylidene fluoride] is used for the intermediate transfer member 205. A driving roller 272 transmits driving force to the intermediate transfer member 205, and a secondary transfer with the intermediate transfer member 205 sandwiched between a tension roller 271 that applies an appropriate tension to the intermediate transfer member 205 by urging a spring (not shown). It is supported by a driven roller 270 that forms a region. The drive roller 272 is coated with rubber (urethane or chloroprene) having a thickness of several millimeters on the surface of the metal roller to prevent the belt from slipping.

  The drive roller 272 is rotated by transmission of rotational force from a motor (not shown) that rotates the photosensitive drum 202. In the case of a black monochromatic image, images are sequentially formed and primarily transferred to the intermediate transfer member 205 with a predetermined time interval. In the case of a full-color image, the electrostatic latent image corresponding to each color on the photosensitive drum 202 is subjected to sleeve positioning 702/703/704/705 of the rotating color developing unit 203 for each color in order to develop / primary transfer. The primary transfer of the full-color image is completed after four rotations of the intermediate transfer body 205, that is, when the four colors have been primarily transferred.

  FIG. 7 is a detailed sectional view of one developing device (magenta 293) among a plurality of developing devices included in the rotating color developing device 203. As shown in FIG.

  Since the developing devices 291, 292, 293, and 294 have the same configuration, the developing device 293 is representative in the following description. The developing device 293 includes a developing device main body 809 and a toner cartridge 801. In the developing device main body 809, a sleeve 802 and two toner stirring screws 803 and 804 are arranged. When the sleeve 802 rotates, the toner stirring screw 803 driven by the same drive source as the sleeve 802 transports the developer contained in the developing device main body 809 while stirring in the axial direction of the toner stirring screw 803. On the other hand, the toner agitation screw 804 conveys the developer while agitating it in the opposite direction to the toner agitation screw 803, and supplies the developer to the sleeve 802. The sleeve 802 forms a magnetic brush by attracting the carrier contained in the developer by magnetic force, and supplies the toner adsorbed on the carrier to the photosensitive drum 202.

  The toner cartridge 801 is a cylindrical container whose longitudinal direction is the axial direction. The toner cartridge 801 is provided with a supply port 808. The supply port 808 is opened when the toner cartridge 801 is mounted on the developing device 293, and a new developer is guided to the developing device main body 809 through the supply port 808. Is done. The new developer in the toner cartridge 801 is sent to the supply port 808 by the action of the agitator 831 due to the rotation of the rotary color developing device 203. A toner conveying screw 806 is installed in the buffer 832, and a new developer is guided to the supply port 805 by the toner conveying screw 806 and introduced into the developing device main body 809. A flap (not shown) is provided at the outlet of the replenishing port 805 and is open when the developing device main body 809 is at the position 704, so that a new developer can enter the developing device main body 809 through the replenishing port 805. To be replenished.

  The developing device main body 809 is provided with a discharge pipe 807 for discharging the deteriorated developer, and its front end protrudes so as to face the vicinity of the end of the toner conveying screw 804 in the developing device main body 809. . The tip of the discharge pipe 807 is bent along the periphery of the screw blade of the toner conveying screw 804, and a recovery port is opened on the side facing the rotation direction. The other end of the discharge pipe 807 bent from the developing device main body 809 to the toner cartridge 801 side is further bent and extended in the direction of the entrance 284 of the waste toner pipe (not shown) of the rotary color developing device 203. The recovery port of the discharge pipe 807 faces the upstream side of the replenishment port 805, and the developer that has been stirred and conveyed by the toner stirring screws 803 and 804 and goes around the inside of the developing device main body 809 is discharged from the recovery port of the discharge pipe 807 to the outside. It is supposed to be discharged.

  When the discharge pipe 807 collects the developer 821 at the position 702 and then rotates to the positions 703, 704, and 705, the discharge pipe 807 sequentially moves to the positions of the discharge pipes 810, 811, and 812. At that time, since the developer 821 collected at the position 702 moves only in the direction of gravity, the developer 821 falls in order like the developers 822, 823, and 824 (see FIG. 8). Then, it is dropped into the entrance (hollow shaft) 284 of the waste toner pipe, and is conveyed to the recovery port 281 of the waste toner bottle 232 and recovered.

  On the other hand, each cassette stage is picked up by each pickup roller 212/213/214/215 from each cassette stage (upper stage cassette 208 / lower stage cassette 209 / 3rd stage cassette 210 / 4th stage cassette 211). The recording paper conveyed by the paper rollers 241/242/243/244 is conveyed to the registration roller 221 by the vertical path conveying rollers 222/223/224/225. In the case of manual feed, the recording paper loaded on the manual feed tray 240 is conveyed to the registration roller 221 by the manual feed roller 220. Then, the recording paper is conveyed between the intermediate transfer member 205 and the secondary transfer roller 206 at the timing when the transfer to the intermediate transfer member 205 is completed.

  Thereafter, the recording sheet is conveyed in the direction of the fixing device while being sandwiched between the secondary transfer roller 206 and the intermediate transfer member 205 and is pressed against the intermediate transfer member 205, and the toner image on the intermediate transfer member 205 is transferred to the recording sheet. Next transferred. The toner image transferred to the recording paper is heated and pressed by a fixing roller having a heat source such as a halogen heater and a pressure roller 207 (this roller may also be provided with a heat source) and fixed on the recording paper. The With respect to the transfer residual toner on the intermediate transfer member 205 that remains without being transferred to the recording paper, a cleaning blade 230 that can be brought into contact with and separated from the surface of the intermediate transfer member 205 is rubbed to remove the transfer residual toner. By scraping the surface 205, cleaning is performed by post-processing control in the latter half of the image forming sequence. As a material of the cleaning blade 230, polyurethane rubber or the like is used.

  In the photosensitive drum unit, the residual toner is scraped off from the drum surface by the blade 231 and is conveyed from the inlet 282 of the waste toner pipe (not shown) to the recovery port 281 of the waste toner bottle 232 and collected. Further, the secondary transfer positive bias and the secondary transfer reverse bias are alternately applied to the residual toner of positive and negative polarities on the surface of the secondary transfer roller that may be adsorbed unexpectedly, and the intermediate transfer member 205 is applied. The residual toner of each polarity is adsorbed on the surface, and the residual toner is scraped off by the intermediate transfer cleaning blade 230, whereby the residual toner is completely cleaned and the post-processing control ends. The residual toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 230 is conveyed from the entrance 283 of the waste toner pipe (not shown) to the collection port 281 of the waste toner bottle 232 and collected.

  In the case of the first paper discharge, the recording paper on which the image is fixed is discharged toward the paper discharge roller 233 by switching the first paper discharge flapper 237 toward the first paper discharge roller. In the case of the second paper discharge, the first paper discharge flapper 237 and the second paper discharge flapper 238 are switched toward the second paper discharge roller, and the paper is discharged toward the paper discharge roller 234. In the case of the third discharge, the first discharge flapper and the second discharge flapper are switched in the direction of the reverse roller 235 and reversed by the reverse roller 235 in order to perform the reverse operation once by the reverse roller 235. After being reversed by the reverse roller 235, the third paper discharge flapper is switched to the third paper discharge direction, and the paper is discharged toward the third paper discharge roller 236. In the case of double-sided discharge, the reverse roller portion 235 once performs a reverse operation similarly to the case of the third discharge, and the third discharge flapper is switched to the double-sided unit direction and conveyed to the double-sided unit. After the recording paper is detected by the double-sided sensor, the recording paper is temporarily stopped after a predetermined time, and is fed again as soon as the image preparation is completed, and the second side image is formed.

  Finally, details of the waste toner amount detection method, which is a feature of the present embodiment, will be described.

  As described above, the toner collected from the rotary color developing device 203, the toner scraped from the surface of the intermediate transfer member 205 by the cleaning blade 230, and the toner scraped from the surface of the photosensitive drum 202 by the blade 231 are conveyed to the waste toner bottle 232.・ Recovered. Here, in the system in which primary transfer is performed from the photosensitive drum 202 to the intermediate transfer member 205 and secondary transfer is performed from the intermediate transfer member 205 to the recording paper as in this embodiment, the transfer efficiency of the two transfers is the environment and It is difficult to accurately grasp due to changes over time. The amount collected from the rotary color developing device 203 varies depending on the amount of toner in each developing device, the degree of toner stirring, the toner distribution, and the like. Due to these factors, there is a problem in that the accuracy of the waste toner amount is reduced when the amount of waste toner is calculated from the replenishment amount from the toner cartridge.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, a method of predicting and calculating the amount of waste toner from the image density and color / monochrome ratio at the time of image formation is adopted. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the image density, the color ratio, and the number of images formed until the waste toner bottle 232 is full. The horizontal axis represents the image density at the time of image formation, and the vertical axis represents the total number of toner images (unit: thousand) when the waste toner bottle 232 is full. This is displayed by color / monochrome color ratio. For example, when an image having an image density of 10% is continuously formed at a color ratio of 1: 9, the waste toner bottle 232 becomes full when the cumulative number of toner images reaches 300,000. The cumulative number of toner images when the waste toner bottle is full decreases in inverse proportion to the image density. Adjustment control such as image density adjustment is frequently executed in proportion to the image density, resulting in an increase in toner consumption. Because it is. As the color ratio increases, the cumulative number of toner images when the waste toner bottle is full decreases. This is because the number of times that adjustment control is executed increases as with the image density, and the toner consumption increases. Because.

  Hereinafter, a control procedure for calculating the amount of waste toner based on the data shown in FIG. 9 will be described. FIG. 10 is a graph showing the coefficients when calculating the number of images from the image size. Similarly, FIG. 11 is a graph showing the relationship between the image density and the coefficient, which is generated based on the case where the color ratio is high in FIG. FIG. 12 is a table showing the relationship between color modes and coefficients.

  When calculating the amount of waste toner based on these data, for example, when an image of A4 size in black and white and an image density of 10% is formed, the coefficient k1 is first determined based on FIG. 10 (see FIG. 13 (see FIG. 13). )). In the case of the A4 size, 21.0 cm × 29.7 cm = 623.7 square cm, so k1 = 1. Next, the coefficient k2 is determined based on FIG. 11 (S4). Since the image density is 10%, k2 = 1.9. Then, the coefficient k3 is determined based on FIG. 12 (S5). Since it is the monochrome mode, k3 = 1. Finally, when the number of waste toner amount detection images per formed image is calculated from the determined coefficient, m = k1 × k2 × k3 = 1.0 × 1.9 × 1.0 = 1.9. Become. This numerical value is added to the total number n of waste toner amount detection images (S6). Here, it is determined whether or not the total number n of waste toner amount detection images is equal to or greater than a warning detection threshold T1 (S7). If it is equal to or greater than the threshold, it is further determined whether or not the waste toner bottle full error detection threshold T2 is exceeded (S8). If it is equal to or greater than the threshold T2, it is displayed that the waste toner bottle 232 is full. Then, the image formation is finished (S9). On the contrary, if it is less than the threshold value T2, a warning is displayed indicating that the waste toner bottle 232 is almost full, and the amount of waste toner is subsequently calculated (S10).

(Other examples)
In the present embodiment, when the total number n of waste toner amount detection images is equal to or greater than the waste toner bottle full error detection threshold T2, it is displayed that the waste toner bottle 232 is full and image formation is terminated. However, the control when the waste toner bottle full detection is performed may be a system in which the image forming apparatus is stopped urgently to prevent overflow of the waste toner. In this case, as a returning means, a button for clearing the total number n of waste toner amount detection images from the operation unit 303 may be pressed to return the image forming apparatus to a normal state, or the waste toner bottle 232 may be replaced. It is also possible to provide a detection means for detecting that the image forming apparatus is returned to normal when the replacement is detected.

  In this embodiment, when calculating the amount of waste toner, control is based on parameters of the image size, image density, and color mode. However, the parameters for calculating the amount of waste toner are not particularly limited to these. Is not to be done. For example, in a system in which the frequency at which image density adjustment is performed varies depending on the environment such as humidity, an environment detection sensor that detects the environment such as humidity is provided, and a coefficient based on the environment at the time of image formation is added. To calculate the amount of waste toner.

  In this embodiment, the waste toner amount is calculated based on the image size, image density, and color mode parameters. However, the calculation target is not particularly limited to the waste toner amount. For example, it can be used as a means for detecting the lifetime of a durable component such as the photosensitive drum 202. In this case, a relationship table between the number of images and the lifetime as shown in FIG. 9 is created, and the lifetime is detected based on this.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize the full detection and the life detection of the waste toner bottle without the detection means, and it is possible to reduce the cost. Further, it is possible to improve the life detection accuracy even for a complicated mechanical configuration equipped with a rotating color developing device or the like, or for a system whose life varies depending on the image density and color ratio.

1 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing an overall schematic configuration of a color image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Block diagram showing the main configuration of the control unit Block diagram showing the main configuration of the printer processing unit The figure which shows the principal part structure of a digital image processing part The figure which shows the principal part structure of an optical writing optical system Diagram showing various stop positions of the rotary color developer Diagram showing a detailed cross section of the developer Diagram showing recovery agent recovery route Graph showing the relationship between image density, color ratio, and number of images until the waste toner bottle is full Graph showing the relationship between the image size and the coefficient for calculating the number of images Graph showing the relationship between the image density and the coefficient for calculating the number of images Table showing the relationship between the color mode and the coefficient for calculating the number of images Flow chart showing waste toner amount calculation procedure

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Color reader part 2 Color printer part 284 Waste toner pipe entrance 801 Toner cartridge 802 Sleeve 803, 804 Toner stirring screw 805 Toner replenishment port 806 Toner conveyance screw 807, 810, 811, 812 Developer discharge pipe 808 Toner supply port 809 Development Body 831 Agitator 832 Buffer

Claims (11)

  An image carrier, and a toner image forming unit that forms a toner image on the image carrier, and includes a toner amount calculating unit that calculates a used toner amount based on a size and a density of the formed toner image. An image forming apparatus.   Toner collecting means for collecting used toner in a container of a predetermined capacity, and notification when the calculated value of the toner amount calculating means reaches a predetermined amount with respect to the allowable amount of toner stored in the container The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit configured to perform notification.   3. The image formation by the image forming apparatus is prohibited when a calculated value of the toner amount calculating means reaches a predetermined amount with respect to an allowable amount of toner stored in the container. The image forming apparatus described.   A counter value determining unit that determines a counter value based on the size and density of the formed image; and a count integrating unit that integrates the counter value determined by the counter value determining unit. An image forming apparatus, comprising: determining durability of a predetermined part related to image formation based on a count integrated value.   A counter value determining unit that determines a counter value based on the size and density of the formed image; and a count integrating unit that integrates the counter value determined by the counter value determining unit. An image forming apparatus that executes predetermined processing relating to image formation in accordance with a count integrated value.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein when the count integration unit counts a predetermined number or more, a normal image forming operation is terminated and the predetermined processing is executed.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the predetermined process is an emergency stop process.   8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a size detecting unit that detects a size of an image to be formed.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an image density detecting unit configured to detect a density of an image to be formed.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the counter value determining unit determines the counter value based on at least one of temperature and humidity.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 10, comprising at least one of a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.