JP2007316251A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a processing time for a data of a subunit. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 700 is provided with: the subunit 600 capable of being loaded to/unloaded from the image forming apparatus 700; and an ID chip in the subunit 600, for retaining the information of the subunit, and the image forming apparatus 700 is further provided with: an RFID 106 which detects loading/unloading of the subunit 600; and a CPU 101 which judges the loading/unloading of the subunit 600 by means of the RFID 106 and acquires information of the subunit from the ID chip only when the loading/unloading of the subunit 600 is judged. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which a consumable or a container for storing the consumable is provided as a detachable unit.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer, or a facsimile, toner in a developing device is consumed by image formation, so it is necessary to replenish the toner. In the case of a two-component developer, it is necessary to replace a magnetic carrier. In addition, the photoconductor as an image carrier in the image forming apparatus needs to be replaced due to wear or deterioration. Conventionally, a service person goes to the user to replenish toner and / or replace the photoconductor. However, since the durability of the image forming apparatus and internal components / members has increased, the need for maintenance has been reduced.

  Therefore, the developing device or the cleaning device and the photosensitive member are integrally formed into a cartridge so that the photosensitive unit can be attached to and detached from the main body of the image forming apparatus, and the photosensitive member unit itself can be removed without going to the user. The user has been exchanged. In the same technique, a toner bottle, which is a container for supplying developer to the developing device, is also detachable, and when the developer runs out, the container itself is replaced with a new toner bottle.

Particularly in recent years, it has become possible to effectively utilize the apparatus by exchanging information such as toner consumption and the number of times the photoconductor is used between the cartridge or toner bottle and the image forming apparatus. . As this type of technology, for example, in Patent Documents 1 to 3, information is exchanged in a non-contact manner between the image forming apparatus main body and an IC chip that is a non-contact communication IC tag mounted on a cartridge or a container. It has been proposed to do.
JP 2003-263013 A JP 2005-181628 A JP 2005-234499 A

  It is equipped with ID chips that can store individual information such as toner bottles and photoconductor units, and the sub-units such as toner bottles and photoconductor units that are treated as consumable parts mounted on the image forming apparatus have improved maintainability. The data handled increases year by year. Further, since data reading and writing always occur while the image forming apparatus is operating, the communication burden for that is increasing.

  For example, when continuous printing is being performed, information about the lifetime such as toner consumption and operation time is updated for each sheet. Generally, there are the following two types of processing methods for subunit ID chip data. In the first method, necessary data is read from a subunit ID chip or necessary data is written each time. The second method is to temporarily store all the data of the subunit ID chip in the siphoning system once when preparing to start up the image forming apparatus.

  Thereafter, reading and writing to the subunit ID chip are performed based on the temporarily stored data. The former, which is the first method, does not take time to read at startup, but the communication load increases because the subunit ID chip and read / write (communication) always occur. On the other hand, the latter, which is the second method, communicates with the subunit ID chip only at the time of data writing because all data of the toner bottle and the ID chip of the photosensitive unit are temporarily stored in the temporary system at the start of startup. It is only necessary to do this and the communication load is small.

  When the printing speed is increased, the printing speed cannot be increased if the communication load increases for each printing. For this reason, the latter method is mainly employed to increase the printing speed.

  Conventionally, when the cover of the image forming apparatus is changed from the closed state to the open state with respect to the subunit ID chip, there is a possibility that the subunit is pulled out. Communication was stopped from the open state to the closed state. After that, communication in which the cover is opened again is started again, and the data of all the subunit ID chips are sucked up. In the latter case of the ID chip data processing method, since all the data is taken up from all the subunit ID chips when starting up, there remains a problem that it takes time to start up after opening and closing the cover. For example, even if the cover is opened to remove the jam and the subunit is not pulled out, it takes a considerable amount of time to start up by closing the cover after removing the jam. The present invention has been made in view of such a situation of the prior art, and a problem to be solved is to reduce the processing time for the data of the subunit.

  In order to solve the above problems, the first means is an image forming apparatus comprising a detachable subunit and subunit information holding means for holding information on the subunit. And detecting means for detecting, and means for acquiring subunit information by the subunit information holding means when the attachment / detachment of the subunit is detected by the detecting means.

  The second means is the first means, wherein the obtaining means stores all the obtained subunit information in a storage means, and subsequent subunit information acquisition is performed from the storage means. The subunit is accessed only when information is updated.

  According to a third means, in the first or second means, when the means for obtaining is attached / detached in a short time, the subunit unique identification information before and after the attachment / detachment is the same. It is characterized by not judging that the unit is attached or detached.

  A fourth means is any one of the first to third means, wherein the obtaining means includes a counter that counts the number of updates only when the information of the subunit is updated, and detects whether the subunit is attached or detached. Even if the counter is not updated, it is not determined that the subunit is attached or detached.

  A fifth means is any one of the first to fourth means, wherein the obtaining means is configured to obtain the necessary subunit information from the subunit when necessary. In the case where only the subunit information stored in the storage means is acquired after that, the information is acquired from the storage means, and the subunit is accessed only when information is updated to the subunit. It is characterized by.

  The sixth means includes a cover capable of detecting opening / closing to shield the subunit in any one of the first to fifth means, and the obtaining means obtains information on the subunit when the opening of the cover is detected. And updating is temporarily stopped, and the desorption of the subunit is detected at a constant period.

  The seventh means is that in any one of the first to sixth means, if the subunit is detached after the detecting means detects the opening of the cover next time, the information acquisition of the subunit is performed again. It is characterized by performing.

  An eighth means is any one of the first to seventh means, wherein the subunit is a developer container, and the subunit information is information update such as a consumption amount of the developer. .

  In an embodiment to be described later, the image forming apparatus has the reference number 700, the subunit has the reference number 600, the subunit information holding means has the ID chip 110, the attachment / detachment detection means has the RFID 106, and the acquisition means has to be charged to the CPU 101. Item 2 corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. 3, claim 3 corresponds to the flowchart of FIG. 4, and claim 4 corresponds to the flowchart of FIG.

  According to the present invention, since the detachment of the subunit is checked, if the detachment of the subunit does not occur, there is no need to suck up the subunit information, thereby shortening the startup time.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus is a copying machine.

  In FIG. 1, the entire copying machine is indicated by reference numeral 700, reference numeral 100 is a copying machine body, 200 is a paper feed table on which the copying machine body 100 is placed, 300 is a document reading device mounted on the copying machine body 100, and 400 is An automatic document feeder (ADF) is mounted on the document reading device 300.

  The copying machine main body 100 is provided with an endless belt-like intermediate transfer belt 10 in the center. Although the details of the intermediate transfer belt 10 are not shown, the base layer is composed of a base layer made of a material that hardly stretches, such as a fluorine resin with a small elongation or a rubber material with a large elongation, such as a canvas. An elastic layer is provided on top. The elastic layer is made of, for example, fluorine rubber or acrylonitrile-butadiene copolymer rubber. The surface of the elastic layer is covered with a coat layer that is coated with, for example, a fluorine resin to improve smoothness. In the illustrated example, the intermediate transfer belt 10 is wound around three support rollers 14, 15, 16 and can be rotated and conveyed clockwise in FIG.

  In this embodiment, an intermediate transfer body cleaning device that removes residual toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 10 after image transfer to the left of the second support roller 15 among the three support rollers 14, 15, 16. 17 is provided. On the intermediate transfer belt 10 stretched between the first support roller 14 and the second support roller 15, four image forming units of yellow, cyan, magenta, and black are arranged along the conveyance direction. A tandem image forming unit 20 in which 18 are arranged side by side is provided. Each color image forming means 18 is provided with a photosensitive drum 40. Rollers for transfer are arranged below the respective photosensitive drums 40 with the intermediate transfer belt 10 interposed therebetween.

  On the tandem image forming unit 20, a writing device 21 by optical scanning is arranged as shown in the figure. On the other hand, a secondary transfer device 22 is arranged on the opposite side of the intermediate transfer belt 10 from the tandem image forming unit 20. In this embodiment, the secondary transfer device 22 is configured by spanning a secondary transfer belt 24 that is an endless belt between two rollers 23, and is pressed against the driven roller 16 via the intermediate transfer belt 10. The image on the intermediate transfer belt 10 is transferred to transfer paper.

  Next to the secondary transfer device 22, a fixing device 25 for fixing the transfer image on the transfer paper is provided. The fixing device 25 is configured by pressing a pressure roller 27 against a fixing belt 26 that is an endless belt. The secondary transfer device 22 is also provided with a sheet conveyance function for conveying the transfer paper after image transfer to the fixing device 25. Of course, a transfer roller or a non-contact charger may be arranged as the secondary transfer device 22, and in such a case, it is difficult to provide this sheet conveying function together. In this embodiment, under the secondary transfer device 22 and the fixing device 25, in parallel with the tandem image forming unit 20 described above, transfer paper inversion is performed to invert the transfer paper so as to record images on both sides of the transfer paper. A device 28 is provided.

  Now, when making a copy using the copying machine 700, a document is set on the document table 30 of the automatic document feeder 400. Alternatively, the automatic document feeder 400 is opened, a document is set on the contact glass 32 of the document reader 300, and the automatic document feeder 400 is closed and pressed. When the start switch in the operation panel 500 is pressed, when the document is set on the automatic document feeder 400, the document is transported and moved onto the contact glass 32, and then the document is placed on the other contact glass 32. When set, the document reading device 300 is immediately driven to cause the first traveling body 33 and the second traveling body 34 to travel. Then, the first traveling body 33 emits light from the light source and reflects the reflected light from the document surface further toward the second traveling body 34. The reflected light is reflected by the mirror of the second traveling body 34 and is input to the reading sensor 36 through the imaging lens 35 to read the document content.

  When a start switch (not shown) is pressed, the three support rollers 14, 15, and 16 are rotated to rotate and convey the intermediate transfer belt 10. At the same time, the individual photoreceptors 40 rotate in the individual image forming means 18, and yellow, cyan, magenta, and black single-color images are formed on these photoreceptors, respectively. Then, along with the conveyance of the intermediate transfer belt 10, the monochrome images are sequentially transferred to form a composite color image on the intermediate transfer belt 10.

  On the other hand, when the above-described start switch is pressed, one of the paper feed rollers 42 of the paper feed table 200 is selectively rotated, the transfer paper is fed out from one of the paper feed cassettes 44 provided in multiple stages in the paper feed unit 43, and the separation roller The sheet is separated one by one at 45 and put into the sheet feeding path 46, conveyed by the conveying roller 47, guided to the sheet feeding path 48 in the copying machine main body 100, abutted against the registration roller 49 and stopped. Alternatively, the sheet feeding roller 50 is rotated to feed the transfer sheet transfer sheet on the manual feed tray 51, separated one by one by the separation roller 52, put into the manual sheet feed path 53, and similarly abutted against the registration roller 49 and stopped.

  Then, the registration roller 49 is rotated in synchronization with the composite color image on the intermediate transfer belt 10, the transfer paper is fed between the intermediate transfer belt 10 and the secondary transfer device 22, and transferred by the secondary transfer device 22. To record a color image on the transfer paper. The transfer paper on which the image has been transferred is conveyed by the secondary transfer device 22 and sent to the fixing device 25. The fixing device 25 applies heat and pressure to fix the transferred image, and then the switching paper is switched by the switching claw 55 and discharged. The paper is discharged by a roller 56 and stacked on a paper discharge tray 57. Alternatively, it is switched by the switching claw 55 and put into the transfer paper reversing device 28, where it is reversed and guided again to the transfer position, an image is recorded on the back side, and then discharged onto the paper discharge tray 57 by the discharge roller 56. On the other hand, the intermediate transfer belt 10 after image transfer is removed by the intermediate transfer body cleaning device 17 to remove residual toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 10 after image transfer, and is prepared for re-image formation by the tandem image forming unit 20.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a system configuration in the present invention. The system includes a CPU 101 that controls the entire system, a RAM 102 that is a working memory used by the CPU 101, a ROM 103 that stores a control program, an NVM 104 that is a non-volatile memory that manages information on the entire system, and an image to be processed. Information is provided by wireless communication with an image memory 105 that stores data and an ID chip 110 that is provided in a subunit 600 such as a toner bottle or a photosensitive unit and stores information of the subunit or can write information. RFID 106 capable of writing and reading such information and I / O 107 for input / output with various devices.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining basic control by the system of FIG. The operation control of the system of FIG. 2 will be described with reference to this flowchart. When the cover (not shown) of the copying machine main body 100 is opened, the CPU 101 interrupts communication by the RFID 106 (step S1001). Here, the ID number of the ID chip 110 is confirmed in order to confirm the withdrawal of the subunit 600 (step S1002). It is checked whether or not there is an ID number response from the ID chip 110 (step S1003). If there is a response, confirmation is performed at intervals of 1 second in order to reduce the burden on the system (step S1004). It is checked whether or not the cover is closed (step S1005). This check continues until it is confirmed that the cover is closed. If the cover is closed again, communication is resumed as it is (step S1006) and the process is terminated. Therefore, it is not necessary to acquire all the data of the ID chip 110 again. If cover binding cannot be confirmed, the process returns to step S1002.

  On the other hand, if there is no ID number response from the ID chip 110 in step S1003, the communication is stopped and it is determined that the subunit 600 is pulled out (step S1007). Therefore, next, it is checked whether or not the cover is closed (step S1008). If it is determined that the cover is not closed, it is checked again whether or not the cover is closed. If it is confirmed that the sub-unit 600 is closed, the presence / absence of the sub-unit 600 is checked (step S1009), and it is checked whether or not the sub-unit 600 is present (step S1010). When it is confirmed that there is a subunit 600, all the data of the subunit 600 is acquired (step S1011), and the process is terminated. In step S1010, when it is confirmed that there is no subunit 600, it is determined as an error (step S1012), and the process ends.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a modification of the basic control. In this modified example, even if the subunit 600 is attached / detached within a short period of time, if the unique identification information of the subunit 600 before and after the attachment / detachment is the same, it is not determined that the subunit 600 is attached / detached. This reduces the burden of access to subunits.

  That is, similarly to the basic control, when the cover of the copying machine main body 100 is opened, the CPU 101 interrupts communication by the RFID 106 (step S1101), and confirms the ID number of the ID chip 110 to confirm the removal of the subunit 600 ( Step S1102). Then, it is checked whether or not there is an ID number response from the ID chip 110 (step S1103), and if there is a response, confirmation is performed at intervals of 1 second (step S1104) to determine whether or not the cover is closed. This is checked (step S1105), and this check is continued until it is confirmed that the cover is closed. When the cover is closed again, the communication is resumed as it is (step S1106) and the process is terminated. Therefore, it is not necessary to acquire all the data of the ID chip 110 again. If cover binding cannot be confirmed, the process returns to step S1102.

 On the other hand, if there is no ID number response from the ID chip 110 in step S1103, a timer built in the CPU 101 or a separately provided timer (not shown) is set (step S1107). Then, it is checked whether or not there is a response of the ID number from the ID chip 110 during the operation of the timer (step S1108). If there is a response before the timer expires, the process proceeds to step S1105. The response is checked until the timer expires (step S1109). When the timer expires, the communication is stopped, it is determined that the subunit 600 is pulled out (step S1110), and it is checked whether or not the cover is closed (step S1110). S1111). If it is determined that the cover is not closed, it is checked again whether or not the cover is closed. If it is confirmed that the cover is closed, the presence or absence of the subunit 600 is checked (step S1112). It is checked whether or not there is (step S1113). When it is confirmed that there is the subunit 600, all the data of the subunit 600 is acquired (step S1114), and the process is terminated. If it is confirmed that there is no subunit 600, it is determined as an error (step S1115), and the process is terminated.

If there is no ID response at this time, a timer of several seconds is set (flow diagram 2: n). If there is an ID response again before the time is up, the cover close monitoring is entered. If the cover is closed again, communication is continued. (Flow diagram 2: f) It is not necessary to acquire all the data of the ID chip again.

   FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explaining still another modified example of the basic control. In this other modified example, after the cover is opened, the ID number of the subunit 600 is checked. If the subunit 600 is detached, is the subunit 600 used by another device after the subunit 600 is reset? In order to determine whether or not the data update information of the ID chip 110 of the subunit 600 is confirmed, it is not necessary to suck up all the ID chip data of the subunit 600 after the cover is closed unless the data is updated. The time is shortened, and even when the maintenance staff or the user inspects the subunit for a long time, the startup time after closing the cover is shortened.

  In this other modification, as in the basic control of FIG. 3, when the cover of the copying machine main body 100 is opened, the CPU 101 interrupts communication by the RFID 106 (step S1201), and the ID chip is used to confirm the removal of the subunit 600. 110 is confirmed (step S1202). It is checked whether or not there is an ID number response from the ID chip 110 (step S1203). If there is a response, confirmation is performed at intervals of 1 second (step S1204) and whether or not the cover is closed is checked. This check is continued until it is confirmed that the cover is closed (step S1205). When the cover is closed again, communication is resumed as it is (step S1206) and the process is terminated. Therefore, it is not necessary to acquire all the data of the ID chip 110 again. If the binding of the cover cannot be confirmed, the process returns to step S1202.

  On the other hand, if there is no ID number response from the ID chip 110 in step S1203, the ID number is confirmed (step S1207). Therefore, it waits until there is a response of the ID number (step S1208). When there is a response of the ID number again, the ID number is read to check whether it is the same ID number as the previous time (step S1209). Then, it is checked whether or not the numbers are the same (step S1210). In the case of the same number, it is checked whether or not there has been further data update (step S1211). If there is no data update, the process proceeds to step S1205, and the cover closing monitoring is entered. If the cover is closed again, it is only necessary to resume communication (step S1206). It is not necessary to acquire all data of the ID chip. If there is a data update and if it is determined in step S1210 that the numbers are not the same, it is checked whether the cover is closed (step S1212). If it is determined that the cover is not closed, it is checked again whether or not the cover is closed. If it is confirmed that the cover is closed, the presence or absence of the subunit 600 is confirmed (step S1213). It is checked whether or not there is (step S1214). When it is confirmed that there is the subunit 600, all the data of the subunit 600 is acquired (step S1215), and the process is terminated. If it is confirmed that there is no subunit 600, it is determined as an error (step S1216), and the process ends.

1 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a system configuration in the present invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the basic control by the system of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the modification of basic control. It is a flowchart for demonstrating another modification of basic control.

Explanation of symbols

100 Copier body 101 CPU
102 RAM
103 ROM
104 NVM
105 Image memory 106 RFID
110 ID chip 200 Paper feed table 300 Document reader
600 Sub unit 700 Image forming apparatus

Claims (8)

In an image forming apparatus comprising a detachable subunit, and subunit information holding means for holding information on the subunit.
Detecting means for detecting attachment and detachment of the subunit;
Means for acquiring subunit information by the subunit information holding means when the attachment / detachment of the subunit is detected by the detection means;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The acquiring means stores all of the acquired subunit information in a storage means, and the subsequent subunit information acquisition is performed from the storage means, and the subunit is accessed only when information is updated to the subunit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   2. The acquisition unit according to claim 1, wherein when the subunit is attached / detached within a short period of time, if the subunit unique identification information before and after attachment / detachment is the same, it is not determined that the subunit is attached / detached. 2. The image forming apparatus according to 2.   The acquisition means includes a counter that counts the number of updates only when information on the subunit is updated, and does not determine that the subunit is attached or detached if the counter is not updated no matter how many times the attachment or detachment of the subunit is detected. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.   The obtaining means stores the subunit information from the subunit when necessary when the subunit is detached, and stores the subunit information in the storage means when necessary, and then stores the subunit information in the storage means. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein when only subunit information is acquired, the subunit is acquired from the storage unit, and the subunit is accessed only when information is updated to the subunit. 6. Image forming apparatus.   A cover capable of detecting opening and closing that covers the subunit is provided, and the acquiring means temporarily stops information acquisition and updating of the subunit when detecting the opening of the cover, and detects the attachment / detachment of the subunit at a constant cycle. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus.   7. The information acquisition unit according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit performs acquisition of information on the subunit again when the subunit is detached after detecting the opening of the cover. 8. Image forming apparatus.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the subunit is a developer container, and the subunit information is information update such as a consumption amount of the developer.

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