JP2008287166A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus flexibly performing printing in toner reduction time in accordance with a type of printing data and alleviating load on a user. <P>SOLUTION: When toner remaining amount is less than a first decision level and second decision level or more, a first control for causing a printing part to print printing data and then erasing the printing data after printing and a second control causing the printing part to print the printing data and then retaining the printing data after printing until a prescribed operation is carried out through an operation part are switched according to the type of given printing data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

  In the electrophotographic image forming apparatus, the remaining amount of toner is monitored. When the remaining amount of toner falls below a predetermined threshold level, printing is stopped and the user is requested to supply the toner by display or the like. However, at this time, the toner is often not completely removed, and there is a demand for some users to continue printing even if the printing quality is somewhat deteriorated.

  Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a technique in which printing is continued with the print density lowered even when the remaining amount of toner falls below a predetermined threshold level when the printing is permitted. However, when this technology is applied to printing received data of a facsimile, the received data is erased as the received data is printed. Therefore, even if the printed received data image is poor due to lack of toner, printing is not possible. Cannot be redone.

Also, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-228688, when the received data of a facsimile or the like is printed, if the toner is insufficient, the user is prompted to confirm the lack of toner and the print quality, and the user determines that the printing state is bad Describes a technique in which received data is left without being erased from the memory. However, with this technology, when toner shortage occurs, not only the received data of the facsimile, but also print data input via a network that can be reprinted relatively easily when the printing state is poor However, since confirmation for the user is required uniformly, the burden on the user when toner is insufficient for confirmation or the like is large.
JP-A-5-158293 JP 2002-64670 A

  Therefore, a problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can flexibly cope with printing at the time of toner reduction according to the type of print data and can reduce the burden on the user.

  In order to solve the above problems, in the invention of claim 1, a toner remaining amount determination unit that determines the remaining amount of toner in the toner storage unit based on a determination level provided in two stages, an operation unit, and the toner A printing unit that performs printing using the toner stored in the storage unit; and a printing control unit that causes the printing unit to print the given print data. The printing control unit includes a first toner remaining amount When the level is equal to or higher than the determination level, the print data is printed on the printing unit regardless of the type of the given print data, and the print data after the printing is erased, and the remaining amount of toner is the first remaining amount. A first control for causing the printing unit to print the print data and erasing the printed data after printing, and when the print data is the print level Printed on A second control for holding the print data after the printing until a predetermined operation is performed through the operation unit, and switching and executing the second control according to the given type of the print data. Is less than the second determination level, the print data is held without being printed by the printing unit regardless of the type of the given print data.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the print control unit is configured to provide the toner remaining for each type of print data among a plurality of types of print data to be given. Whether the first control or the second control is applied when the amount is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level is changed based on a setting input.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the image forming apparatus includes a reading unit that reads an image from a document, a network communication unit that receives data input via a network, A facsimile receiving unit for receiving a facsimile, wherein the print control unit provides the print data provided when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level. Is the image data read by the reading unit or the data input from the terminal device via the network, the first control is applied, and the given print data is received by the facsimile receiving unit. In the case of data, the second control is applied.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the image forming apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, the print control unit is configured such that the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level. In this case, when printing is performed by applying the second control to the data received by the facsimile receiving unit, the printing of the data is executed after a printing instruction is given.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, even if the print data after printing is erased, such as print data at the time of copy processing or print data input from an external terminal via a network, the print data can be printed. With respect to the type of print data that can be easily redone, even if the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level, printing can be performed as usual and the print data after printing can be automatically deleted. Therefore, in this case, a special operation such as erasing the print data can be omitted, and the burden on the user can be reduced. Also, for the type of print data that is difficult to redo if the print data is deleted, such as facsimile received data, a predetermined operation is performed from the operation unit when the remaining amount of toner falls below the first determination level. The print data after printing can be held without erasing. For this reason, in this case, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the print data that is difficult to be reprinted is printed and erased in a state of poor print quality and cannot be reprinted. As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to flexibly cope with printing at the time of toner reduction according to the type of print data, and to reduce the burden on the user.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and equal to or more than the second determination level, the type of the given print data is set to the first control or the second control. Since the user can freely set the control to be assigned, it is possible to flexibly respond to the user's request and it is convenient.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the print data at the time of copy processing and the print data input from another terminal device via the network can be reprinted even if the print data after printing is deleted. Because it is easy, even if the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level, printing is performed as usual, and the print data after printing is automatically erased, so that special operations such as erasing the print data are performed. Can be eliminated and the burden on the user can be reduced. As for the received data of the facsimile, since it is difficult to repeat the printing if the printing data is deleted, the printing data after printing is printed until a predetermined operation is performed from the operation unit when the remaining amount of toner becomes less than the first determination level. By holding without deleting, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the received data of the facsimile is printed and erased in a state of poor printing quality and cannot be reprinted.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, the second control is performed on the data received by the facsimile receiving unit. When printing is performed by applying, printing of data is executed after a printing instruction is given. Therefore, the user decides whether or not to print the received data of the facsimile when the toner is reduced. It is possible to respond flexibly and is convenient.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a facsimile composite apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as “composite apparatus”) as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The functions of the composite apparatus 1 include a printer function, a facsimile function, an Internet facsimile function, a copy function, a scanner function, and the like. The composite apparatus 1 is connected to a plurality of terminal devices 31 such as personal computers via a network (for example, LAN) 21, and can execute each function described above according to instructions from the terminal device 31.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the multifunction apparatus 1 includes a control unit 11, a printing unit 13, a scanner 14, a display unit 15, an operation unit 16, a storage unit 17, a modem connected to the control unit 11 via a bus 12. 18, an NCU (Network Control Unit) 19, and a network communication unit 20. Note that the facsimile receiving unit according to the present invention corresponds to functional elements related to the reception of the Internet facsimile of the modem 18, the NCU 19, and the network communication unit 20.

  The control unit 11 supervises the control of the composite apparatus 1 and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the like. The control unit 11 includes a remaining toner amount determination unit 11a and a print control unit 11b as functional elements. The roles of the remaining toner determination unit 11a and the print control unit 11b will be described later.

  The printing unit 13 is an electrophotographic printing apparatus, and includes a toner storage unit 13a that stores toner, and an image forming unit 13b that performs printing using the toner stored in the toner storage unit 13a. The print data given from the terminal device 31, the image data read by the scanner 14, the image data received by facsimile, and the like are printed on a recording paper or the like. The toner storage unit 13a is provided with a toner remaining amount sensor 13c for detecting the remaining amount of toner.

  The scanner 14 reads an original, and is used for reading an original when transmitting a facsimile, reading an original when using a copy function and a scanner function, and the like.

  The display unit 15 is configured by a liquid crystal display device or the like, and is used for displaying operation information and the like of the composite device 1. The operation unit 16 includes a plurality of operation buttons, a touch panel, and the like, and is used for operation of the composite apparatus 1.

  The storage unit 17 includes a storage device such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), and print data transmitted from the terminal device 31, such as a control program executed by the control unit 11, Facsimile transmission image data transmitted via the NCU 19 when using the facsimile function and received facsimile reception image data, image data read when using the copy function and scanner function, and setting, maintenance, and management of the multifunction device 1 The data etc. are stored.

  The modem 18 is a facsimile modem capable of facsimile communication. The modem 18 is directly connected to the NCU 19. The NCU 19 is hardware for closing and opening a line with an analog public switched telephone network (PSTN) 22 and connects the modem 18 to the public telephone line network 22 as necessary. . Note that an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) interface may be provided to connect to an integrated digital communication network (ISDN).

  The network communication unit 20 is responsible for data communication via a network (external network such as a LAN and the Internet) 21. More specifically, the network communication unit 20 has functions for handling SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), POP (Post Office Protocol), SMB (Server Message Block), HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol), and the like. ing. Specific functions of the network communication unit 20 include transmission and reception of electronic mail, transmission and reception of image data attached to the electronic mail, transmission and reception of the received Internet facsimile, and LAN (Local Area Network) or Internet This includes data transmission and reception via the Internet.

  The multi-function apparatus 1 configured as described above is intended to flexibly cope with printing at the time of toner reduction according to the type of print data, and to reduce the burden on the user.

  For this reason, in the multifunction apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, the toner remaining amount determination unit 11a of the control unit 11 determines the toner remaining amount in the toner storage unit 13a based on the detection result of the sensor 13c. More specifically, in the determination process by the toner remaining amount determining unit 11a, first and second determination levels for determining the remaining amount of toner are provided in two stages. The first determination level is for determining whether the remaining amount of toner has decreased. The first determination level may be used as a determination criterion for informing the user in advance that the toner will run out (a state where printing cannot be performed due to toner shortage). The purpose of the second determination level is to determine whether the toner has run out.

  Further, regarding the relationship between the first and second determination levels and the print quality, the first determination level is printed with stable print quality when the remaining amount of toner is equal to or higher than the first determination level. Is set to the lower limit level of the remaining toner remaining range. For this reason, when the remaining amount of toner falls below the first determination level, the print quality may be deteriorated due to the influence of toner reduction. In addition, as described above, the second determination level is a level at which printing becomes impossible due to running out of toner when the remaining amount of toner falls below the second determination level.

  Various configurations can be adopted as the configuration for detecting the remaining amount of toner. FIG. 2 shows an example of a configuration for detecting the remaining amount of toner. FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the configuration around the toner remaining amount sensor 13c in the toner storage portion 13a taken along a plane parallel to the rotation direction of the agitator 13d, and FIG. 2B is a view around the toner remaining amount sensor 13c. It is sectional drawing when a structure is cut | disconnected by the surface parallel to the rotating shaft 32 of 13d of agitators. The agitator 13d is rotated as indicated by an arrow A, and stirs the toner 33 stored in the toner storage unit 13a. The toner remaining amount sensor 13c includes a light emitting element 34 and a light receiving element 35 which are arranged so as to sandwich the lower region of the rotation path of the agitator 13d from both sides. When no obstacle such as the toner 33 exists between the light emitting element 34 and the light receiving element 35, the light emitted from the light emitting element 34 enters the light receiving element 35. The remaining amount of toner is detected based on the degree to which the light emitted from the light emitting element 34 is blocked by the toner 33.

  More specifically, when the remaining amount of toner is sufficient and the upper surface 33a of the toner 33 is sufficiently higher than the installation position of the remaining toner sensor 13c, the light emitting element 34 of the remaining toner sensor 13c emits light. The light is always blocked by the toner 33 and does not enter the light receiving element 35. At this time, the output signal from the toner remaining amount sensor 13c (light receiving element 35) is maintained at a low level as shown in FIG. When the remaining amount of toner decreases and the upper surface 33a of the toner 33 decreases near the position where the remaining toner sensor 13c is installed, the light emitting element 34 is temporarily caused by a change in the upper surface 33a of the toner 33 as the agitator 13d rotates. Light enters the light receiving element 35. At this time, the output signal from the toner remaining amount sensor 13c (light receiving element 35) is a period during which the light from the light emitting element 34 is incident on the light receiving element 35 (high level period) as shown in FIG. 3B. Only Ta is switched from the low level to the high level. As the remaining amount of toner decreases, the ratio of the high level period Ta to the period T in which the agitator 13d is rotated by a predetermined rotation angle increases.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the remaining amount of toner is determined by providing the first and second determination levels described above for the ratio of the high level period Ta to the period T. For this reason, the first and second determination levels can be easily changed by changing the threshold value set for the ratio of the high-level period Ta to the period T.

  Next, the role of the print control unit 11b will be described. The print control unit 11b switches control when printing the given print data on the image forming unit 13b of the printing unit 13 according to the determination result of the toner remaining amount determination unit 11a and the type of print data.

  Specifically, when the remaining amount of toner is equal to or higher than the first determination level, the print control unit 11b sends the print data to the image forming unit 13b of the printing unit 13 regardless of the type of the given print data. Printing is performed and the print data after printing is erased from the storage unit 17. Further, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and equal to or greater than the second determination level, the print control unit 11b causes the image forming unit 13b of the printing unit 13 to print the print data and prints the printed data. First print data is erased, and the print data is printed on the image forming unit 13b of the printing unit 13, and the print data after printing is subjected to a predetermined operation (print data deletion instruction) via the operation unit 16. Etc.) is switched and executed according to the type of the given print data. Further, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the second determination level, the print control unit 11b does not cause the image forming unit 13b of the printing unit 13 to print the print data regardless of the type of the given print data. In addition, the display unit 15 performs display for notifying that the toner has run out.

  In addition, the print control unit 11b performs the above operation when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level with respect to each type of print data among a plurality of types of print data. Which of the first control and the second control is applied is changed based on a setting operation or the like via the operation unit 16. Therefore, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and equal to or more than the second determination level, it is determined whether the type of the given print data is assigned to the first control or the second control. The user can freely set by input from the operation unit 16 or the like.

  The types of print data to be printed by the composite apparatus 1 include original image data read by the scanner 14 during copy processing, print data (PC print data) given from the external terminal device 31 via the network 21. And the like, and received image data of a facsimile transmitted via the public telephone line network 22 and received image data of an Internet facsimile transmitted via the network 21. In this embodiment, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, the first print data is added to the given print data according to the type of the print data. Either control or second control is applied but switched.

  For example, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, the print data accompanying the copy process and the print data given from the terminal device 31 via the network 21 are as described above. The print data assigned to the first control and received by the facsimile and the Internet facsimile is assigned to the second control. Hereinafter, the control of the control unit 11 when such assignment is performed will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This allocation example is an example, and the mode of allocation can be freely changed by inputting settings via the operation unit 16.

  Here, the print control unit 13b applies the second control described above to the received facsimile document or the Internet facsimile document when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level. When printing is performed, the received document is printed after a print instruction is given through the operation unit 16.

  As a modification of the above point, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, the second control is performed on the received facsimile document or Internet facsimile document. If it is set to apply and print, printing may be executed simultaneously with reception of the facsimile document. In this case, however, the received facsimile document is held in the storage unit 17 until an instruction to delete is received.

  In addition, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level, the print control unit 13b cannot guarantee printing quality through the display unit 15 or the like, and therefore refrain from printing or copying important documents. A predetermined message prompting the user may be displayed.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when printing (normal printing) is started by the print control unit 11b in step S1, the remaining toner amount is detected by the remaining toner determination unit 11a in step S2, and the process proceeds to step S3. move on.

  In subsequent step S3, when the remaining toner amount determining unit 11a determines that the remaining toner amount is equal to or higher than the first determination level, the process returns to step S1 until the remaining toner amount becomes less than the first determination level. Normal printing continues. In this case, printing is executed regardless of the type of print data, and the print data after printing is deleted from the storage unit 17.

  On the other hand, if the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level, the process proceeds to step S4, and the type of the given print data is determined by the print control unit 11b. If the print data is print data accompanying copy processing or print data given from the terminal device 31 via the network 21, the process proceeds to step S5, and the first control is applied to the print data. Is done. That is, in step S5, the print control unit 11b executes print processing for the print data, and the print data after printing is deleted without being stored in the storage unit 17, and the process proceeds to step S6. .

  If it is determined in step S4 that the given print data is the print data received by the facsimile and the Internet facsimile, the process proceeds to step S9, and the second control is performed on the print data. Applied. That is, in step S9, the received facsimile or Internet facsimile document data is stored in the storage unit by the print control unit 11b or another functional element in the control unit 11 (a reception control unit that controls reception of a facsimile or Internet facsimile). In step S10, a display for notifying the user of reception of a facsimile or Internet facsimile is performed via the display unit 15, and the process proceeds to step S11.

  In the subsequent step S11, it is determined whether or not the print control unit 11b gives an instruction to print the received facsimile document or the Internet facsimile document via the operation unit 16. If the print instruction is given, step S11 is performed. In step S12, the print control unit 11b prints the received facsimile document or the Internet facsimile document. In subsequent step S13, when the print control unit 11b accepts an operation regarding necessity of storage of the received facsimile document or Internet facsimile document storage unit 17 printed in step S12, and instructs to delete the received document. In step S14, the received document is deleted from the storage unit 17 by the print control unit 11b, and the process proceeds to step S6. On the other hand, when the received document is instructed to be stored, the received document is left in the storage unit 17. The process proceeds to step S6.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S11 that an instruction for printing a received facsimile document or Internet facsimile document has not been given, the process returns to step S4 without printing the received document.

  In step S6, the remaining toner amount is detected by the remaining toner amount determination unit 11a, and when the remaining toner amount determination unit 11a determines in step S7 that the remaining toner amount is equal to or higher than the second determination level. Returns to step S4, and the processing of steps S4 to S7 and S9 to S14 is repeated until the remaining amount of toner falls below the second determination level. On the other hand, if the remaining toner amount determination unit 11a determines that the remaining toner amount is less than the second determination level, the process proceeds to step S8, and the print control unit 8 causes the user to run out of toner via the display unit 15. A display for notifying (toner empty) is performed and printing is stopped. This printing stop state is continued until the toner storage unit 13a is replenished by replacing the toner bottle or the like.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, even if the print data after printing is erased, such as print data at the time of copy processing or print data input from the terminal device 31 via the network 21, printing can be performed. For types of print data that can be easily redone, even if the remaining amount of toner falls below the first determination level, printing can be performed as usual and the printed print data can be automatically deleted. Therefore, in this case, a special operation such as erasing the print data can be omitted, and the burden on the user can be reduced. For the type of print data that is difficult to redo if the print data is deleted, such as received data of a facsimile (including Internet facsimile), the operation unit 16 is set when the remaining amount of toner falls below the first determination level. The print data after printing can be held without being erased until a predetermined operation (instruction for deleting print data) is performed. For this reason, in this case, it is possible to prevent the inconvenience that the print data that is difficult to be reprinted is printed and erased in a state of poor print quality and cannot be reprinted. As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to flexibly cope with printing at the time of toner reduction according to the type of print data, and the burden on the user can be reduced.

  In addition, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, it is determined whether the type of the given print data is assigned to the first control or the second control. Since the user can freely set, it is possible to respond flexibly to the user's request, which is convenient.

  In addition, when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, printing is performed by applying the second control to the received facsimile document or Internet facsimile document. Then, the received original is printed after an instruction for printing is given. Therefore, it is convenient because the user can flexibly respond to the reception data of the facsimile or the Internet facsimile when the toner is reduced depending on the situation.

1 is a block diagram of a facsimile composite apparatus as an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6A is a cross-sectional view of the configuration around the toner remaining amount sensor in the toner storage section taken along a plane parallel to the rotation direction of the agitator, and FIG. It is sectional drawing when cut | disconnecting in a surface parallel to the rotating shaft of an agitator. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a waveform of a signal output from a toner remaining amount sensor. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a control part.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Facsimile compound apparatus 11 Control part 11a Toner remaining amount determination part 11b Print control part 13 Printing part 13a Toner storage part 13b Image formation part 13c Toner remaining amount sensor 13d Agitator 14 Scanner 15 Display part 16 Operation part 17 Storage part 18 Modem 19 NCU
21 Network 22 Public Telephone Line Network 31 Terminal Device 33 Toner

Claims (4)

A toner remaining amount determination unit that determines the remaining amount of toner in the toner storage unit based on a determination level provided in two stages, an operation unit, and a printing unit that performs printing using the toner stored in the toner storage unit And a printing control unit that causes the printing unit to print the given print data,
When the remaining amount of toner is equal to or higher than the first determination level, the print control unit causes the print unit to print the print data regardless of the type of the given print data, and after the printing When the print data is erased and the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, the print data is printed on the printing unit, and the print data after printing is displayed. A first control for erasing, and a second control for printing the print data on the printing unit and holding the printed data until a predetermined operation is performed via the operation unit. When the remaining amount of toner is less than the second determination level, the print data is printed regardless of the given print data type. Print on part Image forming apparatus characterized by holding without. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The print control unit is configured such that the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level for each type of print data among a plurality of types of print data to be given. In the image forming apparatus, whether to apply the first control or the second control is changed based on a setting input. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The image forming apparatus further includes a reading unit that reads an image from a document, a network communication unit that receives data input via a network, and a facsimile receiving unit that receives a facsimile.
When the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and greater than or equal to the second determination level, the print control unit is configured such that the given print data is read by the reading unit or the network The first control is applied when the data is input from the terminal device via the terminal, and the second control is performed when the given print data is the data received by the facsimile receiver. An image forming apparatus characterized by being applied. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3.
The print control unit applies the second control to data received by the facsimile receiving unit when the remaining amount of toner is less than the first determination level and equal to or more than the second determination level. An image forming apparatus, wherein when printing is performed, data is printed after a printing instruction is given.

Images