JP2015145897A - printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which: in a device conforming to a network, when a color toner has run out, if a user wants to print images in color, the user is required to replace the toner for printing, but can print the images in monochrome; during the replacement of the toner by the user who wants to print images in color, even if another user wants to print images of a monochrome job, the user cannot print the images in monochrome until the replacement of the color toner is completed and then calibration is completed.SOLUTION: A printer includes means for displaying that a monochrome job is being submitted during the replacement of toner, and means for interrupting the replacement of toner and permitting the monochrome job printing on the device, and when a user who is at the replacement of toner permits monochrome printing, finishes a toner replacement mode for printing the monochrome job when interrupting the replacement of toner, stores the position of the interruption of the replacement of toner, and automatically shifts again to the toner replacement mode after the completion of the monochrome printing and moves the toner to the stored position.

Description

  The present invention relates to a printing apparatus that performs printing using a plurality of toner cartridges (hereinafter referred to as toner).

  In a printing apparatus, when an error relating to toner such as running out of toner occurs, it is necessary to replace the toner. In particular, in a printing apparatus that performs printing by rotating and moving a plurality of toners, when an error occurs in a certain toner, the toner is moved to a replaceable position so that the user can replace the toner.

  As such a technique, the toner of the color desired by the user is moved to the replacement position by designation from the operation unit or the cover opening / closing operation, or when the toner error is detected during printing, the toner is moved to the replacement position Are known (Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  Also, in a printing apparatus that performs printing by rotating a plurality of toners, the cover must be closed in order to rotate and move the toner, but each time the cover is closed, the device enters a preparatory operation. When it is desired to continuously replace a plurality of toners, the efficiency of toner replacement becomes very low if the device enters a preparatory operation each time the toner is rotated and moved. Therefore, when replacing the toner, the device is controlled so that the device does not enter the preparatory operation even if the cover is closed, and a toner replacement mode (hereinafter referred to as toner replacement mode) that does not accept printing is also provided. The operability is improved.

JP 06-258905 A JP 2003-323027 A

  In the case of running out of color toner, a user who wants to perform color printing cannot print without replacing the toner, but can perform monochrome printing. However, if the user who wants to perform color printing replaces the toner, and another user can print the monochrome job, the monochrome job is printed during the color toner replacement, and the toner replacement operation is redone. End up. On the other hand, if priority is given to toner replacement during the toner replacement mode described above and printing cannot be performed during toner replacement, monochrome printing cannot be performed until color toner replacement is completed and calibration after toner replacement is completed. It takes time to print.

  Even if the toner replacement is interrupted and monochrome printing is performed, the calibration by the toner replacement performed halfway occurs, so that the monochrome printing execution is delayed until the execution is completed. Further, in order to restart the replacement of the color toner, it is necessary to reenter the toner replacement mode and move the toner to be replaced to the replacement position. In a device that is used by a plurality of network-compatible users, there is a possibility that a user who wants to replace color toner and a user who wants monochrome printing exist in this way, so these problems become particularly significant.

  Therefore, the present invention proposes a method for solving both the printing performance and usability problems as described above.

The configuration of the present invention is as follows:
In a printing apparatus that performs printing by rotating a plurality of toners,
Toner moving means (S515) for controlling the desired toner to move to the replaceable position (401) using the developing unit (726);
A first mode for normal operation;
A second mode for controlling to give priority to toner replacement,
Mode switching means for switching between the first mode and the second mode (S502, S5
08, S514, S516),
Monochrome job detection means (S50) for detecting that there is a printable monochrome job
3, S504),
A toner replacement status storage unit (S507) for storing a toner replacement status when the monochrome job detection unit detects that there is a monochrome job during the second mode;
Preparatory operation instruction means (S509, S510) for determining a preparatory operation necessary for printing a monochrome job and instructing the execution thereof;
After storing in the replacement status storage unit, the mode switching unit switches from the second mode to the first mode, the preparation operation instruction unit prepares for printing, and after the monochrome job printing is completed, Restart necessity determining means (S513) for determining whether it is necessary to restart the operation of replacing toner from the information stored in the toner replacement status storage means;
When the restart necessity determining unit determines that the toner needs to be replaced, the toner moving unit moves the toner so that the state stored in the toner replacement status storage unit is obtained. Device.

With this configuration, the user can quickly print a monochrome job even during toner replacement, and automatically returns to the state where toner replacement was interrupted even after monochrome job printing, so that the toner replacement operation can be resumed smoothly. Is possible.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to minimize the time until the monochrome job is printed during the toner replacement, and the toner replacement is automatically resumed after the monochrome job printing, so the toner replacement is resumed. It is possible to minimize the time and effort for doing this.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of PC. It is a block diagram which shows the control structure of a device. It is a figure which shows the internal structure of the color laser printer of the rotation phenomenon rotary system which can apply this invention. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for exchanging toner in a rotary development rotary type color laser printer. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a determination flow of processing from when a controller unit preferentially prints a monochrome job during the toner replacement mode and returning to the toner replacement mode after printing the monochrome job.

[Example 1]
An image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing main use cases of the present invention. The device (103) is connected to the PC (102) by USB or NETWORK. The user (101) can make an arbitrary setting or print instruction to the device (103) by giving an instruction from an application operating on the PC (102).

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the PC (102) according to the embodiment of this invention. A CPU (201) is a processor that controls the entire system, and executes various processes performed by the information processing apparatus. A RAM (202) is a system work memory for the CPU (201) to operate, and is used as a program memory for recording a program. Also, software held by the PC (102) is stored in the RAM (202) and executed. The HDD (203) is a data storage area. The operation unit I / F (204) is an interface unit with the operation unit (206) and receives an input signal from the operation unit (206). Also, it plays a role of transmitting information input by the user from the operation unit (206) to the CPU (201). The display unit I / F (209) is an interface unit with the display unit (210), and outputs an output signal to the display unit (210) according to the control of the CPU (201).

  The USB interface (208) is a functional unit for connecting to a USB device, and is used to acquire the status of another device or return the status via the USB. The LAN interface (207) is a functional unit for connecting to the LAN, and is used for obtaining the status of other devices and returning the status via the LAN. The above devices are arranged on the system bus (205).

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the device (103) according to the embodiment of this invention. The controller unit (313) inputs and outputs image data and device information by connecting to a device (103) that functions as an image output device. A CPU (301) is a processor that controls the entire system. A RAM (303) is a system work memory for the CPU (301) to operate, and is also a program memory for recording a program and an image memory for temporarily recording image data. The NVMEM (304) is a non-volatile memory and records setting information and the like. The FLASHROM (302) is a rewritable nonvolatile memory, and various control programs for controlling the system are recorded.

  The USB interface (306) enables USB connection with the PC (102). The LAN interface (311) enables a LAN connection with the PC (102). The operation unit interface (315) enables connection with the operation unit (316) on the device. The above devices are arranged on the system bus (305). On the operation unit (316), there are buttons, LEDs, and the like, which receive input from the user (101) and display the state of the device (103) to the user (101). An image bus (IMAGE BUS) I / F (307) is a bus bridge that connects a system bus (305) and an image bus (312) for transferring image data at high speed and converts a data structure.

  The image bus (312) is configured by a PCI bus or IEEE1394. The following devices are arranged on the image bus (312). A raster image processor (RIP) (308) develops vector data such as PDL code into a bitmap image. A printer I / F (310) connects a printer unit (314) and a controller unit (313), and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data and data exchange. An image processing unit (309) corrects, processes, and edits input image data, and performs printer correction, resolution conversion, and the like on print output image data.

  In addition to this, rotation of image data and compression / decompression processing such as JBIG, MMR, and MH are performed for multi-valued image data and JPEG and binary image data. The printer unit (314) converts the raster image data into an image on paper. The method includes an electrophotographic method using a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt, an ink jet method in which ink is ejected from a micro nozzle array and an image is directly printed on a sheet, and any method may be used. The start of the printing operation is started by an instruction from the CPU (301).

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a cross-sectional view of the device (103) of the embodiment of the present invention. The scanner (711) includes a laser output unit (not shown) that converts an image signal into an optical signal, a polygon mirror (712) of a polyhedron (for example, octahedron), a motor (not shown) that rotates the mirror (712), and It has an f / θ lens (imaging lens, 713), etc. Laser light emitted from the laser output section is reflected on one side of the polygon mirror (712), and passes through the f / θ lens (713) and the reflection mirror (714). The surface of the photosensitive drum (715) rotating in the direction indicated by the arrow is scanned linearly (raster scan).

  As a result, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the document image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum (715). Around the photosensitive drum (715), a primary charger (717), an entire exposure lamp (718), a cleaner unit (723) for collecting residual toner that has not been transferred, and a pre-transfer charger (724) are disposed. ing. The developing unit (726) is a unit that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum (715) by laser exposure, and has the following configuration. The developing sleeves (731Y, 731M, 731C, 731Bk) are in direct contact with the photosensitive drum 715 for direct development.

  The toners (730Y, 730M, 730C, and 730Bk) hold spare toner, and the remaining amount of toner is measured by a remaining toner sensor (not shown). The screen (732) transfers the developer. The sleeve (731Y, 731M, 731C, 731Bk), toner (730Y, 730M, 730C, 730Bk), and screw (732) are disposed around the central axis P of the developing unit (726). Note that the symbols Y, M, C, and Bk of the above-described constituent elements indicate colors. That is, “Y” is yellow, “M” is magenta, “C” is cyan, and “Bk” is black. The door (701) can be opened and closed by the user (101). Only the toner (730Y, 730M, 730C, 730Bk) located directly under the door (701) can be removed by the user. The position directly below the door (701) is called an exchange position. In FIG. 4, black toner (730Bk) is present at the replacement position.

  The toner color at the replacement position can be changed by rotating the toner (730Y, 730M, 730C, 730Bk) about the axis P in the drawing. The developer unit position sensor (742) detects the rotational position of the developer unit (726). When forming a yellow toner image, yellow toner development processing is performed at the position shown in FIG. When a magenta toner image is formed, the developing unit (726) is rotated about the axis P in the drawing so that the developing sleeve (731M) in the magenta developing unit is in contact with the photosensitive drum (715). To. Cyan and black development work in the same way. The transfer drum (716) transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum (715) to a sheet. The actuator plate (719) detects the moving position of the transfer drum (716). The position sensor (720) detects that the transfer drum (716) has moved to the home position by approaching the actuator plate (719).

  The actuator plate (719), the position sensor (720), the transfer drum cleaner (725), the paper pressing roller (727), and the gradual charger (729) are transfer chargers and are arranged around the transfer roller (716). Yes. On the other hand, the paper feed cassettes (735, 736) store paper (paper sheets, 791). In the embodiment, it is assumed that, for example, A4 size paper is stored in the paper feed cassette (735), and A3 size paper is stored in the paper feed cassette (736). When the paper is fed and conveyed, the paper is fed from the cassette (735, 736) by the paper feed rollers (737, 738). The timing of feeding and transporting is taken by timing rollers (739, 740, 741). Through these, the paper guide (490) is guided to the paper guide (490) and the leading end is wound around the transfer drum (716) while being held by the gripper (728), and the process proceeds to the image forming process.

  With the above configuration, full-color printing with four colors of YMCK is realized. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a mechanism for exchanging toner in the rotary developing rotary type color laser printer of FIG. When the user replaces the toner, the user opens the door (701). The position immediately below where the door (701) is open is a replaceable position (401) where the toner can be replaced, and the user can replace the toner at that position. The toner replaceable position is not limited to the example in FIG. 5 and may be different depending on the structure of the printing apparatus.

  The toners 730C, 730M, 730Y, and 730Bk are Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black toners, respectively. In the example of FIG. 5, the toner 730Bk can be replaced.

  Each of the toners 730C, 730M, 730Y, and 730Bk is mounted on a phenomenon unit (726) that rotates about the central axis P. Upon receiving the replacement position movement instruction from the controller unit (313), the device (103) can rotate the phenomenon unit (726) and move any toner to the replaceable position, so that any toner can be replaced. become.

  In this embodiment, even if no toner has occurred in any of the toners 730C, 730M, and 730Y, monochrome printing can be performed as long as there is a remaining amount of toner 730Bk. At this time, if toner that is out of toner is moved to the replacement position (401) (in order when a plurality of toners are out of toner), the usability of toner replacement is improved. This time of control is referred to as a toner replacement mode. In this embodiment, it is possible to input a job during the toner replacement mode, but it is not possible to print without the user's permission. Further, the toner exchange mode may be automatically entered when toner needs to be exchanged such as no toner, or may be entered by the user instructing. In this embodiment, a case where the user instructs to enter the toner replacement mode will be described as an example.

  When one of the three color toners is toner-free and only monochrome printing is possible, the user determines whether to continue the toner replacement mode and to interrupt the toner replacement mode to execute monochrome printing. To do. By doing so, it is possible to achieve both usability of toner replacement and quick execution of monochrome printing. This process will be described with reference to FIG.

  In this embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the description will be made on the case where the toner is replaced based on the fact that the toner runs out. However, in actuality, it is necessary to replace the toner even when other abnormalities occur.

  FIG. 6 shows the flow of processing when a monochrome job is input after entering the toner replacement mode from the normal state. As a use case, it is assumed that the toners of the toners 730C, 730M, and 730Y have run out, and the user B has submitted a monochrome job while the user A is trying to replace them in order to perform color printing. .

  In the normal state, the controller unit (313) always monitors whether there is an instruction to shift to the toner replacement mode from the user (S501). If the user gives an instruction to shift to the toner replacement mode, the controller unit (313) shifts to the toner replacement mode (S502). Here, desired toner can be moved to the replaceable position (401) from the operation unit (316) on the device (103), and the toner at the replaceable position (401) can be replaced. At this time, the controller unit (313) monitors whether a monochrome job print instruction is input from the PC (102) or the like (S503). If a monochrome job has been input in S503, it is determined whether the device (103) can print a monochrome job (S504).

  Here, in order to determine whether or not the monochrome job can be printed, for example, it is checked whether there is a toner remaining amount of toner 730Bk, paper is set, and the like. If it is determined in step S504 that a monochrome job can be printed, the controller unit (313) monitors whether a monochrome job print permission button (not shown) on the operation unit (316) has been pressed (S505). ). If it is determined in step S504 that the monochrome job is ready for printing, the user may be explicitly notified that the monochrome job has arrived by blinking the monochrome job print permission button or the like.

  If NO in any of S503, 504, and 505, the controller unit (313) monitors whether there is an instruction to exit the toner replacement mode (S506). Here, the instruction to exit the toner replacement mode may be issued from the PC (102) or the operation unit (316) of the device (103). If there is an instruction to exit the toner exchange mode in S506, the toner exchange mode is exited (S516). If the toner exchange mode is exited in S516, the process returns to S501. If there is no instruction to exit the toner replacement mode in S506, the process returns to S503.

  When the controller unit (313) detects that the monochrome job print permission button has been pressed in step S505, the RAM (303) stores information indicating that the toner replacement mode has been interrupted for the monochrome job and where the toner is located. (S507). Here, if the information is to be stored even when the power of the device (103) is turned off, it may be stored in the NVMEM (304). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the toner 730Y is replaced at this time, and the toner 730M is in the replaceable position (401). After storing the information in S507, the controller unit (313) exits the toner replacement mode (S508).

  The controller unit (313) instructs the printer unit (314) to perform a monochrome job printing preparation operation (S509). Here, this processing may be omitted when preparation for monochrome job printing has already been made, for example, when no toner has been replaced.

  Further, it is desirable to perform calibration when the toner is replaced after the preparation operation for monochrome job printing so that printing can be performed with an appropriate image quality. However, since it generally takes time to perform calibration, the start of printing a monochrome job is delayed accordingly. Therefore, in this embodiment, the controller unit (313) performs control so as not to perform calibration (S510). Here, calibration may be performed with priority given to image quality, or calibration may be omitted only when toner replacement is not performed.

  When the controller unit (313) detects that the monochrome job has been completed when the device (103) executes the monochrome job, it is determined based on the information stored in S507 whether or not the toner replacement is interrupted in the monochrome job ( S511, 512, 513). Here, in this embodiment, the timing for making the determination in S513 is after only one monochrome job has been printed. By doing so, a large number of jobs are printed, and the user (101) does not have to wait for resumption of toner replacement work. Of course, the user may be allowed to select how many jobs are allowed without being limited to one job, or may be unlimited.

  If it is determined in S513 that toner replacement is not interrupted for the monochrome job, the process returns to S501.

  If it is determined in S513 that toner replacement is interrupted for the monochrome job, the controller unit (313) shifts to the toner replacement mode (S514).

  Further, the controller unit (313) instructs the printer unit (314) to move the toner to the state when the toner replacement is interrupted based on the information stored in S507 (S515). Here, in the present embodiment, since it was before the replacement of the toner 730M, the toner 730M may be brought to the replaceable position (401). However, if the toner 730M has already been replaced, the toner 730M is already in a usable state. Therefore, even if the toner (730) is moved to the replaceable position, the user (101) places the unreplaced toner 730C in the replaceable position. Must be moved. Therefore, when the mode is changed to the toner replacement mode in S514, the latest device information is acquired from the printer unit (314), and the toner determined to be replaced (in this case, the toner 730C) is moved to the replaceable position. You may control to do.

  In this way, it is possible to print a monochrome job quickly even during toner replacement, and toner replacement is performed by automatically returning to the state when toner replacement was interrupted after monochrome job printing. User work is also kept to a minimum. Further, since the user's permission is required to print the monochrome job, the monochrome job is not printed during toner replacement contrary to the user's will.

[Example 2]
In the first embodiment, the job can be input during the toner replacement mode, but printing without the user's permission cannot be performed. However, when the monochrome job is input, the toner replacement mode is automatically interrupted and the monochrome job is interrupted. May be printed.

  In this case, the determination of S505 in FIG. 6 is not necessary, and when the controller unit (313) detects that monochrome printing is possible in S504, the processing of S507 and S508 described above is performed immediately, and the toner replacement mode is set. Control to exit.

101: User 102: PC
103: Device

Claims (3)

In a printing apparatus that performs printing by rotating a plurality of toners,
Toner moving means (S515) for controlling the predetermined toner to move to the replaceable position (401) using the developing unit (726);
A first mode for normal operation;
A second mode for controlling to give priority to toner replacement,
Mode switching means for switching between the first mode and the second mode (S502, S5
08, S514, S516),
Monochrome job detection means (S50) for detecting that there is a printable monochrome job
3, S504),
A toner replacement status storage unit (S507) for storing a toner replacement status when the monochrome job detection unit detects that there is a monochrome job during the second mode;
Preparatory operation instruction means (S509, S510) for determining a preparatory operation necessary for printing a monochrome job and instructing the execution thereof;
After storing in the replacement status storage unit, the mode switching unit switches from the second mode to the first mode, the preparation operation instruction unit prepares for printing, and after the monochrome job printing is completed, Restart necessity determining means (S513) for determining whether it is necessary to restart the operation of replacing toner from the information stored in the toner replacement status storage means;
When the restart necessity determining unit determines that the toner needs to be replaced, the toner moving unit moves the toner so that the state stored in the toner replacement status storage unit is obtained. . After the monochrome job detection means detects that there is a printable monochrome job, when the print permission detection means (S505) for detecting print permission by the monochrome job print permission means (316) detects, the toner replacement status storage The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the toner replacement status is stored by the means and monochrome job printing is started. The information stored in the toner replacement status storage means includes the transition to the first mode for monochrome job printing during the second mode and the position of the toner when the toner replacement is interrupted. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is characterized.