JP2017134129A - Image forming apparatus and method for controlling the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform adjustment around a photoreceptor before returning from an error involving stop of an image forming operation, while preventing the occurrence of downtime caused by the adjustment.SOLUTION: There is provided an image forming apparatus comprising an image forming apparatus body and one or more peripheral devices, the image forming apparatus including control means that, when a state where an error involving stop of an image forming operation occurs is detected, determines whether the error has occurred in a place in the image forming apparatus body, and when the error has not occurred in a place in the image forming apparatus body, determines to execute an operation for adjustment around a photoreceptor.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a control method therefor, and more particularly, to a technique for performing adjustment around a photosensitive member by effectively using a time required for recovery from an error.

  In the technical field of electrophotographic image forming apparatuses, one of the problems is to keep the toner density constant during printing. For this reason, there is already known a control in which the toner density is made uniform by adjusting the developing bias and the charging grid around the photosensitive member during printing after a predetermined time has elapsed or at the end of printing.

  As another problem, there is a problem of shortening the downtime caused in the return operation at the time of jam. In relation to this problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a toner discharge sequence necessary for the return operation at the time of jamming, together with a return sequence from an error or the like, for the purpose of reducing the downtime that occurs during the return operation at the time of jamming. Control to do is disclosed.

  However, Patent Document 1 has a problem in that when the toner discharge sequence takes longer than the return sequence, downtime due to machine convenience occurs. This application discloses the technical idea which solves this problem below. The toner discharge sequence is an operation whose purpose is to make the toner density uniform. Since it is not necessary to limit to toner discharge, it is referred to as “adjustment around the photoreceptor” in the present application. Further, since the return operation need not be limited to the return from the jam, it is referred to as “return from an error accompanying the stop of the image forming operation”.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of the prior art, and in the case of performing adjustment around the photoconductor when returning from an error accompanied by stoppage of the image forming operation, the downs caused by this adjustment are caused. The purpose is not to generate time.

  An apparatus of the present invention that achieves the above object is an image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus main body and one or more peripheral devices, and a state in which an error accompanied by a stop of the image forming operation is detected is detected. In addition, it is determined whether or not the error occurrence portion exists in the image forming apparatus main body. If the error occurrence portion does not exist in the image forming apparatus main body, it is determined to perform an adjustment operation around the photosensitive member. It has a control means.

  According to the present invention, when the adjustment around the photosensitive member is performed when returning from the error accompanied by the stop of the image forming operation, it is possible to prevent the downtime caused by the adjustment.

1 is an external view for explaining an overall configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment. 2 is a control block diagram of the image forming apparatus main body 1 according to the embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram around a photoconductor of an image forming unit 110. FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process at the time of jam generation of embodiment.

  In the embodiment described below, an image forming apparatus main body 100 and an office system (image forming apparatus 1) in which peripheral devices are connected and used before and after the main body 100 are disclosed. In this disclosure, when an inoperable state is detected on the peripheral device side and an inoperable state is not detected on the main body side, the user can move around the photoconductor while releasing the inoperable state on the peripheral device side. Perform the adjustment operation. For this reason, the downtime of the adjustment operation around the photosensitive member, which was supposed to be at the end of printing, is eliminated, and the reduction in productivity can be prevented.

  FIG. 1 is an external view of an image forming apparatus 1 that is an office system in which a large-capacity paper feed tray 160 and a post-processing apparatus 170 are connected to an image forming apparatus main body 100. As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 1 has a large-capacity paper feed tray 160 upstream of paper feed of the image forming apparatus main body 100. In addition, a post-processing device 170 for processing the paper is provided downstream of the paper feeding of the image forming apparatus 1. The post-processing device 170 does not involve image processing. In addition, a scanner unit 150 is provided on the upper part of the image forming apparatus main body 100.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 1.
The image forming apparatus main body 100 includes a main body control unit 101 that controls each block, and each block operates according to an instruction from the main body control unit 101. Image formation is realized by the cooperative operation of each block performed by the main body control unit 101. The display unit 102 is mainly intended to present information held by the image forming apparatus 1 to the user.

  The main purpose of the scanner unit 150 is to recognize and read image data from a document. The main purpose of the image processing unit 104 is to perform image processing on the read image data and to perform image editing / arrangement as instructed. The main purpose of the memory 103 is to store calculation data and image data.

  The main purpose of the paper feeding unit 105 is to feed the installed image forming paper to the conveyance path. The main purpose of the image forming unit 110 is to form an image on a sheet. The conveyance unit 106 mainly controls the conveyance rollers arranged in the conveyance path, and realizes sheet conveyance by cooperative operation of the conveyance roller group.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus 1 centering on the sheet conveyance path.
The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image forming unit 110 that forms an image on a sheet surface on a conveyance path starting from a paper feeding unit 105. The transport unit 106 includes a transport roller group disposed along the transport path. The conveyance path does not need to be a straight line as shown in the figure, and a path configuration suitable for the sheet conveyance application can be determined.

  Further, the image forming apparatus 1 includes a scanner unit 150 that can read an image on a document surface (front surface / back surface) and recognize and store it as image data. The image processing unit 104 reads the image read by the scanner unit 150. Data can be image processed. Further, the image forming apparatus 1 can include a display unit 102 for presenting information to the user. The place to be arranged may be anywhere in the image forming apparatus 1.

  FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of the image forming unit 110, and a hardware configuration around the photosensitive member and an adjustment operation thereof will be described. FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram around the photoconductor of a general electrophotographic image forming apparatus.

  As is generally known, in an electrophotographic system, an electrostatic latent image is formed on a photoreceptor, developed by attaching a charged developer (toner) thereon, and developed on paper. There is a series of processes for transferring and fixing the image.

  Referring to FIG. 4, a charging charger unit 112, a potential sensor 113, a developing unit 114, a transfer belt 115, a photo sensor 116, and a cleaning unit 117 are disposed around the rotating photosensitive drum 111. The surface of the photosensitive drum 111 is exposed by the charging charger unit 112 and an electrostatic latent image is formed. Next, the toner charged by the developing unit 114 is attached to the electrostatic latent image. The toner image is transferred to a transfer belt 115 to which a transfer bias is applied. The surface of the photosensitive drum 111 is cleaned by the cleaning unit 117 and is again processed by the charging charger unit 112.

  There are two causes for the deterioration in the image quality of the printed image: one caused by environmental changes such as the temperature inside the machine and humidity, and the other caused by changes over time caused by leaving the machine for a long time or continuous paper passing. As means for preventing the above problem, the image quality adjustment operation around the photosensitive member is performed when the fixing temperature rises when the machine is started up or when there is no next print request after printing is completed.

Specifically, a charge is applied to the photosensitive drum 111 from the charging charger unit 112, and then the value of the potential sensor 113 is acquired to adjust the developing bias, charging, and the light amount of the laser diode in the charging charger unit 112. Thereafter, a test pattern for adjusting the toner density is formed on the photosensitive drum 111, the toner density is measured by the photo sensor 116, and adjustment is performed so as to obtain an appropriate density.
The above is the operation of “adjustment around the photosensitive member”.

  Next, a processing sequence performed separately from the error return sequence when returning from an error will be described with reference to FIG. Note that the sequence for returning from an error has no direct relationship with the disclosed contents of the present embodiment, and will not be described in detail. If the error is a paper jam (jam), there is a possibility that an operation in which a person opens the housing cover and removes the jammed paper is included.

  FIG. 5 is a sequence in a case where the error accompanying the stop of image formation is specifically a paper jam (jam). In addition, the main body control unit 101 is the main subject of the operation in all steps unless otherwise specified.

  When a jam occurs during printing (S101), it is first determined whether there is jammed paper in the image forming apparatus main body 100 (S102). If there is no jammed paper (S102 / No), that is, if a jam has occurred in the post-processing device 170, the large-capacity paper feed tray 160, or the scanner unit 150, a jam is displayed (S105).

  Next, the time T when the surroundings of the photosensitive member was adjusted last time is acquired (S106). At this time, when the time has elapsed from the time T for the set time Th (S107 / elapsed), the periphery of the photosensitive member is adjusted (S108). If it has not elapsed, nothing is done (S107 / not yet). The times T and Th are both stored in the memory 103.

  If there is jammed paper in the main body (S102 / Yes), it is determined whether the operation around the photosensitive member is possible (S103). The determination criterion is based on whether or not the jammed paper is affected even if the photosensitive drum 111 is rotated.

  If there is no influence (S103 / possible), it is next checked whether there is a remaining sheet outside the main body, that is, whether there is a remaining sheet in the post-processing device 170, the large-capacity paper feed tray 160, and the scanner unit 150 (S104). If there is any remaining paper, a jam removal time other than that in the main body portion occurs, and the process proceeds to an adjustment execution flow around the photosensitive member (S104 / present). If there is no remaining paper (S104 / No), there is paper only in the image forming apparatus main body 100, and therefore the adjustment around the photoconductor cannot be performed during the removal of jammed paper. For this reason, the remaining paper removal display of the main body is performed (S111).

  When the adjustment around the photosensitive member is executed, the executed time is newly set as the value of time T. That is, the time T is updated (S109). Then, it is confirmed that there is no remaining paper in the main body (S110 / No), and the process is terminated.

  According to the embodiment described above, the image forming apparatus 1 including the post-processing device 170 and the large-capacity paper feed tray 160 separately from the image forming apparatus main body 100 has an image forming apparatus when an error occurs (S101). First, it is confirmed whether or not there is an error occurrence part in the main body 100 (S102). If there is no location where an error has occurred in the main body (S102 / No), it is possible to reduce downtime due to adjustment around the photoconductor by moving to an adjustment execution flow around the photoconductor. On the other hand, since it is confirmed that there is no error in the image forming apparatus main body 100 (S102 / No) and the process proceeds to the adjustment flow around the photosensitive member, there is an effect that no downtime occurs due to this adjustment. is there.

  Conventionally, the adjustment around the photosensitive member is performed, for example, when one job is completed. However, in the above-described embodiment, in anticipation that it takes time to resolve an error when an error occurs in the peripheral device, the image forming apparatus main body 100 is caused to perform adjustment around the photoconductor by effectively using the time. Therefore, the downtime caused by the adjustment around the photoconductor can be shortened. On the other hand, since it is confirmed that there is no error in the image forming apparatus main body 100 (S102 / No) and the process proceeds to the adjustment flow around the photoconductor, no downtime occurs due to this adjustment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 100 Image forming apparatus main body 101 Main body control part 103 Memory 110 Image forming part 111 Photosensitive drum 150 Scanner part 160 Large capacity feed tray 170 Post-processing apparatus

JP 2006-221005 A

Claims (7)

An image forming apparatus including an image forming apparatus main body and one or more peripheral devices,
When a state in which an error accompanied by the stop of the image forming operation is detected is determined, it is determined whether or not the error occurrence portion exists in the image forming apparatus main body, and the error occurrence portion is determined by the image forming apparatus main body An image forming apparatus, comprising: a control unit that determines to perform an adjustment operation around the photoconductor when the adjustment is not included. Storage means for storing the time T when the adjustment operation around the photosensitive member was executed last time;
The control unit performs an adjustment operation around the photosensitive member when an elapsed time from the time T stored in the storage unit exceeds a predetermined time. The image forming apparatus according to 1.   The control means determines whether or not the operation of the image forming unit around the photoconductor is possible even when it is determined that the location where the error has occurred is in the main body of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the operation is possible, it is determined to perform an adjustment operation around the photosensitive member. The control means includes
Even when it is determined that the location where the error occurs is in the main body of the image forming apparatus, it is determined whether or not the operation of the image forming unit around the photosensitive member is possible, and the operation of the image forming unit is possible. If it is determined that
If it is determined whether there is an error occurrence location in the peripheral device, and if it is determined that there is an error occurrence location in the peripheral device,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a determination is made to perform an adjustment operation around the photosensitive member.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the error that accompanies the stop of the image forming operation is a paper jam.   6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the adjustment operation around the photosensitive member includes adjustment of a charging grid, a developing bias, and a toner density. An image forming apparatus control method including an image forming apparatus main body and one or more peripheral devices,
A first step of determining whether or not there is a location where the error has occurred in the image forming apparatus main body when a state in which an error accompanied by a stop of the image forming operation is detected is detected;
A second step of determining that an adjustment operation around the photosensitive member is to be executed when the location where the error occurs is not in the main body of the image forming apparatus;
A control method for an image forming apparatus.

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