JP2017211531A - Image formation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To easily grasp a trouble state of a replaced unit having trouble.SOLUTION: An image formation apparatus 1 is provided with components (a drum unit 161, a developing unit 162, a transfer unit 163, and a fixing unit 164) used for image formation replaceably as replaced units. The replaced units have passive type radio tags (NFC tags 161a-164a). If a trouble detection part 171 detects trouble occurring to a replaced unit, a trouble information write part 172 writes trouble information to the radio tag of the replaced unit the trouble occurrence of which is detected, and a service call output part 173 outputs a service call for requesting replacement of the replaced unit to which the trouble has occurred.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus in which components used for image formation are provided so as to be replaceable as a replacement unit.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or an MFP (Multifunction Peripheral), a part of the apparatus is configured to be exchangeable as an exchange unit. Some replacement units include an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) so that manufacturing information about the replacement unit, accumulated operation time when the image forming apparatus is mounted, the number of printed sheets, and the like can be stored.

  When a problem occurs in the image forming apparatus, an error is notified from the image forming apparatus, and maintenance of a service person may be required. In view of this, a support technology has been proposed for solving the problems that have occurred in the image forming apparatus (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In the technique of Patent Document 1, when a mobile terminal such as a smartphone is brought close to the image forming apparatus, NFC (Near Field Communication) communication is performed between the mobile terminal and the image forming apparatus, and errors generated in the image forming apparatus are eliminated. The procedure can be displayed on the mobile terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1). When the cause of the failure is in the replacement unit, the replacement unit is replaced by a service person, and the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred is collected. The collected replacement unit is sent to the warehouse, and it is determined whether or not a detailed investigation regarding the defect is necessary based on the information stored in the EEPROM.

JP 2014-207532 A

  However, in the prior art, in order to read information from the EEPROM, there is a problem that it is necessary to mount a defective replacement unit in the machine and turn on the power. For this reason, it is necessary to prepare a machine with a corresponding EEPROM interface, and there is a tendency to avoid energizing the defective replacement unit to protect the machine. There was a problem that it was difficult to grasp.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of easily grasping the failure status of a replacement unit in which a failure has occurred.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention is an image forming apparatus in which components used for image formation are provided as exchangeable units so that they can be exchanged. The exchange unit has a passive type wireless tag, and has a problem with the exchange unit. A defect detection unit that detects occurrence of the defect, a defect information writing unit that writes defect information to the wireless tag of the replacement unit in which the occurrence of the defect is detected when the occurrence of the defect is detected; And a service call output unit that outputs a service call requesting replacement of the exchange unit in which the occurrence of the malfunction is detected when the occurrence of the malfunction is detected.
In addition, the defect information writing unit includes, as the defect information, a print mode, log information immediately before the occurrence of the defect, a machine count value, a unit count value, and the replacement unit in which the occurrence of the defect is detected as a factor. The number of calls may be written to the wireless tag.
In addition, when the replacement unit is a developing unit, the wireless tag may be provided on a surface located on the end side in the longitudinal direction of the developing unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to easily grasp the failure status of a replacement unit in which a failure has occurred.

It is a system configuration figure of a malfunction information management system of an embodiment concerning the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic external view of the developing unit shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of the developing unit shown in FIG. 2. 2 is a flowchart showing a flow of operations when a problem occurs in the image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the defect information reading operation | movement in the portable terminal shown in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that, in the following embodiments, the same reference numerals are given to configurations showing similar functions.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the defect information management system of the present embodiment includes an image forming apparatus 1, a mobile terminal 2, and a management server 3.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes an operation unit 11, a document reading unit 12, a document feeding unit 13, an image processing unit 14, a storage unit 15, a printing unit 16, and a control unit 17.

  The operation unit 11 is a touch panel provided with a transparent pressure sensor on the surface of the liquid crystal display panel, a numeric keypad for inputting numerical values such as the number of prints, a reset key for inputting an instruction to initialize setting information, a copy It is a user interface including various operation keys such as a stop key for stopping an operation and a start key for inputting an output instruction for starting a copy operation.

  The document feeding unit 13 has a function of feeding the document placed on the document placing unit one by one to the document reading unit 12 in order.

  The document reading unit 12 irradiates light on the document fed by the document feeding unit 13 or the document placed on the platen glass by the user, and receives the reflected light to read the document image. It is a scanner.

  The storage unit 15 is a storage unit such as a semiconductor memory or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and is a storage unit in which image data read by the document reading unit 12 is accumulated.

  The image processing unit 14 is means for performing predetermined image processing on the image data. In the image processing unit 14, for example, image improvement processing such as enlargement / reduction processing, density adjustment, and gradation adjustment is performed.

  The printing unit 16 is a printing unit that prints image data stored in the storage unit 15. The printing unit 16 includes a drum unit 161, a developing unit 162, a transfer unit 163, and a fixing unit 164 as components used for image formation. The printing unit 16 forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 161b (see FIG. 3) of the drum unit 161 based on the image data read from the storage unit 15, and the developing unit 162 uses the toner to form the photosensitive drum. The electrostatic latent image formed on 161b is developed as a toner image. Subsequently, the printing unit 16 transfers the toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 161b onto the recording paper by the transfer unit 163, fixes the toner image on the recording paper by the fixing unit 164, and discharges it. The drum unit 161, the developing unit 162, the transfer unit 163, and the fixing unit 164 are exchange units configured to be exchangeable, and are provided with passive NFC tags 161a to 164a, respectively.

  The NFC tags 161a to 164a are provided at positions where the short distance wireless communication is easily performed in each replacement unit. For example, in the case of the developing unit 162, as shown in FIG. 162d is provided on any of the surfaces located on the end side of the shaft. FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the developing unit 162. A two-component developer 162c made of toner and a magnetic material is accommodated in the container 162b of the developing unit 162. The developing unit 162 develops the electrostatic latent image by supplying the toner charged by the magnetic material to the developing roller 162d and attaching the toner on the developing roller 162d to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 161b. Therefore, in the case of the developing unit 162, the NFC tag 162a is provided on the surface located on the end side in the longitudinal direction as a position away from the two-component developer 162c so as not to be affected by the short-range wireless communication radio wave by the magnetic material. Is provided.

  The control unit 17 is connected to the operation unit 11, the document reading unit 12, the document feeding unit 13, the image processing unit 14, the storage unit 15, and the printing unit 16. The control unit 17 is an information processing unit such as a microcomputer including a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like. The ROM stores a control program for controlling the operation of the image forming apparatus 1. The control unit 17 controls the entire apparatus by reading a control program stored in the ROM and developing the control program in the RAM. The control unit 17 also functions as a defect detection unit 171, a defect information writing unit 172, and a service call output unit 173.

  The defect detection unit 171 has a function of detecting a defect that has occurred in the image forming apparatus 1. For example, the defect detection unit 171 detects defects in the drum unit 161, the developing unit 162, the transfer unit 163, and the fixing unit 164.

  The defect information writing unit 172 includes an NFC tag 161a provided in the drum unit 161, the developing unit 162, the transfer unit 163, or the fixing unit 164 in which the occurrence of the defect is detected when the occurrence of the defect is detected by the defect detection unit 171. ˜164a has a function of writing defect information. The defect information includes the printing mode of the image forming apparatus 1 when the defect occurs, log information immediately before the defect occurs, various machine count values of the image forming apparatus 1 (for example, the total number of printed sheets of the image forming apparatus 1), and the defect. There are various unit count values (for example, the total number of prints of the replacement unit) in the generated replacement unit, and the number of service calls caused by the replacement unit in which a failure has occurred. With this information, it is possible to analyze the cause of the failure to some extent with the replacement unit alone.

  The service call output unit 173 outputs a service call requesting replacement of a replacement unit in which a failure has occurred and causes the operation unit 11 to display it when the failure detection unit 171 detects the occurrence of the failure. Upon receiving the service call, the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred is replaced by a service person, and the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred is sent to the service parts warehouse.

  The mobile terminal 2 includes a short-range wireless communication unit 21, an operation unit 22, a communication unit 23, and a control unit 24, and is provided with a mobile phone, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PDA possessed by a worker in a service parts warehouse. It is a portable device such as (Personal Digital Assistant).

  The short-range wireless communication unit 21 has a function of establishing short-range wireless communication with the NFC tags (161a to 164a) of the exchange unit in which a problem has occurred and reading and writing various information to and from the NFC tags (161a to 164a). ing.

  The operation unit 22 is a user interface including a display unit for displaying various information and various operation keys. The display unit may be a touch panel that functions as a display unit and an input unit in which a transparent pressure-sensitive sensor is provided on the surface of the display panel.

  The communication unit 23 has a function of transmitting / receiving various data to / from the management server 3 via the wireless network 4.

  The control unit 24 is connected to the short-range wireless communication unit 21, the operation unit 22, and the communication unit 23, and executes operation control of the entire mobile terminal 2 according to predetermined instruction information input from the operation unit 22. The control unit 24 is an information processing unit such as a microcomputer provided with a ROM, a RAM, and the like. The ROM stores a control program for controlling the operation of the mobile terminal 2. The control unit 24 reads the control program stored in the ROM and develops the control program in the RAM, thereby controlling the entire terminal according to predetermined instruction information input from the operation unit 22. Further, when the control unit 24 performs short-range wireless communication with the NFC tags (161a to 164a) of the exchange unit in which the failure has occurred via the short-range wireless communication unit 21, the control unit 24 communicates the read-out failure information. It functions as a defect collation unit 241 that collates with defect information stored in the defect information database 31 of the management server 3 via the unit 23.

  The management server 3 has a defect information database 31 that stores various defect information.

  Next, the flow of operations for managing defect information in the defect information management system will be described with reference to FIGS.

  Referring to FIG. 4, when a failure occurs in the replacement unit, the image forming apparatus 1 functions as the failure detection unit 171 and detects that a failure has occurred in the replacement unit (step s11). When the defect detection unit 171 detects a defect in the replacement unit, the defect information writing unit 172 writes the defect information in the NFC tags (161a to 164a) of the replacement unit in which the occurrence of the defect is detected (step s12). Subsequently, the service call output unit 173 outputs a service call requesting replacement of the exchange unit in which the failure has occurred (step s13), and the process in the image forming apparatus 1 is completed. Thereafter, in the image forming apparatus 1, the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred is replaced with a new one by the service person, and the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred is collected and sent to the service parts warehouse.

  Referring to FIG. 5, in the service parts warehouse, the portable terminal 2 is brought close to the defective replacement unit by an operator. The short-range wireless communication unit 21 of the portable terminal 2 stands by until the short-range wireless communication is established (No in Step s21 and Step s21). When the short-range wireless communication is established, the NFC of the exchange unit in which the malfunction occurred. The defect information written by the defect information writing unit 172 is read from the tags (161a to 164a) (step s22). Subsequently, the defect collation unit 241 collates the read defect information with the defect information stored in the defect information database 31 of the management server 3 via the communication unit 23 (step s23), and the operation unit 22 indicates the collation result. This is displayed (step s24), and this process ends.

  As described above, the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment is an image forming apparatus in which components (drum unit 161, developing unit 162, transfer unit 163, and fixing unit 164) used for image formation are provided as replacement units. The replacement unit has a passive type wireless tag, and a failure detection unit 171 that detects that a failure has occurred in the replacement unit, and the occurrence of the failure is detected when the occurrence of the failure is detected. A defect information writing unit 172 that writes defect information to the wireless tag of the replacement unit, and a service call output unit 173 that outputs a service call requesting replacement of the replacement unit in which a defect occurs when the occurrence of the defect is detected It is characterized by having.

  As a result, the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred is provided with a wireless tag in which the failure information is written, so that the operator can install the replacement unit in which the failure has occurred in the machine without energizing the replacement unit. The defect information can be easily read out from the NFC tags (161a to 164a) to the mobile terminal 2, and can be collated with the defect information stored in the management server 3. Therefore, the worker can easily determine whether the defect of the replacement unit sent to the service parts warehouse is new or existing, and immediately determines whether to send it to the research organization or discard it. can do. Also, by transmitting defect information read by the mobile terminal 2 to the management server 3 and storing it in the defect information database 31, it is possible to easily manage what kind of defects are statistically occurring. , Defect information can be fed back to the factory and design for improvement.

  In addition, according to the present embodiment, even when the replacement unit before being distributed to the market is modified for performance improvement or the like, the replacement unit is exchanged via the portable terminal on the spot where the operator performs the modification. The modification history can be easily written to the NFC tag.

  The tag provided in the exchange unit may be a battery-free tag (passive tag) that can operate with electric power based on radio waves from a portable terminal, and is not limited to an NFC tag, but may be a passive RFID (Radio Frequency IDentifier), for example. ) Tag.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Portable terminal 3 Management server 4 Wireless network 11 Operation part 12 Document reading part 13 Document feeding part 14 Image processing part 15 Storage part 16 Printing part 17 Control part 21 Short-distance wireless communication part 22 Operation part 23 Communication part 24 Control unit 31 Defect information database 161 Drum unit 162 Development unit 163 Transfer unit 164 Fixing unit 161a, 162a, 163a, 164a NFC tag 161b Photoreceptor drum 162b Container 162c Two-component developer 162d Development roller 171 Defect detection unit 172 Defect information writing Part 173 service call output part 241 defect verification part

Claims (3)

An image forming apparatus in which components used for image formation are provided as exchangeable units,
The exchange unit has a passive wireless tag,
A fault detection unit for detecting that a fault has occurred in the replacement unit;
A defect information writing unit that writes defect information to the wireless tag of the replacement unit in which the occurrence of the defect is detected when the occurrence of the defect is detected;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a service call output unit that outputs a service call requesting replacement of the replacement unit in which the occurrence of the malfunction is detected when the occurrence of the malfunction is detected. The defect information writing unit
As the defect information, a print mode, log information immediately before the occurrence of the defect, a machine count value, a unit count value, and the number of service calls caused by the replacement unit in which the occurrence of the defect is detected are written in the wireless tag. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. When the replacement unit is a development unit,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the wireless tag is provided on a surface located on a longitudinal end side of the developing unit.

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