JP2019171764A - Image formation apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an image formation apparatus which suppresses the occurrence of a communication error in an environment where the periodical noise exists.SOLUTION: A storage device 11a capable of performing communication is attached to a toner container 11 attachable/detachable to/from an image formation apparatus body 21. The image formation apparatus body 21 includes a communication circuit 31 and a controller 32. The controller 32, when the communication error occurs between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a, (a) determines whether or not there is the periodicity in the communication error, and (b) identifies the period of the communication error when determining that there is the periodicity in the communication error, and causes the communication circuit 31 to execute communication with the storage device 11a by avoiding the timing at which the communication error occurs on the basis of the identified period.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  In some image forming apparatuses, a detachable unit is provided with a non-volatile memory unit, and the image forming apparatus main body communicates with the non-volatile memory unit, and if communication is not completed normally, the communication frequency The communication is retried in half (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP-A-2005-84502

  However, in the above-described image forming apparatus, when a communication error occurs, the communication frequency is halved to try to avoid the communication error. However, if the communication frequency is halved, the communication time is doubled. If the communication error is caused by periodic noise, it is still difficult to avoid the influence of periodic noise, and communication may not be completed normally.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain an image forming apparatus that suppresses the occurrence of a communication error in an environment where periodic noise exists.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes an image forming apparatus main body, a unit detachably attached to the image forming apparatus main body, and a communicable storage device attached to the unit. The image forming apparatus main body includes a communication circuit that communicates with the storage device, and a controller that controls the communication circuit. Then, when a communication error occurs between the communication circuit and the storage device, the controller determines (a) whether the communication error has periodicity, and (b) the communication error. When it is determined that there is periodicity, the communication error period is specified, and the communication circuit is configured to communicate with the storage device while avoiding the timing at which the communication error occurs based on the specified period. Let it run.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to obtain an image forming apparatus that suppresses the occurrence of a communication error in an environment where periodic noise exists.

  These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing a part of a mechanical internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIGS. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating details of the communication start timing correction process (step S8) in FIG. FIG. 5 is a timing chart illustrating details of the communication start timing correction process (step S8) in FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the details of the periodicity determination process (step S10) in FIG. FIG. 7 is a timing chart illustrating details of the periodicity determination process (step S10) in FIG.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a side view showing a part of a mechanical internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. This image forming apparatus is an image forming apparatus having an electrophotographic printing function, such as a printer, a facsimile machine, a copying machine, or a multifunction machine.

  The image forming apparatus of this embodiment has a tandem color developing device. The color developing device includes photosensitive drums 1a to 1d, exposure devices 2a to 2d, and developing devices 3a to 3d. The photoconductor drums 1a to 1d are four-color photoconductors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. The exposure apparatuses 2a to 2d are apparatuses that form electrostatic latent images by irradiating the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d with laser light. The exposure apparatuses 2a to 2d are laser scanning units having a laser diode that is a light source of laser light and optical elements (lens, mirror, polygon mirror, etc.) that guide the laser light to the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d.

  Further, around the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d, a charger such as a scorotron, a cleaning device, a static eliminator and the like are arranged. The cleaning device removes residual toner on the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d after the primary transfer, and the static eliminator neutralizes the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d after the primary transfer.

  To the developing devices 3a to 3d, toner containers filled with toners of four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are respectively mounted. The toner is supplied from the toner containers, and constitutes a developer together with the carrier. The developing devices 3a to 3d form toner images by attaching the toner to the electrostatic latent images on the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d. The toner container is detachable and is replaced by a service person or a user.

  The photosensitive drum 1a, the exposure device 2a, and the developing device 3a develop magenta, and the photosensitive drum 1b, the exposure device 2b, and the developing device 3b develop cyan, the photosensitive drum 1c, and the exposure device. Yellow development is performed by the device 2c and the developing device 3c, and black development is performed by the photosensitive drum 1d, the exposure device 2d, and the developing device 3d.

  The intermediate transfer belt 4 is an annular image carrier that contacts the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d and primarily transfers the toner images on the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d. The intermediate transfer belt 4 is stretched around the driving roller 5 and circulates in the direction from the contact position with the photosensitive drum 1d to the contact position with the photosensitive drum 1a by the driving force from the driving roller 5.

  The transfer roller 6 brings the conveyed paper into contact with the intermediate transfer belt 4 and secondarily transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 4 to the paper. The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred is conveyed to the fixing device 9 and the toner image is fixed on the sheet.

  The roller 7 has a cleaning brush, and the cleaning brush is brought into contact with the intermediate transfer belt 4 to remove the toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 4 after the transfer of the toner image onto the paper.

  The sensor 8 is a sensor used for toner density adjustment, and irradiates the intermediate transfer belt 4 with a light beam and detects the reflected light.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, a toner container 11 filled with toner of each toner color is attached to the developing devices 3a to 3d. A storage device 11 a is fixedly installed in the toner container 11.

  The image forming apparatus includes an image forming apparatus main body 21 and a unit that can be attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus main body 21. Units that can be attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus main body 21 include a toner container 11, developing devices 3a to 3d, an intermediate transfer belt 4, and a fixing device 9. A storage device (storage device 11a in the case of the toner container 11) that can communicate with the image forming apparatus main body 21 is attached to each unit. The storage device includes a communication circuit and a nonvolatile memory.

  In this embodiment, the storage device 11a installed in the toner container 11 will be described, but the same applies to other units. In this embodiment, the storage device 11a is a radio frequency identification (RFID) RFID. Note that the storage device 11a may be a wired communication type IC tag.

  Information about the toner container 11 is stored in the nonvolatile memory of the storage device 11a. For example, information such as the toner color and toner consumption of the toner container 11 is written into the storage device 11a by the image forming apparatus main body 21.

  The image forming apparatus further includes a communication circuit 31 and a controller 32 in the image forming apparatus main body 21.

  The communication circuit 31 performs communication with the storage device 11a.

  The controller 32 receives a job such as printing or copying, and executes the job. When executing a print job, the controller 32 controls the internal device of the image forming apparatus and the printing mechanism shown in FIG. 1 to execute printing. For example, the controller 32 is an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). Specifically, the controller 32 receives print data, controls the internal device based on the print data, and executes printing. The controller 32 controls a drive source (not shown) that drives the above-described roller, a bias application circuit that applies a development bias and a primary transfer bias, and exposure apparatuses 2a to 2d to form an electrostatic latent image, Toner development, transfer and fixing, and paper feeding, printing, and paper ejection are executed.

  Further, the controller 32 controls the communication circuit 31 to establish communication between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a, and performs communication with the storage device 11a.

  In particular, when a communication error occurs between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a, the controller 32 determines (a) whether the communication error has periodicity, and (b) When it is determined that there is periodicity, the communication error cycle is specified, and the communication circuit 31 is caused to execute communication with the storage device 11a while avoiding the timing at which the communication error occurs based on the specified cycle. .

  In this embodiment, the controller 32 causes the communication circuit 31 to continuously execute communication with the storage device 11a for a predetermined time (for example, 500 milliseconds), so that at least three communication errors occur. The timing is detected, (a) based on the detected timing interval, it is determined whether or not the communication error has periodicity, and (b) when it is determined that the communication error has periodicity, Based on the interval, the communication error cycle is specified.

  Next, the operation of the image forming apparatus will be described. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image forming apparatus shown in FIGS.

  When a communication request (for example, a request for data writing, data reading, etc.) to the storage device 11a is generated, the controller 32 executes the following processing.

  First, the controller 32 sets a retry counter Cr to zero (step S1), and causes the communication circuit 31 to start communication with the storage device 11a (step S2). The controller 32 transmits or receives communication data of a predetermined size between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a, and detects the end of this communication (step S3).

  The controller 32 starts timing at the start of communication, identifies the communication end time Tend, and stores the communication end time Tend in a storage device (RAM (Random Access Memory), nonvolatile memory, etc.) (not shown) (step S4). ).

  After the communication is completed, the controller 32 determines whether or not a communication error has occurred based on the value of the transmitted / received communication data (step S5). If it is determined that no communication error has occurred, the controller 32 normally completes communication.

  On the other hand, if it is determined that a communication error has occurred, the controller 32 determines whether the retry counter Cr is less than 2 (step S6).

  When the retry counter Cr is less than 2 (that is, when the number of retries is zero or 1), the controller 32 increments the retry counter Cr by 1 (step S7), and executes a communication start timing correction process. (Step S8).

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating details of the communication start timing correction process (step S8) in FIG. FIG. 5 is a timing chart illustrating details of the communication start timing correction process (step S8) in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, at the time when the communication is completed as described above, the controller 32 reads the predicted period value tep stored at present from a built-in nonvolatile memory (not shown) (step S21). ), The above-mentioned communication end time Tend is read (step S22). Note that the predicted period value tep is a default value in the initial state, and is adjusted in a periodicity determination process (step S10) described later. The default value of the period prediction value tep is, for example, 0 milliseconds.

  Then, the controller 32 calculates the sum of the communication end time Tend and the period predicted value tep as the communication start timing at the time of retry (step S23). And the controller 32 waits until the communication start timing comes (step S24).

  When the communication start timing arrives, the process returns to FIG. 3, and the controller 32 returns to step S2 to retry the communication described above. If the period predicted value tep is 0 milliseconds, the above communication is immediately retried without waiting.

  In this way, the retry is executed, and if no communication error is detected in step S5, the communication ends normally.

  On the other hand, also in the retry, if a communication error is detected in step S5, the retry is performed again in the same manner.

  When the retry counter Cr becomes 2 (step S9), the controller 32 executes a periodicity determination process (step S10).

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the details of the periodicity determination process (step S10) in FIG. FIG. 7 is a timing chart illustrating details of the periodicity determination process (step S10) in FIG.

  As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the controller 32 sets a check step counter Cs to 1 (step S41), and starts the first check step. In the check step, the controller 32 continuously executes communication, detects a communication error, and specifies the timing of the communication error.

  At the start of the check step, the controller 32 stores the time (step start time) in a storage device such as a RAM (step S42), causes the communication circuit 31 to transmit the check data to the storage device 11a, and transmits the check data. And check data of the same value and size are made to respond to the storage device 11a (step S43). The controller 32 starts timing at the step start time.

  Note that the size of the check data is set to a lower limit value for communication (for example, 1 byte), and the value of the check data is set to a predetermined value (for example, the values of all bits are 1).

  When the controller 32 receives the check data from the storage device 11a in the communication circuit 31 (step S44), the controller 32 compares the transmitted check data with the received check data to determine whether or not a communication error has occurred. Is determined (step S45). Here, if the transmitted check data does not match the received check data, it is determined that a communication error has occurred.

  When a communication error has not occurred, the controller 32 determines whether or not the elapsed time te from the step start time exceeds a predetermined value (for example, 500 milliseconds) (that is, whether or not a timeout has occurred) ( Step S46). If not timed out, the process returns to step S43, and the controller 32 continuously transmits and receives check data (steps S43 and S44).

  In this way, check data is repeatedly sent and received repeatedly until a communication error occurs or a timeout occurs.

  When a communication error occurs or times out, at that time, the controller 32 stores the current check step elapsed time te [Cs] in a storage device such as a RAM (step S47).

  If the check step counter Cs is not 3 (step S48), the controller 32 increases the check step counter Cs by 1 (step S49), returns to step S42, and performs the next check step processing (steps S42 to S47). ) In the same way.

  When the check step is executed three times, the check step counter Cs becomes 3. When the three check steps are completed (step S48), the controller 32 determines that at least one check step has timed out based on the elapsed times te [1], te [2], and te [3] of the three check steps. (That is, whether there is at least one check step in which no communication error has occurred) is determined (step S50).

  When there is no check step in which no communication error has occurred, the controller 32 calculates the absolute value of the difference between the elapsed time te [2] of the second check step and the elapsed time te [3] of the third check step. Is less than a predetermined threshold Th (that is, the time interval between the first communication error and the second communication error is substantially equal to the time interval between the second communication error and the third communication error). Whether or not) (step S51).

  If the time interval between the first communication error and the second communication error in the three check steps and the time interval between the second communication error and the third communication error are substantially equal, the controller 32 determines that the communication error Is determined to have periodicity, and based on the elapsed time te [2] and the elapsed time te [3], the cycle predicted value tep is adjusted (step S52), and the adjusted cycle predicted value tep is stored. The period prediction value tep that is present is updated. As a result, the adjusted period predicted value tep is applied to subsequent communications.

  Specifically, the controller 32 sets the average value of the elapsed time te [2] and the elapsed time te [3] to the period predicted value tep.

  If there is at least one check step in which no communication error has occurred (step S50), and the time interval between the first communication error and the second communication error in the three check steps, and the second communication error When the time interval between the communication error and the third communication error is not substantially equal (step S51), the controller 32 keeps the cycle prediction value tep as the default value.

  After completing the periodicity determination process (step S10) in this manner, the processing returns to FIG. 3 and the controller 32 executes the communication start timing correction process (step S8). When the communication start timing comes, the communication retry is performed again. Execute.

  If a communication error occurs even after retrying after the periodicity determination process (step S10) is completed, the retry counter Cr is 3 (step S11), so the controller 32 sets the communication data size to the lower limit value. (Step S12), the retry counter Cr is incremented by 1 (Step S7), the communication start timing correction process is executed (Step S8), and when the communication start timing comes, the communication retry (the fourth retry) is performed again. ).

  If a communication error occurs even in the fourth retry communication, the controller 32 notifies the user of the communication abnormality (step S13), and terminates the communication abnormally. For example, the controller 32 displays a message indicating a communication abnormality on a display device (not shown).

  As described above, the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment includes the image forming apparatus main body 21, the unit (toner container 11) that can be attached to and detached from the image forming apparatus main body 21, and the communication that is attached to the unit. A storage device (storage device 11a). The image forming apparatus main body 21 includes a communication circuit 31 that communicates with the storage device 11 a and a controller 32 that controls the communication circuit 31. When a communication error occurs between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a, the controller 32 determines (a) whether the communication error has periodicity, and (b) the communication error. When it is determined that there is periodicity, the communication error cycle is specified, and the communication circuit 31 is caused to execute communication with the storage device 11a while avoiding the timing at which the communication error occurs based on the specified cycle. .

  Thereby, since communication is performed avoiding the timing at which a communication error occurs, the occurrence of a communication error in an environment where periodic noise exists is suppressed. As a result, the stoppage of the apparatus due to the communication abnormality is suppressed.

  Various changes and modifications to the above-described embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter and without diminishing its intended advantages. That is, such changes and modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

  For example, in the above embodiment, when communication data of a predetermined size is continuously transmitted / received between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a, the controller 32 indicates that the communication data of the predetermined size is shorter than the above cycle. When communication is not possible in time, the communication data is divided into a plurality of divided data, and the divided data is communicated a plurality of times to avoid a timing at which a communication error occurs, and between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a. The communication may be executed. At that time, even if the controller 32 sets the size of the communication data between the communication circuit 31 and the storage device 11a to the lower limit value, if the divided data cannot be communicated in a time shorter than the above-described cycle, the communication is performed. May be stopped and a communication abnormality may be reported.

  The present invention can be applied to, for example, a printer, a copier, and a multifunction machine.

11 Toner container (example of unit)
11a Storage device 21 Image forming apparatus body 31 Communication circuit 32 Controller

Claims (4)

An image forming apparatus main body;
A unit detachable from the image forming apparatus body;
A communicable storage device attached to the unit;
The image forming apparatus main body includes a communication circuit that communicates with the storage device, and a controller that controls the communication circuit,
When a communication error occurs between the communication circuit and the storage device, the controller determines whether (a) the communication error has periodicity, and (b) the communication error has periodicity. When it is determined that there is a communication error, the communication error cycle is specified, and the communication circuit is caused to execute communication with the storage device while avoiding the timing at which the communication error occurs based on the specified cycle. thing,
An image forming apparatus.   When the size of communication data between the communication circuit and the storage device is not communicable in a time shorter than the period, the controller divides the communication data into a plurality of divided data, and a plurality of the divided data The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication circuit is caused to execute communication with the storage device while avoiding a timing at which the communication error occurs in one communication.   The controller stops the communication when the size of the communication data between the communication circuit and the storage device is set to the lower limit value and the divided data is not communicable in a time shorter than the cycle. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a communication abnormality is notified.   The controller causes the communication circuit to continuously execute communication with the storage device for a predetermined time to detect the timing of at least three communication errors, and (a) the detected timing is Based on the interval, it is determined whether or not the communication error has periodicity. (B) When it is determined that the communication error has periodicity, the communication error is determined based on the detected timing interval. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a period is specified.

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