JP2023090870A - Information processing device and control method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a technique for preventing shortage of consumables even when actual usage of the consumables by an image forming device does not follow an expected mathematical model.SOLUTION: In an image forming device, a first signal output prompting first preparation for preparing replacement consumables is controlled based on estimated usage and/or remaining amounts of the consumables used for image forming. A second signal output prompting second preparation, different from the first preparation, for preparing replacement consumables is controlled based on the estimated usage amounts.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

The present invention relates to consumables management technology.

Electrophotographic copiers and printers, facsimile machines, inkjet printers, and multifunction machines combining these with image reading functions are known as image forming apparatuses that form and output images on recording media such as paper. there is These image forming apparatuses form and output images while consuming consumables such as toner, ink, and paper. In addition, consumable parts such as photoreceptors used in the image forming process (the above consumables and consumable parts are hereinafter collectively referred to as consumables) are contaminated with toner or ink and wear of rubbing parts as they are used. progresses and the desired performance cannot be exhibited. Therefore, such consumables are provided with a predetermined component life. When these consumables are used up or when the life of the parts has expired, the image forming apparatus cannot output normal images.

Therefore, in order to stably operate the image forming apparatus, the following is required. That is, before the consumables are used up or the predetermined life of the consumables is reached, spare consumables for replacement are delivered to the user, and the user temporarily stocks the inventory and replenishes or replaces (hereinafter referred to as collective replacement). (referred to as ) is prepared to be replaced promptly when it becomes necessary.

As a technique for managing the delivery of spare consumables as described above, a technique for determining the delivery timing of spare consumables based on the user's history of using the consumables is known. For example, in the automatic purchasing system for consumables described in Patent Document 1, by predicting the future demand for consumables based on the usage history of consumables obtained when the user first started using the consumables, the user's actual We supply consumables according to demand.

U.S. Patent No. 6,249,774

When predicting future demand based on a user's past usage history of consumables, it is common to apply a mathematical model obtained from the past history to predict future demand. However, if the amount of actual usage of the image forming apparatus by the user deviates from the mathematical model, for example, an exceptionally large demand for consumables will suddenly occur compared to the demand forecast for consumables, and this sudden large amount of demand will occur. If the demand is repeated, the error between the predicted demand and the actual demand becomes large. As a result, there may arise a problem that the image forming apparatus cannot be used because the consumables are not delivered in time for the replacement of the consumables. The present invention provides a technique for preventing a shortage of consumables even when the amount of consumables actually used in an image forming apparatus does not conform to an assumed mathematical model.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus, in which a first method for preparing replacement consumables is performed based on an estimated usage amount and/or remaining amount of consumables used for image formation in the image forming apparatus. first control means for controlling output of a first signal prompting preparation; and second control means for controlling the output of the second signal.

According to the configuration of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a shortage of consumables even in cases where the actual amount of consumables used in the image forming apparatus does not conform to an assumed mathematical model.

2 is a cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus 101; FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a toner replenishment operation from a toner bottle as a consumable; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image forming apparatus 101 related to delivery management of consumables; 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of a usage detection unit 302; 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a determination unit 308; FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a display example on a display screen 600 of an operation panel 171; The figure which shows an example of a simulation. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image forming apparatus 101 related to delivery management of consumables; FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the image forming apparatus 101 related to delivery management of consumables; 4 is a flowchart showing the operation of a determination unit 306;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiment described below is an example of a specific implementation of the present invention, and is one of the specific embodiments of the configuration described in the claims.

[First embodiment]
First, the main configuration related to the image forming process of the image forming apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Methods applicable to the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment include a plurality of methods such as an electrophotographic method, an offset printing method, and an inkjet method. An image forming apparatus capable of printing will be described. Accordingly, FIG. 1 shows (a part of) the main configuration relating to the image forming process of an image forming apparatus 101 capable of color printing using an electrophotographic method.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a so-called intermediate transfer tandem type image forming apparatus 101 in which four color image forming units are arranged side by side on an intermediate transfer belt. ing. The toner images formed by the image forming units 110Y, 110M, 110C, and 110K are transferred to the recording material S conveyed by the paper conveying unit 150 via the intermediate transfer belt unit 102, whereby the image is formed on the recording material S. It is formed. Image formation on the recording material S will be described below.

<Conveyance Process of Recording Material S>
The recording material S is stored in the form of being stacked on a lift-up device 152 in the recording material storage portion 151, and is fed by a paper feed roller 153 in accordance with image forming timing. Of course, other paper feeding methods may be used. The recording material S sent out by the paper feed roller 153 passes through the paper feed conveying path 154 and is conveyed to the registration rollers 155 . After skew correction and timing correction are performed by the registration rollers 155, the recording material S is sent to the secondary transfer portion. The secondary transfer portion is a transfer nip formed by the inner secondary transfer drive roller 2 as the first secondary transfer member and the outer secondary transfer roller 156 as the second secondary transfer member facing each other. Then, the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt is transferred onto the recording material S by applying a predetermined pressure and an electrostatic load bias.

<Image creation process>
An image forming process up to the secondary transfer portion, which is executed at the same timing as the above-described process of conveying the recording material S up to the secondary transfer portion, will be described. The image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment includes an image forming unit 110Y that forms an image using yellow (Y) toner, an image forming unit 110M that forms an image using magenta (M) toner, and an image forming unit 110M that forms an image using cyan (C) toner. It has an image forming section 110C that forms an image and an image forming section 110K that forms an image with black (BK) toner. The image forming section 110Y, the image forming section 110M, the image forming section 110C, and the image forming section 110K all have the same configuration and perform the same operation except that the toner colors are different. Taking the image forming section 110Y as an example, the configuration and operation of the image forming section 110Y will be described. Further, when describing common to image forming section 110Y, image forming section 110M, image forming section 110C, and image forming section 110K, image forming section 110Y, image forming section 110M, image forming section 110C, image forming section 110K is called an image forming section 110. FIG.

The image forming unit 110Y as a toner image forming unit includes a photoreceptor 111 as an image carrier, a charger 112 that charges the photoreceptor 111, an exposure unit 113, a developing device 114, a primary transfer roller 115, a photoreceptor cleaner 116, have A photosensitive member 111 rotating in the direction of arrow m in the drawing is uniformly charged on its surface by a charger 112 . A scanner unit 117 including a laser and a polygon mirror correction lens scans image pixel information (including information related to each pixel, such as the pixel position of each pixel constituting an image to be formed) transmitted from an image controller 301, which will be described later. A modulated laser beam is output. This laser beam is reflected by the folding mirror and exposes the charged photoreceptor 111 in the exposure unit 113 to form an electrostatic latent image. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photoreceptor 111 is developed with electrostatically charged toner in the developing device 114 to form a toner image on the photoreceptor 111 . After that, a predetermined pressure and an electrostatic load bias are applied by the primary transfer roller 115 to transfer the yellow toner image onto the intermediate transfer belt 1 which is a belt member. After that, the untransferred toner remaining on the photoreceptor 111 is collected by the photoreceptor cleaner 116 to prepare for the next image formation.

The image forming units 110 described above have four sets of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (Bk) in the case of FIG. Therefore, the yellow toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 1 with the magenta toner image formed by the image forming unit 110</b>M. Further, the cyan toner image formed by the image forming unit 110</b>C is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1 with respect to the magenta toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 . Further, the black toner image formed by the image forming unit 110K is transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1 with respect to the cyan toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 . Thus, a full-color image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 by superimposing toner images of different colors on the intermediate transfer belt 1 . Although the number of colors is four in this embodiment, the number of colors is not limited to four, and the arrangement order of the colors is not limited to this.

Next, the intermediate transfer belt unit 102 including the intermediate transfer belt 1 will be described. The intermediate transfer belt 1 includes an inner secondary transfer driving roller 2 that serves as both a driving member and an inner secondary transfer member, a tension roller 3 that applies a predetermined tension to the intermediate transfer belt 1, and a pre-secondary transfer roller that is a stretching member. 4, is stretched by. The intermediate transfer belt 1 is a belt member that is transported and driven in the direction of arrow V in the figure. The pre-secondary transfer roller 4 is arranged on the upstream side of the inner secondary transfer drive roller 2 with respect to the conveying direction V of the intermediate transfer belt 1, and the tension roller 3 is arranged on the downstream side of the inner secondary transfer drive roller 2. there is A primary transfer roller 115 is arranged between the tension roller 3 and the pre-secondary transfer roller 4 . The tension roller 3 and the pre-secondary transfer roller 4 are not driven, and rotate following the conveyance of the intermediate transfer belt 1 .

The tension roller 3 is held movably in the direction of arrow T in the figure (parallel to the plane formed by the intermediate transfer belt 1 stretched between the tension roller 3 and the pre-secondary transfer roller 4). It is biased by the illustrated biasing portion. As a result, tension is applied to the intermediate transfer belt 1 . The outer circumference of the inner secondary transfer driving roller 2 is arranged so that the inner secondary transfer driving roller 2 can convey the intermediate transfer belt 1 by frictional force in a state in which tension is applied to the intermediate transfer belt 1 by the tension roller 3. is made of conductive EPDM. The initial frictional resistance μ of the outer circumferential surface of the driving roller 2 in secondary transfer is set at about 1.0 to 1.5. An intermediate transfer cleaner 50 for removing toner remaining on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is fixedly attached to the tension roller 3 on the opposite side of the tension roller 3 with the intermediate transfer belt 1 interposed therebetween.

The intermediate transfer belt 1 is an endless belt made of polyimide and having a circumference of 792 mm, a width of 346 mm, and a thickness of 60 μm. The material of the intermediate transfer body is not limited to the above, but other materials such as polycarbonate, PVDF, ETFE, and PTFE can be preferably used.

The image forming process of each color processed in parallel by the image forming units 110Y, 110M, 110C, and 110K is performed at the timing of superimposing on the toner image of the upstream color primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 1. FIG. As a result, a full-color toner image is finally formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 and conveyed to the secondary transfer portion. The number of rollers around which the intermediate transfer belt 1 is stretched is not limited to that shown in FIG. Further, the material of the inner secondary transfer driving roller 2 and the initial frictional resistance of the outer peripheral surface are not limited to the above-described configurations.

<Process after secondary transfer>
The full-color toner image formed on the intermediate transfer belt 1 is secondarily transferred onto the recording material S in the secondary transfer portion by the conveying process of the recording material S and the image forming process described above. After that, the recording material S is conveyed to the fixing device 158 by the pre-fixing conveying section 157 . Although the fixing device 158 has various configurations and methods, in FIG. is melted and fixed. Here, fixing roller 159 has a heater as a heat source inside, and pressure roller 160 is urged toward fixing roller 159 . The recording material S that has passed through the fixing device 158 and is conveyed to the discharge reversing roller 161 is discharged as it is onto the discharge tray 162, or if double-sided image formation is required, it is guided to the branching device 163 and conveyed on both sides. A route is selected for transport to device 164 . When double-sided image formation is required, the recording material S is conveyed to the double-sided conveying device 164 by performing a switchback operation with the discharge reversing roller 161 to switch the leading and trailing edges. After that, the re-feeding path 165 merges with the paper-feeding conveyance path 154 in time with the recording material of the succeeding job conveyed from the paper-feeding roller 153, and is similarly sent to the secondary transfer portion. The image forming process for the back surface (second surface) is the same as that for the front surface (first surface) described above, so description thereof is omitted.

<Replenishing Toner from Toner Bottle>
A toner supply operation from a toner bottle as a consumable item will be described with reference to FIG. In the image forming process described above, a toner image is formed by consuming the toner contained in the developing device 114 . Therefore, the toner in the developing device 114 decreases each time the image forming process is performed. A developing toner amount detection sensor 131 provided in the developing device 114 detects whether or not a predetermined amount or more of toner is contained in the developing device 114 . When the toner in the developing device 114 falls below a certain amount, the developing device 114 is replenished with toner stored in a hopper 132 connected to the developing device 114 . A replenishment screw 133 is provided inside the hopper 132 , and by controlling the amount of rotation of the replenishment screw 133 , a fixed amount of toner can be replenished into the developing device 114 . Here, when the amount of toner stored in the hopper 132 is less than a predetermined amount, the correct amount of toner cannot be replenished to the developing device 114 regardless of the amount of rotation of the replenishment screw 133 . However, a hopper partner amount detection sensor 134 provided in the hopper 132 detects whether or not the toner is contained in the hopper 132 in a predetermined amount or more. When the amount of toner in the hopper 132 falls below a certain amount, the toner contained in the toner bottle 140 is replenished into the hopper 132 . The developing toner amount detection sensor 131 and hopper partner amount detection sensor 134 are preferably an inductance sensor for measuring magnetic permeability or a powder level sensor using a piezoelectric vibrator, but are not limited to these.

The toner bottle 140 is configured to be detachable from the image forming apparatus 101 , and is attached to a bottle mount (not shown) provided in the image forming apparatus 101 . is released. A spiral toner conveying portion is formed inside the toner bottle 140, and when an instruction to replenish toner to the hopper 132 is given, the toner in the toner bottle 140 rotates and the toner in the toner bottle 140 moves toward the replenishing port. be transported. Furthermore, the toner bottle 140 is contracted in accordance with the rotation of the toner bottle 140 . As a result, the toner in the toner bottle 140 transported to the vicinity of the replenishment port is discharged through the replenishment port by pumping accompanying the contraction of the toner bottle 140 , and the hopper 132 is replenished with the toner.

As described above, the toner consumed by the developing device 114 is ultimately supplied from the toner bottle 140, so the toner in the toner bottle 140 runs out by continuing the image forming process. However, since the toner bottle 140 is configured to be detachable from the image forming apparatus 101, it is possible to continue the image forming process by the image forming apparatus 101 by replacing it with a new toner bottle containing toner. is.

<Delivery management of consumables>
Next, a configuration example of the image forming apparatus 101 related to delivery management of consumables used for image formation by the image forming apparatus 101 will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the "consumable item used by the image forming apparatus 101 for image formation" is toner, but the "consumable item used by the image forming apparatus 101 for image formation" is not limited to toner.

Controller 300 can be implemented with one or more processors and memory. Then, the one or more processors execute processing using the computer programs and data stored in the memory, thereby executing or controlling each processing described later as what the controller 300 performs.

The above image pixel information is sent from the image controller 301 to the scanner controller 309 and the usage amount detection unit 302 . The scanner controller 309 generates a laser emission command according to the image pixel information sent from the image controller 301 and controls the emission timing of the scanner unit 117 .

The replenishment controller 303 determines the operation timing of the replenishment screw 133 and the toner bottle 140 (details of the operation timing are as described above) based on the detection result of the developing toner amount detection sensor 131 and the detection result of the hopper partner amount detection sensor 134 . . Then, the replenishment controller 303 rotates the motor for driving the replenishment screw 133 and the toner bottle 140 according to the determined operation timing, thereby realizing the above toner replenishment by the replenishment screw 133 and the toner bottle 140. . The replenishment controller 303 counts the number of times the toner bottle 140 is rotated as the “number of times of toner replenishment” and notifies the usage detection unit 302 of the counted “number of times of toner replenishment”.

The memory 304 is a memory provided in the toner bottle 140, and the remaining amount of toner contained in the toner bottle 140 (remaining amount of toner) is stored in the memory 304. FIG. Note that when the toner bottle 140 is unused, the memory 304 stores the weight of the toner filled at the time of production as the remaining amount of toner. The toner remaining amount stored in the memory 304 is managed by the usage amount detection unit 302 .

The operation of the usage detection unit 302 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 may be executed periodically (for example, every second) or irregularly (for example, each time an image is formed in units of printing such as one image or one page). can be

In step S100, the used amount detection unit 302 reads out the toner remaining amount _WT-1 stored in the memory 304. FIG. “Remaining amount of toner W _T−1 ” means the amount of toner obtained in the previous “processing according to the flowchart of FIG. remaining amount.

In step S<b>101 , the usage detection unit 302 acquires image pixel information P from the image controller 301 and also acquires the number of times N of toner replenishment from the replenishment controller 303 . The image pixel information P is the cumulative value of the number of pixels for which image formation and output have been performed so far, and the number of toner supply times N is the cumulative value of the number of times the toner bottle 140 has been rotated.

In step S102, the usage amount detection unit 302 obtains ΔP, which is the result of subtracting the number of pixels indicated by the image pixel information P obtained in the previous step S101 from the number of pixels indicated by the image pixel information P obtained in step S101. . The usage detection unit 302 also obtains ΔN, which is the result of subtracting the number of toner replenishments N acquired in the previous step S101 from the number of toner replenishments N acquired in step S101.

In step S103, the usage amount detection unit 302 calculates the following equation using ΔP, ΔN, the representative value of the toner usage amount per pixel of the image, and the representative value of the toner usage amount per toner replenishment. .

Q [mg] = (0.015 x ΔP + 180 x ΔN)/2
Based on this calculation, the usage amount detection unit 302 obtains (estimates) a usage amount (estimated usage amount) Q of toner that is estimated to be used at the current time T. FIG. In this formula, the representative value of the amount of toner used per image pixel is 0.015 [mg], and the representative value of the amount of toner used per toner replenishment is 180 [mg]. This formula uses the average of the estimated toner usage amount based on the output image and the estimated toner usage amount based on the toner supply amount from the toner bottle to calculate the amount of toner usage that is estimated to be used at the current time. It is a calculation formula for obtaining.

In step S104, the usage amount detection unit 302 adds the estimated usage amount Q obtained in the current step S104 to the accumulated toner usage amount UT _-1 obtained in the previous step S104 (time (T-1)). is obtained as the accumulated toner usage amount _UT at the current time T. That is, the usage detection unit 302 calculates U _T =U _T−1 +Q. When T=1, 2, . . . , U ₀ =0.

In step S105, the usage amount detection unit 302 subtracts the estimated usage amount Q from the toner remaining amount W _T-1 read from the memory 304 in step S100 (W _T-1 -Q). It is obtained as the remaining amount _WT .

In step S106, the usage amount detection unit 302 updates the toner remaining amount W _T−1 stored in the memory 304 to the toner remaining amount W _T obtained in step S105.

In step S107, the usage detection unit 302 acquires the current date using a timer or the like of the controller 300, and if the current date is the day after the previous execution of the process according to the flowchart of FIG. determine whether there is As a result of this determination, if the current date is after the day after the previous execution of the process according to the flowchart of FIG. 4, the process proceeds to step S108. On the other hand, if the current date is the same as the date when the previous process according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 was executed, the process according to the flowchart of FIG. 4 ends.

In step S108, the usage amount detection unit 302 sets the cumulative toner usage amount _UT as "the amount of toner usage for the day including the current time T" (the amount of toner usage per day), and the prediction unit 305 and the determination unit 308. The usage detection unit 302 also sends the remaining toner amount _WT to the prediction unit 305 . In step S109, the usage detection unit 302 initializes _UT to zero.

Returning to FIG. 3 , the prediction unit 305 calculates the following formula each time the cumulative toner usage is acquired from the usage detection unit 302 , and calculates the cumulative toner usage obtained from the usage detection unit 302 . An average value U _AVE (cumulative average of toner usage amount per day) is obtained.

Here, i represents the number of times the "toner usage amount per day" is notified from the usage amount detection unit 302, and U _n represents the toner usage amount per day at the n-th notification. Then, the prediction unit 305 calculates the following formula using the average value U _AVE of the cumulative toner usage amount and the remaining toner amount _WT received from the usage amount detection unit 302, thereby A remaining number of days D, which is the remaining usable period of the remaining toner, is obtained.

D [day] = W/U _AVE
Then, the prediction unit 305 sends the determined number of remaining days D to the determination unit 306 . The operation of the determination unit 306 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step S<b>1001 , the determination unit 306 acquires the number of remaining days D sent from the prediction unit 305 . In step S1002, the determination unit 306 determines whether or not the remaining number of days D acquired in step S1001 is equal to or less than a specified delivery threshold value (for example, 10 days). As a result of this determination, if the remaining number of days D is equal to or less than the delivery threshold, the process proceeds to step S1003, and if the remaining number of days D is greater than the delivery threshold, the process according to the flowchart of FIG. 10 ends. In step S1003, the determination unit 306 determines that the toner bottle 140 will soon be used up, and generates a delivery request signal for prompting a "delivery request", which is an example of a preparation request for a replacement toner bottle. The determination unit 306 then sends the generated delivery request signal to the display controller 310 and also sends the generated delivery request signal to the external maintenance server 307 via the network.

Next, the operation of the determination unit 308 will be described according to the flowchart of FIG. The determination unit 308 performs processing according to the flowchart of FIG. 5 each time the usage amount detection unit 302 outputs the cumulative toner usage amount.

In step S<b>200 , determination unit 308 acquires the cumulative toner usage sent from usage amount detection unit 302 . Then, in step S201, the determination unit 308 determines whether or not the accumulated toner usage amount acquired in step S200 is equal to or greater than a specified amount (count threshold value) (for example, 70000 [mg]). As a result of this determination, if the accumulated toner usage amount obtained in step S200 is equal to or greater than the specified amount, the process proceeds to step S202. goes to step S203.

In step S202, the determination unit 308 increments the number of times the threshold is exceeded by one. Note that the threshold exceeding count is set to 0 when the image forming apparatus 101 is started to be used.

In step S203, the determination unit 308 determines whether or not the number of times the threshold value is exceeded is equal to or greater than a prescribed regularity determination threshold value (for example, 2 times). As a result of this determination, if the number of times the threshold is exceeded is equal to or greater than the regularity determination threshold, the process proceeds to step S204, and if the number of times the threshold is exceeded is less than the regularity determination threshold, the process according to the flowchart of FIG. do.

In step S<b>204 , determination unit 308 generates a standby request signal for prompting a “standby request”, which is an example of a preparation request for a replacement toner bottle. The determination unit 308 then transmits the generated standby request signal to the display controller 310 and also transmits the generated standby request signal to the maintenance server 307 via the network.

In other words, the determination unit 308 detects that the user has consumed a large amount of toner equal to or greater than a predetermined amount per day, and if this tendency is repeated, the amount of toner used per day greatly exceeds the cumulative average amount of toner used. It is judged that there is a high possibility that a sudden large amount of consumables will be consumed. In such a case, the determination unit 308 determines that the delivery of the toner to the installation location of the image forming apparatus 101 after the delivery request for the toner is likely to be delayed from the timing when the toner is used up. Notification is made that the image forming apparatus 101 should always be installed at the installation location.

In the present embodiment, reproducibility of user's mass consumption is evaluated by the regularity determination threshold value (2 times), but the regularity determination threshold value may be set to 1 time in order to more reliably prevent delays in toner delivery. Alternatively, the history of the amount of toner used per day obtained each time the date progresses is statistically processed, and outliers ( If the appearance frequency of the toner usage amount) is higher than the threshold value, the stand-by request signal may be output.

Note that in the present embodiment, the quantity of toner that should be kept on hand is set to 1 (fixed value), but the quantity that should be kept on hand may be changed based on the determination by the determining unit 308 . For example, if the number of times the cumulative toner usage acquired in step S200 exceeds the first threshold is equal to or greater than the stock determination threshold, the quantity to be kept on standby is set to 1, and the cumulative toner usage acquired in step S200 becomes the second threshold. If the number of times of exceeding the threshold (≠first threshold) is equal to or greater than the stock determination threshold, the quantity to be stocked may be set to 2.

Returning to FIG. 3 , the display controller 310 controls display on the display screen of the operation panel 171 of the image forming apparatus 101 , and responds to the delivery request signal from the determination unit 306 and the standby request signal from the determination unit 308 . displayed. FIG. 6 shows a display example on the display screen 600 of the operation panel 171. As shown in FIG. On the display screen 600, for each of the toners (toner Y, toner M, toner C, toner BK) of the image forming apparatus 101, the number of remaining days D obtained for the toner, the necessity/unnecessity of delivery of the toner, the toner A list of necessary/unnecessary (quantity to be kept) is displayed. “Toner delivery required/unnecessary” is “necessary” if the display controller 310 has received a delivery request signal for the toner, and “not required” if not. In addition, "required/unnecessary to keep toner on hand (quantity to keep on hand)" is set to "required (1)" when the display controller 310 has received a keep-on request signal for the toner, and "necessary (1)" when not receiving the toner. Unnecessary (0)”. In FIG. 6, the "quantity to be kept on hand" is set to "1", but if the "quantity to be kept on hand" is changed according to the situation as described above, the changed quantity Num can be set to, for example, Display such as "necessary (Num)".

The maintenance server 307 is a server device connected to the image forming apparatus 101 via a wireless and/or wired network, and displays a display corresponding to a delivery request signal from the determination unit 306 or a standby request signal from the determination unit 308. I do. The display contents include, for example, "necessary/unnecessary to deliver the toner" and "necessary/unnecessary to keep the toner on hand (quantity to be kept on hand)" for each toner, as shown in FIG. By displaying such display contents, the maintenance server 307 allows the operator of the maintenance server 307 to confirm such display contents and determine whether delivery arrangements for toner replacement or regular supply are necessary (the number of deliveries is determined). ) can be recognized. Accordingly, it is possible to deliver the replacement toner to the installation location of the image forming apparatus 101 at an appropriate timing.

Here, FIG. 7 shows an example of a simulation that remarkably demonstrates the effect of this embodiment. Each horizontal axis in FIGS. 7A to 7C indicates the number of operating days of the image forming apparatus 101 . The vertical axis in FIG. 7(a) indicates the "toner usage amount [mg] per day". The solid line graph in FIG. 7A represents the transition of the user's toner usage per day in this simulation, and the one-dot chain line represents the count threshold value [mg] used in step S201 above. For users in this simulation, the cumulative average amount of toner used per day is approximately 3500 [mg]. Also, there is a day in which 30000 to 40000 [mg] of toner is consumed approximately once every 100 days, and a day in which 100000 [mg] or more of toner is consumed approximately once every 400 days.

The vertical axis of FIG. 7(b) indicates the remaining number of days D [days]. The solid line graph in FIG. 7B represents the transition of the remaining days D obtained by the prediction unit 305, and the one-dot chain line represents the delivery threshold. The fact that the remaining days D decreases to about 0 days and then increases to about 200 days indicates that the remaining days D increases because the toner bottle is replaced with a new toner bottle after the toner is used up.

The vertical axis of FIG. 7(c) indicates the signal value of the delivery request signal/standby request signal. In this embodiment, when the delivery request signal/standby request signal is output, it is assumed that the delivery request signal/standby request signal with a value of "1" is output, and the delivery request signal/standby request signal is not output. In this case, it is assumed that a delivery request signal/standby request signal with a value of "0" is output. A solid line represents the waveform of the standing request signal from the determination section 308 , and a dashed line represents the waveform of the delivery request signal from the determination section 306 .

In this embodiment, the determination unit 306 stops outputting the delivery request signal (reset and withdraws) when detecting that the toner bottle of the image forming apparatus 101 has been replaced with a new toner bottle. That is, the delivery request signal is reset and withdrawn in synchronism with the increase in the remaining number of days due to the replacement of the toner bottle with a new one in FIG. 7(b). As shown in FIG. 7(c), the delivery request signal is notified at the timing when the remaining days D in FIG. 7(b) becomes 10 days or less. However, it has increased to about 200 days. This is because a large amount of toner was suddenly used at this time, as shown in FIG. The toner bottle has been replaced without the number of remaining days falling below 10 days. Therefore, it is not possible to notify a delivery request signal sufficiently in advance for such sudden consumption. However, in this example, a large amount of toner is suddenly consumed for the second time around the 700th day, and the standby request signal is notified at this timing. Therefore, if a toner bottle is always available at the installation location of the image forming apparatus at this point, the image forming apparatus will run out of consumables even if the delivery request signal is not received in time due to the sudden use of a large amount of toner around the 1050th day. will not cause a stop. As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to reduce the chances of stopping the operation of the image forming apparatus due to delays in the delivery of consumables when the toner is used repeatedly and unexpectedly.

As described above, since the standing request signal is a signal that is notified depending on how the image forming apparatus is used, it is desirable that it be reset when the population of users using this signal changes. For example, the determination unit 308 stops outputting the delivery request signal (reset and withdraws) by an input operation from the consumables management screen displayed on the operation panel 171 or an operator's operation input on the maintenance server 307 . The content of this operation and the operation timing are not limited to a specific example.

[Second embodiment]
In each of the following embodiments including this embodiment, differences from the first embodiment will be explained, and unless otherwise specified, the embodiments are the same as the first embodiment. A configuration example of the image forming apparatus 101 relating to delivery management of consumables used for image formation by the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. This embodiment also describes a case in which the consumable is toner.

A controller 350 according to the present embodiment is obtained by omitting the prediction unit 305 from the controller 300 described above, and the operations of the usage amount detection unit 302 and the determination unit 306 are different from those of the first embodiment.

The usage detection unit 302 sends the toner remaining amount _WT to the determination unit 306 . If the toner remaining amount _WT is equal to or less than a specified delivery threshold value (for example, 150000 [mg]), the determination unit 306 determines that the toner bottle 140 will soon run out, and generates a delivery request signal. The determination unit 306 then transmits the generated delivery request signal to the display controller 310 and also transmits the generated delivery request signal to the maintenance server 307 via the network. Note that the delivery threshold for the remaining amount of toner is not limited to the absolute weight of the toner, and may be, for example, a relative amount [%] to the initial remaining amount of the attached toner bottle.

[Third embodiment]
A configuration example of the image forming apparatus 101 relating to delivery management of consumables used for image formation by the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the block diagram of FIG. This embodiment also describes a case in which the consumable is toner.

The controller 360 according to this embodiment replaces the prediction unit 305 in the controller 300 with a prediction unit 311, and the operation of the determination unit 306 is different from that of the first embodiment. The prediction unit 311 calculates the following formula from the cumulative toner usage amount from the usage amount detection unit 302 and the cumulative value of the number of printout sheets acquired from a print job controller (not shown), thereby obtaining a per sheet ( An average toner usage amount M per sheet of recording material S is calculated.

Here, R is the cumulative value of the number of printed sheets after the installation of the image forming apparatus, which is the number of sheets converted to A4 size paper. For example, the prediction unit 311 increments R by 1 per output for A4/LTR printing, and increments R by 2 per output for A3/LGL printing. Then, the prediction unit 311 calculates the following formula using the toner remaining amount _WT and the average toner usage amount M, and the number of sheets Z that can be printed with the toner remaining in the image forming apparatus 101 at present. Ask for

Z [sheets] = W _T /M
Then, the prediction unit 311 sends the calculated number Z to the determination unit 306 . If the number of sheets Z is equal to or less than a prescribed delivery threshold value (for example, 2000 [sheets]), the determining unit 306 determines that the toner bottle 140 will soon be used up, and the determination unit 306 issues a "delivery request" that is an example of a replacement toner bottle preparation request. Generating a delivery request signal to prompt a "request". The determination unit 306 then transmits the generated delivery request signal to the display controller 310 and also transmits the generated delivery request signal to the maintenance server 307 via the network.

[Fourth embodiment]
All functional units of the controllers 300, 350, and 360 may be implemented by hardware, or may be partially implemented by software. In the latter case, for example, the software is stored in the memory within the controller 300 (350, 360), and the processor of the controller 300 (350, 360) executes the software to perform the functions of the corresponding functional units. can be realized.

A part or all of the embodiments described above may be used in combination as appropriate, or a part or all of the embodiments described above may be selectively used. Also, various numerical values used in the above description are examples, and are not limited to the above numerical values.

(Other embodiments)
The present invention supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus via a network or a storage medium, and one or more processors in the computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes the program. It can also be realized by processing to It can also be implemented by a circuit (for example, ASIC) that implements one or more functions.

301: Image controller 302: Usage detection unit 303: Supply controller 304: Memory 305: Prediction unit 306: Judgment unit 307: Maintenance server 308: Judgment unit 309: Scanner controller 310: Display controller 317: Scanner unit 171: Operation panel

When predicting future demand based on a user's past usage history of consumables, it is common to apply a mathematical model obtained from the past history to predict future demand. However, if the amount of actual usage of the image forming apparatus by the user deviates from the mathematical model, for example, an exceptionally large demand for consumables will suddenly occur compared to the demand forecast for consumables, and this sudden large amount of demand will occur. If the demand is repeated, the error between the predicted demand and the actual demand becomes large. As a result, there may arise a problem that the image forming apparatus cannot be used because the consumables are not delivered in time for the replacement of the consumables. The present invention provides a technique for preventing shortages of consumables.

One aspect of the present invention is an information processing apparatus that controls an image forming apparatus equipped with a plurality of containers containing toners of different colors,
an acquisition unit for acquiring, for each color, a standing request requesting that a holding container be kept on hand separately from the holding container attached to the image forming apparatus;
display means for displaying, for each color, that the container is requested to be kept on hand, based on the said request to be kept on hand acquired by the acquisition means;
characterized by having

According to the configuration of the present invention, shortage of consumables can be prevented.

Claims (12)

An image forming apparatus,
A first method for controlling output of a first signal prompting a first preparation as preparation for replacement consumables based on an estimated usage amount and/or remaining amount of consumables used for image formation in the image forming apparatus. a control means for
and second control means for controlling output of a second signal prompting a second preparation different from the first preparation as preparation of the replacement consumable based on the estimated usage amount. image forming apparatus. The first control means obtains a remaining usable period of the consumable based on the estimated usage amount and the remaining amount, and outputs the first signal if the usable period is equal to or less than a threshold. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first control means outputs said first signal when said remaining amount is equal to or less than a threshold. The first control means obtains the usage amount of the consumable per sheet of paper based on the estimated usage amount and the accumulated value of the number of printouts in the image forming apparatus, and compares the usage amount with the remaining amount. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of recording materials that can be printed out using the consumable is calculated based on the above, and the first signal is output if the number of recording materials is equal to or less than a threshold value. . The second control means obtains the number of times the usage amount of the consumable is equal to or greater than a specified amount based on the estimated usage amount, and outputs the second signal when the number of times is equal to or greater than a threshold. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized by: Further comprising display means for displaying that the consumables need to be delivered based on the first signal and that the consumables need to be kept on hand based on the second signal. 6. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said display means displays the quantity of said consumables to be kept on hand based on said second signal. wherein said first control means transmits said first signal to an external server device, and said second control means transmits said second signal to said server device; Item 8. The image forming apparatus according to any one of Items 1 to 7. 9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said first control means stops outputting said first signal when said replacement of said consumable is detected. Device. 10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said second control means stops outputting said second signal according to an operation input from a user. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the consumable is toner. A control method for an image forming apparatus,
A first control means of the image forming apparatus performs a first preparation as a preparation of replacement consumables based on an estimated usage amount and/or remaining amount of consumables used for image formation in the image forming apparatus. a first control step of controlling the output of a prompting first signal;
A second control means of the image forming apparatus controls output of a second signal prompting a second preparation different from the first preparation as preparation of a replacement consumable, based on the estimated usage amount. and a second control step for controlling an image forming apparatus.

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