JP2954701B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with a collating and sorting device (sorter) for collating and sorting transferred sheets and an automatic document recycling device (RDH).

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional collating and sorting apparatus has two functions. The first is collation (sorting), which is a function of aligning the transferred sheets discharged by the image forming apparatus in the page order of the document. The second is a sorting (collator or stack) function for aligning the transferred sheets for each page of the document.

In this case, in the collation function, by inputting the required number of copies by the input means in advance,
The same number of transferred sheets as the number of originals is discharged to each bin of the sorter.

However, when the same manuscript is copied and distributed to each department,
Since the required number of copies differs for each department, the two functions as described above cannot cope with this.
There is a problem in that the operator has to count the transferred sheets and sort the sheets for each section after the discharge is completed.

In order to solve such a problem in the related art, there is one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-128462. This is done by reading the number of copies for each distribution destination written on the manuscript with the light receiving element, inputting the data to the CPU, and the sorter section of the CPU discharges the transferred sheets to each bin according to the sorter. Controlled. However, such a configuration requires the addition of hardware (light-emitting / light-receiving elements) and writing on a document, which makes the apparatus complicated and expensive, and the handling becomes very troublesome. In this case, there is no description about how to arrange the transferred sheets when there are a plurality of originals.

Means for Solving the Problems Input means for inputting the number of copies for each destination, storage means for storing the number of copies for each destination input by this input means, and input means for each destination input by the input means Display means for displaying the number of copies, automatic document feeding means for returning an exposed document to the top of the document, collating means for collating and sorting the transferred sheets, and detecting discharge of the transferred sheets In the image forming apparatus having
In the state where the transferred sheets are arranged in the order of the pages of the document to form a set, the number of combinations is discharged to each bin of the collating and sorting means according to the number of copies of the document input by the input means for each distribution destination. Emission selection control means for each sheet section is provided.

Operation With this, the number of copies distributed for each department input by the operator through the input means (operation unit) is reduced by the number of copies stacked in the memory in the order in which they were input, and the copied sheets are stacked in the memory after the copying operation. In addition, it can be discharged to each bin of the collating and sorting means.

Embodiment An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, input means for inputting a plurality of copies for each distribution destination, storage means for storing the number of copies for each distribution destination input by the input means, and the number of copies for each distribution destination input by the input means Display means for displaying, automatic document feeding means for returning the exposed document to the top of the document, reversing means for reversing the transferred sheet, collating sorting means for collating and sorting the transferred sheet, In the image forming apparatus provided with a detecting unit for detecting the discharge of the transferred sheet, the transferred sheet is placed in each bin of the collating and sorting unit according to the number of copies for each distribution destination of the document input by the input unit. The apparatus further comprises a transfer sheet section discharge selection control means for discharging and arranging the transferred sheets in the page order of the document and discharging the sheets. Hereinafter, the configuration of each unit of the image forming apparatus will be sequentially described.

FIG. 1 shows the operation unit 1 as an input unit. The operation unit 1 includes a display 2 as a display unit, a numeric keypad 3, and various control keys. The operator presses the mode select key 4 to select the department mode sorting mode. At this time, LED5
Lights up to indicate that the mode has been selected. The operator uses the numeric keypad 3 and the enter key 6 to input the number of copies to be distributed for each copy. The entered number is stored in the nonvolatile RAM7.
(See Fig. 13) and display 2
Will be displayed. When the print start key 8 is pressed after the input of the number of copies is completed, the normal copying operation starts.

FIG. 2 schematically shows the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus. At the upper part of the main body 9, an automatic document recycling apparatus 10 (hereinafter referred to as RDH10) as an automatic developing apparatus.
Is provided. After the transfer sheet (not shown) passes through the fixing unit 11, the reversing unit
It is inverted at 12, and the discharge state is detected by a discharge sensor 13 as a detecting means, and the sheet is discharged to a sorter 14 as a collating and sorting means. In this case, the number of times the discharge sensor 13 is turned on and off, that is, the number of discharged sheets is counted, and it can be confirmed that the specified number of sheets has been discharged to the specified bin.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the mechanism of the sorter 14. FIG. 4 shows the state of the mechanism of the distribution unit of the sorter 14. In this case, the transferred sheet 15 passes through the entrance guide plates 16 and 17 and enters the sorter 14, is conveyed while being sandwiched between the conveyance belts 18 and 19, and is discharged by the switching claw 20. It is sent to tray 21 (or bin). Normally, the bin SOL22 is off and the transfer sheet 1
The transfer of 5 is not hindered. When the pin SOL22 is turned on, the deflection lever 23 rotates from the position shown by the broken line to the direction of the arrow shown by the solid line, whereby the deflection claw 24 also moves to the position shown by the solid line. The transferred sheet 15 conveyed by 26 is guided by the deflection claw 24 and stored in the discharge tray 21. The transport belts 18, 19 are rotated by a drive motor 27. The bin SOL 22 is turned on and off when the transfer sheet 15 of the predetermined discharge tray 21 has been discharged, that is, when the number of times of turning on and off the discharge sensor 13 matches the data input to the memory. Done.

Next, the outline of the mechanism of the above-described RDH10 is shown in FIGS.
This will be described sequentially based on (f). First, (a) shows a document leading edge separation mechanism. The air knife casing 28 has a hole, and the air is blown toward the center of the document (not shown) by the blower motor 29 to separate the document, thereby preventing double feeding during paper feeding.

(B) and (c) show the state of the sheet feeding mechanism.
When the document separation by the blower motor 29 is completed, the shutter SOL 30 attached to the blower motor 29 is operated in response to a sheet feed signal from the main body, and the lowermost document is attracted to the surface of the vacuum belt 31. Next, the paper feed motor 32 is turned on, the vacuum belt 31 is rotated via the timing belt 33 and the paper feed MC 34, and the document is transported to the paper feed roller 35. The separation by the air knife and the sheet feeding by the air suction are performed by providing one blower motor 29 with two thin fans. When shutter SOL30 is off,
Since the suction is performed from the gate valve 36, the document is not suctioned.

(D) to (f) show the state of the transport mechanism. The document is fed by the vacuum belt 31 from the lowermost surface. The vacuum belt 31 includes a paper feed motor 32,
Since the driven roller 37 is driven by the paper feed MC 34 and has a drum shape, the vacuum belt 31 rotates without any deviation. The paper feed roller 35 receives the drive of the paper feed motor 32 via a one-way CL 38, and the driven side
It rotates by being pressed by a spring.

The two transport rollers 39 are driven by the paper feed motor 32. The driven roller 40 is pressed against the transport roller 39 by a leaf spring, and conveys the document to the right turn roller 41. The right turn roller 41 is driven by the paper feed motor 32, and the transport belt 42 is driven by the transport motor 43. The right turn roller 41 has a built-in one-way CL44 to prevent the conveyance of the document from being caught in the conveyance belt 42 so as not to be disturbed and to improve the removability of the jammed document.

In the conveyor belt 42, a driven roller 40 is rotated by a spring by contacting the inner surface of the belt. Thereby, the weight of the roller is given to the belt, and the document is prevented from floating from the contact glass surface. Note that the transport motor 43 also rotates reversely because it is necessary to reverse the transport belt 42 and hit the original against the scale.

Next, an outline of the mechanism of the reversing unit 12 will be sequentially described with reference to FIGS. 6 (a) to 6 (h). During normal surface discharge, return SOL45, inverted branch SOL46, inverted SOL4
7. All SOLs in the branch SOL48 are off, and the transferred sheet 15 is discharged as it is (a).

Then, when a signal comes from the main body control plate, the reversing SOL 47 is turned on, and the reversing clutch 49 moves the reversing roller front 50 and the reversing roller rear 51 to the positions indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. At the same time, the reverse branch SOL46 is turned on, and the lever auxiliary guide plate 52,
Each of the auxiliary guide plates 53 moves in the direction of the arrow (c), and the auxiliary guide plate 53 is raised above the main reversing roller 54. After the leading end of the transferred sheet 15 reaches the fixing sensor 55, the reversing branch SOL 46 is turned off after a set time, and the auxiliary guide plate 53 is lowered below the main reversing roller 54 to prepare for reversal (d, e). After a set time from when the rear end of the transferred sheet passes through the fixing sensor 55, the return SOL 45 is turned on, and the tack roller 56 is pressed against the reverse return roller 57 to reverse the transferred sheet 15 (f). After a set time, the return SOL 45 is turned on, the reversing branch SOL 46 is turned on again, and the auxiliary guide plate 53 is
Go above 4 and prepare for the next acceptance (g). Return SOL45 is turned off after a set time (h). The inverted transferred sheet 15 is discharged as it is because the branch SOL48 is off. In this example, RDH10
, All the transferred sheets 15 are discharged in reverse (discharge on the back side). Here, when the start key is turned on, the reverse SOL 47 and the reverse branch SOL 46 are turned on, and a series of operations described above are executed.

Next, the transfer selection control means for each section of the transferred sheet which is a main part of the present invention will be described. The transfer sheet section-specific discharge selection control means discharges the transferred sheets 15 to each bin of the sorter 14 in accordance with the number of copies of the original input by the operation unit 1 for each distribution destination, and outputs the transferred sheets 15 It has the function of discharging originals in the page order.

7 to 11 are flowcharts showing the specific operation processing of the transfer selection control means for each section of the transferred sheet. The processing of each part will be described sequentially.

First, FIG. 7 shows a first process at the time of key input. Here, the control at the time of selecting the departmental sorting mode by the operator is described. In this case, when the mode key is pressed, the sorting mode is selected, the LED 5 is turned on, and the display 2 indicates that. Pressing the mode key again clears the mode and turns off the LED.

Next, FIG. 8 shows a second process at the time of key input. Here, the control at the time of input of the number of copies to be distributed for each department by the operator is described. In this case, the data input by the “numeric keypad + enter key” is stored in a memory (not shown) in the order of input, and the input data is displayed on the display 2. If the number of input data exceeds 20 (the number of bins of the sorter), the fact is displayed on the display 2.

Next, FIG. 9 shows the process of counting the number of documents. Here, the control at the time of counting the number of documents set on the platen of the RDH 10 is described. In this case, when the mode is selected, data is input, and the start key is pressed, the number of documents is counted.

Next, FIG. 10 shows a process of starting a copy job. Here, the control at the start of the copy job when the departmental sorting mode is selected is described. In this case, RDH1
0. After confirming the connection of the sorter 14, confirming that the number data exists, and confirming that the copy job is not being performed, a signal is sent to the RDH 10 and the sorter 14.

Next, FIG. 11 shows a process when discharging the transferred sheet,
Here, control when the transferred sheet 15 is discharged from the main body to the sorter 14 will be described. In this case, after detecting the discharge of the transferred sheet 15, the data is read from the memory corresponding to the discharge destination bin and decremented by one. Next, the data of the next bin is read, and if there is data, a bin switching signal is transmitted to the sorter 14 to specify a new discharge destination (bin). If there is no data, read the next data. If there is no data in all the memories, it is considered that the job has ended, and a document discharge command is transmitted to RDH10. The transferred sheets are discharged to all the bins designated for one document, and if there is still data in the memory, a document discharge / feed instruction is transmitted to RDH 10.

Next, a specific example of the above-described transfer sheet section discharge selection control means will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 (a) to 12 (f). Here, the manuscript is set to two sheets, and two copies are assigned to the section A,
The flow of the original and the transferred sheet when only a part is copied will be described. In this case, the documents a and b are placed on the document table 59 above the contact glass 58 on the RDH 10 side, and the first bin 60 and the second bin 61 are provided on the sorter 14 side. . First, in (a), the originals a and b are set on the original No. 59 of the RDH 10 with the front surface facing down. Next, in (b),
After the start key is turned on and the number of originals is checked, the first original a is fed onto the contact glass 58, and then exposure is performed. At this time, the transfer sheet c includes the first bin 60 and the second bin
The sheets are discharged one by one to 61. Next, in (c), the first document a is discharged to the document 59, the second document b is fed onto the contact glass 58, and the exposed and transferred sheet d is
One sheet is discharged to the first bin 60 and the second bin 61 one by one. At this time, the set number of copies to be discharged to the second bin 61 of the department B is one, and in this state, the job is completed for the second bin 61 (the first bin 60 is not completed, and the next operation is performed. Continue). Next, in (d), the second original b is discharged to the original platen, the first original a is fed onto the contact glass 58 again for exposure, and the transferred sheet 15 is placed in the first bin 60. (Only on the back side). Next, in (e), the first document a is discharged to the document table 59, and the second document b is
It is fed to the top and exposed. Transferred sheet d is the first bin
Only 60 (back side) is discharged. In this state, each bin 60,6
In FIG. 1, the discharge of the transferred sheets c and d is completed according to the set number of copies and the pages of the originals a and b are completed in order. Then, as shown in (f),
The second document b is discharged to the document table 59, and all jobs are completed.

As described above, the present apparatus can control the sorter 14 by software and does not require any hardware change, so that the apparatus can be configured to be less expensive than before, and
Can be easily implemented.

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the present apparatus. Thus, the sorter 14, the RDH 10, the operation unit 1, the display 2, and the main circuit 62 can be roughly classified. In this case, by stacking the number of copies for each department in the nonvolatile RAM 7, once data is input, it can be used continuously. Furthermore, by combining the sorter 14 and the RDH 10 in this manner, the transferred sheets discharged to each bin of the sorter 14 can be arranged partly in the page order of the original, thereby reducing the work. This can be achieved even more.

According to the present invention, as described above, input means for inputting the number of copies for each distribution destination, storage means for storing the number of copies for each distribution destination input by the input means, and input by the input means Display means for displaying the number of copies for each distribution destination, automatic document feeding means for returning an exposed document to the top of the document,
Collating means for collating the transferred sheet;
An image forming apparatus comprising: a detection unit configured to detect discharge of the transferred sheet, wherein the transferred sheets are arranged in the order of pages of the document to form a set, and each of the distribution destinations of the document input by the input unit is Since the transfer sheet-specific discharge selection control means for discharging the number of combinations according to the number of copies to each bin of the collating and sorting means is provided, the number of distribution copies for each department input by the operator from the input means is input. After the copying operation, the transferred sheets can be discharged to each bin of the collating and sorting means in accordance with the number of copies stacked in the memory, thereby reducing the operator's work. In addition, this apparatus controls the sorter by software, and does not require hardware changes, so that it can be executed at a lower cost and easily. It is intended.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an operation unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing an image forming apparatus, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is a side view showing the state of the sorter mechanism, FIG. 4 is a side view showing the state of the distribution unit of the sorter, FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the state of the RHD mechanism, and FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a state at the time of selecting a part-by-part sorting mode, which is processing at the time of key input. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a state at the time of inputting the number of copies per section, which is processing at the time of key input. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing the state of the document count processing, FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the state of the copy JOB start processing, FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing the state of processing when discharging the transferred sheet, and FIG. And an explanatory diagram showing a specific processing flow of the transferred sheet,
FIG. 13 is a block diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of the image forming apparatus. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Input means, 2 ... Display means, 10 ... Automatic document feeding means, 12 ... Reversal means, 14 ... Collect sorting means, 15 ... Transfer paper sheet

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An input means for inputting the number of copies for each distribution destination, a storage means for storing the number of copies for each distribution destination inputted by the input means, and a copy number for each distribution destination inputted by the input means. Display means for displaying, automatic document feeding means for returning an exposed document to the top of the document, collating and sorting means for collating and sorting the transferred sheets, and detection for detecting discharge of the transferred sheets. Means, wherein the transferred sheets are arranged in the order of pages of the document to form a set, and the number of combinations according to the number of copies for each distribution destination of the document input by the input means is collated. An image forming apparatus comprising: a transfer selection control unit for each section of a transferred sheet that discharges to each bin of a sorting unit.