JP3290881B2 - Image recording device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet, and more particularly, to facsimile, copying, and so on.
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus used as an output device such as a copying machine or a workstation having a function of a printer or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an example of an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet, there is a double-sided image recording apparatus for recording on both sides of a sheet. In such a two-sided image recording apparatus, various methods are used as a sheet conveying method. Among them, a sheet whose surface has been recorded is temporarily stored in an intermediate tray provided in the apparatus, and the storage is performed. An intermediate tray system in which a stacked sheet is re-fed and an image is recorded on the back surface is widely used.

If the double-sided image recording apparatus is installed in a narrow place or near a passage, it obstructs a person passing through the passage. This means that even if the apparatus is a small-sized copying machine, a large-size copy paper tray always travels to the outside of the copying machine. Therefore, conventionally, the paper discharge tray is made foldable, and when the copying machine is not used, the paper discharge tray is folded so that the paper discharge tray does not travel.

[0004]

However, in such a conventional copying machine, if the paper discharge tray is used as a facsimile or an output device when the paper discharge tray is folded, the sheet cannot be discharged out of the main body. Sheet jams and jams occur.

On the other hand, when no one is present, such as at night, the discharge tray is opened in preparation for a facsimile or the like. For example, if many faxes are sent,
Not only do the sheets fall out because it is not possible to stack all the sheets on the output tray, and especially in the case of a color fax, if the sheets are left unattended, the sheets will curl, There is a problem that deterioration and jam occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and is intended to store a sheet in the main body when the sheet discharge tray is folded or when nobody is present, such as at night. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image recording apparatus capable of performing the above.

[0007]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet by an image recording section provided in the main body, the internal tray being provided inside the main body and storing the image-recorded sheet. And a discharge tray provided to be foldable outside the main body and storing the sheet on which the image is recorded, a folding detecting unit for detecting that the discharge tray is folded, and the sheet on which the image is recorded. A switching member provided at a branch point between a first passage for guiding to the paper discharge tray, a second passage for guiding to the internal tray, and a switch from the fold detection means when the paper discharge tray is folded. Based on a detection signal, an introduction direction control means for switching the switching member in a state of introducing the sheet into the first passage to a state of introducing the sheet into the second passage. And it is characterized in that there was example.

Further, the present invention also provides a method in which a sheet having an image recorded on a front surface is temporarily stored in an intermediate tray disposed inside a main body, and then the sheet is sequentially fed out to record an image on the back surface. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet; a sheet discharge tray provided to be foldable outside the main body, for storing the image-recorded sheet; and a folding detecting unit for detecting that the sheet discharge tray is folded. A switching member provided at a branch point between a first passage for guiding the sheet on which the image is recorded to the discharge tray and a second passage for guiding the sheet to the intermediate tray;
When the discharge tray is folded, the switching member, which is in a state of introducing the sheet into the first passage, is moved to the second position based on a detection signal from the folding detection unit.
Introduction direction control means for switching to a state of introduction into the passage.

Further, the present invention includes forced switching means for outputting a switching signal to the introduction direction control means so as to switch the switching member into a state of being introduced into the second passage regardless of the state of the paper discharge tray. It is characterized by having.

The present invention further comprises a display unit for displaying that the sheet on which the image is recorded is stored in the main body, and the introduction direction control means performs display control of the display unit. is there.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that the intermediate tray is used as the internal tray.

[0012] With this configuration,
The folding detection unit is provided outside the main body so as to be foldable, and detects that the discharge tray that stores the sheet on which the image is recorded is folded. Further, a switching member is provided at a branch point between a first path for guiding the sheet on which the image is recorded to the paper discharge tray and a second path for guiding the sheet to the internal tray provided inside the main body. When the discharge tray is folded, the switching member, which is in a state of introducing the sheet into the first passage, is switched to a state of introducing the sheet into the second passage based on a detection signal from the folding detection means, so that the sheet is inserted into the main body. To be stored.

Further, by outputting a switching signal to the introduction direction control means by the forcible switching means, the switching member is switched to a state in which the switching member is introduced into the second passage irrespective of the state of the discharge tray, and the sheets are stored in the main body. To do it.

Further, the introduction direction control means controls the display of the display section to indicate that the sheet on which the image is recorded is stored in the main body.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the internal structure of a color electrophotographic copying machine which is an example of an image recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. The color electrophotographic copying machine records images on both sides of a sheet by superimposing toners of four colors of magenta, cyan, yellow, and black.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 100 denotes a main body of a color electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter, referred to as a main body). Cassettes 1 and 1 for storing sheets S are arranged below the main body 100. Then, the sheets S stored in the cassettes 1 and 1
Are fed by the first feed roller 2 and then conveyed by the conveying rollers 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, and
After that, the skew and the like are corrected by the registration roller 8 and then sent to the transfer drum 9 provided in the image recording unit 100A at a predetermined timing.

Here, a transfer sheet 10 made of an insulating resin is adhered to the surface of the transfer drum 9, and the transfer sheet 10 is charged from the back surface of the sheet by a charger 11 in the transfer drum 9. Has become. Then, the sheet S sent out from the registration roller 8 is electrostatically attracted onto the charged transfer sheet 10, and rotates counterclockwise with the rotation of the transfer drum 9.

During this rotation, a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 13 by an image information signal sent from the original reading device 12 or an output device (not shown) connected to a network such as a computer or a facsimile. It is supposed to be.

On the other hand, around the photosensitive drum 13 opposite to the transfer drum 9, magenta 14M, cyan 14M
C, yellow 14Y, black 14B four color developing unit 1
4 are provided, and can be separated from and connected to the photosensitive drum 13 respectively.

As the sheet S adheres to the transfer drum 9 and rotates counterclockwise, development of each color is performed, and images of each color are sequentially recorded when the transfer drum 9 and the photosensitive drum 13 come close to each other. Transferred to paper. For example, in the case of a full-color image, the sheet S is wound around the transfer drum 9 and makes four revolutions, so that images of four colors of magenta, cyan, yellow, and black are sequentially transferred.

The transfer-completed sheet S is peeled off from the transfer drum 9 by the separation claw 15a being pressed against the transfer sheet 10, and is transferred on the transfer unit 15.
The fixing rollers 16 and 17 are reached. Here, one of the fixing rollers 16 of the pair of fixing rollers 16 and 17 is heated by a heater (not shown), and the toner of each color is melted by the heat of the heater and is fixed on the sheet S.

An oil application unit 18 for applying silicone oil to the fixing roller 16 is provided above the one fixing roller 16. This prevents the toner from being offset-adhered to the pair of fixing rollers 16 and 17 during fixing.

Then, the sheet (hereinafter referred to as recording paper) 29 on which the toner is fixed as described above passes through a discharge port 50 formed on the side wall surface 100a of the main body 100, and is folded under the discharge port 50. Discharge tray 2 provided to be possible
7 is discharged.

A first flapper 19, which is a switching member, is swingably provided between the pair of fixing rollers 16, 17 and the discharge port 50. Here, the first flapper 19
Is located at a position where the recording paper 29 after fixing is introduced into a paper discharge passage R3 which is a first passage for guiding the paper to the paper discharge tray 27 when performing single-sided recording, whereby the recording paper 29 is discharged through the paper discharge passage R3. The paper tray 27 is stacked.

On the other hand, when performing double-sided recording, the first flapper 19 is urged and oscillated in a counterclockwise direction as shown by an arrow a in FIG. The first and second double-sided recording paths R1 and R2, which are the second paths for guiding to the tray 26, are located at positions where they are introduced.
The recording paper is introduced into the first double-sided recording path R1 and the second double-sided recording path R2 without being discharged outside the range of 0.

The recording paper 29 introduced into the first double-sided recording path R1 by the first flapper 19 as described above is
First, the reversing roller 23 passes through the conveying rollers 20, 21, 22.
Then, the sheet is sent to the reversing path 24 by the reversing roller 23 except for the rear end portion.
By the reverse rotation of No. 3, it is introduced into the second double-sided recording path R2 and is stacked on the intermediate tray 26.

A second flapper (not shown) is provided at a branch point between the first double-sided recording path R1 and the second double-sided recording path R2, and the second flapper normally introduces the recording paper 29 into the reversing path 24. However, after the rear end of the recording paper 29 has passed, the recording paper 29 is moved to the second double-sided recording path R2.
The position is switched to the position to be introduced.

The intermediate tray 26 is provided with a recording paper holder (not shown). By pressing the recording paper 29 with the recording paper holder, curling of the recording paper 29 can be suppressed and a large number of recording papers can be suppressed. Even when the recording paper 29 is sent, the recording paper 29 can be stored in an orderly and consistent state without jamming.

Here, the recording paper 29 loaded on the intermediate tray 26 in this way is upside down from that when it was initially loaded on the cassettes 1 and 1. After being sent to the transfer drum 9 via the paper roller 2a, the conveying rollers 4, 5, 6, and 7 and the registration roller 8, the same recording operation as that for the front surface recording is performed so that a full-color image is formed on the back surface. And the double-sided recording is completed.

The recording paper 2 which has finally passed through the fixing device
2, the first flapper 19 is urged in a clockwise direction as shown in FIG. 2 to be described later, so that the sheet 9 is directly discharged to a sheet discharge tray 27 provided outside the main body 100.

As shown in FIG. 2, the paper discharge tray 27 is rotatably attached to the lower end of the paper discharge port 50 via a support shaft 27a. At the time of reading, after the selection of one-sided recording or two-sided recording is made in advance by the operation unit shown in FIG. 6 described later, the recording paper 29 discharged after the completion of the recording through the copying process described above is stored. It is in a substantially horizontal state so that it can be performed.

When an input signal such as a facsimile signal is input from the outside, the discharge tray 27 is also substantially horizontal so that the recording paper to be discharged can be stored.

On the other hand, when the paper discharge tray 27 is not used,
The main body 1 is folded upward with the support shaft 27a as a fulcrum as shown by an arrow A in FIG. 2 so as not to obstruct traffic.
00 is substantially in an upright state substantially parallel to the side surface 100a,
In order to detect that the paper output tray 27 is folded in this way, the main body 100 is provided with a paper output port 50 as shown in FIG.
And a flag 3 provided near a support shaft 27a of the paper discharge tray 27.
0 is provided as a tray state detecting means 32 which is a folding detecting means.

Here, the tray state detecting means 32
When the paper output tray 27 is folded, the flag 30 that moves together with the paper output tray 27 blocks the light of the photo interrupter 31 as shown in FIG.
7 is folded, and the operation of the main body 100 is controlled as shown in FIG.
9 is connected to a control device 33 which is an introduction direction control means for controlling the introduction direction.

On the other hand, this control device 33 is used when a print signal or a fax signal from a computer network (LAN or the like) or a telephone line is input via the external signal input means 36, When single-sided recording or double-sided recording is selected, the output tray 2 is detected by a detection signal from the tray state detection means 32.
It is determined whether or not 7 is folded.

When it is determined that the paper discharge tray 27 is folded as shown in FIG. 3, the first flapper 19 is switched by operating the solenoid SL. Here, when the solenoid SL is operated in this manner, the first flapper 19 is urged in the counterclockwise direction as shown by an arrow a in FIG. The sheet is not discharged outside the sheet 100 and is stacked on the intermediate tray 26 via the transport rollers 20, 21, 22 and the reversing roller 23.

When the first flapper 19 is switched in this manner, the control device 33 outputs a display control signal to the operation display section 35, whereby the operation display section 35 causes the recording paper 29
Is displayed in the intermediate tray 26.

As described above, when the user has folded the paper output tray 27 after the image recording and received an external input signal, the first flapper 19 is turned counterclockwise based on the signal from the tray state detecting means 32. Since the recording paper 29 can be loaded on the intermediate tray 26 by being urged in the circumferential direction, even when a large number of faxes or the like are sent, they can be stored in an orderly and consistent state without jamming in the paper discharge unit.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the discharge tray 27 is in the open state, the solenoid SL is not operated even if information is input from outside the main body. As a result, the first flapper 19 is urged clockwise as shown by the arrow a in FIG. 2, and the recording paper 29 on which the color recording has been performed passes through the paper discharge port 50 and is discharged to the paper discharge tray 27. It has become so.

When an external input signal comes in through the external signal input means 36 during the recording of an image from the image reading device 12, the control device 33, for example, responds to the external input signal after recording the image. The first flapper 19 is switched so that the fax paper is automatically discharged to the intermediate tray 26, thereby preventing the recording paper 29 and the fax paper from being mixedly loaded.

In the case where image recording is double-sided recording, when an external input signal is input from the external signal input means 36, the control device 33 displays this on the operation display section 35, and the user can determine which of the two based on the display. Is to be output first. Here, if the user gives priority to, for example, double-sided recording, continuous double-sided recording is performed, during which fax output is in a standby state. As a result, double-sided printing can be performed without lowering the productivity of double-sided printing.

In the case of a facsimile, if the facsimile is given priority, the double-sided recording is stopped and the facsimile is discharged to the paper output tray 27, so that the facsimile is received. You can do it. The recording paper 29 on which the image is recorded on the front surface remains stored in the intermediate tray 26 until the fax is completed.
9 and fax paper can be prevented from being mixed.

Further, in order to stack the recording paper 29 on the intermediate tray 26, a face-down stacking (the first page comes to the top) in which the first side of the recording paper 29 faces downward is added to the additional apparatus. It can be realized without using. Accordingly, it is not necessary to provide a dedicated paper path inside the main body 100, and the cost can be reduced.

In the above description, the control device 33 switches between storing the recording paper 29 in the discharge tray 27 and storing it in the intermediate tray 26 depending on the state of the discharge tray 27. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the recording paper 29 is entirely stored in the intermediate tray 2 during a time when no one is present, for example, at night.
6 may be stored.

For this purpose, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, the operation unit 34 is provided with a night switch 34b which is a forced switching means in addition to the start switch 34a, and when the night switch 34b is pressed, The controller 33 always operates the solenoid SL irrespective of the presence or absence of the detection signal from the tray state detection means 32 to urge the first flapper 19 in the counterclockwise direction as shown by the arrow a in FIG. I do.

Thus, at night or the like, the recording paper 29 can always be stacked on the intermediate tray 26, and even when a large number of faxes are transmitted, all the recording papers can be stored. It is possible to prevent the recording paper from curling, and to prevent image deterioration and jam.

Also, a timer 37 is provided as shown in FIG. 8 in place of the night switch 34b. When a predetermined time such as nighttime when no one is present is reached, the control device 33 operates based on the time signal from the timer 37. Solenoid SL regardless of the presence or absence of a detection signal from tray state detection means 32
May be configured to operate.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention,
When it is detected that the sheet discharge tray has been folded, the sheet on which the image is recorded is guided to the internal tray, so that the sheet can be stored inside the main body. Further, by outputting a signal to the introduction direction control means by the forcible switching means, the sheets can be stored inside the main body regardless of the state of the paper discharge tray.

Thus, the external input signals (fax and printer signals) can be received even when the paper output tray is folded after the image recording is completed. Even in the case of faxing at night or the like, all sheets can be stacked with good consistency without jamming on the intermediate tray. Further, since the image read from the image reading device and the image from the external input signal are completely separated, mixed loading can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the internal structure of a color electrophotographic copying machine as an example of an image recording apparatus to which the present invention can be applied.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which a discharge tray of the color electrophotographic copying machine is not folded.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which the discharge tray is folded.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a tray state detecting unit provided in the color electrophotographic copying machine.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a detecting operation of the tray state detecting means.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a control device provided in the color electrophotographic copying machine.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an operation unit of the color electrophotographic copying machine having a nighttime switch.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a control device according to another embodiment of the color electrophotographic copying machine provided with a timer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 Flapper 26 Intermediate tray 28 Discharge tray 32 Tray state detecting means 33 Control unit 34 Operation unit 34a Nighttime switch 35 Operation display unit 36 Timer R1 First two-sided recording path R2 Second two-sided recording path R3 Discharge path

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 29/60 B65H 31/00 B65H 31/24 G03G 15/00

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a sheet by an image recording section provided in a main body, wherein: an internal tray provided inside the main body for storing the image-recorded sheet; A sheet ejection tray for storing the sheet on which the image is recorded; a folding detecting unit for detecting that the sheet ejection tray is folded; and a sheet guide for guiding the image-recorded sheet to the sheet ejection tray. A switching member provided at a branch point between a first passage and a second passage for guiding to the internal tray; and when the discharge tray is folded, the sheet is folded based on a detection signal from the folding detection unit. The switching member in a state of being introduced into the first passage is connected to the second passage.
An image recording apparatus, comprising: introduction direction control means for switching to a state of introduction into a passage. 2. A sheet having an image recorded on its front side is temporarily stored in an intermediate tray provided inside the main body, and then the sheets are sequentially fed out to record an image on the back side so that images are recorded on both sides of the sheet. In the image recording apparatus for recording, a discharge tray provided to be foldable outside the main body and storing the sheet on which the image is recorded, a folding detection unit for detecting that the discharge tray is folded, and the image A switching member provided at a branch point between a first passage for guiding a recorded sheet to the discharge tray and a second passage for guiding the intermediate sheet to the intermediate tray; and a switching member provided when the discharge tray is folded. The switching member, which is in a state of introducing the sheet into the first passage, is moved to the second position on the basis of a detection signal from the folding detecting means.
An image recording apparatus, comprising: introduction direction control means for switching to a state of introduction into a passage. 3. A forcible switching means for outputting a switching signal to said introduction direction control means for switching said switching member to a state of being introduced into said second passage irrespective of a state of said discharge tray. The image recording device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein 4. The display device according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying that the sheet on which the image is recorded is stored in the main body, wherein the introduction direction control unit controls display of the display unit. The image recording apparatus as described in the above. 5. The image recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the intermediate tray is used as the internal tray.