JP3448079B2 - Image forming 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 forming apparatus in which an optional device is connected to a main body of an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer for forming an image on a transfer material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a paper feeding device and a paper discharging device are optionally set in addition to a laser printer main body, and a reversing device for printing on both sides of a paper. The feeding device is set.

In such an apparatus, when an optional large-capacity sheet discharging apparatus is connected, when the front door of the apparatus is opened during the discharging process to the apparatus, The paper being printed by the laser printer and the paper being conveyed after printing are stopped at the current position. For this reason, if the print operation and the transport operation are stopped while the paper is discharged to the large-capacity paper discharge device according to the print instruction, the print operation is performed even if the next print instruction is supplied. I couldn't.

Therefore, there is a demand for a printer which can always terminate the received print processing and receive the next print processing at any time.

[0005]

As described above, it is demanded that the accepted print processing be always terminated and the next print processing be accepted at any time. The accepted print processing should always be terminated. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that can accept the next print processing at any time.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image forming medium according to image data supplied from an external device, the image data supplied from the external device is sequentially processed. Expand to image data,
An image forming unit that forms an image on the image forming medium based on the developed image data, and the image forming medium on which the image is formed by the image forming unit is discharged from a side discharge port or an upper portion. Of the image forming apparatus, and a main body of the image forming apparatus having a sorting means for sorting whether the sheet is discharged to the first discharge tray, and a detecting means for detecting passage of the image forming medium by the sorting means. is located on the side, the an image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body second
Of the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body, or the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body is conveyed downward by the first conveying mechanism. And a reversing device which conveys downward by the first conveying mechanism, and the reversing device, which is arranged below the reversing device and the main body of the image forming apparatus, when the image formation on both sides of the image forming medium is instructed. The image forming medium reversed by means of the conveying path is re-fed to the main body of the image forming apparatus, and the image forming medium conveyed by the first conveying mechanism of the reversing apparatus is conveyed by the second conveying mechanism. And a re-feeding device which is disposed below the re-feeding device to feed the image forming medium to the main body of the image forming device, and a second feeding device of the re-feeding device. Image conveyed by the mechanism A sheet feeding device that conveys the forming medium downward by a third conveying mechanism, and a discharge device that is arranged below the sheet feeding device and that accommodates the image forming medium conveyed by the third conveying mechanism of the sheet feeding device. A paper device, a first determination unit that determines whether the cover of the paper discharge device is opened, and the paper discharge device selected as a storage destination of the image formation medium, and the image formation medium from the main body of the image formation device. However, when the sheet is accommodated in the paper discharge device by being transported by the first transport mechanism, the second transport mechanism, and the third transport mechanism, When it is determined that the cover is open, a second determination unit determines whether the image forming unit is in the process of forming an image, and the second determination unit determines that the image forming unit is in the process of forming an image, and then the detection unit. Based on the detection from Third judging means for judging discharge of the formed image forming medium from the discharge opening of the image forming apparatus main body, and discharge opening of the image forming medium of the image forming apparatus main body by the third judging means When it is determined that the sheet is to be discharged from the image forming medium, the changing unit that changes the discharge destination by the sorting unit to the first sheet discharge tray, and the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body is the first conveying mechanism.
Second conveyance mechanism, is transported by the third transport mechanism, and fourth determining means for determining housing to said sheet discharging apparatus, said first
The image forming apparatus for the image forming medium by the judging means
Judging discharge from the discharge port of the main body, and the above fourth judgment
By means of the means, it is possible to determine whether the image forming medium is accommodated in the paper discharge device
And a stop means for stopping the conveyance by the first conveyance mechanism, the second conveyance mechanism, and the third conveyance mechanism when stopping, and also stopping the accommodation of the paper discharge device.

According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus for forming an image on an image forming medium according to image data supplied from an external apparatus, the image data supplied from the external apparatus is sequentially expanded into image data. Means, an image forming means for forming an image on the image forming medium based on the image data developed by the developing means, and a discharge port on the side of the image forming medium on which the image is formed by the image forming means. An image forming apparatus main body having a sorting unit that sorts whether the sheet is discharged from the first sheet discharging tray or the first sheet discharging tray on the upper side, and a detecting unit that detects passage of the image forming medium by the sorting unit, the image forming apparatus is disposed on the side of the body, or to discharge the an image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body to a second discharge tray, the image from the image forming apparatus main body A reversing device that conveys the formed medium downward by the first conveying mechanism or reverses the front and back of the image forming medium from the main body of the image forming apparatus and then conveys it downward by the first conveying mechanism, and the reversing device. When the image forming on both sides of the image forming medium is instructed, the image forming medium reversed by the reversing device is conveyed on the conveying path and the image forming is performed. A re-feeding device that re-feeds the image forming medium that is re-fed to the main body of the apparatus and that is fed by the first transporting mechanism of the reversing device, and a lower part of the re-feeding device. And feeds the image forming medium to the main body of the image forming apparatus, and moves the image forming medium conveyed by the second conveying mechanism of the sheet re-feeding device downward by the third conveying mechanism. A paper feeding device for transporting, Of the paper feeding device, which is arranged below the paper feeding device and stores the image forming medium conveyed by the third conveying mechanism of the paper feeding device, and a first device which judges whether the cover of the paper discharging device is opened. Determination means, the paper discharge device is selected as the accommodation destination of the image forming medium,
When the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body is accommodated in the paper discharge device by being conveyed by the first conveying mechanism, the second conveying mechanism, and the third conveying mechanism, Second judging means for judging whether the cover of the sheet discharging device is opened by the first judging means, the developing means judges whether the image data is being developed or the image forming means is forming an image. During the expansion into image data by the expansion means by the second determination means,
Alternatively, after determining that the image is being formed by the image forming unit, it is determined whether the image forming medium on which the image is formed is discharged from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus main body based on the detection by the detecting unit. 3 judgment means and this third
Change means for changing the discharge destination of the sorting means to the first discharge tray when the discharge means of the image forming medium is judged to be discharged from the discharge port of the main body of the image forming apparatus, The image forming medium from the main body is the first
Of the image forming medium by the fourth determining means and the third determining means , which are transported by the second transporting mechanism, the second transporting mechanism, and the third transporting mechanism, and determine whether they are accommodated in the paper discharge device.
Determine the discharge from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus body, and
The paper discharge device for the image forming medium by the fourth judging means.
And a stopping means for stopping the conveyance by the first conveyance mechanism, the second conveyance mechanism, and the third conveyance mechanism and stopping the accommodation of the paper discharge device when the accommodation of the sheet ejection device is determined.

[0008]

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, an image corresponding to the image data supplied from the external apparatus is formed on the image forming medium, and the image data supplied from the external apparatus is sequentially developed into image data. The image forming means for forming an image on the image forming medium based on the developed image data and the image forming medium on which the image is formed by the image forming means are discharged from the side discharge port. , An image forming apparatus main body having a sorting unit that sorts whether to discharge to the upper first sheet discharge tray, and a detection unit that detects passage of an image forming medium by the sorting unit,
The image forming medium is placed on the side of the image forming apparatus main body, and the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body is discharged to the second paper discharge tray, or the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body is set to the first side. A reversing device that conveys the image forming medium downward from the image forming apparatus main body by the conveying mechanism or reverses the front and back of the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body and then conveys the image forming medium downward by the first conveying mechanism, and the reversing device and the image forming apparatus main body. When the image forming on both sides of the image forming medium is instructed, the image forming medium reversed by the reversing device is conveyed on the conveying path and re-fed to the main body of the image forming device. Then
Further, a sheet re-feeding device that conveys the image forming medium conveyed by the first conveying mechanism of the reversing device downward by the second conveying mechanism, and a re-feeding device disposed below the re-feeding device to form the image forming medium. The medium is fed to the image forming apparatus main body,
A sheet feeding device that conveys the image forming medium that is conveyed by the second conveying mechanism of the sheet re-feeding device downward by the third conveying mechanism, and a sheet feeding device that is disposed below the sheet feeding device. A sheet discharging device for accommodating the image forming medium conveyed by the third conveying mechanism, and the sheet discharging device is selected as a storage destination of the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body, and the image forming is performed. When the image forming medium from the apparatus main body is stored in the paper discharge device by being transported by the first transport mechanism, the second transport mechanism, and the third transport mechanism, the first transport mechanism is used. When it is determined by the determination means that the cover of the paper discharge device is opened, it is determined that the image is being formed by the image forming means, and after this determination, the image formation is performed based on the detection by the detection means. Image forming apparatus for image forming medium To determine the emissions from the discharge port of the body,
When the discharge from the discharge port is determined, the discharge destination by the sorting unit is changed to the first discharge tray, and the image forming medium from the main body of the image forming apparatus is the first transport mechanism,
The image forming medium is conveyed by the second conveying mechanism and the third conveying mechanism, judged to be accommodated in the paper discharge device, and
Determine the discharge from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus body, and
When it is determined that the sheet is to be housed in the paper discharge device, the conveyance by the first transport mechanism, the second transport mechanism, and the third transport mechanism is stopped, and the accommodation of the paper discharge device is also stopped. Is.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 shows a block configuration of the image forming system of the present invention. Print data is received from a host computer (host device) 10 as an external device, and a recorded image is formed on a sheet from the received data. The laser printer 1 is an image forming apparatus for printing and an optional device. Optional equipment includes a paper feeding device 2 (MPF), an automatic double-sided paper feeding device (ADD; auto document duplexer) 5 including a reversing unit 3 and a re-feeding unit 4, and a large-capacity paper feeding device (LCF; large capacity). A feeder 6, a large-capacity discharged paper storage device (LCS; large capacity stacker) 7, or a paper distribution device (sorter: MBS; mail box stacker) 8 is connected.

For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a sheet feeder 2 is attached to the right side of a laser printer 1, a reversing section 3 of an automatic double-sided sheet feeder 5 is provided on the left side, and an automatic double-sided feeder is provided at the bottom. The paper re-feeding unit 4 of the paper device 5 has a large-capacity paper feeding device 6 at the lower part thereof, and a large-capacity paper discharge accommodating device 7 at the lower part thereof, which are positioned and stacked on a stacking rail common to each device. .

A common paper discharge tray 9 is loaded in the paper discharge section of the laser printer 1 and the automatic double-sided paper feeder 5.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a sheet sorter 8 may be arranged in place of the large-capacity discharged sheet storage device 7.

The reversing section 3 is attached to a mounting section provided in common for the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6, the large-capacity sheet discharging and accommodating device 7, and the sheet sorting device 8. This allows
The large-capacity paper feeding device 6, the large-capacity paper discharging and accommodating device 7, and the paper allocating device 8 can be operated independently by loading the reversing unit 3 and the laser printer 1.

Feet are attached to the lower parts of the base frames of the re-feeding section 4, the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6, the large-capacity sheet discharging and accommodating device 7, and the sheet allocating device 8, and these legs are on the upper side. It is used not only to support the weight of the apparatus such as the laser printer main body 1 but also to position it when the system is upgraded.

4 and 5 show the configuration of the laser printer 1.

That is, in the laser printer 1, a laser optical system 11, a photosensitive drum 12, a charging device 13 including a scorotron, a developing device 14, and a transfer device 1 including a corotron.
5. In addition to the process system such as the pre-exposure device 16, the fixing device 17, and the cleaning device 18 as a static eliminator, a paper feed cassette 19
a, 19b, delivery rollers 20a, 20b, aligning roller pair 21, conveyance guide 22, gate 23, paper discharge roller pair 24, 25 and the like are arranged.

The laser optical system 11 is a semiconductor laser oscillator (not shown) that generates laser light, a collimator lens (not shown) that corrects the laser light from this oscillator into parallel light, and the laser light from this lens is 1 A polygon mirror (rotating mirror) 26 as a rotating body having an octahedral mirror portion that reflects every scanning line, an f · θ lens 27,
Rotate (drive) the mirror 28 and the polygon mirror 26
It is composed of a mirror motor 29 and the like.

During the image forming operation, however, the laser beam from the laser optical system 11 corresponding to the image signal from the external device (host device) or the operation panel (not shown) is imaged on the surface of the photosensitive drum 12. It The photosensitive drum 12 rotates in the direction of the arrow in the figure, the surface is first charged by the charging device 13, and then the laser optical system 11 performs exposure corresponding to the image signal.

That is, the laser beam generated from the semiconductor laser oscillator is scanned from the left to the right of the photosensitive drum 12 at a constant speed as the polygon mirror 26 is rotated by the mirror motor 29, so that the surface thereof is scanned. An electrostatic latent image is formed on. The electrostatic latent image is visualized by the toner attached by the developing device 14.

On the other hand, the paper (image forming medium) P in the paper feed cassette 19a or 19b is sent to the delivery roller 20a or
The sheet is picked up one by one at 20b, guided to the aligning roller pair 21 through the paper guide path 30 constituted by the conveying roller pair 30a and 30b, and is sent to the transfer section by the aligning roller pair 21. There is.

Further, the sheet feeding device 2 as an optional device
The paper P from is guided to the aligning roller pair 21 via the conveying roller pair 31, and is sent to the transfer portion by the aligning roller pair 21.

Further, the paper P from the automatic double-sided paper feeding device 5, the large-capacity paper feeding device 6, the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7, or the paper sorting device 8 installed as an optional device in the lower portion of the printer main body 1 Is guided to the aligning roller pair 21 via the conveying path 30 and is sent to the transfer section by the aligning roller pair 21.

Then, the paper P sent to the transfer portion is brought into close contact with the surface of the photosensitive drum 12 at the transfer device 15, and the toner image on the photosensitive drum 12 is transferred by the operation of the transfer device 15. . The transferred paper P is peeled from the photoconductor drum 12, sent to the fixing device 17 via the conveyance guide 22, and the heat roller 17a, which generates heat for fixing by passing there, heat-fixes the transferred image. To be done.

A heater lamp (not shown) for heating is built in the heat roller 17a. The paper P after fixing is sent to the paper discharge tray 9 via the gate 23 by the paper discharge roller pair 24 or to the upper conveyance path 32 by the gate 23, and is discharged to the paper discharge tray 33 by the paper discharge roller pair 25.
It is designed to be discharged above.

Further, after the residual toner is removed by the cleaning device 18 from the photosensitive drum 12 after the transfer, the pre-exposure device 16
The afterimage is erased by this so that the next image forming operation is made possible.

The photosensitive drum 12, the charging device 13,
The developing device 14, the pre-exposure device 16, the fixing device 17, and the cleaning device 18 are integrally formed as a unit, and are configured as an electrophotographic process unit that can be independently attached to and detached from the printer body 1.

In front of the aligning roller pair 21, an aligning switch 34 for detecting a paper feed error to the transfer portion due to the aligning roller pair 21 is provided in front of the paper discharge roller pair 24. Is a paper ejection switch 35 that detects a paper ejection error caused by the paper ejection roller pair 24.
A conveyance detector 36 for detecting the conveyance of the paper P by the paper feeder 2 or manual feeding is provided in front of 31, and a paper feed device connection switch for detecting the connection of the paper feed device 2 is provided above the conveyance detector 36. On the left side of the paper feed cassettes 19a and 19b, a reversing unit connection switch 38 for detecting the connection of the reversing unit 3 is provided.

Further, between the paper feed cassettes 19a and 19b, the electric devices provided in the main body 1 of the device are controlled,
An engine control board having an engine control section 43 for controlling the operation for completing the electrophotographic process and a printer control board having a printer control section 42 for controlling the operation of the engine control section 43 are arranged.

Also, as shown in FIG. 1, at the bottom of the printer main body 1, that is, at the bottom of the base frame, four positioning means are fitted to a positioning mechanism (described later) of an optional device installed on the lower side. Protrusions 160, ... Are provided. The positioning protrusions 160, ... Are used as legs when the optional equipment is not installed on the lower side, and support the weight of the laser printer body 1.

An operation panel 41 is provided on the upper surface of the printer body 1.

The operation panel 41 is, as shown in FIG. 6, a liquid crystal display 5 for displaying the number of sheets, modes, guidance messages and the like.
1, LED indicator 52 that lights up and displays various states with LEDs,
To 57, the previous menu item key 58 for instructing various operations, the next menu item key 59, the previous value item key 60, the next value item key 61, the forced paper ejection key 62 for instructing forced paper ejection, and the host computer 10. It is composed of an online key 63 for switching between online and offline.

The LED indicators 52 to 57 are "operator" for requesting an operator call, "service" for requesting a service call, "manual feed" indicating manual insertion by the operator, and the apparatus body 1 is in an operable state. "Ready" indicating ",""Data" indicating that image transfer is in progress, and "Online" indicating whether or not it is connected to the host computer 10, that is, online mode. Has been done.

A plurality of menu information displayed on the left half of the liquid crystal display 51 is incremented each time the menu next item key 59 is pressed, and decremented each time the previous menu item key 58 is pressed. Then, these display operations are cyclically repeated.

Further, a plurality of pieces of value information corresponding to the menu information displayed on the left half of the liquid crystal display 51 are incremented each time the value next item key 61 is pressed,
Each time the value previous item key 60 is pressed, the value is decremented and displayed on the right half of the liquid crystal display 51, and these display operations are cyclically repeated.

There is a mode for designating a paper feed source and a paper discharge destination as the menu information, and in this mode, it is designated whether the paper feed source is the paper feed cassettes 19a and 19b, the paper feed device 2 or the large capacity paper feed device 6. The discharge destination is the discharge tray 33, the discharge tray 9, the large-capacity discharge storage device 7, or the paper distribution device (sorter).
8 is specified.

The operator operates the menu previous item key 5
By operating the 8, menu next item key 59, value previous item key 60, and value next item key 61, a desired operation is selected and instructed.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the structure of the paper feeding device 2.

The paper P placed on the paper feed tray 65 is conveyed to the separation roller pair 67 by the rotation of the pickup roller 66.

The upper roller 67a of the separation roller pair 67 is a driven roller which is given a constant load by the torque limiter,
The lower roller 67b is a drive roller that faces the lower roller 67b, and the separation roller pair 67 conveys the sheets P to the aligning roller pair 68 while separating the sheets P one by one, and the sheet P is aligned after completion of the aligning roller 67b. By the pair 68, it is fed into the laser printer main body 1 through the pair of manual feed roller 31 of the laser printer main body 1.

The pickup roller 66 is rotated by the driving force transmitted from the motor 70 by the sheet feeding solenoid 69. Further, the aligning roller pair 68 is rotated by the driving force from the motor 70 transmitted by the aligning solenoid 71. Further, the driving force from the motor 70 is also transmitted to the lower roller 67b to rotate the lower roller 67b.

The paper feeding tray 65 is provided with an extension tray 72 so that a large-sized paper P can be placed on the paper feeding tray 65. The presence or absence of the paper P placed on the paper feed tray 65 is detected by the paper empty switch 73, and the conveyance of the paper P to the aligning roller pair 68 is detected by the aligning switch 74.

When the paper is jammed against the aligning roller pair 68, the pressing force of the aligning roller pair 68 is increased by the lever 75.
It is canceled by.

When the paper is jammed, the above aligning roller pair is used.
A cover 76 is provided that releases the top of 68. The cover 76 is provided with a door switch 77, which is turned on and off according to opening and closing of the cover 76.

On the left side of the paper feeding device 2, there are provided a mounting member 78 for the laser printer main body 1 and a detection member 79 for turning on the paper feeding device connection switch 37 in the laser printer main body 1.

Next, the reversing unit 3 and the refeeding unit 4 will be described with reference to FIG.
The automatic double-sided sheet feeding device 5 will be described.

The reversing unit 3 discharges the paper P discharged by the gate 23 of the laser printer body 1 from the discharge roller pair 81.
And the gate of the laser printer main body 1
The sheet P discharged by 23 or the sheet P guided by the reverse rotation of the sheet discharge roller pair 81 is switched between the downward conveying path 83 for conveying to the lower apparatus and the conveying paths 82, 83 for conveying the sheet P. It is composed of a sorting gate 84.

That is, the sheet P discharged from the gate 23 of the laser printer body 1 is guided to the sorting gate 84 by the transport path 82. Paper P led to the sorting gate 84
Is guided to the paper discharge roller pair 81 or the conveyance path 83. The paper P guided to the paper discharge roller pair 81 is directly discharged onto the paper discharge tray 9 by the paper discharge roller pair 81, or the paper P is discharged.
After being conveyed in the direction of the sheet discharge tray 9 by the length of, the rotation is reversed and the sheet is guided to the sorting gate 84 again. This paper discharge roller pair 81
The paper P from is guided to the conveyance path 83 by the sorting gate 84. The sheet P guided by the transport path 83 is guided to a lower device, for example, the sheet re-feeding section 4.

The supply of the paper P from the laser printer main body 1 to the conveyance path 82 of the reversing unit 3 is detected by the sensor 85.

The conveying path 83 is formed by a pair of conveying rollers 83a and 83b.
Etc.

On the right side of the reversing unit 3, there is provided a detecting member 86 for turning on the reversing unit connection switch 38 in the laser printer body 1.

The sheet re-feeding section 4 receives the sheet P from the reversing section 3.
To a lower device, a conveyance path 89 that branches from the conveyance path 87 at a branch gate 88, and guides the paper P to the conveyance path 30 of the laser printer main body 1, and to the middle of the conveyance path 89. It is composed of a conveyance path 90 that merges and conveys the paper P from the lower device. The branch gate 88 has a corresponding sheet P
Is not provided over the entire surface, but is composed of, for example, five gate portions.

That is, the sheet P from the reversing section 3 is guided to the branch gate 88 by the transport path 87. This branch gate
The paper P guided to 88 is guided to a lower device such as the large-capacity paper feeding device 6 or the conveyance path 89. The paper P conveyed by the conveyance path 89 is the conveyance path of the laser printer main body 1.
Guided to 30. Further, the sheet P from the lower device, for example, the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 is conveyed by the conveyance path 90 and the conveyance path 89, and is guided to the conveyance path 30 of the laser printer body 1.

The supply of the sheet P from the reversing section 3 to the conveying path 87 of the re-feeding section 4 is detected by the sensor 91 provided near the entrance of the conveying path 87. The conveyance of the sheet P by the conveyance path 89 is detected by a sensor 92 provided between the pair of conveyance rollers 89c and 89d.

The conveying path 89 is composed of a pair of conveying rollers 89a and 89b.
, 89c, a pair of aligning rollers 89d, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 8, the transport path 87 is composed of upper guides 301 and 302 and lower guides 303 and 304. This guide 301 includes the sorting gate
Notch 30 where 88 enters (gate edge goes in and out)
Have 1a. As a result, the guide 301 is a comb-shaped guide. On the left side of the guide 301 in the figure,
Mylar 305 is attached so as to cover the notch 301a. Only the upper portion of the mylar 305 is attached to the guide 301 and serves as a guide when the sheet P is conveyed to the lower conveyance path 116.

As a result, when the sheet P is conveyed to the lower conveying path 116, the guide 301 is comb-shaped, and therefore when the sheet P is deformed and enters, the guide P hits the guide 303 and the sheet P is damaged. The addition of the above-mentioned mylar 305 prevents the occurrence of jamming or jamming, and the paper P is reliably conveyed.

For example, a case where double-sided printing is performed will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 12.

That is, when the sheet P printed on one side is discharged from the laser printer main body 1 to the conveying path 82 in the reversing unit 3, the sensor 85 is turned on and the sheet P is sent to the conveying path 82. Is detected. Then, the sorting gate 84 moves downward, so that the paper P is sorted by the sorting gate.
It passes over 84 and is discharged by a pair of discharge rollers 81. After a lapse of a predetermined time after the sensor 85 is turned on, that is, immediately after the right end (rear end) of the paper P passes through the sorting gate 84, the paper discharge roller pair 81 is temporarily stopped and then reversed (see FIG. 9). .
The right end of the sheet P is fed along the lower left side of the sorting gate 84 (see FIG. 10), and the transport path 83, that is, the pair of transport rollers 83a and 83.
It is sent to the conveyance path 87 of the re-feeding section 4 by b. As a result, the paper P is reversed.

When the paper P is sent to the transport path 87, the sensor 91
Is turned on, and it is detected that the paper P is fed to the transport path 87. Then, the branch gate 88 operates and the sheet P conveyed by the conveying path 87 is guided to the conveying path 89. When the sheet P is conveyed along the conveying path 89, the sensor 92 is turned on, and after the aligning roller pair 89d aligns the sheet for a predetermined time (see FIG. 11), the sheet P is conveyed along the conveying path 89 and the laser printer It is sent to the transport path 30 in the main body 1 (see FIG. 12).

The sheet P conveyed by the conveying path 30 is printed on the remaining one side, and then the reversing unit 3
The paper is discharged to the inner transport path 82. As a result, the sensor 85 is turned on, and it is detected that the paper P has been sent to the transport path 82. Then, the sorting gate 84 moves to the lower side, so that the sheet P passes over the sorting gate 84 and the pair of discharge rollers.
The paper is discharged onto the paper discharge tray 9 by 81.

In addition, as shown in FIGS. 18 and 19, at the bottom of the reversing section 3, that is, at the bottom of the base frame, a positioning mechanism for fitting a positioning mechanism (which will be described later) of an optional device installed on the lower side is positioned. Projections 321a, 321a, 321b for
321b, 321b, 321b are provided. The protrusions 321a, 321a for positioning are used as legs when the optional device is not installed on the lower side, and support the weight of the reversing unit 3.

The upper part of the re-feeding section 4 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 21, a positioning mechanism 322 is provided. The positioning mechanism 322 has longitudinal grooves 323, 32.
Two guide rails 324, 324 each having three, hollow positioning poles 325, 325, and a sandwiching portion 328.
, 328, 328, 328. As shown in FIGS. 18 to 21, concave portions 326a, 326a, 326b and 326b are further provided at both ends of the groove 323 of the guide rail 324.

An inclined portion or slope 323a is provided on the groove 323 on the side of the recess 326b.

As a result, the recesses 326a, 326a are shallow,
326b and 326b are deep.

The slope 323a of the groove 323 makes it easy to mount the printer body 1 on the re-feeding section 4 when mounting it.
Further, the detection member 86 shown in FIG. 1 can be protected.

In the hollow portions of the positioning poles 325, 325, the protrusions 32 for positioning the reversing portion 3 are respectively provided.
1a and 321a are fitted to each other, and the positioning pinching portions 328, 328, 328, and 328 are respectively fitted with the positioning protrusions 321b, 321b, 321b, and 321b of the reversing portion 3. The above guide rail 324
, 324 of the recesses 326, 326, 326, 326, respectively, for the positioning of the printer body 1 320, 320,
320, 320 are designed to fit together.

Further, as shown in FIG. 20, at the bottom of the re-feeding section 4, that is, at the bottom of the base frame, there are six fittings for the positioning mechanism (which will be described later) of the optional equipment installed on the lower side. Positioning protrusions 327 are provided. The protrusion 327 for positioning is used as a foot when the optional device is not installed on the lower side, and supports the weight of the laser printer body 1 and the like.

Next, the large-capacity sheet feeder 6 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 13 and 14.

The large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 has a storage section 101 in which a sheet P is stored by using an elevator mechanism (not shown).
And a sheet feeding mechanism section 103 for taking out and transporting the sheet P from the storage section 101.

An elevator stand 104 on which the paper P is placed is provided in the storage section 101. In addition, the upper surface of the paper P is supported by the paper separating claw 115 shown in FIG.

An elevator board 104 is provided on the upper surface of the storage section 101.
Paper empty switch 105 for detecting that the upper paper P is completely gone, paper P on the elevator stand 104
An elevator upper limit switch 106 is provided to detect that the number of vehicles has dropped by a predetermined number. An elevator lower limit switch 107 for detecting that the elevator pedestal 104 has reached the lower limit position is provided on the lower side surface of the storage unit 101.

When several sheets P are taken out of the elevator table 104 and the elevator upper limit switch 106 is turned on, the motor is turned on for a predetermined time to raise the elevator table 104. When the paper P on the elevator stand 104 is exhausted and the paper empty switch 105 is turned on, the motor is turned on, so that the elevator stand 104 is turned on.
Is lowered until the elevator lower limit switch 107 is turned on.

In the take-out / conveying unit 102, as shown in FIG. 13, the uppermost sheet P on the elevator table 104 is the sheet feeding roller.
The sheet is fed by 108, 108, and is conveyed to the upper apparatus, for example, the conveying path 90 of the re-feeding unit 4, via the conveying path 112 including the conveying guides 109, 109, the aligning roller pair 110, and the conveying guides 111, 111. . The conveyance of the sheet P by the conveyance path 112 is performed by a sensor provided near the conveyance guides 111, 111.
Detected by 113.

As shown in FIG. 14, the paper feed rollers 108 and 108 are provided with weights 311 and 312, support portions 316 and 316, between them.
And a pulley 313 are connected via a rotating shaft 310. As the pulley 313 rotates, the paper feed rollers 108, 108
Is being rotated. Weights 311, 312, support portions 316, 316
The rotation of the pulley 313 is not transmitted to the.

The weights of the weights 311 and 312 are two and are 150
Grams to 240 grams. This weight 311 and 312
The paper feed rollers 108 when feeding the paper P.
As a result, the friction coefficient is increased, and the paper feeding performance of the paper P is improved. As a result, it is possible to prevent the paper feed rollers 108, 108 having a defective nail removal from idling.

The rotation from the pulley 315 is transmitted to the pulley 313 by the drive belt 314. The rotation from the motor 238 is transmitted to the pulley 315 via the clutch 317 and the rotating shaft 114. Further, the rotation shaft 114 is connected to the rotation parts 114, 316 in a state where the rotations of the support parts 316, 316 are not transmitted.

As a result, the rotation of the motor 238 is transmitted to the paper feed rollers 108, 108.

Since the paper feed rollers 108 and 108 are respectively supported by the support portions 316 and 316 in two separate parts, that is, the support members are divided, the paper P and the paper feed roller 10 are separated.
The adhesiveness of 8 and 108 is improved, and the feeding performance is improved.

That is, since the elevator base 104 is supported at the center position in the direction orthogonal to the two paper feed rollers 108, 108, even if the elevator base 104 is tilted in response to this support, According to this inclination, the paper feed rollers 108 and 108 are also inclined.

As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feed mechanism section 103 is composed of a conveyance path 116 composed of conveyance rollers 116a, 116b, etc., and conveys the paper P from the upper device to the lower device. The paper P from the conveyance path 87 of the paper re-feeding unit 4 is stored in the large-capacity paper ejection storage device 7 or the paper distribution device 8
Are being transported to. Transport of the paper P through the transport path 112,
That is, the supply of the paper P from the transport path 87 of the re-feeding section 4 is detected by the sensor 117 provided near the transport roller 116a.

A positioning mechanism 162 (see FIGS. 18 to 21) having the same structure as that of the re-feeding section 4 is provided above the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6, and Six positioning protrusions 327 having the same structure as that of the re-feeding unit 4 are also provided at the bottom of the capacitive paper feeding device 6, that is, at the bottom of the base frame.

As a result, the positioning poles 325, 325 of the positioning mechanism 322 are provided in the hollow portions of the positioning poles 325, 325, respectively, for positioning the reversing portion 3, or for positioning the left side of the re-feeding portion 4. The projecting portions 327, 327 of the are fitted together. The guide rails 324, 324 of the positioning mechanism 322 have recesses 326a, 326a, 326b, 326b in the projections 320, 32 for positioning the printer body 1, respectively.
The positioning protrusions 327, 327, 327, 327, 327 on the right side and the center of the re-feeding unit 4 are fitted together.

Next, the large capacity discharged paper accommodating device 7 will be described with reference to FIGS.

The large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7 is an elevator mechanism.
The storage unit 121 includes a storage unit 121 that stores the paper P using the storage unit 120, and a storage unit 122 that stores the paper P in the storage unit 121. In the take-in section 122, as shown in FIG. 15, the paper P supplied from the upper path, for example, the transport path 116 of the large-capacity sheet feeder 6, is transported by the transport guides 123a, 123b, and 124.
, 124, discharge rollers 125, 125, 125 Conveyor path 1
It is conveyed to the storage unit 121 via 26. The conveyance of the sheet P by the conveyance path 126 is detected by the sensor 127 provided near the conveyance guide 123b.

The transport guide 123a can be rotated in the direction of the arrow in the figure to release the transport path 126, and the spring 129 connected to the plate member 128 fixed to the transport guide 123a. It is designed to return to its original position.

A jogger mechanism 130 is provided in the vicinity of the transport guides 124, 124 so that the jogger mechanism 130 can perform a sorting process.

An elevator stand 131 on which the paper P is placed is provided in the storage section 121. This elevator stand 131
Is a belt 132 that is driven by being connected to a motor (not shown)
An elevator mechanism 120 including a take-up roller 133, an idle roller 134, and the like moves up and down.

A part 131a on the elevator platform 131 has a convex shape as shown in FIG. As a result, even if the stacked sheets P are curled, the central portion of the curled sheets P is lifted and the sheets P are brought into a substantially horizontal state, so that the number of stored sheets can be increased.
A part 131a on the elevator base 131 has a gentle convex shape so that the paper P does not become a jam.

An elevator pedestal 131 is provided on the upper surface of the storage section 121.
An elevator upper limit switch 135 is provided for detecting that a predetermined number of upper sheets P have been lowered and can be stored. An elevator lower limit switch 137 for detecting that the elevator base 131 is at the lower limit position, that is, the paper P is full is provided at the lower part of the side surface of the storage section 121.

When several sheets of paper P are stored in the elevator table 104 and the elevator upper limit switch 136 is turned on, the motor is turned on for a predetermined time or until the elevator upper limit switch 136 is turned off. Lower 131.

The left side cover 13 shown in FIG.
8 can be opened when the paper P is jammed,
The side cover switch 139 is also provided in the vicinity thereof.

Further, in the upper part of the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7,
A positioning mechanism 322 (see FIGS. 18 to 21) having the same configuration as that of the re-feeding unit 4 is provided,
Six positioning protrusions 327 having the same structure as that of the re-feeding unit 4 are also provided at the bottom of the large-capacity discharged paper accommodating device 7, that is, at the bottom of the base frame.

As a result, the positioning poles 325, 325 of the positioning mechanism 322 have hollow protrusions 321a, 321a for positioning the reversing portion 3, and the re-feeding portion 4 in the hollow portions.
Positioning protrusions 327, 327 on the left side or the positioning protrusions 327, 32 on the left side of the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6
7 is designed to fit. The positioning rails 324 of the positioning mechanism 322 and the recesses 326a, 326a, 326b, and 326b of the 324 have projections for positioning the printer body 1, respectively.
320, 320, 320, 320, protrusions 327, 327, 327, 327 for positioning in the center and right side of the re-feeding section 4, or protrusions for positioning in the center and right side of the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 327, 327, 327, and 327 are adapted to fit together.

Next, the sheet sorter 8 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 16 and 17.

The paper distribution device 8 is composed of a paper conveyance unit 141, a distribution unit 142, and a paper reception unit 143.

In the paper transport unit 141, as shown in FIG. 16, the transport path 116 of the upper device, for example, the large-capacity paper feeder 6 is used.
The sheet P supplied from the sheet is conveyed through a conveying path 147 including the conveying guides 144, 144, the conveying belt 145, the feed rollers 146, .... The conveyance of the sheet P by the conveyance path 147 is detected by a sensor 148 provided near the conveyance guides 144, 144.

The conveyor belt 145 is a belt feed roller 149,
The driving force from the motor (not shown) is transmitted to the 150.

In the vicinity of the feed rollers 146, ..., Distribution gates 151, ... As distribution units 142 are provided, respectively, and the paper P conveyed on the conveyance path 147 by these distribution gates 151 ,. The paper is received by the paper receivers (bins) 152, which form the paper receiver 143. The lowermost sorting gate 151 of the sorting gates 151, ... Is always opened and the sheet P is always loaded. Since a drive unit (solenoid) for the lowermost sorting gate 151 is unnecessary, cost reduction can be achieved.

The sorting gates 151, ...
Sensors 155, ... Detecting that the data have been distributed are provided.

A pair of discharge rollers 153, ... Is provided between the sorting gates 151 ,.

The paper receivers 152, ... Are respectively provided with sensors 154 ,.

As shown in FIG. 17, a front cover (front door) 140 is provided in the paper transport unit 141, and the front cover 140 can be opened when the paper P is jammed. The opening / closing of the front cover 140 is detected by the front cover switch 234.

In addition, a positioning mechanism having the same structure as that of the sheet re-feeding section 4 is provided above the sheet allocating device 8.
322 (see FIGS. 18 to 21) is provided, and six positioning units having the same configuration as the re-feeding unit 4 provided at the bottom of the sheet sorting device 8, that is, the lower portion of the base frame. The projections 327, ... Are provided.

As a result, in the hollow portions of the positioning poles 325, 325 of the positioning mechanism 322, the projections 321a, 321a for positioning the reversing portion 3 and the re-feeding portion 4 are provided.
Positioning protrusions 327, 327 on the left side or the positioning protrusions 327, 32 on the left side of the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6
7 is designed to fit. The positioning rails 324 of the positioning mechanism 322 and the recesses 326a, 326a, 326b, and 326b of the 324 have projections for positioning the printer body 1, respectively.
320, 320, 320, 320, protrusions 327, 327, 327, 327 for positioning in the center and right side of the re-feeding section 4, or protrusions for positioning in the center and right side of the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 327, 327, 327, and 327 are adapted to fit together.

FIG. 22 is a front view of the rear portion when the devices are stacked and arranged as shown in FIG. That is, the laser printer 1 is provided with a power inlet 1a and optional interface (I / F) connectors 1b and 1c. Although not shown, a connector to the host computer is provided.

The re-feeding section 4 includes a power inlet 4a, a fuse 4b, optional I / F connectors 4c and 4d, and a reversing section I / F.
An F connector 4e is provided. The high-capacity paper feeder 6 includes a power inlet 6a, a power outlet 6b, and a fuse.
6c, a breaker 6d, optional I / F connectors 6e and 6f, and a reversing section I / F connector 6g are provided. The large-capacity output storage device 7 includes a power inlet 7a and a power outlet.
7b, a fuse 7c, a breaker 7d, an optional I / F connector 7e, and a reversing section I / F connector 7f are provided.

Although not shown, the sheet sorting device 8
In the same way as the large-capacity output storage device 7,
8a, a power outlet 8b, a fuse 8c, a breaker 8d, an optional I / F connector 8e, and a reversing section I / F connector 8f are provided.

For example, FIG. 23 is a rear wiring diagram when the devices are stacked and arranged as shown in FIG.

That is, the power inlet 1a and the power inlet 7a are connected to external power outlets via the power cables 161, 162, respectively, and the power inlet 4a and the power outlet 6b are connected by the power cable 163. 6a and the power outlet 7b are connected by a power cable 164.

The option I / F connector 1b and the I / F connector 2a are connected by the cable 165,
/ F connector 1c and option I / F connector 4d are connected by cable 166, and option I / F connector 4c
And the option I / F connector 6e are connected by the cable 167, and the option I / F connector 6f and the option I / F connector 6e are connected.
The / F connector 7e is connected by the cable 168, and the reversing section I / F connector 4e and the I / F connector 3a are connected by the cable 16.
Connected by 9.

The structure of the printer control unit 42 will be described with reference to FIG. The printer control section 42 is provided with a CPU 400 for controlling this entire section. This CPU 400
Obtains bit image data (bitmap data) corresponding to character data as image data sent from the host computer 10 from the IC card 409 and RA
It is stored in the M402. The ROM 401 stores a control program, and the CPU 400 operates according to this program.

The RAM 402 is used as a page buffer for temporarily storing the image data sent from the host computer 10. The expansion memory 403 is a large-capacity memory used when the image data sent from the host computer 10 is a large amount of data such as bitmap data and the RAM 402 cannot store one page of data.

The video RAM 404 stores image data developed into a bit image, that is, bit map data supplied from the IC card 409, and its output is supplied to the serial-parallel conversion circuit 405. Has become. The serial-parallel conversion circuit 405,
The video RAM 404 converts the image data sent as parallel data developed into a bit image (bitmap data) into serial data and sends it to the engine control unit 43.

The host interface 406 transfers data between the host computer 10 and the printer control section 42, and is provided with two types of serial transfer lines 407a and parallel transfer lines 407b. And
It can be appropriately used depending on the type of data transferred to and from the host computer 10. The engine interface 408 is the printer control unit 42.
The interface signal S3 between the engine control unit 43 and the engine control unit 43 is relayed.

The connection circuits 410, 410 are IC cards 409,
When inserting the 409 into the connector (not shown) or pulling it out from the connector (not shown),
The power supply and signal line supplied to the C cards 409 and 409 are shut off, and the IC card 409 is affected by noise generated when the card is inserted or removed.
, 409 to prevent the data stored in them from being destroyed.

The operation panel controller 412 controls the LED display 5 to display a guidance message on the liquid crystal display (not shown) of the operation panel 41 for instructing various operations.
The control of turning on / off, blinking of 2 to 57, or the control of sending the data input from the operation panel 41 to the CPU 400 is performed. In addition, the internal bus 413 is the CP
U400, ROM401, RAM402, extended memory 403, operation panel controller 412, host interface 406
, The engine interface 408, and the connection circuit 410 are buses for exchanging data with each other.

The structure of the engine control unit 43 will be described with reference to FIG. The engine control unit 43 includes the laser optical system 11, the pre-exposure device 16, the fixing device 17, the sensors 34 and 35,
36, paper feed device connection switch 37, reversing unit connection switch 38,
Optional I / F connectors 1b and 1c, a high-voltage power supply 171, a mechanism drive circuit 172, and a power supply device 173 are connected.

The high-voltage power supply 171 outputs high-voltage signals for developing bias, charging, and transfer to the developing bias power supply unit (not shown), the charging device 18, and the wire high-voltage power supply unit (not shown) of the transfer device 20, respectively. To be done.

The mechanism drive circuit 172 is for driving various motors and solenoids.
A cooling fan 177, a main motor 178, a manual sheet feeding solenoid 179, a cassette sheet feeding solenoid 180, an aligning solenoid 181, a toner replenishing solenoid 182, and a gate solenoid 183 are connected to this.

By exciting the manual paper feed solenoid 179, the rotation of the main motor 178 causes the conveyance roller pair 31 to rotate.
To be transmitted to. When the cassette sheet feeding solenoid 180 is excited, it is transmitted to the delivery roller 20a or 20b. When the aligning solenoid 181 is excited, the main motor
The rotation of 178 is transmitted to the aligning roller pair 21. When the toner supply solenoid 182 is excited, the rotation of the main motor 178 is transmitted to the toner supply roller (not shown) in the developing device 14. When the gate solenoid 183 is excited, the gate 23 is switched.

As shown in FIG. 25, the laser optical system 11 is provided with a scanner control circuit 174 for controlling the entire laser optical system 11. The scanner control circuit 174 is connected to a semiconductor laser oscillator 175 for generating a laser, a laser light detection sensor 176 for detecting laser light from the semiconductor laser oscillator 175, and the mirror motor 29.

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 25, the fixing device 17 has a heater lamp 17b provided inside the heat roller 17a and a thermistor 17c for measuring the temperature in the vicinity of the heat roller 17a. .

In the power supply device 173, as shown in FIG. 25, a stepping transformer 184, a noise filter 185,
The fuse 185 is installed and the stepping transformer
184, the noise filter 185, the fuse 186, and the main switch 187 are connected to the inlet 1a.

The power supply device 173 outputs + 5V and + 24V power supply voltages when the main switch 187 is turned on. The power supply voltage of + 5V is supplied to the engine control unit 43, and is further supplied to the printer control unit 42 via the engine control unit 43. On the other hand, the power supply voltage of + 24V is sequentially passed through the cover switches 188 and 189 to the engine control unit.
Supplied to 43. Then, it is supplied to the scanner control circuit 174, the high-voltage power supply 171, and the mechanism unit drive circuit 172 via the engine control unit 43.

The semiconductor laser oscillator 175 and the mirror motor 29 are supplied from the scanner control circuit 174, and the pre-exposure device 16, the main motor 178, the manual paper feed solenoid 179, the cassette paper feed solenoid 180 are supplied from the mechanism drive circuit 172.
Aligning solenoid 181, toner supply solenoid 182
, The gate solenoid 183, the cooling fan 177, etc., and are used as driving power sources for these components.

Further, the fixing device 17 is provided in the power supply device 173.
A zero-cross switch type heater lamp drive circuit (not shown) for driving the internal heater lamp 17b, for example, a phototriac coupler and a triac, is provided, and the light emitting side LE of the phototriac coupler is provided.
+ 24V is used as the drive power source for D. As is well known, in the heater lamp drive circuit having this configuration, when the light emitting side LED is turned on / off, the light emitting side phototriac is turned on / off at the zero cross point of the AC power source, so that the main switch element of the next stage is operated. A certain triac is turned on / off to turn on / off the AC power to the heater lamp 17b. Then, a heater control signal for turning on / off the light emitting side LED is sent to the engine controller 43.
The temperature signal detected by the thermistor 17c provided in the fixing device 17 is supplied to the engine control unit 43 while being supplied from the power supply device 173 to the power supply device 173.

Further, the cover switch 188 is turned off when the top cover (not shown) is rotated upward,
Although not shown, the cover switch 189 is adapted to be turned off when opened. Therefore, when the top cover or rear cover is opened, the switch 188
, 189 cuts off +24 V, so that the semiconductor laser oscillator 175, the mirror motor 29, the high-voltage power supply 171, the main motor 178, the solenoids 179 to 183, and the cooling fan 17 are connected.
The operation of the heater lamp 17b and the heater lamp 17b is stopped so that the operator can touch the inside of the apparatus main body 1 without any trouble.

Next, the control circuit of the sheet feeding device 2 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described using 6.

That is, a control circuit 191 for controlling the entire sheet feeding device 2 is provided. This control circuit 191 has
The aligning switch 74, the paper empty switch 73, the I / F connector 2a, the door switch 192, the motor 70
A driver 193 for exciting the sheet feeding solenoid 69, a driver 194 for exciting the sheet feeding solenoid 69, and a driver 195 for exciting the aligning solenoid 71 are connected.

Next, the control circuit of the inverting section 3 is shown in FIG.
Will be explained.

That is, a control circuit 201 for controlling the entire inverting section 3 is provided. The control circuit 201 includes a sensor 85, an I / F connector 3a, a door switch 202, a driver 204 for exciting the motor 203, a gate solenoid 20.
A driver 206 for exciting 5 and a driver 208 for exciting the feed solenoid 207 are connected.

When the gate solenoid 205 is excited, the gate 84 is switched. When the feed solenoid 207 is excited, the rotation of the motor 203 is transmitted to the paper discharge roller pair 81.

Next, the control circuit of the re-feeding unit 4 will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described using 8.

That is, a control circuit 211 for controlling the entire sheet refeeding section 4 is provided. This control circuit 211 has
Sensors 91 and 92, reversing section I / F connector 4e, optional I / F connectors 4c and 4d, door switch 212, motor 21
A driver 214 for exciting 3; a driver 216 for exciting the gate solenoid 215; a driver 218 for exciting the aligning solenoid 217; and a stepping transformer 219 are connected.

When the gate solenoid 215 is excited, the gate 88 is switched. When the aligning solenoid 217 is excited, the motor 21
The rotation of 3 is transmitted to the aligning roller pair 89d.

The stepping transformer 219 is connected to the inlet 4a via the noise filter 220, the fuse 4b and the main switch 221.

Next, the control circuit of the large-capacity sheet feeder 6 will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, a control circuit 231 for controlling the entire large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 is provided. This control circuit 231
The sensors 113 and 117, the paper empty switch 105, the elevator upper limit switch 106, the elevator lower limit switch 107, the reversing section I / F connector 6g, and the option I.
/ F connectors 6e and 6f, pre-feed sensor 113, elevator down switch 232 for forcibly lowering elevator base 106, side cover switch 233, front cover switch 234, upper body, for example, a detection body from refeed unit 4 ( Upper device switch 235 turned on by not shown), driver for driving elevator motor 236
237, a driver 239 for driving the pulse motor 238, a driver 281 for exciting the sheet feeding solenoid 280, a driver 283 for exciting the aligning solenoid 282, and a stepping transformer 284 are connected.

When the jam is detected by the detection signal of the sensor 113, the control circuit 231 drives the elevator motor 236 to forcibly lower the elevator stand 106 to the lowermost position.

As a result, the upper gap is widened so that the user can easily get in and remove the jammed paper P.

When the sheet feeding solenoid 280 is excited, the rotation of the pulse motor 238 is transmitted to the sheet feeding rollers 108, 108 via the clutch 317. When the aligning solenoid 282 is excited, the rotation of the pulse motor 238 causes the aligning roller pair 11 to rotate.
It is transmitted to 0.

Further, as the pulse motor 238 rotates, the transport rollers 116a and 116b of the paper feed mechanism 103 rotate.

Thus, with one pulse motor 238,
Drives two drive units, the paper feed mechanism unit 103 and the paper feed unit,
The paper feeding unit controls the drive using a clutch 317 and the like.
As a result, an inexpensive and simple structure can be obtained.

The stepping transformer 284 is connected to the inlet 6a and the outlet 6b via the noise filter 285, the fuse 6c and the main switch 286.

A power supply voltage of +24 volts is supplied to the driver 237 via the switching circuit 287. The switching circuit 287 is a circuit that is turned on / off by a signal from the front cover switch 234. This ensures that when the front cover is closed, the driver 237
When the power supply voltage is supplied to the driver and the front cover is opened, the driver 237 is not supplied with the power supply voltage.

Next, the control circuit of the large-capacity discharged sheet storage device 7 will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, a control circuit 241 for controlling the entire large-capacity discharged sheet storage device 7 is provided. This control circuit
241, the above sensor 127, paper empty switch
135, elevator upper limit switch 136, elevator lower limit switch 137, reversing section I / F connector 7f, option I /
F connector 7e, elevator down switch 242 for forcibly lowering the elevator base 131, side cover switch
139, a front cover switch 244, an upper device switch 245 that is turned on by a detector (not shown) from an upper apparatus such as the large-capacity sheet feeder 6, and a jogger mechanism
A jog sensor 246 that detects the state of the 130, a driver 248 that drives the elevator motor 247, a driver 250 that drives the pulse motor 249, a driver 252 that excites the electromagnetic clutch 251 for jogger, a driver 254 that excites the jog solenoid 253, and a stepping transformer. 255 is connected.

When a jam is detected by the detection signal of the sensor 127, the control circuit 241 drives the elevator motor 247 to forcibly lower the elevator pedestal 131 to the lowermost position.

As a result, the upper gap is widened, and it is easy for the operator to get in and remove the jammed paper P.

When the jogger electromagnetic clutch 251 and the jog solenoid 253 are excited, the jogger mechanism 130 is
Are being driven.

The stepping transformer 255 is connected to the inlet 7a and the outlet 7b via a noise filter 256, a fuse 7c and a main switch 257.

Next, the control circuit of the sheet sorter 8 will be described with reference to FIG.

That is, a control circuit 261 for controlling the entire sheet sorting device 8 is provided. The control circuit 261 includes sensors 148, 154, ..., 155 ,.
An F connector 8f, an optional I / F connector 8e, a side cover switch 262, a front cover switch 263, an upper device switch 264 which is turned on by a detector (not shown) from an upper device such as the large-capacity paper feeding device 6,
Driver 266 driving motor 265, gate solenoid
Drivers 268, which excite 267, ..., And a stepping transformer 269 are connected.

The gates 151, ... Are driven by exciting the gate solenoids 267 ,.

The stepping transformer 269 is connected to the inlet 8a and the outlet 8b via the noise filter 270, the fuse 8c and the main switch 271.

The control circuit 261 counts the number of stored sheets for each of the sheet receivers 152, ... With a counter (not shown) according to the detection results from the sensors 155 ,.
When the number of stored sheets reaches a predetermined number (25 sheets), a signal indicating which sheet receiver 152 is full is transmitted to the printer control unit 42. The printer control unit 42 is an operation panel
The liquid crystal display 51 of 41 indicates that the paper receiver is fully loaded.

In this way, the user can confirm the determination of the use state by informing the user that the paper receiver is full.

Further, the usage state of each paper receiver 152, ...
It can be changed arbitrarily. For example, it is divided into a paper receiver (used as a sorter) for storing the print paper P for the host device and a paper receiver used individually by a plurality of users.

The operation of the printer controller 42 of the laser printer 1 will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 32 and 33.

When the laser printer 1 is set to the online state, the CPU 400 is the host computer.
10 or whether or not a feeder selection command is output from the operation panel controller 412 (step S
T1). When the CPU 400 determines that the feeder selection command is output, the laser printer 1 corresponds to the feeder selection command, for example, the paper feed cassettes 19a and 19b.
The CPU 400 outputs a feeder instruction signal to the engine controller 43 so as to form an image on the sheet P from the feeders such as the sheet feeding device 2 and the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 (step S).
T2). On the other hand, when the CPU 400 determines that the feeder selection command is not output, the CPU 400 skips step ST2. In this case, the engine control unit 43
Automatically selects the paper feed cassette 19a.

After checking the feeder selection command, CP
The U400 checks whether a stacker selection command has been output from the host computer 10 or the operation panel controller 412 (step ST3). CPU400
However, if it is determined that the stacker selection command has been output, the CPU 400 controls the engine with a stacker instruction signal so that the sheet P having the image formed by the laser printer 1 is conveyed to the stacker corresponding to the stacker selection command. It is output to the unit 43 (step ST4). On the other hand, CPU400
However, if it is determined that the stacker selection command is not output, the CPU 400 skips step ST4.
In this case, the engine control unit 43 automatically selects the paper discharge tray 33 as a stacker.

Subsequently, the CPU 400 checks whether or not the page buffer as the data buffer in the RAM 402 is full (step ST5). When the CPU 400 determines that the page buffer is full, the CPU 400 suspends data reception and ends the data reception process. On the other hand, when the CPU 400 determines that the page buffer is not full, the CPU 400 checks whether or not the image data supplied from the host computer 10 has been received (step ST6). If the CPU 400 determines in step ST6 that the image data is not received, the flow returns to step ST1 to repeat the series of steps. Then, the laser printer 1 and the optional device wait until the image data is received.

When the CPU 400 determines that the image data is received in step ST6, the received image data is R
The data is stored in the page buffer in AM402 (step ST7). Subsequently, the CPU 400 checks whether or not a print request is output from the engine control unit 43 (step ST8). If the engine controller 43 is not ready to print, no print request is output. CPU40
If 0 determines that the print request is not output,
The flow returns to step ST1 to execute the series of steps again. Then, the CPU 400 waits until a print request is output.

When the CPU 400 determines that the print request is output in step ST8, the CPU 400 transmits the print command to the engine control section 43 (step ST9). After that, the CPU checks whether or not the storage of one page of image data is completed in the page buffer (step ST10). If the store operation is incomplete,
The CPU 400 is LE through the operation panel controller 412.
The D indicator 56 is lit and displayed, and "DATA IN BUF" is displayed.
FER "is displayed (step ST11). Then, the flow returns to step ST1 to execute a series of steps, and the CPU 400 waits until one page of image data is stored in the page buffer. When it is determined that the storage of the image data is completed after repeating a series of steps, the CPU 400 turns off the LED display 56 and ends the data receiving process (step ST12).

When the CPU 400 determines in step ST5 that the page buffer is full, the CPU 400 interrupts data reception and the flow proceeds to step ST14 (step ST13).

When the data receiving process is completed, the CPU 400
Checks whether the scan buffer in the video RAM 404 is full (step ST14). CPU40
If 0 determines that the scan buffer is not full, the CPU 400 converts the image data stored in the page buffer into bit image data and converts it to video RAM.
It is stored in 404 (step ST15). The conversion into bit image data is performed according to a predetermined line pitch and character pitch. If the CPU 400 determines in step ST14 that the scan buffer is full, the flow skips step ST15.

Subsequently, the CPU 400 checks whether or not the V-SYNC command is transmitted to the engine control section 43 (step ST16). When the CPU 400 determines that the V-SYNC command has not yet been transmitted, the CPU 400 determines that the V-SYNC command has not been transmitted.
It is checked whether or not the NC request is output from the engine control unit 43 (step ST17). CPU400 is VS
If it is determined that the YNC request is not output, the flow returns to step ST1 and repeats a series of steps. Then, the CPU 400 waits until the V-SYNC request is output from the engine control unit 43.

The CPU 400 outputs V in step ST17.
-When it is determined that the SYNC request is output, the CPU 40
0 transmits a V-SYNC command to the engine control unit 43 (step ST18). The flow returns to step ST1 and waits until the H-SYNC signal and the predetermined number of video clock signals (V-CLK signals) are output from the engine control unit 43. The input of the H-SYNC signal and the V-CLK signal indicates the timing when the print control unit 42 transmits the bit image data to the engine control unit 43.

The CPU 400 proceeds to V in step ST16.
-If it is determined that the SYNC command has already been transmitted, the CP
U400 checks whether the front cover switch 244 is off or whether the elevator lower limit switch 137 is on (step ST19). If CPU 400
C determines that the front cover switch 244 is off or the elevator lower limit switch 137 is off, C
PU400 outputs a change signal to engine control unit 43 (step ST20). When the engine control unit 43 receives the change signal and the large-capacity paper ejection storage device 7 is selected as the stacker, the engine control unit 43 prevents the paper P from being conveyed to the large-capacity paper ejection storage device 7. Is changed from the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7 to the paper discharge tray 33. At this time, the CPU 400 outputs a display command to the operation panel controller 412. When the display command is received, the operation panel controller 412 instructs the liquid crystal display unit 51 to display "CO" when the front cover switch 244 is off.
VER OPEN ”message, or“ SHEET FULL ”if the elevator lower limit switch 137 is on.
Display messages respectively. This informs the operator that the stacker change was caused by the opening of the front cover 140 or the full sheet.

If the CPU 400 determines in step ST43 that the front cover switch 244 is on,
The CPU 400 checks whether or not all bit image data for one page has been transmitted from the video RAM 404 to the engine control unit 43 (step ST21). When the transmission of the bit image data is not completed, the CPU 400 transmits the bit image data in the video RAM 404 to the engine control unit 43 in synchronization with the H-SYNC signal and the V-CLK signal (steps ST22 and ST23). After that, the flow returns to step ST15 to execute a series of steps until the transmission of the bit image data is completed. When the transmission of the bit image data is completed, the flow returns to step ST1. As a result, the printer control unit 42 returns to the initial state in which the bit image data of the next page can be transmitted.

The operation of the engine control unit 43 of the laser printer 1 will be described below in detail with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 34 to 37.

First, the engine control section 43 checks whether or not the warm-up of the image forming section of the laser printer 1 is completed (step ST30). After the warm-up is completed, the laser printer 1 is set to the ready state in which the printing operation can be executed, and the print request is transmitted to the printer control unit 42 (step ST31).

The engine control unit 43 waits until a print command is output from the printer control unit 42 (step S
T32). When the print command is received, the engine control unit
43 checks whether or not the feeder instruction signal is output from the printer control unit 42 (step ST33). When the engine control unit 43 determines that the feeder instruction signal is output, the engine control unit 43 selects the feeder so that an image is formed on the sheet P taken out from the feeder corresponding to the feeder instruction signal (step ST34). When the engine control unit 43 determines that the feeder instruction signal is not output, the engine control unit 43 selects the paper feed cassette 43a so that the paper P is taken out from the paper feed cassette 43a (step ST35).

Subsequently, the engine control unit 43 checks whether or not the stacker control signal is output from the printer control unit 42 (step ST36). If the engine control unit 43
If it is determined that the stacker instruction signal is output, the engine control unit 43 selects the stacker so that the image-formed paper P is conveyed to the stacker corresponding to the stacker instruction signal (step ST37). When the engine control unit 43 determines that the stacker instruction signal is output, the engine control unit 43 selects the paper discharge tray 33 so that the image-formed paper P is conveyed to the paper discharge tray 33 (step ST3).
8).

When the paper feeding device 2 or the large-capacity paper feeding device 6 is selected as the feeder, the engine control unit 43 transmits a feeder on command to the corresponding control circuit 191 or 231 (steps ST39, ST40). When the feeder-on command is received, the received feeder (sheet feeding device 2 or large-capacity sheet feeding device 6) starts operating.

After that, the engine control unit 43 displays the V-SYNC.
It waits until the timing of outputting the request (step ST41). At the output timing of the V-SYNC request, the engine control unit 43 outputs the V-SYNC request to the printer control unit 42 (step ST42). Subsequently, the engine control unit 43 sends the V-SYNC command to the printer control unit.
It waits until it is output from 42 (step ST43).
When the V-SYNC command is received, the engine control unit 43 checks whether a change signal has been output (step ST44). If the engine control unit 43 determines that the change signal has been output, the flow proceeds to the series of steps described below including the step of changing the stacker to the sheet discharge tray 33.

When the engine control unit 43 determines that the change signal is not output, the engine control unit 43 waits until the timing to output the H-SYNC signal to the printer control unit 42 (step ST45). H-SYNC
When the timing to output the signal comes, the engine control unit 43
Outputs the H-SYNC signal to the printer control unit 42 (step ST46). After that, the engine control unit 43 waits until the bit image data is output from the printer control unit 42 in response to the H-SYNC signal and the V-CLK signal (step ST47). The bit image data output from the printer controller 42 in response to one H-SYNC signal corresponds to data for one scanning line scanned by the laser optical system 11.

When the bit image data is received, the engine control section 43 executes the printing operation in accordance with the bit image data. Therefore, the high voltage power supply 171, the mechanism drive circuit 172, the pre-exposure device 16, the laser optical system 11 and Fixing device 17
The image forming unit such as the above is operated (step ST4
8).

Next, the engine control unit 43 checks whether or not transmission of all bit image data for one page of the paper P is completed (step ST49). If the engine control unit 43 determines that the transmission of all bit image data has not been completed, the flow returns to step ST44 to execute a series of steps. If the engine control unit 43 determines that the transmission of all bit image data has been completed, the engine control unit 43 checks whether the stacker is the discharge tray 33.

When it is determined that the stacker is not the discharge tray 33 but the large-capacity discharge storage device 7 or the discharge tray 9 of the reversing unit 3, the engine control unit 43 controls each of the optional devices through which the paper P passes. A "TRANSPORT" command is transmitted to the circuit, and an "EXIT" command is transmitted to the control circuit of the optional device to which the paper P is carried out (steps ST51, S).
T52). For example, when the stacker is the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7, the engine control unit 43 controls the control circuit 201 of the reversing unit 3.
The control circuit 211 of the re-feeding unit 4 transmits a "TRANSPORT" command to the control circuit 231 of the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 and the "EXIT" signal to the control circuit 241 of the large-capacity sheet discharging and accommodating device 7.

The control circuit of the optional device is "TRANS
When the control circuit receives the "PORT" signal, the control circuit receives the sheet P and prepares for transporting the sheet P to another optional device.
Upon receiving the "IT" signal, the control circuit prepares to receive the imaged sheet P.

Subsequently, the engine control unit 43 waits until the paper discharge switch 35 is turned on (step ST53). When the paper discharge switch 35 is turned on, the engine control unit 43 sets the “paper discharge switch 35 on state” to the control circuit 211 through the control circuit.
It is transmitted to 201 (step ST54). "Eject switch
Upon receiving the "35 ON state", the control circuit 201 excites the feed solenoid 207 so as to rotate the conveying rollers 83a and 83b. Then, the engine control unit 43 ends the processing, and the flow returns to step ST32.

In step ST50, when the engine control unit 43 determines that the stacker is the discharge tray 33,
The engine control unit 43 energizes the gate solenoid 183 so that the gate 23 is turned and the paper P is guided to the paper discharge tray 33 (step ST55), and the flow is step ST3.
Return to 2.

Next, the stacker changing operation by the engine control unit 43 will be described in detail below.

In step 44, the engine control unit 43
If is it is determined that the change signal is output, the engine control unit 43 checks whether the stacker is large discharge and storage unit 7 (step ST56). here,
When the stacker is not the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7, the flow returns to step ST45. On the other hand, when the stacker is the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7, the engine control unit 43 proceeds to step ST57. Steps ST57 to ST6
1, the engine control unit 43 executes the same steps as the series of steps from ST45 to ST49.

In step 61, the engine control unit 43
If it is determined that the transmission of all bit image data is not completed, the flow returns to step ST57. Here, when the engine control unit 43 determines that the transmission of all the bit image data is completed, the engine control unit 43 determines “ONE-SHEET TRANSPORT”.
The command is transmitted to the control circuits 201, 211 and 231 and the "EXIT" signal is transmitted to the control circuit 241 of the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7 (steps ST62 and ST63).

Thereafter, the engine control unit 43 causes the paper discharge sensor 35 to
It waits until is turned on (step ST64). When the paper ejection sensor 35 is turned on, the engine control unit 43 displays “FINAL
The discharge sensor 35 ON state "is transmitted to the control circuit 201 via the control circuit 211 (step ST65), and the engine control unit
45 waits until the discharge sensor 35 turns off (step S
T66). When the paper discharge sensor 35 is turned off, the engine control unit 43 energizes the gate solenoid 183 and turns the gate 23 so that the paper P is conveyed to the paper discharge tray 33 thereafter (step ST67).

Subsequently, the engine control unit 43 waits until the paper discharge completion signal is output from the control circuit 241 of the large capacity paper output container 7 via the control circuit 231 and the control circuit 211 (step ST68). Upon receiving the paper discharge completion signal, the engine control unit 43 transmits a "STOP" signal to the control circuits of all optional devices except the large capacity paper discharge accommodating device 7 (ST69). Upon receiving the "STOP" signal, the optional device stops the carrying operation. At this time, the engine control unit 34 ends the processing, the flow returns to step ST32, and the next paper P is conveyed to the paper discharge tray 33.

Next, the operations of the reversing unit 3 and the re-feeding unit 4 will be described in detail with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS. 38 and 39. In this flowchart, it is assumed that the stacker is cut in the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7.

First, the control circuit 211 controls the engine control unit 43.
Via cable 166 to “ONE-SHEET TR
The process waits until the "ANSPORT" command or the "TRANSPORT" command is output (step ST70).
NE-SHEET TRANSPORT "command or" T
Upon receiving the "RANSPORT" command, the control circuit 211 transfers the command input to the control circuit 210 via the cable 169 (step ST71), and the control circuit 211 causes the discharge sensor 35 to be in the ON state or the "FINAL discharge sensor 35ON".
It waits until the "state" is output from the engine control unit 43 (step ST72). When this state is received, the control circuit 211 transfers this state to the control circuit 210 (step ST73). The circuit 210 uses a motor so that the conveyance rollers 83a and 83b convey the paper P.
203 is driven and the feed solenoid 207 is excited (step ST74). At this time, the control circuit 211 waits until the sensor 91 is turned on (step ST75). Sensor 91
When is turned on, the control circuit 211 changes the input state to “FINAL
It is checked whether or not the discharge sensor 35 is in the ON state (step ST76). Here, the control circuit 211 sets "FIN".
"Paper sensor 35 ON" instead of "AL sensor 35 ON state"
If it is determined that the sensor 91 is in the "state", the control circuit 211 transmits the "sensor 91 ON state" to the control circuit 231 via the cable 229, and waits until the sensor 91 is turned off (step S).
T77, ST78). On the other hand, the control circuit 211 executes step S
When it is determined at T76 that the input state is the "FINAL paper ejection sensor 35 ON state", the control circuit 211 determines that "FINA
The "L discharge sensor 35 ON state" is transmitted to the control circuit 231 (step ST79), and the flow proceeds to step ST78.

When the sensor 91 is turned off, the "sensor 91 OFF state" is transmitted to the control circuit 211 and the control circuit 201 (step ST79). When "sensor 91 OFF state" is received,
One second after the sensor 91 is turned off, the control circuit 201 stops driving the motor 203 and stops exciting the feed solenoid 207. (Steps ST80, ST81).

After that, the control circuit 211 waits until the "STOP" command is output from the engine control unit 43 (step ST82). Upon receiving the "STOP" command, the control circuit 211 transfers the "STOP" command to the control circuit 201 (step ST83). When the control circuit 201 receives the "STOP" command, the reversing unit 3 and the re-feeding unit 4 are set so as not to convey the paper P (step ST84), and the process is ended.

The operation of the large-capacity sheet feeder 6 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this flowchart, the stacker is set in the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7.

The control circuit 231 sends "ONE-SHEET TRANSPOSPO" from the control circuit 211 via the cable 167.
It waits until the "RT" command or the "TRANSPORT" command is output (step ST90).
EET TRANSPORT ”command or“ TRANSP
Upon receiving the “ORT” command, the control circuit 231 causes the “sensor 91
It waits until the control circuit 211 outputs "ON state" or "FINAL sensor 91 ON state" (step ST9).
1). Upon receiving this state, the control circuit 231 drives the pulse motor 238 (step ST92) to convey the paper P by the rotation of the paper conveyance motor and 1b, and the sensor 1
It waits until 17 is turned on (step ST93). When the sensor 117 is turned on, the control circuit 231 checks whether or not the input state is the "FINAL sensor 91 ON state" (step ST94). The control circuit 231 is not in the input state "FINAL sensor 91 ON state" but "sensor 91
If it is “ON state”, the control circuit 231 uses the cable 168.
“Sensor 117 ON state” is transmitted to the control circuit 241 via the control circuit 241 (step ST95), and waits until the sensor 117 is turned off (step ST96).

On the other hand, in step ST94, the control circuit 231 transmits the input state "FINAL sensor 91 ON state" to the control circuit 241 (step ST97), and the flow proceeds to step ST96. Two seconds after the sensor 117 is turned off, the control circuit 231 stops driving the pulse motor 238, and then waits until the "STOP" command is output from the control circuit 211 (steps ST97, ST98, ST99).
When the "STOP" command is received, the control circuit 231 sets the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 so that the sheet P is not conveyed (step ST100), and the process ends. However, it is possible to take out the sheet P from the storage section of the large-capacity sheet feeding device 6 and maintain it in a transportable state. That is, when the command requesting the paper P is received from the engine control unit 43, the control circuit
231 is a sheet feeding solenoid for driving the pulse motor 238 so that the sheet P is conveyed to the laser printer 1.
Energize 280 and aligning solenoid 282.

The operation of the large-capacity discharged sheet storage device 7 will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this flowchart, the stacker is set in the large-capacity discharged paper storage device 7.

The control circuit 241 waits until the "EXIT" command is output by the engine control section 43 via the cable 166, the control circuit 211, the cable 167, the control circuit 231, and the cable 223 (step ST110). "EXI
When the "T" command is received, the control circuit 241 causes the "sensor 117 O"
It waits until the control circuit 231 outputs "N state" or "FINAL sensor 117 ON state" (step ST
111). Upon receiving one of these states, the control circuit 241 drives the motor 249 so as to convey the paper P by the rotation of the paper discharge roller (step ST112),
The sensor 127 is turned on and waits until it is turned off (step ST113).

One second after the sensor 127 is turned off, the control circuit 241
Stops the drive of the motor 249 and the input state is "F
It is checked whether or not the "INAL sensor 117 is in the ON state" (steps ST114, ST115, ST116). The control circuit 241 sets the "EXIT COMPLETION state" through the cable 168, the control circuit 231, the cable 167, the control circuit 211 and the cable 166. Engine control unit
It is transmitted to 43 (step ST117). At this time, the control circuit 241 turns off the power supply to the driver 248 and the driver 250 (step ST118). Step ST1
16, the input state of the control circuit 241 is "FINAL
When it is determined that the "sensor 117 is in the ON state" instead of the "sensor 117 is in the ON state", the flow returns to step ST110. In this way, the stacker changing operation is executed.

[0200]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, when a large-capacity paper discharging device is connected to the image forming means, the discharging process to the paper discharging device is being performed. Thus, it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus capable of always ending the received print processing even when the front door of the paper discharge device is opened and receiving the next print processing at any time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of an image forming apparatus including a laser printer and optional equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus in FIG.

3 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the image forming apparatus in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an external view showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the configuration of the operation panel of FIG.

7 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the paper feeding device of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of the re-feeding unit of FIG.

9 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

10 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

11 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

12 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

13 is a cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a take-out / conveying unit in the large-capacity sheet feeding device of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the take-out and transport unit of FIG.

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of the large-capacity discharged paper storage device of FIG.

16 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a main part of the paper sorting apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 17 is an external view showing the configuration of the paper sorting device of FIG.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a positioning mechanism of the re-feeding unit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 19 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a positioning mechanism of the re-feeding unit of FIG. 1.

20 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a positioning mechanism and a positioning protrusion of the re-feeding unit of FIG.

FIG. 21 is a top view showing the configuration of the guide rails in the positioning mechanism of the re-feeding unit of FIG. 1.

22 is a rear front view of the image forming apparatus in FIG.

23 is a rear wiring diagram of the image forming apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a printer control unit in FIG.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the laser printer of FIG.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the paper feeding device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an inverting unit in FIG.

FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the re-feeding unit of FIG. 1.

FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the large-capacity sheet feeder of FIG.

30 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the large-capacity discharged paper storage device of FIG.

FIG. 31 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the sheet sorting device of FIG. 1.

32 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the printer control unit in FIG.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the printer control unit in FIG.

34 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the engine control unit in FIG.

35 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the engine control unit in FIG.

36 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the engine control unit in FIG.

37 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the engine control unit in FIG.

38 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the reversing unit and the re-feeding unit in FIG.

FIG. 39 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the reversing unit and the re-feeding unit in FIG. 1.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the large-capacity sheet feeding device in FIG.

41 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the large-capacity discharged paper storage device of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Laser printer, 2 ... Paper feeding device, 3 ... Reversing unit, 4 ...
Re-feeding unit, 6 ... Large-capacity paper feeding device, 7 ... Large-capacity paper ejection storage device, 8 ... Paper sorting device, 9,33 ... Paper ejection tray, 23,84,
88 ... Gate, 30, 82, 83, 87, 89, 90, 112, 116, 12
6… Transport path, 140… Front cover.

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Imao Shindo 70 Yanagicho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Stock company Toshiba Yanagimachi plant (72) Inventor Takashi Matsuoka 70, Yanagi-cho, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Stock company Toshiba (72) Inventor, Satoshi Onuma, Satoshi Onuma, 70, Yanagicho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Toshiba Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. (56) References JP-A 63-171770 (JP, A) JP-A 60-112060 (JP) , A) JP-A-57-109939 (JP, A) Jikkouhei 2-29063 (JP, Y2) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 43/00-43/08 B65H 29/58 B65H 31/24

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for forming an image according to image data supplied from an external apparatus on an image forming medium, wherein the image data supplied from the external apparatus is sequentially expanded into image data, and this expansion is performed. Image forming means for forming an image on the image forming medium based on the image data, and the image forming medium on which the image is formed by the image forming means is discharged from the side discharge port or the first 1. An image forming apparatus main body having a sorting unit that sorts whether the sheet is discharged to one sheet discharging tray, and a detection unit that detects passage of an image forming medium by the sorting unit, and a side portion of the image forming apparatus main body. disposed, the an image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body or is discharged to the second discharge tray, the an image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body downwardly by the first conveying mechanism A reversing device for sending or reversing the front and back of the image forming medium from the main body of the image forming apparatus and then conveying the medium downward by the first conveying mechanism, and the reversing device and the lower portion of the main body of the image forming apparatus. When the image forming on both sides of the image forming medium is instructed, the image forming medium reversed by the reversing device is conveyed on the conveying path to be re-fed to the image forming apparatus main body, and the reversing is performed. A sheet re-feeding device that conveys the image forming medium conveyed by the first conveying mechanism of the apparatus downward by the second conveying mechanism, and the image forming medium arranged below the sheet re-feeding device. A sheet feeding device that feeds the image forming medium to the main body of the image forming apparatus and conveys the image forming medium conveyed by the second conveying mechanism of the re-feeding device downward by the third conveying mechanism; Placed at the bottom of the above A paper discharge device for accommodating the image forming medium conveyed by the third conveying mechanism of the paper device, a first judging means for judging opening of the cover of the paper ejecting device, and an accommodating destination of the image forming medium. The paper discharge device is selected as the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body,
While being accommodated in the paper discharge device by being transported by the first transport mechanism, the second transport mechanism, and the third transport mechanism, the first determination means determines the cover of the paper discharge device. When it is determined that the image forming apparatus is open, a second determining unit that determines that the image forming unit is in the process of forming an image, and a second determining unit that determines that the image forming unit is forming the image, Third judging means for judging, based on the detection, whether the image-formed medium on which the image has been formed is discharged from the discharge port of the main body of the image forming apparatus; and When it is determined that the sheet is discharged from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus main body, the changing unit that changes the discharge destination by the sorting unit to the first sheet discharge tray, and the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body are The first transport mechanism, 2 of the transport mechanism, is transported by the third transport mechanism, the image type of the fourth determination means and, an image forming medium by the third determination means for determining the housing to the sheet discharging device
The discharge from the discharge device body is judged and the
Of the image forming medium into the paper discharge device by
And a stop means for stopping the conveyance by the first conveyance mechanism, the second conveyance mechanism, and the third conveyance mechanism when the content is judged, and also stopping the accommodation of the paper discharge device. Image forming apparatus. 2. An image forming apparatus for forming an image according to image data supplied from an external apparatus on an image forming medium, and developing means for sequentially expanding the image data supplied from the external apparatus into image data. An image forming means for forming an image on the image forming medium based on the image data developed by the developing means, and the image forming medium on which the image is formed by the image forming means is discharged from a side discharge port. Image forming apparatus main body having a sorting unit that sorts whether the image forming medium is discharged to the first discharge tray on the upper side, and a detecting unit that detects passage of an image forming medium by the sorting unit, and It is located on the side of the forming apparatus main body, or to discharge the an image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body to a second discharge tray, the an image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body A reversing device that conveys the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body downward by the first conveying mechanism, and then conveys the image forming medium downward by the first conveying mechanism; and the reversing device and the image forming device. When the image forming medium is placed at the lower part of the apparatus main body and image formation on both sides of the image forming medium is instructed, the image forming medium reversed by the reversing device is conveyed on the conveying path and re-transferred to the image forming apparatus main body. A sheet re-feeding device that feeds the image-forming medium that is fed by the first feeding mechanism of the reversing device and that is fed downward by the second feeding mechanism, and is arranged below the re-feeding device. Paper feeding for feeding the image forming medium to the main body of the image forming apparatus, and for feeding the image forming medium conveyed by the second conveying mechanism of the re-feeding device downward by the third conveying mechanism. Device and this paper feed A sheet discharging device which is arranged in the lower part of the tray and accommodates the image forming medium conveyed by the third conveying mechanism of the sheet feeding device; and a first judging means which judges whether the cover of the sheet discharging device is opened. The paper discharge device is selected as the accommodation destination of the image forming medium, and the image forming medium from the image forming apparatus main body is
While being accommodated in the paper discharge device by being transported by the first transport mechanism, the second transport mechanism, and the third transport mechanism, the first determination means determines the cover of the paper discharge device. When it is determined that the image data is opened, a second determination unit determines whether the image data is being developed by the developing unit or an image is being formed by the image forming unit, and the image data is produced by the developing unit by the second determining unit. After determining that the image forming medium is being developed or the image is being formed by the image forming unit, the image forming medium on which the image is formed is discharged from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus main body based on the detection by the detecting unit. When the third determination unit for determining the discharge and the discharge of the image forming medium from the discharge port of the image forming apparatus main body are determined by the third determination unit, the discharge destination by the distribution unit The changing means for changing to the first paper discharge tray and the image forming medium from the main body of the image forming apparatus are carried by the first carrying mechanism, the second carrying mechanism, and the third carrying mechanism, A fourth judgment means for judging accommodation in a paper device and the image shape of the image forming medium by the third judgment means.
The discharge from the discharge device body is judged and the
Of the image forming medium into the paper discharge device by
And a stop means for stopping the conveyance by the first conveyance mechanism, the second conveyance mechanism, and the third conveyance mechanism when the content is judged, and also stopping the accommodation of the paper discharge device. Image forming apparatus.