JP4476647B2 - Electronics - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus, for example, an electronic apparatus such as an image forming apparatus configured to be capable of mounting a plurality of paper feeding units.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine in an example of an electronic device, various electronic device units such as a CPU, an HDD, and a memory module and mechanical parts are mounted. Recently, from the viewpoint of environmental protection, an image forming apparatus is used. Is playing. When regenerating the image forming apparatus, it is necessary to disassemble the image forming apparatus collected from the user's hand, sort the parts, and determine whether or not replacement is necessary.

  For this reason, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-062152 (Patent Document 1) discriminates a consumable part that needs to be replaced and a consumable part that can be regenerated in an electronic device having a large number of consumable parts mounted on the apparatus body. It describes electronic devices that can be used.

On the other hand, in the image forming apparatus, the paper feeding units are mounted in, for example, an upper stage, a middle stage, and a lower stage. Each paper feed unit can be pulled out to replenish paper, and each paper feed unit is provided with a paper feed roller for feeding paper one by one. Further, the main body is provided with a clutch mechanism for locking the corresponding paper feeding unit when the paper feeding unit is pushed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 09-061522 (paragraph numbers 0023 to 0024, FIG. 5)

  However, a paper feeding unit for a frequently used size of paper is frequently drawn out for replenishing the paper as the number of times the paper is fed out more frequently. The number of times the paper is sent out is small and the number of times the paper is drawn out is small. For this reason, the paper feed unit causes variations in the degree of wear in the paper feed roller and the clutch mechanism. For this reason, the life of the entire apparatus was shortened due to wear of some parts.

  Therefore, the present invention is to provide an electronic apparatus that can extend the life of the apparatus by equalizing the wear of parts.

The present invention relates to a mechanism part name used for a plurality of units in an electronic device in which a plurality of sheet feeding units each having a mechanism part that is exchangeable with each other and is consumed by use are detachably mounted. And storage means for storing the usage time of each mechanism component, and in response to the selection of any one of the plurality of units, based on the mechanism part name of the corresponding unit stored in the storage means, It is determined whether or not a common mechanical component is used in each unit, and when the existence of a common mechanical component is determined, if the difference in the usage time of each mechanical component is large, the remaining life is almost equalized by replacement. A discriminating unit that discriminates that the component is possible; and an output unit that outputs data relating to the replaceable mechanical part discriminated by the discriminating unit.

Accordingly, not only can the remaining lives of the mechanical parts used in common be substantially equal, but also the lifetime of the entire apparatus can be extended.

Preferably, the electronic device is an image forming apparatus.

As described above, according to the present invention, in response to the selection of one of the plurality of paper feeding units, the other unit can be used based on the mechanism part name of the corresponding unit stored in the storage unit. When it is determined whether or not a common mechanism part is used, and the presence of a common mechanism part is determined, if the difference in the usage time of each mechanism part is large, the remaining life can be made almost equal by replacement. Since it can be discriminated , not only the lifetime of the entire mechanical component can be extended, but also the lifetime of the entire apparatus can be extended.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of a main body 1 and paper feed units 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d when an electronic apparatus according to the present invention is applied to an image forming apparatus.

  For example, paper supply units 2a, 2b, 2c, and 2d as optional devices are mounted on the main body 1 of the image forming apparatus in four layers as mounting positions in order from the top. For example, A4, A3, B5, and B4 sheets of different sizes are stored in each sheet feeding unit.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a CPU 11, a display unit 12, an operation unit 13, a memory 14, a printing unit 15, and a scanner unit 16. The scanner unit 16 reads an image of a document, and the printing unit 15 prints the image. The display unit 12 displays the paper size, reading magnification, and the like, and the operation unit 13 is operated to select the paper size and set the magnification. The memory 14 stores the read image data and also stores the data shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of data stored in the memory 14. In FIG. 3, the memory 14 is provided with storage areas 41a to 41d corresponding to the respective paper feeding units 2a to 2d. Each storage area 41a to 41d corresponds to the life of the corresponding paper feeding unit. The names of the mechanical parts included in the paper feeding unit, the usage time of the mechanical parts, and the physical properties are stored.

  Specifically, in the storage area 41a, the name of the paper feeding unit 2a, the remaining life, the names A and B of the mechanical parts that may be worn such as the paper feeding roller and the clutch mechanism used, The usage time and physical properties are stored. In the storage area 41b, the name of the paper feeding unit 2b, the life, the names C and D of the mechanical parts that may be worn such as the paper feeding roller and the clutch mechanism, the usage time, and the physical properties Is remembered. In the storage area 41c, the name of the paper feeding unit 2c, the life, the names A and B of the mechanical parts that may be worn such as the paper feeding roller and the clutch mechanism, the usage time, and physical properties Is remembered. In the storage area 41d, the name of the paper feed unit 2d, the life, the names E and F of mechanical parts that may be worn such as the paper feed roller and clutch mechanism used, the usage time, and the physical properties Is remembered. The usage time is the cumulative time during which the corresponding paper feed unit and mechanism parts have been used.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 4, when the power is turned on and the operation unit 13 is operated for copying to select one of the sheets, the sheet feeding unit 2a is selected in step SP1 (abbreviated as SP in the drawing). In step SP2, addition of the time during which the paper feeding unit 2a is used is started in the corresponding storage area 41a of the memory 14. If it is determined in step SP1 that the paper feeding unit 2a is not selected, it is determined whether or not the paper feeding unit 2b is selected in step SP3. If the paper feeding unit 2b is selected, the correspondence of the memory 14 is determined. The addition of the time during which the sheet feeding unit 2b is used in the storage area 41b to be started is started.

  If the paper feed unit 2b has not been selected, it is determined whether or not the paper feed unit 2c has been selected in step SP5. If the paper feed unit 2b has been selected, the corresponding storage area 41c of the memory 14 in step SP6. Is added to the time during which the sheet feeding unit 2c is used. If the paper feed unit 2c is not selected, in step SP7, the addition of the time during which the paper feed unit 2d is used is added to the corresponding storage area 41d of the memory 14.

  Note that the usage time of the corresponding mechanical component is added simultaneously with the addition of the usage time of each of the paper feeding units 2a to 2d.

  In this way, each time a sheet is selected, the time during which each of the sheet feeding units 2a to 2d and the corresponding mechanical parts are used is added to the storage areas 41a to 41d. In step SP8, the time during which each of the paper feeding units 2a to 2d and the corresponding mechanical parts are used is totaled.

  In step SP9, it is determined whether or not the parts can be replaced with reference to the collected data. For example, since common mechanism parts A and B are used for the paper feeding units 2a and 2c, it is determined whether or not they can be replaced in consideration of the usage time.

  For example, if the usage time of the paper feeding unit 2a is as long as 80,000 hours and the usage time of the paper feeding unit 2c is short and is about 20,000 hours, the remaining lifetime can be obtained by replacing the respective mechanical components A and B. In addition, it is determined that the mechanical parts A and B used in the paper feeding unit 2a are attached to the paper feeding unit 2c, thereby reducing wear and extending the life. Since the mechanical parts are not common for the paper feeding units 2b and 2d, it is determined that they cannot be replaced.

  When the user operates a predetermined key of the operation unit 3, in step SP10, the data aggregated as described above, combinations of replaceable component parts, and the like are displayed on the display unit 12. The user looks at the display to determine whether or not the replacement is necessary, and replaces the corresponding mechanical part if necessary.

  Thus, by replacing the common mechanical parts used in the paper feeding units 2a to 2d according to the usage time, the life of the paper feeding units 2a to 2d can be extended and the remaining life can be made equal. As a result, the lifetime of the entire apparatus can be extended.

  In the above-described embodiment, an example in which management is performed in order to replace consumable mechanical parts such as paper feeding rollers and clutch mechanisms of the paper feeding units 2a to 2d has been described. Components incorporated in an electronic device configured to be able to take out a common unit such as a device, an image processing device, a digital camera, or a barcode reader may be managed.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described with reference to drawings, this invention is not limited to the thing of embodiment shown in figure. Various modifications and variations can be made to the illustrated embodiment within the same range or equivalent range as the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of a main body and a paper feeding unit of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the data memorize | stored in memory. It is a flowchart for demonstrating operation | movement of one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Main body, 2a-2d Paper feed unit, 10 Image forming apparatus, 11 CPU, 12 Display part, 13 Operation part, 14 Memory, 15 Printing part, 16 Scanner part, 41a-41d Storage area.

Claims (2)

In an electronic device in which a plurality of paper feed units that are interchangeable with each other and have mechanical parts consumed by use are detachably mounted,
Storage means for storing a mechanism part name of each mechanism part used in the plurality of paper feeding units and a usage time of each mechanism part;
In response to the selection of one of the plurality of paper feed units, a common mechanical part in another paper feed unit is determined based on the mechanism part name of the corresponding paper feed unit stored in the storage unit. A discriminating means for discriminating whether the remaining lifetime can be made substantially equal by replacing if the difference in the usage time of each mechanical component is large when determining whether or not a common mechanical component is present ; ,
An electronic device comprising: output means for outputting data relating to replaceable mechanical parts determined by the determination means. The electronic apparatus according to claim 1 is an image forming apparatus.

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