JP5559498B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a control technique for displaying a warning when an error such as running out of paper occurs in an image forming apparatus.

  When out of paper occurs in the image forming apparatus, a message indicating out of paper is displayed on the panel or an attention LED for flashing attention when a problem occurs blinks to warn the user. However, these error displays may be cumbersome for users who do not need a paper out warning.

  Some users need to display these warnings.For example, even if a paper out error message is displayed at a paper feed stage that contains paper types or paper sizes that are not used frequently, There is no intention to replenish, and the error display is a hindrance.

  Also, due to the warning, when the paper cassette is pulled out for paper supply, the image forming apparatus of the type in which the paper cassette crosses the paper feed path generates a pass error and causes a printing operation. It may end up affecting the situation.

  Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of paper cassettes can be mounted, when there is no paper in the paper cassette currently used during image formation, another paper cassette containing the same size paper is used. There is a paper feed cassette automatic switching device characterized in that it is provided with a means for continuing the image formation while automatically switching to the above and warning of paper out (see Patent Document 1).

  However, even with this method, the warning is troublesome for a user who does not need a warning display to warn of out of paper, and when the paper is replenished according to the warning display, the above-described pass error may affect the printing operation. is there

JP-A-1-256434

  A problem to be solved is that in the image forming apparatus, it is not possible to set whether or not to issue a paper out warning by a user's selection input.

An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of paper feed cassettes that store paper for printing, each paper out sensor that detects paper out of each of the paper feed cassettes, and the paper from the paper feed cassette. A printing section that receives the supplied paper and prints on the paper, and allows the user to select whether or not to issue a paper out warning for each of the paper feeding cassettes, and determines whether or not a paper out warning is necessary based on the user's selection. An error warning setting unit that is set every time , an error warning control unit that controls whether or not to generate a paper out warning according to a setting in the error warning setting unit in response to a signal from the paper out sensor, and the error warning control Bei and error warning transmitting unit that transmits the paper-out warning in response to an instruction out of paper warning generation from parts, and a plurality of different interfaces of the communication form be connectable to a host device The error warning transmitting unit, or a display unit for displaying the paper-out warning, the is at least one of or an error warning notification unit for notifying the paper-out warning to an external host device, the error warning setting unit, the The user selects the interface through which the out-of-paper warning is performed for each paper cassette, and sets the target interface for the out-of-paper warning for each paper cassette based on the user's selection . The error warning transmission unit is set to issue a paper out warning to the paper cassette corresponding to the paper out sensor that has detected the paper out when any of the paper out sensors detects the paper out. If a paper out warning is displayed on the display, the paper cassette corresponding to the paper out sensor that detected the paper out is When the interface as a tell through the target has been set, and issues a warning of the paper out to the host device connected to the interface being the set, characterized in that.

  Therefore, it is possible to set whether or not to issue a paper out warning by a selection input by the user.

1 is a front view illustrating an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to Embodiments 1 and 2 of the present invention. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Error warning generated on the panel of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. It is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 1B of Embodiment 2 of the present invention. It is a figure of the setting interface screen of the error warning generation | occurrence | production displayed on the panel of the image forming apparatus 1B of Example 2 of this invention.

  In the image forming apparatus, whether or not to issue an out-of-paper warning when a user's selection input is accepted and an error warning is issued when out-of-paper occurs at the paper feed stage. An error warning setting unit for setting whether or not, an error warning control unit for controlling whether or not to generate a paper out warning according to the setting in the error warning setting unit, and an error warning transmitting unit for transmitting the error warning The problem was solved by preparing.

  The image forming apparatus 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below.

[Constitution]
FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an image forming apparatus 1 of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 is, for example, a multifunction machine having a copying function and a printer function, and includes a document reading mechanism 11, a printing unit 12, a control unit 13, an operation unit 14, and a communication interface 15. Yes.

  The document reading mechanism 11 is a mechanism for reading a document, and is provided on the upper part of the image forming apparatus 1.

  The printing unit 12 is a mechanism unit that performs printing on one or both of the front surface and the back surface of the paper P, and is provided inside the image forming apparatus 1. The printing unit 12 displays an image of a document read by the document reading mechanism 11 or an image related to print data transmitted from a terminal device (not shown) such as a personal computer that is communicably connected to the image forming apparatus 1. Print on paper P.

  The control unit 13 is a unit that controls the document reading mechanism 11, the printing unit 12, and the like, and is provided inside the image forming apparatus 1.

  The operation unit 14 is provided on the front panel unit of the image forming apparatus 1, and a button and panel (error warning transmission unit, display unit) 16 and an attention LED 17 (error warning transmission unit, display) for the user to operate the image forming apparatus 1. Part).

  The panel (error warning transmission unit, display unit) 16 is a user interface device having a display and input function for operating the image forming apparatus 1.

  The attention LED 17 (error warning transmission unit, display unit) is a display device that blinks the LED to alert the user when a problem occurs in the image forming apparatus 1.

  The communication interface 15 is provided inside the image forming apparatus 1 and includes a communication circuit for connecting the image forming apparatus 1 and the terminal device so that they can communicate with each other.

  The printing unit 12 rotates the conveyance roller 21 to convey the paper P stored in the paper feed cassettes 22a, 22b, and 22c along the paper conveyance path 23 formed inside the image forming apparatus 1, The paper P is sequentially supplied to the print engine 24, the transfer unit 25, and the fixing unit 26, and the paper P that has undergone printing processing by the print engine 24, the transfer unit 25, and the fixing unit 26 is discharged from the discharge unit 27 to the discharge tray 37. A paper transport mechanism 28 is provided.

  Further, the paper transport mechanism 28 includes a double-sided printing unit 31 for performing double-sided printing. The duplex printing unit 31 has a structure suitable for performing duplex printing on the paper P. That is, the duplex printing unit 31 includes a branching section 32, a sheet transport path 33 for duplex printing, an intermediate tray 34, a switchback mechanism 35, a sheet reversing device 36, and the like. The branching unit 32 is disposed between the sheet discharge side of the fixing unit 26 and the discharge unit 27, and guides the sheet P to the sheet conveyance path 33 of the duplex printing unit 31. The intermediate tray 34 is disposed in the middle of the paper transport path 33 and temporarily accumulates the paper P guided by the branching unit 32. The switchback mechanism 35 reverses the transport direction of the paper P accumulated in the intermediate tray 34 and guides the paper P to the paper transport path 33 again. The sheet reversing device 36 reverses the surface of the sheet P guided to the sheet transport path 33 by the switchback mechanism 35 and supplies the sheet P to the print engine 24. The double-sided printing unit 31 can use a known configuration related to double-sided printing.

  The job receiving unit 45 receives a single-sided print job or a double-sided print job input by the user by operating the operation unit 14 or transmitted from the terminal device, and stores the received job in the RAM 43.

  The print control unit 46 controls the printing unit 12 and the duplex printing unit 31 according to the job received by the job receiving unit 45.

  In the image forming apparatus 1, when the paper feed cassette is replaced, it is taken out to the right side in FIG. 1, so that the paper feed path (portion where the paper is transported upward by the three transport rollers 21) is crossed. . For this reason, if the upper sheet cassette (for example, 22b) is replaced while printing is performed by supplying paper from the lower sheet cassette (for example, 22c), printing is interrupted. In order to prevent the paper feed cassette from being inadvertently replaced due to the paper out warning of the paper feed cassette and the interruption of printing, a control function for performing an error warning at the time of paper out is provided.

[Function block]
FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In this functional block diagram, only essential parts of the present invention are extracted and described.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes a communication interface 15, a panel 16, an attention LED 17, an error warning setting unit 18, an error warning control unit 19, paper feed cassettes 22 a, b, and c, and paper out sensors 29 a, b, and c.

  The communication interface 15 has already been described with reference to FIG. 1, but when the setting of the out-of-paper error warning of the image forming apparatus is further set from a terminal device such as a PC (Personal Computer), the user's selection input is made through the communication interface. Accept.

  The panel (error warning transmission unit, display unit) 16 has already been described with reference to FIG. 1, but further, when setting the out-of-paper error warning of the image forming apparatus by the image forming apparatus alone, FIG. 3 shows a user interface screen (FIG. 3) as to whether to issue an error warning, and accepts a selection input from the user. Further, when the paper is out, an error warning for out of paper is performed only for the paper feed cassette whose error warning is set to ON by an error warning setting unit 18 described later. At the time of a paper out warning, for example, a normal panel operation screen and an error message “Paper in paper cassette xx is out” are displayed alternately. This alternate display alerts the user. When error warning is off, no warning is generated.

  Although the attention LED 17 has already been described with reference to FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus has a function of blinking the LED to draw attention to the user when an error (paper jam, out of paper, etc.) occurs. The attention LED 17 is usually near the panel 16 and is provided in the upper right portion of the panel 16 in the image forming apparatus of this embodiment. When an error occurs, the LED blinks to draw attention to the user. When out of paper occurs in a paper feed cassette for which an error warning is set to ON by an error warning setting unit 18 to be described later, the attention LED is blinked to alert the user. When error warning is off, no warning is generated.

  The error warning setting unit 18 receives an input from a terminal device such as a PC through the panel 16 or the communication interface 15, and in any of the paper cassettes 22a, 22b, and 22c provided in the image forming apparatus 1, the paper is out of paper. Accepts the setting of whether to issue an error warning when it occurs. Specifically, the user interface screen shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the panel 16 or the PC to allow the user to set whether to issue an error warning.

  The error warning control unit 19 receives signals from the paper out sensors 29a, b, and c provided in the paper feeding cassettes 22a, 22b, 22c, detects the paper out of each paper feeding cassette, and the error warning setting unit. Whether or not to generate an error warning is controlled according to the setting of whether or not to issue an error warning for each sheet cassette set in step S18.

[Out-of-paper error warning setting interface]
FIG. 3 shows an example of an error warning setting screen displayed on the panel 16 by the error warning setting unit 18.

  The type of stored paper is set for each of the three stages of paper feed cassettes 22a (CAS1 in FIG. 3), 22b (CAS2 in FIG. 3), and 22c (CAS3 in FIG. 3) of the image forming apparatus 1. Whether or not to set an error warning for each of the paper feed cassettes can be set by selecting a radio button.

  In the example of FIG. 3, plain paper and A4 size are set in the paper feed cassette 22a, and an error warning is set when a paper out occurs. In the paper feed cassette 22b, OHP paper and letter size are set, and it is set not to perform an error warning when the paper runs out. Label paper and B4 size are set in the paper feed cassette 22c, and it is set not to perform an error warning when the paper runs out.

  By touching an error warning radio button using the touch panel function provided on the panel 16, it is possible to select ON / OFF of the error warning occurrence for each sheet cassette.

[Effect of Example 1]
The following effects can be obtained by the image forming apparatus of the embodiment of the present invention.

  By making it possible to change the display timing of the warning by the user's selection input, it is possible to respond to individual user requirements.

  Only necessary warnings can be displayed, and unnecessary work can be saved.

  When an error warning occurs, it is possible to minimize downtime due to the user starting the paper feeding operation.

[Others]
In the default state, the out-of-paper error warning may be set to occur only when the used paper cassette is out of paper.

  When setting the out-of-paper warning for each paper feed cassette, the error warning setting may be turned on / off for each paper size or each paper type.

  A setting may be made so that when all the paper cassettes run out of paper, an out-of-paper warning is issued only for the paper cassette being used.

  A setting may be made such that an out-of-paper warning is generated only when all the paper cassettes are out of paper.

  A setting may be made to warn of a paper feed cassette out of paper that does not affect the supply of paper from the currently used paper feed cassette and does not interrupt printing even if the paper feed cassette is replaced.

  When paper of the same size is supplied in multiple stages, if there is no paper in the first priority paper feed cassette, it switches to the second priority paper feed cassette. In that case, the paper runs out during printing. A setting may be made to generate an out-of-paper warning in the paper cassette.

  In the embodiment of the present invention, an example of an image forming apparatus that crosses a paper feed path when taking out a paper feed cassette has been shown as an example. The present invention can be applied even to an image forming apparatus having a structure in which a sheet feeding cassette that is not present can be replaced.

  An image forming apparatus 1B according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described below.

[Constitution]
FIG. 4 shows a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 1B according to the second embodiment.

  In the description of the second embodiment, the description of the same functional block diagram as that of the first embodiment will be omitted, and only portions having different functions will be described.

  The embodiment shown in FIG. 1 is the same in the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment.

  FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the image forming apparatus 1B according to the second embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 1 </ b> B includes functional units of a network interface 14 and an error warning notification unit (error warning transmission unit) 20 in addition to the functional blocks shown in the first embodiment.

  The network interface 14 is an interface for connecting the image forming apparatus 1B and the host apparatus B61 via a network such as Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The image forming apparatus 1B can be connected to the host apparatus A51 via the communication interface 15 provided in the image forming apparatus 1 of Embodiment 1 in addition to the network interface. The communication interface 15 is a USB or parallel interface.

  The error warning notification unit (error warning transmission unit) 20 notifies the host device A51 or the host device B61, which is an external host device, of the out-of-paper cassette warning in accordance with the setting in the error warning setting unit 18. At the time of notification, notification is performed via the network interface 14 and the communication interface 15 described above.

  The error warning notification is performed by passing a Management Information Base (MIB) using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), changing a setting parameter value using SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), or the like. It is also performed by changing the value of status information by PJL (Printer Job Language).

  In addition to the functions described in the first embodiment, the error warning setting unit 18 can set whether or not to issue a paper out error warning for each interface. Details of the setting will be described in the “Out of Paper Error Warning Setting Interface” section.

  In the host device A51, the error warning receiving unit 55 receives a paper out warning from the image forming apparatus 1B via the communication interface 53 which is an interface device such as a USB or a parallel and displays the warning on the display unit 57. If the error warning is not transmitted via the communication interface 15 due to the setting in the error warning setting unit 18 of the image forming apparatus 1B, the host device A51 naturally does not receive the error warning.

  In the host apparatus B 61, the error warning receiving unit 65 receives the out-of-paper warning from the image forming apparatus 1 B via the network interface 63 and displays it on the display unit 67. If the error warning is not transmitted via the network interface 14 due to the setting in the error warning setting unit 18 of the image forming apparatus 1B, the host device B61 naturally does not receive the error warning.

[Out-of-paper error warning setting interface]
FIG. 5 shows an example of an error warning setting screen displayed on the panel 16 by the error warning setting unit 18 of the image forming apparatus 1B of the second embodiment.

  The image forming apparatus 1B according to the second embodiment notifies the external host device of an error warning at the time of running out of paper for each interface in addition to the setting as to whether or not to issue an error warning to the panel 16 described in the first embodiment. Whether or not can be set by a check mark.

  In the example of FIG. 5, in addition to the same setting as that of the first embodiment, an error warning is set for the sheet feeding cassette 22 a via the network interface 14, the USB communication interface 15, and the parallel communication interface 15. In addition to the same setting as in the first embodiment, an error warning via the USB communication interface 15 is set for the paper feed cassette 22b and the paper feed cassette 22c.

[Effect of Example 2]
In addition to the effects shown in the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained by the image forming apparatus 1B according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

  Conventionally, it has been difficult for a user who does not need a paper-out warning to issue a paper-out warning to the host device. However, the image forming apparatus of this embodiment does not notify the host device of a paper-out warning. It becomes possible.

  Furthermore, it becomes possible to notify the paper out warning only to the necessary host device by selecting the interface.

[Example 2 and others]
The image forming apparatus 1B according to the second embodiment includes a panel (error warning transmission unit, display unit) 16 and can set whether or not to display a paper out warning on the panel 16. It may be an image forming apparatus that can set whether or not to issue an out-of-paper warning to an external host device. In this case, the warning notification setting screen shown in FIG. 5 is set using the display unit of the external host device A51 or the host device B61 instead of the panel 16 to set the warning notification.

1 Image forming apparatus (Example 1)
1B Image forming apparatus B (Example 2)
12 Printing Department (Examples 1 and 2)
14 Network interface (interface) (Example 2)
15 Communication interface (interface) (Example 2)
16 Panel (error warning transmission part, display part) (Examples 1 and 2)
17 Attention LED (error warning transmission part, display part) (Examples 1 and 2)
18 Error warning setting section (Examples 1 and 2)
19 Error warning control unit (Examples 1 and 2)
20 Error warning notification unit (error warning transmission unit, Example 2)
22a, b, c Paper feed cassette (Examples 1 and 2)
29a, b, c Out-of-paper sensor (Examples 1, 2)
51 Host Device A (External Host Device) (Example 2)
61 Host Device B (External Host Device) (Example 2)

Claims (3)

A multi-stage paper cassette for storing paper for printing;
Each paper out sensor for detecting out of paper in each paper cassette;
A printing unit which receives the supply of the paper from the paper feed cassette and performs printing on the paper;
An error warning setting unit that allows a user to select whether or not to issue a paper out warning for each of the paper feed cassettes, and sets whether or not a paper out warning is necessary for each paper feed cassette based on the user's selection ;
An error warning control unit that controls whether or not to generate a paper out warning according to the setting in the error warning setting unit in response to a signal from the paper out sensor;
An error warning transmission unit that transmits an out-of-paper warning in response to an out-of-paper warning instruction from the error warning control unit;
Be connectable to a host device equipped with different and a plurality of interfaces of communication modes,
The error warning transmission unit is at least one of a display unit that displays the out-of-paper warning or an error warning notification unit that notifies the external host device of the out-of-paper warning,
The error warning setting unit allows a user to select via which interface an out-of-paper warning is performed for each of the paper feed cassettes, and an interface through which the out-of-paper warning is passed based on the user's selection. Set for each paper cassette ,
The error warning transmission unit is set to issue a paper out warning to the paper cassette corresponding to the paper out sensor that has detected the paper out when any of the paper out sensors detects the paper out. When an out-of-paper warning is displayed on the display unit and an interface that is subject to the out-of-paper warning is set for the paper cassette corresponding to the out-of-paper sensor that has detected the out-of-paper, Notifying the host device connected to the configured interface of a paper out warning,
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
The error warning setting unit issues the paper out warning for a paper out cassette when the printing is not interrupted without affecting the paper supply from the paper cassette currently in use.
An image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The display unit is at least one of a panel that warns of out of paper by characters and figures, and an attention LED that warns of out of paper by blinking of an LED ,
An image forming apparatus.

Images