JP6268964B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  Conventionally, an image forming apparatus to which a replaceable part is attached is known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an image forming apparatus that determines whether a genuine part is used in advance before use, performs a normal operation if it is a genuine part, and stops normal operation if it is a non-genuine part. .

  Further, for example, in Patent Document 2, when a cartridge is mounted, it is determined whether the maintenance ID stored in the printer main body and the maintenance ID stored in the cartridge match. A forming apparatus is disclosed.

JP-A-10-69139 JP 2002-169428 A

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to unify the inventory of replacement parts for shipping together with an image forming apparatus for a plurality of types of image forming apparatuses.

An image forming apparatus according to claim 1
A container mounting portion in which a toner container having a storage element storing a model of the image forming apparatus and having toner stored therein is detachably mounted;
An image forming unit for supplying toner from the toner container and forming an image on the recording material with the toner;
An element information storage unit storing element information for specifying individual storage elements;
The coincidence between the storage element of the toner container mounted on the container mounting section and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage section, and the model stored in the storage element of the toner container If both of the image forming apparatus and the model match are not established, the supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit is prohibited, and the storage of the toner container mounted on the container mounting unit is prohibited. At least one of the coincidence between the element and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage unit, and the coincidence between the model stored in the storage element of the toner container and the model of the image forming apparatus is If established, a control unit that permits supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit;
It is provided with.
An image forming apparatus according to claim 2
A container mounting portion in which a toner container having a storage element storing a model of the image forming apparatus and having toner stored therein is detachably mounted;
An image forming unit for supplying toner from the toner container and forming an image on the recording material with the toner;
An element information storage unit storing element information for specifying individual storage elements;
When the storage element of the toner container mounted on the container mounting section and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage section are matched, the storage element of the toner container stores Permitting the toner contained in the toner container to be supplied to the image forming unit without determining whether the model of the image forming apparatus matches the model of the image forming apparatus,
If the storage element of the toner container mounted on the container mounting unit and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage unit are not matched, the storage element of the toner container stores When a match between the existing model and the model of the image forming apparatus is established, supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit is permitted, and the storage element of the toner container stores the toner. A control unit that prohibits the supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit when a match between the model and the model of the image forming apparatus is not established;
It is provided with.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, it is possible to unify the stock of replacement parts for shipping together with the image forming apparatus for a plurality of types of image forming apparatuses.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine as an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a peripheral structure of the toner cartridge 17. It is a flowchart showing the operation | work which memorize | stores "CRUM ID" in a non-volatile memory. It is a flowchart showing the collation process of information.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a copying machine as an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.
A printer 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a so-called monochrome printer, which receives image data from a computer and outputs an image.

  The printer 1 includes a photosensitive drum 11 that rotates in the direction of arrow A. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 by electrostatic potential distribution. Further, around each photosensitive drum 11, a charger 12, an exposure device 13, a developing device 14, a transfer device 15, and a cleaner 16 are provided. Here, the developer 14 contains a developer containing toner, and the density of the toner in the developer decreases as image formation continues. Therefore, the printer 1 is provided with a toner cartridge 17 for supplying toner to the developing device 14. The toner cartridge 17 contains replenishing toner, and the toner cartridge 17 is detachable from the loading portion 17a of the printer 1 for replacement of the toner cartridge 17 itself.

  A paper tray T is provided at the lower part of the printer 1, and sheets before printing are stacked and stored in the paper tray T. The paper tray T can be pulled out from the housing of the printer 1 for replenishing paper. The printer 1 is also provided with a transport roll 18 that transports the paper along the transport path R. The printer 1 is also provided with a fixing device 19 for fixing the image on the paper and a paper stacking tray 20 on which the paper transported out of the printer 1 is stacked. A liquid crystal touch panel UI unit 22 is also provided.

  Furthermore, the printer 1 is also provided with a control unit 21 that controls the operation of the entire printer 1. As a part of the control function, the control unit 21 is connected to an external device such as a personal computer (PC) and receives image data, and performs image processing on the received image data. It has a function of inputting to the exposure unit 13. Further, it has a function of managing toner supply from the toner cartridge 17 to the developing device 14.

  In the printer 1 of this embodiment, the control unit 21 recognizes the start of the image forming process by receiving a print job (a series of image data). As a result of recognition by the control unit 21, the printer 1 executes the following image forming process under operation control by the control unit 21.

  First, the image data is subjected to image processing by the control unit 21 and sent to the exposure unit 13. Then, the surface of the photosensitive drum 11 is uniformly charged by the charger 12 while rotating in the direction of arrow A, and the exposure device 13 emits exposure light modulated according to the image data transmitted from the control unit 21. The photosensitive drum 11 is scanned and exposed. Thereby, an electrostatic latent image of the image represented by the image data is formed on the photosensitive drum 11. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 11 is developed with the toner in the developer by the developing device 14, and a toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 11.

  On the other hand, the sheet is taken out from the sheet tray T and is conveyed on the conveyance path R in the direction of arrow B by the conveyance roll 43 and reaches the transfer unit 15. The paper is fed from the paper tray T with the timing adjusted so that the toner image on the photosensitive drum 11 reaches the position of the transfer unit 15 so that the paper also reaches the transfer unit 15.

  The toner image formed on the photosensitive drum 11 is electrostatically transferred onto a sheet by a transfer electric field formed by a transfer unit 15 that rotates in the direction of arrow C. The toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 11 after the transfer is removed from the photosensitive drum 11 by the cleaner 16.

  The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred by the transfer unit 15 is conveyed in the direction of arrow D while holding the unfixed toner image, and reaches the fixing unit 19. The toner image on the paper conveyed to the fixing device 19 receives heat and pressure by the fixing device 19 and is fixed on the paper. Then, the sheet on which the fixed image is formed is conveyed in the direction of arrow E and stacked on the sheet stacking tray 20.

  In this manner, the image forming process in the printer 1 is repeatedly executed for the number of printed sheets.

  The toner cartridge 17 in the printer 1 corresponds to an example of a toner container according to the present invention, and the loading portion 17a corresponds to an example of a container mounting portion according to the present invention. A combination of the photosensitive drum 11, the charger 12, the exposure device 13, the developing device 14, and the transfer device 15 corresponds to an example of the image forming unit referred to in the present invention. The control unit 21 corresponds to an example of a control unit referred to in the present invention.

  Next, the peripheral structure of the toner cartridge 17 will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the peripheral structure of the toner cartridge 17.

  As described above, the toner cartridge 17 is mounted in the loading portion 17 a in the printer 1, and the toner cartridge 17 includes the toner storage unit 171, the toner supply unit 172, the memory 173, and the interface 174. The toner storage unit 171 stores new toner to be supplied to the developing device 14, and the toner supply unit 172 has a conveyance auger that rotates by obtaining a driving force from the main body of the printer 1. The toner is supplied to the developing device 14. The memory 173 is a rewritable nonvolatile memory element, and is also referred to as CRUM (Customer Replacement Unit Memory). In this memory 173, the control unit 21 supplies toner, such as model information indicating the model of the printer to which the toner cartridge 17 is applied, and the cumulative driving amount of the toner supply unit 172 (conveying auger driving time and rotation speed). Information for management is stored. The model information stored in the memory 173 is stored when the toner cartridge 17 is manufactured, and the information for managing toner supply is rewritten by the control unit 21 as the toner cartridge 17 is used. The interface 174 is responsible for communication with the control unit 21, and the control unit 21 accesses the memory 173 and measures the driving amount of the toner supply unit 172 via the interface 174.

  The control unit 21 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 211, a read only memory (ROM) 212, a random access memory (RAM) 213, a non-volatile memory (NVM) 214, and an interface 215.

  The CPU 211 controls the overall operation of the printer 1 by operating according to a control program stored in the ROM 212. The RAM 213 is used as a work area of the CPU 211, and the rewritable nonvolatile memory 214 stores model information representing the model of the printer 1 and other information necessary for controlling the printer 1. The information stored in the nonvolatile memory 214 includes information called “CRUM ID” that identifies one of the memories 173 mounted in the toner cartridge 17.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of storing “CRUM ID” in the nonvolatile memory.

  The storage operation represented by the flowchart of FIG. 3 is an operation performed when the printer 1 is shipped from the shipping factory. In this operation, “CRUM ID” for specifying the memory 173 mounted on the toner cartridge 17 shipped together with the printer 1 is stored in the nonvolatile memory 214.

  The nonvolatile memory 214 storing “CRUM ID” in this way corresponds to an example of an element information storage unit according to the present invention.

  The interface 215 of the control unit 21 shown in FIG. 2 is communicatively connected to the interface 174 of the toner cartridge 17 when the toner cartridge 17 is loaded in the loading location 17a. By this communication connection, the control unit 21 detects that the toner cartridge 17 has been replaced.

  By the way, the printer 1 includes another type of printer shipped from the same shipping factory. Such another type of printer is, for example, a successor model in which the speed of printing capability has been increased, or a model that is formally distinguished by a difference in maintenance contracts. For this reason, the toner cartridge 17 that is detachable from the printer 1 may be physically detachable from other types of printers. On the other hand, the toner cartridge 17 may contain a toner of a type suitable for each model, and the applicable models of the toner cartridge 17 are limited. For this reason, each toner cartridge for each printer model is managed as a stock at the shipping factory, and a toner cartridge corresponding to the printer model is generally included when the printer is shipped. However, inventory management of each toner cartridge for each model is complicated, and only one type of toner cartridge that contains toner of a type that is compatible with any printer model is managed as inventory. Operation to ship as a bundled item is desirable. On the other hand, it is desirable that after shipping, even if a different type of toner cartridge is installed, the printer gives an error and its use is prohibited.

  Therefore, in the printer 1 of this embodiment, information collation processing as described below is performed when the toner cartridge is replaced.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the information matching process.

  The collation process represented by the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 is a process included in the control process executed by the control unit 21. This collation process is started when the toner cartridge 17 is loaded in the loading location 17a of the printer 1.

  When the collation process is started, first, in step S101, the information read from the memory 173 of the toner cartridge 17 and the information stored in the nonvolatile memory 214 of the control unit 21 are matched, and other than the model information. It is determined whether there is a mismatch in the information. Here, the information other than the model information is, for example, toner color.

  If it is determined in step S101 that a mismatch has occurred (step S101; Y), the process proceeds to step S102, and the user is notified that a mismatch error has occurred via the UI unit 22 in FIG. The image forming process is prohibited and the collation process ends.

  If it is determined that there is no mismatch in the matching in step S101 (step S101; N), the process proceeds to step S103, where “CRUM ID” stored in the nonvolatile memory 214 of the control unit 21 is the toner cartridge. It is determined whether or not it matches the “CRUM ID” that identifies the 17 memories 173 themselves. If the “CRUM ID” matches (step S103; Y), it is determined that the toner cartridge shipped together with the printer 1 from the shipping factory is loaded, and the collation process is completed. Is executed normally.

  On the other hand, if the “CRUM ID” does not match (step S103; N), it is determined that a replacement part toner cartridge is loaded instead of a bundled part, and the model information of the printer 1 and the memory of the toner cartridge 17 are determined. The model information stored in 173 is collated (step S104). If the collation results match (step S105; Y), the collation processing ends. Thereafter, image formation processing or the like is executed normally, and if the collation results do not match (step S105; N), step Proceeding to S102, the user is notified via the UI unit 22 of FIG. 1 that a mismatch error has occurred, the image forming process is prohibited, and the collation process ends.

  By performing such collation processing, as a bundled product, normal image forming processing is performed without an error regardless of whether the model information matches or does not match. Therefore, at the shipping factory, for example, a common toner cartridge that is originally for the upper model but does not cause a performance problem even if it is installed in the lower model is managed as an inventory of bundled items. By shipping as a bundled item, it is possible to unify the inventory.

  On the other hand, if the replacement part is obtained separately from the bundled product, even if it is for the higher model, if the model information is different, a mismatch error occurs and the diversion is prevented.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Printer, 11 ... Photoconductor drum, 12 ... Charger 13 ... Exposure device, 14 ... Developing device, 15 ... Transfer device 17 ... Toner cartridge, 17a ... Loading place 21 ... Control part , 214 …… Non-volatile memory

Claims (2)

A container mounting portion in which a toner container having a storage element storing a model of the image forming apparatus and having toner stored therein is detachably mounted;
An image forming unit that is supplied with toner from the toner container and forms an image on the recording material with the toner;
An element information storage unit storing element information for specifying individual storage elements;
The coincidence between the storage element of the toner container mounted on the container mounting section and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage section, and the model stored in the storage element of the toner container When both of the image forming apparatus and the image forming apparatus do not coincide with each other, supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit is prohibited, and storage of the toner container mounted on the container mounting unit is prohibited. At least one of the coincidence between the element and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage unit, and the coincidence between the model stored in the storage element of the toner container and the model of the image forming apparatus is If established, a control unit that permits supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit;
An image forming apparatus comprising: A container mounting portion in which a toner container having a storage element storing a model of the image forming apparatus and having toner stored therein is detachably mounted;
An image forming unit that is supplied with toner from the toner container and forms an image on the recording material with the toner;
An element information storage unit storing element information for specifying individual storage elements;
When the storage element of the toner container mounted on the container mounting unit matches the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage unit, the storage element of the toner container stores Permitting supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit without determining whether the model of the image forming apparatus matches the model of the image forming apparatus;
In the case where the coincidence between the storage element of the toner container mounted on the container mounting section and the storage element specified by the element information stored in the element information storage section is not established, the storage element of the toner container stores When a match between the existing model and the model of the image forming apparatus is established, supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit is permitted, and the storage element of the toner container stores the toner. A control unit that prohibits the supply of the toner contained in the toner container to the image forming unit when the model does not match the model of the image forming apparatus;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

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