JP7246608B2 - image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a technique for accurately transmitting component information regarding target components of an image forming apparatus that is not connected to a network to an external device that is a contact.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-200002 describes an image forming apparatus that informs a user of information about when to replace an ink cartridge before starting printing. Specifically, when receiving a print instruction from a user, the image forming apparatus determines whether or not the amount of remaining ink is enough to complete printing to be executed from now on based on the usage history such as the number of printed sheets in the past, If it determines that the remaining ink level is insufficient, it displays a replacement recommendation screen to prompt the user to purchase an ink cartridge without starting printing, and if the user selects purchase on the replacement recommendation screen, the network It is configured to execute an order for a spare ink cartridge to a retail store via.

JP 2009-119676 A

However, when an image forming apparatus is always connected to a network, information stored in the image forming apparatus may be leaked or tampered with via the network. Therefore, for security reasons, the image forming apparatus is sometimes made stand-alone. In such an image forming apparatus that is not connected to a network, it is not possible to order ink cartridges via the network. Based on the information provided, it is necessary to place an order request. In this order request, along with the model number, type, quantity, etc. of the item to be purchased (for example, an ink cartridge) displayed on the display screen of the image forming apparatus, the name and address of the purchaser are entered by the user. contact. In this order request, if the user gives wrong order information to the store, or if the store erroneously processes the order, there is a problem that a product different from the product to be purchased will be delivered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances. , defects of target parts, information on usage conditions, etc.) to an external device at the contact point.

An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus that is not connected to a network. a fixing unit for fixing onto a medium; a state detection unit for detecting whether or not a predetermined target component among components constituting the image forming apparatus is in a predetermined notification target state; Part information including specific information indicating the target part and incidental information attached to the specific information, contact information indicating the contact address and contact method of the target part, and requester information about the requester are associated. a storage unit for storing in advance; and when the state detection unit detects that the predetermined target part is in the predetermined notification target state, the target component detected to be in the notification target state. an acquisition unit that acquires from the storage unit the part information, the contact information, and the requester information associated with each other; and the part information, the contact information, and the requester information acquired by the acquisition unit in a format of a predetermined contact method corresponding to the contact method included in the contact information acquired by the generation unit that generates a code image coded so that it can be read by the external device, and the acquisition unit A contact image representing the contact information of the target part is generated, and the contact image and the code image generated by the generating unit are image-formed on a recording medium by the image forming unit and the fixing unit. and a control unit.

According to the present invention, in an image forming apparatus that is not connected to a network, part information related to target parts of the image forming apparatus (for example, information such as ordering of items to be purchased such as toner containers and ink cartridges) can be sent to the contact address. It can be accurately transmitted to an external device.

1 is a front sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view showing an outline of the internal configuration of the toner container; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus; FIG. It is a figure which shows the structural example of a storage table. 4 is a flow chart showing an example of code image generation processing in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; (A) is a diagram showing an example of a code image including part information and client information, and (B) is a diagram showing an example of a contact image including contact information. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a document with a code image; 6 is a flow chart showing an example of information transmission processing for a document with a code image in the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention; 3A is a view showing an example of a function selection screen displayed on the display of the image forming apparatus, and FIG. 3B is a view showing an example of a facsimile selection screen displayed on the display of the image forming apparatus; FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of image data of a document with a code image; FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment; It is a figure which shows the structural example of the storage table of 2nd Embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a document with a code image according to the second embodiment; FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a third embodiment; (A) is a diagram showing a configuration example of a storage table according to a third embodiment, and (B) is a diagram showing a configuration example of a storage table according to a fourth embodiment. FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment;

An image forming apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front sectional view showing the structure of an image forming apparatus according to one embodiment of the invention.

An image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention is, for example, a multifunction device having multiple functions such as a copy function, a printer function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function. The image forming apparatus 1 includes an apparatus body 11, an operation section 47, an image forming section 12, a fixing section 13, a paper feeding section 14, a document feeding section 6, a document reading section 5, and the like.

The operation unit 47 receives instructions from the operator regarding various operations and processes that can be executed by the image forming apparatus 1, such as an instruction to execute an image forming operation and an instruction to execute a document reading operation. The operation unit 47 has a display unit 473 . The display unit 473 includes an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and a touch panel arranged on the display surface side of the LCD, and has a touch panel function.

When the image forming apparatus 1 performs a document reading operation, the document reading section 5 optically reads the image of the document fed by the document feeding section 6 or the document placed on the document placing glass 161, Generate image data. Image data generated by the document reading section 5 is stored in the image memory 32 .

When the image forming apparatus 1 performs an image forming operation, the image forming section 12 performs the image forming operation based on the image data generated by the document reading operation, the image data stored in the image memory 32, or the like. A toner image is formed on a recording paper P as a recording medium fed from the . When color printing is performed, the image forming unit 12M for magenta, the image forming unit 12C for cyan, the image forming unit 12Y for yellow, and the image forming unit 12Bk for black of the image forming section 12 each form the above image. A toner image is formed on the photosensitive drum 121 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed by charging, exposing, and developing processes based on an image composed of respective color components that constitute data, and the toner image is used as a primary image. The image is transferred onto an intermediate transfer belt 125 by a transfer roller 126 . Incidentally, the photosensitive drum 121 and the intermediate transfer belt 125 correspond to the image carrier in the claims.

The toner images of the respective colors transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt 125 are superimposed on the intermediate transfer belt 125 by adjusting the transfer timing to form a color toner image. The secondary transfer roller transports the color toner image formed on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 125 from the paper supply unit 14 to the transport path 190 at the nip portion N between the intermediate transfer belt 125 and the driving roller 125a. is transferred to the recording paper P that has been sent. After that, the fixing unit 13 fixes the toner image on the recording paper P to the recording paper P by thermocompression. The recording paper P on which the fixing process has been completed and the color image has been formed is discharged to the discharge tray 151 .

The fixing unit 13 fixes the toner image to the recording paper P by thermocompression, and includes a heating roller 131 as a fixing roller and a pressure roller 132, each of which includes a heat source such as a heat lamp.

In the image forming apparatus 1, when double-sided printing is performed, the recording paper P having an image formed on one side thereof by the image forming unit 12 is nipped by the discharge roller pair 159, and then the recording paper is printed. P is switched back by the discharge roller pair 159 to be sent to the reversing conveying path 195 , and is again conveyed upstream in the conveying direction of the recording paper P with respect to the nip portion N and the fixing portion 13 by the conveying roller pair 19 . As a result, the image forming section 12 forms an image on the other side of the recording paper.

The developing unit 122M in the image forming unit 12M, the developing unit 122C in the image forming unit 12C, the developing unit 122Y in the image forming unit 12Y, and the developing unit 122Bk in the image forming unit 12Bk are respectively magenta (M), cyan (C), Development processing for yellow (Y) and black (Bk) is performed. At positions away from the developing units 122M, 122C, 122Y, and 122Bk, specifically, above the intermediate transfer belt 125, a toner container 61M containing magenta toner, a toner container 61C containing cyan toner, and a yellow A toner container 61Y that stores toner and a toner container 61Bk that stores black toner are detachably attached to a toner container attachment portion (not shown) provided in the apparatus main body 11 . When the toner is used up, the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y and 61Bk can be replaced as needed by opening and closing a container cover (not shown) provided on the apparatus main body 11 .

Each of the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y and 61Bk has a toner supply port 617 (see FIG. 2) drilled in the bottom surface. The toner supply port is connected to the inside of the corresponding developing unit among the developing units 122M, 122C, 122Y and 122Bk through a pipe (not shown) installed in the apparatus main body 11 in a substantially vertical posture. Note that the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk are examples of target parts in the scope of claims.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view showing the outline of the internal configuration of the toner container 61M. Note that the toner containers 61C, 61Y, 61Bk and the developing units 122C, 122Y, 122Bk have the same configuration as the toner container 61M and the developing unit 122M, so description thereof will be omitted.

The toner container 61M is provided with a toner reservoir 611, a toner agitating and conveying screw 615, and a motor .

The toner reservoir 611 stores toner to be supplied to the developing unit 122M, and has a toner supply port 617 to the developing unit 122M at one end 611A. A toner stirring and conveying screw 615 is provided from the other end 611B of the toner storage portion 611 to the one end 611A. The toner agitating and conveying screw 615 conveys the toner to the toner supply port 617 while agitating the toner.

The toner agitating/conveying screw 615 is rotatably provided in the toner storage section 611 and includes a rotating shaft 615A and a spiral 615B spirally provided around the rotating shaft 615A. The rotating shaft 615A extends from the other end 611B toward the one end 611A. For example, one end of the rotary shaft 615A is attached to one end 611A of the toner reservoir 611 . A gear 6150 that meshes with a gear 750 provided on the motor 70 is provided at the other end of the rotating shaft 615A.

When the rotating shaft 615A of the toner agitating/conveying screw 615 receives the rotational driving force from the motor 70 and is driven to rotate, the toner in the toner storage unit 611 is directed toward the toner supply port 617 by the spiral 615B that rotates together with the rotating shaft 615A. transported by The toner conveyed to the toner supply port 617 drops from the toner supply port 617 to the developing unit 122M due to its own weight. As a result, toner is replenished to the developing unit 122M.

When the toner in the toner storage portion 611 is supplied to the developing unit 122M, the amount of toner stored in the other end portion 611B decreases.

Further, a toner sensor 17 is provided on the side of the apparatus main body 11 facing the one end portion 611A of the toner storage portion 611 . The toner sensor 17 detects the amount of toner stored in the toner container 61M. The toner sensor 17 outputs a detection signal indicating a voltage value corresponding to the amount of toner. The toner containers 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk are also provided with toner sensors 17, like the toner container 61M.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. The image forming apparatus 1 includes a control unit 10, a document feeding section 6, a document reading section 5, an image processing section 31, an image forming section 12, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 92, a fixing section 13, a motor 70, an operation section 47, A facsimile communication unit 71, a toner sensor 17, and the like are provided. The same numbers are assigned to the same components as those described with reference to FIG. 1, and the description thereof is omitted.

The document reading section 5 includes a reading mechanism 163 (FIG. 1) having a light irradiation section, a CCD sensor, and the like. The document reading unit 5 irradiates the document with a light irradiation unit and receives the reflected light with a CCD sensor, thereby reading an image from the document. Note that the document reading section 5 corresponds to an image reading section in the claims.

The image processing section 31 performs image processing on the document image read by the document reading section 5 as necessary. For example, the image processing section 31 performs predetermined image processing such as shading correction in order to improve the quality of the image read by the document reading section 5 and formed by the image forming section 12 .

The image memory 32 is an area for temporarily storing a document image obtained by reading by the document reading section 5 and temporarily storing an image to be formed by the image forming section 12 .

The HDD 92 is a large-capacity nonvolatile storage device that stores various data, programs, image data of documents read by the document reading unit 5, and the like.

The motor 70 is a driving source that imparts a rotational driving force to each rotating member, conveying roller pair, and the like in the image forming section 12, the fixing section 13, and the like.

The facsimile communication unit 71 includes an unillustrated encoding/decoding unit, modulation/demodulation unit, and NCU (Network Control Unit), and performs facsimile transmission using the public telephone line network.

The control unit 10 includes a processor, RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory), and the like. The processor is a CPU (Central Processing Unit), MPU (Micro-Processing Unit), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or the like.

The control unit 10 includes a control section 100 , a state detection section 101 , an acquisition section 102 , a generation section 103 and an extraction section 104 .

The control unit 10 functions as a control section 100 , a state detection section 101 , an acquisition section 102 , a generation section 103 and an extraction section 104 by the control program stored in the HDD 92 being executed by the processor. It should be noted that each component of the control unit 10 may be configured by a hardware circuit without depending on the operation based on the control program described above.

The control unit 100 controls the overall operation of the image forming apparatus 1 . Further, the control unit 100 includes the document reading unit 5, the document feeding unit 6, the image processing unit 31, the image memory 32, the image forming unit 12, the fixing unit 13, the operation unit 47, the display unit 473, the facsimile communication unit 71, and It is connected to the HDD 92 and the like, and controls the driving of these units.

Based on the detection signal from the toner sensor 17, the state detection unit 101 determines whether at least one of the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk, which are predetermined target parts among the parts constituting the image forming apparatus 1, is detected. A predetermined notification target state, for example, whether or not the amount of toner is a predetermined remaining amount is detected. The "predetermined remaining amount" referred to here is, for example, the toner remaining amount that ensures a certain number of image forming operations before the toner runs out. As a result, image formation by the image forming apparatus 1 can be continued until a replacement toner container arrives instead of immediately becoming unable to print. Note that the "predetermined remaining amount" may be the toner remaining amount at which the toner runs out.

The HDD 92 stores component information including specific information indicating predetermined target components (for example, toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk) and supplementary information attached to the specific information, and contact information and contacts for the target components. Contact information indicating the method and client information about the client are associated and stored in advance. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a storage table. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the HDD 92 includes part information indicating the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk which are target parts, contact information of each of the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk, A storage table 92A is stored in advance in which client information about the client is associated with the client information. Note that the HDD 92 is an example of a storage section in the scope of claims.

As shown in FIG. 4, the specific information includes the part name and model number of the target part. For example, the specific information of the toner container 61M includes "magenta toner container" information indicating the part name of the toner container 61M and "TCM001" information indicating the model number of the toner container 61M. The incidental information includes order quantity information indicating the order quantity of the toner container 61M (in FIG. 4, the order quantity is "1").

As shown in FIG. 4, the contact information of each of the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk includes "facsimile" information indicating a contact method and "AAA" information indicating a contact name of a store, for example. , "06-aaaa-aaa1" information indicating a FAX number, and "06-aaaa-aaa2" information indicating a telephone number.

As shown in FIG. 4, the client information about the client includes information of "GGG" indicating the name of the client, such as the name of the company that owns the image forming apparatus 1, and "06-gggg-ggg1" indicating the FAX number. information, "06-gggg-ggg2" indicating the telephone number, and "gg city..." information indicating the address of the requester.

The acquisition unit 102 detects that the target parts (toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, 61Bk) are in the predetermined notification target state (for example, the amount of toner is the predetermined remaining amount) in the state detection unit 101. is detected, the target component whose toner amount is detected to be the predetermined remaining amount (in this embodiment, the toner amount of the toner container 61M is the predetermined remaining amount). ) is acquired from the storage table 92A (see FIG. 4) of the HDD 92.

FIG. 6A is a diagram showing an example of a code image including part information and client information. The generating unit 103 generates a code image K<b>1 in which the component information, the contact information, and the client information acquired by the acquiring unit 102 are coded so that they can be read by the external device 20 . Specifically, as shown in FIG. 6A, the generating unit 103 generates a matrix of the part information, the contact information, and the client information obtained by the obtaining unit 102 from the storage table 92A of the HDD 92 as the code image K1. A two-dimensionally encoded QR code (registered trademark) image is generated.

FIG. 6B is a diagram showing an example of a contact image including contact information. As shown in FIG. 6B, control unit 100 acquires the target part (here Then, a contact image K2 representing the contact information of the toner container 61M) is generated.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a document with a code image. As shown in FIG. 7, the control unit 100 causes the image forming unit 12 and the fixing unit 13 to form the contact image K2 and the code image K1 generated by the generating unit 103 on the recording paper P. FIG.

Specifically, when the contact method included in the contact information acquired by acquisition unit 102 is "facsimile", control unit 100 changes the format of "facsimile" pre-stored in HDD 92 (for each image). layout, character font or image color, size type, etc.) are read, and according to the read "facsimile" format, the image forming unit 12 and the fixing unit 13 process the data as shown in FIG. A code image K1 and a contact image K2 are formed on the recording paper P.

7 on which the code image K1 and the contact image K2 are formed (original document with code image) is placed on the document feeder 6, and the document feeder 6 feeds the recording paper P. When the conveyance is started, the document reading section 5 acquires an image of the recording paper P by reading the recording paper P. As shown in FIG.

The extraction unit 104 extracts the contact information from the code image K1 (see FIG. 10) in the image data IM of the recording paper P read by the document reading unit 5 . Specifically, the extracting unit 104 decodes the code image K1 in the image data IM of the recording paper P read by the document reading unit 5 using a known code decoding process (for example, a QR code (registered trademark)). Processing for decoding various information included in the code) extracts (detects) text characters (text data) representing contact information from the code image K1. That is, the extracting unit 104 extracts the parts information shown in FIG. Each of the text characters “06-aaaa-aaa2” indicating the telephone number is extracted.In this manner, the extraction unit 104 extracts the text characters indicating the contact information from the code image K1 acquired by the document reading unit 5. Can recognize characters.

Note that the extraction unit 104 may extract text characters representing contact information from the contact information image K2 on the recording paper P read by the document reading unit 5 . For example, the extraction unit 104 performs a known OCR process on a predetermined area in the image data IM of the recording paper P, for example, an extraction target area EA positioned above the recording paper P shown in FIG. , extracts (detects) text characters (text data) indicating contact information from the contact image K2 included in the extraction target area EA. The extracting unit 104 extracts the text characters "AAA" indicating the contact name of the store or the like in the area A1 shown in FIG. , the text characters "06-aaaa-aaa2" indicating the telephone number in the area A3 are extracted, and the text characters "FAX" indicating the contact method in the area A4 are extracted. Even in this case, the extraction unit 104 can perform character recognition of text characters indicating contact information from the contact image K2 acquired by the document reading unit 5 .

When the contact method of the contact information extracted by the extraction unit 104 is facsimile, the control unit 100 sends the document reading unit 5 to the external device 20 of the contact indicated by the code image K1 (or the contact information image K2). facsimile communication of the image on the recording paper P read by the facsimile communication unit 71 .

Next, code image generation processing in the image forming apparatus 1 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

Based on the detection signal from the toner sensor 17, the state detection unit 101 determines whether the amount of toner in at least one of the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk of the image forming apparatus 1 is a predetermined remaining amount. Detect whether or not (S1). Here, it is assumed that the state detection unit 101 detects that the amount of toner in the toner container 61M is the predetermined remaining amount.

When the state detection unit 101 detects that the amount of toner in the toner container 61M is the predetermined remaining amount (“Yes” in S1), the acquiring unit 102 detects that the amount of toner is the predetermined remaining amount. Part information, contact information, and client information associated with the toner container 61M detected as being is obtained from the storage table 92A (see FIG. 4) of the HDD 92 (S2).

As shown in FIG. 4, the part information includes specific information including "black toner container" information indicating the part name of the toner container 61M and "TCBK001" information indicating the model number of the toner container 61M, and the toner container 61M. and order quantity information indicating the order quantity (for example, "1"). The contact information of the toner container 61M includes "facsimile" information indicating the contact method, "AAA" information indicating the contact name of the store, and "06-aaaa-aaa1" indicating the FAX number. and information of "06-aaaa-aaa2" indicating a telephone number. Further, the client information about the client includes, for example, the information of "GGG" indicating the name of the client such as the name of the company that owns the image forming apparatus 1, the information of "06-gggg-ggg1" indicating the FAX number, and the telephone number. It contains the information of "06-gggg-ggg2" indicating the number and the information of "gg city..." indicating the address of the requester.

The generation unit 103 generates a QR code (registered trademark) image is generated (S3).

Control unit 100 expresses the contact information of toner container 61M in the format of the contact method included in the contact information acquired by acquiring unit 102 (the contact method of toner container 61M is "facsimile" as shown in FIG. 4). A contact image K2 (see FIG. 6B) is generated (S4).

The control unit 100 causes the image forming unit 12 and the fixing unit 13 to form the code image K1 and the contact image K2 on the recording paper P as shown in FIG. 7 (S5).

After S5, or when the state detection unit 101 determines that the amount of toner is not the predetermined remaining amount ("No" in S1), the control unit 100 terminates this process.

Next, information transmission processing for a document with a code image in the image forming apparatus 1 of this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the user touches the "facsimile" selection button B1 shown in FIG. A detection signal shown is output to the control unit 100 . Based on the detection signal, the control unit 100 causes the display unit 473 to display the facsimile selection screen shown in FIG. 9B.

Then, in a state where the recording paper P on which the code image K1 and the contact image K2 are formed (that is, the document with the code image) is placed on the document feeding section 6, the user is displayed on the display section 473. When the selection button B2 for "facsimile of document with code image" shown in FIG. A detection signal indicating the touch operation of button B<b>2 is output to control unit 100 . When receiving such a detection signal, the control unit 100 causes the document feeding unit 6 to start conveying the placed recording paper P (original with a code image), and the recording paper P conveyed by the document feeding unit 6 is started. image is read by the document reading unit 5 (S12).

The extraction unit 104 extracts contact information from the code image K1 of the recording paper P read by the document reading unit 5 (S13). That is, the extraction unit 104 extracts (detects) each text character (text data) of the contact method, contact name, FAX number, and telephone number indicating the contact information.

Based on the text characters of the contact method included in the contact information extracted by the extraction unit 104, the control unit 100 determines whether the contact method is facsimile (S14). When the control unit 100 determines that the contact method is facsimile (S14 "Yes"), the FAX number (here, "06-aaaa-aaa1") included in the contact information is sent to the contact external device 20, The image of the recording paper P (including the code image K1 and the contact image K2) read by the document reading section 5 is facsimile-communicated by the facsimile communication section 71 (S15).

After S15 above, or when the selection button B2 for "facsimile of document with code image" is not selected ("No" in S11), the control unit 100 terminates this process.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1 of the first embodiment, the acquisition unit 102 causes the state detection unit 101 to determine whether the target component (for example, the toner container 61M) is in the notification target state (for example, the amount of toner is determined in advance). When it is detected that the toner container 61</b>M is in a predetermined remaining amount), the part information, the contact information, and the requester information associated with the toner container 61</b>M are acquired from the HDD 92 . The generating unit 103 generates a code image K1 in which the component information, contact information, and client information acquired by the acquiring unit 102 are coded. The control unit 100 generates a contact image K2 representing the contact information of the target part in the format of the contact method included in the contact information acquired by the acquisition unit 102, and generates the contact image K2 and the code image K1. is formed on the recording paper P by the image forming section 12 and the fixing section 13 .

As a result, the recording paper P on which the code image K1 and the contact image K2 are formed can be sent to the contact according to the contact method indicated by the contact image K2, or If the contact method included in the contact information is facsimile communication or email transmission, the code image K1 and the contact image K2 image-formed on P are transmitted to the external device 20 of the contact indicated by the contact image K2. You can Moreover, since the information to be transmitted is the code image K1, the contact external device 20 can accurately acquire the part information and client information indicated by the code image K1 by reading the code image K1. That is, in the image forming apparatus 1 that is not connected to the network, it is possible to accurately transmit the component information regarding the target component and the client information regarding the client to the contact external device 20 .

Further, the external device 20 at the contact point reads the code image K1 in which the part information including the specific information and the supplementary information for specifying the target part is coded, so that the specific information and the supplementary information of the target part can be obtained. It can be transmitted to the external device 20, and the range of information transmission can be further expanded.

Also, the image of the recording paper P on which the code image K1 and the contact image K2 are formed (that is, the code image K1 and the contact image K2) is reliably communicated to the external device 20 of the contact by facsimile communication. be able to. Moreover, since the information to be conveyed is the code image K1, the external device 20 at the contact can read the code image K1 formed on the facsimile-received reception sheet, thereby reading the part information and the requester indicated by the code image K1. Information can be obtained accurately. That is, in an image forming apparatus that is not connected to a network, component information regarding a target component and client information regarding a client can be accurately transmitted to the contact external device 20 by facsimile communication.

Also, the state detection unit 101 detects whether or not the amount of toner in the toner container is a predetermined remaining amount, based on the detection signal from the toner sensor. When the state detection unit 101 detects that the amount of toner is a predetermined remaining amount, the acquisition unit 100 acquires additional information including specific information of the toner container and order quantity information indicating the order quantity of the toner container. information, and contact information and client information corresponding to the part information are obtained from the storage unit. The generation unit 103 generates a code image K1 in which the part information, contact information, and client information acquired by the acquisition unit are coded. The control unit 100 generates the code image K1 generated by the generation unit 103 and the contact information image K2 representing the contact information of the target part in the format of the contact method included in the contact information, to the image forming unit 12 and the An image is formed on the recording paper P by the fixing unit 13 . As a result, the order for the toner container can be accurately transmitted to the contact external device 20 .

In addition, since the information to be conveyed is a QR code (registered trademark) image, the external device 20 of the contact can read the QR code (registered trademark) image to read the part indicated by the QR code (registered trademark) image. Information and client information can be obtained accurately.

Next, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment will be explained using FIG. FIG. 11 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus of the second embodiment. In the image forming apparatus 1 according to the first embodiment, the code image K1 is transmitted by facsimile communication. different from the form. The same numbers are assigned to the same components as those described in the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted.

An image forming apparatus 1 according to the second embodiment includes a network interface section 91 .

The network interface section 91 is composed of a communication module such as a LAN board, and transmits/receives various data to/from an external device 20 such as a personal computer in a local area or on the Internet via a LAN or the like connected to the network interface section 91. It is possible to However, the network interface unit 91 of the second embodiment is connected to a network such as a LAN or the Internet only when sending an e-mail, which will be described later, and sends an e-mail to the external device 20 via the network. In other cases, the network connection is restricted so that the LAN and the Internet are not connected. Note that the network interface unit 91 corresponds to the communication unit in the claims.

As shown in FIG. 12, the storage table 92A of the second embodiment includes "e-mail" information indicating the contact method of the contact information of each of the toner containers 61M, 61C, 61Y, and 61Bk, and "aaa" indicating the mail address. @aaa.com" information.

When the contact method included in the contact information acquired by acquisition unit 102 is e-mail, control unit 100 converts contact image K2 represented in the e-mail format into an image as shown in FIG. An image is formed on the recording paper P by the forming unit 12 and the fixing unit 13 . Then, the extraction unit 104 extracts the contact information from the code image K1 of the recording paper P read by the document reading unit 5 . When the contact information extracted by the extraction unit 104 is the contact image K2 expressed in the predetermined e-mail format, the control unit 100 extracts the code image K1 (or the contact image K2). The network interface unit 91 is caused to transmit an e-mail to which the image of the recording paper P read by the document reading unit 5 is attached to the external device 20 at the contact address shown.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1 of the second embodiment, an e-mail attached with the image of the recording paper P on which the code image K1 and the contact image K2 are formed is sent to the external device 20 of the contact. can be sent securely. Moreover, since the information to be conveyed is the code image K1, the external device 20 of the contact can read the image of the recording paper P (that is, the code image K1) attached to the e-mail, and read the code image K1. The component information and client information to be displayed can be accurately obtained. That is, in the image forming apparatus that is not connected to the network, it is possible to accurately transmit the component information regarding the target component and the requester information regarding the requester to the contact external device 20 by e-mail.

Next, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the third embodiment will be explained using FIG. FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus of the third embodiment.

The control unit 10 further functions as a calculation section 105 by the control program stored in the HDD 92 being executed by the processor.

For example, when the toner sensor 17 detects that the amount of toner in the toner container 61M is the predetermined remaining amount, the calculation unit 105 detects that the toner container 61M has been in the predetermined remaining amount since the start of use of the toner container 61M. An average printing rate (for example, M1%), which is the average value of the printing rate of the toner image formed by the developing unit 122M during the period until detection, is calculated. Note that the calculation unit 105 corresponds to an average coverage rate calculation unit in the scope of claims.

Control unit 100 uses the average printing rate calculated by calculation unit 105 (for example, M1 %) is stored in the HDD 92 (see FIG. 15A).

When the toner sensor 17 detects that the amount of toner in the toner container 61M is the predetermined remaining amount, the obtaining unit 102 obtains the specific information of the toner container 61M, the order quantity information, and the average printing rate information. The parts information included, and the contact information and client information corresponding to the parts information are obtained from the HDD 92 .

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1 of the third embodiment, the information indicating the ordering of the toner container 61M and the information indicating the usage state such as the average printing rate of the toner container 61M are accurately transmitted to the external device of the contact point. 20.

Next, the image forming apparatus 1 of the fourth embodiment will be described. For example, the control unit 100, the HDD 92, and the acquisition unit 102 in the image forming apparatus 1 of the third embodiment may be configured as follows. As shown in FIG. 15B, the control unit 100 stores, as the incidental information, average printing ratio information indicating the average printing ratio calculated by the calculating unit 105, the average printing ratio information calculated this time and the previous average printing ratio information. are stored in the HDD 92 together with the history information indicating the history in which the average coverage rate information and the history information are arranged in the order of calculation. When the toner sensor 17 detects that the amount of toner in the toner container 61M is the predetermined remaining amount, the obtaining unit 102 obtains the specific information of the toner container 61M, the order quantity information, the average coverage rate information, and the Parts information including history information, and contact information and client information corresponding to the parts information are obtained from the HDD 92, respectively.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1 of the fourth embodiment, the information indicating the ordering of the toner container 61M and the information indicating the usage state such as the average printing rate and the history information of the toner container 61M are accurately communicated. It can be transmitted to the previous external device 20 . Also, based on the information indicating the usage state such as the average printing rate of the toner container 61M and its history information, it is determined whether it is sufficient to replace the toner container 61M, or whether maintenance of other parts related to the toner container 61M is necessary. can be determined by the image forming apparatus 1 or the external apparatus 20 . That is, the component information can be used for maintenance, diagnosis, failure analysis, etc. of the image forming apparatus 1 .

Note that in the above-described third and fourth embodiments, the calculator 105 calculates the average coverage rate of the toner container 61M, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the toner sensor 17 detects that the amount of toner in the toner container 61M is a predetermined remaining amount, the calculation unit 105 calculates the predetermined remaining amount from the start of use of the toner container 61M. The number of printed toner images formed by the developing unit 122M during the period until it is detected may be calculated. Control unit 100 outputs printed sheet number information indicating the number of printed sheets calculated by calculation unit 105 as supplementary information included in the part information associated with the toner container 61M detected to have the predetermined remaining amount. are stored in the HDD 92. In this case, the information indicating the ordering of the toner container 61M and the information indicating the usage state such as the number of toner images printed in the toner container 61M can be accurately transmitted to the contact external device 20 .

Next, the image forming apparatus 1 according to the fifth embodiment will be explained using FIG. FIG. 16 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the main internal configuration of the image forming apparatus of the fifth embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 16, the state detection unit 101 detects the temperature of the fixing unit 13 based on a detection signal from a roller temperature sensor 131a that detects the surface temperature of a heating roller 131 of the fixing unit 13 as a predetermined target component. It is detected whether or not there is an abnormality (that is, the temperature of the heating roller 131 of the fixing section 13 is abnormal).

A roller temperature sensor 131 a is arranged to face the surface of the heating roller 131 . A roller temperature sensor 131 a detects the surface temperature of the heating roller 131 . Note that the roller temperature sensor 131a is an example of a detection sensor in the claims.

When the state detection unit 101 detects a temperature abnormality in the fixing unit 13 (for example, when the temperature detected by the roller temperature sensor 131a is equal to or higher than a predetermined abnormal temperature), the control unit 100 controls the fixing unit As additional information included in the component information associated with 13, the HDD 92 stores abnormality detection information indicating that an abnormality has been detected in the fixing unit 13 (target component).

When an abnormality of the fixing unit 13 is detected by the state detection unit 101, the acquisition unit 102 acquires component information including specific information and abnormality detection information of the fixing unit 13 in which the abnormality is detected, and the component information. Corresponding contact information and client information are obtained from the HDD 92 respectively.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus 1 of the fifth embodiment, component information including specific information and abnormality detection information of the fixing unit 13 (target component) in which an abnormality has been detected, that is, defect information of the apparatus is obtained. , can be accurately transmitted to the external device 20 of the contact.

Note that the configuration and processing shown in the above embodiments with reference to FIGS. 1 to 16 are merely one embodiment of the present invention, and the configuration and processing of the present invention are not limited to this.

1 Image forming device 5 Document reading unit (image reading unit)
12 Image forming unit 13 Fixing unit (target component)
17 Toner sensor 47 Operation unit 61M Toner container (target parts)
61C toner container (target parts)
61Y toner container (target parts)
61Bk toner container (target parts)
91 network interface unit (communication unit)
92 HDD (storage unit)
100 control unit 101 state detection unit 102 acquisition unit 103 generation unit 104 extraction unit 105 calculation unit (average printing rate calculation unit)

Claims (2)

In an image forming apparatus,
an image forming unit that forms a toner image on a recording medium;
a fixing unit that fixes the toner image on the recording medium to the recording medium by thermocompression;
a state detection unit that detects whether or not a predetermined target component among the components constituting the image forming apparatus is in a predetermined notification target state;
Part information including specific information indicating the predetermined target part and supplementary information attached to the specific information, contact information indicating the contact address and contact method of the target part, and requester information about the requester , a storage unit that stores in advance in association with
When the state detection unit detects that the predetermined target component is in the predetermined notification target state, the component associated with the target component detected to be in the notification target state. an acquisition unit that acquires information, the contact information, and the client information from the storage unit;
a generation unit that generates a code image in which the part information, the contact information, and the requester information acquired by the acquisition unit are coded so that they can be read by an external device;
generating a contact image representing the contact of the target part in a format of a predetermined contact method corresponding to the contact method included in the contact information acquired by the acquisition unit; a control unit for forming an image and a code image generated by the generating unit on a recording medium by the image forming unit and the fixing unit ;
When the contact method included in the contact information acquired by the acquisition unit is facsimile, the control unit transfers a contact image expressed in a facsimile communication format to the image forming unit and the fixing unit. forming an image on the recording medium by
Furthermore, a facsimile communication unit that performs facsimile communication using a public telephone line network regardless of any of the local area network and the Internet;
an image reading unit that reads an image on the recording medium;
an extraction unit for extracting contact information from the code image of the recording medium read by the image reading unit ;
When the contact information extracted by the extracting unit is a contact image expressed in the predetermined facsimile communication format, the control unit sends the contact information to the external device indicated by the contact image. On the other hand, facsimile communication of the image of the recording medium read by the image reading unit is performed by the facsimile communication unit,
The image forming unit
an image carrier on which an electrostatic latent image is formed;
a developing unit that supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image to form a toner image on the surface of the image carrier;
a toner container as the predetermined target component for supplying toner to the developing unit;
a toner sensor that detects the amount of toner in the toner container;
The storage unit stores the part information including the specific information indicating the toner container, the supplementary information including the order quantity information indicating the order quantity of the toner container, and the contact information indicating the contact address and contact method of the toner container. destination information and client information about the client are associated and stored in advance,
the state detection unit detects whether or not the amount of toner in the toner container is a predetermined remaining amount, based on a detection signal from the toner sensor;
When the state detection unit detects that the amount of toner is a predetermined remaining amount, the obtaining unit obtains the specific information of the toner container detected as having the predetermined remaining amount. , the part information including the incidental information including the order quantity information indicating the order quantity of the toner container, and the contact information and the client information corresponding to the part information, respectively, from the storage unit. forming device. 2. The generating unit according to claim 1, wherein the generating unit generates, as the code image, a QR code (registered trademark) image in which the part information and the client information acquired by the acquiring unit from the storage unit are converted into a matrix two-dimensional code. image forming device.

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