JPH01257869A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform proper processing corresponding to recording contents when a developer runs short by selecting an automatic switching mode wherein one developing device is switched to another developing device when the developer runs short or an automatic switching mode by a stop control means in advance. CONSTITUTION:Detecting means 46 and 60 detect whether there are developers in the developing devices 5 and 6, and consequently the toner empty states of the developing devices are detected. A mode selecting means (select key) selects the automatic switching mode by a developing device switching control means or automatic switching means by the stop control means in advance. When the developing switching control means is put in operation, one developing device which is not in a toner empty state is selected automatically to carry on recording operation or stop the recording operation under other conditions which are set when necessary. Consequently, the developing device in use runs short of a developer, the recording is carried out or a check is made temporarily according to the contents of the recording and proper processing corresponding to the contents is carried out.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an electrophotographic recording apparatus having a plurality of developing devices.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, electrophotographic recording devices have been widely used in, for example, copying machines, digital copying machines, optical printers using laser beams, and facsimile machines.

These recording devices are capable of recording (printing) in color, so they can be equipped with multiple developing devices. It has become possible to install a developing device containing toner.

In addition to the advantage of being able to record in color, a recording device with multiple built-in developing devices has the advantage of being able to print in color. By switching to the developing device, there is an advantage that the recording operation can be continued without interruption. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 141455/1983 describes a recording apparatus that is controlled to automatically switch in this manner.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Now, in an electrophotographic recording device such as a printer, the printer is often installed at a location separate from a host computer that generates print information or image information.

For example, if a printer is used as part of a terminal device and print information is sent from a central host computer to each terminal, or if the printer is installed in a separate room from the host computer due to installation space or noise considerations. For example, when

As mentioned above, when printing is performed by sending print information to a printer installed in a remote location from the host computer, when the developing device in use runs out of toner, the developing device is automatically turned off. If you switch, there is a risk that the printed color of the recorded characters or images will change midway through.

Moreover, the operator is usually not near the printer to operate the host computer, and therefore does not notice changes in print color. Further, after the printer executes printing, the print information received from the host computer disappears.

Therefore, even if a user notices a change in the print color after printing has finished, it is necessary to operate the host computer again to send print information and have the printer print again. In particular, for official documents to be submitted externally, it is not allowed for the printing color to change midway through, making it difficult to reprint.

On the other hand, when the toner in the printer's developing device runs out,
If the printing operation of the printer were to be constantly stopped, it would be necessary to replenish toner and change the developing device, which would make these tasks cumbersome, and there would be a problem in that the printing deadline would be delayed.

For example, when printing is to be used as personal reference material, simplicity and speed are prioritized over problems such as changes in print color or decrease in print density, but even in this case, the above-mentioned problems apply. The problem was that they were burdened with tedious work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to make it possible to take appropriate measures depending on the recorded content when the developer in the developing device runs out during recording by a recording apparatus.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides an electrophotographic recording apparatus having a plurality of developing devices, which includes a detection means for detecting the presence or absence of developer in each of the developing devices, and a detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of developer in each of the developing devices. A developer switching control means that automatically selects another developer that has developer when it is detected that the developer is running out; a stop control means for occasionally stopping the recording operation; and a mode selection means for preselecting either an automatic switching mode by the developer switching control means or a manual switching mode by the stop control means. It is configured with the following characteristics:

The developing device includes a developing device main body having a developing sleeve, etc., or a replenishment container such as a toner replenishment bottle attached to the main body, and the presence or absence of developer is determined by the presence or absence of developer inside the developing device main body or in the toner replenishment bottle. Detection is made based on whether the developer is empty or has decreased below a certain amount.

[For production]

The detection means detects the presence or absence of developer in each developing device, thereby detecting whether or not the developing device is empty of toner.

The mode selection means selects in advance one of an automatic switching mode by the developer switching control means and a manual switching mode by the stop control means. As a result, when the selected developing device currently in use becomes empty of toner, either the developing device switching control means or the stop control means is activated.

When the developer switching control means is activated, another developer that is not empty of toner is automatically selected, and the recording operation is continued. Alternatively, the recording operation is stopped according to other conditions set as necessary.

In other words, the developer switching control means allows the other developer that is not empty of toner to continue the recording operation under certain conditions, and does not force the recording operation to continue.

When the stop control means is activated, the recording operation is stopped. After the recording operation is stopped, for example, the operator replenishes developer, selects another developer that is not empty of toner and restarts the recording operation, or continues the recording operation using the same developer.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 5 is a system block diagram using a laser beam type printer A.

Data processing device B is a host computer such as a general-purpose computer or a personal computer, and transmits print data (including image data) to printer A together with control data.

Printer A is controlled by the received control data and prints the print data. Printer A may have a bitmamp memory for developing print data for one page, and in that case, depending on the content of the print data, it may be written to the bitmamp memory once and then are sequentially read and printed.

These data processing device B and printer A are installed in separate rooms apart from each other, and are connected by a line C.

FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of printer A.

Approximately in the center of the printer A, a photoreceptor drum 1 that rotates counterclockwise is provided, and around it are a charger 3, a first developer 5, a second developer 6, a transfer charger 7, A separation charger 8, a cleaning device 9, and a main eraser lamp 10 are arranged.

After the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged by the charging charger 3, it is exposed to light by the laser optical section 18 to form an electrostatic latent image.

The electrostatic latent image is developed by the first developing device 5 or the second developing device 6, and transferred by the transfer charger 7 onto a sheet of paper supplied from a paper feeding system P, which will be described later.

The transferred paper is separated from the photosensitive drum 1 by the separation charger 8, sent to the fixing device 11 by the transport heald 25, fixed thereon, and discharged onto the tray 26.

The paper feeding system P has a manual paper feeding section 27, a first paper feeding section 28, and a second paper feeding section 30, and the paper fed from any of these is sent to the timing roller 24 by rollers 31 to 34. The paper is fed to the transfer section with good timing by the timing roller 24.

In addition, 35.36 is a size detection sensor that detects the size of paper in each paper feed cassette 28a, 30a, 37.3
A cassette empty sensor 8 detects the presence or absence of paper in each paper feed cassette 28a, 30a.

The laser optical section 18 is composed of a laser diode that emits laser light by being driven by a modulation pulse corresponding to a character or image, a polygon mirror, various lenses, and the like.

The control section 12 controls the entire printer A in addition to controlling the laser optical section 18 . Details will be described later.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the first developing device 5 and the second developing device 6. As shown in FIG.

Although the first developing device 5 and the second developing device 6 have different shapes due to their arrangement, their mechanisms and functions are similar and are known.

To briefly explain these, the first developing device 5 includes:
A first toner replenishment bottle 41 for replenishing toner is removably attached.

The toner replenishment port 41a of the first toner replenishment bottle 41 is connected to one end of a transport pipe 42 that extends in the longitudinal direction (direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 2) within the first developing device 5. The first toner replenishment bottle 41 is rotated around its center line by a first replenishment motor (not shown), and an amount of toner proportional to the number of revolutions is fed into the transport pipe 42 from the toner replenishment port 41a. 1 is transported into the developing device 5.

The toner conveyed into the first developing device 5 is transferred to a first developing device (not shown).
The first brush I/roller 43 rotated by the developing motor mixes with the magnetic carrier filled in the first developing device 5, and is negatively charged due to friction at that time, and is rotated by the first developing motor described above. First developing sleeve 4
4 to the surface of the photoreceptor drum 1. As a result, the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoreceptor tram 1 is developed.

Note that the magnetic carrier is collected in the first developing device 5 and used repeatedly.

A first bottle presence/absence sensor 45 is installed near the first toner replenishment bottle 41 to detect whether or not the first toner replenishment bottle 41 is attached. A first bottle empty sensor 46 is installed to detect when toner runs out in the first toner supply bottle 41.

Further, a magnet group 47 for identifying the color of toner (black, red, yellow, blue) in the first developing device 5 is attached to the top of the first developing device 5. The toner color is determined, for example, as shown in Table 1, by the on/off combination of the first and second reed switches 49 and 50 arranged opposite to each other.

Regarding the second developing device 6 in Table 1, similarly to the first developing device 5 described above, a second toner replenishing bottle 5 having a toner replenishing port 53a is used.
3, transport pipes 54, 55, second bucket troller 56, second
Developing sleeve 57, second bottle presence/absence sensor 58, second
A bottle empty sensor 60, a magnet group 61, and third and fourth reed switches 63 and 64 are provided.

Normally, the first developing device 5 stores color toner, and the second developing device 6 stores black toner.
You can easily change to other colors by replacing the developer.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the operating unit lure 0 attached to the top surface of the printer A.

The developing device selection key 74 is a key for manually switching between the first developing device 5 and the second developing device 6, and each time this key is pressed, these two developing devices are selected alternately.

The developer display section 74a or the developer display section 74b lights up when the first developer 5 or the second developer 6 is selected, respectively.

The mode switching key 75 has two modes: a manual switching mode in which when the selected developing device becomes toner empty, the printer is temporarily stopped and the developing device is manually switched using the developing device selection key 74; This key is used to select in advance an automatic switching mode in which the developer is automatically switched to another developing device, and each time this key is pressed, the manual switching mode and the automatic switching mode are alternately selected.

The automatic mode display section 75a lights up when the automatic switching mode is selected.

The same color limited mode setting key 76 is a key for setting the same color limited mode in which the developer can be selected and switched only when the toner color is the same in the automatic switching mode. The mode is set or canceled.

The same color limited mode display section 76a lights up when the same color limited mode is set.

The near-empty print mode setting key 77 is used to change the toner color when the first developer 5 and the second developer 6 do not have the same toner color when the automatic switching mode and the same color limited mode are set. is also a key for setting a near-empty print mode in which the developer is switched and printing continues, and each time this key is pressed, the near-empty print mode is set or canceled.

The near-empty print mode display section 77a lights up when the near-empty print mode is set.

The paper feed selection key 78 selects between the manual paper feed section 27 and the first paper feed section 2.
8 or the second paper feed section 30, and the selected paper feed section is displayed on the paper feed display section 78a-
Displayed by c.

The toner empty display section 92 indicates that the blink printing operation stops due to toner empty, such as when the selected developing device runs out of toner, or when both developing devices run out of toner in automatic switching mode. It lights up sometimes.

The toner near empty display section 93 lights up when the developing device is automatically switched and printing is continued in the automatic switching mode.

In addition to the above-mentioned keys and display section, there is also a test key 71 for performing test printing, a shift key 72 for entering a "cancel" input that forces printing to end when pressed at the same time as test key 71, and a shift key 72 for temporarily stopping printing. a Bose key 73 for printing, a pause display section 73a that indicates a stopped state, an error display section 91, an error code display section 90 that displays error details as a code, and a ready display section that indicates that a print is possible. 94, a busy display section 95 indicating that printing data is being received from the post computer and printing is in progress, a paper jam display section 96, a paper empty display section 97, a paper near empty display section 98, and a display section indicating that the waste toner is full. A waste toner full display section 99 is provided to indicate that the waste toner is full.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the control section 12.

The control unit 12 includes a CPU 2 consisting of a microcomputer.
01. Driver array 203 for driving each of the above-mentioned display units, various morphs, clutches, chargers, etc.
, a ROM 204 that stores programs and data, a RAM 205 that stores print data and other data received from data processing device B, and an external interface 206 for connecting to line C. The display and other equipment and circuits are connected.

The control unit 12 processes signals input from each key and sensor of the operation panel 70 and outputs them to each display unit and equipment, and also processes signals input from each key and sensor on the operation panel 70 and outputs them to each display unit and equipment. Based on this, the entire printer A is controlled, such as outputting print data to the laser optical section 18.

Next, while printer A is performing a printing operation, the first
The operation when toner empty is detected by the bottle empty sensor 46 or the second bottle empty sensor 60 will be described.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a developer control routine for performing developer control operations.

This routine is called from a main routine (not shown) for initializing printer A and executing normal printing operations.

In this flowchart, the second developing device 6 is used as the main developing layer and the first developing device 5 is used as the sub-developing layer, and the second developing device 6, which is the main developing device, is selected preferentially in the initial state of the printer. There is. Of course, it is possible to select the first developer 5 using the developer selection key 74.

- In step #21, it is determined whether the second developing device 6 is selected.

If YES, it is determined whether the second developing device is empty for six months or not by turning on and off the second bottle empty sensor 60 (step #22).

If no in step #22, that is, if the toner is not empty, the process jumps to step #28 and continues the printing operation.

If YES in step #22, that is, if the toner is empty, it is determined whether the automatic switching mode is set (step #23).

In the automatic switching mode, the first bottle empty sensor 46 determines whether or not the first developing device 5 is toner empty.
The determination is made based on the on/off status of (step #24).

If the first developing device 5 is not toner empty, it is determined whether the same color limited mode is set (step #25).

If it is not the same color limited mode, the toner near empty display section 9 will notify that the toner is near empty.
3 and outputs a signal to that effect to data processing device B (step #26).

Then, select and switch the first developing device 5 (step #
27), the printing operation continues (step #28).

If YES in step #25, that is, if it is the same color limited mode, it is determined whether the toner colors of the first developing device 5 and the second developing device 6 are the same (step #30).

If the I/ner colors are the same, use stencil #2 in the same way as above.
6. Execute the following processing.

If the toner colors are not the same, it is determined whether the near empty printing mode is set (step #31)
.

If the near-empty print mode is set, the processes from step #26 onwards are executed in the same manner as described above.

If the near empty printing mode is not set, the toner empty display section 92 is turned on to notify that the toner is empty, and a signal to that effect is output to the data processing device B (step #32).

Then, the printing operation is stopped (step #33).

If the answer is NO in step #21, that is, if the first developing device 5 is selected, it is determined whether the first developing device 5 is toner empty or not by turning on and off the first bottle empty sensor 46 (step #29).

If no in step #29, that is, if the toner is not empty, jump to step #27, select the first developing device 5, and continue the printing operation (step #28).
).

If YES in step #29, that is, if the toner is empty, the process jumps to step #32, notifies that the toner is empty, and stops the printing operation (
Step #33).

When toner empty notification is performed in step #32,
This is displayed by lighting the toner empty display section 92, and is notified to the operator by lighting the data processing device B in response to a signal from the printer A.

This allows the operator to recognize that the printing operation has stopped, and
For example, it is possible to replenish toner to a developing device in which empty toner has been detected, or to switch to another developing device by operating the developing device selection key 74, so that printer A can receive data from data processing device B. state and continue printing.

When the toner near empty notification is issued in step #26, the operator recognizes that although printing continues, the amount of toner in the developing device currently in use has decreased.

Note that the notification of )・Near Empty and Toner Near Empty are reset when the power to the printer is turned off or when the cover of Printer A is opened or closed.

Further, switching between automatic switching mode and manual switching mode, setting same color only mode, and setting near empty printing mode can also be performed using a control signal from data processing device B.

In the above flowchart, the second developing device 6 is replaced with the first developing device 6.
Although it is given priority over the developing device 5, this may be reversed.

Further, reproducing devices may be treated equally.

The developer control routine described above may be called when it is detected that the selected developer is empty of toner.

According to the above-described embodiment, when the automatic switching mode is selected, when the developing device in use becomes 1-ner empty, it is automatically switched to another developing device and printing continues. There is no need for the operator to replenish developer or switch developing devices during printing, and printing can be performed quickly.

In this case, if the same color limited mode is set, either the first developer 5 and the second developer 6 have the same color, or the near empty printing mode is set. If neither of these modes is found, printing will continue, and printing will stop if neither of these modes exists, so the operator can select whether or not to prohibit printing in different colors by setting or canceling these modes in advance. I can do it.

When the developer is switched in the automatic switching mode and printing continues, a toner near empty notification is issued, so the operator can be informed that the developer has been switched and printing continues.
Also, it can be recognized that the remaining amount of toner is low.

If the mode is manual switching mode instead of automatic switching mode, the automatic switching operation described above will not occur.
Since printer A stops printing, the operator can check the 1-toner color and other conditions of the developer.

When printing is stopped, toner empty notification is performed, so that the operator can recognize that the printing operation has been stopped and that at least the toner in the developing device in use has run out.

Since either automatic switching mode or manual switching mode can be selected in advance, when the selected developer runs out of toner, printing can be continued depending on the content of the print, or when toner runs out. Since it is possible to have the operator intervene and check once the printer is gone, it is possible to take appropriate measures depending on the content even if the operator is not near the printer.

In the above embodiment, the developer is switched when the first bottle empty sensor 46 or the second bottle empty sensor 60 detects that the toner is empty, but when the remaining developer is less than a predetermined amount, The developing device may be switched after waiting for the end of printing.

In the above-described embodiment, the toner is empty when the developing device runs out of toner, but the toner may be empty when the amount of toner is less than a predetermined amount. Further, in this case, after the printing operation has stopped, it may be possible to continue the printing operation using the same developer by an operator's operation.

In the above embodiment, the printer A having two developing devices has been described, but the printer A may have three or more developing devices. In this case, when the toner becomes empty in the manual switching mode, if all developing devices that are not toner empty are displayed, subsequent selection of developing devices becomes easy and printing can be resumed quickly.

In the above embodiment, the printer A has been described, but the present invention can also be applied to a printer that performs exposure using a light emitting diode array, a copying machine, a digital copying machine, a facsimile machine, and other recording devices.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since either the automatic switching mode or the manual switching mode can be selected in advance, when the developing device in use runs out of developer, the recording can be performed according to the content of the recording. It is possible to decide whether to continue the process or to have the operator intervene and check once the developer runs out, making it possible to take appropriate measures depending on the content.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a front sectional view of the printer, FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the first and second developing devices, and FIG. 3 is a front view of the operation panel. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the control section, FIG. 5 is a system block diagram using the printer of FIG. 1, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the developer control operation. A... Printer (recording device), 5... First developing device (
developing device), 6... second developing device (developing device), 46...
First bottle empty sensor (detection means), 60...
・Second bottle empty sensor (detection means), 74・
...Developer selection key, 75...Mode switching key (
mode selection means), 75a... automatic mode display section, 2
01...CPU.

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) In an electrophotographic recording apparatus having a plurality of developing devices, a detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of developer in each of the developing devices; a developer switching control means that automatically selects another developer that has developer when the developer is used, and a stop control that stops the recording operation when it is detected that the selected developer has run out of developer. and mode selection means for preselecting either an automatic switching mode by the developer switching control means or a manual switching mode by the stop control means. Recording device.