JPH021044B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention relates to a collating device for storing recording materials such as a laser beam printer or a copying machine, and more particularly to a collating device that can arbitrarily select a storage section thereof. Conventionally, in order to store discharged recording materials (hereinafter referred to as transfer sheets) in laser beam printers and high-speed copying machines, a stacker is used to stack the transfer sheets in the order in which they are discharged. This type of stacker has a simple structure, is inexpensive, and can be loaded in large quantities, but on the other hand,
In order to separate the items, it was necessary to shift the way they were stacked or to use paper with special marks printed on it. Also, if you want to make multiple copies of the same content, it is difficult to sort them, and to avoid this, you can print the output to a laser beam printer, etc., and repeat the desired number of copies from the beginning to the end, but it takes a lot of waiting time. This results in a decrease in the throughput (the number of sheets output within a certain period of time) of high-speed terminals such as laser beam printers. Further, a sorter such as that normally used in a copying machine or the like can make copies within the range of the number of sheets that can be stacked in one bin and up to the number of bins in the sorter. For example, if a 20-bin sorter is used to make 5 copies, 5 bins will be used and the remaining 15 bins will not be used. In this case, the capacity per bottle is 50
If it is a single sheet, it is possible to copy up to 50 pages per copy. However, in high-speed output machines such as laser beam printers, the bin quickly becomes full.
If sheets are conveyed even after the bin is full, a jam may occur. Therefore, a system has been proposed that stops the printing operation when the bins of the sorter become full and prohibits the printing operation until sheets are taken out from all the bins in the sorter. However, with this configuration, the printing operation is interrupted midway, resulting in a reduction in throughput. Also, a sorter has been proposed in which the sheets conveyed after the bin becomes full are stored in a separate tray. However, such a sorter requires the operator to manually distribute the sheets discharged to separate trays, which causes trouble to the operator. In recent years, in order to use sorter bins efficiently, sorter bins are divided into several groups according to the desired number of copies, and the bins in each group are regarded as one bin (virtual bin), and one set of copies is one set of copies. An apparatus for distributing and distributing sheets so that they are collated in virtual bins has been proposed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 79622/1983). However, even in such an apparatus, if the number of sheets per copy is greater than the number of sheets that can be stored in the virtual bin, the above-mentioned inconvenience may occur. The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and its object is to provide a collating device that can collate a large amount of sheets without reducing throughput and without causing trouble to the operator. It is about providing. That is, the present invention provides a plurality of storage means for storing recording materials, a conveyance means for conveying the recording materials to the storage means, and a detection device provided corresponding to each storage means to detect the presence or absence of recording materials in each storage means. means, a control means for controlling the conveyance means to divide the plurality of storage means into several groups according to a desired number of copies and distribute and store the recording material with each group as one unit, the control means In the case where there is a plurality of storage means in one group, when one storage means becomes full, the controller selects another storage means in the same group to control the conveying means to store the recording material, and furthermore, There is provided a collating device characterized in that when the detection means detects that a full storage means becomes empty, the storage means can be reselected. Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the sorter. When the transfer paper A is discharged from the print-side paper discharge roller 20, it is guided by the sorter entrance guides 21 and 22 and conveyed in the direction of arrow R while being sandwiched between the horizontal roller 5-1 and the horizontal pressing roller 6-1. To go. However, a lamp 23 and a light receiving element 24 are arranged at the entrance of the sorter as a sensor for detecting the leading edge of the transfer paper. The transfer paper fed by the horizontal roller 5-1 passes between the lower horizontal guide 11 and the upper horizontal guide 12, and then passes through the horizontal rollers 5-2, 5-3 and the horizontal pressing rollers 6-2, 6-3. It is guided to a vertical left guide 13 and a vertical right guide 14. The transfer paper conveyed vertically is transferred to vertical conveyance rollers 3-1 to 3-1.
Passing between 8 followers 4-1 to 8, Bin 1-1
~8. The vertical conveyance rollers 3-1 to 8 and the horizontal rollers 5-1 to 5-3 are rotated at a constant speed via a belt 10 by a drive pulley 8 mounted on a belt 9. The belt is connected to idler pulleys 7-1 to 9 in order to transmit the necessary driving force to the rollers.
are placed to provide tension. Switching claws 2-1 to 2-8 are arranged in the vertical conveyance path to guide the transfer paper to each bin, corresponding to the bins 1-1 to 1-8, and the switching claws 2-1 to 2-8 are operated by a solenoid, which will be described later. .
Further, reflective sensors 19-1 to 19-8 are arranged on the vertical right guide and the vertical lower guide as sensors for checking the presence or absence of a jam in the vertical conveyance path and whether the jam has been conveyed to a designated bin. .
Empty detection sensors 17-1 to 8 are installed in bins 1-1 to 8.
is the fullness detection sensor 1 at the bottom of the bottles 1-1 to 1-8.
8-1 to 8-8 are attached to the ends of the bins 1-1 to 8 on the loading reference side, and the inside of the bin is illuminated with light from a fluorescent lamp 16 to constantly check the presence or absence of transfer paper and the loading state. . FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the switching claw of the sorter and the solenoid. For convenience, only the second and third bins are shown here. The switching claw 2 is connected to the switching shaft 2
5 and is fitted and fixed on top. Both ends of the switching shaft are rotatably supported by bearings 12 (not shown), and an arm 30 is fixed to the front end. A link plate 27 is rotatably engaged with one end of the arm 30 via a pin 29, and the other end of the link plate 27 is rotatably engaged with a plunger of a solenoid 26 via a pin 29. Further, a return spring 28 is stretched between the other end of the arm 30 and the solenoid holder 31, so that when the solenoid 26 is in a non-energized state,
It is guaranteed that the tip of the switching claw 2 has returned to the predetermined position. When the solenoid 26 is energized, the plunger is attracted, and the arm 3 is connected via the link 27.
0, it becomes possible to tilt the switching claw 2 by a predetermined angle. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating how the transfer paper is conveyed to a predetermined bin. In this case as well, for convenience, the second and third
Only bottles are shown. For example, when the transfer paper A is conveyed to the third bin, the transfer paper A that has descended from the vertical conveyance section passes through the jam detection sensor 19-1 within a predetermined time, and then passes through the vertical conveyance roller 3-1, follower 4-1, sent between. The vertical conveyance roller 3 and the follower 4 are roller bodies in which a rubber roller is arranged on a metal shaft with an appropriate gap, and a switching pawl 2 is inserted into the gap. When the switching claw is not activated,
The right side of the switching claw 2 and the guide plate 15 form a path for guiding the paper vertically downward. Transfer paper A is jam detection sensor 19
-2 and 3 within a predetermined time.
1 and the guide plate 15-1, the vertical conveyance roller 3-
2 and the follower 4-2 and between the switching claw 2-2 and the guide plate 15-2.
3 and follower 4-3. The switching claw 2-3 is rotated to a predetermined angle by a solenoid 26-3, and its tip is connected to the conveying roller 3-3 and the follower 4.
Since the transfer paper A enters the gap of -3, the transferred transfer paper A is guided by the switching claw 2-3 and is transported into the third bin by the transport roller 3-3. If the third bin accessed here is empty, transfer paper A is loaded on bin A, which blocks the light irradiated from the fluorescent lamp 16 to the empty detection sensor 17-3. , sensor 17-3 detects that the bin is no longer empty. Further, when the transfer paper is stacked and reaches a specified height, it covers the light receiving surface of the full detection sensor 18 and detects that the bin is full. As a result, no transfer paper is conveyed to the bin. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the control section of the sorter. 100 is a CPU that controls the operation of the sorter.
Signals from the entrance sensor 101, the full detection sensor 102, the empty detection sensor 103, and the jam detection sensor 104 are input to this input terminal by the amplifier circuit 10, respectively.
5 to 108, and the comparator 109
~112, the voltage is compared with a constant level voltage, and the voltage is binarized. Its output signal is input. Also, the binary code from the output terminal of CPU100 is
It is converted by the decoder 201 and the amplifier circuit 206
The necessary amplification is performed by
Operate 11. Further, the photocoupler 202 operates the amplifier circuit 207 and operates the bin solenoid 212 to convey the transfer paper to a predetermined bin. Further, the photocoupler 203 and the amplifier circuit 208 turn on a lamp 213 and the like to display the output from the sensor, such as a jam. Also CPU1
00 communicates with the CPU 300 on the printer side,
Inputs and outputs data necessary for printing and transporting transfer paper. Furthermore, switching elements 209 and 210 are driven via photocouplers 204 and 205, thereby driving a buzzer 214 and a motor 215 that operates a sorter, which will be described later. Here, the entrance sensor 101 is the lamp 23 in FIG.
and a light receiving element 24, the full detection sensor 102 is 18-1 to 8, and the empty detection sensor 103 is 18-1.
7-1 to 8, jam detection sensor 104 is 19-1
It corresponds to ~8. In such a sorter as described above, if the destination of transfer paper is random, for example, 3 from the 1st bin,
The case where the 6th, 4th, 2nd, 8th, 7th, and 5th bins are conveyed in this order will be explained with reference to the time chart in FIG. The transfer paper conveyed into the sorter is transported to the lamp 2.
3. It is detected by the entrance sensor consisting of the light receiving element 24, and the sensor output rises from "0" to "1". This change causes the amplifier circuit 105 and comparator 1
09 to the CPU 100, and the CPU 10
0 calculates the waiting time Tn until the solenoid of the bottle to be transported is sucked. Waiting time until the first bin T ₁
can be easily determined from the conveyance path length from the entrance sensor to the first bin and the transfer paper conveyance speed. Also nth
The waiting time Tn for transporting to the bin is the waiting time mentioned above.
It is calculated by adding the time Tn required for the transfer paper to be conveyed from the 1st bin to the nth bin to _T1 , so there is an equal interval between one bin and the next bin, and the transfer paper moves through this interval. Assuming that the time required for this is τ, the waiting time Tn is determined by Tn=T ₁ +τ×(n-1). Based on the waiting time obtained in this way, after the waiting time from when the transfer paper is detected by the entrance sensor to the desired bin, the CPU 100 sends the photocoupler 202,
A control signal is outputted via the amplifier circuit 207 to turn on the solenoid for the pin. Therefore, when the transfer paper to be conveyed to the third bin is detected at time _t2 , the waiting time is reduced as shown in FIG.
After T ₃ (=T ₁ +τ ₃ ), the solenoid 26-3 is turned on for the time Tconst required for the transfer paper to be inserted into the bin, and the transfer paper is loaded into the third bin. Thereafter, transfer sheets are conveyed in the order of the 6th, 4th, 2nd, 8th, 7th, and 5th bins in the same manner. If such a sorter is used, it is possible to divide the bin into two blocks when storing two copies. This will be explained using the time chart shown in Figure 6. Divide the bins of the sorter into two blocks, from the 8th bin to the 5th bin, and from the 4th bin to the 1st bin, print two sheets per page, and store one sheet in each block. . In other words, if the transfer paper is to be stored from the lower bin, the waiting time is determined as described above, and the solenoids 26-8 and 26-4 are turned on and off according to the waiting time, and the eighth and fourth bins are stored. Transfer paper is stored alternately in the bin. When the 8th and 4th bins are full, the bins switch, in this case from the 201st page to the 7th bin,
Transfer paper is stored in the third bin. Thereafter, in the same manner, transfer sheets are stored in the order of the 6th bin, the 2nd bin, the 3rd bin, and the 1st bin. By the way, as shown in FIG. 7, the bottle is provided with an empty detection sensor 17 and a full detection sensor 18. The operation of these two sensors will be explained using the time chart shown in FIG. When the bottle is empty, the light from the fluorescent lamp 16 (FIG. 1) illuminates the sensors 17,1.
8, the output of the empty detection sensor 17 is "1",
The output of the fullness detection sensor 18 is "0". When the transfer paper is conveyed to the bin, the empty detection sensor 17 is blocked by the transfer paper, and its output changes from "1" to "0".
Therefore, the signal EMPTY changes from "1" to "0". When transfer paper is continuously conveyed to the bin,
The output of the full detection sensor 18 alternately repeats "0" and "1" because the light is blocked by the transfer paper for a certain period of time. When a certain amount of transfer paper is loaded in the bin and the stacking surface completely covers the light receiving surface of the full detection sensor 18, the output of the sensor 18 always becomes "1". When the output of this sensor 18 continues to be "1" for a predetermined period of time or more, it is determined that the bin is full, and the signal FULL changes from "0" to "1". After this, when you take out the transfer paper from the bin, the empty detection sensor 1
The output of 7 becomes "1" again, and the signal EMPTY also becomes "1". At this timing, the signal FULL becomes "0". Furthermore, all of these timings are
It is assumed that the clock is synchronized with the reference clock of the CPU 100. By using a sorter that can randomly access bins in this way, it is possible to minimize the number of unused bins and maximize the use of the sorter. For example, in the case of a sorter that uses 16 bins, if you want to make a copy, all bins from the 1st bin to the 16th bin can be used instead of just the 1st bin as in the past. Become. In this case, the printed side of the 16th bin is stacked with the printed side facing the bin. This is because the page order is reversed when the printed side is facing up. Assuming that the storage capacity of the bin is 200 sheets, after pages 1 to 200 are loaded into the 16th bin, the 15th bin is accessed and pages 201 to 400 are loaded.
By loading up to the first bin in this manner, it is possible to stack 3,200 pages, and the sorter can be used in the same way as a conventional stacker. Also, if you want to make two copies, please do as mentioned above.
The 16 bottles are divided into two and used. That is,
One part is stored in the 16th to 9th bins, and the remaining part is stored in the 8th to 1st bins. That is, two sheets are printed for each page, and one sheet is loaded in the 16th bin and the other sheet is loaded in the 8th bin. After printing up to the 200th page in this manner, the first page of the next 201st page is stored in the 15th bin, and the second page is stored in the 7th bin. The 9th bin and the 1st bin are stored in the same way. In this way, two copies with a volume of 1600 pages are obtained. In the case of 3rd part, from the 16th bin to the 12th bin, and the 12th bin.
The books are divided into bins 11 to 7 and bins 6 to 2, and three copies of each page are printed and stored as described above. In this case, the first bin becomes the remainder bin. Table 1 shows how to sort bins according to the number of copies when using a 16-bin sorter.

[Table] In this case, the number of output sheets per copy is A, the number of bins is M, the number of copies is N (M≧N), the storage capacity per bin is K, the number of allocated bins is L, and the remaining number of bins is R. Then, since M=R+L・NA and A=K・L, the number of output sheets per copy when M=16 and K=200 is as shown in Table 2.

[Table] By the way, even if the bins of the sorter are divided and optimized according to the number of copies as shown in Table 1, as is clear from Table 2, for example, when the number of copies is 5, 1
The number of output sheets per copy is only 600, which is insufficient for high-speed terminals such as laser beam printers, and after all the bins are full, the paper is removed and the bins are emptied before printing is resumed. Doing so will increase the waiting time. The paper is then removed from the already full bin and the empty bin is configured to become accessible again. In the case of one copy, the order of the pages will be messed up unless you take out the paper from the 16th bin with it turned over, and then take out the paper from the 15th bin and stack them on top of each other. The same is true when outputting two copies, and paper must be taken out from the 16th and 8th bins. The same applies to other numbers of copies. Therefore, it is necessary to decide the order of the bottles to be taken out. Therefore, when an operator takes out paper from a bin that is already full, the bins are prioritized in the order in which they are to be taken out, and this is also displayed. Furthermore,
If a display device is provided that displays the range of bins per copy by blinking or using numbers, it is possible to clearly indicate the boundaries of the divided blocks for each copy and also to confirm the number of bins per copy. This is shown in Figures 9-12. 33-1 to 16 are 2-digit 7-segment displays that display bin priorities; 34-1 to 16;
is a lamp indicating the classification of bins according to the number of copies.
For example, in the case of three-part output, as mentioned above, the 16th to 12th
It is divided into three blocks: bins, 11th to 7th bins, and 6th to 2nd bins. Of these, the lamps 34-7 to 11 are turned on for the 11th to 7th bins. This allows the boundaries of blocks divided by number of copies to be displayed. In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the 1
It can be displayed as ~5. That is, the paper is taken out from the bin according to the priority. In FIG. 9, three bins in each block are full and ready for removal. From this state, the first
As shown in FIG. 0, when copy paper is taken out from the bin with priority 1, the display 33-16, 11, 6 becomes 6, which is the lowest priority. Furthermore, if you take out a paper from the bin with priority 2 as shown in Figure 11, the priority will be 7.
is displayed. Also, as shown in Figure 12, priority 3 and 4
When you take out a paper from the bin, it will be displayed as 8 and 9, respectively. Therefore, when the topmost bins of each block, i.e., bins 12, 7, and 2, are full, the 16th,
Bins 11 and 6 are accessed and the transfer paper is transported. In the end, by taking out the transfer sheets in the bin in the order of their priority, it is possible to print a large amount of output without interrupting the printing operation. still,
If the operator mistakenly takes out paper from a bin with a lower priority, a warning will be given by a buzzer, flashing display, etc. Further, the classification of the bins may be indicated by numbers or letters as shown in FIG. 3 in the diagram
2 is a 16 segment display with numbers 1 to 9 and A
-Display the letters G. For example, as shown in FIG. 14, in the case of three-part output, 1 is displayed on the displays 32-16 to 11 for the 16th to 12th bins, and 2 is displayed on the displays 32-11 to 32-11 for the 11th to 7th bins. By displaying 3 on the displays 32-6 to 32-2 for the sixth to second bins, the boundaries of the divided bins and the number of output copies can be easily confirmed. Furthermore, by displaying the bin number of the transfer destination of the transfer paper on the display 32, it is also possible to confirm which bin is the destination of the transfer paper. In other words, although lamps can only display the boundaries of divided bins, destinations can also be displayed by using numbers and letters. The overall operation of the collating device of the present invention described above will be further explained with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 15. In step 1, the printer's CPU is 200
The CPU 100 of the sorter is notified of the number of output copies selected by the operator. In step 2, the number of output copies is compared with the number of bins of the sorter, and if the number of output copies is greater than the number of bins, the number of output copies is set to the number of bins in step 3. In other words, even if the number of output copies greater than the number of bins is notified, only the number of copies up to the number of bins is set. In step 4, a binning table as shown in Table 1 is created according to the number of output copies. When detecting that the bin is empty in steps 5 and 6,
At steps 7 and 8, the display of the extraction priority on the display 33 is cleared, and the display 32 clears the display of the extraction priority at step 4.
Numbers 1 to 9 and A according to the table created in
The alphabetical characters ˜G are used to display bin divisions. Alternatively, this may be displayed by blinking the lamp 34. In steps 9 and 10, printing is performed based on input data such as the desired number of copies. In step 11, it is determined whether the bin being accessed (the current bin) is full, and if it is not full, the transfer paper is conveyed to this bin. Then, in step 13, the extraction priority is displayed on the display 33, and the process returns to step 9. When the bin being accessed becomes full, it is determined in step 14 whether this bin is the top bin of the blocks divided in step 4 according to the desired number of copies. If it is not the topmost bin, in step 15 the next bin is determined by adding 1 to this bin number. If it is the top bin, the process proceeds to step 16, and the bottom bin of the divided block is set as the next bin. Then, in step 17, it is determined whether the next bin set in steps 15 to 16 is empty. If it is empty, in steps 18 and 19, the next bin is set as the current bin and the extraction priority is set higher than the previous bin. Advance by 1 and return to step 9. If the bin is not empty, an indication is made, for example, by blinking the display 33, for the bin with the highest priority for taking out, in order to indicate to the operator that taking out is necessary in step 20. Then, in steps 21 and 22, it is determined whether or not the loaded transfer paper has been taken out from the bin with the highest take-out priority. If the bin with the lowest take-out priority has been taken out first, the lamp is turned off in steps 23 and 24. A warning is given by a display device (not shown) such as the above, a buzzer, etc. As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of storage means are divided into a plurality of groups according to the desired number of copies, recording materials are distributed and stored with each group as one unit, and recording materials are recorded from a storage means that is full. When the recording material is taken out and emptied, the storage method can be reselected, so multiple storage methods can be used to the maximum extent and continuously according to the desired number of copies, reducing the throughput of collating a large amount of recording material. This makes it possible to do this without any hassle and without causing any trouble to the operator.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a sectional view of the sorter, Figure 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the solenoid and the switching claw, Figure 3 is a diagram explaining how transfer paper is conveyed, and Figure 4 is a block diagram showing the control section of the sorter. Figure 5 is a time chart explaining the operation of the solenoid when randomly accessing the bins, Figure 6 is a time chart explaining the operation of the solenoid when outputting two parts, and Figure 7 is a cross-sectional view of the bin. , FIG. 8 is a time chart for explaining the operation of the empty detection sensor and the full detection sensor,
Figures 9 to 12 are diagrams for explaining bin classification display and takeout priority display, Figure 13 is a diagram showing a classification display and takeout priority display, and Figure 14 is another example of bin classification display. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing the operation control of the sorter. 1-1 to 8 are bottles, 2-1 to 8 are switching claws, 17
is an empty detection sensor, 18 is a full detection sensor, 19 is a jam sensor, 26-1 to 8 are solenoids, 32
is a 16-segment display, and 33 is a 7-segment display.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A plurality of storage means for storing recording materials, a conveying means for transporting the recording materials to the storage means, and a means provided corresponding to each storage means to detect the presence or absence of recording materials in each storage means. a detecting means for controlling the conveying means to divide the plurality of storage means into several groups according to a desired number of copies and distribute and store the recording material with each group as one unit; If there are a plurality of storage means in one group, the control means controls the conveying means so that when one storage means becomes full, another storage means in the same group is selected to store the recording material; Furthermore, when the detection means detects that the storage means that was once full becomes empty, it is possible to reselect the storage means.