JPH0326391B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The present invention makes it possible to install multiple cassettes dedicated to each size of copy paper in a copying machine,
By detecting the type of dedicated cassette, the size of the copy paper stored in the cassette is detected, and the copy paper size specified by operating the selection key is displayed on the panel, or whether the cassette is installed or not, the size of copy paper stored in the cassette is The present invention relates to an improvement in a copy paper display device for a copying machine that displays the presence or absence of copy paper in a copy machine. First, a specific example of a conventional display device of this type will be explained,
I will describe its shortcomings. Figure 1 shows the case where cassettes are installed in two stages, upper and lower.
This is a conventional example in which each copy paper size of the upper and lower cassettes is displayed. That is, an upper cassette selection key 2 and a lower cassette selection key 3 are arranged on a panel 1 provided outside the main body of the copying machine (not shown), and corresponding to each cassette selection key, paper sizes A3, B4, etc. are displayed. A4, B5
A plurality of sets of are printed on the panel 1, and a light emitting body is provided on each side of these paper size marks,
An upper cassette paper size display section 4 and a lower cassette paper size display section 5 are provided. A cassette position display section 6 is provided between the upper cassette selection key 2 and the upper cassette paper size display section 4, and a cassette position display section 7 is provided between the lower cassette selection key 3 and the lower cassette paper size display section 5. Provide each. For example, if the upper cassette contains B4 and the lower cassette contains A3, then B4 in the upper cassette paper size display section 4 and A3 in the lower cassette paper size display section 5 are displayed by light emission. Now, if you want to copy B4 size paper, press the upper cassette selection key 2 and the cassette position display section 6 will light up to indicate that the upper cassette has been selected. Thereafter, by pressing a print switch (not shown), the copying operation of the copying machine is started. In the case of this conventional example, not only the currently selected copy paper size but also the copy paper size of the installed cassette that is not selected is displayed with light, which is very convenient when selecting a copy paper size switch. ,
This has the disadvantage that the panel becomes cluttered and the display state becomes difficult to see at first glance. In the conventional example shown in FIG. 2, a selection key 8 for switching the cassette is provided on the panel 1, and a set of paper size display sections 9 are provided nearby.
Then, only the paper size of the selected cassette is displayed by light emission. In this conventional example, the top of the panel is clear and easy for the user to see, but since there is no indication of the size of copy paper stored in the unselected cassette among multiple cassettes, If the copy paper size to be copied is not selected, it is necessary to check the cassette, or press the selection key 8 once and check the paper size display of the other cassette, which has the disadvantage of making the operation cumbersome. . The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned two drawbacks of the conventional device, and has a simple configuration and display layout, and is also capable of recognizing the installed state of a cassette that has not been selected. It is. An embodiment of the present invention will be described based on FIG. 3 and below. As with the conventional example shown in FIG.
A set of paper size and paper out display sections 10 are provided to display A4, B5, paper out, etc. with light emission, and two cassette position display sections 6 and 7 are arranged on the sides of the selection key 8. (The reason why two cassette position display parts 6 and 7 are provided is that cassettes are mounted in two stages, and there is no problem in mounting more cassettes.) FIG. 4 is a simplified cross-sectional view of the panel 1, in which 11 groups of lamps are provided corresponding to each display code, respectively, are provided on the substrate 12, and A3, B4, etc. marked on the top sheet 13 are shown. The code is displayed brightly. Regarding the display on panel 1 shown in FIG. 3, for example, two cassettes are currently installed in the copying machine, and A4 paper is stored in the cassette.
Assuming that A3 paper is stored in the lower cassette and you specify the upper cassette with the selection key 8,
The A4 mark section displays a selected state (in this case, a bright blue light display), and the A3 mark section of the lower cassette, which is not selected, displays a non-selected state (in this case, a blue dark light display). Then, the cassette position display section 6 lights up to indicate that the upper cassette has been selected. In this way, if multiple cassettes are installed in the main unit, it is very convenient to be able to see at a glance not only the paper size in the selected cassette but also the paper size in the unselected cassettes. . Next, to explain the display when an A4 cassette is installed in the upper cassette and no cassette is installed in the lower cassette, when the upper cassette is selected, the A4 mark will be displayed brightly as described above, and The paper out mark indicates the paper out status. In this case, the out-of-paper status display is a red dark light display in order to recognize that the cassette position is not selected. On the other hand, if you select the lower cassette, the paper out status display will blink red brightly.
The A4 mark on the upper cassette is displayed in blue dim light. Furthermore, if both the upper and lower cassettes contain A4 size paper, the A4 mark section will display a bright blue light regardless of which one is selected. Furthermore, if A4 cassettes are installed in both the upper and lower cassettes, but no copy paper is stored in the lower cassette, if the upper cassette is selected, the A4 mark will display a bright blue light.
In addition, the paper out mark displays a red dark light display. Conversely, if the lower cassette is selected, the out-of-paper mark will flash in red bright light, and the A4 mark will display in blue dark light. To describe the display when an A4 cassette is installed in the upper cassette and an A3 cassette is installed in the lower cassette, but there is no A3 size paper in the A3 cassette, first, if the upper cassette is selected,
A4 marks are displayed in bright blue, A3 marks are displayed in dark blue, and paperless marks are displayed in dark red.
Conversely, if the lower cassette is selected, the A3 mark will be displayed in bright blue, the A4 mark will be displayed in dark blue, and the out of paper mark will be displayed in bright red blinking. These relationships are summarized in the table below. In the table, the red and blue lights on the print switch (not shown) for starting the copying operation are known, and the blue display indicates a copying operation enabled state, and the red display indicates a copying disabled state.

【table】

[Table] Next, the display state switching device and lighting electric circuit explained in FIG. 3 will be explained based on FIGS. 5 and 6. First, FIG. 5 is an overall circuit diagram, in which the input sources are an upper cassette selection signal, an upper copy paper size signal such as A3, B4, A4, etc., and an upper copy paper out signal, and the same applies to the lower cassette. A ₁ to A ₄ are AND gates provided to AND the upper cassette selection signal and the upper copy paper size signal, and A _5
A8 to A8 are AND gates which input the upper cassette selection signal "L" (therefore, the lower cassette selection signal) together with the lower copy paper size signal via an inverter _I11 . _D1 to _D8 are diodes, _O1 to _O4 are A3, B4, A4 of the upper and lower cassettes, respectively.
This is an OR gate that takes the OR of the paperless signal, and I ₁ to I ₁₀ are inverters for lighting the lamps 11 group. Further, the resistor R provided between I ₄ , I ₆ , I ₈ , I ₁₀ and each lamp 11 is for lighting in dark light. In such a circuit, the upper cassette is A4,
The operation when the lower cassette is A3 and the upper cassette is selected will be described. The upper cassette selection signal is input as "H",
The lamp 11 is turned on via the inverter _I1 . This lamp 11 is for displaying the cassette position display section 6. This "H" signal and the "H" signal from the upper copy paper size signal A4 turn on the lamp 11 of _A4 via the AND gate _A3 , OR gate _O3 , and inverter _I7 (blue bright light display).
let On the other hand, the lower copy paper size signal is “H” only for _A3
Although the signal is input, the upper cassette selection signal is inverted by the inverter _I11 and becomes "L", so the AND gate _A5 is turned off. Therefore, the _A3 input lights up the _A3 lamp (blue dark light display) through the diode 5, inverter _I4 , and resistor R. Figure 6 shows only _the paper- _free display circuit diagram.
By providing this, the paper out display mark flashes brightly in red only when there is no copy paper in the selected cassette. If there is no copy paper in the non-selected cassette, the light quantity is limited by the resistor R and the lamp 11 displays a dark red light. In FIG. 5, AND gates _A1 to _A8 and inverter _L1 constitute a cassette position switching device. In the above embodiment, the selected state of the cassette is shown as a bright blue light, the non-selected state is shown as a dark blue light, and the paper out state is shown as a blinking red light or a dark red light, but the present invention is not limited to this. In particular, the selected state display and the non-selected state display may not be distinguished by bright light display or dark light display, but may be distinguished by different luminescent colors (lighting colors), for example, bright blue display and bright yellow display. . As described above, the present invention provides two dedicated cassettes for storing paper of each size that are removably attached to the main body of the apparatus, and paper cassettes corresponding to each of the two cassettes attached to the main body of the apparatus. In an image forming apparatus having a size detection mechanism and a paper presence/absence detection mechanism, and a display/operation panel that displays the mounting status of cassettes, the display/operation panel displays two cassettes mounted on the apparatus main body. Select one cassette for paper feeding from 1
a cassette selection key; a cassette position display section for displaying which cassette is selected by the cassette selection key;
A paper size/paper out display section having a plurality of display elements that can be turned off to display corresponding paper sizes with symbols and a display element that indicates out of paper is provided, and the selection state selected by the cassette selection key is provided. The display element corresponds to the paper size detected by the output signal of the paper size detection mechanism of the cassette, or the display element that displays the paper out condition based on the paper out detection output of the paper presence/absence detection mechanism of this cassette. 1, and the display element corresponds to the paper size detected by the output signal of the paper size detection mechanism of the selected cassette that has not been selected by the cassette selection key, or The present invention is characterized in that the display element that displays the paper out state is displayed in a second display state different from the first display state based on the paper out detection output of the paper presence/absence detection mechanism. Therefore, the configuration is relatively simple, and the display and
It is possible to reliably recognize the selected state, non-selected state, or out-of-paper state of a cassette by looking only at the display state of the operation panel, and it is possible to provide an image forming apparatus that is less prone to erroneous operation.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 and 2 are top views showing the layout of the conventional display panel section, FIG. 3 is a top view showing the layout of the display panel section according to the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows the inside of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is an overall electrical circuit diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 6 is an electrical circuit diagram of only the portion without paper. 6, 7...Cassette position display section, 8...Selection key, 10...Paper size, no paper display section, _A1 to _A8 ,
I ₁₁ ...AND gate and inverter as a cassette position switching device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. Two dedicated cassettes for storing paper of each size are removably provided in the apparatus main body, and the paper size corresponds to each of the two cassettes attached to the apparatus main body. In an image forming apparatus having a detection mechanism and a paper presence/absence detection mechanism, and a display/operation panel for displaying the installed state of the cassettes, on the display/operation panel, the display of two cassettes installed in the apparatus main body is displayed. Select one cassette for paper feeding from home1
a cassette selection key; a cassette position display section for displaying which cassette is selected by the cassette selection key;
A paper size/paper out display section having a plurality of display elements that can be turned off to display corresponding paper sizes with symbols and a display element that indicates out of paper is provided, and the selection state selected by the cassette selection key is provided. The display element corresponds to the paper size detected by the output signal of the paper size detection mechanism of the cassette, or the display element that displays the paper out condition by the paper out detection output of the paper presence/absence detection mechanism of this cassette. 1, and the display element corresponding to the paper size detected by the output signal of the paper size detection mechanism of the non-selected cassette that has not been selected by the cassette selection key, or the display element of this cassette. The display element that displays the paper out state based on the paper out detection output of the paper presence/absence detection mechanism is set to a second display state different from the first display state.
An image forming apparatus characterized by displaying images in a display state. 2 The first display state is a bright display state, and the second display state is a bright light display state.
2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display state is dark light display. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first display state and the second display state are distinguished by emitted light color.