JPH0353275A - Page printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To precisely detect toner residual and to display a toner residual alarm by controlling the toner residual from printing density and printed data volume. CONSTITUTION:A printed data volume control part 4 calculates a printing area of a printed page from the type and volume of received data and controls it. A toner residual control part 5 calculates toner consumption of the printed page from printing density obtained from a printing density controller 6 and from the printing area obtained from the printed data volume control part 4, and controls a cumulative toner consumption. When it reaches a critical value, toner residual alarm display part 7 displays the toner residual alarm. Consequently, the error between an actual toner residual and an estimated toner residual, which arises from a change in printing density and variance in printed data volume, can be minimized.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a page printer.

[Conventional technology]

Conventional page printers estimate the amount of toner left by adding up the average amount of toner used when printing one page and the cumulative number of pages printed, as a method of managing the remaining amount of toner to display a toner remaining alarm. I was taking it.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, conventional page printers estimate the remaining amount of toner by integrating the average amount of toner used when printing one page and the cumulative number of printed pages. There is a drawback that the error between the actual amount of remaining toner and the estimated amount of remaining toner increases due to changes in print density, deviations in the amount of print data, and the like.

[Means to solve the problem]

The page printer of the present invention includes an interface control section, a print control section, a printing mechanism, a print data amount management section,
It has a remaining toner amount management section that manages the remaining amount of toner based on print density and print data amount, a print density controller, and a low toner alarm display section.

〔Example〕

Next, the present invention will be explained with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a basic diagram of the present invention. Print data amount management section 4
Then, the print area on the print page is calculated and managed based on the type and amount of received data. In the remaining toner amount management section 5,
The amount of toner used on a print page is calculated from the print density obtained from the print density controller 6 and the print area obtained from the print data amount management section 4, and the cumulative amount of toner used is managed.

When the cumulative amount of toner used reaches a dangerous value, low toner alarm information is generated, and the low toner alarm display section 7
to display the low toner alarm.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention manages the remaining amount of toner based on the print density and the evening view of the print data, thereby accurately detecting the remaining amount of toner even when there is a change in print density or a deviation in the amount of print data. However, there is an effect that can display a low toner alarm.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the present invention. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Interface control part, 2... Print control part, 3... Printing mechanism, 4... Print data amount management part, 5
. . . Toner remaining amount management unit, 6 . . . Printing degree controller, 7 .

Claims (1)

[Claims] A page having an interface control section, a print control section, a printing mechanism, a print data amount management section, a toner remaining amount management section that manages the remaining amount of toner from print density and print data amount, a print density controller, and a low toner alarm display section. printer.