JPH0367935B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a recording apparatus such as a copying machine or a printing machine, which is equipped with a tray for stacking and storing recording sheets and a sorter for sorting and storing the recording sheets as necessary.

In recent years, copying machines have become faster and more multifunctional.
In addition to conventional trays, they are often equipped with a sorter that can sort and classify them. Normally, a tray and a sorter are used when recording the same original or creating a small number of copies of various types of originals, and a sorter is used when creating many copies of various types of originals. However, if the operator wishes to record more than the tray's loading capacity, the operator must observe the finished recording and remove the recording sheets stacked on the tray within the tray's loading capacity. There was the inconvenience of having to wake up. Particularly in high-speed machines, the time required to reach the tray's permissible loading limit is short and sheets must be removed frequently.

The present invention aims to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional recording devices described above and provide a recording device that is easy to operate without bothering the operator. , to provide a recording device that reduces operator effort by automatically changing discharge to a sorter when the tray reaches its allowable loading limit.

This will be explained below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the present invention is applied to a copying machine. In the figure, 1 is the main body of the copying machine, 2 is a drum that carries an image, and 3a and 3b are recording sheets (transfer paper in the illustrated example). A supply unit, 4 is a transfer unit, 5 is a conveyance unit, and 6 is a fixing unit, and the sheet supplied from the supply unit 3a or 3b is sent to the surface of the drum 2,
After the image is transferred from the drum 2 in the transfer section 4, it is sent to the fixing section 5 by the conveying section 5, and after the image is fixed, it is discharged from the copying apparatus. In addition, in the figure, 7 indicates a power source for driving the copying apparatus.

An exit and an exit are provided as exits for the image-recorded sheets discharged from the copying machine,
A tray 8 is provided at the outlet, and a sorter 9 is provided at the outlet. A deflector 10 is disposed within the conveyance path of the sheet sent out from the fixing section 6, and the deflector 10 is adapted to send the sheet sent out from the fixing section 6 to an exit or an exit by the operation of a solenoid 11. The tray 8 is provided with a sensor 12 that detects the allowable number of sheets to be loaded.

For example, the tray 8 described above is capable of loading 400 sheets with a thickness of about 80 μm. Also,
The sorter 9 has a plurality of bins 9 as a sheet storage section.
a, 9b, 9c, . . . 9n, and each bin can load 100 sheets. When the outlet on the tray side is selected, the solenoid 11 becomes energized, and at the same time as the plunger is pulled, the deflector 10 connected to the plunger rotates around B and C, so that the deflector 10 moves toward the exit. (solid line). Next, the sensor 12 on the tray 8 is turned on, and the solenoid 11 is turned off by the signal of the count of the 50th sheet, the plunger is released, and the deflector 10 is directed toward the exit by its own weight (dotted line). ) located at

FIG. 2 shows an example of the above tray. As shown in the figure, a line A indicating a height limit for sheet stacking is provided on the inner surface of both side walls of the stacking section of the tray, and a detection section is provided at the same height as this line. In the illustrated example, this detection section is an ultrasonic sensor transmitter 12a provided on one side wall of the tray.
and a receiver 12 provided on the other side wall of the tray.
This ultrasonic sensor is always in a transmitting state (on), and when sheets are stacked up to the upper limit position, reception is blocked and the ultrasonic sensor is turned off to detect the permissible stacking limit.

As described above, when the number of sheets loaded in the tray exceeds the loading limit, the above detection signal is sent to the solenoid 11 of the deflector 10, the deflector 10 is switched from the exit to the exit, and the sheets are ejected from the sorter. Change to the 9 side. In this case, sorter 9
If the sensor 12 detects that the number of sheets on the tray has become less than the allowable number due to the operator removing sheets on the tray after the ejection conversion to The sheets are returned to the exit side and stacked on the tray 8 again. Further, it is also possible to provide an alarm unit that issues an alarm when the allowable number of stacked sheets is exceeded, and a mechanism that stops the subsequent stacking operation in the tray when there is no response to the alarm for a certain period of time. In this case, the detection signal is sent to the alarm unit 13 by, for example, a buzzer sound, to warn that the number of sheets stacked on the tray 8 has reached the stacking limit, and the operator then removes the sheets on the tray. Once removed, the ultrasonic sensor 12 is turned on, the alarm stops, and sheets continue to be stacked on the tray 8 again. However, the above detection signal is sent to the power supply section 7 through the delay means 14, and when there is no response to the alarm for a certain period of time,
That is, if sheets are still being stacked on the tray 8, the power supply 7 is turned off, the machine is stopped, and the subsequent stacking operation on the tray is stopped.

For example, if 700 sheets are recorded and tray 8 is selected as the output port, approximately 350 sheets will be recorded on tray 8.
When the load limit is reached, a buzzer sounds for about several seconds based on the signal from the sensor 12, indicating that the load limit has been reached. Next, if the sensor 12 remains off while the main unit counts 50 more sheets, the total
When 400 sheets have been counted, the discharge port is switched from tray 8 to sorter 9.

After the sensor 12 issues an off signal, the operator removes the sheets on the tray 8 while counting another 50 sheets, and if the sensor 12 turns on again, the sheets will continue to be ejected onto the tray 8 even after counting 50 sheets. be done.

The discharge to the sorter 9 is 100 in order from the first pin 9a.
The second bin 9b and the third bin are counted one by one on the main body.
Together with the 400 sheets sent to the bin 9c and on the tray 8, the recording of 700 sheets in total is completed, including the 300 sheets in the sorter 9.

At this time, for example, if the sensor 12 is turned on due to the operator removing a sheet on the tray 8 while discharging the sheet to the second bin 9b, the second bin 9b
It is also possible to discharge the remaining 100 sheets to the tray 8 by changing the discharge port from the sorter to the tray again instead of continuing to discharge the sheets to the third bin 9c after the discharge of the 100 sheets to the tray 8 is completed.

In the above description, an ultrasonic sensor was used as the detection unit for detecting the loading limit in the tray, but an optical sensor may be used instead of such a sensor. In this case, a sheet detector is provided at the same height on both side walls of the tray, and includes a light-emitting element that faces each other with a sheet placed therebetween, and a light-receiving element that receives and detects light from the light-emitting element. The light emitting element is always in a light emitting state, and when the stacking limit of sheets is reached, the light from the light emitting element is blocked by the sheet and does not reach the light receiving element. The state of the upper limit of loading is detected based on the signal from this light receiving element, and based on this signal, the operation of the machine is stopped or the sheet discharge is changed to the sorter side.

FIG. 3 shows the operation panel of the copying machine main body as described above, and in the figure, reference numeral 15 indicates the copying machine main body;
16 is a power switch, and 17 is a copy button. When the power is turned on by the power switch 16, the tray side is automatically selected. Reference numerals 18 and 19 indicate lamps for displaying the discharge selection state; 20 indicates a ten key for setting the number of copies; the results are displayed on the display section 21; The display section 21 becomes 0 when the copy button 17 is pressed, and is incremented by 1 every time the copying is completed until it reaches a preset count value.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the state transition of the copying apparatus in the above example, and is a state diagram focusing on the flow of sheets. The numbers in parentheses are state numbers assigned to each state. "→" indicates the direction in which the state changes, and what is written above the arrow indicates the condition.

After the power is turned on, it enters the desired state of "0", and when the copy number is set and the copy button is turned on, it changes to state "1".

In either state, when the total number of copies reaches the value set before copying, the state returns to "0". This situation is represented by "...→".

FIG. 5 is a control flow for realizing the state shown in FIG. 4. Of these, SELECT and
COUNT indicates a subroutine. Its functions are as follows. First, SELECT is STNO (STATUS NUMBER), STFL
This function determines the copy output destination determined by (STATUS FLAG) and commands the actuator operation for that purpose.

COUNT also uses COUNTER, which will be described later.
Update its value based on STNO, STFL,
Compare that count value with CONST, which will be described later.
Works to update STNO and STFL.

Figure 6 shows the interrupt processing, which is based on the assumption that microcomputer control is used in this embodiment. Start the process, and during that process STFL and TTCN
Display the contents of (TOTAL COUNTER) on the console. Therefore, the count value on the RAM manipulated by the program will be displayed and updated within the maximum interrupt rate. Here we will use a rate of 50ms.

FIG. 7 shows the data area formed on the RAM by the microcomputer used to control this system and the allocation of constant data formed on the ROM.

This will be explained in sequence below.

STNO stores the state number mentioned above.

STFL is a system flag and TRFU (TRAY FULL) when the amount of paper on the tray is at its limit
SORT (SORTER), TRY = 1 and marks the current destination or what should be ejected
(TRAY).

TTCN contains the number of copies required using the numeric keypad, and this value is set to TTSV when the copy button is turned on.
(TOTAL COUNTER SAVE), TTCN becomes 0 at the same time, and is incremented by 1 for each subsequent copy.

Furthermore, upon completion of copying, the values of TTCN and TTSV are exchanged, and the copy set number is restored.

TRCN (TRAY COUNTER) is counted when the state is “2” and TRCX
(TRAY COUNTER EXTRA MAXIMUM)
If they match, the state changes to "17". However, as described above, when TRFU=0 in state "2", the state returns to state "1" again.

SRCN (SORTER COUNTER) is used between states “17” to “26” and SRX (SORTER COUNTER)
COUNTER MAXIMUM) and if they match, the sorter bin shift signal is output.
At this time, SRCN is cleared. TTX (TOTAL
COUNTER MAXIMUM) stores the maximum total copy number set limit value, and TRX (TRAY
COUNTER MAXIMUM) is the number of copies that can be loaded on the tray.SRX is the maximum loading capacity per sorter bin, and TRCX is an area that stores the number of copies that can be loaded after detecting the tray maximum loading limit.

As described above, according to the present invention, when the number of recording sheets discharged from the recording device and stacked on the tray exceeds the allowable loading capacity of the tray, the sheet discharge is automatically switched to the sorter. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the sheets on the tray from overflowing or from forming a jam.

Further, when a sheet is removed from the tray and the number of stacked sheets becomes less than the allowable number, the sheet is guided to the tray again, so that a large number of sheets can be continuously discharged. Further, when the allowable loading capacity of the tray is exceeded, a warning is generated and appropriate processing is performed in response to the operator's response, so that sheets can be loaded smoothly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a copying machine equipped with a tray and a sorter embodying the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a tray in an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is an operation of a copying machine embodying the present invention. Diagram showing the panel,
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the state transition of the copying apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is a control flow, and FIG. 6 is an interrupt processing,
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the data structure. 1... Copying apparatus main body, 2... Drum, 3a, 3b...
Sheet supply section, 4... Transfer section, 5... Conveyance section, 6... Fixing section, 7... Power supply, 8... Tray, 9... Sorter, 10
...Deflector, 11...Solenoid, 12...Sensor, 13...Alarm unit, 14...Delay means, 15...Copier main body, 16...Power switch, 17...Copy button, 18, 19...Display lamp, 20...Numeric keypad,
21...Display section.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A recording device comprising: a tray that receives recording sheets in a stacked manner; a sorter that receives recording sheets while classifying them; and switchable ejection means that guides recording sheets to the tray or the sorter; A detection means detects the number of recording sheets loaded on the tray. When recording sheets are loaded exceeding the allowable number of recording sheets on the tray, the ejection means is switched to guide the recording sheets to the sorter, and then the tray is loaded with recording sheets. A recording apparatus comprising: a control means that switches the discharge means to guide the recording sheets to the tray when the number of recording sheets stacked becomes less than the allowable number. 2. In a recording device equipped with a tray that receives recording sheets in a stacked manner, a sorter that receives the recording sheets while sorting them, and a switchable ejection means that guides the recording sheets to the tray or the sorter, the recording sheets are loaded into the tray. a detection means for detecting the number of sheets loaded; a warning means for issuing a warning when recording sheets are loaded exceeding the allowable number of sheets on the tray;
A recording apparatus comprising: a control means that switches the ejection means to guide the recording sheets to the sorter, and when the number of stacked sheets is reduced to a permissible number or less in response to the warning, directly guides the recording sheets to the tray.