JPH04191236A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent image formation from suspending at the point midway in the continuous image forming operation by installing a control means, having a sheet fed out of another paper feeding mechanism, on the basis of the detection of a malfunction in a traveling means installed in one paper feeding mechanism, by a detecting means. CONSTITUTION:When a fact that a traveling means 3U (or 3D) fails to move a sheet storage part 1U (or 1D) to a paper feeding position due to something trouble is detected by a malfunction detecting means, a control means makes another paper feeding mechanism 8D (or 8U) feed a sheet 2D (or 2U) out of it. With this constitution, an image is formable continuously by an image forming means without any interruption due to repairs and so on.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a page printer or a copying machine that has a paper feeding mechanism in which a sheet material stacking plate is raised by a lifter.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, page printers and the like that have a paper feeding mechanism that controls the sheet material feeding height by raising the sheet material stacking plate with a lifter have only one paper feeding port for the mechanism. It was common that there was no such thing.

[Problem that the invention is trying to solve]

However, in the conventional example, if the lifter that raises the sheet material stacking plate breaks down, it becomes impossible to supply sheets to the recording section, making it impossible to continue the recording operation.

That is, when the lifter breaks down during continuous printing, the continuous printing must be interrupted until repairs are completed, which poses a problem in that it is extremely inconvenient to use.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that can continue to form images even when one of the lids is out of order.

[Means to solve the problem]

A first invention includes a sheet material storage section capable of storing a plurality of sheet materials, a moving means for moving the sheet material storage section to a paper feeding position, and a sheet material storage section that can store sheet materials stored in the sheet material storage section. A plurality of paper feeding mechanisms are provided, each of which includes a plurality of paper feeding mechanisms including feeding means for feeding the paper to the forming means, malfunction detection means for detecting malfunction of the moving means, and malfunction detection means for detecting malfunction of the moving means, and A control means is provided for controlling feeding of sheet material from another paper feeding mechanism based on the malfunction detection means. In this case, sheet materials of the same size may be stored in a plurality of paper feeding mechanisms.

A second invention includes a sheet material storage section capable of storing a plurality of sheet materials, a moving means for moving the sheet material storage section to a paper feeding position, and a method for moving the sheet material stored in the sheet material storage section into an image. A plurality of feeding mechanisms are provided, each of which includes a feeding mechanism that feeds the sheet material to the forming means, a size detecting means that detects the size of the sheet material stored in the sheet storage section, and an operation that detects malfunction of the moving means. A defect detection means and, based on the detection by the detection means of a malfunction of the moving means provided in one paper feed mechanism, feed the sheet material from another paper feed mechanism in which sheet material of the same size is stored. A control means for controlling the transmission is provided.

[Effect]

In the first invention, when the malfunction detection means detects that the moving means cannot move the sheet storage section to the sheet feeding position due to a failure or the like, the control means feeds the sheet material from another sheet feeding mechanism. By performing this, images can be continuously formed by the image forming means without interruption due to repairs or the like.

In the second invention, in the operation of the first invention, it is possible to feed a sheet material of the same size as the one that was being fed before the moving means malfunctioned.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, one embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of the invention. The figure shows a page printer, which has two cassette feed ports. That is, IU and ID are the upper and lower cassettes, 2U and 2D are the print paper stacked in the upper and lower cassettes, and 3U.

3D is the upper stage lifter, lower stage lifter, 4U, 4D is the middle plate of the upper stage, lower stage cassette, 5U, 5D is the upper stage paper sensor, lower stage paper sensor, 6U, 6D is the upper stage pickup roller, lower stage pickup roller, 7U, 7D is the upper stage cassette Sensor, lower cassette sensor, 8U, 8D
indicates an upper feed roller and a lower feed roller, which constitute a paper feeding mechanism. The pickup roller 6U from each cassette IU, ID.

The print paper fed by foot rollers 6D, 8U, and 8D is conveyed to registration rollers 9. The paper that has reached registration roller 9 passes through 10 photosensitive drums and 11 transfer rollers according to a predetermined print sequence.
The paper passes through a fixing roller 12 and is conveyed to a paper output tray 13. Note that 14 indicates a vane print frame.

2(a) and 2(b) show details of the paper feeding mechanism of FIG. 1. FIG. Note that since the paper feeding mechanisms of the upper and lower stages are the same, the symbols U and D after the numbers are omitted here.

When feeding print paper from the cassette 1 to the main body, the pickup roller 6 is pressed onto the paper surface with a predetermined pressure (in this embodiment, the roller's own weight) and rotated.
The print paper is conveyed to the paper feed roller 8. The paper feed roller 8 receives the print paper from the pickup roller,
Send the print paper to the print conveyance system. At this time, if the height of the loaded print paper 2 is lower than the front end 1a of the cassette 1, it will not be possible to pick it up, so the paper surface height is checked by the paper surface sensor 5, and the paper surface is raised by the lifter 3. The arms 5a and 5b of the paper surface sensor 5 rotate according to the height of the paper surface, and when the paper surface is at a height that allows paper feeding, the photointerrupter 5C is in a light-shielding state by the light-shielding plate 5d attached to the tip of the arm 5a. , an ON signal is output. When the height is such that paper cannot be fed, the photointerrupter 50 becomes transparent and outputs an OFF signal. The lifter 3 starts to rise when the signal from the paper surface sensor turns OFF, and stops when it turns ON.

Further, when the cassette 1 is inserted into the main body, the cassette sensor 7 detects the insertion of the cassette as shown in FIG. 2(b). The cassette sensor 7 is connected to the top 7 attached to the cassette 1 and the push button switch 7a on the main body side.
, 7b, and 7c, and if even one of the three push buttons is turned on, it is determined that a cassette has been inserted. In addition, by changing the position and number of frames attached to 7 depending on the paper size, you can turn on the three push button switches.
, OFF, the paper size of the print paper stored in the cassette 1 can be determined.

When it is detected that the cassette l is inserted, the lifter 3 is raised until the paper surface sensor 5 is turned on to correct the paper surface. At this time, if the paper surface cannot be brought to a predetermined height due to a failure of the lifter 3, paper feeding from the cassette 1 becomes impossible. Therefore, the present invention has a plurality of cassette paper feeding mechanisms as described above, and even if the lid 3 of one cassette paper feeding mechanism fails, it is possible to feed paper from other paper feeding mechanisms.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of this embodiment. Lifter drive control system 16 includes upper and lower cassette sensors 7U
, 7D, and if there is a cassette, when the paper surface sensors 5U and 5D of the corresponding paper feed section are OFF,
Corresponding lid 3U.

3D is raised and the corresponding paper surface sensors 5U and 5D are turned on.
I'll stop when it happens. Further, while the lifter drive control system 16 is driving the lifters 3U and 3D, it notifies the lifter failure determination system that the lifters 3U and 3D are being driven, separately for the upper and lower stages. The lifter failure determination system 15 monitors the time that the lifter is being driven, and if the lifter is being driven for a certain period of time or more, it determines that the paper feed slot cover is malfunctioning, and sends this information to the lifter drive control system 16. The external master 23k is notified through the failure determination system 17 and the communication control system 22. When the lifter drive control system 16 receives information about a lifter failure, it stops the corresponding lifter.

The failure determination system 17 determines a failure state when all the lifters have failed, and notifies the printability determination system 20.

The cassette paper information setting system 18 determines whether there is a cassette in each paper feed port and the paper size from the upper and lower cassette sensors 7U and 7D. 23 and also informs the printability determination system 20.

The paper feed port setting system 19 notifies the print control system 21 of the paper feed port specified by the external master 23 through the communication control system 22. In addition, the printability judgment system 2
0 to the external master 23 through the communication control system 22.

The printability determination system 20 determines whether or not printing is possible based on information such as whether there is print paper in the specified paper feed port or whether there is a malfunction or not, and sends the result to the external master 23 and the print control system 21. Let me know.

The printing control system 21 controls the external master 23 when printing is possible.
When a print instruction is received from the printer, print paper is fed from the specified paper feed port, and the printing operation is controlled according to the print sequence described above.

If, for example, the upper lifter 3U breaks down in the above system, printing can be continued by the external master 23 designating lower cassette paper feeding. Further, the paper feed port can be switched only when the paper size of the lower cassette ID is the same as that of the upper cassette. Furthermore, if there are three or more paper feed slots, the paper feed slots for the same paper size, or
It is also possible to perform processing such as switching to a paper feed port with an approximate paper size.

[Other Examples]

In the above-mentioned embodiment, if one paper feed slot cover breaks down, printing can be continued by notifying the external master 23 of the failure and the external master 23 switching the paper feed slot. It is also possible to switch the paper feed port internally.

FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the second embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the lifter failure determination system 15 is the paper feed slot setting system 19.
Notify lifter failure information to. Based on this information, the paper feed port setting system 19 switches the paper feed section to another paper feed port if a lifter failure occurs.

In this case, the paper size information of each cassette is obtained from the cassette paper information setting system 18, and the cassette containing the print paper of the same size as the print paper in the paper feed slot where the lifter failure occurred is searched for, and the paper size information of the same size paper is searched for. If there is a paper slot, set it to paper feed 19
switches the paper feed port there, if not, external master 23
It can also be configured to wait for instructions.

The control flow of the paper feed port setting system 19 in this case is shown in FIG.
) and (b). In the figure, N is the number of paper feed ports, and the paper feed port designated to feed paper is paper feed port m. First, in step S1 of FIG. 5(a), it is checked whether a lifter failure has occurred at the paper feed port m. If the lifter failure determination system 15 informs that a lifter failure has occurred at the paper feed port m,
The process advances to the paper feed port changing process from step S2 onwards. Step S
In step S2, it is checked whether there is an instruction to change the paper feed port from the external master 23, and if there is an instruction, the paper feed port specified by the external master 23 is set in step S3. If there is no paper feed port change instruction from the external master 23, step S4
It checks whether there is a printing instruction from the external master 23, and if there is no printing instruction, it remains on standby at the paper feed port.

If there is a print instruction from the external master 23, the function F searches for a paper feed port of the same paper size as the paper feed port m, and in step S5 the paper feed port is set to the newly selected paper feed port n. Fifth
Figure (b) shows the detailed flow of function F. First, in step S7, n is set to 1, and in step S8, it is checked whether or not the paper feed port (paper feed port m) specified by paper feed port n is not the same. If it is the designated paper feed port, the process advances to step Sll; otherwise, the process advances to step S9. In step S9, it is checked whether the lifter of paper feed port n is out of order, and if the lifter is out of order, the process advances to step Sll.
Otherwise, proceed to step SIO. Step SIO
If the paper size of the paper feed port n and the paper size of the paper feed port m are the same, the process ends, and if they are different, the process proceeds to step Sll. In step SLL, it is determined whether the paper feed port has been checked, and if all checks have been completed, step SL is executed.
In Step 2, it is assumed that there is no suitable paper feed port, and the process ends by leaving the original paper feed port M. If all checks have not been completed, the process advances to the next paper feed port in Step S13 and returns to Step S7.

In these embodiments, when the paper feed port setting system 19 automatically switches the paper feed port, in step S6, the communication control system 22
This notifies the external master 23 that the paper feed port has been changed.

By doing this, if a lifter malfunction occurs during continuous paper feeding or printing, the external master 23 can be
Since printing can be continued without having to be conscious of switching paper feed ports in the event of a failure, the control system for the external master 23 can be simplified compared to the first embodiment.

In the above embodiment, the present invention has been described as applied to a page printer, but the present invention may also be applied to other types of image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine.

Further, in this embodiment, the sheet storage section is a cassette, but it may be of a deck type in which a plate on which sheet materials are stacked is moved up and down using a drive source such as a motor.

C Effects of the Invention] As explained in detail above, when the moving means provided in one of the plurality of paper feeding mechanisms malfunctions, sheet material continues to be fed from the other paper feeding mechanisms. be able to.

Therefore, especially during continuous image forming operations,
There is no need to interrupt image formation, which greatly improves usability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a detailed diagram and a plan view of a page printer embodying the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram and flowchart of the first embodiment. IU, LD/Cassette (sheet material storage section) 2U, 2D/
...Print paper (sheet material) 3U, 3D...Lifter (moving means) 5U, 5D...Paper surface sensor 7U, 7D...Cassette sensor (size detection means)
10...Photosensitive tram 11...Transfer roller 12...Fixing roller

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) A sheet material storage section capable of storing a plurality of sheet materials; a moving means for moving the sheet material storage section to a paper feeding position; and an image forming means for moving the sheet material stored in the sheet material storage section. a plurality of paper feeding mechanisms comprising: a feeding mechanism configured to feed paper to a paper feeding mechanism; malfunction detection means for detecting malfunction of the moving means; and operation of the moving means provided in one paper feeding mechanism by the detection means. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control means for controlling feeding of a sheet material from another paper feeding mechanism based on detection of a defect. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim (1), wherein sheet materials of the same size are stored in the plurality of paper feeding mechanisms. (3) a sheet material storage section capable of storing a plurality of sheet materials; a moving means for moving the sheet material storage section to a paper feeding position; and an image forming means for transferring the sheet material stored in the sheet material storage section to an image forming means. A feeding device for sending out a sheet, a size detecting device for detecting the size of the sheet material stored in the sheet storage section, and a malfunction detection device for detecting a malfunction of the moving device. and based on the detection by the detection means of malfunction of the moving means provided in one sheet feeding mechanism, feeding sheet material from another sheet feeding mechanism that stores sheet materials of the same size. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control means for performing control.