JPH04246036A - Page printer device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide such a page printer device that is capable of preventing a paper jam even if manual feeding paper is inserted thereinto by mistake, in this page printer with a manual paper feeding mechanism. CONSTITUTION:When a tip of paper P fed out of a paper feed cassette 1 is reached to a position T2, if manual paper P' is inserted from a manual feeding paper mount 4, feed of the paper P is stopped, and when the tip of the paper P is reached to a position T3, if the manual paper P' is inserted thereinto, an alarm display takes place, stopping the carry-in of the paper P', as well as when the tip of the paper P is reached to a position T4, if the manual feeding paper P' is inserted, a timer is driven, judging the feed of the paper P', through which a paper jam is prevented from occurring even when the manual feeding paper P' is inserted by mistake.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a manual paper feeding mechanism, and more particularly to a page printer apparatus using an electrophotographic method.

0002

[Prior Art] Page printer devices that use electrophotography, such as LED printers and LCS printers, use a cassette to print on paper that is not loaded in the paper cassette or special paper that cannot be loaded in the paper cassette. In addition to the paper feeding mechanism, a so-called manual paper feeding mechanism is provided. This manual paper feed mechanism inserts paper from a manual paper feed port provided on the side of the page printer device, and feeds the paper to the transfer unit using a manual paper feed roll.

[0003] In the above-mentioned manual paper feeding mechanism,
There is a device that drives the manual paper feed roll by connecting it to a motor via a clutch mechanism, but in order to reduce the cost of the device, there is a device that directly transmits the rotation of the motor to the paper feed roll without using a clutch mechanism. Used a lot.

0004

[Problems with the Prior Art] However, in the above-mentioned page printer device that directly transmits the rotation of the motor to the manual paper feed roll, the manual paper feed roll is always rotating while the device is running, so the paper feed cassette is If you accidentally manually feed paper while feeding the paper (while the cassette paper feeding mechanism is operating), the manually fed paper will also be fed to the transfer unit, causing a paper jam.

[0005] In this case, it is conceivable to provide a device such as a shutter for preventing the manual feeding of paper on the manual paper feed tray, but in that case, there is no point in saving the clutch mechanism for cost reduction.

[0006]

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a page printer device having a manual paper feed mechanism that can prevent paper jams even if manual paper is inserted by mistake. shall be.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an image data generation section that generates image data based on print information supplied from a host device, and an image data generation section that generates image data based on print information supplied from the image data generation section. In a page printer device, the image forming section includes an image forming section that performs image forming processing, and the image forming section is equipped with a manual paper feed mechanism, wherein the image data generating section includes a receiving buffer that temporarily stores and stores the print information, and a receiving buffer that temporarily stores the printing information; Discrimination means for determining whether print information is stored in the buffer; and data for creating image data from the print information in the receiving buffer memory and outputting a data transfer signal when a predetermined amount of image data is stored in the memory. a signal transfer means, the image forming section has a manual paper detection means for detecting manual paper, a manual paper feeding means for feeding the manual paper, and the manual paper detection means detects feeding of the manual paper. control means for starting the drive of the manual paper feeding means when the determining means detects that the receiving buffer has print information or when the data transfer signal is output from the data signal transfer means; In a page printer device that selectively operates a manual paper feed mechanism and a cassette paper feed mechanism to feed paper to the same image forming section, the manual paper feeder that feeds manual paper is provided. a feeding unit, a manual paper detection unit for detecting the manual paper, and when the manual paper detection unit detects the manual paper, the manual paper overlaps the paper carried out from the cassette paper feeding mechanism after the common feeding path. The present invention is characterized by comprising a judgment means for judging whether or not the two sheets overlap, and a paper control means for displaying a warning when the judgment means predicts that the two sheets will overlap, and for feeding the manual paper as is when it predicts that they will not overlap.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a partial configuration of a page printer device of this embodiment. In the figure, the page printer device includes a so-called cassette paper feed mechanism 2 that feeds paper P loaded in a paper cassette 1, and a paper cassette feed mechanism 2 that feeds paper P loaded in a paper cassette 1, and
It has a manual paper feed mechanism 3 that feeds paper. The manual paper feed mechanism 3 includes a manual paper feed table 4, a manual paper feed slot 5, a manual paper sensor 6, a manual paper feed roll 7, and a manual paper feed guide plate 8.
It consists of Further, the cassette paper feeding mechanism 2 includes a paper feeding cassette 1, a paper feeding roller 9, a cutting member 10, and a turn guide 11. Furthermore, each paper conveyance path (guide plate 8
and the turn guide 11) meet at the standby sensor 12, and the paper P or P' fed from the cassette paper feed mechanism 2 and manual paper feed mechanism 3 is passed through the standby roll 13 and the guide plate 14. It is fed to the transfer section 15. The transfer section 15 is located between the photoreceptor drum 16 and the transfer device 17, and the toner image formed on the circumferential surface of the photoreceptor drum 16 in this transfer section 15 is transferred onto paper P or P'.

The manual paper feed table 4 is provided on the side of the main body of the apparatus, and has a foldable structure, for example, and is folded on the side of the main body when the manual paper feed table 4 is not in use. Further, the manual paper sensor 6 is composed of an optical sensor composed of an LED 6a and a phototransistor 6b. Also,
The standby sensor 12 also has an LED 12 similar to the manual paper sensor 6.
It is composed of an optical sensor consisting of a and a photosensor 12b. The manual paper sensor 6 and standby sensor 12 are connected to a printer control circuit 28, which will be described later, and detection signals from each sensor 6 and 12 are output to the printer control circuit 28. Further, the manual paper feed roll 7 is directly connected to the motor M, and is configured without using a clutch. Therefore, the manual feed roll 7 is configured to rotate whenever the motor M rotates. However, the gripping force of the manual paper feed roll 7 on the paper P' is relatively weak, and if the leading edge of the paper P' comes into contact with the stopped standby roll 13 and the conveyance is blocked, the manual paper feed roll 7 will hold the paper P'. The gripping force is such that the paper P' can be easily pulled out when the operator pulls the rear part of the paper P'. Note that the distance L between the manual paper feed port 5 and the standby roll 13 is set to be shorter than the length of the shortest paper among the papers P' used in this embodiment. Therefore, when the manually fed paper P' is in contact with the standby roll 13, the rear end of the paper P' always comes out from the manual paper feed port 5 and is visible.

On the other hand, in the paper feed cassette 1, the paper P is stacked on a lower plate 1b which is biased upward by a push-up spring 1a, and the paper feed roll 9 is driven to rotate, so that a sorting member 10 is loaded.
The configuration is such that sheets P are transported one sheet at a time from the paper feed cassette 1 between the two. The paper feed roll 9 is connected to a motor M via a paper feed clutch 9', and the paper feed clutch 9' is controlled according to a drive control signal output from a printer control circuit 28, which will be described later. Rotation/non-rotation of the paper feed roll 9 is controlled. Further, the above-mentioned standby roll 13 also has a standby clutch 13' like the paper feed roll 9.
The rotation/non-rotation control is performed in accordance with a drive control signal output from a printer control circuit 28, which will be described later.

FIG. 2 is a circuit block diagram of a page printer device having the above-described mechanical configuration, and is composed of an interface controller 18 and a printer controller 19. In the figure, the interface controller 18 includes a CPU (central processing unit) 20, a ROM 21, an R
AM22, DMA controller 23, operation/display unit 24
, a reception buffer 25, an image data generation section 26, and a frame memory 27. The printer controller 19 includes the aforementioned printer control circuit 28 and an optical writing head 29 located above the photosensitive drum 16 (not shown in FIG. 1).

The host computer 31, which is a host device of the page printer device, has a centro interface 32.
It is connected to the interface controller 18 via. The host computer 31 outputs print information such as character codes and print control data to the interface controller 18. The CPU 20 controls the entire page printer device of this embodiment according to the system program stored in the ROM 21, and performs, for example, the process of temporarily storing print information output from the host computer 31 in the reception buffer 25 as described above. , executes processes such as sequentially reading the print information stored in the reception buffer 25 and analyzing commands.

The image data generating section 26 has dot pattern data corresponding to the character code, and outputs the dot pattern data corresponding to the input character code to the frame memory 27. The frame memory 27 has a memory area for print data (dot pattern data) for one page of paper, and stores data output from the image data generation section 26 described above. The operation/display section 24 is comprised of various operation keys of the page printer device of this embodiment, an LED display device for displaying alarms, etc., which will be described later.

The RAM 21 also has an area for storing various data generated during control processing by the CPU 20, as well as a C-S.
It has an area for storing TATUS data. This C-
STATUS data is interface controller 1
8 and the printer control circuit 28 described later, is included in the print information output from the host computer 31, and is an instruction to switch between cassette paper feeding mode and manual paper feeding mode, which can be changed later. These include commands, information indicating the presence or absence of print information in the reception buffer 25, which will be described later, size information of paper P, and the like.

On the other hand, the video interface 33 includes an interface controller 18 and a printer control circuit 28.
It performs input/output control of signals between frames, control of outputting dot pattern data output from the frame memory 27 to the optical writing head 29, and the like.

The printer control circuit 28 outputs drive signals to the above-mentioned paper feed clutch 9' and standby clutch 13', and also outputs drive signals to the interface controller 18 (CPU 20).
A drive signal is outputted to each load based on a control signal such as a print start signal outputted from the controller.

Further, as described above, the manual paper sensor 6 and the standby sensor 12 are connected to the printer control circuit 28, and a paper P detection signal is output from each of these sensors. For example, the manual paper sensor 6 outputs a signal indicating that the paper P' has been manually fed, and the standby sensor 12 outputs a signal indicating that the paper P or P' has reached the position of the standby sensor 12. . In addition to the above-mentioned sensors, sensors such as a discharge sensor (not shown) and switches are connected to the printer control circuit 28 to output various detection signals to the printer control circuit 28.

The above-mentioned motor M is also controlled to rotate/non-rotate based on the drive control signal from the printer control circuit 28. Next, before explaining the paper feeding control of the page printer device of this embodiment, the process of generating dot pattern data to the frame memory 27 will be briefly explained using the flowchart shown in FIG.

As described above, when print information is output from the host computer 31 to the interface controller 18 via the centro interface 32, this print information is stored in the reception buffer 25 under the control of the CPU 20 as described above. Then, the CPU 20 determines whether there is print information in the reception buffer 25 (step (
(hereinafter referred to as ST) 1) When there is print information (ST1 is Y (yes)), a flag indicating that there is print information is sent to C-STA.
Output it to the printer control circuit 28 along with the TUS data,
Thereafter, print information is read from the reception buffer 25 and data analysis processing is executed (ST2 to ST5). Also, while print information is not stored in the reception buffer 25 (ST1
is N (no), the flag indicating the presence of print information is reset and output to the printer control circuit 28 on C-STATUS data (ST6). In addition, VI shown in the same figure
/F is connected to C-STA via video interface 33
This means that TUS data is transferred. The printer control circuit 28 can know the status of the page printer device from this C-STATUS data.

On the other hand, in the above analysis process (ST5), for example, if the data read out by the CPU 20 is a character code, dot pattern data corresponding to the character code is read out from the image data generation section 26 and stored in the frame memory 27. It is stored in a predetermined area (ST7). Further, if the read print information is a command, processing corresponding to this command is executed (ST8). That is, if the read command is an instruction command for rotating or enlarging a character, for example, processing corresponding to the command is performed. Also,
When the read data is a page break code, it is assumed that one page of data has been written to the frame memory 27, and a start signal is output to the printer control circuit 28 (ST9).
. That is, this process is a command that is output when the supply of print data for one page in the reception buffer 6 is completed, and this output causes the CPU 20 to store one page in the frame memory 27.
It is determined that the dot pattern data for the page has been stored, and the above-mentioned start signal is output.

Thereafter, the printer control circuit 28 waits for the FD ready signal to be output. This FD ready signal is sent from the printer control circuit 28 to the CPU when a predetermined time elapses after the paper P or P' fed from the cassette paper feed mechanism 2 or the manual paper feed mechanism 3 is detected by the standby sensor 12.
This is a signal output to 20. When this signal is output (ST10 is Y), the paper P or P' is transferred to the standby roll 13.
It is determined that the position has been reached, and the above-mentioned START
) signal is reset and transfer execution conditions are set in the DMA controller 23, the transfer process is started, and at the same time, a restart (RESTART) signal is output to the printer control circuit 28 (ST11, ST12). Therefore, the dot pattern data in the frame memory 27 is then output to the optical writing head 29 under the control of the DMA controller 23. Note that the output relationship between the FD ready signal and the restart signal will be explained in detail when the flowchart of FIG. 4 is explained next.

Next, the paper feeding operation of the paper P fed by the cassette paper feeding mechanism 2 will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG. 4 and the time chart shown in FIG. This process is performed based on the output of the start signal shown in FIG. 3, and the manual insertion period T1 to T4 shown in FIG. 5 will be described later. First, when the input of the start signal is determined (step (hereinafter referred to as S)
1), the printer control circuit 28 determines whether the mode is cassette paper feeding mode or manual paper feeding mode (STP2). This determination is made according to the C-STATUS data described above, and if manual paper feeding mode is specified in the C-STATUS data according to the operator's specification (STP2 is Y).
, when the manual paper sensor 6 detects the passage of the paper P', the process moves to the flowchart of FIG. 5, which will be described later (STP3 is Y
). However, since the cassette paper feeding mode is explained here (STP2 is N), the subsequent processing (STP4) and subsequent steps will be executed. That is, the printer control circuit 28 drives the motor M, turns on the paper feed clutch 9', and turns on the paper feed roll 9.
Rotate to remove paper P from paper cassette 1 (ST
P4, STP5). The paper P discharged from the paper feed cassette 1 in this manner is fed along the turn guide 11, turning on the standby sensor 12 (STP6 is Y). Thereafter, the paper P is fed further and after a period of time for it to come into contact with the standby roll 13 and bend slightly (time t1 shown in FIG. 5), the paper feed clutch 9' is turned off to stop the rotation of the paper feed roll 9 and the paper P
feeding is temporarily stopped (ST7, ST8). Here, the printer control circuit 28 sends the aforementioned FD ready signal to the CPU 20.
and waits for a restart signal output from the CPU 20 (ST9, ST10). Then, as mentioned above, CP
U20 sets execution conditions for data transfer to the DMA controller 23, and outputs a restart signal to the printer control circuit 28 (STP10 is Y).

When the restart signal is output, the printer control circuit 28 stops outputting the FD ready signal, turns on the standby clutch 13', rotates the standby roll 13, and refeeds the paper P (STP11, STP12). ). Also, at this time, the passage length timer is turned on (STP13). This passage length timer is set with a timer time calculated from data on the size of paper P determined by a paper cassette determination mechanism (not shown). Note that a specific example of this timer time will be described later.

Thereafter, the optical writing head 29 forms an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 16 according to the dot pattern data output from the frame memory 27 to the optical writing head 29, and this electrostatic latent image is transferred to a developing device (not shown). is converted into a toner image. During this time, the paper P is fed to the transfer section 15, and the toner image on the photosensitive drum 16 is transferred to the paper P by corona discharge of the transfer device 17 (STP14). Then, the paper P is further fed, and when the trailing edge of the paper P finishes passing the standby sensor 6 (STP15), the printer control circuit 28 learns this from the detection signal from the standby sensor 6, and from now on, the trailing edge of the paper P The time it takes for the roller to finish passing through the standby roll 13 (Fig. 5
Wait for the time t2 shown in (STP16), reset the passage length timer, turn off the standby clutch 13', and stop the rotation of the standby roll 13 (STP17, STP18)
.

[0025] If further continuous printing processing is required after that, the same processing as described above is executed (ST1 to ST18).
), and when the printing process on the necessary paper P is completed, the printer control circuit 28 waits for a predetermined time (time t shown in FIG. 5).
3) Wait and stop driving motor M (ST19 is Y)
, ST20).

Next, during the above-mentioned cassette paper feeding operation, the paper P
The process to be performed in the case where a ' is manually inserted will be explained using the flowchart shown in FIG. Note that the period T1 shown in FIG.
~T4 indicates where in the cassette paper feed mechanism 2 the leading edge of the paper P carried out from the paper feed cassette 1 is located, and in FIG. 1, T1' to T4 are shown as corresponding positions.
′ is shown. Each case will be explained below.

First, a case where paper P' is manually fed into the manual paper feed tray 4 during period T1 shown in FIG. At this time, since the motor M is not yet driven (step (hereinafter referred to as S)) 1
is N), the manual feed roll 7 is not rotating and the paper P in the paper feed cassette 1 has come out to the contact point between the paper feed roll 9 and the separating member 10 (position T1' in FIG. 1). be. The printer control circuit 28 recognizes this state from the fact that the motor M is not driving (step (hereinafter referred to as S) 1 is N) and that it is not in the manual paper feed mode (S2 is N), and performs the operation/
An alarm is displayed on the display unit 24 to notify that the manual feeding operation is incorrect (S3). This display indicates that the operator is currently in the cassette paper feeding mode and that the manual feeding process for paper P' is incorrect.

[0028] At this time, if the page printer device is set to manual feed mode (S2 is Y), the reception buffer 2
It is determined whether there is data in 5 and the output of the start signal (S4), and the motor M is driven (S5).
The processing after the judgment shown in (STP6) is executed. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 4 has been described using cassette paper feeding, but the processing after the determination (STP6) is the same even in manual paper feeding.

Next, when the motor M is rotating, the paper feed roll 9 is rotating, and the leading edge of the paper P carried out from the paper feed cassette 1 is at the position of the turn guide 11 (period T2 in FIG. 5).
, when the leading edge of the paper P is located between T2' shown in FIG. 1), and the case where the paper P' is manually fed will be described. The printer control circuit 28 controls this state by controlling the rotation of the motor M (S
1 is Y), cassette paper feed mode (S6 is N), paper feed clutch 9' is on (S7 is Y), standby sensor 12 is off (
It is determined that the paper P is being fed through the turn guide 11. That is, at this time, the paper P is still on the turn guide 11, and if you immediately turn off the paper feed clutch 9', stop the rotation of the paper feed roll 9, and stop the paper feeding operation of the paper P, the paper P' that was manually fed will be replaced. This is a case where overlapping of sheets P can be avoided. Therefore, the paper feed clutch 9' is immediately
is turned off to stop feeding the paper P (S9). and,
The manual feed mode is changed to perform printing processing on the manually fed paper P' (S10), and the above-mentioned judgment (S10) shown in FIG.
Execute TP6) and subsequent steps.

Next, when the leading edge of the paper P carried out from the paper feed cassette 1 passes through the turn guide 11 and further reaches the position of the standby sensor 12 (period T3 in FIG. 5,
The case where paper P' is manually fed (at position T3' shown in FIG. 1) will be explained. The printer control circuit 28 recognizes this state as described above, with motor M on (S1 is Y), cassette paper feed mode (S6 is N), paper feed clutch 9' is on (S7 is N), and standby sensor 12 is on. (S8 is Y) to know. At this time, the paper P has reached the joining position with the paper P', and if the manually fed paper P' is fed as it is, troubles such as paper jams will occur, so an alarm is displayed on the operation/display unit 24 (S11). , to stop manual feeding of paper P'. In this case, troubles such as paper jams will occur unless the manually fed paper P' is forcibly pulled out, so a buzzer or the like is especially used to sound the alarm.

In addition, the cassette paper feeding process is continued for the paper P without stopping the paper feeding operation (
S12). Next, the paper P carried out from the paper cassette 1
The leading edge of the paper P passes the position of the standby sensor 12, and then the paper P
A case will be described in which the paper P' is manually fed when the paper P' has been re-fed a considerable distance by the rotation of the standby roll 13 (when the leading edge of the paper P is located at the position T4' shown in FIG. 1). In this state, the paper feed roll 9 is already not rotating, and the paper feed clutch 9' is off, so the printer control circuit 28 turns on the motor M (S1 is Y).
, cassette paper feed mode (S6 is N), paper feed clutch 9'
is off (S7 is N), and the standby sensor 12 is on (S7 is N).
13 is Y), and the standby clutch 13' is on (S14 is Y).
). At this time, the paper P is at the position of the standby sensor 12, but even if the paper P' is manually fed as it is, by the time the paper P' reaches the position of the standby sensor 12, the paper P has already passed the standby sensor 12 and the paper In order to determine whether the position is such that problems such as clogging will not occur,
The time of the above-mentioned passage length timer is compared with the time taken for the paper P' manually fed from the manual paper feed port 5 to reach the standby roll 13 (S15). For example, A4 size paper P
When the process speed is 50 mm/S, the length of A4 size paper P is 297 mm, so the setting time of the passage length timer is approximately 6 seconds (297/50), and the If the distance to the standby roll 13 is 150 mm, the process speed is 50 mm.
/S is 3 seconds. Therefore, standby clutch 13'
When turned on (when the standby roll 13 starts rotating), the passage length timer starts by the process (STP13) shown in FIG. Compare the time it takes to reach 13. Therefore, for example, if manual feeding is performed 2 seconds after the standby roll 13 starts rotating, the remaining time on the passage length timer is 4 seconds, and the time until the paper P' reaches the standby roll 13 is 3 seconds. Judging because it is longer (S
15) becomes N, and if paper P' is manually fed as it is, the preceding paper P and the manually fed paper P' overlap, resulting in a paper jam, so an alarm is displayed as described above (S
11). On the other hand, for example, if manual feeding is performed 4 seconds after the standby roll 13 starts rotating, the remaining time of the passage length timer is 2 seconds, and the paper P' is transferred to the standby roll 13.
Since the time it takes to reach this point is shorter than 3 seconds, the determination (S15) is Y. That is, in this case, even if paper P' is manually fed, paper P and paper P' do not overlap, so the cassette paper feeding mode is switched to manual feeding mode at this time (S16).
. After the paper P, which is the preceding paper, has passed through the standby sensor 12, the completion of passing of the standby roll 13 is confirmed, and the standby clutch 13' is turned off to stop the rotation of the standby roll 13 (S17 is Y, S18 is , S19), then standby roll 1
The process moves on to the processing of the paper P' fed to the paper No. 3.

[0032] Furthermore, motor M is rotating (S1 is Y).
Even though the paper feed mode is cassette (S6 is N), when neither the paper feed clutch 9' nor the standby clutch 13' are turned on (the paper feed roll 9 and the standby roll 13 are not rotating), the manual feed is performed. There is no problem even if paper is inserted, so when manual paper P' is inserted, the mode shifts to manual paper feeding mode to perform manual paper feeding (S7 is N, S13 is N, S13'
).

The above explanation was for the case in the cassette paper feeding mode, but next we will explain the case in which sheets P' are continuously manually fed in the manual feeding mode. FIG. 7 is a time chart illustrating the operation in the manual feed mode. A period T1'' shown in the figure indicates a period in which the manually fed paper P' has not reached the manual paper sensor 6, and a period T2
'' indicates a period in which the manually fed paper P' is visible on the manual paper feed tray 4, and period T3'' indicates a period in which the manually fed paper P' is not visible on the manual paper feed tray 4. That is, since the manual feed roll 7 is directly connected to the motor M,
When paper P' is manually fed and detected by manual paper sensor 6 and a start signal is output, motor M is driven and immediately feeds paper P' into the apparatus. Thereafter, the output timing of the FD ready signal and the restart signal after the paper P' passes through the manual feed guide plate 8 and is detected by the standby sensor 12 is the same as the process (after STP6) shown in FIG. 4 described above. However, regarding the timing of manually feeding the next sheet P' shown in FIG. 7, during the periods T1'' and T2'', the previously manually fed sheet P' is visible, so it is unthinkable to manually feed the next sheet P'. Actually, there is no problem with the periods T1'' and T2''. Therefore, the period T3 during which the manually fed paper P' is no longer visible from the manual paper feed tray 4
” will be explained.

[0034] Although the preceding paper P' is being printed,
If the paper has not yet been ejected outside the machine, a new paper P'
When the printer control circuit 28 detects that paper P' has been manually fed, the motor M is rotated and the manual feeding mode is confirmed (S1 is Y, S6 is Y), and then the printer control circuit 28 detects that the paper P' has been manually fed.
Based on the start signal output from U20, the process moves to the determination shown in FIG. 4 (STP6) and normal printing processing is executed. Also, if the start signal has not been output yet (
S20 is N), and the printer control circuit 28 is the above-mentioned C-ST.
Check whether there is print information in the reception buffer 25 using the ATUS data, and if there is print information, wait for the start signal to be output (S21 is Y), and when the start signal is output (S22 is Y), perform the above-mentioned process. The process moves to a similar judgment (STP6) and normal printing processing is performed.

On the other hand, when there is no printing information in the reception buffer 25, inserting the manual paper P' is an erroneous operation, and therefore an alarm is displayed (S21 is N, S23) and an instruction is given to pull out the paper P'. Here, if the paper P' is not pulled out even though the alarm is displayed, the paper P' reaches the standby sensor 12 (S24 is Y). At this time, the paper P' is waited for a predetermined time to be pulled out, and if the paper P' is not pulled out even after waiting for the predetermined time and no new print information is input to the reception buffer 25, the standby clutch 13' is turned on and the paper P' is removed. Force paper ejection without printing (
S25 is N, S26 is Y, S27). During this time, if new print information is input to the reception buffer 25 (S25 is Y)
), wait for the start signal (S28 is Y), and perform the process described in FIG.
The process shown in (STP9) and subsequent steps are executed.

It should be noted that even after a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the above-mentioned alarm display (S23), the manually fed paper P' does not reach the standby sensor 6.
If not turned on (S29 is Y), it is determined that the paper P' has been pulled out by the operator, and the process returns to the determination (STP1) in FIG. 4 described above.

By performing the above-described processing, it is possible to reliably prevent paper jams even if manual paper P' is fed by mistake in the cassette paper feeding mode and the manual paper feeding mode.

[0038]

Effects of the Invention As described in detail above, according to the present invention, in a page printer device having a manual paper feed mechanism, even if the manual paper is fed by mistake while paper is being fed from the paper feed cassette, the paper will not be fed. No clogging occurs, and troubles such as interruptions in print processing can be prevented.

Further, it is not necessary to provide a shutter or other shielding member for manually feeding paper on the manual paper feed table, and thus it is possible to reduce the cost of the apparatus.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a page printer device according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a system block diagram within the page printer device of one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of creating print data of an interface controller.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating the paper feeding operation of the page printer device of one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a time chart illustrating the paper feeding operation of the page printer device of one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a paper feeding operation after detecting manually fed paper P'.

FIG. 7 is a time chart illustrating a manual paper feeding operation.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Paper cassette 2 Cassette paper feeding mechanism 3 Manual paper feed mechanism 4 Manual feed tray 5 Manual paper feed slot 6 Manual paper sensor 7 Manual feed roll 9 Paper feed roll 9′ paper feed clutch 11 Turn guide 12 Standby sensor 13 Standby roll 13' standby clutch 15　Transfer section 20 CPU 23 DMA controller 24 Operation/display section 25 Receive buffer 27 Frame memory 28 Printer control circuit 29 Optical writing head M motor

Claims (2)

[Claims] Claim 1: Consisting of an image data generating section that generates image data based on print information supplied from a host device, and an image forming section that performs image forming processing according to the image data output from the image data generating section. , in a page printer device in which the image forming unit includes a manual paper feeding mechanism, the image data generating unit includes a reception buffer that temporarily stores and stores the print information; and a page printer device in which the image forming unit includes a reception buffer that temporarily stores and stores the print information, and whether or not the print information is stored in the reception buffer. and a data signal transfer means that creates image data from the print information in the reception buffer memory and outputs a data transfer signal when a predetermined amount of image data is stored in the memory, The unit includes a manual paper detecting means for detecting manual paper, a manual paper feeding means for feeding the manual paper, and when the manual paper detecting means detects feeding of the manual paper, the determining means outputs print information to a reception buffer. and control means for starting driving of the manual paper feeding means when the data transfer signal is output from the data signal transfer means. 2. In a page printer device that selectively operates a manual paper feed mechanism and a cassette paper feed mechanism to feed paper to the same image forming section, a manual paper feed means for feeding manual paper; a manual paper detecting means for detecting manual paper; and a manual paper detecting means for detecting manual paper, and determining whether or not the manual paper overlaps the paper carried out from the cassette paper feeding mechanism after the common feeding path when the manual paper detecting means detects the manual paper. A page printer device characterized by comprising a determining means for determining, and a paper control means for displaying a warning when the determining means predicts that two sheets of paper will overlap, and for feeding the manual paper as is when the determining means predicts that the two sheets will not overlap.