JPH05147791A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device, which can position the folding of a continuous document in a correct orientation upon checking the direction of the folding easily and which can enhance the copying efficiency through prevention of poorly produced stack due to misjudgement about the direction of the folding. CONSTITUTION:A discharged sheet tray 5 is furnished outside of the body 1a of a copying machine, and the copying operation is stopped when the leading edge of a CF document 3 contains a portion more than one copying cycle and attains the length to reach the discharged sheet tray 5.

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,
More specifically, the present invention relates to a sheet original and an image forming apparatus having automatic original feeding means capable of feeding a continuous original such as a computer form in addition to the sheet original.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, with the spread of computers, there is a demand for a copying system capable of efficiently copying a continuous original such as a computer form having a fold even in a copying machine. As a conventional copying system of this type, for example, there is one described in JP-A-62-93181.

This is composed of a main body of a copying machine and an original feeding device which is provided on the upper portion of the main body and internally has a plurality of original feeding rollers and an endless belt for feeding the original. The computer forms stacked in the paper feed tray are sequentially fed from the upper part to a predetermined exposure position on the contact glass, and the original is read by the scanner provided inside the copying machine at the exposure position, and then the image is formed. It is to be copied by the department.

After copying, the computer form is conveyed by the document feeding device and stacked on the paper discharge tray. At this time, the computer foam is conveyed by its own strainer and stacked on each other through the folds. Further, in such a copying system, since a document can be copied using a document feeding device having a function of feeding a sheet document, a function of copying a continuous document at low cost is added. be able to.

[0005]

However, such a conventional image forming apparatus does not have a means for correctly confirming the direction of the folds of the continuous original to perform the copy operation, and therefore the original is not printed. The stack did not stack at the correct fold position on the output tray, causing a stacking failure.

That is, when stacking continuous originals on the discharge tray and the direction of the fold at the leading end of the originals is in the correct direction, the following originals are stacked along the correct folds. It On the other hand, if the originals are not correctly folded in the direction of the folds and are not discharged to the discharge tray, the succeeding originals will have the folds reversed in the middle and will not be correctly stacked on the discharge tray. ..

Since the continuous document is pressed against the contact glass by the endless belt of the document feeder,
It is difficult to confirm the direction of the folds of the original, and since the continuous originals are continuously conveyed at a constant cycle once copying is started, an unfamiliar operator may fold the leading edge of the original. It was not possible to correctly determine the direction of the eyes and position the fold correctly, and as a result, the stack defect as described above occurred, resulting in a problem that the copy efficiency deteriorates. In particular, if a stack defect occurs during high-speed copying, the document may be damaged unless the document transport operation is immediately interrupted.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the direction of the folds of the continuous original can be easily confirmed and the folds can always be positioned in the correct direction, and the occurrence of stack defects due to erroneous judgment of the fold direction can be prevented. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of improving copy efficiency.

[0009]

The invention according to claim 1 is
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there is provided automatic document feeding means capable of automatically feeding a continuous original document having at least a crease to a predetermined original document exposure position, and the automatic feeding means sets these original documents to a predetermined predetermined position. In an image forming apparatus in which a document is fed to an exposure position, copied at the exposure position, and then ejected toward a paper ejection tray, a predetermined portion in front of the continuous document is transferred from the document automatic feeding unit to the outside. It is characterized by having a copy operation interruption means for automatically interrupting the copy operation when ejected.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the paper discharge tray is provided outside the main body of the copying machine, and the predetermined portion has a leading end portion of a continuous original document of 1.
It is characterized in that the length is equal to or more than the copy operation and reaches the discharge tray. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the discharge tray is directly provided at a predetermined position of the main body of the copying machine, and the predetermined portion is such that the leading end of the continuous document is one copy operation or more. , And the length is less than or equal to two copy operations.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a fourth aspect of the present invention provides a copy resuming means in the vicinity of the automatic document feeding means, and resumes the copy operation by operating the copy resuming means after interruption of the copy operation. It is characterized by doing. In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that the copying operation is resumed after a predetermined time has elapsed after the copying operation suspending means interrupts the copying operation.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the invention according to claim 6 is characterized in that the restart of the copy operation is notified by display or voice before the copy operation is restarted.

[0013]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the copying operation is automatically interrupted when a predetermined portion in front of the continuous document is discharged from the automatic document feeding means to the outside. Therefore, when the copying operation is interrupted, the direction of the front fold of the continuous document is easily confirmed, and when there is a fold in the opposite direction, the fold is positioned in the correct direction. For this reason, continuous documents are smoothly discharged to the discharge tray and stacked, and stack defects are prevented from occurring, and copy efficiency is improved.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the paper discharge tray is provided outside the main body of the copying machine, and the leading edge of the continuous document is one copy operation or more and the length before reaching the paper discharge tray. The copy operation is interrupted. Therefore, the direction of the fold of the document can be easily confirmed before the document reaches the discharge tray without operating the conveyance portion of the automatic document feeder, and the confirmation of the direction of the fold of the document is forgotten. Never.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the paper discharge tray is directly provided at a predetermined position of the main body of the copying machine, and the leading end of the continuous document is longer than or equal to one copy operation and shorter than or equal to two copy operations. The copy operation is interrupted. Therefore, the direction of the fold of the document can be easily confirmed before the document reaches the discharge tray without operating the conveyance portion of the automatic document feeder, and the confirmation of the direction of the fold of the document is forgotten. Never. Further, since the paper discharge tray is directly provided at a predetermined position of the copying machine main body, the direction of the folds can be checked within the space of the normal image forming apparatus, and the space can be saved because the paper discharge tray is not provided outside. Can be realized.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the copy resuming means is provided in the vicinity of the automatic document feeding means, and the copy resuming means is operated after the interruption of the copy operation to restart the copy operation. Therefore, the copying operation is restarted at the time desired by the operator after the folding of the continuous document is confirmed. In the invention according to claim 5, the copy operation is restarted after a predetermined time has elapsed after the copy operation was interrupted. Therefore, the copying operation is promptly restarted after the folds of the continuous document are confirmed, and the copying efficiency is further improved.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, before the copy operation is restarted, the restart of the copy operation is notified by display or voice. Therefore, the copy restart time is easily known. In addition, the temporary interruption of the copying operation is not mistaken for a failure of the image forming apparatus.

[0018]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples.
1 to 4 are views showing a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. First, the configuration will be described. In FIG. 1, 1
Is a copying machine as an image forming apparatus, and an ADF 2 as an automatic document feeding means is provided above the main body 1a of the copying machine 1. The ADF 2 is provided so as to be capable of opening and closing so as to face a contact glass (not shown) provided on the upper portion of the copying machine main body 1a, and has a plurality of folds 3a as a continuous document.
A document (also referred to as a document) or a sheet document (not shown) is fed to a predetermined exposure position on the contact glass.

The ADF 2 accommodates therein a plurality of original document conveying rollers and an endless belt for conveying original documents. The endless belt is provided at both ends of the CF original document 3 in the conveying direction. The CF document 3 is exposed from the paper feed tray 4 by a predetermined amount corresponding to one copy operation by the document conveying rollers and the endless belt. Transported to the position.

The paper feed tray 4 is provided with a stopper 4a. The stopper 4a is provided so as to be retractable with respect to the paper feed tray 4, and hits a subsequent document portion excluding a document portion located at an upper portion when protruding. The CF original 3 is held so that only the original located in contact therewith can be fed. Further, a paper discharge tray 5 is provided outside the main body 1a, and the CF originals 3 discharged from the ADF 2 are discharged and stacked (stacked) on the paper discharge tray 5.

An image forming portion such as a scanner and a photosensitive drum is provided inside the copying machine main body 1a as is well known, and the CF original 3 fed to a predetermined exposure position is read by the scanner. It is designed to be used. On the other hand, an unillustrated original detection sensor is provided at the intrusion portion of the CF original 3 of the ADF 2, that is, at the rear end portion of the original in the conveying direction, and this sensor detects that the original 3 has entered the ADF 2 and is illustrated. No signal is output to the control unit.

After the detection information is input, the control unit CF
The feed amount of the CF original 3 is controlled by driving the endless belt while counting the number of the holes 3b of the original 3. In addition, the control unit is endless when the front portion of the CF document 3, specifically, the front end of the CF document 3 is one copy operation or more and has a length until reaching the discharge tray 5. The drive of the belt is stopped, and a signal is output to an image forming unit such as a scanner in the copying machine 1 so as to interrupt the copy operation, which also constitutes copy operation interrupting means.

The control unit outputs a signal to the scanner or the endless belt after a lapse of a certain time after the copying operation is interrupted, and the copying operation is restarted after a predetermined time. Further, a selection switch 6 and a restart switch 7 as a copy restart means are provided in the vicinity of the ADF 2 and the discharge tray 5, and when the selection switch 6 is operated to the automatic restart side, the control unit of the control unit is interrupted after the copy operation is interrupted. The copy operation is automatically restarted based on the output signal, and the copy operation is restarted only when the operator presses the restart switch 7 when the selection switch 6 is manually restarted.

A display unit 8 is provided near the ADF 2, and the display unit 8 is lit before the copy operation is restarted. A stop switch 9 is provided near the ADF 2, and the switch 9
When is pressed, this detection information is immediately input to the control unit,
The control unit suspends the copy operation based on this detection information.

It should be noted that the stop switch 9 does not operate even if it is pressed when a sheet document is copied.
When a signal from a sheet document copy switch (not shown) for notifying the control unit that a sheet document is being copied is input, the control unit does not operate. In addition, 10 in FIG. 1 is A
A copy start switch provided near the DF 2 for feeding a document and starting a copy operation.

Next, the operation will be described. First, CF manuscript 3
Figure 3 shows the case where the copy operation is automatically restarted when copying
It will be described based on the slow chart of. First, the selection switch 6 is switched to the automatic restart side, and the CF originals 3 stacked in advance through the folds 3a at P1 are placed on the paper feed tray 4 and then the stopper 4a is projected so that the succeeding originals are removed. Make sure that it is not fed to the ADF2.

Then, the copy start switch 10 is depressed as shown at P2. Therefore, as shown in P3, C
The front portion (upper part) of the F document 3 is fed to the ADF 2 and conveyed to a predetermined exposure position on the contact glass. At this time, the hole 3b of the CF document 3 engages with the engaging portion of the endless belt and is guided by this engaging portion. Therefore, by counting the amount of movement of this engaging portion, the front portion of the original document is Only one copy is conveyed to a predetermined exposure position.

Next, in P4, the original is read by the scanner at the exposure position and copied by the image forming unit, and then in P5, the leading end of the CF original 3 is equal to or more than one copy operation, and is placed on the discharge tray 5. When the paper is conveyed by the length until it arrives, the process proceeds to P6. At P6, the operation of the endless belt, the scanner and the like is stopped, and a display unit (not shown) is turned on to notify the operator of a signal to stop the copying operation.

At this time, the operator looks at the folding direction of the fold 3a of the CF document exposed to the outside of the ADF 2 and confirms whether the fold 3a is folded in the correct position or in the opposite position, and folds it in the opposite direction. If so, fold it in the correct position. Next, in P7, the control unit determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed since the copying operation was interrupted. If the predetermined time has not elapsed, the process advances to P8 and waits for the predetermined time.

When the predetermined time has elapsed, the program proceeds to P9 to light the display portion 8 to notify the operator of the start of the copying operation, and then proceeds to P10 to restart the copying operation. As a result, the CF document 3 is smoothly conveyed by the ADF 2 by the subsequent CF document 3 while the CF document 3 is being conveyed.
Are stacked on the paper discharge tray 5 along the correct fold 3a.

On the other hand, the case of manually restarting the copy operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In this case, the procedure from P1 to P6 is the same as the case of automatically restarting the copy operation, and therefore the description thereof is omitted. In this case, first, the selection switch 6 is switched to the manual restart side, and the operations of P1 to P6 described above are performed to make the fold 3a
Check the bending direction of. After confirming the folding direction, the process proceeds to P21, where it is determined whether or not the restart switch 7 is pressed. If the switch is pressed, the process proceeds to P22 and copying of the CF document 3 is restarted. The sheets are stacked on the discharge tray 5.

On the other hand, when the CF original 3 is jammed for some reason, the stop switch 9 is pressed to interrupt the copy operation and promptly perform the jam processing. In this embodiment, since the copy operation switch is in the vicinity of the ADF 2, the operator can quickly interrupt the copy operation to perform the jam processing and prevent the CF original 3 from being damaged.

As described above, in this embodiment, the paper discharge tray 5 is provided outside the copying machine main body 1a, and the leading end of the CF document 3 is equal to or more than one copy operation and reaches the paper discharge tray 5. Since the copy operation is interrupted when the length is reached, the direction of the front fold 3a of the CF document 3 can be easily confirmed when the copy operation is interrupted, and the fold 3a is in the opposite direction. The fold 3a can be positioned in the correct direction.

Therefore, the CF originals 3 can be smoothly ejected to the ejection tray 5 and stacked, and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of stacking failure and improve the copy efficiency. Further, since the front side of the CF original 3 is discharged to the outside of the ADF 2, the direction of the fold 3a is confirmed.
It is possible to easily confirm the direction of the fold 3a without operating the transport portion of the ADF 2, and it is possible to prevent forgetting to confirm the direction of the fold 3a of the CF document 3.

Further, since the restart switch 7 is provided in the vicinity of the ADF 2 and the copy operation is restarted by operating the restart switch 7, the CF document 3 is manually operated.
After confirming the fold 3a, the copying operation can be restarted at a time desired by the operator. Further, since the switch 7 is near the ADF 2 and the paper discharge tray 5,
As soon as the folding direction can be adjusted, the copying operation can be resumed promptly. This is particularly effective for an operator working near the discharge tray 5 and the ADF 2 when the copy machine is large and the copy start switch 9 is far from the discharge tray 5.

Further, in the case of the automatic operation, since the copying operation is restarted after a lapse of a predetermined time after the interruption of the copying operation, the copying operation should be restarted promptly after confirming the fold 3a of the CF document 3. Therefore, the copy efficiency can be further improved. Further, since the restart of the copy operation is notified by the display unit 8 before the restart of the copy operation, the operator can easily be notified of the copy restart time. In addition to this, it is possible to prevent the operator from mistakenly recognizing that the copying operation is temporarily interrupted as a failure of the copying machine 1.

In the present embodiment, the operator is notified of the restart of the copying operation by turning on the display unit 8. However, instead of this, a device for generating a voice or the like is provided.
Audible notification is also good. Alternatively, the operator may remotely operate the stop switch 9 when a jam occurs. In this way, the operator can
It is not necessary to stay near the copying machine 1 for the entire copying time, and the copying operation can be interrupted and the copying machine 1 can be moved to the jam processing only when the original 3 is jammed. .. When the copy operation is restarted after the jam processing, the copy start switch 10 of the main body 1a may be pressed, but the restart switch 7 near the discharge tray 5 may be pressed.
Since you can restart the copy operation even if is pressed,
When the copying machine is large, the operator's labor can be saved.

5 and 6 are views showing a second embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention. The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment only in that the discharge tray is directly provided on the main body 1a and the stop position of the leading end portion of the CF document when the copying operation is stopped. Since it is the same as the embodiment, the same components as those in the first embodiment are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, a paper discharge tray 21 is directly provided on the upper portion of the copying machine main body 1a, and the leading end of the CF document 3 is one copy operation or more and 2 times. The copy operation is interrupted when it is discharged to the outside of the ADF 2 for a length equal to or less than the copy operation. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6A, the leading edge of the document 3 is A for a length of one copy operation or more and two copy operations or less.
When the fold 3a at the leading end of the CF document 3 is folded in the opposite direction when discharged to the outside of the DF2, the copy operation can be started after the folding direction is positioned in the correct direction.
The CF originals 3 following the leading edge can be favorably stacked at the correct folding position as shown in FIG. 6B.
The same effect as the embodiment can be obtained.

In addition to this, in this embodiment, the paper discharge tray
Since 21 is provided directly at a predetermined position of the copying machine main body 1a,
The direction of the folds can be confirmed in the space of the ordinary copying machine 1, and the space can be saved because the paper discharge tray is not provided outside. Note that reference numeral 2a in FIG. 6 is a document conveying roller.

[0041]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the copying operation is automatically interrupted when a predetermined portion of the front of the continuous original is discharged from the automatic original feeding means to the outside. Therefore, the copying operation is interrupted. At times, it is possible to easily confirm the direction of the front fold of the continuous document, and when there is a fold in the opposite direction, the fold can be positioned in the correct direction. For this reason,
It is possible to smoothly discharge the continuous originals to the discharge tray and stack them, prevent stack defects from occurring, and improve copy efficiency.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the discharge tray is provided outside the main body of the copying machine, and the leading edge of the continuous document is longer than one copy operation and reaches the discharge tray. Since the copying operation is interrupted in the above, it is possible to easily confirm the direction of the fold of the document before the document reaches the discharge tray without operating the conveying part of the automatic document feeding means. , It is possible to prevent forgetting to confirm the direction of the fold of the document.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the paper discharge tray is directly provided at a predetermined position of the copying machine main body, and the leading edge of the continuous document has a length of one copy operation or more and two copy operations or less. Since the copy operation is suspended in
You can easily check the fold direction of a document before it reaches the paper ejection tray without operating the transport section of the automatic document feeder, and forget to check the fold direction of the document. Can be prevented. Further, since the paper discharge tray is provided directly at a predetermined position of the copying machine main body, it is possible to confirm the direction of the folds within the space of a normal image forming apparatus, and the paper discharge tray is not provided outside. Only space can be saved.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the copy resuming means is provided in the vicinity of the automatic document feeding means, and the copying operation is resumed by operating the copy resuming means after the interruption of the copying operation. After confirming the fold, the copying operation can be restarted at the time desired by the operator. According to the invention described in claim 5, since the copying operation is restarted after a predetermined time has elapsed after the copying operation was interrupted, the copying operation can be restarted promptly after confirming the folds of the continuous document. The copy efficiency can be further improved.

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the restart of the copy operation is notified by the display or the sound before the copy operation is restarted, the restart time of the copy can be easily notified. Further, it is possible to prevent the temporary interruption of the copying operation from being mistakenly recognized as a failure of the image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing a first embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a copy operation at the time of automatic restart according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a copy operation at the time of manual restart in the first embodiment.

5A and 5B are views showing a second embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, in which FIG. 5A is a configuration diagram of a main part thereof, and FIG. 5B is a front view thereof.

FIG. 6 (a) shows that the leading edge of the continuous document of the second embodiment is ADF.
FIG. 3B is a diagram showing a state in which the continuous originals are stacked in the correct direction, and FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Copier (image forming apparatus) 2 ADF (automatic document feeder) 3 Computer format (continuous document) 5, 21 Paper ejection tray 7 Restart switch (copy restart means) 8 Display section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An automatic document feeder for automatically feeding a continuous original document having at least a crease to a predetermined original document exposure position, and the automatic document feeder supplies these original documents to a predetermined exposure position. In the image forming apparatus in which the sheet is fed and copied at the exposure position, and then discharged toward the discharge tray, a predetermined portion in front of the continuous document is discharged from the automatic document feeding means to the outside. An image forming apparatus having a copy operation interruption means for automatically interrupting a copy operation at times. 2. The discharge tray is provided outside the main body of the copying machine, and the predetermined portion has a length such that the leading edge of the continuous document is one copy operation or more and reaches the discharge tray. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is provided. 3. The discharge tray is directly provided at a predetermined position of a copying machine main body, and the predetermined portion has a length such that the leading end of a continuous document is not less than one copy operation and not more than two copy operations. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is provided. 4. An image according to claim 1, further comprising a copy resuming means provided in the vicinity of said automatic document feeding means, and resuming the copy operation by operating the copy resuming means after interruption of the copy operation. Forming equipment. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the copy operation interrupting means restarts the copy operation after a predetermined time has elapsed after the copy operation was interrupted. 6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 5, wherein before the copy operation is restarted, the restart of the copy operation is notified by display or voice.