JPH05301430A - Image-forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To properly inform a prompt for paper supply or removal of a discharged paper to prevent the intermittent printing and to improve the efficiency of printing. CONSTITUTION:When the printing operation is stopping because of waiting of print start or occurring of an error, a paper supply informing section 24a receives residual paper amount data from a residual paper amount-detection means 16 which detects an amount of residual paper sheets at a paper supply section. When the residual amount is little, the paper supply informing section prompt an operator to supply paper sheets by a display or a warning sound.

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, such as a printer or a copying machine, which has means for feeding and discharging sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus configured to feed a sheet from a sheet feeding section, convey the sheet to an image forming section for image formation (printing), and then discharge the sheet to a sheet discharging section When all the sheets have run out, or the amount of paper ejected from the paper ejection section is full, and if more paper is ejected, it will cause a paper jam, and then stop the operation of each section to replenish or eject paper. It has been designed to issue a notification requesting the removal of the printed paper.
Further, even when an error occurs, the operation is stopped and the notification is given.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned conventional apparatus, when the operation is stopped due to an error, if the remaining amount of paper is not confirmed or the printing operation is restarted without collecting the discharged paper, the remaining amount of paper remains. When the number of sheets is small or when the discharged amount is almost full, the operation is immediately stopped, and there is a problem that the work efficiency is extremely deteriorated when a large amount of printing is performed.

In particular, in the case where the paper feed unit and the paper discharge unit are installed in the main body of the apparatus, it is difficult to know the remaining amount of paper and the amount of paper discharged, and therefore the above-mentioned problems are likely to occur.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing intermittent intermittent printing operation by appropriately supplying information for replenishing paper and removing discharged paper, and improving printing efficiency. It is in.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an image forming apparatus in which a sheet is supplied from a sheet feeding section, a print process is performed in the image forming section, and then the sheet is discharged to a sheet discharging section. The first means of the present invention is a control means for stopping the operation of each part when an error occurs during paper conveyance, and a remaining paper amount detection means for detecting the remaining amount of paper in the paper feeding portion.
Receiving the remaining paper amount data from the remaining paper amount detecting means at the start of printing and when the operation is stopped due to an error,
A paper replenishment notifying unit for notifying the user of replenishing paper when the remaining amount of paper is small is provided.

A second means is to detect the amount of the paper discharged to the paper discharge part, and a control means for stopping the operation of each part when an error occurs during the paper transportation in the above image forming apparatus. The discharge amount detecting means for receiving the discharge amount data from the discharge amount detecting means at the start of printing and at the time of the operation stop due to an error, and removes the discharged paper when the discharge amount is large. It is characterized in that it is provided with a paper removal notifying means for giving a notification for prompting.

A third means is characterized in that, in the above-mentioned image forming apparatus, the paper supply notifying means of the first means and the paper removal notifying means of the second means are provided.

[0009]

According to the above-mentioned means, at least one of the remaining amount of paper in the paper feed unit and the amount of paper ejected from the paper ejection unit is detected at the start of printing and when the operation is stopped due to an error, and a notification for prompting paper replenishment or Since at least one of the notifications for prompting the removal of the discharged paper is performed, it is possible to prevent the operation stop state immediately after the print restart or the print restart after the operation stop even in the case of a large number of prints.

[0010]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing the whole of a laser printer which is an embodiment of the present invention. The printing process is known, in which 1 is an apparatus main body, 2 is a drum-shaped photoconductor, 3 Is a charging unit, 4 is a developing unit, 5 is a resist roller pair, 6 is a transfer separating unit, 7 is a cleaning unit, 8 is a laser beam writing unit that exposes the photoconductor 2 based on image information, 9 is a fixing unit, 10 is a two-tiered paper feed cassette, 11 is a large-volume paper feed unit, 12 is a paper output toilet, 13 is a two-tiered mass paper output tray, 14 is a registration sensor, 15 is a fixing sensor, and 16 is each paper feed cassette. Paper remaining amount detection means installed near 10 and 11
Reference numeral 17 is a paper discharge amount detection means installed near the large-volume paper discharge tray 13, and reference numeral 18 is a control unit for controlling the above-mentioned units.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of the control unit shown in FIG. 2. 20 is a CPU (central processing unit), 21 is a ROM in which various process data are recorded, and 22 and 23 are input interfaces. The output interface 24 is an LC that receives a notification signal described later via the output interface 23.
The notification unit 24 is composed of a D (liquid crystal display), a buzzer, and the like, and includes a paper supply notification unit 24a and a paper removal notification unit 24b.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the remaining paper amount detecting means shown in FIG.
A sheet stacking table 31 on which the sheets are stacked, a lift lever 33 that presses the sheet stacking table 31 to press the sheet 30 against the sheet feeding roller 32, and separation claws installed at both end corners of the sheet 30 in the sheet feeding direction.
34 is provided, and at the end of the lifting lever 33,
An operating portion 36 of a variable resistor 35 that constitutes the remaining amount detecting means 16 is provided with the raising lever 33.

In FIG. 3, the paper 30 is pressed against the paper feed roller 32 by the pressing force of the raising lever 33 during paper feeding, and is fed in the paper feeding direction by the rotation of the paper feed roller 32. The separation nail 34 is
The forward movement of the paper 30 is once stopped, and the waist of the paper 30 is used to feed the paper 30 one by one. Since the raising lever 33 rises as the paper 30 decreases, the resistance value of the variable resistor 35 is changed according to the position change of the raising lever 33 to detect the current value flowing through the variable resistor 35. , The remaining amount of paper is detected.

FIG. 4 (a) is a configuration diagram showing the front of the sheet discharge amount detecting means of FIG. 2, and FIG. 4 (b) is a configuration diagram showing the side surface of the sheet discharging amount detection means. A detection filler 40 that is provided near the large-volume delivery tray 13 and that rotates due to an increase in the number of ejected sheets 30 ′, a shield plate 42 that is provided on a shaft 41 that supports the detection filler 40, and is not shown. It has a light receiving element and a light emitting element, and is a first for detecting that the optical path is blocked and opened by the shielding plate 42 and the discharged amount of paper is almost full.
It comprises a photo interrupter 43a and a second photo interrupter 43b for detecting that the discharged amount of paper is full.

In FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b), the large-volume paper ejection tray 13
When the upper paper 30 'increases and lifts the detection filler 40,
The shaft 41 rotates together with the detection filler 40 to rotate the shield plate 42 in the photo interrupter 43a and 43b directions. The shielding plate 42 is
When the discharged amount is substantially full, the optical path of the first photo interrupter 43a is blocked, the output is changed from high (H) to low (L), and when the output is full, the optical path of the second photo interrupter 43b is blocked. , Output from H to L.

In practice, since the detection filler 40 is lifted every time the paper 30 'is discharged, it is judged that the output is L for a certain time or more, so that the paper is almost full.
In this embodiment, if only the output of the first photo interrupter 43a is L, it is almost full, and the second photo interrupter 43a
If only the output of 43b is L, it is detected that it is full.

The operation of the above embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 5 shows the main routine of this embodiment.
When the print start switch is turned on, each part is initialized (S1-1), and the above-described paper supply / discharge check is performed by the remaining paper amount detecting means 16 and the discharge amount detecting means 17 (S1).
-2), process sequence processing (S1-3) and interface processing (S1-4) for exchanging signals with external devices are performed. As a check routine, a STATUS check (S1-5) for checking the device state and an error check (S1-6) for checking an error in each part are performed.

In the initial setting routine (S1-1), the start flag is turned on to notify the next paper feeding / ejecting check routine (S1-2) that the printing is the first print. If an error is confirmed in the error check routine (S1-6) after the process is finished, the print operation is temporarily stopped after the error processing is performed in the next error processing routine (S1-7). That's what the paper feed / discharge check routine is
In order to notify (S1-2), the start flag is turned on here as well.

FIG. 6 shows the paper feed / discharge check routine of FIG. First, to confirm whether or not printing is in progress,
The start flag is checked. If the start flag is off (NO in S2-1), the process returns to the main routine to start (restart) the printing operation.

When the start flag is on (YE of S2-1
S), the remaining paper amount is detected by the remaining paper amount detecting means 16.
If (S2-2), it is determined that the remaining amount of paper is below the level requiring replenishment (YES in S2-3), the nearly empty flag is turned on (S2-4).

When it is determined that the remaining amount of paper is at a level that does not require replenishment (NO in S2-3), the discharged amount detection means 17 checks the discharged amount without turning on the nearly empty flag. (S2-5), the output of the first photo interrupter 43a is L
If so (YES in S2-6), it is determined that the discharged paper needs to be removed, and the nearly full flag is turned on (S2-7). When the output of the first photo interrupter 43a is H (N of S2-6
O), It judges that it is not necessary to remove the discharged sheet, and does not turn on the nearly full flag.

The nearly empty flag and nearly full
If both flags are off (NO in S2-8), the process returns to the main routine to start the printing operation. But ne
If at least one of the arly empty flag and the nearly full flag is on (YES in S2-8), the paper replenishment notification unit 24a or the paper removal notification unit 24b indicates whether the paper is replenished or ejected by a display or a warning sound. This notification is given (S2-9). The notification at this time should be clearly distinguished from other error notifications.

In accordance with the above notification, the paper is replenished or the discharged paper is removed, so that continuous printing is guaranteed before the start of printing, and if the operation is stopped at the time of error, the operation is stopped once. It is possible to prevent intermittent printing operations.

The notification needs to be released by the timer or the reset button and the operation is restored (S2-10). The reason is that the paper supply or the paper removal at this time is not an inevitable operation, and there is no problem even if printing is performed as it is. Therefore, when the remaining number of prints is small, the operator waits for the display to be canceled or presses the reset button to cancel the notification (S2
-11) After that, the printing operation can be started. Then, the start flag is reset (S2-12), the process returns to the main routine, and the normal print operation is started.

In the above embodiment, the remaining paper amount detecting means
Although the sheet remaining amount check by 16 and the sheet discharge amount check by the sheet discharge amount detecting means 17 are performed, either one may be adopted as the check.

[0028]

As described above, according to the respective means of the present invention, at least one of the notification for urging the paper supply and the notification for the removal of the discharged paper at the time of the print start and the operation stop due to the error. Therefore, by performing paper supply or paper discharge removal according to the notification, it is possible to prevent the print operation from being interrupted carelessly thereafter.
An image forming apparatus capable of improving printing efficiency can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main part of a control unit in an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an entire laser printer of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a sheet remaining amount detecting means in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a sheet discharge amount detection unit in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a main routine of this embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a paper supply / discharge check routine of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Photoconductor, 10, 11 ... Paper feed cassette (paper feed section), 12 ...
Paper discharge tray (paper discharge unit), 16 ... Paper remaining amount detection means, 17 ... Paper discharge amount detection means, 18 ... Control unit (control means), 20 ... CP
U, 24 ... Notification means, 24a ... Paper supply notification section, 24b ...
Paper removal notification unit, 31 ... Paper loading table, 33 ... Lift lever,
35 ... Variable resistance, 36 ... Operating part, 40 ... Detection filler,
42 ... Shielding plate, 43a, 43b ... Photo interrupter.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus that supplies paper from a paper supply unit, performs image forming processing in the image forming unit, and then discharges the paper to a paper discharge unit, when each error occurs during paper conveyance. Control means for stopping the operation of the above, the remaining paper amount detecting means for detecting the remaining amount of paper in the paper feeding section, and the remaining paper amount from the remaining paper amount detecting means at the time of starting the image formation and stopping the operation due to an error occurrence. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a paper replenishment notifying unit that receives data and notifies the user of replenishing paper when the remaining amount of paper is low. 2. An image forming apparatus that supplies paper from a paper supply unit, performs image forming processing in the image forming unit, and then discharges the paper to a paper discharge unit, when each error occurs during paper conveyance. Control means for stopping the operation of, the discharge amount detection means for detecting the amount of the paper discharged to the discharge portion, and the discharge amount detection means from the discharge amount detection means at the start of image formation and when the operation is stopped due to an error. An image forming apparatus, comprising: a paper removal notification unit that receives the paper discharge amount data and notifies the user of the discharged paper when the paper discharge amount is large. 3. An image forming apparatus for feeding a sheet from a sheet feeding section, performing an image forming process in the image forming section, and then ejecting the sheet to a sheet ejecting section when an error occurs during conveyance of the sheet. An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit for stopping the operation of the above, a paper supply notification unit according to claim 1, and a paper removal notification unit according to claim 2.