JPH06171781A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming device which can supply paper sheets easily and properly and prevents the generation of paper feed fault. CONSTITUTION:When a sheet is supplied to a sheet accommodation part, a CPU 601 memorizes the size of the supplied sheet and the sheet accommodation stage for supplying the paper sheet to an image forming means in a RAM 604, and judges if the operation is in an image formation or not, by an image forming means. When it is judged that the operation is in the image formation, the sheet accommodation stage where the sheet is exhausted is detected, and the sheet size is detected on the basis of the sheet size memorized in the RAM 604. It is judged if the sheet supply is enabled or not in the previously set sheet accommodation stage, and if the supply is enabled, a sheet supply signal is sent out. A display part 611 receives the sheet supply signal and displays the fact of requisition of the sheet supply.

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 sheet feeding means for feeding a plurality of types of recording sheets to the image forming apparatus main body side, and more specifically, it has a plurality of sheet storage stages. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with a sheet feeding unit capable of replenishing a sheet in a sheet storing unit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a so-called front loading type copying machine has been proposed in which paper can be supplied from the front of an operator in order to save space in an office. This type of copier has multiple paper feed stages, so if you need to replenish the lowermost sheet, you must bend the lower leg significantly to improve operability. There is room for In recent years, the number of Westerners working in Japan has increased due to the internationalization of work. Generally, Europeans and Americans do not have a habit of sitting on tatami mats and tend to be extremely reluctant to take a posture in which their knees are significantly bent when they replenish paper, because they have a difficult posture.

As described above, various types of sheet feeding devices have been proposed and used in the past. Particularly, for replenishing recording sheets, image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, facsimiles, printers, and printing apparatuses are generally used. In general, the operation surname regarding the position of supplying the recording sheet to the sheet feeding means has become a problem. That is, in general, conventional paper feeding means,
In other words, the sheet feeding device is often provided in the lower part of the image forming apparatus main body in the system, and in the case where the recording sheets of different sizes are stored in the respective sheet storage stages, At the time of replenishment, the lower the sheet storage stage, the more the user has to bend over as described above when replenishing the recording sheets, and he is forced to take a very difficult posture. As a technique for avoiding this, for example, a technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 64-29873 is known.

This prior art relates to a large-capacity sheet feeding device that stores a large number of single-sized recording sheets and supplies them to the image forming apparatus main body, and a plurality of storage chambers for storing the recording sheets are provided. Therefore, the operator can replenish the recording sheets to the uppermost storage chamber. This structure allows the recording sheets to be placed between the recording sheet storage chambers and
A movable guide that can be swung in the left-right direction of the sheet is provided, and the movable guide is appropriately swung according to the remaining amount of recording sheets in the lowermost storage chamber in which the paper feeding unit is provided and other storage chambers.
The recording sheet is sequentially dropped from the upper storage chamber to the lower storage chamber by its own weight, and the recording sheet is fed from the lower storage chamber to an image forming apparatus, in this case, a facsimile.

[0005]

By the way, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, the recording sheet is dropped by its own weight between the plurality of partitioned sheet storage portions to the sheet storage portion at the lowermost stage where only the sheet feeding portion is provided. Since the recording sheet replenishing position can be set to a relatively high position by sequentially moving the recording sheets, the operability associated with replenishing the sheets is improved. However, in this method, the impact force generated by the collision of the recording sheet onto the lower sheet storage portion when it falls by its own weight, the wind pressure on the recording sheet at the time of its own weight drop, and the shaking of the movable guide on which the recording sheet is placed. An external force such as a frictional force between the recording sheet and the movable guide during the movement causes the recording sheet to fall into a non-uniform state after being dropped. Therefore, due to the non-uniform state, there are cases where a self-weight drop failure in the next-stage sheet storage section and a sheet feeding failure such as a jam or a skew during the sheet feeding operation occur.

Further, the movement of the recording sheet in this conventional technique is caused by the swing of the movable guide, but the swing of the movable guide is in the width direction of the recording sheet (direction perpendicular to the sheet feeding direction). Therefore, a swing space for the movable guide is specially required. The movable guide oscillates in the width direction of the recording sheet due to the two-part structure, but this special oscillating space needs to be at least about half the width of the recording sheet accommodated on both sides of the sheet accommodating portion. The whole was about twice as large.

Furthermore, since the movable guide is divided into two parts and opened, a certain amount of space is generated in the central portion of the recording sheet mounting surface. As a result, the central portion of the recording sheet, where the load is most concentrated, is in a depressed state, and even when the recording sheet is placed, the recording sheet is misaligned, causing unevenness of the sheets.

The above-mentioned prior art is intended for a large-capacity sheet feeding device that stores a large number of single-size recording sheets and supplies them to the image forming apparatus main body. I couldn't adapt.

The present invention has been made in view of the actual situation of the prior art as described above, and an object thereof is to easily and accurately supply a sheet, and further, an image forming apparatus which does not cause a sheet feeding failure. To provide.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention supplies a recording sheet from each of the recording sheet accommodating means arranged vertically in a plurality of stages by the paper feeding means, In an image forming apparatus for forming an image by the image forming means, when a sheet is replenished in the sheet accommodating means, the sheet accommodating means in which the sheet is accommodated for feeding the size of the replenished sheet and the image forming means When the image forming discriminating unit discriminates that the image is being formed, the sheet disappears. A paper end detecting means for detecting the storage level of the sheet storage means and detecting the sheet size based on the sheet size stored in the storage means; A replenishment determining unit that determines whether or not the sheet can be replenished in a preset storage stage of the stage and sends a sheet replenishment signal when replenishment is possible; It is characterized by comprising display means for displaying.

In this case, the display means is set to display the sheet size to be further replenished, and it is determined whether the sheet replenished to the preset storage stage is a paper end sheet. It is also possible to further provide a supply paper size determining means for determining. The preset storage stage is preferably set to the top stage.

[0012]

According to the above means, the size of the sheet replenished by the storage means and the sheet storage means in which the sheets are stored are stored, and the image formation determination means determines whether or not image formation is in progress, and the paper end When the image formation determination unit determines that the image formation is being performed, the detection unit
Detects the storage stage of the sheet storage means that is out of sheets,
The sheet size is extracted from the storage means and the sheet size is detected. Next, the replenishment determination means sends a sheet replenishment signal if the preset storage stage of the sheet storage means is capable of replenishing the sheet, and the display means displays a request for sheet replenishment by inputting the sheet replenishment signal. I do. The user replenishes the sheet according to this display and confirms the sheet size. In this case, if the sheet is set to be supplied to the uppermost sheet storage stage, the sheet can be supplied without bending over.

[0013]

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

FIG. 1 is an internal block diagram showing the entire image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, the overall system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 1, this system comprises a sheet feeding device 1 and an image forming device 2, and the sheet feeding device 1 is arranged in almost the lower half of the entire apparatus, and the image forming device 2 is arranged in the upper part thereof. There is. An automatic document feeder 3 is provided above the image forming apparatus 2. A contact glass 4 is installed at the upper end of the image forming apparatus, which is the lower surface of the automatic document feeder 3, and the original set on the automatic document feeder 3 is automatically placed on the contact glass 4 when a copy signal is input. Be delivered.

The document fed on the contact glass 4 is read by the image reading section 5 provided in the image forming apparatus 2 and converted into a digital signal. The image writing unit 6 irradiates the photoconductor 7 with laser light based on the digital signal. When a copy signal is input, the photoconductor 7 rotates clockwise, is charged to a uniform potential by the charging charger 8, becomes a latent image in the image writing unit 6, and is made visible by the developing device 9. Next, the toner is transferred onto the sheet 99 by the transfer charge 10, is cleaned by the cleaning device 11, and is uniformly discharged by the discharging lamp 12. Each of these steps forms one cycle.

The sheet 99 is fed from the sheet feeding device 1 to the registration roller 20 section and is fed to the transfer section at a predetermined timing. Alternatively, the sheet 99 can be fed from the so-called manual feed tray 19. After being transferred, the sheet 99 is fixed by the fixing device 14 via the transport device 13, and is ejected to the paper ejection unit 15. In addition, these image forming process,
This is a known electrophotographic process.

Inside the sheet feeding device 1, a sheet storage section 270 including nine storage stages is arranged, and only the uppermost stage thereof can be pulled out in the front direction of the apparatus. 2 to
The sheet accommodating units 270b to 270 of the ninth stage have exactly the same configuration, and fulfill the function of a normally used sheet feeding cassette. This portion is integrally covered with the front cover, and is not structured to be detached from the sheet feeding device 1. The sheet accommodating portions 270a to 270 of the respective stages are provided in the sheet stacking tray 24.
6 and the end fence 350.

As described above, since it has a simple structure and is non-detachable without a paper feed cassette, it has more than twice the number of paper feed stages as the paper feed cassette type in the space of an ordinary paper feed device. In the embodiment, about 250 sheets are assumed for each stage, but the number of sheets is not particularly limited. In addition, since a maximum of eight different sheet sizes can be accommodated, the user hardly feels the hassle of not having a desired size. However, there are many cases where the normally used size is limited, and a plurality of frequently used sizes may be set in a plurality of stages.

The sheet stacking tray 246 of the first stage is a sheet replenishing tray when a sheet end occurs in the sheet storage portion 270, and usually no sheets are set. The sheet replenishment tray 246 is located at an intermediate height of the entire machine, and all the sheet replenishment is set here, so that the user can work without bending over.

On the right side of the sheet storage unit 270, only one sheet feeding unit 406 is provided, and the sheet is fed from each tray by moving up and down from the 1st to 9th stages. Usually, since each tray has a paper feed mechanism, there is a problem that the larger the number of trays, the more cost and space are required, which is greatly improved. A conveyor belt 419 is provided on the right side of the paper feeding unit 406, and
The sheets are arranged all over in the vertical direction from the bottom to the top of the feeding device 1 so as to correspond to the sheets fed from the 9th tray. The conveyor belt 419 is charged by the charging charger 420 inside the conveyor belt 419, electrostatically adsorbs the sheet 99 fed by the sheet feeding unit 406, and conveys the sheet upward by its own rotation. Sheets are separated by a conveyance guide plate 55 provided in the middle of the sheet feeding device 1. Sheet 99 isolated
Is guided by a pair of transport guide plates 55, and is fed to the registration roller 20 section by a pair of transport rollers 56.

Below the conveyor belt 419 is a drive roller 41.
7, and the upper part thereof is supported by the discharging roller 418. Since the sheet 99 is electrostatically adsorbed on the conveyor belt 419, the charge removing roller 418 drops the electric charge to the ground to facilitate separation. In addition, the static elimination roller 4
Alternatively, a charge eliminating charger may be separately provided.

For handling sheet jams and maintenance, the sheet feeding unit 406 and the conveyor belt 419 are integrated and can be opened and closed to the right from the sheet feeding device 1 with the back side as a fulcrum. When the sheet feeding unit opening / closing unit 17 is open to the right, the sheet storage unit 270 is pushed from the right side to the sheet feeding unit 4
Since 06 is open from the left side, it is possible to take in and out of the hand and perform jam processing and the like.

When the sheet end occurs, the sheet 99 is held by the sheet feeding unit 406 to move between the trays (described later), but at that time, the sheet stacking tray 246.
Is provided with a mechanism for retracting to the left side so as not to hinder the movement of the seat. This sheet stacking tray 24
No. 6 is bendable in the sheet feeding direction, and when the sheet stacking tray 246 is retracted, the sheet is gradually folded and stored in the tray storage portion 60 from the left end.

The tray accommodating section 60 is provided at the left end of the sheet feeding device 1 and has a vertically long space capable of accommodating one sheet stacking tray 246. That is, a plurality of sheet stacking trays 246 are not simultaneously stored in the sheet storage section 270. As described above, the sheet stacking tray 246 can be opened / closed in a space-saving manner, which contributes to downsizing of the apparatus and multi-tiering of the trays.

Here, the outline of the structure for moving the sheet between the trays will be described. The sheet moving means for moving the sheet bundle placed on one tray to another tray is composed of a sheet feeding means, that is, a paper feeding unit 406. The sheet feeding unit 406 is provided with a pressure holding plate 468 and a calling roller 436, and the pressure holding plate 468 is made to face the sheet storage unit 270 (any of a to i) to be moved in a lowered state. When the end fence 350 pushes out the sheet bundle onto the pressure holding plate 468 until its tip abuts and then raises the pressure holding plate 468, the sheet bundle can be nipped with the calling roller 436 at a predetermined pressure. In this state, the sheet storage section 2
The sheet stacking trays 246 of 70 (a to i) are retracted to the tray accommodating section 60 side, and the sheet feeding unit 406 is lowered to a position facing the storage stage immediately below. The sheet stacking tray 246 of the storage stage is advanced to the sheet feeding unit 406 side, the sheet bundle is placed on the sheet stacking tray 246, and the clamping force between the pressure holding plate 468 and the calling roller 436 is released.
Then, the sheet stack tray 246 is retracted to the sheet feeding position. By repeating this, even when the lowermost sheet storage portion 270i becomes empty, the empty sheet storage portion 270 (any one of a to i) can be simply provided by supplying the sheet to the uppermost sheet storage portion 270a. The seat will be replenished.

Further, with the above configuration, the device is devised so that the installation space is minimized. That is, on the left side of the apparatus, the paper discharge unit 15 is almost invisible from the image forming apparatus 2, and the paper feeding apparatus 1 also has the left cover 21.
It is completely covered with and has very little space on the left side. Further, on the right side of the device, it is sufficient to have a space for opening and closing a little during jam processing. The user can perform all operations including the seat setting on the front side of the device,
There is also an advantage that the installation location is not so restricted. Also,
Since the image forming apparatus 2 is assumed to have an optical system as a digital system, the transfer sheet can be set in a horizontal direction, for example, by providing a function such as vertical / horizontal conversion of an image.
In the present embodiment, the sheet size is B4 or more in the vertical feed and A4 or less in the horizontal feed so that the number of types of the sheet size set in the tray does not increase too much, but the present invention is not limited to this.

Next, the relationship between the control modes of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment will be described. An image forming apparatus as an embodiment to which the present invention is applied is based on the above circumstances in control / mode-related operations.

The basic configuration of the system will be described below.

2 and 3 are block diagrams of a control system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, and these two figures constitute one control system.

In FIG. 2, a controller (controller 60)
Reference numeral 0) is a central processing unit (hereinafter, referred to as “CPU”) 601, which constitutes a microcomputer controlling the main body of the copying machine, a timer 602, and an RO for storing fixed data such as program data for operating the CPU 601.
Volatile RAM 60 that temporarily stores temporary data such as M603, set flags for various modes, set number of sheets, and binding margin size, and loses data when the power is turned off
4. Non-volatile RAM 605 that stores process setting data, number of jams, number of service calls, logging data such as number of sheets, size data of each sheet storage unit, etc., and does not lose data even when power is turned off, CPU
An I / O 606 that controls the interface between the control unit 601, the operation unit 610, the copy process unit 613, the paper feed control unit 620, and the sensor unit 630 controls the copy sequence based on a control program stored in the ROM 603.

Further, the CPU 601 has an operation unit 610 which detects various displays and various input information from an operator via the I / O 606, a copy process unit 613 which performs image formation such as charging / developing, a paper feed control unit 620, and various types. It is connected to a sensor unit 630 connected to various sensor groups for detecting copy information, machine status information, and the like.

The operation section 610 is a display section 611 such as a CRT display or LCD for displaying various messages to the operator, and a key input section 612 for detecting various input information (print key, mode key, etc.) from the operator.
Thus, the control output from the copying process unit 613 is sent to each unit that executes the copying process, including the above-mentioned charger 8 and the developing device 9, and controls them.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the paper feed controller 620
Is a paper feed unit drive unit 621 that drives a paper feed unit moving motor that moves the paper feed unit up and down, an end fence drive unit 622 that drives an end fence drive motor that moves an end fence, and separation / conveyance in the paper feed unit. Associated with each roller and a paper feed / transport drive unit 623 that drives a paper feed / transport drive motor that drives electrostatic transport, a tray drive unit 624 that drives a tray drive motor that covers the movement of the tray When shifting down,
The pressure lever drive unit 625 is configured to drive a pressure lever drive motor for raising the pressure lever. Furthermore, the outputs of various sensor groups of the sensor unit 630 are output to the I / O.
The CPU 601 detects it via 606 and executes the copy sequence based on the control program stored in the ROM 603. At that time, regarding the paper feed control such as paper feed and paper end, various signals such as a paper feed operation signal and a paper end processing signal are sent from the CPU 601 to the I / O 60.
It is sent to the paper feed control unit 612 via 6. The paper feed control unit 612 sends a drive signal to each drive unit (not shown) based on these signals and controls the drive signals to perform processing such as paper feed and paper end.

Further, the sensor section 630 is a sheet end detection sensor 48 for detecting the presence / absence of the sheet at the sheet feeding stage.
1. A sheet remaining amount detection sensor 482 that detects the remaining amount of the sheet in the stage being fed in several stages, and a sheet feeding unit position detection sensor that detects the number of the fed sheet by counting from the home position 492, a sheet leading edge detection sensor 483 that checks whether the sheet is fed correctly when feeding the sheet, a sheet upper limit detection sensor 480 that detects the upper limit of the sheet bundle of the tray, and an end fence that detects the position of the end fence A position detection sensor 357, a sheet detection sensor 394 that detects the presence or absence of a sheet when the drawer tray is taken in and out, a tray opening amount detection sensor 631 that detects the open amount when the drawer tray is pulled out in combination with an encoder, and a home position of the tray. Tray standby position detection sensor 632 that detects, human body that detects the presence of an operator Knowledge sensor 633, the tray sheet feed position detecting sensor 634 for detecting the feed position of the tray, and is configured from the tray driving unit position detecting sensor 635 and the like.

In the above system, a series of CPs
The determination operation of U601 may be stored in the ROM 603 and / or the non-volatile RAM 605 in advance. This also applies to each control operation described later.

The sheet size detection is performed by the first-stage sheet storage section 270a. The lateral size of the sheet is determined by the end fence 350. First, in this detection, first, the end fence 350 is moved to the home position, and at this time, the filler 354 on the lower side of the rack (not shown) keeps cutting the end fence position detection sensor 357 (not shown) during movement to turn off the sensor. The lateral size of the set sheet is calculated from the number of sheets, and the sheet size is detected by the CPU 601.

First, the table size (hereinafter referred to as "tbl
"size". ) (I) is a table for storing sheet size data, replenishment date data, and paper type data as shown in FIG. 4, and tbl size (i) is table data for the i-th sheet storage unit. ing.
The tbl size (i) is provided on the non-volatile RAM (605), and the data is retained even when the power of the apparatus main body is turned off. Also, this table is used for the first sheet storage unit 27.
When the sheet 99 is set at 0a, the size of the sheet 99 is detected in the first sheet storage portion 270a as described above, and the size data is registered. In addition, if there is a sheet movement between each sheet storage unit, tbl size
The sheet size data and the like of (i) are also changed according to the sheet movement. The sheet size detection and sheet size registration shown in FIG. 5 will be described below with reference to the flowchart.

First, in step S0, the CPU 601 determines whether or not a sheet has been moved from the i-th stage sheet storage portion to the i + 1-th stage sheet storage portion. If No, the process proceeds to step S2, and the CPU 601 determines whether or not there is a sheet supply in the first-stage sheet storage portion 270a. If No, it is out of the target of this mode, so Ret is executed, and the process exits this mode. If Yes, the process proceeds to step S3 and subsequent steps, and tbl size (i) is set to the first-stage sheet storage unit 2
The sheet size data and the like detected at 70a are registered.

Next, in step S4, it is determined whether or not there is a request for sheet replenishment day registration. Further, in step S6, it is determined whether or not there is a registration request for the paper type data of the supply sheet. Then, steps S5, S7, and S8 are executed according to these conditions. That is t
Step S7 is performed on the tbl size (1) which is the table data of the first-stage sheet storage unit of the bl size (i).
Then, the sheet size data and the replenishment date data are tb in FIG.
It is registered as in the l size (1) field. And
When the registration of each data ends, this mode ends.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S0 is whether or not the sheet has been moved from the i-th sheet storage unit to the i + 1-th sheet storage unit, that is, the i + 1-th sheet storage unit is the paper end. Therefore, when a sheet is moved between the sheet storage units, the table tbl s
The predetermined sheet size data and the like of the size are also updated in accordance with the sheet movement (step S1). The state of data update of the table tbl size is shown in FIGS. If the sheet is moved from the second tier sheet storage unit 270b to the third tier sheet storage unit 270c, the table data of tbl size (3) will be rewritten by the data of tbl size (2). Further, the data of tbl size (2) will be cleared by 0 because the second-stage sheet storage section has become empty.

Even if the sheet is moved between the sheet storage units by this operation, the predetermined sheet size data and the like of the table tbl size are also updated in accordance with the sheet movement, so that the CPU 601 The sheet size of the sheet storage unit 270 is the data table tbl.
It can be correctly recognized by referring to the size.

Next, the control at the paper end will be described with respect to the case where the paper end occurs during the image forming operation.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the control procedure when the paper end occurs during the image forming operation.

In this processing procedure, first, the CPU 601 determines whether an image is being formed (step S1).
If it is 0) or No, it is outside the area of this mode, so Ret. On the other hand, if Yes, the process proceeds to step S11 to detect the paper end from the second sheet storage unit 270b to the n-th sheet storage unit by detecting the sheet end detection sensor 481 in FIG.
It will be implemented based on the results of the. Since the first sheet storage unit 270a is normally used as a sheet storage unit dedicated to paper supply, it is outside the range of paper end detection and the sheet storage unit No. The index i of i starts from i = 2. If i> n, it means that no paper end has occurred from the second sheet storage portion to the nth sheet storage portion, and Ret is performed.

On the other hand, if i≤n, the paper end detection of the i-th sheet storage section (step S11-1) is performed based on the result of the sheet end detection sensor 481 shown in FIG. If Yes in step S11-1, it is then determined whether or not the i-th sheet storage unit is currently feeding (sheet storage unit selected for sheet feeding) (step S11-2).
Is performed by the CPU 601. At this time, if Yes, it is understood that the i-th sheet storage unit has a paper end in the sheet storage unit that is currently being fed (the sheet storage unit selected for sheet feeding) (step S12-2).

On the other hand, the paper end detection of the i-th sheet storage section (step S11-1) or the determination whether the i-th sheet storage section is currently feeding (the sheet storage section selected for sheet feeding) (step Sl1) -2) If No, the paper end has not occurred in the i-th sheet storage unit, or the paper end has occurred in the i-th sheet storage unit but is currently feeding (selected for feeding) Sheet storage section) that is not the same. Therefore, the sheet storage unit No. The index i of is incremented by 1 (i = i +
1) Then, the paper end detection of the next sheet storage unit (step S11-1) is performed.

Next, in step S2, the size of the i-th sheet storage section is detected based on the size data table tbl size detected during sheet replenishment. As described above, the paper size data is collected by the paper size detection executed when the paper is set in the first sheet storage unit 270a, and the paper size data is stored in the non-volatile memory 605 for each sheet storage unit. ing. Therefore, the size of the i-th sheet storage portion is detected by searching the paper size data table, and the paper size is fixed (step S13).

From the above, it is found that the paper end has occurred in the sheet storage unit (sheet storage unit selected for paper supply) of the sheet storage unit currently being fed, and the paper in the sheet storage unit The size is now known.

At the paper end, the paper is replenished from the first sheet storage portion 270a. However, the paper end occurs during the image forming operation, and when the paper is replenished for that purpose, the first sheet storage portion 270 is first set in step S14.
It is determined whether or not there is a sheet in a. If there is a sheet in the first sheet storage portion 270a, it is impossible to replenish the sheet at the paper end that occurred during the image forming operation.
The display unit 611 of the operation unit 610 outputs a message to the effect that "there is paper in the first sheet storage unit, so remove the paper". This message is output in step S14
It is output until the sheet in the sheet storage unit 270a is removed.

When the sheets in the first sheet storage section 270a are removed, a message for replenishing the sheet to the first sheet storage section 270a is displayed in step S15, and further, the paper size of the paper end is displayed in step S16. When the display is performed, the process proceeds to step S17, and the message of step S15 and S16 causes the first sheet storage unit 2
It is determined whether or not paper has been supplied to 70a.
If the first sheet storage portion 270a is not replenished with paper, the message output in steps S15 and S16 is continued. On the other hand, when paper is supplied, step S1
In step 8, it is determined whether the sheets set in the first sheet storage unit 270a are the same as the size data detected in step S13. If it is not the same size paper, the process returns to step S14, and if it is the same size paper, this paper end routine is ended.

[0052]

As is apparent from the above description, when replenishing a sheet in the sheet storage means, the size of the replenished sheet and the sheet in which the sheet is stored for feeding to the image forming means. A storage unit that stores a storage unit, an image formation determination unit that determines whether or not an image is being formed by the image formation unit, and a sheet when the image formation determination unit determines that an image is being formed. The paper end detection means that detects the storage stage of the sheet storage means that has run out and detects the sheet size based on the sheet size stored in the storage means, and the preset storage stage of the sheet storage means can supply sheets. And a replenishment determining means for transmitting a sheet replenishment signal when replenishment is possible,
According to the invention as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a display means for receiving a sheet supply signal and displaying a request for sheet supply. When a paper end occurs during an image forming operation, a preset sheet storage is performed. Since the sheet replenishment message is displayed, it is sufficient to replenish the sheet to the replenishment stage set in advance by the sheet replenishment message, so that the sheet replenishment can be performed easily and accurately. In this case, the sheets are replenished while the sheets are overlapped with each other, so that there is no fear that a sheet feeding failure will occur thereafter. Further, the display means according to claim 1 is set so as to display the sheet size to be further replenished, and whether the sheet replenished to the preset storage stage is a paper end sheet or not According to the invention of claim 2, further comprising a replenishment sheet size discriminating means for discriminating, since the sheet of the displayed sheet size may be replenished to the preset sheet storage stage, the selection of the sheet size is easy. Further, since it is determined whether or not the size of the supplied sheet is the size of the sheet to be supplied, it is possible to avoid mistakes in the supply and further improve the ease of paper supply.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3 in which the preset storage step according to claim 1 or 2 is set as the uppermost storage step, the paper can be replenished without bending over, so that the paper can be supplied. The replenishment can be performed in a comfortable posture, and the ease of replenishing the sheets can be further improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating an outline of an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a part of a basic system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, and shows one system together with FIG.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing another part of the basic system of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment, and shows one system together with FIG.

FIG. 4 is a table that stores sheet size data, replenishment date data, and paper type data in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for sheet size detection and sheet size registration in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of paper end processing in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Paper Feeding Device 2 Image Forming Device 3 Automatic Document Feeding Device 99 Sheet 246 Sheet Stacking Tray 270 Sheet Storage Unit 350 End Fence 406 Paper Feeding Unit 419 Conveyor Belt 600 Control Unit (Controller) 601 Central Processing Unit (CPU) 602 Timer 603 ROM 604 volatile RAM 605 non-volatile RAM 606 I / O unit 610 operation unit 611 display unit 612 key input unit 613 copy process unit 620 paper feed control unit 621 paper feed unit drive unit 622 end fence drive unit 623 paper feed / transport drive unit 624 Tray drive unit 625 Pressure lever drive unit 630 Sensor unit

Front page continuation (72) Inventor Shigeki Sawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Tamiya Akimoto 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Jun Odaka 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus for feeding a recording sheet from each of a plurality of recording sheet storage units arranged in a vertical direction by a sheet feeding unit and forming an image on the recording sheet by the image forming unit, When a sheet is replenished in the accommodating means, a storage means for storing the size of the replenished sheet and a sheet accommodating means for accommodating the sheet for feeding to the image forming means, and an image forming operation by the image forming means. If the image formation determination means determines whether or not the sheet is being formed, the storage stage of the sheet storage means that has run out of sheets is detected and the sheet size is determined as described above. Whether the paper end detection means for detecting based on the sheet size stored in the storage means and the preset storage stage of the sheet storage means can supply sheets. It is characterized in that it is provided with a replenishment discriminating means for discriminating and sending a sheet replenishment signal when replenishment is possible, and a display means for receiving a sheet replenishment signal and displaying a request for sheet replenishment. Image forming apparatus. 2. The display means is set so as to display a sheet size to be further replenished, and it is determined whether or not the sheet replenished to the preset storage stage is a paper end sheet. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a replenishment sheet size determining unit that controls the supply sheet size. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preset storage stage is the uppermost storage stage.