JPH08245048A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To store trial image-formed paper in the exclusive places of a shift tray simultaneously with obtaining the trial image-formed paper so as to facilitate the following sorting process and the like by storing the trial image-formed paper in three different storage positions or more of a shift tray at the time of storing the trial image-formed paper. CONSTITUTION: A guide plate 18 fitted integrally with the base end part of a shift tray 1 on the lower side of a paper discharge roller 17 is provided with a rack 19. A pinion 20 rotatory-driven by a motor is rotatably supported on the finisher body side and meshed with the rack 19. After the end of a first set of copying action or every trial copying, the motor is controlled to move the rack 19 meshed with the pinion 20. The shift tray 1 is thereby moved to store discharged transfer paper by changing the position, that is, an A-state of being positioned at the center, a B-state of being moved to the right side, and a C-state of being moved to the left side are set with the paper discharge roller 17 as the center.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine and a printer, and more particularly to an improvement in a method of storing a test image forming sheet on which a test copy is made.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic copying machine, after an image is formed on a recording sheet in an image forming section, the recording sheet is placed on a bin or tray provided outside the apparatus. Is discharged to. When it is necessary to separately store (sort) the discharged sheets in accordance with a certain standard, a bin (similar to a tray) for separately storing the sheets in each group is used. If you want to divide into more than 1 group, make sure to move each bin to a different horizontal position, that is, the 1st position and the 2nd position, in order to secure a storage space for more than the number of bins. Is known (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-185677).
reference). There is also known an image forming apparatus configured so that a trial image can be formed for a first original among a plurality of originals (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-188166). However, although these conventional methods have the advantage of being able to secure a storage space equal to or larger than the number of bins and the advantage of being somewhat convenient for the formation of the trial image, the paper that has undergone the trial image formation and normal image formation can be Since the received paper is stored in the same storage position, if left as it is, there is a problem in that it mixes with normal image forming paper and becomes complicated.

[0003]

In the above conventional technique, the sheet on which the test image has been formed and the normal image forming sheet are stored in the same storage position. Therefore, if they are left as they are, the normal image forming is performed. There was a problem that the paper was mixed and the sorting became complicated.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, according to the present invention, in order to distinguish the sheets, the shift tray is moved in the horizontal direction to change the setting position to provide a dedicated storage area for the trial image forming sheets and shift the formed trial image forming sheets. You can visually check the state of the image without removing it from the shift tray while it is still on the tray.Also, even if you try to form a test image again or form a normal image, The discharged subsequent sheet does not mix with the preceding trial image forming sheet to complicate the sorting and discrimination, and moreover, since the detecting unit and the displaying unit for detecting whether the trial image forming sheet exists in the shift tray are provided. , Forget to take the trial image forming paper,
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing the image forming apparatus from being mixed with a normal image forming sheet.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is a sheet discharged from an image forming apparatus after being subjected to image formation by an image forming section in the image forming apparatus. A shift tray that can be moved in a direction orthogonal to the sheet discharge direction to store the sheets separately from other sheets, and a trial forming unit that inputs an instruction to form a trial image. Is set to at least three places, and when the shift tray is located at one of the three places, the test image forming paper on which the test image is recorded by the image forming unit according to the instruction from the trial forming means is selected. It is characterized in that it is configured to be stored on the shift tray.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the storage position of the shift tray for storing the trial image forming paper on the shift tray is one of the at least three storage positions. Characterize. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that a detecting means for detecting the presence or absence of the trial image forming sheet is provided on the shift tray. The invention according to claim 4 is characterized by further comprising display means for displaying the presence of paper when the presence of paper is detected by the detection means.

[0007]

According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, a sheet for discharging a sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus after being subjected to image formation by an image forming section in the image forming apparatus is stored separately from other sheets. A shift tray movable in a direction orthogonal to the discharge direction and a trial forming means for inputting an instruction to form a trial image. The shift trays are stored at least at three storage positions. A structure for storing a test image forming sheet on which a test image has been recorded by the image forming unit according to an instruction from the test forming unit when the test image forming sheet is stored in the shift tray when it is in a specific one of the three positions. Since the paper on which the test image has been formed can be stored in the dedicated storage area of the shift tray, it is possible to eliminate the problem that sorting and checking work becomes complicated when mixed with normal image forming paper. It can be.

In the shift tray, the storage position of the trial image forming paper is generally one of the storage positions of at least three places, so that the presence or absence of the trial image forming paper can be promptly confirmed, and the normal image can be confirmed. It is possible to eliminate the problem of being mixed with the forming paper. In the above image forming apparatus, since the detection means for detecting the presence or absence of the paper stored in the dedicated storage area for the trial image forming paper is arranged on the shift tray, the test image forming paper is transferred to the shift tray from the detection signal of the detection means. I know if it is stored. When a detection signal indicating that a sheet is present is output from the detection unit of the image forming apparatus, it has display means for displaying the presence of the sheet, so that the trial image forming sheet may be left on the shift tray. , It is possible to completely prevent the trouble that is mixed with normal image forming paper and collected.

[0009]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the description, an electrophotographic copying machine (hereinafter referred to as a copying machine), which is a typical image forming apparatus, will be described as an example.
Since the configuration and function of the copying machine are well known, the part related to the present invention will be described. 1 is an external view of a copying machine to which the present invention is applied, and FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the copying machine shown in FIG.
The first sheet of the original set on the circulation type automatic feeder 10 (hereinafter, referred to as RDH) is guided to the contact glass 11 by depressing the normal image forming start key 5 on the operation unit 6, An image forming unit (not shown) performs charging, exposure, and development, which are general copying processes, to form a toner image suitable for reading a document on the photosensitive drum or the transfer belt 12 as shown in the figure. It

On the other hand, while the transfer paper stored in the paper supply unit 13 is conveyed in the direction of the thick line arrow, the toner image on the transfer belt 12 is transferred, fixed by the heat fixing device 14, and discharged. The paper roller 17 discharges the paper onto the shift tray 1. When the copy of the original is completed as described above, the first original returns to the RDH 10 and the next original is copied in the same process.

The shift tray provided at the discharge port of the image forming apparatus (including the post-processing apparatus) is reciprocally movable in the direction orthogonal to the paper discharge direction. According to the present invention, in addition to moving the shift tray to two places for sorting the sheets that have received a normal copy, a dedicated position for storing the sheets on which the test image has been formed is separately provided. It is characteristic. That is, the shift tray has stop positions (storage positions) in at least three places. Each stop position is a storage position for receiving the discharged sheet at each place. Since the storage positions are shifted in the substantially horizontal direction, the positions of the sheets on the same tray can be sorted.

When the original set on the RDH 10 makes one round and a set of copies is discharged onto the shift tray 1, the shift tray 1 moves in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 1 (to the position indicated by the dotted line). Move) and store the next set of copies. In this way, each set of copies is stored in a separated form. The positional relationship between the shift tray 1 and the stored sheets will be described in detail with reference to another drawing. Further, in this example, the finisher 15 having a stapling function is provided, and when the stapling operation is performed, the separation claw 16 is pulled by a solenoid (not shown) so that the copied sheet passes through the lower conveyance path. There is. A set of copied sheets are collected, stapled, and then ejected to the outside of the machine and stored on the shift tray 1.

In addition, prior to the above-mentioned normal image forming process, it is taken into consideration that trial setting can be performed in order to check whether or not the setting of the editing function such as image density and zooming is in a preferable state. A part of the operation unit 6 of FIG. 1 is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, a trial forming means (trial key) 2 that can be trial-taken adjacent to a normal image forming start key 5 is shown.
Is installed. When the trial forming means 2 is turned on,
One of the originals set on the RDH 10 is guided onto the contact glass 11 by the function of a control circuit (not shown), and the image of the original is copied onto the transfer paper through the copying process described above. When the copied sheet is discharged onto the shift tray 1, the shift tray 1 is moved in advance so as to be stored in a dedicated storage area for the trial image forming sheet so as to be distinguished from other normal image forming sheets. If it is necessary to change the condition setting by looking at the quality of the stored trial image forming paper, reset the condition, and turn on the test forming means 2 again to obtain the test image under the new condition setting. Can be done. If there is no need to change the condition setting, start key 5
It goes without saying that a copy corresponding to the desired document can be made by turning on. Further, on the shift tray 1, a detecting means 3 is attached so that it can be determined whether or not the trial image forming paper is stored. When the detecting means 3 determines that the trial image forming paper is present, This is displayed on the display unit 4 so that the trial image forming paper is not left behind or mixed with normal image forming paper. The detailed operation will be described below.

First, the movement of the shift tray 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. A guide plate 1 that is integrally attached to the base end of the shift tray 1 below the paper discharge roller 17.
8, a rack 19 is installed as shown in the figure, and a pinion 20 rotatably driven by a motor 21 is rotatably supported on the main body side of the finisher 15 and meshes with the rack 19. After the completion of the first set of copying operations or each time a trial is taken, the motor 21 is controlled so as to rotate in the normal or reverse direction by a required amount, which is transmitted to the pinion 20 to move the rack 19 meshed with the pinion 20. Let As a result, the shift tray 1 moves in the direction of the arrow, and the transfer sheet to be discharged is stored at a different position.

FIG. 5 is a view seen from above in order to make it easier to understand the state of the shift tray 1 whose position has been changed in three steps. The state A (shift tray 1) is located in the center with the discharge roller 17 at the center. Is indicated by a dotted line), a B state (shift tray 1 is indicated by a dashed line) moved to the right side thereof, and a C state (shift tray 1 is indicated by a solid line) moved to the left side thereof.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are the same as those in FIG.
3 shows the positional relationship between the storage positions of the shift tray 1 in the A state, the B state, and the C state described above, and the stored transfer sheets. That is, in FIG. 6A, the maximum size transfer sheet Pmax is placed on the shift tray 1 centered on the sheet discharge roller 17.
(Shown by a chain double-dashed line in the figure) and the minimum size transfer sheet Pmi
When n (indicated by a one-dot chain line in the figure) is stored, the detection means 3 for detecting the trial image forming sheet is installed outside the maximum size transfer sheet Pmax as shown in the figure. Figure 6
(B) is a case where the transfer paper ejected when the shift tray 1 is moved to the right with respect to the paper ejection roller 17 is stored, and the maximum size transfer paper Pmax and the minimum size transfer paper Pmin that are stored are shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. FIG. 6C shows a case where the transfer sheet discharged when the shift tray 1 is moved to the left side is stored.
The stored maximum size transfer sheet Pmax and minimum size transfer sheet Pmin are installed inside the minimum size transfer sheet Pmin so that the detection unit 3 can detect them.

As can be seen from these explanations, FIG.
FIG. 6B shows a case of storing a normal image forming sheet, and FIG. 6C shows a case of storing a trial image forming sheet. If the sheets are stored at the respective positions according to the types of the ejected sheets, they will not be mixed even on the same shift tray.

Further, the maximum size transfer sheet Pmax and the minimum size transfer sheet Pmin are laterally (shift tray 1
(The same direction as the movement direction of)
If (L) min, l (L) max and l
(El) min and a movement pitch t (see FIG. 5) from the position of the shift tray 1 in FIG. 6 (A) (the rightmost position) to the position of the shift tray 1 in FIG. 6 (C) (the leftmost position). It is easy to understand that the relation of is t> (1/2) (lmax-lmin). Therefore, if the detection unit 3 is installed as described above, only the trial image forming papers within the specified size stored in the shift tray 1 are detected, and normal image forming papers are not erroneously detected. As described above, by transmitting the detection result of the detection unit 3 to the display unit 4 of FIG. 1 and displaying the contents, it is possible to obtain the effect of not leaving the trial image forming sheet or mixing with the normal image forming sheet.

Although FIG. 6C shows the case of storing the trial image forming sheet, if the position of the detecting means 3 is set on the left and right sides with respect to the center line of the shift tray 1 in the longitudinal direction, FIG. It is easy to understand that when 6A and 6C store the normal image forming paper, FIG. 6B shows the case where the trial image forming paper is stored. That is, the position where the trial image forming paper is stored may be either one of the storage positions at both ends which is determined. Further, in the above description, the storage positions of the shift tray 1 are described as three storage positions, but the same idea can be applied even if three or more storage positions are set. Further, in the above description, the example of the copying machine using the RDH 10 is described, but the same effect can be considered for the copying machine equipped with a general auto sheet feeder instead of the RDH 10. Further, in the above embodiment, the shift tray 1
An example of a copying machine using one was explained, but the effect does not change even if the constitution of the bins with a plurality of upper and lower stages is provided. in this case,
Each bin may be configured to move simultaneously in synchronization or individually, or only the uppermost tray may be moved as a shift tray.

FIG. 7 shows the main operation of the shift tray 1 described in FIG. When the trial forming means 2 is turned on (YES in step S1), a trial image forming operation is performed, but it is checked whether or not the shift tray 1 is in the C position which is a dedicated storage place for trial image forming paper (S2). , C
If it is not in the position (S2 NO), the shift tray 1 is moved to the C position (S3), and if it is in the C position (S2 Y
(ES) With the position left as it is, the preparation of the shift tray 1 for storing the trial image forming paper is completed (S4). The start key 5 for normal image formation is O instead of the trial forming means 2.
If the answer is N (NO in S1), the position of the shift tray is alternately selected between the A position and the B position so that normal image forming sheets are stored while being sorted. That is, if the shift tray 1 is initially in the A position (S5 YES), the shift tray 1 is moved to the B position (S6), and if the shift tray 1 is not in the A position (S5 NO), the shift tray 1 is moved.
Is moved to the A position (S7), and the preparation of the shift tray 1 for storing normal image forming paper is completed (S4). In addition,
In the above, the condition for moving the shift tray 1 to the A position is the case where the shift tray 1 does not exist at the A position, but this means that the shift tray may be at the B position or at the C position. . Although there is no problem in actual use, in step 5, the storage unit of the control unit remembers which position was the position before the current position (position A or position B). It is also possible to let it be taken.

According to the above description, the trial image forming paper can be stored in the exclusive position of the shift tray 1, and the visual confirmation is carried out while the trial image forming paper is placed on the shift tray 1, and then the trial image forming paper is checked later. It is possible to carry out the processing collectively, and it is possible to eliminate the trouble that the trial image forming paper is left behind somewhere else and that it becomes complicated when mixed with normal image forming paper.

[0022]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, the shift tray movable in the direction orthogonal to the direction of the discharged paper and in the horizontal plane and the trial forming means for forming the trial image are provided. When storing the trial image forming paper,
Since the shift tray is configured to be stored at three locations, or at three or more different storage locations, a trial image is formed by the trial forming means to obtain a trial image forming sheet, and at the same time, the shift tray is Since it is now possible to store it in a dedicated place, it is possible to visually check the trial image forming paper while it is still on the shift tray and process it together in a later process. It is possible to eliminate the problem that the later sorting process and the like become complicated by being mixed with the ordinary image forming paper.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the storage position of the trial image forming paper is set to one of the storage positions at both ends of the shift tray, so that the presence or absence of the trial image forming paper can be promptly confirmed. After that, it is possible to process them all at once afterwards, and it is possible to eliminate the problem that the trial image forming paper is mixed with the normal image forming paper.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the test image forming paper is provided with a detecting means for detecting the presence / absence of the paper stored in the dedicated storage area for the trial image forming paper on the shift tray, and from the detection signal of the detecting means. Since it is now known whether or not the trial image forming paper is stored in the shift tray, it is possible to completely prevent the trial image forming paper from being left behind on the shift tray.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, when the detection means of the image forming apparatus outputs a detection signal indicating that there is paper, the display means is provided for receiving the signal and displaying the presence of paper.
It is possible to confirm at a glance whether or not the trial image forming paper remains on the shift tray, and it is possible to prevent problems such as misplacement of the trial image forming paper and mixing with the normal image forming paper.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view of a main part of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a main part of an image forming apparatus showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a main part of an operation unit of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view for explaining the movement of the essential parts of the shift tray showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view illustrating the movement of the main part of the shift tray showing the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of storing normal image forming paper on a shift tray according to an embodiment of the present invention;
(B) is an explanatory view for explaining another example in which normal image forming sheets are stored in the shift tray showing the embodiment of the present invention, (C).
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of storing trial image forming sheets in a shift tray according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating main movements of the shift tray according to the embodiment of this invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... shift tray, 2 ... trial forming means, 3 ...
・ Detecting means, 4 ... Displaying means, 5 ... Start key, 6 ... Operating part, 10 ... Circulating automatic feeder (RDH), 11 ... Contact glass, 12 ...
Transfer belt, 13 ... Heat fixing device for paper feeding unit, 14 ...
Heat fixing device, 15 ... Finisher, 16 ... Separation claw, 17 ... Paper ejection roller, 18 ... Guide plate, 19
... racks, 20 ... pinions, 21 ... motors.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A paper sheet discharged from the image forming apparatus after being subjected to image formation by an image forming unit in the image forming apparatus is stored in a direction orthogonal to a paper sheet discharging direction so as to be stored separately from other paper sheets. It has a movable shift tray and a trial forming means for inputting an instruction to form a trial image, and the storage positions of the shift tray are set to at least three places, and the shift tray is one of the three places. The image forming apparatus is configured so that the test image forming sheet on which the test image has been recorded by the image forming unit according to the instruction from the trial forming unit is stored on the shift tray. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1,
An image forming apparatus, wherein a storage position of the shift tray for storing the trial image forming paper on the shift tray is at least one of the storage positions of the three positions. 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the shift tray is provided with detection means for detecting the presence or absence of the trial image forming sheet. 4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising display means for displaying the presence of paper when the presence of paper is detected by the detection means.