JPH08272267A - History information control device for image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To perform effective maintenance without increasing the memory size and the arithmetic processing capacity, and to confirm an effect of the maintenance, by making the various information based on the number of abnormalities before and after the last maintenance outputted from information output means. CONSTITUTION: A CPU 8 is allowed to stop a transporting motor 5 by controlling the transporting motor control part 6, when it is judged that a jamming occurs between form transport detection sensors l1 and 1k in a copying operation, and at the same time to make the display part 3A of an operation panel part 3 to display the jamming occurrence and a place of occurrence by controlling the operation panel control part 4, and moreover one is added to the jamming occurrence frequency of a storage region storing the jamming occurrence frequency after the last maintenance in a NV (nonvolatile) RAM 10. Then on specifying a display mode from the operation part 3B of the operation panel part 3, the jamming occurrence frequency, the number of copies and the paper feeding operation frequency before and after the last maintenance, and the number of copies and the paper feeding operation at the present time, classified by the jamming occurrence place is severally displayed on display part 3A.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a history information management apparatus for an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, and more particularly to a history information management apparatus for confirming the effect of maintenance without increasing the storage area. The present invention relates to an information management device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer, it is impossible to eliminate jams (paper jams) due to wear and deterioration of a sheet conveying roller, temperature, humidity and the like. For this reason, a plurality of paper conveyance detection sensors that detect the passage of the paper are arranged in the paper conveyance path to detect the occurrence of a jam. That is,
If the next paper transport detection sensor does not detect the passage of the paper even after a lapse of a predetermined time after one paper transport detection sensor detects the passage of the paper, it is determined that a jam has occurred and the image forming operation is stopped. At the same time, processing for prompting the operator to remove the jammed paper is performed.

By the way, as a conventional image forming apparatus of this type, for example, an apparatus has been proposed in which jam information is stored each time it is generated and can be confirmed as history information when a service person visits. As the history information, it is common to classify and distinguish the cause and the place of occurrence and accumulate the number of occurrences of jams.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 8596, there is also proposed a method of counting the number of recorded sheets from the occurrence of the previous jam.
In the image forming apparatus that stores the history information in this way, the service person refers to the history information to identify the location where the jam frequently occurs, and perform maintenance such as repair of parts or replacement of parts. It can be used to estimate where and what parts are needed. By doing so, the maintenance work is going to be performed more efficiently.

On the other hand, recently, there has been a demand for confirming the effects of maintenance such as repair of parts and replacement of parts. In other words, in the maintenance due to the occurrence of jam, the work content is selected and decided by the knowledge and experience of the service person, but the work content itself is a relatively limited work such as cleaning, repair, and replacement of parts. Therefore, the ability to select and decide what to do is important for effective maintenance. In order to improve the ability of service personnel, it is important to recognize how effective the work content processed for the jam is. However, the conventional image forming apparatus has a disadvantage that it cannot satisfy such a request because it stores only the information about the jam after the maintenance.

To solve this problem, the jam occurrence status such as the detected jam occurrence location, cause, occurrence time, number of copies, copy mode, etc. are all stored so that the information can be confirmed when the service person visits. What has been proposed is proposed. According to this proposal, effective maintenance can be performed by statistically processing the stored information for use by a service person.

[0006]

However, according to the image forming apparatus provided with the above-mentioned proposal, since all the occurrence states of jams are stored, a large storage area is required and the cost is increased. Further, since a large amount of information is statistically processed, there is a disadvantage that the number of calculation processes is increased.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to manage the history information of the image forming apparatus, which enables effective maintenance to be performed without increasing the storage capacity and the amount of calculation processing, and which can confirm the effect of the maintenance. It is to provide a device.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention enables effective maintenance to be performed without increasing the storage capacity and the amount of calculation processing, and enables confirmation of the effect of methance. Therefore, an abnormality detection unit that detects an abnormality during image formation, a storage unit that stores the number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance and the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance, and before and after the previous maintenance stored in the storage unit. Information output means for outputting various information based on the number of abnormalities of the above, and when the latest maintenance following the previous maintenance is performed, the latest maintenance is set as a new previous maintenance, and the latest maintenance stored in the storage means is performed. The number of abnormalities before maintenance is initialized, and the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance stored in the storage means is updated to the new previous maintenance. There is provided a history information management device of an image forming apparatus including a control means for the Nsu previous abnormal number.

The storage means has a first storage area for storing the number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance and a second storage area for storing the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance. It is preferable to have a configuration in which the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance is transferred to the first storage area and the second storage area is used as a new storage area for the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance.

The storage means classifies and stores the number of abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance, and an identifier for identifying the storage contents of the first and second storage areas. Each time the latest maintenance is performed, the control means clears the number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance from the first or the second storage area, and a new previous storage area is stored. It is preferable that the storage area has the number of abnormalities after the maintenance and the identifier corresponding to the cleared storage area is stored in the third storage area.

[0011]

The number of abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance is stored in the storage means, and when the abnormality detection means detects an abnormality during image formation, the control means stores the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance stored in the storage means. Add 1 to. When performing the latest maintenance, the effect of the previous maintenance can be confirmed by comparing the number of abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance, and the current maintenance can be appropriately performed. On the other hand, when the latest maintenance is completed, this is set as new previous maintenance, and the number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance stored in the storage means is initialized and the abnormality after the previous maintenance stored in the storage means is initialized. The number of is stored as it is as a new number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance. If necessary, various information based on the number of abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance stored in the storage means can be obtained from the information output means.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A history information management apparatus for an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a history information management device of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The history information management device of the image forming apparatus includes a plurality of sheet conveyance detection sensors 1 ₁ , 1 ₂ arranged in a sheet conveyance path described later.
..1 _K-1 and 1 _K , and paper transport detection sensors 1 ₁ and 1 _{2
.1 K-1} , sensor control unit 2 for controlling 1 _K , display unit 3A for displaying various information, and operation unit 3B such as operation keys
And the like, an operation panel control unit 4 that controls the operation panel unit 3, a conveyance motor 5 that drives the conveyance rollers and the like in the paper conveyance path, and a conveyance motor control unit 6 that controls the conveyance motor 5. , A ROM 7 storing a predetermined program, a CPU 8 that performs predetermined signal processing and calculation based on the program of the ROM 7, a RAM 9 that temporarily stores the signal processing and calculation results of the CPU 8, and previous maintenance as history information. An NV (non-volatile) RAM 10 for storing the number of jams before and after, the number of copies, the number of paper feeding operations, and the like is configured.

[0014] The paper conveying sensor ₁ 1, 1 ₂ ...
As shown in a simplified form in FIG. 2, 1 _K-1 and 1 _K are provided in a paper conveyance path that is discharged from a tray 11 having a paper feed roll 11A to a discharge unit 13 via a transfer unit 12. .

In the copy operation, the CPU 8 is positioned for a predetermined time, that is, located downstream of the paper transport path, after one of the paper transport detection sensors 1 ₁ to 1 _K detects the arrival of the leading edge of the paper. The next paper-conveyance detection sensor did not detect the paper even after the time obtained by adding a margin time (for example, 50% increase) to the conveyance time that can be calculated from the distance to the next paper-conveyance detection sensor and the conveyance speed. If
It is determined that a jam has occurred between the sheet transport detection sensors, the transport motor control unit 6 is controlled to stop the transport motor 5, and the operation panel control unit 4 is controlled to display on the display unit 3A of the operation panel unit 3. The occurrence of a jam and the location of the occurrence are displayed, and 1 is added to the number of jam occurrences in the storage area of the NVRAM 10 storing the number of jam occurrences after the previous maintenance.

When a display mode is designated from the operation section 3B of the operation panel section 3, the number of jams before and after the last maintenance, the number of copies, the number of sheet feeding operations, and the current copy are classified according to the locations of jams. The number of sheets and the number of sheet feeding operations are displayed on the display unit 3A. The display method on the display unit 3A will be described in detail later, and thus the description thereof is omitted here.

On the other hand, when the maintenance mode is designated from the operation section 3B of the operation panel section 3 and the latest maintenance is completed, the storage area for storing the number of jam occurrences before the previous maintenance in the NVRAM 10 is initialized to the previous maintenance. The number of jam occurrences after is updated as the number of jam occurrences before the previous maintenance.

The NVRAM 10 has the maintenance history shown in FIG. 2, in which the cumulative total number l ₁ , l ₂ (copy counter) of the number of copies before and after the previous maintenance and the previous and previous maintenance and the paper feeding during the maintenance up to the previous maintenance are shown. Cumulative number of operations m ₁ , m ₂ (component counter),
And before and after the previous maintenance, that is, from the previous maintenance to the previous maintenance, and from the previous maintenance to the present time, the number of jam occurrences k ₁ ,
k ₂ and categorizes and stores in occurrence location jam each of which is configured to store the number of copies l _3, and the sheet feeding operation number m ₃ at the present time.

[0019] Figure 4, the paper conveying sensor ₁ 1 to 1
Between _2, 1 between _{2-1 3} shows a NVRAM10 stored by classifying the jam occurrence position in the section between · · 1 _K-1 to 1 _K,
The number of copies before previous and last maintenance l ₁ ,
storage area groups 14 ₁ and 14 ₂ for storing l ₂ , the number of paper feeding operations m ₁ and m _{2 during} the previous and previous maintenance, and the number of jam occurrences k ₁ and k ₂ before and after the previous maintenance
.. and a storage area group 15 for storing the cumulative number of copies l ₃ up to the present time and the cumulative number of paper feeding operations m ₃ .
Storage area 14 ₁ is jam data generated between the paper transport sensor 1 ₁ to 1 _2, the storage area 14 ₂ stores data of a jam occurring between the paper transport sensor 1 _{2-1 3} respectively.

The storage area groups 14 ₁ , 14 _2, ... Are components for storing a copy counter 14A for storing the number of copies l ₁ at the time of the previous and previous maintenance, and a sheet feeding operation number m ₁ for the previous and previous maintenance, respectively. Counter 1
4B and the number of jam occurrences before the previous maintenance k ₁₁ , k
Jam counter 14C for storing ₁₂ ; copy counter 14D for storing the number of copies l ₂ at the time of the last maintenance; component counter 14E for storing the number of feeding operations m ₂ at the time of the last maintenance; The jam counter 14F stores the numbers of jam occurrences k ₂₁ and k ₂₂ , respectively. Each of the counters 14A to 14F is composed of, for example, a 1-byte memory cell.

On the other hand, the storage area group 15 is a copy counter 15A for storing the total number of copies l ₃ at the present time.
If has a component counter 15B for storing the sheet feeding operation number m ₃ of total at present. Each of the counters 15A and 15B is composed of, for example, a 5-byte memory cell.

When a display command is given from the operation section 3B, the operation panel section 3 is controlled by the operation panel control section 4 to cause the display section 3A to perform the following display. (1) Display A Display the jam counter after the last maintenance. _{k 2, k 21, k 22} , ··· (2) is displayed together with the jam counter after display B last maintenance before /. _{k 1, k 11, k 12} , ··· k 2, k 21, k 22, ··· (3) displays the ratio of the value of the jam counter after display C last before maintenance /. (K ₁ ÷ k ₂ ) × a, (k ₁₁ ÷ k ₂₁ ) × a, (k ₁₂ ÷ k
₂₂ ) × a, (k ₂ ÷ k ₁ ) × b, (k ₂₁ ÷ k ₁₁ ) × b, (k ₂₂ ÷ k)
₁₂ ) × b, ... Here, a and b are constants. (4) Display D The value calculated in Display C is compared with a prescribed value (threshold value for judging that the maintenance effect is present), and the presence / absence of the maintenance effect is displayed. (K ₁ ÷ k ₂ ) × a & threshold, (k ₁₁ ÷ k ₂₁ ) × a & threshold, (k ₁₂ ÷ k ₂₂ ) × a & threshold, (k ₂ ÷ k ₁ ).
× b & threshold, (k ₂₁ ÷ k ₁₁ ) × b & threshold, (k ₂₂ ÷
k ₁₂ ) × b & threshold value (5) Display E Displays the frequency of jam occurrence before / after the previous maintenance. E-1 Jam occurrence number per copy number k ₁ ÷ (l ₂ −l ₁ ) & k ₂ ÷ (l ₃ −l ₂ ) E-2 Jam occurrence number per sheet feeding operation number k ₁ ÷ (m ₂ −m ₁ ) & k ₂ ÷ (m ₃ −m ₂ )

In the above description, the copy counter counts the number of normally copied sheets, and the component counter counts the number of operations of the paper feed roll 14 located on the paper feed tray 11.

The operation of the history information management apparatus of the image forming apparatus of the present invention will be described below with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 5 and 6.

First, when an instruction to start image formation is given to the CPU 8 from the operation section 3B of the operation panel section 3, the CPU 8 controls the carry motor control section 6 and the sensor control section 2 to operate the carry motor 5, and Paper feed detection sensors 1 ₁ , 1 ₂ , ... 1 _K-1 , 1 _K are in standby state,
Further, the paper feed roll 11A is operated to move the paper feed tray 11A.
The paper from the paper to the paper transport path. The sheet sent to the sheet conveying path is conveyed in the conveying path by a conveying roller or the like driven by the conveying motor 5, and is discharged to the discharging section 13 via the transfer section 12.

During this conveyance, the paper conveyance detection sensor 1 ₁ ,
1 ₂ , ... 1 _K-1 or 1 _K , the next paper conveyance located downstream from the one paper conveyance detection sensor, even if a predetermined time has elapsed after the arrival of the leading edge of the paper was detected. When the detection sensor does not detect the sheet, the CPU 8 determines that a jam has occurred between the sheet conveyance detection sensors (FIG. 5).
S1), controlling the carry motor controller 6 to carry the carry motor 5
And the operation panel control unit 4 to control the display unit 3A of the operation panel unit 3 to display the occurrence of the jam and the location of the occurrence of the jam, and to further store the storage area groups 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ ... of the NVRAM ₁₀ . Among them, 1 is added to the count value of the jam counter 14F of the storage area group corresponding to the jam occurrence location (S2 in FIG. 5).

When a jam occurs during image formation in this way, the number of jam occurrences in the jam counter 14F of the corresponding storage area group is incremented based on the location of the jam, and when the serviceman visits, the operation panel unit Three
Display command is issued from the operation unit 3B of the display mode (display A
~ Display E), various displays relating to the number of jam occurrences before and after maintenance are displayed on the display unit 3A.

On the other hand, when performing maintenance, the operation mode is commanded from the operation section 3B of the operation panel section 4. According to this command, the various displays A to E described above are performed, and maintenance is executed. When the maintenance is completed, the CPU 8 causes each storage area group 1 of the NVRAM 10
4 _1, 14 jam number k ₁₁ of jam counter 14C in ₂ · ·, k _12, a ... is initialized, jam counts after the previous maintenance jam counter 14C, that is, jam jam counter 14F The number of occurrences k ₂₁ , k ₂₂ , ... Is updated as the number of jam occurrences before the last maintenance, the contents of the jam counter 14F are transferred to the jam counter 14C, and the storage area 14 is further updated.
Reset the contents of the jam counter of F (S in Fig. 6
1).

Further, each storage area group 14 of the NVRAM 10
_The number of copies l ₁ of the copy counter 14A for ₁ , 14 ₂ ...
The number of copies at the last maintenance, that is, the number of copies l ₂ of the copy counter 14D is stored in A as the previous number of copies l ₁ , and each storage area group 14 ₁ ,
14 ₂ is initialized to the number of copies l ₂ copies counter 14D in ..., the number of copies of the current copy counter 14D, that is, the storage area group 15 the number of copies l ₃ copies counter 15A of the previous number of copies l ₂ (S2 in FIG. 6).

Further, each storage area group 14 of the NVRAM 10
Component counter 14 at ₁ , 14 ₂ ...
The paper feed operation number m ₁ of B is initialized, and the paper feed operation number at the time of the previous maintenance is set to the component counter 14B, that is, the paper feed operation number m ₂ of the component counter 14E is set to the previous paper feed operation number m ₁ , And the number of paper feed operations m ₂ of the component counter 14E in each of the storage area groups 14 ₁ , 14 _2, ... Is initialized, and the number of paper feed operations at the present time in the component counter 14E, that is, the storage area group The paper feed operation number m ₃ of the component counter 15B of 15 is the previous paper feed operation number m
_It is stored as ₂ (S3 in FIG. 6). In this way,
Jam counter 14F for recording areas 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ ...
The count value of the data after the latest maintenance is stored in. On the other hand, the copy counter 15 in the storage area 15
A, the component counter 15B continues counting the latest data without being reset.

FIG. 7 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, N
The VRAM 10 is provided between the sheet conveyance detection sensors 1 ₁ to 1 ₂ , 1
_{2-1 3,} the storage area 16 ₁ Data ..., 16 _2, ·
And has a storage area 17 for accumulated data up to the present time.

The storage areas 16 ₁ , 16 ₂ , ... Have storage areas A, B, C, and the storage areas A, B alternately store data related to the previous and previous maintenance, C stores an identifier indicating in which of the storage areas A and B the data related to the previous maintenance is stored, and each is composed of a 1-byte memory cell. Further, the storage area 17 is common to the storage area 15 in FIG.

The operation of the above configuration will be described. Figure
When a jam is detected in 8, the jam occurrence position is used.
Paper transport detection sensor 1 ₁~ 1_KIs judged based on the signal of
(Step S1). For example, sensor 1₂~ 1₃Between
If a jam occurs, the storage area 16₂Identifier C
Is accessed and the identifier C is A or B.
Is checked (step S2). If the identifier C is A
For example, storage area 16₂Jam counter A's memory value is A
To A + 1 (step S3).
Here, the copy counter A of the storage area A, the component
The ent counter A shows the count value of the last maintenance.
It is a counter that has, copy counter B, component
-Counter counter B is the count at the time of the previous maintenance
A counter that has a value.

In FIG. 9, when the latest maintenance is completed, the identifier C of the storage areas 16 ₁ , 16 ₂ ... Is checked, and which area of the storage areas A, B should be saved and cleared. It is determined (step S1). If the identifier C is B in this check, the jam counter B of the storage area B is the jam counter after the previous maintenance, and the jam counter A of the storage area A is the jam counter between the previous and previous maintenance. To judge. As a result, jam counter A
Is reset, and the contents of the jam counter B are retained as a jam counter between the previous maintenance and the previous maintenance. Therefore, the jam after the latest maintenance is counted by the jam counter A. Step S
In 3 and S4, the copy counter A and the component counter A are cleared, and the data in the storage area 17 is transferred to the cleared storage area A. On the other hand, the copy counter BILLING and the component counter COMP of the storage area 17 continue counting the latest data without being reset. The identifier C is rewritten from B to A (step S5), indicating that the jam after the latest maintenance is counted by the jam counter A.

In the second embodiment, the old and new of the storage areas A and B are identified by the identifier C, but the identifier C is not provided and the count values of the copy counters A and B or the component counters A and B are compared. A program may be provided that determines that the larger count value is the previous time and the smaller count value is the previous time.

[0036]

As described above, according to the history information management apparatus of the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance detected by the abnormality detecting means and the previous maintenance after the abnormal maintenance detected by the abnormality detecting means. Since the number of abnormalities is stored in the storage means and various information based on the number of abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance is output from the information output means as necessary, the storage capacity and the calculation processing amount are increased. It is possible to execute effective maintenance without checking the effectiveness of the maintenance.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a maintenance history.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a sheet conveyance path according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an NVRAM according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation when a jam occurs according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation during maintenance according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an NVRAM according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation when a jam occurs according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing an operation during maintenance according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ₁ 1 ₂ ... 1 _k-1 , 1 _K Paper transport detection sensor 2 Sensor control unit 3 Operation panel unit 3A Display unit 3B Operation unit 4 Operation panel control unit 5 Transport motor 6 Transport motor control unit 7 ROM 8 CPU 9 RAM 10 NVRAM 11 Paper feed tray 11A Paper feed roll 12 Transfer unit 13 Ejection unit 14 ₁ , 14 ₂ ... Storage area group 14A, 14D copy counter 14B, 14E Component counter 14C, 14F Jam counter 15 Storage area group 15A Copy counter 15B component counter 14 _1, 14 ₂ ... storage area group 16 _1, 16 ₂ ... storage area group 16A, 14D copy counter 16B, 16E components counter 16C, 16F jam counter 17 storage area groups 17A copy counter 17B component Unter

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An abnormality detection means for detecting an abnormality during image formation, a storage means for storing the number of the abnormalities before the previous maintenance and the number of the abnormalities after the previous maintenance, and the storage means for storing the abnormalities. Information output means for outputting various information based on the number of abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance performed, and when the latest maintenance following the previous maintenance is performed, the latest maintenance is updated to a new previous one. As maintenance, the number of the abnormalities before the previous maintenance stored in the storage means is initialized, and
A history information management apparatus for an image forming apparatus, comprising: a control unit that sets the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance stored in the storage unit to the number of the abnormalities before the new previous maintenance. . 2. The storage means has a first storage area for storing the number of abnormalities before the previous maintenance and a second storage area for storing the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance. However, the control means transfers the number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance to the first storage area, and sets the second storage area as a storage area for the new number of abnormalities after the previous maintenance. The history information management apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, which is configured to perform. 3. The storage means classifies and stores the number of the abnormalities before and after the previous maintenance, and the storage of the first and second storage areas. A third storage area for storing an identifier for identifying the content is provided, and the control means sets the number of the abnormalities before the previous maintenance to the first or second time each time the latest maintenance is performed. The storage area is cleared from the storage area to the storage area for the new number of abnormalities after the last maintenance, and the identifier corresponding to the cleared storage area is set to the third storage area.
The history information management apparatus of the image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the history information management apparatus is configured to be stored in the storage area.