JPH11139676A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent lowering of productivity by carrying out continuous discharge motion without producing nonconformity such as interruption of picture image forming motion in the case when a sheet exists already on a bin to be a following discharging destination at the time when a bin currently used as a discharging destination of the sheet is filled. SOLUTION: This image forming device is constituted to be furnished with an image forming part 31, a plural number of bins to receive a sheet discharged after receiving image formation at the image forming part and control means 20, 21 to designate the bins to discharge the sheet. The control means 20, 21 control to discharge the sheet to an empty bin after the next bin of the designated bin by skipping the designated bin with the sheet in the case when the next designated bin has the sheet when it is detected that the bin to which the sheet is currently discharged is filled.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a facsimile, and a digital multifunction machine having a plurality of discharge destinations, such as a multi-bin sorter and a mailbox. When the currently used bin is full, continuous discharge operation is performed without causing a problem such as interrupting the image forming operation when paper already exists on the next discharge destination bin. And an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a decrease in productivity.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a case where a plurality of copies are obtained from a part of a document by using an image forming apparatus such as a laser printer, a facsimile, or a digital multifunction machine having a plurality of discharge destinations such as a multi-bin sorter and a mailbox. Then, the copied paper sheets are discharged one by one onto each bin in a predetermined order so that a bundle of the copied paper sheets is finally discharged onto a plurality of bins and stacked. At this time, for example, before the start of image formation, if paper is already present in the bin to be used as the next discharge destination when the used bin is full, the paper is discharged onto this already discharged bin after switching the discharge destination. Since the paper cannot be discharged, the image forming operation has to be interrupted. That is, for example, in a recording apparatus with a sorter disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 8-165052, when a plurality of sets of copy sheets formed by a plurality of jobs are sorted and discharged onto each bin in a sort mode, a new and old output sheet group is output. There is disclosed a technique for providing a bin that does not discharge copy paper as a means for separating the spaces. However, in the technique disclosed in this publication, when there is a bin in which paper is already present on a bin predetermined as a discharge destination after being full, paper is mixed with paper discharged by another job. In order to prevent this, there is no conceivable method other than interrupting the image formation. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 64-73357 discloses a copier in which, when a copy operation using a different original block is performed according to the sort mode, the copy of the original of the next block is completed after the copy of the first block is completed. When performing the sorting, the bins are sorted after the bins used for copying the first block under the condition that there are empty bins for the required number of copies in the sorter. There is disclosed a technique for continuing while an empty bin exists. However, also in this case, if there is already-discharged paper in any of the bins as the discharge destination after being full, image formation must be interrupted. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-235265 discloses a configuration in which, when the number of stored bins exceeds a predetermined limit, whether to continue the image forming operation is determined based on the empty state of other bins and the number of copies. However, when paper already exists in a bin to be used as a discharge destination after being full, it is not always clear how to discharge already discharged paper and newly discharged paper without mixing them. Has not been. Also,
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-294545 discloses a technique for automatically discharging paper to an empty bin regardless of a job. However, after the bin used initially becomes full, it will be used next time. The processing when paper is present on the bin is not disclosed. Therefore, in this case, the image formation must be interrupted.

[0003]

As described above, in the sort mode by the conventional multi-bin image forming apparatus, when the discharge destination is switched when the currently used bin becomes full, the next order in the predetermined order is determined. If there is paper at the output destination, there is no other way to avoid mixing with previous prints than to interrupt printing, and even if there are other empty bins, they will not be used effectively and productivity will be reduced. Was a factor in lowering. The present invention has been made in view of the above, and when a bin currently being used as a paper discharge destination is full, an image forming operation is performed when paper already exists on the next discharge destination bin. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing a continuous discharge operation and preventing a decrease in productivity without causing a trouble such as interruption. In particular, in the present invention, not only a sort mode in which discharge bins are sorted and discharged by each set, but also a plurality of sheets are discharged in the page order on the same bin until the first discharge bin becomes full. After the bin becomes full, it is applied to a sort mode in which a plurality of sheets are discharged in the same order on the next scheduled bin, and when the bin is switched, It is characterized in that, when there is already discharged paper on the bin of the switching destination, the bin is skipped and the next empty bin is used.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is directed to an image forming section and a plurality of bins for receiving sheets discharged after receiving an image formed in the image forming section. And control means for designating a bin from which the paper is to be discharged, wherein the control means detects that the bin from which the paper is being discharged is full, and the paper is transferred to the next specified bin. In some cases, skip the designated bin with the paper,
It is characterized in that the sheet is controlled to be discharged to an empty bin after that. According to this, even if there is paper in the bin (tray) of the next discharge destination, printing is interrupted less by searching for and discharging an empty discharge destination. Performance can be improved. Next, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming section, a plurality of bins for receiving sheets discharged after image formation in the image forming section, and control means for designating a bin from which the sheets are to be discharged. The control means skips the designated bin where the sheet is located when there is a sheet in the next designated bin when it is detected that the bin which is currently discharging the sheet is full. hand,
In addition to controlling the paper to be discharged to the empty bins after that, before switching to the next bin after skipping, it is necessary to discharge the printed material indicating the number of the bin to be switched to and then switch the bin to the discharge destination. Features. When the skip operation of claim 1 is performed, the user has no way of knowing the switching order of the discharge destinations next, and it is extremely difficult to take out the copied sheets in the page order. On the other hand, according to the second aspect of the present invention, the user can easily know the next discharge destination because the paper on which the number of the next discharge destination is printed at the end of the extracted paper is discharged. Solve a problem.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming unit, a plurality of bins for receiving a sheet discharged after receiving an image formed in the image forming unit, and a control unit for designating a bin from which the sheet is to be discharged. In the image forming apparatus provided with the control unit, the control unit skips the designated bin in which the sheet is present when there is a sheet in the next designated bin when the bin which is currently discharging the sheet is detected. In addition to controlling the paper to be discharged to the next empty bin and displaying the history of the sequence of the discharge destination using the operation panel and the display means on the discharge device each time the bin of the discharge destination is switched. It is characterized by the following. The printed matter that informs the next discharge destination in claim 2 is used only when the paper is taken out, but is eventually processed as unnecessary paper, and the user is paid for the waste paper. This will impose a burden. According to the third aspect of the present invention, such waste can be eliminated.

[0005]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on an embodiment shown in the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of an image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. This image forming apparatus includes an automatic document feeder B on an image forming apparatus main body A.
It has a configuration equipped with. The image forming apparatus main body A includes:
Paper feed unit 1, image forming unit 2, scanner unit 3, writing unit (writing optical system) 4, sorter unit (sheet discharging device) 5
Etc. are provided. The automatic document feeder B is a means for automatically feeding a document onto a contact glass on the apparatus main body A. In the above configuration, when a start signal is output from a control unit (not shown) by turning on a copy start switch (not shown), the automatic document feeder B takes out one document on the document set table and contacts it. Feed on glass. The original set at the reading position on the contact glass is read by the scanner unit 3, and the read image information is input to the writing optical system 4 via an image processing unit (image forming controller) (not shown) and the like, and is written to the writing optical system. 4 irradiates the image forming unit 2. In the image forming unit, since the photoconductor 10 is uniformly charged by the charging unit 11 in advance, an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the write data from the writing optical system 4 is formed on the photoconductor. The electrostatic latent image on the photoreceptor is developed by the toner from the developing unit 12, and the toner image is transferred by the transfer unit 13 onto a sheet supplied from the sheet supply unit 1. The sheet on which the toner image has been transferred is subjected to image fixing by the fixing unit 14, and is sorted by the sorter unit 5 (discharge device).
Are discharged onto the bins that make up the. As a means for inputting image information to the image processing unit, a separate host computer or the like may of course be used.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a control system constituting the image forming apparatus. The image forming controller 20 creates image information based on information input to a frame memory, and a video controller. The sheet feeding device 30, the image forming unit 31 (electrification, exposure, development, fixing, etc.)
An engine control unit 21 for controlling a series of operations of various control objects such as the discharge devices 32 and 33, an operation panel 25 including various operation keys and a display unit, and a unit for inputting image information to the image forming controller 20 Input device 26 (scanner unit, host computer, etc.) and the like. Image information created by the image forming controller 20 is sent to the engine control unit 21 by a video I / O (not shown).
It is sent out through F and sent to the writing unit 4. Note that the image forming controller 20 and the engine control unit constitute one control unit. The discharge devices 32 and 33 are
By providing a plurality of bins and changing the bins used as paper discharge destinations variously, the papers can be sorted in a desired order. The image forming apparatus of the present invention stores all or a part of the image information created by the image forming controller 20 in correspondence with the original data such as the original image in a memory (not shown), Since print control means (for example, the engine control unit 21 is also used) for reading image information from the writing unit 4 in a desired order and forming an image on a sheet by the image forming unit 2 is provided.
For example, image information corresponding to each page of all originals may be stored in a memory, and control may be performed so that the image information for each page is output to the writing unit 4 in a desired order.

Accordingly, for example, after a plurality of copies of a sheet are sequentially discharged onto the first bin in the order of pages, when the bin becomes full, the next continuous bin is placed on the next adjacent second bin. It is possible to control the sheet to be discharged in the page order. In this case, the division between the sets is specified by shifting the position between the sets, changing the paper discharge direction, and the like. Specifically, for example, 2
Assuming that the number of sheets that can be accommodated in each bin is 40 when one-sided copy of 10 originals consisting of 0 sheets is performed, the sheets for the first copy and the second copy on the first bin, that is, When 40 sheets have been discharged, the first bin is full, so that the third copy is discharged to the next second bin. Then, when the number of sheets on the second bin reaches forty sheets, an operation of sequentially discharging the sheets of the next fifth and sixth sets onto the third bin is performed. Finally, the ninth and tenth sheets are discharged onto the fifth bin, and the discharge is completed. When such a paper discharge control is performed, if a paper already exists on the next adjacent bin after the previously used bin is full, to prevent mixed loading, A problem that the next bin cannot be used occurs, but the present invention can effectively solve such a problem.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing the control of the embodiment according to the first aspect. In the embodiment of the invention corresponding to the first aspect, the image forming controller 20 executes step 2.
Can be informed from the engine control unit 21 that the bin currently used as the discharge destination is full (S8 Yes), and the bin used as the discharge destination after the bin is full In order to determine the discharge destination, the discharge destination without paper is searched in order according to the contents of a reference table in a storage unit (not shown) which holds data on the order of the discharge destination (S9). If it is detected that the paper is present on the next designated bin (S10 Yes), the next bin (discharge destination) is skipped, and the discharge destination is further searched for. A bin without paper is searched (S9). Then, when a bin having no paper is found, a request to change the discharge destination is issued to the engine control unit 21 (S10 No, S2). afterwards,
According to the procedures of steps 4 to 7, image formation and paper discharge operation onto a newly designated skipped bin are sequentially performed.
If fullness is not detected in step 8, the operations of steps 3 to 7 are repeated until fullness is detected.
As a result, if there is paper in the next bin or the like adjacent to the full bin, the next bin or the like is skipped, and another bin with no paper is designated as the discharge destination, and It is possible to perform a general discharge operation. In other words, even when there is paper in the bin (tray) of the next discharge destination, searching for and discharging an empty discharge destination reduces the need to interrupt printing, thereby improving productivity. it can.

In the above-described embodiment, since the discharge destination of the paper is not in a fixed order and the switching order after skipping is not displayed, one or a plurality of bins are skipped. When the discharge destination is determined, the user (operator) who intends to take out the paper from each bin after copying is completed, checks only the paper corresponding to the job performed by the user, and checks the paper from the corresponding bin. It is extremely difficult to retrieve them in page order. Therefore, claim 2
In the invention corresponding to the above, before switching the discharge destination after a certain bin is full, the printed matter indicating the number of the bin to be switched is discharged from the image forming apparatus onto the bin before switching,
After the printed matter is discharged, the discharge destination is switched. For this reason, the user can easily know the number of the skipped bin determined as the next discharge destination by looking at the printed matter discharged to the top of the sheet bundle on the full bin. . As a result, the sheets discharged as a result of the job performed by the user can be easily found without any hesitation or error, and can be taken out in the order of pages. In this embodiment, the image forming controller 20 can know from the information from the engine control unit 21 that the discharge destination is full. At this time, the discharge destination of the paper discharged after the full state is determined. A discharge destination having no paper is searched in order according to the contents of the reference table holding the order of the discharge destination. Image forming controller 2
0, when a discharge destination having no paper is found, a sheet for notifying the discharge destination number is printed, and then a request for changing the discharge destination is issued to the engine control unit 21. FIG.
It is a flowchart showing the control of the embodiment corresponding to
The same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG. 3 are denoted by the same step numbers, and a duplicate description will be omitted. However, in this embodiment, when there is no sheet at the next discharge destination specified in advance in step 10, Before proceeding to step 2 to specify the paper discharge destination, control is performed to discharge the printed matter indicating the next discharge destination number (bin number) on the paper on the full bin in step 11. ing.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the display contents of the printed matter. Next, in the embodiment corresponding to claim 2, the printed matter indicating the discharge destination to be used after skipping the bin from which the paper is discharged is used only when the paper is taken out, but is finally unnecessary. Since the paper is processed as paper, the user is burdened with a waste of paper. Claim 3 provides a method for eliminating such waste of paper. The printing operation of step 11 is performed by diverting the steps of steps 4 to 7. That is, in the third aspect, every time when the discharge destination is switched to the next bin after skipping the bin where the paper is already discharged,
The above-mentioned problem is solved by sequentially displaying the history of the order of the discharge destinations to the user using the operation panel 25 or the display means provided in the discharge device. In this embodiment, the image forming controller 20 can know that a certain bin is full as information from the engine control unit 21. At this time, the bin used for discharging the next sheet is determined as the bin of the discharge destination. According to the contents of the reference table holding the order, the discharge destination without paper is searched for in order. When a discharge destination having no paper is found, the history of the discharge destination is displayed by using a display unit as shown below, and at the same time, a request for changing the discharge destination is issued to the engine control.

First, FIG. 6 shows a history of a discharge destination (a bin number already discharged, a bin number of a skip destination, a bin number currently used, a bin number from which a sheet is removed, etc.) using the operation panel 25. A display example in the case of displaying is shown. First, FIG. 6A shows a case where a plurality of copies of a document bundle consisting of a plurality of sheets are continuously copied in the ninth bin, the eighth bin,.
..Specifying bins that are adjacent to each other in order, and discharging paper until each bin is continuously full, and controlling to discharge onto the next specified bin when one bin becomes full It shows the case where it is done. In this case, the ninth, eighth, sixth, second, and first bins, which have been confirmed to be empty, have already been discharged in the seventh bin, the fifth, fourth, and third bins, respectively. Is specified, and the discharge is completed for the ninth, eighth, sixth, and second bins, and the fact that the bins are being discharged to the first bin is displayed by blinking (blinking), reverse display, or the like.
With this display, the operator can easily and accurately know on which bin the paper ejected by the job being executed is being ejected, and without error, sort the papers relating to his job in page order. Can be taken out. The presence / absence of paper and the like is configured to be known by, for example, a sensor provided in each bin.

Next, FIG. 6B shows a case where the sheet bundle which has been completely discharged onto the sixth bin in FIG. 6A is pulled out, and is discharged by the operator's own job. From the display indicating the bin, the extracted sixth bin is erased. The bins from which the sheets have been removed in this manner may be used by another person after that, and the sheets related to the job of the other person may be ejected. Next, FIG.
Discharges paper in the order of the ninth, eighth, second, and first bins, switches the discharge destination to the tenth bin after the first bin is full, and displays a state in which paper is being discharged to the tenth bin. doing. By performing such a display, the paper discharged by the job executed by the operator is placed on any bin.
It is possible to easily know the bin order in which the paper is discharged, thereby facilitating the removal operation.

Next, FIG. 7 shows a display example in the case where a display section is provided in the discharge devices 32 and 33 (or the image forming apparatus). In this example, an image forming main body portion corresponding to the base of each bin is shown. Are provided with a number display section 40, and each display section 40 displays a number indicating the use order of the bins 41 used by the job. First, FIG. 7A shows an example in which the discharged paper P exists in the fifth bin from the bottom,
In this case, the bin number at the bottom is N sequentially from 1 upward
o. 2, No. 3, No. After filling each bin with No. 4, the fifth bin from the bottom is skipped and the sixth bin from the bottom immediately above it is no. No. 5 and the seventh bin from the bottom are No. No. 6, and For the bin 6, a blink indicating that the bin is in use, an inverted display, and the like are performed. As described above, in this display example, bins that have already been discharged as a result of the same job, bins in which sheets discharged by other jobs exist, bins after skipping, and bins that are currently being used are displayed. In addition, it is possible to eliminate confusion caused by erroneous removal of paper during the job, as well as removal of the sheet after the end of the job.

FIG. 7B shows a display example of the display unit 40 after the sheet bundle is taken out from the lowermost bin in the example of FIG. 7A. In this case, in order to clearly indicate that there is no paper in the bottom bin, the No. is assigned to the second bin from the bottom. By adding 1 and sequentially increasing the number, occurrence of confusion is prevented. That is, since the lowermost bin that has been emptied may be used by another person and the paper may be ejected later, it is specified that this bin is irrelevant to the job.
Next, in the example of FIG. 7 (c), as a result of starting the discharge from the second bin from the bottom, the second bin from the bottom is no. In the case where the first bin is displayed as the first bin (No. 1), or as a result of extracting the paper from the bottom bin in FIG. 7B, the second bin from the bottom is displayed. In this case, as a result of skipping the fifth bin from the bottom and sequentially discharging paper upward, the top bin No. When the sheet 6 is full, the remaining sheets are discharged onto the lowest bin, which is an empty bin, and a message that the paper is being discharged is displayed. By performing such a display, it is possible to easily know on which bin the paper ejected by the job being executed by the operator is ejected and in which bin order, which facilitates the removal operation. Becomes

Next, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the control according to an embodiment of the present invention. The same steps as those in the flowchart of FIG. In this embodiment, if there is no paper at the next paper discharge destination specified in advance in step 10, a predetermined display process is performed in step 15 before proceeding to step 2 and specifying the paper discharge destination. I have to. The contents of this display processing are shown in FIGS.
(a) and (b) respectively. Step 16
Shows a display process when the discharged paper is removed from the bin, and corresponds to FIGS. 6 (c) and 7 (c).
In each of the above examples, a plurality of sheets of paper are continuously discharged onto one bin, the discharge is continued until the paper is full, and the discharge destination is switched after the paper is full. However, this is only an example.
Therefore, for example, when implementing a sorting method of discharging paper one by one onto each bin, if the bin becomes full before the discharge of each partial paper onto each bin, the remaining The control method of each of the above embodiments can also be employed when searching for a bin for discharging paper. That is, in this case, when searching for the next discharge destination (a plurality of bins having the same number as the number of copies), a method of skipping the bin from which paper has already been discharged can be adopted.

[0016]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
Even when there is paper in the next bin (tray) at the destination, searching for a vacant destination and discharging it reduces the need to interrupt printing, thereby improving productivity. According to the second aspect of the present invention, by printing the paper indicating the next discharge destination and discharging it onto the paper on the full bin, it is easy to remove the paper in the page order, thereby improving the productivity. I do. According to the third aspect of the present invention, the history of the discharge destination (bins already discharged, bins with paper, bins after skipping, bins in use, etc.) is displayed on the operation panel of the main body of the apparatus or on the display unit provided near each bin. By displaying the bins, etc., it is easy to take out the pages in the page order, and the productivity is improved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a control system of the image forming apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to an embodiment corresponding to claim 1;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to an embodiment corresponding to claim 2;

FIG. 5 is a view showing an example of display contents of a printed matter.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are views showing display examples when displaying on the operation panel. FIGS.

FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C are explanatory diagrams of display examples when a display unit is provided in the discharge device.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control procedure according to an embodiment corresponding to claim 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

A image forming apparatus main body, B automatic document feeder, 1 paper feeder, 2 image forming section, 3 scanner section, 4 writing section (writing optical system), 5 sorter section (paper discharging apparatus), 1
0 photoconductor, 11 charging unit, 12 developing unit, 13 transfer unit, 14 fixing unit, 20 image forming controller, 21
Engine control unit, 25 Operation panel, 26
Input device, 30 paper feeder, 31 image forming unit (charging, exposure, development, fixing, etc.), 32, 33 discharging device, 40 display unit, 41 bin.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image forming section, comprising: a plurality of bins for receiving a sheet discharged after receiving an image formed in the image forming section; and control means for designating a bin from which the sheet is to be discharged. In the image forming apparatus, the control means skips the designated bin where the paper is present when the bin is currently discharging paper and the paper is present in the designated bin to be the next discharge destination. An image forming apparatus that controls to discharge a sheet to an empty bin after that. 2. An image forming section, comprising: a plurality of bins for receiving sheets discharged after image formation in the image forming section; and control means for designating a bin from which the sheets are to be discharged. In the image forming apparatus, the control means skips the designated bin where the paper is present when the bin is currently discharging paper and the paper is present in the designated bin to be the next discharge destination. Control to discharge paper to the next empty bin, and before switching to the next bin after skipping, discharge the printed material indicating the bin number of the switching destination and then switch the bin to the discharge destination An image forming apparatus comprising: 3. An image forming section, a plurality of bins for receiving a sheet discharged after receiving an image in the image forming section, and control means for designating a bin from which the sheet is to be discharged. In the image forming apparatus, the control means skips the designated bin where the paper is present when the bin is currently discharging paper and the paper is present in the designated bin to be the next discharge destination. Control the paper to be discharged to the next empty bin, and every time the discharge destination bin is switched, the history of the discharge destination order is displayed using the operation panel or the display means on the discharge device. An image forming apparatus characterized by displaying.