JPH11292348A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To change the number of remaining sheets and to give an alarm at the number of remaining sheets intended by each user. SOLUTION: A remaining amount detection sensor 4 for detecting an amount of remaining sheets P can move along a guide 6 by sheltering it by a shelter plate 3 for detecting remaining amount which is provided on a bottom plate 5 of a paper supply tray 1. When a user wants to set the number of remaining sheets that he thinks necessary, he slides the remaining amount detection sensor 4 along the guide 6 to change its position.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, and the like, and more particularly, to an improved image forming apparatus for detecting the number of remaining sheets.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years,
Networking is becoming popular in printers and the like, and there is a tendency to check the remaining amount of paper in a paper feed tray in advance to prevent the printer from going down due to paper exhaustion. However, the number of paper packages used by the user (for example, 250
(For example, in units of 00 sheets), and it is necessary to detect the number of remaining sheets in several ways, and the detection means is expensive (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-221099).

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention sets the number of remaining sheets of paper that a user considers necessary, and warns that the remaining amount is low only when the number of sheets becomes less than the following. Accordingly, an image forming apparatus which is inexpensive and meets the needs of the user is provided.

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus comprising means for detecting a remaining number of sheets of paper for achieving the above object. The position of the number detection means is variable,
The remaining number of sheets detected by the remaining number detecting means can be changed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a moving drive means for moving the position of the remaining sheet number detecting means, and a means for setting the thickness of the sheet and the number of remaining sheets to be detected,
The remaining number detecting means is moved by the movement driving means in accordance with the set value by the setting means.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 to 3 are views showing an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIGS. 1 and 2 are side sectional views of a sheet feed tray portion of the image forming apparatus. In the figure, 1 is a paper feed tray, 2 is a pick-up roller, 3 is a remaining amount detection shielding plate, 4 is a remaining amount detection sensor, 5 is a bottom plate, and P is a sheet. The remaining amount detection sensor 4 is movable along the guide 6 in the vertical direction in the figure.

FIG. 1 shows a case where the remaining amount detecting sensor 4 is slid to the upper side of the guide 6 and a large number of sheets P are put in the sheet feeding tray 1. In this state,
At a position where the surface of the uppermost sheet P comes into contact with the pickup roller 2, the remaining amount detection shielding plate 3 has not yet shielded the remaining amount detection sensor 4.
Rises, a predetermined number of remaining sheets (for example,
(00 sheets), the remaining amount detection shielding plate 3 shields the remaining amount detection sensor 4 and detects that the paper has run out or has run out. In this case, if the position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 is fixed, the number of remaining sheets that can be detected is one.

Therefore, when the user wants to set the number of remaining sheets of paper which is considered necessary, the user slides the remaining amount detection sensor 4 to the lower side of the guide 6 as shown in FIG. 2, for example. In FIG. 2, the case where the position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 is the same as that in FIG. 1 is indicated by a dotted line. In this way, when the number of sheets P remaining in the paper feed tray 1 is larger than the position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 in FIG. 1, the remaining amount detection sensor 4 is shielded, and it is detected that the number of sheets P has decreased. I do.

FIG. 3 shows a state in which sheets P stacked in the sheet feed tray 1 are
FIG. 4 is a front view showing an example in which a scale 7 serving as a guide of a mounting position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 according to the number of sheets (250 sheets, 500 sheets, 1000 sheets) is provided outside the sheet feeding tray 1. The user can manually change the position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 according to the scale 7, so that the setting of the number of remaining amount detection sheets can be changed. Point A in FIG. 2 is the position of the scale of 1000 sheets, and point B is 2
This corresponds to the position of 50 memories. In the illustrated embodiment, while the paper P remains, the remaining amount detection shield plate 3 activates the remaining amount detection sensor 4 depending on the mounting position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 and the positional relationship of the remaining amount detection shield plate 3. Since there may be a state in which the sheet is not shielded, there may be a case where the detection of paper shortage is detected instead of detecting that the number of sheets is small.

FIG. 4 is a simple electrical connection block diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the figure, 10 is a CPU,
11 is a ROM, 12 is a RAM, 13 is an external I / F device,
14 is an operation unit, 15 is a PIO, 16 is an output device, 1
7 is an input device. When a photo sensor is used as the remaining amount detection sensor 4, a port is input to the CPU 10 and information on the port is used for determining remaining amount display.

FIG. 5 shows a remaining amount detection flow in the present embodiment. As a condition for detecting the remaining amount, the sheet feed tray 1 must be mounted on the image forming apparatus main body (step 1).
In addition, the possibility of erroneous recognition of remaining amount detection is reduced by checking the presence or absence of paper (step 2), and the remaining amount of paper is reduced by determining whether remaining amount sensor 4 is on or off (step 3). Notification and non-notification of the fact are processed (step 4).

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a sheet feed tray portion of another embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a simple electrical connection block diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, the distance for moving the remaining amount detection sensor 4 is calculated from the number of detected remaining sheets and the thickness of the sheet input from the operation unit 14, and the shielding plate 8 is moved to the reference position as shown in FIG. In addition to the arrangement, the remaining amount detecting sensor 4 can be moved by the moving distance from the reference position by the remaining amount detecting movement motor 9.

FIG. 8 shows a remaining amount detection flow in this embodiment. As the conditions for detecting the remaining amount, the reference position is determined (step 1), the paper feed tray 1 is attached to the image forming apparatus main body (step 2), and the presence or absence of paper is checked (step 3). ), The possibility of erroneous recognition of the remaining amount detection is reduced, and notification and non-notification that the remaining amount of paper is low is determined by determining whether the remaining amount detection sensor 4 is on or off (step 4). (Step 5). If the reference position is not determined (step 1) and the sheet feed tray 1 is not mounted on the image forming apparatus main body (step 6), the position of the remaining amount detection sensor 4 is calculated (step 7), and the reference position is set. (Step 8), move to the remaining amount detection position (Step 9), and determine the reference position (Step 10), thereby enabling the processing of Steps 1 to 5.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, as described above, the position of the means for detecting the remaining number of sheets is made variable, and the number of remaining sheets detected by the remaining number detecting means is changed. Since it becomes possible, there is an effect that a warning or the like can be performed with the remaining number intended by each user with an inexpensive configuration.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, as described above, the image forming apparatus includes the movement driving means for moving the position of the remaining sheet number detecting means and the means for setting the thickness of the sheet and the number of remaining sheets to be detected. Since the remaining number detecting means is moved by the movement driving means in accordance with the set value by the setting means, an effect is obtained that a warning or the like can be automatically performed with the remaining number intended by each user. There is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a sheet feeding tray portion of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a sheet feeding tray portion of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing an example in which a scale serving as a guide of a mounting position of a remaining amount detection sensor is provided on a sheet feeding tray in the embodiment of FIGS.

FIG. 4 is a simple electrical connection block diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of FIGS.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of remaining amount detection in the embodiment of FIGS.

FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a sheet feed tray portion of another embodiment of the image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a simple electrical connection block diagram of the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for detecting a remaining amount in the embodiment of FIG. 6;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Paper feed tray 2 Pickup roller 3 Remaining amount detection shield plate 4 Remaining amount detection sensor 5 Bottom plate 6 Guide 7 Scale 8 Shielding plate 9 Remaining amount detection moving motor 10 CPU 11 ROM 12 RAM 13 External I / F device 14 Operation unit 15 PIO 16 output device 17 input device P paper

Claims (2)

[Claims] In an image forming apparatus having means for detecting the number of remaining sheets, the position of the means for detecting the number of remaining sheets is made variable and the number of remaining sheets detected by the means for detecting the number of remaining sheets can be changed. Characteristic image forming apparatus. 2. A moving drive means for moving the position of the remaining sheet number detecting means, and a means for setting the sheet thickness of the sheet and the number of remaining sheets to be detected, wherein the moving is performed in accordance with a value set by the setting means. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said remaining number detecting means is moved by a driving means.