JPS60213967A - Abnormality displaying system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To display abnormality without complexing constitution by providing the 1st device connected through an interface signal line with a display means and a change-over switch and displaying the state of the 1st or 2nd device in accordance with the switching of the switch. CONSTITUTION:For instance, the body of a copying machine and a sorter are arranged and these units are connected through the interface signal line. On the sorter side, display devices LE1-LE8 and a change-over switch SW1 are arranged and controlled by a microprocessor in a sorter control device. A control device on the body side is also provided with a communication control device and various states on the body side are converted into serial signals, sent to the sorter side, and on the sorter side, the sent serial signals are converted into parallel signals and displayed on the LE1-LE8. The states on the body side are displayed on the LE1-LE8 when the SW1 is off, and in case of on, the state on the sorter side is displayed. Thus, abnormality can be displayed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Field The present invention relates to an abnormality display in a copying machine, for example, and particularly to a display when an optional device such as a sorter is connected.

■Prior Art For example, copying machines have conventionally been provided with devices that detect abnormalities and display them in order to simplify maintenance of the device. Regarding this type of technology, for example,
It is disclosed in No. 6-30144, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 56-1067, etc.

By the way, the functions of recent copying machines have become extremely complex, and there are various types of abnormalities that can occur.

For this type of abnormality, for example, if there is a paper jam within the main body of the apparatus, the position where the jam has occurred has conventionally been indicated. However, for example, a sorter, an automatic document feeder (
Currently, the type of abnormality that occurs in the ADF, etc. is not displayed.

This is to reduce costs by minimizing the number of interface signal lines connecting various devices. However, in such a system that combines a copying machine and a sorter, when an abnormality occurs, it is difficult to determine whether the problem occurred in the copying machine itself or the sorter. This is the reason why it takes time to investigate the cause of an abnormality during maintenance.

Generally, users of copying machines are divided into those who only need the copying machine itself and those who also need optional equipment such as a sorter. Therefore, for those who only need the device itself, an inexpensive device can be provided by minimizing the cost of the device itself. In other words, the number of display devices and the like installed in the main body of the device should be minimized.

However, when optional equipment is also connected to the main body of the apparatus, it is better to provide various status display functions in order to improve maintenance efficiency.

(1) Purpose It is an object of the present invention to provide a structure that can be maintained efficiently even when optional equipment is connected, without increasing the cost of the main body of an apparatus such as a copying machine.

■Configuration As mentioned above, display devices for maintenance are preferably provided in optional equipment such as a sorter. However, information on the device itself must also be displayed.

Therefore, for example, a display and a changeover switch are provided on the sorter side, and when the changeover switch is on, information inside the sorter is displayed, and when the changeover switch is off, an interface signal line is connected to the main body of the device. If the configuration is configured to display the information of the device main body sent via the device main body, information necessary for maintenance etc. can be displayed without complicating the hardware configuration of the device main body side, that is, without increasing costs.

In order to simplify the connection between the main body of a copying machine and an optional device such as a sorter, it is preferable to use a serial signal transmission method in the interface between the two. Therefore, in one preferred embodiment of the present invention, a serial signal transmission method is used to transmit abnormal signals, etc., and when displaying information on the device main body side, the serial signal is converted into a parallel signal, and then the bits of the signal are Identify the configuration and display accordingly.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1a shows one type of copier embodying the invention.

Reference numeral 91, which will be explained with reference to FIG. 1a, is a pressure plate for pressing a document, and 11 is an operation panel. 12 is a photoreceptor drum, around which are a charger 13, a developing device 15. Pre-transfer static elimination lamp 16. Transfer charger 17. Separate charger 18. Branch claws 19 and the like are arranged. 20 is a conveyor belt, 24 is a fixing device, and 25, 26 and 27 are paper feed trays. A sorter 30 is connected to face the copy outlet 28 of the copying machine main body. In this example, sorter 3
There are 20 copy bins 33 arranged inside the 0.

FIG. ib shows the configuration of the vicinity of the optical scanning system of the copying machine shown in FIG. 1a. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 1b.

51 is a contact glass on which a document is placed.

An optical scanning system 50 is disposed below the contact glass 51 and guides light from the document onto the photosensitive drum 12 in a slit shape. The optical scanning system 50 includes an illumination lamp 52a,
52b, a first mirror for forward scanning 53b, a first mirror for backward scanning 53a, a second mirror for forward scanning 55. Second mirror for backward scanning 54. lens 56, forward scanning third mirror 57. Fourth mirror for forward scanning 59. Reverse scanning roof mirror 58. It consists of a shutter 60 or the like.

Illumination lamps 52a, 52b and first mirror 53a,
53b is integrally mounted on a first carriage (not shown), and second mirrors 54 and 55 are integrally mounted on a second carriage (not shown). The first carriage and the second carriage are driven for reciprocal scanning in the directions of arrows A and B at a speed of 2:1 so that the optical path length remains unchanged.

In the case of forward scanning (scanning in the direction of the arrow), the illumination lamp 52b
The light emitted from the contact glass 51 is reflected by the original,
This reflected light passes through the first mirror 53b, the second mirror 55, the lens 56, the third mirror 57, and the fourth mirror 59, and forms an image on the photosensitive drum 12. In the case of backward scanning (scanning in the direction of arrow B), the light emitted from the illumination lamp 52a is reflected by the document on the contact glass 51, and this reflected light is transmitted from the first mirror 53a to the second mirror 54 to the lens 56 to the roof mirror 58. and is imaged onto the photoreceptor drum 12.

In addition, in the case of forward scanning, the shutter 60 is located at the position of the solid line in the figure to block the light from the backward scanning optical system, and in the case of backward scanning, the shutter 60 is located at the position of the imaginary line in the figure, and the shutter 60 is located at the position of the imaginary line in the diagram to block the light from the backward scanning optical system. In order to block light from the optical system, the photosensitive drum 12 includes:
Light that has passed through either the forward scanning optical system or the backward scanning optical system arrives.

FIG. 1c shows the internal configuration of the sorter 30.

This will be explained with reference to FIG. 1c. A reflective photosensor PS is arranged in the copy receiving port 31, and a conveyance roller 34 is arranged in front of it. A rotatable branch plate 4o and a reflective photosensor PS2 are provided on the exit side of the conveyance roller 39. The branch plate 40 is used to switch the path of the sheet when a plurality of sorters are connected, and is positioned at the solid line position or the imaginary line position by a spring and an electromagnetic actuator (not shown). When the branch plate 4o is at the position of the imaginary line, the copy sheet heads toward the copy outlet 32, and when the branch vi40 is at the position of the solid line, the copy sheet heads toward the conveyance path switching mechanism 41.

The transport path switching mechanism 41 has a predetermined number (n=20 in this example).
) transport rollers 421 to 42n and rotatable deflection claws 4
31 to 43 m (m=n -1), and the deflection claws 431 to 43 m are positioned at either the solid line position or the imaginary line position by a spring and an electromagnetic actuator (not shown). There is. Each bottle (
paper output tray) 331 to 33n and conveyance rollers 421 to 42
Reflective photosensors PS31~
PS3n is provided, and reflective photosensors Ps41 to PS4 are provided at positions facing each of the bins 331 to 33n.
It is equipped with n.

FIG. 2 shows a part of the structure of the electric circuit inside the sorter 30 and the main body of the copying machine connected thereto. Referring to FIG. 2, the sorter control device includes a microprocessor MP.
U1. It is equipped with a microcomputer including a communication control unit CCUI, a read-only memory ROM 1 , a read/write memory (IJRAM1.I10 board 101, etc.).

I10 port IOI has sensor unit Ps, solenoid driver SDV, 8 display light emitting diodes LEI~
LE8. A changeover switch SWI etc. is connected. Solenoids of various electromagnetic actuators are connected to each output terminal of the solenoid driver sDv. The motor M for driving the sorter is controlled via a relay RL.

The copying machine control device is also equipped with a communication control unit CCU2, and four signal transmission lines of CCU1 and CCU2 are connected to each other via a buffer and a connector CN.

In this example, communication control units CCUl and CCU2
The integrated circuit USART (
Universal 5ynchronous/Asy
nchronousReceiverTransmi
This integrated circuit has the function of converting 8-bit parallel data into a serial signal and outputting it, and converting the received serial data into 8-bit parallel data.

Signals TXD, RXRDY, RXD shown in the drawing.

CTS and RTS each have an output signal line for passing serial transmission data, an output signal line for indicating that reception is possible, an input signal line for passing serial reception data, and a signal for knowing whether data transmission is possible or not. An input signal line for passing the data transmission request signal and an output signal line for passing the data transmission request signal are shown.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the operation of the sorter control device.

This will be explained with reference to FIG. When the power is turned on, initial settings for the output board, memory clear, initial settings for the operating mode, etc. are performed.The communication control unit CCU1 is set to a communicable state, and an interrupt is generated when a signal is received.Serial signal When the received serial data is received, the received serial data is converted into 8-bit parallel data, and the converted data is stored in the received data register R1.

Each bit of data stored in register R1 is checked, the function assigned to each bit in advance is identified, and an operation is performed accordingly. In this example, each bit of the received data is defined as follows.

Bit 1 Motor on: Sets the sorter motor M to the driving state.

Bit 2 Sort: Specifies sort as the operation mode Bit 3 Stack: Specifies stack as the operation mode Bit 4
Interrupt: Specifies interrupt as the operation mode Bit 5 Copy ejection: Copy ejection display bit 6 Copier jam: Bit 7 indicating that a jam has occurred on the copying machine side Mode reset: To return the currently set operation mode to the initial state Instruction bit 8: Operates according to the currently set mode, except when receiving an undefined serial signal.

If an error such as a paper jam occurs during processing, data corresponding to the type of error is generated and stored in register R2. Each bit of data stored in register R2 is defined as follows.

Bit 1 Indicates that there is paper in one of the sorter bins Bit 2 Indicates that all bins in the sorter have paper in it Bit 4 Indicates whether the sorter door (cover) is open or closed Bit 4 Indicates that inside the sorter Bit 5 indicating that a jam has occurred Bits G to 8 indicating that the sorter has received a copy from the copying machine itself Undefined In parallel with normal processing, check the status of switch SWI at relatively short predetermined intervals. do. If SWl is off, the contents of register R1 will be displayed on the display (1°E1~LE8).
is set to the connected output port-1-, and if SWI is on, the contents of register R2 are set to the output port.

Therefore, by turning on/off the changeover switch SW1, the light emitting diodes LEI to LE8 display information on the copying machine main body side and information on the sorter side, as shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 If such information is obtained, in the event of an abnormality,
By switching the switch SWI, it is possible to easily know which of the copying machine main body or the sorter is abnormal and what is the abnormality.

In the above embodiment, one light emitting diode on/off is associated with each type of information, but for example, a 7-segment numeric display is used, each piece of information is assigned a numeric code in advance, and the numeric code is By converting to a 7-segment code, the type of abnormality etc. can be displayed as a numerical value. In this way, for example, just by using a 2-digit display, 100
Can identify types of information. In that case, j as in the example
In addition to displaying abnormalities such as paper in the bin and sorter jam, it is also possible to display which bin or at which position the jam occurred.

(2) Effects As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently investigate the cause of an abnormality in a system to which optional equipment is connected.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1a is a front view showing a schematic configuration of a copying machine embodying the present invention, FIG. ib is an enlarged front view schematically showing the optical scanning system in FIG. 1a, and FIG. 1c is a configuration of the sorter 30 in FIG. 1a. It is an enlarged front view showing. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing part of the electrical circuitry of the device shown in FIG. 1a. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing part of the operation of the sorter control device shown in FIG. 2. 28: Copy outlet 30: Sorter 33: Bin 421.422...: Conveyance roller 431+432...: Deflection claw 50: Optical scanning system SDV: Solenoid driver M: Motor SWt: Changeover switch (changeover switch means) LEI
~LE8: Light emitting diode (display means) CCU: Communication control unit MPUI: Microprocessor

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) In a system comprising at least two devices connected to each other via an interface signal line; a first device is provided with a display means and a changeover switch means, and when the changeover switch means is in a first state, the display means Displaying the status of the first device. An abnormality display method characterized in that when the changeover switch means is in the second state, the state of the second device is displayed on the display means. (2) The interface signal line is a serial signal line, and when displaying information on the second device, it is displayed according to the bit configuration of the signal obtained as a result of converting the serial signal on the interface signal line into a parallel signal. , an abnormality display method according to claim (1). (3) The abnormality display method according to claim (1), wherein the display means displays a numerical value according to the type of information. (4) The second device is a main body of the device that operates independently, and the first device is an optional device attached to the second device. 2)
The abnormality display method described in paragraph or paragraph (3).