JPS603661A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To grasp easily the residual quantity of a recording medium by detecting the residual quantity of the recording medium, for instance, a copying form, and displaying the residual quantity of its paper by utilizing a numerical display part which is used for other purpose than a paper residual quantity display. CONSTITUTION:The displaying and operating part of a body is provided with a numerical displaying part 21, a copy start key 22, a copying sheet number setting key 23, a stop key 24 for discontinuing a copying operation, the warning displaying part 25 of paper size and the body, and a mode switching key 26 for a sheet number setting and a residual quantity display. For instance, first of all, a copy sheet number inputted from the sheet number setting key 23 is displayed on the numerical displaying part 21. In this state, when the paper residual quantity display key 26 is depressed, the residual quantity of the paper derived after a prescribed time, for instance, for three seconds, etc. is displayed, and thereafter, said display is returned to the display of the copy sheet number. In this way, the residual quantity of a recording medium can be grasped easily.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Technical Field) The present invention relates to an image forming device such as a copying machine or a printing device.
In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement in displaying the amount of paper remaining on a recording medium for image formation, such as recording paper.

(Background Art) Conventionally, this type of paper remaining amount display has been performed in the form of a bar graph or a blinking paper out indicator lamp when the paper is running low.

According to this display method, even if it is known that the amount of paper remaining is relatively small, the absolute amount of paper is unknown.
Therefore, unless you know the maximum number of sheets that can be stored in a cassette or deck, you cannot know the absolute amount of remaining paper.

In addition, a dedicated display section is required to display the remaining amount, which increases the complexity of the circuit and leads to an increase in cost.

(Objective) Therefore, an object of the present invention is to enable anyone to quickly and easily grasp the absolute amount of remaining capacity of a recording medium, and to simplify the display section by using a display format switching means. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus suitably configured as described above.

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

1 to 7 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a copying apparatus. Is the copying device 1 in Figure 1? j An outline of the internal structure of the main body is shown, where ■ is a photosensitive drum that forms an electrostatic latent image from 31A. 2 is a clock plate that is directly connected to the drum 1 and has holes or notches for generating clock pulses used to control the main body; 3 is placed across the clock plate 2, and detects the holes or notches to generate clock pulses. It is a photo ink printer that generates

4 and 5 are chargers, 6 is a static eliminator, 7 is a developer, 8 is a cleaner, 9 is a paper feed roller, 1o is a paper feed guide, 11 is a separation roller, 12 is a separation guide, 13 is a transport unit, and 14 is a Fixing guide, 15 is a fixing roller, 16 is a paper output tray, 17
1 is a paper thickness sensor section, 18 is a paper feed guide, and a is a deck 81 for storing unrecorded copy paper.

First, when a copying operation is started by pressing a copy start key, which will be described later, the photosensitive drum 1 rotates, and the clock plate 2 directly connected to the drum 1 rotates. Since the clock plate 2 has holes along its circumference, the holes are detected by the photointerrupter 3 to generate a control clock.

The photosensitive drum 1 is neutralized by a static eliminator 6, and then moved to a cleaner section 8.
The toner on the surface is removed. Then, charge, vessel 4
As a result, the surface of the photosensitive drum 1 is uniformly charged. Thereafter, a latent image is formed on the photosensitive drum 1 by a light image from an optical system (not shown).

This latent image is visualized by a developing device 7, and then the toner image is transferred by a transfer charger 5 onto a copy sheet fed from a paper feed roller 8 along a paper feed guide 10. Thereafter, the photosensitive drum 1 repeats the above-described process again.

The paper onto which the toner image has been transferred is sent to a conveyance section 13 by a separation roller 11 and a separation guide 12. Roughly, the paper is fixed by the fixing unit 15 via the fixing guide 14, and then the paper is delivered to the paper output tray 16.
The paper is ejected to

FIG. 2 shows an example of the display and operation section of the main body, where 21 is a numerical display section, 22 is a copy start key,
23 is a copy number setting key, 24 is a stop key for interrupting the copying operation, and 25 is a paper size and warning display section on the main body. 26 is a mode 9J change key for displaying the number of sheets and the remaining amount.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the control circuit of the main body, where:
aJts *n Q 1 is composed of a well-known one-chip microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as microcomputer), which includes a central processing unit CPU, a ROM that stores programs, a data memory RAM, an accumulator ACC, and other components necessary for copying operations. It has input/output ports A to F for inputting and outputting signals.

Port A is an input port of G, which is a key part of the operating section shown in FIG. 2, and ports 1-8 are output ports used for dynamic scanning of the key force. Port C is an input section, into which sensor outputs and the like from various parts of the main body are input.

A circuit of a photo ink converter 3 is connected to the terminal 8 of the port C as an example of a sensor. This circuit 3 corresponds to the photo ink converter 3 shown in the first figure. Ports D and E are output ports to the display section H which collectively represents the display sections 2I and 25 shown in FIG.
Dynamic lighting is performed via 0 and 31. Port F is a control output port, and an example is shown in which a circuit for controlling an AC load is connected to its terminal 8. By turning on and off the terminal 8 of port F, the SSR circuit Q3 is driven through the transistor Q2, and the A of the motor, heater, heater, etc.
FIG. 4, which controls the C load 32, shows an example of the configuration of the deck section a shown in FIG. Here, 40 is a reversible motor that can rotate in both directions, 41 is a belt driven by the motor 40, and 4
2 is a cam fixed to the belt 41, and as the belt 41 moves due to the rotation of the motor 40, this cam 42
In the figure, move in the vertical direction. As a result, copy paper 4
The lift 43 on which 7 is placed moves in the vertical direction. 44 and 45 are microswitches, the microswitch 44 detects the lowest position of the lift 43, and the microswitch 45 detects whether the top paper of the sheets 47 has come to the proper position. It is. The detection outputs of these microswitches 44 and 45 are input to the microcomputer Q1 shown in FIG. 4B is a paper feed roller.

By opening the front door (not shown) of the main unit, the motor 4
0 is activated and rotates, thereby lowering the lift 43. Next, when the micro switch 44 detects the position of the lift 43, the motor 40 is stopped. Therefore, when the front door is closed after replenishing paper, the motor 40 rotates in the opposite direction and the lift I-43 rises.

At this time, although not shown in FIG. 4, the motor 40 is equipped with the same combination of clock plate 2 and photointerrupter 3 shown in FIG. 1, and the output from the photointerrupter is Input the pulse to the microcomputer Ql. The microcomputer Ql can determine the amount of rotation of the motor 40, that is, the amount of lift of the lift 43, by counting the number of input pulses. If the thickness of a sheet of paper is known in advance, the remaining amount of paper can be calculated from the thickness and the amount of lift.

As described above, when the lift 43 is raised and the microswitch 45 detects the raised position, the motor 40 stops rotating.

Next, FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the paper feeding portion shown in FIG. 1.

be. As explained with reference to FIG. 4, the top paper of the sheets 47 lifted by the lift 43 is immediately sent by the paper feed roller 46 through the paper feed guide 18 to the paper feed roller 8, where it is stopped. . In FIG. 5, 50 is a paper feeding guide, and 51 is a paper holding mouthpiece.

Further, as soon as the paper feed roller 8 finishes conveying the paper, the lift 43 is raised, and the next paper is fed to the paper feed roller 9 by the paper feed roller 46.

The thickness of the paper changes depending on the amount of rise of the lift 43 at this time.

Another example of thickness detection will now be described with reference to FIG.

Bone - Figure 6 shows the paper thickness sensor section 17 that detects the thickness of the paper.
FIG. 6 is a sectional view showing an example of a nearby configuration of FIG. 5 when viewed in a right angle direction. Here, 60 is the paper fed onto the paper feed guide 18. The paper thickness sensor section 17 consists of a roller 61 and a support for a light emitting diode (LED) 82.
It moves up and down in the direction of the arrow shown in the figure depending on the thickness of the paper 60.

Since the LED 62 is only for detecting the thickness of the paper 60, it needs to have a sufficiently small area.

θ3 is a charge coupled device (COD).

Since the smallest element of the CGD 33 can be several microns in size, it is large enough to detect paper thickness.

Note that while the paper 60 is being conveyed, even if the paper holding roller 51
Even if the paper 60 moves in the vertical direction, the paper thickness cannot be measured accurately, so it is necessary to measure the paper thickness while the paper is stopped.

The output of the CGDI 33 is input to the microcomputer Q1 as paper thickness data.

In the present invention, the remaining amount of paper is detected as described above, and the operation and display in this case will be described next.

First, in FIG. 2, it is assumed that the number of copies input by the number setting key 23 is displayed on the numerical display section 21. When the paper remaining amount display key 26 is pressed in this state, the remaining amount of the previously inserted paper is displayed for a predetermined period of time, such as 3 seconds, and then the display returns to the number of copies.

The display control described above is performed by the microcomputer Ql, and an example of the procedure of the control operation of the -T5 in this case will be explained with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

When the number of sheets setting key 23 is pressed, a display routine shown in FIG. 7 is entered. First, in steps STI and Sr2, the number of copies and the remaining amount of paper are compared. If the remaining amount of paper is greater than the number of copies, step ST8 is executed and the processing of this routine is ended. On the other hand, if the remaining amount of paper is not greater than the number of copies, steps ST3 and Sr1 are executed. For example, if you enter 80 copies as the number of copies, "80" will blink. Alternatively, the remaining amount of paper may be displayed blinking to indicate that there is no more paper left. At the same time, the next input from the copy start key 22 is not accepted.

Next, the process proceeds to step ST5, where it is determined whether or not paper has been replenished. Here, if paper has been replenished, the process returns to step STI and the procedures from steps STI to ST4 are executed again.

If the transfer is not made, the process moves to step ST6, and if the door rear key (C) among the numeric keys shown in the second figure is input, the number of copies is determined in step ST7.
Then, step ST8 is executed to put the copy star in a state where it also accepts input from the key 22, and to stop blinking the display.

(Effects) As described above, according to the present invention, the remaining amount of paper on the recording medium for image formation, such as copy paper, is detected, and the remaining amount of paper is displayed on the copy number display section, the print number display section, etc. It is possible to display the number (iα) using a numerical display section that is used for purposes other than displaying the remaining amount of paper. Users can be clearly informed.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the configuration of the main body of an example of the image forming apparatus according to the first invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view showing an example of the display and operation section, and FIG. 3 is an example of the control circuit according to the invention. 4 is a configuration diagram showing an example of the deck section shown in FIG. 1, FIGS. 5 and 6 are detailed configuration diagrams of the paper feeding section in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a control procedure of a control circuit. 1-2 Drum, 2... Clock board, 3... Photo interrupter, 4.5... Charger, 6... Static eliminator, 7... Developer, 8... Cleaner, 8 ...Paper feed roller, 10.18...Paper feed roller, 11...Separation roller, 12...Separation guide, 13,'' 82 a #B-' 1 14...Fixing guide, 15. ... Fixing section, 16... Paper tray, 17... Paper thickness sensor, a... Paper storage deck section, 21... Numerical display section, 22... Copy start key, 23 ...Number of sheets setting key, 24...Stop key, 25...Paper size and warning display section on main unit, 26...
・Display switching key, Ql...Microcomputer, Q2...L...888 circuit, 40...Deck motor, 41...Belt, 42...Cam, 43...・Lift, 44...Micro switch for detecting the lowest position of lift 43, 45...Micro switch for detecting whether the top paper of #II 47 is at the proper position, 4B...Feeding Paper roller, 60...Paper, 61...Roller, 62...LED, +33...COD. Patent applicant: Canon Co., Ltd. Figure 4 z; Figure 5 7 Figure 6 2 Figure 7

Claims (1)

[Claims] a numerical display means, a detection means for detecting the remaining amount of the image forming recording medium, a means for switching the numerical display means to display the number of image formations and the remaining amount; 1. An image forming apparatus comprising: means for controlling numerical display means to selectively display information.