KR0174610B1 - How to remove jams in devices using electrophotographic development - Google Patents

Abstract

1. TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention described in the claims relates to a method for removing jams of an apparatus using an electrophotographic development method.

2. The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for automatically removing the jam generating paper.

3. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A jam removing method of an apparatus using an electrophotographic developing method, comprising: a first step of inspecting whether a jam detection signal is received from the jam detecting means during a printing operation of received data; And a second process of controlling the rotation direction of the motor rotating in the forward direction when the jam detection signal is received in reverse direction, and a third process of controlling the motor rotating in the reverse direction again in the forward direction after a predetermined time. .

4. Significant use of the invention: can be used in printers, copiers, etc.

Description

How to remove jams in devices using electrophotographic development

1 is a schematic engine mechanism diagram of a laser beam printer using an electrophotographic development method.

2 is a block diagram of a laser beam printer using an electrophotographic development method.

3 is a control flow chart for removing the jam of the laser beam printer as an embodiment of the present invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus using an electrophotographic development method, and more particularly, to a method for removing jams that may occur when printing image data received from an external device such as a host computer.

In general, the electrophotographic development method is a widely used method for outputting an image according to a video signal in a printer, a facsimile, etc. as well. One example of a printer using an electrophotographic development method is a laser beam printer.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic engine mechanism structure of a laser beam printer (hereinafter referred to as a printer) using an electrophotographic development method. The charging unit 12 allows a uniform charge to be formed on the photosensitive drum 10, and an exposure unit. 14 generates an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 10 by generating a laser beam according to the image data and exposing the photosensitive drum 10 through a laser reflector. The developing unit 16 delivers the developer to the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive drum 10, and the register rollers 22 and 24 align the paper conveyed by the pickup roller (not shown in the drawing). The transfer unit 18 transfers the developer formed on the photosensitive drum 10 to the paper, and the fixing units 26 and 28 fix the developer transferred to the paper on the paper. Typically, the fixing units 26 and 28 include a pressing roller 26 and a heater roller 28, the heater roller 28 is heated by the heat lamp therein to fix the developer on the paper. Meanwhile, the paper detection sensors 20 and 30, which are jam detection means, are installed on the paper transfer path to detect the transfer state of the paper, that is, the occurrence of the jam. Although only two of these paper detection sensors 20 and 30 are shown in FIG. 1, they are generally installed. The jam refers to a phenomenon in which the paper is not conveyed normally and is caught by the mechanism of the engine due to a poor state of a paper used as a recording medium or a malfunction of the print engine unit. When a jam occurs in a conventional printer, a control process for removing it will be described with reference to FIG. 1 as follows.

First, when a print command is received from an external device such as a host computer, the control means for controlling the printer as a whole controls the parts of the print engine unit in response to the print command to perform printing. When a jam detection signal is received from the paper detection sensors 20 and 30 during printing, the control means drives the motor which is the main power source of the print engine in the paper conveying direction to remove the jam generating paper and stop the motor. Controlled. However, if the paper cannot proceed anymore due to the presence of foreign matter on the paper transport path, or if the paper is out of the transport path and the upper left and right sides of the paper are caught in the engine mechanism, the conventional printer regards it as a jam and the The jam removal process is performed. At this time, when driving the motor which is the main power source of the print engine unit in the paper feed direction to remove the jammed paper as described above, the jam generating paper is not removed and the edge of the paper is wrinkled or the paper is rolled on the engine roller. The problem arises with drying at 24, 26, 28). Therefore, the user of the printer has the inconvenience of manually removing the curled paper on the roller of the engine by opening and closing the printer cover. In this case, the developer of the developing part is scattered inside the printer due to the opening and closing of the printer cover to contaminate the photosensitive drum and the developing part. Due to this problem there was a problem that can shorten the life of the printer engine.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a jam removing method that can automatically remove jam-generating paper when a jam occurs due to a foreign material present on a paper transfer path or a paper tip is caught in an engine mechanism.

The present invention for achieving the above object is an apparatus using an electrophotographic development method which is provided on the paper conveying path and comprises a jam detecting means for detecting a jam of the paper, and a motor for rotating and driving in a forward direction to convey and discharge the paper. In the jam removal method,

A first step of checking whether a jam detection signal is received from the jam detecting means during a print operation of the received data;

A second process of controlling the rotational direction of the motor rotating in the forward direction when the jam detection signal is received;

And a third process of controlling the motor rotating in the reverse direction again after the predetermined time elapses.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Many specific details, such as specific process flows, are set forth in the following description to provide a more general understanding of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. And a detailed description of known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

2 is a schematic block diagram of a printer using an electrophotographic development method.

The printer is largely comprised of a video controller 40, a print engine unit 50, and an OPE 48, while the video controller 40 includes a computer interface 42, a video control unit 44, and an engine interface 46. It consists of. The computer interface 42 is connected between the host computer and the video controller 44 to interface the input and output signals. The video control section 44 includes a ROM having a control program and a RAM which temporarily stores various data input from the OPE 48 and a host computer. In addition, the video controller 44 converts the data received from the computer interface 42 into image data that can be processed by the printer engine, and transmits the data to the print engine 50. The engine interface 46 interfaces the input / output signal with the print engine 50 under the control of the video controller 44. The OPE 48 is controlled by the video controller 44 and includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to the operation of the printer. The print engine unit 50 includes a video interface 52, an engine controller 54, an input / output (I / O) interface 56, a sensor circuit 58, an instrument driving unit 60, and an electrophotographic developing unit 62. Is connected to the video controller 40. The video interface 52 provides an interface for transmitting and receiving signals between the video controller 40 and the engine controller 54. The engine controller 54 controls the mechanical drive unit 60 and the electrophotographic developing unit 62 under the control of the video controller 40, and prints an image according to the image data received from the video controller 40 on paper. In addition, the engine control unit 54 detects an operation state of each part of the print engine unit 50 (for example, the presence / absence of jam occurrence and developer amount, etc.) of the print engine unit 50 through the sensor circuit 58. The I / O interface 56 is connected between the engine control unit 54, the sensor circuit 58, the mechanical drive unit 60, and the electrophotographic developing unit 62 to interface the input / output signals of the engine control unit 54. The sensor circuit 58 drives various sensors for monitoring the operation state of each part of the print engine unit 54, the presence or absence of jams, and the amount of developer, and provides the engine control unit 54 with detection signals of the respective sensors. The mechanism driving unit 60 drives various mechanisms including a motor which is a main power source of the print engine unit 50 under the control of the engine control unit 54. On the other hand, the electrophotographic developing unit 62 prints the image data received under the control of the engine control unit 54 on the paper by the electrophotographic developing method.

3 is a diagram illustrating a process of removing the engine controller 54 to remove a jam when a jam occurs on a paper feed path as an embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the jam removing process of the engine controller 54 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. First, the engine control unit 54 of the printer in the print standby mode checks whether a print command is received from the video control unit 44 in step 70, and proceeds to step 72 when the print command is received. In step 72, the engine control unit 54 controls each unit of the print engine unit 50 to print image data received from the video control unit 44 on a sheet of paper. During the printing operation, the engine controller 54 checks whether a jam detection signal is received from the paper detection sensors 20 and 30 which are jam detection means in step 74. If the jam detection signal is not received from the paper detection sensors 20 and 30 in step 74, the engine controller 54 finishes the jam removing process according to the present invention after completing the printing operation. On the other hand, when the jam detection signal is received from the paper detection sensors 20 and 30 as a result of the 74 step, the engine controller 54 proceeds to step 76 to control the mechanism driving unit 60 to remove the jam generating paper. Drive in the reverse direction of feed direction. Thereafter, in step 78, the engine controller 54 stops the driving motor after a predetermined time has elapsed and proceeds to step 80. In step 80, the engine controller 54 drives the stopped motor in the paper feed direction again, and then proceeds to step 82 to check whether the jam generating paper is removed. If the jam detection signal is not received from the paper detection sensors 20 and 30 in step 82, the engine controller 54 proceeds to step 84 to drive the motor until the jam generation paper is discharged, and then a control process for jam removal. To exit. That is, when the jam generating paper is discharged, the engine control unit 54 stops the motor being driven.

If the jam occurs due to the foreign matter present on the paper feed path, or when the paper jam occurs due to the tip of the paper jammed in the engine mechanism, the motor which is the main power source of the print engine unit 50 in the paper feed direction is By driving in the reverse direction for a certain time, the state of the jam generating paper is crumpled or jammed paper caught in the engine mechanism can be corrected. After that, the jam generating paper is automatically discharged to the outside of the printer by driving the motor in the paper feed direction again.

As described above, the present invention provides the reliability of the printer by automatically removing the jam generation paper even if the jam occurs due to the foreign matter present on the paper transfer path or the paper is caught in the engine mechanism. There is an advantage that can be secured and the convenience of the printer user. In addition, the jam generating paper present on the paper transport path is automatically removed without opening or closing the printer cover, thereby preventing the contamination of the inside of the engine by the developer and extending the life of the engine.

Meanwhile, although an embodiment of the present invention has been described as a laser beam printer as an example, it may be applied to an apparatus using an electrophotographic development method without special modification.

Claims (1)

In the jam removing method of the apparatus using the electrophotographic development method which is provided on the paper conveying path and comprises a jam detecting means for detecting a jam of the paper, and a motor that rotates in a forward direction to convey and discharge the paper. A first step of checking whether a jam detection signal is received from the jam detection means during a print operation of data, and a second step of controlling the rotation direction of the motor which is rotating in a forward direction when the jam detection signal is received; The jam removing method of the apparatus using the electrophotographic development method characterized in that it comprises a third step of controlling the motor in the reverse rotation after a predetermined time to rotate again in the forward direction.