KR100242015B1 - Paper remaining amount detection device of paper cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a printing apparatus having a paper cassette capable of loading a large amount of paper, wherein a combination of detection signals generated by a plurality of paper detection sensors provided at arbitrary positions on the inner wall of the paper cassette as the paper is loaded in the paper cassette. Since the remaining amount determination unit determines the remaining amount of paper loaded in the paper cassette and notifies the user, the user can replenish paper in the paper cassette in a timely manner. It can be prevented in advance, and the inconvenience and hassle caused by it are also eliminated.

Description

Paper Residue Detection Device of Paper Cassette

The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting a paper remaining amount of a paper cassette, and more particularly, to an apparatus for sensing a residual amount of paper loaded in a paper cassette and informing a user.

In general, a printer, a facsimile, and a multifunction printer that combines these functions together are products manufactured based on a printing function, and include a paper cassette for loading and supplying paper required for printing. It is equipped with a function to detect the presence of paper and to notify the user by displaying a message for replenishing paper when the loaded paper is used up.

However, the paper detection method as described above only detects and notifies the presence or absence of paper loaded in the paper cassette, but does not detect and notify the remaining degree of the loaded paper. Therefore, when the user wants to check the remaining amount of paper loaded in the paper cassette, the inconvenience of having to observe the inside of the paper cassette is visually observed. In particular, in case of a printer shared through a network, this inconvenience is further exacerbated.

Due to this inconvenience, most users execute printing without checking the remaining amount of paper in the paper cassette, which often causes the printing to be interrupted due to lack of remaining paper during printing, in which case the user executes printing. When I left the room and came back, the printing was interrupted and not completed as expected, so it was time to reload the paper and resume printing.

Therefore, the present invention is devised to solve the inconvenience and hassle as described above, the amount of paper remaining in the paper cassette to detect the remaining degree of the paper loaded in the paper cassette and to inform the timely paper remaining in the paper cassette The purpose is to provide a sensing device.

Figure 1a is a view showing a position where a paper sensor is installed inside the paper cassette according to the present invention.

Figure 1b is a view showing the structure of a paper sensor used in the present invention.

2 is a view showing an example in which the paper sensor is operated by the paper loaded in the paper cassette in the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flow chart of the operation of the printing apparatus is applied to the remaining paper detection device according to the present invention.

<Description of the code | symbol about the principal part of drawing>

10: paper cassette 20: paper

SW1 to SW3: push switch

The present invention for achieving the above object, in the printing apparatus having a paper cassette capable of loading a large amount of paper: installed at any position of the inner wall of the paper cassette according to the stacking height of the paper according to the remaining amount to be detected And a remaining amount discriminating unit for determining a remaining amount of paper loaded in the paper cassette according to a combination of a plurality of paper detecting sensors and a detection signal generated by the paper detecting sensor due to the paper being loaded in the paper cassette. It features.

Preferably, a separate paper sensor for detecting the presence or absence of paper loaded in the paper cassette is additionally installed at any position of the inner bottom surface of the paper cassette, and the remaining amount discriminating unit at this time is generated by the paper sensor. The remaining amount of paper loaded in the paper cassette is detected according to the combination of the detection signals.

The paper sensor may be configured as a push switch intermittently in contact with the paper loaded in the paper cassette, and may optionally use an optical sensor.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Here, a case in which the paper detection sensor is configured using the push switch will be described as an example, and it will be described as playing the role of the remaining amount discriminating unit in the controller of the printing apparatus.

First, referring to FIG. 1, three push switches SW1, SW2, and SW3 are installed inside the paper cassette 10, and one of them SW1 is used to detect the presence of loaded paper. ) And the other two (SW2, SW3) is installed at any position of the inner wall of the paper cassette 10 for the purpose of detecting the remaining amount of the loaded paper.

At this time, the two push switches SW2 and SW3 (hereinafter, referred to as 'second switch' and 'third switch') respectively installed on the inner wall of the paper cassette 10 are installed at different heights. Each of them is installed at the corresponding height according to the remaining amount to be detected. That is, they are for sensing the remaining amount using the stacking height of the paper.

These three push switches SW1, SW2, and SW3 are pressed down and intermittently as the paper is loaded in the paper cassette 10. There are eight possible combinations that may occur as they are interrupted, but do not normally occur. When the push switch SW1 (hereinafter referred to as 'first switch') installed on the inner bottom surface of the paper cassette 10 is turned off, the second switch SW2 or / and the third switch SW3 are turned on. Except for the case of (ON), the number of combinations that can occur is all four, and the presence or absence of paper in the paper cassette 10 according to each case is defined in Table 1 below.

division none lack usually enough First switch (SW1) OFF ON ON ON Second switch (SW2) OFF OFF ON ON Third switch (SW3) OFF OFF OFF ON

Here, the ON state is a state when the push switch is pressed by the loaded paper, which is a result of the combination that may occur when the third switch SW3 is installed at a position higher than the second switch SW2. to be.

The controller (not shown) of the printing apparatus receives a combination of detection signals generated when the first to third switches SW1 to SW3 are interrupted, and the presence or absence of paper in the paper cassette 10 based on the above table. I can grasp the condition.

As an example, as shown in FIG. 2, when the paper 20 is stacked in the paper cassette 10, a combination of the detection signals generated by the first to third switches SW1 to SW3, and accordingly The result of detecting the remaining amount of paper is shown in Table 2 below.

First switch (SW1) ON Second switch (SW2) ON Third switch (SW3) OFF Remaining paper usually

When the remaining amount of paper is detected in this way, the controller notifies the user by displaying it on display means such as a monitor, so that the user can replenish the paper in a timely manner.

Now, look at the process of identifying and printing the remaining state of the paper in the printing apparatus to which the present invention is applied through FIG. 3.

First, when a user issues a print command from a computer (not shown) (S10), the controller of the printer that receives the print detects an interruption state of the first to third switches SW1 to SW3 installed in the paper cassette 10, The presence or absence of the paper 20 loaded in the paper cassette 10 is determined by the method as described above (S20).

Then, the number of sheets of paper 20 necessary for printing is checked through the print data sent together with the print command (S30), and it is compared with the remaining paper amount to determine whether the remaining paper amount is sufficient to complete printing ( S40).

At this time, if the remaining amount of paper is enough to complete the printing is executed (S50), but if this is not sufficient, a message requiring the paper replenishment along with the remaining state of the paper is sent to the computer to be displayed on the monitor to notify the user (S60).

Subsequently, when paper replenishing is performed and it is determined that the remaining amount of paper is sufficient to complete printing through the above-described process, printing is performed (S50).

Although specific embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. For example, in the present invention, three push switches are used as the paper sensor, but more paper sensors can be used to further detect and notify the user of the remaining state of the paper loaded in the paper cassette. An optical sensor may be used instead of a push switch.

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the above-described embodiments, but should be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, the user detects the remaining amount of the loaded paper through a combination of detection signals output from the plurality of paper detection sensors installed in the paper cassette and notifies the user of the timely paper. Since the paper can be supplied to the cassette, it is possible to prevent the situation in which the printing is interrupted due to the lack of paper during printing, thereby eliminating inconvenience and hassle.

Claims (1)

A printing apparatus comprising a paper cassette capable of stacking a large amount of paper; A first push switch installed at an inner bottom surface of the paper cassette to detect the presence or absence of paper loaded in the paper cassette; A second push switch for dividing the inner wall of the paper cassette into a predetermined step according to the stacking height of the paper to detect a residual amount of paper loaded in the paper cassette, and installed at a position separated by the predetermined step; And a residual amount discriminating unit for combining the detection signals generated by the first and second push switches, and determining a remaining amount of the paper loaded in the paper cassette according to the combined signal to notify the user. The remaining amount of paper in the paper cassette.

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