KR20080073476A - Image forming apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

An image forming apparatus and a control method thereof are provided to recognize the remaining amount of toner using a toner level sensor, and a toner supply frequency and an accumulated printing coverage value, thereby discriminating the shortage of toner and the error of a toner supply device or the toner level sensor and transmitting a correct message to a user. An image forming apparatus includes a developing device body, a toner bottle(20), a toner level sensor(10), a storage unit(60), a display unit(50), and a control unit(40). The toner bottle is separated from the developing device body and stores toner. The toner level sensor detects a toner level in a developing device(30). The storage unit is positioned in the toner bottle to store an accumulated printing coverage value and a toner supply frequency indicating the use amount of toner. The display unit displays a shortage of toner for a user. The control unit determines and displays the shortage of toner using the toner level sensor, and the toner supply frequency and accumulated printing coverage value stored in the storage unit.

Description

Image forming apparatus and control method thereof

1 is a configuration diagram of a toner bottle, a developer, and a toner level sensor of the image forming apparatus.

2 is an enlarged view of a developer and a toner level sensor for showing a process of recognizing a shortage of toner in a developer through a toner level sensor.

3 is a graph showing a relationship between the number of toner supply times and the cumulative supply amount of toner.

4 is a graph showing that the control result varies depending on the number of toner supply and the cumulative printing coverage value.

5 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a control flowchart for explaining a toner shortage recognition method of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

7 is a control flowchart for explaining a toner shortage recognition method of the image forming apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

* Description of symbols on the main parts of the drawings *

10: toner level sensor 20: toner bottle

30: developer main body 31: transparent window

12: light receiving portion 13: light emitting portion

32: toner 40: control unit

50: display unit 60: storage unit

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for recognizing a toner shortage and a control method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a case in which a low level is detected by a toner level sensor inside a developer. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and a method of controlling the same, which recognizes a case by an error such as a toner supply device or a toner sensor and displays the result.

In general, an apparatus for outputting image data on a printing sheet such as a printer, a multifunction printer, a copying machine, a facsimile machine, a scanner, etc. is called an image forming apparatus. In the image forming apparatus in which the developer and the toner bottle are separated, an appropriate amount of toner must be maintained in the developer, and it is necessary to display the information by detecting the presence of toner in the toner bottle. To this end, the toner sensor installed inside the developer detects the toner level inside the developer, and if necessary, the toner is supplied from the toner bottle into the developer to maintain an appropriate level.

Looking at the toner shortage recognition method of the conventional image forming apparatus with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the toner level sensor 10 is composed of a light emitting portion 13 and a light receiving portion 12, the light emitted from the light emitting portion 13 It enters into the developer through the transparent window 31 installed in the developer frame, passes through the toner layer 32, and then enters the light receiving part 12 through the transparent window 31. The light receiving sensor 12 outputs a voltage proportional to the amount of incident light, and predicts the amount of toner inside the developer according to this output voltage level (eg, output in steps of high level, low level, error level, etc. according to the amount of light). Can be. Based on the estimated toner amount, the toner supply device (not shown) is operated when the toner amount inside the developer is lower than the control reference value (lower level or less), thereby supplying a predetermined amount of toner from the toner bottle into the developer, thereby reducing the amount of toner inside the developer. Will remain constant.

At this time, if the toner level in the developing machine is recognized below the toner low level threshold for more than a predetermined page, the message 'Toner Low' is displayed to inform the user, and after printing a certain number of copies from the toner, the printing operation is stopped.

However, the toner supply may not be smooth due to a failure of the toner supply device in addition to when the toner in the toner bottle is insufficient, and thus the toner level in the developer may be lowered. In addition, a newly purchased developer may contain a small amount of initial toner, and the toner in the developer may be pulled to one side in the distribution process, thereby recognizing that there is little toner in the developer.

Therefore, in order to properly distinguish these cases from actual toner shortages, the toner shortage display does not occur in the initial printing state in which the toner remains firmly in the toner bottle, and an error is displayed when the toner level drops to the error level.

As a criterion for distinguishing whether the printing is in the initial state, the cumulative print coverage information associated with the toner consumption amount is used. The cumulative print coverage value indicates a consumption amount of the toner. The cumulative print coverage value is a value obtained by multiplying the number of prints and the ratio of the print image in the paper and accumulating the sums of the toners.

However, the conventional toner shortage recognition method according to the cumulative printing coverage was difficult to accurately predict the toner consumption amount, because the toner consumption amount is influenced by the environment, usage time, and printing conditions.

In addition, it is difficult to accurately distinguish the case where the toner level in the developer decreases due to a failure of the toner supply device, such as the case where the toner level in the developer does not exist because the toner bottle does not have toner. There was a problem that could work.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a stable control means by accurately recognizing the amount of toner in a toner bottle and distinguishing a state without a toner from a problem occurrence state of a toner supply device.

The present invention for achieving the above object is a developer body, a toner bottle for storing the toner, a toner level sensor for detecting the toner level inside the developer, a toner level sensor for detecting the toner, cumulative printing in the toner bottle and indicating the amount of toner used A storage unit for storing coverage values and toner supply times, a display unit for displaying toner shortages, a toner level sensor, a toner supply count and a cumulative printing coverage value in the storage unit, and determining the toner shortage. It includes a control unit to make.

When the toner level sensor detects a toner low level, the control unit multiplies the number of toner supply and the number of prints in the storage unit with the ratio of the print image in the paper, and accumulates and adds the accumulated print coverage value to each reference value. It is characterized in that the toner shortage is judged in the case of the reference value or more.

When the toner level sensor detects the toner low level, the control unit compares the number of toner supply times and the cumulative print coverage value in the storage unit with the respective reference values, and enters the toner supply mode to supply the toner after the toner supply. The toner shortage is determined when the toner sensor level is lower than or equal to the reference level.

A control method of an image forming apparatus including a developer main body, a toner bottle, and a toner sensor for detecting a toner level inside the developer, wherein the toner sensor senses the toner level in the developer and the toner level is lower than the toner level. The toner shortage is determined by comparing the supply frequency and the cumulative printing coverage value with each reference value.

In addition, after multiplying the number of times of toner supply, the number of prints, and the ratio of print images in the paper, and comparing the cumulative print coverage values accumulated and summed with each reference value, the toner supply frequency and the cumulative print coverage values are larger than the respective reference values. It is determined that the toner is low and the user is determined to be out of toner, and at least one of the toner supply frequency and the cumulative printing coverage value is smaller than each reference value.

In addition, when the toner supply count and the cumulative print coverage value are compared with the respective reference values, when the toner supply count and the cumulative print coverage value are larger than the respective reference values, the toner is supplied to the developing device, and the level of the toner level sensor is low even after the supply. If it is determined that the toner is low, characterized in that to indicate to the user that the toner is low.

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

3 is a graph showing the relationship between the cumulative supply amount of toner and the supply frequency. As can be seen from the graph, the number of supply of toner and the cumulative supply of toner have a relatively linear relationship, which means that the amount of toner supplied from the toner bottle to the developer each time is almost constant. However, as shown in the graph, when the color toner bottle and the black toner bottle each have a capacity of 80g and 40g, the remaining amount is about 5g (hereinafter 'area B'), that is, the number of feeding times of 320 or more times In the case of black and white bottles, the toner supply amount is drastically reduced in the section where the supply frequency is more than 520 times, and the toner supply is not properly performed. Therefore, this area B section can be considered as a case where the toner is actually low, and the state before that (area A) is when the toner is sufficient, so if the toner level sensor in the developer detects the toner low level, the toner supply device ( (Not shown), or an error such as a toner level sensor.

As shown in the graph of FIG. 3, the toner supply can be predicted more accurately by counting the number of times of toner supply than by predicting the amount of toner consumption by the cumulative print coverage, and when the toner is low and the toner supply device or the toner level sensor, etc. In this case, the present invention is characterized by determining a toner shortage condition in consideration of both the cumulative print coverage and the number of toner supply times.

That is, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, the storage unit 60 and the toner, which are located in the developer main body 30, the toner bottle 20, and the toner bottle, store the number of toner supply and the cumulative printing coverage value. A toner level having a level sensor 10, a user display unit 50, the toner level sensor, a toner supply level using the toner supply frequency and a cumulative printing coverage value in the storage unit, and a control unit 40 for determining the toner shortage When the sensor 10 detects the low level of the toner, it additionally checks the cumulative print coverage and toner supply frequency stored in the storage unit and processes the toner shortage only when the cumulative print coverage and the toner supply frequency are both above the reference value. ) Will be displayed.

Referring to FIG. 4, the cumulative print coverage and the toner supply frequency may be divided into two levels of low and high according to respective reference values, and may be configured to have different control for each case according to the classification.

In each case, in case 1, the toner supply frequency is low and the cumulative printing coverage value is low. Thus, the toner shortage is insufficient and the toner shortage cannot occur. Therefore, even if the toner level sensor detects the low level of the toner, the toner supply control continues without displaying the toner low on the display, and when the toner level sensor detects the error level, the toner supply error is displayed on the display.

In case 2, the toner supply frequency is small, but the cumulative printing coverage value is large, so the number of prints is large but the toner supply error is low. For example, if the toner level sensor detects a low level of the toner because the number of prints is high but the image ratio in the output paper is low and the toner level is sufficient, such as when the toner is actually consumed less, this is likely a toner sensing error. . Therefore, even if the toner level sensor detects the low level of the toner, the toner supply control is continued without displaying the toner shortage on the display, but when the toner level sensor detects the error level, the display indicates "toner supply error" or "toner sensing error". Will be displayed.

In case 3, the toner supply is high, but the cumulative printing coverage is low, so the number of prints is small but the toner supply is likely to be a problem. In this case, even if the toner level sensor detects the low level of the toner, the toner supply control continues without displaying the toner low on the display. If the toner level sensor detects an error level, the display indicates "toner supply error" or "toner supply device." error "is displayed.

 In case 4, the toner supply frequency is high and the cumulative printing coverage value is large, so the number of prints is high and the toner supply is large. Therefore, when the toner level sensor detects the low level of the toner, the display indicates toner low.

In addition, when the toner level sensor detects the low level of the toner in case4, the toner supply mode is not immediately displayed and the toner supply mode is supplied and the toner is supplied for a predetermined time. You can also indicate toner low on the display.

Toner shortage recognition using the above method is performed for each color toner in the color image printing apparatus having a plurality of toner bottles, and when it is recognized that the toner of the corresponding color is insufficient, the name of the color corresponding to the display unit is displayed together. It would be desirable to indicate.

Hereinafter, the overall operation of the toner shortage recognition method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the toner level sensor detects the toner level inside the developer and determines whether the toner level detection value is greater than or equal to the reference value. (S50) If the detected value of the toner level is less than the reference value (low level), the toner bottle is actually attached to the toner bottle. In order to determine whether the toner is insufficient, the toner supply frequency and the cumulative print coverage are compared with each reference value to determine whether the toner supply count or the cumulative print coverage is greater than or equal to the reference value. If it is judged to be low and the toner is low on the display unit (S54). However, if any value of the toner supply frequency and the cumulative print coverage is less than the reference value, it is determined as an error of the toner supply unit or the toner sensor and the display unit indicates a "toner". Supply error "is displayed. (S56)

Hereinafter, the overall operation of the toner shortage recognition method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

As in Example 1, the toner level sensor senses the toner level inside the developer, determines whether the toner level detection value is greater than or equal to the reference value (S60), and when the detected value of the toner level is less than the reference value (low level) The supply frequency and the cumulative printing coverage are compared with each reference value to determine whether the reference value is greater than or equal to the reference value. (S62) If at least one of the toner supply frequency and the cumulative printing coverage value is smaller than each reference value, the user indicates that the toner supply error is present (S68). When the toner supply frequency and the cumulative print coverage are both higher than the reference value, the toner supply mode enters the toner supply mode and supplies the toner to the developer. (S64) Then, the toner level of the toner level sensor is detected again (S66). ) When the toner level is lower than the reference value (low level), it is determined that the toner is low and the toner is displayed on the display unit. However, if the toner level detected in S66 is equal to or higher than the reference value, it is determined to be in a normal state and the process returns to the first inspection step.

As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated by the limited embodiment and drawing, this invention is not limited by this, The person of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs, Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of equivalents of the claims to be described.

As described in detail above, the present invention recognizes the toner shortage of the image forming apparatus by using the toner level sensor, the number of toner supply, and the cumulative printing coverage, and thus, when the toner is actually low and the error of the toner supply device or the toner level sensor, etc. Can be delivered to the user with the correct message by classifying the case, and can stably cope with the toner shortage, the toner supply device, and the error of the toner level sensor.

Claims (6)

Developing body; A toner bottle, separated from the developer body, for storing toner; A toner level sensor that detects a toner level inside the developer; A storage unit located in the toner bottle and storing a cumulative print coverage value and toner supply frequency indicating the amount of toner used; A display unit for displaying to the user whether toner is low; And And a control unit for determining a toner shortage by using the toner level sensor, the number of toner supply times in the storage unit, and a cumulative print coverage value. The method of claim 1, When the toner level sensor detects the toner low level, the controller multiplies the number of times of toner supply and the number of prints in the storage unit with the ratio of the print image in the paper, and accumulates and adds the cumulative print coverage values compared with the respective reference values. And determining a toner shortage in the case of abnormality. The method of claim 2, When the toner level sensor detects a low toner level, the controller enters a toner supply mode and supplies toner when both the toner supply frequency and the cumulative print coverage value of the storage unit are greater than or equal to each reference value. And determining the toner shortage when the sensor level is below the reference level. A control method of an image forming apparatus comprising: a developer body, a toner bottle, and a toner sensor for detecting a toner level inside the developer; The toner sensor detects the toner level inside the developer, And when the toner level is less than or equal to the low level, toner shortage is determined by comparing the toner supply frequency and the cumulative printing coverage value with respective reference values. The method of claim 4, wherein Multiply the toner supply count, the number of prints, and the ratio of print images in the paper, and compare the cumulative total print coverage values with the respective reference values, and if both the toner supply counts and the cumulative print coverage values are larger than the respective reference values, And determining toner shortage to the user, and displaying toner to the user when one of the toner supply frequency and the cumulative printing coverage value is smaller than each reference value. The method of claim 5, When both the toner supply count and the cumulative print coverage value are compared with the respective reference values, and the toner supply count and the cumulative print coverage value are larger than the respective reference values, the toner is supplied to the developer and the level of the toner level sensor is low even after the supply. If it is determined that the toner is insufficient, the control method of the image forming apparatus, characterized in that to display to the user.

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