JP2001072325A - Paper ejection device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide a paper discharge device capable of continuously printing by increasing the number of paper discharges in accordance with the number of sheets used by a user. SOLUTION: A plurality of tray units 1 for stacking discharged sheets P, gears and driving motors for moving the tray units 1 in the vertical direction, and sheets stacked on a tray 5 of the tray unit 1 It is provided with a filler 2 and a fullness detection sensor 3 for detecting the stacking amount of P, and a control unit for moving the tray unit 1 in any one of upper and lower directions to change the stacking amount of sheets. When the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) detects that the loaded amount of the paper P in the tray unit 1 (N) is full, the control unit causes the discharge target tray 5 (N) currently discharging the paper to be discharged. The upper tray unit 1 (N + 1) is moved upward to increase the amount of paper loaded on the discharge target tray 5 (N), thereby enabling continuous discharge.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a sheet discharging device for an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile, and a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An image forming apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine has a so-called mailbox function of not only discharging an image-formed sheet but also discharging it to a tray set for each user. There is something. This mailbox is intended to automatically output the output corresponding to each user to a tray assigned to the user and not to mix it with the output of another user.

[0003]

In a device having such a mailbox function, the number of sheets used or the number of sheets output differs for each user. In some cases, the mail box becomes full and the mailbox cannot be discharged any more. For example, in a mailbox having 10 trays capable of stacking 100 sheets per tray, a total of 1000 sheets can be stacked. However, assuming that the output number of the user A is 150, the tray assigned to the user A becomes full with 100 sheets, and even if there is a margin in the loading capacity of the entire mailbox, the user A can use his or her own. Unless the paper in the tray assigned to the mailbox is removed, it cannot be used anymore.

[0004] Incidentally, as related ones, for example, JP-A-7-10363 and JP-A-9-124223.
The invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. H10-209686 is known.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a paper discharge device capable of continuously printing by increasing the number of paper discharges in accordance with the number of sheets used by a user. It is in.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a plurality of sheet placing means for stacking discharged sheets, and a driving means for moving the sheet placing means in a vertical direction. Detecting means for detecting the amount of paper stacked on the land mounting means, wherein the paper mounting means is moved in one of upper and lower directions to change the amount of paper mounted. The structure provided with the control means was adopted.

In this case, when it is detected by the detection means that the amount of paper on the paper mounting means to be discharged has reached the maximum, the control means determines that the paper is to be discharged. The paper placement means located above the paper placement means is moved upward, or the paper placement means located below is moved downward.

The control means may be one level above or one level above the sheet placement means to be discharged by the detection means.
If the stacking amount of the sheets placed on the lower-stage sheet placing means has not reached the maximum yet, the upper-stage sheet placing means is moved upward or the one-stage lower sheet The placing means is moved downward.

When the detecting means of the one-stage upper or one-stage lower sheet mounting unit does not detect that the sheet stacking amount has reached the maximum, the control unit sets the sheet stack to be discharged. Until it is no longer detected that the paper stacking amount on the stacking means has reached the maximum, or that the paper stacking amount on the one-stage upper or one-stage lower paper stacking unit has reached the maximum. Until the detection is performed, the paper placing means one step lower or one step higher is moved upward or downward.

At this time, the control means, if the stacking amount of sheets on the one-stage upper or one-stage lower sheet placement means has reached the maximum, if the stacking position is one step higher, further increases It is sequentially checked whether the stacking amount of the sheet stacking unit has reached the maximum. If there is a sheet stacking unit that has not reached the maximum, the detection unit corresponding to the sheet stacking unit determines that the sheet stacking amount has reached the maximum. Until it is detected that the sheet has reached the maximum, the paper placement unit one stage above the paper placement unit to be discharged is moved upward, and if it is one stage below, the paper placement unit below it is further moved down. Check sequentially whether the load capacity has reached the maximum,
If there is a sheet placement unit that has not reached the maximum, the sheet placement unit to be discharged until the detection unit corresponding to the sheet placement unit detects that the sheet loading amount has reached the maximum. Is moved downwards.

Further, when the control means detects that all of the paper stacking amounts on the paper mounting means above or below the paper mounting means to be discharged have reached the maximum,
The paper stacking amount of the sheet stacking means below or above the sheet stacking means to be ejected is detected, and if the sheet stacking to be ejected can be moved, the upper or lower side is detected. Move to

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a state in which a paper discharge device according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached to an image forming apparatus. In this embodiment, a paper discharge device 100 is attached above the image forming apparatus 200, and conveys the sheet on which an image has been formed by the image forming apparatus 200 in an upward direction. The paper is discharged to a tray designated as a mailbox and a paper stacking table.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the internal structure of the paper discharging device 100. In this embodiment, an example in which five trays are provided is shown. As shown in detail in FIG. 3, the tray unit 1 includes an upper unit 110 including a tray 5, a (full detection) filler 2, a full detection sensor 3, an upper discharge roller 4a and a switching claw 7, and a lower discharge roller. 4b, a guide plate 6 and a lower unit 120 provided with a sheet discharge detection sensor 8. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, this unit is provided in four stages from the upper side. The lowermost tray is fixed and does not function as the tray unit 1. Therefore, in this embodiment, four tray units 1 that can move up and down are placed above the lowermost tray 5U.
Are provided in a stacked state. A sheet transport path 10 is provided adjacent to the guide surface 6a of the guide plate 6 of each of the tray units 1 to guide the sheet vertically from the image forming apparatus 200 to each of the tray units 1. The paper transport path 10 is formed between the paper feed path 10 and a guide plate 9 provided at a position facing the guide plate 6.

The filler 2 is for detecting the amount of paper loaded on the tray unit 1. The tip of the filler abuts on the surface of the discharged and loaded paper, and rotates clockwise in the drawing to reach the maximum loading capacity. At this point, the rear end of the filler 2 comes into contact with the fullness detection sensor 3 to detect that the amount of paper loaded on the tray 5 has become maximum. The switching claw 7 rotates counterclockwise in FIGS. 2 and 3 when discharging the paper conveyed from the image forming apparatus 200 side onto the tray 5 of the tray unit 1 provided with the switching claw 7. Then, the sheet has a function of forming a conveyance path between the guide plate 6 and the guide surface 6 a to guide the sheet onto the tray 5. Normally, as shown in FIG. 2, a paper transport path 10 is formed between the back surface of the switching claw 7 and the guide plate 9. A discharge detection sensor 8 is provided upstream of the lower discharge roller 4b of the guide plate 6 in the sheet conveyance direction, and detects that the sheet is discharged to the tray unit 1.

Each lower unit 120 is provided with a gear 21 and a driving means (motor) 22 for rotating the gear, as shown in the main part configuration diagram of FIG. On the other hand, a rack 24 is fixedly provided on the sheet discharging device 100 side, and the gears 21 mesh with the rack 24. Thus, when the gear 21 is rotationally driven by the driving means 22, each tray unit 1 can move independently in the vertical direction. That is, in FIG.
When the tray 1 is driven clockwise, only the tray unit 1 provided with the gear 21 moves upward along the rail 23, and when driven counterclockwise, it moves downward. At this time, in order to define the direction of movement of the tray unit 1, the lower unit 120 is configured to be movable along a guide 11 formed above the upper unit 110 of the tray unit 1 located below. The movement range is limited to a stroke defined by the dimension in the height direction of the guide 11. In other words, it is possible to move by this stroke L. Here,
Although the vertical movement locus is defined by the rail 23 and the guide 11, it is needless to say that a continuous guide means can be introduced so as not to be limited to the stroke.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a control configuration of a system including such a paper discharge device 100 and an image forming apparatus 200. As shown in FIG. 1, a control unit 30 is provided in the sheet discharging device 100, and the control unit 30 includes a full detection sensor 3, a discharge detection sensor 8, and a driving unit 22 provided for each tray unit 1. The driving unit 31 and the display unit 32 of the paper discharge rollers 4a and 4b are connected, and also connected to the control circuit of the image forming apparatus 200. Thus, various controls of the sheet discharging device 100 can be performed by the control unit 30 according to the image output of the image forming apparatus 200.

The control operation of the control unit 30 will now be described with reference to FIG.
The operation will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

In the paper discharging device of this embodiment, the space between the trays (mailboxes) to be discharged is widened if possible in relation to the adjacent tray, and the stacking amount of the paper P discharged to the tray is increased. The tray unit is moved so as to increase the number.

In this embodiment, the mailbox assigned to a certain user is the N-th tray (shown as the third of the five trays in FIG. 2. If the number of trays increases, the mailbox cannot be identified. N tray
The discharge target tray 5 of the second tray unit 1 (N)
(N) [this tray is equivalent to the tray provided in the upper unit 110 (N-1) of the (N-1) th tray unit], and the tray unit one level higher is set to N + 1.
The tray unit at the first tier and the lower tier are displayed as the (N-1) th tier. ), And the sheet P is discharged to the discharge target tray 5 (N) of the tray unit 1 (N). Under such conditions, the sheet P is transported upward from the image forming apparatus 200 along the transport path 10 formed by the guide plates 6 and 9. That is, when the image forming apparatus 200 operates and an image is formed on the sheet P, the sheet P is sent upward (step 401). On the other hand, the switching claw 7 of the set mailbox (tray unit 1 (N))
(N) rotates counterclockwise to set the transport path 10 to the set discharge target tray 5 (N) side. At the same time, the paper discharge rollers 4a and 4b of the tray unit 1 (N) start rotating (step 402), and the paper P is discharged to the discharge target tray 5.
Preparations for introduction to (N) are started.

When the paper P is introduced into the mailbox by the switching claw 7 (N), the paper detection sensor (paper detection means) 8 (N) is turned on to detect the discharge of the paper P. From this state, the paper P is discharged onto the discharge target tray 5 (N) by the discharge rollers 4a and 4b. The sheet detection sensor 8 (N) is configured such that the rear end of the sheet P is the sensor 8 (N).
When the sheet passes the position, it is turned off (step 403), and waits for the next sheet P to be discharged. Then, when the off time has passed a predetermined time, in other words, when the next sheet P has not been sent even after the predetermined time T1 (step 404), the tray unit 1 (N) discharging the sheet P is further discharged. The amount of the paper P stacked on the paper target tray 5 (N) is checked. In this case, it is checked whether or not the fullness detection sensor (fullness detection means) 3 (N) is turned on.
If not, go from step 403 to step 4
05, the sheet full sensor 3 (N) is turned on in step 406, and the tray unit 1
Whether the (N + 1) paper full sensor 3 (N + 1) is turned on, that is, the next higher discharge target tray 5
It is checked whether or not the stacking amount of the sheets P discharged at (N + 1) has reached the maximum (step 407).
(N) is moved upward (step 408). When the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) stops detecting fullness (step 409), or when the (N + 1) th-stage fullness detection means 3 (N + 1) detects fullness (step 407), the gear drive The motor 23N is turned off, and the N-th tray unit 1 (N) is stopped (step 41).
0). Thus, when the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) does not detect the fullness of the paper, the space for discharging the paper P is secured, and the tray unit 1 at the N-th stage is returned again.
It is possible to discharge the sheet to the discharge target tray 5 (N) of (N).

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 6, the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) of the tray unit 1 (N) at the Nth stage is (N)
-1) The stacking amount of the paper P on the discharge target tray 5 (N) in the first stage is detected, and at this time, the discharge target tray 5 (N
+1) If the sheet P discharged above is not full, there is room to move the N-th tray unit 1 (N) upward. Drive the driving motor 22 (N) to drive the gear 21 (N).
Is rotated clockwise in FIG. As a result, as shown in FIG. 7, the lower unit 110 (N) rises by a preset amount, and the entire tray unit 1 (N) of the Nth stage rises by the above amount. As a result, the upper unit 120 (N-1) of the tray unit 1 (N-1) of the (N-1) -th stage
N-th discharge target tray 5 set in -1)
(N) The amount of sheets that can be loaded on the top increases.

Similarly, even if the discharge target trays 5 (N) and 5 (N + 1) of the tray units 1 of the Nth and (N + 1) th stages are full, they are not shown (only five stages are shown in the figure). If the tray 5 at the (N + 2) th stage is not full, the tray units 1 at the (N) th stage and the (N + 1) th stage are moved upward (steps 411 to 41).
4), when the N-th stage full detection sensor 3 (N) stops detecting the full state (step 415), or when the N + 2th stage full-state detection sensor 3 (not shown) detects the full state (step 413), The movement of the tray units 1 (N), 1 (N + 1) at the tier and the (N + 1) th tier is stopped. Thus, the paper P can be discharged onto the discharge target tray 5 (N) of the tray unit 1 (N) of the Nth stage again.
If the (N + 2) th tray 5 is full, the same operation is repeated for the further upper tray unit 1 to increase the amount of sheets that can be stacked in the Nth tray unit 1 (N) (step 406). 416).

On the other hand, if all of the upper tray units 1 are full (step 417), the fullness detection sensor 3 (N-1) of the tray unit 1 (N-1) immediately below the N-th tray unit 1 (N) will be described. -1) is checked to see if it is full (step 418). If full is not detected, the gear drive motor 22 (N-) of the tray unit 1 (N-1) of the (N-1) th stage is detected. 1) drive the gear 21
(N-1) is rotated counterclockwise in FIG. 8 and moved downward (step 419). Then, when the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) of the tray unit 1 (N) of the N-th stage stops detecting the fullness (step 420), or when the tray unit 1 (N-1) of the (N-1) -th stage is full. When the fullness detection sensor 3 (N-1) detects fullness (step 418), the tray unit 1 (N-
1) is stopped (step 416). Accordingly, when the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) does not detect the paper fullness, a space for discharging the paper is secured, so that the discharge target of the N-th tray unit 1 (N) is again returned. Tray 5
It is possible to discharge the sheet for (N) (steps 403 to 416). N + 3, N trays not full
The same applies to the case of +4,.

Similarly, the discharge target trays 5 (N) and 5 (N-1) of the N-th and (N-1) -th tray units 1 are full, and the (N-2) -th tray (not shown) If the tray 5 is not full, the tray units 1 at the (N-1) th and (N-2) th stages are moved downward (steps 422 to 425).
When the fullness detection sensor 3 (N) at the stage stops detecting fullness (step 426), or N-2 (not shown)
When the fullness detection sensor 3 at the stage detects fullness (step 424), the movement of the tray unit at the (N-2) th stage is stopped (step 427). Thus, the paper P can be discharged onto the discharge target tray 5 (N) of the N-th tray unit 1 (N) again (Steps 403 to 42).
7). When the tray 2 at the (N-2) th stage is full, the same operation is repeated for the lower tray unit 120,
The amount of sheets that can be stacked on the N-th tray unit 1 (N) is increased (steps 418 to 427). The same applies to the case where the tray units that are not full are N-3, N-4,.

When the fullness detection sensors 3 of all the tray units 1 are turned on in this way (step 428),
The discharge tray 5 (N) of the N-th tray unit 1 (N)
Since the space for discharging the paper cannot be secured above, the operation of the image forming apparatus 200 is stopped (step 429), and the paper discharge detection sensor 8 (N) is turned off (step 430). (Step 431), the paper discharge rollers 4a and 4b are stopped (Step 432), and the display means indicates that the tray 5 is full, so that the user is notified (Step 433). At this point, the user has received a full sheet of paper P on tray 5 or another tray 5
By taking out the sheets P stacked on the sheet, the sheet discharging operation can be continuously performed.

[0027]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, since there is provided the control means for moving the paper placing means in the up or down direction to change the amount of paper placed, The paper can be discharged onto the paper means by moving the placement means. As a result, the paper can be discharged without interrupting the printing operation.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when the detecting unit detects that the amount of paper on the paper mounting unit to be discharged has reached the maximum, the control unit Moves the paper placing means located above the paper placing means to be discharged upward or the paper placing means located below the paper placing means downward, so that the paper cannot be discharged. In some cases, it is possible to move the sheet placement unit and discharge the sheet onto the sheet unit. As a result, the paper can be discharged without interrupting the printing operation.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the control means is placed on the sheet placement means one step above or one step below the sheet placement means to be discharged by the detection means. If the paper load has not yet reached the maximum,
Since the paper placing means on the upper stage is moved upward or the paper placing means on the lower stage is moved downward, the paper placing means can be moved to discharge the paper onto the paper means. Become. As a result, the paper can be discharged without interrupting the printing operation.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the detecting means of the one-stage upper or one-stage lower sheet placing unit does not detect that the sheet stacking amount has reached the maximum, Until it is no longer detected that the paper stacking amount on the paper stacking means to be discharged has reached the maximum, or
Until it is detected that the paper stacking amount on the one-stage upper or one-stage lower sheet-stacking device has reached the maximum, the one-stage lower or one-stage higher-stage sheet-stacking device is moved upward or downward. , The paper placing means can be moved to discharge the paper onto the paper means. by this,
Paper can be discharged without interrupting the printing operation.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the stacking amount of sheets on the one-stage or one-stage-lower sheet placement unit has reached the maximum, the control means determines whether the sheet is one step higher. Further checks sequentially whether the stacking amount of the sheet stacking means on it has reached the maximum, and if there is a sheet stacking means which has not reached the maximum, the detecting means corresponding to the sheet stacking means Until the sheet stacking amount reaches the maximum, the paper stacking means one stage higher than the sheet stacking means to be ejected is moved upward. It is sequentially checked whether the stacking amount of the sheet stacking unit has reached the maximum. If there is a sheet stacking unit that has not reached the maximum, the detection unit corresponding to the sheet stacking unit determines that the sheet stacking amount has reached the maximum. Until it is detected that the sheet has reached the maximum, the paper Since moving downward, so the sheet by moving the sheet placing means can be discharged to the the paper unit. As a result, the paper can be discharged without interrupting the printing operation.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the control means determines that all of the paper stacking amounts on the upper or lower of the paper mounting means to be discharged have reached the maximum. When it is detected, the sheet stacking amount of the sheet stacking means below or above the sheet stacking means to be ejected is detected, and if the sheet stacking to be ejected can be moved, Is moved upward or downward, so that the paper placing means can be moved to discharge the paper onto the paper means. As a result, the paper can be discharged without interrupting the printing operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram illustrating a state in which a paper discharge device according to an embodiment of the present invention is attached to an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an internal structure of a paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing details of a tray unit in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation procedure of the paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electrical system configuration of the paper ejection device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a paper full state in one tray unit of the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an operation when a tray unit of the sheet discharging device according to the embodiment of the present invention is moved to increase a sheet stacking amount.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a moving mechanism of the paper discharge device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 tray unit 2 full detection filler 3 full detection sensor 4, 4a, 4b discharge roller 5 tray 6, 9 guide plate 7 switching claw 8 discharge detection sensor 10 paper transport path 21 gear 22 drive motor (tray unit drive unit) REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 30 control unit 31 discharge roller driving unit 100 discharge device 110 lower unit 120 upper unit

Claims (6)

[Claims] A plurality of sheet placement means for stacking the discharged sheets; a driving means for moving the sheet placement means in a vertical direction; and a loading amount of the sheets stacked on the sheet placement means. Wherein the control unit moves the sheet placement unit in one of the upper and lower directions to change the amount of sheet placement. . 2. The control unit, when it is detected by the detection unit that the amount of paper placed on the paper placement unit to be discharged has reached a maximum, the control unit becomes a discharge target. Move the paper placing means located above the paper placing means upward,
2. The sheet discharging device according to claim 1, wherein the sheet placing means located on the lower side is moved downward. 3. The control means according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means detects that the amount of paper loaded on the paper placing means one level above or one level below the paper placing means to be discharged is still lower. 3. The sheet discharge device according to claim 2, wherein when the maximum value has not been reached, the upper-stage paper placement unit is moved upward or the one-stage lower paper placement unit is moved downward. apparatus. 4. The control device according to claim 1, wherein said detecting means of said one-stage upper or one-stage lower sheet-mounting unit does not detect that the sheet stacking amount has reached a maximum. Until it is no longer detected that the paper stacking amount on the stacking means has reached the maximum, or that the paper stacking amount on the one-stage upper or one-stage lower paper stacking unit has reached the maximum. 4. The sheet discharging device according to claim 3, wherein the sheet placement means is moved upward or downward until the detection is performed. 5. The control means according to claim 1, wherein when the stacking amount of sheets on said one-stage upper or one-stage lower sheet-laying unit has reached a maximum, said upper-stage or one-stage-lower case further increases said sheet. It is sequentially checked whether the stacking amount of the stacking unit has reached the maximum, and if there is a sheet stacking unit that has not reached the maximum, the detection unit corresponding to the sheet stacking unit determines that the sheet stacking amount is the maximum. Until it reaches the limit, the paper placement means one step above the paper placement means to be discharged is moved upward, and
In the case of a lower stage, it is sequentially checked whether the stacking amount of the sheet stacking means under the lower limit has reached the maximum. 5. The sheet discharging device according to claim 4, wherein the sheet placement unit to be discharged is moved downward until the detecting unit detects that the sheet stacking amount has reached the maximum. 6. The control device according to claim 1, wherein when it is detected that all of the paper stacking amounts on the upper or lower sheet stacking means of the sheet stacking means to be ejected have reached the maximum, Detects the amount of paper loaded on the lower or upper paper placement means of the paper placement means to be paper, and moves upward or downward if the placement of the paper to be ejected is possible. 6. The paper ejection device according to claim 5, wherein