JP2004341283A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable a memory of a consumable material unit, on which the memory is mounted, to manage the service life of another consumable material unit, on which the memory is not mounted in an image forming apparatus composed of various different consumable material units. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus is provided with: a toner cartridge 10 that contains consumable materials used for the image forming apparatus 20 and is integrally replaceable; and a photoreceptor unit 15. The toner cartridge 10 mounts an RFID memory 22 that stores data on toner 4a to store the data on the wear life of the photoreceptor 8 in the photoreceptor unit 15. When the toner cartridge 10 is replaced, the data of the RFID memory 22 of the used toner cartridge 10 is added to the data of the RFID memory 22 of the unused toner cartridge 10. When the photoreceptor unit 15 is replaced, the data is cleared. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile machine.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic or ink-jet type copying machine, a facsimile, a printer, or a multifunction machine in which the functions of these devices are combined into one device, an image is formed on a recording medium. In the electrophotographic method, a powdery toner is used, and in the ink jet method, ink is used. In the electrophotographic system, a photoconductor is further used to form an electrostatic latent image on an intermediate recording medium. In the two-component developing system, in addition to the toner, the toner is charged and moved to the photoconductor. A developer (mixture of a carrier and a toner) which plays a role of causing the toner to be used is also used.
[0003]
These inks, toners, developers, or photoconductors are consumables that are consumed together with image formation or have a life corresponding to the frequency of image formation, and are designed so that ordinary users can easily replace them. There are many. For example, the ink is an ink cartridge, the toner is a toner cartridge, the developer is a developing unit, and the photoreceptor is a photoreceptor unit.
[0004]
In particular, in recent image forming apparatuses, in order to improve the usability of the user, by mounting an electronic device such as a flash memory on the toner cartridge, data unique to each toner cartridge is written at the time of manufacture and shipment, and this is performed. Attempts have been made to add a function or the like that allows the image forming apparatus to refer to this data when the toner cartridge is mounted on the main body of the image forming apparatus and perform an image forming operation under the optimum conditions of the toner cartridge.
[0005]
Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-163, this idea is advanced, an antenna for transmitting electromagnetic waves is provided on a control board on the image forming apparatus main body side, and a non-volatile memory for receiving electromagnetic waves and generating electric power to cover its own operation is provided in a toner cartridge. Non-contact memory access with high security and high reliability without physically connecting signal lines between the control board and the non-volatile memory of the toner cartridge. Are disclosed.
[0006]
[Patent Document 1]
JP-A-2002-149039
Therefore, mounting such a memory is very useful not only for the toner cartridge but also for a consumable unit that consumes contents such as an ink cartridge and a developing unit.
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
On the other hand, the photoconductor unit is a consumable material unit that does not consume the contents as in the toner cartridge described above, but whose life is gradually reduced due to deterioration of the photoconductor. The photoreceptor wears and deteriorates as the paper rubs against the surface of the cylindrical drum. However, it is costly and difficult to directly measure the degree of wear, so the life of the photoconductor is indirectly evaluated by the number of times of passage through the photoconductor unit, which has some correlation with the degree of wear. This is common and is called printing life.
[0009]
The printing life is often managed exclusively by the image forming apparatus. This is because a copying machine or the like has a counter for automatically counting the number of times of paper passing. Therefore, the photoconductor unit generally does not have a memory such as a toner cartridge.
[0010]
Here, a general procedure for replacing the photoconductor unit will be described. When the value of the counter reaches a predetermined value, the image forming apparatus determines that the photoconductor has reached the end of its printing life and issues a notification urging replacement with a new photoconductor unit.
[0011]
After the replacement of the photoconductor unit, the counter indicates the number of times of passing the used photoconductor unit. Therefore, in order to start counting the number of times of paper passage to a new photoconductor unit from zero, it is necessary to reset the counter. However, when the user replaces the photoconductor unit by himself / herself, the user often forgets to reset the counter. For this reason, the image forming apparatus may erroneously recognize the printing life of the photoconductor, and a great difference may occur from the actual life of the photoconductor.
[0012]
In order to prevent such a problem, it is conceivable to provide some kind of memory in the photoconductor unit to store and update information on the life of the photoconductor. However, as described above, the number of paper passes is sufficient as information for managing the life of the photoconductor, so mounting a memory in the photoconductor unit that would lead to an increase in cost would only increase the product price. Not so valuable.
[0013]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and in an image forming apparatus including several different types of consumables units, the memory of the consumables unit having a memory has a memory-less consumables unit. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of managing the life of a consumable unit.
[0014]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises a plurality of different types of consumables units in which consumables used in an image forming apparatus are built-in and are integrally replaceable, and the plurality of different types of consumables are provided. Among the consumable units, at least one type of consumable unit is a memory-mounted consumable unit equipped with a memory for storing data relating to consumables of the consumable unit itself. Storing in the memory predetermined data relating to the consumables of the at least one non-memory type consumable unit;
When replacing the memory mounted consumable unit, the data is transferred from the memory of the used memory mounted consumable unit to the memory of the unused memory mounted consumable unit,
The data is cleared when the non-memory mounted consumable unit is replaced.
[0015]
The present invention is characterized in that the memory is an RFID (non-contact rewritable nonvolatile memory).
[0016]
The present invention is characterized in that the memory-equipped consumable unit is a toner cartridge, and the non-memory-equipped consumable unit is a photoreceptor unit.
[0017]
The present invention is characterized in that the predetermined data relates to the cumulative number of image formations on the photoconductor.
[0018]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing unit of the image forming apparatus. In FIG. 1, a printing unit rotates clockwise in the drawing, and a photoconductor 8 on which an electrostatic latent image is formed by a charger 1 and an exposure unit 2, and an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 8. A developing device 3 for developing an image into a toner image, a fixing device 7 for fixing the toner image transferred from the photoconductor 8 to the paper P by the transfer device 5, and a charge and toner remaining on the photoconductor 8 after transfer And a static elimination / cleaning device 6 for removing the toner.
[0019]
In the case of the two-component developing system, the developing device 3 includes a developer 3c in which a carrier and a toner are mixed at a predetermined ratio and is stirred by a stirring roller 3b. Through the surface of the photoconductor 8 and develops the electrostatic latent image on the photoconductor 8. Further, a toner supply container 4 filled with a predetermined amount of toner 4a is mounted on the upper portion of the developing device 3, and supplies the toner 4a to the developing device 3 as needed. In the case of the one-component developing method, since only the toner is used without using the carrier, the developer 3c and the toner 4a may be replaced with the toner in the above example.
[0020]
In the above-described configuration, as described above, for example, the toner is the toner cartridge 10, the developer or the developing device is the developing unit 14, and the photoconductor 8 is the photoconductor unit 15. In many cases, they are integrally configured as a unit form.
[0021]
Hereinafter, in order to facilitate understanding of the embodiment of the present invention, a description will be given using a toner cartridge 10 and a photoreceptor unit 15 as examples of a consumable material unit. It is not limited to the cartridge and the unit, but is a unit including various consumables and consumables, and usually means a unit configured to be integrally replaceable.
[0022]
The toner cartridge 10 has a memory for storing data for managing the cartridge. In many cases, a rewritable nonvolatile memory is used as the memory so that data is stored even when the power of the image forming apparatus is turned off. Further, as a form of the memory, an RFID memory (Radio Frequency IDentification memory, a non-contact rewritable nonvolatile memory) that wirelessly transfers and supplies power is generally used. On the other hand, the photoconductor unit 15 does not have such a memory.
[0023]
FIG. 2 shows an example of data stored in the memory of the toner cartridge for describing the present embodiment. As shown in this figure, the items included in the data include the identification number of the toner cartridge 10, the toner filling amount, the number of toner consumptions (hereinafter denoted by P), and the remaining toner amount (hereinafter denoted by W). ), The cumulative number of times of image formation (hereinafter denoted by the symbol D), a checksum or CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) used to determine whether or not the data of the above data items has been written normally, and cyclic redundancy. Inspection). Note that the other data items are irrelevant to the description of the present embodiment, and are omitted for convenience of description.
[0024]
After the above data, data items whose contents do not fluctuate are an identification number and a toner filling amount, and are hereinafter collectively referred to as fixed data. The contents of other data items change for each image forming job, and are collectively referred to as fluctuation data.
[0025]
Hereinafter, in order to simplify the description, a case where the use of the image forming apparatus is newly started will be considered. In this case, the unused toner cartridge 10 and the unused photoreceptor unit 15 are mounted on the image forming apparatus 20 at the same time in a preparation stage before the use of the image forming apparatus 20 is started.
[0026]
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the case where the toner cartridge 10 on which the RFID memory 22 is mounted and the photosensitive unit 15 without memory are mounted on the image forming apparatus 20. In this example, the toner cartridge 10 and the photoconductor unit 15 are slid and inserted through openings 21 and 29 provided on the main body side of the image forming apparatus 20, respectively. Wireless communication with the RFID control circuit 24 is performed via the antenna 23 and the antenna 25 of the RFID control circuit 24 provided on the main body side of the image forming apparatus 20. By using the RFID memory 22 in this manner, the tuning circuit of the RFID memory 22 tunes to the frequency used by the RFID control circuit 24, and the power required for writing and reading data is reduced via the antennas 23 and 25. Since the data is supplied from the control circuit 24 to the RFID memory 22, there is an advantage that a connector or wiring for connecting the two is not required.
[0027]
When the toner cartridge 10 is completely inserted into the opening 21, the toner cartridge attaching / detaching sensor 26 provided at the rear of the opening 21 is turned on by the toner cartridge 10 to detect the attachment. Then, the toner remaining determination sensor 28 provided in the opening 21 is turned on, and the presence or absence of the toner 4a in the toner cartridge 10 is monitored. When the photoconductor unit 15 is completely inserted into the opening 29, the photoconductor unit attachment / detachment sensor 30 provided at the rear of the opening 29 is turned on by the photoconductor unit 15 to detect the mounting.
[0028]
Then, values as shown in FIG. 2 are stored in advance in the RFID memory 22 of the unused toner cartridge 10 as the above data. Here, the toner consumption number P is the number of times that the toner cartridge 10 has contributed to the image formation for each sheet passing by consuming the toner 4a from the toner cartridge 10, and the cumulative image formation number D is one. Represents the cumulative number of times the photoconductor unit 15 passes through the photoconductor 8. Needless to say, until the use of the image forming apparatus is newly started and the use of the first toner cartridge 10 is completed (the life of the toner 4a is generally shorter than the life of the photoconductor 8), the toner is consumed. The number P and the cumulative image formation number D are the same.
[0029]
Next, a circuit according to the present invention for writing the data described with reference to FIG. 2 to the memory 22 mounted on the toner cartridge 10 will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a circuit for writing to the RFID memory 22 mounted on the toner cartridge 10 according to the present invention. Note that, in this block diagram, circuits not involved in writing to the memory 22 of the toner cartridge 10 are omitted.
[0030]
The toner cartridge attachment / detachment sensor 26 and the photoconductor unit attachment / detachment sensor 30 described with reference to FIG. 3 are connected to the internal bus 40 to which the CPU 41 that controls the entire image forming apparatus 20 is connected. The CPU 41 receives detection signals from the two sensors and performs control described later based on the signals. The main storage unit 42 is a storage unit for main control of the image forming apparatus 20, and stores the latest contents of the data items described with reference to FIG. The RFID memory control circuit 24 includes a buffer memory 24a having at least the same capacity as the variable data area of the RFID memory 22. Further, the RFID memory control circuit 24 receives the command from the CPU 41 and the variation data of each item stored in the main storage unit 42, and in the same order and data format as those stored in the RFID memory 22, stores the buffer memory 24a. After that, the variable data and the write start address thereof are transferred to the RFID memory 22 via the antennas 23 and 25. The RFID memory 22 receives the change data and the write start address, and writes the change data from the designated address.
[0031]
Next, using the circuit described with reference to FIG. 4, a sequence according to the present invention will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a flowchart, and FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a transition of a predetermined data item in the RFID memory. In FIG. 6, the RFID memory of the used or used toner cartridge is indicated by a solid line, and the unused one is indicated by a dotted line. In this example, the printing life of the photoconductor 8 is 50,000 sheets.
[0032]
First, when the unused toner cartridge (identification number 0001, see FIG. 6A) 10A and the unused photoconductor unit 15A are mounted, the toner cartridge attachment / detachment sensor 26 and the photoconductor unit attachment / detachment sensor 30 detect the attachment (step S1). ), It becomes usable, and the CPU 41 reads the RFID memory 22A of the toner cartridge 10A (step S2). Then, a normal print operation is performed using the image forming apparatus 20 (step S3). Each time this printing operation is performed, the toner consumption frequency P and the cumulative image formation frequency D are each incremented by 1 and updated (steps S4 and S5). Further, the remaining toner amount W is subtracted and updated based on a predetermined formula (step S6).
[0033]
Unless the toner remaining determination sensor 28 detects in step S7 that the toner 4a is depleted, and if it is not determined in step S8 that the photoconductor 8 has reached the printing life, the operations in steps S3 to S6 described above are performed. Is repeated.
[0034]
When the remaining toner determination sensor 28 detects in step S7 that the toner 4a is depleted, zero is stored in the remaining toner amount W (step S9), and the cumulative number of image formations D is read (step S10, FIG. 6B )reference). Thereafter, a notification urging replacement of the toner cartridge is issued.
[0035]
When the used toner cartridge 10A is removed (step S11) and an unused toner cartridge (identification number 0002, see FIG. 6C) 10B is mounted, the toner cartridge attachment / detachment sensor 26 detects the mounting of the toner cartridge 10B (step S11). Step S12). Then, the value read in step S10 is stored in the cumulative image forming count D of the RFID memory 22B, and the value is taken over from the RFID memory 22A of the used toner cartridge 10A to the RFID memory 22B of the unused toner cartridge 10B (step S13, FIG. 6). (D)). Then, the RFID memory 22B is read by the CPU 41 (step S14), and the process returns to step S3. In this example, since the cumulative number of image formations D is 30,025 at this time, the printing life of the photoconductor 8 of the photoconductor unit 15A is remaining (50,000-30,025 =) 19,975 sheets. .
[0036]
Since the toner cartridge reaches the life of the toner 4a when the value of the toner consumption frequency P is around 30,000, it is expected that the printing life of the photosensitive member 8 will be earlier than the life of the toner 4a. . That is, in step S7, the printing life of the photoconductor 8 has been reached in step S8 without detecting that the toner 4a has been depleted, that is, the value of the cumulative image forming count D has reached 50,000 (FIG. 6 (e)), and a notification urging replacement of the photoconductor unit 15A is issued.
[0037]
When the used photoconductor unit 15A is removed (step S15) and the unused photoconductor unit 15B is mounted, the photoconductor unit attachment / detachment sensor 30 detects the mounting of the photoconductor unit 15B (step S16). Then, the accumulated image forming count D in the RFID memory 22B of the toner cartridge 10B in use is cleared, and zero is stored (step S17, see FIG. 6 (f)).
[0038]
Thereafter, the process returns to step S3, and the normal printing operation is executed. Therefore, the printing life of the photoconductor 8 is reset, and the count-up of the cumulative image forming number D for the new photoconductor unit 15B is started. . When the life of the toner 4a comes again (see FIG. 6 (g)) and the used toner cartridge 10B is replaced, the RFID memory 22C of the new toner cartridge (identification number 0003, see FIG. 6 (h)) 10C is stored. The value of the cumulative image formation count D is inherited (see FIG. 6 (i)). Hereinafter, the same applies.
[0039]
In this manner, when the used toner cartridge 10 is replaced, the data on the life of the photoconductor 8 (that is, the cumulative number of image formation times D) is transferred to the RFID memory 22 of the new toner cartridge 10 and the used photoconductor unit 15 is used. The data is cleared when the data is exchanged. Thus, the life of the photoconductor 8 can be managed by the RFID memory 22 of the toner cartridge 10.
[0040]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, when replacing a used memory-equipped consumable unit, data relating to consumables of the non-memory-equipped consumable unit is transferred to the memory of the new memory-equipped consumable unit, The data is cleared when the used consumable unit without memory is replaced.
[0041]
Thus, the life of the consumables of the memory-less consumable unit can be managed by the memory of the memory-mounted consumable unit without depending on the image forming apparatus main body. Moreover, since it is not necessary to add a memory, an increase in cost can be suppressed.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a printing unit of an image forming apparatus.
FIG. 2 illustrates an example of data stored in a memory of a toner cartridge for describing the exemplary embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view illustrating a case where a toner cartridge having an RFID memory and a photoconductor unit without a memory are mounted on an image forming apparatus.
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a circuit for writing to an RFID memory mounted on the toner cartridge set according to the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a sequence of photoconductor life management according to the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a transition of a predetermined data item of the RFID memory of the toner cartridge set in association with FIG. 5;
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Charger 2 Exposure part 3 Developing device 3b Stirring roller 3a Developing roller 3c Developer 4 Toner supply container 4a Toner 5 Transfer device 6 Static elimination / cleaning device 7 Fixing device 8 Photoconductor 10 Toner cartridge 10A Toner cartridge (first)
10B toner cartridge (2nd)
10C toner cartridge (third)
14 Developing unit 15 Photoconductor unit 15A Photoconductor unit (first)
15B Photoconductor unit (2nd)
Reference Signs List 20 Image forming apparatus 21 Opening 22 RFID memory 22A RFID memory 22B of toner cartridge 10A RFID memory 22C of toner cartridge 10B RFID memories 23 and 25 of toner cartridge 10C Antenna 24 RFID memory control circuit 24a Buffer memory 26 Toner cartridge detachment sensor 27 Protection Cover 28 Toner remaining determination sensor 29 Opening 30 Photoconductor unit attachment / detachment sensor

Claims (4)

The image forming apparatus includes a plurality of different types of consumable units in which consumables used in the image forming apparatus are inherently exchangeable, and at least one type of consumable unit among the plurality of different types of consumable units. The consumable unit is a memory-equipped consumable unit having a memory for storing data relating to consumables of the consumable unit itself. The memory of the consumable unit includes at least one type of non-memory type. Storing predetermined data on the consumables of the consumable unit,
When replacing the memory mounted consumable unit, the data is transferred from the memory of the used memory mounted consumable unit to the memory of the unused memory mounted consumable unit,
The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the data is cleared when the non-memory type consumable unit is replaced. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the memory is an RFID (non-contact rewritable nonvolatile memory). 3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the memory-equipped consumable unit is a toner cartridge, and the non-memory-equipped consumable unit is a photoconductor unit. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined data is related to a cumulative number of image formations on the photoconductor.

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