JP2016120702A - Image formation device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide means of reducing a user's operation load for resuming printing after a length abnormality of a medium is detected.SOLUTION: An image formation device comprises: a medium conveyance part which conveys a medium fed from a sheet feeding tray; and a control part which selects the sheet feeding tray feeding the medium and forms an image on the medium by conveying the medium fed from the sheet feeding tray by the medium conveyance part. The medium conveyance part detects a length abnormality of the medium when the difference between the length of the conveyed medium measured by a medium length measurement part and the length of a print medium instructed in print data is outside the allowable range. The control part selects the first sheet feeding tray designated in the print data, and switches to the second sheet feeding tray where the medium with the same length as the length of the print medium instructed in the print data is stored when the medium conveyance part detects the length abnormality of the medium fed from the first sheet feeding tray.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a medium fed from a paper feed tray.

  In a conventional image forming apparatus, in the operation of printing an image on a medium, the size of the medium detected by the medium detection sensor disposed on the conveyance path for conveying the medium does not match the set medium size. When an abnormal length is detected, the media and the medium remaining on the transport path are discharged, an alarm is displayed to indicate that the abnormal length of the medium has occurred, and printing is performed after detecting the opening and closing of the cover by the user. Is resumed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-65184

However, in the conventional technology, after detecting an abnormal media length, printing cannot be resumed without user intervention, and user operation is required to resume printing. There is a problem that an operation burden is placed on the user.
An object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, and it is an object of the present invention to reduce a user's operation burden for resuming printing after detecting a medium length abnormality.

  Therefore, the present invention provides an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on print data, and includes a plurality of paper feed trays that accommodate media, and a medium paper feed unit that feeds media from the paper feed trays, A medium size detector for detecting the length of the medium stored in the paper feed tray, a medium transport unit for transporting a medium fed from the paper feed tray, and a medium transported by the medium transport unit The medium length measuring unit for measuring the length of the sheet and the sheet feeding tray for feeding the medium are selected, and the medium fed from the sheet feeding tray is conveyed by the medium conveying unit to form an image on the medium. A control unit configured to perform control, and the medium transport unit is configured such that a difference between a length of the transport medium measured by the medium length measurement unit and a length of the print medium indicated by the print data is out of an allowable range. In addition, the control unit detects an abnormality in the length of the medium. The first paper feed tray designated by the print data is selected, and when an abnormal length of the medium fed from the first paper feed tray is detected by the medium transport unit, an instruction is given by the print data. It is characterized in that the medium is fed from the second paper feed tray by switching to the second paper feed tray containing a medium having the same length as the printed medium.

  According to the present invention thus configured, it is possible to reduce an operation burden on the user for resuming printing after detecting a medium length abnormality.

The block diagram which shows the control structure of the printing apparatus in an Example Schematic side sectional view showing a configuration of a printing apparatus in an embodiment Flowchart showing the flow of print processing in the embodiment The flowchart which shows the flow of the medium length abnormality detection process in an Example.

  Embodiments of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional side view showing the configuration of the printing apparatus in the embodiment.
In FIG. 2, a printing apparatus 100 as an image forming apparatus is a printer or the like that forms (prints) an image on a medium fed from a tray cassette based on print data.
The printing apparatus 100 includes a tray 1 medium feeding roller 200, an entrance sensor 201, a registration roller 202, a writing sensor 203, a toner unit 204 (204a, 204b, 204c, 204d), a belt unit 205, and a fixing unit. 206, outlet sensor 207, discharge roller 208, tray 2 medium paper feed roller 209, transport roller 210, medium transport path 211, tray 1 cassette 212, tray 2 cassette 213, and tray 1 medium size detection A sensor 214 and a tray 2 medium size detection sensor 215 are provided.

A tray 1 cassette 212 and a tray 2 cassette 213 serving as paper feed trays store media. In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that two tray cassettes are provided, but three or more tray cassettes may be provided.
The tray 1 medium feed roller 200 is a roller that feeds the medium stored in the tray 1 cassette 212.
The tray 2 medium feeding roller 209 is a roller for feeding the medium stored in the tray 2 cassette 213.

The transport roller 210 is a roller for transporting the medium fed by the tray 2 medium feed roller 209.
The inlet sensor 201 is a sensor that detects a medium fed by the tray 1 medium feeding roller 200 or the tray 2 medium feeding roller 209.
The registration roller 202 is a roller that corrects the skew of the medium fed by the tray 1 medium feeding roller 200 or the tray 2 medium feeding roller 209 and conveys the medium to the toner unit 204.

The writing sensor 203 detects the medium conveyed by the registration roller 202 and generates a timing at which the toner unit 204 forms an image.
The toner unit 204 (204a, 204b, 204c, 204d) forms a toner image as a developer image of each color of yellow, magenta, cyan, and black. Each toner unit 204 includes a photosensitive drum as an image carrier, a charging unit that uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum, an exposure device that forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and an electrostatic latent image. The image forming apparatus includes a developing unit that supplies toner as a developer to develop a toner image, a transfer unit that transfers the toner image to a medium, and the like.

  The belt unit 205 is disposed to face each toner unit 204, conveys the medium conveyed by the registration roller 202, and transfers the toner image formed by each toner unit 204 to the medium by a transfer unit, so that the toner image is transferred. This medium is conveyed to the fixing unit 206.

The fixing unit 206 fixes the toner to the medium on which the toner image is transferred with heat and pressure.
The exit sensor 207 is a sensor that detects the medium on which the toner is fixed by the fixing unit 206.
The discharge roller 208 is a roller that discharges the medium detected by the outlet sensor 207 to the outside of the apparatus.

The medium transport path 211 is a path for transporting the medium started to be transported by the tray 1 medium feed roller 200 or the tray 2 medium feed roller 209 in the medium transport direction indicated by an arrow A in the drawing. The medium started to be transported by the tray 1 medium feed roller 200 or the tray 2 medium feed roller 209 is discharged out of the apparatus through the medium transport path 211.
The tray 1 medium size detection sensor 214 is a sensor that detects the length of the medium stored in the tray 1 cassette 212 in the medium conveyance direction.
The tray 2 medium size detection sensor 215 is a sensor that detects the length of the medium stored in the tray 2 cassette 213 in the medium conveyance direction.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a control configuration of the printing apparatus according to the embodiment.
In FIG. 1, a printing apparatus 100 includes a communication control unit 101, a system control unit 102, a print data storage unit 103, an operation display unit 104, a print control unit 105, a medium feeding unit 106, and a medium size detection. A section 107, a medium transport section 108, and a medium length measuring section 109.
The communication control unit 101 performs communication control with an external device such as a host computer connected via a communication line as an external network, and print request commands and settings for requesting printing of print data instructing print contents Various commands (instruction information) such as a setting request command for requesting a change in data are received.

The system control unit 102 controls the operation of the entire printing apparatus 100. The system control unit 102 receives the command received from the communication control unit 101, activates the print control unit 105 and the operation display unit 104, and executes processing of the command. In addition, the system control unit 102 stores the print data received by the communication control unit 101 in the print data storage unit 103.
The print data storage unit 103 is a storage area for storing print data received by the communication control unit 101.

The operation display unit 104 includes a menu key necessary for operating the printing apparatus 100, a start key for instructing determination or start of an operation, a cancel key for stopping / interrupting the operation, and the like. And a display unit that displays input information, alarm information of the printing apparatus 100, and the like.
The print control unit 105 controls a printing operation performed based on the received print data. The print control unit 105 activates the medium feeding unit 106 and the medium conveying unit 108 to feed and convey the medium and execute a printing operation.

  The medium sheet feeding unit 106 has a plurality of sheet feeding trays for storing media, and feeds the medium from the sheet feeding trays. In this embodiment, the medium feeding unit 106 controls a medium feeding mechanism such as the tray 1 medium feeding roller 200 or the tray 2 medium feeding roller 209 shown in FIG. 2, and the tray 1 cassette 212 shown in FIG. The medium stored in the tray 2 cassette 213 is fed.

  The medium size detection unit 107 detects the length of the medium stored in each paper feed tray by a sensor. In the present embodiment, the medium size detection unit 107 detects the length of the medium stored in the tray 1 cassette 212 in the medium conveyance direction by the tray 1 medium size detection sensor 214 shown in FIG. The detection sensor 215 detects the length of the medium stored in the tray 2 cassette 213 in the medium conveyance direction.

The medium conveyance unit 108 performs control to convey the medium fed by the medium sheet feeding unit 106 until it is discharged out of the apparatus. The medium transport unit 108 causes the medium length measurement unit 109 to measure the length of the medium to be transported.
The medium length measuring unit 109 measures the length of the medium conveyed by the medium conveying unit 108 based on the output signal of the inlet sensor 201 and the driving amount (rotation number) of the registration roller 202 shown in FIG. .

The system control unit 102 and the print control unit 105 as the control unit select a tray cassette as a paper feed tray for feeding the medium, and the medium fed from the tray cassette is conveyed by the medium conveyance unit 108 to form an image on the medium. Form.
At this time, if the difference between the length of the transport medium measured by the medium length measurement unit 109 and the length of the print medium indicated by the print data is outside the allowable range, the medium transport unit 108 detects that the medium length is abnormal. Is detected.

  Further, the print control unit 105 selects a tray cassette (for example, the tray 1 cassette 212 shown in FIG. 2) as the first paper feed tray designated by the print data, and the length of the medium fed from the tray cassette. When the medium abnormality is detected by the medium conveying unit 108, a tray cassette (for example, as shown in FIG. 2) that stores a medium having the same length as the length of the print medium instructed by the print data. The tray 2 cassette 213) is switched to, and the medium is fed from the tray cassette.

The operation of the above configuration will be described.
The printing process performed by the printing apparatus will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in accordance with the step represented by S in the flowchart showing the flow of the printing process in the embodiment of FIG.
S101: The communication control unit 101 of the printing apparatus 100 receives a command from an external apparatus connected to the external network, and analyzes the received command. If the communication control unit 101 determines that the received command is a print request command, the communication control unit 101 notifies the system control unit 102 that the print request command has been received. Upon receiving the notification that the print request command has been received, the system control unit 102 extracts, as print data, the size of the medium to be printed, the instruction information of the paper source tray, image data, and the like from the print request command. Data is stored in the print data storage unit 103.

S102: The system control unit 102 acquires the size of the medium stored in the paper source tray (the tray 1 cassette 212 or the tray 2 cassette 213) detected by the medium size detection unit 107 from the print control unit 105. This paper source tray is a paper source tray designated by the print request command.
The system control unit 102 compares the size of the medium acquired from the print control unit 105 with the size of the medium specified by the print request command, and if they match, instructs the print control unit 105 to start printing. . Upon receiving the instruction, the print control unit 105 instructs the medium sheet feeding unit 106 to feed paper, and starts feeding from the paper source tray.

Receiving the paper feed instruction, the medium paper feed unit 106 determines whether or not the paper source tray is ready to feed paper, and starts feeding the medium if paper feed is possible. Here, the state in which paper can be fed is a state in which the printing operation on the previous medium is completed, or a state after the previous medium has passed through the entrance sensor 201. In the case where it is not possible to feed paper, the medium feeding unit 106 waits until the previous medium passes through the inlet sensor 201.
The medium feeding unit 106 rotates the medium feeding roller (tray 1 medium feeding roller 200 or tray 2 medium feeding roller 209) of the tray as the paper source instructed by the print request command to feed the medium. Start.

S103: The print control unit 105 instructed to feed paper waits for a paper feed completion notification from the medium paper feeding unit 106. After the medium feeding unit 106 starts feeding the medium, the medium feeding unit 106 waits for the inlet sensor 201 to detect the medium. When the medium is detected by the inlet sensor 201, the medium feeding unit 106 sends a paper feed completion notification to the print control unit 105 to feed the paper. To complete.
S104: Upon receiving a paper feed completion notification from the medium paper feed unit 106, the print control unit 105 sends a print request to the medium transport unit 108 and starts printing. In response to the print request, the medium conveying unit 108 activates the registration roller 202, the toner unit 204, the belt unit 205, the fixing unit 206, and the discharge roller 208 to convey the medium fed by the medium feeding unit 106.

S105: The medium transport unit 108 starts the transport of the medium and requests the medium length measurement unit 109 to measure the length of the medium being transported, and corrects the medium length abnormality based on the measured length of the medium. A medium length abnormality detection process to be detected is performed. The medium length abnormality detection process performed by the medium length measurement unit 109 and the medium transport unit 108 will be described later.
When the medium conveying unit 108 starts conveying the medium, the print control unit 105 performs printing by the toner unit 204 based on the timing when the writing sensor 203 detects the medium.

S106: The print control unit 105 that has notified the medium transport unit 108 of the print request determines whether there is a print request for the next page based on the print data. If the print control unit 105 determines that there is a print request for the next page, the process proceeds to S107. If the print control unit 105 determines that there is no print request, the process proceeds to S108 and waits for completion of printing.
S107: The print control unit 105 that has determined that there is a print request for the next page instructs the medium paper supply unit 106 to feed the next page, proceeds to S108, and waits for completion of printing of the page being printed. To do.

S108: The print control unit 105 waits for notification of completion of printing of the page being printed from the medium conveyance unit 108, and when the completion of printing is notified, the process proceeds to S109.
S109: The print control unit 105 that has received the notification of printing completion of the page being printed from the medium transport unit 108 detects an abnormal length of the medium that has been printed by the medium length measurement unit 109 and the medium transport unit 108. Judge whether or not. If the print control unit 105 determines that the medium length measurement unit 109 and the medium transport unit 108 have detected the medium length abnormality, the print control unit 105 proceeds to S112 and determines that the medium length abnormality has not been detected. Then, the process proceeds to S110.

  S110: If the print control unit 105 determines that no medium length abnormality has been detected, the print control unit 105 determines whether printing of all pages has been completed normally. If the print control unit 105 determines that printing of all pages has been completed normally, the print control unit 105 notifies the system control unit 102 of the end of printing, and ends this processing. On the other hand, if the print control unit 105 determines that printing of all pages has not been completed, the process proceeds to S111.

S111: The print control unit 105 that has determined that printing of all pages has not been completed determines whether or not a paper feed instruction to the medium paper feed unit 106 has already been issued. If the print control unit 105 determines that a paper feed instruction has already been issued, the process proceeds to S103 and waits for completion of paper feed. On the other hand, if the print control unit 105 determines that a paper feed instruction has not yet been given, the process proceeds to S102 and instructs the medium paper feed unit 106 to feed paper.
S112: In S109, the print control unit 105 that has determined that the medium length measurement unit 109 has detected the length abnormality notifies the system control unit 102 of the page in which the length abnormality has been detected. The system control unit 102 records information on occurrence of an abnormal length (error page) in information representing a corresponding page of print data stored in the print data storage unit 103.

  S113: The print control unit 105 determines whether there is a medium on the medium transport path 211. If the print control unit 105 determines that the medium is on the medium conveyance path 211, the process proceeds to S114 to discharge the medium. On the other hand, when the print control unit 105 determines that the medium is not on the medium conveyance path 211, the print control unit 105 displays a size error message indicating that the medium length is abnormal, so that the system control unit 102 has an abnormal medium length. To that effect, and the process proceeds to S115.

S <b> 114: The print control unit 105 that has determined that the medium is on the medium conveyance path 211 requests the medium conveyance unit 108 to discharge the medium on the medium conveyance path 211. Upon receiving the request, the medium transport unit 108 notifies the print control unit 105 of the completion of ejection when all the media remaining on the medium transport path 211 are ejected. When the print control unit 105 receives a notification of completion of ejection from the medium transport unit 108, the print control unit 105 notifies the system control unit 102 that the medium length is abnormal.
S115: Upon receipt of the notification, the system control unit 102 performs size error display for displaying on the operation display unit 104 that a medium length abnormality has been detected and notifying the user.

  S116: The system control unit 102 inquires of the print control unit 105 about a tray in which a medium having the same size as the medium specified by the print request command is stored. The print control unit 105 inquires the medium size detection unit 107 about the size of the medium accommodated in each tray, and the size of the medium designated by the print request command other than the tray that has fed the medium whose length is abnormal. It is determined whether or not there is a tray in which a medium of the same size as that is accommodated. If the print control unit 105 determines that the tray is present as a result of the inquiry, the process proceeds to step S117 in order to switch the tray to be fed. On the other hand, if the print control unit 105 determines that there is no such tray as a result of the inquiry, the print control unit 105 ends the print processing and waits for intervention by the user to cancel the size error.

S117: The print control unit 105 switches from the tray that fed the medium whose length has become abnormal to another tray that contains a medium having the same size as the medium instructed by the print request command.
S118: The system control unit 102 acquires print data from the print data storage unit 103, extracts information on a page in which information on which a length error (error page) has occurred is recorded in S112, and prints to resume printing. Reset to the page to perform.

  In order to print the reset page, the system control unit 102 shifts the process to S102 and starts feeding from the paper source tray switched to the medium paper feeding unit 106 via the print control unit 105 in S115. After that, the remaining paper is continuously printed including the page on which the information on the occurrence of the abnormal length (error page) is fed from the switched paper source tray.

  As described above, when the printing apparatus detects a medium length abnormality during printing, the printing apparatus switches from the tray that is feeding paper to a tray that stores a medium having the same size as the medium indicated by the print data. By feeding the media and printing the pages after the page where the media length error was detected, printing can be resumed without requiring user intervention. The operation burden can be reduced.

Next, the medium length abnormality detecting process performed by the medium length measuring unit 109 and the medium conveying unit 108 in S104 of FIG. 3 is represented by S in the flowchart of the flowchart showing the flow of the medium length abnormality detecting process in the embodiment of FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
S201: Upon receiving a print request from the print control unit 105 in S104 of FIG. 3, the medium transport unit 108 notifies the medium length measurement unit 109 of a request for measuring the length of the medium being transported. The print request from the print control unit 105 includes the length (print size) of the medium designated by the print request command.

Upon receiving a request for measuring the length of the medium being conveyed from the medium conveying unit 108, the medium length measuring unit 109 monitors the state of the inlet sensor 201, and when the inlet sensor 201 detects (ON) the medium, the registration roller The measurement of the driving amount 202 is started.
S202: The medium length measuring unit 109 monitors the state of the inlet sensor 201 until the inlet sensor 201 no longer detects the medium (OFF), and when the OFF of the inlet sensor 201 is detected, the process proceeds to S203.

S203: The medium length measuring unit 109 that detects that the entrance sensor 201 is turned off ends the measurement of the driving amount of the registration roller 202, and ends the measurement of the medium length. The medium length measuring unit 109 is transported from the driving (rotation) amount of the registration roller 202 from the time when the medium is detected by the inlet sensor 201 until the medium is no longer detected, and the outer peripheral length of the registration roller 202. The length of the medium is calculated, and the length is notified to the medium transport unit 108.
S204: The medium conveying unit 108 calculates the medium length (medium size) measured by the medium length measuring unit 109 and the medium length (print size) as the medium size designated by the print request command. Compare.

  S205: The medium transport unit 108 calculates the medium length (medium size) measured by the medium length measuring unit 109 and the medium length (print size) as the medium size specified by the print request command. It is determined whether the difference is within an allowable range. For example, the medium length (medium size) measured by the medium length measurement unit 109 is within ± 40 mm with respect to the medium length (print size) as the medium size designated by the print request command. Within the allowable range.

When the medium transport unit 108 determines that the length of the medium (medium size) measured by the medium length measuring unit 109 is within the allowable range, the process is terminated. On the other hand, if the medium conveying unit 108 determines that the medium length (medium size) measured by the medium length measuring unit 109 is not within the allowable range, the process proceeds to S206.
S206: The medium conveying unit 108 that has determined that the medium length (medium size) measured by the medium length measuring unit 109 is not within the allowable range has detected an abnormal length (size error) of the medium being conveyed. This is notified to the print control unit 105, and this processing is terminated.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the printing apparatus detects a medium length abnormality during printing, the medium having the same size as the medium instructed by the print data from the tray that is feeding paper is used. By switching to the tray in which the paper is stored, feeding the medium, and restarting printing, it is possible to reduce the operation burden on the user.
In this embodiment, the image forming apparatus is described as a printing apparatus. However, the image forming apparatus is not limited thereto, and may be a copier, a facsimile machine, a multifunction peripheral (MFP), or the like.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Printing apparatus 101 Communication control part 102 System control part 103 Print data storage part 104 Operation display part 105 Print control part 106 Medium paper feed part 107 Medium size detection part 108 Medium conveyance part 109 Medium length measurement part 200 Tray 1 medium paper feed Roller 201 Entrance sensor 202 Registration roller 203 Writing sensor 204 Toner unit 205 Belt unit 206 Fixing unit 207 Exit sensor 208 Ejection roller 209 Tray 2 medium feed roller 210 Conveying roller 211 Medium conveying path 212 Tray 1 cassette 213 Tray 2 cassette 214 Tray 1 Medium size detection sensor 215 Tray 2 Medium size detection sensor

Claims (3)

In an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on print data,
A plurality of paper feed trays for accommodating media, a medium paper feed unit for feeding the media from the paper feed trays,
A medium size detector for detecting the length of the medium stored in each of the paper feed trays;
A medium transport unit for transporting a medium fed from the paper feed tray;
A medium length measuring unit for measuring the length of the medium conveyed by the medium conveying unit;
A control unit that selects the sheet feeding tray for feeding a medium, conveys the medium fed from the sheet feeding tray by the medium conveying unit, and forms an image on the medium;
Have
The medium conveyance unit detects an abnormal medium length when the difference between the length of the conveyance medium measured by the medium length measurement unit and the length of the print medium indicated by the print data is outside an allowable range. And
The control unit selects the first paper feed tray specified by the print data, and when the medium transport unit detects an abnormal length of the medium fed from the first paper feed tray, Switching to a second paper feed tray containing a medium having the same length as the length of the print medium instructed by the print data, and feeding the medium from the second paper feed tray Forming equipment. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.
When the medium transport unit detects an abnormal length of the medium, the control unit discharges all the media remaining in the medium transport path and then from the first sheet feed tray to the second sheet feed tray. An image forming apparatus characterized in that printing is resumed by switching to. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the medium transport unit detects a medium length abnormality, the control unit displays that the medium length abnormality is detected.

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