JP2003221160A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of preventing troubles in a paper inserting mode. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming device has an insertion paper tray 47 for stacking insertion papers inserted between transfer papers stacked in paper ejecting trays 42, 43, a remaining amount detecting means 49 for the insertion paper provided in the insertion paper tray 47, and a insertion paper inserter 46 feeding the insertion paper to the transfer paper carrying passage upstream of the ejecting tray. The device has the function of starting a transfer paper feed after confirming the presence of the immediately preceding insertion paper when the number of insertion papers becomes smaller than an prescribed amount. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a slip sheet function.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An interleaving paper tray for accommodating interleaving paper to be inserted between transfer sheets stacked in a paper ejection tray and an interleaving paper remaining amount detecting means provided in the interleaving paper tray are provided. An image forming apparatus has been proposed which includes an interleaving paper inserter that feeds paper toward a transfer paper conveyance path on the upstream side.

[0003]

In an image forming apparatus having a slip sheet tray in the sheet discharge section, when printing is performed while inserting a slip sheet, when the slip sheet number decreases and the slip sheet suddenly disappears, the transfer sheet Starts with a close-up to improve productivity, so it will be ejected in a state where the slip sheet cannot be inserted. In that case, there are cases where the user manually inserts the interleaf sheet later, or when the staple mode is used, the portion when the interleaf sheet is used up is wasted.

Further, when the user prepares a specific interleaving paper and tries to use only the interleaving paper, the number of interleaving papers may be originally small. In that case, productivity does not have to be reduced if the number of sheets that does not cause interleaving is set under the control of the user.

Even if the interleaving paper is exhausted during normal paper ejection and the transfer paper is ejected without being inserted, the interleaving paper can be relatively easily sandwiched by the user's hand after that. However,
In the staple mode, if the slip sheet disappears and the incomplete part remains on the staple table, the transfer sheet and slip sheet in the staple table can be used if recovery from the slip sheet is possible, but the slip sheet to be inserted is If the transfer paper comes in and the page order is out of order, you will have to start over from the beginning during recovery.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing a trouble in the slip sheet mode.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 provides an interleaving paper tray for interposing interleaving paper to be inserted between transfer sheets stacked in a paper ejection tray and an interleaving paper tray. In the image forming apparatus having the interleaf sheet remaining amount detection means provided and feeding the interleaf sheet toward the transfer sheet transport path on the upstream side of the discharge tray, the interleaf sheet has a predetermined amount of interleaf sheet or less. The most main feature of the image forming apparatus is that it has a function of starting the feeding of the transfer paper when the number of sheets reaches the limit after confirming the presence of the interleaf paper inserted immediately before.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a transfer sheet having a plurality of paper feed trays is provided, and a transfer paper passing through a confluence of the interleaving paper and the transfer paper has a passing time t, and a transfer paper fed from the farthest paper feed tray. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the time required for the sheets to reach the merging point is T, the transfer sheet is fed when the remaining number of sheets of the sheet is T / t or more. Characterize.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, whether to determine the start of sheet feeding of the transfer sheet is based only on the presence / absence of the interleaf sheet, or based on whether or not the interleaf sheet is below a predetermined number. ,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 having a switching function is a main feature.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a stapler is provided, and in the staple mode, when the number of sheets of interleaving paper is equal to or less than a predetermined amount, the feeding of transfer paper is started immediately after the presence of interleaving paper to be inserted is confirmed. 2. A function is provided to start feeding a transfer sheet at a closing time before confirming the presence of an interleaving sheet during normal paper ejection.
The described image forming apparatus is a main feature.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The configuration will be described together with the operation. FIG. 1 shows the image forming apparatus of the present invention. The document stack placed on the document table 2 of the automatic document feeder (ADF) 1 with the image surface of the document up is displayed when the start key 34 on the operation unit 30 shown in FIG. The highest manuscript is fed. The fed document is read at the ADF document reading position 3.

The transfer sheets stacked on the first tray 11, the second tray 12, and the third tray 13 are respectively fed to the first sheet feeding device 1.
4, the second sheet feeding device 15 and the third sheet feeding device 16 feed the sheet, and the vertical transport unit 17 feeds the registration roller 18
Hit against. After that, the registration roller 18 is rotated at the timing of writing an image on the photoconductor 19 to convey the transfer paper to the position of the photoconductor 19.

The image data read by the reading unit 20 is written on the photosensitive member 19 by the laser from the writing unit 21 to form an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image passes through the developing unit 22. As a result, a toner image is formed. Then, the toner image on the photoconductor 19 is transferred while the transfer paper is transported by the transport belt 23 at the same speed as the rotation of the photoconductor 19. After that, the transfer paper on which the image is fixed by the fixing unit 24 is processed by the post-processing device 4
Transported to 0.

The transfer paper that has entered the post-processing device 40 is discharged to either the upper discharge tray 42, the lower discharge tray 43, or the stapling table 44 by switching the branching claw 41. At the time of stapling, after a part of the transfer sheet bundle is conveyed to the staple table 44, the transfer sheet bundle is stapled by the stapler 45 and discharged to the lower sheet discharge tray 43.

A mechanism for inserting the slip sheet from the slip sheet inserter 46 before and after the transfer sheet will be described. When inserting the interleaving paper before the transfer paper fed from the paper feeding device, a space is provided between the transfer paper and the previously conveyed transfer paper according to the number of inserted sheets. Then, the interleaving paper stacked on the interleaving paper tray 47 is fed to the confluence point A.
Of the post-processing device 40
Send to.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how the remaining amount of paper is detected by the slip sheet inserter. (A) shows a state in which the interleaf sheets are fully loaded in the interleaf sheet tray 47, and (b) shows a state in which the interleaf sheets on the interleaf sheet tray 47 are small and the near-end sensor detects the near-end of the interleaf sheets.

An example of detecting the remaining amount of paper by the interleaf paper inserter 46 will be described with reference to FIG. When the interleaving paper bundle is set on the interleaving paper tray 47, the interleaving paper tray 47 moves up and the interleaving paper is pressed against the pickup roller 48. Thereafter, the pickup roller 48 rotates to feed the interleaving paper one by one. The filler attached to the interleaving paper tray 47 rises together with the interleaving paper tray 47, but it can be determined that the remaining amount of interleaving paper is small if the near end sensor (light transmissive sensor or the like) 49 arranged above is blocked by the filler.

The remaining amount at the time of detection can be adjusted by the mounting position of the near-end sensor 49. Further, although not shown, a sensor with or without a slip sheet (a light reflection type sensor or the like) capable of detecting whether or not the slip sheet is placed on the slip sheet tray 47 is mounted, and the sheet feeding operation is stopped when the slip sheet is exhausted. .

FIG. 3 is a layout diagram of the operation unit. The operation unit 30 includes a liquid crystal touch panel 31, a numeric keypad 32,
There are a clear / stop key 33, a print key 34, a mode clear key 35, and an initial setting key 36. The liquid crystal touch panel 31 displays function keys 37, the number of copies, and a message indicating the state of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of the liquid crystal touch panel of the operation unit. When the operator touches a key displayed on the liquid crystal touch panel 31, the key indicating the selected function is highlighted in black. In addition, when the details of the function must be specified (for example, the scaling value for scaling)
Touch the key to display the detailed function setting screen. As described above, since the liquid crystal touch panel 31 uses the dot display, it is possible to graphically perform the optimum display at that time.

In FIG. 3, 31-1 is a message area for displaying a message such as "Ready to copy" and "Please wait", 31-2 is a copy number display section for displaying the set number, and 31-3 is. , 31-4 is a key for setting the staple binding position, 31-4 is a sort key for designating a process for arranging copies part by page, and 31-5 is a sort key.
A stack key for designating a process for sorting copies by page, 31-6 is a scaling key for setting the enlargement / reduction ratio, 31-7 is a double-sided key for setting the double-sided mode, 31
-8 is a slip sheet key for selecting a slip sheet mode. Keys are shaded in the selected mode.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing a conventional problem (b) and a process (c) of the present invention in the case (a) in which transfer sheets and slip sheets are alternately passed. For example, when the transfer paper and the slip sheet are alternately passed as shown in FIG. 5A, the position of the paper feed tray for feeding the transfer paper with respect to the position of the slip sheet tray 47 as shown in FIG. In the case of a long distance, in order to pass the paper without lowering the productivity, it is necessary to start feeding the transfer paper in a deadline before detecting the presence or absence of a slip sheet inserted immediately before.

Then, for example, when it is detected that the third interleaf sheet is absent, the transfer sheets after that have started feeding, so that the interleaf sheet is not sandwiched as shown in FIG. 5B. Are loaded on the output tray. After that, even if the slip sheets are added to the slip sheet tray 47, the slip sheet cannot be recovered, the part is in an unfinished state, and the user needs to insert the slip sheets later. Alternatively, in the case of stapling, it is necessary to redo all of them, resulting in wasteful printing.

Therefore, in the present invention, the remaining amount of interleaving paper is detected. That is, if the interleaf sheet is low, the presence of the interleaf sheet to be inserted immediately before is checked before the transfer paper is fed.
Then, as shown in FIG. 5C, since the transfer paper is not fed when the interleaf sheet is exhausted, recovery can be performed by adding the interleaf sheet, and all the devices can finish with the interleaf sheet inserted. it can.

The remaining number of sheets of interleaving paper determines how many remaining sheets the near-end state can be detected before the unfinished state as shown in FIG. 5B is formed. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing a first example of the timing of the transfer paper and the interleaving paper passing through the confluence point A when inserting 10 interleaving papers between the transfer papers, FIG.
FIG. 8B is also an explanatory diagram showing a second example.

In order not to cut off the transfer paper and start it,
Paper feeding is started when the number of sheets that cannot be checked for presence or absence among the number of sheets to be inserted immediately before becomes equal to or less than the number of near-end sheets. In FIG. 6, the number of near-end sheets is 5, and in FIG. 7, the number of near-end sheets is 6. In this case, the time T required to reach the confluence point A after the transfer paper is fed is as shown in FIG.
Assuming that it takes time for the sheets to pass, in the case of FIG. 6, the space between the interleaving paper and the transfer sheet is opened and the productivity is reduced, whereas in the case of FIG. 7, the maximum productivity is achieved. You can do it. In other words, if the transfer paper transport time T and the interleaf paper passage time t are T / t or more and the near end is detected, an unfinished portion can be prevented from being formed.

The presence / absence of the immediately preceding slip sheet cannot be confirmed until the sheet before the preceding slip sheet is fed. Therefore, if the presence of the interleaf sheet is confirmed after the near end of the interleaf sheet and then the feeding of the transfer sheet is started, the productivity decreases as the confluence point A becomes farther. Depending on the user, it may be possible to prepare the number of slip sheets to be used in advance, and it may be assumed that it is faster to insert the slip sheets later by hand rather than the productivity being reduced even if the slip sheets are used up. is there. Therefore, it is determined whether the transfer paper is cut off to reduce the productivity, or whether it is not finished with an unfinished portion even if the productivity is reduced.
Allows switching selection from 1.

When the transfer sheet is cut off even at the near end and the interleaf sheet is exhausted, as described in the description of claim 1, in the case of normal paper ejection, the user manually handles the shortage of interleaf sheet. However, in the case of stapling, the paper in the middle of the set cannot be stapled and the paper is wasted. In addition, it is not convenient for the user to select it by the function of claim 3 every time.

Therefore, in the case of normal paper discharge, the transfer paper is fed with the sheet cutoff so as not to reduce the productivity, and in the staple mode, the transfer paper is fed after checking the presence or absence of interleaf paper. The device will automatically switch to perform.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of the first control example (corresponding to the invention described in claim 1). When there is a transfer paper feed request (S1), it is determined whether or not a slip sheet needs to be inserted immediately before (S2). If it is not the slip sheet, the paper feeding is started immediately (S5). In the case of a slip sheet, it is determined whether the slip sheet is in the near end state (S3). If it is not in the near-end state, that is, if sufficient interleaving papers are stacked, the feeding of the transfer paper is started immediately. In the case of the near end state, the sheet feeding is suspended until the presence or absence of the immediately preceding interleaf sheet can be confirmed (Y in S4). In the meantime, if there is no interleaving paper (Y in S6), the transfer paper is not fed and the process ends.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart of a second control example (corresponding to the invention described in claim 3). When there is a transfer paper feed request (S1), it is determined whether or not a slip sheet needs to be inserted immediately before (S2). If it is not the slip sheet, the paper feeding is started immediately (S7). In the case of the interleaving paper, it is determined whether or not the mode is the productivity-oriented mode, that is, the mode in which the transfer sheet is closed off.
3). In the productivity-oriented mode, only the presence or absence of the interleaf sheet at that time is confirmed (S4), and if it is present, sheet feeding is started. When it is not in the productivity-oriented mode, the interleaf sheet near-end state is confirmed (S5), and thereafter, the same control as in the flowchart of FIG. 8 is performed (S6 to S8).

FIG. 10 is a flow chart of a third control example (corresponding to the invention of claim 4). When there is a transfer paper feed request (S1), it is determined whether or not a slip sheet needs to be inserted immediately before (S2). If it is not the slip sheet, the paper feeding is started immediately (S7). In the case of interleaving paper, it is determined whether the staple mode is set (S3). When the staple mode is not set, only the presence or absence of an interleaf sheet at that time is checked (S4), and if it is present, sheet feeding is started. In the staple mode, the interleaf near end state is confirmed (S5), and thereafter, the same control as the flowchart of FIG. 8 is performed (S6 to S8).

[0033]

As described above, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the trouble of the user manually inserting the slip sheet later can be eliminated, and the recovery operation can be reliably performed.

According to the third aspect of the invention, the user can select whether the productivity is emphasized or the recovery operation is emphasized, so that the usability for the user is improved.

According to the fourth aspect of the invention, the troublesomeness of the switching can be reduced by automatically switching to the recovery operation in the staple mode in which the recovery operation is considered to be prioritized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how a remaining amount of paper is detected by a slip sheet inserter.

FIG. 3 is a layout diagram of an operation unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a liquid crystal touch panel of an operation unit.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a conventional problem (b) and a process (c) of the present invention in the case (a) in which transfer sheets and slip sheets are alternately passed.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a first example of timings of a transfer sheet and a slip sheet that passes through a confluence point A when ten slip sheets are inserted between the transfer sheets.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a second example of the same.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a first control example (corresponding to the invention according to claim 1).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a second control example (corresponding to the invention according to claim 3).

FIG. 10 is a third control example (corresponding to the invention of claim 4).
It is a flowchart of.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 First tray 12 Second tray 13 Third tray 40 Aftertreatment device 42 Upper output tray 43 Lower output tray 46 insert paper inserter 47 interleaving paper tray 49 Near-end sensor

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G03G 21/14 G03G 21/00 372 F term (reference) 2H027 DA28 DC18 ED17 ED19 EE05 EH08 FA27 3F054 AA01 AC01 BA02 DA01 DA08 3F107 AA01 AB01 AC01 BA02 CA03 3F108 GA01 GB01 HA02 HA45 3F343 FA02 FB01 FC30 GA01 GB01 GC01 GD01 HC28 JA01 MA03 MA09 MA24 MB04 MB13 MC08 MC21 MC23

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An interleaving paper tray for accommodating interleaving paper to be inserted between transfer sheets stacked in the paper ejection tray, and an interleaving paper remaining amount detecting means provided in the interleaving paper tray, the interleaving paper being ejected from the paper ejection tray. In an image forming apparatus equipped with an interleaving paper inserter that feeds paper toward the upstream transfer paper conveyance path, when the number of interleaving papers is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, the paper feeding start of the transfer paper is inserted immediately before. An image forming apparatus having a function of performing after the presence of paper is confirmed. 2. A transfer sheet having a plurality of paper feed trays, a transfer paper passing time passing through the confluence of the interleaving paper and the transfer paper is t, and the transfer paper fed from the furthest paper feed tray reaches the confluence. The transfer paper is fed when the reaching time is T, when the remaining number of interleaving papers is T / t or more.
The image forming apparatus described. 3. A function for switching whether to determine whether to start feeding the transfer paper, based on only the presence / absence of interleaf paper or whether the interleaf paper has reached a predetermined number of sheets or less. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. A stapler is provided, and in the staple mode, when the number of interleaf sheets is equal to or less than a predetermined number, the feeding of the transfer paper is started after the presence of the interleaf sheet to be inserted immediately before is confirmed, and the normal paper ejection is performed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus has a function of starting to feed a transfer sheet at a deadline before the presence of the interleaf sheet is confirmed.