JP4395759B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus including drive means for recording data on and / or reproducing data on a rotary recording medium such as a hard disk.

  Conventionally, an image forming apparatus equipped with a hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as “HDD”) has been proposed. In this image forming apparatus, since the HDD is vulnerable to shock and vibration, if the image forming apparatus is subjected to various vibrations and shocks during actual use, the data read / write speed decreases, and in the worst case, the hard disk or write / read The reader may be damaged. For this reason, measures are taken to alleviate the impact and vibration that the HDD receives, such as by inserting a vibration isolating member between the HDD mounting plate and the image forming apparatus casing. However, at present, HDDs are also installed in portable devices, and it is also true that the impact resistance and earthquake resistance of HDDs have improved accordingly.

  However, it is known that the HDD is most susceptible to shock when it is actually operating, and the actual use state of the image forming apparatus is full of large-size (for example, A3 size) paper. When the paper feeding cassette is strongly installed, there is a possibility that an impact exceeding the allowable value of impact resistance and earthquake resistance of the HDD is applied to the HDD. As an example of impact or vibration being applied to the HDD to some extent, in addition, when various types of attached devices (duplex device, sorting device, stapling device) are mounted on the image forming device main body after removing paper jam, image formation The case where the front door of the apparatus or the document table cover is closed can be considered.

  In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for stopping the operation of the HDD when the paper feed cassette is opened. Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for changing the HDD to a standby mode when a movable part such as a paper feed cassette or a platen cover starts to move.

JP 2002-52786 A JP 2002-62763 A

  By the way, an image forming apparatus in which a plurality of users can instruct each job has been proposed, and is generally commercialized as a digital copying machine, and such an image forming apparatus also includes an HDD. The digital copying machine is connected to an external device such as a personal computer in a network environment, and can instruct a print job not only from a conventional operation panel on the casing but also from such an external device. It is like that. Some image forming apparatuses are also connected to a facsimile via a telephone line. In such an image forming apparatus, a print job may be started from the facsimile. As described above, job management becomes more complicated as the function of the image forming apparatus increases, and image formation is performed by preferentially executing other executable jobs while one job is stopped. Since the operating rate of the apparatus is improved, the operating time of the mounted HDD is required to increase accordingly. That is, it is required not to stop the HDD as much as possible.

  Contrary to this requirement, the paper jam processing of the image forming apparatus is executed by the user according to a guide displayed on a display unit (for example, a liquid crystal display unit) on the operation panel. In some cases, it takes a minute unit time (jam processing time) from the time when the device part covering the part being opened is opened until the device part is closed after the jam processing. If the operation of the HDD is completely stopped during the jam processing time, all jobs scheduled to use the HDD are in a waiting state, and there is a problem that the performance of the image forming apparatus is remarkably deteriorated.

  An object of the present invention is to shorten the HDD operation stop time for the purpose of preventing damage to the HDD and to minimize the performance degradation of the image forming apparatus.

In order to achieve this object, an image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus having a movable part that may artificially give an impact, in which data is recorded and / or reproduced on a rotary recording medium. Drive means for carrying out, a conveyance path through which the sheet is conveyed, a first detection means for detecting that the sheet has stagnated in the conveyance path for a predetermined time,
Second detection means for detecting whether or not the movable portion is in a normal position, and a state in which the first detection means has not detected the stagnation of the sheet from the state in which the stagnation of the sheet has been detected When the mode is switched, the drive means is changed to a mode that is strong against impact, and when the second detection means detects that the movable part has returned to the normal position, the mode that is strong against shock is released. It is characterized by comprising mode changing means for performing the above.
Image forming apparatus.

  The image forming apparatus according to another aspect of the present invention is further characterized in that the drive means prohibits data recording and / or data reproduction on the recording medium in a mode resistant to the impact.

  The image forming apparatus according to another aspect of the invention is further characterized in that the movable part is an open / close door provided in a housing of the image forming apparatus.

  According to the image forming apparatus having such a configuration, when the sheet stays in the sheet conveyance path for a predetermined time or longer, the drive unit is switched to a mode strong against impact after the stagnant sheet is removed. That is, data recording / reproduction with respect to the recording medium can be executed during the time when the stagnating sheet is detected. For this reason, the usable time of the recording medium becomes longer, and the performance of the image forming apparatus is improved.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1. Configuration of image processing system

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an image processing system including an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the image processing system includes an image forming apparatus 1 and is communicably connected to a plurality of external terminals. The external terminals include, for example, a personal computer 2, a digital camera 3, a digital video camera 4, a portable terminal (PDA: Personal Digital Assistants) 5, and a facsimile apparatus 6. These external terminals are communication lines 7, such as a LAN ( : Local Area Network). Although the communication method between the image forming apparatus 1 and the external terminal is not limited, for example, TCP / IP is used.

  The personal computer 2 includes a main body having a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, an EEPROM, a hard disk device (HDD), etc., a monitor device, and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. Storage can be instructed to the image forming apparatus 1. The digital camera 3, the digital video camera 4, the portable terminal 5, and the facsimile apparatus 6 are known apparatuses, and can instruct the image forming apparatus 1 to print and store captured and received images.

  The image forming apparatus 1 receives a print instruction from an external terminal such as a personal computer 2 or a copy job that reads an image of a document placed on a document table (not shown in FIG. 1) and prints it on a sheet such as paper. A print job for printing on a sheet based on the instruction, a job for receiving an instruction to store an image from an external terminal and storing the instructed image in the image storage unit 105 (see FIG. 3), an image storage unit 105 This is an apparatus called a so-called digital multifunction peripheral (MFP) having a function of executing a job or the like for printing an image stored on a paper or the like.

2. Overall configuration of image forming apparatus

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of the image forming apparatus. As shown in the figure, the image forming apparatus 1 includes an image forming apparatus main body 8 and an automatic document feeder 10 disposed on the image forming apparatus 1. The image forming apparatus main body 8 includes an original reading unit 30, an image forming unit 50, and a paper feeding unit 70, and an opening / closing door 80 provided in a part of a housing 9 constituting the image forming apparatus main body 8. By opening (see FIG. 1), the user can access the image forming unit 50 and the paper feeding unit 70.

  The automatic document feeder 10 automatically conveys one or more documents placed on the document feed tray 11 one by one to a predetermined document reading position set on the platen glass 20 of the document reading unit 30. This is a known device that discharges a document onto the document discharge tray 12 when the document reading unit 30 finishes reading the document image.

  The document reading unit 30 includes a first slider unit (scanner) 31 that travels in the direction of arrow A below the platen glass 20. The first slider unit 31 has a movement start position (scanning start position, a position directly below the shading correction plate 22) as one end (the left end in the drawing), according to the size of the original conveyed to the original reading position, etc. The original image is scanned by moving the predetermined distance in the sub-scanning direction indicated by the arrow A direction. The document reading unit 30 changes the optical path of the reflected light of the document illuminated by the irradiation of the exposure lamp 311 via the first mirror 312, the second mirror 313, and the third mirror 314 and changes the CCD sensor 33 via the lens 34. To form an image. The CCD sensor 33 converts incident light into an electrical signal and transmits it to the control unit 100 as read data.

  The control unit 100 performs various data processing such as shading correction on the received read data, reads the image data for each main scanning line in synchronization with the paper supply, and drives the laser diode 58.

  The image forming unit 50 forms an image by a known electrophotographic method. The image forming unit 50 includes a photosensitive drum 51, a laser diode 58, a polygon mirror 59, a charging charger 53, a developing device 54, a transfer charger 55, a separation charger 56, and a cleaner 52. When the laser diode 58 is driven based on the drive signal output from the control unit 100 to emit laser light, the laser light is deflected and scanned by a polygon mirror 59 that rotates at a constant speed. Exposure scanning is performed on the photosensitive drum 51 that rotates in the direction of the arrow (counterclockwise in the drawing).

  Residual toner is removed by the cleaner 52 before being exposed to light, and the photosensitive drum 51 is uniformly charged by the charging charger 53, and the laser light emitted from the laser diode 58 is exposed to electrostatic latent image. An image is formed. The electrostatic latent image is developed by receiving toner from the developing device 54, and the developed toner image receives the transfer electric field of the transfer charger 55, is supplied from the paper supply unit 70, and is conveyed to the conveyance path 75. It is transferred to the paper.

  The sheet onto which the toner has been transferred is separated from the photosensitive drum 51 by the separation charger 56, conveyed to the fixing unit 60 along the conveyance path 75 by the conveyance belt 57, and the thermocompression bonding action of the fixing roller 61 having a heater therein. As a result, the toner is fixed. The sheet after fixing is discharged onto the discharge tray 63 by the discharge roller 62 along the conveyance path 75. One or a plurality of sheet detectors (jam detectors, first detection means) 76 are arranged on the side of the conveyance path 75, thereby detecting the sheet conveyed on the conveyance path 75. In addition, the arrangement | positioning location of the paper detector 76 shown to drawing is an example.

  The door (movable unit) 80 is simple so that the user can access the image forming unit 50 and the paper feeding unit 70 to remove the jammed paper when it jams on the conveyance path 75 and stays for a predetermined time or longer. It can be opened and closed by simple operation. The open / closed state of the door 80 is detected by a door open / close detector (second detection means) 81 (see FIG. 1) provided in the image forming apparatus main body 8.

  The operation panel 90 is provided on the front surface of the image forming apparatus 1 at a position where the user can easily operate.

3. Configuration of control unit

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the control unit 100. As shown, the control unit 100 includes a CPU 10 1, the communication interface portion (I / F) 102, a ROM 103, a RAM 104, an image storage unit (storage unit) 105, the data recording or the rotary recording medium A hard disk (HDD) 106, which is a drive means for performing data reproduction or both, and a controller 107 are provided.

  The communication interface unit 102 is an interface for connecting to the LAN 7 such as a LAN card or a LAN board.

  The image storage unit 105 includes a job management table 110, and is a storage device including a semiconductor memory and stores print data and the like from the computer 2 and the like.

  The job management table 110 is a table for managing the free capacity of the image storage unit 105. An example of the contents is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the job management table 110 includes columns for priority, job number, ID number, reception date and time, and capacity information, and is configured to read data corresponding to jobs in order of priority. ing. In the job management column, an identification number assigned to the job is written. In the ID number column, the identification number of the user who issued the job is written. The date and time when the job is received is written in the reception date / time column. In the capacity information column, data corresponding to the job is written in block units with a capacity of 512 bytes as one block.

  If the capacity of the new job is smaller than the free capacity calculated by the job management table 110, the new job is stored in the image storage unit 105 and added as a job having the lowest priority in the job management table 110. If the capacity of the job is larger than the free capacity, the job is not accepted and is placed in a waiting state. When the free capacity calculated in the job management table 110 becomes smaller than a preset capacity, the job data with the lowest priority in the job management table 110 is sent to the HDD 106, and a constant free capacity is always secured. Is done. On the other hand, when job data is returned from the HDD 106 to the image storage unit 105 for output, the job is re-registered in the job management table 110 as a high priority job.

  The HDD 106 is used as an auxiliary storage device of the image storage unit 105. The controller 107 is a device that controls the HDD 106, and controls activation and termination thereof. The CPU 101 reads a necessary program from the ROM 103, controls the operation timing of each unit uniformly, and executes smooth operations such as a copy job and a print job. The ROM 104 is a volatile memory, becomes a work area when the CPU 101 executes a program, and defines various status information.

4). HDD drive control operation of controller

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a subroutine of hard disk drive operation control by the control unit 100 functioning as mode change means of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the control unit 100 determines whether or not the current job currently being executed issues an HDD activation request (step S11). This determination is made by referring to status information preset in the RAM 104.

  When it is determined that there is no HDD activation request (when “NO” is determined in step S11), the control unit 100 ends the processing of this subroutine and returns to the main routine (not shown). On the other hand, when it is determined that there is an HDD activation request (when “YES” is determined in step S11), it is determined whether or not the door 80 of the image forming apparatus body 8 is opened (step S12). The open state of the door 80 can be confirmed by reading the output data of the door detector 81.

  When it is determined that the door 80 is in the open state (when “YES” is determined in step S12), the control unit 100 until the door 80 is not in the open state, that is, until it is in the closed state (normal state). Wait. On the other hand, when it is determined that the door 80 is not open (when “NO” is determined in step S12), the CPU 101 issues an HDD activation request to the controller 107 to activate the HDD 106 and rotate the recording medium. (Step S13), it is determined whether or not a paper jam has been detected (Step S14). In the jam detection, the output data of a plurality of jam detectors 76 arranged in the vicinity of the paper transport path 75 is read, and the time during which each jam detector 76 detects the paper is preset for the jam detector 76. If it is longer than the time, it is determined that the paper is jammed in the transport path 75.

  If it is determined that the sheet is not jammed in the conveyance path 75 (when “NO” is determined in step S14), it is determined whether the job management issues a hard disk stop request (step S15). This determination is also made by referring to the status information preset in the RAM 104. If it is determined that there is a hard disk stop request (“YES” in step S15), the control unit 100 ends the processing of this subroutine and returns to the main routine (not shown). On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no hard disk stop request (when “NO” is determined in step S15), it is determined again whether or not a jam has been detected (step S14).

  If it is determined that the paper is jammed in the transport path 75 (if “YES” is determined in step S14), it is determined again whether the paper is jammed in the transport path 76 (step S16). If a jam is detected again (if “YES” is determined in step S16), the process waits until the jam processing ends and no jam is detected. On the other hand, when the jammed paper is removed from the paper transport path 76 and the jam is not detected (when “NO” is determined in step S16), the CPU 101 issues an HDD stop request to the controller 107 to record the recording medium (FIG. (Not shown) is stopped (step S17), and after setting the HDD 106 to a mode strong against impact, it is determined whether or not the door 80 is in an open state (step S12).

  In the above description, the rotation of the recording medium included in the HDD 106 is stopped when the jam is not detected. However, the rotation of the recording medium is not stopped or the rotation of the recording medium is stopped and the recording medium is stopped. The HDD 106 may be set in an impact-resistant mode by retracting a read / write head for reading data from and writing data to the recording medium from the recording area of the recording medium.

  As described above, according to the above-described image forming apparatus, even when a jam occurs, the HDD can be operated without stopping from the time when the door 80 is opened until the jammed paper is removed from the conveyance path. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the waiting time for jobs that use the HDD in the image forming apparatus to be executed, and to minimize the performance degradation of the image forming apparatus.

  In the above description, the door has been described as an example of a movable part that may give an impact artificially. However, the door is an example of a movable part, and other movable parts depending on the type and type of the image forming apparatus. It should be understood that such a movable part is also included in the movable part of the present invention.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image processing system including an image forming apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a control unit of the image forming apparatus illustrated in FIG. 2. The figure which shows the content of the job management table of an image storage part. The flowchart which shows the HDD drive control operation | movement of a control part.

Explanation of symbols

1000: image processing system 1: image forming apparatus 8: image forming apparatus main body 9: housing 50: image forming unit 70: paper feeding unit 75: paper transport path 76 paper detector (first detection) 80: Opening / closing door, 81: Door detector (second detecting means), 100: Control unit (mode changing means), 106: Hard disk drive (HDD).

Claims (3)

In an image forming apparatus having a movable part that may give an impact artificially,
Drive means for recording data on and / or reproducing data on a rotary recording medium;
A conveyance path through which the sheet is conveyed;
First detection means for detecting that the sheet has stagnated in the conveyance path for a predetermined time;
Second detection means for detecting whether or not the movable part is in a normal position;
When the first detecting means switches from the state in which the stagnation of the sheet is detected to the state in which the stagnation of the sheet is not detected, the drive means is changed to a mode strong against impact, and the movable part An image forming apparatus comprising: a mode changing means for releasing a mode strong against the impact when the second detecting means detects that the camera has returned to the normal position. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, in the mode resistant to the impact, the drive unit prohibits data recording and / or data reproduction on the recording medium. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the movable part is an opening / closing door provided in a housing of the image forming apparatus.

Images