JPH06233022A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent the occurrence of a fault due to the mounting of wrong units whose specifications are different. CONSTITUTION:Exchangeable units 101-104, 107, and 108 whose specifications are different are mounted, and images are formed by controlling those units through images are formed by controlling those units through control lines 111-113, 118, 119 by a control means 100. Then, the specification classifications of the mounted units 101-104, 107, and 108 are inputted through ID lines 121-126 to the control means 100, and compared and judged with the constitutions of the units which can be controlled stored in a storage device by the control means 100. Thus, those units can be appropriately controlled.

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 such as a copying machine in which units having different specifications can be exchangeably mounted.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art There is an ever-increasing demand for multi-functionality for image forming apparatuses such as copying machines. In order to easily construct an apparatus having various different functions, the construction of the essential parts is unitized, It is convenient that units with different specifications can be selected and attached to the apparatus main body, and the present situation is that digital control functions are available.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an image forming apparatus having the above unit configuration, and the outline of the configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

Reference numeral 300 denotes a recording sheet A, which is an image forming medium.
01 is a photosensitive drum that forms a desired latent image using an electrophotographic process, 302 is an optical unit that irradiates the photosensitive drum 301 with image information converted into light, and 303 is a latent image created on the photosensitive drum 301. A toner cartridge for storing toner to be attached thereon, 304 a power supply unit for supplying electric power to the apparatus, 305 a fixing unit for applying heat and pressure to a visible image transferred onto a recording sheet to fix the visible image, 30
Reference numeral 6 is a recording paper conveyance path for conveying recording paper, 307 is a first paper feeding device unit for feeding and carrying recording paper B308 to the recording device 311, and 309 is a second paper feeding and carrying recording paper C.
It is a paper feeding unit.

Next, description will be given with reference to FIG. 8 which is a block diagram of a conventional image forming apparatus.

An apparatus control unit 100 controls the image forming apparatus and includes an arithmetic processing unit (CPU).

Reference numeral 101 denotes an optical unit for converting image information into optical information. When a scanner motor drive signal is sent from the control unit 100 through the control line 1 (111), a scanner (not shown) is operated at a desired rotation speed. ) Rotate. This number of rotations is determined by the resolution of the image. Further, the image information sent from the control unit 100 causes a laser diode (not shown) of the optical unit 101 to emit light and irradiates the photosensitive drum which has been charged in advance at a predetermined scanning cycle by the scanner to form a latent image.

Reference numeral 102 denotes an electrophotographic process control unit,
The control for charging the photosensitive drum to form a latent image on the photosensitive drum and the control for transferring the toner adhering to the photosensitive drum onto the recording paper are performed. The control line 2 (112) includes a signal line for the control unit 100 to recognize the above control timing and control voltage value.

Reference numeral 103 denotes a fixing unit for fixing an image formed on the recording paper by adhesion of toner. The fixing is performed by the pressure by the roller and the heat by the heater, and the control line 3 (113) is provided with a monitor line of a thermistor (not shown) installed in the heater and a heater ON signal line, so that the desired fixing temperature can be obtained. The control is to keep constant. The power supply to the fixing unit 103 is directly supplied from the power supply unit 104. The power supply unit 104 also supplies electric power to the entire apparatus in addition to the fixing unit 103.

Reference numeral 105 designates a fan motor installed to prevent the temperature inside the apparatus from rising too much, and 106 designates a motor for feeding and conveying the recording paper and driving the photosensitive drum and the roller of the fixing device, and a control section. The drive instruction is given by the drive line 1 (116) and the drive line 2 (117) by 100.

Reference numerals 107 and 108 denote a first paper feeding device unit and a second paper feeding device unit, which feed desired recording papers through the control lines 1 and 2.

A plurality of individual units of the image forming apparatus described above are prepared according to the specifications of the apparatus. For example, the power supply unit 104 has an AC100V specification and an AC200V specification, and the fixing unit 103 has a power supply of 100V. There are two types, one for the power supply and one for the power supply 200V. Further, there are scanner units (not shown) for 300 dpi having a motor that rotates at a relatively low speed and those for 1000 dpi having a motor that rotates at a relatively high speed.

Focusing on the power supply unit and the fixing unit unit among the above-mentioned units, in the conventional machine, the power supply unit 104 of 100 V specification and 200 V specification has an outer shape and a connecting portion to be attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus. Is common. That is, the apparatus is configured such that the power supply unit of 100V specification and the power supply unit of 200V specification can be easily exchanged. Similarly, also in the fixing unit 103, a 100V specification unit and a 200V specification unit can be exchanged.

[0014]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the above conventional example,
For example, focusing on the power supply unit and the fixing unit, when the power supply unit is 100V specification, the fixing unit has two
When the device with the 00V specification is erroneously installed, after the power is turned on, the control unit 100 turns on the heater of the fixing device to detect whether or not the reference value is reached within a certain period of time. It is judged that the fixing device has failed. This has the following drawbacks.

(1) If the heater of the fixing device is not turned on for a certain period of time, it cannot be judged as abnormal, so power consumption and time during that period are wasted.

(2) Since it is determined that the unit has failed even if it is erroneously attached, it is not possible to take appropriate measures.

With respect to the other units, various functional failures and the like occur due to mounting with different specifications.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of preventing the occurrence of troubles caused by mounting wrong units having different specifications. To do.

[0019]

Therefore, the image forming apparatus according to the present invention is an image forming apparatus in which replaceable units having different specifications are mounted and an image is formed under the control of the control means. A unit identifying unit for identifying the specification type of the unit and a configuration storing unit for storing the configuration of the controllable unit are provided, and the control unit identifies the unit mounted on the image forming apparatus by the unit identifying unit, The object of the present invention is to be achieved by a structure characterized by performing a proper control by comparing with the unit structure stored in the storage means.

[0020]

With the above configuration, the control means of the image forming apparatus immediately determines whether or not the configuration of the unit mounted on the image forming apparatus is a controllable unit configuration, and the unit configuration error is detected. It is possible to distinguish between the failure of the unit and the user, to prompt the user to take appropriate measures, and to prevent the occurrence of the failure due to the wrong mounting of the unit.

[0021]

EXAMPLES The image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to examples.

The construction of the main part of the embodiment is unitized, and constituent units having different specifications can be selected and mounted in the main body of the apparatus, and digitization is introduced in the control function. The configuration is almost the same as that shown.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention. Portions that are the same as or equivalent to those of the conventional image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted.

This embodiment is provided with ID lines 121 to 126 for identifying each unit, and the apparatus control section 100 is provided with a function of judging the specification type of the mounted unit. There is.

The ID lines 121 to 126 are configured to be connected to GND on each unit or to be opened so that the units can be identified. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the essential parts showing its contents.

In FIG. 2, the control section 10 of the apparatus is shown.
0 is ID bit 0 (204) and ID bit 1 (205)
State, that is, "1" or "0", the type of the unit device 201 is recognized. For example, in order to make the device control section 100 judge that the ID bit 0 (204) is "1", the unit device side is set to OPEN206. Similarly, in order to determine the ID bit 1 (205) to be "0", it is connected to the GND 207.

FIG. 3 shows the control unit 10 of the image forming apparatus.
3 is an explanatory diagram of a unit configuration table stored in 0. FIG.

In the figure, reference numerals 211, 212, and 213 represent a scanner unit, a fixing unit, and a power supply unit which can be mounted on the apparatus.

Reference numeral 214 represents a table of unit configurations which can be controlled by the apparatus, and indicates that the respective configuration combinations are 215 to 218. For example, in specification 2 (216), the scanner unit is 300 dp.
i, power supply unit 200V, fixing unit 200
This means that control is possible in the case of the combined configuration of V, and this table is stored in the memory of the CPU provided in the device control unit 100.

Next, description will be made with reference to the unit recognition flowchart shown in FIG.

After the device is powered on, the program for controlling the device enters a self-diagnosis routine to read the ID of the unit mounted in the device (S1). Then, it is determined from the stored unit configuration table whether or not the configuration of the currently mounted unit exists on the table (S2).

If it is determined in step S2 that the unit configuration does not exist in the table, that is, if the unit configuration is out of control, a unit configuration error flag is set (S
4) The image is displayed on the display means of the apparatus without performing the image forming operation (S5). In addition, notification is made using an interface with an external device (for example, a host computer).

On the other hand, if it exists in the table in step S2, the control parameter is set (S3), and the conventional image forming operation is started. The control parameters shown here are control means used for distinguishing the software control when the motor rotation such as the scanner unit is different.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the ID line is provided as the unit identification means, the state of the signal line is determined according to the type of the unit, and the means for storing the controllable unit configuration is the device. Control unit 100
Since it is realized by using the memory of the CPU provided in, there is an advantage that it can be implemented at a low cost with a relatively simple circuit configuration.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the essential parts of a second embodiment of the present invention, which is characterized in that a serial line is used as means for identifying a unit.
Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, duplicate description will be omitted.

In FIG. 5, the control unit 100 of the image forming apparatus includes a serial-parallel conversion circuit 502, and the unit device 201 includes a parallel-serial conversion circuit 504.

To identify the unit, the ID signal line 505 is set to G
"1" by connecting to ND or + 5V,
Set "0". The set recognition information is parallel-
It is converted into serial data by the serial conversion circuit 504 and sent to the control unit 100 of the image forming apparatus via the serial line 506. The sent serial data is converted into parallel data by the serial-parallel conversion circuit 502 and input to the CPU 507. CPU
507 identifies the unit based on this information.

With the above arrangement, this embodiment can minimize the signal lines between the unit device and the image forming apparatus, and is particularly effective for a device having many units.

(Third Embodiment) In the present embodiment, in the configuration where the image forming apparatus has a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk, the information of the unit configuration table 214 shown in FIG. It is characterized in that it is stored in a non-volatile memory, and the other configuration is similar to that of the above-mentioned embodiment, and duplicated description will be omitted.

In the present embodiment, the contents of the unit configuration table can be easily rewritten from an external device via an input means such as an input key of the image forming apparatus or an external interface.

FIG. 6 shows a unit configuration table. 60
Reference numeral 1 denotes a unit configuration table, and this data is stored in a specific area of a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk, and can be easily accessed by the CPU provided in the control unit 100 of the image forming apparatus.

In the unit configuration table 601
Reference numerals 611 to 614 represent one address of the memory, and each 1-byte data can be stored. Each unit of the image forming apparatus, such as a power supply unit and a fixing unit, is assigned to addresses 611 to 614 and expressed as 1-byte data as a unit code. That is, in FIG. 6, the unit code of the unit at address 611 is x'20 '. Further, in the case of an optional unit or the like, a unit that is not mounted is indicated by data x'00 '. That is, since the unit 3 (613) in the figure is not mounted, the data becomes x'00 '.

When the unit indicated by reference numeral 615 is added to the unit 3 which is a new option unit for the image forming apparatus, the unit configuration table is rewritten from the input means of the apparatus or an external apparatus to rewrite the unit. X'20 'indicating the type of 3 (613) is set.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the unit configuration contents of the image forming apparatus are stored in the nonvolatile memory,
Since the unit can be updated when the unit is changed or added, a large memory is not required for the unit configuration table, and the load of the unit configuration table search control of the CPU of the image forming apparatus can be reduced. This is particularly convenient for an image forming apparatus having a plurality of units.

[0045]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is immediately determined whether or not the configuration of the unit mounted on the image forming apparatus is a controllable unit configuration, and an error of different specifications is made. It is possible to prevent the occurrence of a failure due to the mounting of the unit. That is, it is possible to discriminate between a unit configuration error and a unit failure, prompt the user to take appropriate measures, and appropriately prevent the occurrence of a failure due to incorrect mounting of the unit.

For example, when the wrong unit is attached, the image creation cannot be controlled, and the operator is immediately informed. (1) Like the fixing unit, the control operation must be executed for a certain period of time. Even if the type could not be determined, the power consumption required for the determination time is unnecessary, so
Low power consumption can be achieved.

(2) Since the unit configuration error and the unit failure can be distinguished, it is possible to appropriately notify the user.

(3) By making the unit configuration rewritable from the input means, the memory capacity of the control means can be reduced in a device having a plurality of units.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a main configuration of a first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a unit configuration table according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a unit recognition flowchart of the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a main part configuration of a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of a unit configuration table according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a conventional image forming apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Device Control Unit 101 Optical Unit 102 Electrophotographic Process Control Unit 103 Fixer Unit 104 Power Supply Unit 105 Fan Motor 106 Drive Motor 107 First Paper Feeding Unit 108 108 Second Paper Feeding Unit 111-113 Control Lines 114-115 Power Lines 116-117 drive line 118-119 control line 121-126 ID line

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image forming apparatus that mounts replaceable units having different specifications and forms an image under the control of a control unit, the unit identification unit identifying a specification type of the mounted unit, and the controllable unit. And a configuration storage unit that stores the configuration of the unit, the control unit identifies the unit mounted in the image forming apparatus by the unit identification unit, compares the unit configuration stored in the configuration storage unit, and determines an appropriate value. An image forming apparatus characterized by performing control. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the configuration of the controllable unit stored in the configuration storage unit can be changed by the input unit.