JP2925263B2 - Image forming apparatus with automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus provided with an automatic document feeder, and more specifically, an image forming apparatus provided with an automatic document feeder having, for example, first and second document mounting tables. It relates to a copying apparatus.

[Conventional technology]

Conventionally, when the originals on the first and second original placing tables are continuously copied in the same copy mode, it is considered that the pages of the originals on the first and second original placing tables are continuous. The copying operation is not performed.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above-described conventional example, when the copy mode is a mode in which double-sided copying is performed from a single-sided original, a blank page may be formed in the middle of a completed copy page, or the order of pages may be out of order. There was a problem.

For this reason, there is the inconvenience that the operator has to count the number of documents in advance and place an even number of documents on the first document table.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to the present invention, the means for counting the number of originals, and when the number of the originals is odd, the original 1 on the last page of the original bundle on the first original placing table
The first and second originals are provided by providing control means for feeding a sheet without a copy to the original and means for transporting the original on the second original mounting table to the first original mounting table. There is no blank page in the middle of the completed copy page regardless of whether the number of originals on the mounting table is odd or even. The copying is continuously performed on the originals on the two mounting tables.

In addition, by automatically performing these operations, the labor of the operator is saved.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, embodiments of the copying apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the internal configuration of an embodiment of a copying apparatus to which the present invention can be applied. In this figure, reference numeral 100 denotes a copier main body; 200, a pedestal having a double-sided processing function of turning over a recording medium (paper) during double-sided recording and a multiplex recording function of performing multiple recordings on the same recording medium; Is a recirculating automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as RD
F), and these pedestals 200 and RDF300 are
It can be used freely in combination with the main body 100.

A. Main unit (100) In the main unit 100, 101 is a platen glass on which an original is placed, 103 is an illumination lamp (exposure lamp) for illuminating the original, 1
Reference numerals 05, 107 and 109 denote scanning mirrors (scanning mirrors) for changing the optical path of the document, 111 denotes a lens having focusing and zooming functions, and 113 denotes a fourth reflection mirror (scanning mirror) for changing the optical path. . Reference numeral 115 denotes an optical system motor for driving the optical system, and 117, 119, and 121 denote sensors.

131 is a photosensitive drum, 133 is a main motor for driving the photosensitive drum 131, 135 is a high-pressure unit, 137 is a blank exposure unit, 139 is a developing device, 140 is a developing roller, 141 is a transfer charger, 143 is a separation charger and 145 Is a cleaning device.

151 is an upper cassette, 153 is a lower cassette, 171 is a manual paper feed port, 155 and 157 are paper feed rollers, and 159 is a registration roller. Reference numeral 161 denotes a conveyance belt for conveying the recording paper on which the image has been recorded to the fixing side; 163, a fixing device for fixing the conveyed recording paper by thermocompression; and 167, a sensor used for double-sided recording.

The surface of the photosensitive drum 131 is made of a photoconductor and a seamless photosensitive member using a conductor. The drum 131 is rotatably supported by a shaft, and operates in response to pressing of a copy start key described later. The rotation is started by the motor 133 in the direction of the arrow in FIG. Next, when the predetermined rotation control and potential control processing (pre-processing) of the drum 131 is completed, the original placed on the platen glass 101 is illuminated by the illumination lamp 103 integrated with the first scanning mirror 105, and The reflected light of the original is reflected by the first scanning mirror 105, the second scanning mirror 107,
Third scanning mirror 109, lens 111 and fourth scanning mirror 11
The image is formed on the drum 131 via 3.

The drum 131 is corona-charged by the high-pressure unit 135. Thereafter, the image (original image) irradiated by the illumination lamp 103 is subjected to slit exposure, and an electrostatic image is formed on the drum 131 by a known Carlson method.

Next, the electrostatic image on the photosensitive drum 131 is developed by the developing roller 140 of the developing device 139 and visualized as a toner image, and the toner image is transferred onto transfer paper by the transfer charger 141 as described later.

That is, the upper cassette 151 or the lower cassette 153
The transfer paper in the printer or the transfer paper set in the manual paper feed port 171 is fed into the main body by the paper feed rollers 155 or 157, and is sent in the direction of the photosensitive drum 131 at an accurate timing by the registration rollers 159. The leading edge of the image coincides with the leading edge of the transfer paper. Thereafter, the transfer paper passes between the transfer charger 141 and the drum 131, and
The upper toner image is transferred onto the transfer paper. After completion of the transfer, the transfer paper is separated from the drum 131 by the separation charger 143, guided to the fixing device 163 by the conveyor belt 161 and fixed by pressure and heat, and then discharged out of the main body 100 by the discharge roller 165. Then, the sheet is stacked on the sheet discharge tray or the sorter 400.

After the transfer, the drum 131 continues to rotate, and the surface thereof is cleaned by a cleaning device 145 including a cleaning roller and an elastic blade.

B. Pedestal (200) The pedestal 200 is detachable from the main body 100, and has a deck 201 capable of storing 2,000 sheets of transfer paper and an intermediate tray 203 for duplex copying. Also,
The lifter 205 of the deck 201 capable of storing 2,000 sheets rises in accordance with the amount of transfer paper so that the transfer paper always contacts the paper feed roller 207. Reference numeral 211 denotes a discharge flapper for switching the path between the double-sided recording side or the multiple recording side and the discharge side path; 213 and 215 the conveyance paths of the conveyance belt; and 217, an intermediate tray weight for holding the transfer paper. The transfer paper that has passed through the paper flapper 211 and the transport paths 213 and 215 is turned over and stored in the double-sided copy intermediate tray 203. Reference numeral 219 denotes a multiplex flapper which provides a path for both-side recording and multiplex recording. The flapper is disposed between the conveyance paths 213 and 215, and guides the transfer paper to the multiplex recording conveyance path 221 by rotating upward. A multi-discharge sensor 223 detects the end of the transfer paper passing through the multi-flapper 219. Reference numeral 225 denotes a paper feed roller for feeding the transfer paper to the drum 131 through the path 227. Reference numeral 229 denotes a discharge roller for discharging the transfer paper outside the apparatus.

At the time of double-sided recording (double-sided copying) or multiple recording (multiplexed copying), first, the ejection flapper 211 of the main body 100 is raised upward to transfer the transfer paper copied on one side to the transport path 213,2 of the pedestal 200.
The sheet is stored in the intermediate tray 203 via 15. At this time, the multiple flapper 219 is lowered during double-sided recording, and the multiple flapper 219 is raised during multiple recording. This intermediate tray 203
Can store, for example, up to 99 copy sheets.
The transfer paper stored in the intermediate tray 203 is the intermediate tray weight 2
It is held down by 17.

At the time of the next backside recording or multiplex recording, the transfer paper stored in the intermediate tray 203 is transferred one by one from the bottom to the registration roller of the main body 100 via the path 227 by the action of the feed roller 225 and the weight 217. It is guided to the roller 159.

C. RDF (Circulating Automatic Document Feeder) (300) As shown in detail in FIG. 2, the RDF 300 includes a stacking tray 310 as a first document tray for setting the document bundle S,
A stacking tray 350 as a second document tray for setting the document bundle SS is provided.

Further, on the stacking tray 310 side, a feeding unit constituting one part of the document feeding unit is provided. This feeding means includes a half-moon roller 331, a separation conveyance roller 332, a separation belt 333, a separation motor 500, a registration roller 335.
, A full-surface belt 336, a belt motor 505, a large conveyance roller 338, a conveyance motor 511, a discharge roller 340, a flapper 341, a recycle lever 342, and a paper stopper.
And 343, paper feed sensor S _1, the inverted sensor S _2, and a paper discharge sensor S ₂ and the like.

Here, the half-moon roller 331, the separation conveyance roller 332, and the separation belt 333 are rotated by the separation motor 500 to rotate the stacking tray.
The originals are separated one by one from the lowermost part of the original bundle S on 310.

The registration roller 335 and the full-surface belt 336 convey the document separated by rotation by the belt motor 505 to an exposure position (sheet path) on the document table glass 101 via a sheet path. The large conveying roller 338 is rotated by the conveying motor 511 to convey the original on the original platen glass 101 from the sheet path to the sheet path. The original conveyed along the sheet path is returned to the original bundle S on the stacking tray 310 by the discharge rollers 340.

The recycle lever 342 detects one cycle of the original. When the original is fed, the recycle lever 342 is placed on the upper part of the original bundle S, and the originals are sequentially fed. One cycle of the document is detected by dropping under its own weight when passing through.

In the feeding means 330, when a two-sided original is used, the original is once guided to a sheet path, and then the large conveying rollers 338
By rotating the flapper 341 to the dotted line position shown in FIG. 2, the leading edge of the document is guided to the sheet path, then passed through the sheet path by the registration roller 335, and thereafter the document is placed on the platen glass 101 by the entire belt 336. The document is turned over by being transported to the stop position. That is, the original is reversed in the sheet path.

It should be noted that the originals of the original bundle S are sheet-passed one by one.
The document is conveyed until the recycle lever 342 detects that one cycle has been made, whereby the number of documents can be counted.

In FIG. 2, 501 is a separate clock (C
LKS), 502 is a separate encoder, 506 is a belt clock, 507 is a brake, 508 is a belt encoder, 509
Is clock, 510 is clock, 512 is feed clock,
513 is a feed encoder, 514 is a flat solenoid, 515 is a weight solenoid, 516 is a stop solenoid, 517 is a tray motor, 518 is a tray up limit switch, and 519 is a tray down limit switch.

Further, on the right side of the main body of the RDF 300, the sheet document S after the completion of the image reading on the platen 101 is carried out to the opposite side to the carrying direction to the platen 101, and the document bundle S on the document tray 310 is taken out.
Document output path (sheet path) to be carried out to the top of the document
Is configured. During the sheet pass, the sheet original S
Transport roller 343 and second transport roller 3 for transporting
44, and a second paper discharge roller 345 is provided downstream of the sheet path. The sheet bundle S conveyed through the sheet path is discharged to the top of the document bundle S on the document tray 310. I do.

A document discharge cover 346 is disposed above the sheet path, and the sheet path branches from near the entire downstream of the belt 336 to form a third document discharge path (sheet path) extending to the sheet path. A discharge flapper 355 for switching the conveyance path is disposed at a branch portion of the sheet path and the sheet path, and a discharge flapper solenoid 600 is disposed.
The path is switched by swinging between the solid line position and the broken line position in FIG. A third paper discharge roller 362 is provided downstream of the sheet path.
The sheet document S conveyed in the sheet path is discharged to a tray formed on the document discharge cover 346.

The sheet path includes a second optical sensor, which is a transmission type optical sensor for detecting a front end and a rear end of the sheet document S in the sheet discharging path.
A paper ejection sensor 601 is provided.

On the right side of the RDF300 main unit, there is a document loading path (sheet path) for receiving sheet documents from outside the main unit into the RDF main unit.
Are open to form a document carrying path that merges from the sheet path to the sheet path.

Next, the swing operation of the document tray 310 will be described. The motor output shaft of the tray swing motor 517 is connected to the tray swing arm shaft 348. A tray swing roller 347 is coupled to the lower surface of the document tray 310. The tray swinging roller 347 is provided at the tip of the tray swinging arm 346, and the opposite side of the tray swinging arm 346 is fixed to the tray swinging arm shaft 348. The swing arm 346 swings between a solid line and a broken line in the figure,
The document tray 310 is swung about a swing center between a solid line position and a broken line position in the figure.

A tray limit switch 518 is an upper limit switch for detecting that the document tray 310 has reached the upper position (solid line position), and a tray down limit switch 519.
Is a lower limit switch for detecting that the document tray 310 has reached the lower position (broken line position). The tray swing motor 517 controls the rotation by detecting the upper and lower limit switches.

Also, a feeding unit that constitutes the other part of the document feeding unit is provided on the stacking tray 350 side. This feeding means includes a half-moon roller 351, a separation conveyance roller 352, a separation belt 353, a registration roller 354, a conveyance motor 605, a paper supply stopper 359, a reserved paper supply sensor S _5, and a document detection sensor S ₆ and a paper discharge roller 362 and the like.

Here, when the conveyance motor 605 is turned on, the half-moon roller 351 is turned on.
And, the separation conveyance roller 352 and the separation belt 353 rotate,
The originals are separated one by one from the lowermost part of the original bundle SS on the stacking tray 350. By counting the number of separations, the number of documents in the document bundle SS can be determined.

When the conveying motor 605 is turned on to rotate the registration roller 354 and the belt motor 505 is turned on in the reverse direction to rotate the entire belt 336 in the reverse direction, the document separated from the document bundle SS is conveyed from the sheet path. I can do it.

When the belt motor 505 is turned on in the forward direction, the entire belt 3
36, the reserved conveyance motor 605 is turned on in the reverse direction, and the discharge roller 362 is rotated in the reverse direction.
370 can be ejected.

2, reference numeral 606 denotes a reserved transport motor encoder, 607 denotes a reserved transport motor encoder, 608 denotes an eject motor, 609 denotes an eject encoder, and 610 denotes an eject motor.

Next, the key operation will be briefly described. The two-sided key is
Press this button to make two-sided copying from one-sided originals, two-sided copying from two-sided originals, and one-sided copying from two-sided originals. A binding margin key 625 can create a binding margin of a designated length on the left side of the transfer paper.

The paper ejection method (staple, sort, group) selection key is used in the staple mode when a stapler capable of stapling the recorded paper is connected.
Sort mode can be selected or canceled. When a sorting tray (sorter) is connected, sort mode and group mode can be selected or canceled.

When the interrupt key is pressed during copying, the copying is interrupted, and a new copy (hereinafter referred to as interrupt copying) is enabled. If the button is pressed during the interrupt copy mode setting, the interruptable state is released.

The reservation key allows registration / cancellation of reservation copying. When the reservation key is pressed, a copy mode different from the already set copy mode can be set. Here, the copy mode to be registered is set, and when the setting is completed, the reservation setting key is pressed. As a result, the set copy mode is changed to RAM
Stored above.

G. Main Control Unit (800) FIG. 3 shows an example of a circuit configuration of the control unit 800 of the embodiment shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 801 denotes a central processing unit (CPU) for performing arithmetic control for executing the present invention.
A microcomputer V50 manufactured by NEC Corporation is used. Reference numeral 803 denotes a read-only memory (ROM) in which a control procedure (control program) according to the present invention shown in FIG. 7 and thereafter is stored in advance, and the CPU 801 is connected via a path according to the control procedure stored in the ROM. Control each component device. Reference numeral 805 denotes a random access memory (RAM) which is a main storage device used for storing input data, a work storage area, and the like.

Reference numeral 807 denotes an interface (I / O) for outputting a control signal from the CPU 801 to a load such as the main motor 133; 809, an interface for inputting an input signal from the image sensor 121 and transmitting it to the CPU 801; And an interface for input / output control between the display group 700 and the display group 700. These interfaces 807, 809, 811 are, for example, NEC input / output circuit ports
Use uPD8255.

Furthermore, a known communication IC (for example, uPD825
1) is connected, and the communication IC further performs communication on the RDF side.
It is connected to an IC and sends and receives control data necessary for mutual control of the copier body and RDF by sequential communication.

The data sent from the copier to the RDF includes a paper feed signal that prompts the user to feed the originals loaded on the RDF,
This is a paper ejection mode for deciding the paper ejection signal for prompting the paper ejection of the upper document and the paper feeding and discharging mode of the original including the reserved original.

H.RDF control device (900) FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the circuit configuration of the control device (900) of the automatic circulating document feeder of this embodiment. It is mainly composed of a chip micro computer (CPU) 901
Signals of various sensors are input to the input ports I1 to I4 of the 901. In addition, output ports O1 to O11 of the microcomputer 901 include:
Each load is connected via the drivers D1 to D11, and control data is exchanged with the copying machine via the communication IC 902. The data transmitted from the RDF to the copying machine main body is a paper supply completion signal indicating completion of paper supply on the platen glass.

(Reservation) Next, the reservation copying operation will be described. Here, the reserved copying means that a second copying mode different from the first mode which is already set and is waiting for copying or which is being copied is set.
This is a copy in the second copy mode executed after the copy in the first copy mode is completed.

When the reservation key is pressed during the copy start wait state or during the copy operation, a display different from the display screen of the first set copy mode (hereinafter referred to as a main screen) is displayed (hereinafter referred to as a reservation screen). Name). At this time, the first copy mode already set is stored in the memory M1.

When the reservation screen is displayed, the second copy mode can be set regardless of whether or not a copy operation is being performed. The end of the setting of the second copy mode is performed by pressing a reservation setting key.
At this time, the display screen returns to the main screen, and the set second
The copy mode is stored on the memory M2.

An original to be copied by reserved copying is set on the reserved tray 350 with its front side facing upward.

The case where a reserved copy is registered during one-sided mode copying in which a document is set in the RDF 300 will be described. When the discharge processing of the final document is completed by a normal copying operation, a discharge instruction is transmitted to perform a reservation preparation discharge processing. When the reservation preparation ejection process is completed,
A document transfer command is transmitted to transfer the document bundle SS on the reservation tray 350 to the document tray 310. In the main body, in the copy operation in the first copy mode, when the discharge is completed and the main motor stops, the display screen displays the set second copy mode, stores the contents of the memory M2 in the memory M1, and stores the contents in the memory M1. Becomes the first copy mode. Then, it becomes possible to newly make a reservation copy registration.

When all the originals have been transferred from the reserved tray 350 onto the original tray 310, copying in the set copy mode is started.

 Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the copy start key 605 is pressed and a copy start request is issued (step 17-1). The copy mode is a mode for making a two-sided copy from a one-sided original (step 17-2).
The number of originals S on the first original tray 310 of the RDF 300, which is the original mounting table, is first set by placing the recycle lever 342 on the upper part of the original bundle S as described above, and the number of originals is reduced by idle feeding. It counts (step 17-3). If the counted number is an odd number (step 17-4) and the original bundle SS is also on the second original tray 350 as the second original placing table (step 17-5), the original bundles S and SS Is regarded as a continuous document bundle, and first, a flag f1 indicating that the number of documents in the first document tray is an odd number is set (step 17-).
6) In order to prevent a blank page from being formed in the middle of a completed copy page, the lowermost 1
The sheet is fed in an idle manner without copying through the sheet path →→→→, and is placed on the uppermost portion of the document bundle S and on the recycle lever 342 (step 17-7). For example, on the first document tray 310, a document bundle S from the first page to the 49th page,
Document bundle SS of 50th to 70th pages in second document tray 350
Is placed (FIG. 5A), the document on page 49 is placed on the top of the document bundle S and on the recycle lever 342 as shown in FIG. 5B. . Then, [(counted number of originals) −1] is newly added to the first original tray 31.
As the number of originals in the original bundle S on step 0 (step 17-8),
That is, assuming that the number of originals is an even number, a copy operation of performing normal single-sided copy to double-sided copy from page 48 is performed (step 17).
-9). First, the 48th page is read and copied on one side of the sheet. This sheet is stored in the intermediate tray 203,
Next, the 47th page is read, the sheet is fed from the intermediate tray, the 47th page is copied on the back surface, and the sheet is discharged to the sorter.

If there is no bundle of originals on the second original tray, a copying operation for performing normal double-sided copying to single-sided copying is performed according to whether the number of originals on the first original tray 310 is odd or even.

Next, the movement after the end of the first job will be described with reference to FIG.

When the copying operation for making a double-sided copy from a single-sided original for the original bundle S on the first original tray 310 is completed (step 18).
-1) At this time, double-sided copying from a single-sided original from page 1 to page 48 is completed. Then, the second document tray 350
If there is a document bundle SS above (step 18-2), first, the flag f1 in which the number of documents in the first document tray is an odd number is checked, and if the flag is on (step 18-3), the first document tray 310 The original returned to the lowermost portion of the upper original bundle S, that is, the 49th page fed without copying at the time of the first job, is again placed on the upper end of the original bundle S after the recycle lever 342 is placed on the upper end of the original bundle S. And the 49th page is placed on the top of the bundle of originals S and on the recycle lever 342 (step 18-
4). If the flag f1 is not turned on, this operation is not performed.

Then, the document bundle S passes through the third document discharge path described above.
Pages 1 to 48 are discharged onto the tray on the document discharge cover 346 (step 18-5). First document tray 310
At the top, only one sheet of the 49th page of the document bundle S remains (FIG. 7A).

Next, the first original tray 310 is separated from the lowermost original of the original bundle SS on the second original tray 350, that is, separated from the 70th page one by one through the above-described original path of the sheet path →.
(Step 18-6). At this time, the 49th page document is at the bottom on the first document tray, and
Documents from the 50th page to the 70th page are placed (FIG. 7 (b)). And if the flag f1 is on,
This time, first, the recycle lever 342 is not placed on the upper part of the original stack of the first original tray, and the lowermost original of the original stack, ie, the original of the 49th page, is fed one sheet without performing the copying operation (step S1). 18-6). At this time, the document bundle on the first document tray has the 49th page at the top and the 70th page at the bottom (FIG. 7 (c)). Document bundle on the second document tray
As described above, the number of SS documents is
Since the document is counted when the documents are discharged to the document tray, the number obtained by adding one to the number is set as the number of documents of the document bundle newly placed on the first document tray (step
18-9), a copying operation for making a two-sided copy from a normal one-sided original is performed (step 18-10).

As described above, when the copying operation is continuously performed on the originals on the first and second original trays in the mode of performing double-sided copying from the single-sided original, the number of the originals on the first original tray is odd. At this time, by performing the idle feed without copying the lowermost document, it is possible to avoid a blank page being formed in the middle of the completed copy page. Also, the second
When discharging the original on the first original tray to copy the original on the original tray, the original that has not been copied is left on the first original tray, and After the originals are fed to the first original tray, the copying operation is started after the remaining originals are at the top, so that the page order can be prevented from being out of order.

Further, by automatically performing these operations, it is possible to eliminate the inconvenience of requiring the operator to count the number of documents and place an even number of documents on the first document tray.

 Next, the sorter will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, the sorters 400 and 401 each include a body 402 and a bin unit 403. The body 402 has a carry-in roller pair 404 near the carry-in port 403. A flapper 407 for switching the sheet conveyance direction to a conveyance path 405 or 406 is provided downstream of the hopper 406. One transport path 405 extends substantially in the horizontal direction, and a transport roller pair 408 is disposed downstream of the transport path 405. The other transport path 406 extends downward and has a transport roller pair 409 located downstream thereof. Are provided, and a stapler 410 is provided near the roller pair 409. The carry-in roller 404 and the pair of transport rollers 408 and 409 are driven by a transport motor 411 (not shown). The transport path 405 is provided with a non-sort path sensor S401 for detecting the passage of paper. Is provided with a sort path sensor S402.
Downstream of the pair of transport rollers 408 and 409, a bin unit 403 having a number of bins B is hooked on a hook 413 with one end fixed to the body 402, and the weight of the bin unit 403 is held by the spring 412. Is supported to be able to move up and down freely. Then, the bin unit 403
Guide rollers 414, 414 are rotatably supported at the upper and lower portions on the base end side thereof, and the rollers 414, 414 are fitted into guide grooves 415 provided to extend in the vertical direction on the body 402. The bin unit 403 is configured to roll in the groove 415 to guide the bin unit 403. Further, a shift motor 416 is provided on the body 402, and a lead cam is mounted on the rotating shaft 417.
418 and sprocket 419 are fixed. A chain 420 is stretched between the sprocket 419 and the shaft of the shift motor 416, whereby the rotation of the motor 416 is transmitted to the rotating shaft 417 via the chain 420. Further, the bin unit 403 includes a bottom frame 421 including an inclined portion and a vertical portion, frames 422, 422 provided vertically at the front and rear sides of the front end of the frame 421, and a cover 423 supported by the frames 422, 422. And a matching reference plate 425 for abutting a sheet on the front side of the unit body 424.
(See FIG. 9). And the frame
A lower arm 427, which is rotated by an unillustrated alignment motor 426, is rotatably supported on the base end side of the base 421 (see FIG. 10). 428 is fixed to a shaft 429 rotatably supported by the cover 423, and a shaft 430 is provided between the center of rotation of the arm 428 and the center of rotation of the arm 427. An alignment rod 431 is provided between the distal end of the arm 427 and the distal end of the arm 428, and the alignment rod 431 is configured to be rotated by an alignment motor 426 (not shown). The alignment motor 426 is a stepping motor, and the position of the alignment rod can be accurately controlled by the number of pulses applied to the stepping motor. S403 is a matching rod home sensor for detecting the position of the matching rod. The position of the matching rod can be controlled by the matching rod home sensor and the number of pulses given to the drive motor 426.

As shown in FIG. 8, the bin B has engagement plates 432 formed at the front and rear ends thereof, respectively.
By engaging the engagement plate 432 with a support plate (not shown) provided inside the frame 422, the bin B is supported at the tip end side. Further, a support shaft 433 is fixed to the front and rear sides of the base end of the bin B, and a roller 434 is rotatably supported by the support shaft 433. Further, the bin B is provided with an elongated hole 435 that is longer than the rotation distance of the alignment rod 431 and is sufficiently wider than the width of the alignment rod at a predetermined distance from the shaft 430. Ba stands upright with respect to the sheet storage surface Bb, and the bin B has a tip inclined at a predetermined angle upward with respect to the fuselage 402, whereby the sheet slides on the sheet storage surface Bb. The rear end abuts on the base end portion Ba so as to be aligned in the front-rear direction.

The alignment rod 4 is inserted into the long holes 435 of the bins B1, B2,.
The alignment rod is configured to rotate in the elongated hole 435 to abut and align the sheet S with the alignment reference plate 425. The lead cam 418 has a groove 418a that is slightly wider than the roller 434 and is spirally carved.The groove 418a is engaged with the roller 434, and the rotation of the lead cam 418 causes the roller 434 to rotate. It is configured to move up and down along the groove 418a. One rotation of the lead cam 418 is detected by a lead cam sensor S404 disposed near the lead cam 418, and the bin unit 403
Is detected by the binhole position sensor S405. Note that the sensor 450 is an in-bin transmission sensor,
This is to detect that all sheets have been removed from the bin.

A double stay 436 is provided at the lowermost portion of the bin B. The double stay 436 has a configuration in which the roller 434 is rotatably supported similarly to the bin B, and can further support a double pass unit 437. The dual-pass unit 437 is for transporting the sheet to the second sorter, and rotates the lead cam 418 to rotate the double-pass unit 437.
The sheet 37 is moved to a position facing the second roller pair 409, and the sheet is conveyed by a two-pass motor 438 (not shown), so that the sheet discharged from the copying machine main body can be stored in the second station.

The stapler 410 is an electric stapler. The stapler is rocked by a rocking motor 439 (not shown) in the direction shown by the arrow in FIG. 9 and moves to a position shown by a solid line, and a stapling is performed by a solenoid 440 (not shown). And retreats from the bin B and moves to the position shown by the dotted line in FIG. The stapler 410 binds the sheet S in the bin B in this manner, and then moves the bin 10 by one bin by the shift motor 416 to move the next bin B
The sheets S stacked on the sheets are bound. Note that S406 is a manual staple key, and when the manual staple key S406 is pressed after sorting is completed, a stapling operation is performed.

As shown in FIG. 11, the sorter 1 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1001, a read-only memory (ROM) 1002,
Random access memory (RAM) 1003, output port 100
4, a control device 1000 including an input port 1005 and the like is provided. The ROM 1002 stores a control program, and the RAM 1003 stores input data and work data. Various motors such as the above-described shift motor 416 and solenoid driving means are connected to the output port 1004, and the input port 1005
Is connected to sensors and switches from S401 to S406 such as a non-sort path sensor S401, and the CPU 1001 controls each unit connected via a bus according to a control program stored in a ROM 1002. Also, the CPU 1001 has a serial interface function, performs serial communication with the CPU of the copying machine main body, controls each unit by a signal from the copying machine main body, and outputs an operation signal to the next sorter.

Next, the operation in the non-sort mode will be described with reference to FIG.

In the case of the non-sort mode, the bin unit 403 is returned to the home position in step 201 to use the non-sort tray, and the flapper 407 is set in the non-sort path in step 202.
Move 405 to the side to select. Next, the presence or absence of a sorter start signal is determined in step 203, and if there is a sorter start signal, the process proceeds to step 204. In step 204, the process waits for a size determination signal from the copying machine main body 100. If the size determination signal is input, the process proceeds to step 205, where the size is stored in the RAM 1003. When the signal is received, the process proceeds to step 207 to perform a transport operation for discharging paper to bin B of the non-sort tray,
Return to step 203. If there is no sorter start signal in step 203, the flapper 407 is moved to the side for selecting the sort path 406 in step 208, and the operation in the non-sort mode ends.

 Next, the operation in the sort mode will be described with reference to FIG.

In the case of the sort mode, first, in step 301, the bin unit 403 is moved from the copying machine body to the designated bin via serial communication. Next, in step 302, the presence or absence of a sorter start signal is determined, and if there is a sorter start signal, the process proceeds to step 303. In step 303, the presence or absence of a size determination signal is determined. If there is, the process proceeds to step 304, and if not, the process proceeds to step 302. In step 304, the size data is stored in the RAM 1003. Next, in step 305, a paper discharge signal from the copying machine body is waited. When a paper ejection signal is received, the program proceeds to step 306, and retracts the alignment bar to a position where the alignment bar does not hit the sheet to be discharged. next,
Is the sheet to be extracted a sheet to be stored in your sorter,
It is determined whether the sheet is stored in the next sorter or not.
Proceed to 8. At step 308, the sheet is conveyed in the bin, and then the aligning rod 431 is moved to align the sheet accommodated at step 309. Thereafter, the program proceeds to step 310 to determine the presence or absence of a shift inversion signal.
Proceed to 1 and shift one bin. If it is determined in step 310 that there is a shift inversion signal, step 312 is executed.
If the shift is upward, the shift direction is changed downward, and if the shift direction is downward, the shift direction is changed upward. Upon completion of step 311 or 312, the program returns to step 302. Also,
If it is determined in step 307 that the sheet is to be stored in the next sorter, the program proceeds to step 313 and moves up the bin unit 403 to the position of the dual path. Thereafter, the two-pass motor 438 is turned on (step 314).
A transport operation for transporting the sheet to the continuous path unit is performed (step 315). Next, in step 316, a double pass timer for measuring the time for sending the sheet conveyed to the double pass to the next sorter is set, and the process waits in step 317 until the double pass timer is up. If the timer is up at step 317, the sheet has reached the next sorter, so step 31
At step 8, the dual-pass motor is turned off, and the bin is shifted down by one bin at step 319 to return to the normal bin position from the double-pass, and the program returns to step 302.

Next, the operation in the group mode will be described with reference to FIG.

In the case of the group mode, first, at step 401, the bin unit 403 is moved from the copying machine body to the designated bin position via serial communication. Next, at step 402, the presence or absence of a sorter start signal is determined, and if there is a sorter start signal, the process proceeds to step 403. In step 403, it is determined whether or not there is a size determination signal.
If not, the process proceeds to step 402. Step 404
Then, the size data is stored in the RAM 1003, and then, in step 405, a paper discharge signal from the copying machine body is waited for. When a paper ejection signal is received, the program proceeds to step 406 to retract the alignment rod to a position where the alignment rod does not hit the sheet to be discharged. Next, it is determined whether the discharged sheet is a sheet stored in the own sorter or a sheet stored in the next sorter. If the discharged sheet is a sheet stored in the own sorter, the program proceeds to step 408. At step 408, a transport operation for storing the sheet in the bin is performed.
The width of the alignment rod 431 is adjusted in order to align the sheets stored in step (1). Thereafter, the presence or absence of a bin shift signal is determined in step 410, and if it is determined that there is a bin shift signal, the process proceeds to step 411, one bin shift up is performed, and the program returns to step 402. If it is determined in step 407 that the sheet is to be stored in the next sorter, the program proceeds to step 412, moves the bin unit 403 up, and moves to the position of the dual path. Thereafter, the two-pass motor 438 is turned on (step 413), and the sheet is conveyed to the two-pass unit (step 414). Next, at step 415, a double pass timer for measuring the time required to send the sheet conveyed to the double pass to the next sorter is set, and the process proceeds to step 416 until the double pass timer is up.
Wait at. If the timer is up at step 416, the sheet has reached the next sorter, so at step 417 the two-pass motor is turned off, and at step 418 the single-pass downshift is performed and the two-pass is returned to the normal bin position. The program returns to step 402.

Next, the procedure of the transport operation will be described with reference to FIG.

As a transport operation when the sorters 400 and 401 receive a sheet from the copying machine main body 100, first, in step 501, the transport motor 411 is turned on. Then, in the next step 502, the non-sort path 405 and the sort path 406
Judge which of the following is selected
If 405 is selected, the process proceeds to step 503 where the non-sort path sensor S401 detects, and if the sort path 406 is selected, the step where the sort path sensor S402 detects.
Proceed to 504. And step 503 or step 50
In step 4, the process waits until the non-sort path sensor S401 or the sort path sensor S402 is turned "on". If "on", the process proceeds to step 505 in any case. Then step 505
In step 506, the counter is set to measure the point in time when the sheet is discharged from the conveyance motor 411.In step 506, it is determined whether the counter set in step 505 has finished counting, and if the counter has counted up. Proceeding to step 507, the transport motor 411 is stopped to end the operation.

Next, the stapling operation will be described with reference to FIG.

First, in step 601, the swing motor 439 is turned on to move the stapler 410.
The swing motor 439 is driven until it moves to the position shown by the solid line in the figure. Next, at step 602, the stapler solenoid 440
Is driven to perform stapling. Then, either the stapler 410 in step 603 the swing motor 439 until moved to the retracted position shown by a dotted line in FIG. 2 is driven, in a subsequent step 604, the staple has been completed for all the bins B ₁ .about.B _n If not, the process shifts one bin at step 605, returns to step 601 to perform the next stapling, and repeats steps 602 to 604. If completed, the staple operation ends.

〔The invention's effect〕

Since the copying apparatus according to the present invention is controlled as described above, there is an effect that two-sided copying can be automatically obtained from many single-sided originals in the order of pages.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 is a front sectional view of a copying machine system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an enlarged front sectional view of the automatic document feeder, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a control circuit, and FIG. 5 (a) and 5 (b) are explanatory diagrams of the operation according to the flowchart of FIG. 4, FIG. 6 is a flowchart, and FIGS. 7 (a), (b) and (c) are flowcharts of FIG. FIG. 8 is a front sectional view of a sorter, FIG. 9 is a plan view of a bin tray of the sorter, FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the sorter, and FIGS. 11 to 16 are flow charts of the sorter. It is. 300: automatic document feeder 310: first document tray 350: second document tray

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G03G 15/00 107 G03G 15/00 106 G03G 21/00 370-502 G03G 21/14

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An automatic document feeder having a first and a second document table; and an automatic document feeder for forming an image of a document placed on the second document table on a recording medium. Discharging means for discharging the original on the original mounting table to a predetermined position; and forming the image of the original mounted on the second original mounting table on the recording medium by the first original. In an image forming apparatus having: a document feeding unit that conveys a document to a document table; and a unit that counts the number of documents, a copy operation (hereinafter, a first job) for a document placed on a first document table is performed. After the end, when the copying operation (hereinafter, the second job) for the document placed on the second document placing table is continuously performed in the same copy mode as the first job, the copy mode is changed from the one-sided document to the two-sided copy. And in the mode for forming If it is determined that the number of originals is an odd number, the copying operation for the last page of the original bundle on the first original placing table is not performed, and the two-sided copy is performed using the remaining even number of originals. When ejecting the original bundle on the first original placing table, the original of the last page is not ejected, and the original feeding means performs the second job on the first original placing table to perform the second job. An image forming apparatus which controls so that a copying operation is started after the last page is placed on an uppermost portion of a fed document bundle.