JP7409174B2 - Image forming device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, toner is supplied to a developing section from a removable cartridge filled with toner. The used cartridge is replaced with a cartridge filled with toner. Some companies refill used cartridges with toner and sell them as refill products.

The image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1 includes a cartridge filled with toner, an image forming section, and a control section. The image forming section forms an image on the recording medium using the toner supplied from the cartridge. The cartridge has non-volatile memory. The control unit records toner out information in the nonvolatile memory when the remaining amount of toner in the cartridge becomes less than a predetermined amount. Furthermore, the control unit determines whether the cartridge is a refillable product, based on the toner out information recorded in the nonvolatile memory, and uses sensor information regarding the remaining amount of toner as an additional determination condition, that is, performs a refill determination.

JP2019-132991A

In the image forming apparatus described in Patent Document 1, if the cartridge is refilled with toner before the remaining amount of toner in the cartridge becomes less than a predetermined amount, correct refill determination cannot be made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of highly accurate refill determination.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a container filled with consumables and an image forming section. The image forming section forms an image on a recording medium using the consumables supplied from the container. The container includes a first memory having nonvolatile properties. The image forming apparatus of the present invention further includes an acquisition section, a first writing section, and a determination section. The acquisition unit sequentially acquires first information indicating a position where the image forming apparatus is installed. The first writing section writes the first information acquired by the acquisition section as second information into the first memory only once when the container starts to be used. The determination unit determines that the container is a consumable when the first information acquired by the acquisition unit after the start of use of the container and the second information read from the first memory do not match. It is determined that this is a refill product that has been refilled.

According to the present invention, an image forming apparatus capable of highly accurate refill determination is provided.

1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the structure of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a circuit configuration of an image forming apparatus. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by a control unit. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by a control unit.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, in the drawings, the same reference numerals are given to the same or corresponding parts, and the description will not be repeated.

An image forming apparatus 100 according to an embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the structure of an image forming apparatus 100. In FIG. 1, for convenience, the direction from left to right is the positive direction of the X axis, the direction from the front to the back is the positive direction of the Y axis, and the direction from bottom to top is the positive direction of the Z axis.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 100 is a monochrome multifunction device and has a copy function, a print function, and a scan function. The image forming apparatus 100 includes an image forming unit 1, an image reading unit 2, a document transport unit 3, an operation display section 4, a control section 21, a storage section 22, and a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor 23. Be prepared.

The image forming unit 1 forms an image on the sheet P. The image reading unit 2 reads the image formed on the document R and generates image data representing the image. The document transport unit 3 transports the document R to the image reading unit 2 . The operation display section 4 displays information to the user and accepts operations from the user. The operation display section 4 includes a touch panel 41 and operation keys 42. The sheet P corresponds to an example of a "recording medium."

The image forming unit 1 includes a feeding section 11 , a conveying section 12 , an image forming section 13 , a toner cartridge 14 , a fixing section 15 , and a discharging section 16 .

The feeding section 11 supplies the sheet P to the conveying section 12 . The conveyance section 12 conveys the sheet P via the image forming section 13 and the fixing section 15 to the discharge section 16 . The image forming section 13 forms a toner image on the sheet P using an electrophotographic method. The image forming section 13 includes an image carrier, a charging section, an exposing section, a developing section, a transfer section, and a static eliminating section. The toner cartridge 14 stores toner, which is a consumable item, and supplies the toner to the developing section. The fixing unit 15 fixes the toner image on the sheet P by heating and pressurizing the sheet P. The discharge unit 16 discharges the sheet P on which the toner image is fixed to the outside of the image forming apparatus 100 . The toner cartridge 14 corresponds to an example of a "container" filled with toner.

The control unit 21 includes a processor such as a central processing unit (CPU).

Storage unit 22 includes a storage device. The storage device includes a main storage device (for example, a semiconductor memory) such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), and may further include an auxiliary storage device (for example, a hard disk drive). The storage device stores various computer programs executed by the control unit 21 and various data.

The GPS sensor 23 measures the latitude and longitude of the position where the image forming apparatus 100 is installed by communicating with an artificial satellite (not shown). The GPS sensor 23 corresponds to an example of a "positioning unit".

The processor of the control section 21 controls each element of the image forming apparatus 100 by executing a computer program stored in the storage device of the storage section 22 . Specifically, the processor of the control section 21 controls the operations of the image forming unit 1 , the image reading unit 2 , the document transport unit 3 , the operation display section 4 , the storage section 22 , and the GPS sensor 23 .

Next, the circuit configuration of the image forming apparatus 100 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the circuit configuration of the image forming apparatus 100.

As shown in FIG. 2, the toner cartridge 14 includes a first memory 141 that is nonvolatile. The first memory 141 is mounted in the toner cartridge 14 as, for example, a semiconductor chip. The storage unit 22 includes a second memory 221 that is nonvolatile.

The control section 21 includes an acquisition section 211 , a first writing section 212 , a calculation section 213 , a determining section 214 , a second writing section 215 , and an updating section 216 . The processor of the control unit 21 executes the computer program stored in the storage device of the storage unit 22 to obtain the acquisition unit 211, the first writing unit 212, the calculation unit 213, the determination unit 214, and the second writing unit 215. , and functions as the update unit 216.

The acquisition unit 211 sequentially acquires first information indicating the position where the image forming apparatus 100 is installed based on the output of the GPS sensor 23.

The first writing unit 212 writes the first information acquired by the acquisition unit 211 as second information into the first memory 141 only once when the toner cartridge 14 starts to be used.

The calculation unit 213 calculates the difference between the first position indicated by the first information and the second position indicated by the second information.

If the first information acquired by the acquisition unit 211 after the start of use of the toner cartridge 14 and the second information read from the first memory 141 do not match, the determination unit 214 determines whether or not the toner cartridge 14 is refilled with toner. It is determined that it is a filled refill product. Specifically, the determination unit 214 determines that the first information and the second information do not match when the distance L indicated by the difference calculated by the calculation unit 213 is greater than the threshold L1.

The second writing unit 215 writes the first information acquired by the acquisition unit 211 when the image forming apparatus 100 is installed into the second memory 221 as third information.

The update unit 216 updates the third information written in the second memory 221 based on the first information sequentially acquired by the acquisition unit 211.

Next, the processing of the control unit 21 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by the control unit 21.

Step S101: As shown in FIG. 3, the control unit 21 determines whether a power switch (not shown) is turned on. If the control unit 21 determines that the power switch is not turned on (No in step S101), the process of the control unit 21 remains at step S101. If the control unit 21 determines that the power switch has been turned on (Yes in step S101), the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S103 to prepare for image formation.

Step S103: The control unit 21 acquires first information indicating the location where the image forming apparatus 100 is installed based on the output of the GPS sensor 23. When the process of step S103 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S105.

Step S105: The control unit 21 determines whether or not the second information is written in the first memory 141. If the control unit 21 determines that the second information is not written in the first memory 141 (No in step S105), the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S107. If the control unit 21 determines that the second information has been written to the first memory 141 (Yes in step S105), the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S109.

Step S107: The control unit 21 executes one-time writing of the second information to the first memory 141. That is, the control unit 21 writes the first information acquired by the acquisition unit 211 as second information into the first memory 141 only once when the toner cartridge 14 starts to be used. One-time writing is realized, for example, by setting in the first memory 141 an area that can be written only once, an area that can only be incremented or decremented, or an area that is protected against overwriting. After the second information indicating the location where the image forming apparatus 100 is installed is written in the first memory 141, it is never rewritten.

Step S109: The control unit 21 reads the second information from the first memory 141. When the process of step S109 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S111.

Step S111: The control unit 21 calculates the difference (distance L) between the first position indicated by the first information and the second position indicated by the second information. When the process of step S111 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S113.

Step S113: The control unit 21 determines whether the distance L is greater than the threshold L1. If the control unit 21 determines that the distance L is greater than the threshold L1 (Yes in step S113), the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S115. If the control unit 21 determines that the distance L is not greater than the threshold L1 (No in step S113), the process of the control unit 21 for preparing for image formation ends. The threshold value L1 may be variable according to a setting operation by a service person.

Step S<b>115 : The control unit 21 determines that the toner cartridge 14 is a refill product, and causes the operation display unit 4 to display a message calling attention to the refill product. The alert message includes, for example, a warning that the print quality of the image forming apparatus 100 may deteriorate if the toner is refilled with poor quality toner. When the process of step S115 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 for preparing for image formation ends.

Next, the processing of the control unit 21 will be further explained with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4. FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing by the control unit 21. Here, it is assumed that the third information indicating the location where the image forming apparatus 100 is installed has already been written in the second memory 221. FIG. 4 shows a procedure for updating the third information written in the second memory 221.

Step S201: As shown in FIG. 4, the control unit 21 reads third information from the second memory 221. When the process of step S201 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S203.

Step S203: The control unit 21 calculates the difference (distance M) between the first position indicated by the first information and the third position indicated by the third information. When the process of step S203 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S205.

Step S205: The control unit 21 determines whether the distance M is greater than the threshold value M1. If the control unit 21 determines that the distance M is greater than the threshold M1 (Yes in step S205), the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S207. If the control unit 21 determines that the distance M is not greater than the threshold M1 (No in step S205), the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S209.

Step S207: Since it is assumed that the installation location of the image forming apparatus 100 has been changed, the control unit 21 updates the third information in the second memory 221 only according to the first position. When the process of step S207 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 for updating the third information ends.

Step S209: The control unit 21 corrects the third position according to the first position and the third position. For example, the control unit 21 can set the position of the midpoint between the first position and the third position as the corrected third position so that the accuracy of the third position is improved. When the process of step S209 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 proceeds to step S211.

Step S211: The control unit 21 writes the corrected third information into the second memory 221. When the process of step S211 is completed, the process of the control unit 21 for updating the third information ends.

According to the embodiment, the control unit 21 writes the first information when the toner cartridge 14 starts to be used into the first memory 141 as the second information. Therefore, an image forming apparatus 100 is provided that can perform refill determination with high accuracy even when the toner cartridge 14 is refilled with toner before the remaining amount of toner in the toner cartridge 14 becomes less than a predetermined amount.

Further, according to the embodiment, when the distance L indicated by the difference between the first position and the second position is larger than the threshold L1, the control unit 21 determines that the first information and the second information do not match. judge. Therefore, for example, there is an advantage that the toner cartridge 14 can be used in the same company.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be implemented in various forms without departing from the spirit thereof. Moreover, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining the plurality of components disclosed in the above embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiments. For ease of understanding, the drawings mainly schematically show each component, and the number of each component shown in the drawings may differ from the actual number due to drawing preparation. Moreover, each component shown in the above embodiment is an example, and is not particularly limited, and various changes can be made without substantially departing from the effects of the present invention.

In the embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 is of an electrophotographic type. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the image forming apparatus 100 may be of an inkjet type. In the inkjet image forming apparatus 100, an ink cartridge that stores ink, which is a consumable item, corresponds to an example of a "container."

In the embodiment, the image forming apparatus 100 includes the GPS sensor 23. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the image forming apparatus 100 may acquire position information from a mobile terminal that is a nearby external device.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be used in the field of image forming apparatuses.

13 Image forming section 14 Toner cartridge (container)
21 Control unit 22 Storage unit 23 GPS sensor (positioning unit)
100 Image forming device 141 First memory 211 Acquisition unit 212 First writing unit 213 Calculating unit 214 Determining unit 215 Second writing unit 216 Updating unit 221 Second memory P Sheet (recording medium)

Claims (5)

A container filled with consumables,
an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium using the consumables supplied from the container;
An image forming apparatus comprising:
The container includes a first memory having non-volatility,
an acquisition unit that sequentially acquires first information indicating a position where the image forming apparatus is installed;
a first writing unit that writes the first information acquired by the acquisition unit as second information into the first memory only once at the start of use of the container;
If the first information acquired by the acquisition unit after the start of use of the container and the second information read from the first memory do not match, the container is refilled with the consumables. A determination unit that determines that the product is a refill product;
An image forming apparatus further comprising: The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the container is a cartridge containing toner or ink. further comprising a positioning unit that measures the latitude and longitude of the position where the image forming device is installed,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the acquisition unit sequentially acquires the first information based on the output of the positioning unit. further comprising a calculation unit that calculates a difference between a first position indicated by the first information and a second position indicated by the second information,
According to any one of claims 1 to 3, the determination unit determines that the first information and the second information do not match when the distance indicated by the difference is greater than a threshold value. The image forming apparatus described above. a second memory having non-volatility;
a second writing unit that writes the first information acquired by the acquisition unit when installing the image forming apparatus into the second memory as third information;
an updating unit that updates the third information written in the second memory based on the first information sequentially acquired by the acquisition unit;
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising the following.

Images