JP2003122075A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus having a face-up tray that can be opened and closed on the back of the image forming apparatus, in which face-up and face-down switching is easy to see and easy to operate. SOLUTION: In an image forming apparatus having a face-up tray, (1) display means for detecting and displaying the opening / closing operation of the face-up tray, and (2) opening / closing operation of the face-up tray, in front of the image forming apparatus. And (3) display means for detecting and displaying paper inside the face-up tray.

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 for forming an image on recording paper by image forming means, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a means for discharging printed paper on the back side of the image forming apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 5 shows a conventional example of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

This example is an image forming apparatus having an image reading unit for reading an image such as a printed matter and an image forming unit for outputting an image read by the reading unit and data in a computer.

An image forming unit 201 and an image reading unit 202 are recording sheets P set in a sheet feeding cassette 203.
An image is formed in the image forming unit 201. The recording paper P on which the image is formed is openably and closably supported on the face down tray 204 which also serves as the upper cover of the image forming apparatus or on the back side of the image forming apparatus as shown in FIGS. The sheets are stacked on the face-up tray 205 and discharged.

There is a reason why the image forming apparatus described in this example has both the face-down tray 204 and the face-up tray 205. Face down tray 2
The sheet discharge to 04 is suitable for printing a large number of sheets without impairing the order of printed pages because the printing surfaces are stacked one after another. Although there is a drawback that the printing order is reversed when the paper is discharged to the face-up tray 205 with the print side facing up, the structural paper path is bent once compared to the face-down paper discharge. Since it is small, it is excellent for transporting special paper and thick paper.

Further, in the case of a printing apparatus using the electrophotographic method, there is also an advantage that the curl of discharged paper is small.

Therefore, the face-down tray 204,
The face-up tray 205 is properly used by the user according to the purpose. The switching is performed by the face-up tray 205.
Is closed (FIG. 5A), face-down paper ejection and face-up tray 205 are open (FIG. 5A).
In the case of (b), the sheet is discharged face up. The configuration of the above-described present example is a widely known configuration in the image forming apparatus, and the mechanism for switching the paper path by opening / closing the face-up tray will be omitted.

A user manually operates the face-up tray 205 to open and close the face-up tray 205.
Is arranged on the rear surface of the image forming apparatus in terms of configuration, and the user looks into the face-up tray 205 on the rear surface of the image forming apparatus from the upper surface or the side surface of the image forming apparatus to perform the paper discharge confirmation or the opening / closing operation.

[0009]

However, in the configuration in which the face-up tray is arranged on the back surface of the image forming apparatus as in the above-mentioned conventional example, there are the following drawbacks in operating the face-up tray.

The face-up tray on the back of the image forming unit becomes a blind spot due to the main body of the image forming apparatus and the image reading unit, and it is difficult to easily confirm whether the face-up tray is open. Therefore, there is a problem in that the sheet is discharged to the face-down tray even though the sheet is intended to be discharged to the face-up tray.

It is difficult to open and close the face-up tray because the main body of the image forming apparatus interferes with the access to the face-up tray on the back surface.

Since the face-up tray becomes a blind spot due to the main body of the image forming apparatus, it is difficult to easily confirm whether or not there is a printed recording sheet in the face-up tray. May damage the printed chart paper,
There were problems such as.

[0013]

In order to solve the above problems, display means for indicating the open / closed state of the face-up tray is provided on the front of the image forming apparatus. As a result, the user can easily recognize the open / closed state of the face-up tray, and face-down and face-up switching can be reliably performed.

On the front surface of the image forming apparatus, an operation means that can be moved in association with the face-up tray is provided. As a result, it is possible to easily operate the face-up tray on the front side that is easy for the user to handle.

Display means is provided on the front of the image forming apparatus to detect and display the presence or absence of paper in the face-up tray.
As a result, it is possible to prevent the printed matter from being left behind, and to avoid damaging the printed matter by closing the face-up tray without noticing the leftover state.

To summarize this further, it can be summarized in the following configuration.

(1) A first discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing downward and a second discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing upward, the two discharging means. Has a configuration in which one is selectively selected, and one of the two discharging means is selected in the image forming apparatus in which one of the two discharging means has a discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus characterized in that display means for displaying is disposed on the front side of the apparatus.

(2) A first discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing downward and a second discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing upward, and the two discharging means. Has a configuration in which one of the two discharging means is selectively selected, and one of the two discharging means selectively switches the two discharging means in an image forming apparatus having a discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus. An image forming apparatus, wherein an operation unit is arranged on the front side of the apparatus.

(3) A first discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing downward and a second discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing upward, the two discharging means. Has a configuration in which one is selectively selected, and one of the two discharging means has an discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus in an image forming apparatus having the discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus. The ejecting unit has a sheet stacking unit, has a detecting unit for detecting the presence or absence of the sheet in the stacking unit, and a display unit for displaying the presence or absence of the sheet in the stacking unit, and the display unit is arranged on the front side of the apparatus. An image forming apparatus characterized by the above.

(4) The display means for displaying which of the two discharging means is selected also serves as an operating section for selectively switching the two discharging means. The image forming apparatus described.

[0021]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) A first embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, a laser beam printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus equipped with the embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The present invention can be provided not only in laser beam printers, but also in printers of all kinds, copiers, facsimiles, and the body of these combined devices.

First, the operation of the image forming apparatus will be described with reference to the sectional view of the image forming apparatus shown in FIG.

The recording paper P loaded in the main body cassette 101 is separated and fed one by one by the paper feed roller 102 and the separation pad 103, and only the uppermost recording paper P is conveyed and then guided along the guide 104. Registration roller pair 10
It is transported to 5, 106. After that, the registration roller 10 is moved in accordance with the rotation of the electrophotographic photosensitive drum 108 arranged in the process cartridge 107 serving as a recording unit.
The recording paper P is conveyed by 6 and the toner image on the photosensitive drum 108 is transferred onto the recording paper P by the transfer roller 109. After that, the recording paper P is conveyed along the discharge conveyance guide ribs 110, and is heated and pressure-contacted by the roller pairs 111 and 112.
The toner image is fixed by passing through the fixing device formed by. Normally, if the face-up tray 116 is in the closed state, it passes through the reversing path and the pair of discharge rollers 113, 1
The sheet 14 is stacked on the face-down tray 115 and discharged.

Next, the face-up paper discharge and face-down paper discharge according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

A one-dot chain line P1 in FIG. 1 is a conveyance path of the recording paper P for face-down discharge, and the recording paper P is reversed 180 degrees from the conveyance direction at the time of printing so that the recording paper P is placed on the face-down tray. Is discharged. When printing a plurality of sheets, the sheets that have been printed initially are ejected one after another with the printing surface facing downward, so the ejected and stacked sheets can be taken out without impairing the printing order.

A dashed-dotted line P2 in FIG. 2 is a conveying path of the recording paper P for face-up discharge. The face-up paper discharge has a structure like the face-down paper discharge, in which the paper conveying path after passing through the fixing device is not bent sharply and is discharged straight. Therefore, for media with poor transportability in curved paper paths such as thick paper and envelopes, or for paper types whose curl increases due to the paper path after passing through the fixing device, use a paper path that is advantageous in terms of transportability and curl increase. It is possible to eject the paper.

Therefore, the face-up is used when printing a plurality of sheets, and the face-up is used when printing a special paper such as a thick paper or an envelope.

When face-down paper ejection is performed, the printed recording paper P is ejected to the face-down tray 115 along the guide rib 116 'along the guide path 116 with the face-up tray 116 closed. When performing face-up paper ejection, the face-up tray 116
By opening the guide rib 116 ', the guide rib 116' escapes to the face-up discharge side, so that the recording paper P is discharged to the face-up tray side through the conveyance path P2.

A face-up tray open / close detection sensor 117 is attached to the main body of the image forming apparatus. The face-up tray opening / closing detection sensor 117 is a so-called photo interrupter, and electrically detects the light-shielding flag 118 attached to the face-up tray side. The light of the photo interrupter is blocked when the face-up tray 116 is closed as shown in FIG. 1, and the light of the photo interrupter passes when the face-up tray 116 is opened as shown in FIG. The photo interrupter and the electrical equipment section 126 inside the image forming apparatus are connected to each other by a lead wire (not shown), and the controller inside the image forming apparatus can detect opening / closing of the face-up tray 116. The controller of the image forming apparatus turns on or off the lamp 121 on the front portion of the image forming apparatus based on this detection information. The open / close detection lamp 121 lights up when the face-up tray 116 is empty,
Turns off when closed.

Reference numerals 119 and 120 denote a paper presence sensor and a paper detection light-shielding flag which are mounted in the face-up tray. The paper detection light-shielding flag 120 is rotated by being pushed down by the leading end of the recording paper P, and the paper presence sensor 119 electrically detects the movement by a mechanism similar to that of the face-up tray opening / closing detection sensor. The detected signal is detected by the controller in the image forming apparatus through a cable (not shown) connected to the face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 on the front of the image forming apparatus, and the face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 is controlled to be turned on / off. It The face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 is turned on when there is paper, and is turned off when there is no paper.

In the conventional image forming apparatus in which an image reading unit such as a flatbed scanner is arranged on the upper surface of the image forming unit, the back surface of the image forming apparatus body becomes a blind spot, and it is difficult to confirm the open / closed state of the face-up tray. In addition, the face-up tray 11 arranged on the back surface of the image forming apparatus
For No. 6, it is necessary to look into the discharged recording paper for confirmation. Therefore, when the face-up tray 116 is closed, the face-up tray may be inadvertently closed with the paper still in the face-up tray, and the recording paper may be damaged.

According to the present invention, the user can confirm the state of face-down paper discharge and face-up paper discharge by the open / close detection lamp 121 on the front of the image forming apparatus, which is easy for the user to see.
It is not necessary to look into the open / closed state of the face-up tray on the back of the image forming apparatus when switching.

Further, since the presence / absence of the paper in the face-up tray 116 can be easily confirmed by turning on the face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 arranged on the front of the image forming apparatus, it is possible to prevent the recording paper from being damaged.

(Second Embodiment) The first embodiment according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 4.

In this embodiment, a laser beam printer which is an example of an image forming apparatus having a movable means of the embodiment of the present invention in a main body will be described.

The present invention can be provided not only in a digital printer, but also in a main body such as a BJ printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, and a composite device of these.

The description of the operation of the main body of the image forming apparatus and the face-up and face-down sheet discharge are omitted because they have the same configurations as in the first embodiment.

Face-up tray 116 according to the present invention
The configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

Reference numerals 123 and 124 denote face-up tray opening / closing levers according to the present invention. The face-up tray opening / closing lever is composed of a link made up of two members 123 and 124, one end of which is joined to the end of the face-up tray and is connected to the front of the image forming apparatus. The link member 124 is rotatably supported about a support shaft 124 '. When the opening / closing lever operating portion on the front side is above the elongated hole 125 as shown in FIG. 4A, the face-up tray is closed. There is. The link member 12 is pushed to the position shown in FIG.
4 rotates about the support shaft 124 'and pushes the link member 123 rearward, so that the face-up tray opens toward the outside of the image forming apparatus (FIG. 4B). On the contrary, when closing the face-up tray 116, the operation reverse to the above may be performed. When the front opening / closing lever operating portion is pushed up from the state of FIG. 4B to the position of FIG. 4A, the link member 12
4 rotates and pulls the link member 123 forward. This closes the face-up tray 116.

Reference numerals 119 and 120 denote a paper presence sensor and a paper detection light-shielding flag which are mounted in the face-up tray. Since the mechanism for detecting the discharged paper by these sensors and flags is the same as that of the first embodiment, the description is omitted.

The paper detection light-shielding flag 120 is rotated by being pushed down by the leading end of the recording paper P, and the paper presence sensor 119 electrically detects the movement. The detected signal is sent as an electric signal to the face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 via a cable (not shown) connected to the face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 on the front of the image forming apparatus, and is turned on.

As described above, in the image forming apparatus in which the image reading section such as a flat bed scanner is arranged on the upper surface of the conventional image forming section, the back surface becomes a blind spot by the image forming apparatus body and the open / closed state of the face-up tray is confirmed. Hard to do. Further, the face-up tray 116 arranged on the back surface of the image forming apparatus must be checked by looking into the discharged recording paper.

Therefore, when the face-up tray 116 is closed, the face-up tray may be inadvertently closed with the paper still in the face-up tray, and the recording paper may be damaged.

According to the present invention, the user can easily switch between face-down paper discharge and face-up paper discharge by moving the open / close lever arranged on the front of the image forming apparatus up and down, and the operability is remarkably improved. Was done. Further, since the open / closed state of the face-up tray 116 can be easily determined by the position of the opening / closing lever 117, the user can operate the paper discharge direction without mistake.

Further, as in the first embodiment, the face-up tray paper presence / absence lamp 122 arranged on the front surface of the image forming apparatus is turned on to easily detect the presence / absence of paper in the face-up tray 116 which is difficult to see on the rear surface of the image forming apparatus. Since it can be confirmed, it is possible to prevent damage to the recording paper.

Compared with the first embodiment, in this embodiment, the operability of the opening / closing operation of the face-up tray 116 is greatly improved by disposing the face-up tray opening / closing operation section on the front surface of the image forming apparatus. At the same time, by making the opening / closing operation lever and the opening / closing display both serve as the same lever, a simple configuration is possible.

In this embodiment, the opening / closing lever of FIG. 4 is composed of two links, and the face-up tray is opened / closed by vertically moving the opening / closing lever operating portion. If the same effect can be obtained even if the shape of the opening and closing lever is different, such as connecting with a link and direct operation by pushing and pulling, or the operation part that can automatically open and close the face-up tray with driving force. An example in which it is arranged in front of the forming apparatus is also included in the present invention.

[0050]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the user can easily recognize the open / closed state of the face-up tray and can easily switch between face-down and face-up.

According to the second aspect, the operability is improved because the face-up tray can be easily opened and closed on the front surface that is easy for the user to handle.

Further, according to the third aspect, it is possible to prevent the printed matter from being left behind and to prevent the printed matter from being damaged by closing the face-up tray in the leftover state.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view of an image forming apparatus according to first and second embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

4A and 4B are schematic perspective views of an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

5A and 5B are schematic perspective views of an image forming apparatus according to a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

101 body cassette 102 paper feed roller 103 Separation pad 104 guide 105 Registration roller 1 106 registration roller 2 107 cartridges 108 Electrophotographic photosensitive drum 109 transfer roller 110 Paper ejection guide ribs 111 fixing roller 1 112 fixing roller 2 113 Paper ejection roller 1 114 ejection roller 2 115 face down tray 116 face-up tray 116 'guide rib 117 Face-up tray open / close detection sensor 118 shade flag 119 Face-up tray paper presence sensor 120 Paper detection shading flag 121 Face-up tray open / close detection lamp 122 Face-up tray Paper presence lamp 123 Open / close lever 1 124 Open / close lever 2 124 'spindle 125 open / close lever slot 126 Electrical component 201 Image forming unit 202 Image reading unit 203 paper feed cassette 204 face down tray 205 face-up tray

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) B65H 43/08 G03G 21/00 386 3F054 G03G 21/00 386 B41J 29/00 T A F term (reference) 2C061 AP03 AP04 AQ06 AS02 BB10 CQ22 CQ34 2H027 DC11 DC12 DE01 DE07 DE09 EC06 ED19 EF09 GA03 GA54 GB01 GB05 ZA07 2H071 AA35 AA38 AA48 DA24 DA32 2H072 AA09 AA17 AA22 A0122 CA37 DA16

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A first ejecting means for ejecting a printed sheet with its printing surface facing downward, and a second ejecting means for ejecting a printed sheet with its printing surface facing upward, the two ejecting means comprising: In the image forming apparatus having a configuration in which one is selectively selected and one of the two discharging means has a discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus, which of the two discharging means is selected is selected. An image forming apparatus characterized in that display means for displaying is arranged on the front side of the apparatus. 2. A first discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing downward and a second discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing upward, the two discharging means comprising: An operation for selectively switching one of the two discharging means in an image forming apparatus having a configuration in which one of the two discharging means is selectively selected and one of the two discharging means has a discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that parts are arranged on the front side of the apparatus. 3. A first discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing downward and a second discharging means for discharging the printed paper with the printing surface facing upward, the two discharging means comprising: In an image forming apparatus having a configuration in which one is selectively selected and one of the two discharging units has a discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus, a discharging method having a discharging direction on the back side of the image forming apparatus. The means has a sheet stacking unit, has a detection unit for detecting the presence or absence of sheets in the stacking unit, and a display unit for displaying the presence or absence of sheets in the stacking unit, and the display unit is arranged on the front side of the apparatus. An image forming apparatus characterized by. 4. The display means for displaying which of the two discharging means is selected also serves as an operating section for selectively switching the two discharging means. Image forming apparatus.