Feeder, image-forming device, and remaining amount detecting method

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to methods and devices for detecting the amount of recordable medium remaining in a paper cassette or paper tray that stores a plurality of recordable media (e.g., printing paper, and OHP films). The present invention is suitable, for example, for detecting the amount of remaining sheets of paper in an image-forming device such as a printer, a photocopier, and a facsimile unit.

In recent years, equipment for office automation (or automated clerical works), such as a printer and a photocopier, has been widely used in order to make the office operations more efficient, and in many instances a local area network (LAN) environment is established in the office, where more than one personal computer (PC) shares one printer.

The printer typically includes a printing part, a sheet conveyor mechanism, and a sheet feeder. The printing part prints specified information on a sheet of paper that is timely conveyed from the sheet feeder by the sheet conveyor mechanism. The sheet conveyor mechanism includes a plurality of conveyor rollers such as a pick roller and a register roller, (and other conveyor means, e.g., a conveyor belt, etc.), and conveys a sheet of paper through the printing part, from the sheet feeder to an ejection part. The sheet feeder is comprised of a paper tray and/or a paper cassette that feeds a sheet of paper to the sheet conveyor mechanism. The sheet feeder may take on a manual feeding structure that requires a user to place sheets of paper manually on one-by-one basis, or an automatic feeding structure that enables multiple sheets of paper to be fed automatically on one-by-one basis to the sheet conveyor mechanism, and thus only requires a user to place the sheets on a single occasion.

For instance, the paper cassette is configured to be attachable to and detachable from a printer body, and to accommodate approximately 100-500 sheets of paper, so as to facilitate operations of adding and replacing sheets of paper. When sheets of paper are placed in the paper cassette, a paper placement part on which the sheets of paper are placed pivots about an axis provided at one end of the paper placement part, and thereby the topmost sheet is positioned so that the pick roller as part of the sheet conveyor mechanism may be brought into contact with an end of the sheet opposite the pivoted end so as to dispense the sheet.

The paper placement part may pivot in accordance with a remaining amount of sheets on the paper placement part and always be properly positioned so that the pick roller may dispense the topmost sheet. In order to enable a large amount of paper to be placed for use with a high-speed machine or other performance machines handling a large amount of paper, the paper tray that is configured to have the paper placement part movable vertically may be provided so as to bring the topmost sheet of paper into contact with the sheet conveyor mechanism.

The sheet feeder or printer body is generally equipped with an empty sensor that detects a loss of paper. The printer has a controller that receives information from the empty sensor, and indicates on an operation panel of the printer or a display of a PC (via an operation of a printer driver) that paper has run out. Consequently, a user may know that paper has run out during printing.

However, a user of an image-forming device using a conventional automatic sheet feeder mechanism could not easily and effectively determine whether his/her print command would be complete without suspension due to a loss of paper, when he/she provides the print command.

Since the empty sensor can detect a loss of paper, if paper has run out before printing is initiated, a user may fill paper and then execute a print command. However, if paper remains but the remaining amount is not so much as the number of sheets to be printed, a user does not receive a notification of a loss of paper until the last remaining sheet has been printed. Therefore, a user, for example, who wishes to print a large number of sheets over a lunch break may get aware of a loss of paper after the lunch break, and inefficiently has no other choice but to retry that printing which is suspended halfway from a page that could not be printed.

In order to solve the above problems, several methods for indicating the remaining amount of paper other than the empty sensor have been proposed. For example, one of the methods provides a transparent window in a cassette for visual inspection. However, this method requires a user to stand near a printer, and thus is disadvantageously inconvenient. Particularly, in a LAN environment, where a printer is shared among more than one user, the users usually cannot have the printer near their seats. Moreover, only the visual inspection of a batch of paper disadvantageously cannot provide the accurate number of the paper.

Accordingly, another method has been proposed for detecting the remaining amount of paper using a lever brought into contact with a top surface of paper, so that a transmission-type sensor detects a varied thickness of the butch of paper or an encoder detects an angular variation of the lever. Yet another method has been proposed using a reflection-type sensor or the like to directly detect the remaining amount of paper. These methods would increase complexity of the structure for detecting the remaining amount of paper due to requirement for provision of the lever, or the like, and thus the size and cost of the device would increase. In addition, variation in contact positions of the lever with paper would decrease the reliability of the detection of the remaining amount of paper. Further, these methods would rely only on an actual amount of paper remaining, and thus be unsuitable for use in a LAN environment in particular. To be more specific, supposing that print commands from more than one user who works in a LAN environment are pending in a queue, for example, when three users see a message displayed on their PCs that a current remaining amount of paper in the printer is 70 sheets, and each user gives a print command to print 30 sheets respectively to the printer, each user believes that his/her own print command would successfully be executed, but the last print command would fail to complete due to a loss of paper.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an exemplified general object of the present invention to provide a novel and useful feeder, image-forming device, and remaining amount detecting method in which the above conventional disadvantages are eliminated.

Another exemplified and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a feeder, image-forming device, and remaining amount detecting method that allows a user to easily and effectively determine whether his/her print command would be complete without suspension due to a loss of paper, when he/she provides the print command.

In order to achieve the above objects, a feeder as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention is a feeder that feeds a recordable medium to a processor part that performs a process, and comprises: a sheet placement part that can accommodate a plurality of the recordable media in a stack of layered sheets, and rotate and shift to a suitable position for feeding the recordable media to the processor part; and a shift amount indicator part that is configured to rotate in a direction of rotation of the sheet placement part as the sheet placement part rotates, so as to enable a shift amount of the sheet placement part corresponding to a remaining amount of the recordable media to be electrically transmitted to an external device. The feeder includes a shift amount indicator part that is configured to rotate in a direction of rotation of the sheet placement part as the sheet placement part rotates, and thus may directly detect the shift amount of the sheet placement part without the need for an additional means such as a lever. The shift amount indicator part electrically transmits the shift amount, and thus serves to have errors reduced compared with a visual inspection, and to ensure high reliability. Electrical transmission of the shift amount allows not only a user near the image-forming device body (e.g., a printer and a facsimile unit) but also users of PCs connected to the image-forming device to keep track of the remaining amount of the recordable media. In other words, the above external device may include the device body having a printing part, and apparatuses connected with the device.

An image-forming device according to the present invention comprises: a feeder including a sheet placement part that can accommodate a plurality of recordable media in a stack of layered sheets, and rotate and shift to a suitable position for feeding the recordable media, and a shift amount indicator part that is configured to rotate in a direction of rotation of the sheet placement part as the sheet placement part rotates, so as to indicate a shift amount of the sheet placement part; a printing part that performs printing onto the recordable media; a sheet conveyor mechanism that conveys the recordable media fed from the sheet placement part in the feeder through the printing part; a detector that detects the shift amount of the sheet placement part indicated by the shift amount indicator part; and a controller that calculates a remaining amount of the recordable media stored in the sheet placement part based upon the shift amount of the sheet placement part detected by the detector. This image-forming device may calculate a remaining amount of recordable media stored in the sheet placement part with a simple structure.

A remaining amount detecting method according to the present invention comprises the steps of: detecting a shift amount of a sheet placement part that is configured to accommodate a plurality of recordable media and to be shiftable according to the number of sheets of the recordable media; calculating a remaining amount of the recordable media stored in the sheet placement part from the shift amount; calculating an amount of the sheets which will remain after a print command is executed by subtracting from the remaining amount the number of sheets which has not been printed yet but is included in the print command; and indicating the amount of the sheets which will remain after a print command is executed in response to the print command. This remaining amount detecting method calculates not only an amount of recordable media which remains at present, but also that which will remain in future (i.e., after print commands are completely executed) in advance, and may thus allow each user to be notified at the time of providing his/her print command whether the print command will successfully be executed. This advantage will be preferred particularly if a plurality of print commands are pending in one printer in a LAN environment. Moreover, this remaining amount detecting method may be embedded in a printer driver and distributed in a CD-ROM or other computer-readable media.

Other objects and further features of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following description of the embodiments with reference to accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1

is a schematic sectional view of an image-forming device having a feeder as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2

is a schematic sectional view of the feeder shown in FIG.

1

.

FIG. 3

is an enlarged side view of a pressure plate shown in FIG.

2

.

FIG. 4

is a partially enlarged side view of a rear end of the pressure plate shown in FIG.

3

.

FIG. 5

is a waveform for illustrating an output signal of a sensor when the pressure plate shown in

FIG. 4

is used.

FIG. 6

is a partially enlarged side view of the rear end of the pressure plate shown in

FIG. 3

when a slit set is provided with slits arranged in two tiers.

FIG. 7

is a waveform for illustrating an output signal of a sensor when the pressure plate shown in

FIG. 6

is used.

FIG. 8

is a sectional view for explaining a lock lever in the feeder shown in FIG.

2

.

FIG. 9

is a sectional view of the image-forming device shown in FIG.

1

.

FIG. 10

is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the feeder near the lock lever shown in FIG.

8

.

FIG. 11

is a partially enlarged plan view of the image-forming device near the sensor shown in FIG.

9

.

FIG. 12

is a schematic sectional view of an empty sensor used for the image-forming device shown in FIG.

1

.

FIG. 13

is a sectional view of the image-forming device for explaining an operation of a cam.

FIG. 14

is an example of a display for a remaining amount of paper.

FIG. 15

is a block diagram of a LAN environment in which the image-forming device shown in

FIG. 1

is shared among a plurality of PCs.

FIG. 16

is a flowchart showing a control of the image-forming device shown in

FIG. 1

when a cassette is hot-plugged into the image-forming device.

FIG. 17

is a flowchart showing a control of the image-forming device shown in

FIG. 1

when the image-forming device is powered on.

FIG. 18

is a flowchart showing a control of the image-forming device shown in

FIG. 1

when the image-forming device receives a print command.

FIG. 19

is a schematic sectional view of a feeder as another exemplified embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20

is an enlarged schematic plan view of a slit set shown in

FIG. 19

for explaining an arrangement of slits.

FIG. 21

is a block diagram for explaining a control system of the image-forming device shown in FIG.

1

.

FIG. 22

is a schematic sectional view for explaining a relationship between a lock lever and guide part rib of the image-forming device shown in FIG.

1

.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference to the drawings, a description will be given of a feeder

200

and an image-forming device

100

having the feeder

200

according to the present invention. Although the image-forming device

100

as an embodiment of the present invention is described herein as a laser printer, the present invention is not limited thereto, and broadly applied to a facsimile unit, photocopier, or the like. In each figure, those elements designated by the same reference numerals denote the same elements, and a duplicate description thereof will be omitted. Hereupon,

FIG. 1

is a schematic sectional view of the image-forming device

100

having the feeder

200

as one exemplified embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2

is a schematic sectional view of the feeder

200

.

The image-forming device

100

includes a controller

10

, a printing part

20

, a sheet conveyor mechanism

60

, a feeder

200

, a remaining paper amount sensor

120

, and a cam

150

.

A pick roller

110

, which is also called a sheet feed roller or a pickup roller, forms part of the sheet conveyor mechanism

60

, and conveys a sheet of paper fed from the feeder

200

to a transfer unit

80

. The pick roller

110

is pivoted on a pick roller shaft

115

mounted in a main body of the device

100

, and placed immediately above a front edge of paper. The pick roller

110

is brought into contact with a topmost sheet of stacked paper and conveys the same to the transfer unit

80

utilizing a rotary action and a frictional force between a surface of the sheet and the pick roller

110

. The pick roller

110

is made of a material with a high coefficient of friction such as rubber or the like that facilitates separating the topmost sheet from the stack against a frictional force or electrostatic force between sheets of the stacked paper. It is essential only that the pick roller

110

be configured to convey a sheet of paper, and thus the pick roller

110

may be located either in the feeder

200

or the image-forming device

100

.

When a sheet of paper is conveyed, the pick roller

110

is driven to rotate clockwise in

FIGS. 1 and 2

together with the roller shaft

115

by a motor

65

that will be described later with reference to FIG.

21

. This direction of rotation is a normal direction of the pick roller

110

and the roller shaft

115

for conveying a sheet of paper. Additionally, the pick roller

110

and the roller shaft

115

may rotate counterclockwise in

FIGS. 1 and 2

(i.e., in a reverse direction), too. Such rotation in the reverse direction is used to shift a pressure plate

220

to a home position as will be described later.

The feeder

200

serves to store multiple sheets of paper and to feed the sheets of paper to the sheet conveyor mechanism

60

, and typically includes a cassette

210

as a housing, and a pressure plate

220

as a paper placement part movable in the cassette

210

.

The cassette

210

is configured to be attachable to and detachable from the image-forming device

100

along a frame

130

provided in a main body of the image-forming device

100

, and formed, for example, of plastics. The pressure plate

220

serves as a paper placement part, and accommodates 100 through 500 sheets of paper. The feeder

220

may include several cassettes for each applicable size of paper, or a single cassette ready for several types of paper different in size. Each of the cassettes may be formed as a unit, and stacked one on another under the main body, to dispense sheets of paper from each cassette. A sensor (not shown) can detect whether the cassette

210

is fitted into the frame

130

.

FIG. 3

is a schematic side view of the pressure plate

220

. The pressure plate

220

is made of a plate-shaped member, and located at a bottom of the cassette

210

that is a housing. The pressure plate

220

is formed, for example, of plastics. The pressure plate

220

comprises a paper placement part

221

on which sheets of paper are placed, a pair of paper guide parts

222

that forms sidewalls extending upwardly from the paper placement part

221

. The paper placement part

221

has a rectangular shape, and forms part of a bottom surface of the cassette

210

, so that sheets of paper are placed thereon. In this configuration, the paper placement part

221

is located between the sheets of paper and the bottom of the cassette

210

. The paper guide parts

222

erect at two opposite sides of the paper placement part

221

parallel to a sheet conveying direction. The paper guide parts

222

may be formed, for example, integrally with the paper placement part

221

by bending one plate-shaped member, or otherwise. Each paper guide part

222

includes a pivot stud

230

that is fitted into the cassette

210

at a rear end (right side of the paper guide parts in the figure), so that the pressure plate

220

may pivot thereon. When sheets of paper are placed in the cassette

210

, the sheets are preferably placed so that the top of the sheets toward the sheet conveying direction may be substantially aligned with a front end (left side of the pressure plate in the drawing) of the pressure plate

220

. The pressure plate

220

is configured to be shiftable (pivotable) on the pivot stud

230

from a position parallel to a bottom surface of the feeder

200

(hereinafter referred to as a home position) to the pick roller

110

. In the present embodiment, the pressure plate

220

may shift down to a position slightly below the home position. When the cassette

210

stores the maximum number of sheets of paper, the pressure plate

220

is preferably located at the home position. With the pressure plate

220

at the home position, the sensor

120

generates an ON signal. With the pressure plate

220

shifted from the home position to the pick roller side, the sensor

120

generates ON/OFF signals. The home position serves as a reference position for detecting a shift amount of the pressure plate

220

, but as far as the pressure plate

220

can serve to detect the shift amount, it does not matter whether the pressure plate

220

at the home position is parallel to the bottom surface of the feeder

200

.

FIG. 4

is a partially enlarged side view of the rear end of the pressure plate

220

. The pressure plate

220

includes a slit set

224

that indicates a shift amount of the pressure plate

220

on one of the paper guide parts

222

. The slit set

224

is formed directly on the paper guide part

222

concentric with the pivot stud

230

, and serves as an encoder. The paper guide part is thus used as an encoder, and therefore contributes to saved space and reduced cost in the device

200

because the pressure plate

220

may dispense with a separate member as an encoder. Alternatively, a circular plate-shaped member as a separate encoder may be attached concentric with the pivot stud

230

to the paper guide part

222

. Compared with a conventional remaining paper amount detecting method using a lever and an encoder, the instant embodiment only requiring an encoder attached to the paper guide part would contribute more to saved space and reduced cost in the device. In addition, the encoder is not limited to that which has a slit shape, but may be shaped like projections and depressions. The encoder thus shaped without limitation would resultantly place no limitations on types of the sensor used in cooperation with the encoder.

The slit set

224

rotates along with the pressure plate

220

. The slit set

224

enables the sensor

120

to optically detect an amount of change in angle of rotation (i.e., shift amount) of the pressure plate

220

corresponding to the remaining amount of paper and thereafter to electrically notify a detection result thereof to the controller

10

. The slit set

224

, as requiring no visual inspection of the remaining amount of paper for a user, increases the reliability of detection of the remaining amount of paper.

The slit set

224

, as shown in

FIG. 4

, includes three slits

224

a

through

224

c

arranged on a circle concentric with the pivot stud

230

(within a range that allows the sensor

120

to detect the slits). The slits

224

a

and

224

b

have the same width, but the slit

224

c

has a greater width than the slits

224

a

and

224

b.

The slit

224

a

is located on a straight line AB passing through the pivot stud

230

and perpendicular to the bottom of the pressure plate

220

. The slit

224

b

is so located as to form an angle of S

12

with the line AB. S

12

is an angle formed by the paper placement part

221

with the home position on the pivot stud

230

, for example, when 150 sheets of paper remain in a cassette accommodating 250 sheets. The slit

224

c

is so located as to form an angle of S

13

with the line AB. S

13

is an angle formed by the pressure plate

220

with the home position on the pivot stud

230

, for example, when 50 sheets of paper remain in the same cassette as above. In the present invention, the slit set

224

includes three slits to detect the remaining amount of paper on a one-to-five scale (though one-to-six scale if the remaining amount=0 is counted), but the number of slits is not limited to three. According to the present embodiment, the remaining amount of paper may be detected on a scale of one to (2n−1) where the number of slits is n.

The pressure plate

220

may include a slit set with slits arranged on a plurality of concentric circles. For instance, as shown in

FIG. 6

, the pressure plate

220

may be substituted by another pressure plate

420

including a slit set

424

with slits arranged in two tiers. The pressure plate

420

is different from the pressure plate

220

only in slit set structure. Hereupon,

FIG. 6

is a partially enlarged side view of the rear end of the pressure plate

420

as a variation of the pressure plate

220

.

The slit set

424

includes three outside slits

424

a

through

424

c

corresponding to

224

a

through

224

c,

and two inside slits

424

d

and

424

e.

The upper (outside) tier and lower (inside) tier of slits are located respectively in a position different in topology from each other. The slit set with multi-tier slits in which each tier is provided in a position different in topology as described above would graduate a detection scale for a remaining amount of paper into fine divisions (e.g., from 50 sheets to 25 sheets), and improve detection accuracy. Since the arrangement of slits as shown in

FIG. 6

can secure a wide interval of each slit, a detection error which the sensor

120

could make due to vibration of the pressure plate

220

if the slits were arranged at short intervals would be prevented, but the present invention places no limitation on structures of the pressure plate

220

to such as shown in

FIG. 4

, and may be applied to those having five slits as described above. A detailed description will be given later of improvement of detection accuracy with reference to

FIGS. 5 and 7

. In short, the above-described configuration would lead to the improvement of detection accuracy. Although the above pressure plate

220

includes the slit set

224

only on one of the paper guide parts

222

, the slit set may alternatively be provided on both of the paper guide parts

222

to improve detection accuracy. In such a configuration, no restriction is put on the numbers of slits or tiers in each slit set.

The sensor

120

is a detector that is provided on the frame

130

of the image-forming device

100

, and detects an angle of rotation of the pressure plate

220

in cooperation with the slit set

224

. The number of sensors

120

provided in the device is the same as that of tiers in the slit set(s). The sensor

120

according to the present embodiment is a light-transmission-type photointerrupter having a light-emitting part and a light-receiving part. This type of sensor is configured to have a shading object passing between the light-emitting part and the light-receiving part, and thus has the advantages in ensuring a large signal output, and in not requiring high accuracy in position of the shading object, and the like. However, the present invention places no limitation on types of the sensor

120

, and may be applied to a reflection-type photointerrupter.

A light beam emitted from the light-emitting part in the photointerrupter is input from the light-receiving part, and converted into a digital signal. A light-emitting diode (or LED) or the like is used for the light-emitting part, and a phototransistor, a photo IC, a photodiode, or the like is used for the light-receiving part. The present embodiment utilizes an optical sensor for the sensor

120

, but sensors applicable to the present invention is not limited to the optical sensor. Moreover, although the sensor

120

is located in such a position as to permit a detection of a shift variation amount of the pressure plate

220

in cooperation with the slit set

224

, the position is not limited to a place on the frame

130

.

As shown in

FIGS. 9 and 11

, the sensor

120

is located so that the paper guide part

222

having a width C in the pressure plate

220

passes through a gap with a width B between the light-emitting part and the light-receiving part, when the cassette

210

is inserted. The sensor

120

is located so that the light passes through the slit

224

a,

when the cassette

210

is inserted in the frame

130

and the pressure plate

220

is in the home position.

FIG. 9

is a sectional view of the image-forming device

100

, and

FIG. 11

is a partially enlarged plan view of the image-forming device near the sensor

120

shown in FIG.

9

.

In the present embodiment, the sensor

120

provides varied output signals as the slit set

224

passes the sensor

120

. To be specific, the sensor outputs a High signal when the light passes through a slit, while the sensor outputs a Low signal when the light passes through a portion between slits. In the present invention, the number of variations of the output signals is counted, and thereby a shift amount of the pressure plate

220

is detected. Such a counting operation is carried out by the controller

10

that receives information from the sensor

120

. Although an actual operation of the sensor

120

is just to electrically output a signal, the sensor

120

is assumed to be a detector that indirectly carries out the counting operation in a broad sense, and so described in the present application.

The image-forming device

100

includes an empty sensor

500

that detects a loss of paper. As shown in

FIG. 12

, when paper runs out, a filler

510

drops into a notch (not shown) in the paper placement part

211

.

FIG. 12

is a partially enlarged sectional view of the image-forming device

100

near the empty sensor

500

. A shielding plate

520

fixed on the filler

510

rotates about a fixing part

540

, and thus shields a photosensor (not shown). The shielding by the shielding plate

520

turns the photosensor OFF, so that a loss of paper is detected. For the sensor, a proximity switch, a photosensor, a microswitch, or the like may be used. An optical signal detected by the above-described sensor

120

and the photosensor is thereafter converted into an electric signal, and transmitted via a wiring or other communication medium to the controller

10

that will be described later.

A compression spring

240

is located between the bottom of the cassette

210

and the pressure plate

220

, and the pressure plate

220

is constantly pressed upward by an elastic force of the compression spring

240

. Consequently, sheets of paper, irrespective of the number thereof, on the pressure plate

220

are brought into contact with the pick roller

110

. The present embodiment employs the compression spring

240

, but any mechanism having the function of pressing the pressure plate

220

toward the pick roller

110

may be applied to the present invention.

Referring to

FIGS. 8 and 10

, the cassette

210

includes a lock lever

250

that fixes the pressure plate

220

in the home position.

FIG. 8

is a sectional view for explaining a structure of the lock lever

250

in the feeder

200

.

FIG. 10

is a partially enlarged view in the vicinity of the lock lever.

The lock lever

250

is located in the cassette

210

so as to be engageable with a front end portion of the pressure plate

220

via an engagement pawl

252

. If the pressure plate

220

is pressed down to the home position, the pressure plate

220

is locked with the engagement pawl

252

, and fixed in the home position. The lock lever

250

is configured to utilize a pressing means such as a spring so as not to disengage the engagement pawl

252

. When the cassette

210

is completely inserted into the frame

130

, the lock lever

250

pivots toward the front by a guide part rib

140

provided in the main body of the image-forming device

100

. Consequently, the engagement pawl

252

is disengaged, and the fixed pressure plate

220

is released.

FIG. 22

shows an arrangement of the lock lever

250

and the guide part rib

140

.

The image-forming device

100

includes a cam

150

serving to push the pressure plate

220

down to the home position. The cam

150

is fixed on a camshaft

155

provided in the image-forming device

100

, and located above a front edge side surface of the pressure plate

220

. On the camshaft

155

is fixed a gear

170

, and the gear

170

is engaged with a gear

160

fixed on the pick roller shaft

115

. The gear

170

transmits a rotary driving force of the pick roller shaft

115

to the camshaft

155

in cooperation with the gear

160

. The camshaft

155

is driven to rotate, and transmits a rotary force to the coaxial cam

150

. The pick roller shaft

115

is driven by a motor

65

in the sheet conveyor mechanism

60

that will be described later with reference to FIG.

21

. The cam

150

may move (rotate) between a position indicated by a dashed line and a position indicated by a solid line, as shown in FIG.

13

.

FIG. 13

is a sectional view for explaining an operation of the cam

150

.

The cam

150

shifts the pressure plate

220

to the home position as indicated by the solid line in

FIG. 13

, and fixes the same slightly below the home position. Thereafter, as the pick roller shaft

115

rotates in a normal direction, the cam

150

goes away to a position indicated by the dotted line in

FIG. 13

, releases the pressure plate

220

fixed in the home position, and allows a topmost sheet of paper stacked on the pressure plate

220

to be brought into contact with the pick roller

110

. A provision of the above cam would facilitate an operation of pushing down the pressure plate. Advantageous effects of the cam will further become apparent in a description that will be given of an operation thereof.

Referring now to

FIG. 1

again, a description will be given of a printing part in the image-forming device

100

. The printing part

20

of the image-forming device

100

includes a photosensitive drum

30

, a charger (not shown), an exposure part (not shown), a development device (not shown), a cleaner (not shown), a transfer unit

80

, and a fixing unit

90

.

The photosensitive drum

30

includes a photosensitive dielectric layer on a rotatable drum-shaped conductor support, and is uniformly charged by the charger. The photosensitive drum

30

, for example, is an OPC made by applying a function separation-type organic photoreceptor on a drum made of aluminum, and rotates at a predetermined circumferential velocity in a predetermined direction.

The (pre-)charger is, for example, comprised of a brush roller charger to which superimposed DC and AC voltages are applied, and gives a constant amount of electric charges (e.g., about −780 V) on a surface of the photosensitive drum

30

. The exposure part includes, for instance, a semiconductor laser as a light source, and exposes the surface of the photosensitive drum

30

to light using a laser beam that is irradiated selectively on an area corresponding to an original document. The charge on the surface of the photosensitive drum

30

that has been exposed to light is neutralized (e.g., to about −60V), and a latent image corresponding to imaging data of an image to be recorded.

The development device typically includes a reset roller, a development roller, a (doctor) blade, a toner tank, and a development bias power supply. The development device supplies fine particles of toner supplied from the toner tank to the photosensitive drum

30

, and visualizes the latent image formed by the exposure part. The cleaner collects or disposes of toner remaining on the photosensitive drum

30

after the transfer process, or as necessary returns the collected toner to the toner tank. The toner may include one or two components (i.e., it may be a mixture of toner and a carrier) without distinction as to whether it is magnetic or nonmagnetic. In addition, the development roller and the photosensitive drum may, but not necessarily, be brought into contact with each other. The cleaner also serves to remove debris other than toner such as paper, which may be charged and have a detrimental effect on a toner charge, so as to prevent a printing capability from deteriorating. The cleaner may utilize varied kinds of means including magnetic force and rubber friction to remove the toner and charges on the photosensitive drum

30

.

The transfer unit

80

generates an electric field to electrostatically adsorb toner, and transfers a toner image adsorbed on the photosensitive drum

30

onto a sheet of paper using a transfer current. The fixing unit

90

fixes the toner image on the sheet of paper that has passed through the transfer unit

80

by applying pressure and heat.

Referring now to

FIG. 21

, a description will be given of a control system of the inventive image-forming device

100

.

FIG. 21

is a block diagram for explaining the control system of the image-forming device

100

. The image-forming device

100

includes a controller

10

, and the controller

10

is connected with a ROM

11

, a RAM

12

, a printing part

20

, a sheet conveyor mechanism

60

, an operation panel

70

, a sensor

120

, an empty sensor

500

, and a PC

610

(however, the PC

610

comprehensively indicates PCs

600

through

616

shown in FIG.

15

), and exerts control over, and/or communicates with these components. The ROM

11

stores a basic program (firmware or the like) necessary for the image-forming device

100

to be operated. The RAM

12

temporarily stores part of data in the ROM

11

or others, or in view of the present invention, data for remaining amount of paper. The controller

10

controls each component of the printing part

20

, and controls a printing operation. The controller

10

performs an initial operation for detecting remaining amount of paper as will be described later, when the image-forming device

10

is powered on and derives power from the power supply

50

. There are various kinds of motors including the motor

65

in the sheet conveyor mechanism

60

, and the controller

10

controls driving of these motors. The controller

10

receives information from the sensor

120

and the empty sensor

500

. Additionally, the controller

10

displays a status of the image-forming device

100

in the operation panel

70

.

A description will be given of the operation of the inventive image-forming device

100

. The image-forming device

100

may be connected alone with a single PC, or shared among a plurality of PCs in a LAN environment. A description will be given of the operation of the image-forming device

100

in a LAN environment.

FIG. 15

is a block diagram where the image-forming device

100

is shared among a plurality of PCs in a LAN environment. Although the LAN may be a peer-to-peer network or a client-server network, the LAN is established herein as a client-server network. Accordingly, each client PC

610

through

616

is connected with a server PC

600

via a LAN cable

630

. The image-forming device

100

is exemplarily connected with the client PC

612

, and shared among the PC

612

and other PCs.

The controller

10

of the image-forming device

100

may characteristically displays a remaining amount of paper on a display of the PCs

600

through

616

that transmit a print command, and thus each user of the PCs need not make a visual inspection or go to the image-forming device

620

for checking the remaining amount of paper.

Referring now to

FIG. 16

, a description will be given of an operation of the controller

10

detecting a remaining amount of paper, where the cassette

210

is inserted into the frame

130

while power is provided from the power supply

50

.

FIG. 16

is a flowchart showing a control of the image-forming device shown in

FIG. 1

when the cassette is hot-plugged into the image-forming device.

The controller

10

can determine whether the cassette

210

is fitted into the frame

130

, utilizing a sensor (not shown). If the controller

10

determines that the cassette

210

is fitted (step

1200

), then the controller

10

determines whether an ON signal is received (step

1210

).

When the cassette

210

is hot-plugged while power is provided from the power supply

50

, a user first sets a batch of paper in the cassette

210

, and then inserts the cassette

210

into the frame

130

. At this moment, as shown in

FIG. 11

, the paper guide part

222

of the pressure plate

220

passes through a gap with a width B. The pressure plate

210

is initially located in the home position by the lock lever

250

, but when the cassette

210

is completely inserted, the lock lever

250

and the rib

140

are engaged with each other, and the lock lever

250

is released from the pressure plate

220

, so that the pressure plate

220

fixed in the home position is released. Consequently, the pressure plate

220

pivots upward from the home position to a position where the topmost sheet of paper is brought into contact with the pick roller

110

. At that time, the slit set

224

passes through the sensor

120

in synchronization with the rising pressure plate

220

. The sensor

120

may detects the pressure plate

220

in the home position (before shifting) and after shifting. As described above, the slits are arranged on the pressure plate

220

so that the sensor

120

generates an ON signal even if the maximum number of paper is set in the cassette

210

. If an ON signal is received in step

1210

, the controller

10

follows a process in step

1250

.

If an ON signal is not received in step

1210

, the controller

10

determines whether this is a second time following the step

1230

(step

1220

), and if it is not the second time, displays a no document/sensor abnormal message (step

1230

), or if it is the second time, displays a sensor problem message (step

1240

).

If an ON signal is received in step

1210

, the controller

10

calculates the ON signal and OFF signal (step

1250

), and works out a remaining amount of paper utilizing Table 1 or Table 2 that will be described later (step

1260

).

A more detailed description will be given of the step

1260

, with reference to Table 1 and FIG.

5

. Table 1 shows a relationship between the numbers of ON signals and OFF signals, and the number of sheets of remaining paper set in the cassette

210

.

FIG. 5

is a waveform for illustrating an output signal of the sensor

120

when the pressure plate

220

is used. As shown in

FIG. 5

, the output signal of the sensor

120

becomes high where the light beam passes through the slit set

224

, and low where the light beam is interrupted, and transmits the outputs to the controller

10

respectively as an ON signal and an OFF signal. When the pressure plate

220

is used, the controller

10

can recognize the remaining amount of paper in every 50 sheets.

If the empty sensor

500

is not activated, as nevertheless shown in Table 1, the controller

10

may recognize a loss of paper without performing the operation as shown in FIG.

16

. If the empty sensor

500

is not activated, the controller

10

displays a message to instruct to add paper on the operation panel

70

, and also transmits the same message to each PC that has issued a print command. Unless the empty sensor

500

is activated, the controller

10

does not execute any print command.

TABLE 1

REMAINING

OUTPUT SIGNAL OF SENSOR 120

AMOUNT OF

NUMBER OF OFF

NUMBER OF ON

PAPER (NUMBER

SIGNALS

SIGNALS

OF SHEETS)

1

1

250

2

1

200

2

2

150

3

2

100

3

3

50

IF EMPTY SENSOR 500 IS NOT ACTIVATED

0

A description will be given of a method of detecting remaining amount of paper using the controller

10

when a pressure plate

420

is used instead of the pressure plate

220

, with reference to Table 2 and FIG.

7

. Table 2 shows a relationship between the numbers of ON signals and OFF signals generated by the sensors

122

and

124

provided instead of the sensor

120

, and the number of sheets of remaining paper set in the cassette

210

.

FIG. 7

is a waveform for illustrating an output signal of the sensors

122

and

124

when the pressure plate

420

is used. When the pressure plate

420

is used, the controller

10

can recognize the remaining amount of paper in every 25 sheets, and thus exhibit an improved detection accuracy of the remaining amount of paper, as may be apparent from Table 2 and

FIG. 7

, compared with the embodiment as shown in Table 1 and FIG.

5

.

TABLE 2

REMAINING

OUTPUT SIGNAL OF

OUTPUT SIGNAL OF

AMOUNT OF

SENSOR 122

SENSOR 124

PAPER

OFF

ON

OFF

ON

(NUMBER OF

SIGNALS

SIGNALS

SIGNALS

SIGNALS

SHEETS)

1

1

0

0

250

1

1

1

0

225

2

1

1

0

200

2

1

1

1

175

2

2

1

1

150

2

2

2

1

125

3

2

2

1

100

3

2

2

2

75

3

3

2

2

50

3

3

3

2

25

IF EMPTY SENSOR 500 IS NOT ACTIVATED

0

Thereafter, the remaining amount of paper that has been worked out is stored in the RAM

12

. It is the number of remaining sheets of paper actually set in the cassette

210

that is stored in the RAM

12

. If necessary, the remaining amount of paper stored in the RAM may be displayed on PCs that has not issued a print command, and on the operation panel

70

(step

1280

), but it is optional whether the step

1280

is provided or not. If the step

1280

follows, a user who is sending a print command may be notified of the remaining amount of paper on his/her PC screen. Consequently, if the user determines that paper should be added, he/she adds paper in the cassette

210

. When the cassette is set, the controller

10

repeats the above operations.

When the remaining amount of paper is to be displayed on the PC

610

that has issued a print command, the controller

10

transmits data required for a printer driver for the image-forming device

100

stored in a hard disk drive or the like (not shown) in the PC

610

. Consequently, the printer driver is enabled to indicate the remaining amount of paper in a printer property screen as shown in FIG.

14

. The printer driver may be distributed and updated via a computer-readable medium, and the Internet or other commercial communications network (e.g., America Online). Since the printer driver may be distributed and updated utilizing techniques known in the art, a detailed description will be omitted herein. When the remaining amount of paper is to be displayed on the PCs that have not issued a print command, pertinent information may be indicated, for example, on the task bar in each PC. According to this configuration, users may easily check the remaining amount of paper, regardless of whether the users are to execute printing.

According to the above procedural steps, as far as the image-forming device

100

has been powered from the power supply

50

, the number of sheets of paper in the cassette

210

may be detected when the cassette

210

is inserted. In contrast, while the image-forming device

100

is not powered from the power supply

50

, the sensor

120

and the controller

10

are disabled. All the while, if the user fills paper in the cassette

210

and fits the cassette

210

into the frame

130

, the lock lever

250

is released by the rib

140

and the pressure plate

220

is brought into contact with the pick roller

110

, but the changed shift amount of the pressure plate

220

is not detected because the controller

10

and the sensor

210

are disabled. Even if the power supply

50

were thereafter turned on, the sensor could not detect the change in a tilt amount of the pressure plate

220

relative to the home position. In addition, the RAM

12

erases the remaining amount of sheets stored therein when turned off.

In order to detect the addition of paper made while the power supply

50

is off, it is conceivable that only a necessary circuit for detecting the remaining amount of paper is energized constantly, while the main body of the image-forming device

100

is not powered from the power supply

50

. This type of power is often called a standby power. However, in view of the fact that it is not practically sufficient only to detect the remaining amount of paper but also to store and display the remaining amount for users, the circuits to be energized would be spread to the controller

10

, ROM

11

, RAM

12

, operation panel

70

, and sensor

120

.

Therefore, the image-forming device

100

of the present invention is configured to detect the remaining amount of paper only when the power supply

50

is on in terms of a saving in the standby power. The inventive image-forming device

100

deals with the change in the remaining amount of paper while the power is off.

Referring now to

FIG. 17

, a description will be given of an operation of the controller

10

that detects the remaining amount of paper when the power is turned on.

FIG. 17

is a flowchart showing a control of the image-forming device

100

when the image-forming device

100

is powered on.

When the power supply

50

for the image-forming device

100

is turned on (step

1000

), the image-forming device

100

starts detecting the remaining amount of paper in the cassette

210

as an initial operation. The controller

10

controls the motor

65

, and drives the pick roller shaft

115

to rotate in a reverse direction (step

1010

). Consequently, the gear

160

on the pick roller

115

rotates, too. Accordingly, the gear

170

meshed with the gear

160

rotates clockwise, and the gear

170

rotates the cam

150

along with the camshaft

155

. The cam

150

, as rotating, presses the pressure plate

220

downwardly. The cam

150

presses the pressure plate

220

, as indicated by a solid line in

FIG. 13

, down to the vicinity of the home position (more specifically, to a position a little below the home position). The controller

10

determines based upon information from a sensor (not shown) that detects a rotation angle of the cam

150

or a position of the pressure plate

220

whether the pressure plate

220

is shifted to the home position (step

1020

).

From the fact that the sensor

120

detects an OFF signal, the controller

10

determines that the pressure plate

220

is positioned a little below the home position (step

1030

), and controls the motor

60

upon receipt of the OFF signal to rotate the pick roller shaft

115

in a normal direction (step

1040

). Accordingly, the pressure plate

220

rises, and the slit set

224

thus passes through the sensor

120

. As described above, the sensor

120

generates an ON signal in the home position, and even if a maximum number of paper is set in the cassette

210

, the pressure plate

220

shifts from a position a little below the home position to the home position until the topmost sheet is brought into contact with the pick roller

110

; thus the sensor

120

generates at least one ON signal all that while.

The controller

10

is informed of a rotation angle of the cam

150

, and thereby determines whether the cam

150

returns an initial position (step

1042

), and rotates the pick roller shaft

115

in a normal direction until the controller

10

determines that the cam

150

has returned to the initial position (step

1040

).

When the controller

10

determines that the cam has returned to the initial position (step

1042

), the controller

10

determines whether an ON signal has been received from the sensor

120

(step

1050

). If the controller

10

receives no ON signal, but only an OFF signal, then the controller

10

displays a loss of paper/sensor problem message, and prompts a user to check paper in the cassette

210

. If the user draws out the cassette

210

while the power supply

50

is on to fill paper into the cassette

210

, the process goes to the above step

1200

. If the user turns off the power supply

50

of the image-forming device

100

and draws out the cassette

210

, and turns on the power supply

50

again, the process starts again from the step

1000

. If the controller

10

receives an ON signal, the process subsequently goes to the step

1250

.

The image-forming device

100

of the present invention is configured to detect a remaining amount of paper at any time except when the cassette

210

is not inserted, or when printing is being executed. As shown in

FIG. 14

, a user clicks a button that reads ‘detect remaining paper amount’ with a mouse, or presses a key to which the same command is assigned on a keyboard, and thereby transmits to the controller

10

the command to detect the remaining paper amount. When the controller

10

receives the command to detect the remaining amount of paper from the PC

600

or the operation panel

70

, the step

1010

and subsequent steps in the above-described detecting process when the power is turned on are executed. Since the steps

1010

and subsequent steps are the same as those executed when the power is turned on, a detailed description will be omitted herein. Moreover, such a configuration as to detect a remaining amount of paper, even while printing is being executed, by suspending the printing may be applied. By applying the above configuration, not only a user who has issued a print command but also users who have not issued any print command may check the remaining amount of paper.

Referring next to

FIG. 18

, a description will be given of process when a user of the PC

610

issues a print command.

FIG. 18

is a flowchart showing a control by the controller

10

when the image-forming device

100

receives a print command. When a print command is received from the PC

610

through the LAN cable

630

, a hub (not shown), the PC

612

, and a printer cable (not shown), and other USB cables (step

1300

), the controller

10

reads out the remaining amount of paper stored in the RAM

12

(step

1310

), calculates a formula of STORED REMAINING AMOUNT OF PAPER—NUMBER OF SHEETS TO BE PRINTED, and calculates an amount of paper which will remain after the print command has been executed (step

1320

). Next, a determination is made as to whether the amount of paper which will remain after the print command has been executed is positive or negative (step

1330

). If the amount of paper which will remain after the print command has been executed is positive, the controller

10

displays the amount of paper on the operation panel

70

and the display of the PC

610

(step

1340

), and updates a remaining amount of paper stored in the RAM

12

to the amount of paper which will remain after the print command has been executed (step

1350

). On the other hand, if the amount of paper which will remain after the print command has been executed is negative, the controller

10

displays a message that paper is running out as shown in

FIG. 14

(step

1360

). In response thereto, the user may add paper in the cassette

210

before printing starts. When paper is filled in the cassette

210

, and the cassette

210

is fitted into the frame

130

, the process as shown in

FIG. 16

is repeated. Then, unless the user cancels the print command, the controller

10

voluntarily sends remaining print commands to execute the process shown in FIG.

18

. In operation as shown in

FIG. 18

, the ‘stored remaining amount of paper’ is the remaining amount of paper after the cassette

210

is inserted which is detected and stored (step

1270

) as shown in FIG.

16

. In addition, the ‘number of paper to be printed’ in step

1320

is the number of paper which a user has issued a command to print.

When the user continues to execute a print command, regardless of a loss of paper message which has been displayed (step

1360

), the controller

10

executes the print command as far as paper remains. When the paper runs out, the above-described empty sensor

500

is turned off, and no further printing is conducted. In addition, a message to fill paper is displayed at the same time. In response thereto, the user adds paper into the cassette

210

. When the paper is added into the cassette

210

, and the cassette

210

is fitted into the frame

130

, the process as shown in

FIG. 16

is repeated. Thereafter, the controller

10

voluntarily issues a print command for the remaining amount of paper to print on newly added sheets of paper, and the process as shown in

FIG. 18

is carried out. In operation as shown in

FIG. 18

, the ‘stored remaining amount of paper’ is the remaining amount of paper which is detected and stored (step

1270

) as shown in FIG.

16

. In addition, the ‘number of paper to be printed’ in step

1320

is the number of paper which is to be printed but has not yet been printed.

According to the control flowchart, the RAM

12

stores not only the current number of remaining amount of paper, but also the number of remaining amount of paper in the future (i.e., after print command has been complete). This feature is preferable especially in a LAN environment. For instance, when the current number of remaining amount of paper is one hundred, and a user of the PC

610

transmits a print command for sixty sheets after a user of the PC

614

transmits a print command for fifty sheets, the remaining amount of paper stored in the RAM

12

in step

1320

is not one hundred, but is updated to forty due to step

1350

carried out for the PC

614

. Consequently, the step

1320

carried out for the PC

610

outputs a negative value, and the user of the PC

610

receives a message that paper is running out in step

1360

. The user of the PC

610

may receive such information on the display of the PC

610

that he/she operates.

The RAM

12

may store two values of the remaining amounts of paper: i.e., the number of paper that remains at present, and the number of paper that will remain in the future. This configuration would enable two values of remaining amounts of paper to be displayed, allowing a user to be notified of the status of the remaining amounts of paper more specifically.

If the cassette

210

stores an amount of paper enough to have print commands executed completely, the controller

10

executes a printing operation by controlling the sheet conveyor mechanism

60

and the printing part

20

. In the printing operation, first of all, the charger uniformly and negatively electrifies the photosensitive drum

30

(at about −780V). Next, a laser beam is emitted from the exposure part onto the photosensitive drum

30

, and uniform charge on the photosensitive drum

30

is eliminated in areas corresponding to an image due to exposure to light by the laser beam, and thereby a latent image is formed. Thereafter, the latent image is developed using the development device.

In the development device, the development roller in contact with the photosensitive drum

30

rotates in the same direction as the photosensitive drum

30

, and toner supplied from the reset roller forms a toner layer on the development roller while a toner layer thickness is regulated by a blade. A development bias power supply applies a voltage of −450V to the reset roller, −350V to the development roller in the development device. To the blade is applied a voltage of −350V. Thanks to stable toner charge, a stable toner layer is formed on the development roller irrespective of the number of sheets to be printed. Thereafter, the toner layer formed on the development roller is deposited onto the electrostatic latent image area on the photosensitive drum

30

by the development bias voltage and developed. Toner that has not contributed to the development is flaked off by the reset roller that rotates in an opposite direction below the development roller, and returned through a lower side of the reset roller to the toner tank.

The toner image on the photosensitive drum

30

obtained by the development device is transferred on a sheet of printing paper that has been timely conveyed from the above-described feeder

200

. The residual toner on the photosensitive drum

30

is collected by a cleaner. The printing paper on which the image has been transferred passes through the fixing roller in the fixing unit

90

, where the image is fixed on the paper, and is ejected out.

The above image-forming device

100

as a laser printer is only an exemplified embodiment that uses the inventive feeder

200

. The inventive feeder

200

is applicable to all devices requiring a sheet feeder mechanism. An image-forming device such as an impact printer, an inkjet printer, or the like, and a printing device such as a photocopier or the like are examples of the applicable devices.

A description will now be given of another embodiment of the feeder

200

a

according to the present invention, with reference to FIG.

19

.

FIG. 19

is a schematic sectional view of the feeder

200

a

as another exemplified embodiment of the present invention. The feeder

200

a,

like the feeder

200

, may be used for a feeder in an image-forming device. The feeder

200

a

is comprised of a tray

310

, and a slit set

340

formed at a side of the tray

310

. The tray

310

is a housing on which sheets of paper are placed, and can accommodate a large amount of paper. The tray

310

may vertically move by a tray hoisting and lowering device

320

. While the feeder

200

employs the pressure plate

220

as a paper placement part coupled so as to shift in the cassette

210

for introducing a sheet of paper into the sheet conveyor mechanism, the tray

310

itself moves and thereby performs an operation to introduce a sheet of paper into the sheet conveyor mechanism. Therefore, the tray

310

serves as the paper placement part for introducing a sheet of paper into the sheet conveyor mechanism. When sheets of paper are to be placed, the tray

310

is shifted to the lowest position (hereinafter referred to as a home position). When sheets of paper have been placed, the tray

310

is shifted until the top of the sheets is brought into contact with the pick roller

300

.

The tray hoisting and lowering device

320

typically includes a driving means

322

, a transmission roller

324

,

326

, and a transmission belt

328

. The tray hoisting and lowering device

320

vertically shifts the tray

310

, so that the tray

310

may reciprocate between the home position and the top position. The tray hoisting and lowering device

320

also serves to stop the tray

310

when the top of the sheets is brought into contact with the pick roller

300

.

The driving means

322

transmits a driving force directly or indirectly, and is comprised of a motor that rotates a shaft

325

(not shown), and the like. The transmission roller

324

is engaged with the shaft

325

, and rotates by rotation of the shaft

325

. The transmission roller

326

is engageable with a shaft

327

(not shown) to rotate on the shaft

327

. As shown in the figure, the transmission belt

328

is looped over the transmission rollers

324

and

326

. As the transmission roller

324

rotates, the transmission belt

328

rotates around the rollers and transmits the rotation between the shafts by friction forces with the transmission rollers

324

and

326

. In order to transmit a rotary force efficiently, the friction forces between the transmission rollers

324

/

326

and the transmission belt

328

are preferably made larger. Materials for the transmission belt

328

need be determined with consideration given to a load of paper on the tray

310

. Typically among usable materials are leather, rubber, a steel plate, or the like. The transmission rollers

324

and

326

provided with grooves, and the transmission belt

328

V-shaped or made as a timing belt could transmit a rotary force more efficiently.

Referring again to

FIG. 19

, the tray

310

and the transmission belt

328

are coupled with a joint part

312

. The rotation of the transmission belt

328

enables the tray

310

to move vertically. However, as far as the tray

310

is allowed to move vertically, a method of driving the tray

310

is not limited to the above.

The sensor

330

is located on the tray

310

, and detects a vertical shift amount of the tray

310

in cooperation with the slit set

340

. Since the sensor

330

has substantially the same structure as the sensor

120

in the feeder

200

, a detailed description will be omitted herein.

The slit set that is a shift amount indicator part includes slits

342

, which are located within a range that the sensor

330

can detect. An arrangement of the slits

342

of the slit

340

is shown as a magnified view in FIG.

20

. The sensor

330

may detect the slits

342

that move with the tray

310

, as shown in

FIG. 20. A

distance E is equal to a width of a thickness of a batch of sheets the number of which corresponds to a unit interval of the detection of a remaining amount of paper. If the remaining amount of paper is to be detected every fifty sheets, the distance E corresponds to a shift amount of the tray

310

when fifty sheets are printed. Since the slit set

340

exerts the same effects as the slit set

224

, a detailed description will be omitted herein. The number of slits is determined according to the number of sheets the tray

310

can accommodate. As the sensor

330

and the slit set

340

have been described only for purposes of illustration, the shape, arrangement, and detecting method thereof are not limited to such as described above, and may be configured differently as far as an amount of the vertical movement of the tray

310

can be detected.

A description will now be given of a method of detecting a remaining amount of paper using the feeder

200

a

of the present invention. The feeder

200

a

performs the detection of a remaining amount of paper every time when sheets of paper are newly placed and when an image-forming device or the like provided with the feeder

200

a

is powered on.

When the image-forming device is powered on, the feeder

200

a

pushes the tray

310

down to the home position. In that event, the sensor

330

detects a position above the topmost slit, and generates an OFF signal. When the tray

310

reaches the home position, the tray

310

start rising again. Simultaneously with the rising operation, the sensor

330

starts detecting. The tray

310

rises until the topmost sheet on the tray

310

is brought into contact with the pick roller

300

. The sensor

330

continues detecting all that while, and stops detecting when the tray

310

stops. Since this detecting method is the same as that of the feeder

200

, a detailed description will be omitted.

When sheets of paper are placed on the tray

310

, the tray

310

is moved to the home position. Referring to

FIG. 20

, at that time, the sensor

330

is positioned above the topmost slit, and generates an OFF signal. Thereafter, the tray

310

is moved upward to bring the sheets into contact with the pick roller

300

. At that time, the sensor

330

starts detecting. The tray

310

rises until the topmost sheet is brought into contact with the pick roller

300

. The sensor

330

continues detecting all that while, and stops detecting when the tray

310

stops. The foregoing process is the same as that of the feeder

200

. Therefore, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications and changes may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

As described above, according to the image-forming device of the present invention, the shift amount indicator part electrically provides information, and thus a remaining amount of paper may efficiently and reliably be informed. According to the image-forming device of the present invention, a remaining amount of paper stored in the paper placement part may be relatively cost-effectively calculated with a simple structure. The remaining amount detecting method of the present invention defines a remaining amount of paper at the time when the device receives a print command, and may thus recognize the amount of paper that will remain after the print command is completely executed, to prepare for a loss of paper. Such a configuration is convenient especially when a plurality of print commands would be concurrently transmitted in a network environment such as a LAN.

Feeder, image-forming device, and remaining amount detecting method

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Date Filed

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Agents

CPC

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US

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Abstract

Description

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Priority Claims (1)

Foreign Referenced Citations (1)