Patent Application
20250026595
This patent application is based on and claims priority pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 119 (a) to Japanese Patent Application No. 2023-119416, filed on Jul. 21, 2023, in the Japan Patent Office, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a sheet conveying device, an automatic document feeder, and an image forming apparatus.
Various sheet conveying devices are known that include a conveyor to convey a sheet, a sound collector to collect an operating sound generated when the sheet is conveyed, a detector to detect whether the sheet during conveyance has a factor of an abnormal conveyance based on the sound collected by the sound collector.
A sheet conveying device in the related art detects whether the sheet currently being conveyed has a stapled portion on which a stapling process has been performed as a factor of an abnormal conveyance, based on the sound collected by the sound collector. If the sheet has a stapled portion, the sheet conveying device stops the conveyance of the sheet, and displays information on an information display indicating that the stapling process is performed on the sheet.
Embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide a novel sheet conveying device including a conveyor, a sound collector, an operation unit, and circuitry. The conveyor conveys a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction. The sound collector collects sound produced by conveying the sheet by the conveyor. The operation unit outputs information of a conveyance of the sheet. The circuitry is to cause the sound collector to collect the sound, detect a factor of an abnormal conveyance produced by conveying the sheet based on the sound collected by the sound collector, locate a position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet in response to a detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet, and output, to the operation unit, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
Further, embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide an image forming apparatus including the above-described sheet conveying device, and an image forming device to form an image on the sheet based on an image on an original document by the sheet conveying device.
Further, embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide an automatic document feeder including the above-described sheet conveying device to automatically convey an original document as the sheet to an image reader.
Further, embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide an image forming apparatus including the above-described automatic document feeder, and an image forming device to form an image on a sheet based on an image on an original document conveyed by the automatic document feeder.
Further, embodiments of the present disclosure described herein provide a sheet conveying method executable by a sheet conveying device. The sheet conveying method includes conveying a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction by a conveyor, collecting sound produced by conveying the sheet by the conveyor, detecting a factor of an abnormal conveyance produced by conveying the sheet based on the sound collected by a sound collector, locating a position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet in response to a detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet, and outputting, to an operation unit, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
Exemplary embodiments of this disclosure will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
The accompanying drawings are intended to depict embodiments of the present disclosure and should not be interpreted to limit the scope thereof. The accompanying drawings are not to be considered as drawn to scale unless explicitly noted.
It will be understood that if an element or layer is referred to as being “on,” “against,” “connected to” or “coupled to” another element or layer, then it can be directly on, against, connected or coupled to the other element or layer, or intervening elements or layers may be present. In contrast, if an element is referred to as being “directly on,” “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element or layer, then there are no intervening elements or layers present. As used herein, the term “connected/coupled” includes both direct connections and connections in which there are one or more intermediate connecting elements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
Spatially relative terms, such as “beneath,” “below,” “lower,” “above,” “upper” and the like may be used herein for ease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship to another element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It will be understood that the spatially relative terms are intended to encompass different orientations of the device in use or operation in addition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if the device in the figures is turned over, elements describes as “below” or “beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “above” the other elements or features. Thus, term such as “below” can encompass both an orientation of above and below. The device may be otherwise oriented (rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the spatially relative descriptors herein interpreted accordingly.
The terminology used herein is for describing particular embodiments and examples and is not intended to be limiting of exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes” and/or “including,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof are simplified or omitted as appropriate.
Descriptions below are given of a sheet conveying device, an automatic document feeder, and an image forming apparatus, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that those skilled in the art can easily modify and change the present disclosure within the scope of the appended claims to form other embodiments, and these modifications and changes are included in the scope of the appended claims. The following description is an example of the best mode of the present disclosure, and does not limit the scope of the claims.
Descriptions are given of an electrophotographic image forming apparatus for forming images by electrophotography. In the present disclosure, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus is referred to as an electrophotographic copier (or simply, a copier).
A description is now given of the basic configuration of a copier as an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment.
The copier 500 includes an image forming device 1, a blank sheet feeding device 40, and a document reading device 50. The document reading device 50 includes a scanner 150 fixedly mounted on the image forming device 1 and an automatic document feeder (ADF) 51 serving as a sheet conveying device and a document feeder supported by the scanner 150.
The blank sheet feeding device 40 includes a sheet bank 41, sheet feed rollers 43, and sheet separation roller pairs 45. The sheet bank 41 includes multiple sheet trays 42 (three sheet trays 42 in the present embodiment) disposed in a multistage manner. Each of the sheet feed rollers 43 picks up a transfer sheet from the corresponding sheet trays 42. Each of the sheet separation roller pairs 45 separates the transfer sheet from the corresponding sheet tray 42 and feeds the transfer sheet to a sheet conveyance passage 44. The blank sheet feeding device 40 further includes multiple sheet conveyance rollers 46. Each of the multiple sheet conveyance rollers 46 conveys the transfer sheet toward a sheet conveyance passage 37 of the image forming device 1. Thus, the blank sheet feeding device 40 feeds the transfer sheet stacked on the corresponding sheet tray 42 to the sheet conveyance passage 37 in the image forming device 1.
As illustrated in
The process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C also include respective image forming units disposed around each of the photoconductors 4K, 4Y, 4M, and 4C as a single unit supported by a common support member, respectively. The process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C are detachably attached to the image forming device 1 of the copier 500. The process unit 3 (i.e., the process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C) includes the photoconductor 4 (i.e., the photoconductors 4K, 4Y, 4M, and 4C) and a developing device 6 (i.e., developing devices 6K, 6Y, 6M, and 6C) that develops an electrostatic latent image formed on a surface of the photoconductor 4 into a visible toner image. The process unit 3 further include a drum cleaning device 15 (i.e., drum cleaning devices 15K, 15Y, 15M, and 15C). The drum cleaning device 15 removes transfer residual toner remaining on the surface of the drum cleaning device 15 after the photoconductor 4 has passed the primary transfer nip region for the photoconductor 4 and cleans the surface of the photoconductor 4. The copier 500 is a tandem image forming apparatus in which the four process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C are aligned in a direction of movement of an intermediate transfer belt 25 as an endless loop.
Since the process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C have respective configurations substantially the same as each other except the toner colors, the process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C are also described without suffixes indicating the toner colors, which are K, Y, M, and C in
The photoconductor 4 is manufactured by a hollow tube made of aluminum, for example, with a drum shape covered by an organic photoconductive layer having photosensitivity. The photoconductor 4 may have a shape of endless belt.
The developing device 6 develops an electrostatic latent image into a visible toner image by a two-component developer including magnetic carrier particles and non-magnetic toner. The two-component developer is now referred to as a “developer”. The developing device 6 includes an agitating portion 7 and a development portion 11. The agitating portion 7 stirs the two-component developer accommodated therein and conveys the two-component developer to a development sleeve 12. The development portion 11 supplies the non-magnetic toner, which is included in the two-component developer and held by the development sleeve 12, to the photoconductor 4.
The agitating portion 7 is located at a position lower than the development portion 11 and includes two screw, a partition, a development case 9, and a toner concentration sensor 10. The two transfer screws 8 are disposed in parallel to each other. The partition is disposed between the two transfer screws 8. The development case 9 has an opening or a slot to face the photoconductor 4. The toner concentration sensor 10 is disposed on the bottom of the development case 9.
The development portion 11 includes the development sleeve 12, a magnetic roller 13, and a doctor blade 14. The development sleeve 12 faces the photoconductor 4 through the opening (or the slot) of the development case 9. The magnetic roller 13 is fixedly or unrotatably disposed inside the development sleeve 12. The doctor blade 14 is disposed adjacent to the development sleeve 12 and the leading end of the doctor blade 14 is disposed close to the development sleeve 12. The development sleeve 12 has a non-magnetic, rotatable tubular body. The magnetic roller 13 has multiple magnetic poles arranged in the order in a rotation direction of the development sleeve 12, starting from an opposed position to the doctor blade 14. Each of these magnetic poles applies a magnetic force at a predetermined position in the rotation direction of the development sleeve 12, with respect to the two-component developer supplied on the development sleeve 12. With this action of the magnetic roller 13, the two-component developer that is conveyed from the agitating portion 7 is attracted and attached to the surface of the development sleeve 12 and a magnetic brush of toner is formed along the lines of the magnetic force on the surface of the development sleeve 12.
In accordance with rotation of the development sleeve 12, the magnetic brush is regulated to have an appropriate layer thickness when passing by the opposed position to the doctor blade 14. Then, the magnetic brush is moved to a development region facing the photoconductor 4. Due to a difference of potentials between a development bias that is applied to the development sleeve 12 and an electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoconductor 4, the toner is transferred onto the electrostatic latent image, so that the electrostatic latent image is developed into a visible toner image. Further, after returning into the development portion 11 again along with the rotation of the development sleeve 12 then leaving from the surface of the development sleeve 12 due to repulsion of the magnetic field formed between the magnetic poles of the magnetic roller 13, the two-component developer in a form of the magnetic brush is returned to the agitating portion 7. An appropriate amount of toner is supplied to the two-component developer in the agitating portion 7 based on a result or results detected by the toner concentration sensor 10. Alternative to the two-component developer, the developing device 6 according to the present embodiment may employ one-component developer that does not include magnetic carriers.
In the present embodiment, the drum cleaning device 15 employs a method of pressing a cleaning blade 16 made of a polyurethane rubber pressed against the photoconductor 4. However, in some embodiments, any other suitable cleaning method may be used.
The fur brush 17 according to the present embodiment is provided in order to increase the cleanability. The fur brush 17 is a conductive member and the outer circumferential surface of the fur brush 17 slidably contacts the photoconductor 4. The fur brush 17 according to the present embodiment is rotatable in a direction indicated by arrow in
The electric discharging lamp 22 removes residual electric charge remaining on the surface of the photoconductor 4 by photo irradiation. After such residual electric charge is removed, the electrically discharged surface of the photoconductor 4 is uniformly charged by the charging device 5 again and then optically irradiated by the optical writing unit 2. In the copier 500 as an image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment, the charging device 5 is a charging roller that is applied with charging bias and rotates while contacting the photoconductor 4. However, in some embodiments, the charging device 5 may be a scorotron charger that performs a charging process on the photoconductor 4 in non-contact with the photoconductor 4.
According to the above-described operations with the configuration illustrated in
The transfer unit 24 is disposed below the process units 3K, 3Y, 3M, and 3C, as illustrated in
The sheet conveying unit 28 is disposed below the transfer unit 24 in
The registration roller pair 33 is disposed on the right side of the secondary transfer nip region in
Residual toner that has not been transferred onto the transfer sheet P in the secondary transfer nip region remains on the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 25 after the intermediate transfer belt 25 has passed through the secondary transfer nip region. The residual toner is scraped and removed from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 25 by a belt cleaning device 32 that is disposed in contact with the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 25.
The transfer sheet P is conveyed to the fixing device 34. The fixing device 34 fixes the full-color toner image to the transfer sheet P by application of heat and pressure. Then, the transfer sheet P is conveyed from the fixing device 34 to the sheet ejection roller pair 35 (see
As illustrated in
The scanner 150 is fixedly mounted on the image forming device 1 and includes a first fixed reading unit 151 functioning as a first face reader, and a movable reading unit 152 serving as a first face reader.
The movable reading unit 152 serving as a first face reader is disposed immediately below a second exposure glass 155 (see
The first fixed reading unit 151 serving as a first face reader is disposed immediately below a first exposure glass 154 (see
The ADF 51 of the document reading device 50 further includes a contact image sensor 95 (see
The ADF 51 that is disposed on the scanner 150 includes a body cover 52, a document loading tray 53, a document conveyance unit 54, and a document stacker 55. The body cover 52 holds and supports the document loading tray 53, the document conveyance unit 54, and the document stacker 55. The document loading tray 53 loads the original document MS to be read. The document conveyance unit 54 conveys the original document MS. The document stacker 55 receives and stacks the original document MS after the original document MS is read. As illustrated in
In a case of the one-sided bound documents such as a book of a document bundle bounded on one-side, the original documents MS cannot be separated one by one. For this reason, the original documents MS cannot be conveyed by the ADF 51. When reading the one-sided bound documents, the ADF 51 is opened as illustrated in
On the other hand, when the original documents MS are in a form of a document bundle of simply accumulated individual original documents MS, the original documents MS are sequentially read by the first fixed reading unit 151 in the scanner 150 or the contact image sensor 95 in the ADF 51 while the ADF 51 automatically conveys the original documents MS one by one. In this case, a copy start button is pressed after the bundle of original documents is positioned on the document loading tray 53 of the ADF 51. Then, the ADF 51 starts conveyance of the original documents MS that is a bundle of original documents stacked on the document loading tray 53 to convey the original documents MS sequentially from top of the bundle of original documents MS to the document stacker 55. In the course of this conveyance of the original documents MS, immediately after the original document MS is reversed, the original document MS is caused to pass immediately above the first fixed reading unit 151 of the scanner 150.
At this time, the image on the first face of the original document MS is read by the first fixed reading unit 151 of the scanner 150.
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
In
The original document MS is positioned in the document setting part A with the leading end of the original document MS placed on the movable document table 53a serving as a sheet tray pivotable in the direction indicated by arrows “a” and “b” in
The first length sensor 57 and the second length sensor 58 are held on the document loading tray 53. Each of the first length sensor 57 and the second length sensor 58 includes a reflective photosensor or an actuator-type sensor for detecting the length of the original document MS in the sheet conveyance direction. The length of the original document MS in the sheet conveyance direction is detected with the first length sensor 57 and the second length sensor 58.
The pickup roller 80 is supported by the cam mechanism to be movable in the vertical direction (i.e., the directions indicated by arrows “c” and “d” in
The apparatus operation unit 902 including, for example, a numeric keypad and a display included in the housing of the copier 500 is operated by an operator to perform a key operation for setting a reading mode indicating a double-sided reading mode or a single-sided reading mode and a pressing operation of a copy start button 158. The reading mode includes a thin paper mode for reading thin paper and a mixed document mode in which original documents MS of different sizes are mixed and conveyed. The operator can set the thin paper mode or the mixed mode by the key operation on the apparatus operation unit 902 by the operator. In the thin paper mode or the mixed document mode, the original document MS is conveyed at a conveyance speed of the original document MS totally slower than the normal reading mode.
As the copy start button 158 is pressed down, a document feeding signal is sent from an apparatus controller 901 to the ADF controller 904 of the ADF 51 via the I/F. In response to the sending of the document feeding signal, the pickup roller 80 is rotated along with the forward rotation of the sheet feeding motor 191, so that the original documents MS on the movable document table 53a are fed from the movable document table 53a.
The setting of the double-sided reading mode or the single-sided reading mode collectively covers the whole original documents MS stacked on the movable document table 53a. To be more specific, when the double-sided reading mode or the single-sided reading mode is set, both sides or a single-side of the whole original documents MS stacked on the movable document table 53a can be read.
In addition, individual reading mode setting can be performed on separate ones of the original documents MS. For example, the double-sided reading mode can be applied to the first and 10th original documents MS while the single-sided reading mode can be applied to the other original documents MS.
The original document MS fed by the pickup roller 80 enters the document separating and feeding part B to be fed to the contact position with the sheet feed belt 84. The sheet feed belt 84 is wound and stretched by a drive roller 82 and a driven roller 83 to be endlessly moved in the clockwise direction in
By contrast, the separation roller 85 is in contact with the sheet feed belt 84 with a given pressure. When the separation roller 85 directly contacts the sheet feed belt 84 or a single original document MS is nipped in the contact portion, the separation roller 85 is rotated with rotation of the sheet feed belt 84 or movement of the original document MS. However, when multiple original documents MS are nipped in the contact portion, the force of the separation roller 85 to be rotated with rotation of the sheet feed belt 84 or movement of the original document MS is lower than the torque of a torque limiter. For this reason, the separation roller 85 is rotated in the clockwise direction that is opposite to a direction in which the separation roller 85 is rotated. As a result, the separation roller 85 applies the force of movement in the direction opposite to the sheet conveyance direction, to the original documents MS under the uppermost original document MS, so that the uppermost original document MS is separated from the multiple original documents MS under the uppermost original document MS.
The original document MS is separated from the other original documents MS through the operations of the sheet feed belt 84 and the separation roller 85, and enters the registration part C. Then, the leading end of the original document MS is detected when the original document MS passes directly under the document contact sensor 72. At this time, the pickup roller 80 receiving the driving force of the sheet feeding motor 191 is still rotating. However, as the pickup roller 80 is separated from the original document MS due to descendance of the movable document table 53a, the original document MS is conveyed only by an endless moving force of the sheet feed belt 84. Then, the endless movement of the sheet feed belt 84 is continued for a given time from the timing at which the leading end of the original document MS is detected by the document contact sensor 72. Then, the leading end of the original document MS contacts the contact portion of the pullout driven roller 86 and the pullout drive roller 87 that rotates while contacting the pullout driven roller 86. While the leading end of the original document MS contacts the contact portion of the pullout driven roller 86 and the pullout drive roller 87, the trailing end of the original document MS is conveyed in the sheet conveyance direction. By so doing, the leading end of the original document MS is positioned at the contact portion while the original document MS is bent by a given amount. Accordingly, skew (inclination) of an original document MS is corrected, and the original document MS is positioned correctly in the sheet conveyance direction.
The pullout drive roller 87 has a function of correcting skew of the original document MS, and further has a function of conveying the original document MS after skew correction to an intermediate roller pair 66 disposed downstream from the pullout drive roller 87 in the sheet conveyance direction. When the drive roller 82, the pullout drive roller 87, and the drive roller of the intermediate roller pair 66 wind and stretch the pickup roller 80 and the sheet feed belt 84 and are coupled to the sheet feeding motor 191 via respective one-way clutches. The one-way clutches coupled to the pullout drive roller 87 and the drive roller of the intermediate roller pair 66 transmit the driving force when the sheet feeding motor 191 rotates in the reverse direction. The one-way clutch coupled to the drive roller 82 transmits the driving force when the sheet feeding motor 191 rotates in the forward direction. For this reason, when the sheet feeding motor 191 rotates in the reverse direction, the pullout drive roller 87 and the drive roller of the intermediate roller pair 66 start rotating and the endless movement of the sheet feed belt 84 stops. At this time, the pickup roller 80 stops rotating.
The original document MS that is fed by the pullout drive roller 87 passes directly under the document width sensor 73. The document width sensor 73 includes multiple document detectors each including a reflective photosensor. The multiple document detectors are aligned in a row in the width direction of the original document MS (i.e., the direction orthogonal to the drawing sheet of
The leading end of the original document MS whose size in the width direction is detected by the document width sensor 73 enters the document turning part D and is nipped by the contact portion between the rollers of the intermediate roller pair 66. The conveyance speed of the original document MS conveyed by the intermediate roller pair 66 is set faster than the conveyance speed of the original document MS in the first reading and conveying part E that will be described below. This configuration achieves a reduction in time for entering the original document MS to the first reading and conveying part E.
The leading end of the original document MS conveyed in the document turning part D passes through a position where the leading end of the original document MS faces the scan entrance sensor 67. As a result, when the leading end of the original document MS is detected by the scan entrance sensor 67, the document conveyance speed of the original document MS by the intermediate roller pair 66 is reduced until the leading end of the original document MS is conveyed to the position of the scan entrance roller pair (including rollers 89 and 90) downstream from the scan entrance sensor 67 in the sheet conveyance direction. As the sheet conveyance motor 192 starts to drive and rotate, one roller of the scan entrance roller pair (including the rollers 89 and 90), one roller of a first scan exit roller pair 92, and one roller of a second scan exit roller pair 93 respectively start rotation.
In the document turning part D, while the original document MS is conveyed in the curved conveyance passage between the intermediate roller pair 66 and the scan entrance roller pair (including the rollers 89 and 90), the upper and lower faces of the original document MS are reversed, and the conveyance direction of the original document MS is turned back. Then, the leading end of the original document MS that has passed through the nip region between the rollers (89 and 90) of the scan entrance roller pair passes directly under the registration sensor 65. When the registration sensor 65 detects the leading end of the original document MS, the conveyance speed of the original document MS is gradually decreased through the given conveyance distance. Then, before the first reading and conveying part E, the conveyance of the original document MS is temporarily stopped. Further, a temporary stop signal is sent to the scanner controller 903 (see
After receiving the temporary stop signal, the scanner controller 903 sends a scanning start signal, the ADF controller 904 controls the sheet conveyance motor 192 resumes rotating to increase the conveyance speed of the original document MS up to the given conveyance speed until the leading end of the original document MS reaches the first reading and conveying part E. Then, at the timing at which the leading end of the original document MS reaches the reading position of the first fixed reading unit 151, the ADF controller 904 sends a gate signal indicating an effective image area of the first face of the original document MS in the sub-scanning direction, to the scanner controller 903. The ADF controller 904 continues sending the gate signal to the scanner controller 903 until the trailing end of the original document MS passes through the reading position of the first fixed reading unit 151, so that the first face of the original document MS is scanned by the first fixed reading unit 151. The timing at which the leading end of the original document MS reaches the reading position of the first fixed reading unit 151 is calculated based on the pulse count of the sheet conveyance motor 192. A left ruler 156 is disposed at a left corner of the second exposure glass 155. When scanning an original document MS, the original document MS is placed on the second exposure glass 155 by contacting at the scale of the left ruler 156 before being scanned.
The original document MS that has passed through the first reading and conveying part E passes through the first scan exit roller pair 92, which will be described below. Then, the leading end of the original document MS is detected by the document ejection sensor 61. When the single-sided reading mode is set, the second face of the original document MS is not to be read by the contact image sensor 95, which will be described below. As the leading end of the original document MS is detected by the document ejection sensor 61, the driving force of the sheet conveyance motor 192 is connected to a document ejection roller pair 94 by the sheet ejection clutch 194 to rotate the lower ejection roller in
On the other hand, when the double-sided reading mode is set, the document ejection sensor 61 initially detects the leading end of the original document MS. Then, the timing at which the original document MS reaches the contact image sensor 95 is calculated based on the pulse count of the sheet conveyance motor 192. Then, at the timing at which the leading end of the original document MS reaches the contact image sensor 95, the ADF controller 904 sends a gate signal indicating the effective image area of the second face of the original document MS in the sub-scanning direction, to the scanner controller 903. The ADF controller 904 continues sending the gate signal to the scanner controller 903 until the trailing end of the original document MS passes through the reading position of the contact image sensor 95, so that the second face of the original document MS is scanned by the contact image sensor 95.
Then, the reading face of the contact image sensor 95 (CIS) serving as a second reader is coated for the purpose of preventing a reading vertical streak due to the paste-like foreign substance adhering to the original document MS adhering to the reading face of the contact image sensor 95. A second reading roller 96 as a document supporter that supports the original document MS from a non-reading face side (i.e., the first face side) is disposed at a position facing the contact image sensor 95. The second reading roller 96 functions as a floating retainer that prevents the original document MS from floating up at the reading position of the contact image sensor 95 and as a reference white portion for acquiring shading data in the contact image sensor 95. In the copier 500, the second reading roller 96 is used as a document supporter that supports the original document MS at a position facing the contact image sensor 95. However, a member such as a guide plate may be used as a document supporter instead of the second reading roller 96 having a roller shape.
A bundle of original documents MS bound by metal pieces such as staples and clips may be set on the document loading tray 53 due to user's carelessness. As the leading end of the bundle of original documents MS bound by the metal pieces such as staples and clips enter the sheet separation portion at which the leading end of the bundle of original documents MS contacts the sheet feed belt 84 of the separation roller 85, the uppermost original document MS placed on top of the bundle of original documents MS is continuously conveyed by the sheet feed belt 84. However, the second and subsequent original documents receive a conveyance force by the separation roller 85 to return the second and subsequent original documents MS to the document loading tray 53. As a result, the uppermost original document MS is distorted, and folded or wrinkled.
Typically, before the leading end of the original document MS is not detected by the document contact sensor 72 by a given timing and a paper jam is detected, the conveyance of the uppermost original document MS continues with the original document MS folded or wrinkled at the sheet separation portion. As a result, the uppermost original document MS is seriously wrinkled or folded, and eventually, a large stress is applied to the portion bound by the metal pieces, and the original document MS is torn, which may cause a large damage to the original document MS.
For this reason, in the present embodiment, the ADF controller 904 detects whether any bound bundle of original documents is conveyed based on the sound collected by the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b in the sheet feeding and separating operation. When a bound bundle of original documents is conveyed, an occurrence of a paper jam as an abnormal conveyance is predicted. As a result, the ADF controller 904 determines that a paper jam is to occur, and stops the conveyance of the bound bundle of original documents MS. Thus, conveyance of the original documents MS can be stopped before a paper jam is detected by the document contact sensor 72. As a result, conveyance of the original documents MS can be stopped before serious damage such as the tear of the original documents MS occurs on the original document MS.
As illustrated in
The sound collection microphones 201a and 201b are disposed upstream from the separation area in the document conveyance direction, to be more specific, above pickup roller 80, and between a pair of side fences when the pair of side fences is narrowest. The pair of side fences restricts the movement of the original document in a direction (document width direction) orthogonal to the document conveyance direction and one of the side fences is movable in the document width direction. As a result, the sound in the area upstream from the separation area in the document conveyance direction can be preferably collected, and the sound of conveyance of the original document that is generated in the area upstream from the separation area in the document conveyance direction can be preferably collected. The sound collection microphones 201a and 201b are not limited to be disposed at the above-described positions. For example, a sound collection microphone may be appropriately disposed at a position where no member that blocks sound of conveyance of the original document on the upstream side of the separation area in the document conveyance direction and the sound of conveyance of the original document on the upstream side of the separation area in the document conveyance direction can be preferably collected.
Further,
As a document feeding signal is sent from the apparatus controller 901 to the ADF controller 904, the ADF controller 904 causes the sheet feed motor 76 to rotate in the forward direction to rotate the pickup roller 80. The pickup roller 80 feeds the original document MS placed on the movable document table 53a to start the document conveyance (step S1). Simultaneously with the start of the document conveyance, the ADF controller 904 starts collecting the sound of the original document by the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b (step S2).
The sound collection microphone 201 stops collecting the sound at a timing at which the uppermost original document MS alone is separated from some other original documents MS in the separation area SA. Specifically, the ADF controller 904 stops the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b to collect the sound of the original document MS at the timing at which the leading end of the original document MS slightly downstream from the separation area SA (in other words, at the timing at which the leading end of the original document MS has passed through the separation area SA and the trailing end of the original document MS is upstream from the separation area SA in the document conveyance direction). Thus, the sound at the start of the occurrence of deformation such as a wrinkle or fold in the uppermost document can be collected, and conveyance of the original document MS can be stopped before the original document is seriously damaged, for example, the original document is terribly folded, wrinkled, or torn.
The timing at which the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b stop collecting sound is determined based on, for example, the number of driving pulses of the sheet feed motor 76 and the elapsed time from the start of driving the sheet feed motor 76. The audio signals of the sounds collected by the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b are converted to pulse code modulation (PCM) data by an analog-to-digital (AD) converter in the ADF controller 904 and temporarily stored in the RAM of the ADF controller 904.
The single stapling performed on the far side of the ADF 51 (the copier 500) is referred to as an upper-left side stapling.
In
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
As illustrated in
In
As described above, since a loud sound is generated in a high-frequency range equal to or higher than 7500 Hz when a bound bundle of original documents is conveyed, it is preferable that a sound equal to or lower than 7500 Hz is cut by a high pass filter, a drive sound is removed from the sound collected by the sound collection microphones, and a sound signal obtained by extracting the conveyance sound of original document is temporarily stored in the RAM of the ADF controller 904.
The ADF controller 904 then calculates the feature amount of the sound stored in the RAM (step S3). Specifically, the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) is performed on the audio signal of the sound stored in the RAM to calculate the time sequence of the power spectrum of the audio signal. The ADF controller 904 then performs a characterization process on the time sequence of the calculated power spectrum to calculate the feature amount of the sound. The characterization process may include, for example, time integration of power in a given frequency band and spectral flux between successive frames. In other words, in the present embodiment, the ADF controller 904 serves as a feature amount extraction unit. The feature amount that quantitatively describes the feature of the sound used for determining the operation condition is not limited to the above-described feature amount. For example, the feature amount may include known sound feature amounts such as Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficients.
The feature amount may be calculated using the sound collected by one of the two sound collection microphones 201a and 201b. The respective feature amounts of the sound collected by both of the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b may be calculated separately. Then, the average value of these feature amounts may be the “feature amount” used to determine whether the abnormal conveyance occurs.
When the feature amount is calculated, the ADF controller 904 detects whether the original document is a bound bundle of original documents to determine whether any abnormal conveyance occurs based on the calculated feature amount, in other words, whether the document conveyance is in a normal condition (step S4).
In the present embodiment, the abnormal conveyance determination is executed by the Mahalanobis Taguchi (MT) method. The MT method is one of Mahalanobis-Taguchi (MT) system known for prediction, diagnosis and analysis based on multidimensional information data in the field of, for example, quality engineering. The MT method is one of methods that can determine whether the data is normal or abnormal by using the Mahalanobis distance, and is a method that can determine whether the condition is normal or abnormal in a simple manner and with relatively high accuracy. A detailed description of the MT method is omitted as the MT method is a publicly known method described in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-141306.
As index data used for the abnormal conveyance determination, the following data is stored in advance in the read only memory (ROM) of the ADF controller 904. In other words, the data includes an inverse matrix R-1 of the correlation matrix of a unit space data set (i.e., the reference data set) used when calculating the Mahalanobis distance and a threshold Th as criteria for classifying the calculated Mahalanobis distance into a normal conveyance (an unbound original document) or an abnormal conveyance (a bound bundle of original documents).
The inverse matrix R-1 is obtained by creating a unit space data set (i.e., reference data set) based on a feature amount obtained from the sound in which the original document MS is successfully conveyed (normal conveyance) under various erroneous factor conditions in the ADF 51. The threshold Th as criteria for determining whether the calculated Mahalanobis distance is a normal conveyance and an abnormal conveyance is set by obtaining a Mahalanobis distance at which a false negative rate (erroneous determination rate of normal conveyance) and a false positive rate (erroneous determination rate of an abnormal conveyance) of the ADF 51 are respective target values.
When the ADF controller 904 determines that the calculated Mahalanobis distance is equal to or smaller than the threshold Th and the conveyance is a normal conveyance (YES in step S4), the ADF controller 904 continues conveyance of the original documents (step S8). To be more specific, as described above, the ADF controller 904 causes the sheet feeding motor 191 to rotate in reverse, so that the pullout drive roller 87 pulls out the original document MS on which skew correction is performed. In other words, the ADF controller 904 performs a document pullout operation on the skew-corrected original document MS. Then, the ADF controller 904 causes the conveyance of the original document MS to temporarily stop before the first reading and conveying part E. In other words, the ADF controller 904 performs a temporary stop operation for temporarily stopping the conveyance of the original document MS before the original document MS enters the first reading and conveying part E. Then, the ADF controller 904 waits for a reading start signal to be sent from the scanner controller 903. In other words, the ADF controller 904 determined whether the reading start signal is received. When the ADF controller 904 determines that the reading start signal is received and starts reading the original document, the ADF controller 904 resumes the conveyance of the original document to convey the original document to the first reading and conveying part E and the second reading and conveying part F, so as to perform a reading and conveying operation in which the image on the original document is read. Then, as the original document is conveyed to the document ejecting part G, the ADF controller 904 causes the original document to be ejected to the ejection tray and completes the reading of the original document.
On the other hand, when the ADF controller 904 determines that the document conveyance is in an abnormal conveyance (NO in step S4), the calculated Mahalanobis distance exceeds the threshold Th. Thus, it is detected that the bound bundle of original documents is conveyed, and the ADF controller 904 determines that the abnormal conveyance is to occur. When occurs, the ADF controller 904 determines that the abnormal conveyance is to occur, the ADF controller 904 stops the document conveying operation and document reading operation (step S5). Then, the ADF controller 904 performs the binding position locating operation to locate the bound position of the bundle of original documents as the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet (step S6).
Each of the graphs of
As illustrated in
On the other hand, as illustrated in
As illustrated in
On the other hand, as illustrated in
As described above, the relation of the power average per time of the far-side sound collected by the sound collection microphone 201a on the far side of the ADF 51 and the power average per time of the near-side sound collected by the sound collection microphone 201b on the near side of the ADF 51 is different among the dual stapling, the upper-left side stapling, and the lower-left side stapling. As a result, the binding method (single stapling or dual stapling) and the binding position (near side or far side) can be grasped from the relation of the power average per time of the far-side sound and the power average per time of the near-side sound.
As described above, when the ADF controller 904 determines that abnormal conveyance occurs, the ADF controller 904 as the factor locating unit performs the binding position locating process.
First, the ADF controller 904 calculates the power averages per time for the sound signals of the sounds collected by the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b where the sounds equal to or lower than 7500 Hz are cut by the high pass filter and temporarily stored in the RAM. Then, the ADF controller 904 calculates the differential value (absolute value) between the power average per time of the near-side sound and the power average per time of the far-side sound, and the calculated differential value is added (step S11).
Subsequently, the ADF controller 904 determines whether the added value of the differential value (absolute value) of the power average is less than the threshold value (step S12). As illustrated in
Whether the dual stapling is performed may be determined based on the average value of the differential values (absolute values) between the power average per time of the near-side sound and the power average per time of the far-side sound. In this case, the average value of the differential values (absolute values) is smaller with the dual stapling than with the single stapling (such as the upper-left side stapling or the lower-left side stapling). As a result, when the average value of the differential values (absolute values) is less than the threshold value, the ADF controller 904 determines that the dual stapling is performed. Further, the total value of the power average values per time of the far-side sound and the total value of the power average values per time of the near-side sound may be calculated, so that whether the dual stapling is performed may be determined based on the differential value of the total value of the power average values per time of the far-side sound and the total value of the power average values per time of the near-side sound.
On the other hand, when the added value of the differential values (absolute values) of the power averages is equal to or greater than the threshold value (No in step S12), the ADF controller 904 calculates the total value of the power averages per time of the far-side sound and the total value of the power averages per time of the near-side sound. Then, the ADF controller 904 determines whether the total value of the power averages of the far-side sound is greater than the total value of the power averages of the near-side sound (step S14).
As illustrated in
On the other hand, as illustrated in
Accordingly, when the total value of the power averages of the far-side sound is greater than the total value of the power averages of the near-side sound (YES in step S14), the ADF controller 904 determines that the lower-left side stapling is to be performed (step S15). On the other hand, when the total value of the power averages of the far-side sound is equal to or smaller than the total value of the power averages of the near-side sound (NO in step S14), the ADF controller 904 determines that the lower-left side stapling is to be performed (step S16).
When the binding position locating process is finished, the apparatus controller 901 causes the apparatus operation unit 902 as a notification device to display the binding position on the screen panel as described in the flowchart of
When the dual stapling is determined through the binding position locating process, the portions corresponding to the binding positions by the dual stapling are indicated with the circles to notify the user of the positions, as illustrated in
By displaying the binding position(s) on the display panel 902a, the user can easily grasp the binding position(s) of the bound bundle of original documents stopped before the separation area from the message displayed on the display panel 902a. As a result, the removal of staple(s) can be started immediately, so that the work efficiency of the paper jam handling can be enhanced.
In the above description, the binding position is displayed on the display panel 902a of the apparatus operation unit 902 to notify the user of the binding position(s). However, for example, the binding position may be notified by voice.
The above-described embodiments are illustrative and do not limit the present disclosure. Thus, numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings. For example, elements and/or features of different illustrative embodiments may be combined with each other and/or substituted for each other within the scope of the present disclosure.
For example, as described above, the ADF 51 is applied to a sheet feeding device according to the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure may be applied to a blank sheet feeding device 40 as a sheet feeding device.
When a transfer sheet having an image printed on the front face is reused as a backing material, it is likely that the transfer sheet is set in the sheet tray 42 of the blank sheet feeding device 40 without removing the metal pieces such as the staples or the clips from the transfer sheet. As a result, as described above, when the bound bundle of transfer sheets is fed, it is likely that a paper jam occurs. In order to address this inconvenience, similar to the above-described examples, the blank sheet feeding device 40 includes a sound collection microphone to collect conveyance sound at one end of the transfer sheet in the width direction and another sound collection microphone to collect conveyance sound at the other end of the transfer sheet in the width direction in the range from the sheet feed roller 43 to the sheet separation roller pair 45. Then, whether any bound bundle of sheets is conveyed is detected based on the sounds collected by these sound collection microphones. When the bound bundle of transfer sheets is detected, the binding position of the bound bundle of the transfer sheets is located from the sound collected by the sound collection microphones, and the located binding position is displayed on the display panel 902a of the apparatus operation unit 902. Due to such a configuration, the user can easily grasp the binding position(s) of the bound bundle of transfer sheets stopped before the sheet separation roller pair 45 from the message displayed on the display panel 902a. As a result, the operation such as the removal of staple(s) can be started immediately, and the work efficiency of the paper jam handling can be enhanced. The blank sheet feeding device 40 to which the present disclosure is applied can be employed not only in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus 300, but also in an inkjet image forming apparatus.
In the above description, the binding position is located as the position of the factor of an abnormal conveyance based on the sounds collected by the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b. However, a folding position of a sheet or a curling position of a sheet may be located as the position of the factor of an abnormal conveyance based on the sounds collected by the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b, and the folding position of the sheet or the curling position of the sheet may be notified to the user.
The embodiments described above are just examples, and the various aspects of the present disclosure attain respective effects as follows.
In Aspect 1, a sheet conveying device (for example, the ADF 51) includes a conveyor (for example, the pickup roller 80), a sound collector (for example, the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b), and a detector (for example, the ADF controller 904). The conveyor conveys a sheet (for example, the original document MS) in a sheet conveyance direction in which the sheet is conveyed. The sound collector collects sound produced at a time of a conveyance of the sheet. The detector detects whether the sheet at the time of conveyance has a factor of an abnormal conveyance such as the binding position of the sheet, based on the sound collected by the sound collector. In the sheet conveyance device, when the detector detects that the sheet at the time of conveyance has a factor of an abnormal conveyance, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet is located, and the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet is notified to the user by a notification device (for example, the display panel 902a).
In the above-described sheet conveying device in the related art, since the user is notified, via an information display portion as the notification device, of only the information indicating that the sheet has a factor of an abnormal conveyance such as stapling, it is likely to take time to locate the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet jam, which results in the low work efficiency after the occurrence of the paper jam.
In contrast, in Aspect 1, since the user is notified of the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance such as the binding position of the sheet, the user can locate the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet in a relatively short time. According to this configuration, the user can immediately start the work of removing the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet, for example, removing the binding tool such as a staple or staples, and can enhance the work efficiency after occurrence of the paper jam.
In Aspect 2, in the sheet conveying device according to Aspect 1, when the detector detects the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet, the position of the abnormal conveyance such as the binding position of the sheet (for example, the original document MS) based on the sound collected by the sound collector (for example, the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b) is located.
According to this configuration, as described in the embodiments above, the conveyance sound of the sheet varies depending on the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet such as the binding position of the sheets. Accordingly, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet can be accurately located based on the sound collected by the sound collector (for example, the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b).
In Aspect 3, in the sheet conveying device according to claim 2, the sound collector includes two sound collectors (for example, the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b). One sound collector of the two sound collectors is disposed at a position opposite to one end in an orthogonal direction orthogonal to a conveyance direction (for example, the width direction) of the sheet (for example, the original document MS). The other sound collector of the two sound collectors is disposed at a position opposite to the other end in the orthogonal direction orthogonal to the conveyance direction of the sheet. The position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance is located based on a differential value of a power average per time of the sound collected by the one sound collector and a power average per time of the sound collected by the other sound collector.
According to this configuration, as described in the embodiments above, the difference occurs between the power average of the sound collected by the one sound collector and the power average of the sound collected by the other sound collector depending on the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance such as the binding position of the sheets in the width direction of the sheets. Accordingly, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet can be located based on the differential value between the power average per time of the sound collected by the one sound collector and the power average per time of the sound collected by the other sound collector.
In Aspect 4, in the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 3, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet includes a binding position.
According to this configuration, as described in the embodiment, the user can grasp the sheet binding position in a short time based on the sheet binding position notified by the notification device (for example, the display panel 902a), and can immediately start to remove the binding tool such as a staple or staples. Accordingly, the work efficiency of the paper jam handling can be enhanced.
In Aspect 5, in the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 4, the notification device includes a display (for example, the display panel 902a) to display the position of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet such as the binding position of the sheets.
According to this configuration, as described in the embodiments above, the user can easily locate the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the jammed sheet based on the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet such as the binding position displayed on the display such as the display panel 902a, and can facilitate the work efficiency of the paper jam handling.
In Aspect 6, in the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 5, when an abnormal conveyance predicting unit such as the ADF controller 904 predicts that an abnormal conveyance occurs, the conveyance of the sheet is stopped.
According to this configuration, as described in the embodiments above, the conveyance of the sheet can be stopped before a significant damage such as a tearing on the sheet, the occurrence of such a significant damage is prevented in advance.
In Aspect 7, an automatic document feeder includes a document sheet conveying device to convey a document sheet (for example, the original document MS) and conveys the document sheet to an image reader by the sheet conveyance device. The automatic document feeder employs the sheet conveyance device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 6 as the document sheet conveyance device.
According to this configuration, a significant damage such as tearing on a document sheet can be prevented in advance, and the work efficiency of a paper jam handling can be enhanced.
In Aspect 8, an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet includes the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 1 to 6 or the automatic document feeder (for example, the ADF 51) according to Aspect 7.
According to this configuration, a significant damage such as tearing on a sheet and a significant damage such as tearing on a document sheet can be prevented in advance, and the work efficiency of a paper jam handling can be enhanced.
In Aspect 9, a sheet conveying device (for example, the ADF 51) includes a conveyor (for example, the pickup roller 80), a sound collector (for example, the sound collection microphones 201a and 201b), an operation unit (for example, the display unit 902a), and circuitry (for example, the ADF controller 904). The conveyor conveys a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction. The sound collector collects sound produced by conveying the sheet by the conveyor. The operation unit outputs information of a conveyance of the sheet. The circuitry is to cause the sound collector to collect the sound, detect a factor of an abnormal conveyance produced by conveying the sheet based on the sound collected by the sound collector, locate a position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet in response to a detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet, and output, to the operation unit, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
In Aspect 10, in the sheet conveying device according to Aspect 9, the circuitry is further to locate the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance based on the sound collected by the sound collector in response to the detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
In Aspect 11, the sheet conveying device according to Aspect 10 further includes multiple sound collectors including a first sound collector at a first position facing one end of the sheet in a width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction and a second sound collector at a second position facing the other end of the sheet in the width direction. The circuitry is to locate the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance based on a differential value between a first power average per time of the sound collected by the first sound collector and a second power average per time of the sound collected by the second sound collector.
In Aspect 12, in the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 9-11, a position of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet includes a binding position at which multiple sheets including the sheet are bound.
In Aspect 13, in the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 9 to 12, the operation unit includes a display to display the position of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
In Aspect 14, in the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 9 to 13, the circuitry is further to stop the conveyance of the sheet in response to a detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
In Aspect 15, an image forming apparatus includes the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 9 to 14, and an image forming device to form an image on the sheet based on an image on an original document by the sheet conveying device.
In Aspect 16, an automatic document feeder includes the sheet conveying device according to any one of Aspects 9 to 15 to automatically convey an original document as the sheet to an image reader.
In Aspect 17, an image forming apparatus includes the automatic document feeder according to Aspect 16, and an image forming device to form an image on a sheet based on an image on an original document conveyed by the automatic document feeder.
In Aspect 18, a sheet conveying method executable by a sheet conveying device, the sheet conveying method including conveying a sheet in a sheet conveyance direction by a conveyor, collecting sound produced by conveying the sheet by the conveyor, detecting a factor of an abnormal conveyance produced by conveying the sheet based on the sound collected by a sound collector, locating a position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet in response to a detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet, and outputting, to an operation unit, the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
In Aspect 19, the sheet conveying method according to Aspect 18 further includes locating the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance based on the sound in response to the detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
In Aspect 20, the sheet conveying method according to Aspect 19 further includes collecting sound by a first sound collector disposed at a first position facing one end of the sheet in a width direction orthogonal to the sheet conveyance direction, calculating a first power average per time of the sound collected by the first sound collector, collecting sound by a second sound collector disposed at a second position facing the other end in the width direction, calculating a second power average per time of the sound collected by the second sound collector, and locating the position of the factor of the abnormal conveyance based on a differential value of the first power average and the second power average.
In Aspect 21, the sheet conveying method according to any one of Aspects 18 to 20 further includes displaying the position of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet on a display of the operation unit.
In Aspect 22, the sheet conveying method according to any one of Aspect 18 to 21 further includes stopping the conveyance of the sheet in response to a detection of the factor of the abnormal conveyance of the sheet.
The present disclosure is not limited to specific embodiments described above, and numerous additional modifications and variations are possible in light of the teachings within the technical scope of the appended claims. It is therefore to be understood that, the disclosure of this patent specification may be practiced otherwise by those skilled in the art than as specifically described herein, and such, modifications, alternatives are within the technical scope of the appended claims. Such embodiments and variations thereof are included in the scope and gist of the embodiments of the present disclosure and are included in the embodiments described in claims and the equivalent scope thereof.
The effects described in the embodiments of this disclosure are listed as the examples of preferable effects derived from this disclosure, and therefore are not intended to limit to the embodiments of this disclosure.
The embodiments described above are presented as an example to implement this disclosure. The embodiments described above are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, or changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention. These embodiments and their variations are included in the scope and gist of this disclosure and are included in the scope of the invention recited in the claims and its equivalent.
Any one of the above-described operations may be performed in various other ways, for example, in an order different from the one described above.
Each of the functions of the described embodiments may be implemented by one or more processing circuits or circuitry. Processing circuitry includes a programmed processor, as a processor includes circuitry. A processing circuit also includes devices such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), digital signal processor (DSP), field programmable gate array (FPGA), and conventional circuit components arranged to perform the recited functions.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-119416 | Jul 2023 | JP | national |
