JPH0586358B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field] The present invention relates to a recording device that prints characters, symbols, etc., and images and video patterns such as graphs and drawings, and in particular has a plurality of paper feeding means and is tested. The present invention relates to a recording device having a printing function.

[Prior Art] Conventionally, there is a recording apparatus that selects one of a plurality of paper feeding means having different paper sizes, etc., and performs recording by feeding recording paper from the selected paper feeding means. When such a recording device runs out of paper in the selected paper feeding means, it prohibits input of image data and notifies the user that it is out of paper.

However, when the test print switch is pressed to perform a test print, the above method cannot be used because no image data is input. Another option is to prohibit test printing when the selected paper feeding means runs out of paper, but since test printing does not occur even if the test print switch is pressed, it may cause the user to mistakenly think that there is a malfunction. Even though test printing can be performed on any size of recording paper, test printing cannot be performed without tedious operations such as selecting another paper source. cause inconvenience.

Furthermore, even if the paper feeding means selected at the time of test printing is out of paper, it is possible to automatically select a paper feeding means with paper and perform the test printing, but next time when performing normal printing, There is a risk that paper may be fed from an undesirably selected paper feeding means.

[Purpose] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and its purpose is to prevent the user from misdiagnosing a malfunction or causing troublesome operations, and to avoid selecting an undesirable paper feeding means after test printing. It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording device capable of performing test printing without any accompanying work.

[Means and Operations for Achieving the Object] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a plurality of paper feeding means each having a cassette for storing recording paper (paper feeding means 4 to 6 in the embodiment (see FIG. 1). ), a control means (also corresponding to the control unit 22 (FIG. 2)) for setting a flag indicating which of the plurality of paper feeding means the recording paper is to be fed from, a control means (also corresponding to the control unit 22 (FIG. 2)); A plurality of detection means (also corresponding to the paper out sensors 33 to 35) each detecting whether or not recording paper is stored in the cassette, a test print switch that is pressed to instruct test printing (also the test switch 21) (corresponding to), and the control means feeds the recording paper from the paper feeding means for which storage of the recording paper has been detected by the plurality of detection means in response to the press of the test print switch. At the same time, the flag is set (steps S5 to S7 in FIG. 3), and after paper is fed for test printing, the flag is reset (step S11 in FIG. 3).

Thereby, a test print can be performed without causing the user to misidentify a failure or cause troublesome operations, and without having to select an undesired paper feeding means after the test print.

[Example] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a schematic internal configuration of a recording apparatus of the present invention. The apparatus of this example is an electrophotographic laser beam printer equipped with three paper feeding means, where 1 is a photosensitive drum that transfers a latent image produced by a laser beam onto paper via toner, and 2 is a photosensitive drum on which a latent image formed by a laser beam is transferred onto paper via toner. A fixing roller heats and presses the toner to fix it; 3 is an output tray that stores the printed paper; 4, 5, and 6 are paper feeding means such as cassettes that contain the paper; 7, 8, and 9 are respective paper feeding rollers. , 10 is a laser section that oscillates a laser beam, 11 is a laser driver that drives the laser section and modulates the laser beam, 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes an OR circuit that logically adds two signals, and 13 an internal pattern generator that generates a character pattern in response to an input signal.

In the above configuration, when the paper feed means 4 is selected by a control system having a paper feed means selection function according to the present invention, which will be described later, during a test printer, the paper feed roller 7 is rotated by a print command, and the paper feed roller 7 is rotated and The paper is fed by descending onto the paper in the paper means 4, and the latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 1 by laser beam irradiation is developed by a known electrophotographic method, for example, the NP process method, and is then placed on the paper. The paper that has been transferred, fixed and recorded by the fixing roller 2 is transferred to the output tray 3.
Excrete inside. The same applies when the other paper feeding means 5 or 6 is selected.

On the other hand, the photosensitive drum 1 is exposed to light by on/off modulating the laser light emitted from the laser section 10 by the laser driver 11. Recording information is sent from an external controller (not shown) or from an internal pattern generator 13 through an OR circuit 12 to the laser driver 11,
The laser section 10 is turned on and off.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the structure of the paper feeding means selection circuit of the apparatus shown in FIG. Here, 21 is a test print switch that instructs test printing, 22 is a control unit that performs overall control according to the control procedure shown in FIG. 3, and 23, 27, and 30 are A paper feeding means selection flag is set by the control unit and indicates the paper feeding means used for test printing; 25 is a paper feeding command signal issued from the control unit 22; 24, 2;
8 and 31 are AND circuits that gate the paper feed command signal 25 using flags 23, 27, and 30 as gate signals; 26, 29, and 32 are AND circuits 2
a paper feed roller drive circuit that is activated by the output signals of 4, 28, and 31 to drive the paper feed rollers 7, 8, and 9;
33 is a paper out sensor that detects the presence or absence of paper in the paper feed means 4; 34 is a paper out sensor that detects the presence or absence of paper in the paper feed means 5; and 35 is a paper out sensor that detects the presence or absence of paper in the paper feed means 6. This is a paperless sensor.

If a microprocessor is used as the control unit 22 described above, the input port of the microprocessor 22 is connected to the paper out sensor 3 of the paper feeding means 4.
3. Paper out sensor 34 of paper feeding means 5, paper feeding means 6
The paper out sensor 35 and the test print switch 21 are connected, and the output port is connected to the paper out sensor 35 and the test print switch 21.
The paper feeding means selection flags 23, 27, and 30, the paper feeding command signal line, and the internal pattern generator 13 are connected.

In the above configuration, when the test print switch 21 is pressed, the signal from that switch is sent to the control unit 22.
sent to. When the control unit 22 receives this test print signal, the paper out sensor 3 of the paper feeding means 4 is activated.
3 is detected, and if it is a signal indicating that there is paper, the paper feed means selection flag 23 for the paper feed means 4 is set to "1" and the paper feed command signal 25 is set to "1". Test printing using the electrophotographic method described above is started.

That is, at this time, the paper feed command signal 25 is set to "1".
When the output is sent to the AND circuits 24, 28, and 31, only the output of the AND circuit 24 to which "1" of the paper feed means selection flag 23 is input becomes "1", and this output "1" is sent to the paper feed roller drive circuit. 26.
This paper feed roller drive circuit 26 includes an AND circuit 24
A drive signal is generated by the output of the paper feed roller 7 for the paper feed means 4 in FIG. 1 (not shown).
Since the feed roller 7 rotates and descends according to the drive signal from the drive circuit 26,
Paper feeding from the paper feeding means 4 is executed, and test printing is performed.

However, if the output signal of the paper out sensor 33 is a signal indicating that there is no paper in the paper feeding means 4, the control unit 22 next detects the output signal of the paper out sensor 34 of the paper feeding means 5, and detects that there is paper. If the signal indicates that, the paper feeding means selection flag 27 for the paper feeding means 5 is set to "1" and a test print is performed on the paper fed from the paper feeding means 5 in the same manner as described above.

If there is no paper in the paper feed means 5, then the output signal of the paper out sensor 35 of the paper feed means 6 is detected, and if there is paper, paper is fed from the paper feed means 6 and a test print is performed.

On the other hand, at the same time as the test print sequence control described above is started, a start signal is sent from the control unit 22 to the internal pattern generator 13, and the output signal of the internal pattern generator 13 is passed through the OR circuit 12 shown in FIG. It is sent to the laser driver 11, and the laser section 1
0 laser light is turned on and off to expose the photosensitive drum 1.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of control operation when the control section 22 shown in FIG. 2 is configured with a microprocessor.

The microprocessor 22 performs sequence control of the entire recording device according to a main program stored in advance in an internal program memory.
Test switch 2 is part of the main program.
If a sense command is received by signal input No. 1 and the test switch 21 is pressed, a test print sequence operation according to the procedure shown in FIG. 3 is started (step S1).

First, the output of the paper out sensor 33 of the paper feeding means 4 is checked, and when this output is "0", that is, when there is no paper (step S2), then the output of the paper out sensor 34 of the paper feeding means 5 is checked. Check. When the output of this sensor 34 is “0” (step S3),
Next, the output of the paper out sensor 35 of the paper feeding means 6 is checked, and when this output is "0", the process returns to the main routine (step S4). That is, if there is no paper in all the paper feeding means 4 to 6, the process returns to the main routine without performing a test print.

On the other hand, if there is paper in the paper feeding means 4, the paper feeding means 4
Since the output of the paper out sensor 33 is “1”, when this output is detected, the paper feed means flag 23 is
is set to "1" (step S5), and the print sequence operation using the electrophotographic method described above is started. At the same time, the internal pattern generator 13 is turned on and output as an image signal (step S8), and the paper feed command 25 is set to "1" and output (step S9). Next, it is checked whether printing of one sheet has been completed, and if it has been completed (step S10), the paper feed means selection flags 23, 27 and 30 are reset (step S11), and then the internal pattern generator 13 is reset. is turned off (step S12) and returns to the main routine.

On the other hand, when there is no paper in the paper feeder 4 and there is paper in the paper feeder 5, the paper out sensor 3 of the paper feeder 5
Since the output of step 4 becomes "1", the paper feed means selection flag 27 is set to "1" (step S6), and the process then proceeds to step S8 described above, where the print sequence operation by electrophotography is performed in the same manner as described above. and perform a test print.

Similarly, when there is no paper in the paper feeders 4 and 5 and there is paper only in the paper feeder 6, the output of the paper out sensor 35 of the paper feeder 6 becomes "1". In this case, the paper feeding means selection flag 30 is set to "1" (step S7), and the process proceeds to step S8 in the same manner as described above, where a print sequence operation using electrophotography is performed and a test print is executed.

As described above, if a microprocessor is used for the control section 22, a simple configuration can be achieved.

[Effects] As described above, the present invention includes a plurality of paper feeding means, a control means, a plurality of detection means, and a test print switch, and the control means responds to pressing of the test print switch to A flag is set to indicate that recording paper is to be fed from the paper feeding means for which storage of recording paper has been detected by the detection means, and the flag is reset after paper has been fed for test printing, so the user can avoid any malfunctions. The effect is that test printing can be performed without causing misunderstandings or troublesome operations, and without having to select an undesired paper feeding means after the test printing.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic internal configuration diagram showing an example of an electrophotographic recording apparatus of the present invention having three paper feeding means, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a paper feeding means selection circuit of the apparatus shown in FIG. , FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of control operation when the control section 22 shown in FIG. 2 is configured by a microprocessor. 1... Photosensitive drum, 4, 5, 6... Paper feeding means,
7, 8, 9... Paper feeding roller, 13... Internal pattern generator, 22... Control unit (microprocessor), 23, 27, 30... Paper feeding means selection flag,
25...Paper feed command signal, 26, 29, 32...Paper feed roller drive circuit.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A plurality of paper feeding means each having a cassette for storing recording paper; a control means for setting a flag indicating from which of the plurality of paper feeding means the recording paper is to be fed; The control means includes a plurality of detection means for respectively detecting whether recording paper is stored in the cassette of the paper feeding means, and a test print switch that is pressed to instruct test printing. In response to the press of the switch, a flag is set indicating that the recording paper is to be fed from the paper feeding means for which storage of the recording paper has been detected by the plurality of detection means, and after paper feeding for test printing, the A recording device characterized by resetting a flag.