Electrophotography – Diagnostics – Unit or part identification
Reexamination Certificate
1999-12-21
2001-11-27
Royer, William J. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Diagnostics
Unit or part identification
C399S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06324351
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image-forming apparatus unit such as a developing device, used in an image-forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer, and an image-forming apparatus, and more specifically, concerns an image-forming apparatus unit which can communicate with the image-forming apparatus on information related to the unit itself, and the image-forming apparatus provided with such a unit.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventionally, the image-forming apparatus of the electrophotographic system is generally provided with a developing device which has a plurality of developing members containing predetermined developers, placed face to face with an image-bearing body, and developer supplying containers installed in toner supplying sections corresponding to the respective developing members so as to supply developers to the respective developing members, and which visualizes an electrostatic latent image formed on the image-bearing body.
With respect to misinsertion preventing mechanisms used at the time of loading a toner cartridge to the toner supplying section of such a developing device as a developer supplying container, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 1682/1992 (Tokukaihei 4-1682, published Jan. 7, 1992) has proposed such a mechanism. In this mechanism, a bar code reader, attached to the toner supplying section as an information reading means, reads bar code information placed on the toner cartridge, and based upon the results of the reading operation, a judgment is made as to whether or not the toner cartridge to be inserted is a suitable one; thus, based upon the results of the judgment, a misinsertion preventing shutter is operated so as to prevent misinsertion of the toner cartridge.
Moreover, there is another well-known method in which, when a developer supplying container having an information storage medium such as an non-volatile memory is inserted to the toner supplying section of a developing device, an electric circuit is formed between the developing member and the developer supplying container. In this method, information possessed by the developer supplying container is applied to the developing member side or the apparatus main body side, and based upon the results of the judgment, misinsertion is prevented.
However, when the misinsertion preventing mechanism of the toner cartridge disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 1682/1992 (Tokukaihei 4-1682) is adopted, a bar code needs to be placed on each toner cartridge and an information reading means such as a bar code reader needs to be attached to each toner supplying section, resulting in an increase in costs.
Moreover, since the bar code placed on the toner cartridge is located in the vicinity of developers and toners, it tends to be contaminated, and the optical information reading means such as a bar code reader is also susceptible to developer and toner contamination, thereby causing problems such as errors in reading the bar code.
Similarly, in the above-mentioned method in which the electric circuit is formed between the developing member and the developer supplying container provided with an information storage medium such as a non-volatile memory so as to transmit and receive the information possessed by the developer supplying container by means of electric signals, the contacts tend to be contaminated by toners and developers closely located, resulting in problems such as malcontact and abrasion.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been devised so as to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and its objective is to provide an image-forming apparatus unit serving not only as a developer supplying container but also as one of various units related to image-forming processes, which can prevent an erroneous insertion to an image-forming apparatus main body by using an inexpensive method with high reliability, and also to provide an image-forming apparatus using such an image-forming apparatus unit.
The image-forming apparatus unit of the present invention, which is detachably attached to a predetermined portion of the main body of an image-forming apparatus, is provided with a communication means which transmits individual information that is information related to the unit itself to a main body side communication means installed in the main body of the image-forming apparatus by means of electric waves, following the loading operation of the image-forming apparatus unit to the predetermined portion.
With the above-mentioned arrangement, the image-forming apparatus unit has a communication means, and the communication means carries out transmission by using electric waves so that it can transmit the individual information related to the unit itself to the main body side communication means installed in the main body of the image-forming apparatus by means of radio waves. Here, the transmission is carried out following the loading operation of the image-forming apparatus unit to the predetermined portion; therefore, the individual information of the image-forming apparatus unit itself to be inserted is transmitted to the main body side communication means installed in the image-forming apparatus main body.
Thus, the image-forming apparatus is allowed to make a judgment as to whether or not the image-forming apparatus unit to be inserted is suitable for the loading operation based upon the received individual information.
Here, since only one main body side communication means needs to be installed, and since, different from the conventional system, bar code readers need not be installed for the individual toner supply sections, it becomes possible to reduce costs.
Moreover, since the communication is carried out by radio waves, no adverse effect is given to the communication even if the image-forming apparatus units and/or the image-forming apparatus are contaminated by toner, etc., and since the communication is automatically started at the time of attaching any of the copying machine units to the copying machine main body, no complex operation is required for carrying out the communication.
Furthermore, since the communication is made in a non-contact state, limitations in an installation method due to the necessity for constructing an electrical circuit between the image-forming apparatus unit and the main body of the image-forming apparatus are no longer imposed, and the directivity of communication is widened as compared with the bar-code reading, thereby making it possible to improve the degree of freedom in designing the installation mode. The resulting simple construction of the image-forming apparatus reduces a space required and the resulting elimination of terminals (connectors) makes it possible to improve the durability.
Therefore, it is possible to provide an image-forming apparatus unit which can prevent an erroneous insertion to the image-forming apparatus main body by using an inexpensive method with high reliability.
The image-forming apparatus of the present invention is provided with: a predetermined portion to which an image-forming apparatus unit for carrying out an image forming process is detachably attached; a detection means for detecting an loading operation of the image-forming apparatus unit; a main body side communication means which, upon detection by the detection means, receives individual information that is information related to the image-forming apparatus unit by means of electric waves; and judgment means which makes a judgment on the individual information based upon a predetermined standard, and outputs the results of the judgement.
In accordance with the above-mentioned arrangement, in the image-forming apparatus, when the loading operation of an image-forming apparatus unit is carried out, the detection means detects this operation. Next, following the detection, the main body side communication means (reception means) receives the individual information transmitted from the communication means of the image-forming
Fujita Syouichi
Kurimoto Atsushi
Saiko Hideji
Sakita Hirofumi
Conlin David G.
Dike Bronstein Roberts & Cushman IP Group
Royer William J.
Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha
Tucker David A.
LandOfFree
Image-forming apparatus unit and image-forming apparatus does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Image-forming apparatus unit and image-forming apparatus, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Image-forming apparatus unit and image-forming apparatus will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2601270