Electrophotography – Diagnostics – Consumable
Reexamination Certificate
2001-07-31
2003-12-16
Grainger, Quana M. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Diagnostics
Consumable
Reexamination Certificate
active
06665501
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a communication controlling method and a storage medium, and particularly to an image forming apparatus, a communication controlling method and a storage medium suitable for application to an electrophotographic recording apparatus, an electrostatic recording apparatus or the like having expendibles such as toner cartridges or interchangeable parts such as devices to be interchanged due to their service lives.
This invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as an electrophotographic apparatus or an electrostatic recording apparatus having expendibles such as toner cartridges or interchangeable parts such as devices to be interchanged due to their service lives.
2. Related Background Art
There have heretofore been image forming apparatus for forming an image on paper by the electrophotographic recording process or the like.
FIG. 13
of the accompanying drawings schematically shows the construction of an example of an image forming apparatus of the tandem type. In the following description, a plurality of functionally equal units exist in the image forming apparatus and therefore, reference numerals designating the plurality of functionally equal units are given suffixes a, b, c and d, and in descriptions common to all units, those reference numerals will sometimes be shown with the suffixes a, b, c and d omitted therefrom.
The image forming apparatus of the tandem type is comprised of a plurality of image forming portions including black (Bk), yellow (Y), magenta (M) and cyan (C). In each image forming portion, the reference numeral
18
designates a photosensitive drum (image bearing body) made of an organic photosensitive body or an amorphous silicon photosensitive body, and the photosensitive drum
18
is subjected to the uniform charging process of predetermined polarity and potential by a charging device
16
such as a charging roller in the rotating process thereof. A scanner unit
11
outputs a laser beam
13
modulated correspondingly to an image signal of desired image information from an image signal generating unit such as an image reading apparatus, not shown, and scans it on the photosensitive drum
18
by a deflecting mirror, not shown, through an optical lens system, not shown, whereby an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum.
FIG. 14
of the accompanying drawings is a perspective view showing the construction of the scanner unit
11
of each image forming portion of the above-described image forming apparatus. The operation of the scanner unit
11
will hereinafter be described with reference to FIG.
14
. The reference numeral
31
denotes a semiconductor laser, the reference numeral
32
designates a collimator lens, the reference numeral
33
denotes a cylindrical lens, the reference numeral
34
designates a polygon mirror, the reference numeral
35
denotes a scanner motor, the reference numeral
36
designates a spherical lens, the reference numeral
37
denotes an f&thgr; lens, the reference numeral
38
designates a deflecting mirror, and the reference numeral
39
denotes a horizontal synchronizing signal detector.
The semiconductor laser
31
emits light by a laser driving signal modulated on the basis of the image signal, and the laser beam is shaped into a beam shape by the collimator lens
32
and the cylindrical lens
33
. The polygon mirror
34
is rotated by the steadily rotating scanner motor
35
, and the laser beam reflected by the surface of the polygon mirror is scanned in a fan-shape. Further, the laser beam is shaped by optical lens units such as the spherical lens
36
, the f&thgr; lens
37
and the deflecting mirror
38
and also scans the surface of the photosensitive drum at constant velocity. The horizontal synchronizing signal detector
39
is generally comprised of a photodiode and an amplifier, and detects the scanned laser beam and generates a synchronizing signal in a main scanning direction.
Further,
FIG. 13
will be described. The reference numeral
14
designates a developing device which contains a developer (toner) therein and has a toner carrying mechanism generally directed to the charging and carrying of the toner. The photosensitive drum
18
on which the electrostatic latent image has been formed is brought into contact with or proximity to a developing roller
17
, whereby the electrostatic latent image is visualized as an image by the toner selectively adhering to the surface of the photosensitive drum in conformity with the electrostatic state thereof. The reference numeral
22
denotes a cassette containing transferring materials
29
therein. A transferring material fed from the cassette
22
by a feeding roller is conveyed between the photosensitive drum
18
and a transferring device
19
in the image forming portion by a conveying belt
20
for holding and conveying the transferring material. At this time, the toner image on the photosensitive drum
18
developed in the above-described developing process is transferred to the transferring material
29
by a transferring device
19
. The image is passed through the image forming portions of four colors in succession, whereby developers of four colors are multiple-transferred.
Any residual toner on the photosensitive drum
18
which has not been transferred in this transferring process is removed and collected by a cleaning device
15
comprising a cleaning blade or the like. The reference numeral
23
designates a fixing device. The fixing device
23
is generally comprised of a plurality of rollers facing with each other, and has a heating portion such as a heater inside or outside the roller. Also, the fixing device
23
is provided with a temperature detector near the rollers, and is controlled so as to assume a predetermined temperature by monitoring temperature by a CPU or the like and controlling the heating amount of the heater. In the above-described transferring process, the transferring material
29
to which the toner has been transferred is heated and pressurized by the fixing device
23
and the toner image thereon is melted and fixed. Thereafter, the fixed transferring material
29
is conveyed through a discharging mechanism and is discharged from the image forming apparatus and thus, printing is completed.
In such an image forming apparatus, the above-described developing device
14
containing the toner is an interchangeable unit which must on occasion be interchanged due to the consumption of the toner. Such an interchangeable unit is interchanged by the user when the remaining amount of toner has been detected and the user has been informed of the detection result, or simply that it is time to exchange the unit because the toner is running low. The detection of the remaining amount of toner should more desirably be reported to the user before the toner becomes exhausted and printing becomes impossible than before the exhaustion of the toner is reported, so that the user can be prepared for the interchange of the interchangeable unit. Further, ideally, if the used amount of expendibles is always reported, the user can know precisely not only when it is time for interchange but also the used state of expendibles, and for example, this approach provides the user with information for judging whether the remaining expendibles are sufficient when a great deal of documents are to be printed. As described above, it is desirable that the used state of the interchangeable unit can be understood precisely.
However, the interchangeable unit like an article of consumption is a unit construction discrete from the main body of the image forming apparatus, and for example, when a developing device
14
used in other image forming apparatus is mounted on a discrete image forming apparatus, it is difficult to judge to what degree the developing device
14
has been used. So, a nonvolatile memory is carried on an interchangeable unit and the used amount of the interchangeable unit is cumulatively recorde
Nakayama Toshiki
Okada Tomoyuki
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
Grainger Quana M.
LandOfFree
Image forming apparatus, communication controlling method... 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, communication controlling method..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Image forming apparatus, communication controlling method... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3176063