• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
  • 法律状态
  • 优先权
    • 专利摘要:
    end. The technical field to which the invention described in the claims belongs The present invention relates to a paper remaining amount detecting device and a display method of an automatic sheet feeder of an image forming apparatus. I. The technical problem to be solved by the invention The amount of paper remaining in the paper feed cassette of the image forming apparatus is sensed, and the remaining amount of paper is displayed on the host. All. Summary of Solution of the Invention A paper cassette having a plurality of sheets and having a light transmitting window formed at one side thereof, an optical sensor scanning light through the light transmitting window and receiving reflected light to generate an electrical signal according to the reflected light, and an output of the optical sensor And a memory for storing the remaining paper amount information, and a control unit for detecting the remaining paper amount embedded in the paper cassette by reading the remaining paper amount information corresponding to the electric signal. la. Important uses of the invention It is used in an image forming apparatus having an automatic paper feeder.
    公开号:KR19980057472A
    申请号:KR1019960076762
    申请日:1996-12-30
    公开日:1998-09-25
    发明作者:양철주
    申请人:김광호；삼성전자 주식회사；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    Remaining paper detection device and display method
    BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having an automatic sheet feeding apparatus, and more particularly, to a device for sensing the remaining amount of paper embedded in an automatic sheet feeding apparatus and a method for displaying the sheet remaining amount.
    Typically, an image forming apparatus such as a laser beam printer or the like has an automatic sheet feeding apparatus. The automatic paper feeder embeds a plurality of sheets of paper and supplies the sheets one by one during image formation.
    However, the user could not know the remaining amount of paper embedded in the automatic document feeder. As a result, when the paper is exhausted during image formation, the user has to inconvenience after having to reload the paper.
    Accordingly, in the related art, a transparent window is formed on the paper cassette of the automatic paper feeder so that the user can view the paper embedded in the automatic paper feeder.
    However, when a plurality of hosts can control a single image forming apparatus such as a networking environment, or when the image forming apparatus is located outside the field of view, it is not practical to check the remaining amount of paper by making a transparent window as described above.
    As described above, in the related art, a transparent window is formed on the paper cassette of the automatic document feeder so that the user can check the remaining amount of paper. However, the above method has been unrealistic when the image forming apparatus is located outside the networking environment or the field of view. .
    Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a paper remaining amount sensing device and a display method for sensing the remaining amount of paper embedded in the automatic sheet feeder, and displaying it on the host so that the user can conveniently recognize the remaining amount of paper.
    1 is a block diagram of a typical host,
    2 is a block diagram of a conventional laser beam printer;
    3 is a schematic installation diagram of an image forming apparatus in which a paper remaining amount sensing device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention is installed;
    4 is a detailed operation of the paper remaining amount detection device of FIG.
    5 is a flowchart of an image forming apparatus of a paper remaining amount display method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
    6 is a flowchart in the host of the method for displaying the remaining amount of paper according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
    The present invention for achieving the above object is a paper cassette having a plurality of papers, the light transmission window is formed on one side, and scans the light through the light transmission window and receives the reflected light to generate an electrical signal according to the reflected light And a control unit for sensing the remaining amount of paper embedded in the paper cassette by reading the remaining amount of paper information corresponding to the output of the optical sensor; It features.
    Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description and the annexed drawings, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. And a detailed description of known functions and configurations that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.
    1 is a block diagram of a typical host. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) 10 of the conventional host executes a set program and performs overall control of the host. The input / output interface 12 interfaces signals input and output between the CPU 10, the input device 14, the auxiliary storage device 16, and the output device 18. The input device 14 is a device for inputting various information or commands to the CPU 10 and may be a keyboard or a mouse. As the auxiliary memory device 16, a hard disk drive, a floppy disk drive, or the like is used. The output device 18 prints an image according to the print data provided by the CPU 10, and may be a laser beam printer, a plotter, or the like. The memory 20 is composed of a ROM and a RAM and stores an execution program of the CPU 10 and processing data of the CPU 10. The display controller 22 displays the various processing information of the CPU 10 on the monitor 24 under the control of the CPU 10. The monitor 24 displays an image according to the control of the display controller 22.
    2 is a block diagram of a conventional laser beam printer. The laser beam printer is largely composed of a video controller 26, a print engine unit 36, and an OPE 34. As shown in FIG. The video controller 26 includes a computer interface 28, a video controller 30, and an engine interface 32. The computer interface 28 is connected between the host computer and the video control unit 30 to interface the input and output signals. The video control unit 30 includes a ROM having a control program and a font, a ROM, an OPE 34, and a RAM temporarily storing various data input from a host, and is printed from the computer interface 28. The data is emulated into image data that the print engine 38 can process and transmitted to the print engine 36. The engine interface 32 interfaces an input / output signal with the print engine 36 under the control of the video controller 30. The OPE 34 is controlled by the video controller 30 and includes a plurality of keys for inputting various commands and a display device for displaying information according to the operation of the laser beam printer.
    The print engine unit 36 includes a video interface 38, an engine control unit 40, an input / output (I / O) interface 42, a sensor circuit 44, an instrument driving unit 46, and an electrophotographic developing unit 48. Is connected to the video controller 26. The video interface 38 provides an interface for transmission and reception signals between the video controller 26 and the engine controller 40. The engine controller 40 controls the mechanical drive unit 46 and the electrophotographic developing unit 48 under the control of the video controller 26, and prints an image according to the image data received from the video controller 26 on paper. In addition, the engine control unit 40 detects an operation state of each part of the print engine unit 36 through the sensor circuit 44. Examples of the operation state of each of the above portions are paper feeding and conveying states.
    The I / O interface 42 is connected between the engine control unit 40, the sensor circuit 44, the mechanical drive unit 46, and the electrophotographic developing unit 48 to interface the input / output signals of the engine control unit 40. The sensor circuit 44 drives various sensors for sensing the operation state of each part of the print engine unit 36, the paper feeding and conveying state, the developer amount, and the like, and the detection signal of each sensor is transmitted to the engine control unit 40. to provide. The mechanism driving unit 46 drives various mechanisms for feeding, feeding and printing paper sheets under the control of the engine control unit 40, and the electrophotographic developing unit 48 controls the image data under the control of the engine control unit 40. Print the image on paper.
    FIG. 3 is a schematic installation diagram of a laser beam printer having a paper remaining amount sensing device according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 shows a detailed operation of the paper remaining amount sensing device.
    Hereinafter, the operation of the paper remaining amount detecting device will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
    Normal paper is loaded in the paper cassette 50. One side of the paper cassette 50 is formed with a transmission window (T). An optical sensor 52 is provided inside the laser beam printer corresponding to the transmission window T. The optical sensor 52 scans light into the transmission window (T) as shown in FIG. The paper stacked on the paper cassette 50 reflects the light to generate reflected light. The reflected light is again received by the optical sensor 52. At this time, the optical sensor 52 generates an electrical signal according to the amount of light reflected. The electric signal corresponds to the remaining amount of paper in the paper cassette 50.
    5 is a flowchart of the laser beam printer of the method of displaying the remaining amount of paper according to an embodiment of the present invention. In operation 54 of FIG. 5, the video controller 30 searches whether a predetermined time has elapsed. At this time, if a predetermined time has passed, the video controller 30 performs step 56, and if it does not reach a predetermined time, step 58 is performed. In step 56, the video controller 30 detects the remaining amount of paper and stores the remaining amount of paper. When storage of the remaining amount of paper is terminated, the video controller 30 performs step 58. In step (58), the video controller 30 searches whether the paper remaining information transfer command has been transmitted from the host. In this case, the video control unit 30 performs step 60 if the remaining amount information transfer command is transmitted and performs step 62 if the remaining amount information transfer command is not transmitted. In step (60), the video controller 30 reads the remaining amount of paper information from the memory and transmits the remaining information. When the transmission is completed, the video controller 30 performs step 54. In step 62, the video controller 30 performs a corresponding function.
    6 is a flowchart in the host of the method for displaying the remaining paper amount according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In step (64) of FIG. 6, the CPU 10 searches whether the command for displaying the remaining amount of paper is input through an input device 14 such as a keyboard. At this time, if the command to display the remaining amount of paper is input through the input device 14, the CPU 10 performs step 66, and if the command to display the remaining amount of paper is not input through the input device 14 (72). Perform the steps. In step 72, the CPU 10 performs a corresponding function. In step (66), the CPU 10 transmits a paper remaining information transfer command to the output device 18 which is a laser beam printer. When the transfer ends, the CPU 10 searches whether the paper remaining amount information is received from the output device 18. At this time, the CPU 10 performs step (70) when the paper remaining amount information is received from the output device 18, and performs step (68) when the paper remaining amount information is not received from the output device 18. In step 70, the CPU 10 displays the paper remaining amount according to the paper remaining amount information on the monitor 24 through the display controller 22.
    As described above, the present invention displays the remaining amount of paper embedded in the automatic sheet feeder of the image forming apparatus to the user of the host when performing printing by controlling the image forming apparatus through the host.
    As described above, the present invention senses the remaining amount of paper embedded in the automatic document feeder and displays it on the host. It is convenient to recognize the remaining amount of paper.
    权利要求:
    Claims (2)
    [1" claim-type="Currently amended] In the paper remaining amount detection device of the paper feeder of the image forming apparatus,
    A paper cassette in which a plurality of papers are built and a light transmitting window is formed at one side;
    An optical sensor scanning the light through the light transmission window and receiving the reflected light to generate an electrical signal according to the reflected light;
    A memory storing information on the remaining amount of paper according to the output of the optical sensor;
    And a control unit for detecting the remaining amount of paper embedded in the paper cassette by reading the remaining amount of paper information corresponding to the electric signal.
    [2" claim-type="Currently amended] In the remaining paper display method,
    A paper remaining amount sensing step of sensing the remaining amount of paper embedded in the paper cassette at a predetermined time in the image forming apparatus and storing the remaining amount of paper information;
    A step of transmitting a paper remaining information sending command for transmitting a command for transmitting the remaining paper remaining information to a printer when a user inputs an indication of remaining paper remaining in a host;
    A paper remaining information transmitting step of transmitting the paper remaining information to a host when the image forming apparatus receives the command of remaining paper remaining information;
    And a paper remaining amount displaying step of receiving the paper remaining amount information from the host to display the remaining amount of paper.
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    KR100191214B1|1999-06-15|
    引用文献:
    公开号 | 申请日 | 公开日 | 申请人 | 专利标题
    法律状态:
    1996-12-30|Application filed by 김광호, 삼성전자 주식회사
    1996-12-30|Priority to KR1019960076762A
    1998-09-25|Publication of KR19980057472A
    1999-06-15|Application granted
    1999-06-15|Publication of KR100191214B1
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    KR1019960076762A|KR100191214B1|1996-12-30|1996-12-30|Device for sensing sheet remainder and method thereof|
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