Image forming apparatus and sorting method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10183832-B2
Application number	US-201615055587-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2016
Priority date	Feb 27, 2015
Publication date	Jan 22, 2019
Grant date	Jan 22, 2019

Abstract

Provided is an image forming apparatus and a sorting method allowing paper sheets to be sorted by size or thickness from a bundle of documents that have been already printed with no need for adding a sensor, or the like, or during the time for printing preparation, or the like. The image forming apparatus includes a first detecting part, a paper discharging part and a control part. The first detecting part detects the pass of an edge part of the document. The control part determines the length of a document along the direction of conveyance from the time required from the moment when the document reaches the first detecting part to the moment when it pass the first detecting part, determining the sorting destination.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a paper feeding part that accommodates a plurality of documents,
a registration roller pair that conveys a document fed out from the paper feeding part to an image forming part at a specified speed,
a first detecting part for detecting the pass of an edge part of the document immediately before being conveyed to the image forming part,
a paper discharging part that discharges the document conveyed after having passed the image forming part,
a plurality of paper delivery trays that accumulate the document discharged to the paper discharging part,
a storing part for storing a piece of characteristic information related to the document that is accumulated on each of the plurality of paper delivery trays,
a moving part for moving any one of the plurality of paper delivery trays or all of the plurality of paper delivery trays to a specified position,
a control part that controls the moving part,
an inputting part for inputting various numerical values or various instruction commands to the control part, and
an image forming part that includes a fixing part to fix a toner image on a printing paper sheet fed from the paper feeding part,
the control part
determining a length of the document in a direction of conveyance from the time required from the moment when the document conveyed at the specified speed has reached the first detecting part to the moment when the document passes the first detecting part,
determining any one of the plurality of paper delivery trays as a sorting destination on the basis of the length of each of the plurality of documents along the direction of conveyance, and the piece of characteristic information that has been previously stored in the storing part or otherwise is stored in a successive manner, and
moving the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination to a position opposed to the paper discharging part;
wherein
the image forming part
includes a processing part that uses a preparation period from the moment when a process starting instruction has been inputted by the inputting part to the moment when an image becomes capable of being formed,
the control part, even during the preparation period, conveys the document to the image forming part,
the control part accumulates the document on the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination;
there is provided a second detecting part for detecting a thickness of the document conveyed to the image forming part,
the control part
further determines the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination on the basis of the thickness of the document,
moves the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination to a position opposed to the paper discharging part, and
by receiving an instruction from the inputting part, specifies whether a priority is to be given to sorting by the length of the document along the direction of conveyance or a priority is to be given to sorting by the thickness of the document;
the image forming apparatus is configured such that, when printing, warming up of the fixing part is performed, a toner image is formed on the printing paper sheet by the image forming part after the fixing part is warmed up, the toner image formed on the printing paper sheet is fixed by the fixing part, and thereafter, the printing paper sheet on which the toner image is fixed is discharged onto the paper delivery tray;
the image forming apparatus is configured such that, in the sorting process, warming up of the fixing part is not performed, and, instead of the printing paper sheet, a document that is to be sorted is fed from the paper feeding part;
the image forming apparatus is configured such that, when an instruction for sorting documents on a length-priority basis has been given, documents which are different in thickness therefrom are respectively discharged to different paper delivery tray for every length of the documents, and when an instruction for sorting documents on a thickness-priority basis has been given, documents which are different in length therefrom are respectively discharged to different paper delivery tray for every thickness of the documents; and
the image forming apparatus is configured such that pieces of information indicating sorting conditions about thickness and length of the documents to be sorted are stored in the storing part for every paper delivery tray, and then a document having thickness or length corresponding to the pieces of information is discharged to the paper delivery tray according to the sorting condition.

2. A sorting method, being used with an image forming apparatus including:
a paper feeding part that accommodates a plurality of documents,
a registration roller pair that conveys a document fed out from the paper feeding part to an image forming part at a specified speed,
a first detecting part for detecting the pass of an edge part of the document immediately before being conveyed to the image forming part,
a paper discharging part that discharges the document conveyed after having passed the image forming part,
a plurality of paper delivery trays that accumulate the document discharged to the paper discharging part,
a storing part for storing a piece of characteristic information related to the document that is accumulated on each of the plurality of paper delivery trays,
a moving part for moving any one of the plurality of paper delivery trays or all of the plurality of paper delivery trays to a specified position,
a control part that controls the moving part,
an inputting part for inputting various numerical values or various instruction commands to the control part, and
an image forming part that includes a fixing part to fix a toner image on a printing paper sheet fed from the paper feeding part,
comprising:
a first step of determining a length of the document along the direction of conveyance from the time required from the moment when the document conveyed at the specified speed has reached the first detecting part to the moment when the document passes the first detecting part,
a second step of specifying the sorting destination of the document on the basis of the length of each of the plurality of documents along the direction of conveyance, and the piece of characteristic information that has been previously stored in the storing part or otherwise is stored in a successive manner, and
a third step of moving the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination of the document that has been specified in the second step to a position opposed to the paper discharging part, and
a fourth step of discharging the document from the paper discharging part;
wherein
the image forming apparatus includes a processing part that uses a preparation period from the moment when a process starting instruction has been inputted by the inputting part to the moment when an image becomes capable of being formed, wherein
the control part, even during the preparation period, conveys the document to the image forming part,
the control part accumulates the document on the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination,
the an image forming apparatus includes a second detecting part for detecting a thickness of the document conveyed to the image forming part,
the second step comprises further specifying the paper delivery tray as the sorting destination on the basis of the thickness of the document,
the method comprises a step of rearranging the contents of the corresponding portion of the characteristic information that has been stored in the storing part such that, on the basis of an instruction input that has been received from the inputting part prior to the first step, there is provided an order of priority that gives a priority to sorting by the length of the document along the direction of conveyance or a priority to sorting by the thickness of the doc

Assignees

• Kyocera Document Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Ogasawara Hideyuki

Classifications

• B65H2301/1421

  Single sheet or set of sheets · CPC title

• B65H2301/141

  of different format, e.g. A0 - A4 · CPC title

• B65H39/11 Primary

  in superposed carriers · CPC title

• B65H31/24

  multiple or compartmented, e.d. for alternate, programmed, or selective filling · CPC title

• B65H2511/13

  Thickness · CPC title