Image forming apparatus, sheet type determination method and program in the apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11099511-B2
Application number	US-202016932980-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2020
Priority date	Aug 16, 2019
Publication date	Aug 24, 2021
Grant date	Aug 24, 2021

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes: a sheet feeding tray that stores a sheet; a sheet thickness measurement device that measures a sheet thickness of the sheet fed from the sheet feeding tray; a hardware processor that: determines a type of the sheet of which the sheet thickness is measured, a sheet type associated with each of sheet thickness ranges, and the sheet thickness measured by the sheet thickness measurement device; and adjusts a first sheet thickness range to cause the first sheet thickness range to be expandable to at least one of an upper limit value side or a lower limit value side; and an image former that forms an image on the sheet fed from the sheet feeding tray under image forming conditions corresponding to the sheet type determined by the hardware processor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a sheet feeding tray that stores a sheet;
a sheet thickness measurement device that measures a sheet thickness of the sheet fed from the sheet feeding tray;
a hardware processor that:
determines a type of the sheet of which the sheet thickness is measured, on a basis of a plurality of sheet thickness ranges set in advance, a sheet type associated with each of the sheet thickness ranges, and the sheet thickness measured by the sheet thickness measurement device; and
adjusts a first sheet thickness range to cause the first sheet thickness range to be expandable to at least one of an upper limit value side or a lower limit value side, in a case where a second sheet thickness measurement is performed by the sheet thickness measurement device after a first sheet thickness measurement by the sheet thickness measurement device in an identical job, by setting at least one of a temporary upper limit value or a temporary lower limit value obtained by addition or subtraction of a predetermined amount of adjustment with a first sheet thickness measured by the first sheet thickness measurement as a reference, and also by setting, as an adjusted upper limit value, a larger one of an upper limit value of the first sheet thickness range including the first sheet thickness or the temporary upper limit value, in a case where the temporary upper limit value is set, and setting, as an adjusted lower limit value, a smaller one of a lower limit value of the first sheet thickness range or the temporary lower limit value, in a case where the temporary lower limit value is set; and

an image former that forms an image on the sheet fed from the sheet feeding tray under image forming conditions corresponding to the sheet type determined by the hardware processor, wherein
the hardware processor determines the sheet type for the second sheet thickness measurement by applying an adjusted sheet thickness range by the hardware processor instead of the first sheet thickness range.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor adjusts the first sheet thickness range in a case where a difference between the first sheet thickness and the upper limit value or the lower limit value is less than or equal to a predetermined value, and also adjusts the upper limit value side of the first sheet thickness range in a case where the difference between the first sheet thickness and the upper limit value is less than or equal to the predetermined value, and adjusts the lower limit value side of the first sheet thickness range in a case where the difference between the first sheet thickness and the lower limit value is less than or equal to the predetermined value.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the hardware processor adjusts the upper limit value side of the first sheet thickness range in a case where the difference between the first sheet thickness and the upper limit value is smaller than the difference between the first sheet thickness and the lower limit value, and adjusts the lower limit value side of the first sheet thickness range in a case where the difference between the first sheet thickness and the lower limit value is smaller than the difference between the first sheet thickness and the upper limit value.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a table in which the sheet type is defined for each of the plurality of sheet thickness ranges, wherein
the hardware processor determines the sheet type on a basis of the table.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the amount of adjustment is set for each of the sheet types.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the amount of adjustment is set on a basis of a past sheet thickness measurement value.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a selector that allows a user to select whether or not to perform adjustment of the sheet thickness range by the hardware processor.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the identical job is a job that uses a plurality of the sheet feeding trays, the first sheet thickness measurement and the second sheet thickness measurement by the sheet thickness measurement device are performed for each of the sheet feeding trays.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where the identical job is a job that uses sheets of a plurality of sizes, the first sheet thickness measurement and the second sheet thickness measurement by the sheet thickness measurement device are performed for each of sheet sizes.

10. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements are further performed by the sheet thickness measurement device after the first sheet thickness measurement and the second sheet thickness measurement in the identical job, for the third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements, the hardware processor determines the sheet type by fixedly applying the sheet thickness range adjusted by the hardware processor for sheet type determination for the second sheet thickness measurement.

11. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements are further performed by the sheet thickness measurement device after the first sheet thickness measurement and the second sheet thickness measurement in the identical job, for the third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements, the hardware processor determines the sheet type by applying the sheet thickness range adjusted by the hardware processor with the first sheet thickness as a reference.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements are further performed by the sheet thickness measurement device after the first sheet thickness measurement and the second sheet thickness measurement in the identical job, for the third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements, the hardware processor determines the sheet type by applying the sheet thickness range adjusted by the hardware processor with a latest sheet thickness as a reference.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein in a case where third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements are further performed by the sheet thickness measurement device after the first sheet thickness measurement and the second sheet thickness measurement in the identical job, for the third and subsequent sheet thickness measurements, the hardware processor adjusts the sheet thickness range with an average value of a plurality of sheet thicknesses up to a latest sheet thickness as a reference.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a first storage device that stores the sheet thickness measured by the sheet thickness measurement device, wherein
the hardware processor clears the sheet thickness stored in the first storage device, and
the hardware processor clears the sheet thickness stored in the first storage device at at least one of a timing when discharge of a final sheet outside the image forming apparatus is completed in the job in which the first sheet thickness is measured, a timing when target data of the job is deleted, or a timing when the job starts.

15. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising
a first storage device that stores the sheet thickness measured by the sheet thickness measurement d

Assignees

• Konica Minolta Inc

Inventors

• Kawabata Mie
• Murakawa Akira
• Kawai Atsushi

Classifications

• G03G15/5029 Primary

  by measuring the copy material characteristics, e.g. weight, thickness · CPC title

• G03G15/6594

  characterised by the format or the thickness, e.g. endless forms · CPC title

• G03G2215/00738

  of sheet thickness or rigidity · CPC title