Image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9395689-B2
Application number	US-201313766823-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2013
Priority date	Feb 23, 2012
Publication date	Jul 19, 2016
Grant date	Jul 19, 2016

Abstract

An image forming apparatus, having: a supply unit that forwards a sheet material; a rotor that feeds the sheet material; a memory unit that has stored therein a masking sound for noise; a derivation unit that derives a current position of the sheet material being fed; a determination unit that determines, on the basis of the current position derived by the derivation unit, whether or not the sheet material being fed has reached a second specified location at a predetermined distance upstream from the first specified location; a decision unit that decides output timing and/or output duration for the masking sound in the memory unit upon an affirmative determination by the determination unit; and a sound output unit that outputs the masking sound in the memory unit in accordance with the output timing and/or the output duration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a supply unit that forwards a sheet material on a tray to a feeding path;
a rotor that feeds the sheet material in the feeding path;
a detection unit that detects the sheet material being fed and outputs a detection signal;
a memory unit that has stored therein a masking sound for noise generated at a first specified location in the feeding path during the feeding of the sheet material, wherein the masking sound possesses a default intensity and a default frequency;
a derivation unit that derives:
a current position of the sheet material being fed in the feeding path on the basis of the detection signal outputted by the detection unit,
an ideal position in the feeding path at which the sheet material should be located, on the basis of an elapsed time from the forwarding of the sheet material by the supply unit or from the start of rotation of a resist roller pair provided in the feeding path and operable to rotate and stop rotating, and also on the basis of a speed of the rotor feeding the sheet material, and
an amount of position deviation between the derived current position and the derived ideal position;

a determination unit that determines, on the basis of the current position derived by the derivation unit, an affirmative determination when the sheet material being fed has reached a second specified location at a predetermined distance upstream from the first specified location;
a decision unit that decides at least one of output timing and output duration for the masking sound in the memory unit on the basis of the amount of position deviation derived by the derivation unit and further decides at least one of an intensity and a frequency of the masking sound in the memory unit on the basis of the amount of position deviation upon the affirmative determination by the determination unit; and
a sound output unit that outputs the masking sound in the memory unit in accordance with at least one of the output timing and the output duration and at least one of the intensity and the frequency decided by the decision unit, wherein
the at least one of the intensity and the frequency of the masking sound, decided by the decision unit on the basis of the amount of position deviation, is different than at least one of the default intensity and the default frequency when the amount of position deviation is above a predetermined value.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the derivation unit further derives a correction value for the derived ideal position on the basis of at least one of the following: longevity information about the rotor and feeding mode; size and type of sheet material to be fed by the rotor; and temperature and humidity inside and outside the image forming apparatus;
the image forming apparatus further comprises a correction unit for correcting the ideal position derived by the derivation unit, on the basis of the correction value derived by the derivation unit; and
the derivation unit derives the amount of position deviation between the ideal position corrected by the correction unit and the derived current position.

3. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the decision unit decides the output timing of the masking sound in the memory unit by shifting a default for the output timing of the masking sound by the amount of deviation derived by the derivation unit.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the decision unit decides the output duration of the masking sound in the memory unit by increasing a default for the output duration of the masking sound by the amount of position deviation derived by the derivation unit.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the derivation unit derives:
the current position of the sheet material being fed in the feeding path on the basis of the detection signal outputted by the detection unit at a specific time,
the ideal position in the feeding path at which the sheet material should be located at the specific time, and
the amount of position deviation between the derived current position at the specific time and the derived ideal position at the specific time.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the intensity of the masking sound is greater when the derived current position is ahead of the derived ideal position than when the derived current position is equal to or behind the derived ideal position.

7. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a supply unit that forwards a sheet material on a tray to a feeding path;
a rotor that feeds the sheet material in the feeding path;
a detection unit that detects the sheet material being fed and outputs a detection signal;
a memory unit that has stored therein a masking sound for noise generated at a first specified location in the feeding path during the feeding of the sheet material, wherein the masking sound possesses a default intensity and a default frequency;
a derivation unit that derives:
a current position of the sheet material being fed in the feeding path on the basis of the detection signal outputted by the detection unit,
an ideal position in the feeding path at which the sheet material should be located, on the basis of an elapsed time from the forwarding of the sheet material by the supply unit or from the start of rotation of a resist roller pair provided in the feeding path and operable to rotate and stop rotating, and also on the basis of a speed of the rotor feeding the sheet material, and
an amount of time deviation of the elapsed time;

a determination unit that determines, on the basis of the current position derived by the derivation unit, an affirmative determination when the sheet material being fed has reached a second specified location at a predetermined distance upstream from the first specified location;
a decision unit that decides at least one of output timing and output duration for the masking sound in the memory unit on the basis of the amount of time deviation derived by the derivation unit and further decides at least one of an intensity and a frequency of the masking sound in the memory unit on the basis of the amount of time deviation upon the affirmative determination by the determination unit; and
a sound output unit that outputs the masking sound in the memory unit in accordance with at least one of the output timing and the output duration and at least one of the intensity and the frequency decided by the decision unit, wherein
the at least one of the intensity and the frequency of the masking sound, decided by the decision unit on the basis of the amount of time deviation, is different than at least one of the default intensity and the default frequency when the amount of time deviation is above a predetermined value.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the intensity of the masking sound is greater when the derived current position is ahead of the derived ideal position than when the derived current position is equal to or behind the derived ideal position.

Assignees

• Mae Hideo
• Ito Takayuki
• Konica Minolta Business Tech

Inventors

• Mae Hideo
• Ito Takayuki

Classifications

• G03G21/20 Primary

  Humidity or temperature control {also ozone evacuation; Internal apparatus environment control} · CPC title