Image forming apparatus with improved maintenance control

• US 5,303,005 A
• Filed: 07/29/1993
• Issued: 04/12/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha
• Original Assignee: Minolta Camera Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Takano, Yoshiaki, Hatta, Yoshihiko, Shimizu, Tadafumi, Nishimori, Kadotari, Kamitamari, Manabu, Ito, Masazumi, Hata, Yoshiaki, Yoshiyama, Tsugihito, Ideyama, Hiroyuki, Shibata, Yoshifumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Grimley, A. T.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brase, Sandra L.
• Application Number:
  US08/098,244
• Time in Patent Office: 257 Days
• Field of Search: 355/200, 355/202, 355/203, 355/204, 355/205, 355/206, 355/207, 355/208, 355/209, 364/184, 364/185, 364/186, 358/296, 358/300, 371/29.1
• US Class Current: 399/8
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/5079 for maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/55 Self-diagnostics; Malfunction or lifetime display
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0733 in a data processing system embedded in an image processing device, e.g. printer, facsimile, scanner
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0748 in a remote unit communicating with a single-box computer node experiencing an error/fault remote testing G06F11/2294
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2294 by remote test

Abstract

A control system of image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to each of said image forming apparatus through a communication line.

Each of said image forming apparatus includes a detecting device for detecting contents of maintenance work for the image forming apparatus, and a transmitting device for transmitting the work data showing the detected results by the detecting device to the control unit through the communication line. The control unit includes a receiving device for receiving the work data transmitted from one of the image forming apparatus and a memory for storing the received work data.

Claims

1. An image forming apparatus connectable to an external control unit through a communication line, comprising:

means, associated with at least one element of said image forming apparatus, for generating a signal having a first value when maintenance work has been performed on said at least one element and a second value indicating that maintenance work has not been performed;

first detecting means for detecting maintenance work performed by a serviceman on said image forming apparatus based on said generated signal;

second detecting means for detecting operating parameters of said image forming apparatus;

storing means for storing work data indicating the detected results by said first detecting means and parameter data indicating the detected results by said second detecting means; and

transmitting means for transmitting at least said work data stored in said storing means to said control unit through said communication line.

2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said maintenance work includes parts replacement.

3. An image forming apparatus connectable to an external control unit through a communication line, comprising:

means, associated with at least one element of said image forming apparatus, for generating a signal having a first value when maintenance work has been performed on said at least one element and a second value indicating that maintenance work has not been performed;

detecting means for detecting performance of maintenance work for said image forming apparatus based on said generated signal;

storing means for detecting performance of maintenance work for said image forming apparatus based on said generated signal;

storing means for storing work data indicating the detected results by said detecting means;

transmitting means for transmitting said work data stored in said storing means to said control unit through said communication line;

receiving means for receiving charge data indicating a charge corresponding to said maintenance work transmitted from said control unit through said communication line; and

outputting means for outputting said received charge data as a visible image.

4. An image forming apparatus connectable to an external control unit through a communication line, comprising:

a photoreceptor;

a charge for charging a surface of said photoreceptor;

exposure means for forming an electrostatic latent image by irradiating light corresponding to an original image to said charge photoreceptor;

developing means for developing said formed electrostatic latent image with toner;

transfer means for transferring the toner image formed by said developing means on paper;

fixing means for fixing said transferred toner image with heat on the paper;

means, associated with at least one element of said image forming apparatus, for generating a signal having a first value when maintenance work has been performed on said at least one element and a second value indicating that maintenance work has not been performed;

first detecting means for detecting replacement of an element of said image forming apparatus based on said generated signal;

second detecting means for detecting operating parameters of said image forming apparatus;

storing means for storing replacement data indicating the detected results by said first detecting means and parameter data indicating the detected results by said second detecting means; and

transmitting means for transmitting the replacement data stored in said storing means to said control unit through said communication line.

5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said detecting means detects replacement of the photoreceptor.

6. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said detecting means detects replacement of a developing device included in said developing means.

7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said detecting means detects replacement of a control circuit for operation control of said image forming apparatus.

8. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said detecting means detects replacement of a part with an unused part.

9. The image forming apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said detecting means detects replacement of a part by a serviceman.

10. The image forming apparatus of claim 4, wherein said second detecting means detects a weight percentage of toner with respect to developer as a whole based on a permeability of the developer.

11. An image forming apparatus connectable to an external control unit through a communication line, comprising:

operation input means provided on said image forming apparatus for inputting work data relating to contents of maintenance work by a serviceman in a first operating mode and for subsequently inputting image forming condition data relating to an image forming condition of said image forming apparatus in a second operating mode resulting from the performance of said maintenance work;

setting means for setting an operating mode of said operation input means to one of said first and second operating modes;

storing means for storing said work data inputted with operation of said operation input means; and

transmitting means for transmitting the work data stored in said storing means to said control unit through said communication line.

12. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said maintenance work includes replacement of a part.

13. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said maintenance work includes cleaning of a part.

14. The image forming apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising receiving means for receiving charge data indicating a charge corresponding to the maintenance work transmitted from said control unit through said communication line, and outputting means for outputting said received charge data as a visible image.

15. A control system comprising a plurality of image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to each of said image forming apparatus through a communication line, wherein

each of said image forming apparatus comprises;

image forming means for forming an image on paper,

guidance information receiving means for receiving guidance information for instructing procedure of maintenance work transmitted from said control unit through said communication line,

outputting means for outputting the guidance information received by said guidance information receiving means as a visible image, and

work data transmitting means for transmitting work data related to said maintenance work to said control unit through said communication line, and

said control unit comprises;

storing means for storing said guidance information,

guidance information transmitting means for transmitting the guidance information stored in said storing means to said image forming apparatus through said communication line,

work data receiving means for receiving the work data transmitted from said image forming apparatus, and

means for updating the guidance information stored in said storing means on the basis of the data received by said work data receiving means.

16. The control system according to claim 15, wherein said guidance information includes information indicating a trouble portion of said image forming apparatus.

17. The control system according to claim 15, wherein said image forming apparatus further comprises operation means for inputting said work data.

18. The control system according to claim 15, wherein

said image forming apparatus further comprises detecting means for detecting operation conditions of said image forming means, and condition data transmitting means for transmitting condition data corresponding to the operation condition detected by said detecting means to said control unit through said communication line,

said control unit comprises condition data receiving means for receiving said transmitted condition data, and

said guidance information transmitting means transmits guidance information corresponding to said received condition data in said stored guidance information to said image forming apparatus.

19. A control system of image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to each of said image forming apparatus through a communication line, comprising:

first storing means for storing guidance information for instructing a procedure of maintenance work of said image forming apparatus;

display means provided in said image forming apparatus for displaying said stored guidance information;

input means for inputting work data related to said maintenance work;

second storing means for storing said inputted work data; and

means for updating the guidance information stored in said first storing means on the basis of the work data stored in said second storing means.

20. A system comprising:

a plurality of image forming apparatus for forming an image on paper;

first storing means for storing plural pieces of guidance information for instructing procedures of maintenance work of said image forming apparatus;

selecting means for selecting a piece of information among the plural pieces of guide information stored in said first storing means according to a condition of said image forming apparatus;

display means provided in each of said image forming apparatus for displaying the guidance information selected by said selecting means; and

a control unit connected to said image forming apparatus through the communication line;

wherein

each of said image forming apparatus comprises input means for inputting work data related to said maintenance work and transmitting means for transmitting said inputted work data to said control unit; and

said control unit comprises receiving means for receiving said transmitted work data, second storing means for storing said received work data, and means for updating the guidance information stored in said first storing means on the basis of the work data stored in said second storing means.

21. A control system of image forming apparatus comprising a plurality of image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to each of said image forming apparatus through a communication line, wherein

each of said image forming apparatus comprises;

an image forming means for forming an image on paper,

detecting means for detecting conditions of said image forming apparatus,

first transmitting means for transmitting first condition data corresponding to the detected results by said detecting means to said control unit,

operation input means for inputting second condition data indicating conditions of said image forming apparatus,

second transmitting means for transmitting said second condition data to said control unit;

guidance information receiving means for receiving first guidance information showing contents of said maintenance work and second guidance information showing a trouble portion of said image forming apparatus transmitted from said control unit through said communication line, and

output means for outputting the first and second guidance information received by said guidance information receiving means as a visible image; and

said control unit comprises;

storing means for storing plural pieces of first and second guidance information,

condition data receiving means for receiving said transmitted first and second condition data,

first guidance information transmitting means for reading the first guidance information corresponding to said received first condition data from said storing means and transmitting the information through said communication line to said image forming apparatus, and

second guidance information transmitting means for reading said second guidance information corresponding to said received second condition data from said storing means and transmitting the same to said image forming apparatus through said communication line.

22. The control system according to claim 21, wherein

said image forming apparatus further comprises work data transmitting means for transmitting work data showing contents of maintenance work implemented for said image forming apparatus to said control unit, and

said control unit further comprises,

work data receiving means for receiving the work data transmitted from said image forming apparatus, and

means for updating the guidance information stored in said storing means on the basis of the work data received by said work data receiving means.

23. An image forming apparatus comprising:

a plurality of components for forming an image, one of said components attached to a main body of the apparatus detachably;

identifying means within said one component for indicating whether or not the component is unused; and

detecting means for detecting replacement of said detachable component with an unused component.

24. The image forming apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said apparatus is connectable to an external control unit through a communication line.

25. The image forming apparatus according to claim 24, further comprising:

transmitting means for transmitting data indicating the detected results by said detecting means to said control unit through said communication line.

26. The image apparatus according to claim 23, wherein said identifying means stops indicating the component as unused after the detecting operation of said detecting means.

27. An image forming apparatus connectable to an external control unit through a communication line, comprising:

operation input means provided on said image forming apparatus for inputting work data relating to contents of maintenance work by a serviceman in a first operating mode and for inputting image forming condition data relating to an image forming condition of said image forming apparatus in a second operating mode;

setting means for setting an operating mode of said operation input means to one of said first and second operating modes;

storing means for storing said work data inputted with operation of said operation input means;

transmitting means for transmitting the work data stored in said storing means to said control unit through said communication line; and

means for updating information stored at said control unit based on said transmitted data.

28. A system comprising an image forming apparatus and a control unit connected through a communication line to said image forming apparatus;

said image forming apparatus comprising;

image forming means for performing an image forming operation;

detecting means for detecting a physical quantity related to an operational condition of said image forming means; and

transmitting means for transmitting information indicating the physical quantity detected by said detecting means to said control unit through said communication line; and

said control unit comprising;

receiving means for receiving the information transmitted from said image forming apparatus through said communication line;

storing means for storing data representing a correspondence of the physical quantity to a probability of a predetermined malfunction; and

a processing device for providing the probability of the predetermined malfunction based on the information received by said receiving means;

said system further comprising;

display means for displaying the malfunction according to the probability thereof.

29. A system comprising an image forming apparatus and a control unit connected through a communication line to said image forming apparatus;

said image forming apparatus comprising;

image forming means for performing an image forming operation;

detecting means for detecting a physical quantity related to an operational condition of said image forming means; and

transmitting means for transmitting information indicating the physical quantity detected by said detecting means to said control unit through said communication line; and

said control unit comprising;

receiving means for receiving the information transmitted from said image forming apparatus through said communication line;

storing means for storing data representing a correspondence of the physical quantity to a probability of a predetermined malfunction and for storing a measure for solving the predetermined malfunction; and

a processing device for providing the probability of the predetermined malfunction and the measure based on the information received by said receiving means;

said system further comprising;

display means for displaying the measure for solving the predetermined malfunction according to the probability of the predetermined malfunction.

30. A control system comprising an image forming apparatus and a control unit connected to said image forming apparatus through a communication line;

said image forming apparatus comprising;

image forming means for performing an image forming operation;

detecting means for detecting an operation condition of said image forming means;

command input means provided on said image forming apparatus for inputting a command;

condition data transmitting means for transmitting condition data corresponding to the operation condition detected by said detecting means to said external control unit through a communication line in response to the command inputted by said command input means,

guidance information receiving means for receiving guidance information transmitted from said control unit through said communication line; and

outputting means for outputting the guidance information received by said guidance information receiving means as a visible image;

said control unit comprising;

condition data receiving means for receiving said condition data transmitted by said condition data transmitting means; and

guidance information transmitting means for transmitting guidance information according to the condition data received by said condition data receiving means.