Transfer of printing medium in simplex path and duplex path
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsSangcheol KIM, Jewon JEONG, Wonkeun LEE
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An example image forming apparatus includes a simplex path for conveying printing medium passing through a fixing unit provided in a main body to a discharge port of the main body, a duplex path for turning over printing medium and conveying the printing medium to the simplex path, and a discharge unit for selectively conveying a first printing medium and a second printing medium in different directions, wherein the first printing medium includes an image formed on one surface passing through the simplex path, and the second printing medium includes an image formed on two surfaces and passing through the simplex path after passing through the duplex path.
Claims15
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a main body including a discharge port;
- a fixing unit mounted inside the main body to fix an image onto a printing medium;
- a simplex path to convey printing medium passing through the fixing unit to the discharge port;
- a duplex path to turn over printing medium passing through the simplex path and to convey the printing medium to the simplex path;
- and
- a discharge unit in the discharge port to selectively convey a first printing medium and a second printing medium in different directions,
- wherein the first printing medium includes an image formed on one surface and passing through the simplex path, and the second printing medium includes an image formed on two surfaces and passing through the simplex path after passing through the duplex path.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- a sensor disposed in a simplex path to detect a printing medium passing through a fixing unit;
- a torque limiter including:
- a first roller rotatable in two directions,
- a second roller provided opposite to the first roller,
- a first rotation body rotatable in one direction, and
- a second rotation body rotatably connected to the second roller and rotatable in the same direction as or the opposite direction to the first rotation body in order to selectively convey a first printing medium with an image formed on one surface in the simplex path and a second printing medium with an image formed on the other surface in the simplex path after passing through a duplex path in different directions;
- and
- a controller to:
- control a rotating direction of the first roller based on a signal of the sensor,
- operate the first roller to be rotated in a first direction for a first predetermined time such that the first printing medium is inserted between the first roller and the second roller when it is detected that the first printing medium passes through the fixing unit by the sensor,
- operate the first roller to be rotated in a second direction for a second predetermined time such that the first printing medium is conveyed to the duplex path,
- operate the first roller to be rotated in the first direction such that the second printing medium is inserted between the first roller and the second roller when it is detected that a second printing medium passes through the fixing unit by the sensor in a state where the first printing medium is inserted between the first roller and the second roller, and
- operate the first roller to be rotated in the second direction such that the first printing medium in contact with the first roller is conveyed to the duplex path, and the second printing medium in contact with the second roller is discharged to a discharge port.
A method of controlling an image forming apparatus, the method comprising:
- operating a first roller to be rotated in a first direction for a predetermined time such that a first printing medium with an image formed on one surface passing through a simplex path is inserted between the first roller and a second roller provided in a discharge port;
- operating the first roller to be rotated in a second direction opposite to the first direction for a predetermined time so that the first printing medium is conveyed to a duplex path;
- operating the first roller to be rotated in the first direction in a state where the first printing medium is engaged between the first roller and the second roller;
- and
- operating the first roller to be rotated in the second direction after the first printing medium and a second printing medium are inserted between the first roller and the second roller.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.