Image recording apparatus
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorHiroyuki Tamaki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In an image recording apparatus with excellent quality which can prevent image degradation and the like due to stacking too much recording material on a discharge tray, when the recording operation is carried out, a sensor measures the distance from the upper surface of a flapper to the stacked object. The output obtained here is taken in by a distance detecting circuit. After a calculation circuit carries out comparison and calculation, the distance is calculated and is transmitted to a control circuit. By comparing the calculated distance with thickness data with regard to the recording material and the like stored in advance in a memory device in the control circuit, the allowable residual amount of stack and the allowable residual number of sheets of stack are further presumed.
Claims23
An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording material by use of recording means for recording the image on the recording material, said apparatus comprising:
- an auxiliary retaining member for temporarily retaining the recording material after the image is recorded thereon by said recording means and for dropping the recording material onto a discharge tray to stack the recording material;
- and
- detecting means for detecting an amount of a stack of the recording material on said discharge tray, wherein said detecting means includes a sensor for measuring a distance from a predetermined position to an uppermost surface of the stack of the recording material, and said sensor is provided on said auxiliary retaining member.
An image recording apparatus for recording an image on a recording material by use of recording means for recording the image on the recording material, said image recording apparatus comprising:
- an auxiliary retaining member for temporarily retaining the recording material after the image is recorded thereon by said recording means and for dropping the recording material onto a discharge tray to stack the recording material;
- detecting means for detecting an amount of a stack of the recording material on said discharge tray, said detecting means being provided on said auxiliary retaining member;
- and
- presuming means for presuming, based on the amount of the stack of the recording material detected by said detecting means, an allowable residual amount of the stack relative to a maximum amount of the stack of the recording material that will not hinder an operation of said auxiliary retaining member,
- wherein said presuming means also presumes an allowable residual number of sheets of the stack by comparing a thickness of the recording material on which the image is recorded and the allowable residual amount of the stack of the recording material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.