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US 7,672,021 B2Granted
Image forming apparatus and method
AssigneeFUJIFILM Corporation
InventorSetsuji Tatsumi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The image forming apparatus comprises: an image forming section which includes an image forming device forming an image onto a recording medium; a plurality of recording medium supply sections which store recording media and supply the recording media to the image forming section; a conveyance device which conveys the recording media supplied from the plurality of recording medium supply sections; and an end timing control device which controls a timing at which the recording media of each of the plurality of recording medium supply sections come to an end, by controlling selection of supply source of the recording medium used for image formation by the image forming device, from among the plurality of recording medium supply sections.
Claims11
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- an image forming section which includes an image forming device forming an image onto a recording medium;
- a plurality of recording medium supply sections which store recording media and supply the recording media to the image forming section;
- a conveyance device which conveys the recording media supplied from the plurality of recording medium supply sections;
- and
- an end timing control device which controls a timing at which the recording media of each of the plurality of recording medium supply sections come to an end, by controlling selection of supply source of the recording medium used for image formation by the image forming device, from among the plurality of recording medium supply sections;
- a mode setting device which switches between:
- a first control mode in which the end timing control device controls the supply of the recording media in such a manner that when the one of the plurality of recording medium supply sections has come to the end, the at least the prescribed quantity of the recording medium remains in the at least one of the other recording medium supply sections;
- and a second control mode in which the end timing control device controls the supply of the recording media in such a manner that at least two of the plurality of recording medium supply sections come to the end at substantially same time,
- wherein the end timing control device implements control according to one of the first control mode and the second control mode depending on a setting of the mode setting device, and
- wherein the end timing control device controls supply of the recording media in such a manner that when one of the recording medium supply sections has come to an end, at least a prescribed quantity of the recording media remains in at least one of the other recording medium supply sections.
7 more elements
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- an image forming section which includes an image forming device forming an image onto a recording medium;
- a plurality of recording medium supply sections which store recording media and supply the recording media to the image forming section;
- a conveyance device which conveys the recording media supplied from the plurality of recording medium supply sections;
- and
- an end timing control device which controls a timing at which the recording media of each of the plurality of recording medium supply sections come to an end, by controlling selection of supply source of the recording medium used for image formation by the image forming device, from among the plurality of recording medium supply sections, wherein
- the conveyance device comprises a multiple-row conveyance device which conveys the recording media supplied from the plurality of recording medium supply sections, in a plurality of rows arranged in a direction orthogonal to a direction of conveyance of the recording media;
- the image forming device comprises a recording head which forms images simultaneously on the plurality of recording media arranged in the plurality of rows;
- and
- the timing control device controls formation of the images on the recording media in such a manner that a wait time for image formation in each of the plurality of rows is less than a prescribed time.
6 more elements
An image forming apparatus, comprising:
- an image forming section which includes an image forming device forming an image onto a recording medium;
- a plurality of recording medium supply sections which store recording media and supply the recording media to the image forming section;
- a conveyance device which conveys the recording media supplied from the plurality of recording medium supply sections;
- and
- an end timing control device which controls a timing at which the recording media of each of the plurality of recording medium supply sections come to an end, by controlling selection of supply source of the recording medium used for image formation by the image forming device, from among the plurality of recording medium supply sections, wherein
- the conveyance device comprises a multiple-row conveyance device which conveys the recording media supplied from the plurality of recording medium supply sections, in a plurality of rows arranged in a direction orthogonal to a direction of conveyance of the recording media;
- the image forming device comprises a recording head which forms images simultaneously on the plurality of recording media arranged in the plurality of rows;
- and
- the recording head is a line type head in which a plurality of image recording elements are arranged throughout a length corresponding to a full image forming width of the plurality of recording media arranged in the plurality of rows.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.