Image forming apparatus and sheet supply apparatus having plurality of sheet supply units
AssigneeCanon Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorManabu Yamauchi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An image forming apparatus which can prevent decrease in useful lives of components for air sheet feeding without bringing about throughput degradation when performing an image forming operation using a plurality of sheet supply units. When a sheet is fed from a first sheet supply unit having a fan that is driven so as to supply sheets, then a sheet is supplied from a second sheet supply unit, and then a sheet is supplied form the first sheet supply unit again, and in a case where a suspension time period over which no sheet is supplied from the first sheet supply unit is longer than a preparation time period from when driving of the fan is started to when the fan is brought into a driving state required to supply a sheet, driving of the fan is temporarily stopped.
Claims11
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet;
- a first sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, supply the sheets one by one to said image forming unit, and have a fan that is driven so as to supply the sheets;
- a second sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, and supply the sheets one by one to said image forming unit;
- and
- a control unit configured to, when a sheet is fed from said first sheet supply unit, then a sheet is supplied from said second sheet supply unit, and then a sheet is supplied form said first sheet supply unit again, in a case where a suspension time period over which no sheet is supplied from said first sheet supply unit is longer than a preparation time period from starting a driving of the fan to becoming a driving state required to supply a sheet, temporarily stop driving of the fan in the suspension time period.
A sheet feeding apparatus that supplies a sheet to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a sheet;
- a first sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, supply the sheets one by one to an image forming unit, and have a fan that is driven so as to supply the sheets;
- a second sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, and supply the sheets one by one to the image forming unit;
- and
- a control unit configured to, when a sheet is supplied from said first sheet supply unit, then a sheet is supplied from said second sheet supply unit, and then a sheet is supplied from said first sheet supply unit again, in a case where a suspension time period over which no sheet is supplied from said first sheet supply unit is longer than a preparation time period from starting a driving of the fan to becoming a driving state required to supply a sheet, temporarily stop driving of the fan.
An image forming apparatus comprising:
- an image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet;
- a first sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, supply the sheets one by one to said image forming unit, and have a fan that is driven so as to supply the sheets;
- a second sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, and supply the sheets one by one to said image forming unit;
- an obtaining unit configured to obtain a sheet supply order in which sheets are supplied from said first sheet supply unit and said second sheet supply unit;
- and
- a control unit configured to control driving and stop of the fan based on the sheet supply order obtained by said obtaining unit,
- wherein said control unit obtains a time period equivalent to a suspension time period from stopping a supply of a sheet from said first sheet supply unit to starting a supply of a next sheet from said first sheet supply unit, and in a case where the time period equivalent to the suspension time period is longer than a preparation time period from starting a driving of the fan to becoming a driving state required to supply a sheet, temporarily stops driving of the fan in the suspension time period, and at a time that goes back the preparation time from a time at which a sheet is supplied from said first sheet supply unit, resumes driving of the fan.
A sheet feeding apparatus that supplies a sheet to an image forming apparatus that forms an image on the sheet, comprising:
- a first sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, supply the sheets one by one to an image forming unit, and have a fan that is driven so as to supply the sheets;
- a second sheet supply unit configured to store a plurality of sheets, and supply the sheets one by one to the image forming unit;
- an obtaining unit configured to obtain a sheet supply order in which sheets are supplied from said first sheet supply unit and said second sheet supply unit;
- and
- a control unit configured to control operation and stop of the fan based on the sheet supply order obtained by said obtaining unit,
- wherein said control unit obtains a time period equivalent to a suspension time period from stopping supply of a sheet from said first sheet supply unit to when starting supply a next sheet from said first sheet supply unit, and in a case where the time period equivalent to the suspension time period is longer than a preparation time period from starting a driving of the fan to becoming a driving state required to supply a sheet, temporarily stops driving of the fan in the suspension time period, and at a time that goes back the preparation time from a time at which a sheet is supplied from said first sheet supply unit, resumes driving of the fan.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.