Image forming apparatus
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorsHoon Kang, Chun-seung Yang, Myung-song Jung, Jun-young Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image forming apparatus including: a plurality of medium trays to stack a print medium having an image formed thereon by an image forming unit; a driving source to momentarily apply a direction switching signal; a selector to select a carrying path of the print medium having the image formed thereon, the carrying path directing the print medium to one of the plurality of medium trays; and a switch unit connected to the driving source to set a position of the selector in order to direct the print medium along the carrying path according to the direction switching signal. Accordingly, power is only used momentarily to direct the print medium to a medium tray from among a plurality of medium trays.
Claims18
An image forming apparatus to form an image on a print medium, the image forming apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of medium trays to selectively stack the print medium having the image formed thereon by an image forming unit;
- a driving source to apply a direction switching force when momentary electric power is applied to the driving source;
- a selector to select a carrying path of the print medium according to the direction switching force, and to direct the print medium having the image formed thereon along the selected carrying path to one of the plurality of medium trays;
- and
- a switch unit to set a position of the selector to direct the print medium along the selected carrying path according to the direction switching force,
- wherein the driving source comprises a solenoid and selectively drives the switch unit to move in a first direction to press the selector when momentary electric power is applied, or to move in a second direction to release the selector when momentary electric power is applied, and
- the momentary electric power is supplied by a controller at a moment when the switch unit sets the position of the selector, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in a direction switched state.
An image forming apparatus to form an image on a print medium and to selectively output the print medium having the image formed thereon to one of a plurality of medium trays, the image forming apparatus comprising:
- a driving source to momentarily receive electrical power and to apply a direction switching force;
- and
- a selector to select a carrying path of the print medium according to the direction switching force, and to direct the print medium having the image formed thereon along the selected carrying path to the one of the plurality of medium trays,
- wherein the driving source comprises a solenoid and moves to a first position when the momentary electric power is received to apply the direction switching force, causing the selector to be set to a first selector position to direct the print medium along a first carrying path to a first medium tray, or a second selector position to direct the print medium along a second carrying path to a second medium tray,
- wherein the first momentary electric power is supplied by a controller at a moment when the selector is set to the first position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the first position, and
- the second momentary electric power is supplied by the controller at a moment when the selector is set to the second position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the second position.
An image forming apparatus to form an image on a print medium and to selectively output the print medium having the image formed thereon to one of a first medium tray and a second medium tray, the image forming apparatus comprising:
- a selector to direct the print medium having the image formed thereon along a first carrying path to the first medium tray when the selector is in a first position, and to direct the print medium having the image formed thereon along a second carrying path to the second medium tray when the selector is in a second position;
- and
- a solenoid to set the selector in the first position or the second position,
- wherein a momentary electric power is supplied by a controller to set the selector to the first position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the first position, and
- the momentary electric power is supplied by the controller to set the selector to the second position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the second position.
A method of controlling an image forming apparatus to output a print medium onto medium trays, the method comprising:
- setting a selector to a first position to direct the print medium to a first medium tray when a first momentary electrical power is applied to the selector;
- and
- setting the selector to a second position to direct the print medium to a second medium tray when a second momentary electrical power is applied to the selector,
- wherein the selector is set to the first position or the second position using a solenoid,
- wherein the first momentary electric power is supplied by a controller at a moment when the selector is set to the first position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the first position, and
- the second momentary electric power is supplied by the controller at a moment when the selector is set to the second position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the second position.
A method of controlling an image forming apparatus to direct a print medium, the method comprising:
- setting a selector to a first position to direct the print medium along a first carrying path when a first momentary electrical power is applied to the selector;
- and
- setting the selector to a second position to direct the print medium along a second carrying path when a second momentary electrical power is applied to the selector,
- wherein the selector is set to the first position or the second position using a solenoid,
- wherein the first momentary electric power is supplied by a controller at a moment when the selector is set to the first position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the first position, and
- the second momentary electric power is supplied by the controller at a moment when the selector is set to the second position, for a time less than a duration the selector is maintained in the second position.
An image forming apparatus to form an image on a print medium, the image forming apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of medium trays to selectively stack the print medium having the image formed thereon by an image forming unit;
- a driving source to apply a direction switching force when momentary electric power is applied to the driving source;
- a selector to select a carrying path of the print medium according to the direction switching force, and to direct the print medium having the image formed thereon along the selected carrying path to one of the plurality of medium trays;
- and
- a switch unit to set a position of the selector to direct the print medium along the selected carrying path according to the direction switching force,
- wherein the driving source selectively drives the switch unit to move in a first direction to press the selector when momentary electric power is applied, or to move in a second direction to release the selector when momentary electric power is applied,
- wherein the switch unit comprises:
- a push switch to move in the first direction according to the driving source or to move in the second direction, opposite the first direction, according to an elastic bias;
- a lever pressing member connected to the push switch to press the selector according to a movement of the push switch, and
- wherein the selector comprises:
- a selector body rotatably provided in a main frame of the image forming apparatus;
- and
- a contact lever to rotate the selector body, wherein the contact lever is pressed and released by the lever pressing member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.