# US 8,740,213 B2 · Image forming apparatus, sheet feed control method, and storage medium > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,740,213 B2 - Document ID: US8740213B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/832,590 - Filed: 2013-03-15 - Published: 2013-08-29 - Granted: 2014-06-03 - Earliest claimed: 2010-07-01 - Assignees: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Nobuaki Miyahara - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8740213B2 ## CPC - B65H 1/04: adapted to support articles substantially horizontally, e.g. for separation from top of pile - B41J 13/00: Devices or arrangements {of selective printing mechanisms, e.g. ink-jet printers or thermal printers,} specially adapted for supporting or handling copy material in short lengths, e.g. sheets - B65H 1/28: compartmented to receive piles side-by-side - B65H 3/44: Simultaneously, alternately, or selectively separating articles from two or more piles - B65H 7/20: Controlling associated apparatus - G03G 15/6508: {Automatic supply devices interacting with the rest of the apparatus, e.g. selection of a specific cassette (matching the image with the size of the copy material G03G15/5095)} - G03G 15/6594: {characterised by the format or the thickness, e.g. endless forms} - B65H 2511/10: Size; Dimensions - B65H 2511/40: Identification - B65H 2511/413: of image - B65H 2801/06: Office-type machines, e.g. photocopiers - G03G 2215/00734: of sheet size - B65H: HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES - B41J: TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS - G03G: ELECTROGRAPHY; ELECTROPHOTOGRAPHY; MAGNETOGRAPHY ## Abstract An image forming apparatus capable of printing a non-standard size image on a sheet of a size as desired by the user as possible, and preventing stoppage of printing the image even when there is no sheet of the size desired by the user in a sheet feeder. When image data is for a non-standard size, if there is a sheet feeder accommodating recording sheets of which vertical and lateral lengths corresponding to vertical and lateral lengths represented by the image data are designated, a control unit feeds the sheets from the sheet feeding cassette. If there is no such a sheet feeder, the control unit feeds recording sheets of a free size from a manual feed tray accommodating the recording sheets of the free size. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An image forming apparatus for performing a job for feeding a recording sheet from one of a plurality of sheet storage units and forming an image on the fed recording sheet, the image forming apparatus comprising: a first designation unit configured to designate vertical and lateral lengths of a recording sheet for a first sheet storage unit among the plurality of sheet storage units; a second designation unit configured to designate a predetermined sheet size for a second sheet storage unit among the plurality of sheet storage units, vertical and lateral lengths of the predetermined sheet size being not specified before feeding the recording sheet; and a sheet feed control unit configured to cause a sheet feeding source to: change, in a case where an amount of sheets stored in the first sheet storage unit reaches a first predetermined amount while the job is performed using the first sheet storage unit, from the first sheet storage unit to another sheet storage unit; and not change, in a case where an amount of sheets stored in the second sheet storage unit reaches a second predetermined amount while the job is performed using the second sheet storage unit, from the second sheet storage unit to another sheet storage unit. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: the another sheet storage unit is the second sheet storage unit in a case were the job is performed using the first sheet storage unit, and the another sheet storage unit is the first sheet storage unit, in a case where the job is performed using the second sheet storage unit. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a notification unit configured to notify, in a case where the amount of sheets stored in the second sheet storage unit reaches the second predetermined amount while the job is performed using the second sheet storage unit, a user that the second sheet storage unit is empty. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined size is a free size. ### Claim 5 A control method of controlling an image forming apparatus for performing a job for feeding a recording sheet from one of a plurality of sheet storage units and forming an image on the fed recording sheet, the control method comprising: a first designation step of designating vertical and lateral lengths of a recording sheet for a first sheet storage unit among the plurality of sheet storage units; a second designation step of designating a predetermined sheet size for a second sheet storage unit-among the plurality of sheet storage units, vertical and lateral lengths of the predetermined sheet size being not specified before feeding the recording sheet; and a first control step of causing a sheet feeding source to change, in a case where an amount of sheets stored in the first sheet storage unit reaches a first predetermined amount while the job is performed using the first sheet storage unit, from the first sheet storage unit to another sheet storage unit; and a second control step of causing the sheet feeding source to not change, in a case where an amount of sheets stored in the second sheet storage unit reaches a second predetermined amount while the job is performed using the second sheet storage unit, from the second sheet storage unit to another sheet storage unit. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second sheet storage unit is a manual sheet storage unit. ### Claim 7 A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program executable by a processor of an image forming apparatus to execute a method of performing a job for feeding a recording sheet from one of a plurality of sheet storage units and forming an image on the fed recording sheet, the method comprising: a first designation step of designating vertical and lateral lengths of a recording sheet for a first sheet storage unit among the plurality of sheet storage units; a second designation step of designating a predetermined sheet size for a second sheet storage unit among the plurality of sheet storage units, vertical and lateral lengths of the predetermined sheet size being not specified before feeding the recording sheet; and a first control step of causing a sheet feeding source to change, in a case where an amount of sheets stored in the first sheet storage unit reaches a first predetermined amount while the job is performed using the first sheet storage unit, from the first sheet storage unit to another sheet storage unit; and a second control step of causing the sheet feeding source to not change, in a case where an amount of sheets stored in the second sheet storage unit reaches a second predetermined amount while the job is performed using the second sheet storage unit, from the second sheet storage unit to another sheet storage unit.