Image forming apparatus

Abstract

To properly manage consumable components according to a consumption pace of a consumable material of the consumable components.SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 10 is provided with an ink cartridge 16 for supplying ink, a control part 29 for acquiring the residual quantity ZR of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 and the expiration date SK, determining the granularity X related to the time until the expiration date SK of the ink based on the residual quantity ZR of the ink and the expiration date SK, and determining the consumption state of the ink until the expiration date SK based on the granularity X related to the time.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that consumes consumables such as toner and ink, and more particularly to a technique for determining the consumption status of the consumables. [Background technology]

[0002] Image forming devices include electrophotographic devices that deposit toner onto recording paper to form an image on the recording paper, and inkjet devices that eject ink onto the recording paper to form an image on the recording paper. Electrophotographic devices are equipped with a toner container that stores toner, and the toner container is replaced when the toner in the toner container runs out. Inkjet devices are equipped with ink cartridges that store ink, and the ink cartridge is replaced when the ink in the ink cartridge runs out.

[0003] The print recording system described in Patent Document 1 includes at least one print recording device that prints on a print target, and a server connected to the print recording device so that they can communicate with each other. The server calculates the current consumption time of the consumables based on the operating environment data of the print recording device and the operating time of the consumables. The server compares the calculated current consumption time with the set effective time to obtain a comparison result, manages the consumables based on this comparison result, and if the current consumption time has reached or is approaching the set effective time, displays on a display device that the consumable should be replaced. This allows for appropriate management of the consumables used in the print recording device. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-109361 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In Patent Document 1, the current consumption time of a consumable is calculated. The server compares the calculated current consumption time with the set valid time to obtain a comparison result, and manages the consumables based on this comparison result. Therefore, it can be said that the consumables are managed on an hourly basis.

[0006] However, depending on the remaining amount of consumables or the pace at which consumables are consumed, the management of consumables on an hourly basis may not be accurate, and the management of consumables may become complicated.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and has as its object to make it possible to effectively utilize consumable parts in accordance with the consumption rate of the consumable materials of the consumable parts. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention comprises a consumable part that supplies consumables, and a control unit that acquires the remaining amount and expiration date of the consumables in the consumable part, determines the granularity of the time until the expiration date of the consumables based on the remaining amount and expiration date of the consumables, and determines the consumption status of the consumables up to the expiration date based on the granularity of the time. [Effects of the Invention]

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to effectively utilize consumable parts in accordance with the consumption rate of the consumable material of the consumable parts. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus; [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for automatically setting the granularity relating to the time until the expiration date of ink, or for allowing a user to arbitrarily set the granularity relating to the time until the expiration date of ink. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a selection screen for setting a time granularity displayed on a display unit of the image forming apparatus; [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a custom setting screen for time granularity displayed on a display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a selection setting screen for time granularity displayed on a display unit of the image forming apparatus. [Figure 7] 10 is a flowchart showing a process for automatically setting a granularity related to time, and a process for determining the ink consumption status up to the expiration date based on the granularity related to time. [Figure 8] 10A and 10B are diagrams used to explain a modified example of determining the ink consumption status. [Figure 9] FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First Embodiment

[0012] Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Fig. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 is an MFP (multi-function peripheral) that combines multiple functions such as a copy function and a scanner function. The image forming apparatus 10 includes an image reading unit 11 and an image forming unit 12.

[0013] The image reading unit 11 has, for example, a contact image sensor (CIS) as an imaging element that optically reads the image of the original M, and image data representing the image of the original M is output from this CIS.

[0014] Image forming unit 12 receives image data representing an image of original document M and forms the image of original document M represented by the image data on recording paper P by an inkjet method. Image forming unit 12 has ink cartridges 16 containing ink of four colors (black, cyan, magenta, and yellow), and line heads (an example of ink heads) 15 that receive the ink of each color from the ink cartridges 16 and eject ink droplets of each color. Each line head 15 ejects ink droplets of the corresponding color onto recording paper (paper) P that has been transported from paper feed unit 14 through first transport path 3 to transport unit 4, thereby forming a color image on recording paper P.

[0015] The transport unit 4 includes a drive roller 8, a driven roller 9, a tension roller 5, and a transport belt 6. The transport belt 6 is an endless belt that is stretched over the drive roller 8, the driven roller 9, and the tension roller 5. The drive roller 8 is a roller that is driven to rotate counterclockwise by a motor (not shown), and as the drive roller 8 is driven to rotate, the transport belt 6 moves in a counterclockwise direction, and the driven roller 9 and the tension roller 5 are also driven to rotate counterclockwise.

[0016] The tension roller 5 is a roller for maintaining an appropriate tension on the conveyor belt 6. The attraction roller 7 is in contact with the conveyor belt 6 and charges the conveyor belt 6, thereby electrostatically attracting the recording paper P fed from the paper feed unit 14 to the conveyor belt 6.

[0017] After the image of the document is formed on the recording paper P by the image forming unit 12, the recording paper P passes through a conveying path 18 and is discharged onto a discharge tray 17 via a conveying roller 19.

[0018] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 10. As shown in Fig. 2, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an image reading unit 11, an image forming unit 12, a paper feeding unit 14, an operation unit 21, a display unit 22, a touch panel 24, RFID (radio frequency identification) readers 25, a storage unit 26, and a control unit 28. These components are capable of transmitting and receiving data or signals to and from each other via a bus.

[0019] The operation unit 21 includes physical keys such as a numeric keypad, a decision key, and a start key. Various instructions are input by the user to the operation unit 21 in response to the operation of each key. The display unit 22 is configured from a liquid crystal display (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display), an organic light-emitting diode (OLED: Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display, or the like.

[0020] A touch panel 24 is disposed on the screen of the display unit 22. The touch panel 24 is a so-called resistive or capacitive touch panel, which detects contact (touch) of a user's finger or the like with the touch panel 24 together with the contact position, and outputs a detection signal indicating the coordinates of the contact position to a control unit 29 of a control unit 28.

[0021] Each RFID reader 25 is provided at the mounting location of each ink cartridge 16, and reads information TD about the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag (not shown) of each ink cartridge 16. Each ink cartridge 16 is provided with an RFID tag, and information TD about the ink cartridge 16 is stored in this RFID tag. The information TD about the ink cartridge 16 indicates the remaining amount of ink ZR, the expiration date SK of the ink, etc.

[0022] The storage unit 26 is a large-capacity storage device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) or an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and stores various application programs and various data.

[0023] The control unit 28 is composed of a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an ASIC, or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), etc. The control unit 28 functions as a control unit 29 when a control program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 26 is executed by the processor.

[0024] The control unit 29 comprehensively controls the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 29 is connected to the image reading unit 11, the image forming unit 12, the operation unit 21, the display unit 22, the touch panel 24, the RFID readers 25, the storage unit 26, and the paper feed unit 14, and controls the operation of these components and transmits and receives signals or data to and from these components.

[0025] The control unit 29 serves as a processing unit that executes various processes required for image formation by the image forming apparatus 10. The control unit 29 also accepts operation instructions input by the user based on detection signals output from the touch panel 24 or operation of the physical keys of the operation unit 21. For example, the control unit 29 accepts the instructions in response to a touch operation on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like displayed on the screen of the display unit 22 via the touch panel 24. The control unit 29 also has a function of controlling the display operation of the display unit 22.

[0026] Furthermore, when controlling each ink head 15 that ejects ink droplets of each color based on image data to form a color image on recording paper, the control unit 29 measures the amount of ink ejected from each ink head 15 and calculates the amount of ink consumed. Then, for each ink cartridge 16 that contains ink of each color, the control unit 29 causes the RFID reader 25 to read the information TD of the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16, subtracts the amount of ink consumed from the remaining ink amount ZR indicated by the information TD, calculates the remaining ink amount ZR at this point in time (the point in time at which the ink consumption amount is calculated; this point in time is referred to as the present), and causes the RFID reader 25 to write the calculated current remaining ink amount ZR to the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16, thereby updating the information TD of the RFID tag.

[0027] When an ink cartridge 16 is unused, it is full of ink, and the information TD stored in its RFID tag indicates the amount of ink when it is full. When use of an ink cartridge 16 begins, as described above, control unit 29 causes RFID reader 25 to read information TD from the RFID tag of each ink cartridge 16, subtracts the amount of ink consumed from the remaining ink amount ZR indicated by the ink information TD, calculates the remaining ink amount ZR at that point in time (the point in time at which the ink consumption amount is calculated; this point in time is referred to as the present), and causes RFID reader 25 to write the calculated current remaining ink amount ZR to the RFID tag of each ink cartridge 16. As a result, ink information TD indicating the current remaining ink amount ZR of each ink cartridge 16 is stored in the RFID tag of each ink cartridge 16.

[0028] The control unit 29 also causes the RFID reader 25 to read the ink information TD from the RFID tag of each ink cartridge 16, and automatically sets the granularity X indicating the time until the ink expiration date SK based on the remaining ink amount ZR and the ink expiration date SK indicated by the ink information TD, or allows the user to arbitrarily set the granularity X related to the time until the ink expiration date SK. The control unit 29 also determines the ink consumption status until the expiration date SK based on the time-related granularity X, and displays this determined ink consumption status on the display unit 22. Here, the "granularity" is a unit of time from the expiration date until the timing when the control unit 29 displays a warning on the display unit 22 indicating that the expiration date is approaching. For example, if the granularity is one day, the control unit 29 displays the warning when there is one day left until the expiration date. Alternatively, if the particle size is 15 days, the control unit 29 displays the warning when there are 15 days left until the expiration date, or if the particle size is 1 month, when there is 1 month left until the expiration date.

[0029] The user can check the ink consumption status displayed on the display unit 22 and use the image forming apparatus 10 more frequently to use up as much ink as possible before the expiration date SK.

[0030] FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for automatically setting the granularity X related to the time until the expiration date SK of the ink, or for allowing the user to arbitrarily set the granularity X related to the time until the expiration date SK of the ink.

[0031] The user operates the GUI displayed on the screen of the display unit 22 to input an instruction to select a setting mode for the granularity X related to time to the operation unit 21. When an instruction to select a setting mode for the granularity X related to time is input to the operation unit 21 via the touch panel 24 for the GUI, the control unit 29 causes the display unit 22 to display a selection screen G1 for setting a method for the granularity X related to time, such as the example shown in Fig. 4 (S101).

[0032] The setting method selection screen G1 shown in FIG. 4 displays a button B11 associated with automatic setting of granularity X related to time, a button B12 associated with custom setting of granularity X related to time, and a button B13 associated with selective setting of granularity X related to time.

[0033] For example, when the user touches button B12, control unit 29 receives an instruction to set granularity X, which is associated with button B12, as a custom setting through touch panel 24 (S102 "Custom"). At this time, control unit 29 causes display unit 22 to display custom setting screen G2 as shown in Fig. 5 (S103). Both operation unit 21 and touch panel 24 are examples of an operation unit in the claims.

[0034] The custom setting screen G2 shown in FIG. 5 displays a text box TX11 for displaying the number of months entered, a text box TX12 for displaying the number of days entered, and a button B21 for accepting an instruction to save the entered content.

[0035] For example, when the user touches the text box TX11, the control unit 29 receives an instruction for a pull-down display showing a plurality of months (1, 2, 3, ...) via the touch panel 24 based on the touch operation, and displays the pull-down display on the custom setting screen G2 in accordance with the instruction. When the user operates one of the months displayed in the pull-down display, a selection instruction for selecting the number of months displayed in the operated section is received by the control unit 29 via the touch panel 24. The control unit 29 sets the number of months indicated by the selection instruction as the time granularity X (S104).

[0036] Alternatively, when the user touches the text box TX12, the control unit 29 receives an instruction for a pull-down display showing multiple numbers of days (1, 2, 3, ...) via the touch panel 24 based on the touch operation, and displays the pull-down display on the custom setting screen G2 in accordance with the instruction. When the user operates one of the display sections for the numbers of days shown in the pull-down display, a selection instruction for selecting the number of days displayed in the operated section is received by the control unit 29 via the touch panel 24. The control unit 29 sets the number of days indicated by the selection instruction as the time granularity X (S104).

[0037] Furthermore, when the control unit 29 receives a save instruction associated with the button B21 through the touch panel 24 (S105 "Yes"), the control unit 29 stores the granularity X related to the time set in S104 in the storage unit 26 (S106). On the other hand, when the control unit 29 does not receive the save instruction (S105 "No"), the control unit 29 does not store the granularity X related to the time set in S104 in the storage unit 26.

[0038] Furthermore, when the control unit 29 receives an instruction corresponding to the button B13 on the setting method selection screen G1 shown in FIG. 4 in response to a user operation (S102 "Select"), it causes the display unit 22 to display a time-related granularity X selection setting screen G3, as shown in FIG. 6 (S107).

[0039] The selection setting screen G3 shown in FIG. 6 displays buttons B31, B32, and B33 associated with the 1st, 15th, and 1 month, respectively.

[0040] The user touches any of the buttons B31, B32, and B33 to select either 1st, 15th, or 1 month.

[0041] When the control unit 29 receives an instruction associated with any of the buttons B31, B32, and B33 via the touch panel 24, it sets one of 1 day, 15 days, and 1 month indicated by the received instruction as the time granularity X (S108).

[0042] Furthermore, when the control unit 29 receives an instruction associated with the button B11 on the setting method selection screen G1 shown in FIG. 4 in response to an operation by the user (S102 "Automatic"), the control unit 29 sets a process to automatically determine the time granularity X (S109).

[0043] Next, the process of automatically setting the time-related granularity X in S109 of FIG. 3 and the process procedure of determining the ink consumption status until the expiration date SK based on the time-related granularity X will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

[0044] The control unit 29 determines whether the time granularity X has been automatically set (S201). If the control unit 29 determines that the time granularity X has not been automatically set (S201 "No"), it temporarily sets the time granularity X to 1 day (S202), and for each ink cartridge 16 of each color, causes the RFID reader 25 to read the information TD of the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16, and obtains the remaining amount of ink ZR indicated by the information TD (S203).

[0045] As described above, when forming a color image on recording paper, the control unit 29 measures the amount of ink ejected from each ink head 15 and calculates the amount of ink consumed, and also has the RFID reader 25 read the information TD of the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16, subtracts the amount of ink consumed from the remaining ink amount ZR indicated by the information TD, calculates the current remaining ink amount ZR, and has the RFID reader 25 write the calculated current remaining ink amount ZR to the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16, thereby updating the information TD of the RFID tag.

[0046] After one day has passed since S203 was performed, the control unit 29 causes the RFID reader 25 to read the information TD of the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16 for each color, and obtains the remaining ink amount ZR and the ink expiration date SK indicated by the information TD (S204).

[0047] The control unit 29 calculates the difference for each color ink cartridge 16 by subtracting the current remaining amount of ink ZR obtained in S204 from the previous remaining amount of ink ZR obtained in S203, and obtains this difference as the ink consumption amount DR per day (S205).

[0048] The control unit 29 divides the remaining ink amount ZR obtained in S204 by the daily ink consumption amount DR obtained in S205 for each color ink cartridge 16 to calculate the remaining consumption period ST until all the ink in the ink cartridge 16 is consumed (S206).

[0049] The control unit 29 calculates the validity period YT from the current date and time to the expiration date SK of the ink obtained in S204 for each color ink cartridge 16 (S207), and subtracts the remaining consumption period ST calculated in S206 from the validity period YT to calculate the difference (YT-ST) (S208).

[0050] The control unit 29 determines whether the difference (YT-ST) is greater than or equal to 0 for each color ink cartridge 16 (S209), and if the difference (YT-ST) is greater than or equal to 0 (S209 "Yes"), it assumes that all of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 will be consumed by the end of the validity period YT, and sets the difference (YT-ST) as the time-related granularity X (S210).

[0051] Furthermore, if the difference (YT-ST) is not equal to or greater than 0 and is negative (S209 "No"), the control unit 29 causes the display unit 22 to display a message encouraging the user to use the image forming apparatus 10 more frequently, for example, because not all of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 will be consumed before the expiration of the validity period YT (S211). At this time, the control unit 29 sets the granularity X to one day (S212). With this setting, the control unit 29 causes the display unit 22 to display a warning indicating that the expiration date is approaching, etc., when the remaining consumption period ST becomes one day.

[0052] Furthermore, if the control unit 29 determines that the granularity X related to time has been automatically set (S201 "Yes"), that is, if the granularity X related to time has already been automatically set in S210, it causes the RFID reader 25 to read the information TD of the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16 for each color, and obtains the remaining ink amount ZR at this point in time (present) and the ink expiration date SK indicated by the information TD (S213), and divides the remaining ink amount ZR obtained in S213 by the daily ink consumption amount DR calculated in S205 to calculate the remaining consumption period ST until all the ink in the ink cartridge 16 is consumed (S214).

[0053] The control unit 29 calculates the validity period YT from the current date and time to the expiration date SK of the ink obtained in S213 for each color ink cartridge 16 (S215), and subtracts the remaining consumption period ST calculated in S214 from the validity period YT to calculate the difference (YT-ST) (S216).

[0054] The control unit 29 determines whether the difference (YT-ST) is greater than or equal to 0 for each ink cartridge 16 of each color (S217), and if the difference (YT-ST) is greater than or equal to 0 (S217 "Yes"), it assumes that all of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 will be consumed by the end of the validity period YT, and sets the difference (YT-ST) as the time-related granularity X (S218).

[0055] In this case, the period from the expiration date SK back to this point (present) becomes the value of the granularity X (= difference (YT-ST)), so at this point the control unit 29 will cause the display unit 22 to display a warning indicating that the expiration date is approaching (here, a warning informing that there are X days (X=granularity) until the expiration date).

[0056] Furthermore, if the difference (YT-ST) is not equal to or greater than 0 and is negative (S217 "No"), the control unit 29 causes the display unit 22 to display a message encouraging the user to use the image forming apparatus 10 more frequently, for example, because not all of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 will be consumed before the expiration of the validity period YT (S219). At this time, the control unit 29 sets the granularity X to one day (S220). With this setting, the control unit 29 causes the display unit 22 to display a warning indicating that the expiration date is approaching, etc., when the remaining consumption period ST becomes one day.

[0057] When the time-related granularity X is automatically set in this manner, the control unit 29 subtracts the current remaining ink amount ZR from the previous remaining ink amount ZR to calculate the daily ink consumption amount DR, and then divides the current remaining ink amount ZR by the daily ink consumption amount DR to calculate the remaining consumption period ST until all the ink in the ink cartridge 16 is consumed. The control unit 29 then calculates the expiration date YT of the ink until the expiration date SK, subtracts the remaining consumption period ST from the expiration date YT, and calculates the difference (YT - ST). If this difference (YT - ST) is negative and not equal to or greater than zero, the time-related granularity X is set to 1 day. In this case, it is assumed that not all of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 will be consumed by the expiration date YT. Therefore, the control unit 29 displays a message on the screen of the display unit 22 encouraging the user to use the image forming device 10 more frequently. This encourages the effective use of the ink in the ink cartridge 16 and enables the appropriate management of ink cartridges according to the ink consumption pace.

[0058] Furthermore, even if the time-related granularity X is set by the user in S104 or S108 shown in Figure 3, the control unit 29 may, for example, use the RFID reader 25 to read the information TD of the ink cartridge 16 from the RFID tag of the ink cartridge 16, obtain the ink expiration date SK indicated by the information TD, calculate the validity period YT from the current date and time to the ink expiration date SK, compare the validity period YT with the time-related granularity X set in S104 or S108, and if the validity period YT is shorter than the time-related granularity X ((YT-X)≧0), display a message on the screen of the display unit 22 encouraging the user to use the image forming device 10 more frequently.

[0059] <Variation 1> In Modification 1, in the case of an image forming device 10 having a mechanism for simultaneously using multiple ink cartridges 16 containing ink of the same color, the expiration date SK of the ink in each of the ink cartridges 16 is determined, and when at least two ink cartridges 16 with overlapping ink expiration dates SK are loaded, these ink cartridges 16 are managed together. Also, in Modification 1, among the ink cartridges 16, ink cartridges 16 with ink expiration dates SK that do not overlap with other ink cartridges 16 are managed individually.

[0060] For example, as shown in FIG. 8, two of four ink cartridges 16A, 16B, 16C, and 16D containing ink of the same color are arbitrarily selected and used simultaneously.

[0061] Here, the ink expiration dates SK of the two ink cartridges 16A and 16B are March 8 to April 1, the ink expiration date SK of the ink cartridge 16C is April 7 to May 1, and the ink expiration date SK of the ink cartridge 16D is March 23 to April 16. In Modification 1, the expiration dates SK are indicated by a fixed period consisting of multiple days.

[0062] Assume that the current date and time is February 26th. In this case, for the two ink cartridges 16A and 16B, the valid period YT from the current date and time until the ink expiration date SK is 35 days. For ink cartridge 16C, the valid period YT from the current date and time until the ink expiration date SK is 65 days. For ink cartridge 16D, the valid period YT from the current date and time until the ink expiration date SK is 50 days. Note that the last day of the expiration date SK is used to calculate the valid period YT.

[0063] For ink cartridge 16A, if the remaining consumption period ST calculated by the control unit 29 by dividing the remaining ink amount ZR by the daily ink consumption amount DR is 10 days, the difference (YT-ST) obtained by subtracting the remaining consumption period ST (=10 days) from the validity period YT (=35 days) is 25 days, which is positive, and therefore the time granularity X is 25 days.

[0064] For ink cartridge 16B, if the remaining consumption period ST calculated by dividing the remaining ink amount ZR by the daily ink consumption amount DR is 60 days, the difference (YT-ST) obtained by subtracting the remaining consumption period ST (= 60 days) from the validity period YT (= 35 days) is -25 days, which is negative, and therefore the time granularity X is 1 day.

[0065] For ink cartridge 16C, if the remaining consumption period ST calculated by dividing the remaining ink amount ZR by the daily ink consumption amount DR is 10 days, the difference (YT-ST) obtained by subtracting the remaining consumption period ST (=10 days) from the validity period YT (=65 days) is 55 days, which is positive, and therefore the time granularity X is 55 days.

[0066] For ink cartridge 16D, if the remaining consumption period ST calculated by dividing the remaining ink amount ZR by the daily ink consumption amount DR is 15 days, the difference (YT-ST) obtained by subtracting the remaining consumption period ST (=15 days) from the validity period YT (=50 days) is 35 days, which is positive, and therefore the time granularity X is 35 days.

[0067] The control unit 29 carries out the processing procedure shown in FIG. 7 for each of the ink cartridges 16A to 16D to determine the particle size X for each time.

[0068] Then, for example, when two arbitrarily selected ink cartridges 16A, 16B are loaded in the image forming device 10, the control unit 29 compares the expiration dates SK of each ink cartridge 16A, 16B, and since the expiration dates SK of the ink of the two ink cartridges 16A, 16B overlap, from March 8th to April 1st, the control unit 29 selects and sets the lower of the respective granularities X (= 25 days, 1 day), and displays a message on the screen of the display unit 22 encouraging the user to use the image forming device 10 more frequently because the amount of ink consumed is low.

[0069] Furthermore, when, for example, two arbitrarily selected ink cartridges 16A, 16C are installed in the image forming device 10, the control unit 29 compares the expiration dates SK of each ink cartridge 16A, 16C, and since the ink expiration date SK of one ink cartridge 16A (March 8th to April 1st) and the ink expiration date SK of the other ink cartridge 16C (April 7th to May 1st) do not overlap, the control unit 29 sets the granularity X (= 25 days, 55 days) separately for each ink cartridge 16A, 16C.

[0070] Furthermore, for example, when two arbitrarily selected ink cartridges 16A, 16D are installed in the image forming device 10, the control unit 29 compares the expiration dates SK of each ink cartridge 16A, 16D, and since the ink expiration date SK (March 8th to April 1st) of one ink cartridge 16A overlaps with the ink expiration date SK (March 23rd to April 16th) of the other ink cartridge 16C, the control unit 29 selects the lower granularity X (= 25 days) of the respective granularities X (= 25 days, 35 days), and sets this selected granularity X (= 25 days) as the granularity X for each ink cartridge 16A, 16D.

[0071] This allows the ink to be used effectively even when two ink cartridges containing the same color ink are used at the same time, by consuming the ink in the two ink cartridges within their expiration dates, and allows each ink cartridge to be managed appropriately according to the pace at which the ink is consumed.

[0072] Second Embodiment 9 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention, in which the same reference numerals are used to designate parts that perform the same functions as those in FIG.

[0073] The image forming apparatus 10A of the second embodiment includes an image reading unit 11 and an image forming unit 12A. The image reading unit 11 has a CIS that optically reads an image of an original M, and image data representing the image of the original M is output from the CIS.

[0074] The image forming unit 12A receives image data representing an image of a document and forms the image of the document represented by the image data on recording paper using toner by electrophotography. The image forming unit 12A includes toner containers 66 containing four colors (magenta, cyan, yellow, and black) of toner, and a magenta image forming unit 63M, a cyan image forming unit 63C, a yellow image forming unit 63Y, and a black image forming unit 63Bk, which receive the toner of each color from the corresponding toner container 66 and form toner images of each color. Each of the image forming units 63M, 63C, 63Y, and 63Bk uniformly charges the surface of a photoconductor drum 64, exposes the surface of the photoconductor drum 64 to light, forms an electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 64, develops the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 64 into a toner image, and transfers the toner image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 64 to the intermediate transfer belt 62. As a result, a color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 62. This color toner image is secondarily transferred onto the recording paper P conveyed from the paper feed unit 74 through the conveyance path 68 in the nip area N between the intermediate transfer belt 62 and the secondary transfer roller 67 .

[0075] After the image of the original is formed on the recording paper P, the recording paper P is heated and pressurized in the fixing unit 65, and the toner image on the recording paper P is fixed by thermocompression. Furthermore, the recording paper P is discharged onto a discharge tray 71 via a transport roller 69.

[0076] The configuration relating to control of image forming apparatus 10A of the second embodiment is generally the same as that of image forming apparatus 10 of the first embodiment shown in Fig. 2. However, image forming apparatus 10A of the second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that it employs an electrophotographic image forming unit 12A instead of an inkjet image forming unit 12. Control unit 29 of image forming apparatus 10A of the second embodiment controls electrophotographic image forming unit 12A to form an image of the original on recording paper P by image forming unit 12A in the above-described procedure.

[0077] Unlike the image forming apparatus 10 of the first embodiment, the electrophotographic image forming apparatus 10A does not supply ink of each color from each ink cartridge 16, but supplies toner of each color from each toner container 66. Therefore, each toner container 66 is provided with its own RFID tag (not shown), and information TD indicating the remaining amount of toner ZR in each toner container 66 and the toner expiration date SK is stored in each RFID tag. The control unit 29 controls the image forming unit 12A to calculate the amount of toner consumed for each color when forming a color image on recording paper, have the RFID reader 25 read the information TD for each toner container 66 from the RFID tag of the toner container 66, subtract the amount of toner consumed from the remaining amount of toner ZR indicated by the information TD, calculate the current remaining amount of toner ZR, and have the RFID reader 25 write the calculated current remaining amount of toner ZR to the RFID tag of the toner container 66, thereby updating the information TD for the RFID tag.

[0078] In the processing procedure of Figure 7, the control unit 29 replaces the remaining ink amount ZR and the ink expiration date SK with the remaining toner amount ZR and the toner expiration date SK to calculate the toner consumption amount DR per day, calculates the remaining consumption period ST until all the toner in the toner container 66 is consumed, subtracts the remaining consumption period ST from the valid period YT to calculate the difference (YT-ST), and based on this difference (YT-ST), determines whether all the toner in the toner container 66 will be consumed by the end of the valid period YT, sets the time-related granularity X, and appropriately manages the toner container according to the toner consumption pace.

[0079] The present invention is not limited to the configurations of the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible. The configurations and processes of the above-described embodiments described with reference to Figures 1 to 9 are merely examples of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention to these configurations and processes. [Explanation of symbols]

[0080] 10 Image forming device 10A Image forming device 11 Image reading unit 12 Image forming unit 12A Image forming section 14 Paper feed section 16 ink cartridges 21 Control section 22 Display section 24 Touch Panel 25 RFID Readers 26 Memory section 28 Control Unit 29 Control Unit

Claims

1. An image forming device comprising: a control unit that acquires the remaining amount and expiration date of a consumable item for a consumable part that supplies the consumable item, determines the granularity of time until the expiration date of the consumable item based on the remaining amount and expiration date of the consumable item, and determines the consumption status of the consumable item until the expiration date based on the granularity of time.

2. The image forming device described in claim 1, wherein the control unit acquires the remaining amount of the consumable in the consumable part at regular intervals, calculates the consumption amount of the consumable at the regular time, calculates the remaining consumption period of the consumable based on the remaining amount of the consumable and the consumption amount of the consumable at the regular time, calculates the validity period from the time of calculation to the expiration date, and determines the granularity related to the time based on the difference obtained by subtracting the validity period from the remaining consumption period of the consumable.

3. Further comprising a display unit, The image forming apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the control unit causes the display unit to display a message urging the user to use the consumable product when the time remaining until the expiration date reaches the time indicated by the value of the particle size.

4. The image forming apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the control unit determines the granularity of the time to be one day when the difference is negative.

5. The image forming device described in claim 1, wherein the control unit acquires the remaining amount and expiration date of the consumables for each of a plurality of consumable parts, determines the granularity of the time until the expiration date of the consumables based on the remaining amount and expiration date of the consumables, and when the expiration dates of the consumables for each of the consumable parts overlap, determines the consumption status of the consumables until the expiration date of each of the consumable parts based on the smaller granularity of the time of each of the consumable parts.

6. the image forming apparatus forms an image on recording paper using the ink, which is the consumable material, by an inkjet method; 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the consumable parts is an ink cartridge containing the ink, and is detachably mounted in the image forming apparatus.

7. the image forming apparatus forms an image on recording paper using the toner, which is the consumable material, by an electrophotographic method; 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of the consumable parts is a toner container that stores the toner and is detachably mounted on the image forming apparatus.

Images