Image Forming Device Sheet Feeding Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional image forming devices face issues where print jobs are disrupted due to running out of recording sheets of the designated size, requiring users to wait for another print job to finish before resuming printing on the correct size, and necessitating re-transmission of print data for reprinting.
Innovation Solution
An image forming device with a sheet feeding unit capable of multiple sizes, a print unit for page-by-page printing, a control unit to manage sheet feeding and printing, and a storing unit that detects sheet shortages, allowing printing to continue using substitute sheets and storing data for immediate reprinting without re-transmitting data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the printing device prioritizes printing other print jobs when running out of recording sheets of designated size, then the productivity is improved, but the user convenience deteriorates because the user must wait for the prioritized print job to finish
Solution Approach 1:
The printing device detects running out of recording sheets of designated size in advance and proactively stores the print data before the print job is interrupted. This preliminary action ensures that when the user supplies recording sheets later, the print data is already ready and can be immediately reprinted without waiting for other print jobs to complete, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and user convenience.
2Productivity
If the printing device uses recording sheets of different size when running out of designated size sheets, then the productivity is improved, but the manufacturing precision deteriorates because the printing result is not on the designated size
Solution Approach 1:
The printing device stores the print data in advance before interrupting the print job due to running out of recording sheets. This preliminary storage action allows the device to maintain printing continuity by using substitute sheets when necessary, while ensuring that the original print data is preserved for later reprinting on the correct designated size sheets, thus resolving the contradiction between printing continuity and sheet size accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The printing device creates a copy of the print data in the storage unit before interrupting the print job. This copying mechanism allows the device to use substitute recording sheets for continued printing while preserving the original print data for accurate reprinting on designated size sheets later, thus maintaining both printing continuity and sheet size accuracy.
3Ease of operation
If the print data is stored in the storing unit, then the ease of operation is improved because reprinting can be done without re-transmitting data, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The printing device integrates a storage unit that serves multiple functions: storing print data for later reprinting, managing substitute sheet printing, and coordinating with the control unit to detect when designated size sheets are depleted. This multi-functionality approach improves reprinting convenience while minimizing the increase in device complexity by combining multiple functions into a single integrated system.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming device is provided with a sheet feeding unit capable of selectively feeding recording sheets of a plurality of sizes, a print unit configured to print out images represented by print data on page-by-page basis, the print data including information of designated size of the recording sheets. On condition that running out of the recording sheets of the designated size in the sheet feeding unit is detected during printing out of the images, the sheet feeding unit starts feeding the recording sheets of a substitute size which is different from the designated size and the print unit continues printing out of images represented by remaining part of the print data on the recording sheet of the substitute size. A storing unit stores the remaining part of the print data after printing, but not part of the print data printed on the recording sheets of designated size.