Printer Tray Overflow Control via Dynamic Sheet Redirection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional printing apparatuses fail to ensure correct sorting results when multiple discharge trays are used, as they do not effectively handle stack full status issues, leading to incorrect sorting of printing sheets.
Innovation Solution
A printing apparatus equipped with sensors to detect stack height and a controller that manages the printing and discharge process, adjusts the number of copies, and reprints pages when a tray reaches full status, ensuring correct sorting by redirecting sheets to available trays.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a conventional printing apparatus uses multiple discharge trays for sort printing, then the productivity is improved by enabling simultaneous discharge of multiple copies, but the reliability deteriorates when a tray reaches full status causing incorrect sorting results
Solution Approach 1:
The printing apparatus employs sensors to detect the stack height of printing sheets in each discharge tray, providing real-time feedback to the control unit. When a tray reaches full status, the control unit receives this feedback signal and automatically adjusts the discharge destination, preventing overflow and ensuring correct sorting results throughout the print job.
Solution Approach 2:
The discharge destination is made dynamic rather than fixed. The control unit continuously monitors tray status and dynamically changes the discharge destination based on real-time conditions. When a tray becomes full, the system automatically redirects subsequent sheets to alternative trays, maintaining sorting accuracy without interrupting the print job.
2Productivity
If the printing apparatus continues sort printing when a tray is full by using other trays, then the productivity is maintained, but the manufacturing precision deteriorates due to incorrect sorting results
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses sensor feedback to continuously monitor tray fullness and dynamically adjusts discharge destinations. This feedback mechanism ensures that sheets are always directed to appropriate trays, maintaining correct sorting order even when some trays become full and need to be skipped temporarily.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit pre-calculates and stores the correct discharge destination for each sheet based on the sort printing pattern. When a tray is detected as full, the system refers to this pre-stored information to determine the next appropriate destination, ensuring that sorting accuracy is maintained without interrupting the print flow.
3Reliability
If sensors are added to detect stack height and the controller manages discharge dynamically, then the sorting accuracy is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The printing apparatus performs self-monitoring and self-adjustment through integrated sensors and control logic. The system automatically detects when trays are full and redirects discharge without requiring external intervention or complex manual management, achieving high reliability through relatively simple automated mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The control unit serves multiple functions: it manages the print job workflow, monitors sensor signals from multiple trays, determines discharge destinations, and adjusts routing dynamically. This multi-functionality consolidates complexity into a single intelligent component rather than requiring separate specialized systems for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
A controller of a printing apparatus is configured to determine whether there is a stack-full tray, restrict discharging of the printing sheet to the stack-full tray and reduce the number of copies made in the sort printing process, store the page number of the page currently printed in association with a stack-full tray, obtain image data corresponding to the page associated with the stack-full tray onwards when it is determined that the full stack status of the stack-full trays is released, and the obtained print images with making the tray of which status is changed from the full status to the non-full status.