Mita Industrial Co., Ltd.

Kyocera Document Solutions Inc.

Exedy Corporation

Mita Industries Co., Ltd.

Jiro Nagira

Yuji Yamashita

Yasuhiro Hashimoto

Hiroshige Utatsu

Fumio Aizawa

Tatsuo Noda

In a post-processing device (sheet discharge device), a pile thickness calculating section calculates, from a type and the number of paper sheets discharged through a sheet output port, a thickness of a pile, at its leading end, of sets of paper sheets on a sheet output tray (piling section), calculates a thickness of the pile, at its trailing end, of sets of paper sheets on the sheet output tray from an amount of movement of a lifting section, and calculates an angle of inclination of the uppermost set of paper sheets in the pile from the thicknesses of the pile at its leading and trailing ends, a height of inclination of the sheet output tray, and a length of the paper sheets. The control section controls the sheet discharge section to change a manner of discharging a subsequent set of paper sheets according to the calculated angle of inclination.

Sheet discharge device and image forming apparatus

In a system in which a host computer performs lifetime management for components of a plurality of copiers, components whose lifetimes are to be managed can be freely selected copier by copier and, as a result, warning reports can be transmitted with a reduced number of communication sessions. The copiers are each equipped with a device for management, so that counting can be performed for their individual components and interlock counts for such counting can be freely specified. The host computer compares a count received through communication with a threshold value to issue a report within the host computer. Within one copier, during a period after a component PM call is issued and before a component is replaced, even if another component becomes a target of a component PM call, the component PM call is not issued. When a component replacement report is received, a report of a component PM call is automatically deleted from an urgency report list. A component whose component PM call has been exceeded is indicated with a mark requesting replacement.

Equipment management system that issues a warning when the lifetime of a

In a management system in which a plurality of copiers are managed by a host computer, each copier is provided with a device that is connected to the host computer so as to manage the copier. The device can be initialized from the copier without advance registration in the host computer. To achieve this, when a serviceperson, having set up the copier, enters a registration code and executes initialization, the device communicates with the host computer and transmits thereto an initialization report. On receiving the initialization report, the host computer creates a database, and subsequently sets the device using predetermined values in the database and assigns thereto a copier ID number. When communication has been completed without errors, the device returns the copier ID number to the copier. To register the copier, an operator of the host computer opens a screen of a list of non-registered pieces of equipment to be managed in order to select and register the corresponding copier on that screen. Thus, a database is made ready for use in the host computer.

Equipment management system

In a maintenance management system in which communications control devices of electronic photocopiers are connected through public telephone lines or the like with a host computer of a maintenance company that manages the photocopiers, preventive-maintenance-oriented, omission-free instructions for maintenance work are obtained by determining items of work to be performed based on how many times maintenance has been performed or based on a count of copies produced. For example, in the case where maintenance work to be performed on a first occasion includes items of work belonging to a work item setting area of a second order of precedence within a maintenance table, if items of work that need to be performed do not agree with those specified in the table, items of work of a first order of precedence are added. To achieve this, based on a count at a moment, a work item setting area in the maintenance table is judged to determine its array number, a maintenance state flag is judged, and the array number is incremented by one, so that instructions of the second order of precedence are indicated. Then, the array number of the area is decremented by one, and the flag is judged to be OFF, so that items of work of first order are added to those of the second order. Next, duplicated items within the same area are deleted, whether replacement is necessary or not is judged, and then it is determined that maintenance on the next occasion includes items of work of the first and second orders of precedence.

Maintenance management system for image forming equipment

A device for management is attached to a copier, and the device for management is connected to a host computer at a management center via a telephone line. In a database of the host computer are provided a field for calculating an MCBJ since resetting or in a predetermined period, and a field for calculating a total MCBJ of copiers of a same model. Based on comparison between results obtained in these two fields, a warning is issued. Moreover, an MCBJ of a copier in a predetermined period is retained in the database for three consecutive such periods, so that a trend of the MCBJ of the copier is traced. A rising tendency of the MCBJ is judged from a combination of two trend-indicating values, one comparing an MCBJ two periods before with a current MCBJ and the other comparing the MCBJ two periods before with an MCBJ one period before. If the rising tendency exceeds a predetermined factor, a warning is issued.

Copier management system

In a management system in which electronic photocopiers are linked through a network with a host computer at a maintenance company that manages the photocopiers and with another host computer at a lease company that performs charging and other tasks related to the use of the photocopiers, registration to the latter host computer and setting thereupon of transmission times of periodical reports can be performed without any inconvenience. Data including the ID number of a copier and the code of the maintenance company are transmitted from a communications control device provided in the copier to the host computer of the lease company. This host computer, when the received ID number and code have not been registered, puts the ID number and code on a list of unregistered copiers, and makes the device transmit data every day until the copier is registered. When the copier is registered, the host computer erases the ID number of the copier and the code of the maintenance company from the list of unregistered copiers. Thus, the lease company's failure to register a copier can be readily detected, so that a lease contract can be fulfilled without delay.

In the host computer of a multiple photocopier management system, a maintenance supervising system is provided for supervising maintenance job contents on routinely serviced photocopier components. Stored in the host computer RAM are maintenance tables for retaining in routine maintenance sequences job items for periodic maintenance on the photocopier components. After completing routine maintenance on a photocopier, a service engineer inputs maintenance reporting data which is accepted in job store areas of the RAM. The maintenance reporting data categorizes a maintenance job, in particular as to whether a component has been repaired, and indicates actual job content, component-by-component. The routine maintenance sequences each constitute an order of ranking numbers each assigned to a job item, and the rank order in the sequence is updated according to the ranking number corresponding to the content of the reported job. Based on the maintenance reporting data accepted by the RAM, and on the updated job rank orders in the routine maintenance sequences, the host computer sets job items component-by-component for the next-scheduled routine maintenance from the job items stored in the maintenance tables. The job items for the work due component-by-component in the next scheduled routine maintenance are accordingly displayed.

Maintenance supervising system for an image-reproducing system

An imaging device supervision system stores data indicating, for instance, the number of sheets of paper supplied from each paper supply cassette in a copying machine, and/or the number of times the toner has been replenished, and the amount of toner cartridges in stock are stored in a copying machine supervision data base which is constructed, stored and maintained in a storage device, such as a hard drive. The supervision system updates the stock amounts for each size of paper based on the data indicating the number of sheets of paper supplied, and formulates a consumable item delivery plan according to delivery conditions set in a delivery schedule setting screen 91, to reduce the downtime due to stocks of consumable items being exhausted in an imaging device. Further, the amount of toner cartridges in stock are updated by means of the number of times the toner has been replenished, and the stock data are displayed on a status information screen 66.

Imaging device with stock supervision means

For an image reproducing system provided with an auto-restoration capability, a monitoring system is disclosed involving display by an image reproducing machine of the system in connection with fault diagnosis and auto-restoration processes by the image reproducing machine. The disclosed monitoring system in particular concerns a network of likewise auto-restoring image reproducing machines in communication with a host computer. The image reproducing machine has machine-condition constant-monitoring sensors through which a main controller of the image reproducing machine detects faults causing operational malfunction. A communication device transmits data indicating operational malfunction in an image reproducing machine from its main controller to the host computer. The main controller prepares and executes an auto-restoration process implementing restorative operations to compensate functionally for the detected faults, and interprets as restorative state data success of implemented restorative operations. A restoration process data storage of the image reproducing system stores data identifying an executed auto-restoration process. The restoration process data and the restorative state data are displayed by an image reproducing system display, which display can be by the host computer, as monitored at a remote service station by a service engineer.

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Osaka, Japan

Jiro Nagira