Image forming system and control method for the same

摘要

A serial tandem image forming system is described which is capable of inhibiting both the degradation of image quality and the reduction of the productivity. This system consists mainly of the control units of upstream and downstream apparatuses. When a preceding sheet differs from the subsequent sheet in sheet type, a control unit for controlling the image forming system has the subsequent sheet stand by at a paper stop roller of the upstream apparatus, and performs the operation of switching the operating states of the upstream and downstream apparatuses in accordance with the sheet type of the subsequent sheet. Also, the control unit predicts the timing of finishing the switching of the operating state, and then re-starts the conveyance of the subsequent sheet, in advance of finishing the switching of the operating state, by controlling the paper stop roller on the basis of the predicted finishing timing.

主权项

1. A serial tandem image forming system comprising:
a first image forming apparatus configured to form an image on a sheet; a second image forming apparatus connected to the first image forming apparatus in series and configured to form an image on the sheet which is supplied from the first image forming apparatus; and a controller configured to control the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus respectively, wherein each of the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus is provided with a registration unit which sends out a sheet to an image formation process, wherein when a preceding sheet and a subsequent sheet coming just after the preceding sheet differ in sheet type, the controller performs an operation of switching an operating state of the first image forming apparatus and the second image forming apparatus in accordance with the sheet type of the subsequent sheet while having the subsequent sheet stand by at the registration unit, and wherein the controller predicts a finishing timing at which the switching of the operating state is finished, and then re-starts conveyance of the subsequent sheet, in advance of finishing the switching of the operating state, by controlling the registration unit based on the predicted finishing timing.