IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS AND COMMUNICATING METHOD WITH TRAY THEREOF

摘要

An image forming device and a method for communicating with a tray of the same are provided to simplify line connection and reduce cost by using a single communication channel for communication between a main frame and each option tray, and quickly/correctly assign an ID to each option tray without inconvenience for making a user directly set the ID. The main frame(110) has a main MPU(Micro Processor Unit)(115) for controlling a device to output an image. Each option tray(120,130) is attached/detached from the main frame and has a tray MPU(125,135) for exchanging data with the main MPU through communication. A communication line(150) forms one communication channel for connecting the main MPU and each tray MPU, makes the data interchanged between the main MPU and each tray MPU, and informs the main MPU of data provisioning performed by the tray MPU. The communication line includes a TXD line(151) for providing the data of the main MPU to each tray MPU, an RXD line(153) for providing the data of each tray MPU to the main MPU, and a busy line(155) for informing that at least one tray MPU provides the data to the main MPU.