1. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a printing unit which prints an image onto a recording medium; a transportation path inside of the printing unit through which the recording medium is transported from a sheet-feeding cassette to a discharge tray, wherein a front end of the recording medium moves along the transportation path first; and
a shutter arm unit, comprising:
a shutter arm which is at a first position where one end of the shutter arm protrudes toward the transportation path, and which moves to a second position when the shutter arm retracts from the transportation path when the shutter arm is pushed by the front end of the recording medium moving along the transportation path, and
a stopper arm, formed on the shutter arm, which protrudes toward the transportation path when the shutter arm retracts to the second position and blocks a front end of at least a second recording medium moving simultaneously with the first recording medium along the transportation path, wherein the stopper arm comprises:
a free end which protrudes toward the transportation path when the shutter arm retracts to the second position; and
a fixing end connected to the shutter arm,
wherein the stopper arm is positioned upstream of the shutter arm.
2. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the stopper arm further comprises:
a hinge which connects the fixing end to the shutter arm, wherein the stopper arm rotates around the hinge.
3. The image forming apparatus of claim 2, wherein the shutter arm comprises a protrusion cam which makes the free end of the stopper arm protrude towards the transportation path by pushing the stopper arm towards the transportation path as the shutter arm swings to the second position.
4. The image forming apparatus of claim 3, wherein the shutter arm further comprises an escape cam which makes the free end retract from the transportation path by pushing the stopper arm away from the transportation path as the shutter arm returns to the first position.
5. The image forming apparatus of claim 4, wherein the protrusion cam and the escape cam control a range of rotation of the stopper arm as the stopper arm rotates freely around the hinge.
6. The image forming apparatus of claim 5, wherein the shutter arm unit further comprises:
a guide member which guides the recording medium along the transportation path; and
a restriction groove formed in the guide member and opened toward the transportation path,
wherein the stopper arm protrudes toward the transportation path through the restriction groove, an upper portion of the restriction groove blocks the stopper arm from moving in a direction along the transportation path, and the stopper arm blocks the front end of at least the second recording medium from moving simultaneously with the recording medium along the transportation path.
7. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shutter arm unit further comprises another end, wherein the one end and the another end are spaced apart from each other, integrally formed to each other, and configured at the same height as each other from a bottom of the image forming apparatus, to align the front end of the recording medium as the recording medium moves along the transportation path.
8. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:
a housing which houses the shutter arm unit; and
a torsion spring connected to the shutter arm and the housing which elastically biases the shutter arm into the first position.
9. The image forming apparatus of claim 1, wherein the shutter arm unit further comprises a sensing portion which detects a moment when the recording medium contacts the shutter arm by sensing a swing position of the shutter arm.
10. The image forming apparatus of claim 9, wherein the sensing portion comprises:
a sensor arm integrally formed with the shutter arm; and
an optical sensor disposed in a swing path of the sensor arm, which senses the swing position of the sensor arm.
11. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a printing unit which prints an image onto a recording medium;
a transportation path inside of the printing unit through which the recording medium is transported from a sheet-feeding cassette to a discharge tray, wherein a front end of the recording medium moves along the transportation path first; and
a shutter arm unit, comprising:
any one of a pair of rollers which transport the recording medium by forming a nip in the transportation path where the rollers contact each other,
a shutter arm which rotates around a rotation shaft of the rollers, wherein the shutter arm is at a first position when the shutter arm is elastically biased at the first position and one end of the shutter arm protrudes toward the transportation path, and wherein the shutter arm is at a second position when pushed by the front end of the recording medium, and
a stopper arm disposed at the shutter arm which stops movement of at least a second recording medium moving simultaneously with the first recording medium along the transportation path by protruding toward the transportation path when the shutter arm swings to the second position, wherein the stopper arm comprises:
a free end which protrudes toward the transportation path when the shutter arm retracts to the second position; and
a fixing end connected to the shutter arm,
wherein the stopper arm is positioned upstream of the shutter arm.
12. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, wherein the stopper arm further comprises:
a hinge which connects the fixing end to the shutter arm, wherein the stopper arm rotates around the hinge.
13. The image forming apparatus of claim 12, wherein the shutter arm comprises a protrusion cam which makes the free end of the stopper arm protrude towards the transportation path by pushing the stopper arm towards the transportation path as the shutter arm swings to the second position.
14. The image forming apparatus of claim 13, wherein the shutter arm further comprises an escape cam which makes the free end retract from the transportation path by pushing the stopper arm away from the transportation path as the shutter arm returns to the first position.
15. The image forming apparatus of claim 14, wherein the protrusion cam and the escape cam control a range of rotation of the stopper arm as the stopper arm rotates freely around the hinge.
16. The image forming apparatus of claim 15, wherein the shutter arm unit further comprises:
a guide member which guides the recording medium along the transportation path; and
a restriction groove formed in the guide member and opened toward the transportation path,
wherein the stopper arm protrudes toward the transportation path through the restriction groove, an upper portion of the restriction groove blocks the stopper arm from moving in a direction along the transportation path, and the stopper arm blocks a front end of at least the second recording medium from moving simultaneously with the recording medium along the transportation path.
17. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, wherein the shutter arm unit further comprises:
a pair of bosses which support two corresponding ends of the rotation shaft of the rollers; and
a boss spring which elastically biases the pair of bosses toward the nip.
18. The image forming apparatus of claim 17, wherein the shutter arm unit further comprises an escape member, comprising:
a parallel section positioned parallel to the rotation shaft of the rollers;
a pair of escape member arms fixed to the parallel section which are rotatable to an escape position where the pair of escape member arms push the rotation shaft of the roller away from the transportation path;
an escape member control portion fixed to the parallel section; and
an escape member spring which elastically presses the escape member control portion to cause a rotation of the parallel section which causes the pair of escape member arms to rotate towards the escape position.
19. The image forming apparatus of claim 18, further comprising:
a body in which the printing unit is mounted;
a door which opens and closes the body and has a door control portion; and
a sheet-feeding cassette which is attachable to and detachable from the body and which stores sheets of recording media, wherein the escape member control portion leans against either the sheet-feeding cassette when the sheet-feeding cassette is installed inside the body or the door control portion when the door is closed, preventing the escape member spring from pushing the escape member control portion into an escape position.
20. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a transfer roller, wherein the shutter arm unit is located in between the sheet-feeding cassette and the transfer roller on the transportation path.
21. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a transfer roller, wherein one of the rollers in the pair of rollers of the shutter arm unit is the transfer roller.
22. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:
a transfer roller; and
a fixer, comprising:
a heating roller, and
a pressing roller,
wherein the shutter arm unit is located in between the transfer roller and the fixer on the transportation path.
23. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a fixer, comprising:
a heating roller, and
a pressing roller, wherein one of the rollers in the pair of rollers is the heating roller or the pressing roller.
24. The image forming apparatus of claim 11, wherein the shutter arm unit is located in between a fixer and a discharge roller on the transportation path.
25. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a printing unit which prints an image onto a recording medium;
a transportation path inside of the printing unit through which the recording medium is transported from a sheet-feeding cassette to a discharge tray, wherein a front end of the recording medium moves along the transportation path first; and
a shutter arm unit, comprising:
a pair of rollers which transport the recording medium by forming a nip in the transportation path where the rollers contact each other;
a shutter arm which rotates around a rotation shaft of the rollers, wherein the shutter arm is at a first position where one end of the shutter arm protrudes toward the transportation path, and which moves to a second position when the shutter arm retracts from the transportation path when the shutter arm is pushed by the front end of the recording medium moving along the transportation path;
a stopper arm connected to the shutter arm which protrudes toward the transportation path when the shutter arm retracts to the second position and blocks a front end of at least a second recording medium moving simultaneously with the first recording medium along the transportation path;
a pair of bosses which support two corresponding ends of the rotation shaft of the rollers;
a boss spring which elastically biases the pair of bosses toward the nip; and
an escape member, comprising:
a parallel section positioned parallel to the rotation shaft of the rollers;
a pair of escape member arms fixed to the parallel section which are rotatable to an escape position where the pair of escape member arms push the rotation shaft of the rollers away from the transportation path;
an escape member control portion fixed to the parallel section; and
an escape member spring which elastically presses the escape member control portion to cause a rotation of the parallel section which causes the pair of escape member arms to rotate towards the escape position.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A terminal device provided in a predetermined sensor field, comprising:
a terminal transmission means that can transmit, via a network, to a data processing server, an acquired data acquired from receipting a sensing data comprising pre-specified fixed data andor sensed physical phenomena or physical quantities within said sensor field; and
a terminal reception means that can receive a processed data processed based upon said acquired data from said data processing server.
2. The terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a notification means that makes notifications on said acquired data and said processed data.
3. The terminal device according to claim 1, further comprising a downloading means to download a special processing program from said data processing server when said acquired data requires said special processing program to thereby process said acquired data for transmitting to said data processing server.
4. A data processing server, comprising:
a server reception means that can receive an acquired data from the terminal device according to claim 1;
a server processing means that can generate a processed data by processing said acquired data; and
a server transmission means that can transmit said processed data to a terminal device.
5. The data processing server according to claim 4, further comprising a fee assessment means that computes an amount of a fee to be charged based upon said processed data for transmitting to said terminal device.
6. The data processing server according to claim 5, wherein said fee assessment means can accumulate the amounts of fees assessed for each of said terminal devices.
7. The data processing server according to claim 5, wherein said fee assessment means notifies said terminal device that a fee is required prior to completing the generation of said processed data if said fee assessment means determines said generation of said processed data is chargeable.
8. The data processing server according to claim 4, wherein, when generating said processed data based upon said acquired data from said terminal device, said server processing means receives a requisite information from another system in order to execute a process request sent from said terminal device, then generates said processed data based upon said acquired data and said required information.
9. The data processing server according to claim 4, further comprising a search means to search a special processing program among a plurality of processing programs when said data processing server receives a download request from the terminal device according to claim 3, and said searched program is downloaded to said terminal device in response to said downloaded request.
10. An information provision system, comprising:
a fixed data transmitter, provided in a predetermined sensor field, that transmits pre-specified fixed data;
a terminal device that receives said fixed data from said fixed data transmitter when said terminal device moves into said sensor field, and then transmits said fixed data via a network as an acquired data, and
a data processing server which provides a processed data to said terminal device, processed based upon said data acquired and a data processing request received from said terminal device.
11. The information provision system according to claim 10, further comprising a sensing data transmitter which can transmit a sensing data acquired by sensing physical phenomena or physical quantities to said terminal device when said terminal device moves into said sensor field, so that said terminal device may forward said sensing data as said acquired data to said data processing server.
12. The information provision system according to claim 10, wherein said terminal device may be a first and a second terminal devices, said first terminal device transmits said data processing request and a first acquired data as a first set of acquired data to said data processing server, said second terminal device transmits a second acquired data to said data processing server, then said data processing server, based upon said processing request and said first set of acquired data, provides said processed data in response to said second acquired data, and transmits said processed data to said second terminal device.
13. The information provision system according to claim 10, wherein said fixed data transmitter is installed in a mobile apparatus.
14. An information provision method, comprising:
a first step to receive a fixed data when a terminal device moves into a predetermined sensor field;
a second step to transmit said fixed data as an acquired data via a network by said terminal device; and
a third step to receive said acquired data, then generate a processed data based upon the said acquired data and a processing request from said terminal device, and provide said processed data to said terminal device.
15. The information provision method according to claim 14, wherein said terminal device receives a sensing data of physical phenomena or physical quantities in said first step, and then said terminal device transmits said sensing data as said acquired data to said data processing server in said second step.
16. A data processing program for a computer which functions in a manner characterized in that a terminal transmission means receives a predetermined fixed data andor a sensing data of physical phenomena or physical quantities as an acquired data within a predetermined sensor field, and transmits said acquired data via a network to a data processing server, and a terminal reception means to receive the processing results from said data processing server that processed said acquired data.
17. A recordable media upon which a data processing program is recorded that is readable by a computer, said data processing comprising:
a first step to receive a fixed data when a terminal device moves into a predetermined sensor field;
a second step to transmit said fixed data as an acquired data via a network by said terminal device; and
a third step to receive said acquired data, then generate a processed data based upon the said acquired data and a processing request from said terminal device, and provide said processed data to said terminal device.