The following appears on 4-traders.com
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Politics & Government Week — A patent application by the inventors MURAMOTO, Kouki (Toyohashi-shi, JP); MINEMURA, Taisuke (Okazaki-shi, JP); GONDA, Takashi (Toyokawa-shi, JP); YAMAMOTO, Kenichi (Toyokawa-shi, JP), filed onJune 19, 2013, was made available online on January 2, 2014, according to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by VerticalNews correspondents.
This patent application is assigned to Konica Minolta, Inc.
The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors: “The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for printing on a the front and back of paper, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus for printing on the front and back of paper having a size exceeding the maximum paper-feed size.
“Electrophographic image forming apparatuses include, for example, MFP (Multifunction Peripheral) with a scanner function, a facsimile function, a copy function, a printer function, a data communication function, and a server function, facsimile machines, copiers, and printers.
“Image forming apparatuses have the maximum paper size that can be fed (for example, A3 size or A4 size). This size is called the maximum paper-feed size. In order to print on paper having a size exceeding the maximum paper-feed size, a more expensive and larger image forming apparatus (such as a copier or a printer) that supports such size of paper has to be used. In this respect, a technique for printing on paper having a size exceeding the maximum paper-feed size has been proposed, in which paper folded in two is fed. For example, Document 1 below discloses a technique of forming an image on large-size recording paper by folding recording paper in two, forming toner images on both sides of the recording paper folded in two, and unfolding the recording paper after fixing.
“Documents 2 and 3 below disclose a technique related to operation of a paper feeder in feeding paper folded in two. Document 2 below discloses a paper feeder including a paper stage on which paper is placed, a separation paper feed roller pair located downstream of the paper stage for feeding paper, and a bringing roller coming into abutment with the upper surface of paper placed on the paper stage for bringing the paper closer to the separation paper feed roller pair. This paper feeder can switch between a first mode in which the rollers of the separation paper feed roller pair are rotated in a direction in which paper is output to the downstream side and the bringing roller is not brought into abutment with the upper surface of paper, and a second mode in which rotation of a separation roller of the separation paper feed roller pair is stopped and the bringing roller is brought into abutment with the upper surface of paper.
