Image forming device and image forming method providing notifications for pressure contact force adjustments

1 . An image forming device comprising:

a toner image former that forms, on a paper sheet, a toner image based on image information;

a fixer that includes at least a pair of rollers, the pair of rollers including a heating roller and a pressurizing roller, and that fixes the toner image by nipping, at a pressure contact portion formed by the pair of rollers, the paper sheet on which the toner image is formed;

an adjuster that adjusts a pressure contact force at the pressure contact portion to either a first pressure contact force or a second pressure contact force that is weaker than the first pressure contact force; and

one or more controllers that control execution of a first job related to image formation via the fixer, wherein

after a paper jam that has occurred in a vicinity of the fixer is cleared, the one or more controllers provide a user with a notification that prompts the user to operate the adjuster for adjusting the pressure contact force to either the first pressure contact force or the second pressure contact force, such that the pressure contact force becomes appropriate based on a paper type of the paper sheet.

2 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , wherein

after the paper jam is cleared and when a second job, accompanying a change, from the first job previously executed, in the paper type of the paper sheet, is registered, the one or more controllers provide the user with the notification.

3 . The image forming device according to claim 2 , wherein

after the paper jam is cleared, and

when the second job with the paper type changed from a regular paper to an envelope is registered, or when the second job with the paper type changed from the envelope to the regular paper is registered,

the one or more controllers provide the user with the notification.

4 . The image forming device according to claim 3 , wherein

when the second job with the paper type changed from the regular paper to the envelope is registered, the one or more controllers provide the notification indicating that the adjuster is to be operated to adjust the pressure contact force from the first pressure contact force to the second pressure contact force, and

when the second job with the paper type changed from the envelope to the regular paper is registered, the one or more controllers provide the notification indicating that the adjuster is to be operated to adjust the pressure contact force from the second pressure contact force to the first pressure contact force.

5 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more controllers suppress an operation to form, by the toner image former, the toner image while providing the user with the notification.

6 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more controllers provide the user with the notification after providing a guiding method for clearing the paper jam.

7 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more controllers suppress a warm-up operation of the toner image former while providing the user with the notification.

8 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , further comprising:

a display that displays the notification as a message screen, wherein

the one or more controllers cancel display of the message screen through a screen operation by the user via the display.

9 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , wherein

the one or more controllers display, to the user, operation guidance indicating different operation methods of the adjuster depending on whether the pressure contact force at the pressure contact portion is the first pressure contact force or the second pressure contact force.

10 . The image forming device according to claim 1 , wherein:

the one or more controllers display, on a display, a system setting screen that allows a user to set whether the notification is to be displayed, and

the one or more controllers control whether the notification is displayed based on a user setting on the system setting screen.

11 . The image forming device according to claim 10 , wherein:

the one or more controllers display the system setting screen that further allows the user to independently set whether the notification is displayed after the paper jam is cleared and whether the notification is displayed when a second job involving a change in the paper type is registered, and

the one or more controllers control display the notification based on user settings, including the user setting.

12 . An image forming method comprising:

forming, on a paper sheet, a toner image based on image information;

fixing the toner image by nipping, at a pressure contact portion formed by a pair of rollers including a heating roller and a pressurizing roller, the paper sheet on which the toner image is formed; and

executing a job related to image formation, wherein

a pressure contact force applied at the pressure contact portion is adjusted to either a first pressure contact force or a second pressure contact force that is weaker than the first pressure contact force by operating an adjuster, and after a paper jam that has occurred in a vicinity of a fixer is cleared, a user is provided with a notification that prompts the user to operate the adjuster, such that the pressure contact force becomes appropriate based on a paper type of the paper sheet associated with a previously executed job.