JPH04152749A - Scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the utility of the scanner by heating a heater when a temperature of a fluorescent light is a prescribed temperature or below at application of power, lighting the fluorescent light to heat up the fluorescent light so as to reduce the wait time for the user of the scanner. CONSTITUTION:When power is applied to the scanner 1, power is supplied to a heater 31 and a thermister 32, which detects a temperature of a fluorescent light 3 to give an output to a heater control circuit 35. The heater control circuit 35 compares the temperature given from the thermister 32 with a prescribed setting temperature and outputs a heating state signal to a system control circuit 34 and an AND circuit 37 when the temperature of the fluorescent light 3 is lower than the setting temperature. The system control circuit 34 checks whether or not the fluorescent light 3 reaches the prescribed setting temperature based on the heating state signal inputted from the heater control circuit 35 and stops the output of a lighting signal to an inverter 33 when the temperature is made stable so as to turn off the fluorescent light 3.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a scanner device, and more particularly to a scanner device using a fluorescent lamp as a light source.

[Conventional technology]

Fluorescent lamps are often used as light sources in scanner devices because they provide a sufficient amount of light necessary for reading documents and are inexpensive.

That is, in a scanner device, an image of a document is read by photoelectrically converting the reflected light of light irradiated onto the document from a fluorescent lamp. In order to obtain good scanned images, the fluorescent lamps used in such scanner devices must be adjusted so that the light is always constant and emits light near the maximum illuminance. The amount of light emitted by the tube is affected by the mercury vapor pressure inside the tube. Therefore, in the scanner device, when reading a document, it is necessary to control the fluorescent lamp to a stable light emission temperature.

2. Conventionally, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 50-007990, a heater is wrapped around the fluorescent lamp itself and the fluorescent lamp is heated by the heater.

When the fluorescent lamp is heated to a predetermined stable light emission temperature, the drive of the heater is controlled based on the fluorescent lamp temperature to maintain the fluorescent lamp at a constant temperature. Therefore, the fluorescent lamp can be used at maximum illuminance and at stable illuminance.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, when such a conventional fluorescent lamp device is applied to a scanner device, a heater is wrapped around the fluorescent lamp itself.
Because the fluorescent lamps were heated using only the heater's temperature, it took a long time for the fluorescent lamps to reach a stable luminous temperature after the scanner was turned on, and users of the scanner It will take a long time to wait until the stable light emission temperature is reached. As a result, there was a problem that the scanner device was not usable.

Possible ways to solve this problem include increasing the amount of heat generated by the heater, or keeping the temperature of the fluorescent light constant by turning on and off the fluorescent light even during standby, but the amount of heat generated by the heater Increasing the heater itself increases the cost of the heater itself, increases the power supply capacity, increases the cost of the scanner device, and increases the size of the scanner device. Also, if you turn on/off the fluorescent lights during standby, you can turn on/off the fluorescent lights for a long time called standby time.
When turned off, there was a problem in that the fluorescent lamp deteriorated and its lifespan was shortened.

[Purpose of the invention]

Therefore, in the present invention, when the power of the scanner device is turned on, if the temperature of the fluorescent lamp is below a predetermined temperature, the capacity of the heater is reduced by heating the heater and turning on the fluorescent lamp to heat the fluorescent lamp. The fluorescent lamps can be quickly heated to a stable temperature without increasing the size or turning the fluorescent lamps on and off during standby, reducing the waiting time for users of scanner devices.
The purpose is to improve the usability of scanner devices.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides: a fluorescent lamp as a light source that projects light onto a document; a heater that heats the fluorescent lamp; A scanner device comprising a control means for controlling the temperature of the fluorescent lamp and a temperature detection means for detecting the temperature of the fluorescent lamp, the scanner device heating the heater if the temperature of the fluorescent lamp is below a predetermined temperature when the scanner device is powered on. At the same time, it is characterized by turning on the fluorescent light and heating the fluorescent light.

Hereinafter, a detailed description will be given based on examples.

1 to 7 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the scanner device of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the scanner device 1.
The case 2 houses a fluorescent lamp 3 as a light source, a mirror 4, 5, 6, a lens 7, a photoelectric conversion section 8, a control section 9, and the like. An automatic document transport section 20 is provided in the upper part of the case 2.
etc. The automatic document transport section 20 includes a document placement table 2.
5 is conveyed to a reading position P by conveyance rollers 21 and 22, and the original read at the reading position P is discharged onto a paper discharge plate 26 by a discharge roller 23.

Light is projected from the fluorescent lamp 3 onto the document conveyed to the reading position P, and the light reflected by the document is introduced into the photoelectric conversion section 8 via the mirror 4.5.6 and the lens 7. Photoelectric conversion section 8
performs photoelectric conversion on incident light and outputs it as image information. Note that the fluorescent lamp 3 and the mirror 4 are mounted on the first traveling body 10, and the mirror 5 and the mirror 6 are mounted on the second traveling body 1.
It is installed in 1. Further, a document table 12 made of a transparent member such as glass is provided at the top of the case 2, and a book type document or the like can be set on the document table 12. The document placed on the document table 12 is pressed onto the document table 12 by the document i placing table 25, and as the first traveling body 10 and the second traveling body 11 travel, an image of the document on the document table 12 is formed. Read.

As shown in FIG. 2, the fluorescent lamp 3 has a heater 31 attached to its tube wall, and a thermistor (temperature detection means) 32 for detecting the temperature of the fluorescent lamp 3. Therefore, the fluorescent lamp 3 is heated by the heater 31, and the temperature of the fluorescent lamp 3 is detected by the thermistor 32.

This fluorescent lamp 3 has an inverter 33 as shown in FIG.
The inverter 33 turns on the fluorescent lamp 3 using a lighting signal from the system control circuit 34 shown in FIG.
lights up. Further, the heater 31 is driven by a heater control circuit 35, and a detection signal from the thermistor 32 is input to the heater control circuit 35. The heater control circuit 35 includes resistors R1, R2, R3, comparators 36, A
It is composed of an ND circuit 37 and a power transistor Tr, and the power transistor Tr is F E
T (Field Effect Transist
or ) is used. When the temperature detected by the thermistor 32 is lower than the set temperature set by resistors R2 and R3, the heater control circuit 35 outputs a heating raw signal to the system control circuit 34 shown in FIG.
A driving current is supplied to the heater 31 to heat the heater 31. Further, an enable signal is input from the system control circuit 34 to the AND circuit 37 of the heater control circuit 35, and the
The ND circuit 37 turns on the power transistor Tr and drives the heater 31 only when this enable signal is input.

The system control circuit (control means) 34 includes a CPU (Cen.
tral Processing Unit), RO
M (Read 0n-1y Memory) and RAM (Random Access Me
The basic program of the scanner device 1, the fluorescent lamp heat treatment program of the present invention, etc. are stored in the ROM. The RAM stores various data necessary for controlling the scanner device 1, and the system control circuit 34 controls each part of the scanner device l according to the program in the ROM to execute the sequence as the scanner device w1. , execute the fluorescent lamp heating treatment of the present invention.

The system control circuit 34 includes a mechanism section 38 and an I/F section 3.
9 is connected, and the mechanism section 38 is a general term for the drive mechanism of the automatic document device 20 shown in FIG. 1, the first traveling body 10, the second traveling body 11, and the like.

The system control circuit 34 controls the operation of each part of the mechanism section 38. Further, the I/F unit 39 is connected to an external device such as a recording device or a personal computer that uses images read by the scanner 1.
Via the F unit 39, it outputs a BLISY signal, etc. that displays the read image and the usage status of the scanner device l. Note that the system control circuit 34 is provided in the control section 9.

Next, the effect will be explained.

When the power of the scanner device 1 is turned on, as shown in FIG. 5, the scanner device 1 checks whether a heating raw signal is input from the heater control circuit 35, and if the heating raw signal is input. , determines that the heater 31 has not reached a stable temperature, and outputs a BUSY signal to an external device (step S1).

When the BUSY signal is output to the external device, the mechanism section 38 is initialized (step S2), a lighting signal is output to the inverter 33 to instruct the fluorescent lamp 30 to turn on, and an enable signal is output to the heater control circuit 35. Then, a heating instruction is given to the heater 31 (step 33).

When the lighting signal is input to the inverter 33, the fluorescent lamp 3
A high frequency is supplied to turn on the fluorescent lamp 3. When the fluorescent lamp 3 is turned on at high frequency, it generates heat by turning on.
The temperature of the fluorescent lamp 3 increases. In addition, the heater control circuit 35
is the heater 31 based on the detection result of the thermistor 32.
to drive. That is, when power is supplied to the scanner device 1, power is supplied to the heater 31 and thermistor 32, and the thermistor 32 detects the temperature of the fluorescent lamp 3.
It is output to the heater control circuit 35. The heater control circuit 35 compares the temperature from the thermistor 32 with a predetermined set temperature (for example, the stable light emission temperature of a fluorescent lamp), and when the temperature of the fluorescent lamp 3 is lower than the set temperature, sends a heating raw signal to the system. It is output to the control circuit 34 and the AND circuit 37. AN
When the heating signal is input while the enable signal is being input, the D circuit 37 turns off the power transistor T.
Turn on r and heat the heater 31. The system control circuit 34 sets the fluorescent lamp 3 to a predetermined set temperature (stable temperature) based on the heating raw signal input from the heater control circuit 35.
When the temperature reaches a stable temperature, the output of the lighting signal to the inverter 33 is stopped and the fluorescent lamp 3 is turned off (step S5).
When the temperature reaches the stable light emission temperature, the reading conditions of the scanner device 1 have been established, so the output of the BUSY signal to the external device is stopped (step S6), and the scanner device 1 enters a reading standby state. After that, when a reading start signal is input from an external device, the scanner device 1 performs the normal reading operation and reads the document. , the temperature of the fluorescent lamp 3 is controlled to a stable light emission temperature by turning on/off the heater 31.

In this way, when the fluorescent lamp 3 does not reach a predetermined set temperature, such as when the power is turned on, the heater 31 is heated and the fluorescent lamp 3 is turned on. , the fluorescent lamp 3 can be heated. Therefore, in the conventional method of heating only with a heater, the waiting time required for a fluorescent lamp to reach a predetermined stable luminescence temperature, as shown in Figure 6, was approximately 10 minutes.
As shown in FIG. 7, the fluorescent lamp 3 can be heated to a stable light emission temperature in about 1 degree. As a result, the heater 31 can be quickly heated without increasing the capacity of the heater 31, and the cost of the scanner device 1 can be reduced while
The usability of the scanner device 1 can be improved.

〔effect〕

According to the present invention, when the scanner device is powered on, if the temperature of the fluorescent lamp is below a predetermined temperature, the heater is heated and the fluorescent lamp is turned on to heat the fluorescent lamp. Fluorescent lamps can be quickly heated to a stable temperature without increasing the capacity or turning them on and off during standby, reducing the waiting time for scanner device users. The usability of the scanner device can be improved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 to 7 are diagrams showing one embodiment of the scanner device of the present invention, FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of the scanner device, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the fluorescent lamp, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the scanner device of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a control block diagram of the scanner, FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the fluorescent lamp heating process, FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the conventional fluorescent lamp heating process time, and FIG. The figure is a diagram showing the fluorescent lamp heat treatment time of the present invention. l... Scanner device, 2... Case, 3... Fluorescent lamp, 31... Heater, 32... Thermistor, 33... ...Inverter, 34...System control circuit, 35...Heater control circuit, 36...Comparator, 37...AND circuit, R1-R3 ...Resistor, Tr...Power transistor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A fluorescent lamp as a light source that projects light onto a document, a heater that heats the fluorescent lamp, a control means that controls lighting of the fluorescent lamp and heating of the heater, and a temperature that detects the temperature of the fluorescent lamp. A scanner device comprising: a detection means; and when the power of the scanner device is turned on, if the temperature of the fluorescent lamp is below a predetermined temperature, the heater is heated and the fluorescent lamp is turned on to heat the fluorescent lamp. A scanner device featuring: