JP2001066973A - Image processor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processor for preventing the occurrence of defective printing in an image printing part due to the thermal influence. SOLUTION: Plural air inlet/outlet ports 61 formed in a frame member 60 communicate with a scanner part 20 and a printer part, then, when in use, the heat generated in a power supply part is satisfactorily diffused into the scanner part 20 through the air inlet/outlet ports 61 without remaining near the printer part, because of the air flow. The heat diffused into the scanner part 20 is smoothly discharged outside the image processor 100, then, the occurrence of defective printing in the printer part due to the thermal influence is easily prevented by an easy constitution. Besides, the air inlet/outlet ports 61 are formed on the travel path of a carriage 3 in the frame member 60, so that the flow of the air passing through the ports 61 is improved by the reciprocating motion of the carriage 3, and then, the flowing efficiency of the air is enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to an image reading section for converting an image of a document into an electric signal and reading the image, and a paper sheet or the like based on the image data read by the image reading section. The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus including an image printing unit that prints an image on a print medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image reading apparatus which moves a carriage equipped with a color image pickup means having a line sensor such as a CCD in parallel with a document surface and reads an image of the document.

[0003] For example, in the case of a flat bed type image reading apparatus, a platen made of a transparent plate such as glass for placing a document is provided on the upper surface of a box-shaped casing. A carriage that is moved by a driving device in parallel with the document table is provided. The carriage is provided with a light source and a color imaging unit. Irradiation light from the light source is reflected on the surface of the document on the document table, and is condensed on a color image pickup means by a condenser lens.

In the above-described image reading apparatus, it is necessary to finally print out the read image data. Therefore, an image is displayed on a monitor using a processing device such as a personal computer, and a desired image is selected. Printout by a printing device such as a printer.

[0005]

When performing an image printing process using a personal computer, a user performs a command input operation specified by an operation system, and a print processing application program and a printer driver are stored therein. For example, it is necessary to take the data from a storage device such as a magnetic disk into the internal memory of the personal computer and make it executable.

However, there is a problem that it takes a long time to input a command or to take in a print processing application program and a printer driver, and it takes a long time to start up. In addition, there are many problems to be solved in order to make full use of a personal computer. For example, there are a large number of users who cannot use the printer even if they have it, and in order to print out the image read by the image reading device, the user tries to install an image print processing application program or a printer driver on the personal computer. However, there is a possibility that the installation itself is difficult or that the user does not know how to input the command.

Therefore, an image reading unit that converts an image of a document into an electric signal and reads the image, and an image printing unit that prints the image on a print medium such as paper based on the image data read by the image reading unit are provided. An image processing apparatus that prints an image based on image data read without connecting to a personal computer can be considered. In such an image processing apparatus, it is a general configuration that the image reading unit and the image printing unit have a two-story structure, the image reading unit is arranged in the upper stage, and the image printing unit is arranged in the lower stage. In addition, from the viewpoint of a mounting space, a power supply unit that supplies power to the image reading unit and the image printing unit is arranged at a lower stage together with the image printing unit.

In the above-described image processing apparatus, dust such as paper dust or ink droplets generated in the image printing unit moves into the image reading unit and adheres to the white reference or the vicinity of the reading origin of the document table. In order to prevent this, a partition may be provided between the image reading unit, the image printing unit, and the power supply unit.

However, when the image reading unit is arranged in the upper stage, the image printing unit and the power supply unit are arranged in the lower stage, and the partition is provided between the image reading unit and the image printing unit and the power unit, the image is not used during the use. Since a large amount of heat is generated from a heat source such as a printing unit or a power supply unit, this heat tends to be trapped in the lower stage of the image processing apparatus. For example, when an ink jet type image printing unit is arranged in the lower stage of the image processing apparatus, during use, if the heat generated by the above heat source is trapped near the image printing unit, the ink in the nozzles of the print head dries, There is a problem that it is difficult for the dried ink to block the ink path in the nozzle and to discharge the ink droplet onto the paper, thereby causing a printing failure such as a blurred ink. Further, it is conceivable that a fan is provided at the lower stage to exhaust air. However, in that case, there is a problem that the number of parts increases and the manufacturing cost increases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problem, and has as its object to provide an image processing apparatus for preventing an image printing unit from causing printing failure due to the influence of heat.

[0011]

According to the image processing apparatus of the first aspect of the present invention, the first heat diffusing means transfers the heat in the second accommodating space accommodating the image printing section and the power supply section to the air. Since the image is diffused into the first storage space for accommodating the image reading unit by circulation, it is possible to prevent heat generated in the image printing unit and the power supply unit from being stuck in the vicinity of the image printing unit due to the circulation of air during use. Since the heat diffused into the first housing space is radiated to the outside of the apparatus without delay, it is possible to prevent the image printing unit from causing printing failure due to the influence of the heat.

According to the image processing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, the first heat diffusing means is formed on a partition member for separating the first accommodating space and the second accommodating space. Since it has the first through hole communicating with the storage space,
The heat in the second storage space is satisfactorily diffused into the first storage space via the first through hole by the flow of air. Therefore, it is possible to easily prevent the image printing unit from causing printing failure due to the influence of heat with a simple configuration.

[0013] According to the image processing apparatus of the third aspect of the present invention, the first communication device that communicates with the first accommodation space and the second accommodation space.
Is formed on the movement path of the carriage of the partition member that separates the first storage space and the second storage space.
By the reciprocating movement of the carriage, the flow of air passing through the through hole can be improved, and the air distribution efficiency can be increased. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the image printing unit from causing printing failure due to the influence of heat.

According to the image processing apparatus of the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the second heat diffusion means for discharging the heat in the first housing space to the outside of the housing is provided, the heat is diffused to the first housing space. Heat is discharged to the outside of the housing without interruption.
Therefore, it is possible to prevent the image printing unit from causing printing failure due to the influence of heat.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the second heat diffusion means is formed in the housing and has the second through hole communicating with the inside and outside of the housing. The heat diffused into the housing space is satisfactorily discharged to the outside of the housing via the second through hole by the flow of air. Therefore, it is possible to easily and reliably prevent the printing failure of the image printing unit due to the influence of heat with a simple configuration.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 6 show an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an image processing apparatus provided with a carriage moving type flat bed type image reading unit and an ink jet type dark and light color image printing unit.

As shown in FIG. 5, the image processing apparatus 100
Is composed of a scanner unit 20 as an image reading unit, a signal processing unit 10, a printer unit 50 as an image printing unit, an operation unit 30, and a power supply unit 40. Scanner unit 20
The carriage 3, the signal processing unit 10, the printer unit 50, and the power supply unit 40 described later
Is housed in That is, the housing 2 is
And a second accommodation space for accommodating the printer unit 50 and the power supply unit 40. The scanner unit 20, the signal processing unit 10, the printer unit 50, the operation unit 30, and the power supply unit 40 are partitioned by a sheet metal frame member 60 as a partition member. That is, the frame member 60 partitions the first housing space and the second housing space.

The scanner section 20 is provided with a document table 1 made of a transparent plate such as glass on the upper surface of the housing 2. A carriage 3 reciprocally movable in parallel with the document table 1 by a driving unit (not shown) is provided inside the housing 2, and a light source 4 and a color imaging unit 5 are mounted on the carriage 3. The light emitted from the light source 4 is reflected on the surface of the document 8 on the document table 1, reflected by a plurality of mirrors 6, and then condensed on the color imaging means 5 by the condensing lens 7. The color imaging means 5 includes red (R: Red), green (G:
(Green) and blue (B) light are converted into electric signals and output. The reflection from the plurality of mirrors 6 increases the optical path length from the document 8 to the condenser lens 7. At the end of the document table 1 in the direction of movement of the carriage 3, a white reference 9 having a highly reflective uniform reflection surface is provided. When reading a transparent original such as a photographic film, a second light source is provided above the original table 1 and moves with the movement of the carriage 3.

As shown in FIG. 6, the signal processing unit 10 includes an amplifier 11, an A / D conversion unit 12, and a shading correction unit 1.
3, a gamma correction unit 16, other correction units 17, and a control unit 14. The control means 14 includes a CPU, R
It is composed of a microcomputer including an AM and a ROM.

The A / D converter 12 converts the data input from the color image pickup means 5 via the amplifier 11 into a digital signal and transfers the digital signal to the shading corrector 13. This digital signal is a signal indicating a numerical value from 0 to 1023 when, for example, the read gradation is 10 bits.
The shading correction unit 13 sets the white reference 9 before starting reading.
Using the data obtained by reading the data, the variation in the sensitivity of each element of the photoelectric conversion element array and the variation in the light amount of the light source 4 are corrected.
Then, the pixel data subjected to the shading correction is sent to the gamma correction unit 16. The gamma correction unit 16 performs gamma correction using a predetermined gamma function, and the A / D conversion unit 1
2 is converted into an image signal. The other correction unit 17 performs various conversions such as color correction, edge enhancement, and area enlargement / reduction.

The operation unit 30 has an operation panel (not shown) exposed from the housing 2 to the outside. The operation panel is provided with a print switch (not shown). By turning on the print switch, an image can be printed by the printer unit 50 connected to the scanner unit 20 via the signal processing unit 10. Further, when the image processing apparatus 100 is connected to a personal computer (not shown), the image data read by the scanner unit 20 is transferred to the personal computer by operating the operation unit 30, and a floppy disk, CD-ROM,
An image can be printed by the printer unit 50 based on image data stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as a magneto-optical disk (MO).

The power supply section 40 has an A / C of 200 V or A / C
/ C 120V, the scanner unit 20, the signal processing unit 10, and the operation unit 30.
And power to the printer unit 50.

The printer section 50 includes a paper feeding means (not shown), a paper supply port and a paper discharge port, and a print head 51. The print head 51 expands and contracts the volume of the ink chamber by applying a voltage to the pressure generating means in accordance with the drive signal from the control means 14 shown in FIG. 3, and the ink in the ink chamber is shown as ink droplets from the nozzles. It can be ejected on paper that does not. An ink tank (not shown) that stores six color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y), and black (K). It includes six rows of nozzles (not shown) arranged perpendicularly to the direction in which the print head 51 moves. Extremely smooth gradation expression is possible by using six colors of ink, cyan (C), magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y) and black (K). In particular, it is possible to make the dots of the ink droplets inconspicuous even in a high brightness portion such as a skin color. A color image can also be printed by combining four colors of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (K). When printing black by superimposing the C, M, and Y inks, the K ink can be omitted.

Next, the scanner section 20 of the image processing apparatus 100 having the above configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 show the maximum movement position of the carriage 3 when reading an image, and FIGS. 3 and 4 show the initial position of the carriage 3 when the power is turned off or when the white reference is read.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the white reference 9
Is provided at one end of the document table 1, and is arranged so that the white reference 9 overlaps the initial position before the image reading of the carriage 3, that is, when the power of the carriage 3 is turned off or when the white reference is read. The document table 1 is located on the upper surface of the housing 2.
An origin position display section 21 is provided in the vicinity of the reading origin 1a. That is, the origin position display unit 21 is provided on one end side of the carriage 3 at the white reference 9 and the initial position.

The maintenance door 2 is located on the upper side of the housing 2 and on the side opposite to the original table with respect to the white reference 9 and the initial position of the carriage 3.
The maintenance door 22 is an opening / closing door that connects or disconnects communication between the inside and the outside of the scanner unit 20. The maintenance door 22 has a projection (not shown), and the projection is connected to the maintenance door 2 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.
In the closed state of 2, it is possible to fit into a hole (not shown). A light-shielding sensor (not shown) as a sensor is provided in the hole, and this light-shielding sensor is electrically connected to the control means 14 shown in FIG. Therefore, when the power is turned on, the control means 14 can detect whether or not the protrusion is fitted into the hole, that is, the open / closed state of the maintenance door 22 by the light-shielding sensor. Therefore, the control means 14 controls the carriage 3 in accordance with the open / close state of the maintenance door 22, and moves the carriage 3 to the retreat position corresponding to, for example, the maximum movement position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, or to FIG. 3 and FIG. It can be moved to the initial position. In this embodiment, when the maintenance door 22 is in the open state, the user inserts his hand through the opening to clean the white reference 9 and the platen 1, or removes the detachable partition 32 described later to remove the printer unit 50. It is configured to be able to maintain paper jams and the like in the inside.

The scanner unit 2 formed on the frame member 60
A frame member 33 is provided in an opening communicating with the printer
Is provided. The frame member 33 is provided with a detachable partition 32 made of a transparent member and detachable from the frame member 33. The removable partition wall 32 can move on a rail (not shown) of the frame member 33 in the same direction as the moving direction of the carriage 3. As the detachable partition 32 moves on the rail, the detachable partition 32 is connected to the frame member 33.
, Or the detachable partition 32 can be attached to the frame member 33.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the flexible flat cable 31 has one end electrically connected to the carriage 3 and the other end connected to the signal processing unit 1 shown in FIG.
0 is electrically connected. The flexible flat cable 31 has a plurality of conductive wires inside, and the conductive wires are covered with a coating for preventing a short circuit with another member. As the coating, a flexible film is used to secure the flexibility of the flexible flat cable 31. The flexible flat cable 31 is folded back at an intermediate part between the connection part of the carriage 3 and the connection part of the signal processing unit 10, the folded part 35 is sandwiched by the frame member 33, and is fixed to the frame member 60. The flexible flat cable 31 is provided with a sufficient bend between the connection portion of the carriage 3 and the folded portion 35. Further, the flexible flat cable 31 is provided with an L-shaped bent portion 36 between the folded portion 35 and the connection portion of the signal processing unit 10 to facilitate connection between the flexible flat cable 31 and the signal processing unit 10. I have.

With the above configuration, the flexible flat cable 31 is connected to the connection portion of the carriage 3 and the signal processing portion 1.
Since the folded portion 35 is provided between the connecting portion 0 and the return portion 35, the load acting on the flexible flat cable 31 due to the reciprocating movement of the carriage 3 can be absorbed and reduced by the folded portion 35. Therefore, the load acting on the flexible flat cable 31 can be easily reduced. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the conductive wire in the flexible flat cable 31 from being repeatedly subjected to stress, and to prevent the conductive wire from being disconnected due to the fatigue of the material and making it impossible to transmit a signal. Further, the folded portion 3 of the flexible flat cable 31
5 is fixed to the frame member 60 by the frame member 33 at a substantially central portion in the moving direction of the carriage 3,
In addition to preventing the folded portion 35 from moving with the reciprocating movement of the carriage 3, the carriage 3 reciprocates about the folded portion 35 as a center. Therefore, the load acting on the flexible flat cable 31 can be easily reduced, and the reciprocating movement of the carriage 3 can be made smooth.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of intake / exhaust holes 61 as first through holes are formed in the frame member 60. The intake / exhaust hole 61 communicates with the scanner unit 20 and the printer unit 50 shown in FIG. That is, the suction / exhaust hole 61 communicates with the first storage chamber and the second storage chamber.
The air suction / exhaust holes 61 are provided so that the heat generated in the printer unit 50 during use is not diffused into the printer unit 50 by air circulation, and is well diffused to the scanner unit 20. Is formed on the moving path of the vehicle. Further, the maintenance door 22 has a plurality of exhaust holes 22a as second through holes. The exhaust hole 22a communicates with the inside and the outside of the scanner unit 20. That is, the exhaust holes 22 a communicate with the inside and outside of the housing 2. The exhaust hole 22a is provided so that, during use, the heat diffused to the scanner unit 20 can be satisfactorily discharged to the outside of the housing by the flow of air.
The maintenance door 22 is formed.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, at the initial position of the carriage 3 when the power is turned off or when the white reference is read, the carriage 3 is located on the left side of the folded portion 35.
In addition, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, at the maximum movement position of the carriage 3 at the time of reading an image, the carriage 3 is located on the right side of the folded portion 35. As described above, the carriage 3 reciprocates around the folded portion 35 substantially. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 8, during use, the carriage 3 allows the heat generated in the printer unit 50 to diffuse well into the scanner unit 20 via the air intake / exhaust holes 61 due to the flow of air, and further diffuses to the scanner unit 20. Heat generated by the exhaust holes 22a
And plays a role of a pump for discharging the gas to the outside of the housing 2.

In this embodiment, a plurality of air intake / exhaust holes 61 formed in the frame member 60 communicate with the scanner unit 20 and the printer unit 50. During use, since the heat generated in the printer unit 50 moves from the lower stage to the upper stage due to the flow of air, the heat is satisfactorily diffused to the scanner unit 20 via the air suction and exhaust holes 61 without being trapped near the printer unit 50. . Since the heat diffused to the scanner unit 20 is discharged to the outside of the image processing apparatus 100 through the exhaust holes 22a without any interruption, it is possible to easily prevent the printer unit 50 from causing a printing failure due to the heat by a simple configuration. be able to.

Further, the suction / exhaust hole 61 is provided in the frame member 6.
0 is formed on the movement path of the carriage 3
The reciprocating movement of the carriage 3 improves the flow of air through the intake / exhaust holes 61, and can increase the efficiency of air flow. Therefore, it is possible to reliably prevent the printer unit 50 from causing printing failure due to the influence of heat.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus 100 configured as described above will be described with reference to FIG. (1) The user places the document 8 on the document table 1 of the scanner unit 20 and presses the print switch of the operation unit 30 to instruct the reading of the document 8. In step S1 shown in FIG. 7, when reading is commanded, the control unit 14 turns on the light source 4 or the second light source, and moves the carriage 3 at a constant speed in the sub-scanning direction. An image of one line is read by each photoelectric conversion element array of the color imaging unit 5 by a drive signal generated at predetermined time intervals, and pixel data is output to the signal processing unit 10 in step S2 shown in FIG.

(2) In step S3 shown in FIG. 7, the analog pixel data output to the signal
It is converted into digital pixel data by the D conversion unit 12,
The shading is corrected by the shading correction unit 13 and sent to the gamma correction unit 16. Then, gamma correction is performed by a predetermined gamma function.

(3) In step S4 shown in FIG. 7, the other correction unit 17 performs a color correction process on the RGB data to convert it into CMYK gradation bit image data for printing. Then, the obtained CMYK gradation bit image data is distributed to each data of light and shade by a light and shade ink table, and further subjected to halftone processing such as dither method, error diffusion, etc., and distribution of dark and light colors on a bit map for each color or The arrangement is determined, and a binary bitmap is created for each. The bitmap data subjected to the halftone process is temporarily stored in a predetermined area of the RAM of the control unit 14.

(4) In step S5 shown in FIG. 7, the CPU of the control means 14 sends a print preparation end signal to the printer unit 50, and checks the printing operation state of the printer unit 50. The printer unit 50 sends a print data transfer request signal to the CPU of the control device 14 when the printing operation is possible.

(5) In step S6 shown in FIG. 7, the CPU of the control means 14 executes DMA (Direct Memory Access)
The print control data and the bitmap data for each color are sequentially transmitted to the printer unit 50 by the transfer. The printer unit 50 prints an image with the print head 51 based on the print data sequentially taken out of the RAM of the control unit 14.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, since a plurality of intake / exhaust holes 61 communicating with the scanner unit 20 and the printer unit 50 are formed on the movement path of the carriage 3 of the frame member 60, the printer unit It is possible to easily and surely prevent the printing failure of the 50 due to the influence of heat with a simple configuration.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the printer unit 5 using the print head 51 of the ink jet system is used.
The present invention is applied to the image processing apparatus 100 provided with
The present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to an image processing apparatus provided with a printer unit using various print heads such as a dot impact system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating a maximum movement position of a carriage of a scanner unit of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing an initial position of a carriage of a scanner unit of the image processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing an image processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the image printing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram for explaining heat diffusion and discharge of the image printing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Document stand 2 Housing (housing) 3 Carriage 4 Light source 5 Color imaging means 6 Mirror 7 Condensing lens 8 Document 10 Signal processing part 14 Control means 20 Scanner part (image reading part) 22 Maintenance door 22a Exhaust hole (2nd) 30) Operation section 31 Flexible flat cable 32 Removable partition wall 33 Frame member 35 Folding section 36 L-shaped bending section 40 Power supply section 50 Printer section (image printing section) 51 Print head 60 Frame member (partition member) 61 Air intake / exhaust hole (First through hole) 100 Image processing device

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2H027 JA11 JB12 JB13 JB15 JC04 JC16 ZA10 5C062 AB17 AB22 AB49 AD00 AD06 BA07

Claims (5)

[Claims] An image reading unit for reading an image by converting reflected light or transmitted light from an original surface into an electric signal and reading an image; An image reading unit; an image printing unit that prints an image on a print medium based on the image data read by the image reading unit; a power supply unit that supplies power to the image reading unit and the image printing unit; A housing that forms a first housing space that houses the image forming unit and a second housing space that houses the image printing unit and the power supply unit; and a first housing space and a second housing space that are provided in the housing. An image processing apparatus, comprising: a partition member for partitioning the first storage space; and first heat diffusion means for diffusing heat in the second storage space to the first storage space by flowing air. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first heat diffusion means has a first through hole formed in the partition member and communicating with the first storage space and the second storage space. An image processing apparatus as described in the above. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first through hole is formed on a moving path of the carriage of the partition member. 4. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second heat diffusion unit configured to discharge heat in the first housing space to outside of the housing. 5. The image processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the second heat diffusing unit has a second through hole formed in the housing and communicating with the inside and outside of the housing.