JP2001268291A - Image processing unit and its assembling method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image processing unit that can be made small in size, while reserving a mount space, easily be assembled with reduced assembling man-hours and to provide its assembling method. SOLUTION: A control means 14, connected electrically to a scanner section and a printer section for controlling the scanner section and the printer section, is mounted on a shield plate member 90 and the shield plate member 90 is connected to a bottom frame member 70. Thus, the design which takes into account the heat dissipation of a main circuit board 80 can be attained, so as to easily reserve a mount space for the main circuit board 80 and the image processing unit can be made small in size. Since sliding the shield plate member 90 to the bottom frame member 70 makes itself removable, the shield plate member 90 with a control means 14 mounted thereon can easily be connected to the bottom frame member 70. Thus, the assembling of the image processing unit is facilitated, and the assembling man-hours can be reduced.

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 an assembling method thereof, and more particularly, to an image reading section which converts an image of a document into an electric signal and reads the image, and an image reading section which reads the image data 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 such as paper based on the image processing apparatus, and a method for assembling the same.

[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 image reading apparatus as described above, when the read image data is finally printed out, the image is displayed on a monitor by using a processing device such as a personal computer, and a desired image is selected by a printer or the like. And prints it out on a print medium such as printing paper.

[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 a computer even if they have a personal computer.These users print out an image read by an image reading device. Even if an attempt is made to install the software, there is a possibility that the installation itself is difficult or that a command input method cannot be understood.

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 image processing apparatus having the above configuration, the image reading section control means electrically connected to the image reading section and controlling the image reading section, and the image printing section electrically connected to the image printing section. It is generally considered that the control unit for the image printing unit to be controlled is modularized and arranged integrally. However, in an image processing apparatus in which the control unit for the image reading unit and the control unit for the image printing unit are modularized and arranged integrally, the image reading device having the image reading unit alone or the image printing unit alone is provided. The size of the circuit board constituting the control means is larger than that of the conventional image printing apparatus.
For this reason, considering that heat generated in the circuit board is dissipated to the outside when the image processing apparatus is operated, it is difficult to secure a mounting space, and the apparatus becomes large-sized, and assemblability is deteriorated. There was a problem that man-hours increased.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image processing apparatus which can secure a mounting space, reduce the size of the apparatus, and can be easily assembled. Another object of the present invention is to provide an assembling method of an image processing apparatus which is easy to assemble and can reduce assembling man-hours.

[0010]

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the control means electrically connected to the image reading section and the image printing section for controlling the image reading section and the image printing section includes: Mounted on a plate member, the plate member being connected to a frame member forming the framework of the housing. For this reason, by mounting the control means on the plate member connected to the frame member, it is possible to design the circuit board in consideration of the heat radiation property, and it is easy to secure a mounting space and to reduce the size of the apparatus. Can be.
Further, after the control means is mounted on the plate member, the workability is improved by connecting the plate member to the frame member, thereby facilitating assembly.

According to the image processing apparatus of the second aspect of the present invention, since the plate member is detachably provided to the frame member, it is extremely easy to connect the plate member on which the control means is mounted to the frame member. become. Therefore, the assembling of the device becomes extremely easy, and the number of assembling steps can be reduced.

According to the image processing apparatus of the present invention, the frame member has a guide portion for guiding the plate member, and the plate member has a guided portion guided along the outer wall of the guide portion. Have. For this reason, the plate member can be smoothly connected to the frame member, and the workability of assembly is improved. Therefore, the number of assembly steps can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

According to the method of assembling the image processing apparatus according to the present invention, the image printing section is placed in the frame member, and the control means is mounted on the plate member to connect the plate member to the frame member. And electrically connecting the image printing unit and the control unit, mounting the image reading unit on the frame member and electrically connecting the image reading unit and the control unit, and connecting the image reading unit, the image printing unit and the control unit. Cover with housing.
For this reason, after mounting the control means on the plate member, the workability is improved by connecting the plate member to the frame member, and the assembling is facilitated. Therefore, the number of assembly steps can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIGS. 1 to 7 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.

[0015] As shown in FIG.
Is composed of a scanner unit 20, a signal processing unit 10, a printer unit 50, an operation unit 30, and a power supply unit 40.
The carriage 3, the signal processing unit 10, the printer unit 50, and the power supply unit 40 of the scanner unit 20, which will be described later, are housed in the housing 2 as a housing. A scanner unit 20;
The signal processing unit 10, the printer unit 50, the operation unit 30, and the power supply unit 40 are separated by a main frame member 60 made of sheet metal. The signal processing unit 10, the printer unit 50, and the power supply unit 40 are surrounded on four sides by a main frame member 60, a sheet metal bottom frame member 70, and sheet metal side frame members 71 and 72. The main frame member 60 is connected to the side frame members 71 and 72. The side frame members 71 and 72 are connected to the bottom frame member 70, and a handle 190 is provided outside the side frame members 71 and 72. Here, the main frame member 60, the bottom frame member 70, and the side frame members 71 and 72 are provided in the housing 2 and constitute a frame member that forms a framework of the housing 2.

The scanner section 20 is provided with a document table 1 made of a transparent plate such as glass on the upper surface of a housing 2. A carriage 3 is provided inside the housing 2 as an image reading unit that can reciprocate in parallel to the document table 1 by a driving unit (not shown), and a light source 4 and a color imaging unit 5 are mounted on the carriage 3. ing. 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 is provided with a red (R:
Red), green (G: Green) and blue (B: Blu)
e) convert each light into an electric signal 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 the carriage 3 moves to read the transmitted light.

As shown in FIG. 6, the white reference 9 of the scanner unit 20 is provided at one end of the document table 1, and the white reference 9 is used before the image reading of the carriage 3, that is, when the power of the carriage 3 is turned off or when the white It is arranged to overlap the initial position at the time of reference reading. The carriage 3 is electrically connected to the signal processing unit 10 shown in FIG. 5 by a flexible flat cable 31 described later. On the upper surface of the housing 2, near the reading origin 1 a of the document table 1, an origin position display unit 2
1 is provided. That is, the origin position display unit 21
It 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 this projection can be fitted into a hole (not shown) in the closed state of the maintenance door 22 shown in FIG. 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 1
Numeral 4 controls the carriage 3 according to the open / close state of the maintenance door 22, and can move the carriage 3 to a retracted position shown by a dotted line in FIG. 6 or an initial position shown by a solid line in FIG. 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.

A frame member 33 is provided in an opening formed in the main frame member 60 and communicating with the scanner section 20 and the printer section 50. In this frame member 33,
A removable partition wall 32 made of a transparent member and detachable from the frame member 33 is provided. 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. Removable partition 32
Is moved on the rail portion, thereby the detachable partition 32
Can be removed from the frame member 33, and the removable partition wall 32 can be attached to the frame member 33.

The flexible flat cable 31 has one end electrically connected to the carriage 3 and the other end electrically connected to the control means 14 shown in FIG. 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 has an intermediate portion between the connecting portion of the carriage 3 and the connecting portion of the signal processing unit 10 folded back, the folded portion 35 being sandwiched by the frame member 33, and being fixed to the main frame member 60. The flexible flat cable 31
A sufficient bending is provided between the connection portion of the carriage 3 and the folded portion 35. Further, the flexible flat cable 31 includes the folded portion 35 and the signal processing portion 1.
An L-shaped bent portion 36 is provided between the connection portion 0 and the connection portion 0.
The connection between the flexible flat cable 31 and the signal processing unit 10 is facilitated.

As shown in FIG. 7, 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 comprises a main circuit board 80 shown in FIG. 1 having a microcomputer including an AM and a ROM. The amplifier 11, the A / D converter 12, the shading corrector 13, the gamma corrector 16, and the other corrector 17 are ASIC (Application Specific Integrate).
d circuit) on the main circuit board 80.

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 control means 14 constituted by the main circuit board 80 shown in FIG. 1 is electrically connected to the scanner section 20 and the printer section 50 shown in FIG. Of the print head 51 and the like are controlled. The main circuit board 80 is mounted on a shield plate member 90 made of sheet metal, and the shield plate member 90 is connected to the bottom frame member 70. That is, the plate member is connected to the frame member.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the bottom frame member 70 has guide portions 75 and 76 having an I-shaped cross section, and the guide portions 75 and 76 are rails for guiding the shield plate member 90. Function.
The shield plate member 90 has guided portions 91 and 92 having an L-shaped cross section at both ends of the shield plate member 90 corresponding to the guide portions 75 and 76. The guided portions 91 and 92 It is guided along the outer wall of 76. The height of the guided portions 91 and 92 is larger than the height of the guide portions 75 and 76.
2 and FIG.
As shown in FIG.
When the shield plate member 90 is inserted along the outer wall of the bottom frame member 70 along the outer wall of the bottom plate member 70, the bottom plate member 70 is aligned with the bottom frame member 70. In addition, a space having a sufficient volume is formed above the main circuit board 80 so that heat generated in the main circuit board 80 when the image processing apparatus 100 operates can be satisfactorily radiated to the outside.

The operation unit 30 shown in FIG. 5 has an operation panel (not shown) exposed from the housing 2 to the outside, and this operation panel is provided with a print switch (not shown). When the print switch is turned on, the printer unit 5 connected to the scanner unit 20 via the signal processing unit 10 is turned on.
0 enables printing of an image. 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 or the floppy (registered trademark) is used.
An image can be printed by the printer unit 50 based on image data stored in a computer-readable storage medium such as a disk, a CD-ROM, and a magneto-optical disk (MO).

The power supply section 40 has an A / C of 200 V or A / C
And a power supply board (not shown) on which a power supply circuit is formed. The bottom surface member 70, the side frame member 72, and the power supply cover member 74 made of sheet metal have six surfaces. Is enclosed. The power supply cover member 74 is connected to the bottom frame member 70. The power supply unit 40 includes the scanner unit 2
0, signal processing unit 10, operation unit 30, and printer unit 50
Can be powered.

The printer section 50 includes a paper feeding means (not shown) and a print head 51 as an image printing section. The print head 51 expands and contracts the volume of the ink chamber by applying a voltage to the pressure generating means in response to the drive signal from the control means 14 shown in FIG. 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. By using six color inks of cyan (C), magenta (M), light cyan (c), light magenta (m), yellow (Y) and black (K),
Extremely smooth gradation can be expressed, and the dots of the ink droplets can be made inconspicuous even in a portion having a high brightness, 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, a procedure for assembling the image processing apparatus 100 having the above configuration will be described. First, the power supply unit 40, the side frame members 71 and 72, and the power supply cover member 74 are attached to the bottom frame member 70, and the printer unit 50 and the operation unit 30 are mounted.

As shown in FIG. 4, on the shield plate member 90, the power supply circuit board 80, that is, the control unit 14
The shield plate member 90 is slid in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4 so that the guided portions 91 and 92 are guided along the outer walls of the guide portions 75 and 76 so that the shield plate member 90 is attached to the bottom frame. connect.

The operation unit 30, the power supply unit 40 and the printer unit 50 are electrically connected to the control unit 14, and the side frame members 71 and 72 are connected to the main frame member 60.

The carriage 3 is mounted on the main frame member 60, and the carriage 3 and the control unit 14 are electrically connected. The carriage 3, the signal processing unit 10, the printer unit 50, the power supply unit 40, The member 60 and the side frame members 71 and 72 are covered with the housing 2.

Next, the operation of the image processing apparatus 100 assembled as described above will be described. (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. 8, when execution of reading is instructed, 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. 8, 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. 8, the other correction unit 17 performs a color correction process on the RGB data and converts 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. 8, 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. 8, 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, the control means 14 which is electrically connected to the scanner section 20 and the printer section 50 and controls the scanner section 20 and the printer section 50 is mounted on the shield plate member 90. , The shield plate member 90 is the bottom frame member 7.
Connected to 0. For this reason, it is possible to design the main circuit board 80 in consideration of heat radiation, and the main circuit board 8
Therefore, it is easy to secure a mounting space of 0, and the size of the image processing apparatus 100 can be reduced. Further, after the control means 14 is mounted on the shield plate member 90, the workability is improved and the assembly is facilitated by connecting the shield plate member 90 to the bottom frame member 70.

Further, in this embodiment, since the shield plate member 90 is detachable by sliding with respect to the bottom frame member 70, the shield plate member 90 on which the control means 14 is mounted is connected to the bottom frame member 70.
It is extremely easy to connect to Therefore, assembling of the image processing apparatus 100 becomes extremely easy, and the number of assembling steps can be reduced.

Further, in this embodiment, the bottom frame member 70 has guide portions 75 and 76 for guiding the shield plate member 90, and the shield plate member 90 is guided along the outer wall of the guide portions 75 and 76. Since the shield plate member 90 has the guided portions 91 and 92, the shield plate member 90 can be smoothly connected to the bottom frame member 70, and the workability of assembly is improved. Therefore, the number of assembly steps can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

In the embodiment of the present invention described above, the present invention is applied to the image processing apparatus 100 provided with the carriage moving type flat bed type scanner unit 20. It is possible to apply the present invention to an image processing apparatus having a mirror moving type flat bed type scanner unit for moving a reflection mirror group, and to have another scanner unit such as a sheet feed type for moving and reading an original. It is also possible to apply the present invention to an image processing apparatus that has been used.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the present invention is applied to the image processing apparatus 100 having the printer unit 50 using the print head 51 of the ink jet system. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Also, the present invention can be applied to an image processing apparatus provided with a printer unit using various print heads such as a dot impact method.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing control means of an image processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a portion II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing a portion III in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining a method of assembling control means of the image processing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention.

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

FIG. 6 is a plan view illustrating an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation 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 (image reading part) 4 Light source 5 Color imaging means 6 Mirror 7 Condensing lens 8 Document 10 Signal processing part 14 Control means 20 Scanner part 30 Operation part 40 Power supply part 50 Printer part 51 Print head (image printing unit) 60 Main frame member 70 Bottom frame member 71, 72 Side frame member 74 Power supply cover member 75, 76 Guide unit 80 Main circuit board 90 Shield plate member 91, 92 Guided unit 100 Image processing device

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 2C061 AQ05 AR01 BB02 BB30 BB35 CD01 CG08 5C062 AA05 AB17 AB22 AB40 AC02 AC04 AD05 BA07

Claims (4)

[Claims] An image reading unit that irradiates a document with light, converts light reflected on the document surface or transmitted through the document surface into an electric signal and outputs the signal, and prints based on image data read by the image reading unit. An image printing unit that prints an image on a medium; a control unit electrically connected to the image reading unit and the image printing unit to control the image reading unit and the image printing unit; the image reading unit and the image A housing accommodating a printing unit and the control unit; a frame member provided in the housing and forming a framework of the housing; and a plate member mounted with the control unit and connected to the frame member. An image processing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plate member is provided so as to be detachable from the frame member. 3. The frame member has a guide portion for guiding the plate member, and the plate member has a guided portion guided along an outer wall of the guide portion. 3. The image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein 4. A method for assembling the image processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the step of mounting the image printing unit in the frame member includes mounting the control unit on the plate member. Connecting the plate member to the frame member; electrically connecting the image printing unit and the control unit; mounting the image reading unit on the frame member; Electrically connecting the control unit; and covering the image reading unit, the image printing unit, and the control unit with the housing.