JP2002094747A - Scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a scanner that can attain high-speed processing by reading an image in both the forward or the return paths. SOLUTION: In a state 1 shown in Figure, a 'start' instruction is received, in a state 2, a drive control section 18 instructs a read section 14 on 'read start' to drive a carriage. The read section 14 stores a read image to an image memory 12. A sensor 16 monitors the position of the carriage, informs a drive control section 18 of this it, when the carriage arrives at an end position, the drive control section 18 stops the movement of the carriage, and the state 2 shifts to a state 3. The state 3 is a standby state for the carriage going to a return path. The drive control section 18 receives the 'start' instruction. A state 4 is nearly the same as the state 2 but differs from it, so that the moving direction of the carriage is in reverse. The drive control section 18 instructs the read section 14 on the 'read start' to drive the carriage.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a scanner device of a type in which a reading unit is driven for a predetermined document.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the progress of OA in recent years, it has been widely practiced to use a scanner device to capture an image as data and perform various image processing. This scanner device has a function of reading image information of a document placed on a glass table using a sensor and converting the image information into digital information. A general scanner device uses a line sensor (carriage) in which optical sensors are arranged in an amount equal to the width of a document, and scans the surface of the document while scanning the same while driving it along the document. FIG. 5 shows an example of such a scanner. Here, the reading operation of a conventional general scanner device will be described with reference to FIG.
First, in state 1, the carriage is waiting at the reading position. Then, in state 2, the carriage moves in the direction of the arrow (outbound path) and performs a reading operation (scanning).
State 3 indicates a state in which scanning has been completed, and the carriage has stopped at the reading completed position. State 4 is
This shows the carriage returning (return path) from the reading completion position to the standby position. Of these, the carriage actually reads only during the movement in the state 2, and the movement in the state 4 is only a preliminary operation for returning to the state 1. As a result, the transport system of the carriage has been forced to move twice as long as necessary.

[0003]

As described above, in the case of the scanner of the type shown in FIG. 5, as described above, reading is performed when the carriage is moving in a certain direction (for example, from left to right in the figure). This is done only when moving in the opposite direction. That is, the carriage moves while reading on the outward path and not reading on the return path. This direction is fixed. The “play” operation on the return path is only wasteful due to mechanical wear and is wasteful. In the case where continuous scanning is performed by the automatic document feeder, the performance is reduced depending on the feed speed of the next original. Is connected to Therefore, if reading is performed not only on the outward route but also on the return route, the scanning operation can be performed efficiently. In many cases, the image to be read by the scanner is actually smaller than the size readable by the scanner. In such a case,
As described above, when scanning is performed not only on the outbound path but also on the return path, simply scanning
The read image changes depending on the difference in the return path.
Therefore, a mechanism for ensuring that the reading range is adjusted to the size of the original depending on the original to be read is required.

Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide a scanner device which can perform processing at a higher speed by reading both directions. Further, a second object of the present invention is to provide a scanner device capable of adjusting the reading range to the size of the original even when reading is performed in both directions.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a reading device for optically reading a document placed at a predetermined position, and a driving device for moving the reading device so as to reciprocate with respect to the document. A scanning device that optically reads a document while the reading device is moving the document with respect to the document by the driving device, wherein the reading device performs either forward or backward scanning with the driving device. The first object is achieved by optically reading the original even when the original is moving.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the driving device reciprocates with respect to the document together with the reading means, and the detecting means for detecting both end positions of the placed document is provided. Furthermore, even when the reading means is moving in either the forward or backward direction by the driving device, the reading means optically reads the document between both end positions of the document detected by the detecting means, The second object is achieved.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, an automatic original feeder for automatically transporting the original to a predetermined position is further provided, and the original transported by the automatic original feeder is abutted. The second object is achieved by changing the position between the forward movement and the backward movement of the reading means.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. FIG.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the scanner device 10 includes an image memory 12, a reading unit 14, a sensor 16, and a drive control unit 18. The image memory 12 stores the image data acquired by the reading unit 14, and the reading unit 14 includes an optical sensor of a carriage. The sensor 16 checks the size of the original on the glass table and the position of the carriage. The drive control unit 18 manages the drive operation of the scanner device 10.

Next, the operation of the scanner device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. First, in state 1, the drive control unit 1
8 receives a “start” instruction from the user and shifts to state 2. In the state 2, the drive control unit 18 instructs the reading unit 14 to “start reading”, and drives the carriage. The reading unit 14 stores the read image in the image memory 12 as needed. Then, the sensor 16 monitors the position of the carriage, and when it arrives at the end position, notifies the drive control unit 18, the drive control unit 18 stops the movement of the carriage, and shifts to state 3. State 3 is a standby state for the return path of the carriage, which is almost the same as state 1. Here, the drive control unit 18 receives a “start” instruction from the user, and shifts to state 4. State 4 is almost the same as state 2. The difference is that the moving direction of the carriage is reversed. Drive control unit 1
Numeral 8 instructs the reading unit 14 to "start reading", and drives the carriage. The reading unit 14 stores the read image in the image memory 12 as needed. Sensor 1
Numeral 6 monitors the position of the carriage, and when it reaches the end position, notifies the drive control unit 18, and the drive control unit 18 stops the movement of the carriage and shifts to state 1.

This scanner device 10 is characterized in the above-mentioned state 3. That is, in this state, conventionally, the scanning is completed, and the next scan cannot be performed until the state returns to the state 1 thereafter. However, this scanner apparatus 10 is in the “reading standby” state equivalent to the state 1. Therefore, in the next state 4, scanning can be performed in the same manner as in the state 2 (in the reverse direction).

Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The scanner device according to this embodiment is also premised on performing a scanning operation on the outward path and the return path.
That is, the scanning operation is performed in the state 2 and the state 4 as shown in FIG. However, in the first embodiment, reading is always performed on the entire reading area of the scanner. However, in actuality, there is a possibility that a smaller area (document) is read. Therefore, the second embodiment aims at performing a scanning operation more efficiently when a document is smaller than a predetermined size.

Even if the original is smaller than a predetermined size,
As shown in FIG. 3, the carriage driving method itself does not change, but the control method in the state 2 and the state 4 changes. The drive control unit 18 drives the carriage, but does not immediately issue a “reading instruction”, unlike the first embodiment. The information from the sensor 16 is confirmed, a "reading instruction" is issued at a portion where the document exists, and driving is continued. Then, when the sensor 16 detects the end of the original, the reading unit 14 is instructed to “end reading” while the carriage continues to be driven. In the second embodiment, since the reading operation is performed according to the size of the document, it is possible to cope with a change in the size of the document while performing reading on the outward path and the return path.

Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Generally, in many cases, sensors for detecting the size of a document are usually specialized in so-called “standard size paper” for cost reduction. For this reason, for example, when trying to use paper that is "slightly longer than the fixed form", the start point cannot be correctly determined in the return scan in state 3 in the method shown in FIG. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, the position where the document is set is changed between the forward path and the backward path. According to this method, the scanning start position can be determined without depending on the size of the original document on both the forward path and the backward path, so that it is possible to prevent the image from being cut off.

[0014]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the first (outgoing path)
After the reading means is moved to read the image, the next scanning can be immediately received without returning the reading means (return movement). Therefore, it is possible to suppress the consumption of the device for the return path. Further, since the reading unit can receive the next scan, high-speed continuous operation can be performed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the size of the document is determined by detecting the size of the document by the detection means, and the scanning is performed by determining the reading position based on the size. Therefore, the problem that the area to be actually scanned in the forward path and the return path changes can be absorbed, and the correct size can be read.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the scanning is performed after the original abutment position is changed and the original position is stabilized by the forward and backward operations of the reading means. Therefore, even if the paper is irregular, scanning can be started without missing an image.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a processing procedure according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a processing procedure according to a second embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a processing procedure according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a basic configuration of a conventional scanning device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a processing procedure of a conventional scanning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Scanner apparatus 12 Image memory 14 Reading part 16 Sensor 18 Drive control part

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A reading device for optically reading a document placed at a predetermined position, and a driving device for moving the reading device so as to reciprocate with respect to the document. In a scanner device in which the reading unit optically reads the original when the reading unit is moving with respect to the original, the original is optically read even when the reading unit is moving in either the forward or backward direction by the driving device. A scanner device characterized in that the scanner device reads the image. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: detecting means for reciprocating with respect to the document by the driving device together with the reading means to detect both end positions of the placed document. 2. The scanner device according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit optically reads the document between both end positions of the document detected by the detection unit regardless of the direction in which the document is moved. 3. An automatic document feeder which automatically conveys a document to a predetermined position, wherein the abutting position of the document conveyed by the automatic document feeder is determined when the reading means moves forward and backward. 2. The scanner device according to claim 1, wherein: