JP2003069766A - Image reading and recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact, inexpensive and highly reliable device in an image reading and recording device having an inside paper ejection configuration adopting an image reader using a contact image sensor 506 as a read unit. SOLUTION: This device has a protruding part 516c where one part of a read frame bottom 516 is protruded on the side of an inside paper ejecting and piling part 12, and an image signal receiving unit 511 is housed in the protruding part 516c.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading / recording apparatus used in, for example, a facsimile or a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image reading / recording apparatus used for a facsimile or a copying machine, as a first conventional technology, an image is formed in an image forming section as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-97632. A recording unit capable of stacking a recording sheet on an in-body discharge stacking unit provided above the image forming unit through a discharge passage, and a document placed above the recording unit and placed on a platen glass. An image reading / recording apparatus having a so-called in-body sheet discharge configuration having a book document reading unit for reading is proposed.

The reading unit described in the above-mentioned prior art comprises two sets of moving mirror units, an image-forming lens fixedly arranged,
It has a configuration including a CCD element as an image pickup element, a control board, and the like.

As a second conventional technique, for example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-069106, light source means for linearly illuminating in the main scanning direction and reflected light of an original illuminated by the light source means are combined. Image forming means for forming an image, photoelectric conversion means for converting the image information of the document into an image signal by reading the reflected light formed by the image forming means, and transmitting an image signal created by the photoelectric conversion And an image reading apparatus including a so-called contact image sensor.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An image reading / recording apparatus having an in-body sheet discharge configuration, which employs an image reading apparatus using a contact type image sensor, by combining the configurations of the first and second prior arts described above will be realized. In that case, there are the following problems.

First problem: The height of the image reading section may increase due to the height of the space for accommodating the image signal receiving unit that receives the image signal transmitted from the contact image sensor. Since the image reading / recording apparatus having the in-body discharge configuration has a recording sheet stacking space in the body, the apparatus height is likely to be high, and the increase in the apparatus height due to the increase in the image reading unit causes the apparatus to become large in size. May increase costs.

Second problem: With the recent increase in the speed of image reading and recording apparatuses, stable high-speed transmission of image signals and reduction of radiation noise accompanying the transmission have become major problems. In the case of an image reading device that employs a contact type image sensor, it is necessary to transmit the image signal read from the moving contact type image sensor to the main body of the device, and the attenuation or emission of the image signal in the path for transmitting the image signal is required. It is necessary to keep the generation of noise low.

The present invention solves the above problems in an image reading and recording apparatus having an in-body discharge configuration that employs an image reading apparatus using a contact image sensor, and is compact, inexpensive and highly reliable. The purpose is to provide a device.

[0009]

The present invention is an image reading / recording apparatus characterized by the following means.

(1) A recording unit on which a recording sheet on which an image has been formed by the image forming unit can be stacked on an in-body discharge stacking unit provided above the image forming unit through a discharge passage, and above the recording unit. An image reading / recording apparatus having a book document reading unit for reading a document placed on a document table glass, wherein the book document reading unit illuminates linearly in a main scanning direction, Image forming means for forming an image of the reflected light of the document illuminated by the light source means, and photoelectric conversion means for making the reflected light imaged by the image forming means incident to read the image information of the document and convert it into an image signal. An image signal transmitting means for transmitting the image signal created by the photoelectric conversion,
A reading unit movable in the sub-scanning direction, an image signal receiving unit fixedly arranged to receive the image signal transmitted from the reading unit, and a scanning mechanism for scanning the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction. A projecting shape portion that includes the reading unit, the image signal receiving unit, and the scanning mechanism, includes a reading frame that supports the original platen glass, and has a part of the bottom surface of the reading frame that projects toward the in-body discharge stacking unit side. And an image signal receiving unit, wherein the image signal receiving unit is housed in the protruding portion.

(2) The image reading / recording apparatus according to (1), wherein the projecting shape portion is formed on the sheet discharge passage side from substantially the center of the moving range of the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction. .

(3) The image signal receiving position of the image signal receiving unit is arranged substantially at the center of the moving range of the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction. (1) or (2) Image reading device.

(4) The image signal transmission from the reading unit to the image signal receiving unit is performed by a flexible flat cable, and a fixed portion or a connector of the flexible flat cable is provided at the image signal receiving position of the image signal receiving unit. The image reading / recording apparatus according to (1), (2), or (3), characterized in that it is present.

(5) The projecting shape portion is formed integrally with a lower reading frame that constitutes the bottom surface of the reading frame, according to any one of (1) to (4). Image reading and recording device.

(6) The height of the fixed portion of the flexible flat cable is higher than the bottom surface of the reading frame, (1) to (5)
The image reading and recording apparatus according to the item.

(Operation). By arranging the image signal receiving unit of the book document reading unit at an upper position in the space of the in-body discharge stacking unit of the recording unit that does not affect the movement and removal of the recording sheet, the height of the book document reading unit is increased. Therefore, it is possible to suppress the height increase of the image reading and recording apparatus.

.. Further, by arranging the image signal receiving section of the image signal receiving unit substantially at the center of the moving range of the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction, the length of the image signal transmission cable can be minimized, and the path for transmitting the image signal can be shortened. Image signal reading for facsimile machines, copiers, etc. with a compact and inexpensive in-body discharge configuration that can reduce signal attenuation and radiated noise generation at a low level to simplify signal attenuation and radiated noise countermeasures. It is possible to provide a recording device.

[0018]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS (1) Schematic Description of Image Reading and Recording Apparatus FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of the image reading and recording apparatus of this embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of the image reading and recording apparatus. This image reading / recording apparatus is an in-body discharge type laser beam printing apparatus that employs an image reading unit (reader) that uses a contact image sensor as a reading unit.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a recording section (apparatus main body) having a recording and discharging section (in-body discharge stacking section) 12 having an in-body discharge configuration. In this example, a transfer type electrophotographic process mechanism is used as the image forming section 14. This is the laser beam printer used.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an operation unit including a cover and an input key.

A book document reading unit 3 is arranged above the recording unit 4, and reads image information of a document.

Reference numeral 2 denotes a document feeder (DF: document feeder) mounted on the document table glass 501 of the book document reader 3, which stacks a plurality of documents D and conveys them one by one.

Reference numeral 6 denotes first to fourth cassette sheet feeding portions arranged in a four-tier stack below the recording portion 4 and stores a plurality of sheet materials S and conveys them one by one. . Note that FIG.
Then, the third and fourth cassette sheet feeding units are omitted.

Reference numeral 7 denotes an MP attached to the side surface of the recording unit 4.
(Multi-paper) Paper feed unit. When the MP sheet feeding unit 7 is not in use, it is closed and stored on the side surface of the recording unit 4 as shown by the solid line, and when it is used, the MP sheet feeding unit 7 is folded down as shown by the chain double-dashed line and unfolded. By placing and setting the material, the sheet material can be fed from the MP paper feeding section 7 to the recording section 4.

The book document reading unit 3 photoelectrically reads image information of a document, 501 is a fixed platen glass arranged on the upper surface of the image reading unit 3, and 506 is a reading unit. The reading unit 506 is a contact image sensor (scanning reading unit equipped with an image pickup device), and as will be described later, a light source unit that linearly illuminates in the main scanning direction and a reflection of an original document illuminated by the light source unit. Image forming means for forming an image of light, photoelectric conversion means for making the reflected light formed by the image forming means incident to read the image information of the original and converting it into an image signal, and transmitting the image signal created by photoelectric conversion And an image signal transmitting means for moving the image signal.

The reading unit 506 is a book document reading section 3
Inside, the position shown by the solid line on the left side of FIG. Then, based on the reading start signal, the reading unit 506 is driven to move rightward at a predetermined speed from the home position in the book document reading unit 3 along the lower surface of the platen glass 501 to reach a predetermined forward movement end point. When it reaches, it is reversed and driven to move back to the first home position.

The document feeding section 2 can be freely opened and closed with respect to the upper surface of the document table glass 501 of the book document reading section 3, and has a document feeding mechanism section 22 and a document pressure plate section 504 for the document table glass 501.

In the case of the original flow reading mode, the original conveying section 2 is closed on the original table glass 501 and the original table 21 is placed.
When the document D is placed on the document surface with the image surface facing upward, and the start key 601a on the operation unit 5 is pressed, one document G on the document table 21 is separated and fed, and the document transport mechanism unit 22 is used. The sheet is discharged onto the original sheet discharge tray 23 via the flow-reading glass 502 with the image surface facing downward. The original scanning glass 502 corresponds to the home position of the reading unit 506 in the image reading unit 3, and the original image is located at the home position in the process in which the original D is conveyed and moved on the original scanning glass 502. Reading unit 5
Photoelectrically read by 06.

In the fixed original reading mode, the original conveying section 2 is opened and raised from the upper surface of the original table glass 501 of the image reading section 3, and the original is placed on the upper surface of the original table glass 501 in a predetermined manner with its image surface facing downward. The document is placed in accordance with the placement standard, and the document feeding unit 2 is closed on it to hold the document by the document pressing plate 504. Next, when the start key 601a is pressed, the reading unit 506 of the image reading unit 3 moves to a predetermined position rightward along the lower surface of the platen glass 501 from the home position in the image reading unit 3 shown by the solid line on the left side of FIG. The forward movement is driven at a speed, and when it reaches a predetermined forward movement end point, the movement is reversed and the backward movement is driven to the first home position. In the forward movement process of the reading unit 506, the downward image surface of the placed set original on the original table glass 501 is photoelectrically read by the reading unit 506.

The original image information is photoelectrically read in pixel units by the reading unit 506, and the digitally converted signal is stored in the memory and input to the laser scanner control circuit on the recording unit 4 side.

In the recording section 4, 702a is an electrophotographic photosensitive drum, and when the start key 601a is pressed, rotational driving is started. The photosensitive drum 702a is uniformly charged to a predetermined polarity and potential by the charging roller 702b during the rotation process. Then, the uniformly charged surface is subjected to laser beam scanning exposure of image information by the laser scanner 701 to form an electrostatic latent image of image information.

The laser scanner 701 is provided with a laser beam oscillator, a polygon mirror, a folding mirror, etc., and receives an input of photoelectric conversion digital conversion signals (time-series electric digital pixel signals) of original image information from the image reading section 3. A laser beam modulated according to the input signal is emitted from the laser beam oscillator, and the surface of the photosensitive drum 702a is scanned and exposed by the laser beam by the polygon mirror and the folding mirror.

The electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 702a is developed as a toner image by the developing sleeve 702c.

On the other hand, one sheet material S is separated and fed from the selected paper feeding cassette portion of the first to fourth paper feeding cassette portions 6 or the MP paper feeding portion 7 and fed into the recording portion 4. The toner is sent to the transfer unit, which is a contact nip between the photoconductor drum 702a and the transfer roller 703, at a predetermined control timing by the registration roller pair 210. The predetermined control timing is a timing at which when the front end of the toner image on the surface of the photoconductor drum 702a reaches the transfer portion, the front end of the sheet material S just reaches the transfer portion and is registered.

Then, the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 702a is sequentially transferred to the surface of the sheet material S at the transfer portion.

The sheet material S that has passed through the transfer portion is separated from the surface of the photosensitive drum 702a and is introduced into the thermal fixing device 704 to undergo the thermal fixing process of the toner image. Thermal fixing device 70 of this example
Reference numeral 4 is a heat roller type comprising a heat fixing roller as a heat fixing means and a pressure roller as a pressure means.

Further, the photosensitive drum 702 after the sheet material is separated.
The surface a is cleaned by the removal of the transfer residual toner by the cleaning blade 702d, and is repeatedly used for image formation.

The sheet material S after fixing has the first reverse path 45.
The sheet is discharged to the first sheet discharge tray 452 by the first sheet discharge roller 451 composed of three rollers while the recording image surface is directed downward by 4. Three first paper discharge rollers 451
Are provided one outside and one inside the first reversing path 454, and two inner rollers are biased by one outer roller. The sheet material S is subjected to reverse curl correction along the outer circumference of the outer roller.

When a large amount of sheet materials S are stacked on the first paper discharge tray 452 and detected by the first full load detection sensor 455, the full load is displayed on the operation unit 5 and the recording operation is stopped.

A second paper discharge tray 457 can be optionally provided above the first paper discharge tray 452.

The sheet material S after fixing is placed on the second sheet discharge tray 4
When the sheet material S is discharged to the sheet 57, the sheet flap S 456 changes the conveying direction of the sheet material S, and the sheet material S is discharged to the second sheet discharge tray 457 via the second reversing path 458 and the second sheet discharge roller 459. The second paper discharge roller 459 and the second full load detection sensor 455a have the same configurations as the first paper discharge roller 451 and the first full load detection sensor 455, respectively.

When the second paper ejection tray 457 is mounted, the sheet material is placed on the second paper ejection tray 457 without stopping the recording operation when the first paper ejection tray 452 becomes full. It is also possible to discharge S.

In addition to the copy function, this apparatus is a multifunctional function machine such as a facsimile transmission / reception function and a network print function.
2, it is possible to selectively switch the output use of the second paper discharge tray 457.

Reference numeral 511 denotes a fixed image signal receiving unit for receiving the image signal transmitted from the reading unit 506 in the image reading unit 3. Reference numeral 516 is a reading frame bottom plate of the image reading unit 3, and 516c is a projecting shape portion formed by projecting a part of the reading frame bottom plate 516 toward the in-body discharge stacking unit 12 side. It is housed in the protruding shape portion 516c. This will be described in detail in (2) below.

In the above description, the document conveying section 2 may not be mounted, and the openable document pressure plate 2A may be arranged on the document table glass 501 of the book document reading section 3 as shown in FIG. .

(2) Detailed Description of Image Reading Unit (Reader) 3 Next, the details of the image reading unit 3 will be described with reference to FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 are perspective views of the image reading unit 3 from the front, upper side, and right side, respectively.

In FIGS. 4 to 6, 3a is an upper frame of the reader, and 511 is a fixedly arranged image signal reception for receiving an image signal transmitted from a reading unit 506 (hereinafter referred to as a contact image sensor). A unit (hereinafter referred to as an image processing relay board), 506a is a flexible cable connecting the contact image sensor 506 and the image processing relay board 511, and 506b is a flexible cable 50.
6a is a contact image sensor side connector, 506c is a fixed position of the flexible cable 506a on the image processing relay board side, 507a is a state in which the carriage 507 is moved to the left end of the image reading unit 3, and 506a1 is a state of the flexible cable 506a in state 507a. , 507b indicate a state in which the carriage 507 has moved to the right end of the image reading unit 3, 506b.
a2 is the flexible cable 506a in the state 507b
, 507c is a flexible presser for holding the flexible cable 506a on the carriage 507, and 511a is the image processing relay board 511 of the flexible cable 506a.
The side connector 511b is an image processing chip disposed on the image processing relay board 511, the output connector 511c is an output side connector from the image processing relay board 511, the image processing relay board 511 is held by the reader bottom plate (reading frame bottom plate). ) A relay board holding plate fixed to 516, a shield plate 511e for shielding noise radiated from the image processing relay board 511, and a flexible cable 506a.
A flexible fixing member for fixing the
11 g is an image processing relay board 511 is a ferrite core, 5
16a, 516b are rails integrally formed on the leader bottom plate 516, 516c is an image processing relay substrate storage unit integrally formed on the leader bottom plate 516 by squeezing the sheet metal, and 516d is leader bottom plate 5 by squeezing the sheet metal.
16 is an integrally formed reinforcing shape.

The image processing relay board housing portion 516c is a projecting shape portion formed by projecting a part of the leader bottom plate 516 toward the in-body discharge stacking portion 12 side, and the image processing relay board (image signal reception). The unit) 511 is housed in the protruding shape portion 516c.

In the present embodiment, the maximum document size of the image reading section 3 is A3 / leisure size.

The carriage 507 has a scanning range of about 500 mm at maximum for reading book originals and sheet originals.

By arranging the fixed position on the image processing relay substrate side, that is, the image processing relay substrate housing portion 516c at a position approximately 250 mm from the position 507a in which the image processing relay substrate storage portion 516c is moved to the left end, substantially in the center of the scanning range, the length of the flexible cable 506a is increased. It can be about 400 mm.

By doing so, it is possible to make the cable length of the general flexible cable 506a capable of analog transmission of the image signal, and the image processing chip 511b for A / D conversion and binarization is fixedly arranged. Image processing relay substrate 511.

The above-mentioned general flexible cable refers to a flexible cable in which a single-layer signal transmission layer is coated with a coating resin (for example, a polyimide resin film) and does not have an electromagnetic wave shield layer.

When the cable length becomes long, to cope with image signal deterioration, 1. Increased cost and reduced flexibility due to the use of a flexible cable with multiple shielding layers with a shielding function 2. 2. Increase the cost by extending the transmission length by digital transmission and the additional circuit for strengthening the radiation noise countermeasure. The carriage 507 may have a space for mounting a circuit for A / D conversion and binarization, and a radiation noise suppression shield plate may be added to increase the size and cost of the device. It becomes easy to avoid this.

Further, the image processing relay board side connector 511
By arranging the position a at the board end portion of the image processing relay board 511 and making it substantially the same as the image processing relay board housing 516c in the left-right direction, the ferrite core 5 required for radiation noise countermeasures
11 g can be arranged on the side of the image processing relay board 511, and a large and highly effective core can be arranged without affecting the height of the apparatus.

Further, when the scanning speed is low and the noise emission is small, the core is not used, and the flexible cable 506a is directly passed from the image processing relay board housing portion 516c to the image processing relay board side connector 511a to further shorten the length. The use of cables (eg 360 mm) is possible without changing the shape of the other parts.

The squeezing depth of the image processing relay board housing portion 516c is about 12 mm, and the distance from the shield plate 511e is about 20 mm, which is high enough to house the image processing relay board 511.

The position of the image processing relay board storage section 516c is from the center in the left-right direction of the image reading section 3 to the second paper discharge roller 45.
It is provided on the 9 side.

The recording paper S2 (FIG. 7) ejected from the second paper ejection roller 459 side is ejected obliquely to the upper right, and the second paper ejection tray 457 where the second paper ejection roller 459 side is low.
Therefore, the ejection and stacking of the recording sheet S2 is not hindered by the protruding image processing relay board storage section 516c. Therefore, the image processing relay board storage unit 51
The image reading unit 3 can be brought closer to the recording unit 4 by the protrusion amount of 6c (here, 12 mm), and the device height can be reduced.

Further, since the shield plate 511e is located higher than the reader bottom plate 516, a wide space for bending the flexible cable 506a in the vicinity of the state 507a in which the carriage 507 is moved to the left end of the image reading unit 3 can be secured. Therefore, it is possible to reduce adverse effects such as a bending tendency of the flexible cable 506a.

The image processing relay board 511 is held by the relay board holding plate 511d and is fixed to the leader bottom plate 516 after being inserted from the back side of the image reading section 3. With this configuration, the image processing relay board 511 is connected to the rail 516a.
It is possible to pass through the lower part of the. By doing so, it is possible to dispose the image processing relay board at the back side of the image processing relay board housing section 516c and the output side connector 511c at a position in which the output side connector 511c extends to the back side of the reader bottom plate 516.
It contributes to shortening the cable and improving the assemblability of the output side cable.

Further, since the image processing relay board storage section 516c is formed integrally with the leader bottom plate 516 by squeezing the sheet metal, unnecessary radio waves leak out from the gap between the image processing relay board storage section 516c and the leader bottom plate 516. Can be suppressed.

In the above embodiment, the case where the second paper discharge roller 459 is located on the left side of the apparatus has been described. However, when the second paper discharge roller 459 is located on the right side, the image processing relay board storage section 5 is formed.
16c may be disposed close to the right side of the device.

Further, without the second paper discharge tray 457,
The present invention can also be applied to an apparatus corresponding to only the first paper discharge tray 452. Further, the present invention can be similarly applied to the case where a staple finisher or the like is provided instead of the second paper discharge tray 457.

(3) Further Detailed Description of Image Reading and Recording Device The image reading and recording device of the above example will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

In FIG. 7, 9 is a power source. As described above, the image reading unit 3 is provided above the recording unit 4, and the image reading unit 3 supports the recording unit 4, the recording housing 10, the electrical equipment housing 11 that supports the main body control unit 51, and the image. It is supported by a column 401 that supports the right front side of the reading unit 3.

A recording and discharging unit 12 is provided below the image reading unit 3 and has a so-called in-body discharging structure. The recording and discharging unit 12 and the image reading unit 3 are provided in the image reading unit 3. It is partitioned by the leader bottom plate 516.

A) Image reading unit (leader) 3 On the upper surface of the image reading unit 3, a document table glass 501, a flow reading glass 502, and a jump table 503 are provided.

A document pressure plate 504 is provided above the image reading section 3.
A document conveying unit 2 including the above is provided behind the image reading unit 3 via a hinge (not shown).

In the image reading section 3, a contact image sensor 506, which is an image reading unit, a carriage 507,
It is possible to provide the guide shaft 508, the timing belt 509, the drive pulley 510, the image processing relay board 511, and optionally arrange the document size detection sensor 512.

The contact-type image sensor 506 includes a one-dimensional photoelectric conversion element (not shown) and SELFOC lens (trademark).
And a device in which light sources are arranged on both sides of the SELFOC lens and they are housed in one housing.

The contact-type image sensor 506 is elastically supported on the carriage 507 by a spring (not shown) and is urged toward the document table glass 501 so that the distance to the document D placed on the document table glass 501 deviates from the depth of focus. It keeps a certain distance so as not to.

The carriage 507 is a reading drive motor 513.
Image reading unit 3 along a guide shaft 508 connected to a timing belt 509 driven by the vertical axis of the one-dimensional photoelectric conversion element in the contact image sensor 506.
Reciprocate inside.

The position of the contact image sensor 506 is controlled by the rotation frequency and the rotation time of the motor with the detection timing of the home position sensor 514 as a base point.

When the document D is placed on the platen glass 501 and the document feeding unit 2 having the document pressure plate 504 is closed, the size of the document is detected by the document size detection sensor 512 at a timing of a predetermined opening / closing angle. To be done.

When the copy start key 601a (FIG. 1) is pressed, a recording paper of a predetermined size is selected according to the detected document size and the information of the scaling ratio input from the operation unit 5, and the sheet material S The paper feeding operation is started. If there is no recording paper of an appropriate size, the display section 6 to that effect is provided.
02 is displayed.

After pressing the start key 601a, shading is performed, scanning is performed from the front end of the original, and A / D conversion is performed by the image processing relay board 511 provided in the image reading section 3,
It is sent to the image processing unit 52 of the apparatus body. The contact image sensor 506 and the image processing relay board 511 are electrically connected by a flat cable.

When the scanning is completed, the reading drive motor 513 rotates in the reverse direction to return the contact image sensor 506 to the original standby position.

B) Document Transport Section (DF) 2 The configuration and operation of the document transport section 2 are as follows.
The original document table 21 is provided with a slider 21a which is slidable in the direction perpendicular to the conveyance direction of the original document D (width direction of the original document D), and the original document table 21 is moved by the slider 21a.
Both sides of the document D stacked on the top can be aligned.

When the document D is loaded on the document loading table 21,
The presence of a document is detected by the document detection sensor 21b, and the size of the document is detected by the width detection sensor 21d that detects the length of the document by the length detection sensor 21c and the movement amount of the slider 21a. Part 5 (Fig. 1)
A recording sheet of a predetermined size is selected according to the scaling factor input from. If there is no recording sheet of an appropriate size, the fact is displayed on the display unit 602.

When the document detecting sensor 21b does not detect a document, the document table glass 501 on the stationary reading side is used.
When it is determined that the original is placed on the original, the contact image sensor 506 scans the original table glass 501 side.

When the start key 601a on the operation unit 5 is pressed, the contact type image sensor 506 performs shading, and the document table glass 50 is sandwiched by the jump table 503.
It moves to the lower side of the flow reading glass 502 on the side opposite to 1, and stands still.

A plurality of documents D stacked on the document table 21 are separated by a separation roller 22b which is in pressure contact with a separation pad 22a.
The sheets are separated one by one, and are conveyed by a U-turn sheet passing path 22d by a document conveying roller 22c.

Further, the document D is the document leading edge detection sensor 22f.
After passing through the sheet, the sheet is conveyed to the first image reading section 515 by the sheet feeding roller 22e or the like, and the leading edge of the document is the contact type image sensor 50.
The document image starts to be scanned at the timing when 6 reaches the stopped image reading position, and the image signal is subjected to A / D conversion by the image processing relay board 511 and sent to the image processing section of the recording section 4.

In the first original reading section 515, the original D is read by the original pressing roller 22g while the image information of the original D is read by the original pressing roller 22g.

The document D is scooped up from the upper surface of the scanning glass 502 by the jump table 503, and the document discharge roller 22h.
Then, the document is discharged onto the document discharge tray 23.

When all the originals stacked on the original stacking table 21 have been read and the original detection sensor 21b detects "no original", the contact image sensor 506 returns to the original standby position.

C) Cassette paper feed unit (cassette) 6 The cassette paper feed unit 6 is composed of a feeder unit 301 which is removable from the recording unit 4 and a paper feed cassette 302 which is removable from the feeder unit 301. To be done.

The feeder section 301 has a function as a structure for supporting the recording section 4 from below, and a plurality of feeder sections can be connected below the recording section 4.

The paper feed cassette 302 is a cassette middle plate 304 for urging a bundle of recording papers to a pickup roller 303, a separation claw 305 for limiting the number of recording papers bundled in cooperation with the pickup roller 303, and a recording medium. A side regulation plate 306 that regulates the width direction of the sheet bundle and a trailing edge regulation plate 307 that regulates the rear end of the recording sheet bundle are configured.

The side end face of the sheet material S is regulated by a side regulation plate 306 that is movably mounted according to the paper size, so that skewing and non-feeding can be prevented.

The image is recorded on the upper surface side of the sheet material S stacked in the paper feed cassette 302.

The presence / absence of the sheet material S is detected by the cassette sensor 308. Further, the above-described sheet feeding cassette 302 is capable of stacking about 500 sheets of material in the present embodiment, and is configured to be able to be pulled out in the front direction with respect to the apparatus main body 1 (front loading system). Further, sheet materials of various sheet sizes (for example, 7 types of A3, A4, A5, B4, B5, Letter, and Legal) can be stacked on the sheet feeding cassette 302.

The sheet material S stacked on the sheet feeding cassette 302 is urged upward by the middle plate spring 309 and pressed against the semi-circular pickup roller 303 so that the sheet medium S is moved to the front end side of the middle cassette plate 304. Positioning claw 3
It is tied up in collaboration with 05.

When the main body control unit 51 triggers to squeeze the sheet material S, the pickup roller 303 receives power from a motor (not shown), and the power is also connected by an electromagnetic clutch (not shown) to squeeze the sheet material S. Take action.

The recording papers that have been double-fed in a bundle are fed by the paper feed roller 3.
The sheet 10a and the retard roller 310b are separated into one sheet.

A retry sensor 312 and a pull-out roller 313 are provided downstream of the paper feed roller 310a, and after the trigger for driving the pick-up roller 303 is applied, the sheet material S remains in the retry sensor 3 for a predetermined time.
When not detected by 12, the control unit 51 again triggers the rotation of the pickup roller 303 to perform the operation of pulling out the sheet material S.

The leading edge of the separated sheet material S is detected by the registration sensor 209 after a predetermined time. When the registration sensor 209 does not detect the leading edge of the sheet material S within a predetermined time after the paper feeding is started, it is determined as a jam, and the operation unit 5 (FIG. 1) displays it.

Further, although it is already described that the above-mentioned cassette sheet feeding section 6 and the apparatus main body 1 can be attached and detached, the cassette sheet feeding for the second and subsequent stages having the same configuration as the cassette sheet feeding section 6 is possible. It is possible to add more parts 6.

D) MP (Multi-Paper) Paper Feeding Unit 7 The MP paper feeding unit 7 includes an MP paper feeding roller 201, an MP separation pad 202, an MP mid plate 203, an MP tray 204, an MP extension tray 205, and an MP mid plate spring. A sheet regulating plate 206 (not shown) is provided.

The sheet material S can be conveyed also from the MP sheet feeding section 7. A plurality of sheet materials S are placed on the MP tray 204, and by the cooperation of the MP sheet feeding roller 201 and the separation pad 202. It is conveyed to the registration roller pair 210 inside the main body.

When the MP paper feed unit 7 is used, the MP tray 204 that can be opened and closed is used for recording paper of a normal size, and the MP extension tray 205 is pulled out for recording paper of a size that cannot be stacked on the MP tray 204. This prevents the trailing edge of the recording paper from protruding from the MP tray 204 and hanging down. Also, M
Although the P middle plate 203 is biased upward by the MP middle plate spring, the MP middle plate 203 is pushed down by a cam (not shown) in the standby state, so that the sheet material S is pressed against the MP middle plate 203. It is possible to load

When a signal for instructing the start of MP paper feeding is output from the main body control unit 51 of the recording unit 4, a cam (not shown) rotates and the MP middle plate 203 is released by pushing down and loaded. The sheet material S is pressed against a semicircular MP sheet feeding roller 201, and is separated and conveyed one by one by a friction piece separation method by an MP separation pad 202. Separated sheet material S
The sheet is continuously pressed and conveyed by the MP sheet feeding roller 201 and the MP separation pad 202, merges with the cassette sheet feeding conveyance path 211, and is delivered to the registration roller pair 210.

When the registration sensor 209 detects the leading edge of the sheet material S within a predetermined time after the sheet feeding is started, the separated sheet material S is transferred to the MP sheet feeding roller 201.
The MP separation pad 202 continues the pressure contact conveyance, and is guided to the pressure contact nip portion of the registration roller pair 210.

When the registration sensor 209 does not detect the leading edge of the sheet material S within a predetermined time after the paper feeding is started, it is judged as a jam, and the operation portion 5 displays it.

E) Registration Roller Pair (Registration) 210 The registration roller pair 210 is controlled to stop rotating when the leading edge of the sheet material S reaches the pressure nip portion of the registration roller pair 210. The leading edge of the sheet material S abuts and is locked by the pressure contact nip portion of the registration roller pair 210 in the rotation stopped state, and the MP paper feeding roller 20 continues thereafter.
When the sheet material S is fed by the pulling roller 313 on the side of 1 or the cassette, a flexible loop is formed on the sheet material S to some extent, and thus the tip side of the sheet material S is pressed by the reaction force of the flexible loop. The skew of the sheet material S is corrected by parallelizing along the nip line of the portion.

F) Recording Unit 4 The image forming unit of the recording unit 4 is composed of an image forming unit and a heat fixing device 704. The image forming unit includes a laser scanner 701, a toner-integrated process cartridge 702, and a transfer roller 70.
The process cartridge 702 includes a photosensitive drum 702a, a charging roller 702b, and a developing sleeve 702.
c, cleaning blade 702d, toner hopper 7
02e and a cartridge housing 702f, the process cartridge 702 is attachable to and detachable from the main body in the left direction.

The laser scanner 701 is equipped with a laser beam oscillator (not shown), a polygon mirror 701b, and a folding mirror 701c. The laser beam oscillator emits a modulation signal, and the polygon mirror 701b scans the photosensitive drum 702a with scanning light. The scanning light is irradiated and reflected by the folding mirror 701c.

The photosensitive drum 702a is integrally incorporated inside the recording cartridge 702 together with the charging roller 702b, the developing sleeve 702c and the cleaning blade 702d, and is detachably attached to the recording section 4. The surface of the photosensitive drum 702a is a charging roller 70.
2b is uniformly charged, and a latent image is formed by irradiating the surface with scanning light from a laser beam oscillator, and the latent image is visualized by the toner supplied from the developing sleeve 702c. ing.

G) Thermal fixing device 704 The thermal fixing device 70 is provided in the sheet conveying path on the downstream side of the image forming section.
4, a first paper discharge roller 451 is arranged.

The heat fixing device 704 is a heat fixing roller 704a.
A pressure roller 704b, a pressure spring (not shown) that urges the pressure roller 704b toward the thermal fixing roller 704a, a fixing release lever 704c that releases the urging pressure of both rollers, and a fixing frame 704d that supports them. And a heater 704e is provided inside the heat fixing roller 704a,
A temperature detection sensor (not shown) is provided in contact with the surface of the heat fixing roller 704a.

When the registration roller pair 210 is driven at a predetermined timing based on the signal from the registration sensor 209, the registration roller pair 210 conveys the sheet material S to the image forming section. The predetermined timing means the photosensitive drum 7
The timing is such that the leading edge of the toner image formed on 02a coincides with the leading edge of the sheet material S.

After the toner image formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 702a is transferred by the transfer roller 703, the sheet material S is conveyed along the sheet conveying section 705, and the toner image is fixed by the thermal fixing device 704. Then, the sheet is ejected to the first sheet ejection tray 452 by the first sheet ejection roller 451.

There is a cooling fan (not shown) behind the heat fixing device 704, and the heat inside the device is released to the outside.

H) Cartridge Cover 212 The recording section 4 is provided with a cartridge cover 212 that can be opened and closed. By opening the MP tray 204 and the cartridge cover 212, the recording cartridge 702 can be pulled out of the recording section 4 and replaced. It is like this. Further, the cartridge cover 212 is provided with an interlock mechanism so that the recording apparatus main body 1 does not operate when the cartridge cover 212 is open or the recording cartridge 702 is not set in the apparatus main body 1.

When a jam occurs during recording, the sheet material S retained inside can be taken out by opening any of the feeder cover 314, the cartridge cover 212, and the paper discharge cover 453. There is.

I) Control System FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the main body control unit 51 of the recording unit 4 using the laser beam printer (LBP). In the figure, reference numeral 53 is a CPU for controlling the entire image reading / recording apparatus, a MPU 53a, a ROM 53b for storing a control program of the MPU 53a, a RAM 5 used as a work area for various data processing and a temporary storage unit for image information.
3c, image processing unit 52 for performing image scaling, resolution conversion, etc.
Etc.

Further, the CPU 53 is provided with a calendar, a clock function and the like having a known configuration, and the area of the RAM 53c for storing important system setting information such as one-touch key destination information and software switch information is backed up by a battery to prevent a power failure or the like. Protected against accidental disability.

The operation unit 5 (FIG. 1) has ten keys 601c, function keys 601d, one-touch keys 601e,
It includes various key switches such as a start key 601a, a stop key 601b, and an energy saver key 601f. The display unit 602 is an LCD that displays various messages.
602a and a plurality of LEDs 602b, a mode switching key 601 for switching between the copying machine mode and the facsimile transmission mode
It consists of g.

The image reading section 3 is composed of a reading drive control section 54 such as a reading motor, a reading sensor 55 for reading an image, a relay board 157, various sensors 56 for detecting a document, and the like. The reading sensor 55 is equipped with an image sensor for photoelectric conversion, and signals for each pixel generated in the image sensor are aligned and amplified.
It is equipped with a transfer circuit that performs transfer.

On the relay board 157, a receiving circuit 158 for receiving the transferred image signal, shading and binarization of the received image signal, edge enhancement, smoothing, etc. 2
A digitization circuit 159 is mounted.

The reading sensor 55 and the relay board 157 are connected by a relay cable 160.

The recording unit 4 includes a recording drive control unit 57 such as a recording motor, a recording unit 58 for controlling a laser scanner and an electrophotographic process, a recording image processing unit 64 for smoothing an image to be recorded, a recording paper and the like. It is composed of various sensors 62 for detection.

When the present apparatus has an extended function such as a facsimile machine, the control system further comprises the following. The communication control unit 63 for making a call, receiving a call, encoding image data, and the like has a connection unit 59 including a MODEM, NCU, etc., and the connection unit 59 has a communication network 59a and a handset 59b.
Are connected. The external interface 60 is an interface for directly transmitting and receiving data from the CPU 53, and is, for example, RS232C, SCSI, LAN, USB, IEEE.
By connecting to a computer or a peripheral device outside the device through a line such as 1394 or infrared ray, the device can be used as a scanner printer of the external computer or can function as a host for the external peripheral device.

The HDD 61 is used as a large capacity non-volatile memory for storing image information and the like.

[0126]

As described above, according to the present invention, the image reading device using the contact image sensor is adopted.
Regarding an image reading / recording apparatus having an in-body discharge configuration, an image signal receiving unit of the image reading section is provided in a position above the in-body discharge stacking section for recording sheets, at a position where movement and removal of the recording sheets are not affected. By suppressing the increase of the device height,
By disposing the image signal receiving section of the image signal receiving unit at substantially the center of the moving range of the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction, the image signal transmission cable length can be minimized,
A facsimile machine having a compact and inexpensive in-body discharge configuration, which can simplify signal attenuation measures and radiation noise measures by suppressing image signal attenuation and radiation noise generation in the image signal transmission path. , Copiers, printers,
It has become possible to provide an image reading / recording apparatus such as a multifunction image forming apparatus.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image reading / recording apparatus according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional front view of the image reading / recording apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the image reading / recording apparatus of the image reading / recording apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view from the front of the image reading unit.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the image reading unit from above.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the image reading unit from the right side.

FIG. 7 is a detailed explanatory diagram of the structure of the image reading and recording apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a control unit

[Explanation of symbols]

2 ... Document transporting unit 3 for stacking a plurality of documents D and transporting them one by one ... Image reading unit 4 for reading image information of the document D ... Recording unit 5 including a laser beam printer ... Display unit, input keys, etc. Operation unit 6 ... A plurality of sheet materials S are stored and are conveyed one by one. Cassette paper feed unit 7 ... MP (multi-paper) paper feed unit 9 ... Power source 155 ... Image pickup device 156 ... Transfer circuit 157 ... Relay board 158 ... Reception circuit 159 ... Binarization circuit 160 ... Connection cable 501 ... Document table glass 502 ... Flow reading glass 503 ... Jump table 504 ... Document pressure plate 506 ... Contact image sensor (reading unit) 507 ... Carriage 508 ... Guide shaft 509 ... Timing belt 510 ... Drive pulley 511 ... Image processing relay board (image signal receiving unit) 512 ... Original size detection sensor 513 Reading drive motor 514 ... home position sensor 515 ... first image reading unit 516 ... reader bottom plate (reading frame bottom plate) 516c ... projecting shape portion

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A recording unit in which a recording sheet on which an image is formed by an image forming unit can be stacked on an in-body discharge stacking unit provided above the image forming unit through a discharge path, and above the recording unit. An image reading / recording apparatus having a book document reading unit for reading a document placed on a platen glass, wherein the book document reading unit includes a light source unit that linearly illuminates in a main scanning direction, and Image forming means for forming an image of the reflected light of the original illuminated by the light source means, and photoelectric conversion means for making the reflected light formed by the image forming means incident to read the image information of the original and convert it into an image signal. An image signal transmitting means for transmitting the image signal generated by the photoelectric conversion, a reading unit movable in the sub-scanning direction, and a fixed arrangement for receiving the image signal transmitted from the reading unit. Received image signal A scanning unit that scans the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction; a reading frame that incorporates the reading unit, an image signal receiving unit, and a scanning mechanism, and that supports the original platen glass; An image reading / recording apparatus, wherein a part thereof has a protruding shape portion protruding toward the in-body discharge stacking portion side, and the image signal receiving unit is housed in the protruding shape portion. 2. The image reading / recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the projecting shape portion is formed on the sheet discharge passage side from a substantially center of a moving range of the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction. 3. The image signal receiving position of the image signal receiving unit is arranged substantially at the center of the moving range of the reading unit in the sub-scanning direction.
The image reading / recording device described in 1. 4. An image signal transmission from the reading unit to the image signal receiving unit is performed by a flexible flat cable, and a flexible flat cable fixing portion or a connector is provided at an image signal receiving position of the image signal receiving unit. Claim 1, characterized in that
The image reading and recording apparatus according to 2 or 3. 5. The image reading / recording according to claim 1, wherein the protruding shape portion is formed integrally with a lower reading frame that forms a bottom surface of the reading frame. apparatus. 6. The image reading / recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a height of a fixed portion of the flexible flat cable is higher than a bottom surface of the reading frame.