JP2003075940A - Image reader and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reader in which a book type original is easily and also accurately set, the need of applying processing with which an image quality may be deteriorated to a read image is eliminated and an original other than the book type original is processed. SOLUTION: This device is set in a state that a book type original positioning means 5 to a align the page parting line 201a of a scanning area 201 set on a contact glass 3 in accordance with the size of the book type original 101 with the boundary 101a of the opened page of the book type original 101 is arranged within the scanning area 201 and also the book type original positioning means 5 does not exist within the scanning feasible area of the image reading means 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus installed in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When copying the double-page or single-sided double-page spreads of a book original, the double-page spread of the book original is placed face down on a contact glass. In this case, as shown in FIG. Virtual scanning area 201 set on the contact glass according to the size of 101
If the page dividing line 201a of No. 1 and the boundary line 101a of the double-page spread of the book document 101 do not match, a problem such as a part of the document image protruding from the paper occurs, so that the two lines 101a and 201a are accurately Must match.

Conventionally, the book document is placed on the contact glass by aligning both ends of the boundary line of the double-page spread of the book document with the marks provided on the guide plate provided around the contact glass. However, the size of the book document is often smaller than that of the contact glass, and in this case, a gap is created between the book document and the mark on the guide plate. Therefore, the two lines 101a and 201 are provided.
There is a problem that it is difficult to exactly match a, it takes time to set a book document, and a user is mentally burdened.

In order to solve such a problem, as shown in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 8-37584 and 9-31586, the boundary line between the spread pages of a book document is optically detected and scanned. The area of the contact glass is changed or a member having a wedge-shaped cross section for physically positioning the book original by contacting with the boundary line of the double-page spread of the book original is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-65873. Those formed on the upper surface have been proposed.

[0005]

However, in the former case, it is difficult to accurately determine the boundary line of the double-page spread when the book document is tilted, and a process such as tilt correction that causes image quality deterioration is added. There is a problem in that it cannot be handled unless the latter is used, and since the wedge-shaped member cannot be moved outside the scanning area, it cannot be applied to a general image forming apparatus that processes originals other than book originals. There's a problem.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading device which solves the above problems.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention reads the image on the lower surface of the original by exposing and scanning the contact glass and the lower surface of the original placed on the upper surface of the contact glass. Image reading means and book manuscript positioning means for matching the page dividing line of the scanning area set on the contact glass according to the size of the book manuscript and the boundary line of the spread page of the book manuscript In the image reading apparatus, the book document positioning means can be arranged in the scanning area, and the book document positioning means can be in a state not existing in the scannable area of the image reading means. It is characterized by being.

In the image reading apparatus of the present invention, means for aligning the page dividing line of the scanning area with the boundary line of the double-page spread of the book original is arranged in the scanning area. Can be set to. Further, since it is not necessary to add processing such as tilt correction to the read image, there is no fear of image quality deterioration. Further, since the book document positioning means can be set in a state where it does not exist in the scannable area of the image reading means, it is possible to process a document other than the book document.

The book manuscript positioning means is a rod body formed so as to physically position the book manuscript by contacting the boundary line of the double-page spread of the book manuscript over the entire length. In the case of being movable in the direction parallel to the upper surface of the contact glass and orthogonal to the axis, particularly, the book document can be set accurately and easily, and the structure is simple, so that the book document can be manufactured at low cost.

In this case, drive means for moving the rod body, an input section for inputting information such as the size of a book document, and the drive means are driven according to the information input through this input section. If the control means for positioning the rod body is provided, the rod body can be automatically positioned, so that the efficiency of the work for setting the book document is further improved.

Further, by providing a fixing means for fixing the rod body so as not to move with respect to the scanning area, it is possible to prevent the rod body from moving when setting a book document, so that it is reliable. The property is improved.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Specific embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a plan view of an image reading device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially omitted front view of the image reading device 1.

The image reading apparatus 1 is a part of an electrophotographic copying machine, and has a rectangular parallelepiped housing 2 having a flat upper surface and a contact glass 3 fixed in a rectangular shape in plan view. And a scanner mirror 4 arranged below it, and a rod 5 mounted on the upper surface of the housing 2 so as to extend in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction (arrow direction).

The contact glass 3 has a transparent plate shape and is attached to the housing 2 so that its upper surface is substantially flush with the upper surface of the housing 2.

Below the contact glass 3, an image reading means for reading the image on the lower surface of the original by exposing and scanning the lower surface of the original placed on the upper surface of the contact glass 3 is arranged. Part of that. The scanner mirror 4 is configured to move in the scanning direction (arrow direction) and the opposite direction by a driving mechanism (not shown).

The rod 5 is made of resin, metal, or the like, has a diameter of about several mm to several tens of mm, and has a length longer than one side of the contact glass 3. Both ends of the rod 5 are formed to have a circular cross section, and a circular roller 6 is attached rotatably around the axis of the rod 5. The other part of the rod 5 is formed in a triangular shape in cross section.

A pair of grooves 7, 7 extending in the scanning direction are formed on the upper surface of the housing 2 so as to sandwich the contact glass 3 in the direction orthogonal to the scanning direction, and rollers 6 attached to both ends of the rod body 5. , 6 are rotatably supported by these grooves 7, 7. Rollers 6, 6 are grooves 7,
When rolling on 7, the rod 5 moves in a direction orthogonal to the axis with a constant gap maintained between the rod 5 and the upper surface of the contact glass 3. It should be noted that when the rollers 6, 6 roll, the rod 5 does not rotate around the axis.

The rod 5 is connected to a drive mechanism (not shown), and when the drive mechanism is driven, the rod 5 moves in the scanning direction and the opposite direction. This drive mechanism is composed of a motor and a transmission mechanism connected to its rotation shaft, and the rotation shaft of the motor can be locked so that the rod 5 does not move.

In the present embodiment, when the size of the book original is input on the operation panel (not shown) provided in the main body of the copying machine, the rod 5 is automatically moved to a predetermined position. That is, when the size of the book original is input on the operation panel, as shown in FIG. 3, the contact glass 3 has a rectangular shape in plan view corresponding to the size of the double-page spread of the book original with the upper left corner as a reference. Shaped scan area 201
Is set. Then, the control device (not shown) of the image forming apparatus drives the drive mechanism of the rod body 5 to move the rod body 5 to the page dividing line 201a of the scanning region 201 as shown in FIG.
Move it to the position directly above. Then, the rotation shaft of the motor of the drive mechanism is locked so that the rod 5 does not move.

The user opens the page to be copied of the book manuscript, faces the facing page down, the boundary line of the facing page of the book manuscript contacts the rod 3, and the upper left corner of the book manuscript is the contact glass 3. The book document is placed on the upper surface of the contact glass 3 so as to be positioned at the upper left corner. As a result, as shown in FIG. 5, since the boundary line 101a of the spread page of the book document 101 is in contact with the apex of the triangular portion of the bar 5, the boundary line 101a and the page dividing line of the scanning area 201 are in contact with each other. 201a matches. The work of setting the book original 101 is extremely easy, and the book original 101 is scanned in the scanning area 20.
Since it is accurately positioned with respect to 1, the work can be performed efficiently and the user is not mentally burdened.

When the copy button on the operation panel is pressed, the scanner mirror 4 moves in the scanning direction to read the original image of the spread page of the book original 101, and this original image is formed on the paper by toner. As described above, since the boundary line 101a of the book document 101 and the page dividing line 201a of the scanning area 201 are exactly the same, a part of the document image may be missing or the document image may be inclined with respect to the paper. There is nothing to do.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the rod 5 is retracted outside the scannable area of the image reading means, general documents other than book documents can be processed.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. 6 is a plan view of the image reading device 11 according to the second embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 7 is a right side view of the image reading device 11, and FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of FIG. In addition, in the present embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for the portions corresponding to those in the first embodiment, and the duplicate description is omitted.

In the present embodiment, the book document positioning means sets the boundary line 101 on the double-page spread of the book document 101.
It moves in parallel with a and one end face 1 of the book original
It is constituted by a point of light that moves so as to vertically cross on 01b, and this point of light is formed by a light source 12 arranged below contact glass 3 on one side of contact glass 3. The light source 12 is slidably supported by a rail 13 fixed to the housing 2 so as to extend in the scanning direction, and is connected to a drive mechanism (not shown). When the drive mechanism is driven, the light source 12 moves in the scanning direction. It is designed to move in the opposite direction.

As shown in FIG. 8, the light source 12 includes a casing 14 having a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a lamp 15 fixed above the casing 14 and emitting light obliquely downward, and the lamp 15.
And a polygon mirror 16 for reflecting the light L emitted from the above in a diagonally upward direction.

The polygon mirror 16 is formed in a polygonal column shape, and a central shaft 16a is connected to a rotating shaft of a motor (not shown). When the motor is driven, the central shaft 16a rotates in the direction of the arrow. It has become. The light L emitted from the lamp 15 strikes the side surface of the polygon mirror 16 and is reflected, and is emitted to the outside through an opening 14a provided in an upper portion of one side wall of the casing 14.
As the polygon mirror 16 rotates, the reflection angle of the light L changes continuously, and the light L repeats the operation of moving its optical axis counterclockwise within the angle range R shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 6, an index 17 is provided on the other side of the contact glass 3 so as to face the light source 12 in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction. The index 17 is slidably supported by a rail 18 fixed to the housing 2 so as to extend in the scanning direction and is connected to a driving mechanism (not shown). When the driving mechanism is driven, the index 17 moves in the scanning direction and its direction. It is designed to move in the opposite direction. The index 17 has an arrow 17a formed on the top surface thereof with a transparent or semitransparent resin, and the arrow 17a is illuminated by a lamp (not shown) arranged below the arrow 17a.

In this embodiment, the light source 12 and the index 17 are automatically moved to predetermined positions when the size of the book original is input through the operation panel (not shown) provided in the main body of the copying machine. There is. That is, in the initial state, as shown in FIG. 9, the light source 12 and the index 17 are retracted outside the scannable area of the image reading means, and when the size of the book document is input on the operation panel, the contact glass 3
A scanning area 201 having a rectangular shape in plan view corresponding to the size of the double-page spread of the book document, with the upper left corner as a reference.
(See FIG. 6) is set. Then, the control device (not shown) of the image forming apparatus drives the drive mechanism of the light source 12 and the index 17, and as shown in FIG.
Is moved to a position facing the page dividing line 201a of the scanning region 201.

The user opens the page to be copied of the book document, faces the facing page downward, and the binding portion on the back of the book document is located between the light source 12 and the index 17 and the upper left corner of the book document 101. Book manuscript 10 so that its part is located at the upper left corner of contact glass 3
1 is placed on the upper surface of the contact glass 3. The light emitted from the light source 12 passes through the contact glass 3 and is applied to the book original 101. As the polygon mirror 16 rotates, the light emitted from the light source 12 repeats the movement of its optical axis in the counterclockwise direction within the angular range R shown in FIG. The light irradiation point moves on the spread page of the book document 101 in parallel with the boundary line 101a, and then repeats the operation of vertically cutting one end face 101b of the book document 101 upward.

When the spread page boundary line 101a of the book original 101 and the page dividing line 201a of the scanning area 201 are deviated from each other, as shown in FIG.
The lower end of the linear locus T formed by the point of light moving on the end surface 101b of the sheet does not coincide with the boundary line 101a of the spread page of the book document 101. The user determines that the lower end of the trajectory T is the boundary line 101a of the book document 101.
The book document 101 is shifted in the left-right direction so as to be aligned with. As a result, the boundary line 101a of the book document 101 and the page dividing line 201a of the scanning region 201
And are matched. This work is also extremely easy and does not impose a mental burden on the user.

When the copy button on the operation panel is pressed, the scanner mirror 4 moves in the scanning direction to read the original image of the double-page spread of the book original 101, and this original image is formed on the paper by toner. As described above, since the boundary line 101a of the book document 101 and the page dividing line 201a of the scanning area 201 are exactly the same, a part of the document image may be missing or the document image may be inclined with respect to the paper. There is nothing to do.

As shown in FIG. 3, the light source 12 and the index 17 are provided.
When the image is saved outside the scannable area of the image reading unit,
General originals other than book originals can be processed.

Instead of providing the index 17 that moves in synchronization with the light source 12 on the other side of the contact glass 3,
It is also possible to provide fixed guide plates with marks at regular intervals in the operation direction and position the book document with this guide plate, but as in the present embodiment, the index 17 that moves in synchronization with the light source 12 is used. , The scanning area 201 can be set at any position on the contact glass 3, so that the size of the margins formed on both sides of the original image can be set arbitrarily. There is an advantage that a copy different from a normal copy can be made.

In the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the image reading apparatus of the present invention is installed in the copying machine has been described, but it may be installed in other image forming apparatuses.

Besides, various modifications can be made to the above-described embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0036]

As described above, in the image reading apparatus of the present invention, the book document positioning means for aligning the page dividing line of the scanning region with the boundary line of the spread pages of the book document is arranged in the scanning region. Therefore, the book original can be set easily and accurately, the efficiency is improved and the mental burden on the user is reduced. Further, since it is not necessary to add processing such as tilt correction to the read image, there is no fear of image quality deterioration. Further, since the book document positioning means can be set in a state where it does not exist in the scannable area of the image reading means, it is possible to process a document other than the book document.

According to another aspect of the image reading apparatus of the present invention, the book document positioning means is a bar body formed so as to physically position the book document by contacting the boundary line of the double-page spread of the book document over its entire length. Since this rod is movable in the direction parallel to the upper surface of the contact glass and orthogonal to the axis, book manuscripts can be set accurately and easily, and the structure is simple, so that the bar can be manufactured at low cost. be able to.

Further, in the image reading apparatus according to the third aspect, the driving means for moving the rod body, the input section for inputting information such as the size of the book original, and the information inputted through this input section. Since the rod body can be automatically positioned by providing the control means for driving the driving means in accordance with the above, the rod body can be positioned automatically, so that the efficiency of the work for setting the book original is further improved.

Further, the image reading apparatus according to the fourth aspect is provided with the fixing means for fixing the rod body so as not to move with respect to the scanning area, so that the rod body moves when the book document is set. High reliability because it can prevent.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an image reading device 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partially omitted front view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the image reading device 1.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of the image reading device 1.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a method for positioning book document 101.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an image reading device 11 according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a right side view of the image reading device 11.

8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a main part of FIG.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the image reading device 11.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a method of positioning book document 101.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of conventional problems.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Image reading device 3 contact glass 4 scanner mirrors 5 rods 6 roller 7 groove 101 Book manuscript 201 scan area

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A contact glass, an image reading unit for reading an image on the lower surface of the original by exposing and scanning the lower surface of the original placed on the upper surface of the contact glass, and the contact glass on the contact glass according to the size of the book original. What is claimed is: 1. An image reading apparatus comprising book document positioning means for matching a page division line of a scan area to be set and a boundary line of spread pages of the book document, wherein the book document positioning means is within the scan area. The image reading device is characterized in that the book document positioning means can be placed in the scannable area of the image reading means. 2. The book manuscript positioning means is a rod body which is formed so as to physically position the book manuscript in contact with the boundary line of the spread pages of the book manuscript over the entire length thereof. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus is movable in a direction parallel to the upper surface of the contact glass and orthogonal to the axis. 3. A drive unit for moving the rod body, an input unit for inputting information such as a size of a book document, and a drive unit for driving the drive unit according to the information input via the input unit. An image reading apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a control unit that positions the rod body by a lever. 4. The image reading apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising a fixing unit that fixes the rod body so as not to move with respect to the scanning region. 5. An image forming apparatus comprising the image reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.