JP2003100036A - Scanning type head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent a flexible contacting member from being brought into contact with a recording medium without making the whole of a device large. SOLUTION: A freely deformed part 7a is formed in the right side in the figure 1 by guiding out a flexible connecting member 7 which is capable of being deformed in a curved shape to the side of an upper surface 5b while drawing out it from the side face 5a of a moving head 5 and the attaching parts of the guided-out top end are electrically connected to the control circuit on a control board 3. Since a part which is drawn out from the side face 5a of the flexible connecting member 7 is positioned at a position corresponding to a guiding member 6, the lower surface side 7b of the part comes into contact with the guiding member 6. As a result, the connecting member 7 is prevented from being brought into contact with a photosensitive film 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention records or records information on a recording medium by moving a moving head connected to a control circuit via a flexible connecting member along a guide member. The present invention relates to a scanning head that performs at least one of reading and reading information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a moving head, which is connected to a control circuit through a flexible connecting member, is moved along a guide member to record an image on a photosensitive film, which is a recording medium, or a disc. There is a scanning type head for reading information recorded on a recording medium such as. As an example, for example, JP-A-6-2
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 43601, a pickup body that is a moving body is movably supported along a disk surface, and one end of a flexible wiring board that is a flexible connection member is electrically connected to the pickup body. There is described a connection device for an optical pickup in which a pickup body is movable by bending an intermediate portion of a flexible wiring board in a free state. This optical pickup connecting device is provided with a pressing piece for suppressing the bulging of the curved portion of the flexible wiring board toward the disk, and the tip end of the pressing piece is tilted in the direction opposite to the disk so that it is positioned closer to the pickup main body. It is projected toward.

[0003]

However, in this optical pickup connecting device, since the tip end of the pressing piece for suppressing the bulging of the curved portion of the flexible wiring board toward the disk is inclined in the direction opposite to the disk. Although the bulging of the curved portion of the flexible wiring board toward the disk side can be made smaller than that in the case where the inclined portion is not formed at the tip portion, the flexible wiring board has a long length and a large bending portion. If it becomes bent, the curved portion may come into contact with the disc. When such a flexible wiring board (flexible connection member) comes into contact with a recording medium such as a disk, it may be a load against the movement of a moving body such as an optical pickup or the rotation of the disk, which causes inconvenience. Become. Further, when the recording medium is a photosensitive material such as a film paper having photosensitivity, the photosensitive surface of the recording medium is rubbed by the flexible connecting member, so that the image is deteriorated.

Therefore, in order to avoid the contact of the flexible wiring board with the recording medium, it is necessary to increase the space of the portion for accommodating the curved portion of the flexible wiring board, so that the size of the entire apparatus is increased. There was a point. Further, in the case of the optical pickup connecting device described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-243601, since a dedicated pressing piece for suppressing the bulging of the curved portion of the flexible wiring board toward the disk side is provided, the number of parts is increased accordingly. However, there is also a problem in that as the number of parts increases, it takes time to assemble the parts. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is possible to prevent the flexible connecting member from contacting the recording medium without increasing the size of the entire apparatus or increasing the number of parts. It is an object to provide a scanning type head with a small size.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has a moving head, a guide member for supporting the moving head so that the moving head can reciprocate, and a flexible connecting member for connecting the moving head to a control circuit. And a scanning type head for moving at least one of the following: moving the moving head on a recording medium along the guide member to record information on the recording medium or read information recorded on the recording medium. In the above, the flexible connection member and the guide member are arranged in a positional relationship that prevents contact between the flexible connection member and the recording medium. In the guide member, at least a part of the flexible connection member is at least a part of the guide member between the recording medium and the flexible connection member when viewed from a vertical direction which is a direction perpendicular to a recording surface of the recording medium. The flexible connection member and the recording medium may be prevented from contacting with each other. Further, it is preferable that the flexible connecting member has a free deforming portion for allowing the reciprocating movement of the moving head on the side opposite to the recording medium with respect to the guide member.

Further, the flexible connecting member has a mounting end on the recording medium side of the moving head, and bypasses the side surface of the moving head on the mounting end side, and the surface of the moving head opposite to the recording medium. It is better to be derived from. Further, the guide member supports a side portion with respect to the moving direction of the moving head, and the flexible connection member corresponds to the guide member by being pulled out from a surface orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head. It may be arranged at a position.
The flexible connecting member may be brought out of a plane orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head, and may be brought into contact with the guide member by being deformed to a position corresponding to the guide member.

Further, one end of the flexible connecting member is connected to the front side of the moving head in the reciprocating direction and the other end passes through the upper surface side of the moving head opposite to the recording medium, and the rear side of the moving head. It may be folded back to be connected to the control circuit. Also provided is a scanning head in which the recording medium is a photoconductor and the moving head is an optical recording head which forms an image by exposing the photoconductor to light to expose the photoconductor. The moving head may include a light source and an optical shutter that controls the amount of light transmitted from the light source. Also,
The guide member is arranged outside the light irradiation part of the optical shutter in the width direction with respect to the moving direction of the moving head, and the connection position between the flexible connecting member and the moving head is the guide in the width direction. It is better to be inside the member.

[0008]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a photo printer as an example of a printer equipped with a scanning head according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the appearance of the photo printer with the upper lid removed. As shown in FIG. 1, this photo printer accommodates a scanning head 2 and a control board 3 having a control circuit in an outer case 1, and a lower part of the outer case 1 in the direction of arrow A in FIG. A paper storage cassette 4 that can be pulled out is provided. Scanning head 2
Is a moving head 5 and the moving head 5 is indicated by an arrow A in FIG.
Two round bar-shaped guide members 6 and 6 that support the movable head 5 to a control circuit on the control board 3 are provided. Then, the moving head 5 is moved along the guide members 6 and 6 over the photosensitive film 8 which is a recording medium located on the opposite side (lower side in FIG. 1) of the flexible connecting member 7 with respect to the guide members 6 and 6. An image (latent image) serving as information is recorded on the photosensitive film 8 by moving it. Although detailed description will be given later, the guide members 6 and 6 are disposed between the photosensitive film 8 and the flexible connecting member 7 when viewed from above and below, which is the direction perpendicular to the recording surface of the photosensitive film 8.
Are arranged in such a positional relationship that at least a part of the first guide member 6 overlaps with at least a part of the one guide member 6 (which will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. 3). As a result, contact between the flexible connection member 7 and the photosensitive film 8 is prevented.

The moving head 5 includes a light source 9 formed of a light emitting diode (LED) in a frame body 12, a liquid crystal shutter 11 which is an optical shutter for controlling the amount of light emitted from the light source 9, and the light source 9 thereof. A light guide plate 14 that guides the light from the liquid crystal shutter 11 toward the liquid crystal shutter 11 and converges the light in a substantially linear shape, and forms an image on the uppermost photosensitive film 8 in the paper storage cassette 4 by receiving the light that has passed through the liquid crystal shutter 11. The SELFOC lens 13 is composed of a plurality of lens groups. The light source 9 is composed of light emitting diodes of three colors of red, green and blue, whereby a full color image can be written on the photosensitive film 8. The moving head 5 is not shown because it is not directly related to the present invention, but is rotatably stretched between the pulleys so that the moving direction of the moving head 5 (shown by an arrow in FIG. A part of the scanning wire extending in the (A direction) is fixed, and its pulley is rotated by a scanning motor (not shown). Therefore, by appropriately rotating the scanning motor in both the forward and reverse directions, the scanning wire rotates in the desired direction and the moving head 5 reciprocates in the arrow A direction.

The liquid crystal shutter 11 is the moving head 5 of FIG.
A plurality of elements of an optical shutter using a liquid crystal arranged in a straight line in the direction of arrow B, which is orthogonal to the moving direction of arrow A, are driven by applying a voltage (on the contrary, the elements are driven by stopping the application of the voltage. However, the light may be selectively transmitted. As shown in FIG. 2, the two guide members 6 and 6 are formed, for example, in the shape of a round bar, and as shown in FIG.
They are arranged outside in the width direction with respect to the moving direction of the moving head 5 (hatched for convenience of illustration), and both ends thereof are fixed to the outer case 1 shown in FIG. 2 and are parallel to each other. It is extended in the direction of arrow A in the opened state. The connection position between the flexible connection member 7 and the moving head 5 is located inside the guide members 6 and 6 on both sides in the width direction. The guide members 6 and 6 movably support the support portions 5c and 5d formed on the side portions in the moving direction of the moving head 5 (the direction of the arrow A) as shown in FIG. There is. On the control board 3, the above-mentioned scanning motor is driven at a predetermined timing, each of the light emitting diodes of three colors of red, green and blue of the light source 9 is selectively turned on at a predetermined timing, and the liquid crystal shutter 11 is driven. A control circuit for selectively driving the plurality of elements is provided.

The flexible connecting member 7 is made of a resin material which can be easily deformed into a thin plate-like curved shape made of polyimide, for example, and a large number of wiring patterns made of a conductive material are formed on the surface thereof. There is. Then, it has a mounting end for electrically connecting to the moving head 5 at one end in the longitudinal direction and a mounting end for connecting to a control circuit on the control board 3 at the other end. As shown in FIG. 1, one end of the flexible connecting member 7 is attached to the recording medium side at the front side (right side in FIG. 1) in the reciprocating direction of the moving head 5 (right side in FIG. 1). By arranging the end and electrically connecting it to the connecting portion of the moving head 5, the flexible connecting member 7
The predetermined circuit pattern is connected to the liquid crystal shutter 11 and the light source 9. Then, the flexible connecting member 7 bypasses the side surface 5a of the moving head 5 on the mounting end side thereof, and is led out to the upper surface 5b side which is the surface of the moving head 5 opposite to the recording medium, and the leading end is led out. The mounting end of the section is electrically connected to the control circuit on the control board 3.

By doing so, the flexible connecting member 7 is positioned so that the curved free-deforming portion 7a allowing the reciprocating movement of the moving head 5 is located on the opposite side of the guide member 6 from the photosensitive film 8. Become. As shown in FIG. 3, the flexible connecting member 7 is pulled out from a side surface 5a which is a surface orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head 5 and arranged at a position corresponding to one guide member 6. . That is, the flexible connecting member 7 is drawn out from the side surface 5a which is a surface orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head 5 and bent to a position corresponding to one guide member 6 located on the right side in FIG. By forming such a deformed shape, the lower surface side 7b thereof contacts the guide member 6 as shown in FIG. The photosensitive film 8 is a photoconductor on which the light-irradiated portion is exposed to light to form a latent image thereon.
The moving head 5 described above functions as an optical recording head that irradiates the photosensitive film 8 as a photosensitive member with light to expose it to form an image. The upper case 15 closes the upper part of the outer case 1 having the moving head 5 housed therein.

The photo printer is connected to a device, such as a personal computer, which outputs information to be printed when the photo printer is used. Then, the switch is turned on to enable printing. Further, it is confirmed that the photosensitive film 8 exists in the paper storage cassette 4 shown in FIG. When a print command is issued in this state, the light source 9 emits light in response to the command, and the light is guided by the light guide plate 14 to become substantially straight parallel light and enters the liquid crystal shutter 11. Here, the liquid crystal shutter 11
Is a liquid crystal shutter drive signal output from a control circuit on the control board 3 in accordance with information output from a personal computer or the like, thereby selectively operating a large number of shutter elements arranged in a straight line to change the optical path of light. open. As a result, only the light transmitted through the liquid crystal shutter 11 enters the SELFOC lens 13.

Then, the light is focused on the photosensitive film 8 by the SELFOC lens 13 to form a latent image there. In this way, when the image of the first line and the first line is written, the control board 3
A signal for driving the moving head 5 is output from the above control circuit to the scanning motor for driving the moving head 5. Thereby,
When the scanning wire is rotated via the above-mentioned pulley, the moving head 5 moves to a position where writing of the next second row is possible, and writing of one line is similarly performed. As shown, the writing is repeated until the last line or the commanded line. Then, the photosensitive film 8 on which all the writing has been performed is discharged from the inside of the paper storage cassette 4 by a discharge roller (not shown), for example.

By the way, in the conventional scanning type head provided in the connecting device of the optical pickup, etc., the pressing piece for suppressing the bulging of the curved portion of the flexible connecting member toward the recording medium is provided. There was a case where the number of parts was increased by the amount of the pressing piece.
Further, when the flexible connecting member is long and the curved portion is large (large curvature), the curved portion may come into contact with the recording medium unless the device is enlarged accordingly. Therefore, it is difficult to downsize the entire device. However, in the photo printer according to this embodiment, the positional relationship between the guide members 6 and 6 and the flexible connecting member 7 is set so that the flexible connecting member 7 does not come into contact with the photosensitive film 8 as shown in FIG. Therefore, even if the thickness of the entire photo printer in the height direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1) is reduced, the flexible connection member 7 does not come into contact with the photosensitive film 8.

That is, the flexible connecting member 7 formed of a thin plate-like resin material that can be easily deformed into a curved shape is pulled out from the side surface 5a of the moving head 5 and is led out to the upper surface 5b side, so that the right side in FIG. Forming a free deformable portion 7a on the
The mounting end of the derived tip portion is electrically connected to the control circuit on the control board 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the flexible connection member 7 has one guide member 6 located on the right side in a portion drawn out from the side surface 5a which is a surface orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head 5.
By forming the deformed shape to a position corresponding to, the lower surface side 7b comes into contact with the guide member 6 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the free deformation portion 7a of the flexible connection member 7 is prevented from coming into contact with the photosensitive film 8 by the guide member 6, so that the flexible connection can be achieved even if the entire thickness of the photo printer in the height direction is reduced to reduce the size. The contact of the member 7 with the photosensitive film 8 can be prevented.

As described above, the scanning head 2 according to the present invention is
An example in which the photosensitive film 8 is applied to a photo printer which exposes a latent image on the photosensitive film 8 has been described. By discharging the film to the outside of the apparatus by a roller, a developed image can be formed on the film. Further, the scanning head 2 according to the present invention can be applied to a video printer as well as a photo printer. Alternatively, it can be applied to an optical disk device or the like in which the recording medium is an optical disk. Further, the scanning head 2 according to the present invention not only records information on the recording medium,
On the contrary, the invention can be similarly applied to an apparatus for reading information from a recording medium on which information has already been recorded, or an apparatus for both recording and reproducing the information.

[0018]

As described above, according to the scanning type head of the present invention, the flexible connecting member and the guide member for supporting the movable head so as to reciprocate are prevented from contacting the flexible connecting member and the recording medium. Therefore, the flexible connecting member can be prevented from coming into contact with the recording medium without increasing the number of parts or increasing the size of the entire apparatus. Therefore, the scanning head can be downsized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram showing a photo printer as an example of a printer equipped with a scanning head according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the external appearance of the photo printer with the upper lid removed.

FIG. 3 is a plan view for explaining that the flexible connecting member provided in the scanning head of FIG. 1 has a deformed shape bent to a position corresponding to one guide member.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram similar to FIG. 1, showing a state in which the moving head of the scanning head has moved to the last row.

[Explanation of symbols]

2: Scanning head 3: Control board 4: Paper storage cassette 5: Moving head 5a: side surface (orthogonal surface) 5b: upper surface 6: Guide member 7: Flexible connection member 7a: Freely deformable portion 8: Photosensitive film (recording medium)

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A moving head, a guide member that supports the moving head so as to be capable of reciprocating, and a flexible connecting member that connects the moving head to a control circuit, and the moving head is recorded along the guide member. In a scanning head that moves on a medium to record information on the recording medium or at least one of reading the information recorded on the recording medium, preventing contact between the flexible connection member and the recording medium The scanning type head characterized in that the flexible connection member and the guide member are arranged in such a positional relationship. 2. The guide member has at least a part of the flexible connection member between the recording medium and the flexible connection member when viewed from a vertical direction which is a direction perpendicular to a recording surface of the recording medium. The scanning head according to claim 1, wherein the scanning type head is arranged so as to overlap at least a part of the member to prevent contact between the flexible connecting member and the recording medium. 3. The flexible connecting member according to claim 1, wherein a free deforming portion that allows reciprocal movement of the moving head is located on the side opposite to the recording medium with respect to the guide member. Scanning head. 4. The flexible connecting member has a mounting end on the recording medium side of the moving head, and
The scanning according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the side surface of the moving head on the side of the mounting end is bypassed and is guided to a surface of the moving head opposite to the recording medium. Mold head. 5. The guide member supports a side portion with respect to the moving direction of the moving head, and the flexible connecting member is pulled out from a surface orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head to guide the guide member. The scanning head according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the scanning head is disposed at a position corresponding to. 6. The flexible connecting member is pulled out from a plane orthogonal to the moving direction of the moving head,
The scanning head according to claim 5, wherein the scanning head is in contact with the guide member by being deformed to a position corresponding to the guide member. 7. The flexible connecting member has one end connected to a forward direction front side in the reciprocating movement direction of the moving head,
7. The other end passes through the upper surface side of the moving head opposite to the recording medium and is folded back to the rear side of the moving head to be connected to the control circuit. The scanning head according to the item. 8. The recording medium is a photoconductor, and the moving head is an optical recording head that illuminates the photoconductor to expose the photoconductor to form an image. The scanning head according to any one of 1 to 7. 9. The scanning head according to claim 8, wherein the moving head has a light source and an optical shutter that controls the amount of light transmitted from the light source. 10. The guide member is disposed outside a light irradiating portion of the optical shutter in a width direction with respect to a moving direction of the moving head, and a connection position between the flexible connecting member and the moving head is the above. 10. The scanning head according to claim 9, wherein the scanning head is inside the guide member in the width direction.