JP2003158606A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reader that the operator can easily set/extract a sheet original at a low cost without the need for increasing the installed area of the entire reader while hardly causing jamming even in the case of a hard sheet original. SOLUTION: This image reader is provided with: a flat bed scanner section having a read unit movably placed; and a sheet original feeder, selects a sheet read position to be nearly in the middle of a movable range of the read unit and places a sheet original placing tray and a sheet original discharge tray symmetrically with each other with respect to the sheet read position.

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 capable of reading a document placed on a platen glass and conveying and reading a sheet-like document, such as a copying machine or a facsimile. The present invention relates to an image reading device used for a multifunction peripheral, a scanner, or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image reading apparatus used for a multifunction machine such as a copying machine or a facsimile machine or a scanner, an original placed on a platen glass is read and
An image reading apparatus capable of conveying and reading a sheet-like document is, for example, an image reading apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 09-086720, in which the sheet reading position when reading the sheet-like document is the original. It is provided near the edge of the base glass. Then, the sheet-like document is read through a sheet passing path that makes a U-turn near the sheet reading position. That is, the sheet reading position is provided at the end of the apparatus main body, and the sheet original placement tray for loading sheet-like originals and the sheet original output tray for loading discharged sheet-like originals are provided in the main body of the apparatus. By arranging the trays in a two-tiered manner on the upper part of the device, each tray is prevented from protruding from the device body, and the installation area of the entire device is minimized.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned conventional example has the following drawbacks.

The mechanism for forming the U-turn path becomes complicated and the cost increases.

The friction load due to the waist of the original in the U-turn path increases, and the required torque of the drive motor increases, resulting in an increase in cost.

[0006] A strong original cannot be conveyed and jamming is likely to occur.

When the sheet original discharging tray is arranged below the sheet original placing tray, it becomes difficult to take out the discharged sheet-like original, and the sheet original discharging tray is placed above the sheet original placing tray. When it is arranged in the above, it becomes difficult to set a sheet-shaped document.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a method of stopping the U-turn path for returning the discharged original to the paper feeding side so that the discharged original is in the direction opposite to the paper feeding side can be considered. However, in that case, there is a drawback that the sheet original discharge tray largely protrudes from the apparatus main body and the installation area becomes extremely large.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is not to increase the installation area of the entire apparatus, but also to reduce the cost and to form a strong sheet. The purpose of the present invention is to prevent jamming of originals and to easily set and take out sheet-shaped originals.

[0010]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, a platen glass and a document placed on the platen glass are moved under the platen glass while the platen glass is moved. A reading unit for reading through the sheet, a sheet document placing tray capable of stacking a plurality of sheet-like documents, and a plurality of sheet-like documents stacked on the sheet document placing tray A sheet separating section that separates the sheet-like originals, a sheet conveying section that conveys the sheet-shaped document separated by the sheet separating section to a sheet reading position where the reading unit performs reading, and a sheet-like sheet that has passed through the sheet reading position In the image reading device having a sheet discharging section for discharging the original document and a sheet original discharging tray for stacking the sheet-shaped original discharged by the sheet discharging section, the sheet reading position is The reading unit is arranged substantially in the center of the movable range, and the sheet document placing tray and the sheet document discharging tray are arranged symmetrically with respect to the sheet reading position. .

Further, it is preferable that the sheet document placing tray and the sheet document discharging tray are respectively arranged at an angle of about 30 degrees with respect to the document table glass.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Next, an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

An image reading apparatus according to this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment has a flatbed scanner 1 as reading means.
And a sheet original feeding device 2 which is provided above the flatbed scanner 1 and conveys a sheet-like original.

The flatbed scanner 1 has a platen glass 11 whose upper surface is transparent. Further, a reading unit 12 is provided inside the flatbed scanner 1, and the reading unit 12 has a structure capable of moving below the document table glass 11. Therefore, normally, when reading a document, the document is placed on the platen glass 11 such that the reading surface is on the platen glass 11 side, and the reading unit 12 moves under the platen glass 11 while moving. , Read the information on the document.

When placing a document on the platen glass 11,
When the sheet document feeder 2 is opened upward with respect to the flatbed scanner 1, the document table glass 11 appears, so the sheet document feeder 2 is opened and a document is placed on the document table glass 11. At this time, the document is abutted against the position a, and the document reading unit 12 moves from position a to position b.
Reading is performed while moving to the position, position c.

The reading unit 12, as shown in FIG.
Light source 121, lens array 122, photoelectric conversion element 123
The light source 121 illuminates a document placed on the document table glass 11, an image of the document is formed on the photoelectric conversion element 123 by the lens array 122, and the information of the document is electrically converted by the photoelectric conversion element 123. It is designed to be converted into a signal.

Further, at this time, the reading unit 12 is movable from the position a to the position c, and therefore, the document having the maximum length from the position a to the position c can be read.

Next, the sheet document feeder 2 will be described. In FIG. 1, the sheet document feeding device 2 is provided on the flat bed scanner 1 and includes a sheet document placing tray 21, a sheet separating section 22 including a friction piece 221 and a separating roller 222, a conveying roller 231 and a conveying roller 232. The sheet transport unit 23, the sheet discharge unit 25 including the sheet discharge rollers 251, and the sheet discharge rollers 252, the sheet document discharge tray 26, and the transparent film 24 illustrated in FIG.

When reading a sheet-like original, the original is set on the sheet original tray 21. Then, the document is detected by a sheet sensor (not shown), and the reading unit 1 normally located at the home position near the position a.
2 moves to position b when reading a sheet-shaped document. The reading position when the reading unit 12 stops at the position b is the sheet reading position R in FIG.

Next, when a plurality of originals are set, only one is conveyed to the sheet conveying section 23 by the separating section 22 (the upper original is blocked by the friction piece 221 and is separated by the separating roller 222 first). Only the bottom one is transported). Further, the original is placed at the sheet original reading position R (FIG. 2) by the sheet conveying unit 23, and at the sheet original reading position R, line by line while being conveyed by the sheet conveying unit 23, by the reading unit 12 stopped at the position b. The reading is done.

At this time, the sheet original reading position R is provided with a transparent film 24 for guiding the conveyed original to the sheet discharge section 25, and the original information is transparent in addition to the original table glass 11. It is read through the film 24. Therefore, the transparent film 24 has a high light transmittance, and the deviation of the focal length does not become large.
A thin one having a thickness of about 0.1 mm or less is used.

The original that has passed the sheet original reading position R is
The sheet is guided to the sheet discharge unit 25, and further discharged and aligned by the sheet discharge unit 25 on the sheet original discharge tray 26.

As can be seen from FIG. 1, the sheet document reading position R or b is provided at approximately the center between the positions a and c where the reading unit 12 is movable, that is, at the approximately center of the flatbed scanner 1. Has been. With respect to the sheet document reading position R, the sheet document placing tray 21 is located on the right side in the drawing, and the sheet document discharging tray 2 is provided.
6 is arranged on the left side of the drawing. For this reason, both the sheet original placing tray 21 and the sheet original discharging tray 26 are small in protrusion amount from the flat bed scanner 1, and the installation area is not increased. Furthermore, since the sheet passing path from the sheet document placing tray 21 to the sheet document discharging tray 26 can be configured without a large curvature in the middle of reading a sheet-like document, the structure is simpler than the conventional example. Therefore, the cost can be reduced. In addition, since the frictional load due to the waist of the original can be reduced compared to the conventional example, it is possible to use a low-cost, low-torque motor, and it is also possible to pass an original with a high rigidity. It is possible to reduce the risk of jamming at. Further, since the sheet document placing tray 21 and the sheet document discharging tray 26 do not vertically overlap with each other and the upper portions thereof are open, it is possible to set the sheet-shaped document and take out the discharged document. It can be done easily.

In this embodiment, the size of the flatbed scanner 1 in the longitudinal direction is 440 mm, which is a standard size for reading an A4 size document. Even when the lengths of the document discharge trays 26 are sufficiently long to hold A4 size sheet-shaped documents, the distance that the sheet document placing tray 21 pops out of the flatbed scanner 1 is about 30. The distance by which the sheet document discharge tray 26 projects from the flatbed scanner 1 is about 20 mm, which is extremely small. Therefore, if the protrusion of each tray is folded or slid so that the entire length is shortened, it is possible to prevent each tray from normally protruding from the flatbed scanner 1.

Further, the sheet original placing tray 21 and the sheet original discharging tray 26 are respectively formed at an angle of about 30 degrees with respect to the original table glass 11, so that the sheet original placing tray 21 has a sheet shape. Is a good balance between the paper feeding performance and the separating performance of the original, and the sheet original discharge tray 26 is also an angle at which the sheet originals can be stacked without being disturbed. The placing tray 21 and the sheet original discharge tray 26 have a clean symmetrical shape with respect to the sheet original reading position R arranged substantially in the center of the flatbed scanner 1. Therefore, even when the flatbed scanner 1 and the sheet document feeding device 2 are combined and the entire device is viewed, a symmetric and beautiful design can be achieved.

Needless to say, even if the image reading apparatus of the present invention is combined with a printer or the like, and is combined with a copying machine, a facsimile, or a multifunctional multifunction peripheral, the same effect can be obtained.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The original platen glass and the original placed on the original platen glass are
A reading unit for reading through the document table glass while moving under the document table glass, a sheet document placing tray capable of stacking a plurality of sheet-like documents, and the sheet document document A sheet separating unit that separates a plurality of sheet-shaped documents stacked on a loading tray one by one, and a sheet reading position at which the sheet-shaped documents separated by the sheet separating unit are read by the reading unit. A sheet conveying unit that conveys the sheet-shaped document that has passed through the sheet reading position, a sheet discharge unit that discharges the sheet-shaped document that has passed the sheet reading position, and a sheet document discharge that stacks the sheet-shaped document discharged by the sheet discharge unit In an image reading apparatus having a tray, the sheet reading position is arranged substantially in the center of the movable range of the reading unit, and the sheet original placing tray and the sheet original discharging sheet are provided. By arranging the ray and the sheet symmetrically with respect to the sheet reading position, it is not necessary to increase the installation area of the entire apparatus, and at a low cost, it is difficult to cause a jam even with a strong sheet-like document, It is possible to easily set and take out a sheet-shaped document.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an image reading apparatus including a sheet document feeding apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of the cross-sectional view of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 flatbed scanner 2-sheet document feeder 21-sheet document tray 22 Sheet separation unit 23 sheet conveying section 24 Transparent film 25-sheet output section 26-sheet document output tray

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Takano             Kyano, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Within the corporation (72) Inventor Nakano Nakano             Kyano, 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Within the corporation F-term (reference) 2H076 BA20 BA35 BA36 BA45 BA95                 3F054 AA02 AC02 AC03 BA04 BC14                       DA12                 3F343 FA03 FB03 FC30 GA02 GB01                       GC01 GD01 HD20 KB02 KB03                       KB08 KB15 KB17                 5C062 AA02 AA05 AB17 AB30 AB35                       AD06 BA01                 5C072 AA01 NA01

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document table glass, a reading unit for reading a document placed on the document table glass through the document table glass while moving under the document table glass, and a sheet. Sheet original placing tray capable of stacking a plurality of sheet-like originals, a sheet separating section for separating the plurality of sheet originals stacked on the sheet original placing tray one by one, and the sheet separating tray A sheet conveying unit that conveys a sheet-shaped document separated by a sheet reading unit to a sheet reading position where the reading unit performs reading; and a sheet discharging unit that discharges the sheet-shaped document that has passed the sheet reading position. ,
In an image reading apparatus having a sheet original discharge tray for stacking sheet-like originals discharged by the sheet discharge section, the sheet reading position is arranged substantially in the center of the movable range of the reading unit. In addition, the sheet document placing tray and the sheet document discharging tray are arranged symmetrically with respect to the sheet reading position. 2. The sheet original placing tray and the sheet original discharging tray are arranged at an angle of approximately 30 degrees with respect to the original table glass, respectively. Image reading device.