JP2006060510A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming device capable of accurately scanning only a region corresponding to the size of an original manuscript with simple operation even when the original manuscript with a nonstandard size is read. <P>SOLUTION: It is premised that the image forming device detects a width in the main scanning direction of the original manuscript laid on an original manuscript platen by an image pickup element for reading an image. Here, a specific member is movable in the sub-scanning direction of the original manuscript. An operating means instructs a stop position of the specific member. A control means defines the stop position of the specific member as the sub-scanning termination of the original manuscript. It is preferable to adopt a light emitting means to the image pickup element as the specific member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile.

  There is a case where it is desired to read a document of an irregular size by an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile. For example, when it is desired to make a copy in a state where a book composed of pages of the standard size A4 is opened, the size of the two spread pages may not be the standard size A3 but an irregular size.

  Hereinafter, a conventional technique for reading an irregular-size document will be described.

  First, FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an image forming apparatus (copier) disclosed in Patent Document 1. The copying machine includes an automatic document feeder 1 at the top of the copying machine main body and an image reading unit 2, an image forming unit 3, a paper feeding unit 5, and a transfer material storage unit 7 in the copying machine main body.

  The automatic document feeder 1 is a device that feeds documents one by one, conveys them to an image reading position, and discharges the document after image reading to a predetermined location.

  The image reading unit 2 is means for reading image information of the document D placed on the platen glass 27 on the document table. That is, when the movable exposure lamp 231 irradiates the document D, the first mirror unit including the first mirror 232, the second mirror unit including the mirrors 241 and 242, and the imaging lens 25 form a line shape. The image information of the document D is imaged on the image sensor 26 (hereinafter referred to as “CCD”).

  The image information of the document D is subjected to image processing, converted into a signal as image data, and temporarily stored in a memory. When the image forming unit 3 starts operating, image data is called from the memory and input to the image writing unit 33.

  Next, when a laser beam is irradiated from a laser emitter (not shown), an electrostatic latent image of an original image is formed on the photosensitive layer on the photosensitive drum 31 to which a potential is previously applied by the charger 32. The electrostatic latent image is reversely developed by the developing unit 34 to be a toner image, and in parallel therewith, any of the manual paper feeding unit 19 or each of the paper feeding units 51A, 51B, 51C having a paper feeding cassette is operated. Thus, the transfer material is carried out by the conveying rollers 55 and 56 and the timing roller 39. The transfer material carried out in this manner is superimposed on the photosensitive drum 31 in synchronization with the toner image on the photosensitive drum 31, and is fed in accordance with the linear velocity.

  The toner image on the photosensitive drum 31 is transferred onto the transfer material surface by the transfer device 35 to which a voltage of opposite polarity is applied. The transfer material onto which the toner image has been transferred is neutralized by the static eliminator 36, separated from the photosensitive drum 31, conveyed to the fixing device 38 via the conveyance belt 61, and the toner is welded by pressure heating of the heat roller pair 62. After that, it is discharged to the tray 64. On the other hand, after the residual potential is removed from the photosensitive drum 31 from which the transfer material has been separated, the residual toner is removed and cleaned by the cleaning device 37, and the process proceeds to the next image forming process.

  Here, FIG. 6A is a diagram showing a state where an irregular-size document D is placed on the platen glass 27. The length of the original D in the sub-scanning direction is detected by the detection sensors T1, T2, and T3, and the width in the main scanning direction is detected by the line-shaped CCD 26.

  That is, the detection sensors T 1, T 2, T 3 are optical sensors composed of a light emitting element and a light receiving element provided below the platen glass 27. With the platen opened, the edge (sub scanning end) of the document D placed on the platen glass 27 is detected.

  The exposure lamp 231 functions as a light emitting means for the CCD 26 and is in a standby state at a position where M = about 30 mm from the reference position O with the original and enters the original placement side. The numerical value of M = about 30 mm is set in consideration of the time required for the CCD 26 to determine the original placement state and the original size while the exposure lamp 231 returns from the standby state position M to the original application reference position O. It is a thing.

  That is, when the platen cover built in the automatic document feeder 1 is opened and the opening / closing detection sensor (not shown) detects from the closed state to the open state, the document size detection mode is entered, and the exposure lamp 231 is in the standby state. A check is made to see if it is in state position M. Then, at the moment when the user places the document D at the reference position O with the document on the platen glass 27 and closes the platen cover, the opening / closing detection sensor detects the opening to the closing. In this way, when the detection from open to closed is made, the exposure lamp 231 is turned on and moves from the standby state position M to the original application reference position O which is the image reading start position.

  While the exposure lamp 231 is moving, the CCD 26 detects the width of the document D in the main scanning direction, and the detection sensors T1, T2, and T3 detect the length of the document D in the sub-scanning direction. The document size detected in this way is input to a CPU (not shown) as control means.

As described above, according to the image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, even when an irregular-size document is read, the size can be automatically detected. In addition, since the system using the CCD is adopted for the main scanning direction width of the document, the width itself (a continuous size, not an intermittent size) can be detected.
JP 2003-8824 A

  However, according to the image forming apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, when it is detected that the document has an irregular size, as described in paragraph 0065 of the document, “reading area” is described. All of them are scanned, and the size of the transfer material is selected according to the corresponding area ”.

  That is, taking FIG. 6B as an example, the sensors T1 to T3 for detecting the length of the original D in the sub-scanning direction are T1 on and T2 and T3 off. The entire area surrounded by L is scanned, but the area surrounded by the thick line L includes even an area that does not need to be scanned. In this way, scanning to an area that does not need to be scanned originally causes unnecessary printing.

  In order to solve the above problem, there has been proposed a method in which the user measures the document size with a ruler, for example, and inputs the value from an operation means such as a touch panel. However, such a method is complicated, and an accurate document size is often not input.

  The present invention has been proposed on the basis of the above-described conventional circumstances, and even when reading an irregular-size document, only an area corresponding to the document size is accurately scanned with a simple operation. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of performing the above.

  The present invention employs the following means in order to achieve the above object.

  That is, the present invention is premised on an image forming apparatus that detects a main scanning direction width of a document placed on a document table by an image reading image sensor.

  Here, the specific member is movable in the sub-scanning direction of the original. The operation means indicates the stop position of the specific member. The control means sets the stop position of the specific member as the sub-scanning end of the document. In this way, even when an irregular-size document is read, only the area corresponding to the document size can be scanned accurately with a simple operation.

  In addition, it is preferable to employ | adopt the light emission means to the said image pick-up element as said specific member.

  Further, in an image forming apparatus that detects the main scanning direction width of a document placed on a document table with an image reading image sensor, the same effects as described above can be obtained even when the following units are included. it can.

  That is, as the light emitting means, a light emitting means for the image sensor that can move in the sub-scanning direction of the original is employed. The stopper limits the movement range of the light emitting means. The operating means indicates the stop position of the stopper. Even with such a configuration, it is possible to accurately scan only the area corresponding to the document size with a simple operation, as described above.

  According to the present invention, even when an irregular-size document is read, only an area corresponding to the document size can be scanned accurately with a simple operation.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the copying machine to which the present invention is applied includes an automatic document feeder 1 at the top of the copying machine main body, and an image reading unit 2, an image forming unit 3, and a paper feeding unit 5 in the copying machine main body. And a transfer material storage section 7. Among the configurations of these units, the description of the same points as those of the conventional copying machine will be omitted, and only different points will be described below.

  First, in order to read an irregular-size document, the platen cover built in the automatic document feeder 1 is opened, and the document size detection mode is designated from the operation means such as the touch panel P (FIG. 3, step S1). .

  Thereby, as shown in FIG. 4, a screen for moving the exposure lamp 231 is displayed on the touch panel P (FIG. 3, step S2). B2 is a button for moving the exposure lamp 231 in the left direction, and B3 is a button for moving the exposure lamp 231 in the right direction. B1 is a button for moving the exposure lamp 231 in the left direction at high speed, and B4 is a button for moving the exposure lamp 231 in the right direction at high speed.

  When the platen cover is opened, the exposure lamp 231 is in the standby state position as shown in FIG. Therefore, in this case, the button B3 or B4 displayed on the touch panel P is touched to move the exposure lamp 231 in the right direction, and when the edge of the document D is reached as shown in FIG. Touch.

  When the determination button B5 is touched, the position information of the exposure lamp 231 (that is, the length of the original D in the sub-scanning direction) is stored in the memory (step S3 in FIG. 3). While the exposure lamp 231 is moving, the width of the original D in the main scanning direction is detected by the CCD 26 and the detection result is stored in the memory as in the conventional case.

  As a result, the CPU as the control means reads out the document size information from the memory and starts control for scanning the area corresponding to the document size (FIG. 3, step S4). In this case, it goes without saying that the stop position of the exposure lamp 231 is the sub-scanning end of the document D.

  As described above, according to the present invention, even when an irregular-size document is read, only an area corresponding to the document size can be scanned accurately with a simple operation.

  That is, since the scanning range can be set visually, it is easy to use, and it is not necessary to provide the sensors T1, T2, and T3 for detecting the length of the document in the sub-scanning direction as in the conventional case. Furthermore, since it is no longer necessary to scan an area that does not need to be scanned, there is no problem of unnecessary printing.

  Although not particularly mentioned in the above description, the image data of the document D may be trimmed or automatically scaled as necessary. Since techniques for trimming or automatically scaling image data are well known, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  Further, the exposure lamp 231 may be turned on while the exposure lamp 231 is moved to the edge of the document D. In this way, even when the document D is placed on the platen glass 27, the moving state of the exposure lamp 231 can be easily known.

  Further, although the width of the document D is detected by the CCD 26 here, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, as described above, after the length of the document D is detected based on the position information of the exposure lamp 231, if the document D is placed on the platen glass 27 so that the vertical and horizontal directions are switched, the width of the document D is also set to the exposure lamp 231. It can be detected by the position information.

  In addition, although the exposure lamp 231 is moved here, the member to be moved is not limited to this. For example, even if a stopper for restricting the movement of the exposure lamp 231 is moved, the same effect as described above can be obtained.

  That is, when the platen cover is opened, as shown in FIG. 2A, the exposure lamp 231 and its stopper S are in the standby state position. The standby state position of the stopper S is not particularly limited.

  Accordingly, in this case, the button B3 or B4 displayed on the touch panel P is touched to move the stopper S to the right, and when the edge of the document D is reached as shown in FIG. touch.

  If the position of the stopper S is determined in this way, the movement range of the exposure lamp 231 can be limited, and the same effect as described above can be obtained. In addition, in this case, since it is not necessary to store the position when the stopper S is stopped in the memory, there is also an advantage that the configuration becomes easy.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, even when an irregular-size document is read, only an area corresponding to the document size can be accurately scanned by a simple operation. It can be applied to a facsimile.

The figure which shows the state in which the document was placed on the platen glass The figure which shows the state in which the document was placed on the platen glass 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the image forming apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The figure which shows the display state of the touch panel Configuration diagram of image forming apparatus A diagram for explaining a conventional problem

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic document feeder 2 Image reading part 3 Image forming part 5 Paper feed part 7 Transfer material storage part 27 Platen glass 231 Exposure lamp (light emission means)
26 CCD (imaging device)
D Document P Touch panel (operating means)
S stopper

Claims (3)

In an image forming apparatus for detecting a main scanning direction width of a document placed on a document table by an image reading image sensor,
A specific member movable in the sub-scanning direction of the document;
Operating means for instructing the stop position of the specific member;
Control means for setting the stop position of the specific member to the sub-scanning end of the document;
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the specific member is a light emitting unit for the imaging element. In an image forming apparatus for detecting a main scanning direction width of a document placed on a document table by an image reading image sensor,
A light emitting means for the image sensor that is movable in the sub-scanning direction of the original;
A stopper for limiting the movement range of the light emitting means;
Operating means for instructing the stop position of the stopper;
An image forming apparatus comprising:

Images