JP2006258910A - Original position confirming device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an original position confirming device enabling a user to position an original while directly looking the surface of the original which is still placed on an original placing glass base not by looking the original through from above. <P>SOLUTION: When a touch operation type display panel 12 is opened to a front side by an operator 57, an original surface confirming window 55 is exposed, and also an illumination device (not shown in Figure) arranged in the housing of a scanner part 6 is turned on. The operator 57 moves a seeing position up and down and right and left so as to confirm the position of the surface of the original extending over the entire surface of the original placing glass base 51 through a reflection mirror 54, and easily adjusts the read position of the original while confirming the name of paper size written in a mirror character together with divisions for original size at an original size display position 56 on a frame surface back side on the inner surface side of the housing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention reads the position of a document surface by irradiating light from an illuminating device disposed below a document whose document surface is placed downward on a document placement glass stand of an image forming apparatus having a copying function. The present invention relates to a document position confirmation device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus having a copying function such as a copying machine, a sheet-like document to be copied or a document placing glass placed on a document placing glass table with a document surface facing downward and pressed by a holding lid. A booklet-like copy document with the desired page spread face down on the table is scanned by the original reading device by irradiating light from the illumination device arranged below, A scanned image of the copy surface is printed by the image forming apparatus.

  Alternatively, a sheet-like copy manuscript that is automatically fed onto the document placing glass table by the automatic feeding device and placed on the document placing glass table with the document surface facing downward is arranged below in the same manner as described above. The original image is scanned by irradiating light from the illumination device, and a scanned image is printed.

  By the way, in general, the maximum size of a document that can be copied by a copying machine is the size of an A3 size sheet. In this case, the size of the above-described document placing glass table also corresponds to the size of an A3 size sheet. Yes.

  Accordingly, there is no problem as long as the size of the surface to be copied and the surface of the original (hereinafter collectively referred to as the original surface) is within the size of the above-mentioned original placing glass table, but for example, the size is 1 m square. For example, when a part of the design drawing is copied, the part to be copied must be placed on the surface of a document placing glass table of A3 size.

  However, it is necessary to place the document surface face down on the document placement glass stand, that is, the document surface cannot be seen by a person who performs a copying operation. Therefore, it cannot be confirmed whether or not the desired copy portion is correctly facing the surface of the document placing glass table.

  Even if you make a copy of a part that appears to be the desired copy on the surface of the glass platen while making various efforts, the copy will generally be misaligned and you will need to start over. It was difficult to position the original.

As a method for solving such a problem, conventionally, a desired original surface is placed on the original by irradiating light from the inside of the reading device through the original placement glass stand and observing the original from above through the illumination. A method for correctly facing the surface of the table is proposed. (For example, see Patent Documents 1, 2, and 3.)
JP-A-10-126580 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-278574 JP 09-288318 A

  However, any of the methods in the above-mentioned patent documents is a method of illuminating the original surface from below and positioning the original by seeing through the original from above, so that a: an original that cannot be seen through cannot be positioned, b: The problem is that the images on both sides are overlapped and positioning is difficult, c: the booklet-like document cannot be seen through, and d: the trouble of turning on and off the light source that illuminates from below is troublesome. Remained.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a document position confirmation device that can position a document while directly looking at the document surface as it is placed on the document placement glass stand, instead of seeing the document through the top from the above. is there.

The configuration of the document position confirmation apparatus according to the present invention will be described below.
The document position confirmation device according to the present invention irradiates light from an illumination device disposed below a document whose document surface is placed downward on a document placement glass stand of an image forming apparatus having a copying function. A document position confirmation device for reading a document surface, comprising: a reflecting mirror that reflects reflected light from the document surface toward the outside of the device; and a document surface confirmation window for confirming reflected light from the reflecting mirror. .

The document surface check window is configured to be formed at a position facing the back surface of an operation panel unit that is rotatably provided in the image forming apparatus, for example.
In addition, the illumination device is automatically turned on in conjunction with the rotation of the operation panel unit rotated to expose the document surface confirmation window to the outside, and shields the document surface confirmation window from the outside. It is configured to automatically turn off in conjunction with the rotation of the operation panel section rotated as much as possible.

  In this document position confirmation device, the document surface confirmation window may be configured to include a concave lens on the back surface, and the reflecting mirror may be configured to include a convex lens on the reflection surface.

  According to the present invention, since the document surface placed on the document placement glass table can be positioned while directly looking through the document surface confirmation window by the reflecting mirror, even a document that cannot be seen through, a document printed on both sides, or a booklet document can be obtained. It can be positioned easily and is convenient.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of a multifunctional image forming apparatus (hereinafter referred to as an MFP apparatus for short) provided with a document position confirmation apparatus according to the first embodiment. An MFP apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 is a composite MFP apparatus having an electrophotographic secondary transfer tandem color image forming apparatus as a main part.

  As shown in the figure, the MFP apparatus 1 includes a scanner unit 6 including a document supply tray 2, a document pressing opening / closing lid 3, and a scanner body unit 5 having a general operation unit 4 on the outer surface.

  An image forming main body 8 having a discharge tray 7 formed at the uppermost portion is disposed below the scanner portion 6, and a two-stage sheet feeding portion 9 is disposed at the lowermost portion. The general operation unit 4 includes a large number of operation keys 11 and a touch operation type display panel 12 as an operation panel unit.

  FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal configuration of the MFP apparatus 1. As shown in the figure, the image forming main body 8 of the MFP apparatus 1 is an electrophotographic secondary transfer tandem type color image forming apparatus, which includes four image forming sections 13, an intermediate transfer belt unit 14, and the above-described one. The sheet feeding unit 9 and the duplex printing transport unit 15 are configured.

The four image forming units 13 have a configuration in which five image forming units 16 (16M, 16C, 16Y, and 16K) are arranged in a multistage manner from right to left in FIG.
The three image forming units 16M, 16C, and 16Y on the upstream side (right side in the figure) of the four image forming units 16 are magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (subtractive three primary colors), respectively. A monocolor image is formed with the color toner of Y).

The image forming unit 16K forms a monochrome image using black (K) toner that is mainly used for characters and dark portions of images.
Each of the image forming units 16 has the same configuration except for the color of the toner stored in the toner container. Accordingly, the configuration of the black (K) image forming unit 16K will be described below as an example.

  The image forming unit 16 includes a photosensitive drum 17 at the bottom. The peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 17 is made of, for example, an organic photoconductive material. A cleaner 18, a charger 19, an optical writing head 21, and a developing roller 23 of a developing device 22 are arranged around the periphery of the photosensitive drum 17.

  The developing unit 22 applies magenta (M), cyan (C), yellow (Y), or black (K) toner to the upper toner container as indicated by M, C, Y, and K in FIG. The intermediate portion is provided with a toner replenishing mechanism at the lower portion, the lower portion is provided with the above-described developing roller 23 at the side opening, the toner stirring member, the toner supply roller for supplying toner to the developing roller 23, and the development A doctor blade or the like for regulating the toner layer on the roller 23 to a constant layer thickness is provided.

  The intermediate transfer belt unit 14 includes a transfer belt 24 that extends in a substantially loop shape from substantially the left and right sides of the drawing at the center of the main body, and the transfer belt 24 that is stretched over the transfer belt 24. A driving roller 25 and a driven roller 26 that circulate in the counterclockwise direction in the figure are provided.

  The transfer belt 24 transfers the toner image directly to the belt surface (primary transfer) and conveys the toner image to the transfer position to the paper for further transfer (secondary transfer). The whole is called an intermediate transfer belt unit.

  The intermediate transfer belt unit 14 includes a belt position control mechanism 27 in the loop of the flat loop-shaped transfer belt 24. The belt position control mechanism 27 includes a primary transfer roller 28 made of a conductive foam sponge that presses against the lower peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 17 via the transfer belt 24.

  The belt position control mechanism 27 includes three primary transfer rollers 28 corresponding to the three image forming units 16M, 16C, and 16Y of magenta (M), cyan (C), and yellow (Y). The primary transfer roller 28 corresponding to the black (K) image forming unit 16K is rotationally moved at a rotational movement period different from the period of the three primary transfer rollers 28.

  As a result, the transfer belt 24 is separated from the photosensitive drum 17, and the full color mode (all three primary transfer rollers 28 are in contact with the transfer belt 24) and the monochrome mode (primary transfer rollers 28 corresponding to the image forming unit 16K). Only the contact with the transfer belt 24) and all non-transfer mode (all four primary transfer rollers 28 are separated from the transfer belt 24).

  In the intermediate transfer belt unit 14, a belt cleaner unit 29 is disposed further upstream of the uppermost image forming unit 16 </ b> M in the belt moving direction on the upper surface, and is flat so as to be almost along the entire lower surface. A thin waste toner collecting container 30 is detachably disposed.

  The paper feed unit 9 includes two paper feed cassettes 31 arranged in two upper and lower stages. In the vicinity of the paper feed opening (right side in the drawing) of the two paper feed cassettes 31, respectively, a paper take-out roller 32, A feeding roller 33, a separating roller 34, and a standby conveyance roller pair 35 are disposed.

  In the paper conveyance direction (vertical direction in the figure) of the standby conveyance roller pair 35, a secondary transfer roller 36 that is in pressure contact with the driven roller 26 via the transfer belt 24 is disposed, and a secondary transfer portion to the paper is arranged. Forming.

  A belt-type heat fixing device 37 is disposed downstream (upward in the drawing) of the secondary transfer portion, and the sheet after fixing is fixed to the belt-type heat fixing device 37 further downstream of the belt-type heat fixing device 37. And a pair of discharge rollers 41 for discharging the discharged sheet to a discharge tray 7 formed on the upper surface of the apparatus.

  The duplex printing conveyance unit 15 includes a start return path 42a branched from the intermediate conveyance path between the carry-out roller pair 38 and the paper discharge roller pair 41 in the right lateral direction in the figure, and then an intermediate return path 42b bent downward. A terminal return path 42c that bends in the left lateral direction opposite to the above and eventually reverses the return sheet, and three return roller pairs 43a, 43b, and 43c arranged in the middle of these return paths are provided. . At the outlet of the end return path 42c, a pair of carry-in rollers 44 is disposed inside the main body.

  Incidentally, in this example, the belt cleaner unit 29 disposed on the upper surface portion of the intermediate transfer belt unit 14 includes a lower cleaning roller 45, an upper intake roller 46, and a conveying screw 47 disposed in two stages. The lower cleaning roller 45 abuts against the upper surface of the transfer belt 24 to scrape and remove the waste toner, and the take-in roller 46 takes over the waste toner removed by the cleaning roller 45 and accumulates it in the belt cleaner unit 29, thereby conveying the screw 47. The accumulated waste toner is conveyed to the upper part of the dropping cylinder 48 and is sent to the waste toner collecting container 30 through the dropping cylinder 48.

  In order to bring the cleaning roller 45 into pressure contact with the transfer belt 24 with an appropriate pressure, a pressure roller 49 is provided on the intermediate transfer belt unit 14 side to press the transfer belt 24 toward the cleaning roller 45 from below. ing.

  The collection of such waste toner is not limited to using the cleaning roller 45 as in this example, and for example, a cleaning brush, a cleaning blade, or the like is also used. In particular, when using a cleaning blade, the friction resistance between the cleaning blade and the transfer belt can be kept constant in response to changes in the temperature and humidity environment to maintain a good cleaning action at all times. Necessary.

  FIG. 3A schematically shows a state in which the document holding open / close lid 3 is opened by rotating 90 ° and the document placing glass table is exposed in the document position confirmation device of the image forming apparatus having the above-described configuration. FIG. 2B is a front view thereof, and FIG. 2C is a side view thereof.

  3 (a), 3 (b), and 3 (c) show only the scanner unit 6 for the sake of concisely showing the configuration of the main part of the present invention, and from the scanner unit 6 shown in FIGS. The illustration of the lower image forming main body 8, the paper feed unit 9 and the like is omitted. The illustration of the document supply tray 2 provided integrally with the document pressing open / close lid 3 of the scanner unit 6 is also omitted.

3 (a), (b), and (c), the same components as those shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. .
As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3C, the scanner unit 6 of this example includes a document placing glass table 51 on which a document is placed, and fixes the document placed on the document placing glass table 51. The document presser opening / closing lid 3 for the document is placed in a horizontal position covering the document placement glass stand 51 and a substantially vertical position for inserting / removing the document as shown in FIGS. (A), (b), and (c). The hinge 52 is pivotally disposed around a fulcrum.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, on the frame surface on the upper end side of the document placing glass table 51 (the base side of the document pressing open / close lid 3), the sheet size names A5v, A4v, and A3v are displayed along with the sheet size. A document size scale corresponding to the size name is displayed by printing or the like.

Note that B5v is provided between A5v and A4v, and a B4v document size scale is provided between A4v and A3v. However, the illustration is omitted in FIG.
In front of the scanner unit 6, there is an overall operation unit 4 that is obliquely arranged at a position in which the front upper surface and the upper front part are cut out. The overall operation unit 4 has approximately 1 / of the overall operation unit 4. A touch operation type display panel 12 having a size of 2 is disposed.

  The scanner unit 6 includes a scanner unit 53 for optically reading a document, and moves to the left and right of FIGS. 3A and 3B (in FIG. 3C, the front side in the depth direction of the paper). Thus, the entire original surface is scanned to read the original surface. At times other than scanning, it is located at the end of the scanner unit 6 as shown in FIGS. 3 (a) and 3 (b).

  4A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. 3B, and FIG. 4B is a diagram for explaining the operation state. As shown in FIG. 4A, a reflecting mirror 54 is disposed in the housing of the scanner unit 6 at a position that does not interfere with the movement of the scanner unit 53 during scanning, that is, at the bottom.

  Further, the touch operation type display panel 12 is rotatably arranged on the front side of the apparatus as shown in FIG. 4B with the hinge 59 as a fulcrum. A transparent document surface confirmation window 55 is formed at a position of the housing of the scanner unit 6 that faces the back surface of the touch-operable display panel 12 that is rotatably provided.

  Also, the paper size name such as A5v, A4v, A3v, etc. on the frame surface on the upper end side of the document placement glass stand 51 shown in FIG. Although not shown in particular, a document size scale similar to the above is displayed by printing or the like at a document size display position 56 shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B corresponding to the displayed position. The name is written in mirror characters.

Although not particularly shown, an illumination device for illuminating the document surface placed on the document placement glass stand 51 from below is disposed in the housing of the scanner unit 6.
As shown in FIG. 4 (a), this illumination device is turned off when the touch operation type display panel 12 is closed and the document surface confirmation window 55 is shielded from the outside, and as shown in FIG. 4 (b). The touch operation type display panel 12 is opened and the document surface confirmation window 55 is exposed to the outside so that it is lit in conjunction with the opening and closing of the touch operation type display panel 12.

The operation of the document position confirmation apparatus of the present example configured as described above will be described below.
As shown in FIG. 4B, first, the touch operation type display panel 12 is opened by the operator 57 on the front side of the apparatus. As a result, the document surface confirmation window 55 is exposed to the outside, and a lighting device (not shown) disposed in the housing of the scanner unit 6 is turned on.

The operator 57 places a document (not shown) on the document placement glass stand 51 and confirms the position of the document surface from the document surface confirmation window 55 via the internal reflecting mirror 54.
Since the above-described document surface confirmation window 55 is a relatively large window corresponding to the touch operation type display panel 12, as shown in FIG. The position of the eye over the entire surface of the document placing glass table 51 via the reflecting mirror 54 is moved by moving the position of the eyes to the vertical position shown in FIG. The position can be easily confirmed, whereby the reading position of the document can be easily adjusted.

  In addition, the paper size name is written in the mirror character together with the document size scale at the frame size rear side document size display position 56 on the inner surface side of the frame viewed from the document surface confirmation window 55 through the reflecting mirror 54. Thus, it is possible to position the desired copy portion of the document more accurately while checking the scale on the back surface. Further, it is possible to easily know the size of the paper to be used for copying a desired portion of the document.

  When the positioning of the document is completed in this way, the document pressing open / close lid 3 is horizontally closed and the document is fixed on the document placing glass table 51. Then, by returning the touch operation type display panel 12 to the position at the time of copying shown in FIG. 4A, the document position confirmation window 55 is shielded from the outside and the incidence of external light is blocked, and the touch operation type display panel. In conjunction with the closing of 12, the internal lighting device is turned off. Thereafter, the normal copying operation is started.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the reflecting mirror 54 is provided inside the housing of the scanner unit 6 where the document placing glass table 51 is located, and the operator 57 passes the document surface through the document surface confirmation window 55 to reflect the document surface. Since the original surface is not directly seen through from above, but is directly confirmed by reflecting the light at 55, even an original that cannot be seen through, a double-sided original, or a booklet-like original can be easily positioned. Can do.

  Further, since the touch-operated display panel 12 is also used as a shielding cover for the document surface confirmation window 55, it is possible to form a large observation window and confirm the document surface on which external light is incident when copying is performed. The inconvenience of forgetting to close the lid of the window 55 is prevented.

  In addition, since the size name written together with the size display scale is a mirror character and arranged on the inner surface of the housing, it is possible to accurately align the document surface while viewing the reflected image, which is convenient and hassle free. .

(Embodiment 2)
FIG. 5 is a side sectional view of the document position confirmation apparatus as the second embodiment. In FIG. 5, the same components as those in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b) are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 4 (a) and 4 (b).

  In the first embodiment, the document surface confirmation window 55 is a simple through-look window. However, in this example, as shown in FIG. 5, the document surface confirmation window 55 is made of transparent glass or hard resin in the peripheral frame. It is formed by fitting a concave lens 58.

  Since this concave lens 58 squeezes and emits the incident light beam reflected from the reflecting mirror 54, the field of view of the operator 57 observing the emitted light beam is widened, so the operator 57 only moves the eye position slightly. This is convenient because the document surface over the entire surface of the document placing glass table 51 can be seen through the reflecting mirror 54.

(Embodiment 3)
FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of the document position confirmation apparatus as the third embodiment. In this figure, the same components as those in FIGS. 4A and 4B are assigned the same reference numerals as those in FIGS. 4A and 4B.

In this example, the reflecting surface mirror is not a simple plane mirror but a convex mirror 59 instead of the document surface checking window 55 as a simple through-looking window as in the first embodiment.
Since the convex mirror 59 expands the reflected light beam, the field of view of the operator 57 observing the reflected light beam is expanded in this case as well, so that the operator 57 looks through the entire surface of the document placing glass table 51 through the reflecting mirror 54. This is convenient.

1 is an external perspective view of an image forming apparatus (MFP) including a document position confirmation device as Embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an internal configuration of an image forming apparatus (MFP) including a document position confirmation device as Embodiment 1. FIG. (a) is a plan view showing a state in which a document holding open / close lid of the document position confirmation device of the image forming apparatus according to the first embodiment is rotated 90 ° and opened to expose a document placement glass table, and (b) is a plan view. The front view and (c) are side views. 3A is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA ′ in FIG. 3B, and FIG. FIG. 6 is a side sectional view of a document position confirmation device as Embodiment 2. FIG. 10 is a side cross-sectional view of a document position confirmation device as Embodiment 3.

Explanation of symbols

1 MFP
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 Original supply tray 3 Original press opening / closing lid 4 General operation part 5 Scanner main body part 6 Scanner part 7 Paper discharge tray 8 Image forming main body part 9 Paper feed part 11 Operation key 12 Touch operation type display panel 13 Image forming part 14 Intermediate transfer belt Unit 15 Duplex printing conveyance unit 16 (16M, 16C, 16Y, 16U, 16K) Image forming unit 17 (17m, 17c, 17y, 17u, 17k) Photosensitive drum 18 Cleaner 19 Charger 21 (21M, 21C, 21Y, 21U, 21K) Optical writing head 22 Developing device 23 Developing roller 24 Transfer belt 25 Drive roller 26 Driven roller 27 Belt position control mechanism 28 Primary transfer roller 29 Belt cleaner unit 30 Waste toner collection container 31 Paper feed cassette 32 Paper take-out roller 33 Feed roller 34 La 35 Standby conveying roller pair 36 Secondary transfer roller 37 Belt-type heat fixing device 38 Unloading roller pair 39 Paper discharge tray 41 Paper discharge roller pair 42a Start return path 42b Intermediate return path 42c End return path 43a, 33b, 33c Return roller pair 44 Carrying roller pair 45 Cleaning roller 46 Taking-in roller 47 Conveying screw 48 Falling cylinder 49 Pressing roller 51 Document placement glass stand 52 Hinge 53 Scanner unit 54 Hinge 55 Document surface confirmation window 56 Frame surface rear side document size display position 57 Operator (eyes) )
58 concave lens

Claims (5)

In a document position confirmation device for reading a document surface by irradiating light from an illumination device disposed below a document whose document surface is placed downward on a document placement glass stand of an image forming apparatus having a copying function ,
A reflecting mirror that reflects the reflected light of the document surface toward the outside of the apparatus;
A document surface confirmation window for confirming reflected light from the reflecting mirror;
A document position confirmation apparatus comprising:   2. The document position confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document surface confirmation window is formed at a position facing a back surface of an operation panel unit rotatably provided in the image forming apparatus.   The illumination device is automatically turned on in conjunction with the rotation of the operation panel unit rotated to expose the document surface confirmation window to the outside, and rotated to shield the document surface confirmation window from the outside. 2. The document position confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document position confirmation apparatus automatically turns off in conjunction with the rotation of the operation panel unit.   2. The document position confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the document surface confirmation window includes a concave lens on the back surface.   The document position confirmation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reflecting mirror includes a convex lens on a reflecting surface.