JP2008017201A - Scanner device and image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a scanner device and an image reader which can suppress contact between a flat cable and a glass plate with a simpler structure. <P>SOLUTION: In the scanner device 1, a sensor 4 connected to a predetermined circuit board part by a flat cable 7 including a curved portion is put between the glass plate 3 and a base member to make a scan. The base member 5 has a groove portion 9 which extends in a scanning direction to receive the flat cable 7 and a lock portion 8 which projects in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction to lock the curved portion of the flat cable 7 from inside the curved portion. Further, the groove portion 9 is formed while made deeper on the side of a position A than on the side of a position B. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a scanner device and an image reading device, and more particularly to a scanner device and an image reading device having a flat cable.

  As one of devices for reading an image, there is a scanner device that reads a document placed on a glass plate while scanning a sensor disposed under the glass plate. As such a scanner device, a scanner device employing a flat cable will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the conventional scanner device 101 is provided with a sensor accommodation area 120 for accommodating the sensor 104 below the glass plate 103 on which the document is placed. The sensor 104 reads a document (not shown) placed on the glass plate 103 while scanning along the arrow 130 within the readable range in the sensor accommodation area 120. A flat cable 107 that follows the scanning of the sensor 104 is connected to the sensor 104. An original signal read by the sensor 104 is sent to a predetermined circuit board (not shown) that performs image processing via the flat cable 107.

  However, the flat cable 107 is provided with a bending portion 107 a that bends in the sensor accommodation region 120. As shown in FIG. 10, the curved portion 107 a may come into contact with the glass plate 103 depending on the position of the sensor 104 that scans within the sensor accommodating region 120. When the sensor 104 is scanned while the curved portion 107 a is in contact with the glass plate 103, the flat cable 107 is caught between the glass plate 103 and the sensor 104 by the frictional force between the flat cable 107 and the glass plate 103. Sometimes. Further, there is a problem that the lower surface of the glass plate 103 is soiled or damaged by the flat cable 107.

In order to solve such problems, for example, Patent Document 1 proposes the following method. As shown in FIG. 11, the scanner device 101 is provided with a cable adjustment device 110 that is relatively movable so as to extend the flat cable 107.
JP 2006-54863 A

  However, in the scanner apparatus 101 described above, the cable adjustment device 110 for preventing the flat cable 107 from coming into contact with the glass plate 103 has a complicated structure, a large number of parts, and is complicated to assemble. It was one of the factors hindering reduction.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and one object is to provide a scanner device that reduces the contact between the flat cable and the glass plate with a simpler structure, and the other object is It is to provide such an image reading apparatus.

  A scanner device according to the present invention is a scanner device for reading a document placed at a predetermined position, and includes a glass plate, a sensor, a base member, a circuit board portion, and a flat cable. A document is placed on the glass plate. The sensor is disposed below the glass plate so as to be able to scan between a first position and a second position separated from the first position by a predetermined distance, and the document placed on the glass plate. Read. The base member is disposed below the sensor, and forms a space in which the sensor can be scanned with the glass plate. The circuit board portion is disposed below the base member and processes information read by the sensor. The flat cable allows the sensor to scan and electrically connects the sensor and the circuit board part. The flat cable is curved between the glass plate and the base member, follows the scanning of the sensor, and is located closest to the sensor when the sensor is in the first position. In the state where it is located at the second position, it is provided with a bending portion located farthest from the sensor. The base member includes a locking portion and a groove portion. The locking portion is formed so as to protrude in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction, and when the sensor scans from the first position toward the second position, the bending portion that approaches the second position together with the sensor is bent. Lock from the inside of the part. The groove portion extends in the scanning direction to receive the curved portion, and is formed so that the depth on the first position side is deeper than the depth on the second position side.

  According to this configuration, when the sensor approaches the base member while scanning from the first position toward the second position, the bending portion of the flat cable that approaches the second position together with the sensor is bent. A locking portion that locks from the inside of the portion is formed. Accordingly, the flat cable is pulled between the sensor and the locking portion, and the bending portion can be prevented from being greatly bent, and the bending portion can be prevented from contacting the glass plate. . Further, the groove portion for receiving the flat cable including the curved portion in the base member is formed so that the depth on the first position side is deeper than the depth on the second position side. Thereby, in the state where the sensor is located between the first position and the second position, the curved portion of the flat cable is positioned in a deeper groove portion and prevents the curved portion from contacting the glass plate. can do.

  An image reading apparatus according to the present invention is an image reading apparatus for reading a document placed at a predetermined position, and includes a document placing plate, a sensor, a base member, and a flat cable. A document is placed on the document placement plate. The sensor is disposed below the document placing plate so as to be able to scan between a first position and a second position separated from the first position by a predetermined distance, and placed on the document placing plate. Scan the original. The base member is disposed below the sensor, and forms a space in which the sensor can be scanned with the document placement plate. The flat cable allows the sensor to scan and electrically connects the sensor and a predetermined circuit board part. The flat cable is curved between the glass plate and the base member, follows the scanning of the sensor, and is located closest to the sensor when the sensor is in the first position. In the state where it is located at the second position, it is provided with a bending portion located farthest from the sensor. The base member includes a locking portion that locks the bending portion that approaches the second position together with the sensor from the inside of the bending portion when the sensor scans from the first position toward the second position. .

  According to this configuration, when the sensor approaches the base member while scanning from the first position toward the second position, the bending portion of the flat cable that approaches the second position together with the sensor is bent. A locking portion that locks from the inside of the portion is formed. As a result, the flat cable is pulled between the sensor and the locking portion, the bending portion is prevented from being greatly bent, and the bending portion is prevented from contacting the document placing plate. Can do.

  Further, the base member includes a groove portion that extends in the scanning direction to receive the curved portion, and is formed such that the depth on the first position side is deeper than the depth on the second position side. It is preferable.

  Thereby, in a state where the sensor is located between the first position and the second position, the curved portion of the flat cable is positioned in a deeper groove and the curved portion contacts the document placement plate. Can be suppressed.

  The locking portion is preferably formed from one side wall of the pair of side walls facing each other extending in the scanning direction in the groove portion toward the other side wall.

In this case, the base member can be obtained by integral molding with a predetermined mold.
Moreover, it is preferable that the clearance gap is provided between the front-end | tip part of a latching | locking part, and the other side wall.

  In this case, it is possible to easily remove the flat cable through the gap during maintenance such as when trouble occurs.

  A scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a glass plate 3 on which a document is placed is disposed on the upper portion of the housing 2 of the scanner device 1. Below the glass plate 3, a contact image sensor that reads a document placed on the upper surface of the glass plate 3 while scanning (arrow 30) between a predetermined position A and a position B from the back side of the glass plate 3. (Hereinafter simply referred to as “sensor”) 4 is provided. A base member 5 is disposed below the sensor 4. The base member 5 and the glass plate 3 form a sensor accommodation region (space) 20 that accommodates the sensor 4 in a scannable manner. Below the base member 5, a circuit board unit 6 for processing a document signal read by the sensor 4 is disposed.

  The sensor 4 and the circuit board unit 6 are connected by a flexible flat cable 7. The flat cable 7 is provided with a curved portion 7 a that is curved in the sensor housing region 20 and follows the scanning of the sensor 4. As will be described later, the curved portion 7a is located closest to the sensor 4 when the sensor 4 is located at the position A, and is most away from the sensor 4 when the sensor 4 is located at the position B. Located at a distance.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the base member 5 is formed with a groove 9 that extends in the scanning direction and receives the flat cable 7 including the curved portion 7a. At a predetermined position in the scanning direction in the groove portion 9, a locking portion 8 that protrudes in a direction perpendicular to the scanning direction and locks the flat cable 7 is formed. As will be described later, when the sensor 4 scans from the position A to the position B, the locking portion 8 moves the curved portion 7a of the flat cable 7 that approaches the position B together with the sensor 4 from the inside of the curved portion 7a. Will be locked. As will be described later, an opening 9c is formed in the portion of the base member 5 immediately below the locking portion 8 in a positional relationship with the mold during molding. Further, the groove 9 is formed so that the depth D1 on the position A side is deeper than the depth D2 on the position B side.

  Next, the operation of the above-described scanner device 1 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, in the scanner device 1, the sensor 4 moves from one end side (position A) to the other end side (position B) or from a position B within a predetermined area where the document is placed. A document (not shown) placed on the surface of the glass plate 3 is read from the back side of the glass plate 3 while scanning toward the position A. The read signal of the document is sent to the circuit board unit 6 through the flat cable 7 to process predetermined information.

  Next, the movement of the flat cable 7 when the sensor 4 scans from the position A to the position B will be described. First, as shown in FIG. 5, in a state where the sensor 4 is located at the position A, the curved portion 7 a of the flat cable 7 is located at a position closest to the sensor 4 (distance L <b> 1). When the scanning of the sensor 4 starts to the right toward the paper surface, the bending portion 7a gradually moves away from the sensor 4 while following the scanning of the sensor 4, and, for example, as shown in FIG. In the middle position C, the bending portion 7a is located at a distance L2 from the position C to the position A side.

  Further, as the scanning of the sensor 4 proceeds, the sensor 4 gradually approaches the position B. On the other hand, the curved portion 7 a gradually approaches the locking portion 8 while following the scanning, and the inside of the curved portion 7 a is locked by the locking portion 8. Then, as shown in FIG. 7, when the sensor 4 reaches the position B, the flat cable 7 is pulled between the sensor 4 and the locking portion 8. When the sensor 4 reaches the position B, the curved portion 7a of the flat cable 7 is located at the farthest position from the sensor 4 (distance L3). When the sensor 4 scans from the position B toward the position A, the above-described operation is performed in reverse. In this way, an original reading operation is performed.

  In the scanner device 1 described above, when the sensor 4 approaches the base member 5 while scanning from the position A toward the position B, the bending portion 7a of the flat cable 7 that approaches the position B together with the sensor 4 is bent. A locking portion 8 that locks from the inside of the portion 7a is formed. As a result, the flat cable 7 is pulled between the sensor 4 and the locking portion 8 to prevent the bending portion 7a from being greatly bent, and the bending portion 7a contacts the glass plate 3. Can be prevented.

  A groove 9 for receiving the flat cable 7 including the curved portion 7a is formed in the base member 5. The groove 9 has a depth D1 (groove 9a) on the position A side and a depth D2 (groove 9b on the position B side). ) To be deeper than. Thereby, in the state where the sensor 4 is located between the position A and the position B, the curved portion 7a of the flat cable 7 is positioned in the deeper groove portion 9a, and the curved portion 7a contacts the glass plate 3. Can be suppressed.

  In addition, the base member 5 including the locking portion 8 and the groove portion 9 can be easily formed by integral molding. For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the base member 5 is integrated by injecting a predetermined resin using a first mold 25a for molding the upper surface portion of the base member 5 and a second mold 25b for molding the lower surface portion. Can be molded. As shown in FIGS. 8 and 3, the opening 9c remains in the base member 5 by removing the second mold 25b after integral molding.

  Further, the locking portion 8 may be formed so as to connect between one side wall and the other side wall of the side walls that extend in the scanning direction in the groove portion 9 and face each other, as shown in FIG. In addition, by providing a gap 11 between the distal end portion of the locking portion 8 projecting from one side wall 10a and the other side wall 10b, the flat cable 7 can be removed during maintenance such as when trouble occurs. Work can also be performed easily.

  Here, the scanner device has been described as an example. However, the structure described above can also be applied to an image reading device that includes a curved flat cable and reads an image such as a document while scanning a sensor. is there.

  The embodiment disclosed this time is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this. The present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the scope described above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

1 is a perspective view showing a scanner device according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged cross-sectional perspective view showing a structure of a flat cable and a peripheral base member in the embodiment. In the same embodiment, it is the partial expansion section perspective view which shows the structure around the groove part of the base member. FIG. 4 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view taken along a cross-sectional line IV-IV shown in FIG. 3 in the same embodiment. FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a first state for describing the operation of the scanner device in the embodiment. FIG. 6 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a second state after the first state shown in FIG. 5 in the embodiment. FIG. 7 is a partial cross-sectional view showing a third state after the second state shown in FIG. 6 in the embodiment. In the embodiment, it is a partial expanded sectional view which shows the shaping | molding method of a base member. It is sectional drawing which shows the conventional scanner apparatus. FIG. 10 is a partial enlarged cross-sectional view of the scanner device shown in FIG. 9. It is a perspective view which shows the other conventional scanner apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Scanner apparatus, 2 housing | casing, 3 glass plate, 4 sensor, 5 base member, 6 circuit board part, 7 flat cable, 7a bending part, 8 latching part, 9, 9a, 9b groove part, 9c opening part, 10a, 10b side wall, 11 gap, 20 sensor accommodation area, 25a first mold, 25b second mold.

Claims (5)

A scanner device for reading a document placed at a predetermined position,
A glass plate on which an original is placed;
A document placed on the glass plate is disposed below the glass plate so as to be capable of scanning between a first position and a second position separated from the first position by a predetermined distance. A sensor to read,
A base member that is disposed below the sensor and forms a space in which the sensor can be scanned with the glass plate;
A circuit board portion disposed below the base member and processing information read by the sensor;
A flat cable that allows the sensor to scan and electrically connects the sensor and the circuit board unit;
The flat cable is curved between the glass plate and the base member, follows the scanning of the sensor, and is closest to the sensor in a state where the sensor is located at the first position. And in a state where the sensor is located at the second position, a bending portion located farthest from the sensor,
The base member is
The curve that is formed so as to protrude in a direction orthogonal to the scanning direction and approaches the second position together with the sensor when the sensor scans from the first position toward the second position. A locking part for locking the part from the inside of the curved part,
A scanner that extends in the scanning direction, receives the curved portion, and has a groove formed so that the depth on the first position side is deeper than the depth on the second position side. apparatus. An image reading apparatus for reading a document placed at a predetermined position,
An original platen on which an original is placed;
Below the original placing plate, a first position and a second position separated from the first position by a predetermined distance are disposed so as to be able to scan, and placed on the original placing plate. A sensor for reading a printed document,
A base member which is disposed below the sensor and forms a space in which the sensor can be scanned with the document placing plate;
A flat cable that allows scanning of the sensor and electrically connects the sensor and a predetermined circuit board unit;
The flat cable is curved between the glass plate and the base member, follows the scanning of the sensor, and is closest to the sensor in a state where the sensor is located at the first position. And in a state where the sensor is located at the second position, a bending portion located farthest from the sensor,
The base member locks the bending portion approaching the second position together with the sensor from the inside of the bending portion when the sensor scans from the first position toward the second position. An image reading apparatus having a locking portion.   The base member includes a groove formed to extend in the scanning direction to receive the curved portion, and to have a depth on the first position side that is deeper than a depth on the second position side. The image reading apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:   The image reading apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the locking portion is formed from one side wall of the pair of side walls extending in the scanning direction in the groove portion and facing each other toward the other side wall.   The image reading apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a gap is provided between a front end portion of the locking portion and the other side wall.

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