JP2008034899A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image by confirming an image before printing inexpensively. <P>SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus with a reading section for reading information by emitting light to an original and an image forming section includes: a pressing plate 2 for retaining the original by a paten glass; a turnable endless belt shaped electronic paper 15 provided in the pressing plate 2; a write means for writing information to the electronic paper 15; and a display window 18 provided in the pressing plate 2, exposing the electronic paper 15 for displaying the information written on the electronic paper 15. The image forming apparatus is characterized in that the information written on the electronic paper 15 is displayed through the display window 18 and thereafter the read section reads the information of the electronic paper 15 opposed to the platen glass. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention provides a reading unit that irradiates a document with light and reads document information, and an image carrier is selectively exposed to form an electrostatic latent image, and the electrostatic latent image is developed to form an image. The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a forming unit.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been proposed an apparatus in which a laser scanner writing unit is added to an analog copying machine that applies light to an original and writes a latent image on a photosensitive drum using the reflected light (Patent Document 1).

  In this configuration, an analog reading unit that irradiates an image on the surface of the platen glass and exposes it on the surface of the photosensitive drum, and a digital reading unit that reads and photoelectrically converts image information of the document and selectively outputs it. It has a configuration capable of image formation both analog and digital.

  On the other hand, when a user prints with an image forming apparatus, there is a printer that can prevent misprinting or can print after confirming the contents of received image information, such as a facsimile. This is a function in which an image to be printed is once displayed on a display unit such as a liquid crystal in the operation unit of the apparatus, and then a function for selecting whether to print or not is provided.

  In addition, an apparatus has been proposed in which electronic paper is attached to a conveyance belt that conveys an original, an image is written on the electronic paper, and the written image is read and printed (Patent Document 2).

JP-A-9-114205 JP 2004-56374 A

  However, as shown in Patent Document 1, in an apparatus in which a laser scanner is added to an analog copying machine, the addition of a laser optical system increases the size and cost of the apparatus. Further, since the device is arranged around the photosensitive drum, the change of the device is large, and it is difficult to share the housing with the device having no writing means.

  Further, since the wavelength of the irradiation light of an analog copying machine and that of a laser are different, exposure to the same photosensitive drum has caused cost increase such as image deterioration and special drums.

  On the other hand, in a device that displays an image to be printed in advance on the operation unit of the device, the liquid crystal display unit is small, and the image displayed in advance is different from the one that was displayed in advance. Sometimes it is connected. If a large liquid crystal display is added to solve the problem, the cost of the apparatus is increased.

  Furthermore, the apparatus according to Patent Document 2 cannot confirm a print image before printing.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and an object thereof is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of confirming an image before printing and forming an image at low cost.

  A typical means in the present invention for solving the above-described problem is an image forming apparatus having a reading unit and an image forming unit that reads information by irradiating light on a document, and a document pressing member that presses the document against a platen member. An endless belt-shaped electronic paper provided in the document pressing member, a writing means for writing information on the electronic paper, and provided in the pressing member, exposing the electronic paper to expose the electronic paper A display unit that displays information written on the paper, and after the information written on the electronic paper is displayed on the display unit, the display unit faces the platen member and can be read by the reading unit. And

  In the present invention, it is possible to confirm the information written and read on the electronic paper at the same magnification before printing, and it is possible to confirm in advance an image equivalent to the image to be printed.

  Next, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

<Overall configuration>
First, the overall configuration of the image forming apparatus will be described together with the image forming operation. FIG. 1 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment.

  In the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, an image reading unit A is arranged at the upper part of the apparatus main body, and an image forming unit B is arranged therebelow. A sheet conveying unit C that conveys the sheet S is provided below the image forming unit.

  The image reading unit A is provided with a document table 1 on which a document is placed. A pressure plate 2 that is an openable / closable document pressing member is attached to the document table 1. After the pressure plate 2 is opened and the document P is placed on the platen glass 3 which is a platen member of the document table 1, the document P is pressed and brought into close contact with the glass surface by closing the pressure plate 2.

  The document table 1 and the pressure plate 2 are integrally slidable in the direction of arrow a in FIG. 1 by driving means (not shown). When the document table 1 is moved, the document is irradiated with light, and the reflected light is exposed to the photosensitive drum 5 through the short focus imaging lens 4 from the slit portion, thereby reading the document information. After reading the original, the original table 1 and the pressure plate 2 return to the standby position again.

  On the other hand, a photosensitive drum 5 is rotatably provided in the image forming unit B, and a charger 6, a developing device 7, and a transfer roller 8 are disposed around the photosensitive drum 5. Then, after the surface of the rotating photosensitive drum 5 is uniformly charged by the charger 6, an electrostatic latent image is formed by exposure from the reading unit A, and the latent image is developed with toner by the developing device 7. Visualize.

  In synchronization with the formation of the toner image, the sheet S is conveyed from the feeding tray 9 to the nip portion between the photosensitive drum 5 and the transfer roller 8 via the sheet conveying portion C including the feeding roller 10 and the registration roller 11. To do. The toner image on the photosensitive drum 5 is transferred to the conveyed sheet S by applying a bias to the transfer roller 8. Thereafter, the sheet is conveyed to the fixing device 12 to heat and press-fix the toner image, and is discharged to the discharge tray 14 by the discharge roller 13.

  In the present embodiment, the photosensitive drum 5, the charger 6, the developing device 7 and the like are formed into cartridges so as to be detachable from the apparatus main body.

<Printing image information from an external device>
As described above, the reading unit A of the present embodiment, in addition to exposing the reflected light of the document P placed on the platen glass 3 to the photosensitive drum 5, the photosensitive drum according to image information from an external device such as a personal computer. 5 can be exposed. Next, a configuration in which image information from an external device is exposed on the photosensitive drum 5 will be described.

  In FIG. 1, an endless belt-shaped electronic paper 15 that can be flexibly bent is bridged between a driving roller 16a and a driven roller 16b. The electronic paper 15 of the present embodiment is composed of an organic EL, can write predetermined image information by the image information rewriting means 17 without using a backlight, and holds written image information by controlling an electrode (not shown). To get. The electronic paper 15 can be rotated by driving the driving roller 16a by a motor (not shown).

  The pressure plate 2 has a transparent window on the surface of the electronic paper 15 facing the platen glass 3. Therefore, the image written on the electronic paper 15 can be read in the same manner as when reading an original placed on the platen glass 3 in a state facing the platen glass 3.

  Further, a display window 18 (see FIG. 3) as a display portion is formed on the outer surface side of the pressure plate 2. For this reason, when the image written on the electronic paper 15 faces the display window 18, the image is visible to the user from the display window 18. The size of the display window 18 is the same as the maximum document size that can be read by the reading unit A, and is A4 size in this embodiment.

  In the above configuration, a case where image information from an external device is formed on the sheet S will be described.

  First, when an image signal is sent from an external device such as a personal computer to the rewriting means 17 by pressing the start key, the electronic paper 15 rotates and the image is written and held in the written state. The

  Next, the electronic paper 15 is rotated, and the written image I is stopped at a position facing the display window 18 as shown in FIG. A dotted line portion in FIG. 2 indicates an image writing portion. In this state, as shown in FIG. 3, the image I written on the electronic paper 15 is visible from the display window 18. The image I displayed at this time is the same size as the image recorded on the sheet. For this reason, it is possible to confirm in advance that there is no difference in image from what is finally printed.

  The user confirms the display contents, and if the display contents are good, the electronic paper 15 that has been stopped is rotated by pressing the start key again. As shown in FIG. Stop at the opposite position. FIG. 5 shows a state where the pressure plate 2 is opened in the above state.

  From the above state, the document table 1 and the pressure plate 2 slide together while irradiating the electronic paper 15 with light, whereby image information written on the electronic paper 15 is read, and the photosensitive drum 5 is reflected by the reflected light. An electrostatic latent image is formed. As a result, the image written on the electronic paper 15 is recorded on the sheet S and discharged.

  As described above, in the image forming apparatus of the present embodiment, an image to be printed can be confirmed in advance at the same size. The display window 18 provided for image display can also be used as a display for the operation unit. For this reason, a dedicated operation unit is not required, and the apparatus can be reduced in size and cost.

  Further, when printing image information from an external device, the read image information can be printed by analog exposure from the image reading unit A to the image forming unit B, and the process conditions including the drum of the analog copying machine can be made the same. it can. For this reason, writing means can be added at low cost.

  When image information is written on the electronic paper 15 and displayed from the display window 18, the first first sheet is a waiting time before the image forming section B can prepare for image formation (the fixing device 12 reaches a predetermined temperature). And the time for the initial check of the image forming unit B). By doing so, it is possible to shorten the time from when the image information is output to the photosensitive drum 5 until the image is formed on the sheet.

  During continuous printing, the second and subsequent image information is written on the electronic paper 15 while the image reading unit A is reading image information on the surface facing the platen glass 3. Write on the opposite side. As a result, it is possible to shorten the time during continuous printing.

  In the above-described embodiment, when reading the image held on the electronic paper 15, the document table 1 is moved while the electronic paper 15 is stopped to read the image surface. However, as shown in FIG. 6, the electronic paper 15 may be moved in the counterclockwise direction as indicated by the arrow while moving the document table 1 in the direction of the arrow a1 with respect to the reading position R. In this way, it is possible to increase the resolution in the moving direction of the electronic paper 15, that is, the sub-scanning direction of the image.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a transparent film touch panel 19 may be provided on the display window 18. In this way, the user can trace the information on the touch panel 19 using the touch pen 20 or the like on the displayed same size image, write the information on the electronic paper 15, and read the information to make the touch pen at the same size. 20 enables image editing such as writing and erasing.

  In addition, by providing the touch panel 19, if the keys and icons of the operation unit are displayed on the electronic paper, the user can press the keys and icons from the touch panel to use it as an operation unit. It is not necessary to provide an operation unit.

1 is a schematic explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the state which the image written in the electronic paper is facing the display window. It is a perspective explanatory view showing a state where an image written on electronic paper is opposed to a display window. It is a schematic explanatory drawing which shows the state which the image written in the electronic paper is facing platen glass. It is a perspective explanatory view of a state where the pressure plate is opened when the image written on the electronic paper faces the platen glass. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of the state which reads the image written in the electronic paper while moving the electronic paper. It is an isometric view explanatory drawing which shows the state which writes in with the touch pen with respect to the image written in the electronic paper.

Explanation of symbols

A ... Image reading part B ... Image forming part C ... Sheet conveying part P ... Original S ... Sheet 1 ... Original platen 2 ... Pressure plate 3 ... Platen glass 4 ... Short focus imaging lens 5 ... Photosensitive drum 6 ... Charger 7 ... Developer 8 ... Transfer roller 9 ... Feed tray
10 ... Feed roller
11… Registration roller
12… Fixer
13… discharge roller
14… discharge tray
15… electronic paper
16a ... Driving roller
16b ... driven roller
17… Information rewriting means
18… Display window
19 ... Touch panel
20… Touch pen

Claims (6)

In an image forming apparatus having a reading unit and an image forming unit for reading information by irradiating light on a document,
A document pressing member for pressing the document against a platen member;
An endless belt-shaped electronic paper provided in the document pressing member and rotatable;
Writing means for writing information on the electronic paper;
A display unit that is provided on the pressing member and displays information written on the electronic paper by exposing the electronic paper;
Have
An image forming apparatus characterized in that after the information written on the electronic paper is displayed on the display unit, it is opposed to the platen member and can be read by the reading unit. It has an image forming unit that forms an electrostatic latent image by selectively exposing the image carrier by information read by the reading unit, and develops the electrostatic latent image to form an image. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reading unit reads information by rotating the electronic paper while moving the platen member and the document pressing member. The first writing on the electronic paper and display of the written information from the display unit are performed by the image forming unit during a standby time for image formation preparation. 2. The image forming apparatus according to item 1. When reading a plurality of pieces of information continuously, writing the second and subsequent sheets on the electronic paper and displaying the written information from the display unit are performed when the reading unit reads the previous page. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is performed. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a touch panel is provided on the display unit.

Images