JP2011029709A - Reader, image forming device, reading control method, image forming method, program, and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a reader reducing downtime even when a part of point light source breaks down, and also to provide an image forming device, a reading control method, an image forming method, a program, and a recording medium. <P>SOLUTION: The size of a manuscript is detected in flat bed reading, or the size of the manuscript is detected in ADF (Auto Document Feeder) reading. The optimal reading means is selected, based on the detected result for the size of the manuscript and according to comparison of a manuscript read position in each reading method with a fault position at a point light source. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a reading apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a reading control method, an image forming method, a program, and a recording medium.

In recent years, LEDs (light-emitting diodes) have become widespread in various parts such as backlights of electronic devices, lighting fixtures, and road displays.
As a merit of adopting the LED with respect to the conventional light source, cost reduction can be mentioned. That is, the power consumption is small and the life is long.
As a light source for a scanner, a technique for using a line light source similar to a conventional light source (halogen lamp, cold cathode tube, xenon lamp, etc.) by arranging a plurality of white LEDs as point light sources in the main scanning direction is already known. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).

  The invention described in Patent Document 1 is an invention related to an image reading apparatus. Specifically, an original illuminating means (line light source) composed of a plurality of light emitting elements, a photoelectric conversion means for reading the original reflected light, an original size detecting means, and an original area corresponding to the main scanning area of the detected original size In an image reading apparatus configured to include a lighting control unit, a shading correction unit, and an operation unit, an auxiliary illumination unit is provided to supplement the light amount for each document size with respect to an edge of the set document. And the shading correction and the document scanning in the lighting control state of only the document area using the document illumination means.

  According to the invention described in Patent Document 1, the auxiliary light source compensates for the attenuation of the amount of light at the edge of the original that fluctuates for each original size, improves the light distribution characteristics, and performs the optimum shading correction for each original size. This is effective for improving image quality and preventing the illumination light of the original from leaking out of the area outside the original and preventing the health of the eyes of the operator from being damaged.

Incidentally, Patent Document 1 describes the following three points as objects.
(1) To prevent light leakage from outside the document area.
(2) Reduce power when the light source is turned on.
(3) Irradiate the document with uniform light.

As a point of Patent Document 1,
(a) Illumination control is performed only on the document area with the white LED according to the document size detection result.
(b) Since only the document area is irradiated, the amount of light at the edge of the document is reduced.
(c) A technique for irradiating only an area where a document is placed with uniform light by providing an auxiliary electrode to prevent a decrease in the amount of light is disclosed.

However, although the invention described in Patent Document 1 detects the document size and performs LED lighting control, the problem of reducing downtime cannot be solved.
For this reason, when a plurality of white LEDs, which are point light sources, are arranged in the main scanning direction and used as a light source similar to a xenon lamp, etc., the time when the scanner cannot be used as much as possible even if some LEDs fail. It is desired to reduce (downtime).

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a reading apparatus, an image forming apparatus, a reading control method, an image forming method, a program, and a recording medium that can reduce downtime even when some point light sources fail. It is in.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention according to claim 1 is characterized in that a plurality of point light sources are arranged in the main scanning direction to irradiate the original, a means for converting the reflected light from the original into an electrical signal, and the conversion means A means for forcibly generating halation, a means for detecting the size of the document, an image signal level at the position where the halation and the halation have occurred, and information on the position at which the halation has occurred. Control means for reducing downtime by detecting the position of the point light source and the failure position of the point light source with respect to the document and comparing the result of detecting the size of the document to determine whether or not the reading operation is possible; , characterized by comprising a.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the means for generating halation is at least one belt-like convex mirror having a longitudinal direction arranged parallel to the main scanning direction.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the second aspect of the present invention, the control unit has failed within a read document size range based on information on a position where the halation has occurred and an image signal level at the position where the halation has occurred. When the light source is continuously mounted in the main scanning direction and affects the read image, the reading operation is suppressed.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided the control unit according to the third aspect, further comprising means for detecting a document size when reading a flat bed and means for detecting a document size when reading an ADF. Is characterized in that the optimum means can be selected by comparing the detection result of the original size and the original reading position in the means for detecting each original size and the failure position of the point light source.

  A fifth aspect of the present invention is an image forming apparatus using the reading device according to any one of the first to fourth aspects.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a means for irradiating a document with a plurality of point light sources arranged in the main scanning direction, a means for converting reflected light from the document into an electrical signal, a means for forcibly generating halation, Means for detecting the halation, means for detecting an image signal level at a position where the halation is generated, and means for detecting the size of the document. Thus, the down position can be reduced by detecting the mounting position of the point light source and the failure position of the point light source and determining whether or not the reading operation is possible by comparing with the document size detection result.

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the point light source that has failed within the read document size range in the main scanning direction is determined from the position information where the halation has occurred and the image signal level at the halation occurrence position. It is characterized in that execution of a reading operation is suppressed when continuously mounted and affects a read image.

  The invention according to claim 8 detects the document size in the case of flat bed reading or detects the document size in the case of ADF reading, the document size detection result, the document reading position in each reading method, and the point It is characterized in that the optimum reading means can be selected by comparison with the failure position of the light source.

  A ninth aspect of the invention is an image forming method using the reading control method according to any one of the sixth to eighth aspects.

According to the tenth aspect of the present invention, a plurality of point light sources are arranged in the main scanning direction to irradiate the original, a means for converting reflected light from the original into an electrical signal, and a halation is forcibly generated in the conversion A means for detecting the halation, a means for detecting an image signal level at the occurrence position of the halation, a means for detecting the document size, and position information on the occurrence of the halation. Means for reducing downtime by detecting a mounting position of the point light source and a failure position of the point light source with respect to the document and determining whether or not a reading operation is possible by comparing with a document size detection result. , A program that functions as:
The invention described in claim 11 is a recording medium on which the program described in claim 10 is recorded.

  According to the present invention, means for forcibly generating halation is provided to detect at which position in the main scanning direction the halation occurs. Since the mounting position of the point light source with respect to the document area varies with each apparatus, the mounting position of the point light source can be accurately grasped using halation. Further, when the point light source cannot be turned on due to a circuit failure or the life of the point light source, it is also possible to accurately grasp the failure position of the point light source. Detects the size of the document placed on the platen and compares the detected size with the position where the point light source cannot be turned on to determine whether or not the reading operation is possible, reducing downtime even if some point light sources fail can do.

It is a block diagram which shows one Embodiment of the reader which concerns on this invention. It is an example of the schematic block diagram of the scanner used for the reading apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing of the reading apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the optical positional relationship figure of the image reading apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the 1 line output distribution map at the time of the reference | standard white board reading in the reading apparatus shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the 1 line output distribution map at the time of the halation generating part reading in the reading apparatus shown in FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a positional relationship between an LED mounting position and a document in the reading apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. It is an example of the flowchart which shows the operation | movement when the reading apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is turned on. FIG. 3 is an example of a flowchart for scanning a document in the reading apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for describing an image sample when halation actually occurs in the reading apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a state in which document irradiation in the reading apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1 changes depending on a document. It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of the halation generating part in the reader which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows another example of a structure of the halation generating part in the reading apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a conceptual diagram which shows an example of the image forming apparatus using the reading apparatus shown in FIG.

[Reader]
<Features>
In short, in the present invention, a means for forcibly generating halation is provided to detect at which position in the main scanning direction the halation occurs.
Since the mounting position of the LED with respect to the document area varies depending on the individual apparatus, the reading apparatus accurately grasps the mounting position of the LED using halation.
In addition, when the LED cannot be turned on due to a circuit failure or an LED life, it is possible to accurately grasp the failure position of the LED.
A feature is that the size of the document set on the document table is detected, and the read size is determined by comparing the detected size with a position where the LED cannot be turned on.

<Configuration>
Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a reading apparatus according to the present invention.
The reading apparatus shown in the figure includes a scanner, an ADF (auto document feeder), and a control board.

The scanner includes a reading module having an LED (light-emitting diode) 7 as a point light source and a CCD (charge-coupled device) 16, a halation generator 11, and a scanner document size detector. 12 and FB motor (flat bed motor: FB in the figure 6).

The LED control unit 4 has a function of outputting a control signal for driving the LED 7 and is controlled by the CPU 1 to output a drive signal based on the setting.
The FB motor 6 is a motor for driving the reading module to scan the document, and is controlled when reading the document placed on the document table.
The LED 7 is a scanner light source for irradiating a document, and is mounted so as to obtain a uniform light amount on the document surface by arranging a plurality of LEDs in the main scanning direction.

  The halation generator 11 is a member for forcibly generating halation on the optical path from the LED 7 to the CCD 16, and has an optical and physical shape that generates halation when scanned by the reading module. Specifically, as will be described later, it is at least one belt-like convex mirror whose longitudinal direction is arranged in parallel to the main scanning direction.

The scanner document size detection unit 12 is a sensor for detecting the size of a document placed on the document table of the scanner, and for example, a reflective photo interrupter is used.
The CCD 16 is a reading device that converts reflected light from a document into an electrical signal.

The ADF includes an ADF document size detector 15 and an ADF motor (ADF in the figure). 14).
The ADF motor 14 is a motor that is controlled when a document is read and a reading operation is performed. For example, a stepping motor is used.
The ADF document size detection unit 15 is a sensor for detecting the document size set in the ADF, and for example, a reflection type photo interrupter is used.

The control board includes a drive control unit, a CPU (central processing unit) 1, an AFE (analog front-end) 8, a halation detection unit 9, an image processing unit 10, and a memory 17. .
The drive control unit includes a CCD / AFE control unit 2, a flat bed motor control unit 3, an LED control unit 4, and an ADF motor control unit 13, and is controlled by the CPU 1.

The CPU 1 controls the entire MFP (multifunction printer) on which the reading device and the scanner are mounted.
The CCD / AFE control unit 2 has a function of outputting a control signal for driving the CCD 16 and the AFE 8 and is controlled by the CPU 1 to output a drive signal based on the setting.
The flat bed motor control unit 3 has a function of outputting a control signal for driving the flat bed motor 6 and is controlled by the CPU 1 to output a drive signal based on the setting.
The LED control unit 4 has a function of outputting a control signal for driving the LED 7 and is controlled by the CPU 1 to output a drive signal based on the setting.
The ADF motor control unit 13 has a function of outputting a control signal for driving the ADF motor 14 and is controlled by the CPU 1 to output a drive signal based on the setting.
The AFE 8 is an electric module that converts an analog image signal output from the CCD 1 into digital data, and has a dark offset level adjustment and a light output adjustment function for the output digital data.

The halation detector 9 detects the presence or absence of halation from the digital data converted by the AFE 8 when the reflected light from the halation generator 11 is incident on the CCD 16. Further, the halation detection unit 9 detects the positional relationship between the plurality of LEDs 7 arranged as the reading light source and the pixel position where the output level is locally increased due to the halation.
The image processing unit 10 performs image processing on the scanner digital image data output from the AFE 8. The image processing unit 10 performs processing such as dark output correction, shading correction, and gamma correction, and confirms the image signal level at the halation occurrence position.
The memory 17 temporarily stores various data, and for example, a RAM is used. Information on the halation occurrence position detected by the halation detection unit 9 is also stored.

FIG. 2 is an example of a schematic configuration diagram of a scanner used in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
The scanner includes a scanner unit 21, an ADF 22, a document pressure plate 23, a glass table 24, and a reading module 25.
The ADF 22 is a unit that detects the presence of a document and automatically conveys the document.
The document pressure plate 23 is a pressure plate for pressing the document set on the document table.
The glass table 24 is a glass plate for placing a document.
The reading module 25 is a module on which the CCD 16 as a reading device, a point light source, and the like are mounted, and corresponds to the reading module used in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
When reading with a flat bed, the reading operation is performed by moving this module in the document area. In contrast, when reading with the ADF 22, the reading operation is performed by moving the module to the ADF reading position and transporting the document with the ADF 22.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
This shows the relationship between the document reading position in the reading module and ADF inside the image reading apparatus, the halation generation unit, the reference white plate, and the document reading position during flat bed scanning.

The CCD 30 is a reading device mounted on an SBU (Sensor Board Unit), and reflected light from an original is condensed by a lens 31 and imaged on the CCD 30.
The lens 31 is a lens for collecting the reflected light from the document.
The LED substrate 32 is a substrate on which an LED which is a light source for reading is mounted.
The LEDs 33 are light sources for reading, and a plurality of LEDs 33 are mounted on the LED substrate 32 in the main scanning direction. The LED drive signal is input to the LED board 32 from the LED control unit.
The mirror 34 is a mirror for turning back the reflected light from the document. Although only one is shown in the figure, it is actually composed of a plurality of mirrors.

The SBU 35 is a reading substrate on which the CCD 30 is mounted.
The ADF document glass 36 is a glass plate used when a document is conveyed by the ADF 22 and read. When the original is read by the ADF 22, the reading module is moved to the lower part of the glass, and reading is performed by moving the original on the glass.
The halation generator 37 is a portion that forcibly generates halation when this portion is read with the light source turned on.
The configuration of the halation generator is described in FIGS.
The reference white plate 38 is a member that serves as a reference for the white level. The reference white plate 38 is read and used as data for white level adjustment and shading correction in the AFE 22.

The original glass 39 is a flat bed reading glass (also referred to as a flat bed glass). When an original is placed on the original glass 39, the reading module moves under the glass and scans the original. The reading module moves by driving the base motor based on the pulse information output from the motor control unit.
The reading module 40 is a module including a CCD 30, a lens 31, a light source (LED substrate 32 and LED 33), and a mirror 34.
The reading module 40 can detect halation simultaneously with the reading of the document by arranging the ADF document glass 36, the halation generator 37, the reference white plate 38, and the document glass 39 as illustrated in the positional relationship.

For example, when an original is placed on a flat bed glass, a scanning operation is started, and first, the presence / absence of halation is detected by the halation generation unit.
Next, it moves to the reference white plate 38 to generate shading correction data.
Further, it moves to the lower part of the original glass to read the original. When a document is set on the ADF 22, a scanning operation is started, and first, the presence or absence of halation is detected by the halation generator 37.
Next, it moves to the reference white plate 38 to generate shading correction data. Further, it moves to the lower part of the ADF original glass 36 to perform the original reading operation.
Therefore, by arranging the halation generator 37 in the middle of moving to the reference white plate 38 to generate shading data, it is possible to check whether or not halation has occurred (= LED failure detection) without reducing the reading productivity. It becomes.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for describing an optical positional relationship diagram of the image reading apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.
This figure shows the positional relationship between the LED 33 as a light source and the CCD 30 as a reading device.
This figure shows the positional relationship seen from above.
A plurality of LEDs 33 mounted on the LED substrate 32 emit light, and are focused by the lens 31 and imaged by the CCD 30 mounted on the SBU 35.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a one-line output distribution diagram at the time of reading a reference white plate in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
This figure shows the output distribution for one CCD output line when reading a reference white plate.
The reflected light that is emitted from the LED 33 and illuminates the reference white plate enters the CCD 30, and shows the distribution in the main scanning direction for one line when analog image data output from the CCD 30 is converted into digital data by AFE. Yes.
Since a plurality of LEDs 33 as point light sources are arranged and the original is irradiated in a state where the light is optically diffused inside the reading module, substantially uniform light is irradiated on one line of the original surface. Thereby, the distribution of the image data becomes uniform.

  When uniform light is irradiated on the document surface, even if a single LED failure occurs, it is difficult to detect the failure because a certain level of image signal level is obtained by the light from the adjacent LED. It is.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a one-line output distribution diagram at the time of reading a halation generator in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
This figure shows the output distribution for one line of CCD output when halation occurs when reading the halation generator.

This figure shows the distribution in the main scanning direction for one line as in FIG.
When the halation generation part is scanned, the uniform light does not enter the CCD as in the case of reading the reference white plate.
Strong light enters at intervals of the number of pixels corresponding to the pitch of a plurality of LEDs arranged.

Therefore, the analog image data output from the CCD periodically becomes a high output.
Since the halation is forcibly generated at the halation generation portion, such a distribution is obtained.
When the reading module scans the halation generation unit, it is possible to detect whether the LED is lit by peak-holding the image level at a position corresponding to the LED pitch.
The presence or absence of halation (LED failure) can be detected by comparing a certain threshold with the peak level.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the positional relationship between the LED mounting position and the document in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
This figure shows the positional relationship when reading various sizes of originals with respect to the original table area.
The halation occurrence position shown in FIG. 6 is detected to detect a faulty LED among the LEDs aligned in the main scanning direction (in the case of the above figure, it is LED 2).
When an A4 size document is set on the flat bed, whether the reading operation is possible is determined by checking the positional relationship of the document with respect to the failed LED mounting position.
Depending on the reading device, the reading position with respect to the document table differs when reading is performed between the flat bed and the ADF.
Even in such a case, it is determined whether or not the document can be read with respect to each state where the document is placed on the flat bed and the ADF (for example, when the LED 6 in the upper diagram is out of order, the ADF cannot read but the flat bed can read). .

<Operation>
FIG. 8 is an example of a flowchart showing an operation when the reading apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is powered on.
When the power of the reading device is turned on in step S60, in step S61, the CPU activates the flat bed motor via the flat bed motor control unit and moves the reading module to the halation occurrence position.
When the reading module moves to the halation occurrence position in step S62, the peak values of all pixels in the main scanning direction are updated for each line.
The peak value is updated until the halation occurrence position ends.
When the reading operation is performed up to the halation occurrence position in steps S63 and S64, the halation occurrence position (that is, the LED mounting position) is detected from the peak value.
In step S65, the LED mounting position information is stored in the memory, and when the power is turned off / on, the same control is performed again.

FIG. 9 is an example of a flowchart for scanning a document in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
In step S40, the CPU activates that the user starts copying from the operation unit mounted on the reading apparatus according to the present invention, or that a scan is executed from a device outside the reading apparatus (for example, a PC (Personal Computer)) as a scanner. Will detect.
In step S41, the CPU inputs a control signal to the motor control unit. Accordingly, the motor control unit drives the motor to move the reading module to the halation generation unit.
When the reading module reaches the halation generation unit in steps S42 to S45, the image signal level at the LED mounting position is peak-held.
These are repeated until the scanning of the halation generation unit is completed.
For example, if the position where the LED is mounted corresponds to 1000 pixels on the CCD, the peak hold pixel is calculated suddenly by calculating the average value of its surrounding pixels (10 pixels, etc.) and setting it as the peak value of that line. Noise components are removed.
After the scan of the halation generation unit is completed in step S46, the CPU determines whether or not the peak value of the image signal level at each LED mounting position is equal to or greater than a reference value.
If the peak value is greater than or equal to the specified value in steps S47 to S53, the reading module is moved to the lower part of the reference white plate to obtain shading correction data, and then set on the document or ADF placed on the document glass. The scanning operation is completed to complete the reading operation.

  On the other hand, if the peak value is less than the specified value, it is determined that the LED is not lit, the reading method and the document size are confirmed from the information from the document size sensor, and the relationship with the LED failure position is confirmed. When it is determined that there is no effect on the scanned image, the scanning module is moved to the lower part of the reference white plate, and after acquiring shading correction data, the document placed on the document glass or the document set on the ADF is scanned. To complete the reading operation.

That is, when the LED failure position does not affect the image, a reading operation is performed to reduce downtime.
If it is determined that the image is affected, a warning is displayed on the operation unit.
The warning display content is configured and controlled so as to reduce downtime as much as possible by displaying the upper limit of the readable document size and the readable reading method.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an image sample when halation actually occurs in the reading apparatus shown in FIG.
From the figure, an image with locally increased light intensity can be confirmed at a position corresponding to the arrangement pitch of the LEDs.
The halation is a phenomenon that is easy to check when reading a document that is lifted off the glass surface such as a binding white portion when a book is opened and placed on the original glass.
The reason why this phenomenon occurs is that light reflected by the curved portion of the binding white portion is directly incident on the optical axis of reading as regular reflected light.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are views showing how the irradiation of the original in the reading apparatus shown in FIG. 1 changes depending on the original.
FIG. 11A shows the state of the irradiation light beam in the case of a flat original, and FIG. 11B shows the state of the irradiation original in the case of a three-dimensional original.
At the time of reading a flat original, the light irradiated on the original generates a component (PA) that reflects according to the irradiation angle and a component (PB) on the reading optical axis.
On the other hand, at the time of reading a three-dimensional document, the light irradiated on the document may be input as it is on the optical axis as a strong light as a regular reflection component.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the halation generator in the reading apparatus according to the present invention.
The halation is a phenomenon that becomes prominent when light from the light source is irradiated on the original and is incident on the CCD 30 with a strong light intensity due to the influence of the regular reflection effect.
Therefore, the halation generator 37-1 is a belt-like convex mirror that is bent in the sub-scanning direction, that is, a mountain fold along the longitudinal direction and arranged parallel to the main scanning direction. By scanning, the specularly reflected light is incident on the optical axis at any location in the sub-scanning direction, and it is possible to forcibly generate halation. The halation generator 37-1 may be arranged such that a plurality of belt-like convex mirrors are parallel to the main scanning direction and the convex surfaces approach each other instead of bending the belt-like convex mirrors inward along the longitudinal direction.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of the configuration of the halation generator in the reading apparatus according to the present invention.
The halation generator 37-2 is assumed to be a member (mirror or the like) having a wide opening angle that is curved upside down from FIG. That is, the halation part 37-2 is a belt-like convex mirror whose longitudinal direction is arranged parallel to the main scanning direction.
Those having optical characteristics capable of collecting light from all angles are conceivable.
We see that such mirrors are installed to prevent collisions at the rear-view mirrors installed in the car and at the corners of roads in recent years (called FF mirrors).
By scanning under the member having such optical characteristics with the reading module, the specularly reflected light is incident on the optical axis at any location, and it is possible to forcibly generate halation.

<Image forming apparatus>
FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of an image forming apparatus using the reading device shown in FIG.
In the printer 100 shown in FIG. 14, a static eliminating device L, a cleaning device 202, a charging device 203, and a developing device 205 are arranged on the outer peripheral portion of a photosensitive member 201 that is rotatably supported and rotates in the direction of an arrow. Has been.

Between the charging device 203 and the developing device 205 on the outer periphery of the photoconductor 201, a space for allowing light information emitted from the exposure device 204 to enter is secured.
In the configuration shown in FIG. 14, there are four photosensitive members 201 (201a, 201b, 201c, 201d), but only the color of the color material (toner) handled by the developing device 205 is different, and the images provided on the respective outer peripheral portions. The component configuration described above for forming is the same.

  The photoconductor 201 is configured by providing an organic semiconductor layer, which is a photoconductive material, on an aluminum cylinder surface having a diameter of about 30 mm to 100 mm, and a part of the photoconductor 201 is an intermediate transfer belt (first visible image carrying means) 210. Is in contact with

  The intermediate transfer belt 210 is supported by rotating rollers 211, 212, 213, and 214, and is stretched so as to be movable in the direction of the arrow in FIG. On the back side of the intermediate transfer belt 210 (inside the loop), a roller 212 as a first transfer unit is provided in the vicinity of the photoconductor 201 to transfer a visible image on the photoconductor 201 to the intermediate transfer belt 210.

  On the outside of the belt loop of the intermediate transfer belt 210, the intermediate transfer belt cleaning is performed downstream of the position at which the developed image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 210 to the recording medium or the intermediate transfer belt for the rear surface (second developed image carrying means) 200. A device 250 is provided. The brush of the cleaning device 250 wipes off unnecessary toner remaining on the surface of the belt after another visible image is transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 210.

FIG. 14 shows a state in which the brush roller is separated from the front surface of the intermediate transfer belt 200 for the back surface. This brush roller is provided so as to be swingable about a fulcrum 250A, and is configured to be able to contact and separate from the surface of the intermediate transfer belt 200 for the back surface.
Before the toner image transferred from the intermediate transfer belt 210 is transferred to the recording medium P, that is, when the intermediate transfer belt for back surface 100 carries the toner image, the toner image is separated and transferred to the recording medium P. When cleaning becomes necessary, the brush roller is swung in the counterclockwise direction in FIG.
The removed unnecessary toner is collected in the toner storage unit 250B.

  The exposure device 204 uses a known laser system, and irradiates light information corresponding to full-color image formation onto the surface of the uniformly charged photoconductor 201 as a latent image. As the exposure device 204, an exposure device including an LED array and an image forming unit may be used.

  As described above, the photosensitive member 201, the cleaning device 202, the charging device 203, the exposure device 204, the developing device 205, the charge eliminating device L, and the first transfer unit 212 are added to the intermediate transfer belt 210. It functions as image forming means for generating a visible image (image with toner) to be transferred.

The intermediate transfer belt 210 is a belt based on a resin film or rubber having a base thickness of, for example, 50 μm to 600 μm, and has a resistance value capable of transferring toner from the photoreceptor 211.
On the right side of FIG. 14 with respect to the intermediate transfer belt 210, a belt-like back surface intermediate transfer belt (second visible image carrying means) 200 is disposed. The back surface intermediate transfer belt 200 is supported by rotating rollers 216, 217, 218, and 219, and is stretched so as to be movable in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 14. On the back side (inside the loop), the second transfer belt 200 is supported. Means 2 18 are provided. Outside the belt loop formed by the back surface intermediate transfer belt 200, the back surface intermediate transfer belt cleaning device 250, the charger CH, and the like are disposed.

  The intermediate transfer belt 210 and the back surface intermediate transfer belt 200 are brought into contact with each other by the second transfer means 219, rollers 218 and 219, and the roller 214 that supports the intermediate transfer belt 210, and a predetermined transfer nip. Form.

  The intermediate transfer belt for back surface 200 is a belt having a base of a resin film or rubber having a thickness of, for example, 50 μm to 600 μm, and is a belt having a resistance value capable of transferring toner from the intermediate transfer belt 210.

The recording medium (paper) P is stored in paper feeding devices (paper feeding cassettes) 226-1 and 226-2 in the lower part of the drawing, and the uppermost paper is fed by a paper feed roller 227 one by one, and a plurality of guides 229. Then, it is conveyed to the registration roller pair 228.
Further downstream of the recording medium P being conveyed, a fixing heating unit 230, a paper discharge guide pair 231, a paper discharge roller pair 232, and a paper discharge stack unit 240 are disposed.

  A storage unit TS that can store replenishment toner is provided above the intermediate transfer belt 210 and below the paper discharge stack unit 240 in FIG. The toner has four colors, magenta, cyan, yellow, and black, and is in the form of a cartridge TC. From the cartridge TC, the corresponding color developing device is appropriately supplied by a powder pump or the like.

  The frame 251 that is a part of the apparatus main body has a structure that can be rotated and opened around the opening / closing support shaft 251A. Therefore, the user can open the recording medium conveyance path by opening the frame 251 to facilitate the processing of the recording medium (paper) when a jam occurs.

  Further, the reading apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is connected to the upper part of the apparatus main body for forming an image on the recording medium P described above via a support unit 266, and the image data read by the image reading apparatus is the apparatus described above. When the main body prints on the recording medium P, the copying operation is enabled.

[program]
The reading apparatus according to the present invention described above is realized by a program that causes a computer to execute processing. Examples of the computer include general-purpose computers such as personal computers and workstations, but the present invention is not limited to this. Therefore, as an example, a case where the present invention is realized by a program will be described below.

A reading apparatus comprising: means for irradiating a document with a plurality of point light sources arranged in the main scanning direction; means for converting reflected light from the document into an electrical signal; and means for forcibly generating halation in the conversion means On the computer,
(α) means for detecting halation,
(β) means for detecting the image signal level at the occurrence position of halation,
(γ) means for detecting the document size,
(δ) By detecting the mounting position of the point light source and the point light source failure position with respect to the document from the position information where the halation has occurred, and determining whether the reading operation is possible or not by comparing with the document size detection result, downtime Means that allow to reduce,
As a program to function as.

  Thus, the reading apparatus according to the present invention can be realized anywhere as long as there is a computer environment capable of executing the program.

[recoding media]
Such a program may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium.
Here, as the recording medium, for example, a computer-readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a flexible disk (FD), and a CD-R (CD Recordable), a flash memory, a RAM (Random Examples thereof include semiconductor memories such as Access Memory (ROM), ROM (Read Only Memory), and Fe-RAM (ferroelectric memory), and HDD (Hard Disc Drive).

  The above-described embodiment shows an example of a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. is there

  The present invention can be used for a scanner, a copying machine, a scanner printer, a facsimile machine, and a multifunction machine.

1 CPU
2 CCD / AFE control unit 3 Flat bed motor control unit 4 LED control unit 5 Drive control unit 6 Flat bed motor (FB Motor)
7, 33 LED
8 AFE
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 Halation detection part 10 Image processing part 11, 37, 37-1, 37-2 Halation generation part 12 Scanner document size detection part 13 ADF motor control part 14 ADF motor (ADF) Motor)
15 ADF document size detection unit 16, 30 CCD
17 Memory 31 Lens 32 LED board 34 Mirror 35 SBU
36 Document glass for ADF 38 Reference white plate 39 Document glass 40 Reading module

JP 2006-115288 A

Claims (11)

Means for irradiating a document with a plurality of point light sources arranged in the main scanning direction;
Means for converting reflected light from the document into an electrical signal;
Means for forcibly generating halation in the conversion means;
Means for detecting the size of the document;
Detecting the halation and the image signal level at the position where the halation has occurred, detecting the position of the point light source and the failure position of the point light source with respect to the document from information on the position at which the halation has occurred, A reading apparatus comprising: control means for reducing downtime by determining whether or not a reading operation is possible in comparison with a detection result of the document size.   2. The reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for generating halation is at least one belt-like convex mirror whose longitudinal direction is arranged parallel to the main scanning direction.   According to the control means, the point light source that has failed within the read document size range is continuously mounted in the main scanning direction based on the information on the position where the halation has occurred and the image signal level at the position where the halation has occurred. The reading apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the reading operation is inhibited. Means for detecting the document size in the case of flatbed reading, and means for detecting the document size in the case of ADF reading,
The control means includes
4. The reading according to claim 3, wherein the optimum means can be selected by comparing the result of detecting the original size and the original reading position in the means for detecting each original size and the failure position of the point light source. apparatus.   An image forming apparatus using the reading device according to claim 1. Means for irradiating a document with a plurality of point light sources arranged in the main scanning direction;
Means for converting reflected light from the document into an electrical signal;
Means for forcibly generating halation,
Means for detecting the halation;
Means for detecting an image signal level at the occurrence position of the halation;
Means for detecting the size of the document,
By detecting the mounting position of the point light source and the failure position of the point light source with respect to the document from the position information where the halation has occurred, it is determined whether the reading operation is possible or not by comparing with the document size detection result. A reading control method characterized in that time can be reduced.   Based on the position information where the halation has occurred and the image signal level at the position where the halation has occurred, when a point light source that has failed within the read document size range is continuously mounted in the main scanning direction and affects the read image, 6. The reading control method according to claim 5, wherein execution is suppressed.   The original size in the case of flatbed reading is detected, or the original size in the case of ADF reading is detected, and the result of detection of the original size is compared with the original reading position in each reading method and the failure position of the point light source. A reading control method characterized in that an optimum reading means can be selected.   An image forming method using the reading control method according to claim 6. Reading comprising: means for irradiating a document with a plurality of point light sources arranged in the main scanning direction; means for converting reflected light from the document into an electrical signal; and means for forcibly generating halation in the conversion means To the computer of the device,
Means for detecting the halation;
Means for detecting an image signal level at the occurrence position of the halation;
Means for detecting the document size;
By detecting the mounting position of the point light source and the failure position of the point light source with respect to the document from the position information where the halation has occurred, it is determined whether the reading operation is possible or not by comparing with the document size detection result. A means of allowing time to be reduced,
A program characterized by functioning as   A recording medium on which the program according to claim 10 is recorded.

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