JP2021190884A - Image reading device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an image reading device that places a document in a state in which a document tray is inclined and rotates the document tray to a feeding position before feeding the document, and reduce the deviation of the document when the document tray is rotated to the feeding position.SOLUTION: An image reading device feeds a document in a state in which a document tray is a little inclined. This can maintain a state in which one end in a width direction of the document is butted to a document butting part and reduce the deviation of the document.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

The present invention relates to an image reader for reading an image of a document and an image forming apparatus including the image reader.

Conventionally, an image reading device such as a scanner or an image reading device provided in a copier or the like continuously feeds a document loaded on a document tray and conveys it to an image scanning position to obtain an image of the document. It is equipped with a document feeder that ejects paper on the output tray after scanning. Generally, in this document feeder, a user places an document on a horizontal document tray and operates a side regulating plate provided on the document tray to align the width direction of the documents.

On the other hand, in the document tray used for the document feeder, in order to eliminate the need for the user to operate the side regulation plate, the document tray is brought to the front when the user sets the document as in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-072685. A technique is known in which the originals are aligned by using the weight of the originals by tilting them to the side. In the configuration of JP-A-7-072685, the document tray is rotatably supported around the rotation axis, and when the user sets the document, the document tray is tilted toward the front side with the rotation axis as the rotation center. It is possible to do.

In addition, as a document feeder with a configuration that tilts the document tray toward you, the tilt angle of the document tray is automatically changed when an operator with a low viewpoint changes the tilt angle of the operation panel to an angle that is easy to see. The technique is known (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-323084). As a result, the document loading surface of the document tray can be seen even from a low viewpoint position.

In a document feeder having a configuration in which a document is set by tilting the document tray toward the front side, the document cannot be conveyed in a state where the document tray is tilted toward the front side. Therefore, the document feeding is started after the document tray is set to the feeding position.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-072685 Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-323084

However, in the configurations described in Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2, the document tray in which the documents are aligned and set is rotated from a state of being tilted toward the front side to a horizontal state, and then feeding is performed. Therefore, when the document tray stops at the horizontal feeding position, there is a risk that the aligned documents will be displaced. As a result, there is a problem that the original is skewed at the time of feeding and the read image is distorted.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the deviation of a document when the document tray is set to the feeding position and to realize a good reading image quality.

In order to solve the above problems, the image reading device according to the present invention includes a loading means having a loading surface on which a document is loaded, and an abutting means at which one end of the document loaded on the loading means abuts in the width direction. The feeding means for feeding the document loaded on the loading means in the feeding direction, the transporting means for transporting the document fed by the feeding means, and the image of the document transported by the transporting means are read. A reading means, a rotating shaft that rotatably supports the loading means with respect to the transporting means and extends in the feeding direction, and a driving means that rotates the loading means around the rotating shaft. The loading surface is farther from the abutting means at the downstream end in the feeding direction than the first end portion close to the abutting means in the width direction and the first end portion in the width direction. The loading means has a second end portion, and the loading means has the first end from the first state from the first state in which the first end portion is inclined so as to be at a lower position in the vertical direction than the second end portion. The second state is such that the difference in height between the portion and the second end portion in the vertical direction is small, and the first end portion is inclined so as to be at a lower position in the vertical direction than the second end portion. When the driving means rotates about the rotating shaft and the loading means is in the first state, feeding by the feeding means cannot be performed, and when the loading means is in the second state, the said. It is characterized in that it can be fed by a feeding means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an image reading device that reduces the deviation of a document when the document tray is set to the feeding position and realizes a good reading image quality.

Sectional drawing of the image forming apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. Sectional drawing of the image reading apparatus which concerns on this embodiment. Top view of the document tray according to this embodiment. The right side view which shows the state when the original of the image reading apparatus which concerns on this embodiment is set. The right side view which shows the state at the time of feeding the document of the image reading apparatus which concerns on this embodiment.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

<Structure of image forming apparatus 101>
First, the schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus 101 of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the image forming apparatus 101 according to the present embodiment. In the following, the position facing the operation unit (not shown) in which the user makes various inputs / settings to the image forming apparatus 101 is referred to as the "front side" of the image forming apparatus 101, and the back side is referred to as the "back side". That is, FIG. 1 shows the internal configuration of the image forming apparatus 101 as seen from the front side.

As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 101 includes an apparatus main body 101A and an image reading apparatus 103. The image reading device 103 arranged above the device main body 101A includes a reader 20 and an ADF 1 as described in detail later, and optically scans the document D to read image information. "ADF" represents an automatic document feeder. The manuscript D is paper such as paper and envelopes, plastic film such as sheets for overhead projectors, and sheets such as cloth. The image information converted into an electric signal by the image reading device 103 is transferred to the control unit 132 provided in the device main body 101A.

The apparatus main body 101A has an image forming unit 133 which is an image forming means for forming an image on a sheet P which is a recording material, and a sheet feeding unit 34 which feeds the sheet P to the image forming unit 133. ing. The sheet feeding unit 34 includes seat storage units 137a, 137b, 137c, and 137d that can store sheets of different sizes. The sheets stored in each sheet storage unit are unwound by the pickup roller 32, separated one by one by the feed roller 33a and the retard roller 33b, and delivered to the corresponding transfer roller pair 131. Then, the sheet P is sequentially delivered to a plurality of transport roller pairs 131 arranged along the sheet transport path, so that the sheet P is transported to the registration roller pair 136.

The sheet P loaded on the manual feed tray 137e by the user is fed to the inside of the apparatus main body 101A by the feeding roller 138, and is conveyed to the registration roller pair 136. The registration roller pair 136 stops the tip of the sheet P to correct the skew, and restarts the transfer of the sheet P in accordance with the progress of the image forming operation, which is the process of forming the toner image by the image forming unit 133.

The image forming unit 133 that forms an image on the sheet P is an electrophotographic image forming unit including a photosensitive drum 121 that is a photoconductor. The photosensitive drum 121 is rotatable along the transport direction of the sheet P, and around the photosensitive drum 121, a charging device 118, an exposure device 123, a developing device 124, a transfer charging device 125, a separation charging device 126, and a cleaner 127 are provided. Is placed. The charger 118 uniformly charges the surface of the photosensitive drum 121, and the exposure device 123 exposes the photosensitive drum 121 based on the image information input from the image reading device 103 or the like to form an electrostatic latent image on the drum. do.

The developer 124 contains a developer containing toner, and supplies the charged toner to the photosensitive drum 121 to develop an electrostatic latent image into a toner image. The toner image supported on the photosensitive drum 121 is transferred to the sheet P conveyed from the registration roller pair 136 by the bias electric field formed by the transfer charger 125. The sheet P to which the toner image is transferred is separated from the photosensitive drum 121 by the bias electric field formed by the separation charger 126, and is conveyed toward the fixing portion 129 by the pre-fixing transport portion 128. Adhesions such as transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum 121 without being transferred to the sheet P are removed by the cleaner 127, and the photosensitive drum 121 prepares for the next image-forming operation.

The sheet P conveyed to the fixing unit 129 is sandwiched between the roller pairs and conveyed, and is subjected to a fixing process including pressurization and heating of the toner image. As a result, the toner melts and then sticks, so that the image is fixed on the sheet P. When the image output is completed, the sheet P from which the fixed image is obtained is discharged to the discharge tray 130 protruding outward from the apparatus main body 101A via the discharge roller pair 40. When an image is formed on the back surface of the sheet P in double-sided printing, the front surface and the back surface of the sheet P that has passed through the fixing portion 129 are exchanged by the reversing portion 139, and the sheet P is conveyed to the registration roller pair 136 by the double-sided conveying portion 140. To. Then, the sheet P whose image is formed again by the image forming unit 133 is discharged to the discharge tray 130.

The image forming unit 133 is an example of an image forming means, and for example, an inkjet type image forming unit or an offset printing type printing mechanism may be used as the image forming means.

<Structure of image reader 103>
Next, a schematic configuration of the image reader will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the image reading device 103. The dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, etc. of the components described in the following embodiments are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention to those, unless otherwise specified. No.

As shown in FIG. 2, the ADF 1 is composed of a document tray 2, a transport unit 12, and a paper output tray 3. The ADF1 is attached so as to be openable and closable on the upper surface of the reader 20. The ADF1 conveys the document D to a reading position on the scanning glass on the upper surface of the reader 20. The document D is set in the document tray 2 which is a loading means provided in the ADF 1. The document tray 2 is supported by a rotation shaft 11 extending along the feeding direction F so as to be rotatable with respect to the transport unit 12. Here, the feeding direction F in the present embodiment is a direction in which the document D is fed by the feeding roller 4, which will be described later, and is a direction along the document loading surface 2a at the time of feeding. Further, the feeding direction F is orthogonal to the width direction of the document tray 2 at the time of feeding. Here, the width direction is the main scanning direction when the image reading device 103 reads the image of the document D.

The rotary shaft 11 rotatably supports the document tray 2 with respect to the transport unit 12 which is a transport means. Therefore, when the rotation shaft 11 rotates, the document tray 2 can also rotate about the rotation shaft 11 at the same time. The document tray 2 is rotated by a motor 13 which is a driving means. In the present embodiment, the motor 13 is arranged inside the transport unit 12, but the arrangement of the motor 13 is not limited to this. For example, it may be arranged inside the document tray 2 or may be arranged on the drive unit side for applying a rotational driving force to each transport roller described later.

The ADF 1 is provided with a feed roller 4, a feed roller 5, a separation roller 6, a transport roller 7, a transport roller 8, a transport roller 9, and a paper ejection roller 10. Further, there is an image reading unit E on the downstream side of the transport roller 8 in the transport direction. The image reading unit E includes a front surface reading unit 14 provided in the reader 20 and a back surface reading unit 15 provided in the ADF 1.

The document D on the document tray 2 is fed to the paper feed roller 5 by the rotational driving force of the feeding roller 4, which is a feeding means. The document D is separated one by one by the frictional force between the paper feed roller 5 and the separation roller 6 spring-loaded from below. The separated document D is fed toward the image reading unit E by the rotational driving force of the transport rollers 7 and 8. The original D sent to the image reading unit E can read images on both sides by the front surface reading unit 14 and the back surface scanning unit 15 which are reading means. Then, the document D is conveyed to the paper ejection roller 10 by the conveying roller 9, and is ejected onto the paper ejection tray 3 by the paper ejection roller 10.

<Structure of document tray 2>
Next, the configuration of the document tray 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. Here, FIG. 3 is a top view of the document tray 2. FIG. 4 is a right side view of the image reading device 103 for showing the state of the document tray 2 when the document D is set. Further, FIG. 5 is a right side view of the image reading device 103 for showing the state of the document tray 2 when the set document D is fed.

As shown in FIG. 3, the document tray 2 is composed of a document loading surface 2a and a document abutting portion 2b which is an abutting means. The document abutting portion 2b is fixed to the document tray 2. Further, the document loading surface 2a is a second end located on the downstream end 200 in the feeding direction F, opposite to the first end portion 200a close to the document abutting portion 2b and the first end portion 200a in the width direction. It has a part 200b.

When the user sets the document D, the document tray 2 is rotated toward the front side and tilted around the rotation shaft 11. That is, the document tray 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow B in FIG. Then, the user sets the document D in the first state (the state shown in FIG. 4) in which the document tray 2 is tilted so that the first end portion 200a is lower than the second end portion 200b in the vertical direction. At this time, when viewed from the direction along the feeding direction F, the document loading surface 2a is tilted toward the front side by an angle θ1 with respect to the horizontal direction, so that the document D set by the user moves toward the front side due to its own weight. do. Further, the document abutting portion 2b is provided on the front side of the document tray 2. Therefore, one end of the document D moved by its own weight in the width direction is abutted against the document abutting portion 2b, and the document D is aligned. As a result, it is possible to omit the operation of aligning the document D, which has been consciously performed by the user in the past, and simplify the set of the document D. Further, when the document loading surface 2a is tilted by an angle θ1 with respect to the horizontal direction, the document loading surface 2a and the transport path of the transport unit 12 are not smoothly connected. That is, the downstream end of the document loading surface 2a in the feeding direction F and the upstream end of the guide constituting the transport path of the transport unit 12 are deviated from each other. Therefore, in the first state in which the document tray 2 is tilted toward the front side, the ADF1 cannot perform the feeding operation.

Although the angle θ1 in this embodiment is set to 30 degrees, it is not limited to this value, and may be 0 degrees <θ1 <40 degrees. The upper limit of the angle θ1 here, 40 degrees, is the maximum tilt angle for preventing buckling when the set document D is abutted against the document abutting portion 2b. Further, in the present embodiment, the length of the document abutting portion 2b in the feeding direction F is set to 150 mm in consideration of visibility when the document D is set, but is not limited to this value.

As described above, the user sets the document D in the first state in which the document tray 2 is tilted toward the front side. However, when the document tray 2 is tilted toward the front side, the ADF1 cannot perform the feeding operation. Therefore, after the document D is set, the document tray 2 remains in the state where the document D is set, and the heights of the first end portion 200a and the second end portion 200b in the vertical direction are higher than those in the first state shown in FIG. Rotate so that the difference is small. That is, the document tray 2 rotates in the direction of the arrow C in FIG. As a result, the document tray 2 is in the second state (state shown in FIG. 5) in which the document D can be fed. At this time, when viewed from the direction along the feeding direction F, the document loading surface 2a is tilted toward the front side by an angle θ2 with respect to the horizontal direction. After that, the feeding operation of the document D is started. At this time, the document tray 2 rotates in response to an instruction by the user to start the reading operation by an operation unit (not shown). The angle θ2 in this embodiment is set to 5 degrees, but the angle θ2 is not limited to this value. The angle θ2 may be any angle (0 <θ2 <θ1) such that the ADF1 can feed the document D loaded on the document tray 2.

In the present embodiment, when the document D is set, the document tray 2 is in the first state of being greatly tilted toward the front side. Then, the document tray 2 in which the document D is set is rotated so that the difference in height between the first end portion 200a and the second end portion 200b in the vertical direction becomes small, and is in the second state of being slightly inclined toward the front side. After that, the feeding of the manuscript D is started. With this configuration, when the document tray 2 is in the position of feeding, it is possible to maintain a state in which one end of the document D in the width direction abuts against the document abutting portion 2b. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the deviation of the aligned originals D, and it is possible to realize good reading image quality.

1 ADF
2 Original tray 2a Original loading surface 2b Original abutting part 3 Paper ejection tray 4 Feeding roller 5 Feeding roller 6 Separation roller 7, 8, 9 Conveying roller 10 Paper ejection roller 11 Rotating shaft 12 Conveying part 13 Motor 14 Surface reading Unit 15 Backside reading unit 20 Reader 101 Image forming device 103 Image reading device

Claims (5)

A loading means having a loading surface on which documents are loaded, and
The abutting means at which one end of the document loaded on the loading means in the width direction abuts, and the abutting means.
A feeding means for feeding the document loaded on the loading means in the feeding direction, and a feeding means.
A transport means for transporting a document fed by the feed means, and a transport means.
A reading means for reading an image of a document conveyed by the conveying means, and
A rotating shaft that rotatably supports the loading means with respect to the transport means and extends in the feeding direction,
A drive means for rotating the loading means around the rotation axis is provided.
The loading surface has a first end portion closer to the abutting means in the width direction and a second end farther from the abutting means than the first end portion in the width direction at the downstream end in the feeding direction. Has a part,
The loading means has a first state in which the first end is inclined so as to be lower than the second end in the vertical direction, and the first end and the second end are different from the first state. The rotating shaft is moved by the driving means so that the difference in height in the vertical direction is small and the first end portion is inclined so as to be at a lower position in the vertical direction than the second end portion. Rotate as the center,
When the loading means is in the first state, the feeding means cannot be used for feeding.
An image reading device characterized in that when the loading means is in the second state, feeding by the feeding means can be performed. The first end portion is an end portion located on the front side of the loading means.
The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the second end portion is an end portion located on the back side of the loading means. The image reading device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the abutting means is fixed to the loading means. The position of the abutting means when the loading means is in the second state is higher in the vertical direction than the position of the abutting means when the loading means is in the first state. The image reading device according to any one of claims 1 to 3. An image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising an image reading device and an image forming means for forming an image on a recording material.

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