JP2022089192A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an image forming apparatus that can exhibit high convenience.SOLUTION: In an image forming apparatus 100 of the present invention, a housing 1 has an ejection tray 23B that receives a sheet ejected in a first direction, and an operation unit 290 that is located on a top face 1E at one end 1L in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. A communication substrate 31 is located at one end 1L in the second direction in the housing 1 and below the operation unit 290. A mark 31M indicating a communication antenna 31B is provided on a first side face 1A located at one end 1L in the second direction of the housing 1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 of Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a conventional image forming apparatus. This image forming apparatus includes a housing, an image forming unit, an operation unit, and a communication board. The image forming portion is provided in the housing and forms an image on the sheet. The operation unit receives the operation of the image forming unit from the user. The communication board has a communication antenna capable of short-range wireless communication with an external device such as NFC (Near Field Communication).

The housing has a discharge tray and an operation unit. The ejection tray receives a sheet ejected toward the user located in front of the housing. The operation unit is located at the right end of the upper surface of the housing in the left-right direction. The communication board is located at the left end in the left-right direction in the housing.

In this image forming apparatus, it is possible to operate the image forming section through the operating section. Further, in this image forming apparatus, by holding an external device over a communication board, for example, an image stored in the external device can be formed on a sheet by an image forming unit.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2014-106481

However, in the conventional image forming apparatus, the operation unit is located at the right end of the upper surface of the housing in the left-right direction, while the communication board is located at the left end of the inside of the housing in the left-right direction. That is, the operation unit and the communication board are separately located at both ends in the left-right direction. Therefore, in this image forming apparatus, it is difficult to operate the operation unit while performing short-range wireless communication between the communication board and the external device, and the convenience is low.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned conventional circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of exhibiting high convenience.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a housing and a housing.
An image forming portion provided in the housing and forming an image on the sheet,
An operation unit that accepts operations of the image forming unit and
A communication board having a communication antenna capable of short-range wireless communication with an external device is provided.
The housing has a discharge tray that receives a sheet to be discharged in the first direction, and an operation unit located at one end in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction on the upper surface.
The communication board is located at one end of the second direction in the housing and below the operation unit.
The mark indicating the communication antenna is characterized in that it is provided on the first side surface of the housing, which is located at one end of the second direction.

In the image forming apparatus of the present invention, both the operation unit and the communication board are arranged at one end in the second direction in the housing. Further, the communication board is located below the operation unit. As a result, in this image forming apparatus, the operation unit and the communication board are arranged at close positions. In this image forming apparatus, a mark indicating the position of the communication antenna for holding the external device is provided on the first side surface. Therefore, by holding the external device over the mark, the communication board and the external device are separated from each other. You can perform short-range wireless communication with. In this way, according to this image forming apparatus, it is possible to easily operate the operation unit while performing short-range wireless communication with an external device.

The image forming apparatus of the present invention can exhibit high convenience.

It is an overall perspective view of the laser printer of an Example. It is a block block diagram of the laser printer of an Example and an external device. It is a front view of the laser printer of an Example. It is a left side view of the laser printer of an Example. FIG. 5 is a left side view illustrating a transport roller and a support frame according to the laser printer of the embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the operation part with respect to the laser printer of an Example. It is a perspective view of the state which concerns on the laser printer of an Example, and has removed the left side wall of a housing.

Hereinafter, examples embodying the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the laser printer 100 of the embodiment is an example of a specific embodiment of the image forming apparatus of the present invention. In FIG. 1, the user side standing in front of the housing 1 is defined as the front side of the laser printer 100, the right side of the laser printer 100 is defined as the right side when viewed from the user, and the front-back, left-right, and up-down directions are displayed. do. Then, each direction shown in each figure after FIG. 3 is displayed corresponding to each direction shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, the laser printer 100 includes a housing 1 having a substantially quadrangular prism shape. The image forming unit 21 shown in FIG. 2 is built in the housing 1. The image forming unit 21 forms an image on the sheet conveyed by the sheet conveying unit 23 by an electrophotographic method.

As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 1 is located at the left end 1L in the left-right direction, is located on the left side surface 1A adjacent to the image forming portion 21 in the left-right direction, and is located at the right end in the left-right direction, and is located at the right end in the left-right direction. The right side surface 1B adjacent to 21 and the front side surface 1C located at the front end in the front-rear direction and adjacent to the image forming unit 21 in the front-rear direction, and adjacent to the image forming unit 21 in the front-rear direction. It has a rear side surface 1D and a rear side surface.

The left side surface 1A, the right side surface 1B, the front side surface 1C, and the rear side surface 1D extend vertically. The left side surface 1A and the front side surface 1C are orthogonal to each other, and the left side surface 1A and the rear side surface 1D are orthogonal to each other. The right side surface 1B and the front side surface 1C are also orthogonal to each other, and the right side surface 1B and the rear side surface 1D are also orthogonal to each other. Therefore, the left side surface 1A and the right side surface 1B are parallel, and the front side surface 1C and the rear side surface 1D are also parallel.

Further, the housing 1 has an upper surface 1E and a lower surface 1F. The upper surface 1E and the lower surface 1F extend horizontally. Therefore, the upper surface 1E and the lower surface 1F are orthogonal to the left side surface 1A, the right side surface 1B, the front side surface 1C, and the rear side surface 1D, and the upper surface 1E and the lower surface 1F are parallel to each other. The left side surface 1A corresponds to the first side surface according to the present invention, and the front side surface 1C corresponds to the second side surface according to the present invention. Further, a power key 1S is provided at the right end of the upper surface 1E.

A discharge tray 23B is formed on the upper surface 1E. More specifically, the upper surface 1E is partially recessed downward, and a discharge port 23A that opens forward is formed on the wall on the rear side of the recess.
The discharge tray 23B is provided in the lower portion of the recess. The discharge port 23A and the discharge tray 23B constitute a sheet transport unit 23. The sheet transport unit 23 discharges the sheet from the discharge port 23A forward onto the discharge tray 23B in the front-rear direction.

The housing 1 has a left side wall 11 that forms the left side surface 1A. The left side wall 11 corresponds to the first side wall of the present invention. The left side wall 11 has a main body portion 11M facing the image forming portion 21 in the left-right direction, and a first protruding portion 11P protruding to the left of the main body portion 11M. The first protruding portion 11P is arranged at a position closer to the front side surface 1C than the center in the front-rear direction of the housing 1.

Further, the housing 1 has an upper wall 13 forming the upper surface 1E. The upper wall 13 has a second protruding portion 13P that protrudes upward and extends forward while inclining downward to connect with the first protruding portion 11P. The second protruding portion 13P is located on the opposite side of the discharge tray of the power key 1S in the left-right direction.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the NFC substrate 31 is provided in the first protruding portion 11P, and at least a part of the operating portion 290 is provided in the second protruding portion 13P. The NFC board 31 is located at the left end 1L in the housing 1 and below the operation unit 290. The operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 overlap each other in the vertical direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, the NFC board 31 is connected to a communication circuit 31A, a loop-shaped communication antenna 31B connected to the communication circuit 31A to enable NFC communication, and connected to the communication circuit 31A via the communication antenna 31B. It has a detection unit 31C for detecting whether or not NFC communication is being performed. The NFC board 31 corresponds to the communication board of the present invention. As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the communication antenna 31B is formed around the opening 31F of the NFC substrate 31.
As shown in FIG. 6, the operation unit 290 is composed of a touch panel 29 in which a display and a switch are integrated, and the second protrusion 13P described above. The operation unit 290 can accept various operations by the user touching the surface of the touch panel 29.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the image forming unit 21 has a transport roller 21A for transporting the sheet and a metal support frame 21B that rotatably supports the transport roller 21A. The support frame 21B is held vertically in the housing 1, and the rotating shaft 21C of the transport roller 21A extends horizontally to the left and right by the support frame 21B.

Further, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the resin holder 37 is fixed to the support frame 21B so that the resin holder 37 is located in the first protrusion 11P, and the NFC substrate 31 is held by the holder 37. The NFC substrate 31 is positioned so as to face the portion of the left side wall 11 that forms the first protrusion 11P. As shown in FIG. 5, the support frame 21B and the NFC substrate 31 are separated from each other in the vertical direction. Further, the holder 37 holds an FFC 40 that connects an operation panel board (not shown) and a main board.

A quadrangular opening 30A is formed in the second protruding portion 13P, and a touch panel 29 is provided in the opening 30A. A sheet metal 30 is provided on the back side of the touch panel 29, and an LCD (liquid crystal display) 35 is held on the back side of the sheet metal 30. The sheet metal 30 corresponds to the static electricity removing member of the present invention, and removes static electricity acting on the touch panel 29 and the operation unit 290 from the outside of the housing 1. The FG line 30B extends downward from the sheet metal 30. One end of the FG wire 30B is connected to the sheet metal 30, is wound around the core 350 in the middle, and the other end is connected to the support frame 21B. With this configuration, noise transmitted from the sheet metal 30 to the FG line 30B is removed by the core 350. The core 350 is housed in the holder 37 on the opposite side of the NFC substrate 31 with respect to the left side wall 11 in the left-right direction. The FG wire 30B is connected to the support frame 21B via a core 350 by a metal wire (not shown). The core 350 corresponds to the noise removing member according to the present invention. The NFC substrate 31 and the core 350 are also separated in the left-right direction. The FG line 30B corresponds to the ground line of the present invention, and as shown in FIG. 6, the FG line 30B is viewed from the left-right direction, which is a direction orthogonal to the substrate surface of the communication board with respect to the communication antenna 31B. Are separated. In other words, the FG line 30B is at a position that does not overlap with the communication antenna 31B when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the substrate surface of the communication board.

As shown in FIG. 2, a control unit 33 is provided in the housing 1. The control unit 33 is configured as a microcomputer mainly composed of a CPU, ROM, and RAM, and is connected to a storage unit (not shown). The ROM stores programs and the like for the CPU to control various operations of the laser printer 100. The RAM is used as a storage area for temporarily recording data and signals used by the CPU when executing the program, or as a work area for data processing. The control unit 33 is connected to the image forming unit 21, the sheet transport unit 23, the operation unit 290, and the NFC board 31 by a control bus.

The external device 60 such as a smartphone owned by the user is connected to the communication circuit 60A, the loop-shaped communication antenna 60B connected to the communication circuit 60A to enable NFC communication, and connected to the communication circuit 60A via the communication antenna 60B. It has a detection unit 60C for detecting whether or not NFC communication is being performed.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, the first protrusion 11P on the left side wall 11 of the housing 1 is provided with a mark 31M indicating the communication antenna 31B. Since the first protruding portion 11P is arranged at a position closer to the front side surface 1C than the center in the front-rear direction of the housing 1, the operation unit 290 and the mark 31M are also located closer to the front side surface 1C than the center in the front-rear direction. Have been placed.

In the laser printer 100 configured as described above, the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 are both arranged at the left end 1L in the left-right direction in the housing 1. Further, the NFC board 31 is located below the operation unit 290. As a result, in the laser printer 100, the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 are arranged at close positions. In this laser printer 100, since the mark 31M indicating the position of the communication antenna 31B for holding the external device 60 is provided on the left side wall 11, the external device 60 can be brought close to the mark 31M or the mark 31M can be used. NFC communication can be performed between the NFC board 31 and the external device 60 by holding the external device 60 over or by bringing the external device 60 into contact with the first protruding portion 11P provided with the mark 31M. .. In this way, according to the laser printer 100, it is possible to easily operate the operation unit 290, more specifically, the touch panel 29, while performing NFC communication with the external device 60. In addition, other operations such as authentication to the owner of the external device 60 may be performed by communication between the communication antenna 60B of the external device 60 and the communication antenna 31B of the NFC board 31.

In particular, in this laser printer 100, since the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 overlap each other in the vertical direction, the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 can be arranged closer to each other. Therefore, in this laser printer 100, it is possible to operate the operation unit 290 more easily while performing NFC communication.

Further, in this laser printer 100, since the NFC substrate 31 is provided in the first protruding portion 11P, the communication antenna 31B is also provided in the first protruding portion 11P. Therefore, it is easy to identify the location where the external device 60 is brought close to when performing NFC communication. Further, since the first protruding portion 11P protrudes toward the outside of the housing 1 in the left-right direction from the main body portion 11M, it is easy to bring the external device 60 closer to the first protruding portion 11P. Therefore, in this laser printer 100, NFC communication can be suitably performed.

Further, in this laser printer 100, since a part of the operation unit 290 is provided on the second protrusion 13P, the operation unit 290 is arranged at a position close to the first protrusion 11P on the left side wall 11. Therefore, in this laser printer 100, NFC communication and operation of the operation unit 290 can be performed more easily.

Further, in this laser printer 100, since the operation unit 290 and the mark 31M are arranged at a position closer to the front side surface 1C than the center in the front-rear direction, the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 are arranged at a position closer to the user. There is. Therefore, in this laser printer 100, NFC communication and operation of the operation unit 290 can be performed more easily.

Further, in this laser printer 100, since the support frame 21B and the NFC board 31 are separated from each other in the left-right direction, the support frame 21B communicates between the external device 60 and the communication antenna 31B, and by extension, between the external device 60 and the NFC board 31. It's hard to prevent. As a result, the laser printer 100 can suitably perform NFC communication.

Further, in this laser printer 100, since the NFC board 31 and the core 350 are separated from each other in the left-right direction, the core 350 is housed in the holder 37 in a state of being displaced in the vertical direction or the front-back direction with respect to the NFC board 31, for example. Compared to the configuration, the holder 37 can be miniaturized in the vertical direction and the front-rear direction. Therefore, the holder 37 can be suitably arranged in the housing 1 while reducing the size of the housing 1 in the vertical direction and the front-back direction. Further, since the FG line 30B and the communication antenna 31B of the NFC board 31 are separated from each other when viewed from the direction orthogonal to the board surface of the NFC board, NFC communication can be preferably performed.

Further, in this laser printer 100, since the support frame 21B is arranged below the NFC board 31 while being separated from the NFC board 31, the support frame 21B is unlikely to interfere with the communication between the external device 60 and the NFC board 31. .. As a result, the laser printer 100 can suitably perform NFC communication.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to the examples, it is needless to say that the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and can be appropriately modified and applied without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in the embodiment, the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 are both arranged at the left end 1L of the housing 1, but the operation unit 290 and the NFC board 31 may both be arranged at the right end of the housing 1. Further, even if the left side wall 11 forming the left side surface 1A is flat without the first protrusion 11P and the mark 31M is formed at a position corresponding to the communication antenna 31B on the left side surface 1A. good.

As an external device, an IC card or the like can be adopted in addition to a smartphone.

Further, the communication board 30 may be located not only below the touch panel 29 but also below the second protruding portion 13P as long as it is located below the operation unit 290.

Further, the operation unit 290 may have an operation switch that is separate from the display, instead of the touch panel 29. Also in this case, the communication board 30 may be located below the operation switch as well as below the second protrusion 13P as long as it is below the operation unit 290.

In the present invention, this substantially orthogonality is not limited to 90 °. For example, the range of 80 ° to 100 ° is preferable, and further, it may be larger than 45 ° and less than 135 °.

The present invention can be used not only for laser printers but also for, for example, multifunction devices.

1 ... Housing, 21 ... Image forming unit, 290 ... Operation unit, 60 ... External device, 31B ... Communication antenna, 31 ... Communication board (NFC board), 23B ... Discharge tray, 1E ... Top surface, 1L ... One end (left end) , 31M ... mark, 1A ... first side surface, 11 ... first side wall (left wall), 11M ... main body, 11P ... first protrusion, 13 ... upper wall, 13P ... second protrusion, 23A ... discharge port, 1C ... 2nd side surface, 21B ... Static electricity removing member, support frame, 37 ... Holder, 350 ... Noise removing member (core), 21A ... Conveying roller

Claims (9)

With the housing
An image forming portion provided in the housing and forming an image on the sheet,
An operation unit that accepts operations of the image forming unit and
A communication board having a communication antenna capable of short-range wireless communication with an external device is provided.
The housing has a discharge tray that receives a sheet to be discharged in the first direction, and an operation unit located at one end in a second direction orthogonal to the first direction on the upper surface.
The communication board is located at one end of the second direction in the housing and below the operation unit.
An image forming apparatus, characterized in that the mark indicating the communication antenna is provided on a first side surface of the housing, which is located at one end of the second direction. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the operation unit and the communication board overlap each other in the first direction. The housing has a first side wall that forms the first side surface.
The first side wall has a main body portion facing the image forming portion in the second direction and a main body portion.
It has a first protruding portion that protrudes in the second direction from the main body portion, and has.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the communication antenna is provided in the first protruding portion. The housing has an upper wall forming the upper surface and has an upper wall.
The upper wall has a second protrusion that projects in the first direction and extends downward to connect to the first protrusion.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the operation unit is at least partially provided on the second protrusion. The housing has a second side surface located downstream of the sheet ejection port in the first direction and the third direction orthogonal to the second direction.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the operation unit and the mark are arranged at positions closer to the second side surface than the center of the third direction. Inside the housing, a metal static electricity removing member for removing static electricity acting on the operation unit from the outside of the housing is provided.
The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the static electricity removing member and the communication board are separated from each other. The housing has a holder for holding the communication board.
The static electricity removing member is connected to one end of the ground wire, and the ground wire is wound around the noise removing member that removes noise acting on the operation unit.
The noise removing member is housed in the holder on the opposite side of the communication substrate with respect to the first side wall in the second direction.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the communication board and the noise removing member are separated from each other in the second direction. The housing has a holder for holding the communication board.
The static electricity removing member is connected to one end of the ground wire, and the ground wire is wound around the noise removing member that removes noise acting on the operation unit.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the ground line and the communication antenna of the communication board are separated from each other when viewed from a direction orthogonal to the substrate surface of the communication board. The image forming unit includes a transport roller for transporting the sheet and a transport roller.
With a metal support frame that rotatably supports the transport roller,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 to 8, wherein the support frame is arranged below the communication board while being separated from the communication board.

Images