JP2022150561A - Image reading device and image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent a document having a narrow width and long in a conveyance direction from hanging down from a notch part in an image reading device in which a document is placed with reference to a near side of a placement part.SOLUTION: An image reading device 20 comprises: a document tray 2 that has a placement surface 3b on which a document is placed; an ejection tray 5 onto which the document is ejected; and an operation unit 101 that receives reading start instructions issued by a user. The document tray 2 has an abutment part 3a against which one end of the document is abutted on its near side in a width direction, a side regulation plate 31 that regulates the other end of the document, a notch part 30, and an auxiliary support surface 32 provided movably in the width direction together with the regulation plate 31. The auxiliary support surface 32 moves to the notch part 30 in association with the movement of the side regulation plate 31 approaching the abutment part 3a and is retracted from the notch part 30 in association with the movement of the side regulation plate 31 going away from the abutment part 3a.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

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

Conventionally, an image reading device such as a scanner or an image reading device provided in a copier or the like is known to feed a document set on a loading section and read an image of the document by a reading section. . In such an image reading device, there is a device in which a document is set in a state in which one end in the width direction of the document is abutted against an abutting portion provided on the front side of the placing portion as seen from the user (Patent Document 1). Reference 1). In this way, even if the document stack includes documents of different widths, the user can place the document stack on the desk or on the top surface of the image reading device. Usability is high because it is possible to set the document without changing its orientation after arranging it.

Further, when the discharge section for discharging the document whose image has been read is provided below the document tray, the document on the discharge section weighs against the document tray and visibility is poor. It becomes difficult to remove from the Therefore, in Patent Document 2, a notch is provided on the front side of the placing section and on the upstream side in the feeding direction so that the user can visually recognize the document on the discharge section through the notch.

JP-A-7-072685 Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-150968

In an image reading apparatus and an image forming apparatus in which a document is set with reference to the front side of the document placement section, if a notch is provided in the front side of the document placement section, the document that is narrow and long in the conveying direction is notched. It hangs down from the bottom. Therefore, there is a possibility that the document discharged to the discharge section collides with the document hanging down from the notch, leading to a jam in the discharge section.

The present invention prevents a document that is narrow and long in the conveying direction from hanging downward from a notch in an image reading apparatus and an image forming apparatus in which a document is set with reference to the front side of a placing section. With the goal.

The image reading apparatus of the present invention includes a placing section having a placement surface on which a document is placed, a feeding section for feeding the document placed on the placing section in a feeding direction, and the feeding section. a reading unit that reads an image of a document fed by a unit; a discharge unit that is provided below the loading unit and discharges the document read by the reading unit; and wherein the placing portion is arranged on the front side when the operation portion is viewed from the front in the width direction perpendicular to the feeding direction so as not to move in the width direction with respect to the placing surface. and an abutting portion against which one end of the document on the front side in the width direction abuts; a notch provided on the front side in the width direction and the upstream side in the feeding direction of the placement section; and a movement support surface for supporting the document, wherein the movement support surface moves to the notch as the restriction portion moves closer to the abutment portion, and the restriction portion moves toward the cutout portion. It is characterized by retreating from the notch part as it moves away from the abutment part.

Further, the image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a placing portion having a placing surface on which a document is placed, a feeding portion for feeding the document placed on the placing portion in a feeding direction, and a reading unit that reads an image of a document fed by a feeding unit; a discharge unit that is provided below the loading unit and discharges the document read by the reading unit; and receives a reading start instruction from a user. An operation unit and an image forming unit for forming an image on a recording sheet are provided. an abutting portion provided so as not to move in the width direction with respect to the placement surface and against which one end of the front side of the document in the width direction abuts; a regulating portion for regulating the other widthwise end of the document placed on the placing portion; and a movement support surface that is provided movably in the width direction together with the restriction portion and supports the document, wherein the movement support surface moves such that the restriction portion approaches the abutting portion. It is characterized by moving to the notch part along with it, and retracting from the notch part as the restricting part moves away from the abutment part.

According to the present invention, in an image reading apparatus and an image forming apparatus in which a document is set with reference to the front side of the placing section, the document that is narrow and long in the conveying direction is prevented from hanging downward from the notch. By doing so, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of jams.

1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus; FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the image reading device; 1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to a first embodiment; FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the document tray according to the first embodiment; FIG. (a) is a perspective view of a tray body according to the first embodiment. (b) is a perspective view of a side regulating plate according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a perspective view of an image reading apparatus according to a second embodiment;

[First Embodiment]
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following embodiments are specific examples of the present invention, and do not limit the technical scope of the present invention. In addition, the same reference numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts throughout each drawing.

<Image forming apparatus>
First, the image forming apparatus 100 of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image forming apparatus 100. FIG. As shown in FIG. 1 , the image forming apparatus 100 includes an apparatus main body 1 and an image reading device 20 on the upper portion of the apparatus main body 1 . The apparatus main body 1 has an image forming section that forms an image on recording paper. The image forming section of the apparatus main body 1 is configured as a conventionally well-known electrophotographic print engine, and incorporates a laser writing section, an electrophotographic processing section, a fixing section, and the like (not shown). The device main body 1 can form an image on a recording sheet based on the image information of the document read by the image reading device 20 . The image forming method of the apparatus main body 1 may be another method such as an inkjet method.

The image forming apparatus 100 also has an operation unit 101 that receives input from a user. The operation unit 101 includes a start switch 28 for a user to issue an image formation start instruction or a reading start instruction, and an operation panel 29 for displaying information for the user. The user can also operate the image forming apparatus 100 by directly touching the operation panel 29 . Note that hereinafter, the front side of the image forming apparatus 100 when the user views the operation unit 101 from the front is referred to as the "front side", and the rear side is referred to as the "rear side". Here, viewing the operation unit 101 from the front means viewing the operation unit 101 from a position where characters displayed on the operation panel 29 can be seen correctly in the vertical direction.

<Image reader>
Next, the configuration of the image reading device 20 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the image reading device 20. As shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 1, the image reading device 20 has an image reading section 19 and an automatic document feeder (hereinafter referred to as ADF) 14 . The image reading section 19 is a flatbed scanner having a transparent scanning glass 16, a transparent glass plate 18 on which a document is placed, and a first reading unit 17a which is a reading section for reading the image of the document. is. The first reading unit 17a includes a light source, a lens, a light-receiving element (not shown), and the like, and reads an image of a document by photoelectrically converting light from the document. The first reading unit 17a is movable in the sub-scanning direction (arrow T in FIG. 2) along the glass plate 18 by a rail (not shown) provided inside the image reading section 19 and an optical motor. ing. Here, the sub-scanning direction is a direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction in which the plurality of light receiving elements of the first reading unit 17a are arranged.

The ADF 14 is provided to be openable and closable with respect to the image reading section 19 by a hinge section (not shown). When the ADF 14 is opened with respect to the image reading section 19, the glass plate 18 is exposed to the outside of the apparatus. The ADF 14 has a document tray 2 serving as a placement portion for placing documents thereon. As shown in FIG. 2, a discharge tray 5 as a discharge section is provided below the document tray 2 . The ADF 14 has a pickup roller 15 which is a feeding unit that feeds the documents placed on the document tray 2 in the feeding direction F, and a feed roller 21 and a retard roller 22 that separate the documents one by one. there is The pickup roller 15 is provided in the vicinity of an abutment portion 3a, which will be described later, on the front side of the document tray 2 relative to the center thereof in the main scanning direction. The retard roller 22 is connected to a torque limiter (not shown), and is driven in the direction opposite to the document transport direction. Further, the ADF 14 includes a registration roller pair (hereinafter referred to as a REG roller pair) 23 for conveying the document, a first read roller pair 25, a second read roller pair 26, and a discharge roller pair 27. have. The ADF 14 has a second reading unit 17 b between the first read roller pair 25 and the second read roller pair 26 . The second reading unit 17b has the same configuration as the first reading unit 17a, and reads the image of the document conveyed by the ADF14.

Next, the image reading operation of the image reading device 20 will be described with reference to FIG. The image reading device 20 can perform image reading operations in two modes: a skimming mode and a fixed reading mode. In the case of the flow reading mode, the image reading device 20 reads the image of the document bundle G set on the document tray 2 by the user. In the fixed reading mode, the image reading device 20 reads an image of a document placed on the glass plate 18 by the user. When the user presses the start switch 28, the image reading apparatus 20 shifts to the feed reading mode when a document detection sensor (not shown) detects a document on the document tray 2, and the document detection sensor detects the document tray. If the document on 2 is not detected, the mode shifts to the fixed mode.

First, the skimming mode will be described. When the user presses the start switch 28 to issue a reading start instruction, the first reading unit 17a stands by at a position below the scanning glass 16 (the position shown in FIG. 2). The pickup roller 15 rotates in contact with the uppermost document of the bundle of documents G stacked on the document tray 2, feeds the uppermost document in the feeding direction F, and receives it by the feed roller 21 and the retard roller 22. hand over. The feed roller 21 rotates in the document conveying direction to feed the document received from the pickup roller 15 toward the REG roller pair 23 . When only one document is transported to the retard roller 22 , the retard roller 22 is rotated in the transport direction by the document transported by the feed roller 21 . However, when two or more documents are overlapped and conveyed to the retard roller 22 , the retard roller 22 rotates in the opposite direction of the conveying direction and pushes back the documents other than the topmost one to the document tray 2 . As a result, the uppermost document is transported in the transport direction, while the second and subsequent documents remain on the document tray 2 .

The REG roller pair 23 is on standby in a stopped state, and the leading edge of the document conveyed by the feed roller 21 abuts against the stopped REG roller pair, thereby correcting the skew of the document. After that, the REG roller pair 23 starts rotating in time with the reading timing of the document, and transfers the document to the first read roller pair 25 . The first read roller pair 25 conveys the document to the reading area on the flow reading glass 16 . The document conveyed by the first read roller pair 25 is read through the scanning glass 16 by the first reading unit 17a for the image on the front side, and is read for the image on the back side by the second reading unit 17b. Here, the front side of the document is the upper side when the document is placed on the document tray 2 , and the back side is the lower side when the document is placed on the document tray 2 . Note that the image reading device 20 can read only the front side of the document with the first reading unit 17a without executing the image reading with the second reading unit 17b.

The document conveyed by the first read roller pair 25 is transferred to the second read roller pair 26 . Then, the original having the image read is discharged to the discharge tray 5 by the discharge roller pair 27 . The image reading device 20 repeats the feeding operation described above until the images of all the documents in the document stack G stacked on the document tray 2 are read.

Next, fixed reading mode will be described. When the user places a document on the glass plate 18 , the glass plate 18 is exposed by opening the ADF 14 with respect to the image reading unit 19 . After placing the document on the glass plate 18 , the user closes the ADF 14 , whereby the document is pressed against the glass plate 18 by the lower surface of the ADF 14 and fixed in position. In this state, when the user presses the start switch 28 to issue an instruction to start reading, the first reading unit 17a scans the document placed on the glass plate 18 while moving in the sub-scanning direction. Thereby, the image reading device 20 can read the image of the document placed on the glass plate 18 .

<Document tray>
Next, the configuration of the document tray 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. FIG. 3(a) is a perspective view of the image reading device 20 when the side regulation plate 31 is positioned on the farthest side, and FIG. 3(b) shows the side regulation plate 31 positioned on the farthest side. FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the image reading device 20 at this time; FIG. 4A is a perspective view of the document tray 2 when the side regulation plate 31 is positioned furthest to the back, and FIG. 4B is a perspective view of the document tray 2 when the side regulation plate 31 is positioned furthest to the front. 2 is a perspective view of the document tray 2 of FIG. 5A is a perspective view of the tray body 3 of the document tray 2, and FIG. 5B is a perspective view of the side regulation plate 31 of the document tray 2. FIG.

The document tray 2 is composed of a tray body 3 shown in FIG. 5(a) and a side regulation plate 31 as a regulation portion shown in FIG. 5(b). The tray main body 3 includes an abutting portion 3a against which the front side (operation unit 101 side) end in the width direction of the document is abutted when the document is set on the document tray 2, and a placing portion on which the document is placed. and a surface 3b. Here, the width direction is a direction perpendicular to the feeding direction F. As shown in FIG. The abutting portion 3 a does not move in the width direction with respect to the placement surface 3 b and serves as a reference for the position of the document when the user sets the document on the document tray 2 . Further, the tray body 3 is provided with a notch portion 30 on the front side in the width direction and on the upstream side in the feeding direction F. As shown in FIG. That is, when viewed from above, the stacking surface 3b has a substantially rectangular shape with the lower right area missing. The notch 30 is formed such that at least a portion thereof is located on the back side of the abutting portion 3a. Further, the notch portion 30 is arranged so as to straddle a straight line extending along the feeding direction F from the center of the pickup roller 15 in the width direction. The notch 30 is an area surrounded by broken lines in FIGS. 3 to 5, and the user can visually recognize the document on the discharge tray 5 through the notch 30 as shown in FIG. 3(a). It is possible.

The side regulating plate 31 has a regulating surface 31a for regulating the rear end of the document in the width direction, and a support surface 31b and an auxiliary support surface 32 for supporting the document together with the stacking surface 3b. The auxiliary support surface 32 is a movement support surface in this embodiment. Further, the side regulating plate 31 is provided with two projecting portions 31c projecting downward on the back side of the support surface 31b. As shown in FIG. 4, the side regulating plate 31 is attached to the tray body 3 so that the auxiliary support surface 32 is inserted into the hole 33 provided under the stacking surface 3b. At this time, the protruding portion 31c of the side restricting plate 31 fits into the slide groove 34 of the tray body 3. As shown in FIG. The side regulating plate 31 attached to the tray body 3 in this manner is movable in the width direction (arrow A in FIG. 4(a)).

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 4A, when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the far side, the auxiliary support surface 32 is positioned below the loading surface 3b. On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3B and 4B, when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the front side, the auxiliary support surface 32 protrudes from the hole 33 and is positioned at the notch 30. is doing. That is, the auxiliary support surface 32 moves toward the notch 30 as the side regulating plate 31 moves closer to the abutting portion 3a, and the side regulating plate 31 moves away from the abutting portion 3a. It retreats from the notch part 30 in connection with this.

When a user sets a document, first, the front end of the document is abutted against the abutment portion 3a of the document tray 2 and set. Then, the user moves the side regulating plate 31 in the width direction according to the width of the document, so that the other end of the document is regulated by the regulating surface 31a. Therefore, when a wide document is set on the document tray 2, the auxiliary support surface 32 is retracted from the notch 30, and when a narrow document is set on the document tray 2, the auxiliary support surface 32 is retracted. 32 is positioned in the notch 30 . When a wide document is set on the document tray 2, the upstream side of the document in the feeding direction F is supported by the placement surface 3b, so that the document does not hang down from the notch 30 much. On the other hand, when a document having a narrow width and a long length in the transport direction is set on the document tray 2, the notch 30 exists, so the upstream side of the document in the transport direction F is not supported by the placement surface 3b. However, in the present embodiment, when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the front side, the auxiliary support surface 32 is present in the notch 30, so that the rear side of the document that is narrow and long in the conveying direction. It is possible to suppress the end from hanging down from the notch 30 . As a result, it is possible to reduce jamming caused by the collision of the document discharged by the discharge roller pair 27 with the document hanging down from the document tray 2 .

Also, depending on the usage by the user, a plurality of documents having different lengths in the width direction may be set on the document tray 2 . In such a case, the user often places the originals upright on a desk or the top surface of the apparatus, aligning the lower edges of the originals, and then sets the originals. Since the document tray 2 in the present embodiment is provided with the abutment portion 3a on the front side as a reference for setting the document, the user can set the aligned document on the document tray 2 without changing the direction of the document. . Therefore, the document tray 2 in this embodiment can improve usability when a plurality of documents having different lengths in the width direction are set on the document tray 2 . In the case of the depth side reference, the user needs to change the orientation of the document so that the aligned end portion of the document faces the depth side before setting.

Further, when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the far side, the auxiliary supporting surface 32 is retracted from the cutout portion 30, so that the user can visually recognize the wide document when it is discharged to the discharge tray 5. improve sexuality. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the auxiliary support surface 32 moves below the mounting surface 3b. As a result, when the user moves the side regulating plate 31 after placing a document on the document tray 2, the back end of the document collides with the front end of the auxiliary support surface 32, causing the document to fall. Damage can be suppressed.

In this embodiment, the operation unit 101 is provided on the front surface of the apparatus main body 1 , but the operation unit 101 may be provided on the front surface of the image reading device 20 . Further, in the present embodiment, the abutment portion 3a is formed integrally with the tray body 3, but the abutment portion 3a is formed as a separate member from the tray body 3 so that the abutment portion 3a is formed in front of the tray body 3. It may be configured to be fixed to the side end. Further, although the auxiliary support surface 32 in the present embodiment has a shape that partially covers the notch 30 , the auxiliary support surface 32 may have a shape that covers the entire notch 30 . In addition, in the present embodiment, the auxiliary support surface 32 is formed integrally with the side regulating plate 31, but the auxiliary support surface 32 is formed as a separate member from the side regulating plate 31 so that the auxiliary support surface 32 is formed as a side regulating plate. It may be configured such that it moves along with the movement of the plate 31 .

<Modification>
In this embodiment, the auxiliary support surface 32 may be made of a transparent material. When the auxiliary support surface 32 is made of a transparent material, the user can reach the output tray 5 through the transparent auxiliary support surface 32 and the notch 30 even when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the front side. It is possible to view the manuscript above. Therefore, even when a document having a narrow width and being long in the transport direction is conveyed, it is possible to improve the visibility of the document discharged to the discharge tray 5 .

[Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, in the second embodiment, the configuration other than the document tray 2 is the same as that in the first embodiment, so the description thereof is omitted.

FIG. 6A is a perspective view of the image reading device 20 when the side regulation plate 31 is positioned furthest to the back, and FIG. 6B is a perspective view of the side regulation plate 31 positioned furthest to the front. 2 is a perspective view of the image reading device 20 at that time; FIG. As in the first embodiment, the document tray 2 in the present embodiment has an abutting portion 3a at the front end in the width direction, and is cut to the front side in the width direction and the upstream side in the feeding direction F. It has a notch 30 . When the original is set, the front end of the original is abutted against the abutting portion 3a. A side regulating plate 31 is provided on the document tray 2 so as to be movable in the width direction (arrow A). The side regulating plate 31 has a regulating surface 31a that regulates the rear end of the document set on the document tray 2, and a support surface 31b that supports the document from below. The support surface 31b in this embodiment has a shape elongated in the feeding direction F, and moves on the stacking surface 3b of the document tray 2 in the width direction.

As shown in FIG. 6A, when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the far side, the support surface 31b is positioned so as not to cover the notch 30. As shown in FIG. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6(b), when the side regulating plate 31 is positioned on the near side, the support surface 31b is positioned so that a portion of the support surface 31b covers a portion of the notch 30. is doing. As a result, in the present embodiment, as in the first embodiment, when a document having a narrow width and being long in the conveying direction is set on the document tray 2, the rear end of the document hangs down from the notch 30. can be suppressed.

1 device body 2 document tray 14 ADF
19 Image reading unit 31 Side regulation plate 32 Auxiliary support surface 100 Image forming apparatus 101 Operation unit

Claims (10)

a placement portion having a placement surface on which the document is placed;
a feeding unit that feeds the document placed on the placing unit in a feeding direction;
a reading unit that reads an image of the document fed by the feeding unit;
a discharge unit provided below the loading unit for discharging the document read by the reading unit;
an operation unit that receives a reading start instruction from a user;
with
The placing section is
In the width direction perpendicular to the feeding direction, the front side when the operation unit is viewed from the front is provided so as not to move in the width direction with respect to the placement surface, and the an abutting portion against which one end on the front side is abutted;
a regulating portion movably provided in the width direction and regulating the other end in the width direction of the document placed on the placing portion;
a notch provided on the front side in the width direction of the placement section and on the upstream side in the feeding direction;
a movement support surface that is provided movably in the width direction together with the restricting portion and supports a document;
has
The movement support surface moves to the cutout portion as the restricting portion moves closer to the abutting portion, and moves away from the abutting portion as the restricting portion moves away from the abutting portion. The image reading device, wherein the image reading device is retracted from the notch. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said moving support surface moves below said mounting surface. 3. The image reader according to claim 1, wherein said movement support surface is made of a transparent material. the feeding unit includes a pick-up roller that rotates in contact with the document placed on the placing unit;
4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cutout portion is arranged so as to straddle a straight line passing through the center of the pickup roller and along the feeding direction in the width direction. The described image reader. 5. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein at least a part of said notch portion is located on the back side of said abutting portion. a placement portion having a placement surface on which the document is placed;
a feeding unit that feeds the document placed on the placing unit in a feeding direction;
a reading unit that reads an image of the document fed by the feeding unit;
a discharge unit provided below the loading unit for discharging the document read by the reading unit;
an operation unit that receives a reading start instruction from a user;
an image forming unit that forms an image on recording paper;
with
The placing section is
In the width direction perpendicular to the feeding direction, the front side when the operation unit is viewed from the front is provided so as not to move in the width direction with respect to the placement surface, and the an abutting portion against which one end on the front side is abutted;
a regulating portion movably provided in the width direction and regulating the other end in the width direction of the document placed on the placing portion;
a notch provided on the front side in the width direction of the placement section and on the upstream side in the feeding direction;
a movement support surface that is provided movably in the width direction together with the restricting portion and supports a document;
has
The movement support surface moves to the cutout portion as the restricting portion moves closer to the abutting portion, and moves away from the abutting portion as the restricting portion moves away from the abutting portion. An image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming apparatus is retracted from the notch. 7. The image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said moving support surface moves below said mounting surface. 8. An image forming apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said movement supporting surface is made of a transparent material. the feeding unit includes a pick-up roller that rotates in contact with the document placed on the placing unit;
9. The apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the cutout portion is arranged so as to straddle a straight line passing through the center of the pickup roller and extending in the feeding direction in the width direction. The described image forming apparatus. 10. The image forming apparatus according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein at least a part of said notch portion is provided so as to be located on a deeper side than said abutment portion.

Images