JP2504554B2 - Electronic copy equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electronic copying apparatus that captures an image of a recording surface such as a blackboard and prints it out on a recording paper.

[Conventional technology]

In order to obtain a hard copy of a character or an image written on a so-called blackboard surface such as a blackboard or a whiteboard, or an image posted on these, various electronic copy devices incorporating a video camera and a printer have been proposed. There is.
These electronic copying apparatuses form an image to be imaged on an image pickup unit such as a CCD image sensor by an optical system,
An image is recorded on a recording sheet by a printer based on an image signal from the image pickup section.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention]

The above-mentioned electronic copying apparatus is generally installed and used on a desk in many cases. However, the height of the desk or the blackboard is not always constant, and the blackboard surface often comes out of the imaging range of the electronic copying apparatus. When a hard copy is created as it is, a part of the image to be recorded may be lost.

In such a case, as shown in FIG.
When 100 is tilted up and the blackboard surface 101 is placed within the imaging range, the optical axis 103 of the taking lens 102 is tilted with respect to the blackboard surface 101, so that a keystone effect, that is, an image accompanied by magnification distortion in the vertical direction is generated by the line sensor 105. A phenomenon occurs in which an image is formed on the imaging surface. For this reason, when trying to match the vertical image pickup range of the electronic copying apparatus 100 with the blackboard surface 101, the height must be adjusted while maintaining the posture of the apparatus horizontal. Will be very troublesome.

[Object of the Invention]

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic copying apparatus capable of easily performing a setting operation in the height direction.

[Means for solving the problem]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention comprises an optical system for forming an image on a recording surface such as a blackboard on an image pickup surface, and an image pickup means for picking up the image formed on the image pickup surface and outputting an image signal. Setting means for setting an effective image pickup area in the vertical direction in the image pickup surface according to the height of the blackboard surface, for example, a display frame slidably provided in the finder, and a detection means for detecting the slide position of the display frame And a printing means for printing on recording paper based on the image signal from the effective image pickup area set by the setting means.

[Action]

According to the above configuration, the electronic copying apparatus is set such that the blackboard surface is within the shooting range of the optical system in a wide range while looking further into the finder. After that, the display frame is adjusted while looking further into the finder to fit the image on the blackboard surface into the display frame. After that, when the detection means is activated, the effective image pickup area of the image pickup means is determined. Then, the printing means prints on the recording paper based on the image signal from the effective image pickup area.
Therefore, the image on the blackboard surface housed in the display frame is recorded on the recording paper, and it is possible to avoid missing a part of the upper or lower part of the image as in the conventional electronic copying apparatus. Disappear.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

〔Example〕

In FIG. 2 showing the external appearance of the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention, the main body 2 of the electronic copying apparatus has an image pickup unit 3 at the upper front.
Are formed. A handle 4 is formed behind the image pickup unit 3 so as to be easily carried when moving. An exposure opening 5 is formed on the front surface of the image pickup section 3, and a lens cover 6 formed of a transparent acrylic plate or the like is attached so as to be openable and closable so as to close the opening 5. A vibrating plate 7, which also functions as an ultrasonic oscillator and a receiver, is attached to the upper portion of the lens cover 6. This diaphragm 7 is about
The ultrasonic wave is transmitted with an elevation angle of 10 degrees, the ultrasonic wave reflected by the blackboard 13 is received, and the distance from the main body 2 to the blackboard 13 is detected.

On the top surface of the photographing unit 3, a start button 9 for starting image pickup,
A finder window 10 is provided. This finder window 10
The horizontal size switching knob 11 and the vertical range designation pin 12 are slidably provided to slide the black frame that defines the horizontal print range and the frame frame that defines the vertical print range, which will be described in detail below. ing.

Two large and small lids 15 and 16 are provided on the side surface of the main body 2 so as to be openable and closable. Inside the lid 15, there is built-in a print unit for recording an image within the print range on the blackboard surface. A discharge port 18 for discharging a thermosensitive recording paper 17 on which an image is recorded is formed between the lower end of the lid 15 and the main body 2. Note that an operation unit in which a main switch, a print mode switch, a density adjustment switch, and the like are arranged is provided inside the small lid 16.

In FIG. 1 showing the main part of the electronic copying apparatus, the lens cover 6 is fixed to a rotary shaft 20 and
It is biased clockwise by 21. A locking lever 22 is attached to the other end of the rotating shaft 20. A lens barrel 24 holding a taking lens 23 is rotatably provided behind the lens cover 6. This lens barrel 24
A tooth row portion 25 is formed in the tooth row 25, and the rotation of the pulse motor 27 is transmitted to the lens barrel 24 via a gear 26 meshing with the tooth row portion 25.

The pulse motor 27 is normally or reversely rotated by a distance measurement signal from an AF control unit described later. A reflective photosensor 30 for detecting the signal piece 29 fixed to the lens barrel 24 is provided in the vicinity of the lens barrel 24.
Detects that it has rotated clockwise and reached the initial position shown.

A cam 31 is integrally formed at the end of the lens barrel 24, and the cam 31 rotates clockwise by the forward rotation of the motor 27 to rotate the locking lever 22 counterclockwise. As a result, the lens cover 6 is retracted from the front surface of the taking lens 23.
The locking lever 22 is in contact with one end of the mirror rotation lever 32 positioned by the stopper 33 at the position shown in the figure, and positions the lens cover 6 on the front surface of the taking lens 23.

Behind the lens barrel 24, rotatable about a shaft 35,
A reversing mirror 34 that is spring-biased in the counterclockwise direction is provided. The inverting mirror 34 is provided with a pin 36.
Is in contact with the other end of the mirror rotation lever 32. The mirror rotation lever 32 is spring-biased in the counterclockwise direction, and the locking lever 22
When is rotated counterclockwise by the cam 31, the reversing mirror 34 is rotated clockwise via the mirror rotation lever 32 and retracted from the rear of the lens barrel 24. Also, the reversing mirror 34
A condenser lens 37 is arranged above. A pin 38 for keeping the inclination of the reversing mirror 34 at 45 degrees with respect to the optical axis 23a of the taking lens 23 is provided on the lower surface of the reversing mirror 34 so that the light passing through the taking lens 23 enters the condenser lens 37.
Are in contact.

A black frame 40 is slidably provided above the condenser lens 37 that collects the light reflected by the inverting mirror 34. The frame 40 is provided with a display frame opening 41 for displaying the width corresponding to the standard horizontal size of the blackboard 13 provided in the conference room or the like, for example, 90, 120, 180 cm in a stepwise manner. Slots 42 are formed on the side surface of the frame 40,
Into the slot 42, a pin 44 formed integrally with the turning lever 43 is inserted. Also, the rotation lever 43 has a long hole.
46 is formed, and a projection 47 provided on the lateral size switching knob 11 is inserted into the elongated hole 46. Therefore, the frame 40 is interlocked with the sliding of the lateral size switching knob 11.

A potentiometer 48 is provided on the lower surface of the lateral size switching knob 11. This potentiometer 48 is a sliding piece 49 attached to the bottom of the horizontal size switching knob 11.
And a resistance plate 50 with which the sliding piece 49 is in sliding contact.

On the upper surface of the frame 40, the standard vertical size of the blackboard 13 described above.
A semi-transparent frame 51 corresponding to 90 cm is slidably provided. A pair of slots 52 are formed in the frame frame 51, and pins 53 and 54 are engaged with the slots 52. A gear train 55 is formed at the end of the frame 51, and a gear train is formed at this tooth row 55.
56 meshes. This gear 56 has the vertical range designation pin
A gear 57 integrally formed with 12 meshes. The gear
A potentiometer 60 including a sliding piece 58 and a pair of resistance plates 59 is attached to the shaft of 56.

A pair of shafts 61 and 62 are provided behind the reversing mirror 34. The shafts 61 and 62 are provided with a slidable reading means, for example, a line sensor 63,
The line sensor 63 is slid by a stepping motor 65 via a wire 64. The line sensors 63 are arranged in a row from bottom to top, for example, from No. 1 to No. 2048.
It is composed of 2048 light receiving elements. By the way, code 66
Indicates a reflection type photo sensor, and the line sensor
63 home position position is detected.

FIG. 3 shows the print unit built in the main body 2. A recording paper 17 wound in a roll shape is rotatably supported by a pillar 70 in the print section. This recording paper
17 is pulled out from the roll by a pair of pulling rollers 71. The pull-out roller 71 is driven by a stepping motor 72 whose rotation is controlled by a microcomputer, which will be described later in detail. A thermal head 73 for printing the recording paper 17 is disposed between the integrated pull-out roller 71 and the roll so as to contact the recording paper 17. Further, a cutter 74 for cutting the printed recording paper 17 is provided between the integrated pull-out roller 71 and the discharge port 18.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the present invention, in which the microcomputer 80 controls the AF unit 81, the image pickup unit 82, the image pickup section drive unit 83, and the print unit 84 which are indicated by broken lines.

In the AF unit 81, the pulse motor 27 is connected to the microcomputer 0 via the photo sensor 30, the AF control unit 85, and the driver 86. The microcomputer 80 controls the rotation amount and direction of the pulse motor 27 by the distance measurement signal from the AF control unit 81 and the signal from the photo sensor 30.

In the image pickup unit 82, potentiometers 48, 60 and a driver 87 for driving the line sensor 63 are connected to the microcomputer 80. And the microcomputer 80 is the potentiometer 48
Signal specifies the reading range of the line sensor 63 in the sliding direction, and the signal from the potentiometer 60 specifies the line sensor.
1 out of 2048 image signals output from all 63 photo detectors
A series of 1600 image signals is selected. For example, when the blackboard surface 13a at a high position as shown by the solid line in FIG. 4 is imaged, the microcomputer 80 outputs the image signals from No. 1 to 1600 in the vertical reading range and at the lower position as shown by the broken line. When capturing the image of the blackboard surface 13a, image signals 449 to 2048 are selected.

In the image pickup unit drive unit 83, a photo sensor 66 and a driver 88 for driving the stepping motor 65 are connected to the microcomputer 80. This stepping motor 65 is a microcomputer 80
The amount of rotation and the direction of rotation are controlled by the pulse output from the line sensor 63 to drive the line sensor 63. The photo sensor 66
The position detection signal from is used to confirm the home position of the line sensor 63.

In the print unit 84, the stepping motor 72 and the thermal head 73 are connected to the microcomputer 80 via the drivers 89 and 90. The microcomputer 80 drives the stepping motor 72, and the thermal head 73 drives simultaneously with the start of reading the line sensor 63, and stops the operation of the thermal head 73 in synchronization with the end of reading, and after a certain time, the stepping motor Stop driving 72.

The operation of the thus configured electronic copy apparatus will be described. The main body 2 is placed in front of the blackboard 13 and placed on the desk 14 in advance.
And place the frame on the finder window 10. Then, the lid 16 is opened and the main switch is turned on. After this,
The lateral size switching knob 11 is slid, and the turning lever 43 is turned via the protrusion 47. When the rotation lever 43 rotates, the frame 40 slides in the optical axis direction of the taking lens 23 via the pin 44. By sliding the frame 40, the display frame opening 41 is aligned with the width of the blackboard surface 13a. At this time, since the resistance value of the potentiometer 48 changes, the microcomputer 80 can detect the position of the lateral size switching knob 11.

Next, when the vertical range designation pin 12 is operated to rotate the gear 57, the frame frame 51 slides in the optical axis direction of the taking lens 23 via the gear 56 and the tooth row portion 55. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, a main body 2 placed on a desk 14 is a blackboard surface 13 shown by a solid line in the figure.
The gear 57 is rotated counterclockwise to image the blackboard surface 13a indicated by the broken line from the case of imaging a. When the gear 57 rotates counterclockwise, the gear 56 rotates clockwise, and the frame frame 51 slides in the direction of the line sensor 63 via the tooth row portion 55. Further, when the gear 56 rotates clockwise, the sliding piece 58 slides clockwise on the resistance plate 59, thereby reducing the resistance value of the potentiometer 60.

After that, when the start button 9 is pressed, ultrasonic waves are transmitted from the sliding plate 7 toward the blackboard 13. And blackboard 13
When the ultrasonic wave reflected by is received by the diaphragm 7, the AF control unit 81 measures the distance and outputs a distance measurement signal to the microcomputer 80.
This microcomputer 80 uses the driver 86 to drive the pulse motor 27
Is rotated clockwise to rotate the lens barrel 24, which was at the initial position, toward the in-focus position. The cam 31 rotates the locking lever 22 in the counterclockwise direction in the approach area in which the locking lever 22 rotates from the initial position. Along with this, the rotary shaft 20 rotates in the same direction, and the lens cover 6 retracts from the front surface of the taking lens 23. Further, when the locking lever 22 rotates counterclockwise, the mirror rotation lever 32
Rotates counterclockwise and rotates the reversing mirror 34 clockwise through the pin 36.

After the lens cover 6 and the reversing mirror 34 rotate, when the range lens barrel 24 rotates and reaches the in-focus position, the microcomputer 80 stops the rotation of the pulse motor 27. Then, the light from the blackboard surface 13a is imaged by the taking lens 23 at the in-focus position in a range below the optical axis 23a within the imaging surface.

When the pulse motor 27 stops rotating, the stepping motor 65 rotates clockwise to drive the line sensor 63 at the home position from right to left via the wire 64. The line sensor 63 while running is at the timing corresponding to the resistance value from the potentiometer 48, and the microcomputer
Reference numeral 80 selects a series of 1600 image signals from all the image signals output from the line sensor 63 and sequentially outputs them to the thermal head 73 via the driver 86.

This microcomputer 80 outputs the image signal and the driver at the same time.
The stepping motor 72 is driven via 89 to rotate the pair of pull-out rollers 71. By this rotation, the pair of pull-out rollers 71 transfers the recording paper 17 toward the discharge port 18.
Then, the thermal head 73 prints on the recording paper 17 line by line in response to the image signal from the microcomputer 80.

However, in the conventional electronic copying apparatus, the desk
When the height of the line sensor 63 is low, an adjuster, for example, a book as shown in FIG. 6 is interposed between the upper surface of the desk 14 and the main body 2, so that the stepping motors 65 and 72 to be driven during the scanning of the line sensor 63 and the drawers. The image picked up is blurred by the vibration from the roller 71 or the like. However, in the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention, the vertical print range can be changed by the vertical range designation pin 12, so a stand or the like is interposed. Without doing so, the main body 2 can always be placed directly on the upper surface of the desk 14 and an image can be taken.
For this reason, the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention is not affected by the vibration, and can capture a good image without blurring.

Further, when the line sensor 63 slides and the reading is completed, the microcomputer 80 rotates the stepping motor 65 counterclockwise and the pulse motor 27 clockwise.

When the stepping motor 65 rotates counterclockwise, the line sensor 63 slides on the shafts 61 and 62 and moves to the home position position. When the line sensor 63 reaches the home position, the photo sensor 66 turns on and outputs a position detection signal to the microcomputer 80. The microcomputer 80 which receives the position detection signal stops the rotation of the stepping motor 65 via the driver 88.

Further, when the pulse motor 27 rotates clockwise,
The lens barrel 24 rotates clockwise toward the initial position via the tooth row portion 25. During this rotation, the cam 31 engages the locking lever 22.
When the pressure is released, the locking lever 22 is rotated clockwise by the spring bias, and the lens cover 6 is rotated to the front surface of the taking lens 23. Also, the locking lever 22 is a mirror rotation lever 32.
Is rotated clockwise, and the reversing mirror 34 is rotated counterclockwise following this. At this time, the lens cover 6 biased by the spring 21 in the clockwise direction is rotated, and the mirror rotation lever 32 is rotated in the clockwise direction via the rotation shaft 20 and the locking lever 22. Then, when the lens barrel 24 is rotated to the initial position and the photosensor 30 is turned on, the microcomputer 80 stops the rotation of the pulse motor 27.

After printing with the thermal head 73 described above,
The CPU microcomputer 80 continuously rotates the stepping motor 72 for a fixed time. When this rotation stops, the cutter 74 operates in synchronization with the stop to cut the recording paper 17. Then, the cut recording paper 17 can be easily taken out from the discharge port 18.

By the way, generally, the blackboard surface is illuminated from above by a lighting fixture or the like installed on the ceiling, and the brightness is different between the upper part and the lower part of the blackboard surface. For example, if the brightness of the upper part is 100 as shown in FIG. 8 (A), the brightness may drop to about 50 at the lower part. Further, the amount of light passing through the lens has a large center at the image forming surface and a small amount at the peripheral portion. Therefore, for example, as shown in FIG.
Then, the amount of light at the upper and lower ends may be reduced to about 50.

Under the above conditions, as shown in FIG. 6, in the conventional electronic copying apparatus that performs photographing using the entire area of the photographing lens 102,
To align the optical axis 103 with the center of the blackboard surface 101,
The light amount distribution on the image forming surface of the photographing lens 102, which is represented by the product of the illuminance of 1 and the transmitted light amount of the photographing lens 102, is as shown in FIG. 8 (C). Therefore, if you print without correcting the light intensity distribution, the obtained hard copy will have a bright center.
There is uneven density such that the lower part is dark.

Therefore, conventionally, in order to obtain a hard copy having a uniform density, a mechanical light quantity correction that adjusts the quantity of light incident on the photographing lens using the filter 106 having a density gradient,
Electrical correction is performed by adjusting the brightness with a correction value corresponding to each pixel written in advance in the memory. In the former,
A filter 106 (see FIG. 6) is inserted in front of the taking lens 102, and the amount of light incident on the taking lens 102 is changed to 25 for the upper part, 50 for the center and 50 for the lower part, as shown in FIG. 9 (B). As a result, the light quantity distribution curve on the image pickup surface becomes gentler as compared with FIG. 8C as shown in FIG. 9C, and the light quantity can be made uniform, but the overall light quantity level decreases. In the latter case, a memory or the like for light quantity correction is required.

In this respect, in the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention, the optical axis 23a is horizontal as shown in FIG. 4, and the line sensor 63 reads the optical image formed below the optical axis 23a. Therefore, even if the taking lens 23 has the same conditions as described above,
As shown in Figure (B), the amount of light passing through the upper part is 5
0, the amount of transmitted light entering the lower part is 100. And
When the blackboard surface 13a having an illuminance distribution of 100 at the upper part and 50 at the lower part is imaged as shown in FIG. 7 (A), the imaging plane of the taking lens 23 has a light amount distribution as shown in FIG. 7 (C). . As can be seen from the comparison between FIG. 7 (C) and FIG. 9 (C), the hard copy obtained by the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention is compared with the hard copy obtained by adding mechanical light amount correction in the conventional electronic copying apparatus. It is brighter and more uniform in density. Therefore, since it is not necessary to add a device for correcting the light amount to the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention, the manufacturing cost can be kept low.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described in detail above, the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention includes an optical system for forming an image on a recording surface of a blackboard or the like on an imaging surface, and an image signal for imaging the image formed on the imaging surface. And an image pickup means for outputting a display frame slidably provided in the viewfinder after setting means for setting a vertical effective image pickup area in the image pickup surface according to the height of the blackboard surface, and a slide position of this display frame. Since the detection means for detecting the error and the print means for printing on the recording paper based on the image signal from the effective image pickup area set by the setting means are provided, the optical system forms an image by operating the setting means. The effective imaging area can be slid vertically in the image. Therefore, the setting operation in the height direction can be easily performed. In addition, the image on the blackboard surface contained in the display frame is recorded on the recording paper, and it is possible to avoid missing a part of the upper part or the lower part of the image as in the conventional electronic copying apparatus. Disappear.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a main part of the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an external view showing an embodiment of the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partially cutaway front view of the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a usage state of the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the electronic copying apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a usage state of a conventional electronic copying apparatus. FIG. 7 (A), FIG. 8 (A), and FIG. 9 (A) are diagrams showing the illuminance distribution on the blackboard surface illuminated from above. FIG. 7 (B), FIG. 8 (B), and FIG. 9 (B) are diagrams showing the amount of light transmitted through the lens. FIG. 7 (C), FIG. 8 (C), and FIG. 9 (C) are views showing the light amount distribution on the image forming surface of the lens. 2 ... Main body 10 ... Viewfinder window 12 ... Vertical range designation pin 23 ... Photographing lens 51 ... Frame frame 58 ... Sliding piece 59 ... Resistor plate 63 ... Line sensor.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Seiji Takada 2-26-30 Nishiazabu, Minato-ku, Tokyo Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd. (56) References JP 63-174467 (JP, A) JP 63 -35066 (JP, A) Actually opened 63-56854 (JP, U)

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An optical system for forming an image of a recording surface such as a blackboard on an image pickup surface, an image pickup means for picking up the image formed on the image pickup surface and outputting an image signal, and a height of the recording surface. A setting means for setting a vertical effective image pickup area in the image pickup surface in accordance with the height, and a printing means for printing on a recording paper based on an image signal from the effective image pickup area set by the setting means. An electronic copy device characterized by the above. 2. The setting means includes a finder for observing the recording surface, a display frame which is moved and adjusted with respect to a blackboard surface observed by the finder, and a detecting means for detecting an adjustment position of the display frame. The electronic copying apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: