JP2853908B2 - Printer expansion option board - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an extension option board for a laser printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a function of a printer mechanism of a laser printer is improved in the market, an extension option board with a hard disc drive (HDD) is added. Conventionally, this H
The expansion option board with DD is usually performed by a service person with a task such as removal of a printer body cover, and it has been difficult for a user to manually perform the operation.

[0003] Further, since the HDD is very susceptible to vibrations and shocks, when it is provided on a detachable option board, there is a problem that the HDDs are easily damaged due to the effects of vibrations and shocks at the time of attachment and detachment.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems of the conventional extension option board with HDD of a laser printer, and is easy to be attached to and detached from a main body of a printer mechanism. An object of the present invention is to provide an extension option board having a configuration in which an HDD is hardly affected by vibration and shock.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, an expansion option board for a laser printer according to the present invention has a connector for connecting a hard disk drive to the hard disk drive, a connector for connecting to an external host, and a printer mechanism. A printed circuit board having a connector for connection to a controller for controlling the unit, a frame for integrally attaching the hard disk drive and the printed circuit board, and means for fastening the frame to a printer mechanism body housing. And

The hard disk drive is divided into an upper and lower structure connected via an elastic member, the lower structure is rigidly connected to the frame, and the drive unit of the hard disk drive is mounted on the upper structure. Have been.

[0007]

According to the former structure, the hard disk drive and the printed circuit board constituting the extension option board are integrally connected by the frame and fastened to the printer mechanism body by the fastening means, so that the attachment / detachment is easy.

Further, according to the latter configuration, the drive section of the hard disk drive which is very susceptible to vibration and shock is attached to the frame via the elastic member, so that the influence of vibration and shock at the time of attachment and detachment is obtained. Hard to receive.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a laser printer according to an embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the rear. The control unit 2 of the printer 1 is arranged on the left side of FIG.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the inside of this portion. That is, the control unit 2 includes an engine board 3 for controlling the printer mechanism, and a printer controller 4 for converting a print command from an external host into dot information so that the printer mechanism can be controlled.

In the present invention, the printer controller further uses the HDD 5 as a storage means through, for example, the SCSI interface 6 to minimize the occupation time of the host printer, and to back up paper jams during printer printing.

FIG. 3 shows the connection by the SCSI bus. That is, the printer engine board 3, HDD 5,
The scanners 13 and 14 are connected by a SCSI bus.

Further, in FIG. 2, a metal frame 7 is attached to an interface part to the outside of the control board 4, and this metal frame is connected to a chassis (not shown) that houses the control part 2.

Extension option interface board 6
Is connected to the control board 4 by a connector on the board. The interface connector section to the outside is surrounded by a metal frame 8, and is connected to the metal frame 7 of the control board 4 by frames. Further, it is screwed to the chassis by screws 9 from outside. The HDD 5 is attached to the metal frame 8 and is connected to the extension option interface board 6 by a connector. The SCSI bus signal from the extension interface connector is wired-OR connected with the signal from the HDD 5 and connected to the connector to the control board 4.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of the mounted HDD. The HDD includes an upper structure 10 and a lower structure 11. The lower structure 11 is an aluminum die cast base and is rigidly connected to the frame 8 by screws. Upper structure 1
Numeral 0 is attached to the lower structure 11 with the elastic member 12 interposed therebetween, and the HDD drive unit is attached to the upper structure 10.
Therefore, even if vibration or impact is applied to the lower mounting portion, H
Vibration and impact are not directly transmitted to the DD drive unit.

By configuring as described above, the user can purchase the expansion option board with the HDD 5 and fasten the control board 4 with screws, thereby easily improving the function of the printer controller.

[0018]

As described above, according to the present invention, by mounting the HDD on the expansion option board, the HDD can be mounted on the market more easily than before, and can be detached by the user himself. In addition, the effect of improving the performance and the serviceability can be obtained, and the vibration and shock at the time of attaching / detaching the extension option board provided with the HDD can be prevented from being directly transmitted to the HDD, and the effect of preventing damage or the like can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a control unit of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing connection by a SCSI bus of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a configuration of an HDD mounted in the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Laser printer 2 Control part 4 Control board 5 Hard disk drive (HDD) 6 Extended option interface board (printed circuit board) 7, 8 Frame 9 Screw 10 Upper structure 11 Lower structure 12 Elastic member

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Toshitaka Chima 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahiro Yamamoto 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takamasa Hayashi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock Company Ricoh (72) Inventor Masami Miyajima 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock Company Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Takuto Isobe 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock Company Ricoh Company (72) Tetsuro Sasamoto 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock Company Ricoh Company (56) References JP-A-4-26492 (JP, U) JP-A-3-99473 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B41J 29/00 B41J 29/08 G06F 1/00 H05K 7/14

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An expansion option board for a laser printer having a printer mechanism main body and a controller for controlling the main body, wherein the expansion option board includes a hard disk drive, a connector for connecting to the hard disk drive, and an external host. And a frame for integrally mounting the hard disk drive and the printed circuit board, and means for fastening the frame to a printer mechanism body housing. An extension option board characterized by that: 2. The hard disk drive is divided into an upper and lower structure connected via an elastic member, the lower structure is rigidly connected to the frame, and the drive unit of the hard disk drive is mounted on the upper frame. The extension option board according to claim 1, wherein