JP3871216B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus for book originals such as copying machines and facsimile machines.

As a book manuscript reading device and method,
(1) An original image of a book original placed facing upward on the original support table is brought into contact with an upper contact glass, and an original image is exposed by scanning with a scanning optical system disposed facing the contact glass. Scanning device,
(2) An apparatus for reading a document image by exposing and scanning a document surface of a book document placed facing upward on a document placement surface by a contact-type reading sensor is known.

  However, with respect to the above-described prior art (1), the scanning optical system in which the document surface of a book document placed facing upward on the document support table is brought into contact with the upper contact glass, and the contact glass is disposed oppositely. In an apparatus that exposes and scans a document image by scanning of the system, it is necessary to move the book document from a position where the document page of the book document is turned to a position where exposure scanning is performed, which reduces document exposure scanning efficiency and increases the size of the apparatus. There was a problem that was difficult to avoid.

  Further, with regard to the above-described prior art (2), an apparatus for reading an original image by exposing and scanning the original surface of a book original placed facing upward on the original placement surface by means of a contact-type reading sensor is large. However, since there is no means for pressing the document surface of the book document, the placed document surface is likely to float, and the scanning of the document surface becomes unstable. .

  In view of such a current situation, the present applicant forms the detour portion that is separated from the document placement surface on a part of the page pressing belt that is stretched along the document placement surface of the document placement table. A page turning reading unit in which a page storing means, a page adsorbing means, a page separating means, a reading means, and the like are arranged on the original surface of a book document placed open between the placing surface and the page pressing belt. A book document page turning reading device (hereinafter referred to as MFDS) for performing page turning and document reading scanning of the book document has been proposed (for example, see Patent Document 1).

  According to the proposed MFDS, as described in the above specification and the like, it is possible to completely automate the page turning operation and the document reading scan of the book manuscript, which required a great amount of labor for the copying operation. Thus, it is possible to realize a multifunction document reading system that significantly improves productivity.

Japanese Patent Application No. 2-193589

  By the way, in the above-described MFDS, in order to perform reading scanning of document information of a book document and a document page turning operation, the size of the book document set on the document placing table is recognized, and the document image reading area is recognized. And it is necessary to determine the page turning area.

  For this reason, in the above MFDS, the edge of the opened book document is detected by a document size detection sensor or image processing by reading at the time of pre-scanning by the page turning reading unit, and is attached to the turning roller at this time. By counting the output of the encoder, the book size of the book document set on the document placing table is recognized, and the document image reading area and the page turning area of the page turning reading unit are determined. Has been.

  However, in the case of a thick original such as a book original, the position of the edge of the original surface changes depending on conditions such as the thickness of the original and the position of the open page, even if the original is the same size. It is desirable to set the start position of the original image reading scan or page turning operation appropriately according to the actual edge position or image position of the original surface. If this is not done, it will hinder the page turning operation. Or misalignment occurs during image capture or printing.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image reading equipment capable of accurately detecting the size of the book document.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.
(1) The document placement table, and the document surface of the book document placed on the document placement table with the document surface facing upwards are in contact with the document surface and exposed and scanned in the reading and scanning direction. In an image reading apparatus having an image reading means for reading an original image of a book original, a page turning means for performing a page turning operation of the book original is configured integrally with the image reading means, and the book original The image reading means positioned on the document surface performs exposure scanning from the exposure scanning start position on the book document in the direction opposite to the reading scanning direction, and the edge position of the uppermost document page of the book document. An edge position detecting means for detecting the original position of the book original by a distance from the exposure scanning start position to the edge position of the original page. Document size detecting means for detecting the document size, and detecting the edge position of the topmost document page of the book document every time the page turning operation by the page turning means is performed a predetermined number of times. (Claim 1).
(2) In the image reading apparatus described in (1), the exposure scan start position by the image reading unit for starting the detection operation of the document size detecting unit is set to the smallest size book document that can be read. It was set in the area to be placed (claim 2).
(3) In the image reading apparatus described in (1), the exposure scanning start position by the image reading means for starting the detection operation of the document size detecting means is set as the original placement reference position of the book original on the original placement table. A document that is set in the vicinity and detects that the size of the document set on the document table cannot be read when the document size detection unit detects the unreadable size of the document. Size abnormality notification means is provided (claim 3).
(4) In the image reading apparatus described in (1), the start reference position of the document edge position detection operation by the edge position detection means by the exposure scanning in the page turning direction is the image reading means in the reading scanning direction. Detection of the end position of the original is set near the end of the end of the image reading operation and at the reading end position of the book document on the original table, and after the end of the image reading operation for the set number of original surfaces. The image reading means is stopped at the operation start reference position.

According to the present invention, every time a page turning operation is performed a predetermined number of times, the detection operation of the document end portion of the topmost book document is executed, and the detection reflecting the displacement of the document end portion of the topmost document due to page turning is performed. By obtaining the result, the reading start position and the image position of the book document are accurately detected.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
However, the illustration and disclosure of the configuration and operation within the scope clearly conceivable from the description of the present specification and the above and other objects and novel features of the present invention are omitted in order to avoid complication of explanation. Or simplify.

  Prior to the description of the embodiments of the present invention, the configuration and operation of the MFDS (book document page turning reading device) in which the present invention is implemented will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a book document page turning reading apparatus “multi-function document scanner (hereinafter referred to as“ MFDS ”)” in which the present invention is implemented places a book document O that is opened. The document placing table 100, the page pressing belt 200 stretched along the document placing surface 100a of the document placing table 100, and the page pressing belt 200 by separating a part of the page pressing belt 200 from the document placing surface 100a. The belt bypass portion forming means 300 for forming a bypass portion 200a (see FIGS. 5 to 7) in 200, the document reading scanning direction (arrow a direction) of the bypass portion 200a with the reading portion 400a facing the document placement surface 100a. The page turning direction (arrow b direction) opposite to the original reading scanning direction of the reading means 400 and the bypass unit 200a disposed on the side. The storage port 500a is opened and the page storage unit 500 and the page pressing belt 200 arranged in parallel to the reading unit 400 along the scanning direction of the original are charged with an unequal electric field. A page adsorbing unit 600 that adsorbs the original page, and a page separating unit 700 that separates the curvature of the original page adsorbed on the page pressing belt by the curvature of the page pressing belt 200 at a portion facing the page storing port 500a of the page storing unit 500 The page turning reading unit 1 is integrated and supported so as to be reciprocally movable along the document placement surface 100a.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the main body structure of the MFDS has a shell-type opening / closing structure of a front open type in which the back portions of the upper unit 2 and the lower unit 3 are fixed by a hinge 4. Is an original placement surface 100a.

  The book original O is set by opening the upper unit 2 in a state where the binding portion is fitted into the center groove 100b formed in the central portion of the original placement surface 100a and the upper unit 2 is opened.

  Therefore, in this MFDS, it is not necessary to set the book original face down with the facing page face down as in the conventional copying machine, and the book original setting operation can be performed very efficiently and easily.

  On the other hand, the page pressing belt 200 and the page turning reading unit 1 are disposed in the upper unit 2, and the upper unit 2 is closed by attracting the magnetic plate 2 a of the upper unit 2 to the magnet 3 a of the lower unit 3. As a result, the book document O is brought into close contact with the document surface.

  The page turning reading unit 1 is reciprocated with the upper unit 2 closed as described above, and the forward movement as shown by reference numerals 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D in FIG. When moving in the direction, the reading unit 400 scans the original surface of the book original O to read the original image, and moves backward as indicated by reference numerals 1E, 1F, 1G, and 1H in FIG. When moving in the page turning direction shown, page turning of the book document O is executed by the page adsorbing means (page pressing belt 200), the page separating means 700, and the page storage means 500.

  Since the drive mechanism and drive control means of the page turning reading unit 1 are described in detail in the above-mentioned prior application, description thereof is omitted here.

Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the MFDS of the present invention will be described.
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the page turning reading unit 1 moves up and down along the document surface of the book document O that is opened and placed on the document table 100 when scanning the book document O. While reciprocating.

Thus, the document surface of the book document O is traced by the reading sensor unit 13 (FIG. 5) of the reading unit 400 while being pressed toward the document placement surface 100a by the page pressing belt 200 and the page turning reading unit 1.
The reading sensor unit 13 is configured to be rotatable to some extent with respect to the page turning reading unit 1 with the main scanning direction as a rotation axis, and the original scanning surface is formed by unevenness of the original surface of the open book original O. Even when tilted, the document image is accurately read following the unevenness of the document surface.

However, when the book document O placed open and placed on the document table 100 is thick, the unevenness of the document surface increases, and in particular, the step between the edge portion and the center binding portion becomes extremely large.
For this reason, the reading sensor unit 13 is configured to pressurize the document surface of the book document O and to form a rounded end portion of the scanning surface to improve the readability. However, as described above, when a thick book document is scanned, the reading sensor unit 13 is easily caught on the step of the book document, and the step of the book document prevents reading of the document image.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the page turning reading unit 1 is configured to move up and down in parallel along the document surface of the placed book document.
Further, the reading sensor unit 13 is supported so as to be movable up and down with respect to the page turning reading unit 1 and is configured to protrude to the lower surface side of the page turning reading unit 1 when scanning the original surface of the book document. Yes.

That is, the reading sensor unit 13 has a glass surface disposed on the bottom surface of about 5 mm upward and about 10 mm below the bottom of the page turning reading unit 1, that is, a smooth original surface. It is movable, and is configured to trace while pressing the document surface of the book document by its own weight or descending behavior.
The reading sensor unit 13 is moved upward as shown in FIG. 6 by exciting a rotary solenoid (not shown) provided at the rear portion of the rear plate of the page turning reading unit 1 according to an instruction from the controller. The position is raised by about 5 mm and retracted to a position inside the page turning reading unit 1.

FIG. 7 shows the left end portion of the spread book original O and the page turning reading unit 1.
The left end portion of the book original O is gradually increased by turning the right original pages by the page turning operation of the page turning reading unit 1.
As a result, the uppermost document page edge of the left end portion of a general book document moves upward and to the right.

On the other hand, the right page portion of the book manuscript is gradually reduced by the page turning operation in inverse proportion to the increase in the left page, and the uppermost manuscript page edge moves downward and to the left. Go.
FIG. 8 to FIG. 10 show the transition state of the left end portion of a spread B4 size book document with respect to the number of repetitions of this page turning operation.

In the transition example of the left end of the book document shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, the position of the initial left end of the book document on which the book document is placed is “0”, and the amount of displacement in the right direction is expressed in millimeters. .
8 shows a book document having a thickness of 20 mm and a total number of pages of 750, FIG. 9 shows a book document having a thickness of 12 mm and a total number of pages of 300, and FIG. 10 shows a book document having a thickness of 9 mm. A transition state of the left end portion of a book document of a spread B4 size having a total page number of 180 pages is shown.
As is clear from these transition examples of the book document left end shown in FIGS. 8 to 10, the amount of displacement of the book document left end due to the page turning operation of the document page affects the change in the shape of the center binding portion of the book document. Therefore, it does not necessarily increase monotonously.

Further, the amount of displacement of the document edge of the book document is reduced in the minus direction as in the thin book document shown in FIG. 6 by sliding the center binding portion in the left-right direction by the page turning operation of the document page. It may be displaced and decreased.
Further, the amount of displacement of the document edge portion depends on the size, thickness, paper quality, etc. of the book document.

Here, the amount of movement of the book document in the vertical direction is automatically corrected by the page turning reading unit 1 moving up and down along the shape of the book document, but the amount of movement of the book document edge in the horizontal direction. That is, since the image reading start position by the reading sensor unit 13 may change by about 40 mm at the maximum, the image reading scanning, the image capturing, or the printing is executed as it is without correcting this. defects may occur, large kina resist shift occurs.
The displacement of the book document edge can be corrected by changing the document pressing position of the reading sensor unit 13 and the document reading start position by repeating page turning.

However, in the conventional example, the position of the edge portion of the placed book document is calculated by the controller based on the book document size input or detected. Therefore, according to this conventional example, for example, in the case of a book document of spread size A3, the position of the edge portion is about 210 mm from the center of the book document set position, and the reading position of the reading sensor unit 13 is The position is about 30 mm from the home position of the page turning reading unit 1.
Therefore, in this conventional example, first, the rotary solenoid is excited at the home position of the page turning reading unit 1 to raise the reading sensor unit 13, and in this state, the scanning movement of the page turning reading unit 1 is started. .

Next, when the reading sensor unit of the reading sensor unit 13 reaches a position 5 mm before the reading start edge portion of the book document, the reading sensor unit 13 is lowered.
The reading sensor unit 13 starts reading image data from the reading start edge portion of the book document after the reading sensor unit 13 has moved 5 mm in the reading scanning direction.
Further, the reading sensor unit 13 is also raised and retracted from the document surface at the stepped portion of the center binding portion of the book document as described above.
The book document center binding portion is located at a position 240 mm from the home position because the book document binding portion is set with reference to the center of the document table 100.

  Therefore, the reading sensor unit 13 can designate the retracted position at the center binding portion depending on the type of the book document. For example, the reading sensor unit 13 has a range of ± 10 mm from the center position, that is, a section of 230 mm to 250 mm from the home position. Thus, the document is retracted from the center binding portion of the document surface according to the scanning control address of the page turning reading unit 1.

However, as described above, the end portion of the reading sensor unit 13 is easily caught at the left end portion of the book document. In this state, the page turning reading unit 1 rides on the end portion of the book document, and the reading is performed. When the unit 13 is lowered to trace the original surface, the left end portion of the original is likely to be bent.
For this reason, when such a corner break occurs at the left end portion of the document, reading failure and scanning failure occur.

Further, even if a normal book document has a fixed size such as A4, B5, etc., the size of the page surface when opening an arbitrary page is reduced by the amount of the binding margin. It does not become a certain size.
Therefore, in this embodiment, the initial scanning home position at the time of detecting the document size of the page turning unit 1 is set near the center of the book document center binding portion at the time of document scanning.
In other words, in the image reading apparatus according to the present invention, the initial scanning home position of the reading sensor unit 13 of the page turning reading unit 1 at the time of setting the document is the book document placed on the document placing table 100 as shown in FIG. It is set at a position corresponding to the center binding portion of O.

In this embodiment, first, with the reading sensor unit 13 positioned at the initial scanning home position, the book document O is set on the document table 100 and the upper unit 2 is closed.
Then, after detecting the setting of the book document O, the reading sensor unit 13 is lowered to pressurize the document surface of the book document O, and reading of the document image is started.
As a result, the page turning reading unit 1 is moved from the center binding portion of the book document O toward the reading scanning start side (document left end side).

This page turning during the movement of the reading unit 1 early, by the reading sensor unit 13, by exposing and scanning the left page of a spread book document to read the image information, that detecting the image position of the book original O.
Further, the page turning continues to move early in the reading unit 1, the reading sensor unit 13, the original end of the left page of a spread book document, i.e., detect the end of the reading scanning start side of the book document.
As a result, even if the book document O is out of the standard size or the document size is unknown, the size of the book document O placed on the document placement table 100 is the image incorporated in the reading sensor unit 13. It is accurately detected by a sensor that doubles as a reading.

That is, in this embodiment, since the reading sensor unit 13 is positioned in advance on the original surface of the book original O during the above-described original size detection operation, it rides over the book original end during the original size detection operation as in the conventional example. In addition, the size of the opened document surface is accurately and reliably detected based on the distance from the center binding portion of the book document O to the document edge of the left page when placed on the document table 100. can do.
Therefore, according to this embodiment, any book manuscript in which the edge of the manuscript is not folded during the book manuscript size detection operation and the size and thickness cannot be specified can be applied. Therefore, it is possible to reliably perform detection scanning of the accurate document size.

FIG. 12 shows an example of edge detection data of a spread book original by a reading sensor according to the method of the present invention.
In FIG. 12, the edge portion of the detected book document (the edge position of the lowest document page of the opened book document) is approximately from the center set position (initial scanning home position) of the reading sensor in the case of the spread size A3. 210 mm (for example, a distance obtained by measuring the amount of movement of the reading sensor unit 13 from the center set position by counting the encoder pulses), and the second home position of the reading sensor unit 13 (the reference position for starting scanning for reading at the time of image reading) 11 left end) and a position of about 30 mm.
Here, the detection of the edge of the book document O is performed by a change in reading information in the sub-scanning direction by specific pixels of the reading sensor.

That is, as described above, when the reading sensor unit 13 starts reading the left page of the book document O, the image information on the left page is randomly detected.
Here, the background of most book manuscripts is white, and generally there are no characters or images between a dozen millimeters from the book manuscript edge.
Therefore, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the position where the uniform color continues in the image information obtained by the reading sensor is detected as a margin part of the document surface.
For this determination, it is effective to increase the detection accuracy using a plurality of sensor outputs, and the determination is made accurately based on the continuity of the image in the main scanning direction.

Next, a stripe pattern portion that is continuous in the main scanning direction due to the edge of the document page is detected by the reading sensor, and the document placement surface (black) portion of the document placement table 100 is detected after the stripe pattern portion.
Thus, as is apparent from FIG. 12, the starting position of the striped pattern portion that is continuous in the main scanning direction by the edge of the original page becomes the edge position of the uppermost original page of the open book original.

From the above results, in the case of the book document reading example shown in FIG. 12, the end portion of this book document (the edge position of the top document page of the opened book document) is the initial scanning home position. It is detected that the image start position in the reading scanning direction of the original page is a point 193 mm from the initial scanning home position.

In this way, the home of the edge portion of the book document ( the edge portion of the uppermost document page of the opened document ) or the document surface edge (the edge portion of the lowermost document page of the opened book document) . When position data from the position is detected, the document size of the book document O placed on the document placement table 100 is detected from the detected position data and the document size data input in advance. The

Here, for example, when the length of the book document up to the edge portion of the lowermost document page is detected with the center portion of the book document as the size detection start reference position by exposure scanning, the length is about 210 mm ( The document size is A4 (spread A3), and when the length is around 182 mm, the document size is B5 (spread B4). To be judged.

Further, the measurement value of the length used for the document size detection may be a value obtained by detecting the length of the book document up to the document surface edge (the edge of the uppermost document page). .
In this case, the measurement value is smaller than the length to the edge portion of the book document ( the edge portion of the lowermost document page) due to the influence of the steep slope portion of the center binding portion of the book document. The document size data may be corrected according to the decrease.

By the way, the exposure scanning start position (initial scanning home position) of the document surface of the reading sensor unit 13 when the document size is detected is not necessarily limited to the center set position as in the above-described embodiment.
The exposure scanning start position (initial scanning home position) of the document surface of the reading sensor unit 13 at the time of document size detection is, for example, the minimum size document placement region shown in FIG. 11, that is, reading and page turning scanning can be executed. May be at an arbitrary position in the area where the original of a minimum size (A5 size in this embodiment) is placed, and if the above scanning is started from this position, the originals of all usable book originals The size can be reliably detected.

Furthermore, the initial scan home position above the placement region of the smallest size document above, is set in the vicinity of the document set reference position location, within a minimum range, only by moving the reading sensor unit 13 Thus, it is possible to reliably detect the document sizes of all usable book documents.
However, in this embodiment, when the document set on the document table 100 is a document smaller than the minimum usable size, this is detected and this is indicated on an operation display board (not shown). Configured to display errors.

As a method for performing such an error display, for example, from a reference position provided at or near the document set reference position or on the right side of the document set reference position (upstream in the scanning direction when detecting the document size), The document surface exposure scan for detecting the document size and the counting of encoder pulses are started. As a result, when a book document of an unusable size is set, the image reading scan by the reading sensor unit 13 is performed. The operation of the page turning reading unit 1 is stopped without starting, and display data indicating that the size of the placed book document is incompatible is output to the operation display board.
As a result, the user is notified of the error state of the set book document, and erroneous detection and malfunction during document size detection are prevented.
By the way, the position at which the reading sensor unit 13 starts measuring the length of the document size (the reference start position of the detection operation of the document edge position) is the exposure scanning start position (when the document size is detected ) as in the above-described embodiment. It is not always necessary to match the initial scanning home position in FIG.

That is, for example, when the point A on the right end side in FIG. 11 is used as the starting point of the page turning reading unit 1 (starting reference position of the detection operation of the document end position) , first, the reading sensor is excited by exciting the rotary solenoid. With the unit 13 retracted upward, the page turning reading unit 1 starts to move in the turning scanning direction. After the page turning reading unit 1 rides on the right end of the book document, reading is performed at an appropriate position. The sensor unit 13 is lowered, and the above measurement operation (encoder pulse counting and document surface by the reading sensor) is performed from the vicinity of the document setting position where the binding portion of the book document is set or from the front side (right side). (Exposure scanning) may be started.

When the above-described control is performed with such a configuration, after the set number of image reading operations (first job) with respect to the placed book document is completed, the reading sensor unit 13 is operated as shown in FIG. Since it stops at the start reference position of the detection operation of the document end position at the point A (starting point) on the right end side, it is unnecessary to return the reading sensor unit 13 to the reading scanning start side at the end of the first job. In addition, the stop position of the reading sensor unit 13 is directly used as the starting position of the document size detection operation before the start of the reading operation (second job) of the set number of sheets for the next document, and the control is simplified. is there.

  The controller (not shown) in the above embodiment excites the rotary solenoid to raise the reading sensor unit 13 at the second home position shown in FIG. 11, and starts image reading scanning of the book document in this state. .

Next, the reading sensor unit 13 is lowered at the edge portion of the book document detected in advance as described above.
The reading of the image data of the book document is started simultaneously with or immediately after the reading sensor unit 13 is lowered.

Next, after the reading of the image data is completed, the page turning of the manuscript page that has been read is performed by the returning operation of the page turning reading unit 1, and the image data of the next manuscript page is read.
By repeating such image data reading and page turning, a predetermined page turning reading operation is executed.
As described above, by detecting the edge portion of the document surface from the output information of the reading sensor and setting the reading sensor unit 13 at the reading start position, the operation of the reading sensor unit 13 on the book document is stabilized. Furthermore, by determining the reading start position of the image data as described above, an image having an effective range suitable for image capture and printing can be obtained regardless of the displacement of the edge of the book document. .

By the way, the reading start position and the image position of the original image with respect to the book original edge change as the page turning operation is repeated as shown in FIGS.
Therefore, as in the case of the document size detection at the time of homing described above, the page turning operation by the page turning reading unit 1 is performed using a single reading sensor that serves as both a document image reading unit and a document edge detection unit. Every time it is performed a predetermined number of times, an operation for detecting the document edge position of the book document is executed.

In this detection operation, scanning of the original surface is finished, and when the page turning reading unit 1 during the page turning operation reaches the vicinity of the center binding portion of the book original, the reading sensor unit 13 is moved down to remove the original surface. This is done by applying pressure and starting reading the original surface.
By this detection operation, as in the case of the document size detection at the time of homing described above, the document end position corresponding to the increase in the page number of the book document is sequentially detected by the reading sensor.
In this case, since a normal book document does not change its document edge abruptly by turning the page for one page, the detection operation start position of the document document edge position of the book document by the reading sensor unit 13 is: Depending on the detection data during the initial homing operation or the previous page turning scan, it may be started from a position several tens of millimeters before the document edge on the left page of the document, and the above detection operation is performed every several pages or tens of pages. Thus, the detection data of the document edge position may be corrected as appropriate.
As a result, it is possible to increase the moving speed when turning the page of the book document, and it is possible to improve the productivity of reading the book document and turning the page.

By the way, since the open book document is symmetrical, the sizes of the left and right pages are basically equal.
Therefore, the reading end position of the book document can be easily obtained by the book document size determined by the reading start position obtained by the above detection method.

However, the reading end position of the book document, that is, the right end portion of the book document changes in the same manner as the left end portion of the book document.
For this reason, the start position of the page turning operation of the conventional page turning reading unit 1 has moved to the reading end position of the book document, that is, about 85 mm to the right side from the right end of the document, as indicated by reference numeral 1E in FIG. It is set to a point.

  In this apparatus, regardless of the displacement of the right end portion of the book document, the page turning start position only needs to be located to the right of the right end portion of the book document as shown in FIG. Even if the page turning reading unit 1 moves slightly to the right side, there is no problem in function.

However, as described above, when the start position of the page turning operation of the page turning reading unit 1 is set to a fixed position, the right edge of the original right end portion of the book original is shifted to the right side by a distance that allows for the amount of displacement of the right end portion of the book original. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly overrun the page turning reading unit 1 up to the position, which causes a problem that productivity of page turning is lowered.
Therefore, in the present embodiment, in the same manner as the book document reading start position detection method, a document page reading completion end for turning pages based on the document read image data at the right end of the document read by the reading sensor. And the start position of the page turning operation of the page turning reading unit 1 is corrected based on the read data.
The read data at the right edge of the document is detected in the same manner as the read data at the left edge of the document, although the direction is opposite to that of the read data at the left edge of the document shown in FIG.

Further, the effective image range at the right end is also defined in the same manner as described above, so that it is suitable for image capture and printing.
As a result, the start position of the page turning operation of the page turning reading unit 1 is sequentially corrected according to the position of the right end portion of the book document that is displaced according to the number of page turning pages. It is possible to improve the productivity of turning pages.

  Further, in this apparatus, since the reading means 400 of the page turning reading unit 1 is located on the right side of the page storage means 500, the page turning operation of the original page is always finished at the next reading start position. Since the end of the page turning operation is automatically performed during the repeated scanning operation, even if the position of the left edge of the document changes depending on the number of pages turned, the displacement of the left edge of the document adversely affects the page turning operation. Will not be affected.

On the other hand, the page separation unit 700 shown in FIG. 5 shows the page separation unit 700 in which the separation roller 10 is fixedly arranged in advance so that the height of the separation roller 10 is higher than the height of the turning roller 9. As shown in FIG. 14, the page separation unit 700 may be configured to displace the separation roller 10 at a predetermined timing by a separation roller displacement unit 900.
As shown in FIG. 14, the separation roller displacing means 900 includes a pair of turning levers 46, a turning solenoid 47, and a return spring 48.

In FIG. 14, each turning lever 46 is formed in an L shape, and each corner portion is pivotally supported at both ends of the support shaft of the turning roller 9.
Further, the separation roller 10 is rotatably supported on the free end portion of these turning levers 46 extending in the horizontal direction.
Further, at the base end portion extending in the vertical direction of these turning levers 46, each turning solenoid 47 disposed on the side facing the extending direction of each free end portion, and each turning solenoid 47, The other ends of the return springs 48 whose one ends are locked to the opposite sides are connected to each other.

The separation roller displacing means 900 is normally (when the turning solenoid 47 is not operated), the separation roller 10 is positioned at the position indicated by the chain line in FIG. 14, that is, the turning roller 9 and the separation roller 10 are at the same height. The turning solenoid 47 is actuated when the document page is turned, so that the height of the separation roller 10 is higher than the height of the turning roller 9 at the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. Next, the separation roller 10 is displaced.
Here, as shown in FIG. 13, the page turning solenoid 47 moves the page turning reading unit 1 in the page turning direction, and the end of the uppermost page of the book document O is turned between the turning roller 9 and the separation roller 10. Turned on at a time corresponding to a substantially intermediate position.
The operation timing of the turning solenoid 47 is determined by the size of the book document O set on the document placement surface 100a of the document placement table 100.

  That is, the page turning solenoid 47 starts after the page turning reading unit 1 starts the page turning operation until the end of the uppermost page of the book document O corresponds to a substantially intermediate position between the turning roller 9 and the separation roller 10. The required time or moving distance according to the book document size is obtained by, for example, counting the number of pulses of the stepping motor, and is turned on when this count value matches the reference value of the book document size inputted in advance. .

As a result, the separation roller 10 is displaced to the position indicated by the solid line in FIG. 14, and only the uppermost page of the book document O attracted to the page pressing belt 200 is separated from the other pages. After being separated, as shown in 1F of FIG. 4, it is guided into the page storage member 15 along the page turning guide 16 through the page storage port 500a, and is formed into a cylindrical shape along the inner peripheral surface of the page storage member 15. It is stored in the page storage member 15 while being wound.
Thus, when the turning operation of the uppermost page of the book document O attracted to the page pressing belt 200 is completed, the turning solenoid 47 is released, and the elastic force of the return spring 48 causes the separation roller 10 to be 14 is returned to the position indicated by the broken line.

By the way, as described above, in the method of attracting and separating the document page by the displacement of the separation roller 10, only the leading edge of the document page is attracted and displaced upward, so that the leading edge of the document page is moved to the page storage member 15. It is comprised so that it may guide to the page storage part.
For this reason, in the page separation means 700 of this system, the suction position with respect to the document surface edge is very important in maintaining the separation performance.

In this embodiment, as described above, the position of the end of the document surface on the scanning end side, that is, the end of the page turning operation start side, is accurately detected by the image reading sensor during the scanning of the book document. can do.
Accordingly, by determining the operation timing of the suction separation operation of the page separation means 700 based on the position of the end portion on the start side of the page turning operation detected by the image reading sensor, the page at the end of the document surface is determined. The suction position of the page separating means 700 with respect to the document surface edge can be always maintained at an appropriate position without being affected by the displacement due to the number of turns.
Therefore, in this embodiment, the edge portion on the document scanning end side is detected from the image data of the right edge portion of the document read by the image reading sensor, and the rising timing of the separation roller 10 during the page turning operation is based on the detected data. The page separation unit 700 controls the separation roller displacement unit 900 so that the same amount of the original page is always attracted and separated.

  Further, in this embodiment, the page turning reading unit 1 is returned to the right side in FIG. 11 without performing image reading after the page turning mode, that is, the page turning operation is completed, and only the page turning operation is continuously performed. Even in the mode (normally the reading sensor unit 13 is kept retracted), as described above, the image reading sensor is lowered and pressed in front of the right end of the book document to read the document surface. Based on this read data, as described above, the rising timing of the separation roller 10 at the time of the page turning operation is determined, and the separation roller 700 always attracts and separates the same amount of document pages. The displacement means 900 can also be controlled.

As described above, by detecting the image area and the copy edge of blanking click original by the image reading sensor, so actuating the reading sensor unit 13 and the separation roller displacing means 900, without the use of separate detecting means, An accurate image reading scan of the resist for the book document and a stable page turning operation can be realized continuously from the beginning to the end of the book document.

It is a schematic sectional drawing of the multi-function document scanner (MFDS) which implemented this invention. FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view when an MFDS document is set. It is the schematic which shows the operation | movement aspect at the time of the reading scanning of the page turning reading unit in MFDS. It is the schematic which shows the operation | movement aspect at the time of page turning of the page turning reading unit in MFDS. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a page turning reading unit in a document scanning start state. FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a page turning reading unit in a state where the page turning reading unit rides on an end portion of a document. FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a page turning reading unit at a document scanning start position. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a transition state of a book document left end portion. It is a diagram which shows the transition state of the other book original left end part. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a transition state of the left end portion of still another book document. FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram illustrating a document size detection operation. FIG. 6 is a schematic explanatory diagram of read data of a document edge detected by a sensor. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of a page turning operation start position. It is a perspective view of a separation roller displacement means.

Explanation of symbols

1 page turning reading unit 9 turning roller 10 separation roller 13 reading sensor unit 15 page storing member 16 page turning guide 46 turning lever 47 turning solenoid 48 return spring 100 document placing table 100a document placing surface 200 page pressing belt 300 bypass portion forming means 400 Reading means 500 Page storage means 600 Page suction means 700 Page separation means 900 Separation roller displacement means O Book document

Claims (4)

The book document is scanned by exposing and scanning the document surface in contact with the document surface of the book document placed on the document document table with the document surface facing upward. In an image reading apparatus having image reading means for reading a document image,
A page turning means for performing a page turning operation of the book document is formed integrally with the image reading means, and exposure scanning on the book document is performed by the image reading means previously positioned on the document surface of the book document. Edge position detecting means for detecting the edge position of the uppermost document page of the book document by performing exposure scanning in a direction opposite to the reading scanning direction from the start position; and from the exposure scanning start position of the document page Document size detection means for detecting the document size of the book document according to the distance to the edge position, and the edge of the topmost document page of the book document every time the page turning operation by the page turning means is performed a predetermined number of times. An image reading apparatus that performs a position detection operation.   2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a book original having a minimum size among the readable book originals is placed at an exposure scanning start position by the image reading means for starting the detection operation of the original size detecting means. An image reading apparatus characterized by being set in an area.   2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the exposure scanning start position by the image reading means for starting the detection operation of the document size detecting means is set in the vicinity of the document placement reference position of the book document on the document placement table. In addition, when the document size detection means detects the setting state of an unreadable document, the document size abnormality notification that detects that the size of the document set on the document mounting table is unreadable is detected. An image reading apparatus comprising means. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the start reference position of the document edge position detecting operation by the edge position detecting means by the exposure scanning in the page turning direction is the image reading operation in the reading scanning direction of the image reading means. Near the end on the end side and set to the reading end position of the book document on the document table, and after the image reading operation for the set number of sheets on the document surface is completed, the detection operation of the document end position is started. An image reading apparatus, wherein the image reading means is stopped at a reference position.

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