JP4920550B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus such as a copying machine, a FAX, and a scanner.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known an image reading apparatus in which a paper discharge stocker is provided at two positions, upper and lower (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2). In the image reading apparatus of Patent Document 1, the document is reversed when discharged to the upper discharge stocker. In order to eliminate the reversal of the original, the reversal is performed twice as described in Patent Document 2. Hereinafter, such a conventional image reading apparatus will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
11 and 12 show a conventional image reading apparatus. In this image reading apparatus, an upper structure 1 is attached to a lower structure 2 so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis K. The lower structure portion 2 functions as a document placement table, and the upper structure portion 1 functions as a lid that covers the document. The upper structure portion 1 is provided with four sensors, and the lower structure portion 2 is provided with one sensor. A placement sensor S1, a registration sensor S2, a reading sensor S3, and document discharge sensors S4 and S5 are arranged in the document transport path from the upstream side.

The placement sensor S1 is for detecting the front and rear edges of the original paper and measuring the length of the original paper. The registration sensor S2 detects the document reading start position by detecting the front edge of the document sheet. The reading sensor S3 is a relatively large sensor and reads an image written on a document sheet being conveyed. The document discharge sensors S4 and S5 detect the trailing edge of the document by detecting the trailing edge of the document sheet.
Further, the image reading apparatus is provided with a paper feed roller R <b> 1 including a pair of rollers for taking in original paper between the upper structure portion 1 and the lower structure portion 2. Also, one intermediate roller R2 is provided below the reading sensor S3. A pair of transport rollers R3 is provided downstream of the intermediate roller R2. Behind the transport roller R3, a claw-like member 12 is provided as means for selecting whether to discharge the original paper to the lower discharge stocker 21 or to the upper discharge stocker 11. When the lower paper discharge stocker 21 is selected with the claw-like member 12, the claw-like member 12 rotates upward, and the lower paper discharge roller R4 causes the original paper to be placed on the lower paper discharge stocker 21. The paper is discharged. On the other hand, when the upper discharge stocker 11 is selected, the original paper is conveyed upward while being guided by the claw-like member 12, and discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11 by the upper discharge roller R5. .

JP-A-6-155840 JP 2003-192212 A

However, in the conventional image reading apparatus as described above, when the original paper is discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11, it is necessary to reverse the original paper while the original paper is passing through the conveyance path. There is a problem that the thickness of the device increases and the device itself increases in thickness. In addition, since the reversing mechanism is provided, there are a large number of parts, and there is a problem that strength against dropping or impact is lowered.
Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a thinner image reading apparatus with a simplified structure, a smaller number of parts, and the like.

The features of the present invention, which is a means for solving the above problems, are listed below.
The image reading apparatus according to the present invention is an image in which an upper structure portion is rotatably attached to a lower structure portion and one of two discharge stockers having different arrangement heights is selected using a path switching unit. reader smell Te, the two paper discharging stocker are both provided on the lower structure portion, for discharging the original sheet on the upper side of the sheet discharge stocker, one roller of the upper discharge roller comprising a pair of rollers A reading sensor that is provided as a driving roller in the lower structure portion and that reads the original paper is provided upstream of the upper paper discharge roller in the original paper flow direction, and the path switching means includes a claw-like member, A pair of upper paper discharge rollers, which are rollers, are disposed on the back side of the original paper and a pair of upper paper discharge rollers that are disposed immediately before the flow direction of the original paper and discharge the original paper to the lower discharge stocker. of Between the lower paper discharge rollers made of a roller and a roller disposed on the back side of the original paper, the paper is passed by the claw-like member, and the original paper is guided upward by the claw-like member and sent upward. Accordingly, without inverting document sheets to thin the upper structure unit, characterized by discharging the original paper to a discharge stocker.

Also, the image reading apparatus of the present invention, furthermore, the upper discharge roller and the lower discharge roller being located near a sensor for top discharge and lower for side discharge sensor is the same sensor It is characterized by being.

The image reading apparatus of the present invention, further, the claw-like member is provided from the upper discharge roller in the middle of the top discharge passage for discharging the original paper, by claw-like member is opened The original paper is discharged directly from the middle of the upper paper discharge path to the lower paper discharge stocker.
Further, in the image reading apparatus of the present invention, the upper paper discharge roller is composed of a driving roller and a driven roller, and the upper structure portion rotates around a roller shaft of the driven roller.

  In the image reading apparatus as the means for solving the above, since the original paper is discharged to the discharge stocker without reversing the original paper in order to make the upper structure thin, it is necessary to provide a reversing mechanism. Therefore, the structure is simplified, the number of parts is small, and the thickness can be reduced.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that it is easy for a person skilled in the art to make other embodiments by changing or correcting the present invention within the scope of the claims, and these changes and modifications are included in the scope of the claims. The following description is an example of the best mode of the present invention, and does not limit the scope of the claims.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a first embodiment of the image reading apparatus of the present invention. In this image reading apparatus, an upper structure portion 1 having a smaller area and a smaller thickness than the lower structure portion 2 is rotatably attached to a lower structure portion 2 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The upper discharge stocker 11 is fixed to the lower structure 2. Therefore, even if the upper structure part 1 is rotated, it does not move.
FIG. 2 shows the internal structure (closed state) of the image reading apparatus of FIG. In this image reading apparatus, an upper structure 1 is attached to a lower structure 2 so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis K. The lower structure unit 2 functions as a document table, and the upper structure unit 1 functions as a cover that covers the document. The manuscript paper includes a copy paper, a plastic sheet, and the like on which characters and drawings are drawn on the sheet.
The upper structure portion 1 is provided with three sensors, and the lower structure portion 2 is provided with one sensor. A placement sensor S1, a registration sensor S2, a reading sensor S3, and a document discharge sensor S4 are arranged from the upstream side of the document transport route.
Here, the placement sensor S1 is for measuring the length of the original paper by detecting the front and rear edges of the original paper by binarization processing. The registration sensor S2 detects the document reading start position by detecting the front edge of the document sheet. The reading sensor S3 is a relatively large sensor and reads an image written on a document sheet being conveyed. As the reading sensor S3, for example, an image sensor such as a CCD or a CMOS can be used. The document discharge sensor S4 detects the trailing end position of the document by detecting the trailing edge of the document sheet.

Further, the image reading apparatus is provided with a paper feed roller R <b> 1 including a pair of rollers for taking in original paper between the upper structure portion 1 and the lower structure portion 2. The roller on the lower structure portion side has a larger diameter than the roller on the upper structure portion side, and the roller on the lower structure portion side is a drive roller. Further, an intermediate roller R2 is provided above the reading sensor S3. A pair of transport rollers R3 is provided downstream of the intermediate roller R2. Similarly to the paper feed roller R1, the transport roller R3 also has a lower structure side roller having a larger diameter than the upper structure side roller, and the lower structure side roller is a drive roller.
Behind the transport roller R3, a claw-like member 12 is provided as means for selecting whether to discharge the original paper to the lower discharge stocker 21 or to the upper discharge stocker 11. The claw-like member 12 is a long member having a substantially triangular cross section. When the lower discharge stocker 21 is selected by the claw-like member 12, the original paper is directly discharged to the lower discharge stocker 21. On the other hand, when the upper discharge stocker 11 is selected, the original paper is discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11 by the upper discharge roller R5 including a pair of rollers. Switching of the claw-like member 12 is performed by a control circuit (not shown). For example, the claw-like member 12 is switched through a connector and an electric circuit in the image reading device based on a command from an external personal computer.

In this embodiment, the upper discharge roller R5 composed of a pair of rollers and the transport roller R3 that also serves as the lower discharge roller composed of a pair of rollers are arranged close to each other. The sensor and the lower side discharge sensor can be shared by the same document discharge sensor S4, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.
Next, the flow of the original paper from when the original paper is fed to the image reading apparatus until it is discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11 will be described with reference to FIG. First, power is supplied to the image reading apparatus so that various rollers can be driven, and sensors can be operated. In this state, when the original paper P is inserted between the two structural portions 1 and 2 from the front end side of the upper structure portion 1, the front end of the original paper P comes into contact with the paper feed roller R1. At this time, since the front end of the document sheet P is recognized by the placement sensor S1, it is preferable to rotate the drive roller only when the control circuit determines that the document sheet P is present.
When the driving roller rotates, the original paper P is taken in between the rollers, and the original paper P is sent out downstream in the transport direction by the frictional force. The driving roller of the paper feed roller R1 rotates clockwise in order to feed the original paper P backward, and the driven roller rotates counterclockwise, which is the opposite direction. Note that the roller of the lower structure portion 2 is a driving roller and the roller of the upper structure portion 1 is a driven roller so that the lower structure portion 2 becomes heavy from the viewpoint of stability at the time of mounting the apparatus. Has been. When the driven roller is used, a roller driving mechanism is unnecessary, and it is only necessary to attach the roller, so that the weight is reduced and the lower structure portion 2 is relatively heavy. Further, the front end of the original paper P that has passed through the paper feed roller is detected by the registration sensor S2, and is recognized as the reading start position of the original paper P.

Next, the document sheet P enters between the intermediate roller R2 and the reading sensor S3. The intermediate roller R2 is a drive roller and rotates counterclockwise. The original paper P sent out by the intermediate roller R2 enters the transport roller R3. A document discharge sensor S4 is provided immediately before the transport roller R3, and detects when the rear end of the document sheet P comes to the position of the sensor. If this detection is made, it can be determined that the original paper P has been transported to the paper discharge stocker 11 without any problem.
Further, the transport roller R3 has a lower structure side roller as a driving roller, and rotates in the clockwise direction. On the other hand, the roller on the upper structure side is a driven roller and rotates counterclockwise. The original paper P that has passed through the transport roller R3 in such a state enters the upper paper discharge roller R5 provided close to the transport roller R3 while being guided by the claw-like member 12. The upper discharge roller R5 is also provided with a driving roller in the lower structure portion 2 and a driven roller in the upper structure portion 1. Then, the original paper P that has entered the upper paper discharge roller R5 is sent out by the rotating roller and discharged to the upper paper discharge stocker 11.

Next, a flow from when the original paper P is fed to the image reading apparatus until it is discharged to the lower discharge stocker 21 will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the original paper P is inserted between the two structural parts 1 and 2 from the front end side of the upper structural part 1, the original paper P is taken in between the rollers, and the original paper P is sent out downstream in the transport direction. Next, the original paper P enters between the intermediate roller R2 and the reading sensor S3, and the original paper P is further fed backward. The original paper P sent out by the intermediate roller R2 enters the transport roller R3. The transport roller R3 has a lower structure side roller as a driving roller, and rotates in the clockwise direction. On the other hand, the roller on the upper structure side is a driven roller and rotates counterclockwise. Since the original paper P that has passed through the conveying roller R3 is in a state where the claw-like member 12 is rotated upward from the position of FIG. 3, it is discharged rearward without being guided and discharged. It is placed on the stocker 21.
In the image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment, jamming of the original paper P hardly occurs. However, when the jam occurs, the upper structure portion 1 is rotated upward as shown in FIG. Remove the original paper. In the present embodiment, since the upper paper discharge stocker 11 is provided in the lower structure section 2, the position of the paper discharge stocker 11 does not change even if the upper structure section 1 is rotated with respect to the lower structure section 2. Therefore, the original paper P does not fall from the paper discharge stocker 11.

In the image reading apparatus of the first embodiment described above, the original paper P is discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11 without inverting the original paper P in order to make the upper structure 1 thinner. Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a reversing mechanism, the structure is simplified, the number of parts is small, and the apparatus can be made thinner and lighter.
In this embodiment, the upper paper discharge roller R5 composed of a pair of rollers is disposed on the back side of the original paper, and the upper paper discharge roller R5 is disposed immediately before the original paper flow direction and the lower side. A nail-like member 12 hangs between a lower paper discharge roller (conveying roller R3) composed of a pair of rollers for discharging the original paper P to the paper output stocker 21 and a roller disposed on the back side of the original paper. Has been passed. Therefore, the document sheet P is guided by the claw-like member 12 and conveyed upward. Thus, since it is not necessary to form a path to the upper sheet discharge roller R5 on the downstream side of the claw-like member 12, the transport path is shortened and the upper structure 1 can be made thinner. Further, the structure is simplified, and the occurrence of document jam at the time of paper discharge can be suppressed. Further, when the claw-like member 12 is opened, the original paper P is discharged directly from the middle of the upper discharge path to the lower discharge stocker 21, so that the path to the lower discharge stocker 21 is opened. In addition, it is possible to completely overlap the passage to the upper discharge stocker 11, and it is possible to save space and reduce the number of parts.

  In addition, since one of the upper discharge rollers R5 including a pair of rollers for discharging the original paper P to the upper discharge stocker is provided as a driving roller in the lower structure portion 2, for example, By changing the design so that the intermediate roller R2 is a driven roller or disposed on the lower structure portion side, all of the driving rollers can be disposed on the lower structure portion 2. With such an arrangement, the lower structure portion 2 becomes heavy and the upper structure portion 1 becomes light, so that the apparatus can be stably arranged. In addition, the operating state of the drive mechanism is improved, and stable conveyance performance can be obtained. It is also advantageous in circuit design.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 6 shows the appearance of a second embodiment of the image reading apparatus of the present invention. This image reading apparatus has a structure in which the upper structure portion 1 rotates with respect to the lower structure portion 2. The lower structure portion 2 includes a substantially rectangular parallelepiped main body portion 22 and an upper discharge stocker portion 23 provided on the upper surface of the rear end side of the main body portion 22. The upper structure portion 1 is rotatably attached to the front end of the upper discharge stocker portion 23. Also in this case, as in the first embodiment, since the upper sheet discharge stocker unit 23 is attached to the lower structure unit 2, the upper sheet discharge stocker unit 23 rotates even when the upper structure unit 1 is opened and closed. Therefore, the discharged original paper does not fall.
FIG. 7 shows the internal structure (closed state) of the image reading apparatus of FIG. In this image reading apparatus, the upper structure portion 1 is attached to the lower structure portion 2 so as to be rotatable about a rotation axis K having an upper discharge roller R5. The lower structure portion 2 functions as a document placement table, and the upper structure portion 1 functions as a lid that covers the document. The upper structure portion 1 is provided with three sensors, and the lower structure portion 2 is provided with one sensor. A placement sensor S1, a registration sensor S2, a reading sensor S3, and a document discharge sensor S4 are arranged from the upstream side in the document transport path.

In addition, the image reading apparatus is provided with a paper feed roller R1 including a pair of rollers for taking in original paper between the upper structure portion 1 and the lower structure portion 2. One intermediate roller R2 is provided above the reading sensor S3. A pair of transport rollers R3 is provided downstream of the intermediate roller R2. Behind the transport roller R3, a claw-like member 12 is provided as means for selecting whether to discharge the original paper to the lower discharge stocker 21 or to the upper discharge stocker 11. When the lower discharge stocker 21 is selected by the claw-like member 12, the original paper is directly discharged to the lower discharge stocker 21. On the other hand, when the upper discharge stocker 11 is selected, the original paper is discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11 by the upper discharge roller R5 including a pair of rollers.
In the present embodiment, the upper paper discharge roller R5 composed of a pair of rollers and the transport roller R3 that also functions as a lower paper discharge roller composed of a pair of rollers are disposed close to each other, so The sensor and the lower side discharge sensor can be shared by the same document discharge sensor S4, so that the number of parts can be reduced and the manufacturing cost can be reduced.

Next, the flow from when the original paper is fed to the image reading apparatus until it is discharged to the upper discharge stocker 11 will be described with reference to FIG. First, power is supplied to the image reading apparatus so that various rollers can be driven, and sensors can be operated. In this state, when the original paper P is inserted between the two structural portions 1 and 2 from the front end side of the upper structure portion 1, the front end of the original paper P comes into contact with the paper feed roller R1. At this time, since the front end of the document sheet P is recognized by the placement sensor S1, the drive roller may be rotated when the control circuit determines that the document sheet P is present.
When the driving roller rotates, the original paper P is taken in between the rollers, and the original paper P is sent out downstream in the transport direction by the frictional force. The front end of the original paper P that has passed through the paper supply roller is detected by the registration sensor S2, and is recognized as the reading start position of the original paper P.

Next, the document sheet P enters between the intermediate roller R2 and the reading sensor S3. The intermediate roller R2 is a driving roller, and the original paper P further fed out by the intermediate roller R2 enters the conveyance roller R3. A document discharge sensor S4 is provided immediately before the transport roller R3, and detects when the rear end of the document sheet P comes to the position of the sensor.
The transport roller R3 has a lower structure side roller as a driving roller, and rotates in the clockwise direction. On the other hand, the roller on the upper structure side is a driven roller and rotates counterclockwise. The original paper P that has passed through the transport roller R3 enters the upper paper discharge roller R5 provided close to the transport roller R3 while being guided by the claw-like member 12. The upper discharge roller R5 is provided in the lower structure portion 2 for both the driving roller and the driven roller. The driving roller is provided on the claw-like member side, and the driven roller having a smaller diameter is disposed adjacent to the driving roller. Then, the original paper P that has entered the upper paper discharge roller R5 is sent out by the rotating roller and discharged to the upper paper discharge stocker 11.

  Next, a flow from when the original paper P is fed to the image reading apparatus until it is discharged to the lower discharge stocker 21 will be described with reference to FIG. First, when the original paper P is inserted between the two structural parts 1 and 2 from the front end side of the upper structural part 1, the original paper P is taken in between the rollers, and the original paper P is sent out downstream. Next, the original paper P enters between the intermediate roller R2 and the reading sensor S3, and the original paper P is further fed backward. The original paper P sent out by the intermediate roller R2 enters the transport roller R3. The transport roller R3 has a lower structure side roller as a driving roller, and rotates in the clockwise direction. On the other hand, the roller on the upper structure side is a driven roller and rotates counterclockwise. The original paper P that has passed through the transport roller R3 is in a state in which the claw-like member 12 is rotated upward, so that it is discharged rearward without being guided and placed on the paper discharge stocker 21. .

In the present embodiment, jamming of the original paper P is unlikely to occur. However, if a jam occurs, the upper structure 1 is rotated upward to remove the jammed original paper as shown in FIG. . In particular, in the present embodiment, the upper discharge roller R5 includes a drive roller and a driven roller, and the upper structure 1 rotates about the roller axis K of the driven roller. When the part 1 is opened and closed, it is not necessary to make contact with and away from the upper surface of the lower structure part 2, and it is possible to suppress the occurrence of skew that causes reading failure and jamming.
Moreover, since the upper structure part 1 becomes a miniaturized square plate shape, the strength of the product can be easily increased.

1 is a perspective view showing a first embodiment of an image reading apparatus of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal structure (closed state) of the image reading apparatus in FIG. 1. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of conveying a document sheet to an upper discharge stocker. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process in which an original sheet is conveyed to a lower discharge stocker. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal structure (opened state) of the image reading apparatus in FIG. 1. It is a perspective view which shows 2nd Embodiment of the image reading apparatus of this invention. It is the schematic which shows the internal structure (closed state) of the image reading apparatus of FIG. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process of conveying a document sheet to an upper discharge stocker. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a process in which an original sheet is conveyed to a lower discharge stocker. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an internal structure (opened state) of the image reading apparatus in FIG. 6. It is the schematic which shows the internal structure (closed state) of one Embodiment of the conventional image reading apparatus. It is the schematic which shows the internal structure (opened state) of one Embodiment of the conventional image reading apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Upper structure part 11 Upper discharge stocker 12 Claw-shaped member 2 Lower structure part 21 Lower discharge stocker 22 Main body part 23 Upper discharge stocker part K Rotating shaft R1 Paper feed roller R2 Intermediate roller R3 Transport roller R4 Lower Side discharge roller R5 Upper discharge roller S1 Place sensor S2 Registration sensor S3 Reading sensor S4, S5 Document discharge sensor

Claims (4)

Upper structure is mounted rotatably with respect to the lower structure unit, Te image reading apparatus smells selected using the path switching means one of the two paper discharging stocker with different placement heights,
The two paper discharge stockers are both provided in the lower structure,
One of the pair of upper discharge rollers for discharging the original paper to the upper discharge stocker is provided as a drive roller in the lower structure portion,
A reading sensor for reading the original paper is provided upstream of the upper paper discharge roller in the original paper flow direction;
The path switching means has a claw-like member,
Out of the upper paper discharge roller composed of a pair of rollers, the original paper is discharged to the lower paper discharge stocker which is disposed immediately before the original paper flow direction of the upper paper discharge roller and the upper paper discharge roller. The lower paper discharge roller consisting of a pair of rollers that are disposed on the back side of the original paper is spanned by the claw-like member, and the original paper is guided upward by the claw-like member and fed upward. By doing so, the original paper is discharged to a paper discharge stocker without reversing the original paper in order to make the upper structure portion thinner. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1,
An image reading apparatus, wherein the upper paper discharge roller and the lower paper discharge roller are arranged close to each other, and the upper paper discharge sensor and the lower paper discharge sensor are the same sensor . The image reading apparatus according to claim 1 or 2 ,
The claw-shaped member is provided in the middle of the upper paper discharge path for discharging the original paper from the upper paper discharge roller, and the claw-shaped member is opened so that the claw-shaped member is directly opened from the middle of the upper paper discharge path. An image reading apparatus in which original paper is discharged to a lower discharge stocker . The image reading apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
The upper discharge roller is composed of a driving roller and a driven roller,
The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the upper structure rotates about a roller shaft of a driven roller .

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