JP5562145B2 - Document reader - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an original reading apparatus, and more particularly, to an original reading apparatus capable of automatically reading a normal sheet original and a card original such as a credit card collectively.

  2. Description of the Related Art Image forming apparatuses such as copiers and scanners that handle a large amount of documents use a document transport unit called an ADF (auto document feeder) that automatically transports documents onto an image reading unit (platen). Yes.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an original reading apparatus equipped with an original conveying unit includes an optical reading unit for reading an original. The reading unit is stopped below the reading position of the platen, and the original is fed on the platen at a constant speed. 2. Description of the Related Art There is known a sheet-through reading mechanism that reads an image of a document that is conveyed by the printer and a flat bed reading mechanism that reads a document by placing the document on a platen and moving a reading unit. In the flat bed reading mechanism, the document transport unit is provided so as to be openable and closable so as to release the upper surface of the platen. Then, by opening the document transport unit, the document placed on the platen can be read stationary (Patent Document 1).

  In the past, sheet originals such as paper were mainly read and copied, but recently, credit card, cash card, and various card originals such as card membership cards and certificates are also read and printed as they are. More and more cases are managed. The card document is smaller in size than the sheet document, and is formed of a hard member made of plastic or thick paper laminate. Therefore, the conveyance device having a structure having a sheet-through reading mechanism has a problem in conveyance and reading. In some cases, the card document is deformed or damaged. In particular, in a transport apparatus having a bent portion in the document transport path, it is difficult to transport the document itself.

  In order to solve such a problem, Patent Document 2 provides a sheet document feeding unit and a card document feeding unit separately, and the card document feeding unit reads from the sheet feeding. It has been proposed to form a conveyance path to the section linearly.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-349183 JP 2008-285259 A

  In the document reading apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 2, the sheet document and card document feed sections are provided separately, so that the configuration of the apparatus is complicated due to an increase in the size of the apparatus and an increase in the number of parts. Is invited. In addition, since the sheet document and the card document must be set separately in different paper feeding units, there is a problem that the handling is troublesome.

  As described above, in a conventional image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a scanner, a normal sheet original and a hard card original can be mixed and read continuously at a time by a sheet-through reading method. There are no examples of such a configuration, and no such proposal has been made.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a document reading apparatus capable of continuously reading a hard card document in a lump like a sheet document without increasing the size and complexity of the structure.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, a document reading apparatus according to the present invention includes a document placing tray on which a sheet document and a card document can be placed, a transport unit that transports a document on the document placing tray, and the transport unit. In a document reading apparatus including a platen for reading a document conveyed by the first guide member provided from the document placing tray toward the platen and a part of the first guide member, the document placing device An opening for guiding the card document conveyed from the tray onto the first guide member to the lower side of the first guide member, and the card document guided from the opening to the lower side of the first guide member toward the platen. And a second guide member for guiding.

  According to the document reading apparatus of the present invention, when a document is transported from a document placement tray on which a plurality of sheet documents or card documents are placed to the platen, the document is conveyed when the document is a card document. The card document is bent toward the platen by guiding the card document mainly from the inclined first guide member for conveying the sheet document onto the second guide member positioned below the first guide member. It can be made to convey without. As a result, the card document can be continuously read in the same manner as the sheet document, and the card document is not deformed or damaged. In addition, since the second guide portion is provided below the first guide portion, the conveyance space is also compact.

1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating an overall configuration of a document reading apparatus according to the present invention. It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the conveyance means of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conveyance state of the card | curd document in the conveyance means of the said 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows schematic structure of the conveyance means of 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the conveyance state of the card | curd document in the conveyance means of the said 2nd Embodiment. It is a perspective view which shows other embodiment of the opening part provided in a 1st guide member.

  Embodiments of a document reading apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIG. 1, the document reading apparatus 1 of the present invention includes a main unit 2 having an image reading unit 4 and a transport reading unit 3 attached to the upper side of the main unit 2 so as to be openable and closable. .

  The image reading unit 4 reads a document passing over the document reading position of the first document reading unit (first platen) 6 with the optical unit 5 fixed. Further, a second document reading unit (second platen) 7 having a plane space for placing a document is provided on the upper surface of the main unit 2, and for a document set on the platen 7. Reading can be performed by moving the optical unit 5 of the image reading unit 4.

  The image reading unit 4 includes a light source 10 such as a lamp, a plurality of mirrors 11, a lens 16, a photoelectric conversion element 17 such as a CCD, and the like. The light emitted from the light source 10 is applied to the conveyed or placed document via the first platen 6 or the second platen 7. Then, the light irradiated and reflected on the document surface is reflected several times by the plurality of mirrors 11 and then photoelectrically converted by the photoelectric conversion element 17 through the lens 16 to read the image of the document.

  Next, the configuration of the transport reading unit 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the transport reading unit 3 receives a document placing tray 20 on which a plurality of sheet documents and card documents can be placed, and a sheet document or card document fed out from the document placing tray 20. A separation path 23 for separating into one sheet, a first conveyance path 24 inclined from the separation path 23 for conveying a sheet document toward the first platen 6, a lower side of the first conveyance path 24, and a card A second conveying path 25 that conveys the document linearly toward the first platen 6 and a conveying unit 21 having various rollers, and a document discharge tray 22 that discharges the document after reading processing are provided. The document placing tray 20 and the separation path 23 are inclined so as to be smoothly connected to the inclined first transport path 24. Here, a sheet document refers to a paper document that can be easily folded from a postcard size to about A4 size, and a card document is formed of a plate-like resin material or metal material such as a credit card or a cash card. It assumes a hard card that cannot be bent easily.

  The first transport path 24 has a first guide member 26 extending downwardly inclined from the separation path 23 toward the first platen 6, and the second transport path 25 is below the first guide member 26. It is located at the bottom of the provided space 33 and has a thin plate-like second guide member 27 provided substantially on the same plane as the first platen 6. The first transport path 24 and the second transport path 25 merge toward the first platen 6.

  The separation path 23 is provided with a feeding roller 28 that feeds a sheet document or a card document from the document placing tray 20 toward the first guide member 26. The document advanced on the separation path 23 is nipped at the leading edge by a separation roller 29 provided at the upper end of the first guide member 26 and a separation pad 30 biased by a spring member on the separation roller 29. Then, it is fed onto the first guide member 26. Then, the original is nipped by the conveyance roller pair 31 and further sent out toward the first platen 6.

  In addition, a registration sensor S1 for detecting the passage of the rear end portion of the sheet document or card document is provided in the vicinity of the conveyance roller pair 31 disposed on the upstream side of the first guide member 26, and a discharge roller. In the vicinity of the pair 34, a discharge sensor S <b> 2 that detects that the document is discharged to the discharge tray 22 is provided.

  FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of the transport means 21 in a state where the transport reading unit 3 is set on the first platen 6 and the second platen 7 of the main body unit 2. The first guide member 26 is formed of a rectangular plate-like member, and is disposed so that the downstream end is in contact with the upstream side of the first platen 6 and the upstream side is inclined at a predetermined angle. The first guide member 26 has an opening 38 for guiding the card document C downward in the center of the document transport direction. The opening 38 is formed to have an opening area larger than at least the planar shape of the card document C. A pair of conveying rollers 31 is provided along the upper end surface of the opening 38. A plurality of the conveyance roller pairs 31 are provided in a direction orthogonal to the document conveyance direction. Each conveying roller pair 31 is driven to rotate by a motor (not shown) and a driven roller 31b that is rotatably incorporated in the first guide member 26, and is arranged to nip above the driven roller 31b. It is comprised by the drive roller 31a.

  On the downstream side of the opening 38, a plurality of lead rollers 32 are arranged in a direction perpendicular to the document transport direction. The lead roller 32 is urged and arranged by a spring member (not shown) so as to be in contact with the upstream side of the first platen 6 and swings up and down within a certain range according to the thickness of the document and the conveyance state. It is possible. The lead roller 32 securely nips the sheet document or card document conveyed via the first guide member 26 and the second guide member 27 having different entry angles and performs a reading process on the first platen 6. Therefore, the rotating surface is preferably formed of a member such as a rubber or rubber having a friction coefficient.

  On the downstream side of the first platen 6, a discharge roller pair 34 is provided for discharging a document that has been read on the first platen 6 toward the discharge tray 22. The discharge roller pair 34 includes a driven roller 34b incorporated in the main body unit 2 and a driving roller 34a that is disposed so as to nip above the driven roller 34b and rotates by receiving a rotational force from the outside. Yes.

  As shown in FIG. 4, when the document is a sheet document S larger than the normal card size (indicated by a virtual line), the upper surface of the first guide member 26 is guided from the conveying roller pair 31 to the lead roller 32, After being sent out onto the first platen 6 and subjected to reading processing, it is discharged by the discharge roller pair 34. At that time, the sheet document S is guided by all of the transport roller pair 31, the lead roller 32, and the discharge roller pair 34.

  On the other hand, when the original is a card original, it is guided by the respective transport roller pair 31, lead roller 32, and discharge roller pair 34 located in the center. As shown in FIG. 3, when the leading edge of the card document C is nipped by the conveying roller pair 31 (a), the leading edge is lowered toward the lead roller 32 by the rotation of the driving roller 31a (b). When the leading edge of the card document C reaches the lead roller 32 (c), the leading edge of the document is moved onto the first platen 6 by the rotation of the lead roller 32 and at the same time the trailing edge of the document is removed from the nip of the conveying roller pair 31. While being guided by the driven roller 31b that continues to rotate, the document falls from the rear end side into the space 33 below the opening 38 (d). The document dropped into the space 33 is placed in parallel on the second guide member 27, and is conveyed straight to the first platen 6 as the lead roller 32 rotates to read the image.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the first guide member 26 may be provided with a movable guide member 35 that can open and close at least a part of the opening 38. The movable guide member 35 is axially supported by the upstream end portion of the opening portion 38, and is located between a position where the upstream portion of the opening portion 38 is closed from below and a position where the movable guide member 35 opens toward the second guide member 27. The movable plate 36 includes a movable plate 36 that can be opened and closed, and a biasing spring 37 that normally biases the movable plate 36 in a direction to close the opening 38. If the sheet document or card document is larger in size than the opening 38, the movable guide member 35 passes through the opening 38 and the card document C having the same size as the opening 38 is conveyed. By its own weight, the movable plate 36 can be pushed down and dropped onto the second guide member 27, and can be conveyed straight toward the first platen 6 as it is.

  FIG. 5 shows the operation of the movable guide member 35. While the card document C is nipped and transported by the transport roller pair 31, the biasing spring is in a position to support the upstream side of the opening 38 from below so that the movable plate 36 is parallel to the card document C. 37 (a). After that, when the leading edge of the card document C reaches the lead roller 32 and the trailing edge is detached from the conveying roller pair 31 and falls into the space 33, the card document C tries to push down the movable plate 36 by its own weight. . Since the urging force of the urging spring 37 acts clockwise in the drawing with respect to the pressing operation of the movable plate 36, the card document C can be pushed out to the lead roller 32 side. Thereby, the conveyance failure of the card document C dropped on the second guide member 27 can be prevented.

  The movable guide member 35 of the embodiment shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is configured such that the movable plate 36 is opened and closed by the weight of the biasing spring 37 and the card document C. However, the movable plate 36 may be a rotary motor, a solenoid, or the like. The drive member can be attached to be opened and closed. In this case, the movable plate 36 can be controlled to be opened and closed by the registration sensor S1 disposed in the vicinity of the conveying roller pair 31 detecting the rear end portion of the card document C.

  In the above embodiment, the card document is assumed to have a credit card size as described above, and the first guide member 26 is placed so that the leading edge of the card document sent out by the conveying roller pair 31 is caught on the lead roller 32. The length of the opening 38 to be provided and the arrangement interval between the conveying roller pair 31 and the lead roller 32 are set. Therefore, the card original is not limited to a hard one such as plastic, but if it is paper having the above size, it is conveyed along the second guide member 27 linearly onto the first platen 6.

  The sheet document S and the card document C are nipped by the discharge roller pair 34 and discharged to the document discharge tray 22 after the reading process is completed on the first platen 6 by the lead roller 32.

  In the conveying means 21 shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the opening 38 formed in the first guide member 26 is formed with a minimum size width that allows the card document C to fall, but the embodiment shown in FIG. In the conveying means 41 in the embodiment, the opening 43 provided in the first guide member 46 is formed so that the opening width D1 on the downstream side near the lead roller 32 is substantially the same width as the card document C, while the conveying roller pair 31 is disposed. The opening width D2 is made wider as it goes upstream. Thus, by widening the upstream side of the opening 43, even if the card document is displaced, the trailing edge can be smoothly dropped onto the second guide member 27 without being caught. Further, the width of the opening 43 is gradually narrowed from the upstream side toward the downstream side, so that the card document is corrected to be conveyed straight toward the lead roller 32 while being conveyed by the conveyance roller pair 31. can do. As a result, the card original image can be accurately read on the first platen 6 without blurring.

  As described above, the document reading apparatus 1 of the present invention includes the first guide member 26 for guiding the conveyance in a state where the first conveyance path 24 mainly conveying the sheet document is inclined and bent. The second guide member 27 is configured to guide the card document in a straight line without bending it in the space 33 below the opening 38 provided in the first guide member 26. As a result, a hard card document can be collectively read continuously in the same way as a sheet document is continuously conveyed and read by the sheet-through method. Further, since the sheet original and the card original can be set together, handling becomes easy.

S Sheet Document C Card Document S1 Registration Sensor S2 Discharge Sensor 1 Document Reading Device 2 Body Unit 3 Conveyance Reading Unit 4 Image Reading Unit 5 Optical Unit 6 First Platen 7 Second Platen 10 Light Source 11 Mirror 16 Lens 17 Photoelectric Conversion Element 20 Document Loading tray 21 Conveying means 22 Document discharge tray 23 Separation path 24 First conveyance path 25 Second conveyance path 26 First guide member 27 Second guide member 28 Feeding roller 29 Separation roller 30 Separation pad 31 Conveying roller pair 31a Drive roller 31b Follower roller 32 Lead roller 33 Space portion 34 Discharge roller pair 35 Movable guide member 36 Movable plate 37 Biasing spring 38 Opening portion 41 Conveying means 43 Opening portion 46 First guide member

Claims (9)

An original reading apparatus comprising an original placing tray on which a sheet original and a card original can be placed, a conveying means for conveying an original on the original placing tray, and a platen for reading the original conveyed by the conveying means. ,
A first guide member provided from the document placing tray toward the platen;
An opening that is opened in a part of the first guide member and guides the card document conveyed from the document placement tray onto the first guide member to the lower side of the first guide member;
An original reading apparatus comprising: a second guide member that guides a card document guided below the first guide member from the opening toward the platen.   2. The document reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first guide member is provided to be inclined downward from the document placing tray toward the platen, and the second guide member is provided on substantially the same plane as the platen.   The document reading device according to claim 1, wherein the opening has an opening area larger than at least a planar shape of the card document.   2. The document reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a pair of conveying rollers that guides a sheet document or a card document toward a downstream platen in a state where the sheet document or the card document is nipped on an upstream side of the opening provided in the first guide member. .   A lead roller that swings up and down is provided on the downstream side of the first guide member, and a sheet document guided by the first guide member or a card document guided by the second guide member is conveyed by the lead roller. The document reading device according to claim 1.   A movable plate that opens and closes an opening is attached to the first guide member, and the movable plate rotates downward when the card document is guided over the opening of the first guide member. The document reading device according to claim 1, wherein the document reading device is configured to open the document.   The document reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the opening is formed so that the opening width gradually decreases from the upstream side to the downstream side in the card document transport direction. A document placement tray on which an image-formed sheet document and card document can be placed, a transport means for transporting the sheet document and card document on the document placement tray, and a sheet document and a card transported by the transport means In an original reading apparatus provided with a platen for reading an original,
A first guide member that is provided so as to be inclined at a predetermined angle with respect to the upper surface of the platen and guides a sheet document to the platen from obliquely above the platen;
A second guide member disposed below the first guide member and in parallel with the platen for guiding the card document to the platen;
An opening is formed in the first guide member, a space communicating with the second guide member is provided below the opening, and the card document is guided to the second guide member through the space. An original document reading device.   The sheet document guided to the platen by the first guide member is guided along the upper surface of the platen, and the card document guided to the second guide member from the opening of the first guide member is 9. The document reading apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising a lead roller for guiding the guide member along the upper surface of the platen.

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