JPH0221711B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention Technical Field The present invention relates to a recording device, and in particular to a recording head disposed in the same carriage as the ink ribbon of an ink ribbon cassette that is detachably attached to a carriage that moves along the surface of recording (printing) paper. The present invention relates to a recording device that records on paper using the following methods.

PRIOR ART This type of recording device is widely used as an output means for various devices, and some of these devices, such as document processing devices, perform print output and input images in reverse. There is. Since conventional recording devices do not have an image reading function, in this type of equipment, a separate device such as a fax machine, which is dedicated to reading images, is used to input images. As a result, the device becomes larger and the overall cost increases.

Purpose An object of the present invention is to provide a recording device having an inexpensive and compact configuration and also having an image reading function.

Embodiment FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a printing (recording) device according to the present invention. The printer control unit indicated by reference numeral 1 controls the operation of the entire printing device, and is connected to the document processing device indicated by reference numeral 2.
Print data and image data are exchanged with the printer.

Further, a carriage indicated by reference numeral 3 is connected to the printer control section 1. The carriage 3 is equipped with a printing means, which will be described later, when printing, and an image reading means, which will be described later, when inputting an image, and transports them along the surface of printing paper or a document for image reading. The carriage 3 is moved by a carriage drive mechanism (not shown) controlled by the printer control section 1.

Reference numeral 4 denotes a thermal head that heats an ink ribbon to be described later to print on printing paper, and is mounted on the carriage 3 during printing and is connected to the printer control unit 1 via the carriage 3. The thermal head 4 is equipped with a heat circuit for heating the thermal head, and the heat circuit is controlled and driven by the printer control section 1.
Further, the position of the thermal head 4 itself is also moved back and forth on the carriage 3 under the control of the printer control section 1.

Reference numeral 5 denotes an image sensor that reads the image on the document surface, and when reading the image, it is connected to the printer control unit 1 via the carriage 3 and sends the data of the image read to the printer control unit 1. .

FIG. 2 shows the main structure of this embodiment during printing.
The cylindrical body indicated by the reference numeral 6 is a platen, which is rotated by a drive mechanism (not shown) controlled by the printer control unit 1 to feed the printing paper with attached printing paper (not shown) (original when reading an image), and to feed the printing paper. This serves as a printing stand. Platen 6
The aforementioned rectangular platform-shaped carriage 3 is disposed adjacent to the circumferential surface of the platen 6 so as to be movable along the axial direction of the platen 6. Near the front end of the carriage 3 on the platen 6 side, the aforementioned thermal head 4 is installed removably and movably in the direction of the platen. Thermal head 4 is carriage 3
It is connected to the aforementioned printer control unit 1 (not shown) via a flat cable 7 connected to the back surface of the platen, and receives a control signal from the printer control unit 1 and moves onto the platen surface, and the heat circuit is activated. Driven.

Further, a trapezoidal ink ribbon cassette 8 is detachably attached to the top of the carriage 3. The ink ribbon cassette 8 accommodates an ink ribbon 9 for printing, and has a recess 8a formed at its tip on the platen 6 side, and the ends of the relatively protruding portions on both sides of the recess 8a form openings 8b, 8
b. The ink ribbon faces the recess 8a and is stretched between both openings 8b. The ink ribbon 9 is driven by an ink ribbon drive mechanism (not shown). The ink ribbon cassette 9 is mounted on the carriage 3 with the thermal head 4 facing into the recess 8a. That is, the ink ribbon 9 is placed between the platen 6 and the thermal head 4.

FIG. 3 shows the main structure of this embodiment during image reading. The structures of the platen 6, carriage 3, and flat cable 7 are the same as those used for printing in FIG. 1. When reading an image, the thermal head 4 and the ink ribbon cassette 8 are removed from the carriage 3, and a cassette with an image sensor shown at 10 and a connector shown at 11 are attached. The cassette body 10' of the cassette 10 with an image sensor has substantially the same shape as the ink ribbon cassette 8 described above, and a recess 10a is similarly formed at the tip on the platen side. Connector 11
is planted facing into the recess 10a and connected to the flat cable 7. The above-mentioned image sensor 5 is installed on the cassette body 10' at the rear end facing the platen 6. Further, on the platen side of the image sensor 5, there is a lens 12 that forms an image of the document surface onto the image sensor 5.
is fixed, and an illumination light bulb 13 is attached near the lens 12 to illuminate the surface of the document. The image sensor 5 and the lighting bulb 13 are connected to the printer control unit 1 via a connector 11 and a flat cable, respectively. As a result, the image sensor 5 transfers the image data to the printer control unit 1.
At the same time, the lighting bulb 13 is supplied with current.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above structure will be explained.

During printing, a thermal head 4 and an ink ribbon cassette 8 are mounted on a carriage 3 as shown in FIG. When print data is sent from the document processing device 2 to the printer control unit 1, the printer control unit 1 rotates the platen 6 to feed printing paper (not shown) and causes the carriage 3 to travel via a carriage drive circuit (not shown). At the same time, the thermal head 4 is moved forward to press the ink ribbon 9 against the printing paper (not shown) on the platen 6. Further, the ink ribbon is caused to run via the ink ribbon drive mechanism, and a control signal corresponding to the print data is sent to the heat circuit of the thermal head 4 via the flat cable 7 to cause printing to be performed.

When reading an image, the thermal head 4 and ink ribbon cassette 8 are removed from the carriage 3, and a cassette 10 with an image sensor and a connector 11 are attached. The printer control unit 1 rotates the platen 6 to feed a document (not shown), and also drives the carriage 3 by a drive circuit (not shown), thereby moving the cassette 10 with an image sensor.
run along the surface of the document. At the same time, current is supplied to the illumination bulb 13 via the flat cable 7 to illuminate the surface of the document. An image of the document surface caused by the illumination is formed on the image sensor 5 by the lens 12, and is read by the image sensor 5. The image sensor 5 sends the read image data to the printer control section 1 via a flat cable, and the printer control section 1 sends the image data to the document processing device 2.

In the embodiments described above, the thermal head 4 can be removed from the carriage 3, but if this is not the case, the positions of the image sensor 5, lens 12, and lighting bulb 13 on the image sensor-equipped cassette 10 can be changed, and the cassette body can be removed. 1
The present invention can be applied by changing the shape of 0' and changing the mounting position of the connector 11.

Further, in this embodiment, the present invention is applied to a document processing device, but the present invention is of course not limited to this, and can be widely applied to any device that requires a recording function and image input.

Effects In the recording apparatus according to the present invention, the ink ribbon cassette on the carriage is removed and the cassette-shaped image reading means is installed in this position.Therefore, there is no need to increase the size of the carriage, and the ink ribbon cassette on the carriage can be removed. The device can be manufactured in a small size and at low cost.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Each figure is for explaining one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the overall schematic configuration of this embodiment, and Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing the main structure of this embodiment during printing. 3 are perspective views showing the main structure of this embodiment during image reading. 1... Printer control unit, 3... Carriage, 4
...Thermal head, 5...Image sensor, 8
...Ink ribbon cassette, 10...Cassette with image sensor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A recording apparatus that performs recording by moving a carriage carrying an ink ribbon cassette and a recording head along a recording sheet, comprising a cassette-shaped image reading means, on which the ink ribbon cassette of the cartridge is placed. A recording device characterized in that the image reading means is detachably held in a position to enable image reading. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading means has a cassette body having substantially the same shape as the ink ribbon cassette.