JPH04266259A - Reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent floating of an original and deflection or the like and to surely make close contact of the original by depressing the original carried to a read means with a pressing means made of a flexible sheet. CONSTITUTION:Light radiates from an LED 105a being a light source of a close contact image sensor 105 to a picture information face of an original S and the light reflected from the picture information face is formed on a photoelectric conversion element 105b formed on an upper face of the close contact image sensor 105 for the read of the picture information. A pressing means 106 is made of a flexible sheet 106a such as a polyester film to press the original S onto a read line (photoelectric conversion element) 105 of the close contact image sensor 105. Through the constitution above, the pressing means is formed to be flat, the height of the entire reader is reduced and no high assembly accuracy is required to lead the reflected light to a read section.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

[Industrial Application Field] The present invention provides a method for reading the image information of a document while pressing the document conveyed to a reading means so as not to lift it from the reading section and making the document adhere to the reading section. The present invention relates to a reading device used in facsimile machines and the like.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art In a reading device such as a facsimile machine, when reading image information of a document using a reading section such as a contact sensor, the document may rise or sway from the reading line of the reading section. There is a risk that the image information will be read in a blurred state. Therefore, in order to prevent this, a pressing roller is arranged at a position facing the reading section, and the pressing roller presses the document against the reading section so that it does not rise from the reading line, so that it is in close contact with the reading section. It is configured to read the image information of the document.

The pressure roller used here is mainly made of rubber material or the like so that even if the surface of the reading section has some unevenness, the document can be brought into close contact with it without being affected by it. An elastic roller with a surface is used. Further, the surface of the pressure roller is white, and this is the reference color before reading the image information of the document, and is read by the reading section, and the read data is
It has been introduced as a standard for reading image information of originals.

0004

[Problem to be Solved by the Invention] However, when using such a pressure roller, there is a space for arranging it,
A space for arranging a drive system such as a gear to rotate the pressure roller in the same direction as the conveyance roller is required above and near the reading section, which increases the height of the entire device. was there.

Furthermore, if a pressure roller with a small diameter is used in order to reduce the height of the entire device, the curvature of the roller becomes large, and the light emitted from the light source of the reading section is reflected on the roller surface, causing the reading section to When the light is incident on the light receiving section, it becomes difficult to reliably guide the light reflected on the surface of the roller to the photoelectric conversion element of the light receiving section. Therefore, in order to ensure an accurate reflection direction, it is necessary to improve the relative position and assembly accuracy of the reading section, pressure roller, etc. when assembling, which increases costs and is disadvantageous in terms of productivity. There was a case.

[0006] Furthermore, the pressure roller needs to have a large coefficient of friction against the original and a small coefficient of friction against the surface (glass surface) of the reading section, so that the original can be reliably conveyed under these conditions. There was a problem in that it was difficult to select materials to achieve this.

[0007]

[Purpose] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and its purpose is to reduce the overall height of the device, and to reduce the overall height of the device even with relatively rough assembly accuracy.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a reading device that is equipped with a document pressing means that can easily and reliably guide reflected light to a reading section, and can also easily select the above-mentioned material.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes a document transporting means for transporting a document, and reading image information of the document transported by the document transporting means on a reading line. It comprises a reading means, and a pressing means made of a flexible sheet for pressing the original conveyed to the reading means onto the reading line, and the pressing means includes:
A stay is arranged so as to be parallel or substantially parallel to the reading line, and a flexible member is sandwiched between the stay and the flexible sheet in the direction in which the document is pressed, The flexible sheet is pressed through this.

[0009]

[Function] With this configuration, when the document is conveyed to the reading section by the conveyance means, the pressing means presses the document against the reading line of the reading section to prevent the document from lifting up, shaking, etc. It can be brought into close contact with the Furthermore, since the pressing means is a flexible sheet and can be made flat in the height direction of the device, the height of the entire device can be reduced. In addition, since the surface of the flexible sheet is flat, when reading with the reading means, the reflected light can be accurately read by the reading means, unlike when a conventional white rubber roller with a small diameter is used as the pressing means. High assembly precision is not required to achieve this. moreover,
If a pressing means made of a flexible sheet as described above is used, since it does not have a conveying function, it is necessary to consider the coefficient of friction of the pressing means against the contact surface of the original and the reading means, like a conventional white roller. do not have.

0010

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention applied to a facsimile machine will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

First, the general structure of the entire apparatus will be explained with reference to FIG. A document tray 101 is disposed in the apparatus main body 1, protruding diagonally upward and to the right from there. The document tray 101 can stack a plurality of documents S. Further, an optical reading system (reading means and document conveying means) 100 is disposed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1 and reads image information of a document conveyed from the document tray 101. 1, a recording system 200 consisting of a thermal head and a cutter is arranged. The optical reading system 100 has an operation panel disposed on its upper surface, and separates the originals S stacked on the original tray 101 one by one using a separating pressing piece 102 and a separating roller 103 pressed against this. , paper feed roller 104
b and the paper feed roller 104a in pressure contact with the paper feed roller 104a to convey the document S below the operation panel, and press the document S against the upper surface of the contact type image sensor 105 using the pressing means 106 so that the document S is in close contact with the upper surface of the contact image sensor 105. is read, and then the document S is transferred to the paper ejection roller 107b and the paper ejection roller 107 that is in pressure contact with the paper ejection roller 107b.
a functions to discharge onto the cover of the recording system 200.

The contact image sensor 105 is configured to irradiate light onto the image information surface of the document S from an LED 105a serving as a light source, and use the light reflected from the image information surface on the upper surface of the contact image sensor 105. Photoelectric conversion element 1
05b (this constitutes a reading line extending in the width direction of the document S) to read image information, and when applied to a facsimile machine as in this embodiment, it is It functions to transmit the read image information to the recording system of another machine in the facsimile mode, and to transmit the image information to its own recording system in the copy mode. The upper document guide 108 provided above the transport area for the document S is assembled to the operation panel side together with a mechanism placed above it, and the operation panel opens and closes about a fulcrum 109. When the document S is moved, the conveyance area of the document S can be opened upwardly, making it easy to clear document jams and maintain the contact image sensor and ADF.

[0013] The document tray 101 is provided with a slider 101a that can slide in a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the document S (width direction of the document S). Both sides of the original document S can be aligned.

Further, in the recording system 200, a thermal head 201 is driven based on an image signal from the contact type image sensor 105, and its heating element generates heat. The thermal head 201 is pressed from behind by a spring. Furthermore, in the recording system 200, the platen roller 202 is rotated in synchronization with the image signal, so image information is formed at a predetermined position on the recording paper S'. When the printing by the thermal head 201 is completed, the recording paper S' is conveyed by a predetermined amount by the platen roller 202, cut by the cutter 203, and then cut by the platen roller 202 again until the leading edge approaches the position of the heating element. be returned. In this way, the recording system 200 completes a series of operations. In the case of facsimile mode, image information is formed using an image signal sent from the other party's facsimile machine, rather than the image signal from the contact type image sensor 105 described above.

Next, features of the optical reading system 100 according to the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to FIG. The pressing means 106 is constituted by a flexible sheet 106a such as a polyester film, and pushes the original S onto the reading line (photoelectric conversion element) of the contact image sensor 105.
105b. This flexible sheet 106a is
It is preferable that the surface is white, and this serves as the reference color when reading the image information of the document S, and serves as the background color in the case of a narrow document or a transparent document.

One end of the flexible sheet 106a is fixed to the upper document guide 108 with a metal fitting 106b having a U-shaped cross section and a screw 106c. In the area of the flexible sheet 106a corresponding to the reading position of the reading means,
The sponge com 1 is located on the back side of the flexible sheet 106a.
10b, which is also glued to the stay 110a on the opposite side. The stay is made by bending a sheet metal, and both ends are fixed to the upper document guide 108.

Stay 110a and sponge rubber 110
b is a width of, for example, 10 mm in the front and rear around the reading position,
The original S can be pressed. The flexible sheet 106a is located on the inner surface side of the central part of the upper document guide 108, and the central part is aligned with the reading line 106a.
It protrudes in a slightly curved state, facing 05b and parallel to it. Note that the amount of deflection of the sponge rubber 110b is determined by the way the stay is attached. The sponge rubber 1
The force with which the flexible sheet 106a is pressed by the amount of deflection of the sheet 10b is preferably 40 to 50 g, for example. For this reason, for example, the stay may be made of a steel plate with a rigidity of 40 to 50 g, and the stay may be mounted by bending the sponge rubber under its own weight and fixing the stay at a balanced point. In this case, the sponge rubber 110b constantly applies pressure to the flexible sheet with a force of 40 to 50 g even though it is on the stay.

As mentioned above, the sponge rubber interposed between the stay 110a and the flexible sheet 106a actually has a thickness of 0.5 to 1 m when the weight of the stay is added to the entire surface.
It is desirable that it bends by about m.

Generally, when the contact type image sensor 105 does not have a short focus coupling lens, the depth of field is only about 50 μm, and furthermore, the flatness of the reading line 105b of the contact type image sensor varies by ±150 μm. In some cases, it is actually difficult to ensure the required adhesion to the flexible sheet with the weight of the steel plate alone;
As in the above embodiment, if a material that is flexible in the pressing direction, such as sponge rubber, is interposed between the stay and the flexible sheet, the elasticity of the sponge rubber itself will cause the Even in the case of a poor contact type image sensor, it is possible to bring the document S into close contact with the reading line 105b so that it does not rise or shake. Then, when the image information surface of the document S is irradiated with light from the LED 105a at this reading line 105b, the light reflected from the image information surface is imaged on the photoelectric conversion element 105b, and the image information of the document S is read.

In this way, when the flexible sheet 106a is used instead of the conventional pressure roller (white rubber roller), the document S can be brought into close contact with the reading line 105b with a lower load than when the pressure roller is used. Moreover, since the pressing means 106 is made flat due to its structural characteristics, the height of the entire device can be reduced. Also, when reading the surface of the flexible sheet 106a to obtain reference color data for reading image information of the original S,
Since the surface is flat, that is, it does not have a large curvature like the surface of a pressure roller with a small diameter, the light reflected from the surface of the flexible sheet 106a is accurately guided to the photoelectric conversion element 105b of the contact type sensor 105. It is easy to assemble and does not require high assembly accuracy. Furthermore, since sponge rubber is interposed between the stay 110a and the flexible sheet 106a, even if the contact type image sensor is a sensor with a small depth of field without a short focus lens, and
Even if the flatness of the reading position 105b is poor, it is possible to reliably bring the image information surface of the document into close contact with the reading position 105b of the contact type image sensor 105.

Furthermore, since the pressing means 106 of the present invention is not designed to convey the original S, there is a degree of freedom in selecting the material of the flexible sheet 6a, and the pressure roller 106 is more flexible than the conventional pressing roller. , its configuration is easy.

Although the reading device of the above embodiment is applied to a facsimile machine, it may also be applied to a copying machine or other image reading device. Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the stay 110a, the sponge rubber 110b, and the flexible sheet 105a are all assembled by adhesive, but these do not necessarily need to be adhered to each other, but simply in contact with each other. It is also possible to have a configuration in which they can be separated separately. This is considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

[0023]

[Effects of the Invention] The present invention, as detailed above, uses a pressing means made of a flexible sheet to press and bring the original into close contact with the reading section of the reading means. The pressing means can be configured flat, the height of the entire device can be reduced, and high assembly precision is not required to guide the reflected light to the reading section. In addition, since a flexible member is interposed in the pressing direction between the stay of the pressing means and the flexible sheet, it can also be used for contact type image sensors with a small depth of field. Since the pressing means itself does not have a conveyance function, the material selection is not difficult as in conventional pressing rollers, and the construction is easy.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an optical reading system in a facsimile machine embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a facsimile machine embodying the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 Optical reading system (reading means and original transport means) 104a Paper feed roller 107a Paper ejection roller 105 Contact image sensor 105a
LED array 105b Reading line (photoelectric conversion element) 106a
Flexible sheet 110a stay

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A document conveying means for conveying a document, a reading means for reading image information of the document conveyed by the document conveying means on a reading line, and a document conveying means conveying the document conveyed to the reading means on the reading line. a pressing means made of a flexible sheet for pressing the
A stay is arranged so as to be parallel or substantially parallel to the reading line, and a flexible member is sandwiched between the stay and the flexible sheet in the direction in which the document is pressed, A reading device characterized in that it is configured to press the flexible sheet through this.