JPH0492553A - Original cassette - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To effectively prevent the occurrence of the Newton rings by providing a spacer member which functions to support an original at a position distant from a support member and an attachable adjustment member which can change the size of an original setting opening. CONSTITUTION:The spacer members 20 and 22 are provided to support an original at a position distant from a support member 14 together with the attachable adjustment members 28 and 30 which can change the sizes of the original setting opening parts. When a sheet type original is held by the member 14 via the members 20 and 22, a gap larger enough than the wavelength of the reading light is produced between the original and the member 14. Thus no Newton ring is produced when an original cassette is carried to a reading part of a picture reader and the picture information is read. Then the picture information is satisfactorily read with no unevenness.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a document force used to load a document carrying image information into an image reading device [Prior Art] Fields of printing, plate making, etc. In order to streamline the work process, improve image quality, etc., an image scanning reading and reproducing system is used that electrically processes image information carried on a document to create a film original.

In the image reading device that constitutes this image scanning reading and reproducing system, for example, an original such as a developed film is main-scanned with a light beam while being conveyed in the sub-scanning direction through an original cassette. The carried image information is read two-dimensionally.

In this case, the document cassette includes a set of support members, at least one of which is made of a transparent material, and light reflected or transmitted from the document through the transparent support member is provided in the reading section. Image information is read by being photoelectrically converted by an optical/electrical conversion element such as a CCD.

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] By the way, in this document cassette, the document is directly positioned and placed on the support member, and depending on the condition of the document, when the read image information is reproduced, However, unevenness may occur in the reproduced image. That is, if the document and the support plate are not in close contact with each other and there is a gap between them that is on the order of the wavelength of the reading light, the interference of the reading light will cause unevenness due to Newton's rings.

The present invention has been made in view of this type of problem, and an object of the present invention is to provide a document cassette that can effectively prevent the occurrence of Newton's rings and can easily accommodate various documents of different sizes. shall be.

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention includes a transparent support member that holds a sheet-like original, and a transparent support member that is attached to the support member and that separates the original from the support member. A spacer member for supporting the document, and an adjustment member attachable to the spacer member to change the size of the document placement opening of the spacer member according to the size of the document. .

[Function] In the document cassette configured as described above, when a sheet-like document is held on the support member via the spacer member,
A gap sufficiently larger than the wavelength of the reading light is provided between the document and the support member. Therefore, when the document cassette is conveyed to the reading section of the image reading device and the image information is read, the light related to the image information obtained directly from the document and the light related to the image information once reflected by the support member may interfere with each other. There is no. Furthermore, when the originals have different sizes, an adjusting member is attached to the spacer member and the opening for placing the original in this spacer member is changed according to the original. The same spacer member can be used for both.

[Example] An example of a document cassette according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In FIGS. 1 to 3, reference numeral 10 indicates a document cassette according to this embodiment. This original cassette 10 is
A substantially rectangular frame 12, a support glass plate (support member) 14 attached to the center of the frame 12, and a cover glass plate (support member) 16 attached to the frame 12 in an openable and closable manner.
, spacer members 20 and 22 fixed to the support glass plate 14 and cover glass plate 16, respectively, and the size of the document placement opening 24.26 of the spacer member 20.22 depending on the size of the document S. an adjustment member 28 attachable to said spacer member 20.22 to change the
．． 30.

The document cassette 10 is loaded into an image reading device to be described later and transported in the direction of the arrow X, and the frame body 12 has V-shaped grooves 34a extending along the direction of the arrow X on both sides.
, 34b are formed. At the front of the frame 12 in the direction of arrow X, a cassette splitting section 36 for identifying the original cassette 10 and the originals S held in the original cassette 10 is provided. The cassette identification section 36 is constituted by a light transmitting section having a predetermined pattern depending on the type of the document cassette 10 and the document S. A stopper member 38 for locking the cover glass plate 16 to the frame 12 is provided at the rear of the frame 12 in the direction of arrow X.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, spacer member 20.
Each pair of openings 24, 26 provided in 22 are
The openings 24.26 are formed to be slightly smaller than the original S, and a set of curved locking grooves 40.42 for positioning the adjustment members 28.30 communicate with the ends of each opening 24.26. The spacer member 20 is provided with positioning convex portions 44a to 44C so as to sandwich the negative set of openings 24 therebetween.

Spacer members 20, 22 are attached to support glass plate 14 and cover glass plate 16 by adhesive or the like. This °
The thickness of the spacer members 20 and 22 is set to, for example, Q, 1 mm or more so as to be sufficiently larger than the wavelength of the reading light.

Note that a stainless steel plate, a film, or the like can be used as the spacer members 20 and 22.

The adjustment member 28.30 has the same thickness as the spacer member 20.22, and its length H is selected depending on the size of the document S, and the adjustment member 28.30 has the same thickness as the spacer member 20.22. A locking piece 46.48 is provided which is arranged in the groove 40.42.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of an image reading device 50 for reading an image of a document S set in the document cassette 10 configured as described above, preferably a developed film.

The image reading device 50 has a cassette attachment/detachment part 52 at one end of the upper part.
A cassette insertion opening 54 is provided adjacent to the cassette attachment/detachment section 52, and a cassette insertion opening 54 is provided near the cassette insertion opening 54 for identifying the original cassette 10 and the type of original S held in the original cassette 10. An identification mechanism 56 is provided. The identification mechanism 56 includes a light emitting section 58 and a light receiving section 60, which are arranged to face each other with the document cassette 10 being transported therebetween.

One end of a transport mechanism 62 is disposed close to the identification mechanism 56, and the other end of the transport mechanism 62 extends above a rotary table to be described later. The transport mechanism 62 includes a transport roller 66 that contacts the upper surface of the frame 12 of the document cassette 10 and a plurality of guide rollers 64 arranged along the transport direction. It engages with V-shaped grooves 34a and 34b provided on both sides.

Below the transport mechanism 62, a document table 68 is connected to a sub-scanning mechanism 70.
It is disposed so as to be able to move forward and backward in the sub-scanning direction (direction of arrow X) via. The sub-scanning mechanism 70 includes a rotational drive source 72, and a ball screw 74 connected to the rotational drive source 72 causes the document table 68 to be displaced in the direction of arrow X.

The original cassette 10 is placed on the original table 68 in the trimming direction.
That is, a trimming mechanism 76 that moves forward and backward in a direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction (arrow X direction) is provided. This trimming mechanism 76 includes a trim table 80 that is displaced by a rotational drive source 78 attached to a document table 68, and the trim table 80 has an opening 82 in which the document cassette 10 is positioned. The document table 68 is connected to the document cassette 10.
It has a rotation mechanism 84 that rotates a predetermined angle via a rotation table 86.

A light source 88 constituting a transmitted illumination mechanism is provided on the other end side of the transport mechanism 62 and extends in the main scanning direction substantially orthogonal to the direction of arrow X. An image reading section 90 that photoelectrically reads the illumination light is provided. The image reading section 90 includes an imaging lens 92 that can move forward and backward in the optical axis direction, and a photoelectric conversion section 96 that can move forward and backward with respect to the imaging lens 92 under the driving action of a rotational drive source 94. This photoelectric conversion section 96 is composed of, for example, a CCD, and photoelectrically reads image information recorded on the document S.

The document cassette 10 and the image reading device 50 into which it is loaded according to the present embodiment are constructed as described above, and the operation thereof will be described next.

First, in the state shown in FIG. 1, a document S and an adjustment member 28 corresponding to the size of the document S are fixed to the opening 24 of the spacer member 20 on the support glass plate 14. That is, the locking piece 46 of the desired adjustment member 28 is connected to the spacer member 20.
The document S is positioned in the opening formed by the adjustment member 28 and the opening 24.

In this case, the document S may be simply placed on the opening 24, but preferably, the document S is fixed to the spacer member 20 and the adjustment member 28 using an adhesive tape 98, as shown in FIG. It is desirable to keep it. This is because positioning of the original S becomes reliable, and slack in the original S can be eliminated. At that time, after fixing the document S to the spacer member 20, the spacer member 20 may be positioned on the supporting glass plate 14.

After positioning the original S on the spacer member 20 in this way, the cover glass plate 16 is swung and the original S is pressed through the spacer member 22 fixed thereto.
The cover glass plate 16 is stopped by the stopper member 38. Here, the original S is sandwiched on all sides by the spacer members 20.22 and the adjustment members 28.30, and is held in the original cassette 10 without any slack. Further, a predetermined gap is provided between the document S and the supporting glass plate 14 and the cover glass plate 16.

Next, the document cassette 10 containing the desired document S is
The cassette is inserted into the cassette insertion opening 54 from the cassette attachment/detachment section 52 of the image reading device 50 . An identification mechanism 56 provided close to the cassette insertion opening 54 reads a code set in the cassette identification section 36 of the original cassette 10 and identifies the type of the original cassette 10 and the original S stored in the original cassette 10. identify That is, the light emitted from the light emitting section 58 constituting the identification mechanism 56 is transmitted to the cassette identification section 3.
The light passes through a predetermined light transmitting section 6 and reaches the light receiving section 60, whereby the types of the document cassette 10 and the document S are identified.

The document cassette 10 is rotated by a transport roller 66 constituting a transport mechanism 62 moving over the top surface of the frame 12, and guide rollers 64 fitted into V-shaped grooves 34a and 34b on both sides of the frame 12. It is transported to table 86.

The rotary table 86 adjusts the angle and trims the document S held in the document cassette 10 as necessary.

After the document cassette 10 is positioned on the document table 68, the rotational drive source 72 that constitutes the sub-scanning mechanism 70 is driven, and the document table 68 is moved in the sub-scanning direction (
While being transported in the direction of arrow X), the light source 88 is energized. When the illumination light derived from this light source 88 passes through the original S in the main scanning direction, the image information carried on the original S is taken out as an optical signal, and the image information as this optical signal is placed on the optical axis. The light is guided to a photoelectric conversion section 96 via a predetermined imaging lens 92 located at the center. The photoelectric conversion unit 96 photoelectrically reads the image information as the optical signal.

During this time, the document table 68 is being conveyed in the sub-scanning direction in the direction of the arrow X, the document S is two-dimensionally scanned by the illumination light, and all of its image information is read.

Here, the original S held in the original cassette 10 is
Since it is sandwiched between the spacer member 20.22 and the adjustment member 28.30, it is spaced apart from the support glass plate 14 and the cover glass plate 16 by a distance that is sufficiently larger than the wavelength of the illumination light. Therefore, part of the illumination light is transmitted to the document S and the supporting glass plate 14 or the cover glass plate 1.
6 and enters the photoelectric conversion unit 96, this light does not interfere with the light that directly enters the photoelectric conversion unit 96 from the document S. As a result, no interference fringes are formed on the photoelectric conversion section 96, and an even image can be obtained when image information is reproduced.

Furthermore, when the sizes of the originals S placed in the original cassette 10 are different, the length H of the adjustment member 28, 30 can be selected in accordance with the new original S, and the same spacer member 20. 22 can be used. This results in
Particularly when various originals S having different sizes are used, it is not necessary to prepare a large number of spacer members 20, 22 corresponding to each original S, resulting in an economical effect.

By the way, when a document S that is considerably smaller than the document S described above is used, the adjustment member 100.10 shown in FIG.
2 should be adopted.

That is, these adjustment members 100 and 102
Openings 104a, 10 formed slightly smaller than
4b, and 106a, 106b, the adjusting member 100 is provided with positioning convex portions 108a, 108b between the openings 104a, 104b.

Therefore, after the document S is positioned and fixed in the openings 104a, 104b of the adjustment member 100 via the convex portions 108a, 108b, the adjustment member 100 is placed in the opening 24 of the spacer member 20, thereby adjusting the dimensions. The small original S is now accurately placed in the original cassette 10.

[Effects of the Invention] As described above, the document cassette according to the present invention provides the following effects.

When a sheet-like original is held by a supporting member via a spacer member, a gap that is sufficiently larger than the wavelength of the reading light is provided between the original and the supporting member, so that the original cassette is not inserted into the image reading device. When the document is conveyed to the reading section and the image information is read, there is no interference between the light related to the image information directly obtained from the document and the light related to the image information once reflected by the support member. As a result, so-called Newton rings do not occur in the document cassette, and image information can be read evenly and extremely well.

Furthermore, when the originals have different sizes, an adjusting member is attached to the spacer member and the opening for placing the original in this spacer member is changed according to the original. The same spacer member can be used for both, which is efficient.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the configuration of a document cassette according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of the document cassette, FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the document cassette, and FIG. 4 is an image reading device in which the document cassette is loaded. A schematic configuration diagram of the apparatus, FIG. 5 is a front view of an adjustment member according to another embodiment. 0... Original cassette 2... Frame 4... Support glass plate 6... Cover glass plate 0.22... Spacer member 8.30... Adjustment member 0.42... Locking Groove 6.48...Locking piece 0...Image reading device 2...Cassette attachment/detachment section 2...Transport mechanism 0...Sub-scanning mechanism 8...Light source 0...Image reading section 00 .102...Adjustment members 04a, 104b--Openings 106a, 106b-Opening S...Manuscript FIG, 2 1n b 44C1 meeting lΦ FIG, 3

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) A transparent support member that holds a sheet-like original; a spacer member that is attached to the support member and supports the original at a distance from the support member; and a spacer member that supports the original at a distance from the support member; A document cassette comprising: an adjustment member attachable to the spacer member in order to change the size of the document placement opening of the member.