JPH05150618A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the constitution of the image forming device, to copy the images read into plural liquid crystal cells in superposition and to facilitate the synthesis and deletion of the images by copying the images on paper without using a laser beam. CONSTITUTION:This image forming device has 1st irradiating means 4, 5 which irradiate an original 3 with light, the liquid crystal cells M which are mounted in respective windows, read in the images by receiving image light from the surfaces and out of the rear, a 2nd read it irradiating means 15 which irradiates the rear of the liquid crystal cells M with the light, a drum driving means for rotating a drum 14 in such a manner that the liquid crystal cells M provided in the respective windows receive sequentially the reflected light from the original 3 on the surface and can receive the light from the 2nd irradiating means 15 on the rear, a photosensitive body 19 which forms electrostatic latent images by receiving the light from the rear of the liquid crystal cells M and a control means which reads the plural original images into the plural liquid crystal cells M by rotation of the drum 14 and forms the electrostatic latent images corresponding to the images of the plural liquid crystal cells M in superposition on the photosensitive body 19 by rotating the drum 14 at the time of reading out.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for reading and printing information written in an image memory.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in this type of image forming apparatus,
One that reads the information written in the image memory, converts it into an electric signal, forms a latent image on the photoconductor with the laser light modulated by the electric signal, develops it with toner, and transfers it to paper. Known (for example, Japanese Patent Fairness 1
-52749 gazette).

[0003]

However, in such an image forming apparatus, the information written in the image memory is once converted into an electrical signal, and the laser beam is modulated by the electrical signal, and the laser beam is modulated. However, since the latent image is formed on the photoconductor, there is a problem that the structure becomes complicated. The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and provides an image forming apparatus having a simplified structure by forming a latent image directly on a photoconductor from an image written in an image memory. is there.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided an original placing table on which an original is placed, a first irradiating means for irradiating the original on the original placing table with light and reflecting the original, and a hollow cylindrical polyhedron. A drum having a window on each side of the polyhedron, a liquid crystal cell mounted on each window of the drum to read an image by receiving image light from the front surface and read the image by the light received on the back surface,
The second irradiation means for irradiating and reflecting light on the back surface of the liquid crystal cell and the liquid crystal cell provided in each window of the drum sequentially receive the reflected light from the original on the front surface, and the second irradiation means for the back surface. Drum driving means for rotating the drum so as to receive light from the liquid crystal, a photoconductor that receives reflected light from the back surface of the liquid crystal cell to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original image, and the electrostatic latent image is developed. Developing means, a transfer means for transferring the developed image to a sheet, a fixing means for fixing the transferred image, and a plurality of liquid crystal cells for reading a plurality of original images by rotating a drum, and at the time of reading. (EN) An image forming apparatus provided with a control means for rotating a drum to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image of a plurality of liquid crystal cells on a photoconductor in an overlapping manner.

[0005]

Since the liquid crystal cells are mounted on the windows of the respective faces of the polyhedron of the drum, when the drum rotates, the liquid crystal cells sequentially receive the reflected light from the document from the surface and read the document image. Then, the image is read by the light irradiating the back surface of the liquid crystal cell, and the photoreceptor receives the image light from the back surface of the liquid crystal cell to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original image. The developing means develops the electrostatic latent image, and the developed image is transferred and fixed on the paper. Further, since electrostatic latent images of the images read by the plurality of liquid crystal cells are formed on the photoconductor in a superposed manner, a plurality of original images can be superposed and copied.

[0006]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described in detail below based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. This does not limit the present invention. FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is an image forming apparatus main body, 2 is an original placing table on which an original 3 is placed and which is made of a transparent glass plate, and 4 and 5 are original irradiation for illuminating an original. Lamps, 6a and 6b are reflection mirrors, M is a liquid crystal cell, and 7 is a zoom lens for focusing the image light reflected from the original 3 on the surface of the liquid crystal cell M and writing the image of the original 3 in the liquid crystal cell.

Here, the liquid crystal cell M includes, as shown in FIG. 9, glass substrates 8a and 8b, transparent electrodes 9a and 9b, a photoconductive layer 10, a light blocking layer 11, a reflective film 12, and a liquid crystal layer 13.
And an AC voltage e is applied to the transparent electrodes 9a and 9b.

Regarding the photoconductive layer 10, the resistance per unit area of the liquid crystal layer 13 with and without light irradiation, that is, the bright resistance R (ON) and the dark resistance R (OFF) is the resistance per unit area. R (OFF) for R (LC) >>
R (LC) >> R (ON).

Therefore, when there is no light irradiation, most of the applied voltage e is applied to the photoconductive layer 10 and no electro-optical effect is generated in the liquid crystal layer 13. When the photoconductive layer 10 is irradiated with light,
Since the resistance of the photoconductive layer 10 is lowered and a voltage is applied to the liquid crystal layer 13, an electro-optical effect is produced.

Since R (ON) depends on the intensity of the irradiation light, the voltage applied to the liquid crystal layer 13 also depends on the intensity of the irradiation light, and an analog response corresponding to the type of the electro-optical effect of the liquid crystal layer 13 is also obtained. Obtainable.

That is, when the light radiated on the photoconductive layer 10 is image information having an intensity distribution, a voltage distribution corresponding to the intensity distribution is applied to the liquid crystal layer 13 to correspond to the incident image. An image to be formed is formed (memory) in the liquid crystal layer 13 by the electro-optical effect.

Although CdS is the most common material for the photoconductive layer 10, ZnS, ZnO, Se, SeTe, or an amorphous silicon thin film is also used. The liquid crystal layer 13 includes, for example, N- (4-methoxybenzyliden).
e) -4-n-butylaniline (MBBA) and other nematic liquid crystals are used.

As shown in FIG. 9, when a writing voltage is applied between the transparent electrodes 9a and 9b and image light is emitted in the direction of arrow A, an image is written in the liquid crystal layer 13 and the writing voltage is removed. The written image is stored in the liquid crystal layer 13. The stored image can be read by irradiating light from the direction of arrow B.

In this case, since the memory image does not change even if the light is irradiated from the direction of arrow B, it is possible to read out any number of times. Further, when the memory image becomes unnecessary and a new image is stored in memory, an erase voltage is applied between the transparent electrodes 9a and 9b to erase the memory image.

As shown in FIG. 1, the liquid crystal cell M includes a drum 1
4, the image is written by the image light from the zoom lens 7, and is illuminated and read by the liquid crystal illumination lamp 15. Reference numeral 15a is a lamp house, 16 is a projection zoom lens, 17 and 18 are mirrors, and 19 is a photosensitive belt (endless belt).

The projection zoom lens 16 mirrors the image light (reflected light) read from the liquid crystal cell M.
An electrostatic latent image is formed by forming an image on the photoconductor belt 19 via 7, 18. In order to effectively use the space of the main body 1, the photoconductor belt 19 is arranged so that the surface receiving the reflected light from the liquid crystal cell M is orthogonal to the document table 2.

Reference numeral 20 is a developing device for developing the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive belt 19 with toner, 21 is a cleaner for collecting and removing the toner and charges remaining on the photosensitive belt 13, and 22 is the photosensitive belt 19. Is a charger for uniformly charging the sheet, 23 is a container for storing the sheet, 24 is a sheet feeding roller for feeding the sheet from the container 23, and 25 is a sheet container 23
Is a conveying path for conveying the sheet from the direction toward the photosensitive belt 19, and 26 is a registration roller for determining the sheet conveying timing with respect to the moving position of the photosensitive belt 19.

Reference numeral 27 denotes a transfer charger for transferring a toner image from the photosensitive belt 19 onto a sheet, and 28 denotes the photosensitive belt 1.
9 is a separation charger for separating the paper from the sheet, 29 is a conveyor belt for conveying the sheet, 30 is a fixing roller for fixing the image on the sheet, 31 is a sheet discharging roller for discharging the sheet, and 32 is a housing for temporarily storing the copied sheet. Container 33, a transport path for transporting the copied paper to the container, 34 a switching device for switching the transport path, 35 a paper feed roller for feeding the paper in the container 32, and 36 a registration roller for the paper in the container 32 A transport path for transporting to 26.

Reference numeral 37 is an operation panel equipped with a keyboard for setting various copying conditions, and 38 is a display panel equipped with a liquid crystal display for displaying the set copying conditions and a document image.

2 is a sectional view of the drum 14, FIG. 4 is a side view of the drum 14, FIG. 5 is a top view of the drum 14, and FIG. 6 is a front view of the drum 14. In these figures, 39 is a drum main body made of a hollow tubular regular dodecahedron, and 40 is a holder made of a hollow tubular regular dodecahedron slidably mounted on the outside of the drum main body 39. Each outer peripheral surface is provided with a window holding two liquid crystal cells M arranged in the axial direction of the drum 39. That is, as shown in FIG. 12, the holder 40 has 24 (2 ×
12) The liquid crystal cells M1 to M24 are mounted.

Reference numeral 41 denotes an opening provided at the center of each outer peripheral surface of the main body 39, reference numeral 42 denotes a rotary shaft for rotating the drum main body,
43 is a support plate, 44 is a bearing that rotatably supports the drum body 39, and 45 is an opening 41 for the irradiation light of the projection lamp 15.
To guide the liquid crystal cell M to the back surface through the drum body 39.
Is a hole provided in the end wall of the lens, and 46 is a hole provided in the support plate for guiding the light from the projection zoom lens 16 to the mirror 17.

Reference numeral 47 is a CCD camera, 48 is a support for the CCD camera, 49 is a sliding shaft for slidably supporting the support 48, 50 is a pinion gear meshing with a rack gear (not shown) on the back surface of the support 48, 51 is a pinion gear 5
It is a CCD camera moving motor that drives 0.

When the CCD camera moving motor 51 is driven, the pinion gear 50 rotates to move the support base 48 to the position shown in FIG. 3, and the CCD camera 47 takes an image of the liquid crystal cell M illuminated by the liquid crystal illumination lamp 15. To be done.

Reference numeral 52 denotes a rotational position detecting sensor for detecting a home position when the drum body 39 rotates, 53 denotes a moving position detecting sensor for detecting a home position when the holder 40 slides, and 54 denotes a rotating shaft 42. A bearing that supports the motor 55, 55 is a drum rotation motor (stepping motor) that rotates the drum 39, 56 and 57 are gears that transmit the rotational force of the motor 55 to the rotation shaft 42, and 58 is the holder 40 in the direction of arrow A or B. It is a holder moving motor (stepping motor) for sliding.

Reference numeral 59 is a flange provided on the outer edge of the holder 40, 60 is a sliding piece for rotatably supporting the flange 59 to position the holder 40, and 61 is a sliding piece for slidably supporting the sliding piece 60. A base, 62 is a wire for moving the sliding piece 60 in the arrow A or B direction, and 63 and 64 are wires 6.
Pulleys 65 and 66 for supporting 2 are gears for transmitting the rotational force of the holder moving motor 58 to the wire 62.

67 is a commutator fixed to the rotary shaft 42 for supplying electric power to the liquid crystal cell M, and 68 is the commutator 6
7, a pair of power supply brushes provided so as to contact with 7,
Is a brush support. As shown in FIG. 7, the slider 67a of the commutator 67 is connected to the transparent electrode 9a of each liquid crystal cell M by the wiring pattern 70 provided on the drum body 39.
9b is connected to each terminal 71.

Then, when the holder 40 moves as shown in FIG. 8 and another liquid crystal cell M faces the opening 41, the connection of the wiring pattern 70 to the liquid crystal cell M is switched. That is, the wiring pattern 70 is connected to the liquid crystal cell M located in the opening 41.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the main part of the control circuit of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, where MC is a control part containing a microcomputer, ZM1 is a zoom lens motor for driving the zoom lens 7, and ZM2 is a projection. The projection zoom lens motor that drives the zoom lens 16, MM is a main motor that drives various drive units of the main body 1, and SC is a solenoid clutch that turns ON / OFF transmission of the rotational force of the main motor MM to the various drive units.

The control unit MC includes an operation panel 37, a rotational position detecting sensor 52, a moving position detecting sensor 53 and a CCD.
Upon receiving the output from the camera 47 or the like, the liquid crystal cell M, the zoom lens motor ZM1, the projection zoom lens motor ZM2, the CCD camera moving motor 51, the drum rotating motor 55, the holder moving motor 58, the display panel 3
8, the original irradiation lamp 4, the liquid crystal irradiation lamp 15, the solenoid clutch SC, the main motor MM, the charger 22, the transfer charger 27, the separation charger 28 and the like are driven.

The operation in such a configuration will be described below. (1) Writing (Reading) Image into Liquid Crystal Cell First, the original 3 is placed on the original table 2 and the operation panel 37
When you operate, the document irradiation lamps 6a and 6b will light up,
The image light from the original is transmitted by the zoom lens 7 to the liquid crystal cell 7
Liquid crystal cell M which forms an image on the surface of the liquid crystal cell and faces the zoom lens 7.
The image is written into the image 1 (see FIG. 12). Next, when the original on the original table 2 is replaced with another original and the operation panel 37 is operated, the drum 14 rotates by an angle of 30 degrees, the liquid crystal cell M2 faces the zoom lens 7, and the original is displayed on the liquid crystal cell M2. The image is written.

This operation is repeated to repeat the liquid crystal cells M1 to M1.
The image is written in 2. When further writing an image after the liquid crystal cell M12, the guide 40 slides in the axial direction of the drum 14 until the liquid crystal cell M13 faces the zoom lens 7, and the liquid crystal cells M13 to M13 are moved in the same manner as described above.
A document image is written in 24.

(2) Confirmation of Image Written in Liquid Crystal Cell Next, when the operation panel 37 is operated, the CCD camera 47
Moves to the position shown in FIG. 3, the liquid crystal cell irradiation lamp 15 is turned on, and the back surface of the liquid crystal cell M is irradiated. Thereby,
The image written in the liquid crystal cell M is the CCD camera 47.
Is imaged by the display panel 3 and converted into an electric signal to be displayed on the display panel 3.
8 is displayed.

The user selects the type of image, the magnification of the zoom lens 7 with respect to the size and position of the copy sheet, the position of the original 3,
The image quality and the brightness of the original irradiation lamp 4 and the liquid crystal irradiation lamp 15 are confirmed from the image displayed on the display panel 38. As a result of the confirmation, if any of the images needs to be adjusted, the image written in the liquid crystal cell M is once erased, and after the adjustment, the writing operation is repeated to confirm the image.

The position of the original image with respect to the paper can be adjusted by moving the holder 40 or rotating the drum 39, and the copy magnification can also be adjusted by the projection zoom lens 16.

(3) Reading of Image to Photosensitive Belt Next, when an arbitrary liquid crystal cell M is designated on the operation panel 37 and "copy start" is input, the designated liquid crystal cell M is moved to the zoom lens 7. Is arranged so as to face the CC
The D camera 47 returns to the position shown in FIG.
5 lights up for a predetermined time and illuminates the back surface of the liquid crystal cell M. The image light from the liquid crystal cell M is guided onto the photoconductor belt 19 via the projection zoom lens 16, the mirror 17 and the mirror 18, and forms an electrostatic latent image.

(4) Copying to Paper Next, the photosensitive belt 19 moves in the direction of arrow C, the electrostatic latent image is developed by the developing device 20, and transferred to the paper sent from the container 23. .. The transferred sheet is separated from the photoconductor belt 19, fixed by the fixing roller 30, and then ejected to the outside of the main body 1 by the ejection roller 31.

When the fixed paper is reused (for example, for double-sided copying), the fixed paper is once stored in the container 32 by the switching device 34. In this way, the copying operation onto the paper is completed.

When a plurality of copy numbers are set by the operation panel 37, among the above operations, the operations after the reading of the image from the same liquid crystal cell M are repeated.

In the operation (1), an image is written in one of the liquid crystal cells M, and the above (3) and (4) are continued.
By executing, it is possible to continuously perform the process from reading the original document to copying it. At this time, since the images of the original document once copied are sequentially stored in the liquid crystal cells M,
The memory image can be reused for double-sided copying and various other copying processes.

By adjusting the position of the liquid crystal cell M facing the zoom lens 7 by sliding the holder 40, as shown in FIG. 11, two original images are displayed in the image writing area of one liquid crystal cell M. It is possible to write a and b and copy them to individual sheets. Therefore, for example, A3
For a size original, one may be written in one liquid crystal cell M, and for an A4 size original, two may be written in one liquid crystal cell M. By doing so, the number of original images stored in the liquid crystal cell M can be increased.

Next, the operation of superimposing a plurality of original images and combining them (partially deleting) will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG. First, in step 101, a frame erasing document is written in the liquid crystal cell M1. Next, drum 1
4 is rotated forward by an angle of 30 degrees (step 102), the original is changed (step 103), and the changed original is written in the liquid crystal cell M2 (step 104).

Next, the photoconductor belt 19 is driven so that the photoconductor belt 19 is uniformly charged by the charger 22 (step 105), and then the photoconductor belt 19 is stopped (step 106) to complete the liquid crystal cell M2. Image is read out to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive belt 19 (step 10).
7).

Next, the drum 14 is reversed by 30 degrees (step 108), the image of the liquid crystal cell M1 is read out, and an electrostatic latent image is formed by superposing it on the electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive belt 19 (step). 109). Then, development, transfer and fixing are performed (step 110).

When the unexposed portion of the photosensitive belt (frame portion of the image) in step 107 is exposed in step 109, the image in the frame portion is erased. In this way, a plurality of original images can be overlapped and a part of the images can be arbitrarily deleted.

[0045]

According to the present invention, since the original image can be read by the liquid crystal cell and the image can be read from the liquid crystal cell and copied on the paper without using the laser beam, the structure of the image forming apparatus is simplified. To be done. Further, since the images read by the plurality of liquid crystal cells can be copied in an overlapping manner, the images can be easily combined and deleted.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing a drum of an example.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an operation inside the drum of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a side view showing the drum of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a top view showing the drum of the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the drum of the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of a main part of a drum according to an embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the main parts of the drum of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a structural explanatory view showing a liquid crystal cell of an example.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a control circuit of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a top view showing an image writing area of the liquid crystal cell of the example.

FIG. 12 is a development view illustrating the arrangement of the liquid crystal cells of the example.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Main body of image forming apparatus 2 Original placing table 4, 5 Original irradiation lamp 7 Zoom lens M Liquid crystal cell 14 Drum 15 Liquid crystal irradiation lamp 16 Projection zoom lens 17, 18 Mirror 19 Photoconductor belt 27 Transfer charger 30 Fixing roller

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A document placing table on which a document is placed, a first irradiating unit for illuminating and reflecting the document on the document placing table, a hollow cylindrical polyhedron, and a window on each surface of the polyhedron. The drum, the liquid crystal cell mounted on each window of the drum to receive the image light from the front surface to read the image, and the light received on the rear surface to read the image, and the second irradiation for irradiating and reflecting the light on the rear surface of the liquid crystal cell The means and the liquid crystal cell provided in each window of the drum sequentially receive the reflected light from the original on the surface,
In addition, a drum driving unit that rotates the drum so that the back surface can receive the light from the second irradiation unit, and a photoconductor that receives the reflected light from the back surface of the liquid crystal cell and forms an electrostatic latent image corresponding to the original image. A developing unit for developing the electrostatic latent image, a transferring unit for transferring the developed image onto a sheet, a fixing unit for fixing the transferred image, and a plurality of original images for a plurality of images by rotating the drum. An image forming apparatus equipped with a control means for reading in a liquid crystal cell and rotating a drum at the time of reading to form an electrostatic latent image corresponding to an image of a plurality of liquid crystal cells on a photoconductor in an overlapping manner.