JPH05162485A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make it possible to form an image while the pages of an image carrying surface of a book-shaped image carrier are automatically turned over. CONSTITUTION:A unit 1 for turning over the pages of a book-shaped image carrier (transfer sheet) is moved with respect to the image carrying surface of transfer sheets which are spread and mounted on a manuscript mount table 100 to turn over the pages of the transfer sheets, while a print unit J1 for forming an image on the transfer sheets is moved with respect to the image carrying surface of the transfer sheets to form an image on the image carrying surface.

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 such as a copying machine and a facsimile, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a book-shaped image carrier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an apparatus and method for reading a book document, (1) the document surface of a book document placed on a document support table with its face open is brought into contact with an information contact glass, and the contact glass is sandwiched. A device for exposing and scanning a document image by scanning of scanning optical systems arranged opposite to each other.
(2) There is known a device for reading an original image by exposing and scanning the original surface of a book original placed on the original placement surface with the book spread open.

On the other hand, as a document reading device in a copying machine, a facsimile, etc., a sheet document is automatically conveyed to a document reading position to read document information, and the document which has been read is automatically discharged from the document reading position. An automatic document feeder (ADF) is known.

As described above, when the original is a sheet original, the original information can be automatically read by mounting the ADF, but when the original is a book original, automatic page turning is performed. Since it is difficult to realize the mechanism, at present, the pages of the book manuscript can be turned only manually.

In view of the current situation, various proposals have been made for methods and means for automating the troublesome reading of book originals.

As an apparatus and method for automatically turning a page of a book original, which is indispensable for realizing the automatic reading of the book original, (3) a book original placed facing downward is moved while the original page is moved. Device for sucking and separating, (4) Device for sucking and separating manuscript pages of book manuscript placed facing upward and (5) Roller, arm, etc. for manuscript pages of book manuscript placed facing upward A flipping device is known.

However, the above-mentioned conventional technique has many proposals only for ideas and has not reached the level at which it can be realized, and has the following problems. That is,
(1) The original surface of a book original placed on the original support table with its upper side opened is brought into contact with the contact glass for information, and the original image is exposed by scanning with the scanning optical system that is placed opposite to the contact glass. In the scanning device, it is necessary to move the book document from the position where the document pages of the book document are turned to the position where the exposure scanning is performed, which lowers the document exposure scanning efficiency and causes a problem that it becomes inevitable to increase the size of the device. It was

(2) In the apparatus for reading the original image by exposing and scanning the original surface of the book original placed on the original placing surface with the book spread upward, the size of the apparatus is increased. Although the points can be solved, since there is no means for pressing the document surface of the book document, the surface of the placed document easily floats up, and the reading scanning of the document surface becomes unstable.

On the other hand, (3) in an apparatus for sucking and separating the original pages while moving the book originals which are opened downward and placed, not only the reliability of the page turning is deteriorated due to the influence of the weight of the book originals. In addition, there is a risk that the document surface may be rubbed when the page is turned and the document may be damaged, and further, there is a problem in that the apparatus must be upsized due to its configuration.

Further, (4) a device for sucking and separating document pages of a book document placed facing upward and placed, and (5) rollers, arms, etc. for document page of a book document placed facing upward and placed. In the flipping device and the like, the conventional page separating mechanism that moves in the upper space of the book document is complicated and large, and thus there is a problem that it is difficult to avoid increasing the size of the device.

In view of such a situation, the applicant of the present invention, for example, as disclosed in the specification of Japanese Patent Application No. 2-193589 or the like, uses a page pressing belt stretched along the document placing surface of the document placing table. A page accommodating means is provided for the document surface of the book document placed in an open state between the document mounting surface and the page pressing belt while forming a bypass portion that is separated from the document mounting surface. , A page turning reader for book originals for performing page turning and reading scanning of the book original by relatively moving a page turning reading unit provided with a page suction means, a page separating means, a reading means, etc. MFD
Called S).

According to the proposed MFDS, as described in the above specification and the like, it is possible to completely automate the page turning operation and the document reading scanning of a book document, which requires a great deal of labor for copying work and the like. As a result, it is possible to realize a multi-function document reading system that remarkably improves productivity such as copying.

[0013]

By the way, the page turning reading device for book originals proposed by the present applicant was a device developed for the purpose of reading book originals. On the other hand, conventional image forming apparatuses such as copying machines and facsimiles are mainly configured to form an image on a sheet-shaped or roll-shaped image carrier (copy paper). Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional image forming apparatus, for example, a diary or notebook, or an image on the image-bearing surface of a book-like image carrier, such as a plurality of sheets bound at one end with a stapler. It was impossible to form. However, if it is possible to form an image on the image-bearing surface of such a book-shaped image carrier while turning the page, for example, the image-bearing of this book-shaped image carrier is carried. By copying the image of the book original on the surface, without binding or binding after copying,
It is possible to obtain a copy that is very close to the original. Also, by copying the collected materials etc. to such a book-shaped image carrier at any time or periodically, it is possible to collect the materials and put illustrations and copies of photographs in the diary or notebook. This can be done easily, and the trouble of processing after collection and copying and waste of copy paper can be eliminated. As described above, it is extremely useful to perform image formation while turning pages of the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and its purpose is to automatically turn the pages of the book-like image carrier as described above. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image while performing the operation.

[0015]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention, as set forth in claim 1, places an image carrier on which a book-shaped image carrier is mounted. Means and the book-shaped image carrier by moving relative to the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier that is opened and placed on the image-carrier mounting means. Configuration having page turning means for turning pages and image forming means for forming an image on the image bearing surface by moving relative to the image bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier And

The present invention also solves the above problems.
Therefore, as described in claim 2, a book-shaped image carrier
Image carrier mounting means for mounting the
The book-shaped image carrier that is opened and placed on the placing means
By moving relative to the image bearing surface of
Book-shaped image Page-turning for carrying the page
Means and image forming means for forming an image on the image bearing surface
And an image reading means for reading the image on the image bearing surface
And the page turning hand for the book-shaped image carrier
Transfers arranged so that relative movement is possible in the same direction as the step movement direction.
An image forming apparatus having a moving means,
The image forming means and the image reading means are any one of them.
A unit in which one of them can be selectively mounted on the moving means.
As the configuration.

Further, according to the present invention, in order to solve the above problems, as described in claim 3, an image reading means for reading an image on the image bearing surface and an image read by the image reading means. And an image storage means for storing

[0018]

According to the structure described in claim 1 of the present invention, the page-turning means for turning the page of the book-shaped image carrier is opened and placed on the image-carrier placing means. By moving relative to the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier, the page-turning operation of the book-shaped image carrier is executed and an image is displayed on the image-bearing surface. The image forming means to be formed moves the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier relative to the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier, thereby performing the image-forming operation on the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier. It

According to the second aspect of the present invention, any one of the image forming means and the image reading means configured as a unit that can be selectively mounted on the moving means is provided. By selectively mounting on the moving means, an automatic page-turning image forming process on the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier, and a spread and placement on the placing means. One of the automatic page-turning reading process for the document surface of the selected book document is selectively executed.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the image information of the book original read by the image reading means is stored in the image storage means, and the book original stored in the image storage means. Image information is image-formed on the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier, which is opened and placed on the image-bearing member placing unit by the image forming unit.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, for the sake of avoiding complication of the description, the illustration and disclosure of the configurations and operations within the scope that can be clearly recalled from the description of the present specification, and the above and other objects and novel features of the present invention are omitted. , Or simplify.

In principle, the embodiment described below has substantially the same function as the page turning reading apparatus for book originals proposed by the present applicant, and its outline is configured as follows. ing.

That is, a page original reading device "multi-function document scanner (hereinafter referred to as" MFDS ")" of a book original according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. O
A document placing table 100 on which a document is placed, and the document placing table 100
The page turning belt 200 stretched along the original placing surface 100a, and the page turning belt 2 by separating a part of the page turning belt 200 from the original placing surface 100a.
Belt detouring portion forming means 300 for forming the detouring portion 200a on the reading sheet 400a, and the reading portion 400a for the document placing surface 100a.
Facing each other, the reading means 400 disposed on the document reading scanning direction (arrow a direction) side of the bypass 200a, and the page storage port in the page turning direction (arrow b direction) opposite to the document reading scanning direction of the bypass 200a. The page storing means 500, which is opened in parallel with the reading means 400 along the scanning direction for reading the original, and the page turning belt 200 are charged with an unequal electric field, and the pages of the book original O are fed to the page turning belt 200. Page adsorbing means 600 for adsorbing paper, and page storing means 5
The page separating means 7 for separating the original pages adsorbed by the page turning belt by the curvature of the page turning belt 200 at the portion facing the page storing port 500a of 00.
00 and a page turning unit 1 supported so as to be reciprocally movable along the document placing surface 100a.

As shown in FIG. 2, the body structure of the MFDS has a front open shell type opening / closing structure in which the rear portions of the upper unit 2 and the lower unit 3 are fixed by a hinge 4. The upper surface of the lower unit 3 is the document placing surface 10
It is 0a.

The book original O is set by opening the upper unit 2 by fitting the binding portion into the center groove 100b formed in the central portion of the original placement surface 100a and opening the binding. Therefore, in this MFDS, it is not necessary to set the book document face down with the double-page spread face down as in a conventional copying machine, and the book document setting operation can be performed extremely efficiently and easily.

On the other hand, the page-turning belt 200 and the page-turning unit 1 are arranged in the upper unit 2 and the magnetic plate 2a of the upper unit 2 is attracted to the magnet 3a of the lower unit 3 to cause the upper unit 2 to move. Are closed, they are brought into close contact with the document surfaces of the book document O, respectively. The page-turning unit 1 is reciprocally moved with the upper unit 2 closed as described above, and the page-turning unit 1 shown in FIG.
Forward as indicated by 1B, 1C, 1D, that is, arrow a
When moving in the reading scanning direction indicated by
00, the document surface of the book document O is scanned, and the backward movement as shown by reference numerals 1E, 1F, 1G, and 1H in FIG.
When moving in the page-turning direction indicated by arrow b, the page suction means 600, the page separating means 700, and the page storing means 500 turn the page of the book document O.

The drive mechanism and drive control means of the page-turning unit 1 have been described in detail in the above-mentioned prior application, and therefore the description thereof is omitted here.

The configuration and operation unique to the present embodiment, which is different from the MFDS of the prior application, will be described below. The image forming apparatus according to the present exemplary embodiment includes the page turning unit 1 described above.
In addition, the printing unit J1 and the reading sensor unit J9 are detachably mounted, respectively, and the page turning unit 1 is configured as a page turning reading / writing unit J, which is a great feature.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic structure of the print unit J1 in this embodiment. This print unit J1
5, the front side in the longitudinal direction of FIG. 5 is an image writing surface (printing surface), and a line of characters or image data is printed by moving the ink jet cartridge J2 along this printing surface. Has been done.

In FIG. 5, the ink jet cartridge J
2 is supported by the print unit J1 by screwing a female screw portion J2a of the feed screw J3 arranged in the longitudinal direction of the print unit J1. Direction).

Both ends of the feed screw J3 are rotatably supported by the casing of the print unit J1. A worm wheel J4 is coaxially fixed to one end of the feed screw J3,
A worm gear J5 meshes with the worm wheel J4. The worm gear J5 is the print unit J
It is fixed to the output shaft of a print motor J6 arranged in the inside 1.

The print unit J constructed in this way
1 indicates that the worm gear J5 is caused by the forward and reverse rotation of the print motor J6 in response to a signal from the controller.
The feed screw J3 rotates forward and backward through the worm wheel J4 to control the position of the ink jet cartridge J2. This print unit J1 is, as shown in FIG.
The page turning unit 1 is formed into a substantially rectangular parallelepiped, and the page turning unit 1 is provided on the side opposite to the writing direction thereof with the connector J11.
(See FIG. 7) A connector J7 to be connected is arranged.

On the other hand, FIG. 6 shows an outline of the configuration of the reading sensor unit J9 in this embodiment. The reading sensor unit J9 is formed such that the outer diameter dimension thereof is substantially the same as that of the print unit J1 described above, and the page-turning unit 1 is provided on the surface opposite to the image reading surface on the front side in FIG. J11 (see FIG. 7) is connected,
The same connector J7 as that of the print unit J1 is arranged. A platen glass J8 is disposed on the image reading surface of the reading sensor unit J9, and a reading sensor including an LED array, a Selfoc lens, an equal-magnification sensor, and the like (Fig. (Not shown) is incorporated.

A page turning reading / writing unit J (hereinafter, simply referred to as a turning reading / writing unit) of this embodiment, which is configured by detachably mounting the print unit J1 and the reading sensor unit J9, is shown in FIG. As shown in, the unit holder J10 is opened downward. This unit holder J10
The opening J10a is formed in such a size that either the print unit J1 or the reading sensor unit J9 can be detachably fitted and held. Also,
At the bottom of the opening J10a of the unit holder J10,
The print unit J1 or another connector J11 to which the connector J7 of the reading sensor unit J9 is connected
Are arranged.

Therefore, this flipping read / write unit J
Attaches the print unit J1 to the opening J10a of the unit holder J10 to function as a page turning writing unit, and the reading sensor unit J9 is inserted into the opening J10a of the unit holder J10.
By installing, it functions as a page turning reading unit.

Here, by mounting the print unit J1 or the reading sensor unit J9 in the opening J10a of the unit holder J10 of the turning read / write unit J with the print surface or the image reading surface facing downward, each connector J7, J11. Are connected to each other, and the print unit J1 or the reading sensor unit J9 is connected via a harness (communication cable) J14.
Control signals can be transmitted / received to / from the controller J12.

The controller J12 has a memory J1.
3, it is possible to store write data (write image information) to the print unit J1, read data (read image information) from the read sensor unit J9, and control data in various modes.

As described above, in the page turning reading / writing unit J, the reading sensor unit J9 is attached to the opening J10a of the unit holder J10 so that the reading sensor unit J9 functions as a page turning reading unit.
The image data on the turned original pages can be read by sequentially turning the original pages of the book original O. Also, this flipping read / write unit J
Attaches the print unit J1 to the opening J10a of the unit holder J10 and causes it to function as a page turning writing unit, so that one end of the transfer paper is bound or bound like an notebook (image carrier). ), Turn over the transcription pages,
Image data such as characters stored in advance can be written and printed on the flipped transfer paper surface.

FIG. 8 shows an embodiment of the turning and reading / writing unit J having two unit holders J10 so that both the print unit J1 and the reading sensor unit J9 can be fitted and held at once. According to the turning read / write unit J of this embodiment, by attaching the print unit J1 and the reading sensor unit J9 to the respective unit holders J10, the reading and writing of the image information with respect to the book original and the book-like image carrier can be performed. It can be executed simultaneously or selectively.

Here, in the turning read / write unit J of this embodiment, the print unit J1 and the read sensor unit J9 may be mounted on any of the unit holders J10. Further, two units of the same type, for example, two print units J1 may be set in both of these unit holders J10. In this case, it is possible to print in two colors by making the colors of the inks of the respective print units J1 different. Further, three unit holders J10 are arranged in the turning read / write unit J, and each of the three unit holders J10 has ink of three primary colors.
It is possible to realize full-color printing by setting one print unit J1. Furthermore, as described above, by enabling the mounting of a plurality of units, a plurality of lines of image information can be printed or read at the same time, and the processing speed of document information can be improved.

According to the image forming apparatus configured as described above, the image reading from the book original is performed by mounting or connecting the memory J13 capable of storing the image data read by the reading sensor unit J9 for a plurality of pages. Then, after the image data is stored in the memory J13, an image forming operation based on the image data stored in the memory J13 is executed by the print unit J1 on the notebook transfer paper or the transfer paper with one end stapled. You can

That is, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, first, a book document is placed on the mounting table and the unit holder J is used.
With the reading sensor unit J9 set in 10, perform automatic page turning of the book original,
The original image of the book original is read for a predetermined number of pages and stored in the memory J13 in the controller J12.
Next, the book document placed on the document table is replaced with a notebook-type transfer paper or a transfer paper with one end stapled, and together with this, the reading sensor unit J
9 to replace the print unit J1 with the unit holder J
Set to 10. In this state, automatic page turning of the transfer paper set on the mounting table is executed, and the image forming operation based on the image data stored in the memory J13 is executed on the transfer paper by the print unit J1.

On the other hand, in the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, first, a book document is set on the mounting table and the controller J is used.
The reading sensor unit J9 is selected by 12. In this state, automatic page turning of the book original is executed, the original image of the book original is read for a predetermined number of pages, and stored in the memory J13 in the controller J12. After that, the book document placed on the document table is replaced with a note-type transfer sheet or a transfer sheet with one end stapled, and the read sensor unit J9 is replaced by the controller J12 to select the print unit J1. To do. In this state, automatic page turning of the transfer paper set on the mounting table is executed, and the image forming operation based on the image data stored in the memory J13 is executed on the transfer paper by the print unit J1.

[0044]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the page turning unit 1 for turning the page of the book-shaped image carrier (transfer paper) is opened on the original placing table 100. By moving the transfer paper relative to the image bearing surface of the placed transfer paper, the page turning operation of the transfer paper can be performed, and the print unit J1 that forms an image on the transfer paper is By moving the transfer paper relative to the image bearing surface, the image forming operation on the image bearing surface can be executed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, either one of the print unit J1 and the reading sensor unit J9, which is configured as a unit that can be selectively mounted on the page turning unit 1. Is selectively mounted on the page-turning unit 1, so that the automatic page-turning image forming process on the image-bearing surface of the book-like image carrier and the opening on the placing means can be performed. It is possible to selectively execute either the automatic page-turning reading process for the document surface of the placed book document.

Further, according to the third aspect of the present invention, the image information of the book original read by the reading sensor unit J9 is stored in the memory J13 of the controller J12, and the book original stored in the memory J13. Image information can be formed on the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier, which is opened and placed on the document table 100 by the print unit J1.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a multi-function document scanner (MFDS) embodying the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the MFDS when a document is set.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an operation mode of a page-turning unit in the MFDS during reading and scanning.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view showing an operation mode of a page turning unit in the MFDS when turning a page.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a print unit mounted in the page turning unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a reading sensor unit mounted in a page turning unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view of a page turning unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of another page turning unit of the image forming apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 page turning unit 100 original placing table 100a original placing surface 200 page turning belt 300 detour section forming means 500 page accommodating means 600 page adsorbing means 700 page separating means O book original J page turning reading and writing unit J1 print unit J2 ink jet cartridge J3 Feed screw J4 Worm wheel J5 Worm gear J6 Print motor J7, J11 Connector J8 Platen glass J9 Reading sensor unit J10 Unit holder J12 Controller J13 Memory

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Kazunori Sakauchi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masaru Shiina 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo・ Inside Ricoh Co., Ltd.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image carrier mounting means for mounting a book-shaped image carrier, and the book-shaped image carrier opened and mounted on the image carrier mounting means. Relative to the image-bearing surface of the book-shaped image carrier, and page-turning means for turning the page of the book-shaped image carrier by moving relative to the image-bearing surface of the body. Image forming means for forming an image on the image bearing surface by moving to
An image forming apparatus comprising: 2. An image carrier mounting means for mounting a book-shaped image carrier, and the book-shaped image carrier opened and mounted on the image carrier mounting means. A page turning means for turning the page of the book-shaped image bearing body by moving relative to the image bearing surface of the body, an image forming means for forming an image on the image bearing surface, An image having image reading means for reading an image on the image bearing surface and moving means arranged so as to be relatively movable in the same direction as the moving direction of the page turning means with respect to the book-shaped image carrier. An image forming apparatus, wherein the image forming means and the image reading means are configured as a unit in which either one of them can be selectively mounted on the moving means. 3. An image reading means for reading an image on the image bearing surface, and an image storing means for storing image information read by the image reading means. Image forming device.