JPH06135023A - Image forming system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an image forming system which can form an image on a paper of irregular or small size, can form an image on a large size paper without increasing the size of the system significantly, and can satisfy the requirement of high image forming speed. CONSTITUTION:The image forming system comprises an image read out means, means 5 for mounting a body to be formed with an image, heating elements arranged to be translatable with respect to the mounting means while opposing thereto and extending across the body to be formed with an image in main scanning direction, and means 19 for winding used ink sheet provided independently from a holding means. An ink sheet stretched between the holding means and the winding means passes between the mounting means and the heating element and an image is formed based on image information fed from an image read out means.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a thermal transfer type image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a structure in which a thermal head extends over the entire area of an image to be recorded in the main scanning direction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Heretofore, as an apparatus for forming an image on a movable sheet-shaped image carrier such as a copy sheet or an OHP sheet, an apparatus using an electrophotographic process or a thermal transfer recording method has been known. .

Further, as an apparatus for forming an image by moving the writing head with the transfer paper fixed, for example, the following apparatus has already been proposed.

In Japanese Patent Application No. 2-198270,
A small copying apparatus is disclosed in which a writing unit (printing unit) integrally configured with a thermal head, an ink ribbon cassette, and a traveling roller is configured to be capable of reciprocating along a rod. In this small copying machine, the writing unit moves on the transfer material to form an image on the transfer material.

Further, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-233862, the recording head portion reciprocates along a guide member or X-axis.
A printer configured to move in the -Y direction is disclosed. In this printer, the recording head unit forms an image on a sheet-shaped image carrier mounted on a mounting table (base table). In this case, the wire dot method and the ink jet method are disclosed as examples of the recording head section.When using the wire dot method, an ink sheet such as thermal transfer paper is superposed on the sheet-shaped image carrier. Write with the head.

[0006]

However, each of these conventional techniques has problems.

In the electrophotographic system, a toner image formed on a photoconductor is transferred onto a sheet-shaped image carrier by a transfer means such as a charger or a bias roller, and then the transferred toner image is transferred onto a sheet. It is fixed on the image carrier. However, since the transfer sheet is conveyed to form an image, the shape and size of the transfer sheet that can be used are restricted depending on the configuration of the sheet conveying path.
It was impossible to form an image on an irregular-shaped paper or a small-sized paper other than a square. And in order to be able to form an image on a large size paper, the size of the apparatus must be considerably increased.

Further, even when trying to use a transfer sheet bound in a notebook shape, it is practically impossible to carry it due to the construction of the carrying path. Even if this conveyance is solved, it is extremely difficult to properly transfer the toner image to the notebook type transfer material composed of a plurality of sheets by the transfer means as described above. Further, regarding the fixing, when the heat roller fixing or the pressure fixing is used, it is extremely difficult to pass the notebook type transfer material between the pair of rollers, and there is a possibility that wrinkles are generated, transfer paper is damaged, and the like.

[0009] In the one using the thermal transfer system, unlike the one in the electrophotographic process due to its constitution, it is possible to form an image on an irregular shaped paper, a small size paper, etc. Although it is less expensive, for image formation in the main scanning direction, the recording head is moved to record one line, or at most about three lines of area width, or the full line multi-head records one line at a time. When the image is formed on the transfer paper which has a long length in the main scanning direction, the image forming speed is difficult. Also, an apparatus that can satisfactorily form an image on a notebook-type transfer material,
It has not been realized yet.

Since the small copying machine disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-198270 has a writing unit in which a thermal head and an ink ribbon cassette are integrally formed, it is recommended to use the above-mentioned thermal transfer system. Yes, and therefore has the same problems as described for the scheme.

According to the technique disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 63-233862, it is possible to record on a recording material having a wide recording range at an arbitrary position, but it is possible to move manually. Since the recording head is formed of the member, there is a problem in image forming speed. Further, when the wire dot method is used, it is necessary to replace the sheet-shaped transfer paper (ink sheet) each time when performing image formation a plurality of times, which reduces operability.

As described above, the conventionally known image forming apparatuses have respective advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to form an image on a non-standard-sized sheet or a small-sized sheet, and even when it is configured to form an image on a large-sized sheet, it is possible to suppress an increase in the size of the apparatus and to form an image. The first object is to provide an image forming apparatus which is highly satisfactory in terms of speed.

A second object is to provide an image forming apparatus that suppresses wasteful members while maintaining a relatively simple structure when replacing used ink sheets.

[0014]

According to the present invention, an image reading means for reading a document image, an image forming body placing means, and an image forming body placing means are opposed to and parallel to the means. A heating element that is movably arranged and extends over the entire image forming body in a direction corresponding to the main scanning direction, an ink sheet holding unit that holds an unused ink sheet, and the ink sheet holding unit are separate members. An ink sheet winding means configured to wind up a used ink sheet, and an ink sheet stretched between the ink sheet holding means and the ink sheet winding means is an image forming body mounting means. The first problem is solved by an image forming apparatus that passes between the heat generating element and forms an image based on the image information from the image reading means.

The second problem can be solved by making the ink sheet holding means detachable from the image forming apparatus and fixing the ink sheet winding means to the image forming apparatus.

A sheet-like member is provided in the ink sheet winding means, and the rear end of the sheet-like member is detachably connected to the leading end of the ink sheet held by the ink sheet holding means. Is preferred.

It is convenient to form at least a part of the sheet-like member by a cleaning means for cleaning the surface of the heating element.

[0018]

The details of the present invention will be described based on the embodiments shown in the drawings.

The image forming apparatus shown in FIG. 1 is basically a first image forming section 1 having an image forming section 3 of a conventionally known digital electrophotographic process copying system, an image reading section 2, and a thermal transfer system. The second image forming section 4 is a note copy unit having a sub-image forming section. The present image forming apparatus is configured as an apparatus that selectively operates the first image forming unit 1 and the second image forming unit 4, and an essential component of the present invention is a thermal transfer type image forming unit. It is enough to prepare only.

The image information obtained by the image reading section 2 is used as the image forming section 3 and the second image forming section 4 of the main body of the first image forming section.
Image information from the reading unit 2 depending on the processing speed of one of the image forming units that is shared by the sub-image forming units and operates according to the instruction from the image forming unit switching button on the operation panel 60 near the reading unit 2. Is output. The note copy unit 4 is provided with a transfer material mounting tray 5 which can be taken out. The tray 5 is provided with an LED array 6 used for image editing, a movable mounting table 7, a fixed mounting table 8, an operating section 9, and a transfer material pressing plate 10. The tray is a notebook in this embodiment. The transfer paper 11 is placed. Further, the ink sheet cartridge 12 is set from an insertion opening provided in the image forming apparatus and can be attached to and detached from the note copy unit 4.

The structural relationship of the image forming apparatus in this state is as shown in FIG.
Operation panel, control unit, electrophotographic first image forming unit,
And a second image forming unit (note copy unit) of the thermal transfer system.

In the image input section schematically shown in FIG. 3, an original table 71 formed of a transparent glass plate on which an original is placed and an original placed on the original table 71 below the original table 71 A fluorescent lamp 72 that illuminates from below, an image reading unit 76 that reads the reflected light that is reflected when the illumination of the fluorescent lamp 72 hits the image of the document, and first to third mirrors 73, 74, and 75 that guide the reflected light to the image reading unit 76. Is provided.
The fluorescent lamp 72 has a length required to read the original in the main scanning direction, and is movable in a direction perpendicular to the original, that is, in the sub scanning direction in parallel with the original table 71. In the image reading unit 76, a CCD 77 called a charge coupled device is used.
Converts the input reflected light into an electric signal, and the analog electric signal is converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 78.

In the image processing unit, the digital image data from the image input unit is subjected to various corrections, various conversions, and scaling processing. The data processing speed is switched according to the image forming speed of the image forming unit.

On the operation panel 60 illustrated in FIG. 4, various setting buttons 6 for the user to set the copy mode.
1, a numeric keypad 62 in which numbers are arranged to set the number of copies and the scaling factor, an image formation switching button 63 for switching the image forming unit to be operated each time the button is pressed, and a start button 64 for instructing the start of a copying operation. , And a display unit 65 for notifying the user of the state of the image forming apparatus.

The control unit is a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores programs for controlling the operations of the above units.
y), a CPU that sends a control signal to each unit according to a program in the ROM, and a RAM (Random Access Memory) for the CPU to temporarily read and write data.

Since the basic structure of the first image forming section adopting the electrophotographic method is exactly the same as the conventional one, the description of this part is omitted for simplification of the description.

As shown in FIG. 5, the note copy unit 4, which is the second image forming section adopting the thermal transfer system, is capable of printing at one time in the main scanning direction and can be driven in the vertical direction. Long screw 30 (31) for moving the thermal head unit 15 in the direction perpendicular to the main scanning direction, that is, in the sub-scanning direction, and a transfer having a structure in which the transfer head 11 is pulled out to the front of the apparatus by the acrylide 13 when the transfer object 11 is replaced The object mounting tray 5, a transfer material holding plate 10 for fixing the transfer material in the tray 5, a head drive unit for controlling the voltage applied to the thermal head, and a thermal head supplied between the thermal head and the transfer material. The ink sheet 20 and the ink sheet 2 for transferring the ink onto the transfer material by the heat generated by the applied voltage and the pressure.
Removable ink sheet cartridge 12 for supplying and replacing 0, winding side ink sheet reel 19 arranged on both sides for winding and rewinding ink sheet 20, sending side ink sheet reel 18
And so on.

In this unit, the movable mounting table 7 is
It can be slid to any position in the left-right direction depending on the type of the transfer material 11. For example, if the transfer material 11 has a spine cover such as a notebook, the movable mounting table 7 can be moved according to the thickness of the spine cover.
Slides to form a slit for holding the spine cover between the two mounting tables 7 and 8. If the transfer material 11 is a sheet-like material, it is possible to make a smooth and wide mounting base without providing a gap between the mounting bases 7 and 8.

The note copy unit 4 is provided with a transfer material pressing plate 10 and a back cover pressing roller 14 as a note-like transfer material holding mechanism. Transfer material holding plate 1
0 is capable of pressing the center of the note-like transfer material from above and moving it on the mounting tables 7 and 8 to arbitrary left and right positions, and when transferring to the sheet-like transfer material, the end portion of the transfer material is transferred. Can be fixed by pressing. The spine cover pressing roller 14 can move up and down according to the thickness of the note-like transfer material.

The thermal head unit 15 having a thermal head which is a heating element can be moved to an arbitrary position corresponding to the transfer position, as will be described later.

A pick-up unit 16 and a page-turning arm 17 are provided as a page-turning mechanism for the note-like transfer. This page turning mechanism will also be described later.

As shown in FIG. 6, the ink sheet 20
A delivery side ink sheet reel 18 which is a wound ink sheet holding means is disposed in an ink sheet cartridge 12 which is detachable from the image forming apparatus, and a take-up side ink sheet reel 1 which is an ink sheet winding means.
9 is placed on the other side of the note copy unit 4,
Ink sheet 2 over the entire notebook copy unit 4
0 can be extended. A take-up ink sheet reel 19 equipped with a take-up reel drive gear is provided with a take-up sheet 95, which is a sheet-like member, and the sheet serves as a cleaning sheet for cleaning the thermal head unit 15, especially the thermal head. ing. A fitting member 92 is provided at the rear end of the winding sheet 95, and the fitting member 93 is attached to the front end of the ink sheet.
It is connected so that it can be removed.

The above-mentioned members are housed in the case 21 of the note copy unit 4.

Next, the thermal head unit 15 will be described in detail below.

FIG. 7 shows the thermal head unit 1 during standby.
5 is shown. The unit is roughly divided into a support plate 22 that moves the entire unit in the sub-scanning direction during writing,
It is composed of a movable plate 24 that supports a line-writing type thermal head 23 and moves up and down with respect to the support plate 22. The support plate 22 and the movable plate 24 are connected to each other by two guide rods 25 and 26 and a screw 27, and a motor 28 fixedly installed on the support plate 22 rotates the screw 27 via a gear 29. By moving, the movable plate 24 is raised and lowered. In addition, the entire unit has two long screws 30 above the support plate 22,
It is supported by 31 (see FIG. 9). These long screws 30, 31 are driven and rotated by a motor (not shown),
The whole unit is moved in the sub-scanning direction.

On the movable plate 24, the thermal head 23, the pressing roller 32 and the two guide rollers 33,
34 is attached.

The thermal head 23 is fixed to the reinforcing plate 40 so as to prevent warpage and the like. The reinforcing plate 40 is rotatably supported by one end thereof near the end of the movable plate 24, and a head pressing member for pressing and holding the head is provided between the reinforcing plate 40 and the movable plate 24. A pressure plate spring 41 is attached.

The pressing roller 32 is rotatably mounted on the free end of the support arm 36. This support arm 36
The other end is rotatably supported by the movable plate 24 by a shaft 35 provided on the arm receiving portion 37a of the movable plate 24.

The guide rollers 33 and 34 are used for the support arm 3
The free ends of 8 and 39 are rotatably mounted. The support arms 38 and 39 have the other ends at the other ends of the movable plate 24 in the longitudinal direction.
It is rotatably supported by 7b. Guide roller 33,
34 is located at a position where the supporting arms 38 and 39 come into contact with the stopper 42 provided on the lower side of the arm receiving portion 37b by its own weight during standby, so that the ink sheet 20 does not touch the thermal head 23. ing. Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the guide rollers 33,
A magnetic head 67 is provided at one end of 34 so as to always contact the magnetic tape portion of the ink sheet 20.
Position information of the ink sheet is input to the magnetic tape portion. It is also possible to write image information in part. Further, a leaf spring 43 for pressing the guide roller is provided on the lower surface of the movable plate 24.

As shown in FIG. 11, the pressing roller 32 is of a crown type (taiko type), and by strongly pressing in the vicinity of the center of the note 11 which is a transfer material,
The transfer surface of the note 11 can be efficiently smoothed. Furthermore, at both ends of the rotating shaft of the pressing roller 32,
A friction member 44 such as a cork (see FIG. 1) is provided between the support arm 36 and the support arm 36.
2) is attached so that a certain load is applied to the rotation of the pressing roller 32. As a result, when writing,
When the pressing roller 32 is rotated along with the movement of the thermal head unit 15 in the sub-scanning direction, the transfer surface of the notebook 11 can be extended with a constant force.

As shown in FIG. 13, a steady rest 45 is attached to the shaft 35 for rotatably supporting the support arm 36 so as to be pivotable around a fulcrum 46, and the arm end of the arm 47 is a solenoid 47. It is pivotally attached to the armature 47a. As a result, when the solenoid 47 is turned on, the steady rest 45 swivels around the fulcrum 46 and fits into the notch 35a provided at the shaft end of the shaft 35 to support the support arm 3
The rotation of 6 is restricted (see FIG. 14), and the pressing roller 32 can be fixed to the neutral position (downward state). Further, on the upper surface of the movable plate 24, the pressing roller 3
Two pressing leaf springs 48 are provided.

As shown in FIG. 9, the thermal head 23 is provided with a lower limit detection plate 49, and the support plate 22 is provided with an upper limit detection plate 50. The upper limit detection plate 50 is provided on the movable plate 24 when the movable plate 24 moves up and down. Arranged photo interrupter 51
The lower limit and upper limit are detected in conjunction with.

Guide rollers 5 are provided at both ends of the support plate 22.
2, 53 are rotatably attached, and cooperate with the above-mentioned guide rollers 33, 34 to support and guide the ink sheet 20 (see FIG. 7).

FIG. 8 shows a state of the thermal head unit 15 at the time of writing an image. Here, the notebook 11 is placed on the placing tables 7 and 8 as a transfer product.

Image writing is performed by lowering the movable plate 24 to the lower limit position. In this process, the two guide rollers 33 and 34 are expanded outward with the thermal head 23 as the center, and the supporting arms 38 and 39 are pressed by the leaf spring 43 at this time. As a result, the note 11 is pressed by the guide rollers 33 and 34, and the note 11 is prevented from floating near the transfer portion (heat generating portion) 54 and becomes smooth. Similarly, the pressing roller 32 presses the downstream side of the note surface in the writing direction by the action of the leaf spring 48, and cooperates with the guide rollers 33 and 34 to prevent the note 11 from floating.

On the other hand, the thermal head 23 has a transfer section 54.
Then, an appropriate pressure is applied from the head pressing leaf spring 41. The pressure in the transfer portion 54 is the lower limit detection plate 49.
Is set to be optimum at the time when the photo interrupter 51 is kicked (lower limit position), and it is possible to always apply the optimum pressure to the transfer portion 54 regardless of the thickness of the note 11.

Next, the writing operation of the thermal head unit will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 15 shows the state of the thermal head unit 15 immediately before writing. The state of the thermal head unit 15 is the same as that shown in FIG. 7, and the pressing roller 32 and the guide rollers 33 and 34 are separated from the notebook 11 placed on the movable mounting table 7 and the fixed mounting table 8. is doing. When the transcript is a notebook, the writing is performed from the central binding portion toward the end portion, and when the transcript is a sheet-like object, the transcript pressing plate 10 is set to the home position to the right or left. Done in the direction. First, writing from the left page of the notebook will be described.

At the start of the writing operation, the thermal head unit 15, and hence the movable plate 24, descends as shown by the arrow in FIG. The pressing roller 32 is inclined in the writing direction according to the pattern on the upper surface of the transfer material pressing plate 10. In this embodiment, it is tilted to the left to write on the left page.

As shown in FIG. 17, the thermal head unit 15 is further lowered, and the pressing roller 32 advances to the downstream side in the writing direction while extending the wrinkles on the note surface,
The ink sheet 20 contacts the surface of the notebook. As shown in FIG. 18, when the movable plate 24 descends to the lower limit position,
The pressing roller 32 and the guide rollers 33 and 34 press the transfer paper surface to enable writing. Then, the thermal head unit 15 is, as shown in FIG.
Start writing and move to the left.

As described above, the transfer surface is smoothed by the pressing roller 32 and the guide rollers 33 and 34, and the transfer material pressing plate 10 is used to prevent the floating in the central portion of the note. Therefore, when the writing page is the right page, the transfer material pressing plate 10 is tilted to the right. This is done as follows.

The position of the pressing roller 32 is fixed by the steady rest 45, the thermal head unit 15 is moved to the right of the center, and the unit is lowered. The pressing roller 32 moves the vicinity of the right end of the transfer material holding plate 10. By pushing downward, the transfer material pressing plate 10 can be tilted to the right.

At the time of lowering the thermal head unit, the take-up side ink sheet reel is finely adjusted with respect to the change in tension of the ink sheet stretched on the sending-side ink sheet reel and the take-up side ink sheet reel. When the thermal head unit is moved backward after the copying operation is completed, the take-up side ink sheet reel is finely adjusted and taken up again to maintain a constant tension. As a matter of course, the adjustment may be made not only on the take-up side ink sheet reel but on both the sending side and the take-up side.

Next, the page-turning mechanism of the note-like transfer material, the transfer material mounting tray, and the transfer material fixing unit will be described in detail.

FIG. 2 showing the overall structure of the transfer material mounting tray.
0, the page-turning mechanism of the notebook-like transfer material is composed of a page-floating member 100, a page-floating auxiliary member 101, and a page-turning arm 17 that form the pickup unit 16.
The page-turning arm 17 is driven by a motor 102 provided at its pivotal fulcrum, and the page-floating member 100 and the page-floating assisting member 101 slide by a rod 103 provided perpendicularly to their respective axes, thereby joining the connecting members. 104
Connected by. Further, the threaded rod 106 supported by the bracket 105 is
The page levitation member 100 and the page levitation auxiliary member 1 are rotated by
01 slides.

21a-e show a brief operational description of the page turning mechanism. 21a in which the thermal head unit 15 is retracted to the right end of the drawing after the copying to the page as the transfer surface is completed.
21b from the state shown in FIG.
00 and the page levitation assisting member 101 slide down and descend onto the transfer paper surface, the feed roller at the tip of the page levitation member rotates to levitate the corresponding page (FIG. 21c), and the page turning arm 17 moves under the levitation page. When the tip is inserted, the page levitation member 10
The 0 feed roller stops, and as shown in FIG. 21d, the transfer material pressing plate 10 rises and page turning is performed. Then, the state as shown in FIG. 21e is reached, and the page turning is completed.

On the tray 5, there is a transfer material mounting base for mounting and setting a transfer material. This transfer material mounting base is composed of a movable mounting base 7 and a fixed mounting base 8 which are divided into two parts.
The movable mounting table 7 can slide the tray bottom in the left-right direction. For this reason, when transferring to a notebook with a spine cover, the movable mounting table 7 is slid to move the movable mounting table 7 and the fixed mounting table 8.
After forming a groove between and, and dropping the spine of the notebook into the groove, the movable mounting table 7 is fixed by operating the mounting table lock lever 108. A member having a low friction coefficient may be attached to the sliding surface of at least one of the movable mounting table 7 and the tray to improve the slidability.

As shown in FIG. 22, a high-hardness elastic member 120 is attached to the mounting surface of the mounting table. By elastically deforming the high-hardness elastic member 120, the contact surface pressure of the thermal head with respect to the transfer paper can be made uniform.

On the upper surface of the high hardness elastic member 120, a low hardness elastic member 121 is attached. As shown in FIG. 20, the low-hardness elastic member 121 is provided with a regular recess 122 having the size of a business card or a postcard.
When transferring to business cards or the like, they can be positioned. The height difference of the placement surface caused by these regular recesses is eliminated by the low-hardness elastic member 121 itself being extremely easily crushed by the pressing force of the pressing roller or the guide roller during printing.

A notch 123 for taking out is provided on one side of the recess 122, and the depth thereof is about the same as that of the recess. In addition, as can be understood from FIG. 20, the numbers are attached to each of the regular concave portions 122 in order.

In FIG. 22, the transfer material fixing unit is
It comprises a transfer material fixing member unit 124 and a back cover pressing unit 125. FIG. 23 schematically shows the transfer material fixing member unit. The transfer material fixing member unit includes the transfer material pressing plate 10, the rod 130, the lock members 131, and 1.
32 and springs 133, 134 and 139. When pressing the note type transfer material, the transfer material pressing plate 10 and the rod 130 are used to press the center of the note type transfer material, and as shown in FIG. The transfer pressing plate 10 is rotated right and left around the rod 130 by the tension in accordance with the image forming surface,
Smooths the image forming surface of the notebook transfer. Then, image formation is performed from the end of the transfer material pressing plate 10 on the side where the image forming surface is pressed.

In the transfer object fixing member unit, as shown in FIG. 25, the guide rod is rotated by a motor 172 attached to one end of a threaded guide rod 171, so that the pedestal 173 is guided by the guide rods 171 and 1.
The position is moved by sliding right and left along 74. Instead of mounting a motor, two smooth surfaced guide rods 174 may be provided and manually slid along them.

The height of the transfer material fixing member unit can be adjusted according to the thickness of the notebook transfer material. As shown in FIG. 23, the height is adjusted depending on which step of the hook-shaped portions of the lock member 131 provided on the lock member 131 engages with the hook portion of the lock member 132 on the rod 130 side.
As for this height adjustment, as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the hook-shaped portion of the lock member 131 is composed of a hook-shaped portion 131a with a rack and a protrusion 131b with a pinion, and the lock member 132 is provided by a rack-and-pinion mechanism.
May be moved up and down.

Further, the transfer material fixing member unit is drawn out together with the tray when the tray is drawn out. At this time, as shown in FIG. 27, a transfer material fixing member unit release lever 136 is provided inside the tray pull-out knob 135, and by pulling the lever when pulling out the tray, the lock member 131 is locked. By engaging and sliding, the transfer material pressing plate 10 can be flipped up by the action of the spring 134. However, if the transfer material pressing plate immediately jumps up at this point, it will collide with other members inside the note copy unit, so the transfer pressing plate 10 is locked by the flip-up interference prevention member 137. When the tray is almost pulled out, the flip-up interference prevention member 137 hits the protrusion 138 attached to the apparatus main body and located near the outlet, and the member rotates against the spring 133 to move the lock member 132. Therefore, the transfer material holding plate 1
0 is released. Further, when the tray is completely pulled out, the flip-up interference prevention member 137 crosses the protrusion 138, so that the member 137 rises by the action of the spring 133, and when the transfer material pressing plate 10 is pushed down and set, The pressing plate 10 can be locked.

FIG. 28 shows a spine cover pressing unit.
A member 140 having a high friction coefficient is wound around the spine cover pressing roller 14 which is axially supported. The spine cover pressing roller 14 includes roller bearings 141 at both ends thereof, a spine cover pressing bracket 142, and a spine cover pressing spring 14.
The back cover pressing bracket is supported on the fixed mounting table, and the back cover pressing brackets at both ends are, for example, back cover pressing rods with reduction gears 144 having a reduction ratio of 1: 2. They are connected by 145. Further, the reduction gear 144 meshes with both the rack 146 provided on the movable mounting table and the rack 147 provided on the fixed mounting table, and as a spine cover pressing unit, slides in the left-right direction of the movable mounting table. Half of
It is configured to slide only.

This spine cover pressing unit is provided with a T-shaped tension bar 148, and when the tray is set, the T-shaped tension bar bearing is pushed up by the tension bracket 149 attached to the notebook copy unit body. The back cover pressing roller 14 can also be pushed up via the back cover pressing spring 143.

Next, the operation of the entire image forming apparatus will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

When the main power source is turned on, or when the tray of the note copy unit is once pulled out and set in the image forming apparatus main body, whether or not there is paper in the tray is detected by a sensor (not shown). . When there is no paper in the tray, the first image forming unit is automatically selected, and when there is paper in the tray, the note copy unit as the second image forming unit is automatically selected and the selection is made. The result is displayed on the display unit in the operation panel. At this time, if an undesired image forming unit is selected due to, for example, transfer-completed paper remaining in the tray, the selection is forced by pressing the image forming unit switching button on the operation panel. It is also possible to selectively switch. As a result, the image forming means can be arbitrarily selected according to the user's request.

The control section generates an image forming section selection signal in response to a signal from a sensor for detecting the paper in the tray or an image forming section switching instruction from the operation panel. The image forming unit selection signal is used to electrically connect only the selected image forming unit and open the other image forming unit. The timing signal optimum for the image forming unit of the selected image forming unit is sent to the image input unit and the image processing unit, so that the entire apparatus including them is selected by the selected image forming unit. It will work according to.

FIG. 4 shows the copy mode, the magnification, the number of copies, etc.
After being set by the respective buttons on the operation panel, the start button is pressed and the image forming apparatus starts the copying operation.

In the image input section shown in FIG. 3, the image information of the original placed on the original table 71 is read and converted by the A / D converter 78 into digital data.

For the digital data from the image input section, in the image processing section, for example, shading correction, MTF correction, or the like is performed according to the copy mode input from the operation panel.
Main scanning scaling, binarization, halftone processing, edge enhancement, edge extraction, and other processing are performed, and the processed data is sent to the selected image forming unit.

When the second image forming section is selected, the operation will be described with reference to the flow chart shown in FIG.

For example, the thermal head that operates with the winding-side end of the ink sheet corresponding to the right side of FIG. 5 as the home position is used as a reference when the printer is in standby, that is, when not printing, as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the two guide rollers keep a constant distance from the ink sheet, prevent damage to the thermal head 23 and the ink sheet 20, and are positioned above the transfer material.

A user puts, for example, a sheet-shaped transfer material in the tray 5, and presses the ink sheet winding side with the transfer material pressing member 10 to close the tray.

When the start is instructed, as shown in FIG. 8, the thermal head unit descends and is pressed against the copy from above to open the leaf spring 43,
The thermal head 23 simultaneously pressurizes the ink sheet and the transfer material with a constant force. Thermal head 2 while pressurizing
3 starts moving at a constant speed in the sub-scanning direction along the long screw. The head drive unit receives the digital data from the image processing unit and controls the voltage applied to the head for each dot. At this time, the magnetic head records information on whether or not the transfer is performed on the magnetic tape portion of the ink sheet for each line.

As shown in FIG. 31, when the thermal head 23 generates heat by an applied voltage, it is arranged between the thermal head and the transfer material, and the corresponding portion of the ink portion of the ink sheet 20 composed of the base material 20a and the ink 20b. Are melted and transferred onto the transfer material.

When the transfer is completed, the thermal head 2
After returning to the home position, the used ink sheet is wound up by one screen, for example, one A3 size sheet, by the winding ink sheet reel.
When such winding is completed, in order to use the ink sheet as effectively as possible, this time, conversely, it is started to be rewound by the delivery side ink sheet reel. At this time, the magnetic head reads the information written on the magnetic tape to recognize the used portion of the ink sheet. At the point where the used ink sheet appears first after the start of rewinding, the feed-side ink sheet reel stops, and at the time of the next printing, it waits to start from that portion and prepares for the next copying operation. . This prevents the unused ink sheet from being unnecessarily wound up. Also, the tray is
During the copying operation, a lock mechanism (not shown) works so that the main body of the second image forming unit cannot be pulled out, and at the same time when the copying operation is completed, the lock is released and the drawer can be pulled out.

The replacement of the ink sheet cartridge when all the ink sheets are used will be described with reference to the flow chart in FIG. 32 and FIG.

When all the ink sheets are taken up by the take-up side ink sheet reel 19, first the drive roller 90 and the driven roller 91 shown in FIG. 33 open vertically, and the ink sheet reel drive gear causes the feed side ink sheet reel. The reverse rotation of 18 starts to rewind the used ink sheet 20 into the ink sheet cartridge 12. The displacements of the driving roller 90 and the driven roller 91 are limited by a displacement regulating member (not shown). Then, when it is detected that the rewinding is almost completed due to the difference in rotational speed between the rewinding ink sheet reel 18 and the rewinding ink sheet reel 19, the rewinding ink sheet reel 19 moves faster. The ink sheet 20 that has been used is rotated and fed back to cause the ink sheet 20 to bend in tension, and the rewinding ink sheet reel 18 slows down.
As a result, it is possible to avoid the risk of damaging the thermal head when the fitting members 92 and 93 that connect the front end of the ink sheet and the rear end of the winding sheet pass through the thermal head unit 15. A magnetic head is provided at the end of the driven roller, the positional information of the magnetic tape portion of the ink sheet is read, and the usage amount and the remaining amount of the ink sheet are detected, so that the replacement time of the ink sheet cartridge 12 can be predicted. By writing image information with the magnetic head, it is possible to record the usage status of the ink sheet in the thrust direction.

When the fitting members 92 and 93 advance between the drive roller 90 and the driven roller 91 and are caught in the ink sheet cartridge as shown in FIG. 34, the rewinding ink sheet reel causes the ink sheet reel to rewind. The rewind of is completed. Since the fitting member is rewound to this position, the cleaning sheet 95, which is a winding sheet, can clean the thermal head. When the end of rewinding is detected, the drive roller 90 and the driven roller 91
As shown in FIG. 34, when the cleaning sheets are brought into contact with each other again and the cleaning sheet is sandwiched, the lock (not shown) of the ink sheet cartridge is released, and the ink sheet cartridge can be pulled out from the image forming apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 35, the ink sheet side fitting member 93 has a shape in which the diameter gradually decreases from the front side of drawing out, and at the same time when the ink sheet cartridge is drawn out, the winding sheet side fitting member 92. Will come off smoothly. Further, the winding sheet side fitting member 92
If the upper part of the front side is cut, the ease of setting when setting the ink sheet cartridge is improved, and the magnetic head does not come into direct contact with the member, and damage to the magnetic head can be avoided. The cleaning sheet 95 is held between the drive roller 90 and the driven roller 91, and the winding sheet side fitting member 92 remains on the apparatus body side. As is clear from FIG. 35, the pull-out handle 1 is provided on the front surface of the ink sheet cartridge.
60, an ink sheet remaining amount confirmation window 161 is provided,
In combination with the transparent side plate of the ink sheet reel 18, the remaining amount of the ink sheet 20 in the ink sheet cartridge can be visually checked. Instead of making the side plate of the ink sheet reel 18 transparent, there may be a gap for checking the winding state.

Then, when a new ink sheet cartridge is inserted, at the same time, the ink sheet side fitting member is smoothly inserted into the winding sheet side fitting member and becomes in the connected state. When it is detected that the ink sheet cartridge is completely inserted, the winding ink sheet reel automatically starts winding, and the lock mechanism (not shown) operates to lock the ink sheet cartridge so that it cannot be pulled out. . At this time, at the same time, the delivery-side ink sheet reel rotates at a higher speed to deliver the ink sheet, causing the ink sheet tension to bend, and the fitting member 92 that connects the front end of the ink sheet and the rear end of the winding sheet. , 93 can avoid the risk of damaging the thermal head when passing through the thermal head unit.

The operation of the image forming apparatus based on the note copy mode will be described below.

On the upper surface of the reading unit 2 schematically shown in FIG. 36, when the pressure plate fixed to the PPC main body is opened via a hinge (not shown), a document table 71 formed of a glass plate exists. . Place the original on this table with the copy side facing down. A reading optical system 150 is provided below the original table 71 and inside the image forming apparatus, and the reading optical system 150 having a width in the vertical direction of the drawing, that is, the main scanning direction is
The image information of the original is read by moving in the left-right direction, that is, the sub-scanning direction. On the left edge side of this stand, a well-known and usual document scale 151 is attached with a slight step, and when performing a normal copying operation, the document is placed on the scale 151 on the left side in the left-right direction. Butt and set in the vertical direction by aligning the center with the center of the platen.

On the upper edge side of the document table 7, a note copy document scale 152 having a code indicating the document placement position is arranged with a slight step. This manuscript scale 1
Reference numeral (∇) indicating the center of the document table in the left-right direction, that is, the center of the reading optical system in the sub-scanning direction is attached to the reference numeral 52 in the same manner as in the case of a conventional document scale. . When a copy is made on the note-like transfer material by the note-copying unit, the position of the code corresponds to the center position of the note-like transfer material pressed by the transfer material holding plate 10. When a copy is made on the note-like transfer material, the original is abutted against the original scale 152 and set, and the vertical positioning is performed.

When making a copy on a note-like transfer material using the note copy unit, the note copy mode is set using the operation buttons on the operation panel 60 of the image forming apparatus. In the note copy mode, depending on the page of the note on which the image is written, left page mode, spread mode,
There are three types of modes, right page mode.

In the left page mode, the original scale 15
From the reference code of 2, the right side of the original table is read and the left page of the notebook is written.

In the spread mode, first, the right side area is read from the reference code and the left page of the note is written, then the left side area is read from the reference code and the right page of the note is written.

In the right page mode, the left side area is read from the reference code and the right page of the note is written.

The movement of the reading optical system in the sub-scanning direction matches the movement of the thermal head in the sub-scanning direction at the time of writing. When reading the right side of the platen, the reading is performed while moving from the center to the right. When reading the left side of the platen,
Scan while moving from the center to the left.

The reading direction in the main scanning direction may be from top to bottom or from bottom to top as long as the reading direction matches the writing direction.

At this time, if the reading / writing speed in the main scanning direction and the moving speed in the sub-scanning direction are matched in the reading section and the writing section and reading is started and writing is started at the same time, no memory is required. It is possible to have various circuit configurations.

If a small-capacity memory for several lines is prepared and the moving speed in the sub-scanning direction is adjusted, the reading speed and the writing speed in the main scanning direction do not have to match, and the writing The start can be delayed from the start of reading, which facilitates timing.

[0095]

In the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the image forming body is disposed over the entire image forming body in a direction corresponding to the main scanning direction and facing the image forming body mounting means so as to be movable in parallel therewith. Since the extending heating element is provided,
Image can be formed on irregular size paper or small size paper,
Even when an image is formed on a large size paper, the size of the apparatus can be suppressed from being larger than that of the electrophotographic type, and sufficient satisfaction can be obtained in terms of image forming speed. Further, the ink sheet stretched between the ink sheet holding means and the ink sheet winding means, which are separately formed, passes between the image forming body mounting means and the heating element, Since the image is formed based on the image information, compared to the conventional thermal transfer system,
Since the thermal head and the ink ribbon cassette are not integrally configured, it is possible to suppress the increase in size of the apparatus and the size of the drive mechanism thereof.

In the image forming apparatus of the second aspect, since only the ink sheet holding means is detachable from the image forming apparatus, it is possible to use a member that is wasted when the ink sheet is replaced.

In the image forming apparatus of the third aspect, a sheet-like member is provided in the ink sheet winding means, and the rear end of the sheet-like member is the tip of the ink sheet held by the ink sheet holding means. Since it is detachably connected, the workability at the time of replacing the ink sheet can be improved.

In the image forming apparatus of the fourth aspect, since at least a part of the sheet-like member is formed by the cleaning member for cleaning the surface of the heating element, the surface of the heating element can be cleaned when the ink sheet is replaced. Is.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration relationship of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an image input unit of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 4 is a schematic plan view of an operation panel of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a note copy unit that is a second image forming unit of the image forming apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an extended state of an ink sheet.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a thermal head unit during standby.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a thermal head unit when writing an image.

FIG. 9 is a partial perspective view of a thermal head unit.

FIG. 10 is a partial perspective view showing a magnetic head provided on a guide roller and a magnetic tape portion of an ink sheet.

FIG. 11 is a schematic front view of a pressing roller area.

FIG. 12 is a front view of a friction member attached to a pressing roller.

FIG. 13 is a partial schematic view of a mechanism for restricting rotation of a support arm of a thermal head unit.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing the regulation state.

FIG. 15 is a diagram for explaining an operation at the time of writing by the thermal head unit, showing an initial state.

FIG. 16 is a diagram similarly illustrating an operation at the time of writing by the thermal head unit.

FIG. 17 is a diagram similarly illustrating an operation at the time of writing by the thermal head unit.

FIG. 18 is a diagram similarly illustrating an operation at the time of writing by the thermal head unit.

FIG. 19 is a diagram which similarly describes the operation during writing by the thermal head unit.

FIG. 20 is a plan view of the overall configuration of a transfer material mounting tray.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating the operation of the page turning mechanism, (a)
As the process proceeds from (e) to (e), page turning is performed.

FIG. 22 is a schematic side view showing a transfer material fixing unit.

FIG. 23 is a schematic front view showing a transfer material fixing unit.

FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a positional relationship between the pressing roller and the transfer material pressing plate immediately before the image forming surface of the notebook type transfer material is smoothed.

FIG. 25 is a schematic perspective view showing a configuration for moving the position of a transfer material fixing member unit.

FIG. 26 is a schematic view showing a mechanism for finely adjusting in accordance with the thickness of a notebook type transfer product.

FIG. 27 is a conceptual diagram showing a release lever for a transfer material fixing member unit.

FIG. 28 is a perspective view of a spine cover pressing unit.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing the operation of the entire image forming apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing an operation when a note copy unit is selected.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a state in which transfer is performed on a transfer material by a thermal head.

FIG. 32 is a flowchart showing how to replace the ink sheet cartridge.

FIG. 33 is a conceptual diagram showing how an ink sheet is wound around a cartridge.

FIG. 34 is a partial schematic view showing a state of the fitting member when the winding of the ink sheet is completed.

FIG. 35 is a schematic perspective view of an ink cartridge.

FIG. 36 is a plan view of a reading unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

 4 Note Copy Unit 5 Transfer Material Tray 7 Movable Mounting Table 8 Fixed Mounting Table 10 Transfer Material Holding Plate 12 Ink Sheet Cartridge 15 Thermal Head Unit 18 Feeding Side Ink Sheet Reel 19 Winding Side Ink Sheet Reel 20 Ink Sheet 21 Box body

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification number Reference number within the agency FI Technical display location B41J 25/316 (72) Inventor Kazuo Ogawa 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock company Within Ricoh (72) Inventor Tetsuya Hiruma 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masayuki Koga 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72 ) Inventor Kazuhiko Kato 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo, within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masashi Shiina 1-3-3 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo In Ricoh, Inc.

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An image reading unit for reading a document image, an image forming member mounting unit, and an image forming member mounting unit which are arranged so as to be movable in parallel to the image forming member mounting unit and to perform main scanning. A heating element extending over the entire image formed body in a direction corresponding to the direction, an ink sheet holding means for holding an unused ink sheet, and a used ink sheet wound separately from the ink sheet holding means. An ink sheet take-up means for taking up, the ink sheet stretched between the ink sheet holding means and the ink sheet take-up means passes between the image forming body placing means and the heating element. An image forming apparatus, wherein an image is formed based on image information from an image reading unit. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the ink sheet holding means is detachable from the image forming apparatus, and the ink sheet winding means is fixed to the image forming apparatus. 3. A sheet-shaped member is provided in the ink sheet winding means, and a rear end portion of the sheet-shaped member is detachable from a front end portion of the ink sheet held by the ink sheet holding means. The image forming apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the image forming apparatus is connected. 4. At least a part of the sheet-shaped member,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the image forming apparatus is formed by a cleaning unit that cleans the surface of the heating element.