JPH08336018A - Recorder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To accurately read the image information of source images even when a difference in level is present on the surface of the source images by providing the plural pieces of light sources for reading the image information of the source images on an image scanner. CONSTITUTION: The image scanner 48 is provided with two pieces of light sources 19 arranged side by side in the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 which is the moving direction of a carriage unit so as to face each other on the inside near the opening 47a of a case body 47 for irradiating an original such as a photograph and a postcard, etc., as the source image held in front of a platen with light through lenses 17 in an image read state and an image sensor unit 21 provided with a small-sized image sensor 20 for reading the image information of the original from reflected light from the original and outputting image signals. In this case, since the light sources 19 are two pieces to face each other, even when the difference in level is present on the surface of the original, all the parts of the difference in level are irradiated with the light.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording device, and more particularly to a recording device capable of reading image information of an original image and recording the read image information on a sheet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, image information of an original image is read line by line by an image scanner, and the read image information is recorded (printed) on a plain paper, a postcard or the like by using a recording head as a recording means. A recording device that can do this is known.

A thermal printer having a thermal head as a recording head as a recording means for such a conventional recording apparatus will be described below with reference to FIGS. 10 to 18.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a main part of a conventional thermal printer, FIG. 11 is a left side view, FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a carriage unit, and FIG. 13 is an inside of a scanner mounting part. FIG. 14 is a plan view showing the configuration of the main part, FIG. 14 is a front view showing the reference plate, FIG. 15 is a side perspective view, FIG. 16 is a side view showing the main part of the sheet detecting means, and FIG. FIG. 18 is a circuit diagram showing an input / output circuit of the paper detection means, and FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the control means.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, a conventional thermal printer 1 has a frame 2 having a substantially rectangular plane shape which is disposed inside a printer body (not shown). A plate-shaped platen 3 is arranged on the frame 2 so as to extend in the left-right direction in FIG. 10 with its recording surface 3a being substantially vertical. The carriage unit 4 is provided in front of the platen 3 (downward in FIG. 10).
Are arranged parallel to the platen 3 so as to be capable of reciprocating.

As shown in FIG. 10, a drive belt 5 is arranged below the carriage unit 4, and the carriage unit 4 is fixed to one position of the drive belt 5. The drive belt 5 includes a pair of left and right pulleys 6, 6 arranged near both left and right ends of the frame 2 in FIG.
It is wound around. One pulley 6 shown on the right side in FIG. 10 can be rotated by the driving force of a carriage motor 7 including a step motor or the like as a drive means shown by a broken line on the right side in FIG. Further, the carriage motor 7 is electrically connected to a control means 8 which will be described later and is arranged at a desired position of the frame 2, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 8. ing.

That is, by driving the carriage motor 7 based on the control command sent from the control means 8, the carriage unit 4 reciprocates along the platen 3 as shown by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. It is designed to move.

As shown in FIGS. 10 and 12, the carriage unit 4 includes a carriage portion 9 located on the right side,
The scanner mounting portion 10 is located on the left side of the carriage portion 9.

A thermal head 11 as a recording head, which is a recording means, is disposed in the carriage portion 9 so as to face the recording surface 3a of the platen 3. The thermal head 11 is provided with a plurality of heating elements (not shown) arranged in an array that selectively generate heat based on recording information in accordance with a control command from the control means 8 described later, and a head driving mechanism (not shown). By the recording surface 3a of the platen 3
It is said that it can be moved in and out of. The contact position between the thermal head 11 and the platen 3 in the head-down state in which the platen 3 is in contact with the recording surface 3a is the recording position.

Further, on the upper surface of the carriage portion 9, FIG.
The ink ribbon (not shown) is stored in the left side of the ink ribbon as shown by an imaginary line, and this ink ribbon (not shown)
A ribbon cassette 12 that guides the sheet to the front of the thermal head 11 can be mounted. Further, the carriage unit 9
The winding bobbin 13 and the delivery bobbin 14 are arranged so that their tip portions project from the upper surface of the carriage portion 9. The take-up bobbin 13 and the delivery bobbin 14 constitute a part of a well-known ribbon traveling mechanism (not shown), and in the recording state, the ribbon traveling mechanism (not shown) is driven to drive the carriage. Part 9
An ink ribbon (not shown) housed inside the ribbon cassette 12 mounted on the upper surface of the paper is run.

The thermal head 11, head drive mechanism (not shown), ribbon running mechanism (not shown), etc.
It is electrically connected to a control means 8 described later, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 8.

As shown in FIG. 13, the scanner mounting portion 10
Has a case body 15 of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape having an opening 15 a formed on a surface facing the platen 3.
An image scanner 16 is arranged inside the device 5. The image scanner 16 is arranged near the opening 15a of the case body 15 (upper left in FIG. 13),
In the image reading state, the platen 3 is inserted through the lens 17.
One light source 19 for irradiating light to a document 18 such as a photograph or a postcard as an original image held in front of the image, and a light source 19 arranged substantially in the center of the inside of the case body 15, and in an image reading state, The image sensor unit 21 includes a small image sensor 20 that reads the image information of the document 18 by the reflected light reflected from the document 18 and outputs an image signal. The image scanner 16 is electrically connected to the control means 8 described later.

Further, the scanner mounting section 10 is capable of reciprocating along the platen 3 with the driving force of the carriage motor 7 together with the carriage section 9 in the image reading state, and a carriage indicated by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. The moving direction of the unit 4 is the main scanning direction in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 18 is read by the image scanner 16.

Further, as shown in FIG. 10, the image scanner 16 uses a reference plate 22 which is erected on the upper surface on the left side of the frame 2 so as to be positioned on the extension line of the platen 3 so as to read the image information of the original document 18. It is designed to obtain a color standard (white balance) for reading. This reference plate 2
As shown in FIG. 14, the reference numeral 2 denotes a front surface having a substantially rectangular shape, and the surface 22 a facing the image scanner 16 has an original 1
It is assumed to be white with high lightness that serves as a reference for the color when reading 8.

As shown in FIG. 12, a position detecting means 23 is arranged on the left side surface of the scanner mounting portion 10. The position detecting means 23 detects the moving position of the carriage unit 4, and the carriage unit 4
Is the home position HP shown in phantom in FIG.
When it is positioned at, the position detecting means 23 comes into contact with the left side wall of the printer main body (not shown) to detect its position.

As shown in FIG. 15, a document 18 or a paper 24 is placed below the platen 3, and an arrow B in FIG.
As shown by, the paper feed roller 25 for transporting at a predetermined speed so as to pass in front of the recording surface 3a of the platen 3.
Is provided. As shown in FIG. 10, the paper feed roller 25 can be rotated by the driving force of a paper feed motor 26 including a stepping motor or the like as a driving means arranged outside the right side surface of the frame 2. further,
As shown in FIG. 15, auxiliary rollers 27, which are brought into contact with the paper feed roller 25 with a desired pressure contact force, are rotatably arranged on the lower left and right sides of the paper feed roller 25. The roller 27 is adapted to rotate following the paper feed roller 25. That is, the document 18 or the paper 24 is made to be able to run while being sandwiched between the paper feed roller 25 and the auxiliary roller 27. Further, a guide (not shown) for guiding the document 18 or the paper 24 so as to travel on a predetermined transport path is provided at an appropriate position around the paper feed roller 25.

The paper feed motor 26 is electrically connected to a control means 8 which will be described later and is arranged at a desired position of the frame 2, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 8. It is like this.

That is, by driving the paper feed motor 26 on the basis of the control command sent from the control means 8, the original 18 or the paper 24 is fed as shown by an arrow B in FIGS. At double arrow A
10 and 15, the carriage unit 4 is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage unit 4.
In FIG. 3, the traveling direction of the document 18 or the paper 24 is the sub-scanning direction in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 18 is read by the image scanner 16.

As shown in FIG. 16, a paper detecting means 28 for detecting the presence or absence of the original 18 or the paper 24 is disposed below the paper feed roller 25. The paper detecting means 28 has a detection lever 29 that is rotated when the original 18 or the paper 24 passes by contacting the leading edge of the original 18 or the paper 24 in the traveling direction. The rotation operation is transmitted to a transmission lever 30 having a substantially bell-crank shape that can be rotated, and the rotation operation of the transmission lever 30 is detected by a photo sensor 31 to detect the presence or absence of the document 18 or the paper 24. , Manuscript 1
8 or the position of the leading edge of the paper 24 is detected. That is, the detection lever 29, the transmission lever 30, and the photo sensor 31 form the paper detection unit 28. Then, the detection result detected by the photo sensor 31 is sent to the control means 8 described later via the input / output circuit 70 shown in FIG.

Returning to FIG. 10, at a desired position of the frame 2, a control means 8 for controlling the operation of each part of the thermal printer 1 is provided. As shown in FIG. 18, the control means 8 includes at least a CPU 32, a memory 33 formed of a ROM, a RAM, etc. having an appropriate capacity,
It has a controller 34 for driving each part of the thermal printer 1.

In the memory 33, at least the image information (original image data) of the document 18 output from the image scanner 16 and converted into a digital electric signal by the A / D converter 35, brightness information of the reference plate 22, and position detection. The detection signal of the reference position of the carriage unit 4 (specifically, the home position HP of the carriage unit 4) sent from the means 23, the document 18 or the paper 24 sent from the photo sensor 31 constituting the paper detection means 28.
Input data storage area 36 for storing various input data such as presence / absence of the edge and detection signal of the position of the tip, a program for converting original image data into recording information (recording data), and controlling the operation of each part A program storage area 37 for storing the programs and the like, recording information for recording,
An output data storage area 38 for storing various output data such as a control command for inputting image information of the document 18 and a control command for recording is provided.

The controller 34 includes a head drive driver 39 used to energize at least a heating element (not shown) of the thermal head 11 and a carriage motor driver 4 used to drive the carriage motor 7.
0, a paper feed motor driver 41 used to drive the paper feed motor 26 is provided, and recording used to drive a head drive mechanism (not shown) that performs a contact / separation operation with respect to the platen 3 of the thermal head 11. A head drive driver (not shown), a ribbon drive driver (not shown) used to drive an ink ribbon running mechanism (not shown), and the like are provided.

According to the conventional thermal printer 1 thus constructed, the image scanner 16 is moved in the main scanning direction based on the control command sent from the control means 8, and the original document 18 is moved by the image scanner 16. By moving in the sub-scanning direction, the image information of the original document 18 is read line by line, the read image information is used as print information for printing, and each unit is operated based on this print information to operate the thermal head. 11 is used to record on the paper 24.

[0024]

However, in the above-described conventional thermal printer 1, when the image information of the document 18 is read by the image scanner 16,
If the surface of the original document 18 is flat, no problem occurs. However, as shown in FIG. 19, when there is a step 42 on the surface of the original document 18 such as the original document 18 bonded by cutting or the like. Is a light source 19 for illuminating the document 18.
Therefore, when the corner 42a of the step 42 is located on the downstream side of the optical path 43 of the light emitted from the light source 19 toward the document 18, the step located on the upstream side of the optical path 43 is located. Light is blocked by the corners 42b of 42, and the step 42
There is a problem in that a shadow like a black line is formed on the image information corresponding to the corner portion 42a of the document, and the image information of the document 18 cannot be read accurately.

That is, when there is a step 42 on the surface of the original 18 such as the pasted original 18, the original 18
Due to the positional relationship between the position of the step 18 and the position of the light source 19, a shadow is formed on the image information, and the image information that does not exist in the original image information of the document 18 is read.

Further, in order to deal with such a problem, it is sufficient to correct the portion where the shadow is formed from the image information read by trimming, but in order to perform the trimming, the read image information is displayed. Display device for
It requires an input device for processing the read image information, a processing program, etc., and requires a large amount of labor to enlarge the thermal printer 1, increase the number of parts, increase the economic burden, and perform trimming. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object thereof is to provide a recording apparatus capable of accurately reading image information of an original image even when there is a step on the surface of the original image. To do.

[0028]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the recording apparatus of the present invention according to claim 1 irradiates the original image with light from a light source to read the image information of the original image line by line. A recording device having an image scanner capable of outputting an image signal and recording means capable of recording on a sheet based on the image signal output from the image scanner, for reading image information of an original image by the image scanner. Is provided with a plurality of light sources.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the number of the light sources is two.
The individual light sources are arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction or the sub scanning direction of the image scanner.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the recording apparatus according to the first aspect, the number of the light sources is four, and any two of the four light sources are used for the main scanning of the image scanner. In addition to being arranged side by side in the direction, the remaining two are arranged side by side in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction of the image scanner.

[0031]

According to the recording apparatus of the present invention having the above-described structure, the image scanner is provided with a plurality of light sources for reading the image information of the original image so that the original image is irradiated with light from multiple directions. Even if there is a step on the surface of the original image, the image information of the original image can be accurately read.

[0032]

The present invention will be described below with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings. It should be noted that the same or corresponding configurations as those of the above-described conventional one are denoted by the same reference numerals in the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 7 show an embodiment in which the recording apparatus according to the present invention is used in a thermal printer equipped with a thermal head as a recording head as a recording means.
1 is a plan view showing a main part, FIG. 2 is a left side view, FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a carriage unit, and FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a structure of a main part inside a scanner mounting part. 5 is an explanatory view showing the arrangement of the light sources, and FIG.
Is a front view showing the reference plate, FIG. 7 is a side perspective view, and FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control means.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the thermal printer 44 of the present embodiment has a frame 2 having a substantially rectangular plane shape which is disposed inside a printer body (not shown). A plate-shaped platen 3 is arranged on the frame 2 so as to extend in the left-right direction in FIG. 1 with its recording surface 3a being substantially vertical. A carriage unit 4 is disposed in front of the platen 3 (downward in FIG. 1) so as to be capable of reciprocating along the platen 3.

As shown in FIG. 1, the carriage unit 4
A drive belt 5 is disposed below the drive belt 5, and the carriage unit 4 is fixed to one position of the drive belt 5. The drive belt 5 is wound around a pair of left and right pulleys 6 and 6 arranged near the left and right ends of the frame 2 in FIG. One of the pulleys 6 shown on the right side in FIG. 1 is a carriage motor 7 including a step motor or the like as a driving unit indicated by a broken line on the right side in FIG.
It is possible to rotate with the driving force of. Further, the carriage motor 7 is electrically connected to a control means 45, which will be described later, arranged at a desired position of the frame 2, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 45. ing.

That is, by driving the carriage motor 7 based on the control command sent from the control means 45, the carriage unit 4 is moved to the double-headed arrow A in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the platen 3 is reciprocally moved.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the carriage unit 4 has a carriage section 9 located on the right side and a scanner mounting section 46 located on the left side of the carriage section 9.

A thermal head 11 as a recording head, which is a recording means, is disposed in the carriage portion 9 so as to face the recording surface 3a of the platen 3. The thermal head 11 is provided with a plurality of heat generating elements (not shown) arranged in an array that selectively generate heat on the basis of recording information in accordance with a control command from the control means 45 described later,
The recording surface 3 of the platen 3 is driven by a head driving mechanism (not shown).
It can be moved toward and away from a. And platen 3
The recording position is the contact position between the thermal head 11 and the platen 3 in the head-down state where the thermal head 11 is in contact with the recording surface 3a.

An ink ribbon (not shown) is housed on the upper surface of the carriage portion 9 as indicated by an imaginary line on the left side in FIG. 1, and the ink ribbon (not shown) is placed on the thermal head 11. Ribbon cassette 12 that guides you in front of
Can be installed. Further, on the carriage portion 9, a take-up bobbin 13 and a delivery bobbin 14 are arranged so that their respective tip portions project from the upper surface of the carriage portion 9. The take-up bobbin 13 and the delivery bobbin 14 constitute a part of a well-known ribbon traveling mechanism (not shown), and in the recording state, the ribbon traveling mechanism (not shown) is driven to drive the carriage. An ink ribbon (not shown) housed inside a ribbon cassette 12 mounted on the upper surface of the section 9 is made to run.

The thermal head 11, head drive mechanism (not shown), ribbon running mechanism (not shown), etc.
It is electrically connected to a control means 45 described later, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 45.

As shown in FIG. 4, the scanner mounting portion 46
Has a case body 47 having a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape with an opening 47 a formed on the surface facing the platen 3.
An image scanner 48 is arranged inside 7. The image scanner 48 is provided in the vicinity of the opening 47a of the case body 47 (upper left and right ends in FIG. 4).
The original images are arranged side by side in the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48, which is the moving direction of the carriage unit 4 so as to face each other, and are held in front of the platen 3 via the lens 17 in the image reading state. Two light sources 1 for radiating light toward a document 18 such as a photograph or a postcard
9 and a small image sensor 20 which is disposed substantially in the center of the case body 47 and which reads image information of the document 18 by reflected light reflected from the document 18 and outputs an image signal in the image reading state. And an image sensor unit 21 that operates. And the image scanner 4
8 is electrically connected to a control means 45 described later.

That is, the image scanner 4 of this embodiment.
8, the image scanner 4 as shown in FIG.
8 when the main scanning direction is the X axis, the sub scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 is the Y axis, and the intersection of the X axis and the Y axis is the position of the image sensor 20. 5, the two light sources 19 are arranged so that the positions of the two light sources 19 are symmetrical on the X axis with the intersection as the center.

Further, the scanner mounting portion 46 is capable of reciprocating along the platen 3 with the driving force of the carriage motor 7 together with the carriage portion 9 in the image reading state, and the carriage indicated by a double-headed arrow A in FIG. The moving direction of the unit 4 is the main scanning direction in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 18 is read by the image scanner 48.

In the scanner mounting portion 46 of this embodiment, the conventional position detecting means 23 for detecting the position of the carriage unit 4 is not provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the image scanner 48 is provided with a reference plate 49 which is erected on the left upper surface of the frame 2 so as to be located on the extension line of the platen 3.
As a result, a color reference (white balance) for reading the image information of the document 18 is obtained. As shown in FIG. 6, the reference plate 49 has a substantially rectangular front shape, and a surface 49a facing the image scanner 48 is white with a high lightness that serves as a color reference when the document 18 is read. . Further, the moving position of the carriage unit 4 is provided on the facing surface 49a of the reference plate 48 by the image scanner 48.
Therefore, a marker 50 for highly accurate detection is provided.

As shown in FIG. 7, below the platen 3, the document 18 or the paper 24 is moved at a predetermined speed so as to pass in front of the recording surface 3a of the platen 3, as indicated by an arrow B in FIG. A paper feed roller 25 for carrying the paper is provided. As shown in FIG. 1, the paper feed roller 25 is a paper feed motor 26 including a stepping motor or the like as a driving unit arranged outside the right side surface of the frame 2.
It is possible to rotate with the driving force of.

As shown in FIG. 7, an auxiliary roller 27, which comes into contact with the paper feed roller 25 with a desired pressure contact force, is rotatably provided on the lower left and right sides of the paper feed roller 25. , The auxiliary roller 27 is the paper feed roller 2
5 is driven to rotate. That is, the document 18
Alternatively, the paper 24 includes a paper feed roller 25 and an auxiliary roller 27.
It is made to be able to run so as to be sandwiched between and.
Further, a guide (not shown) for guiding the document 18 or the paper 24 so as to travel on a predetermined transport path is provided at an appropriate position around the paper feed roller 25.

The paper feed motor 26 is electrically connected to a control means 45, which will be described later, arranged at a desired position of the frame 2, and is driven based on a control command sent from the control means 45. It is like this.

That is, by driving the paper feed motor 26 on the basis of the control command sent from the control means 45, the original 18 or the paper 24 is fed as shown by an arrow B in FIG. 1 and FIG. In FIG. 1, the carriage 18 is conveyed in a direction orthogonal to the moving direction of the carriage unit 4, and in FIG. 1 and FIG. The sub-scanning direction is in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 18 is read.

Returning to FIG. 1, a control means 45 for controlling the operation of each part of the thermal printer 44 is arranged at a desired position on the frame 2. This control means 45
As shown in FIG. 7, is a memory 51 including at least a CPU 32 and a ROM, a RAM, etc. having an appropriate capacity.
And a controller 34 for driving each part of the thermal printer 44.

In the memory 51, at least the image information (original image data) of the document 18 output from the image scanner 48 and converted into a digital electric signal by the A / D converter 35, the brightness information of the reference plate 49, the image scanner. A detection signal of the reference position of the carriage unit 4 (specifically, the home position HP of the carriage unit 4) which is sent out when 48 detects the marker 50,
An input data storage area 52 in which various kinds of input data such as presence / absence of the original 18 or the paper 24 and detection signals of the positions of the leading edge and the both ends sent when the image scanner 48 detects the original 18 or the paper 24 are stored; , A program storage area 53 for storing a program for converting original image data into recording information (recording data), a program for controlling the operation of each unit, recording information for recording, and image information of the original document 18. Control command to input,
An output data storage area 54 for storing various output data such as control commands for recording is provided.

The controller 34 includes a head drive driver 39 used to energize at least a heating element (not shown) of the thermal head 11 and a carriage motor driver 4 used to drive the carriage motor 7.
0, a paper feed motor driver 41 used to drive the paper feed motor 26 is provided, and recording used to drive a head drive mechanism (not shown) that performs a contact / separation operation with respect to the platen 3 of the thermal head 11. A head drive driver (not shown), a ribbon drive driver (not shown) used to drive an ink ribbon running mechanism (not shown), and the like are provided.

The thermal printer 44 of this embodiment is used.
Can be used also as a general recording device for recording an image formed by a word processor, a computer or the like on a paper 24 by connecting it to a word processor, a computer or the like (not shown).
Various external signals from the outside can be input to 5.

Next, the operation of this embodiment having the above-mentioned structure will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a light irradiation state in the image reading state.

First, the operation in the image reading state in which the image information of the document 18 is read by the thermal printer 44 of this embodiment will be described.

When the image information of the original 18 is read by the thermal printer 44 of the present embodiment, the leading end of the original 18 is manually fed by the paper feed roller 25 and an auxiliary roller shown obliquely below the paper feed roller 25 in FIG. It is started by sandwiching it with 27 and setting it. When the document 18 is set, the control means 45 sends a control command to the image scanner 48, the carriage motor 7 and the paper feed motor 26 based on a program stored in advance in the memory 51, and the image scanner 48 is read. 1 is turned on, the carriage unit 4 moves in the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 along the platen 3 toward the home position HP shown on the left side in FIG. Move in the direction. When the carriage unit 4 is previously located at the home position HP, the carriage unit 4 is moved rightward and then returned to the home position HP.

While the image scanner 48 is moving toward the home position HP, the image scanner 48 detects the position of the leading edge of the document 18, the positions of the left and right ends of the document 18, the presence or absence of the document 18, and the like. The document 18 is surely located at the beginning to start reading the image information of 18. At this time, the detection data such as the position of the leading edge of the document 18, the positions of the left and right ends of the document 18, the presence or absence of the document 18 are converted into digital electric signals by the A / D converter 35 and stored in the memory, as shown in FIG. 5
No. 1 is stored in the input data storage area 52.

Further, when the image scanner 48 passes through the reference plate 49 on the way of movement, it faces the opposing surface 4 of the reference plate 49.
The color reference is read by 9a and the reference plate 4
The reference position of the carriage unit 4 is detected by the marker 50 provided on the opposing surface 49a of the carriage unit 9, and the carriage unit 4 can be reliably positioned at the home position HP.

Then, the reading of the image information of the document 18 is started.

When the reading of the image information of the document 18 is started, the carriage motor 7 is driven based on the control command from the control means 45, and the carriage unit 4 moves to the right in FIG. Scanner 4
The image information for one line of the document 18 is displayed by the reference plate 4
The color standard of 9 is read. When the reading of the image information for one line of the original document 18 is completed, the paper feed motor 26 is driven based on the control command of the control means 45, and the original document 18 for one line is scanned by the image scanner 48.
In the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction.

Thereafter, the image scanner 48 is moved in the main scanning direction in the same manner as described above, and the image scanner 4 for the document 18 is moved.
By repeating the movement of 8 in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction, all the image information of the document 18 is read line by line.

Then, the image information of the original document 18 read line by line by the image scanner 48 is converted into a digital electric signal by the A / D converter 35 and input data storage area of the memory 51 as shown in FIG. 5
2 are sequentially stored.

Next, the image information of the original document 18 input to the input data storage area 52 is calculated by the CPU 32 based on a control program stored in advance in the program storage area 53 of the memory 51 and converted into recording information. This record information is stored in the output data storage area 5 of the memory 52.
4 is stored.

Next, the thermal printer 44 of the present embodiment.
The operation in the recording state in which the image information of the original document 18 read by is recorded on the paper 24 will be described.

When the image information of the original document 18 read by the thermal printer 44 of this embodiment is recorded on the paper 24, the front end of the paper 24 is manually fed to the paper feed roller 25.
7 and the auxiliary roller 27 shown diagonally below the paper feeding roller 25 in FIG. Then, when the paper 24 is set, the control means 45 sends a control command to the image scanner 48, the carriage motor 7 and the paper feed motor 26 based on a program stored in advance in the memory 51, and the image scanner 48. Each light source 19 is turned on to be in the operating state, the carriage unit 4 moves in the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 along the platen 3 toward the home position HP shown by the imaginary line on the left side in FIG. The sheet 24 moves in the sub-scanning direction of the image scanner 48 shown by arrow B in FIG. If the carriage unit 4 is previously located at the home position HP, the carriage unit 4 is moved rightward and then the home position H is set.
It is designed to return to P.

While the carriage unit 4 is moving toward the home position HP, the image scanner 48 detects the position of the leading edge of the paper 24, the positions of the left and right ends of the paper 24, the presence or absence of the paper 24, and the like. It is possible to reliably perform the cueing of the paper 24 (setting of the paper 24 to the recording start position) to start recording on the paper 24. At this time, the detection data such as the position of the leading edge of the paper 24, the positions of the left and right ends of the paper 24, and the presence or absence of the paper 24 are shown in FIG.
As shown in, the A / D converter 35 converts the digital electric signal and stores it in the input data storage area 52 of the memory 51.

Further, when the image scanner 48 passes through the reference plate 49 on the way of movement, it faces the opposing surface 4 of the reference plate 49.
The reference position of the carriage unit 4 in the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 is detected by the marker 50 provided at 9a, and the carriage unit 4 can be reliably positioned at the home position HP.

Next, when the carriage unit 4 is located at the home position HP, a control command is sent from the control means 45 to a head drive mechanism (not shown), and the thermal head 11 causes the platen 3 to pass through the ink ribbon and the paper 24. The head-down state is brought into contact with, and recording on the paper 24 is started.

When recording on the paper 24 is started, the carriage motor 7 is driven based on the control command from the control means 45, and the carriage unit 4 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
At the right side (the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48), the ink ribbon (not shown) travels,
The heating element (not shown) is selectively energized based on the recording information, and the recording information for one line is recorded at a predetermined position on the paper 24. Then, 1 for the paper 24
When the recording of the record information for the line is completed, the control means 45
The paper feed motor 26 is driven on the basis of the control command to convey the paper 24 by one line in the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48.

In the same manner, the recording operation accompanying the movement of the image scanner 48 in the main scanning direction along the platen 3 of the carriage unit 4 and the sub-scanning direction of the paper 24 orthogonal to the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 are performed. By repeating the above-mentioned conveyance, all the record information is recorded in a desired position on the paper 24 line by line.

According to the present embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the light sources 19 for irradiating the document 18 are provided so as to be opposed to each other, and in the image reading state. Even when there is a step 42 on the surface of the original 18 such as the original 18 stuck by cutting or the like, as shown in FIG. 9, the step 42 of the original 18 is irradiated with light from both sides. Since light can be irradiated to all the parts of the step 42, when the corner 42a of the step 42 is located on the downstream side of the optical path 43 of the light emitted from the conventional light source 19 toward the document 18, the light path 43 of the optical path 43 is not changed. The inconvenience that the light is blocked by the corner 42b of the step 42 located on the upstream side and a shadow such as a black line is formed on the image information corresponding to the corner 42a of the step 42 is surely removed, and the original 1
The image information of 8 can be read accurately.

That is, according to the present embodiment, even when there is a step 42 on the surface of the original 18 such as the pasted original 18, a shadow is formed on the original 18 by providing a plurality of optical paths 43. Since it can be surely prevented, the image information of the document 18 can be read accurately and surely.

Further, according to this embodiment, unlike the conventional case,
It is not necessary to provide a display device for displaying the read image information for trimming, an input device for processing the read image information, a processing program, etc., and the thermal printer 44 is upsized, the number of parts is increased, and it is economical. It is possible to surely eliminate the inconvenience that the burden is increased and a great amount of labor is required for trimming.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the image scanner 48 is used to determine the reference position of the carriage unit 4, the presence or absence of the original 18 or the paper 24, the position of the leading edge of the original 18 or the paper 24, the left or right of the original 18 or the paper 24. It is possible to detect the positions of both ends in the direction. That is, the conventional position detecting means 23, paper detecting means 28, and input / output circuit 70 can be omitted.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 is the X axis,
When the sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the main scanning direction of the image scanner 48 is the Y-axis and the intersection of the X-axis and the Y-axis is the position of the image sensor 20, as shown by the solid line in FIG. The positions of the light sources 19 are symmetrically arranged on the X axis with the intersection as the center. As the light source 19, as shown by the broken line in FIG. And the original 18
In order to irradiate light from multiple directions on the surface of the above, the same effect can be achieved even with a configuration in which a total of four light sources 19 shown by solid lines and broken lines in FIG. 5 are provided. Further, the position of the light source 19 may not be located on the X axis and the Y axis. That is, as long as the plurality of light sources 19 are arranged with the intersection as the center, the number of light sources 19 and the arrangement positions thereof are not particularly limited in this embodiment. It may be determined according to the design concept, etc.

Furthermore, although the present embodiment has been described by exemplifying the thermal printer 44 having the thermal head 11 as the recording device, various printers such as an inkjet printer having an inkjet head may be used as the recording device. You can

Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, but can be modified as necessary.

[0079]

As described above, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, the image scanner is provided with a plurality of light sources used for reading the image information of the original image, so that the light is emitted from multiple directions with respect to the original image. Since the irradiation can be performed, there is an extremely excellent effect that the image information of the original image can be accurately read even when there is a step on the surface of the original image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a main part of an embodiment in which a recording apparatus according to the present invention is used in a thermal printer.

FIG. 2 is a left side view of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing the carriage unit of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the configuration of a main part inside the scanner mounting unit of FIG.

5 is an explanatory diagram showing an arrangement state of the light sources of FIG.

6 is a front view showing the reference plate of FIG.

7 is a side perspective view of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a configuration of control means in FIG.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a light irradiation state in an image reading state of an embodiment in which the recording apparatus according to the present invention is used in a thermal printer.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a main part of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a left side view showing a main part of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 12 is a plan view showing a carriage unit of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a configuration of a main part inside a scanner mounting portion of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 14 is a front view showing a reference plate of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 15 is a side perspective view of a conventional recording device.

FIG. 16 is a side view showing a main part of a sheet detection unit of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 17 is a circuit diagram showing an input / output circuit of a paper detection unit of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a configuration of control means of a conventional recording apparatus.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing a light irradiation state of a conventional recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

3 Platen 4 Carriage Unit 7 Carriage Motor 9 Carriage Section 11 Thermal Head 17 (as Recording Head as Recording Means) Lens 18 Original (as Original Image) 19 Light Source 20 Image Sensor 24 Paper 26 Paper Feed Motor 32 CPU 35 A / D converter 44 Thermal printer 45 (as a recording device) Control means 46 Scanner mounting part 48 Image scanner 49 Reference plate 50 Marker 51 Memory 52 Input data storage area 53 Program storage area 54 Output data storage area A (Image scanner) main scan Direction B (Image scanner) Sub-scanning direction

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. An image scanner capable of irradiating an original image with light from a light source to read image information of the original image line by line and outputting an image signal, and a sheet based on the image signal output from the image scanner. A recording device having recording means capable of recording, wherein the image scanner is provided with a plurality of light sources for reading image information of an original image. 2. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of the light sources is two, and the two light sources are arranged in parallel in a main scanning direction or a sub scanning direction of the image scanner. 3. The number of the light sources is four, and any two of the four light sources are arranged in parallel in the main scanning direction of the image scanner, and the other two are arranged in the main scanning direction of the image scanner. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recording apparatuses are arranged in parallel in a sub-scanning direction orthogonal to the direction.