JPH09107437A - Original holder and image reader using the original holder - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a read time of an original by providing information to specify a read range at image scanning to an original holder so as to read only a required part of the original. SOLUTION: A holder cover 3 made of a transparent material is adhered to an upper end of a flat holder base 2 of an original holder 50 by an adhesives 4. A weak adhesive section 5 is formed between the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3. The holder cover 3 is exfoliated against an adhesive form of the weak adhesive section 5 to hold an original between the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3. Information specifying a read range 51 of the original by an image scanner is printed out on a head A of the original holder 50 in terms of a bar code. The read range 51 is formed to be a rectangle in parallel with the original holder frame. The information to specify the read range 51 consists of an uppermost left end point B and a lowermost right end point C of the read range 51.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document holder for holding a document whose image information is read by an image scanner in an apparatus such as a printer having an image scanner, and an image reading apparatus using the holder.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a predetermined printing sheet is sandwiched between a conveying roller and a pressure contact roller which is pressed against the conveying roller, and the sheet is conveyed between a platen and a thermal head. Under a predetermined pressure contact force, and in this state, while moving the carriage and winding the ink ribbon in the ribbon cassette, the heating element formed in the thermal head is energized based on a desired print signal to generate heat. A thermal transfer printer is often used which heats an element to melt the ink of an ink ribbon and transfer the melted ink to a sheet to perform desired printing on the printing sheet.

In recent years, the applicants have attached an image scanner to a carriage, and while the predetermined document is being conveyed between the carriage and the platen, the carriage is moved to scan the image scanner to scan the document. We have developed a thermal transfer printer that reads the image information of and prints on a specified printing paper based on this image information.

In such a thermal transfer printer, when a document is read, a document holder for holding the document is used, and the document holder is intermittently conveyed,
The original is read by the image scanner.

FIGS. 1 to 3 show a document holder used in a thermal transfer printer developed by the inventors of the present application. The document holder 1 has a flat holder base 2. On one surface side of the holder base 2, a holder cover 3 made of a transparent material is integrally attached by adhering one end of the holder base 2 with an adhesive 4. The holder cover 3 can be opened and closed with respect to the holder base 2 by turning up the holder cover 3.
A predetermined document is held between the holder cover 3 and the holder cover 3.

[0006]

In the conventional image scanner, the reading width of the image scanner is almost the same as the original width. Therefore, in the case of a line type printer using this image scanner, since the reading speed is fast, even if the entire surface of the original is read, the time required for reading is short, so that it is not a big problem. However, in the case of the serial type printer developed by the inventors of the present application as described above, the reading and the document feeding are repeated for each scan, and thus the reading time is long.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and by specifying the range to be read, it is possible to read only the necessary portion, and thereby the original reading time can be shortened. An object of the present invention is to provide a holder and an image reading device.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, a document holder according to claim 1 is a document holder for specifying a read range of a document, and is provided with information for specifying the read range. It is characterized by that.

An image reading apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is an image scanner which is a reading unit for reading information specifying a read range of a document of a document holder, and a shape information and a position information of the read range by a signal from the read unit. A data conversion unit that converts the data into a shape, a memory unit that stores the shape information and position information data converted by the conversion unit, and a control unit that drives and controls the image scanner based on a signal from the memory unit. The image scanner scans only the read range of the document.

[0010]

According to the present invention, in order to specify the read range of a document, a document holder provided with information for specifying the read range is used, and the information for specifying the read range is provided in the shape of the read range. A document is read by an image scanner having a control circuit for performing a process of converting into information or position information and reading only a necessary portion. As a result, since scanning is not performed outside the range to be read, the reading time of the document is shortened accordingly.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a document holder according to the present invention. The basic structure of the document holder 50 has a flat plate-shaped holder base 2 as shown in FIGS. On one surface side of the holder base 2, a holder cover 3 made of a transparent material is integrally attached to the upper end portion of the holder base 2 by a connecting means such as an adhesive 4.
A weak adhesive portion 5 is formed between the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3 to give a weak adhesive force between the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3. The holder cover 3 can be opened and closed with respect to the holder base 2 by flipping up the holder cover 3 against the adhesive force of the weak adhesive portion 5, and the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3 can be opened and closed. A predetermined document is held between and.

Image information for specifying the read range 51 of the document is displayed on the leading portion A of the document holder 50.
Image information 5 for specifying the read range 51 shown in FIG.
2 is formed by a bar code. The holder cover 3 keeps the read range 51 transparent. Since the operator recognizes that the area outside the read range is an area in which the document is not read, for example, white coloring such as printing or a processing treatment such as graining is applied.

The read range 51 is a rectangle parallel to the document holder frame. As information for specifying the read range 51, the highest left end B point and the lowest right end C of the read range 51 are included.
It consists of position information of points. The positional information regarding the vertical direction is based on the distances y ₁ and y ₂ from the upper end of the document holder 50. The position information regarding the left and right sides is the original holder 50, respectively.
It depends on the distances x ₁ and x ₂ from the left end of.

FIGS. 6 to 9 show an embodiment of a printer having an image scanner using the document holder 50. A plate-shaped platen 7 extending in the longitudinal direction is arranged on the frame 6 of the printer, and is located in front of the platen 7 between the both side surfaces of the frame 6 and the platen 7. A carriage shaft 8 extending in parallel is supported. This carriage shaft 8 has
A carriage 9 is reciprocally attached along the carriage shaft 8, and a thermal head 10 is attached to the tip of the carriage 9 so as to come into contact with and separate from the platen 7. An ink ribbon (not shown) is housed on the upper surface of the carriage 9, and a ribbon cassette 11 for guiding the ink ribbon between the thermal head 10 and the platen 7 is detachably mounted. A winding bobbin 12 for winding the ink ribbon of the ribbon cassette 11 and a feeding bobbin 13 for feeding the ink ribbon are arranged on the upper surface of the carriage 9.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, an image scanner 14 is disposed on one side of the carriage 9, and as shown in FIG. An opening 15 is formed on the surface facing the platen 7. Further, inside the image scanner 14 and on both sides of the opening 15, two issuing members 16, 16 made of, for example, lamps are arranged so as to be directed to the opening 15. An image sensor unit 17 is arranged inside the scanner 14 to receive the reflected light of the light emitted from the issuing member 16 to the document and read a predetermined image.

On the lower side of one end of the frame 6,
A carriage drive motor 18 is arranged so that its output shaft penetrates above the frame 6, and a drive pulley 19 rotatably driven by the carriage drive motor 18 is provided on the output shaft of the carriage drive motor 18. It is arranged. A driven pulley 20 is rotatably disposed on the upper surface of the multi-end portion of the frame 6, and a part of the driven pulley 20 is connected to the lower surface of the carriage 9 between the drive pulley 19 and the driven pulley 20. The carriage drive belt 21 is also stretched around. Then, the carriage drive motor 18 is rotationally driven to drive the carriage drive belt 21 via the drive pulley 19,
The carriage 9 is reciprocated along the carriage shaft 8 in parallel with the platen 7.

A transport roller 22 for transporting a predetermined recording medium at a predetermined speed is disposed below the rear portion of the platen 7, and below the transport roller 22, the transport roller 22 is pressed against the transport roller 22. A plurality of pressure contact rollers 23 are rotatably arranged. Further, a paper feeding device (not shown) is arranged behind the frame 6, and, for example, a document holder 50 holding a predetermined document and printing paper are alternately arranged in the paper feeding device. It is designed to be stored in a stacked state. Then, the transport roller 22 is rotationally driven by a transport motor (not shown), so that the document holder 50 and the printing paper supplied from the paper feeding device between the transport roller 22 and the pressure contact roller 23 are transferred to the thermal head 10. It is adapted to be conveyed to and from the platen 7. Further, above the platen 7, a paper discharge roller 24 for guiding the printed paper after printing is arranged.

Further, a positioning marker 25 is formed on one side of the platen 7 of the frame 6, and the stop position of the carriage 9 can be recognized by reading the positioning marker 25 by the image scanner 14. Has been done.

FIG. 10 shows an embodiment of a control device for a printer having the image scanner 14 described above. C
The PU 26 includes a ROM 27, a RAM 28, an arithmetic circuit 29,
Various drive circuits are connected. The ROM 27 stores printing conditions according to the type of recording medium used. The RAM 28 stores various data such as shape information and position information of the read range 51 converted by the CPU 26 and image information of the original.

The CPU 26 has a document holder 5 in addition to the image information of the document read by the image scanner 14.
Image information 52 specifying the read range 51 displayed at 0 is sent. From the CPU 26, a thermal head drive circuit 30 for controlling energization of the thermal head 10, a thermal head contact / separation drive circuit 31 for contact / separation operation of the thermal head 10 with respect to the platen 7, and drive control of the image scanner 14. Image scanner drive circuit 32 and carriage drive motor drive circuit 3
Control signals are sent to the drive roller 3 and the transport roller drive circuit 34, respectively.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.

First, in a state where the holder cover 3 is turned up against the adhesive force of the weak adhesive portion 5, a predetermined document is set on the holder cover 3 and the holder cover 3 is closed, so that the holder cover 3 is closed. A document is held between the base 2 and the holder cover 3. In this case, in this embodiment, the document is securely held between the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3 by the adhesive force of the weak adhesive portion 5 between the holder base 2 and the holder cover 3. The holder base 2 and the holder cover 3 are held in close contact with each other.

Document holder 5 with the document held
0 is installed in the paper feeding device. The carriage drive motor 18 is driven by a control signal from the CPU 26 to drive the carriage 9
Is moved to operate the image scanner 14 in the lateral direction with respect to the original, while the issuing member 16 irradiates the original with light, and the reflected light from the original is received by the image sensor unit 17, and the original of the original is transferred. The image information 52 of the direction is read, and this information is transmitted to the RA via the CPU 26.
It is stored in M28.

First, the image information 52 for specifying the read range 51 is read. The conveyance roller 22 is driven to carry out the document holder 50 by a predetermined amount, and while the carriage 9 is moved again, the range 5 to be read is read by the image scanner 14.
The image information 52 specifying 1 is read and stored in the RAM 28. Such an operation is repeated until all the image information 52 specifying the range 51 to be read is read. Image information 5 for specifying the read range 51
Based on 2, the CPU 26 converts the data to be the shape information and the position information of the read range 51, and stores the shape information and the position information data in the RAM 28.

Based on the position information stored in the RAM 28, the carry-out roller 22 is further driven to carry out the document holder 50 to the top of the read range 51. The carriage 9 is moved from the left end to the right end of the read range 51 by a distance x ₃ (see FIG. 4), the image information of the original is read by the image scanner 14 and stored in the RAM 28. While repeating such operations until the bottom of the read range 51 is reached, all the image information of the document in the read range 51 alone is read and stored in the RAM 28, and the document holder 50 is ejected, whereby the image information of the document is read. The reading operation of is completed.

The image information 52 for specifying the read range 51 on the document holder 50 is a bar code in the above-mentioned embodiment, but it can be expressed by a numerical value using characters.

11 to 13 show other embodiments of the document holder, respectively. Document holder 60 shown in FIG.
The read range 61 is the same as the original holder 50 shown in FIG.
Is a rectangle parallel to the document holder frame. In the document holder 62 shown in FIG. 12, the read range 63 is circular. The information of the read range 63 includes shape information of a circle, position information of the center coordinates of a circle, and a value r of the radius or diameter of the circle. The position information regarding the upper and lower sides is the document holder 6
Depends on the distance y _C from the top of 2. The position information regarding the left and right is based on the distance x _C from the left end of the document holder 62. In the case of a circle, unlike the case of a rectangle, the reading range 6
The movement amount of the carriage 9 in 3 changes.

When the image information of the read range 63 by this is read, the carry-out roller 22 is driven based on the position information of the read range 63 stored in the RAM 28, and the document holder 62 is moved to the top of the read range. Carry out. C
The PU 26 gives the position information y _C , x _C of the center coordinates of the circle, the radius value r of the circle, and the document discharge amount y _T to the arithmetic circuit 29. From the arithmetic circuit 29, the position information x _C1 of the left end of the read range 63 is read.
And the position information x _C2 at the right end are received. The carriage 9 is moved based on the position information x _C1 and x _C2 of the left and right ends, and the image information of the original is read by the image scanner 14 and stored in the RAM 28. During the image scanning, the arithmetic circuit 29 calculates the positional information of the left and right ends of the read range at the next original feeding position. While repeating such operations until the bottom of the read range is reached, all the image information of the document in the read range 63 is read and stored in the RAM 28, and the document holder 62 is ejected to read the image information of the document. The operation ends.

The original holder 64 shown in FIG. 9 shows an example in which the read range 65 is a rhombus. The information of the read range 65 includes shape information of a diamond shape, position information y _H and x _H of the center coordinates of the diamond, and values of the horizontal width α and the vertical width β. Also in the case of the diamond shape, the movement amount of the carriage 9 in the read range 65 changes as in the case of the circle shown in FIG.
During the image scanning, if it is possible to calculate the position information of the left and right ends of the read range at the next document carrying-out position y _T only by the CPU 26 or the arithmetic circuit 29, the read range is the same as in each of the above embodiments. It is not limited.

Further, when the outside of the read range of the document holder is colored in white, the data of the white part is not read even if the read range of the image scanner is widely deviated. Data is obtained.

Next, an embodiment of a document holder according to the present invention different from that of FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG.

The basic structure of the document holder 70 is similar to that of the document holder 50 shown in FIG. On the transparent sheet of the holder cover 2, a plurality of straight lines are displayed vertically and horizontally at regular intervals to form a grid. Each straight line has a sign,
For example, vertical lines are A, B, C, ..., Horizontal lines are 1, 2,
3, etc. The intersection of each straight line becomes a coordinate by the combination of these codes. The read range is determined by the combination of these coordinate points.

FIG. 15 shows an image scanner using the document holder 70. The image scanner using the document holder 70 has a coordinate input unit 35. After gripping the document in the document holder 70, the operator confirms the read range, and inputs the coordinate values of the uppermost left end and the lowermost right end of the read range using the coordinate input section 35. For example, to specify the range of the solid line part in FIG.
Enter 5 '. After inputting the coordinate values, place the original on the original holder 70.
Take it out and install it in the paper feeder. The input coordinate value is converted by the CPU 26 into position information of the range to be read and stored in the RAM 28.

Based on the position information stored in the RAM 28, the carry-out roller 22 is driven to carry out the original document to the top of the range to be read. The carriage 9 is moved within the range from the left end to the right end of the read range, the image information of the original is read by the image scanner 14 and stored in the RAM 28. By repeating such operations until the bottom of the range to be read is reached, all the image information of the document in the range to be read is read, stored in the RAM 28, and the document is ejected, thereby ending the operation of reading the image information of the document. To do.

According to this embodiment, although an artificial operation of inputting coordinates is added to the reading of a document whose range to be read is specified using the document holder 50 (FIG. 4), the range of the document to be read is set by the document holder. It is not fixed by, and it is possible to change the setting sequentially.

FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show still another embodiment of the document holder according to the present invention, particularly showing the portion of the read range. In FIG. 11, the rectangle is set by two-point coordinates, which is the simplest input setting. In FIG. 12, a polygon is set by coordinates of multiple points of three or more points. For example, to specify the range of the solid line, you can specify'C2F2F3
Enter E3E5B5B3C3 '. In this way, as with the document holder 50, the setting shape of the read range is set as long as it is possible to calculate the position information of the left and right ends of the read range.
The range to be read is not limited to the above embodiments.

As described above, it is possible to provide a document holder for specifying a range to be read and an image scanner capable of reading only a necessary portion. Further, in the reading by the image scanner in which the read range of the original is specified, the range that does not need to be read is not scanned. The reading time of the original is reduced accordingly. Further, since the amount of image information for specifying the range is reduced accordingly, the time required for data transfer of the image information and the time required for printing processing can be shortened, and the total time can be shortened. The above-mentioned effects are naturally applicable not only to the image scanner but also to a device having the image scanner, for example, a serial printer, a line printer, a copying machine, a facsimile, or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a holder cover of a document holder of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a holder base of a document holder of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a side view of a document holder of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a document holder of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an embodiment using a bar code of a read range.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a thermal transfer printer having an image scanner of the present invention.

7 is a plan view of the carriage portion of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the image scanner portion of FIG.

9 is a plan view of the carriage portion of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a controller of a thermal transfer printer having an image scanner of the present invention.

11 is a plan view showing an embodiment (rectangle) of the read range in the document holder of FIG.

12 is a plan view showing an example (circular shape) of a read range in the document holder of FIG.

13 is a plan view showing an embodiment (diamond) of the read range in the document holder of FIG.

FIG. 14 is a plan view showing an embodiment of a document holder of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image scanner control device of the present invention.

16 is a plan view showing an embodiment (rectangle) of the read range in the document holder of FIG.

17 is a plan view showing an example (polygon) of the read range in the document holder of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Original Holder 2 Holder Base 3 Holder Cover 5 Weak Adhesive Section 6 Frame 7 Platen 9 Carriage 10 Thermal Head 14 Image Scanner 16 Issuing Member 17 Image Sensor Unit 18 Carriage Drive Motor 26 CPU 27 ROM 28 RAM 35 Coordinate Input Section 50 Original Holder

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A document holder for holding a document, the document holder comprising information for specifying a range to be read during image scanning. 2. An image scanner, which is a reading unit for reading information that specifies a read range of a document on a document holder,
A data conversion unit that converts the shape information and position information of the range to be read by a signal from the reading unit, a memory unit that stores the shape information and position information data converted by this conversion unit, and a memory unit An image reading apparatus comprising: a control unit for driving and controlling an image scanner based on a signal, wherein the image scanner scans only a read range of a document.