JPH10164290A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a setting space by forming a projecting part on top of a scanner part, forming a recessed part that engages it on the bottom of a printer, positioning them by engaging the projecting part with the recessed part and connecting the scanner part to the printer part in a freely attachable and detachable way to use them. SOLUTION: A projecting part as a guide part 36 for positioning is formed on a part of a cover 35 that covers a scanner part 5. A recessed shape guide part is formed toward the inside of a device on the bottom of a printer 1 and by engaging this with the part 36, the part 5 is attached to the printer 1. With this state, a gear 31 on the printer 1 side and a gear 44 on the part 5 are engaged with each other and power is transferred. A pair of feed rollers 40 and 41 carries a sheet 37 that is inserted into a guide 38 in the direction of an arrow A by a driving force of a hopping motor on the printer 1 side. A read head 42 reads information on the sheet 37.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printer.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a photograph or the like is read by a reading head provided in a scanner unit, edited by a host computer such as a personal computer, and data edited by a printer is printed, the host computer is used. Is connected to a scanner and a printer, respectively. In this case, the host computer, the scanner, and the printer are separately installed.

[0003]

Conventionally, a host computer, a printer, and a scanner are separately installed and connected, respectively, so that a wide installation space is required.
However, there was a problem that it required

[0004]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a printer connected to a scanner having a reading head for reading information on a medium. A scanner portion and a printer are formed by forming a convex portion on the printer, forming a concave portion on the printer to be fitted with the convex portion, and fitting the convex portion on the concave portion. It is.

When information on a medium is read by the reading head of the scanner section, the convex section of the scanner section is fitted and connected to the concave section of the printer.

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Elements common to the drawings are denoted by the same reference numerals.

First Embodiment FIG. 1 is an explanatory view showing the structure of a printer in which a scanner unit according to the first embodiment is mounted, and FIGS. 2 and 3 are second views according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a printer in which the automatic paper feeding unit is mounted, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a structure of the printer in the first embodiment, and FIG. 5 is a second automatic paper feeding in the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the printer in a state where the sheet feeding unit is mounted, FIG. 6 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the second automatic sheet feeding unit in the first embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a printer and a drive system of a second automatic paper feed unit according to the embodiment, FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the printer with the scanner unit attached thereto according to the first embodiment, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a rear view of the printer and the scanner unit according to the embodiment.

Although the printer described in the present embodiment is an ink jet printer, it will be described below as a printer.

At the lower part of the printer 1, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a second automatic paper feed unit 3 which is detachable from the main body of the printer 1, or a detachable scanner unit 5 which is detachable as shown in FIG. Is attached.

First, the internal structure of the printer 1 whose outline is indicated by a two-dot chain line will be described.

In FIG. 4, the printer 1 is covered with a cover 6, and a first automatic paper feeding section 7 is formed at the rear. The first automatic paper supply unit 7 is equipped with a first paper supply cassette (not shown) that stores the paper 8 in an upright state.

On the other hand, in front of the printer 1, the printer 1
In contrast, a paper mounting table 10 is provided rotatably about a fulcrum 10a. When the paper 8 is discharged from the printer 1 or when the paper 8 is supplied to the printer 1, the paper mounting table 10 is positioned at a position indicated by a two-dot chain line. When the printer 1 is not used, the position indicated by a solid line is used. It is positioned in.

A paper transport path 11 for transporting the paper 8 is provided from the rear of the printer 1 to the paper mounting table 10.
The paper transport path 11 is a paper guide 1 for guiding the paper 8.
2 formed.

The first automatic paper feeding section 7 is provided with a hopping roller 13 for feeding out the stored paper 8.
Opposed to the hopping roller 13, a brake 14 is provided for separating a plurality of fed sheets 8 and feeding only the uppermost sheet 8 to the sheet conveying path 11.

The media transport path 11 is provided with a pair of feeders 15 and 16 for transporting the paper 8.
A print head 17 is provided between the feed roller pair 15 and the feed roller pair 16. The print head 17 is fixed to a carriage 18, and the carriage 18 is slidable along guide shafts 19a and 19b provided in parallel with the printing direction.

An end of the paper transport path 11 on the rear side of the apparatus is partially notched and has a notch 1a. A pin tractor 2 is detachably provided in the notch 1a.
0 is provided. A continuous sprocket paper is mounted on the pin tractor 20.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, a guide portion 21 having a concave shape toward the inside of the apparatus is formed in a part of the lower portion of the printer 1. A part of the guide portion 21 is cut out, and the gear 31 and the planetary gear 29, which will be described later, can enter the second automatic sheet feeding portion 3 from the notch portion 65.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3, 5, and 6, a second paper feed cassette 4 is detachably mounted on the second automatic paper feed unit 3. The second automatic paper feeding unit 3 is provided with a cover-2.
2 and a part of the upper part of the cover 22 serves as a guide portion 23 for positioning.
It has a convex shape that fits into the concave shape of No. 1. The position of the guide portion 23 facing the notch portion 65 is notched, and the gear 31 and the planetary gear 29 can enter the second automatic sheet feeding portion 3 from the notch.

In FIG. 2, the second automatic paper feed unit 3 includes:
A cassette insertion slot 24 is formed, from which the second paper feed cassette 4 is inserted into the second automatic paper feed unit 3. As shown in FIG. 6, the second automatic sheet feeding section 3 is provided with a hopping roller 25 for feeding out the sheets 8 stored in the second sheet feeding cassette 4. Opposite to the hopping roller 25, there is provided a brake 26 for separating a plurality of fed sheets 8 and feeding only the uppermost sheet 8 to the sheet conveying path 11. The paper 8 fed by the hopping roller 25 is also supplied to the second automatic paper feeding section 3 by the printer 1.
A guide 27 for conveying the sheet to the sheet conveying path 11 of the main body is provided.

As shown in FIG. 5, a paper transport path 11 for transporting the paper 8 fed from the second automatic paper feed unit 3 to the print head 17 is provided to the printer 1 by a paper guide 12. Is formed.

Next, the drive system of the printer 1 and the second automatic paper feed unit 3 will be described. In FIG. 7, a hopping motor 28 for rotating the hopping rollers 13, 25 is provided in the main body of the printer 1. The hopping motor 28 is meshed with a planetary gear 29.
Alternatively, one of the hopping rollers 25 rotates. A gear 30a meshes with the hopping roller 13, and a gear 30b meshes with this gear 30a, and a gear 30c meshes with 30b. And hopping low
When the gear 13 is rotated, the planetary gear 29
Mesh with.

On the other hand, the hopping roller 25 has a gear 3
The gear 31 meshes with the planetary gear 29 when the hopping roller 25 is rotated.

The printer 1 also includes a feeder pair 1
An LF motor 32 for rotating 5, 5 is provided. A gear 63 is engaged with the LF motor 32. The gear 63 is engaged with the gear 33a and the gear 34. The gear 33a meshes with the gear 33b, and the gear 33b meshes with the gear 33c. Gear 3
Reference numeral 3c meshes with one of the rollers of the feed roller pair 15. The gear 34 meshes with one of the rollers of the feed roller pair 16.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, it is also possible to detachably mount the scanner section 5 at the position where the second automatic sheet feeding section 3 is mounted. The scanner unit 5 includes a cover 35.
And a part of the cover 35 serves as a positioning guide portion 36 as shown in FIG. The guide portion 36 has a convex shape that fits into the concave shape of the guide portion 21 similarly to the second automatic paper feed portion 3,
Positioning is performed by fitting the concave shape and the convex shape.

The position of the guide portion 36 facing the notch portion 65 is cut out, and the gear 31 and the planetary gear 29 can enter the scanner portion 5 from this notch portion. Also, as shown in FIG.
5, an insertion slot 6 for inserting the paper 37 into the scanner section 5;
4 are formed.

In FIG. 1, the scanner section 5 is provided with guides 38 and 39 for guiding a sheet 37 on which information to be read is printed. And, between the guides 38 and 39, two pairs of papers for transporting the paper 37 are provided.
Drawer pairs 40 and 41 are provided.

A gear 43 meshes with the feeder pair 40. The gear 43 meshes with a gear 44 which meshes with the gear 31 of the printer 1 when mounted. A gear 45 meshes with the feeder pair 41, and the gear 45 meshes with a gear 46 meshing with the gear 43. The feed roller pairs 40 and 41 are rotated by the driving of the hopping motor 28 and convey the paper 37 in the direction of arrow A.

A linear color read head 42 is provided between the feed roller pair 40 and the feed roller pair 41. The read head 42
Is composed of a light receiving element such as a light emitting diode arranged in an array, and reads information by receiving reflected light from the paper 37 passing opposite to the reading head 42.

A medium detection sensor 60 is provided near the feeder pair 40 and upstream in the sheet conveying direction. The cover 35 of the scanner unit 5 has a discharge port (not shown) for discharging the read sheet 37 out of the apparatus.

As shown in FIG. 9, a connector 66 is detachably fitted to the scanner section 5. A cable 67 is connected to the connector 66, and a connector 68 similarly connected to the cable 67 is detachably fitted to the printer 1. The printer 1 and the scanner unit 5 are electrically connected by the connector 66 and the connector 67.

Next, a control system of the printer 1 and the scanner unit 5 will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a control system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 11 is a memory map showing the contents of a RAM according to the first embodiment. FIG. 12 is a memory showing the contents of a ROM according to the first embodiment. It is a map.

In FIG. 10, a central processing unit (hereinafter referred to as a CP)
The printer 47 is provided in the printer 1 and controls the printer 1 and the scanner unit 5 as a whole. The CPU 47 includes a ROM (read only memory) 48, a RAM
(Random access memory) 49, a first I / F driver 50, a second I / F driver 51, a first driver 52, and a second driver 53 are connected.

The first I / F driver 50 is connected to the host device 6
The first I / F driver 5 exchanges data with the first I / F driver 5.
1 executes transmission and reception of data with the scanner unit 5 (detection of the output of the medium detection sensor 60, driving of the reading head 42, transmission and reception of commands with the scanner control unit 91). First
The second driver 53 rotates the hopping motor 28 in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 47.
The LF motor 32 is rotated.

In the memory map of the RAM 49 shown in FIG. 11, the RAM 49 stores parameters and print data for the operation of the CPU 47, and includes a buffer section 54, a working area 55, And a print buffer unit 56. The buffer unit 54 temporarily stores data received from the host device 61 and the scanner unit 5, and the working area 55 stores various parameters necessary for operation and data necessary for operation. Is temporarily stored. The print buffer unit 56 stores data for printing.

In the memory map of the ROM 48 shown in FIG. 12, the ROM 48 includes a program section 57 and a conversion table.
Bull 58. The program unit 57 includes a CP
The procedure for operating U47 is stored, and the conversion table 58
RGB (red, green) input from the scanner unit 5
, Blue) data is converted into YMC (yellow, magenta, cyan) (K) (black) data for printing.

Next, a paper route for printing by the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13, 14, 15, and 16. FIG. FIG. 13, FIG. 14, FIG. 15, and FIG. 16 are explanatory views showing the sheet transport route in the first embodiment. Also,
FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a paper feeding unit is mounted on the printer according to the first embodiment.

The paper route is from the first route to the fourth route.
There are four types. First, the first route to the fourth route
Each route constituting the route will be described.

There are five routes from route a to route e. The route in which the paper 8 is always conveyed for printing is shown in FIG.
Route b and route c shown in FIG. The routes b and c are formed with the print head 17 interposed therebetween. From a hopping roller 13 to a route b, a route a to which the sheet 8 fed from the first automatic sheet feeding section 7 is conveyed.
From the notch 1a at the rear end of the device.
The route up to b is route d as shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 15, the route from the hopping roller 25 to the route b is a route e. The above-mentioned routes a to e are formed by the paper guide 12.

The first route shown in FIG. 13 is a route for feeding the paper 8 from the first automatic paper feeder 7, and the hopping roller 13 from the first automatic paper feeder 7. The paper 8 fed out by the printer is conveyed through a route a and a route b, and is printed by the print head 17, and when the paper mounting table 10 is opened horizontally from the route c. Is discharged to the paper mounting table 10 and, when closed, discharged in the direction of arrow B.

The second route shown in FIG.
Is a route for manually feeding the paper 8 from the front of the printer. In this case, the paper 8 is conveyed from the paper mounting table 10 to the root c, where printing is performed by the print head 17, and the root b
Alternatively, the sheet is conveyed to a route d. Then, after the printing is completed, the sheet is conveyed from the route c to the sheet mounting table 10 again.

A third route shown in FIG. 15 is a route for feeding the sheet 8 from the second automatic sheet feeding section 3, and a hopping roller 25 from the second automatic sheet feeding section 3. The paper 8 fed out by the printer is conveyed through the roots e and b and printed by the print head 17, and when the paper mounting table 10 is opened horizontally from the root c. Is discharged to the paper mounting table 10 and, when closed, discharged in the direction of arrow B.

The fourth route shown in FIG. 16 is a continuous sprocket sheet route sent from the pin tractor 20. The paper sent from the pin tractor 20 is route d,
The route b is conveyed, printing is performed by the print head 17, and when the sheet placing table 10 is opened horizontally from the route c, the sheet is discharged to the sheet placing table 10 and closed. Is discharged in the direction of arrow B.

The state shown in FIG. 17 is a state in which all means for feeding the paper 8 to the printer 1 are mounted.

When printing with the printer 1, first,
The operator selects the setup configuration of the printer 1 according to the type of the paper 8 to be used (sprocket paper or cut sheet paper), the installation location, and the like. For example, when it is desired to reduce the height when the sheet 8 is mounted, the sheet is fed from the first automatic sheet feeding unit 7 or the sheet table 10. On the other hand, when the installation space of the printer 1 is narrow, paper is fed from the second automatic paper feed unit 3.

Next, the reading operation in which the scanner unit 5 is mounted on the printer 1 having the above configuration and the information on the paper is read by the reading head 42 will be described with reference to FIGS.
1, will be described with reference to FIG. At this time, as shown in FIG. 4, the scanner unit 5 has not been mounted on the printer 1 yet. First, the operator lifts the printer 1 and fits the guide section 21 and the guide section 36 of the scanner section 5 to fix the scanner section 5 and the printer 1 together.
The paper 37 to be read is inserted into the apparatus through the insertion port 64 shown in FIG. The reading surface of the paper 37 is the lower surface in FIG.

Next, as shown in FIG. 9, the operator fits the connector 66 into the scanner section 5 and the connector 68 into the printer 1 to electrically connect the scanner section 5 and the printer 1 to each other. Connect.

When the operator turns on the power,
The CPU 47 executes an initial process according to a program stored in the ROM 48. During this initial processing, the CPU 47 determines whether or not the scanner unit 5 is mounted.

The scanner unit 5 sends a command to the
When sent from the U 47, the scanner-control unit 91 analyzes the command and sends a response equivalent to the command to the CPU 47.
The printer 1 transmits a predetermined command to the scanner unit 5 via the second I / F driver 51. If there is a response, the CPU 47 determines that the scanner unit is connected. to decide. On the other hand, if the scanner unit 5 is not connected, there is no response. If there is no response within a predetermined time, it is determined that the scanner unit is not connected.
If the scanner unit 5 is not connected, the CPU 47
Temporarily determines that the second automatic paper feed unit 3 is connected. Thereafter, when paper is fed from the second automatic paper feed unit 3, the CPU 47 executes the second automatic paper feed unit 3 if the medium detection sensor (not shown) detects paper within a predetermined time.
Is determined to be connected, and if a medium detection sensor (not shown) does not detect a sheet within a predetermined time, the second automatic sheet feeding section 3 is not connected, or the second automatic sheet feeding section 3 is not connected. It is determined that there is no paper or paper jam.

As another method, an identification protrusion having a different position between the second automatic paper feeding section 3 and the scanner section 5 is provided on the upper part of the housing of the second automatic paper feeding section 3 and the scanner section 5. Forming
On the printer 1 side, when the second automatic paper feed unit 3 or the scanner unit 5 is connected to the printer 1, a switch is provided at a position corresponding to each of the protrusions, and a switch is pressed by the protrusion. By detecting the signal from the switch, depending on which switch was pressed,
It may be determined whether the connected device is the second automatic paper feeder 3 or the scanner 5.

This time, since there is a response from the scanner unit 5, the CPU 47 detects that the scanner unit 5 is connected. When receiving the read command from the host device 61, the CPU 47 determines whether or not the paper 37 is loaded based on the output of the medium detection sensor 60. Here, since the medium detection sensor 60 detects the paper 37, the CPU 47
Is connected to the hopping motor 28 via the first driver 52.
To rotate. For example, at this time, in FIG. 1, even if the planetary gear 29 meshes with the gear 30c, the rotation of the hopping motor 28 in the predetermined direction causes the planetary gear 2 to rotate.
9 moves to the position shown by the two-dot chain line and meshes with the gear 31. Then, the feed roller pair 40 is rotated via the gears 44 and 43, and the feed roller pair 41 is rotated via the gears 44, 43, 46 and 45, and the sheet 37 is moved to the arrow A. Transport in the direction.

The CPU 47 includes a first driver 52
And issues a read command to the read head 42 via the second I / F driver 51. When the paper 37 reaches the reading head 42, light is emitted from a light source (not shown) onto the paper 37, and the reading head 42 receives the reflected light from the paper 37, and
Read the information above.

The CPU 47 sequentially receives the read data from the read head 42 and sends the read data to the buffer 54 of the RAM 49.
And sequentially read out from the buffer unit 54,
The data is transferred to the host device 61 via the first I / F driver 50.

When the medium detection sensor 60 detects that there is no paper 37, the reading operation is stopped at the point where the reading has been performed by the transport amount determined by the mounting position of the medium detection sensor 60 and the reading head 42, and the paper 37 is discharged. The required amount of feed is stopped when the hopping motor 28 is rotated. Then, after transferring all the data stored in the buffer unit 54 to the host device 61, the host device 61 is notified of the end of the transfer.

In the above description, the read data from the scanner unit 5 is transferred to the host device 61 as it is. However, data that can be actually printed by the procedure described in the following copy processing. After the data is converted into data and stored in the print buffer unit 56, the data can be sequentially transferred to a host device. Of course, also at this time, the print buffer unit 56
Since the data stored in the printer 1 is not the data for printing but the data for transfer to the host device 61, the printer 1 is controlled not to perform printing. The host device 61 processes the data received from the printer 1 and transfers it to the printer 1 again, or uses it for other purposes.

Next, a copy process for reading data with the reading head 42 and outputting the data with the printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 10, 11, and 12. FIG. In this case, as shown in FIG. 1, it is assumed that the scanner unit 5 is already mounted on the printer 1.

When receiving the copy command from the host device 61, the CPU 47 determines from the output of the medium detection sensor 60 whether or not the paper 37 is loaded. Here, when the medium detection sensor 60 detects the paper 37, the CPU 47
Is connected to the hopping motor 28 via the first driver 52.
To rotate. Then, the sheet 37 is transported in the direction of arrow A by the feeder pair 40, 41.

The CPU 47 includes a first driver 52
And issues a read command to the read head 42 via the second I / F driver 51. When the paper 37 reaches the reading head 42, the information on the paper 37 is read in the same manner as described above.

The CPU 47 sequentially receives the read data from the read head 42 and sends the read data to the buffer unit 54 of the RAM 49.
And sequentially read out from the buffer unit 54,
The print data is converted into printable color data according to a conversion table 58 stored in the ROM 48 and stored in the print buffer unit 56 of the RAM 49.

Further, at this time, for example, assuming that the paper 8 is inserted into the printer 1 from the open paper mounting table 10, a medium detection sensor (not shown) detects the paper 8. Then, the CPU 47 receives the signal and drives the LF motor 32 via the second driver 53. The gears 63, 33a, 33b, 33c, 34
By rotating the pair of drawers 15 and 16, the paper 8 is transferred to the printer 1
Transported inside. When the print start position faces the print head 17, the driving of the LF motor 32 is stopped, and the conveyance of the sheet 8 is stopped until print data is transmitted from the print buffer unit 56.

When the print buffer unit 56 is full, the CPU 47 executes a printing operation using the print head 17.

During the above-described processing, the scanner unit 5
When the medium detection sensor 60 provided in the printer detects that there is no paper 37, the reading operation is stopped at a point where the reading has been performed by the carry amount determined by the mounting position of the medium detection sensor 60 and the reading head 42, and the paper 37 is discharged. Is stopped when the hopping motor 28 is rotated.

Even when the reading operation of the reading head 42 is completed, the CPU 47 drives the LF motor 32 to convey the paper 8 while keeping the print data stored in the print buffer 56. Until the printing is completed, printing is performed on the paper 8 by the print head 17. The paper 8 after printing is LF
When the motor 32 rotates in the reverse direction, it is discharged to the outside of the printer 1 again. After the completion of all copy processing, the host device 61
To the end of the copy.

The copy command is not from the host device 61 but may be, for example, when the CPU 47 detects that the copy switch on the operation panel shown in FIG. The case where the detection sensor 60 detects that the paper 37 is attached to the scanner unit 5 may be adopted.

The CPU 47 constantly monitors the state of the buffer so that the buffer 54 and the print buffer 56 do not become full, and synchronizes the reading process with the printing process.

During the above-mentioned copy processing, printing of the print data transmitted from the higher-level device 61 is impossible. Therefore, after the copy command is received, the first I / F driver is operated until the processing is completed. Via 50, the host device 61 is notified of the reception failure. At this time, if the host device 61 is monitoring the timeout of the peripheral device and it is not preferable that the unreceivable state continues for a long time, the buffer unit 54 of the RAM 49
18 is divided into a first buffer section 54a and a second buffer section 54b as shown in FIG. 18. The buffer section 54a is used for copy processing, and the buffer section 54b is used to store print data from the host device 61. By allocating the print data for reception and receiving print data from the higher-level device 61 at the minimum necessary period, it is possible to avoid a timeout. In this case, after the copy processing is completed, the reception data of the second buffer unit 54b is received.
After the data is developed in the print buffer 56, the buffer unit 54 divided into two is used as one buffer for normal reception / print processing. FIG. 18 is a memory map showing the contents of the RAM according to the first embodiment.

As described above, in the first embodiment, FIG.
As shown in the figure, the scanner unit 5 can be mounted at the lower part of the printer 1, that is, at the position where the second automatic paper feeding unit 3 is mounted. The -part 5 can also be installed. As a result, the installation space when installing the host computer 61, the printer 1, and the scanner unit 5 can be made smaller than before. FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram of the arrangement according to the first embodiment.

Further, it is convenient because it is possible to automatically detect which of the scanner unit 5 and the second automatic paper feeding unit 3 is connected to the printer 1.

Further, if the information read by the reading head 42 is transmitted to the printer 1 and printing is performed by the print head 17, it can be used as a copier.

Since the drive source for transporting the paper 37 to be read by the scanner unit 5 uses the drive motor of the printer 1, it is not necessary to provide the scanner unit 5 with a drive motor. . Therefore, it can be provided as an inexpensive scanner unit.

If only the scanner section 5 is used, it can be used as a normal scanner.

Second Embodiment Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 20 is an explanatory view showing the structure of the printer in the state where the second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the second embodiment is mounted, FIGS.
FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing a read head moving mechanism according to the second embodiment.

In the second embodiment, a read head 82 is provided inside the second automatic paper feeder 3, and the read head 82 is moved by a read head moving mechanism 87 to transfer information on the paper 37. read. Hereinafter, the structure of the read head moving mechanism 87 will be described.

In FIG. 20, the second automatic paper feed unit 3 is provided with a mounting table 62 on which a paper 37 to be read by a reading head 82 described later is mounted. And
A change gear 69 meshes with the LF motor 32, and rotates by receiving power from the LF motor 32. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 22, the change gear 69 is
Is rotatably mounted on the shaft 70 so as to be movable in the directions of arrows EF on the shaft 70 mounted on the frame 88. The shaft 70 is provided with a spring 71.
Is fixed on one side by a fixed plate 72,
On the other hand, a change gear 69 is connected to a later-described change lever-7.
The biasing force is applied in the direction of pressing the third direction.

A change lever 73 having one end fixed to a fixed shaft 90 is attached to the shaft 70 so as to be rotatable in the direction of arrow CD. This change lever-7
The length 3 is a length at which the other end abuts when the carriage 18 moves to a position outside the specified printing range.

When the carriage 18 moves to a position outside the specified printing range in accordance with an instruction from a control unit (not shown) and presses the change lever 73 as shown in FIG. 22, the change lever 73 rotates in the direction of arrow C. Then, the change gear 69 moves from the position shown in FIG. Then, FIG.
As shown in FIG.
Mesh with. This idle gear 74 is the idle gear 7
5, and the idle gear 75 meshes with the idle gear 76.

The idle gear 76 meshes with a gear pulley 78 attached to a shaft 77, and a pulley 79 is attached to the shaft 77 on the opposite side of the gear pulley 78 as shown in FIG. Have been. Belts 80 and 81 are hung on the gear pulley 78 and the pulley 79, respectively.
Is attached. When the belts 80 and 81 start to rotate, the reading head 82 reads information on the medium 37 along a guide groove (not shown) according to the rotation direction of the belts 80 and 81, or the original direction. The movement is started in the direction (arrow GH direction) returning to the position.

The belts 80 and 81 are also wound around idle pulleys 83a, 83b, 84a and 84b, respectively, and are also idle pulleys 85a, 85b and 86.
The gears are pressed against the gear pulley 78 and the pulley 79 by a and 86b.

Next, a reading operation of reading information printed on the sheet 37 placed on the placing table 62 in the above configuration by the reading head 82 will be described with reference to FIGS. 20, 21, 22 and 23.

First, as shown in FIG.
The medium 37 is inserted into the second automatic sheet feeding section 42 from an insertion / ejection port (not shown) and placed on the mounting table 62. Then, when an instruction to read information printed on the paper 37 on the mounting table 62 is input from an operation unit (not shown), the carriage 18 moves to a position outside a specified printing range in accordance with an instruction from a CPU (not shown). As shown in FIG. 22, the carriage 18 contacts the change lever 73, and the change lever 73
It turns in the direction of arrow C. Then, the change gear 69 is pushed by the change lever 73 and moves in the direction of the arrow E, and meshes with the idle gear 74.

After the carriage 18 moves to the prescribed position, the CPU (not shown) rotates the LF motor 32.
Then, the rotation of the LF motor 32 causes the change gear 6 to rotate.
9 rotates, and the gear pulley 78 rotates via the idle gears 74, 75, 76. The rotation of the gear pulley 78 is transmitted to the pulley 79 via the shaft 77.

Then, the belts 80 and 81 are rotated by the gear pulley 78 and the pulley 79, and the scanner 82 is moved to the position shown in FIG.
, And the information on the paper 37 is sequentially read. The processing of characters read by the reading head 82 is the same as that in the first embodiment, and a description thereof will be omitted.

In the second embodiment, since the reading head 82 is provided in the second automatic paper feeding section 3, it is necessary to change the scanner section 5 and the second automatic paper feeding section 3. Absent.

If the reading head 82 is made detachable, it can be used as a handy scanner.

Third Embodiment Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted. FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of a printer having a reading head according to the third embodiment.

In the third embodiment, the reading head 89 is provided along the paper transport path 11.
Since the structures of the printer 1 and the second automatic paper feed unit 3 other than the read head 89 are all the same as those of the first embodiment,
The description is omitted. Also, the structure of the read head 89 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the description is omitted.

Next, a reading operation for reading information on the paper 37 by the reading head 89 will be described. First, the paper 37 to be read by the operator is stored in the first automatic paper feeding unit 7. When a normal reading process is selected by an operation unit (not shown), the hopping roller 13 rotates, and the paper 37 is fed out to the root a. The paper 37 is conveyed to the route b along the paper guide 12 as it is.
When the medium 37 is conveyed to the read head 89 by a medium detection sensor (not shown), the CPU (not shown) starts a read operation by the read head 89. The read sheets are sequentially discharged out of the printer 1 and placed on the sheet placing table 10.

The paper 37 does not have to be conveyed from the first automatic paper feeding section 7 to the inside of the printer 1. For example, when trying to read information printed on thick paper, the user may place the paper 37 on the paper mounting table 10 and select the second route for manually feeding paper. In this case, the operator selects reading processing by the second route using an operation unit (not shown). Then, the feeder pairs 15 and 16 rotate and convey the paper 37 into the printer 1. When the medium 37 is conveyed to the read head 89 by a medium detection sensor (not shown), the CPU (not shown) starts a read operation by the read head 89. The paper 37 after the reading is discharged again out of the printer 1 and is placed on the paper placing table 10.

The paper 37 on which the information to be read is printed may be other than the above, for example, from root e to root b.
There is no problem even if the sheet is conveyed to the second automatic sheet feeding unit 3 and is conveyed from the root d to the root b.

In the third embodiment, since the reading head 89 is provided in the printer 1, the operation of rearranging the second automatic paper feeding section is not required, and the second head with the reading head is not required. Reading is possible without an automatic paper feeder.

Further, since the reading head 89 is provided inside the printer, the cost is lower than in a case where a scanner section is separately provided.

Further, the first automatic paper feeder 7 or the second automatic paper feeder 7
A plurality of sheets of paper 37 to be read can be set in the automatic paper feeding section 3 of the printer, and information on the plurality of sheets of paper 37 can be read continuously.

Even if the paper cannot be fed automatically, the paper cannot be bent, such as thick paper or hard paper, the paper can be conveyed to the read head 84 by manually feeding it. Therefore, reading becomes possible.

In the first, second, and third embodiments, the read heads 42, 82, and 89 are read heads capable of reading information printed in color, and the printer is a color head such as an ink jet printer. As a printer,
It is possible to provide an inexpensive and small-space system that can perform color reading and printing.

[0095]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, the following effects can be obtained.

A convex portion is formed in the scanner portion, a concave portion is formed in the printer so as to be fitted with the convex portion, and the convex portion is fitted in the concave portion. Is connected, it is not necessary to install the scanner unit and the printer separately. As a result, the scanner unit can be connected to the printer and installed without requiring a large installation space.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a printer in a state where a scanner unit according to a first embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the printer in a state where a second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the first embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating the printer in a state where the second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the first embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a printer according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of the printer in a state where the second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the first embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a drive system of a printer and a second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing the printer in the state where the scanner unit according to the first embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 9 is a rear view of the printer and the scanner unit according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a control system according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a memory map showing contents of a RAM according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 12 is a memory map showing the contents of a ROM according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a sheet conveyance route according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing a sheet transport route in the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a sheet conveyance route according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a sheet transport route in the first embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which a sheet feeding unit is mounted on the printer according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 18 is a memory map showing the contents of a RAM according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a layout explanatory view according to the first embodiment;

FIG. 20 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a printer in a state where a second automatic sheet feeding unit according to the second embodiment is mounted.

FIG. 21 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a read head moving mechanism according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 22 is an explanatory diagram showing a read head moving mechanism according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 23 is an explanatory diagram showing a read head moving mechanism according to the second embodiment.

FIG. 24 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a structure of a printer including a reading head according to a third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Printer 5 Scanner part 8 Paper 18 Carriage 21 Guide part 23 Guide part 36 Guide part 37 Paper 42 Reading head 69 Change gear 73 Change lever 74 Idle gear 75 Idle gear 76 Idle gear 78 Gear pulley 80 Belt 81 Belt 82 Reading Head 89 Read head

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A printer connected to a scanner unit having a reading head for reading information on a medium, wherein the scanner unit has a convex portion, and the printer has a concave shape to be fitted with the convex portion. A printer, wherein a scanner section and a printer are connected by forming a section and fitting a convex section to a concave section. 2. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising a paper feeding unit having a convex portion formed thereon and being fitted to the concave portion formed in the printer. 3. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the transport of the medium in the scanner section is performed by obtaining a driving force from a driving source of the printer via a power transmission means. 4. The printer according to claim 2, further comprising a determination unit configured to determine which of the scanner unit and the paper feeding unit is fitted to the printer. 5. The concave portion formed in the printer,
3. The printer according to claim 2, wherein a convex portion formed at a lower portion of the printer and formed at the scanner portion and the paper feeding portion is formed at an upper portion of each of the scanner portion and the paper feeding portion. 6. A printer which is connected to a read head for reading information on a medium and has a paper feed unit, wherein the read head is provided in the paper feed unit. 7. The printer according to claim 6, wherein the read head reads information on a medium while moving in the paper feeding unit by a moving unit. 8. The moving means is connected to a driving source, the power transmitting means transmits a driving force, and the moving means rotates during a reading operation of a read head, and moves the first power transmitting means to a predetermined position. A second power transmission means connected to the first power transmission means and transmitting power when the first power transmission means is positioned at a predetermined position; and a second power transmission means connected to the first power transmission means. And a read head moving means connected to the transmitting means, mounted with the read head, and moved in a direction in which the read head reads information on the medium when power is supplied from the second power transmitting means. Item 7. The printer according to Item 7. 9. A printer connected to a read head for reading information on a medium, wherein the read head is provided along a medium transport path on which the medium is transported.