JPS59228461A - Printer - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a device provided with picture reading function with a compact constitution by providing a reading head which is replaceable with a recording head provided with a condensor lens optical system, to a member equivalent to the substrate of the recording head. CONSTITUTION:A carriagle 1 conducts main scanning movement along a platen roller 8 while being driven by a motor 7 via a belt 4 and pulleys 5, 6. The recording head 9 records signals on a recording chart 10 in interlocking with the movement of main scanning of the carriage 1 while depressing the face of the recording chart 10. The platen 8 is driven by a motor 13 at each end of one scanning of the carriage 1 and the recording chart 10 is fed for the purpose of sub-scanning. Replacing the head 9 with a head having the reading section, and loading an original is place of the recording chart 10, the recorder is used as a reader as it is.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] (Technical Field) The present invention relates to a device having both a recording function and an image reading function, and particularly relates to a device in which a scanning head performs main scanning movement while pressing a recording paper and an image original. be.

(Conventional Wave etf) Conventionally, as devices for recording while pressing recording paper, there are devices that record on thermal recording paper with a thermal head and devices that stack a thermal transfer film on plain paper and record on it with a thermal head. Printing devices of this type are widely used as print output means for various devices, and among these devices, there are devices such as document processing devices that both output prints and input data.

Conventional printing devices do not have an image reading function, so
In this type of equipment, a separate device, such as a facsimile, dedicated to image reading is provided, and images are input using this device. As a result, the device becomes larger and the overall cost increases. On the other hand, conventional reading optical systems such as facsimiles are mainly used with multiple lenses housed in a lens barrel, but the lens barrel of the lens optical system is large and requires a lot of space when including the optical path length. When incorporated into this type of recording device, the device becomes larger than necessary, which is a problem. On the other hand, as an optical system with an extremely short optical path length, there is a condenser lens that focuses rod-shaped glass whose refractive index changes from the center to the periphery. (
Although the thickness of the focusing lens is more than ten millimeters, it is difficult to use because the depth tolerance is 0.1 mm-Q and requires high reading position accuracy of 3 mm.

(Objective) An object of the present invention is to focus on the characteristic that the head of a device that prints while pressing the recorder always tracks the change in paper thickness and scans the paper surface even if the thickness of the paper changes. The object of the present invention is to provide a printing device having an image reading function with a compact structure by considering a reading head that is replaceable with the recording head in which a converging lens optical system is arranged in a corresponding member.

(Example) FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a printing device according to the present invention.

1 is a carriage, and 2 and 3 are guide shafts that guide the carriage.

The carriage 1 performs main scanning movement along the platen roller 8 by a motor 7 via a belt 4 whose end portion is fixed to the carriage 1 and a pulley 516. A recording head 9 provided on the carriage 1 presses the surface of the recording paper 10 wound around the platen roller 8 and performs recording on the recording paper 10 in conjunction with the main scanning movement of the carriage 1.

Each time the carriage 1 completes one scan, the platen 8 is moved to the gear 11.
Since the recording paper 1 is rotated by the motor 13 via the
Performs 0 sub-scanning feed.

14 is a flat cable for sending recording signals to the head 9 from the main body of the apparatus.

The head 9 is a thermal head, and the thermal head has a plurality of bits of heating element, and printing is performed by causing the heating element to generate heat in accordance with a print signal. In order to efficiently transfer the heat generated by the head 9 to the recording medium, the layer applied to the heating element element and the paste is melted by the heat, and the thermal transfer material applied to the underlying paper and the layer applied to the base are melted by the heat. There is a sublimation transfer material that sublimates sublimable dye using heat and transfers it to the underlying paper.

As mentioned above, the recording apparatus explained in FIG. 1 only performs recording, but if the head 9 is replaced with a head having a reading section and a document to be read is loaded instead of the recording paper 10, the recording apparatus can read the original. It becomes a device.

The focusing lens will be explained with reference to FIG.

The focusing lens 15 is made up of a plurality of rod-shaped glasses arranged in a row and integrated, each having a light focusing effect.

The light reflected from the document surface 16 is focused by the focusing lens 15, propagated multiple times within the focusing lens, and then focused onto the surface of the light receiving element 17.

The light condensing ability of the focusing lens is caused by the fact that the focusing lens is constructed so that the refractive index changes from the center of the lens toward the periphery.

The allowable range of the depth of field E of the focusing lens 15 is 0.1 to 0.
, 3 mm, and therefore the position of the document 16 cannot be allowed to rise above the above-mentioned accuracy.

Therefore, by providing a reading section on a member corresponding to the substrate of the recording head and pressing the substrate equivalent to the document surface, the lifting of the document can be suppressed, and even if the thickness of the document paper changes, the positional relationship between the document surface and the reading section can be suppressed. does not change, so it is possible to read with extremely high precision using a focusing lens.

Regarding the sixth factor, the electrical connection means provided to the recording head and the gear ridge 1 will be explained.

A plurality of heating element elements 9b on the substrate 9 & of the recording head are for selectively applying a driving voltage to each heating element 9b, while a U-shaped electrode 9d is used for contacting a connector 18 described below. This is to short-circuit a predetermined one of the terminals 1B& to notify the printer control circuit that the rad 9 has been inserted into the recording medium. The connector is an electrical connection means and has a plurality of contacts.

In the connector 18, a bearing portion 1& provided on the carriage 1 and a shaft 19 are rotatably coupled. The recording head 9 is coupled to the carriage 1 and electrically connected to the control circuit by inserting the electrode 90 portion of the head 9 into the contact 18+a of the connector 18 to a predetermined position.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, the configuration of a reading section as an example will be explained.

15 is a focusing lens, 17 is a light receiving element, 20 is a light emitting diode array, 21 is a prism member, and 22 is! air substrate, 2
3 is a flexible cable, and 24 is a case member that accommodates each of the above-mentioned members fixed in a predetermined position.

5 and 6, a state in which the reading section illustrated in FIG. 4 is attached to a member corresponding to the substrate of the recording head 9 illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described.

Note that FIG. 5 shows a cross section taken along line A--A in the plan view of FIG. 6.

In FIG. 5, a case member 24 housing a reading component is attached to a reading unit holding member 25 corresponding to the substrate 9& of the head 1 with screws 26. As shown in FIG.

The light from the light emitting element 20 is reflected by the prism 21 and illuminates the reading position S. An amount of light proportional to the density of the document surface placed at the reading position S is focused by the focusing lens 15 and enters the light receiving element 17 . The same number of real-sized portions of the light-receiving elements 17 as the heating elements 9b of the recording head are provided, and generate an image signal corresponding to the image density incident on each light-receiving portion. Fifth
In the figure, the document surface position S coincides with the surface of the heating element 9b.

Further, the distance E between the surface 25a of the holding member 25 and the entrance surface of the focusing lens 15 is mechanically fixed and therefore never changes.

In FIG. 6, the contact electrode portion 25b provided at the end of the holding member 25 has the same size and shape as the electrode portion 9c of the recording head 9, so that the reading head formed on the holding member 25 is attached to the connector 18. It is. Note that the pair of contact electrode parts 25Q differs from the electrode part 9d of the recording head 9 in that the electrode parts 25C are not connected to each other, and therefore do not short-circuit the pair of contacts 1B& of the connector 18, thereby causing the control circuit side indicates that the read head is inserted into the connector.

On the other hand, the positions F and G of the heating element relative to the connector 18 in FIG. 6 and the positions H and I of the focusing lens in FIG.
-F and I-G, the feed control of the carriage 1 in the main scanning direction and the feed control of the platen roller 8 in the sub-scanning direction are completely the same.

(Effects) As described above, the recording device of the present invention takes advantage of the print head's ability to follow the paper surface and can add a reading function by simply replacing the reading head, which uses a focusing lens, which is an extremely compact optical system, with the recording head. It has an extremely excellent feature of being

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing device embodying the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the reading system. FIG. 3 is a front view showing the state of connection between the recording head and the connector. FIG. 4 is an exploded view of the reading section. FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line A in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a front view of the reading head. 1e... Carriage, 8... Fist platen, 9... Recording head, 10... Recording paper, 15.0 Focusing lens, 16
... Original, 17... Light receiving element, 1B... Connector

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) Provided so as to be replaceable via an electrical connection means provided on a carriage that performs main scanning movement along recording paper placed on a platen, and interlocked with the carriage;
In a printing device having a head that records while pressing the recording paper surface. A printing device characterized in that a means is provided which is connected to the electrical connection means and reads information on the document through a focusing lens while pressing the surface of the document placed on the platen, and is replaceable with the recording head. Q) The printing device according to claim 1, wherein the reading head section is provided with means for detecting the reading mode, and the printing head section is provided with means for detecting the recording mode.