JPS62154954A - Image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reduce the size and weight of a readout part and to improve operativity during manual subscanning by removing a paper feed mechanism from a readout part. CONSTITUTION:A main device body 2 has a storage part 13 whose upper part is open so as to store a readout part 1 during automatic subscanning operation and further a paper feeding mechanism 16 which takes an original 7 in the main device body 2 from an original entrance 14 and discharges it from an original exit 15 is provided nearby the storage part 13. Components of the paper feeding mechanism 16 for conveying the original 7 during the automatic subscanning, specially, a driving roller 20 and a driven roller 21 are provided at distance from the storage part 13 of the readout part 1 of the main device body 2. Consequently, the readout part 1 is reduced in size greatly as compared with when a couple of driving rollers are incorporated in the readout part, and the weight is also reduced, so the operativity of the readout part 1 is improved greatly.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image reading device that reads an image on a document;
In particular, the present invention relates to an image reading device that can perform sub-scanning both manually and automatically.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

A handheld device that reads images on a document by manually moving it relative to the document in order to transmit the image on the document by facsimile, print it out as a hard copy, or input it into an image processing device. It is also known as a scanner.

This scan (main scan) uses a rod lens array to form an image on a document onto a line image sensor in which multiple photoelectric conversion elements are arranged in a line, and reads the image on the document in the direction in which the image sensor's photoelectric conversion elements are arranged. (scanning) is repeatedly performed in synchronization with the relative movement (sub-scanning) of the reading section with respect to the document.

Unlike facsimile machines and the like that are currently in practical use, such image reading devices can easily read not only sheet-like originals but also images on originals such as books, and can also read images on limited desired documents on the original. It has the advantage that it is also possible to selectively read only the area.

By the way, this type of image reading device can also read sheet-like originals, but since the original moves when manually moved over the sheet-like original, it is necessary to hold the edges of the original by hand. , there is also the disadvantage that the original is likely to wrinkle.

Therefore, it is desirable to automatically transport and read sheet-like originals like a facsimile machine. In that case, the reading section is configured to be removable from the main body of the apparatus, and a pair of driving rollers that also serve as positioning members for determining the planar position of the document on the reading section for paper feeding are connected to the driving rollers of the main body of the apparatus. A conceivable configuration is that driven rollers are provided at positions corresponding to the drive rollers, and the sheet-like original is sandwiched between the driving roller and the driven roller and transported with the reading section attached to the main body of the apparatus.

However, in this structure, since a pair of driving rollers are provided in the reading section, the shape of the reading section may be affected.

There are disadvantages in that the weight increases and the operability during manual sub-scanning decreases. Also, when reading a book, if the driving roller of the reading section hits the binding margin of the book, the document will shift from the focus position of the lens and become unreadable. Since the sensor is located at such a position, the distance from the binding margin that can be read is limited by the distance between the roller and the image sensor, and it becomes impossible to read images within about four positions from the binding margin.

Generally speaking, in order to transmit rotation from the motor as a drive source on the device main body side to the driving roller on the reading unit side, a complex rotation transmission mechanism using gears etc. that is configured to be detachable when the reading unit is attached or detached is required. Furthermore, this rotation transmission mechanism requires high mechanical precision, making it difficult to reduce the cost of the device.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention was made in view of these problems, and has a structure that allows images on a document to be read by both manual sub-scanning and automatic sub-scanning, while reducing the size and weight of the reading section, and making it possible to read books. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading device that can read even the area very close to the binding margin, has a simple mechanism, and can be realized at low cost.

[Summary of the invention]

The image reading device according to the present invention has a main body that removably accommodates a reading section that reads an image on a document and outputs an image signal, and the document is read by contacting the document at a position outside the housing section of the reading section. It is characterized by the installation of a paper feeding mechanism. Specifically, the paper feeding mechanism mainly includes, for example, a motor serving as a driving source, a driving roller driven by the motor, and a driven roller that rotates together with the driving roller with the original sandwiched between the driving roller and the driving roller. In that case,
The driving roller and the driven roller are provided at a position apart from the accommodating section of the reading section of the main body of the apparatus.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, since the reading section does not have a paper feeding mechanism, the reading section is made smaller and lighter, and operability during manual sub-scanning is improved.

In addition, even if a roller is provided in the reading section, only one position detection roller is used to transmit the rotation to a position detection means such as a rotary encoder that detects the reading position on the document in conjunction with the paper feed mechanism. Therefore, when reading a book, the distance from the binding margin that can be read is not restricted by the roller, and it is possible to read an area within, for example, two distances from the binding margin.

Furthermore, since there is no need for a removable rotation transmission mechanism to transmit rotation from the main body of the device to the reading section, the overall mechanism is simplified, and the number of parts that require high mechanical precision is reduced. The cost of the device can be reduced.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a sectional view of the entire image reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing its appearance, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the reading section.

This image reading device is mainly composed of a reading section 1 and a device main body 2, which are electrically connected by a multicore cord 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the reading unit 1 has a case 4 with an open bottom. A line image sensor 5 is installed above the case 4, and a rod lens array is installed in front (below) of the image sensor 5. 6 is placed. The image sensor 5 is a linear arrangement of photoelectric conversion elements made of, for example, COD or amorphous silicon, and is called a contact image sensor having a length equal to the width of a standard size document such as A4 size. . The rod lens array 6 forms an image on the document on the image sensor 5 at a size of 1:1.
This constitutes a so-called equal-magnification imaging system. Further, a light source (for example, a fluorescent lamp or an L
ED array) 8 is installed.

Further, a positioning member 9 is provided below the base 4 for defining the planar position of the original 7 within the depth of focus of the rod lens array 6.

Further, inside the case 4, a rotary holder 10 is installed as a position detecting means for detecting the position read by the image sensor 5 on the original m7. This rotary encoder 10 is connected to a position detection roller 12 via a belt 11, and rotates as the roller 12 rotates. The rotary encoder 10 and the position detection roller 12 are installed on an integrated rotating plate 34, and this rotating plate 3
4 is rotatable around a fulcrum 35 fixed to the case 4. Moreover, this rotation plate 34 is connected to the spring 3
6 is pressed downward in FIG. 3, thereby applying a downward pressing force to the position detection roller 12.

On the other hand, the electrical function of the main body 2 of the apparatus is to appropriately process the image signal from the reading section 1 and send it to a recording section, a communication line, etc., which will be described later. The main body 2 of the apparatus has a housing section 13 with an open top for housing the reading section 1 during automatic sub-scanning. A paper feed mechanism 16 is provided for transporting the document and discharging it from the document exit 15. Note that in the case 4 of the reading section 1, the document entrance 14
By making the portion 4a facing the rounded shape as shown in FIG. 3, the original 7 can be inserted easily.

The paper feeding mechanism 16 will be explained. In the paper feed mechanism 16, the rotation of a motor 17 as a driving source is transmitted via a belt 18 to driving rollers 19,20. Drive roller 1
Reference numeral 9 denotes another driving roller that is disposed below the storage section 13, contacts the position detection roller 12 in the reading section 1 when the reading section 1 is stored in the storage section 13, and is driven by the rotation of the driving roller 19. 20 is disposed on the side of the housing portion 13, and a driven roller 21 is disposed above the driving roller 20 and facing the roller 20. As shown in FIG.

Further, the rotation of the driving roller 20 is also transmitted to the document positioning roller 23 via the belt 22.

This roller 23 cooperates with a positioning member in the reading section 1 to define the planar position of the document 7 during automatic sub-scanning. In addition, this document positioning roller 2
3 and the driving roller 19, a document table 24 is provided to prevent the document 7 from falling between them.

The apparatus main body 2 further includes a scanning section 25. An image is recorded on the thermal paper sent out from the power supply section 26, the circuit sections 27 and 28, and the thermal paper roll 29 between the line thermal head 30 and the platen 31 based on the image signal from the reading section 1. Recording unit 33 that takes out the hard copy from the outlet 32
etc. are provided. Further, although not shown, a function may be added to the device main body 2 to send the processed image signal to a communication line such as a telephone line using, for example, an acoustic coupler via the circuit sections 27 and 28.

Next, the operation of the image reading device of this embodiment will be explained. First, when reading the image on the document 7 using automatic sub-scanning,
The original 7 is inserted through the original entrance 14, sandwiched between the driving roller 19 and the position detection roller 12, and then transferred to the original exit 15 through the driving roller 20 and the driven roller 21. In this process, the image on the original 7 is transferred to the rod lens array 6.
The image is formed on the image sensor 5 via the image sensor 5 and read. While the document 7 is being transferred, the driving roller 191 and the position detection roller 12 also rotate, and the rotation is transmitted to the rotary encoder 10 via the belt 11, and the position on the document 7 that is being read by the image sensor 5 is detected. Ru. This reading position detection result (timing signal) is supplied to the circuit section 27 via the cable 3 together with the image signal output from the image sensor 5, and the circuit section 27 controls the main scanning timing of the image sensor 5 based on it. do. The image signal outputted from the image sensor 5 in this way is transmitted to the circuit section 2.
7, the data is supplied to the recording unit 33, and taken out as a hard copy.

On the other hand, when reading the image on the document 7 by manual sub-scanning, remove the reading section 1 from the storage section 13 of the device main body 2 and place it on the document 7 (in this case, the document is likely to be a book), Move over the original 7. At this time, the position detection roller 12 of the document positioning member 9 is in direct contact with the document 7, and the position detection roller 12 rotates as the reading section 1 moves.
The reading position is detected in the same manner as before. In this case, the frictional resistance during the movement of the reading section 1 will increase slightly compared to when the reading section is provided with a pair of driving rollers, but there will be no practical problem if the document positioning member 9 is made of a material with a small coefficient of friction. .

As is clear from the above embodiments, in the present invention, the components of the paper feed mechanism 16 for transporting the document 7 during automatic sub-scanning, particularly the driving roller 20 and the driven roller 21, are Since the reading part 1 is provided at a position separate from the accommodating part 13 of the reading part 1, the reading part 1 becomes much smaller and weighs less than if a pair of driving rollers were built into the reading part. 1's operability is greatly improved.

Further, when reading a book by manual sub-scanning, the distance from the binding margin that can be read is not limited by the distance between the roller 12 and the image sensor 5, and the maximum distance is d as shown in FIG.
This can be suppressed to about 2 CIIJ or less. In other words, even for a document such as a book, it is possible to read the entire area on the paper without missing anything. This effect becomes even more pronounced when the document positioning member 9 is rounded as shown in FIG.

Furthermore, when reading by automatic sub-scanning, it is sufficient to simply insert the reading section 1 into the housing section 13 of the device main body 2, and as in the past, the drive roller on the reading section side and the drive source on the device main body side are connected to each other by a gear or the like. Since there is no need for coupling using a rotation transmission mechanism, there is an advantage that the entire mechanism is simplified.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing the overall configuration of an image reading device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing its appearance, and FIG. 3 is a detailed view of the reading section in the same embodiment. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1...Reading part, 2...Device main body, 5...Line image sensor, 6...Rod lens array, 7...
・Document, 8...Light source, 9...Document positioning member, 1
0...Rotary encoder (document position detection means),
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 12... Position detection roller, 13... Accommodation part of reading part, 16... Paper feeding mechanism, 17... Motor, 19
．． 20... Driving roller, 21... Driven roller, 23
... Document positioning roller, 24 ... Document table, 33
... Recording section, 34... Rotating plate. Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue = 14- Figure 2 Figure 3

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) a reading section that reads an image on the document while moving relative to the document and outputs an image signal; a device main body that removably houses the reading section; and a device provided in the device main body, An image reading device comprising: a paper feeding mechanism that transports the original by coming into contact with the original at a position outside the storage section of the reading section. (2) The paper feeding mechanism is equipped with a motor, a driving roller driven by the motor, and a driven roller that sandwiches the document between the driving roller and rotates together with the driving roller. Characteristic claim 1
The image reading device described in Section 1. (3) The reading section includes a position detection roller that rotates in conjunction with the paper feed mechanism, and a position detection means that is driven by the position detection roller and detects the position at which the image is read on the document by the reading section. An image reading device according to claim 1, characterized in that the image reading device is equipped with the following. (4) The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the reading section includes a positioning member that defines a planar position of the document.