JPS6216661A - Image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make a device small in size and thin in wall by utilizing effectively a space, by constituting it so that at least a controlling circuit or a power source can be contained in a part of a moving area of an image pickup means, and the controlling circuit can be contained in the moving area, when a read means is not used. CONSTITUTION:A moving area of the first carriage 14 of a scanner part 9 becomes an idle space, when the scanner part 9 is not used, and in this idle space, an attachable/detachable unit 64 containing a printed circuit board for constituting a controlling circuit 61, and a power source 63 such as a dry battery, etc. can be contained. When the scanner part 9 is not used, the attachable/ detachable unit 64 is contained in said moving area from the bottom part of a body 1, and when the scanner part 9 is used, the attachable/detachable unit 64 is detached from the body 1, and connected to the body 1 by a connecting connector (not shown in the figure). In this way, the space is effectively, and the device can be made small and thin.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a serial scanner printer.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems] In general, the above types of image formation! ! In i@, a document is placed on a document table provided on the top surface of the main body, an image of the document is read, and an image is formed based on this read information.

However, in such devices, the control circuit and power supply are usually housed at the bottom or rear of the main body, so it is necessary to secure a dedicated storage area for the control circuit and power supply.
The device became large, and it was particularly difficult to make it thinner.

UObject of the Invention The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and its purpose is to provide an image forming apparatus that can be made smaller and thinner by effectively utilizing space. be.

[Summary of the Invention] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention scans a document on a document table by moving an imaging device to read an image of the document, and based on the read information, images are formed on an image forming member. - In an image forming apparatus that forms an image on a F, at least a control circuit or a power source can be housed in a part of the movement area of the image pickup means, and when the image reading means is used, the control circuit or the N source is connected from the main body. The device is characterized in that it is configured to be taken out and stored in the moving area when not in use.

[Embodiment of the Invention] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

6 and 7 show a serial scanner printer as an image forming apparatus according to the present invention.
is the main body. A document table (transparent glass plate) 2 on which a document is placed is provided on the upper surface of the main body 1, and a document table cover 3 is provided on the document table 2. The rear side of the document table cover 3 is rotatably supported by a pivot shaft (not shown), and can be opened and closed with respect to the document table 2.

Further, on the rear side of the top surface of the main body 1, there is an inlet 6 and a lower outlet for paper (image forming member) such as thermal paper to the printer section (image forming means> 5, which will be described later), and on the front side of the top surface, there is an operation panel 8. Each is provided.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8, inside the main body 1, there is a scanner section (image reading means) 9 that reads the image of the document placed on the document table 2, and a scanner section (image reading means) 9 that reads the image of the document placed on the document table 2. A printer unit (image forming means) 5 that forms an image on paper p is provided, and a scanner unit 9 is connected to the document table 2.
The printer section 5 is located below and behind the scanner section 9.

The scanner section 9 includes a sensor unit (imaging means) 10 that takes an image of a document placed on the document table 2, and a sensor unit 10 that is arranged in the X direction (second direction), which is the left-right direction, and in the front-rear direction. The drive mechanism (moving means) 11 reciprocates in the Y direction (first direction).

The drive mechanism 11 is constructed as shown in FIG.

That is, a guide rail 12 is provided on the front side of the scanner section 9 in the main body 1, and a guide shaft 13 is provided on the rear side, respectively, along the X direction. A first carriage 14 is installed between the kite rail 12 and the guide shirt 13. The first carriage 14 is movably supported on the guide rail 12 via rollers 15 on the front side and slidably on the guide shaft 13 via the slider 16 on the rear side, and is movable along the X direction. It becomes. Furthermore, timing belts 17 and 18 are connected to the front and rear sides of the first carriage 14, respectively, and these timing belts 17 and 18 are connected to pulleys disposed near both ends of the guide rail 12 and the guide shaft 13, respectively. It spans between 19, 19, 20, and 20.

Further, pulleys 19 and 20 on one end are attached to both ends of a shaft 21, and this shaft 21 is driven by a first pulse motor 23 via a reduction gear train 22. As a result, this first pulse motor 23
The first carriage 14 is reciprocated in the X direction based on the drive.

Further, a second carriage 24 is supported by the first carriage 14 . This second carriage 24 is
As shown in FIG. 10, the right side is slidably attached to a shaft 25 provided in the first carriage 14 along the Y direction, and the left side is slidably attached to an edge of the first carriage 14 via an engagement recess 26. It is supported and is movable along the Y direction. Further, a timing belt 27 is connected to the right side of this second carriage 24, and this timing belt 27 is stretched between pulleys 28 and 28 arranged on the front side and rear side of the first carriage 14. . Further, one pulley 28 is driven by a second pulse motor 30 via a reduction gear train 29. As a result, this second pulse motor 30
The second carriage 24 is reciprocated in the Y direction based on the drive of.

The sensor unit 10 is installed on the second carriage 24, and as shown in FIGS. 10 to 12, illuminates the document surface a with a lamp 31 and directs the reflected light to a mirror 32 and a lens (optical C through the image element) 33
Image sensor 3 composed of OD (charge imaging device)
4 to form an image. Note that 35 is a focus adjustment screw, and by operating this screw 35, the lens 33 can be moved in the optical axis direction. Further, 36 is an amplifier circuit board for the image sensor 34, to which the image sensor 34 is directly attached in order to avoid the influence of noise as much as possible. Furthermore, 37 is a mirror holder, and 38 is a window.

Further, the image sensor 34 is a multi-bit image sensor, and the drive mechanism 11 is configured to move the first carriage 14 at every pitch of the image sensor 34 from a plurality of pitches 1 to a width.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
The original image is read line by line with a multiple bit width of 4°C.

As shown in FIG. 14, reading starts from position A on the left side of the front and continues in the Y direction. Then, the sensor unit 10 is read to the rear side position B, and returned to the front side at the same time as this reading is completed, and in the meantime, the sensor unit 10 is moved rightward by one line reading width Q. Repeat this to read up to position C on the right side of the rear.

The printer section 5 is configured as shown in FIG. 15. That is, 39 is a platen (image forming member moving means) that supports and conveys the paper p, and this platen 3
9 is a third pulse motor 14 via a reduction gear train 140.
1, it is driven at every predetermined pitch.

Further, a thermal head (recording head>40) is opposed to this platen 39, and this thermal head 40 is moved along the axial direction of the platen 39 by a head moving means 41. 39
A shaft 42 is provided parallel to this, and a slider 43 is slidably attached to this shaft 42. A timing belt 44 is connected to this slider 43.
This timing belt 44 is arranged between pulleys 45, 45 arranged near both ends of the shaft 42. One pulley 45 is driven by a fourth pulse motor 47 via a reduction gear train 46.

Further, a thermal head 40 is attached to the slider 43, and is moved along the axial direction of the platen 39 by driving the fourth pulse motor 47.

Further, this thermal head 40 is shown in FIGS. 16 and 1.
As shown in FIG. 7, the heating elements 48 are arranged along a direction perpendicular to the axial direction of the platen 39, that is, along the rotational direction of the platen 39. Note that printing follows the reading by the scanner section 9 and is performed at the same speed. Further, the print width is matched to the reading width β of the scanner section 9.

Furthermore, a paper guide and a paper pressing roller (not shown) are arranged around the platen 39.

Next, the control circuit will be explained based on FIG. 18. That is, image information output from the image sensor 34 is supplied to the CPU 52 via the amplifier 51. This C
The PU 52 controls the entire system. The CPU 52 outputs the image information supplied from the image sensor 34 to the print control section 53, and the print control section 53 drives the thermal head 40 according to the supplied signal, and also drives the third and fourth pulse motors 14. 1.47. Further, the CPU 52 also controls a drive section 54 that drives the first and second pulse motors 23 and 30.

Next, the present invention will be explained in detail. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, the movement area of the first carriage 14 of the scanner section 9 becomes an empty space when the scanner section 9 is not in use.
This empty space can accommodate a detachable unit 64 containing a printed circuit board 62 constituting the control circuit 61, a power source 63 made of a dry battery or a battery, and the like. When the scanner section 9 is not in use, the removable unit 64 is stored in the moving area from the bottom of the main body 1.
It is held by a slide lock 65.65. As shown in FIG. 5, when the scanner section 9 is used, the detachable unit 64 is removed from the main body 1 by releasing the slide locks 65 and 65, and the connecting connector 66 is connected to a connector (not shown) on the main body 1 side. It has become so. In addition,
When the connector 66 is not in use, it is housed within the detachable unit 64 via a lid 67.

According to the above configuration, the detachable unit 64 containing the control circuit 61 and the power supply 63 is taken out from the main body 1 when the scanner section 9 is used, and is stored in the movement area of the scanner section 9 when not in use. , the device can be made smaller and thinner by effectively utilizing space, and moreover, it can be easily carried.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, there is provided a document table on which a document is placed, an image pickup means for taking an image of the document placed on the document table, and a movement for moving the image pickup means. an image reading means for reading an image of the document by moving the imaging means by the moving means; and an image forming means for forming an image based on information read by the image reading means. In the means, an area for accommodating at least the N source of the image forming apparatus is provided in a part of the movement area of the imaging means, and the power source is extracted from the area and used when the image reading means is used. This provides excellent effects such as making the device smaller and thinner by effectively utilizing space.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a control circuit and a power source housed in the main body, FIG. 2 is a plan view, and FIG. 3 is a front view. Figure 4 is a side view, Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the control circuit and power source taken out from the main body, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the entire device with a portion cut away, and Figure 7 is a perspective view of the entire device. A plan view showing,
Fig. 8 is a diagram schematically showing the internal structure, Fig. 9 is a plan view showing the drive mechanism, Fig. 10 is a longitudinal sectional front view showing the sensor unit portion, Fig. 11 is a plan view, and Fig. 12 is the same. A longitudinal side view, Fig. 13 is a plan view showing the reading width, and Fig. 13 is a plan view showing the reading width.
Figure 4 is a diagram for explaining the reading order, Figure 15 is a perspective view showing the printer section, Figure 16 is a front view of the thermal head, Figure 17 is a side view, and Figure 18 is a control circuit diagram. . 2... Original table, 5... Image forming means (printer section)
, 9... Image reading means (scanner unit), p... Image forming member (M), 10... Imaging means (sensor unit), 11... Moving means (drive mechanism), 33.
. . . Optical imaging element (lens), 34 . . . Image sensor, 39 . . . Image forming member moving means (platen),
40...recording head (thermal head), 41...
head moving means, 61...control circuit, 63...power supply; Applicant's agent Patent attorney Takehiko Suzue Figure 11 Figure 13

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) It has a document table on which a document is placed, an imaging means for taking an image of the document placed on the document table, and a moving means for moving the image capturing means, and the moving means moves the image capturing means. In an image forming means comprising an image reading means that moves to read an image of the document, and an image forming means that forms an image based on information read by the image reading means, a part of the moving area of the image pickup means is provided. Provide an area for storing at least a power source for the image forming apparatus;
An image forming apparatus characterized in that the power source is taken out from the area and used when the image reading means is used. (2) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the power source is a dry battery or another battery. (3) The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage area accommodates a power supply as well as a control circuit for the image forming apparatus. (4) The imaging means of the image reading means has an optical imaging element and a multi-bit image sensor, and the moving means moves the imaging means in a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image forming apparatus is moved in the second direction at a pitch equal to or smaller than a plurality of bit widths of the image sensor. (5) The image forming means includes a recording head, a head moving means for moving the recording head in a predetermined direction, and a member to be imaged at a predetermined pitch in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the recording head by the head moving means. 2. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for moving the image forming member.