JPS62271559A - Coping device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To use a small-sized image sensor and a recording head by reciprocatingly shifting in a main scan direction a picture in a document which moves in a subscan direction with the aid of some picture element groups in the image sensor and in the recording head, and reading the picture. CONSTITUTION:The image sensor 13 with plural picture reading picture elements and the recording head 14 with approximately the same number of picture elements form one body, and are movably disposed in the main scan direction. The document 11 and a recording paper 15 are movably disposed in the subscan direction. When the sensor 13 and the head 14 move recip reciprocatingly to transfer the picture in the document 11, one picture element on the downstream side in the subscan direction begins to read and record among the picture elements in the sensor 13 and the head 14. Simultaneously one picture element on the upstream side stops reading and recording. When the head reaches the end of an up route, the picture element group 22 stops its action, and is switched to the picture element group 23 which was used at the time of start on the up route, thereby beginning to move on a down route. Reading and recording are executed. The sizes of the sensor 13 and the head 14 are only twice the width of the picture in the document.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 3. Detailed Description of the Invention Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a copying apparatus that copies an original image in combination with an image sensor or a recording head.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, in order to copy original images, indirect type plain paper copying machines and direct type IC1e using photosensitive paper have been used as electrophotographic methods.
In addition to ctroFax, copying type recording apparatuses that read an original image with an image sensor and record it with a stationary thermal head have come into widespread use. The conventional recording apparatus described above will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 8 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of a conventional recording device. In the figure, 1 is an original, 2 is a fluorescent lamp, 3 is a focusing fiber lens, 4 is an image sensor, 6 is an amplifier, and 6 is a thermal head. , 7 is a transfer film, and 8 is a recording paper.

The operation of the copying apparatus configured as described above will be explained below.

An image of the document 1 illuminated by the fluorescent lamp 2 is focused on an image sensor 4'' by a focusing fiber lens 3. The image sensor 4 sequentially converts images formed on the image sensor 4 into electrical signals. 5 is an amplifier. The converted image signal is given to the heat sensitive radar 6. The thermal head 6 is a recording head that generates heat in response to an image signal. There is a transfer film 7 coated with a dye between the thermal head 6 and the recording paper 80, and the dye on the transfer film T is transferred to the recording paper 8 at the pixel portion where the heat of the thermal head 6 is generated. The original 1 is sequentially moved in the sub-scanning direction, the recording paper 8 is moved correspondingly, and the image of the original 1 can be copied onto the recording #8.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the configuration as described in section 1, the image sensor and recording head require the same length as the width of the original and recording paper, as well as reading pixels and writing pixels. The larger the width, the larger the device becomes, which poses problems such as hindering miniaturization of the device and increasing costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention aims to provide a compact copying apparatus using a compact image sensor and a recording head.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the copying apparatus of the present invention includes an image sensor having a plurality of pixels, and a recording head having approximately the same number of pixels as the number of pixels of the image sensor. Kill 6. At every fixed distance of movement in the sub-scanning direction, one pixel on the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction of the document among the multiple pixels of the image sensor and the recording head is read and used for recording, and one pixel on the upstream side is read and used for recording. It is equipped with a configuration that allows the program to be canceled.

Operation The present invention uses the above-described configuration to read and record an image of a document moving in the sub-scanning direction using an image sensor and a part of the pixel group of the RAD while reciprocating in the main-scanning direction. The size of the image sensor and the recording head can be approximately twice as large as the size of the image read from the original, which means that the image sensor and the recording head can be made smaller, and the apparatus can also be made more compact.

Embodiment Hereinafter, a copying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a sectional view of a copying apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 9 denotes a main body of the copying apparatus, and a transparent part 10 made of glass, plastic, etc. is provided on the upper part.

11 is a document and a driving roller 12a.

12b to move the transparent member 10 in the direction of the arrow. 13 is an image sensor having a plurality of image reading pixels; 14 is this image sensor 13;
The recording head has approximately the same number of pixels as the image sensor 13, and moves in the vertical direction of the drawing in unison with or in synchronization with the image sensor 13. 16 is a drive roller 16a
, 16b, and 16 is an image sensor.

A motor that drives the recording head and other drive systems is shown. Although a light source for irradiating the document is not shown, it is provided in parallel with the image sensor 13, either integrally or separately, by a generally known means.

In the present invention, both plain paper and recording paper can be used depending on the type of recording head. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the main part of a thermal head which is a type of dot recording head composed of a large number of recording pixels. In the figure, 17 indicates a heat generating 7,-1 pixel. The density of heating pixels is 8, 12, 16 dont/
In the illustrated example, heat generation is recorded by an image signal from an image sensor.

Therefore, in this example, a thermal recording paper that is colored by a thermal head is used. FIG. 3 shows a recording head cartridge 20 in which a thermal head 18 and a thermal transfer film 19 whose surface is coated with a colorant are integrated, and the colorant of the thermal transfer film 19 is melted by the heat generated by the thermal head 18. An image is then recorded on the paper 16. Therefore, plain paper can be used as the recording paper in this case.

Next, the image reading and recording process in the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 4 shows the image reading start position.

The image sensor 13 has a large number of reading pixels 21, and starts reading the original 11Vc in the main scanning direction in the right direction of the arrow. In contrast, the original 11 moves in the sub-scanning direction perpendicular to the movement of the image sensor in the main-scanning direction. At the start of image reading, half of the reading pixel group 22 of the large number of reading pixels is set at the leading edge image portion of the document, and reading is started as both of them move.

Therefore, pixel group 22 represents pixels that are used immediately after the start. When the image sensor 13 moves a certain distance in the main scanning direction, the original 11 also moves in the sub-scanning direction, so one pixel of the image sensor 13 on the downstream side of the original in the sub-scanning direction is started to be read.
The use of one pixel on the upstream side that has been used for reading until now is discontinued. Figure 6 shows image sensor 1
3 indicates a state in which reading has moved to approximately the center of the document 11, and the pixel group 22 currently in use for reading is composed of a pixel group 24 that has newly started to be used for reading in place of the pixel group 23 whose reading has been stopped. There is. Therefore, the diagonally shaded portion 26 of the original 11 becomes the read image area. Note that 11a represents the position of the document at the start time.

FIG. 6 shows a state in which the image sensor 13 has reached the end of the original 11 as the image sensor and the original continue to move. In this state, the pixel group 22 in use for reading is located in the downstream half of the image sensor 13 in the sub-scanning direction of the document. The pixel group 23 in the upstream half is the pixel group for which reading has been stopped. As a result of such reading scanning, the diagonal line portion 26 of the original 11 can be read linearly at a constant IJ.

In the present invention, when the image sensor completes the forward reading scan, it is reversed and performs the backward reading scan. When the image sensor 13 arrives at the end of the document on the forward trip, the pixel group 22 that is currently in use is discontinued, and the pixel group 23 that has been discontinued is started to be used to start reading υ on the return trip, as shown in FIG. That's what I do. Note that the process of reading the original image in the return path is entirely the same as the reading scan in the above-mentioned outward path. FIG. 7 shows a state in which the image sensor 13 has moved to almost the center of the document 11 during the return trip, and the pixel group 22 that is being used for reading is shown in FIG.
However, pixel group 23 is no longer used for reading, and pixel group 2
4 is a pixel group that has been read and used. The document 11 is continuously moved in the sub-scanning direction, and the shaded area 26 indicates the image area that has been read. In this way, the image information obtained by reading the original image by the reciprocating scanning of the image sensor is given to the recording head, and the recording head records it on the paper, thereby making it possible to copy the original image. In this embodiment, the image sensor 13 and the recording head 14 are integrated into one body as shown in FIG. Therefore, the recording head 14 is recording at the same time as the image sensor 13 is reading.

In this case, the recording process in the recording head 14 is exactly the same as the operation process of the image sensor described above, and the explanation here will be omitted.

The image read by the image sensor can also be digitally synchronized and recorded, similar to the reading process, after image processing or storage in memory. For example, recording heads include a thermal head composed of a large number of recording pixels, an electrostatic pin head, a liquid crystal shutter array, etc. When using a thermal head, a thermal printing method is used, and when an electrostatic bottle head is used, an electrostatic recording method is used. LCD screen 11.

When using Yatsuta array, electrofax method is used.

In this embodiment, the pixels of the image sensor and the recording nozzle are arranged in one row, but they may be arranged in plural rows or alternately, which improves the accuracy of reading and recording. Further, the cartridge of the recording head can be easily made removable, and the thermal transfer film whose surface is coated with a colorant is configured to be detachable from the thermal head.

Example (1) C of length 60 am with density of 16 dots) / am
An OD image sensor was prepared and scanned at a constant speed in the transverse direction of a 4-size original. Of the total number of 960 dots in this image sensor, 480 dots were used at the start, arranged as shown in FIG. Similarly, a 16-dot thermal head was prepared and arranged in the same manner as shown in FIG. 4 so that it could record on thermal paper. 7. Manuscript and thermal paper.
While moving the image sensor and thermal head in the sub-scanning direction shown in Fig. 4 at a speed of 5 tag 7 seconds,
mtn 7 seconds in the main scanning direction perpendicular to the traveling direction of the paper. Every time each pixel of the image sensor and thermal head is recorded in the seven-dot main scanning direction according to the present invention, one pixel on the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction is newly read and used for recording, and at the same time, one pixel on the upstream side is read and used.
I stopped using the pixels and continued reading and printing. Immediately after reaching the end of the forward path, the moving direction of the image sensor and thermal head was reversed, and the pixel group used for reading and printing was switched to the pixel group used at the start of the forward path, and the pixels were sequentially switched in the same way as in the forward path. .

Note that the movement of the manuscript and thermal recording paper continued continuously.

By repeating this process, it was possible to make a 4-size copy in about 40 seconds, and an image faithful to the original was obtained.

Example (2) (3C) of length 80mm with density of 16 dots/ff11
A D image sensor was prepared and scanned at a constant speed in the transverse direction of a 4-size original. This image 13, -
; Of the total number of 1280 dots in the sensor, 640 dots were used at the start, arranged as shown in Figure 4. Similarly, a 16-dot thermal head was arranged as shown in FIG. 4 so that it could record on plain paper via a thermal ribbon, and the original and recording paper were moved at 10 wtx for 7 seconds. When the speed of movement of the image sensor and thermal radar as well as the reading and printing method were the same as in Example (1), a copy on plain paper that was faithful to the original was obtained in 30 seconds. This is more than the effect of the invention. As described in detail, according to the present invention, an image sensor having a plurality of pixels and a recorder having approximately the same number of pixels as the image sensor are integrated or synchronized in the main scanning direction. At the same time, the document and the recording paper are arranged to be movable in the sub-scanning direction, and when the image sensor and the recording head move back and forth, the image sensor and the recording head are moved every fixed distance of the document in the sub-scanning direction. Among multiple pixels, one pixel on the downstream side of the document in the sub-scanning direction starts reading and recording, and one pixel on the upstream side stops reading and recording. The image sensor and the recording head read and record the image of the moving document while reciprocating in the main scanning direction using the image sensor and some pixel groups of the recording head. This means that the image sensor and recording head can be made smaller, and the apparatus can be made smaller.

In addition, since the thermal transfer film coated with colorant is removably attached to the thermal head of the recording head,
If you use a thermal head alone, you can use recording paper, if you use a thermal transfer film, you can use plain paper, and if you change the recording/rad itself to a head of another type, it will be able to use another recording method. Many benefits can be obtained, including the possibility of diversification.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a copying apparatus in an embodiment of the present invention;
Figure 2 is a configuration diagram of the main parts of the thermal head, and Figure 3 is a diagram of the thermal head.
4 to 7 are plan views for explaining the reading and recording processes of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a conventional recording apparatus. 9...Main body, 11...Manuscript, 13...
...Image sensor, 14... Recording head, 1
6... Paper, 17... Heat generating pixel, 18
...Thermal head, 19...Thermal transfer film, 20...Cartridge, 21...
...Pixel. Name of agent: Patent attorney Toshio Nakao and 1 other person 2nd
Figure q-m-Main body U-m-Document I3-m-Image zone 14-11 All entries-Head t5-Paper Figure 1 16-Motor 16/6b Figure 3 Figure 4? ? , l ↑ Figure 5 Figure 6 1.3

Claims (5)

[Claims] (1) An image sensor having a plurality of pixels and a recording head having approximately the same number of pixels as the number of pixels of the image sensor are disposed integrally or in synchronization so as to be movable in the main scanning direction, and A copying apparatus characterized in that a recording paper is disposed movably in a sub-scanning direction, and an image of a document is copied by reciprocating movement of the image sensor and recording head. (2) At every fixed distance of movement of the document and recording paper in the sub-scanning direction, one pixel on the downstream side in the sub-scanning direction among the plurality of pixels of the image sensor and the recording head is read and used for recording, and the one on the upstream side 2. A copying apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the copying apparatus is adapted to stop reading and recording pixels. (3) Immediately after arriving at the end of the forward path, the pixel group used at the start of the forward path is switched to start movement of the backward path, and reading and recording are performed. Copying equipment. (4) The copying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the recording head is a thermal head and the recording paper is a thermal recording paper. (5) A copying apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the thermal head and the thermal transfer film are integrated into a cartridge, and recording is performed on plain paper via the thermal transfer film.