JP2908580B2 - Image reading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 5 to 7 illustrate various types of image reading apparatuses of a document conveying type.

FIG. 5 shows a straight-pass type in which an original P is sent substantially linearly. The document P is the main body 10 of the apparatus.
The document is set on the paper feed tray 101 on the near side (right side in the figure) of the document 0 so that the document surface faces downward. This original P is separated
02, the pages are sequentially sent one by one from the bottom page, and after the content is read by the image sensor 103 by the reading unit, the document is placed on the paper discharge tray 104 on the back side (the left side in the figure) of the apparatus main body 100. Documents are stacked in page order with the original face down. When the document P is jammed, that is, when a paper jam occurs, the upper cover 106 is opened to deal with the jam.

FIG. 6 shows a U-turn path system in which a document P is set on a paper feed tray 101 on the front side of the apparatus main body 100 with the document surface facing upward. The document P is sent one page at a time from the top page by the separation unit 102, and the paper path 10
After making a U-turn in accordance with the curvature of 5, the document surface is read by the image sensor 103 by the reading unit, and the documents are stacked downward in the order of pages on the paper discharge tray 104 below the paper feed tray 101 on the near side.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the above-mentioned U-turn path system in which the original P is set downward on the front side. The document P is sequentially sent one page at a time from the bottom page by the separating unit 102, and after making a U-turn according to the paper path 105, the reading unit reads the document surface by the image sensor 103 inside the U-turn path. Paper tray 1
01 is stacked upward on the discharge tray 104 below the sheet tray 01.

[0006]

According to the above-mentioned conventional examples, there are the following problems, for example.

The straight path type shown in FIG.
The paper discharge tray 104 is disposed on the back side so as to face the paper supply tray 101 on the near side, and the work of taking out the document P on the paper discharge tray 104 from the near side becomes complicated. In addition, the arrangement of each member including the paper feed tray 101 and the paper discharge tray 104 is linear, and the area occupied by the entire apparatus tends to increase. Further, when the document P is jammed, it is necessary to open the cover 106 upward. Therefore, not only can the object not be placed on the cover 106, but also the upper part must be widely opened.
The installation place of the whole apparatus is restricted.

In the apparatus shown in FIG. 6, since the original P is conveyed in a U-turn, jams tend to occur, the original P is easily damaged, and the original P is damaged. There are disadvantages such as poor conveyance accuracy and the fact that the reading unit including the image sensor 103 is located below the paper path 105, so that the entire apparatus becomes thicker.

The U-turn path system shown in FIG. 7 is different from the one shown in FIG.
And the thickness of the entire device is reduced. However, according to this, the page order of the document P stored on the discharge tray 104 is reversed.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image reading apparatus which has solved the above-mentioned disadvantages and problems.

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is directed to an image reading apparatus which conveys a document to a reading position, reads an image on the document by an image sensor, and discharges the image. A discharge tray disposed so as to be able to be taken in and out of the apparatus main body, wherein the image sensor is disposed below the discharge tray, and the reflected light from the document on the discharge tray is used to generate the image. A slit for passing the reflected light is formed at a position intersecting with the optical path to the sensor.

[0012]

[0013]

[0014]

[0015]

[0016]

As described above, if a slit through which reflected light passes is provided in the paper output tray, a sufficient optical path length is secured below the paper output tray when, for example, a reduction optical system requiring a long optical path length is installed. It is possible to do.

[0017]

[0018]

[0019]

[0020]

[0021]

[0022]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention employing a straight path system. In the drawing, reference numeral 1 denotes an apparatus main body, 2 denotes a paper feed tray for document setting disposed on the front side (right side in the figure) of the apparatus main body 1, and 3 denotes a pickup roller 3a.
A document separation unit including a retard roller 3b; 4, a pair of upper and lower transport rollers; 5, a unitized image sensor incorporating a light source, a lens and a 1: 1 image sensor; 6, a pair of upper and lower discharge rollers; , A guide for stacking and storing the documents P that have been read, and a sensor 9 such as a photo interrupter for detecting that the discharge tray 8 is set at a predetermined position. Is a power supply unit, an electrical unit such as a CPU board, and R is a document conveying path.

The original P is stacked on the paper feed tray 2 with the original surface facing down, and when a reading start command is input from an operation unit (not shown), the original P is moved to the lowermost page by the operation of the original separating unit 3. That is, only the first page is separated and conveyed and sent to the conveying roller 4. Document P sent to transport roller 4
By this, skew is corrected based on the tip,
A so-called tip resist is performed. Subsequently, the transport roller 4 feeds the document P toward the image sensor 5 at a predetermined feed pitch. The leading edge of the document P is the image sensor 5
The image sensor 5 is detected by a sensor (not shown) before it reaches the reading unit of
Starts reading.

The document P passes through the image sensor 5 and reaches the paper discharge roller 6, and is transported by these two pairs of rollers until the end of the document P leaves the transport roller 4. Manuscript P
Is detected by a sensor that has previously detected the leading edge of the document P after leaving the transport roller 4. Thus, after the original P is conveyed by a predetermined amount, the reading by the image sensor 5 ends.

After the document P has passed through the paper discharge rollers 6, the document P is guided to a paper discharge tray 8 by a paper discharge guide 7, and the leading end of the original P is on the paper discharge tray 8 to the back side (left side in the figure) of the apparatus main body 1. When the end of the document P leaves the discharge roller 6, the document P falls and is stacked on the discharge tray 8 with the document face down.

The originals P of the second and subsequent pages are separated and conveyed after the originals P of the previous page have left the original separating section 3, and after a series of operations similar to those described above are performed, the originals P are transferred to the discharge tray 8. Then, on the discharge tray 8, the document P is stacked on the document P of the previous page with the document surface facing down.

After the operation until all the documents P on the paper feed tray 8 have been discharged is finished, the paper discharge tray 8 is pulled out to the front side of the apparatus main body 1 (8 'in the figure), whereby the paper feed tray 8'
Can easily be taken out. At this time,
When the projection 8a of the paper discharge tray 8 comes off from the detection means 9, the reading operation becomes impossible, and the reading start command is not accepted until the paper discharge tray 8 is returned to the predetermined position again.

By adopting the above configuration, the apparatus main body 1
In addition, all operations can be easily performed on the near side, and the document conveyance path R is substantially straight, so that a jam is less likely to occur, and an image reading apparatus with high reading accuracy is provided. Further, according to the present configuration, the upper surface of the cover 15 that covers the apparatus main body 1 can be formed in a flat shape and can be used arbitrarily as a free space. There is also a very large effect in terms of space saving, for example, it can be accommodated in a rack with a narrow interval.

In the first embodiment, an example is described in which an image sensor 5 of the same magnification is used. However, the present invention can be implemented by using a reduction optical system. Since this reduction optical system requires a longer optical path length than the same-size image sensor 5, the external dimensions of the apparatus main body 1, particularly, the height tends to be large, but the cost is low, and the document surface depth is deep. It has advantages such as excellent resolution.

FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the present invention in which the above-described reduction optical system is incorporated, and has a configuration in which the height of the apparatus main body 1 is minimized. The numbers in the figure correspond to those in the first embodiment described above, and the operations of these components, for example, setting, separating, transporting, and discharging of the document P are almost the same as those in the first embodiment. The same is true. Therefore, here, the arrangement of the paper discharge tray 8 and the optical system, which is significantly different from the first embodiment, will be described.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a light source for illuminating the original surface of the original P, and the image reflected light of the read line on the original P by this light source is
After being turned back by the mirror 12, an image is formed on the image sensor 14 by the lens 13. The lens 13, the image sensor 14, and the electrical unit 10 are arranged below the sheet discharge tray 8. A slit 8b having a sufficient size is provided in a portion of the discharge tray 8 through which the image reflected light passes. The paper discharge tray 8 is arranged to be inclined downward from the back side to the front side of the apparatus main body 1 in order to take a sufficient space for the lens 13, the image sensor 14, and the electrical unit 10 placed thereunder. I have. Accordingly, the discharge tray 8 is pulled out obliquely toward the front as indicated by 8 'in the figure.

With such a configuration, the advantages of the above-described reduction optical system are fully utilized, and an increase in the outer dimensions of the apparatus main body 1 is minimized even when an image sensor 5 of the same size is used. Image reading device is provided.

Note that, even in a mode using a reduction optical system, there is a method in which the image sensor 14, the lens 13, and the electrical unit 10 are arranged above the paper discharge tray 8, or the paper discharge tray 8 is placed horizontally. It goes without saying that it is possible.

As a system using such an image reading apparatus, various developments are possible such as forming a copying machine in combination with a printer or adding a facsimile function by adding a modem to the copying machine. When the image reading device embodying the present invention makes such a development,
As described above, since a printer or the like can be placed on the upper surface of the apparatus main body 1, it is effective in saving space.

By the way, recently, the multifunctionality of the apparatus main body 1 has been advanced, that is, as the functions have been combined, the area of the operation panel for operating it has increased, and this has been reduced.
The problem of where to place them is highlighted.

In the third embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in consideration of this point, the operation panel 21 is arranged on the paper feed tray 2 and the paper feed tray 2 is accommodated in a folded state. A method that can reduce the occupied area even when the operation panel 21 is required will be described.

The paper feed tray 2 comprises a tray body 2a and an auxiliary tray 2b, which are rotatably connected by a hinge 2c. When the auxiliary tray 2b is folded, it is accommodated in the tray main body 2a. Further, the tray main body 2a is rotatably supported by the apparatus main body 1 by a hinge portion 2d. Therefore, the sheet feeding tray 2 is accommodated along the front side surface of the apparatus main body 1 in a shape shown by 2 '. be able to.

The operation panel 21 is arranged on the paper feed tray 2 and has a shape to be accommodated in the outer shape of the paper feed tray 2. For example, the operation panel 21 is connected to a control board in the apparatus main body 1 by a cable. Shall be

[0040]

Normally, when the image reading apparatus is not used, the sheet feeding tray 2 is stored at the position 2 ', and when used, the tray body 2a and, if necessary, the auxiliary tray 2b are opened to set the document P, and the operation is performed. Each setting is input from the panel 21.

By implementing the present invention, when constructing a system using an image reading apparatus, it is possible to provide a great effect in terms of space saving and also provide good operability.

The operation panel 21 can be detached from the sheet feeding tray 2 and a so-called remote control mode for communicating with the apparatus main body 1 using infrared rays or the like is also possible.

In the present embodiment, the method of rotating and accommodating the sheet supply tray 2 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Is also conceivable.

It should be noted that the storage of the sheet feeding tray 2 by folding or sliding operation is performed by the operation panel 21.
It is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to an image reading apparatus that does not require

[0046]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since a slit through which the reflected light passes is provided in the discharge tray, for example, when a reduction optical system requiring a long optical path length is mounted, a sufficient optical path length can be secured below the discharge tray.

That is, advantages such as high reading accuracy of a document, hardly causing jamming, and no damage to the document are inherited as they are, and in addition to this, the occupied area of the entire apparatus can be reduced, and flexibility in the installation location is large. thing,
There is an excellent effect that handling of the document, particularly, taking out of the document stored on the paper discharge tray after reading is greatly facilitated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional side view of a main part showing a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a main part of the same.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view showing another conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a longitudinal sectional side view showing still another conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Apparatus main body 2 Paper feed tray 5, 14 Image sensor 8, 8 'Discharge tray 8b Slit 9 Detecting means 21 Operation panel P Document R Document transport path

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of front page (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) B65H 31/00 B41J 13/00 G03G 15/00 530 H04N 1/00 108

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. An image reading apparatus which conveys a document to a reading position, reads an image on the document by an image sensor, and discharges the document. An image sensor is provided below the paper output tray, and a slit is formed on the paper output tray at a position where the reflected light from the document intersects with the optical path to the image sensor to allow the reflected light to pass therethrough. An image reading device, characterized by: 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an operation panel is provided on a paper feed tray for feeding a document.