JP4674537B2 - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus capable of executing a facsimile function by adding a facsimile board connected to a telephone line and performing a communication operation as a facsimile.

  In recent years, there is an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine to which a facsimile function can be added as an optional function. The facsimile function can be executed, for example, by adding a facsimile board for executing the facsimile function to a control board for controlling the apparatus and providing the apparatus with a connector for connecting to a telephone line.

  However, in many cases, the facsimile board is added to the control board inside the apparatus. Therefore, when it is added at the time of factory shipment, it can be added during the process of assembling the equipment. However, when adding it on the market, a service person visits and removes and attaches the outer case and parts. Add a facsimile board with complicated work. In addition, some users who use a facsimile may use a plurality of telephone lines, so that it is required to support a plurality of telephone lines by adding a facsimile board or the like. For example, there is a case where a device shipped in a state where one line can be used corresponds to a plurality of lines in the market, and in this case, a complicated work is required as well. By using this plurality of telephone lines, it is possible to simultaneously communicate with another partner, for example, receive from the other party while communicating with one partner. Therefore, since the operation efficiency as a facsimile can be improved, it is sometimes required to support a plurality of telephone lines as described above.

  In view of this, an image forming apparatus has been proposed in which an optional board for function expansion can be easily added (see, for example, Patent Document 1), and a connector provided on a control board is attached to an exterior case for addition of a facsimile board. There is an apparatus that is exposed to the outside of the apparatus through an opening provided in the apparatus, and is connected to a telephone line to a connector thereof to connect a facsimile board for performing a communication operation as a facsimile.

  FIG. 4 shows an example of a configuration in which the facsimile board 40 is added outside the apparatus. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration in which a conventional facsimile board is added. As shown in FIG. 4, the control board 15 is often arranged along the outer case 51 of the apparatus. On the other hand, as described above, there is a request for expansion corresponding to two lines (multiple lines). The connector 26 of the relay board 25 is connected to the connector 16 provided on the control board 15 and exposed to the outside so that the two facsimile boards 40 can be arranged substantially parallel to the outer case 51, and the facsimile board 40 is connected to the connector of the relay board 25. 27 is attached and attached. Then, an additional cover 50 for covering the facsimile board 40 and the relay board 25 is attached to the outer case 51.

  However, although the relay board 25 is necessary to have two lines, in the configuration as shown in FIG. 4, even if there is only one line so that the protrusion of the facsimile board 40 from the apparatus does not become large. It is necessary to provide a relay board. Therefore, the cost increases for a user of one line.

JP 2003-188551 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to use a relay board in the case of multi-line support and use a relay board in the case of single-line support in the addition of the facsimile function. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that does not need to be used and can suppress protrusion from the apparatus.

In order to solve the above problems, an invention according to claim 1 is an image forming apparatus capable of executing a facsimile function by adding a facsimile board connected to a telephone line and performing a communication operation as a facsimile. the or facsimile board is one connectable or provided with a control board for controlling the entire facsimile board device having a plurality connectable relay board is connectable connector, the facsimile to the connector wherein the surface of said facsimile substrate when the substrate is connected, that the facsimile board via the relay board in the connector and the surface of the facsimile substrate when is connected and to face the same direction And

  The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the insertion direction of the relay board to the connector and the insertion direction of the facsimile board to the relay board are the same direction.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the surface of the facsimile board connected to the connector faces the same direction as the surface of the control board, and the surface of the relay board connected to the connector is the control board. It is characterized in that it faces in a direction perpendicular to the surface of.

Further, the invention of claim 4, wherein the control board, one end of the control board along the inside of the exterior case of the image forming apparatus is arranged so as to be positioned at the center portion of the outer casing, said connector , And provided at the one end.

Further, an invention according to claim 5, wherein the outer case is to expose the connector on the outside of the outer instrumentation case, to allow connecting the facsimile board or the relay substrate before Kigai side connector to said exposed opening It is characterized by having.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, the exterior case includes a rear cover on the back surface of the image forming apparatus and a horizontal surface cover that is lateral to the rear surface, and the control board is the back surface. Arranged along the inside of the cover, the lateral cover is on the lateral surface opposite to the side on which the control board is disposed when viewed from where the connector is located when the control board is disposed. The back cover has a concave-shaped portion at a position different from a position where the control board is disposed and a position where the connector is located from the place where the connector is located to the lateral cover.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, the relay board is used in the case of multi-line correspondence, the relay board is unnecessary in the case of one-line correspondence, and the facsimile board to be added in the case of one-line correspondence. Since the plane and the plane of the facsimile board connected to the relay board face the same direction, they can be arranged along the apparatus in both cases of one line and multiple lines, so that protrusion from the apparatus can be suppressed. it can.

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that includes a connector for connecting to a telephone line in order to add a facsimile function, and can add a facsimile board for communication as a facsimile using the telephone line. Further, a copying machine will be described as an example of the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing an image forming apparatus 1 and a 1-line expansion unit 41 and a 2-line expansion unit 42 added to the image forming apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. It is the perspective view seen from the back cover 2 side which is an exterior case. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, an example is shown in which facsimile boards are added so as to correspond to one line and two lines as multiple lines. The 1-line expansion unit 41 is an expansion unit for performing communication as a facsimile using one telephone line, and the 2-line expansion unit 42 is for performing communication as a facsimile using each of the two telephone lines. It is an extension unit.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment includes an image reading unit 100 on the upper side and an image output unit 200 on the lower side.

  The image reading unit 100 reads an image of a document placed on the document placing table 101 by an optical system of a document image scanning exposure apparatus (not shown) by using, for example, a line image sensor CCD, and photoelectrically converts it into an analog signal. In addition, an automatic document feeder is provided, and an image can be read by the line image sensor CCD while conveying the documents one by one.

  An analog signal photoelectrically converted by the line image sensor CCD is created as image data by performing analog processing, A / D conversion, shading correction, image compression processing, and the like in an image processing unit (not shown).

  The image output unit 200 includes, for example, a photosensitive drum, and forms a latent image by scanning the photosensitive drum with laser light based on the image data created by the image reading unit 100, and develops it to form a toner image. And an image forming unit using an electrophotographic system in which the toner image is transferred onto a recording sheet and the transferred toner image is thermally fixed to form an image.

  Although not shown, for example, an operation panel for operating the image forming apparatus 1 is provided on the front side of the apparatus, and the image forming apparatus 1 operates based on an instruction or the like input using the operation panel.

  Here, as described at the beginning, the image forming apparatus 1 of the present embodiment can add a facsimile function. When the facsimile function is added, for example, image data that is read and created by the image reading unit 100 can be transmitted to the outside via a telephone line using the facsimile function. On the other hand, image data can be received from the outside via a telephone line, and an image can be formed and output by the image output unit 200 based on the received image data.

  From now on, the addition of the facsimile function will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 1, the back cover 2 has a concave shape extending from the left cover 5, which is an exterior case on the left side of the apparatus, toward the right cover 8, and from the left cover 5 to the vicinity of the center of the back cover 2. Part 3 is formed. In addition, an opening 4 penetrating into the apparatus is formed in a back surface 6 as viewed from the left cover 5 constituting the concave portion 3. However, the opening 4 is covered, for example, in a state where the lid 7 is fitted by a fitting means (not shown), and the lid 7 is removed when the one-line expansion unit 41 or the two-line expansion unit 42 is attached.

  In the present embodiment, the one-line expansion unit 41 or the two-line expansion unit 42 is attached to the concave portion 3 by a fixing means (not shown), and the facsimile board 30 is expanded.

  On the other hand, inside the rear cover 2 of the image forming apparatus 1, a control board 10 including a memory such as a CPU and a ROM (read only memory) is formed in a concave shape with the right cover 8 in order to control the entire apparatus and perform image processing. It arrange | positions between the surfaces 6 of the part 3 (it shows with the broken line in FIG. 1). A connector 11 is provided at the end of the control board 10 on the surface 6 side of the concave shaped portion 3. Further, the connector 11 is exposed to the outside through the above-described opening 4 when the above-described lid 7 is removed. Moreover, the insertion direction of the connection partner to the connector 11 is parallel to the surface of the control board 10, and the connection partner is inserted from the outside toward the connector 11 side.

  The one-line expansion unit 41 includes one facsimile board 30 and a one-line expansion box 35 that accommodates the facsimile board 30. In FIG. 1, only the outer shape of the one-line expansion box 35 is omitted with a two-dot chain line so that the drawing is not complicated.

  The facsimile board 30 mainly includes a circuit board 31, a connector 32 connected to the connector 11 of the control board 10 on one end side of the circuit board 31 so as to be exposed from the one-line expansion box 35, and the connector 32 connects the circuit board 31. A connector 33 that is exposed to the outside through a panel 34 and an opening 36 and is connected to a telephone line is provided at an end on the opposite side. Further, the insertion direction of the connector 32 to the connection partner is parallel to the surface of the facsimile board 30 and the connection partner is inserted from the outside toward the connector 32 side.

  Here, a state where the one-line expansion unit 41 is mounted on the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the AA cross section shown in FIG. 1 in a state where the one-line expansion unit 41 is mounted in the concave portion 3 of the image forming apparatus 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control board 10 is disposed along the back cover 2 inside the back cover 2, and the connector 11 provided at the end is exposed from the opening 4 formed in the surface 6. Yes. The one-line expansion unit 41 is accommodated and mounted in the concave portion 3 with the connector 32 side of the one-line expansion box 35 abutted against the surface 6 and the connector 11 and the connector 32 are connected.

  Since the insertion direction of the connector 11 is parallel to the surface of the control board 10 and the insertion direction of the connector 32 is parallel to the surface of the facsimile board 30, the surface of the facsimile board 30 and the surface of the control board 10 are the same in parallel. It will be placed facing the direction.

  Returning again to FIG. The two-line expansion unit 42 includes a relay board 20, a relay board box 24 that accommodates the relay board 20, two facsimile boards 30, and a two-line extension box 37 that accommodates two facsimile boards 30. . In FIG. 1, only the outer shape of the relay board box 24 and the two-line expansion box 37 is omitted with a two-dot chain line so that the drawing is not complicated.

  The relay board 20 mainly includes a circuit board 21, a connector 22 connected to the connector 11 of the control board 10 on one side of the circuit board 21 so as to be exposed from the relay board box 24, and a facsimile board 30 on the other side. It has two connectors 23a and 23b for connection. Further, the insertion direction of the connector 22 to the connection partner and the insertion direction of the connection partner to the connectors 23 a and 23 b are perpendicular to the surface of the relay board 20.

  The two facsimile boards 30 are arranged in parallel in the two-line expansion box 37, the connection direction of each connector 32 of the facsimile board 30 is parallel to the surface of the facsimile board 30, and the connection partner is from the outside to the connector 32 side. It is designed to be inserted across the street. Further, the connectors 33 of the two facsimile boards 30 are exposed to the outside through openings 38a and 38b, respectively, and are connected to a telephone line.

  Here, a state where the two-line expansion unit 42 is mounted on the image forming apparatus 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the AA cross section shown in FIG. 1 in a state in which the two-line expansion unit 42 is mounted on the concave portion 3 of the image forming apparatus 1.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the connector 22 side of the relay board box 24 is abutted against the surface 6, the connector 11 and the connector 22 are connected, and the two connectors 32 side of the two-line expansion box 37 are the connectors of the relay board box 24. It is abutted on the side of 23a and 23b, and is accommodated and mounted in the concave portion 3 in a state where the connector 32 is connected to each of the connectors 23a and 23b. However, the two-line expansion unit 42 is inserted into the concave portion 3 after the relay board box 24 containing the relay board 20 and the two-line extension box 37 containing two facsimile boards 30 are combined in advance. To be installed.

  Since the insertion direction of the connector 11 is parallel to the surface of the control board 10 and the insertion direction of the connector 22 is orthogonal to the surface of the relay board 20, the surface of the relay board 20 and the surface of the control board 10 are substantially orthogonal. The insertion direction of the connector 22 is perpendicular to the surface of the relay board 20, and the insertion direction of the connector 32 is parallel to the surface of the facsimile board 30, so that the surface of the facsimile board 30 and the relay board 20 are It arrange | positions so that it may cross substantially orthogonally. Therefore, the surface of the facsimile substrate 30 and the surface of the control substrate 10 are arranged in parallel and facing the same direction.

  As described above with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3, according to the configuration of the present embodiment, the relay board 20 is not necessary when an extension corresponding to one line is performed. Further, the orientation of the surface of the facsimile board 30 in the case of supporting one line and two lines can be parallel to the surface of the control board 10, that is, in the same direction. Therefore, in either case of one line or two lines, the facsimile board 30 can be arranged along the back cover 2, in other words, along the apparatus, so that protrusion from the apparatus can be suppressed. Further, by connecting the connector 11 of the control board 10 and the extension unit at the substantially central portion of the apparatus, it is possible to suppress the protrusion of the facsimile board 30 on the connector 33 side.

  Further, since the connector 11 provided on the control board 10 is exposed to the outside, it is not necessary to remove the back cover 2, and the one-line expansion unit 41 and the two-line expansion unit 42 can be easily connected.

1 is an exploded view showing an image forming apparatus and a one-line extension unit and a two-line extension unit added to the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the one-line expansion unit in the present embodiment is mounted on the image forming apparatus. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the two-line expansion unit in the present embodiment is mounted on the image forming apparatus. It is a figure which shows the structure which expands the conventional facsimile board.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus 2 Back cover 3 Concave shape part 4 Opening 5 Left cover 6 Surface 7 Lid 8 Right cover 10 Control board 11 Connector 15 Control board 16 Connector 20 Relay board 21 Circuit board 22 Connector 23a, b Connector 24 Relay board box 25 Relay board 26 Connector 27 Connector 30 Facsimile board 31 Circuit board 32 Connector 33 Connector 34 Panel 35 1-line expansion box 36 Opening 37 2-line expansion box 38a, b opening 40 Facsimile board 41 1-line expansion unit 42 2-line expansion unit 50 Expansion cover 51 Exterior Case 100 Image Reading Unit 101 Document Placement Table 200 Image Output Unit

Claims (6)

An image forming apparatus capable of executing a facsimile function by adding a facsimile board connected to a telephone line to perform a communication operation as a facsimile,
Wherein either facsimile substrate is one connectable or provided with a control board for controlling the entire apparatus having a connector the facsimile board plurality connectable relay board is connectable,
The surface of said facsimile substrate when the facsimile substrate to the connector is connected, the surface of the facsimile substrate when the facsimile board via the relay board to the connector is connected, so that the same direction An image forming apparatus characterized by that.   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the insertion direction of the relay board to the connector is the same as the insertion direction of the facsimile board to the relay board.   The face of the facsimile board connected to the connector faces the same direction as the face of the control board, and the face of the relay board connected to the connector faces the direction orthogonal to the face of the control board. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The control board, one end of the control board along the inside of the exterior case of the image forming apparatus is arranged so as to be positioned at the center portion of the outer casing,
The connector is provided at the one end .
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1 . The outer case, the image formation according to claim 4 having an opening to allow connecting the connector exposed to the outside of the outer instrumentation case, the connector of the exposed the facsimile board or the relay substrate before Kigai side apparatus. The exterior case has a back cover on the back surface of the image forming apparatus, and a lateral surface cover that is lateral to the back surface,
The control board is disposed along the inside of the back cover,
The lateral surface cover is on the lateral surface opposite to the side on which the control board is disposed when viewed from the place where the connector is located when the control board is disposed,
The back cover has a concave-shaped portion at a position that is different from the position where the control board is disposed and is placed on the lateral cover from a position where the connector is located.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 4 or 5.

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