JPH071911B2 - Input/Output Devices - Google Patents

Description

Description: TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an input/output device such as a facsimile.

(Prior Art) A facsimile machine in which a single feed roller is provided for both transmission and reception (see Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 58-22353)
or a unit with an integrated transmitting and receiving head (JP Patent Publication 56-3427
(See Publication No. 3). In this case, however, the transport paths for the document and the recording paper are separate, making the device large and complicated in configuration. There are also examples where the transport paths are partially shared, but there are no examples where the device is combined with an integrated head to achieve miniaturization. Also, in order to detect the presence or absence of recording paper and the amount of remaining paper,
Since a sensor is provided between the roll paper holding section and the recording section, there is a problem in that the cost is high.

(Objective of the Invention) The present invention has been made to improve upon the problems of the prior art described above, and provides an input/output device which promotes commonality, simplifies the configuration, and realizes a smaller device with lower costs.

(Configuration of the invention) The reading unit is located before the recording unit in the recording paper transport path, and the reading unit and recording unit are integrated to form a head unit, and the feed roller that faces the reading unit and recording unit and transports the document and recording paper is provided with a portion of an arbitrary width that runs around the periphery of the roller and has a different reflectivity from the other portions. Since the reflectivity of this portion with different reflectivity is different from that of the recording paper, the reading unit can distinguish between the feed roller and the recording paper, and the reading unit can detect the presence or absence of recording paper, jams, and other recording paper transport conditions.

(Embodiments) Hereinafter, embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, in which 1 is a document table, 2 is a separation roller, 3 is a separation piece, 4 is a recording paper roll, 5 is a delivery roller, 6 is a tension roller, 7 is a
denotes a feed roller, 10 denotes a head unit formed by integrating the reading section 8 and the recording section 9, 11 and 12 denote a solid blade and a rotary blade constituting a cutter, 13 denotes a discharge roller, 14 denotes a tension roller, and 15 denotes a stacker.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. The originals are separated and drawn out one by one from the original table 1 by the separation roller 2 and the separation piece 3, read by the reading unit 8, and then discharged to the stacker 15 by the discharge roller 13. At this time, the head unit 10 moves leftward by a distance of l/2, or the feed roller 7 moves rightward by the same distance, so that the reading unit 8 comes into proper contact with the feed roller 7 and reading becomes possible. The cutter does not operate. On the other hand, for recording, the leading edge of the recording paper drawn out from the recording paper roller 4 is between the feed roller 5 and the feed roller 7, so that when a recording signal is received, the feed roller 5 feeds the recording paper to the recording unit 9. After recording, the paper moves further, is cut by the cutter, and is discharged to the stacker 15 by the discharge roller 13. At this time, the head unit 10 moves rightward by a distance of l/2, or the feed roller 7 moves leftward by the same distance, so that the recording unit 9 comes into proper contact with the feed roller 7 and recording becomes possible. The cut blank recording paper is conveyed by the feed roller 7 and the delivery roller 5.
The drive system is not shown in the figure.

In the present embodiment configured as described above, the head unit 10, which is an integral combination of the reading section (contact sensor) and the recording section (thermal head), and the single feed roller 7, which is used for both reading and writing, are displaced by a small distance relative to each other.
Reading and recording are both possible, and the transport path and transport drive system can be shared, resulting in significant cost reduction and miniaturization.

2 shows the mechanism for displacing the feed roller 7. The position of the feed roller 7 shown by the solid line is the position during recording, and the dashed line is the position during reading. The lever 18 is pulled against the biasing force of the compression spring 17 by the attraction of the solenoid 16, and the lever 18 rotates about the fulcrum 19, displacing the feed roller 7 and switching it from the recording section to the reading section. To facilitate the movement of the feed roller 7 during switching, a solenoid 20 is provided.
, and the head unit
The solenoid 20 is provided to temporarily lift the head unit 10 by suction when an original or recording paper arrives, ensuring that the original or recording paper is gripped, but may not be necessary depending on the contact pressure, transport force, and other conditions.

Fig. 3 shows a mechanism for displacing the head unit 10 in the opposite manner to Fig. 2. The attraction of the solenoid 22 pulls the lever 24 against the biasing force of the compression spring 23, causing the lever 24 to rotate about the fulcrum 25, displacing the head unit 10 and switching it from the reading section to the recording section. Note that a motor and a cam may be used instead of the solenoid to move the lever.

FIG. 4 shows the basic configuration of the head unit 10, in which a read driver circuit 26 and a record driver circuit 27 are provided.

There are layout issues with the placement of the reading and recording units,
By locating the reading unit on the upstream side of the conveying path, the reading unit can detect the presence or absence of recording paper, conveying jams, skew (oblique movement),
It is possible to detect the shape of the recording paper and the remaining amount, etc.

In conventional devices, the recording paper transport path leading to the recording unit is generally provided with a required number of paper sensors to detect the presence or absence of recording paper, whether the recording paper is jammed, and, in devices that can use recording paper of different sizes, the shape and size (paper width) of the recording paper.
However, in recent years, as the demand for smaller size, lighter weight, and lower cost has progressed, restrictions on the installation location of these sensors have become stricter, making it difficult to mount wiring and connectors for power supply and signal extraction, as well as their mounting members, etc. Furthermore, problems arise during assembly, adjustment, and other operations. In the present invention, as described above, by locating the reading unit on the upstream side of the transport path, the reading unit can detect the recording paper, eliminating the need to provide a dedicated sensor for detecting the recording paper as in the past.

In the reading device using a contact sensor, a white roller is used as a feed roller (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-233634).
In this embodiment, a white roller is used as a feed roller for both reading and recording. The roller for recording does not necessarily have to be white.

The problem here is that when a white-colored feed roller is used, the reading unit may not be able to distinguish between the white color of the recording paper and the white color of the roller. In other words, the reading unit detects and reads reflected light from the document, etc., using illumination such as LEDs (light-emitting diodes), and the same is true for recording paper. Therefore, if there is almost no difference between the signal level obtained according to the reflectance of the feed roller surface and the signal level obtained according to the reflectance of the recording paper surface,
This means that the recording paper cannot be detected.

In the present invention, therefore, a portion of the feed roller is provided with a desired width, which goes around the circumference of the roller, and which has a reflectance different from that of the other portions. Figure 5 shows one embodiment of this. In the center of the feed roller 7, there is provided an annular portion (hereinafter simply called annular portion) 28 with a different reflectance that goes around the circumference of the roller.
The other parts of the roller surface are white. The annular portion 28 has a reflectance that is lower than the signal level of the reading sensor obtained from the other white parts. Generally, gray or the like is suitable, but it may also be colored black, red, or blue.

Next, the case where the present embodiment is used to read an original or detect a recording paper will be described.

(1) Reading a document Generally, the device is set with the conditions for documents that it can handle, such as the document width, and annular parts with different reflectance are provided in places within this range where no problems occur. In this example, the document is inserted from document table 1 in Fig. 1, but when inserting the document, there are members such as document guides that determine the document insertion position, and the document is inserted according to these. Also, if there is a minimum width for documents that can be handled (w in Fig. 5), the range within which documents of that width will pass through the feed roller is also determined, and if annular part 28 is provided in a part hidden by the document, no problems will occur during reading. Also,
The conditions of the original may include the paper thickness or light transmittance of the original, but as long as the reflectance of the annular portion is within a range that satisfies the conditions of the original, no problems will occur even if the paper is thin and the light transmittance is relatively high.

(2) Recording Paper Detection During recording operation, when a recording signal is received, the leading edge of the recording paper is pulled out by the feed roller 5 and sent to the feed roller 7. At this time, while the recording paper has not yet reached the feed roller 7, the reading section obtains a signal (binarized signal) as shown in Fig. 6(a). Next, after the recording paper reaches the feed roller, the annular portion 28 is hidden by the recording paper, so the signal obtained at that time changes to that shown in Fig. 6(b). If the signal does not change to that shown in Fig. 6(b) after a specified time has elapsed, a malfunction has occurred in the recording paper transport, and it is determined that the recording paper has jammed. Also, if the recording paper runs out, the signal changes to that shown in Fig. 6(a), so it is sufficient to monitor whether the signal in Fig. 6(b) continues during recording operation.

In the device of Figure 1, after recording is completed, the recording paper is cut to a specified length and the unrecorded portion is pulled back to its initial position, so the signal changes again to that of Figure 6(a). However, if the signal does not change to that of Figure 6(a) even after a specified time has elapsed after cutting is completed, it can be determined that a cutting error has occurred.

A near-end mark is attached to the recording paper near the end of the roll to indicate that the paper is about to run out. This mark is generally displayed in gray or black (it can also be red or blue), and some devices detect this mark and warn the operator. In this embodiment, if this end mark overlaps with the annular portion attached to the feed roller, it becomes impossible to determine that the paper is near-end. In such a case,
As shown in Fig. 7(a), the annular portion is provided so as to avoid the position of the near-end mark. In this way, as shown in Fig. 7(b), when the recording paper has not yet reached the feed roller 7, a signal is obtained, and during recording, a signal is obtained.
Also, when the near end mark appears, a signal is obtained, making it possible to distinguish between them.

The above signal discrimination is performed by the processing of the μCPU or the like which controls the system, and the judgment is easy and reliable.

(Effects of the Invention) As described above, according to the present invention, the reading unit and recording unit are integrated into a head unit, a common transport path is used for the original document and the recording paper, and the reading unit can detect the presence or absence of recording paper, the state of the recording paper during transport, near-end, etc., thereby eliminating the need for the paper sensor that was previously equipped, and therefore the wiring components and assembly process required for it, offering the advantage of achieving significant cost reductions by reducing the number of parts and labor costs, etc.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a feed roller displacement mechanism in the embodiment, and FIG.
FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of a head unit displacement mechanism according to another embodiment;
Fig. 4 is a diagram of the head unit, Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a feed roller with a portion with different reflectance, Fig. 6(a) is a diagram showing a signal when the feed roller is detected by the reading unit, Fig. 6(b) is a diagram showing a signal when the recording paper is detected, Fig. 7(a) is a diagram showing a feed roller with a portion with different reflectance avoiding the position of the near-end mark, Fig. 7(b) is a diagram showing each signal when the feed roller, the recording paper, and the near-end mark portion of the recording paper are detected. 1...Original table, 2...Separation roller, 4...Recording paper roll, 5...Feed roller 7...Feed roller, 8...Reading unit, 9...Recording unit, 10...Head unit, 13...Discharge roller, 15...Stacker, 16, 20, 22...Solenoid, 28...Part with different reflectance (annular portion), 29...Near-end mark.

Claims (1)

[Claims] [Claim 1] An input/output device comprising: a reading unit that reads image information from an original and detects the condition or shape of the recording paper; a recording unit that records the image information on the recording paper; a transport roller that transports the original and the recording paper and has a ring-shaped portion that runs around the periphery of the transport roller by a predetermined width and has a different reflectivity than other portions; and a head unit that arranges the reading unit on the upstream side in the transport direction and the recording unit on the downstream side, wherein the input/output device determines that the recording paper has ended when the reading unit detects the ring-shaped portion.