JP2000209409A - Image reading apparatus and control method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Problem] To provide an image reading apparatus capable of reducing an installation occupation area as required and reading a thick original such as a book. According to the present invention, there is provided a housing (11) having a translucent document mounting surface (12) on which a document of a predetermined size can be placed;
An image sensor 13 for reading an image of a document placed on the document placement surface 12, and the image sensor 13 is attached to the document placement surface 1.
Sensor scanning means for scanning inside the housing along 2;
A cover 14 for covering the document setting surface, the cover 14 and the document setting surface 1
2, a transport unit 30 for transporting the original.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus generally called a flatbed scanner, having an image sensor in a housing having a document mounting surface on which a document of a predetermined size can be placed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the rapid improvement of information processing capability of computers and the rise of new media such as the Internet, there is an increasing need to import pictures, illustrations, characters, and other images on paper media into computers as image data. A general device for capturing an image on a paper medium into a computer is called an image reading device or an image scanner.

[0003] There are roughly two types of image reading devices on the market. One type has a box-shaped housing with a flat document placement surface on which a document can be placed, and scans a built-in image sensor on the document placed here. Called a flatbed scanner. The other is a type in which a document is pulled in from a slit-shaped paper feed port and an image is captured as the document is moved, which is generally called a document scanner or the like.

[0004]

However, the above flatbed scanner needs to have a space for placing an original on at least the surface thereof so that the original can be read. There is a limit. On the other hand, the document scanner has an advantage that the occupied area can be extremely small, but has a problem that a thick original such as a book cannot be read due to the structure of transporting and reading the original.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and to provide an image reading apparatus which can reduce the installation occupation area as required and can read a thick original such as a book. It is in. That is, the present invention enables a so-called flatbed scanner to be used even in a vertically installed state where the installation area is small.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, an image reading apparatus according to the present invention has a translucent document mounting surface on which a document of a predetermined size can be placed, and makes the document mounting surface substantially horizontal. A housing configured to be selectively installed in a horizontal state and a vertical state in which the document is placed substantially vertically, an image sensor that reads an image of a document placed on the document placement surface, and an image sensor mounted on the document placement surface. Sensor scanning means for scanning inside the housing, a cover for covering the original setting surface, a conveying means for conveying the original to the original setting surface, and whether the housing is in the vertical state or the horizontal state. And control means for executing processing corresponding to each posture based on the information of the posture identification means.

Here, the transporting means may include a driving-side transport roller on the surface of the housing adjacent to the document placement surface, and may include a driven-side transport roller on the lid.

It is preferable that the present invention further includes legs for supporting the housing in a horizontal state in which the original setting surface is substantially horizontal and a vertical state in which the original setting surface is substantially vertical.

According to the present invention, the posture identifying means further includes a posture detecting means for detecting whether the housing is in a horizontal state or a vertical state, and the control means is configured to detect the case detected by the posture detecting means. According to the posture of the body, it is preferable to operate either the sensor scanning means or the transport means to read an image by the image sensor.

[0010] Alternatively, a switch may be provided for switching between the sensor scanning means and the transport means.

Alternatively, a document detecting means for detecting that a document has been set toward the transport roller on the driving side, and when it is detected that the document has been set,
It is also possible to provide a control means for causing the image sensor to read an image while driving the transport roller.

[0012] The present invention also relates to a control method in the image reading device. The control method of the present invention, a step of identifying whether the housing is in a horizontal state or a vertical state,
When the case is in the horizontal state, the image sensor is read by the image sensor while the image sensor is moved and scanned by the sensor scanning unit along the original setting surface, and the case is in the vertical state. In this case, the image sensor is configured to read an image while operating the conveying unit to convey the document onto the document setting surface.

Further, the identification step is performed by using a posture detecting means for detecting a posture of the housing.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention in a horizontal use state, and FIG.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view in a vertically used state. As shown in the figure, the image reading apparatus 10 according to the embodiment is a flatbed scanner having a document placement surface 12 made of glass on a box-shaped housing 11. An image sensor 13 that is scanned in a direction indicated by an arrow A in the figure by a sensor scanning unit (not shown) is provided inside the housing 11, and can read an image on a document placed on the document placement surface 12. Note that a reading switch 16 is provided on the front of the housing 11, and when the user presses the reading switch 16, reading of an image can be started.

A cover 14 is provided on the original setting surface 12 so as to cover the original setting surface 12. The cover 14 is formed of a flexible light-impermeable material such as a hard resin, and external light passes through the document setting surface 12 when reading an image.
To prevent light from entering the camera. One end of the cover 14 in the longitudinal direction is fixed on the surface of the housing 11, and the cover 14 is positioned above the document setting surface 12 with a flexible portion 14 a along the fixing area as shown in the figure. Can be lifted. Protrusions 14b, 14b are formed on both sides of the lid 14 in the longitudinal direction toward the housing 11 side. When the lid 14 is closed, a slight gap is formed between the original setting surface 12 and the lower surface of the lid 14 by the protruding side 14b. As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the document can be inserted into the document setting surface 12 with the cover 14 closed, and the protruding pieces 14b serve as a guide for the document at the time of insertion.

The image reading device 10 has two grounding legs 15, 15 on the bottom surface in the horizontal state as shown in FIG.
And a leg 20 which is formed separately from the housing 11 and is connected to the housing main body. The legs 20
It is composed of a leg plate 21 extending in the longitudinal direction of the housing 11 and support portions 22 at both ends thereof. You.

The legs 20 are attached to the housing 11 by the support portions 2.
2 into the engaging pin 11a on the housing 11 side.
(See FIG. 3) so as to be rotatable. That is, the engaging pin 11a is protruded from the surface of the housing 11 facing the support portion 22, and the hole 23 of each support portion 22 is engaged here. By this engagement, the leg 20 is moved so that its leg plate 21
From the bottom side to the side side as shown in FIG. In the horizontal position shown in FIG.
Is arranged toward the bottom side of the housing 11, whereby the housing 11 is supported by the grounding surface of the leg plate 21 and the two grounding legs 15, 15.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 2, the image reading apparatus 10 can be installed vertically. By rotating the housing 11 clockwise with respect to the leg 20 from the horizontal installation state in FIG. 1 to stand up, the image reading apparatus 10 is in the vertical usage state. In this case, the housing 11 of the image reading device is supported only by the legs 20. In order to stably support the housing 11, the leg plate 21 of the leg body 20 needs to have a certain width, but in order to guarantee this with a narrow width, a structure in which the auxiliary leg is extended in the width direction of the leg plate 21 is used. Is also good. Further, a structure for locking the housing 11 to the leg 20 is required. This lock structure will be described later.

Next, a document transport mechanism in the image reading apparatus will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the image reading device 10 includes a transport mechanism 30 for transporting a document to the document placing surface 12. The transport mechanism 30 includes three drive rollers 31 installed on the surface of the housing 11 that is continuous with the original installation surface 12, four driven rollers 32 installed on the lower surface side of the lid 14, and It includes an installed transport roller driving unit (not shown). With the lid 14 closed,
Two of the three drive rollers 31 and a driven roller 32
Are opposed to each other, and the rest of the driven roller 32 comes into contact with the document placing surface 12. The transport mechanism 30 can be driven with the lid 14 shown in FIG. 2 closed, and can transfer one document inserted between the driving roller 31 and the driven roller 32 from the insertion opening 14 c of the lid 14. The document is conveyed to the document placement surface 12. FIG.
As shown in (1), a document detection sensor 33 is provided on the surface of the housing 11 on which the drive roller 31 is provided. When a document is inserted into the insertion opening 14c of the lid 14 as described above,
The document detection sensor 33 detects this, and notifies the control unit of the image reading device. Thereby, the driving roller 31
Is driven, and the inserted document is drawn toward the document setting surface 12.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an attachment portion of the leg 20 to the housing 11 showing a lock structure of the leg 20. As shown in the figure, a hole 23 formed in the support portion 22 of the leg 20 is formed by a circular hole 23a and a square hole 2
3b is formed in a keyhole shape. The engaging pin 11a of the housing 11 inserted into the hole 23 has a square cross section.
In (a), it is possible to rotate freely, but in the square hole 23b, it is impossible to rotate by engaging without any gap. Therefore,
The housing 11 is provided with the engaging pin 11 a for the leg 2 in the hole 2.
By being located in the third circular hole portion 23a, it is turned from the horizontal state to the vertical state, or from the vertical state to the horizontal state. By dropping the engagement pin 11a into the square hole 23b of the hole 23, the housing 11 can be locked to the leg 20 in each installation state.

However, the lock structure is one mode for locking the housing 11 with respect to the leg 20, and the lock structure can be formed by another known method. For example, when the housing 11 is placed vertically, members extending to both sides of the housing 11 may be erected on both sides of the leg plate 21 and the housing 11 may be locked by this.

As described above, the image reading apparatus 10 can be used in a horizontal position as usual by the legs 20, or can be used in a vertical state in which the installation area can be saved. it can. Further, even when the image reading device 10 is not used, it may be placed vertically.

Next, an embodiment of the posture detecting means used for identifying the posture of the housing will be described in detail. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a posture detector arranged inside the housing. Weight 41 on shaft 40
Are rotatably supported. This weight has a detection plate 42
Is fixed, and this detection plate 42 is
Is configured to detect. When the housing 11 is placed vertically, the weight 41 keeps its position by its own weight, so that the detection plate moves from the position of the photocoupler 43,
This makes it possible to automatically determine that the housing has been placed vertically.

The above-described posture detector is one embodiment, and a switch which is interlocked with the leg 20 may be provided, and the posture may be detected based on the state of the leg.

As a method for identifying the attitude of the housing,
In addition to the method of providing a detector for automatically detecting the attitude as described above, a method of setting a vertical or horizontal position by a manual switch may be used in some cases.

Next, control of the image reading apparatus will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram related to control of the image reading device. The image reading device 10 controls the control unit 50, the posture identification unit 51, the document detection unit 5
2, a sensor scanning unit 53, a sensor driving unit 54, and a transport roller driving unit 55 are provided. The posture identification unit 51 is provided in the housing 11.
Detects the state of the two installation modes, namely, the horizontal installation state shown in FIG. 1 and the vertical installation state shown in FIG. In the course of reading control of the image reading device, the control unit 50 reads an output signal from the posture identifying unit 51 and determines the posture of the housing. The posture identification unit 51 may be a device that automatically detects and identifies the posture, such as the above-described one configured by a photocoupler and a weight, or may be fixed for a long time in some cases. In some cases, a dip switch operable by a user may be used.

The original detecting section 52 is provided at the insertion port 14 of the lid 14.
c, when a document is inserted from the control unit 5
0, the document detection sensor 33 shown in FIG.
It is comprised including. The sensor scanning unit 53 includes:
According to a control signal from the control unit 50, the image sensor 1
3 is moved along the original setting surface 12. In addition, the sensor driving unit 54 activates the image sensor 13 in accordance with a control signal from the control unit 50, and executes reading of an image. Transport roller drive unit 55
Drives the drive roller 31 so that the document can be conveyed to the document setting surface 12. Note that the image reading command input to the control unit 50 includes a command given from a host computer connected to the image reading device and a command given when the reading switch 16 is pressed by a user.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of control in the image reading apparatus of the present invention. Hereinafter, the flow of control when reading an image will be described with reference to the drawings. As described below, the image reading device according to the present invention can be used in two installation modes, horizontal installation and vertical installation,
Different controls are executed according to the usage mode.

In the first step, when the control unit 50 inputs a signal indicating that a document has been detected from the document detection unit 52 or inputs an image reading command (601), the control unit 50 sets the posture identification unit The attitude of the housing is determined by reading the output signal of 51 (602). here,
As shown in FIG. 1, when the housing 11 is set horizontally, the control unit 50 determines that the image reading apparatus is used in a normal use mode, that is, a document is already set on the document setting surface 12. Judge. And the sensor scanning unit 5
3 and scans the image sensor 13 along the document placement surface 12 to read the image of the document set on the document placement surface 12 (60).
3). After the reading is completed, the read image data is stored in a predetermined memory (604). The image data stored in the memory is transmitted to the host computer and used.

On the other hand, in step 602, when the housing 11 is installed vertically as shown in FIG.
Indicates that the document is to be placed on the document
It is determined that the original is set to 2, and the image is read by the image sensor 13 stopped near the driving roller while driving the driving roller 31 to convey the original to the original placing surface 12 (605). Then, similarly to the above, the read image data is stored in a predetermined memory (604).

As described above, in the case of the horizontal installation, the image sensor is scanned to read the image, and in the case of the vertical installation, the image is read while transporting the original.

As described above, the embodiments of the present invention have been described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to the matters described in the above embodiments, and is described in the claims and the detailed description of the present invention. Based on the technology described above, a range in which those skilled in the art can make changes and applications is included. In the present invention, the specific configuration of the leg portion is not limited to that described in the above embodiment, but includes various modes for supporting the housing so that the document installation surface is substantially vertical. Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration is such that the document transport mechanism is operated only in the case of the vertical installation, but it may be configured to operate in the case of the horizontal installation. Further, it is preferable that the transport mechanism can be driven in the reverse direction so that the document can be discharged. The driving source of the driving roller and the driving source of the sensor scanning unit may be common, and any one of the above may be driven by switching.

[0033]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the image reading apparatus is placed horizontally, it can be used like a normal flat bed to read books and other thick originals, and can be placed vertically. At the time of installation, it can be used like a document scanner to read an image with a small installation area.

Further, since the detecting means for detecting whether the image reading device is in the vertical position or the horizontal position is provided in the housing,
By setting the apparatus main body in a desired state, its position can be automatically identified, and the apparatus can selectively execute a control method optimal for this state, thereby providing a highly convenient apparatus. be able to.

Further, in the case of the vertical installation, the original can be transported to the original installation surface at a stable speed by the above-mentioned transporting means.

Further, by adopting the lock mechanism on the leg portion, it is possible to stably support the main body in a vertical position with a simple structure.

Further, it is possible to provide a control method most suitable for an image reading apparatus that can be used both vertically and horizontally.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external perspective view of an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention in a horizontal use state.

FIG. 2 is an external perspective view of the image reading apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention in a vertically used state.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an attachment portion of the leg to a housing showing a lock structure of the leg.

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a posture detector used for posture identification means.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram relating to control of the image reading apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of control in the image reading apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image reading apparatus 11 Case 11a Engagement pin 12 Original setting surface 13 Image sensor 14 Lid 14a Flexible part 14b Protruding side 14c Insertion opening 15 Grounding leg 16 Reading switch 20 Leg 21 Leg plate 22 Supporting part 23 Hole 23a Circular hole Section 23b square hole section 30 transport mechanism 31 drive roller 32 driven roller 33 document detection sensor 50 control section 51 attitude identification section 52 document detection section 53 sensor scanning section 54 sensor drive section 55 transport roller drive section

Claims (9)

[Claims] An original mounting surface having a light-transmitting property on which an original of a predetermined size can be placed is selectively provided in a horizontal setting state in which the original setting surface is substantially horizontal and a vertical setting state in which the original setting surface is substantially vertical. A housing configured to be mounted on the document mounting surface; an image sensor for reading an image of a document mounted on the document mounting surface; and a sensor scanning unit configured to scan the image sensor along the document mounting surface inside the housing. A cover for covering the document placement surface; a transport unit for transporting the document to the document placement surface; a posture identification unit that indicates whether the housing is in a vertical position or a horizontal position; An image reading device comprising: a control unit that executes a process corresponding to each posture based on information of the identification unit. 2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the transport unit includes a transport roller on a driving side on a surface of the housing adjacent to the document installation surface. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the transport unit further includes a transport roller driven by the lid. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a leg portion for selectively supporting the housing in a horizontal state in which the document setting surface is substantially horizontal and a vertical state in which the document setting surface is substantially vertical. The image reading device according to claim 1, 2, or 3. 5. The posture identifying means has posture detecting means for detecting whether the housing is in a horizontal state or a vertical state, and the control means detects the posture by the posture detecting means. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein one of the sensor scanning unit and the transporting unit is operated in accordance with a posture of the housing to read an image by the image sensor. 6. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a changeover switch for switching which of said sensor scanning means and said transport means is operated. 7. A document detecting means for detecting that a document has been set toward the transport roller on the drive side, and when the document has been set, driving the transport roller while driving the transport roller. The image reading apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: a control unit configured to cause the image sensor to read an image. 8. A housing provided with a document setting surface, and selectively mountable in a horizontal state in which the document setting surface is substantially horizontal and a vertical state in which the document setting surface is substantially vertical. In an image reading apparatus having an image sensor arranged and configured to be movable and scanable, a sensor scanning means for moving and scanning the image sensor, and a transporting means for transporting a document on a document placement surface, the housing is in a horizontal state A step of identifying whether the image sensor is in a vertically placed state, and when the housing is in a horizontally placed state, the image sensor is moved and scanned by a sensor scanning unit along a document installation surface while the image sensor is used. A step of performing image reading, and, when the housing is in a vertically placed state, operating the conveyance unit to convey a document onto the document setting surface,
Performing a reading of an image by the image sensor. 9. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a posture detecting unit configured to detect whether the housing is in a horizontal state or a vertical state. A method for controlling an image reading apparatus, comprising: detecting a posture and performing a step of identifying whether the housing is in a horizontal state or a vertical state.