Image forming apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10158776-B2
Application number	US-201715673674-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 10, 2017
Priority date	Jan 17, 2017
Publication date	Dec 18, 2018
Grant date	Dec 18, 2018

Abstract

An image forming apparatus includes a scanner and a printing apparatus, wherein the scanner includes a scanning window; a transport unit configured to transport a document to a top surface of the scanning window; a scan unit configured to obliquely irradiate light to a bottom surface of the scanning window to scan the document; a transport guide member configured to be disposed to face the top surface of the scanning window to guide a transport of the document; and a curved reflection member configured to be coupled to the transport guide member to collect the light irradiated from the scan unit and to reflect the collected light toward the scanning window.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image forming apparatus including a scanner and a printing apparatus, wherein the scanner includes:
a scanning window;
a transport unit to transport a document to a top surface of the scanning window;
a scan unit, disposed below a bottom surface of the scanning window, to obliquely irradiate light toward the bottom surface of the scanning window to scan the document;
a transport guide member disposed above the top surface of the scanning window to guide the transport of the document; and
a curved reflection member, coupled to the transport guide member, to reflect the light irradiated from the scan unit toward the scanning window.

2. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the curved reflection member is disposed below the transport guide member, and has a shape which is concave with respect to the scan unit.

3. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the transport guide member includes a curved portion formed to be concave with respect to the scan unit, and
the curved reflection member is coupled to the curved portion, and the shape of the curved reflection member corresponds to a shape of the curved portion.

4. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the curved reflection member includes a synthetic resin sheet having near-specular characteristics.

5. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the synthetic resin sheet is a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet.

6. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the curved reflection member is concave with respect to the scan unit along a direction of the transport of the document.

7. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the curved reflection member is concave with respect to the scan unit along a direction perpendicular to the direction of the transport of the document.

8. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein a depth of a reflective surface of the curved reflection member is 0.0125 to 0.1375 times of a width of the curved reflection member.

9. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the width of the curved reflection member is 4 mm, and
the depth of the reflective surface is 0.25 mm.

10. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the curved reflection member is disposed to be inclined with respect to the top surface of the scanning window in a direction towards the light irradiated from the scan unit.

11. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the scan unit includes:
an image sensor to convert incident light on the image sensor into image data;
a light emitting unit to obliquely irradiate the light at a first angle with respect to the bottom surface of the scanning window; and
at least one reflector, disposed below the scanning window, to reflect the light reflected from the curved reflection member to the image sensor.

12. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the curved reflection member is disposed to be inclined so that a virtual straight line connecting one end disposed at an upstream of the document transport direction and the other end disposed at a downstream of the document transport direction forms a second angle, which is an acute angle, with respect to the top surface of the scanning window.

13. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the second angle is 0.3 to 0.475 times of the first angle.

14. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 13 , wherein
the first angle is 40°, and
the second angle is 14° to 17°.

15. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 14 , wherein
a width of the curved reflection member is 4 mm,
a depth of a reflective surface of the curved reflection member is 0.25 mm,
the first angle is 40°, and
the second angle is 15°.

16. An image forming apparatus comprising:
a printing apparatus; and
a scanner, the scanner including:
a scan unit configured to irradiate light towards a document passing through a scan path of the scanner, to receive the irradiated light to scan the document, and to determine a size of the document based on the received light, and
a curved reflection member, disposed above the document on the scan path, to reflect the light irradiated from the scan unit back to the scan unit.

17. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 16 , wherein the curved reflection member is concave with respect to the scan unit along a direction in which the document passes through the scan path.

18. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the curved reflection member is disposed to be inclined with respect to the document passing through the scan path in a direction facing the light irradiated from the scan unit.

19. The image forming apparatus as claimed in claim 18 , wherein the curved reflection member includes a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheet having near-specular characteristics.

20. An image forming apparatus, comprising:
a printing apparatus; and
a scanner, the scanner including:
a scanning window,
a transport unit to transport a document to a top surface of the scanning window,
first and second light emitting units, disposed below a bottom surface of the scanning window, to obliquely irradiate light toward the bottom surface of the scanning window,
an image sensor to convert incident light on the image sensor into image data,
a transport guide member disposed above the top surface of the scanning window to guide the transport of the document,
first and second curved reflection members, coupled to the transport guide member, to reflect the light irradiated from the first and second light emitting units toward the scanning window, and
at least one reflector, disposed below the scanning window, to reflect the light reflected from the first and second curved reflection members toward the image sensor.

Assignees

• S Printing Solution Co Ltd
• Hp Printing Korea Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Jeong-Yul
• Kim Kyung-Rok

Classifications

• H04N2201/0081

  Image reader (H04N2201/0091 - H04N2201/0094 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04N1/00761

  using reference marks, e.g. on sheet, sheet holder or guide · CPC title

• H04N1/00755

  Detecting an interruption of light · CPC title

• H04N1/1043

  of a sensor array · CPC title

• H04N1/00737

  using the scanning elements as detectors · CPC title