IMAGE READING DEVICE, PRESSURE PLATE OPENING/CLOSING DETECTION METHOD, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS

• US 20180302530A1
• Filed: 03/29/2018
• Published: 10/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Inui, Tetsuo, Miyazaki, Susumu
• Granted Patent: US 10,462,330 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/60 Apparatus which relate to the handling of originals for photographic purposes in general G03B
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 15/607 for detecting size, presence or position of original
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/00189 original moving
• CPC Class Codes: G03G 2215/0129 horizontal medium transport path at the secondary transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00814 according to a detected condition or state of the reading apparatus, e.g. temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/40056 Circuits for driving or energising particular reading heads or original illumination means H04N1/401, H04N1/407 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/401 Compensating positionally unequal response of the pick-up or reproducing head H04N1/403 takes precedence

Abstract

An image reading device including a contact glass; a reading unit; a pressure plate; a pressure-plate opening/closing sensor, and circuitry. The circuitry determines a presence or absence of external light input to a space between the pressure plate and the surface of the contact glass based on image data obtained by the reading unit when the light source is turned off; compares read data according to light emitted from the light source and received by the image sensor when the pressure plate is closed, with read data of a reference value obtained when the pressure plate is completely closed, to obtain a difference and determine a state of the read data based on the difference; and determines whether the pressure plate is open or closed based on a determination result of the presence or absence of external light and on the difference.

Claims

1. An image reading device comprising:

a contact glass having a surface on which a document is disposed or along which the document moves;

a reading unit including a light source configured to emit light to the document on the surface of the contact glass and an image sensor configured to receive the light reflected by the document, the reading unit configured to obtain image data according to the light received by the image sensor,

a pressure plate moveable between a posture where the surface of the contact glass is closed and a posture where the surface of the contact glass is opened;

a pressure-plate opening/closing sensor configured to detect whether the pressure plate is closed; and

circuitry configured to

determine a presence or absence of external light input to a space between the pressure plate and the surface of the contact glass based on image data obtained by the reading unit when the light source is turned off,

compare read data of the light emitted from the light source and received by the image sensor when the pressure plate is closed, with reference read data of the light emitted from the light source and received by the image sensor when the pressure plate is completely closed, to determine a difference between the read data and the reference read data, and

determine whether the pressure plate is open or closed based on the presence or absence of the external light and the difference.

2. The image reading device according to claim 1,

wherein the circuitry determines whether the pressure plate is open or closed only when the pressure-plate opening/closing sensor detects that the pressure plate is closed.

3. The image reading device according to claim 1,

wherein the circuitry further includes an alarm to report that the pressure plate is open when detecting that the pressure plate is open.

5. An image forming apparatus comprising the image reading device according to claim 1.

4. A method of detecting opening/closing of pressure-plate, used for an image reading device including

a contact glass having a surface on which a document is disposed or along which the document moves,

a reading unit including a light source configured to emit light to the document on the surface of the contact glass and an image sensor configured to receive the light reflected by the document, the reading unit configured to obtain image data according to the light received by the image sensor,

a pressure plate moveable between a posture where the surface of the contact glass is closed and a posture where the surface of the contact glass is opened, and

a pressure-plate opening/closing sensor configured to detect whether the pressure plate is closed,

the method comprising:

determining a presence or absence of external light input to a space between the pressure plate and the surface of the contact glass based on image data obtained by the reading unit when the light source is turned off;

comparing read data of the light emitted from the light source and received by the image sensor when the pressure plate is closed, with reference read data of the light emitted from the light source and received by the image sensor when the pressure plate is completely closed, to determine a difference between the read data and the reference read data; and

determining whether the pressure plate is open or closed based on the presence or absence of the external light and the difference.