Patent Application
20170094067
This application is based on and claims priority under 35 USC 119 from Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-188630 filed Sep. 25, 2015.
The present invention relates to a data communication control device, an image reading device, and an image forming apparatus.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a data communication control device including a transmitting unit that transmits data; and a receiving unit that receives the data through a communication line. The transmitting unit includes a transmitting component that transmits an establishment signal of establishing communication to transmit the data to the receiving unit through the communication line, and a first controller that controls the transmitting component. The receiving unit includes a receiving component that receives the data transmitted by the transmitting component, and outputs a confirmation signal of confirming the establishment of the data communication with the transmitting component when receiving the establishment signal, and a second controller that controls the receiving component, and transmits a notification signal of notifying the first controller about the establishment of the data communication through a dedicated line different from the communication line when receiving the confirmation signal input from the receiving component. The transmitting component starts transmitting the data when the first controller receives the notification signal.
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the following figures, wherein:
Exemplary embodiments of the invention are described below with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
The image forming unit 2 includes four image forming devices 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K that respectively dedicatedly form toner images of four colors of yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (K); an intermediate transfer device 20 that carries the toner images respectively formed by the image forming devices 10Y, 10M, 10C, and 10K and transports the toner images to a second transfer position at which the intermediate transfer device 20 finally second transfers the toner images on a recording paper 5 being an example of a recording medium; a paper feed device 50 that houses a predetermined recording paper 5 to be fed to the second transfer position of the intermediate transfer device 20 and transports the recording paper 5; and a fixing device 40 that fixes the toner images on the recording paper 5 second transferred by the intermediate transfer device 20.
The image reading device 3 roughly includes a housing 31 having a document reading surface at an upper end surface of the housing 31, a document press covering 32 attached to the housing 31 in an openable and closable manner, and a duplex automatic document feeder (DADF) 33 provided at one end portion (in the drawing example, a left end portion) of the document press covering 32.
The image reading device 3 may be switched between a first reading mode, in which images on the front and back surfaces of documents 6 are read while the documents 6 are automatically transported one by one by the DADF 33, and a second reading mode, in which an image on a document 6 placed on a document table 69 (described later) is read.
The DADF 33 has a document transport mechanism (a transport unit) including a document housing part 60 that is able to house plural documents 6 in a stacked manner with surfaces to be read (first surfaces) facing upward; a nudger roller 61 that sends the documents 6 from the document housing part 60; a feed roller 62 that separates and feeds the documents 6 sent by the nudger roller 61 one by one; a retard pad 62a that is pressed by the feed roller 62 and separates the documents 6 one by one; a first transport roller 63 that transports the document 6 toward a first reading position; a second transport roller 64 that transports the document 6 transported by the first transport roller 63 to the first reading position; a third transport roller 65 that is arranged downstream of the second transport roller 64 and transports the document 6 which has passed through the first reading position; and an output roller 67 that outputs the document 6 transported by the third transport roller 65 to an output housing part 66 or reverses the front and back surfaces of the document 6 by reversing a rotation direction and transports the document 6 again to the first transport roller 63. The nudger roller 61, the feed roller 62, the first to third transport rollers 63 to 65, and the output roller 67 are driven by a driving part (not shown) while the document 6 is read. The first transport roller 63 is a registration roller that adjusts a transport timing to the reading position of the document 6.
In the first transport roller 63, while a transport roller 63b serving as a driving roller arranged at the lower side and being rotatable in a direction indicated by arrow Ra stops, the leading edge of the document 6 transported by the feed roller 62 positioned at the upstream side in a transport direction of the document 6 contacts a contact part between the transport roller 63b and a transport roller 63a serving as a driven roller. Then, the first transport roller 63 executes skew correction by curving a leading edge region of the document 6, aligning the leading edge of the document 6 with the axial direction of the first transport roller 63, and then starting transport of the document 6.
Also, the DADF 33 includes a curved transport path 68a that guides the document 6 to the first reading position and guides the document 6 from the first reading position in an output direction, and a reverse transport path 68b that reverses the front and back surfaces of the document 6 and transports the document 6 to the first reading position again.
The housing 31 of the image reading device 3 is formed in a rectangular-parallelepiped-shaped box having an opening at a portion of an upper end surface of the box. The housing 31 includes an upper wall 312 facing the document press covering 32, a bottom wall 313 facing the upper wall 312, a side wall 314 and a side wall 315 facing each other along a sub-scanning direction (a left-right direction in
The upper wall 312 of the housing 31 has a large opening 317 having a planar rectangular shape at a portion corresponding to a second reading position for the document 6 to be read in the second reading mode. The transparent document table 69 (platen glass) that supports the document 6 is arranged at the opening 317. Also, a transparent reading window 70 for reading the document 6 in the first reading mode is provided at the DADF 33 side of the document table 69. A guide member 71 is provided between the reading window 70 and the document plate 69. The guide member 71 has an inclined upper surface that guides the document 6, which has passed through the reading position in the first reading mode, to the third transport roller 65.
The image reading device 3 includes an image reading unit 72 serving as an example of an image reading section that reads the image of the document 6, in the housing 31. The image reading unit 72 is arranged along the main-scanning direction (the direction orthogonal to the drawing). Also, the image reading unit 72 is attached to a movable body 73 formed of a carriage that is movable along the sub-scanning direction by a driving motor M through a driving pulley, a driving wire, etc. (not shown). The movable body 73 is guided by a rail (not shown) and is movable in a region indicated by arrows in
For the image reading unit 72, for example, a contact image sensor (CIS) is used. As shown in
More specifically, as shown in
In the first reading mode, as shown in
In contrast, in the second reading mode, as shown in
As shown in
The image reading substrate 80 includes an analog front end (AFE) 84 serving as an example of a first controller that amplifies image data formed of analog signals of three colors including red (R), green (G), and blue (B) output from the image reading element 78, removes noise, and converts the analog signals into digital signals, and a V-by-One (VBO) system transceiver 85 serving as an example of a transmitting component that transmits the image data output from the AFE 84 to the control substrate 82. The V-by-One (VBO) system is a high-speed serial interface technique for image transmission developed by THine Electronics, Inc. The V-by-One (VBO) system has a signal frequency of the image reading substrate 80 being as very high as about 1 GHz. This high-speed signal is able to be transmitted by a distance that is as long as several meters by a pair of differential signal lines. Also, the V-by-One (VBO) system employs a system that has a markedly smaller number of cables required for communication of image data as compared with parallel transmission system and that transmits clock and data in a superposed manner. The AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 has a function as a central processing unit (CPU). The AFE 84 also has a communication function. The AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 outputs a PDN signal (a power ON control signal for the transceiver and a receiver, described later), an HTPDN signal (a power ON detection signal of the receiver), and an LOCKN signal (a communication establishment detection signal with the receiver), to the VBO transceiver 85.
The power supply substrate 83 includes a power generation integrated circuit (IC) 83a. The power supply substrate 83 supplies a predetermined DC voltage, such as 3 V, 12 V, or 24 V, or a current to the image reading substrate 80 and the control substrate 82 at a predetermined timing.
Also, the control substrate 82 includes a CPU 86 that controls the image reading device 3, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) 87 serving as an example of a second controller that is controlled by the CPU 86 and executes (controls) communication etc. with respect to the image reading substrate 80, and a VBO receiver 89 of VBO system serving as an example of a receiving component connected to the VBO transceiver 85 of the image reading substrate 80 through a communication cable 88 serving as an example of a communication line. The communication cable 88 may be, for example, a flexible flat cable. Also, the ASIC 87 is connected to the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 through a dedicated line 90 in a manner available for serial communication. The dedicated line 90 may be an independent signal line or a portion of the communication cable 88.
The CPU 86 is connected to a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), etc., through a bus (not shown), and controls the operation of the image reading device 3 on the basis of a program stored in the ROM.
Also, the ASIC 87 is controlled by the CPU 86, outputs the PDN signal (the power ON control signal of the transceiver and the receiver) to the VBO receiver 89, and receives the HTPDN signal (the power ON detection signal of the receiver) and the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal with the receiver) input from the VBO receiver 89.
In the image reading device 3 according to the first exemplary embodiment, the image data of the document 6 read by the image reading element 78 of the image reading unit 72 is transmitted from the image reading substrate 80 to the control substrate 82 as follows.
In the image reading device 3, as shown in
As shown in
At this time, the image reading substrate 80 mounted on the image reading unit 72 executes an establishment operation of data communication with respect to the control substrate 82 through the communication cable 88 before transmission of image data based on an image reading operation. As shown in
The AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 drives the PDN signal (the power ON control signal) of the VBO transceiver 85 to High simultaneously when the AFE 84 receives the notification about that the PDN signal (the power ON control signal of the receiver) is High from the control substrate 82 (timing t2).
Then, when the ASIC 87 of the control substrate 82 detects that the HTPDN signal (the power ON detection signal of the receiver) output from the VBO receiver 89 becomes Low, the ASIC 87 notifies the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 about that the HTPDN signal (the power ON detection signal of the receiver) is Low by the serial communication through the communication cable 88 (timing t3).
Then, the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 switches the HTPDN signal (the power ON detection signal) of the VBO transceiver 85 to Low on the basis of the serial communication with the control substrate 82 (timing t4). Then, when the VBO transceiver 85 of the image reading substrate 80 detects that the HTPDN signal (the power ON detection signal of the transceiver) is switched to Low, the VBO transceiver 85 starts an operation of transmitting a predetermined test pattern serving as an example of an establishment signal of VBO system to the control substrate 82 through the communication cable 88 (timing t5).
When the ASIC 87 of the control substrate 82 correctly detects the test pattern serving as the example of the establishment signal of VBO system received through the VBO receiver 89, the ASIC 87 switches the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) serving as an example of a confirmation signal output to the image reading substrate 80 through the dedicated line 90 to Low (timing t6).
Then, when the ASIC 87 of the control substrate 82 detects that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) becomes Low, the ASIC 87 notifies the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 about that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) serving as an example of a notification signal by the serial communication through the dedicated line 90 (timing t7).
Then, when the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 receives the notification about that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) becomes Low, the AFE 84 switches the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) of the VBO transceiver 85 to Low (timing t8).
Then, when the VBO transceiver 85 of the image reading substrate 80 detects that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) serving as the example of the notification signal is Low by the serial communication, the VBO transceiver 85 starts transmission (output) of the image data of the document 6 read by the image reading element 78 (timing t9).
As described above, in the image reading device 3 according to the first exemplary embodiment, the serial communication is executed between the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 and the ASIC 87 of the control substrate 82. If it is detected that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) serving as the example of the notification signal is Low by the serial communication, the transmission (output) of the image data of the document 6 read by the image reading element 78 is started. Hence, to establish the data communication between the image reading substrate 80 of the image reading device 3 and the control substrate 82, it may be detected that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) serving as the example of the notification signal is Low by the serial communication through the dedicated line 90. Therefore, the image reading substrate 80 of the image reading device 3 and the control substrate 82 may be connected through the dedicated line 90. This decreases the number of transmission paths for transmitting the same control signal, as compared with a case in which control is normally executed on the basis of plural control signals input through plural transmission paths. Also, the image reading substrate 80 of the image reading device 3 and the control substrate 82 may detect that the LOCKN signal (the communication establishment detection signal) is Low by the serial communication through the dedicated line 90. This may reduce the influence of noise.
As shown in
Hence, In the case of related art shown in
In contrast, in the case of the above-described exemplary embodiment, since the establishment of the communication between the VBO transceiver 85 of the image reading substrate 80 and the VBO receiver 89 of the control substrate 82 is executed by the serial communication through the communication cable 88 as described above, even if electrostatic noise occurs, the communication establishment operation is executed again by the serial communication. Accordingly, receiving the influence of electrostatic noise may be avoided.
Also, after the communication is established between the VBO transceiver 85 of the image reading substrate 80 and the VBO receiver 89 of the control substrate 82, the AFE 84 of the image reading substrate 80 may hold the information on the communication establishment. Accordingly, receiving the influence of electrostatic noise may be avoided.
In this exemplary embodiment, as shown in
In the case of the first exemplary embodiment shown in
Hence, in the case of the second exemplary embodiment, the image reading substrate 80 is connected to the control substrate 82 through the DC lines 201 to 203.
In the second exemplary embodiment, as shown in
Also, in the second exemplary embodiment, as shown in
In the third exemplary embodiment, as shown in
Also, in the third exemplary embodiment, the VBO receiver 89 is provided in the ASIC 87, and hence the ASIC 87 and the VBO receiver 89 are integrated. The PDN signal is input from the ASIC 87 to the VBO receiver 89. Also, the HTPDN signal and the LOCKN signal are input from the VBO receiver 89 to the ASIC 87.
In the case of the third exemplary embodiment, by integrating the AFE 84 and the VBO transceiver 85 and integrating the ASIC 87 and the VBO receiver 89, the configurations of the image reading substrate 80 and the control substrate 82 are simplified.
In the fourth exemplary embodiment, as shown in
Also, in the fourth exemplary embodiment, the VBO receiver 89 is provided in the ASIC 87, and hence the ASIC 87 and the VBO receiver 89 are integrated. In the ASIC 87, the PDN signal, the HTPDN signal, and the LOCKN signal are input to the VBO receiver 89 through an inner circuit 96 (register control) without using an external circuit.
In the case of the fourth exemplary embodiment, by integrating the AFE 84 and the VBO transceiver 85 and integrating the ASIC 87 and the VBO receiver 89, the configurations of the image reading substrate 80 and the control substrate 82 are simplified. Also, since the PDN signal, the HTPDN signal, and the LOCKN signal are notified through the inner circuits 95 and 96 (register control) of the AFE 84 and the ASIC 87, superposition of noise or the like on the lines that transmit the PDN signal, the HTPDN signal, and the LOCKN signal may be restricted.
The foregoing description of the exemplary embodiments of the present invention has been provided for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with the various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-188630 | Sep 2015 | JP | national |
