Patent Grant
8155556
This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-227951, filed on Aug. 24, 2006, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention is related to an image forming apparatus.
JP-A-2004-212494 discloses an image forming apparatus including a printer unit and a scanner unit provided on an upper side of the printer unit. An ejection space is provided between the printer unit and the scanner unit, while recording sheets such as recording paper ejected from the printer unit are placed in the ejection space. As a result, the image forming apparatus with reduced size and improved design can be provided.
However, users have desired an image forming apparatus with improved usability in addition to the reduction of size and the improvements in the design.
One aspect of the present invention has been made to consider the above-described needs, and has an object to provide an image forming apparatus with improved usability.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an image forming apparatus including: a printer unit that forms an image on a recording sheet; an operation panel for operating and/or setting the printer unit, a side on which the operation panel is provided is defined as a front side; and an ejection space on which the recording sheet ejected from the printer unit is placed, wherein, as viewed from the front side, a radius curvature of a first portion that intermediates a right side plane of the printer unit and a front plane of the printer unit is larger than a radius curvature of a second portion that intermediates a left side plane of the printer unit and the front plane of the printer unit.
As shown in
An ejection space 101 on which a recording sheet ejected from the printer unit 100 is placed is provided between the printer unit 100 and the scanner unit 200. A bottom portion 101A of the ejection space 101 functions as a paper ejection tray. In this illustrative aspect, the bottom portion 101A of the ejection space 101 will also be referred to as a paper ejection tray 101A.
Then, an operation panel 400 for operating and setting both the scanner unit 200 and the printer unit 100 is provided at a portion in the scanner unit 200, which corresponds to an upper portion of an opening portion 101B of the ejection space 101. In the image forming apparatus 1 of the illustrative aspect, the side where the operation panel 400 is provided is used as a front side thereof.
In this illustrative aspect, a right side directed when the image forming apparatus 1 is viewed from the front side will be referred to as a “right side” of the image forming apparatus 1 (printer unit 100 and scanner unit 200), whereas a left side directed when the image forming apparatus 1 is viewed from the front side will be referred to as a “left side” of the image forming apparatus 1 (printer unit 100 and scanner unit 200).
In the image forming apparatus 1 according to the illustrative aspect, the ejection space 101 has the opening portion 101B which is opened toward the front plane side, and the operation panel 400 is provided on the upper side of the ejection space 101 and the front side of the image forming apparatus 1.
As shown in
As shown in
The pillar portion 300 includes an inclined plane 301 downwardly inclined forward. A boundary line 302 between the scanner unit 200 and the pillar portion 300 is positioned on this inclined plane 301. Also, the scanner unit 200 includes a front plane 200F downwardly inclined forward. The inclined plane 301 is substantially flush with the front plane 200F when the scanner unit is a closed position. (see
As shown in
The paper feed tray 104 places thereon a recording sheet to be fed into the above-described image forming unit. The paper feed tray 104 is slidably (namely, movable in parallel) installed along the front/rear direction so that the paper feed tray 104 is drawn out from the front side.
As shown in
A front edge portion 200A of the scanner unit 200 is located on the rear side with respect to a front edge portion 101A of the printer unit 100. A front edge portion 400C of the operation panel 400 is positioned on the rear side with respect to a rear edge portion 103A of the door 103.
As shown in
As shown in
A portion 111 (which will be referred to as “front right curved plane 111” hereinafter) intermediates between a right side plane 107 of the printer unit 100 and a front plane 109 of the printer unit 100. A portion 115 (which will be referred to as “front left curved plane 115” hereinafter) intermediates between a left side plane 113 of the printer unit 100 and the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100. A portion 119 (which will be referred to as “rear right curved plane 119” hereinafter) intermediates between the right side plane 107 of the printer unit 100 and a rear plane 117 of the printer unit 100. A portion 121 (which will be referred to as “rear left curved plane 121” hereinafter) intermediates between the left side plane 113 of the printer unit 100 and the rear plane 117 of the printer unit 100. The front right curved plane 111, the front left curved plane 115, the rear right curved plane 119 and the rear left curved plane 121 are formed in curved plane shapes and are rounded.
In this illustrative aspect, a radius curvature of the front right curved plane 111 is set to become larger than a radius curvature of the front left curved plane 115, and also, a radius curvature of the rear left curved plane 121 is set to become larger than a radius curvature of the rear right curved plane 119. As shown in
A grip portion 125 used to grip the image forming apparatus 1 is provided on the lower edge portions of both the right side plane 107 and the left side plane 113 of the printer unit 100. This grip portion 125 includes concave portions which are sunken to the inner side of the printer unit 100.
In the illustrative aspect, the paper ejection tray 101A and the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100 are colored so that brightness of the paper ejection tray 101A becomes darker than that of the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100. Furthermore, the operation panel 400, the paper ejection tray 101A, and the pillar portion 300 are colored so that brightness of the operation panel 400 and the paper ejection tray 101A becomes darker than that of the pillar portion 300.
Specifically, the brightness of the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100 is approximately 8 in the Munsell value; the brightness of the paper ejection tray 101A is approximately 2 in the Munsell value; the brightness of the operation panel 400 is approximately 2 in the Munsell value; and the brightness of the pillar portion 300 is approximately 8 in the Munsell value.
It should also be noted that a Munsell value corresponds to a value defined based upon a Munsell chroma. As to a Munsell value related to brightness, the larger the Munsell value is increased, the lighter the brightness becomes, whereas the smaller the Munsell value is decreased, the darker, the brightness becomes.
As represented in
Also, a scanner cover 204 is swingably assembled on the upper plane side of the main body unit 201, while the scanner cover 204 covers both the reading windows 202 and 203. In order to a document is read out via the still reading window 202, this scanner cover 204 is manually opened to the upper side, and then, the document is placed on the still reading window 202.
An imaging element 205 is arranged within the main body unit 201. The imaging element 205 receives light irradiated onto and reflected from the document and produces an electric signal based upon the received light. The scanner unit 200 converts an image such as a character written on the document into an electric signal so as to read the image via the imaging element 205.
For instance, in the illustrative aspect, as the imaging element 205, a CIS (Contact Image Sensor) is employed. A longitudinal direction of this CIS (imaging element 205) is extended along a direction perpendicular to a feeding direction thereof (namely, a direction perpendicular to the paper plane of the drawing) just under both the reading windows 202 and 203.
The imaging element 205 performs a scanning operation along the longitudinal direction of the main body unit 201 via a carriage 206, namely along the left/right direction of the image forming apparatus 1. When the image forming apparatus 1 is operated in the automatic feeding/reading function, the imaging element 205 reads an image under a condition that the imaging element 205 is stopped and arranged just under the automatic reading window 203. On the other hand, when the image forming apparatus 1 is operated in the still document reading function, while the imaging element 205 is fed just under the still reading window 202, the imaging element 205 reads an image from a scanning start position set to a left side of a paper plane of the drawing toward a right side of the paper plane of the drawing.
An automatic document feeding mechanism 210 (namely, automatic document feeder) is provided in the scanner cover and at and in the vicinity of a portion corresponding to the automatic reading window 203. The automatic document feeding mechanism 210 feeds a document which should be read to the automatic reading window 203.
It should also be understood that a document tray 211 serves as a placing unit used to place thereon documents for automatic reading. The documents stacked and placed on the document tray 211 are fed to the automatic reading window 203 by the automatic document feeding mechanism 210, and thereafter, the fed documents are ejected to the ejection tray 212 so as to be placed thereon.
As shown in
Specifically, a Munsell value of the left-sided portion of the scanner cover 204 such as the portion “A” of
When a right hand of a user is moved to the side of the operation panel 400 in order to operate the operation panel 400, there are some possibilities that the hand of the user collides with the right corner portion of the printer unit 100. However, in accordance with the illustrative aspect, the radius curvature of the front right curved plane 111 is set to be larger than that of the front left curved plane 115. As a result, it is possible to suppress that the hand of the user collides with the right corner portion of the printer unit 100. Even if the hand of the user collides with the right corner portion of the printer unit 100, then shocks (pains) occurred in this collision can be reduced.
Also, in the illustrative aspect, the front edge portion 200A of the scanner unit 200 is positioned on the rear side with respect to the front edge portion 100A of the printer unit 100, and further, the front edge portion 400C of this operation panel 400 is positioned on the rear side with respect to the rear edge portion of the door 103. As a result, the user can visually recognize the opening portion 101B of the ejection space 101 from the upper oblique side.
As a consequence, the recording sheets ejected to the ejection space 101 can be easily taken out, and when the recording sheets are taken out from the ejection space 101, it is possible to suppress that the hand of the user collides with the operation panel 400. Furthermore, when the door 103 is opened/closed, the operability of the operation panel 400 can be improved while opening/closing of the door 103 are not interrupted by the operation panel 400.
Also, in the illustrative aspect, the connecting terminal 105 is provided on the left side of the printer unit 100, as viewed from the front plane side. As a result, the connecting terminal 105 is mounted at the relatively sharp corner portion whose radius curvature is small, which is located on the left side of the image forming apparatus 1, and even when the user uses the user's right hand, the user's right hand can hardly collide with the connecting terminal 105. As a consequence, as compared with a case where the connecting terminal 105 is mounted on a rounded corner portion whose radius curvature is larger, it is possible to prevent the device connected to the connecting terminal 105 and the connecting terminal 105 from being damaged by the manipulations by the right hand of the user. In addition, this can readily secure the space within the printer unit 100 for mounting the rectangular-shaped board 105A which mounts thereon the connecting terminal 105.
In the illustrative aspect, the front plane side of the pillar portion 300 is inclined, and furthermore, the boundary line 302 between the scanner unit 200 and the pillar portion 300 is positioned on the inclined plane 301 and the front plane 200F of the scanner unit 200. As a result, the user swingably moves the scanner unit 200 to open the ejection space 101, so that the user can readily take out relatively small recording sheets such as post cards ejected to the ejection space 101. The front plane 200F of the scanner unit 200 may not be inclined and/or flush with the inclined plane 301, as long as the user can visually recognize the boundary line 302 from the upper and/or front side.
Then, since the boundary line 302 between the scanner unit 200 and the pillar portion 300 is located on the inclined plane 301 and the inclined plane 200F, when the user swingably moves the scanner unit 200 to open the ejection space 101, the user can visually recognize the boundary line 302 from the upper side.
Also, in the illustrative aspect, the corner portion 211A of the document tray 211 on the right side as viewed from the front plane side is made round, while the corner portion 211A is located on the front side but the opposite side of the automatic document feeding mechanism 210. As a result, in the case that a document is placed on the document tray 211 and a document is taken out from the ejection tray 212, it is possible to avoid that the hand of the user collides with the corner of the document tray 211. Even if the hand of the user collides with the corner of the document tray 211, shocks (pains) occurred in this collision can be reduced.
When the image forming apparatus 1 is installed to be closely contacted to a wall, the air duct ports such as an air exhaust port and an air in-take port, which are formed in the image forming apparatus 1, are blocked up by the wall. As a result, the interior portion of the image forming apparatus 1 cannot be exhausted (cooled).
In contrast thereto, in the illustrative aspect, since the air duct port 123 is formed in the front right curved plane 111, even when the image forming apparatus 1 is installed to be closely contacted to the wall, a gap may be produced between the wall and the front right curved plane 111. As a result, air can be ventilated through the air duct port 123, so that the interior portion of the image forming apparatus 1 can be ventilated (cooled).
Also, in the illustrative aspect, the right edge portion 400A of the operation panel 400 is located on the left side from the right edge portion 200B of the scanner unit 200, and further, the left edge portion 400B of the operation panel 400 is located on the right side from the left edge portion 200C of the scanner unit 200. As a result, when the user moves the user's hand to the side of the operation panel 400 in order to operate the operation panel 400, it is possible to suppress that the user's hand of the user collides with the operation panel 400.
Brightness of a recording sheet is normally larger than or equal to 9 (in unit of Munsell value), namely becomes bright, and moreover, the brightness of the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100 is approximated to the above-described brightness of the recording sheet. As a consequence, as described in the illustrative aspect, if the brightness of the paper ejection tray 101A is made darker than the brightness of the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100, then recording sheets may become conspicuous, so that the recording sheets ejected on the paper ejection tray 101A can be easily found out.
Also, in the illustrative aspect, the brightness of the front plane 109 of the printer unit 100 is approximated to the brightness of the pillar portion 300, and furthermore, the brightness of both the operation panel 400 and the paper ejection tray 101A is darker than the brightness of the pillar portion 300. As a consequence, the recording sheets ejected on the paper ejection tray 101A can be easily found out.
In a scanning start position (home position) of the imaging element 205, a confirmation operation of the scanning start position and a confirmation operation of a white reference are carried out. If light is entered into the still reading window 202 when this confirmation operation is carried out, then an adverse influence is given to the confirmation operations.
To the contrary, in the illustrative aspect, the brightness of the portion (portion “A” of
Although the CIS is employed as the imaging element 205 in the above-described illustrative aspect, the present invention is not limited only to this CIS. Alternatively, for instance, a CCD (Change-Coupled Device) may be employed.
Also, although the scanner unit 200 according to the above-described illustrative aspect has both the still document reading function and the automatic feeding/reading function, the present invention is not limited only thereto. Alternatively, the scanner unit 200 may have any one of the still document reading function and the automatic feeding/reading function.
Also, although the scanner unit 200 is swingably attached on the rear side of the portion of the pillar portion 300 via the hinge mechanism in the above-described illustrative aspect, the present invention is not limited only thereto. Alternatively, for example, the scanner unit 200 may be swingably attached to any portion other than the pillar portion 300. Otherwise, the scanning unit 200 may be assembled on the pillar portion 300 under without swingable condition.
Also, although the air duct port 123 is formed in the front right curved plane 111 in the above-described illustrative aspect, the present invention is not limited only thereto.
Also, although the electrophotographic type image forming apparatus is applied to the printer unit 100 in the above-described illustrative aspect, the present invention is not limited only thereto. Alternatively, an ink jet type image forming apparatus may be applied to the printer unit 100.
Also, although the USB terminal is provided as the connecting terminal 105 in the above-explained illustrative aspect, the present invention is not limited only thereto.
Furthermore, the present invention is not limited only to the above-described illustrative aspects but various changes and modification may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.
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