These and/or other aspects and utilities of the present general inventive concept will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:
Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments of the present general inventive concept, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiments are described below in order to explain the present general inventive concept by referring to the figures.
As illustrated in
The main body 10 includes a document table 11 formed of a transparent flat plate, on which a document M can be placed. The printing unit 20 and the scanning unit 40 can be installed in the main body 10.
The printing unit 20 is movably installed in the main body 10 to print an image signal received from the outside onto a printing medium P. The printing unit 20 may be an array head (not illustrated) having a plurality of nozzles arranged crosswise on the printing medium P to spit ink onto the printing medium P to print an image. However, the printing unit 20 need not be an array head, and any of various printing methods can be employed.
Ink is supplied to the printing unit 20 by an ink supplier 22 consisting of an ink reservoir 22a containing ink, and a supply hose 22b to supply ink from the ink reservoir 22a to the printing unit 20. The printing unit 20 may receive ink from the ink reservoir 22a, which is provided separately from the main body 10. A detailed description of technical configurations of a conventional separation type ink supplier 22 has been omitted for conciseness and clarity.
The ink supplier 22 need not be a separation type ink supplier, and the printing unit 20 and ink supplier 22 can be integrally formed. Additionally, a plurality of ink reservoirs 22a can be provided to perform multi-color printing, and a single ink reservoir 22a can be provided to perform single color printing.
The printing unit 20 is installed facing a platen 21, on which the printing medium P can be placed flat, to print an image on the printing medium P while in a fixed position or while moving lengthwise along the printing medium P. A maintenance unit (not illustrated) may be installed in the platen 21 to perform capping and wiping of the nozzles of the printing unit 20.
A detailed description of technical configurations of the printing unit 20 to print an image by spitting ink on the printing medium P has been omitted for conciseness and clarity.
A transferring unit 60 transfers the printing medium P on which an image is printed by the printing unit 20. The transferring unit 60 may include a charging roller 61, a first absorption belt 62 and a second absorption belt 63.
The charging roller 61 charges the printing medium P and receives a voltage from a voltage applier (not illustrated).
The first absorption belt 62 and the second absorption belt 63 move in contact with the charging roller 61 to electrostatically absorb and transfer the charged printing medium P. The first absorption belt 62 and the second absorption belt 63 may move according to the printing region of the printing medium P.
The driving unit 30 drives the printing unit 20, and includes a driving motor 31, a driving belt 32 and a printing unit guide bar 33.
The driving motor 31 provides a driving force to drive the printing unit 20. The driving belt 32 is moved by the driving force of the driving motor 31 to drive the printing unit 20 while supporting the printing unit 20.
The printing unit guide bar 33 supports and guides the movement of the printing unit 20. A pair of printing guide bars 33 may be installed to guide the printing unit 20.
To obtain a high-resolution image, an image region formed on the printing medium P may be divided into at least two regions, and the printing unit 20 as configured above may be driven by the driving unit 30 to move back and forth at least once in each region. Accordingly, the printing unit 20 may move back and forth over a single image multiple times to print multiple copies of the image onto the printing medium P.
Additionally, when one nozzle among a plurality of nozzles of the printing unit 20 is clogged, the printing unit 20 may be operated to move horizontally across the printing medium P. Accordingly, there may be provided a second driving motor (not illustrated) to drive the printing unit 20 to move horizontally across the printing medium P, and a separate driving member to move the printing unit 20 in a direction orthogonal to the direction in which the printing medium P moves using a driving force of the second driving motor. Detailed descriptions and drawings of technical configurations of the above components have been omitted for conciseness and clarity.
The scanning unit 40 is movably installed in the main body 10 to scan an image of a document M placed on the document table 11. The scanning unit 40 may include a light sensor, such as a contact image sensor (CIS) or a charge coupled device (CCD), to detect light reflected from the document M by irradiating light to the document M. A detailed description of technical configurations of the scanning unit 40 has been omitted for conciseness and clarity.
As illustrated in
The linking unit 50 links the scanning unit 40 to the printing unit 20 being moved by the driving unit 30. The linking unit 50 includes a linking member 51 and a controller 52, as illustrated in
The linking member 51 is disposed on a lower surface of the scanning unit 40, to be selectively connected to an upper surface of the printing unit 20. Such a linking member 51 may include an electromagnet which is selectively connected to the printing unit 20 by a magnetic force generated from an external voltage. Accordingly, the printing unit 20, which is connected to the linking member 51 including an electromagnet, may be made of metals.
The controller 52 controls the voltage supplied to the linking member 51 in response to a scanning signal received from the outside, and also controls the connection between the printing unit 20 and the scanning unit 40. The scanning signal may be input through an input key mounted on the outside of the main body 10 or through an external input means, such as a computer, which may be connected to the multifunction peripheral.
An exemplary embodiment of the present general inventive concept provides the linking unit 50 including the linking member 51 including an electromagnet and the controller 52 to control the connection between the printing and scanning units 20 and 40, but the configuration of the multifunction peripheral is not necessarily limited thereto. Specifically, in the same manner as a locking projection is formed on the lower surface of the scanning unit 40 and a locking groove is formed on the upper surface of the printing unit 20, it is necessary to adopt one of various connecting means to selectively connect the scanning unit 40 to the printing unit 20 in response to the scanning signal outside the multifunction peripheral.
The printing and scanning operations of the multifunction peripheral as structured above will be described with reference to
In
If a user intends to print multiple copies of the image onto the printing medium P, movements of the first absorption belt 62 and the second absorption belt 63 are paused to stop the transfer of the printing medium P. Thereafter, the printing unit 20 is operated to move back and forth lengthwise along the printing medium P to print multiple copies of the image.
If the scanning signal is input from outside the multifunction peripheral, the printing unit 20 may move in a direction indicated by an arrow A2 to be displaced at a lower part of the scanning unit 40, as illustrated in
The scanning unit 40 connected to the printing unit 20 scans the image of the document M while being moved along the scanning unit guide bar 41 using a driving force of the driving motor 31 and the movement of the driving belt 32.
As described above, the present general inventive concept provides a printing unit and a scanning unit which are selectively linked so that the printing unit and scanning unit may be driven by a single driving means. Accordingly, a multifunction peripheral has a simple structure, and thus, it is possible to make full use of space and reduce manufacturing costs.
Although a few embodiments of the present general inventive concept have been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the general inventive concept, the scope of which is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-96369 | Sep 2006 | KR | national |