Patent Publication Number: US-2005134885-A1

Title: Image scanning apparatus

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION  
      This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2003-87167, filed Dec. 3, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      1. Field of the Invention  
      The present invention relates to an image scanning apparatus, and more particularly, to an image scanning apparatus having a single frame structure in which a series of components of a scanning portion to scan an image is integrally disposed at one frame.  
      2. Description of Related Art  
      In general, an image scanning apparatus such as a facsimile or the like has a scanning portion for scanning a document sheet, and a printing portion for forming an image on a recording medium using image data.  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a portion of an example of a conventional image scanning apparatus, and  FIG. 2  is a side section view illustrating the conventional image scanning apparatus.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an image scanning apparatus includes a printing portion  30  at a lower portion of a main body  10 , and a scanning portion  20  at an upper portion of the main body  10 .  
      The scanning portion  20  has a pickup roller  21  installed in the main body to pick up a document sheet, a feed roller  22  for feeding the document sheet picked up by the pickup roller  21  to the downstream side thereof, an image sensor  24  for scanning the document sheet, and a white roller  23  installed to face the image sensor  24  with the document sheet interposed therebetween for transferring the document sheet to the downstream side.  
      A lower frame  25  is pivotably installed to be able to pivot upward at an upper side of the pickup roller  21 , the feed roller  22  and the image sensor  24 , and an upper frame  26  is pivotably installed at an upper side of the lower frame  25  to be able to pivot upward. A sheet transfer path S is provided through a gap (space) formed between the upper frame  26  and the lower frame  25  so that a document sheet to be scanned can be transferred along the sheet transferring path S.  
      Since a scanning operation panel  27  is installed at an upside of the upper frame  26  to be able to pivot upward, a user can perform operations required for scanning a document sheet by means of the scanning operation panel  27 .  
      The printing portion  30  prints image data on a recording sheet, and discharges the image printed sheet to the outside via the sheet transfer path P.  
      In the above conventional image scanning apparatus, since the lower frame  25  is installed on the main body  10 , the upper frame  26  is installed on the lower frame  25 , and the scanning operation panel  27  is installed on the upper frame  26 , the number of components of the scanning portion for scanning a document sheet is great, and the structure of the scanning portion is complex. Therefore, the material cost of the scanning portion increases, and the assembling jobs thereof cannot be efficiently performed. These factors negatively affect the competitiveness of the image scanning apparatus. In particular, there is a problem in which the reliability of the image scanning apparatus decreases due to accumulation of assembling tolerances during assembling various components.  
     BRIEF SUMMARY  
      To solve the above-described and/or other problems, embodiments of the present invention provide an image scanning apparatus having enhanced reliability by installing components of a scanning portion at an integrated frame.  
      According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image scanning apparatus having a scanning portion for scanning a document sheet, and a printing portion for printing an image on a recording sheet, including: a frame installed on the printing portion, the frame configured to receive a series of components of the scanning portion for scanning a document sheet.  
      The apparatus may include a discharged printed sheet bed which guides an image printed sheet so as to allow the image printed sheet to be discharged from the printing portion and to be stacked thereon.  
      According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image scanning apparatus including: a printing section; and a scanning section detachably coupled to an upper side of the printing section, the scanning portion having a frame in which components for scanning a document sheet are disposed.  
      A scanning portion of an apparatus, including a frame having a component receiving portion which receives scanning components. The scanning portion includes plural scanning components. The plural scanning components are received by the frame.  
      Additional and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and, in part, will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
       FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a portion of a conventional image scanning apparatus;  
       FIG. 2  is a side section view of the conventional image scanning apparatus of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view illustrating an image scanning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
       FIG. 4  is a side view illustrating the image scanning apparatus shown in  FIG. 3 ; and  
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view illustrating a scanning portion of the image scanning apparatus shown in  FIG. 3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENT  
      Reference will now be made in detail to an embodiment of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. The embodiment is described below in order to explain the present invention by referring to the figures.  
      Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , an image scanning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention has a printing portion  100 , a scanning portion  200 , and an operation portion  300 .  
      The printing portion  100  which forms an image on a recording sheet is positioned at a lower part of the image scanning apparatus.  
      The scanning portion  200  is installed to be detachable at the upper side of the printing portion  100  so as to scan a document sheet, and all the components for scanning a document sheet are provided in frame  210  in an assembled shape (configuration).  
      That is, the scanning portion  200  has one integrally molded frame  210 , and the components for scanning a document sheet are disposed in the frame  210 .  
      Provided at the integrated frame  210  are a document supporting bed portion  220  which can be adjusted to fit the size of document sheets to be scanned so as to support both sides of document sheets, a pickup roller  230  for picking up a document sheet laid on the document supporting bed portion  220 , an image sensor  250  for scanning an image formed on the document sheet picked up by the pickup roller  230 , a white roller  240  installed to face the image sensor  250  with the document sheet interposed therebetween for causing the document sheet to be pressed toward the image sensor  250 , a discharging roller  260  for discharging the document sheet the image of which has been scanned by the image sensor  250  to the outside, and a document guide portion  270  for guiding the document sheet scanned by the image sensor  250  so as to allow the scanned document sheet to be discharged.  
      A discharged document sheet bed  280  on which discharged document sheets are to be stacked is detachably installed at the rear end of the document guide portion  270 .  
      A discharged printed sheet bed  290  on which discharged printed sheets on which respective images are formed and which are discharged from the printing portion  100  are to be stacked is provided below the document guide portion  270 . A recording sheet on which an image is formed at the printing portion  100  is guided by the lower portion of the document guide portion  270  and is stacked on the discharged printed sheet bed  290 .  
      When the scanning portion  200  is installed on the printing portion  100 , the scanning portion  200  is connected to a driving power source (not shown) provided at the printing portion  100  so as to drive the pickup roller  230 , the white roller  240 , and the discharging roller  260 , and receives driving power from the driving power source (not shown) and is driven by the driving power.  
      The operation portion  300  is installed on the upper portion of the scanning portion  200 , and is provided with various buttons for controlling the image scanning apparatus.  
      The operation of the image scanning apparatus configured as described above according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to  FIGS. 3-5 .  
      Referring to  FIG. 5 , a document sheet laid on the document supporting bed portion  220  is transported between the image sensor  250  and the white roller  240  by the pickup roller  230 , and an image formed on the document sheet is scanned by the image sensor  250 .  
      The document sheet the image of which has been scanned by the image sensor  250  is transferred to the discharging roller  260  and is stacked on the discharged document sheet bed  280  via the document guide portion  270 . A document sheet laid on the document supporting bed portion  220  is transported along a document sheet transfer path S formed by the scanning portion  200  and the operation portion  300 , and is discharged to the discharged document sheet bed  280 .  
      A recording sheet on which an image is formed at the printing portion  100  is discharged to the discharged printed sheet bed  290  along a recording sheet transfer path P formed when the scanning portion  200  is installed on the printing portion  100 , while being guided by the lower portion of the document guide portion  270 .  
      As described above, the reliability of the image scanning apparatus can be enhanced since the scanning portion is formed at one integrated frame and is configured to have a simple structure so as to be able to be detachable from the printing portion, and therefore ease of assembly of the apparatus can be enhanced and cumulative tolerance occurring between parts and components can be reduced.  
      Although an embodiment of the present invention have been shown and described, the present invention is not limited to the described embodiment. Instead, it would be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in the embodiment without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined by the claims and their equivalents.