Patent Publication Number: US-2003226460-A1

Title: Image output apparatus having a paper folding line forming function and paper folding line forming method using the same

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001] This application claims the benefit of Korean Application No. 2002-31602, filed Jun. 5, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0003] The present invention relates to an image output apparatus having a paper folding line forming function and a paper folding line forming method using the same.  
       [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0005] Image output apparatuses such as printers, copiers or multi-functional apparatuses print a desired image on a feeding paper and output the printed paper along a predetermined paper output path. However, the paper outputted from the image output apparatus is frequently folded several times prior to use. For example, newspapers, cards, or organizational publications such as church bulletins are distributed by being folded vertically or horizontally at the center. In these cases, the paper outputted from the image output apparatus must be manually folded. However, it is not easy to fold the paper accurately. In particular, it is extremely cumbersome to fold many sheets of paper.  
       [0006] Thus, when large amounts of paper must be folded, an image output apparatus having a folding function is needed to reduce the workload.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007] Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an image output apparatus to form a folding line on an outputted paper and a method of forming a folding line using the above apparatus.  
       [0008] Additional objects and advantages of the 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.  
       [0009] The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are achieved by providing an image output apparatus to print an image on a sheet of paper and to output the printed paper while transferring the paper, the apparatus including a first folding line forming apparatus to form a first folding line in a first direction parallel to a direction in which the paper is transferred along a paper transfer path; and a second folding line forming apparatus to form a second folding line in a second direction perpendicular to the paper transfer direction, wherein the first and second folding line forming apparatuses are provided along the paper transfer path.  
       [0010] The foregoing and other objects of the present invention are also achieved by providing a method of forming a paper folding line of an image output apparatus including providing a first folding line forming apparatus to form a folding line in a first direction parallel to a direction in which a sheet of paper is transferred along a paper transfer path and a second folding line forming apparatus to form a folding line in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, wherein the first and second folding line forming apparatuses are provided on the paper transfer path; inputting a folding line pattern to be formed on the paper in the first and second directions; and forming the folding lines in the first and second directions by selectively driving the first and second folding line forming apparatuses according to the input folding line pattern. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0011] These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the preferred embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which:  
     [0012]FIG. 1 is a view illustrating the structure of an image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;  
     [0013]FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating the first and second folding line forming apparatus of the image output apparatus of FIG. 1;  
     [0014]FIGS. 3 and 4 are views illustrating selection screens provided to a user by an information processor to utilize the image output apparatus of FIG. 1;  
     [0015]FIG. 5 is a view for explaining the forming of a second direction folding line by the second folding line forming apparatus of FIG. 1;  
     [0016]FIG. 6 is a view for explaining the forming of a first direction folding line by the first folding line forming apparatus of FIG. 1; and  
     [0017]FIGS. 7 and 8 are views for explaining another example of use of the first folding line forming apparatus of FIG. 1. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0018] Reference will now be made in detail to the present preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.  
     [0019]FIG. 1 schematically shows the structure of the inside of an image output apparatus having a folding line forming function according to an embodiment of the present invention.  
     [0020] As shown in FIG. 1, an image output apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a paper supply portion  10  to supply a sheet of paper, a print portion to print an image on the supplied paper, and a paper exhaust portion  30  to output the printed paper through a paper exhaust outlet  31 . Also, there is a first folding line forming apparatus  110  to form a folding line in a longitudinal direction X (hereinafter, referred to as the “first direction”) parallel to a direction in which the paper is transferred. A second folding line forming apparatus  120  forms a folding line in a latitudinal direction (hereinafter, referred to as the “second direction”) perpendicular to the first direction.  
     [0021] The second folding line forming apparatus  120 , as shown in FIG. 2, includes an elevating plate  122  installed at a support body  124  to move up and down, an actuator  123  to drive the elevating plate  122 , a pressing pin  121  installed on a lower surface of the elevating plate  122 , and a support pad  125  to receive a pressing force of the pressing pin  121  at a opposite side of a paper S. The elevating plate  122  has a width which is the same as a width of the paper S in the second direction. Thus, when the actuator  123  lowers the elevating plate  122  when the paper S is disposed just under the elevating plate  122 , the pressing pin  121  presses the paper S against the support pad  125  so that a folding line is made across the entire width of the paper S in the second direction. A rubber pad capable of elastically receiving the pressure from the pressing pin  121  may be used as the support pad  125 .  
     [0022] Also, the first folding line forming apparatus  110  includes an elevating member  112  installed to be elevated above a transfer path of the paper S, an actuator  113  to elevate the elevating member  112 , and a pressing pin  111  installed at a lower surface of the elevating member  112 . Here, unlike the elevating member  112  of the second folding line forming apparatus  120 , the elevating member  112  has a width approximately corresponding to an area where a folding line is formed in the first direction, not the entire width across the paper S. That is, the first folding line forming apparatus  110  does not print a folding line across the entire width in the first direction at a time in which the paper S is not moved, but instead the folding line in the first direction is formed by repeating the actions of ascending and descending the elevating member  112  while the paper S is transferred in the first direction.  
     [0023] The elevating member  112  can be transferred by a transfer unit in the second direction. The transfer unit includes a guide rail  116  installed in the second direction, a moving block  114 , on which the elevating member  116  and the actuator  113  are mounted, installed to move along the guide rail  116 , and a driving apparatus  117  to move the moving block  114  to a desired position along the guide rail  116 . Thus, after the driving apparatus  117  moves the moving block  114  to a desired position in the second direction, the elevating member  112  is moved up and down by the actuator  113  so that a folding line in the first direction is formed at the desired position on the paper S.  
     [0024] In the image output apparatus having the above structure, a paper folding line is formed as follows.  
     [0025] First, a user selects a desired folding pattern through an information processor  50  (please refer to FIG. 1) connected to the image output apparatus. A variety of patterns are provided to the user as shown in FIG. 3. Then, the user selects a desired folding line pattern from among the provided patterns. Here, the user can arbitrarily set the position of a folding line by pressing a button “user define” and receiving a setting environment as shown in FIG. 4, instead of the previously set patterns. Of course, since the arbitrary setting does not exceed a scope of the combination of two folding lines in the first and second directions, the first and second folding line forming apparatuses  110  and  120  can sufficiently cope with the arbitrary setting.  
     [0026] For example, it is assumed that a user selects a pattern in which folding lines are formed in the middle of the longitudinal and latitudinal directions, that is, the third pattern in FIG. 3. In this state, as printing proceeds, the paper S supplied from the paper supply portion  10  proceeds along a transfer path, passes the print portion  20 , and arrives at the paper output portion  30  where the first and second folding line forming apparatuses  110  and  120  are installed. Typically, since the folding line is formed together with a print job, in most cases, an image has already been printed on the paper S after passing the print portion  20 . However, in some cases, folding lines are to be formed on a non-printed paper. In this case, the paper S arrives at the first and second folding line forming apparatuses  110  and  120  without printing an image thereon at the print portion  20 . Here, it is possible to switch the positions of the first and second folding line forming apparatuses  110  and  120 . In the present embodiment, the second folding line forming apparatus  120  is arranged ahead of the first folding line forming apparatus  110 . Thus, the paper S passing the print portion  20  first meets the second folding line forming apparatus  120 .  
     [0027] Here, a controller (not shown) of the image output apparatus controls the paper transfer position so that a position where a folding line the second direction is formed is disposed just under the elevating plate  122  of the second folding line forming apparatus  120 . That is, when the position where the folding line in the second direction is formed on the paper S is disposed just under the elevating plate  122 , the controller stops a transfer roller  40 . Next, the elevating plate  122  is lowered by the control of the controller. Then, the pressing pin  121  installed at the elevating plate  122  presses the paper S against the support pad  125 , as shown in FIG. 5, so that the folding line is formed across the entire width in the second direction. Thereafter, as the elevating plate  122  ascends, the controller drives the transfer roller  40  again to move the paper S toward the first folding line forming apparatus  110 .  
     [0028] When the paper S is moved toward the first folding line forming apparatus  110 , the controller controls the driving apparatus  117  to move the moving block  114  so that the elevating member  112  is disposed just above a position where a folding line is to be formed in the first direction. Next, when the leading end of the paper enters the position just under the elevating member  112 , the elevating member  112  is lowered by the actuator  113 . Then, the pressing pin  111  installed at the elevating member  112  presses the leading end of the paper S against a support pad  115  formed of rubber to form a folding line. While the paper S is moved in the first direction, as shown in FIG. 6, the folding line in the first direction is formed on the trailing end of the paper by repeating the elevating motion.  
     [0029] By the above operations, folding lines, for example, in the shape of a cross, are formed on the paper S passing the first and second folding line forming apparatuses  110  and  120 . Thus, the paper S outputted after passing the above operations can be easily folded into a desired shape by folding along the folding lines.  
     [0030] In the meantime, when two folding lines are to be formed in the second direction, such as in the fifth pattern shown in FIG. 3, the paper S is stopped at a position where the first folding line is to be formed and the elevating plate  122  of the second folding line forming apparatus  120  is lowered to form a folding line. Then, the elevating plate  122  is lifted and the paper S is moved and stopped at a position where the second folding line is to be formed and the above operation is repeated to form the second folding line.  
     [0031] Also, when two folding lines are to be formed in the first direction, such as in the fourth pattern shown in FIG. 3, the elevating member  112  is reciprocated by the transfer unit between the first folding line position and the second folding line position and moved up and down. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, two folding lines in the first direction are formed by changing the position of the elevating member  112  in the order of (1)→(2)→(3)→(4)→(5)→(6). Here, the position changes of (1)→(2), (3)→(4), and (5)→(6) are performed by changing the position of the elevating member  112  along the guide rail  116  by the transfer unit while the position changes of (2)→(3) and (4)→(5) are performed by transfer of the paper S by the transfer roller  40 .  
     [0032] In the present embodiment, the first and second folding line forming apparatuses  110  and  120  are separately provided. However, the folding lines in the first and second directions may both be formed only by the first folding line forming apparatus. That is, as shown in FIG. 8, as the pressing pin  111  presses the paper S by narrowing the displacement of elevating member  112  with respect to the second direction, a folding line in the second direction can be formed as it is formed by the second folding line forming apparatus  120 . Of course, such a method takes more time than forming the folding line in the second direction across the entire width of the paper S by using the elevating plate  122  of the second folding line forming apparatus  120 . However, it is an advantage that an additional second folding line forming apparatus  120  is not needed so that a compact image output apparatus is possible.  
     [0033] As described above, in the image output apparatus according to the present invention, since a user selects a desired pattern of a folding line and the first and second folding line forming apparatuses are selectively driven, a folding line corresponding to the input pattern can be formed in the first and second directions.  
     [0034] The above-described image output apparatus according to the present invention has the following advantages. First, since a desired folding line pattern is formed on an outputted paper, a user can conveniently fold the paper into a desired shape. Second, since the folding lines can be formed both in the first direction (parallel to the direction in which the paper is transferred) and in the second direction (perpendicular thereto), a variety of folding line patterns can be realized.  
     [0035] Although a few preferred embodiments of the present invention 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 invention, the scope of which is defined in the claims and their equivalents.