Facsimile and static presentation processing – Facsimile – Picture signal generator
Reexamination Certificate
1998-11-13
2002-02-12
Grant, II, Jerome (Department: 2624)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Facsimile
Picture signal generator
C358S474000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06346996
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention mainly relates to facsimile apparatuses equipped with a hand scanner which is detachable from the main unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
With reference to FIG.
1
and
FIG. 2
, a conventional facsimile apparatus is explained below.
FIG. 1
is an overall perspective view showing a conventional facsimile apparatus. In
FIG. 1
, receiver holding section
12
is provided at the left (from the viewer's viewpoint) of the principal plane of facsimile apparatus main unit
11
and receiver
13
is placed on receiver holding section
12
. Operation panel
14
is provided at the center of facsimile apparatus main unit
11
. Facsimile transmission operation buttons, etc. are formed on this operation panel
14
.
In the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit hand scanner
16
to scan documents. In this case, the scanning side which is not shown in the figure of hand scanner
16
faces downward, that is, toward the interior of the main unit.
Furthermore, on the back of the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit
11
is document inlet
17
into which documents to be sent are inserted and recording paper outlet
18
that discharges recording paper which has recorded received data. On the lower part of the front of the main unit is document outlet
19
that discharges scanned documents. Furthermore, inside facsimile apparatus main unit
11
is rolled recording paper which is not shown in the figure.
Then, the document transmission operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus configured as shown above is explained below.
First, the case where documents are transmitted with hand scanner
16
set in scanner housing section
15
is explained.
Since the scanning side of hand scanner
16
faces downward, a document is inserted into document inlet
17
with its printed side facing upward. Then, pressing an appropriate operation button on operation panel
14
causes the document feeding roller which is not shown in the figure to start running and the document is fed into the interior of facsimile apparatus main unit
11
.
When the document reaches the scanning side which is not shown in the figure of hand scanner
16
, scanning of the document is started. The scanned image data is stored in memory temporarily and then transmitted to the destination via a public telephone line. The scanned transmitting document is discharged from document outlet
19
.
Then, the case where documents are transmitted with hand scanner
16
detached from the main unit is explained. The operator catches hand scanner
16
by hand and removes it from facsimile apparatus main unit
11
. Then, the operator places hand scanner
16
on a document to be scanned and checks the scanning position. Pressing the scanning start button which is not shown in the figure will start scanning. The operator slides hand scanner
16
across the document at an appropriate speed. When the scanning is completed, the operator sets hand scanner
16
in scanner housing section
15
.
Then, the reception operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus is explained below.
Upon reception of data from the sender, recording operation is started. The paper feeding roller which is not shown in the figure starts running to feed rolled recording paper. This rolled recording paper is attached inside the main unit in order to reduce the size of facsimile apparatus main unit
11
. The recording block which is not shown in the figure records the received data on recording paper and the recording paper which has recorded the received data is discharged from recording paper outlet
18
.
Then, another conventional facsimile apparatus different from the facsimile apparatus above is explained with reference to FIG.
2
.
FIG. 2
is an overall perspective view showing a conventional facsimile apparatus. In
FIG. 2
, receiver holding section
22
is provided at the left (from the viewer's viewpoint) of the principal plane of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
and receiver
23
is placed on receiver holding section
22
. Operation panel
24
is provided at the center of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
. Facsimile transmission operation buttons, etc. are formed on this operation panel
24
.
In the lower part of the front of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
is concave scanner holding section
25
which houses hand scanner
26
. When hand scanner
26
is set in scanner holding section
25
, the scanning side which is not shown in the figure of hand scanner
26
faces downward. This concave scanner holding section
25
also functions as a document outlet to discharge scanned transmitting documents.
Furthermore, on the rear of the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
is detachable cover
27
. When this cover
27
is opened, the transmitting document inlet which is not shown in the figure appears. On the back of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
is recording paper outlet
28
that discharges recording paper which has recorded receive data. Furthermore, inside facsimile apparatus main unit
21
is rolled recording paper which is not shown in the figure.
The document transmission/reception operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus configured as shown above is the same as the transmission/reception operation of the conventional facsimile apparatus described above, and thus its explanation is omitted here.
The conventional facsimile apparatus above has a configuration in which rolled recording paper is attached inside the apparatus main unit in order to reduce the size of the apparatus. However, it is difficult to have a configuration that will allow the apparatus to use plain paper. That is, the conventional facsimile apparatuses above have the problem that it is difficult to incorporate a paper feeding cassette that houses plain paper and a hand scanner which is detachable from the main unit simultaneously without increasing the size of the main unit with respect to the mounting position of the hand scanner.
The conventional facsimile apparatus shown in
FIG. 1
incorporates hand scanner
16
in the upper part of facsimile apparatus main unit
11
, which prevents it from setting the paper feeding cassette carrying plain paper in the upper part of the main unit. In addition, setting the paper feeding cassette inside facsimile apparatus main unit
11
will increase the size of the apparatus.
On the other hand, the conventional facsimile apparatus shown in
FIG. 2
houses hand scanner
26
in concave scanner housing section
25
in the lower part of the front of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
, which makes it easy to set the paper feeding cassette carrying plain paper in the upper part of the rear of facsimile apparatus main unit
21
. However, since hand scanner
26
is attached with its scanning side facing downward, when documents are transmitted with hand scanner
26
attached, documents will have to pass through a crooked path. This makes it difficult to send documents smoothly, causing the problem of increasing the probability of document clogging or paper jam.
The present invention is intended to solve such a problem and it is an objective of the present invention to provide a facsimile apparatus with a detachable hand scanner which will allow the use of plain paper without increasing the size of the apparatus.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first objective of the present invention is to allow the use of plain paper without increasing the size of a facsimile apparatus with a hand scanner.
The present invention achieves the objective above by setting the hand scanner in the front of the facsimile apparatus main unit with its scanning side facing right upward.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5166812 (1992-11-01), Dow
patent: 5402251 (1995-03-01), Ogasawara et al.
patent: 5497245 (1996-03-01), Uchida
patent: 5602650 (1997-02-01), Tamura
patent: 5663811 (1997-09-01), Shimizu
patent: 5848373 (1998-12-01), DeLorne
patent: 5854694 (1998-12-01), Payne
patent: 6104508 (2000-08-01), Miyazaki
patent: 2-285764 (1990-11-01), None
patent: 9-216748 (1997-08-01), None
pa
Isokane Yuichi
Uchiyama Masahiro
Grant II Jerome
Greenblum & Bernstein P.L.C.
Matsushita Graphic Communication Systems Inc.
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