Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a main body and a reading unit. The reading unit includes: a document table; a lower supporting member that supports the document table from below; an upper supporting member that contacts an upper side of the document table and clamps the document table with the lower supporting member; and a reading device. The main body includes an exterior member arranged in a position adjacent to the upper supporting member when the reading unit is in a close position. One of the upper supporting member and the exterior member includes an abutting portion and the other includes an abutted portion so as to configure a positioning mechanism for establishing positioning of a relative position between the upper supporting member and the exterior member in an up-down direction.

Abstract: An image reading apparatus includes a carriage, a carriage detector, and a control unit. The carriage detector outputs a detection signal of the carriage when the carriage is at the home position, and outputs a non-detection signal of the carriage when the carriage is located closer to a document size reading position than a predetermined position between the home position and the document size reading position. The control unit moves the carriage to the home position when the image reading apparatus enters a sleep mode, keeps the carriage detained while performing initialization after the sleep mode is cancelled, and moves the carriage, upon receipt of a scanning instruction after the initialization is completed, toward the document size reading position in the case where the carriage detector outputs the detection signal of the carriage.

Abstract: An image scanning device includes a document table; a document pressing unit configured to press a document placed on the document table; a scanning unit including a light source for illuminating the document and configured to optically scan the document; an open/close detection unit configured to detect opening and closing of the document pressing unit; and a control unit configured to cause the scanning unit to move parallel to the document and thereby to detect a size of the document when the closing of the document pressing unit is detected by the open/close detection unit or when a scanning start signal is detected. The control unit detects the size of the document within a document size detection period that is changeable according to a speed of closing the document pressing unit, and turns on and off the light source based on the document size detection period.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus 10 includes: a body frame 11 including an image forming section 60; and an image reading section 40, as an upper member openably mounted on top of the body frame, that is provided with a document stage on which a document is loaded and that reads an image of the document. The image forming apparatus further includes: first holding member 6 placing the image reading section 40 over the image forming section and holding it in a closed state; and second holding member 1 holding the image reading section rotatably relative to the image forming section and having a guide shaft and guide slots that are in a disengaged state when the image reading section is in the closed state and that engage with each other so as to function as a hinge when the image reading section is rotated from the closed state to the open state, relative to the image forming section.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having removable/replaceable process cartridges is provided. One of the removable/replaceable process cartridges is removed/replaced from a panel which is different than a panel from which the other removable/replaceable process cartridges is removed/replaced. One of the removable/replaceable process cartridges is associated with an exposure device which is only used to expose a portion of that process cartridge while the other removable/replaceable process cartridges are associated with at least one other exposure device. An image forming apparatus may include two or more different types of exposure devices. An image forming apparatus includes a plurality of guide members for guiding portions of an exposure device arranged on a panel of the image forming apparatus such that when the door or panel is arranged on the image forming apparatus, the exposure device is guided into position by the guide members.

Abstract: When the time period is night, processing advances to step S13 to set the initialization speed of a line feed motor to the first speed (v1), and to step S15 to execute initialization operation of the line feed motor at the first speed (v1). When the time period is morning or daytime, the processing advances to step S12 to detect a cover open/closed state. When the cover is open, the processing advances to step S13 to set the initialization speed of the line feed motor to the first speed (v1). When the cover is closed, the processing advances to step S14 to set the initialization speed of the line feed motor to the second speed (v2) which is higher than the first speed (v1). The processing advances to step S15 to execute initialization operation of the line feed motor at the second speed (v2).

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having removable/replaceable process cartridges is provided. One of the removable/replaceable process cartridges may be removed/replaced from a panel which is different than a panel from which the other removable/replaceable process cartridges may be removed/replaced. One of the removable/replaceable process cartridges may be associated with an exposure device which is only used to expose a portion of that process cartridge while the other removable/replaceable process cartridges may be associated with at least one other exposure device. An image forming apparatus may include two or more different types of exposure devices (e.g., laser based, light emitting diode based, etc.). An image forming apparatus may include a plurality of guide members for guiding portions of an exposure device arranged on a panel of the image forming apparatus such that when the door or panel is arranged on the image forming apparatus, the exposure device is guided into position by the guide members.

Abstract: An image forming apparatus having removable/replaceable process cartridges is provided. One of the removable/replaceable process cartridges may be removed/replaced from a panel which is different than a panel from which the other removable/replaceable process cartridges may be removed/replaced. One of the removable/replaceable process cartridges may be associated with an exposure device which is only used to expose a portion of that process cartridge while the other removable/replaceable process cartridges may be associated with at least one other exposure device. An image forming apparatus may include two or more different types of exposure devices (e.g., laser based, light emitting diode based, etc.). An image forming apparatus may include a plurality of guide members for guiding portions of an exposure device arranged on a panel of the image forming apparatus such that when the door or panel is arranged on the image forming apparatus, the exposure device is guided into position by the guide members.

Abstract: In a sky shot, when a closing and opening detection unit detects the opening of a document cover, contour detecting means detects as a probable edge point a pixel thought to be a document edge point, a contour correction unit determines whether the probable edge point is a document edge or not, and an image forming unit forms image data of a document on the basis of the document edge point.

Abstract: In a device for processing a signal representative of a document image from a document reading unit to thereby reproduce the document image, a first comparator binarizes a multilevel image signal from the document reading unit with a first threshold value to thereby output a first bilevel image signal. A second comparator binarizes the multilevel image signal with a second threshold value to thereby output a second bilevel image signal. An area discriminating circuit outputs, in response to the second bilevel image signal, an area discriminate signal representative of the inside and or outside of an image area of the document image. An area separating circuit outputs, in response to the area discriminate signal and first bilevel image signal, an image signal representative of only an image portion of the first bilevel image signal which corresponds to the area discriminate signal. The device is capable of reproducing both a sheet document and a book document accurately.