A moving mechanism of a reading unit includes a driving pulley, a plurality of driven pulleys which are rotatably driven, an endless belt which is engaged and rotates between the driving pulley and the plurality of driven pulleys, and attracts the reading unit, and a biasing unit which applies tension to the endless belt, in the endless belt, an attraction section which is a belt section that extends along the auxiliary scanning direction, and which attracts the reading unit, is formed between a first driven pulley and a second driven pulley, the driving pulley is provided at a position separated from the attraction section in the main scanning direction, and a biasing force of the biasing unit is applied to the belt section excluding the attraction section in the endless belt.

An image scanner includes an image sensor with a plurality of scanning elements arrayed in a main scanning direction, a carriage carrying thereon the image sensor, a pair of pulleys, a belt looped around the pulleys, a connector, and a restricting member. The connector protrudes from the carriage and is connected to the belt which is inserted in an entry port of the connector. When the belt is driven to rotate, the connector moves with the belt and moves the carriage in a sub-scanning direction. The restricting member contacts the belt when, in a state where the carriage is at a standby position, the belt shifts in a disengaging direction in which the belt tends to disengage from the connector through the entry port.

An imaging device assembly that includes a first imaging module frame, a second imaging module frame, and at least one first attachment member including a base positioned within an interior of the first imaging module frame and at least one protrusion extending from the base through a first wall portion of the first imaging module frame to be exposed external to the first imaging module frame, wherein the at least one protrusion is releasably connected to a top portion of the second imaging module frame.

An image reading apparatus includes an image scanning unit that is provided with a holding portion holding a flexible flat cable. The holding portion is protruded toward an upstream side in a sub scanning direction, and provided with a second wall part. The flexible flat cable that is extended from a connector is brought into contact with the second wall part. As for the flexible flat cable, a downward movement is regulated by a lower holding portion and an upward movement is regulated by an upper holding portion. Accordingly, the flexible flat cable does not rise.

An image reading apparatus includes a housing; a transparent plate that is provided in an opening formed in an upper part of the housing and on which an original is placed; an image reading unit that is disposed inside the housing and that scans in a main scanning direction while moving in a sub-scanning direction to read an image of the original placed on the transparent plate; a flexible flat cable having one end that is connected to a control board on which an electronic component that is configured to process the image read by the image reading unit is mounted and the other end that is connected to the image reading unit, the flexible flat cable being configured to electrically connect the image reading unit and the control board, the flexible flat cable being disposed such that a width direction of the flexible flat cable crosses a surface of the transparent plate, the flexible flat cable being partially fixed to a side wall of the housing facing the image reading unit in the main scanning direction; and a holding portion configured to hold a part of the flexible flat cable, the holding portion holding the part between a part fixed to the side wall and the other end, of the flexible flat cable, the holding portion being formed on an end face of the image reading unit in the sub-scanning direction, wherein the holding portion holds the flexible flat cable such that a distance in the main scanning direction between a position at which the holding portion holds a lower end of the flexible flat cable in the width direction and the side wall is longer than a distance in the main scanning direction between a position at which the holding portion holds an upper end of the flexible flat cable in the width direction and the side wall.

An image reading apparatus includes a scanner casing having a contact glass on an upper face, and located on an upper side of a main body frame of the image forming apparatus, a document retention member openably covering the upper face of the scanner casing, a hinge mechanism pivotably supporting the document retention member, a leg portion to an upper end portion of which the hinge mechanism is fixed, an insertion hole formed in the scanner casing, and having an opening oriented upward, in which the leg portion is inserted; and a reinforcing tube attached to an inner face of the insertion hole. The scanner casing includes a first housing, and a second housing mounted on an upper side of the first housing. The reinforcing tube is held between the first housing and the second housing in an up-down direction, and restricted from moving in the up-down direction.

An image reader includes a curvature forming unit that contacts a medium upstream of a nip position between a feeding roller and a separating roller, and forms a curvature of the medium in a width direction that intersects a feeding direction. The curvature forming unit is capable of switching between a first state in which a curvature is formed in a medium and a second state positioned in a direction that is retracted from a feeding path of the medium compared to the first state. The curvature forming unit is associated with posture switching of the device body, and is brought to the second state when the device body takes a first device posture, and is brought to the first state when the device body takes the second device posture.

A power switching device for switching power between translational motion and rotational motion includes an active gear, a transmission mechanism, a translation mechanism, a functional gear, and a reset mechanism. The active gear can rotate in a first direction or a second direction opposite the first direction. The translation mechanism includes a runner and a pushing member. The active gear can switch between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the active gear meshes with the runner and rotates in the first direction or the second direction to drive the runner to rotate. In the second position, the active gear meshes with the transmission gear and rotates in the second direction to drive the functional gear to rotate.

A mechanism for fixing a transmission cable enables a wiring shape of a flat cable to be held relatively reliably when the cable is acted upon by torsion force, tensile force and the like from the outside without the cable skin sustaining damage. A foldable insulation sheet is joined in folding surfaces, and a position of the flat cable is regulated by at least the fold portion thereof and joint portion. The mechanism is includes a flat cable, a foldable insulation sheet, and joint portions for joining folding surfaces of the insulation sheet. At least one of the fold portion of the insulation sheet and the joint portions is disposed in a position for regulating the flat cable. Thus, the flat cable is nipped by the folding surfaces of the insulation sheet, and its wiring shape is held by the fold portion or the joint portion.

A mobile phone-based miniature microscopic image acquisition device, and image stitching and recognition methods are provided. The acquisition device comprises a support, wherein a mobile phone fixing table is provided on the support. A microscope head is provided below a camera of a mobile phone. A slide holder is provided below the microscope head, and an lighting source is provided below the slide holder. A scanning movement is performed between the slide holder and the microscope head along X and Y axes, so that images of a slide are acquired into the mobile phone. The slide sample images acquired into the mobile phone can be stitched and recognized, and can be uploaded to the cloud to be processed by cloud AI, thereby significantly improving the accuracy and efficiency of cell recognition, greatly reducing the medical cost, and ensuring more remote medical institutions can apply such technology for diagnosis.