JP3182732B2 - Document reading device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document reading apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a copying machine, and more particularly to an automatic document reading apparatus having a plurality of document insertion ports.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional document reading apparatus, a document may be described on only one side or both sides, and copying or printing may be performed on only one side or both sides of a sheet. Therefore, there are four combinations. As a document reading apparatus configured to feed a two-sided document with its front and back reversed, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 3-431 is disclosed.
There is one described in JP-A-71. In this device, the user selects whether the original is fed from the bottom sheet or from the top sheet, and switches the direction of the fed document to the direction of the top or bottom feeding start end. You are scanning both sides of a document.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, when there is only one original conveying path, the following two methods are used. (A) The document is passed almost straight. In other words, both the front and back sides are read while the sheet is transported linearly. (B) Invert the original. That is, after the front side is read by one reading head, the original is turned over, and the back side is read by the same reading head. However, in the case of the above (a), there is a problem that the area for using the document reading device is larger than that of the reading device main body because the paper passes on a straight line. In the case (b), since the original is inverted, there is a problem that a thick original cannot be transported in the inversion path.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve these conventional problems, to provide a document reading apparatus capable of transporting a thick document, reading different types of documents, and preventing erroneous transmission of a plurality of documents. To provide.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, a document reading apparatus according to the present invention comprises: (a) a document reading apparatus provided with a document feeder, wherein an upper insertion slot for inserting a document from above and a document are provided; It has a lower insertion slot to be inserted from below, and a document inserted from one of the insertion slots is discharged to the other insertion port in a direction opposite to a normal direction. Further, (b) a document detection sensor for detecting a document insertion direction is provided at each of the upper insertion port and the lower insertion port. (C) One side of the insertion port has a document conveying path through which the document passes substantially linearly, and the other side of the insertion port has a separating device for separating the document one by one and a document for reversing the document. It is also characterized by the arrangement of the reversing paths.

[0005]

According to the present invention, two or more document insertion openings are provided so that the method of using the reading device can be used in two or more types. That is, when the user wants to use the printer in a small space, the document can be inverted by using the upper insertion slot, so that the installation area can be reduced. Also,
When many thick originals are used, the lower straight transport path is used, and when thin paper is used, the upper reverse transport path is used. Each insertion slot is provided with a transport roller, and a document detection sensor is disposed in front of the transport roller. When the sensor is turned on, the transport roller is activated. It is driven to rotate in the forward direction. In addition, a separation device is arranged in only one of the two or more transport paths, and when a large number of documents are inserted, the separation device is inserted into a portion having the separation device. Insert into

[0006]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a document reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numerals 1a and 1b denote upper and lower original transport rollers, 2 a separating section for separating one of a plurality of originals, 3, 4 upper and lower original detection sensors, respectively. Reference numeral 5 denotes a scanner unit for scanning and reading an original with light, 6 denotes a wound recording sheet, 7 denotes a transmission motor, 8 denotes a reception motor, and 9 denotes a reception motor.
Is a thermal head for recording on continuous recording paper; 10 is a cutter for cutting the recording paper to a set size;
11, a platen roller for stabilizing the recording paper when recording with the thermal head 9, 12 a power supply unit (PSU) for supplying power, 13 a control board for mounting control components, 14 Is the page on which the recording paper 6 is mounted.
The par holder 15 is a reading position for reading a document. FIG. 1 shows a side cross-sectional structure of a copying machine. An optical system irradiates a document from a light source at a document reading position 15 and a scanner unit 5 transmits reflected light from the document to a first mirror and a second mirror. Is reflected by the third mirror and the third mirror, and the image of the original is read in a slit shape by the image sensor. After being converted into an optical / electrical signal, the read signal is sent to the thermal head 9 and recorded on the recording paper by the thermal head 9 and cut into a predetermined size by the cutter 10.
Output directly to the outside.

FIG. 1 is an arrow display diagram when a document is inserted from the lower insertion slot, and FIG. 2 is an arrow display diagram when a document is inserted from the upper insertion slot. In the document reading apparatus shown in FIG. 1 and FIG.
And the reading unit 15 is provided only at one position below. The upper insertion slot is provided with a roller 1a for conveying the original, and the lower insertion opening is provided with a roller 1b for conveying the original. A document reversing section is provided behind these rollers 1a and 1b. As shown by an arrow in FIG. 2, the document inserted from the upper insertion slot passes through the reversing section and passes through the lower roller. -It is output in the opposite direction to the lower insertion port via the liner-1b. On the other hand, as shown by the arrow in FIG. 1, the document inserted from the lower insertion slot passes through the roller-1b, passes through the straight transport path, and is output in the direction A.
When inserting a document from above, the document is detected by the document detection sensor-3 disposed near the upper entrance, and when the document detection sensor-3 detects the document, the roller-1 is detected.
a is controlled to rotate forward. Roller-1a that rotates forward
Is passed through the separation unit 2 and only one sheet is separated.
By passing through the reversing part, the paper is discharged from the lower roller-1b to the lower insertion slot from the direction opposite to the insertion direction.
In this case, since the lower roller-1b is not detected by the document detection sensor-4, it is not driven to rotate in the forward direction or the reverse direction, so that the lower roller-1b naturally rotates in the direction in which the document passes. In addition, it is also possible to provide one transport path and provide two or more document insertion ports.

As described above, the document reading apparatus according to the present embodiment has two or more document insertion sections in the reading section, each of which is provided with a document detection section, and a separation section in one of the transport paths. It is a structure which does not have a separation part in the other. Hereinafter, an operation when a document is inserted from the upper insertion slot and an operation when a document is inserted from the lower insertion slot will be described. (A) When a document is inserted from the upper insertion slot When a document detection sensor-3 provided in front of the upper roller-1a is turned on, a motor (not shown) is driven to drive the roller. -1a in the forward direction, and
Start The pre-feeded document is separated by the separation unit 2, passed through the reversing unit, and conveyed to the document reading unit 15. The original that has been read is the lower roller-1
b and is stacked on the lower original set section. In this case, since the sheet is transported in the reverse direction, the lower row
The document detection sensor 4 behind the line 1b does not operate. Accordingly, the roller-1b is also not driven, so that it runs idle. (B) When a document is inserted from the lower insertion slot When the document detection sensor 4 provided in front of the lower roller-1b is turned on, a motor (not shown) is driven to drive the roller. -1b is rotated in the forward direction, that is, in the direction opposite to the above-described rotation direction. Since the document conveying path is not provided with a separation unit for separating the document, the document is conveyed as it is, read by the reading unit 15, and discharged in the linear direction A. Since this document transport path is a linear transport path capable of transporting thick paper, it is possible to transport a thick document.

As described above, in the document reading apparatus, there are two cases where the document is described on only one side or both sides. In the document reading apparatus of the present embodiment, these two
The following reading operation is performed as follows. (A) In the case of reading only one side, as shown in FIG. 1, the originals are sequentially inserted from the lowermost one by stacking the reading surface downward in the lower original insertion slot. When a document is inserted, the document detection sensor-4
Detects the original, rotates the roller-1b in the forward direction, reads one side of the original at the reading position 15, and then directly conveys the original and discharges it in the A direction. The read image is recorded on the recording paper pulled out from the recording paper roller 6 by the thermal head 9, cut into a prescribed size by the cutter 10, and discharged to the outside. (B) Reading of Both Sides As shown in FIG. 2, when the first document to be read is placed upward in the upper document insertion slot, and the document approaches the roller-1a, the document is read. The detection sensor 4 detects the document, rotates the roller 1a in the forward direction, and separates the lowermost sheet by the separation unit 2 to sequentially rotate the roller 1a.
1a. The document that has passed through Roller-1a is conveyed in the reverse direction through the reversing section and through the lower conveying path, is read at reading position 15, passes through Roller-1b, and enters the lower insertion section. It is ejected in the direction opposite to the insertion direction. In this case, the document detection sensor-4 is not turned on, and the roller
1b is not driven, so the original is an idle roller-1b.
Is rotated in the reverse direction and transported. Further, the read image of the document is recorded on the recording paper pulled out from the recording paper roller 6 by the thermal head 9, cut into a predetermined size by the cutter 10, and discharged to the outside. If multiple originals are stacked in the lower insertion slot, then turn the entire original upside down, turn the surface to be scanned second downward, and then place the lowermost original in the bottom order. Insert into Roller-1b. As in the case of (a) above, the document detection sensor-4 detects the document, rotates the roller-1b in the forward direction, reads one side of the document at the reading position 15, and then straightens the document. And discharged in the A direction .

In the present invention, the use of the reading device can be selectively used in two types by providing two insertion openings for the original. For example, if the reader is to be used in a small space, the original can be turned by using the upper transport path.
It is possible to use the reading device without changing its installation area. When many thick originals are used, the lower conveying path may be used. Although there are provided two or more document insertion ports, the rotation direction of the roller is detected by detecting the conveyance direction of the document without automatically specifying the rotation direction of the reading device, and the rotation direction is determined automatically. Since it is driven, it can be used without any need. Since the transport paths are different, different types of originals can be used. For example, in one transport path, thick paper can be transported, and in the other, thin paper can be used. Since the separation device is provided only in one of the two document feed paths, in the case of a normal one-by-one document, insert the document from the side where the separation device is installed, and insert a post-it In the case of (1), if the original is inserted from the insertion opening having no separation device, the paper can be transported without being separated. In the conventional apparatus, a manual feed mechanism is provided to read a sticker document or the like.However, if the manual feed mechanism is left released, the document is not separated, so that a plurality of originals may be erroneously transmitted. However, the present invention has an advantage that there is no fear of such an error.

[0011]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Since there are two or more document insertion openings, the insertion openings can be made different for single-sided or double-sided reading, and different insertion openings can be used for thick or thin documents. . In addition, since the separation device is provided on only one side, it is possible to use a different insertion slot to suit cases where a large number of documents need to be separated or when separation is not necessary such as a document with stickers. it can.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of a document reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a document path when a document is conveyed in a direction opposite to the document insertion direction in FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1a, 1b Roller 2 Separation section 3, 4 Document detection sensor 5 Scanner section 6 Recording paper roll 7 Transmission motor 8 Reception motor 9 Thermal head 10 Cutter 11 Platen roller -Lar 12 Power supply unit 13 Control board 14 Paper holder 15 Reading position 17 Operation part

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An image sensor detects image information from a document.
It met the original reading apparatus for reading using the inserted document in the first document insertion opening, the Ime - Jise
No. of paper sent to a paper path
The first document conveying means and the document inserted into the second document insertion port are
A document sent out by the first document conveying means is sent to a feeding path.
The second document conveying means for discharging from the first document insertion port feeding in the reverse direction, the plurality inserted provided on the second document insertion port Hara
Separating means for separating one document from a document , and a first means for detecting insertion of a document into the first document insertion slot.
Detecting means for detecting the insertion of a document into the second document insertion slot;
Detecting means for detecting the first document based on a document detection result of the first detecting means;
Activate the document feeder and detect the document by the second detector
A controller for activating the second document conveying means based on the result.
B - the document reading apparatus characterized by having a le means.