JP2001233461A - Image reading device provided with automatic document reading device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image reading device provided with an automatic document tray control mechanism which lifts and holds a document tray for documents read and discharged to be easily taken out of a stacker. SOLUTION: An automatic tray control mechanism 9d is provided for lifting and holding a document tray 9a when documents are contained in a stacker 9c after reading is finished.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image reading apparatus provided with an automatic document reading apparatus having an automatic document tray control mechanism for lifting and holding a document tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, image reading apparatuses such as copying machines having an automatic document feed mechanism for automatically feeding a document to a copy surface in order to read a document image have become widespread.

In an image reading apparatus provided with an automatic document feed mechanism, a document placed on a document tray is fed in, and when reading of a document image is completed, the document is accumulated in a stacker below the document tray.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an image reading apparatus provided with a conventional automatic document feed mechanism. This image reading device 100
Then, when the original is placed on the original tray 9a and the operation unit 8 is operated, the automatic original feed mechanism 9b feeds in the original and starts reading the image. When the reading of the document image is completed, the document is discharged to a stacker 9c below the document tray 9a.

In FIG. 1, A surrounded by a dotted line indicates an A5 document which has been read and stored in the stacker 9c. The A5 document A is completely hidden by the document tray 9a and cannot be seen from above the image reading apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an image reading apparatus provided with a conventional automatic document feed mechanism. As shown, the stacker 9
c is below the document tray 9a, and the document storage space is very narrow. Further, the discharged A5 document A is stored at the innermost position of the stacker 9c near the automatic document feed mechanism 9b.

[0007]

As described above, when a document of a small size such as an A5 document is stored in the stacker 9c, there is a problem that it is difficult to recognize the document and it is difficult to remove it.

The present invention has been made in view of such a problem, and in order to make it easy to take out a discharged document from a stacker, when a document is stored in the stacker, the document tray is moved upward. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image reading apparatus provided with a document tray automatic control mechanism that lifts and holds a document.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention proposes an image reading apparatus having the following configuration.

That is, in the image reading apparatus according to the first aspect, a document tray, an automatic document feed mechanism for feeding a document set on the tray for reading a document image, and a document discharged from the automatic document feed mechanism And a stacker for sequentially holding the stacker in an upwardly stacked state, comprising a tray automatic control mechanism that lifts and holds the tray upward when documents are accumulated in the stacker. Automatic document reading device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the stacker is provided with a stack sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a document stored in the stacker, and when the document is taken out of the stacker, the tray is lowered to the first standby position. I have to do that.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the document tray is provided with a tray sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a document before reading, and while the tray sensor detects that a document is set on the tray, The tray is prohibited from being lifted, and the tray is lifted when it is detected that there are no more documents in the tray.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the document tray is provided with a tray sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a document before reading. When the tray sensor detects that the document is set on the raised tray, The tray is lowered to the standby position.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, when the original set on the original tray is discharged from the automatic original feeder to the stacker and the tray is lifted and held, if the tray is left as it is, the original standby after a predetermined time has elapsed. It automatically returns to the position.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a front view showing an example of the image reading apparatus of the present invention. In the image reading apparatus 20 shown in the figure, the document reading section is constituted by an automatic document reading apparatus 9, and the automatic document reading apparatus 9 includes Document tray 9
a, an original feeding mechanism 9b for feeding an original from the document feeder a, a stacker 9c for sequentially holding the originals discharged from the automatic document feeding mechanism 9b in a stacked state, and
And a tray automatic control mechanism 9d for lowering the tray.

A tray sensor 9f for detecting the presence or absence of a document before scanning is provided on the document tray 9a.
A stack sensor 9e for detecting the presence / absence of a document stored in the stacker 9c is provided above.

When the original is set on the original tray 9a and the reading of the original is started, the original is fed in by the automatic original feeding mechanism 9b. When the image reading is completed, the original is again sent to the stacker 9c by the automatic original feeding mechanism 9b. Discharged,
The stack sensor 9e detects the presence of a document on the stacker 9c. At this time, if the tray sensor 9f detects that the document is no longer in the document tray 9a, the document tray 9a is lifted upward by the action of the tray automatic control mechanism 9d (the state indicated by the dotted line in FIG. 1). Since the document tray 9a is held in this state, the documents discharged to the stacker 9c can be easily taken out.

The stack sensor 9e is connected to the stacker 9c.
When it is detected that the document has been taken out of the document tray, or when a predetermined time has elapsed since the document tray 9a was lifted without the document being taken out, the document tray 9
a automatically returns to its original position.

The basic operation of the movement control of the automatic tray control mechanism 9d will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the image reading apparatus of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a main control unit that controls each unit such as an automatic tray control mechanism 9d, 2 is an NCU that performs network control on a communication line, and 3 is a modem that modulates and demodulates signals to perform facsimile communication of image data. 4, an image memory for storing image data;
Reference numeral 5 denotes a RAM that stores print output information and the like, and 6 denotes a ROM that stores a control program.

Reference numeral 7 denotes a display unit constituted by a liquid crystal screen or the like; 8 denotes an operation unit constituted by ten keys and various operation switches; 9 denotes a document reading unit constituted by an automatic document reading device;
A recording unit 0 prints out image data.

The image reading apparatus 20 has a copy function in which a document image is read by a document reading section 9, printed out by a recording section 10, and recording paper is discharged. Further, the image data of the original read by the original reading unit 9 is transferred to the NCU.
2. It also has a facsimile function for transmitting via the modem 3.

Next, an example of the basic operation of the automatic tray control mechanism in the image reading apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

The automatic tray control mechanism includes the following two types of processing: (1) tray lifting processing when the document tray is at the standby position (101 to 112); and (2) the document tray is held in a raised state. Tray lowering process (101, 113 to 116) is performed.

In (1), if the start button for reading a document is pressed while the tray sensor 9f is detecting a document set on the tray, a document reading process is performed and the tray sensor When it is detected that the original has disappeared from the tray and the reading process has been completed, the tray is lifted. At this time, in order to execute the tray lowering process after a predetermined time, a timer is started (above, 101 to 101).
103, 108-112).

Further, in (1), another tray lifting process is performed. That is, when the stop button for discharging the document is pressed while the document is set on the tray, the document is discharged, and the tray sensor
When it is detected that the document has disappeared from the tray and the discharging process has been completed, the tray is lifted. At this time, a timer is started to execute the tray lowering process after a predetermined time (above, 101 to 107).

In (2), when the tray sensor 9f detects that a document is set on the tray while the document tray is being lifted and held, the tray is lowered. If no documents are set in the tray,
If the stack sensor 9e detects that there is no document in the stacker, the tray is lowered, and if there is a document in the stacker, the tray is lowered after counting up the timer (101, 113 to 116).

[0029]

As can be understood from the above description, according to the image reading apparatus having the automatic document reading apparatus according to the first aspect, if the documents are stored in the stacker, the document tray is automatically set. The document that has been read can be easily taken out. In particular,
In the case of a document of a small size, the document is accumulated in the back of the stacker and it is difficult to recognize the document.

According to the second aspect, the stack sensor provides
Since it is possible to detect the presence / absence of the document stored in the stacker, if the document is taken out from the stacker, the document tray can be automatically lowered to the original position, so that the next document can be set on the document tray.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to detect whether or not there is a document to be read in the document tray by the tray sensor. Therefore, even if the document to be read is stored in the stacker, the document to be read is stored in the tray. If there is, the tray is lifted only when all the documents are left from the tray without lifting the tray. This makes it possible to prohibit lifting of the tray during reading when reading a plurality of documents.

According to the fourth aspect, when a document is set on the tray while being lifted and held on the tray, the tray can be lowered to the original position and the document can be read immediately.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the tray is returned to its original position after a predetermined time has elapsed since the tray was lifted. It is possible to avoid leaving it as it is.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an internal configuration of the image reading apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a basic operation of automatic control of a document tray in the image reading apparatus of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an image reading apparatus provided with a conventional automatic document feed mechanism.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an image reading apparatus provided with a conventional automatic document feed mechanism.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 20 Image reading device equipped with automatic document reading device 9 Automatic document reading device (document reading unit) 9a Document tray 9b Automatic document feed mechanism 9c Stacker 9d Automatic tray control mechanism 9e Stack sensor 9f Tray sensor

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F-term (reference) 2H076 BA35 BA36 BA45 BA55 BB02 BB03 3F343 FA03 FB02 HA18 HB01 HC02 HC25 KB03 KB17 KB20 MA23 MB09 MC06 MC17

Claims (5)

[Claims] A document tray, an automatic document feed mechanism for feeding a document set on the tray in order to read a document image, and a stacker for sequentially holding documents ejected from the automatic document feed mechanism in an upwardly stacked state. An image reading apparatus comprising an automatic document reading apparatus, comprising: a tray automatic control mechanism for lifting and holding the tray upward when documents are stored in the stacker. . 2. The stacker is provided with a stack sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a document stored in the stacker, and when the document is taken out of the stacker, the tray is lowered to a first standby position. An image reading apparatus comprising the automatic document reading apparatus according to claim 1. And a tray sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a document before reading. The tray sensor detects the presence of a document before being read by the tray sensor. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein lifting of the tray is prohibited, and the tray is lifted when it is detected that the document has been exhausted from the tray. 4. The document tray according to claim 1, further comprising a tray sensor for detecting the presence or absence of a document before reading. When the tray sensor detects that a document has been set on the raised tray, the tray is switched to the tray. 3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus is lowered to a standby position. 5. When a document set on the document tray is discharged from an automatic document feeder to a stacker, and the tray is lifted and held and left as it is,
5. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the image reading apparatus automatically returns to an original standby position after a predetermined time has elapsed.