JP2002185726A - Image reader, image read method and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correctly read original images even in the case that dust mad stains, etc., are stuck to the lower part of platen glass. SOLUTION: Based on image signals generated by idly rotating a feed belt in a state without an original while keeping a present skimming-through position of reading moving images of the original with a fixed reader and reading images, whether or not the dust is stuck onto the platen glass is judged. In the case of detecting the stain of the platen glass at the skimming-through position of reading moving images of the original with a fixed reader, movement to a position which the reading moving images of the original with a fixed reader skimming-through can be started is performed. In the case that the dust is not present on the platen glass and in the case that the dust can be evaded though it is present, a skinning-through operation is performed and the productivity of image read is secured.

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, an image reading method, and a storage medium, and more particularly, to an image reading apparatus suitable for use in an image reading apparatus having a function of reading a document while the document is being conveyed. Things.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in addition to a fixed original reading method in which an original image placed on a platen glass is read by moving a scanner, an automatic original feeder reads an original image while being conveyed on the platen glass. An image reading device having a function is known.

In the above-mentioned original flow reading system, reading can be performed at the same time as the exchange of originals, and the scanner moving time between the originals is not required. Therefore, the reading time of the entire original bundle is reduced as compared with the fixed original reading system. Becomes possible.

[0004]

However, in the case of the above-mentioned original flow reading method, since the original image is read at a fixed position on the platen glass, dust adhering between the platen glass and the original or on the lower portion of the platen glass may be removed. The original image could not be read correctly due to dirt or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to make it possible to correctly read an original image even when dust, dirt, etc. adhere to the lower portion of the platen glass.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided an image reading apparatus for reading an image by idling a feed belt in a state where there is no original at a current moving reading position and reading an image to generate an image signal. And a dust presence / absence determining means for determining whether dust is attached to the platen glass based on the image signal generated by the image reading means, and moving the image reading means to a predetermined reading start position A first moving unit, a document feeder for feeding a first document from a top surface of the bundle of documents read by the image reader to a predetermined reading position, and a document fed by the document feeder. The final document determining means for determining whether the document is the final document, and the final document determining means determines that the document fed by the document feeding means is the final document. If it is determined that the dust detection flag has not been set by the dust presence / absence determination means, the second movement means for moving the image reading means to a fixed position during standby, and the dust detection flag is set. In the case where the dust is present, a dust position detecting means for detecting a position where dust is present, and a point at which no dust is present as a starting position of a drift reading to be performed subsequently according to the result of dust position detection by the dust position detecting means. A moving reading start position storing means for storing, a third moving means for moving the image reading means to a moving reading start position stored in the moving reading start position storing means, and dust position detection by the dust position detecting means As a result, if there is dust at all points, there is provided no-reading display means for displaying, on the operation unit, an alarm display indicating that reading cannot be performed. It is characterized by a door. Another feature of the present invention is that, at the current moving reading position, an image reading unit that generates an image signal by reading an image by idling a feed belt without a document and generating an image signal; A dust presence / absence determining means for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass based on an image signal generated by the reading means; and a flow-reading prohibition flag for prohibiting the reading of the document by flow-reading. A first moving unit for moving the image reading unit to a predetermined reading position when the image reading unit is not set, and feeding the first document from the upper surface of the document bundle read by the image reading unit to the predetermined reading position. An original feeding means for feeding paper; a final original determining means for determining whether the original fed by the original feeding means is a final original; A dust position detecting means for detecting a position where dust is present when the fed document is the last document and the image reading process has been completed; As a result of the dust position detection processing by the dust means, a point at which no dust is present is stored as a subsequent drift reading start position, and a result of the dust position detection processing by the dust position detection means indicates that all points have dust. In the case where there is, the flow-reading prohibition unit that sets the flow-reading prohibition flag, and the cleaning that displays a message urging the user to perform cleaning when the flow-reading prohibition flag is set by the above-mentioned flow reading prohibition unit. And a dunning means. Also,
Another feature of the present invention is that, as a result of the display by the cleaning urging means, whether or not cleaning is actually performed,
It is characterized by comprising a cleaning execution determining means for determining whether or not the user presses a cleaning key. Another feature of the present invention is that when the cleaning key is depressed, it is determined that cleaning has been performed, the message urging the cleaning is canceled, and the cleaning reading prohibition flag is cleared. It is characterized in that it is provided with an attention canceling means. Another feature of the present invention is that a period from when the message prompting the cleaning is displayed to when the cleaning key is pressed is fixed so that the reading operation can be performed normally without being affected by dust. A document reading switching means for switching a reading method to a reading operation is provided. Other features of the present invention include a document table on which a document is placed, document conveying means for sequentially conveying a plurality of documents to predetermined positions on the document table, and image reading means. A dust detection means for determining whether or not a read image includes a dust image from the read image signal; and a flow-reading operable flag according to a detection result of the dust detection means.
Setting means for setting an impossible state, and control means for prohibiting the flow reading operation using the document conveying means when the setting of the flow-reading operation enable flag is set to the impossible state by the setting means. And Another feature of the present invention is that the dust detection means performs a plurality of dust detection positions on the platen, and the dust reading operation can be performed when dust is detected in all the portions. The flag is set to an impossible state. Another feature of the present invention is that the drift reading operation is performed in a place where it is determined that there is no dust among the plurality of places, and when dust is detected in all places, the drift reading operation is performed. The operable flag is set to a disabled state. According to another feature of the present invention, the document transport unit for sequentially transporting the plurality of documents onto the platen has an adjusting unit for adjusting a transport timing for performing image reading. An adjustment value is set in the adjusting means based on the moving amount of the drift reading position accompanying the dust detection. Another feature of the present invention is that it has display means on an operation unit for notifying the user of the presence of dust in accordance with the detection result of the dust detection means, and the flow-reading operable flag is not set. It is characterized in that a display indicating presence of dust is performed in the possible state. Another feature of the present invention is that the control means inhibits the flow reading operation when the flow reading enabled flag means is in the disabled state, and performs control to perform the fixed reading operation. Features.

The image reading method according to the present invention comprises an image reading process in which the feed belt is idly rotated in a state where there is no original at the current moving reading position and an image reading unit reads an image to generate an image signal. A dust presence / absence determination process for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass based on an image signal generated by the image reading process; and a first movement for moving the image reading means to a predetermined reading start position. A moving process, a document feeding process for feeding a first document from a top surface of the document bundle read by the image reading unit to a predetermined reading position, and a document fed by the document feeding process is a final document. The final document determining process for determining whether or not there is a document, and the final document determining process determines that the document fed by the document feeding process is the final document. If it is determined that the dust detection flag has not been set by the dust presence / absence determination process, a second movement process of moving the image reading unit to a fixed position during standby, and the dust detection flag Is set, the dust position detection process for detecting the position where dust is present and the dust position detection process using the dust position detection process indicate that if there is no dust at all points, the point In a storage device as a subsequent reading start position, and a moving reading start position storing process for controlling the image reading means to move the image reading means to the reading start position stored in the storage device. As a result of the moving process 3 and the dust position detection by the above-mentioned dust position detecting process, if dust is present at all points, an alarm display indicating that the reading cannot be performed is operated. It is characterized by performing the skimming incapable display process for displaying the section. Another feature of the present invention is that, at the current moving reading position, the feed belt idles in a state where there is no original, and the image reading unit reads an image to generate an image signal. A dust presence / absence determination process for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass based on an image signal generated by the image reading means; and a flow for prohibiting the reading of the original by the flow reading. A first movement process for moving the image reading means to a predetermined reading position when the reading prohibition flag is not set, and a predetermined reading of the first document from the upper surface of the document bundle read by the image reading means; The document feeding process for feeding the document to the position and determining whether the document fed by the document feeding process is the final document Dust position detection for detecting the position where dust is present when the fed document is the last document and the image reading process has been completed by the last document determination process and the last document determination process Processing, a result of the dust position detection processing by the dust position detection processing, a point at which there is no dust is stored as a subsequent drift reading start position in a storage device, a flow reading start position storage processing, and a dust position by the dust position detection processing. As a result of the detection processing, if there is dust at all points, the flow-reading prohibition flag is set, and if the drift-reading prohibition flag is set by the above-mentioned flow-reading prohibition process, it is used. Cleaning urging process for displaying a message urging the user to clean. Another feature of the present invention is that, as a result of the display by the cleaning urging process, whether or not cleaning is actually performed is determined by whether or not a user presses a cleaning key. Processing is performed. Another feature of the present invention is that when the cleaning key is depressed, it is determined that cleaning has been performed, the message urging the cleaning is canceled, and the cleaning reading prohibition flag is cleared. It is characterized in that an attention release process is performed. Another feature of the present invention is that a period from when the message prompting the cleaning is displayed to when the cleaning key is pressed is fixed so that the reading operation can be performed normally without being affected by dust. It is characterized in that a reading switching process for switching a reading method to a reading operation is performed. Other features of the present invention include an image reading process for reading a document image, a document transport process for sequentially transporting a plurality of documents to predetermined positions on a document table, and an image obtained by the image reading process. A dust detection process for determining whether or not a read image includes a dust image from a signal; a setting process for setting a flow-reading operable flag to an enable / disable state according to a detection result of the dust detection process; When the flow-reading operation enable flag is in an impossible state, a prohibition process for prohibiting the flow-reading operation using the document conveying means is performed. Another feature of the present invention is that, in the control processing, the flow-reading operation is prohibited when the flow-reading operation enable flag is in an impossible state, and the control is performed such that the fixed reading operation is performed. And

[0008] A storage medium according to the present invention is characterized by recording a program constituting each means of the image reading apparatus according to any one of the above. Another feature of the present invention is that a program for causing a computer to execute each of the processes described in any one of the above is recorded.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of an image reading apparatus, an image reading method, and a storage medium according to the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, as the image reading device,
A digital copier will be described as an example.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of a digital copying machine according to the present embodiment. The reader unit 1 reads an image of a document, and outputs image data corresponding to the document image to the image memory unit 3.

The printer unit 2 records an image corresponding to the image data read from the image memory unit 3 on a recording sheet.

The image memory unit 3 compresses the image data transferred from the reader unit 1, stores the compressed compressed image data, and decompresses the stored compressed image data to expand the decompressed image data. The image data is transferred to the printer unit 2.
In addition, it transfers the stored image data to the external I / F processing unit 4, and stores the image data transferred from the external I / F processing unit 4.

The external I / F processing unit 4 performs predetermined processing on the image data transferred from the image memory unit 3, outputs the processed data to an external device, and performs predetermined processing on the image data sent from the external device. And transfers it to the image memory unit 3. The automatic document feeder 6 is connected to the reader unit 1 and feeds the placed document to a predetermined position.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing the structure of the digital copying machine according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 200 denotes the main body of the digital copying machine 199. Reference numeral 6 denotes an automatic document feeder (DF).

Reference numeral 201 denotes a platen glass as a document placing table; 202, a scanner;
And a scanning mirror 204 and the like. The scanner is reciprocally scanned in a predetermined direction by a motor (not shown), and the reflected light of the original is transmitted through a lens 207 via scanning mirrors 204 to 206 to form an image on a CCD sensor in an image sensor unit 208.

Reference numeral 209 denotes an exposure control unit composed of a laser, a polygon scanner, or the like. A laser light converted into an electric signal by the image sensor unit 208 and modulated based on an image signal subjected to predetermined image processing described later. 219 is applied to the photosensitive drum 211.

Around the photosensitive drum 211, a primary charger 212, a developing device 213, a transfer charger 216, a separation charger 217, a pre-exposure lamp 214, a cleaning device 21
5 is equipped.

The image forming unit 210 constructed as described above
2, the photosensitive drum 211 is rotated by a motor (not shown) in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG.
After being charged to a desired potential by the exposure control unit 209,
Is irradiated, and an electrostatic latent image is formed. The electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive drum 211 is developed by the developing device 213 and is visualized as a toner image.

On the other hand, pick-up rollers 225, 226, and 2 from the right cassette deck 221, the left cassette deck 222, the upper cassette 223, or the lower cassette 224.
Transfer paper fed by the feed rollers 27 and 228
The toner image is sent to the main body by the transfer rollers 29, 230, 231 and 232, is fed to the transfer belt by the registration roller 233, and is transferred to the transfer paper by the transfer charger 216.

After the transfer, the photosensitive drum is cleaned of residual toner by a cleaner device 215 and the pre-exposure lamp 21 is removed.
4 erases the residual charge. The transfer paper after the transfer is separated from the photosensitive drum by the separation charger 217 and sent to the fixing device 235 by the transfer belt 234.

In the fixing device 235, the toner is fixed by pressure and heat, and is discharged to the outside of the main body 200 by a discharge roller 236. On the right side of the main body 200, a deck 250 capable of storing, for example, about 4000 transfer papers is provided.

The lifter 251 of the deck 250 rises according to the amount of transfer paper so that the transfer paper always contacts the pickup roller 252, and the transfer paper is fed to the main body by the paper feed roller 253. Further, a multi-bypass tray 254 capable of storing 100 transfer sheets is provided.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 237 denotes a paper discharge flapper, which switches between a path on the side of the transport path 238 and a path on the side of the discharge path 243. Reference numeral 240 denotes a lower transport path, which reverses the transfer paper sent out from the paper discharge roller 236 via a reversing path 239 and turns the transfer paper
It is made to lead to 1.

From the left cassette deck 222 to the paper feed roller 2
The transfer paper fed by 30 is also guided to the refeed path 241. Reference numeral 242 denotes a re-feed roller for re-feeding the transfer sheet to the image forming unit 210. A discharge roller 244 is disposed near the discharge flapper 237 and discharges the transfer paper switched to the discharge path 243 by the discharge flapper 237 to the outside of the apparatus.

At the time of double-sided recording (double-sided copying), the discharge flapper 237 is raised upward, and the copied transfer sheet is guided to the re-feeding path 241 via the transport path 238, the reversing path 239, and the lower transport path 240. At this time, the rear end of the transfer paper is completely pulled out of the transport path 238 by the reversing roller 245, and is pulled into the reversing path 239 to a position where the transfer paper is bitten by the reversing roller 245. Send to pass 240.

When the transfer paper is inverted and discharged from the main body, the discharge flapper 237 is raised upward, and
5, the rear end of the transfer paper is drawn into the reversing path 239 to a position where the rear end of the transfer paper remains in the conveying path 238,
By reversing 5, the transfer paper is turned over and sent out to the discharge roller 244 side.

The paper discharge processing device 290 stacks transfer papers discharged one by one from the main body 200 of the digital copying machine on the processing tray 294 and aligns them. When one part has been discharged,
Stapling the transfer paper bundle and discharging tray 292 or
The bundle is discharged to 293.

The discharge tray 293 is controlled to move up and down by a motor (not shown), and moves to the position of the processing tray before the start of the image forming operation. Reference numeral 291 denotes a paper tray on which separator paper to be inserted between the discharged transfer papers is loaded.
Reference numeral 5 denotes a Z-folding machine that Z-folds the discharged transfer paper.

Reference numeral 296 denotes a bookbinding machine for performing bookbinding by folding the center of a part of the discharged transfer papers together and stapling them.
97.

FIG. 3 is a control block diagram of the digital copying machine 199. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 171 denotes a CPU for performing basic control of the digital copying machine 199; a ROM 174 in which a control program is written; a work RAM 175 for performing processing; an input / output port 173;
They are connected by a data bus.

The input / output port 173 is connected to various loads (not shown) such as a motor and a clutch for controlling the digital copying machine 199, and inputs (not shown) such as sensors for detecting the position of paper. . The CPU 171 controls input and output sequentially via the input / output port 173 according to the contents of the ROM 174, and executes an image forming operation.

An operation section 172 is connected to the CPU 171 and controls display means and key input means of the operation section 172. The operator instructs the CPU 171 to switch the display between the image forming operation mode, the scanner reading mode, and the print output mode through the key input unit.
U171 displays the state of the digital copying machine 199 and the operation mode setting by key input.

The CPU 171 includes an image sensor 20
8, an image processing unit 170 for processing the signal converted into an electric signal, an image memory unit 3 for storing the processed image,
And a dust determination unit 176 that detects dust on the platen glass 201 from a signal digitized by the image processing unit 170.
Is connected.

Next, based on FIG.
Will be described. FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the image processing unit. In FIG. 4, a document image formed on a CCD sensor via a lens 207 is input as luminance data, and is converted into an analog electric signal by the CCD sensor.

The image information converted into an analog electric signal is input to an analog signal processing unit (not shown), and after performing sample & hold, dark level correction, and the like,
Analog / digital conversion (A / D conversion) by the A / D converter 501
Conversion), and digitized signals are subjected to shading sig correction (correction of variations in a sensor for reading a document and light distribution characteristics of a document illumination lamp).

After that, it is sent to the log converter 502.
The log conversion unit 502 converts the input luminance data into density data by using an LUT (Color Look-up Tabl).
e) is stored, and the luminance data is converted into density data by outputting a table value corresponding to the input data.

After that, the image is scaled to a desired magnification by the scaling unit 503 and input to the γ correction unit 504. γ
When outputting the density data, the correction unit 504 performs conversion using an LUT in consideration of the characteristics of the printer, and adjusts the output according to the density value set by the operation unit. Then 2
It is sent to the value conversion unit 505. The binarization unit 505 binarizes the multi-valued density data and sets the density value to “0” or “25”.
5 ".

The 8-bit image data is binarized and converted into 1-bit image data of "0" or "1", and the amount of image data stored in the memory is reduced. However, when an image is binarized, the gradation of the image is changed from 256 gradations to two gradations. Therefore, when binarizing image data such as a photographic image, the image generally deteriorates remarkably.

Therefore, it is necessary to perform pseudo halftone expression using binary data. Here, an error diffusion method is used as a method for pseudo-halftone expression using binary data.
According to this method, when the density of a certain image is larger than a certain threshold value, it is determined that the density data is “255”. When the density is less than a certain threshold value, it is determined that the density data is “0”. In this method, the difference between the data and the binarized data is distributed to surrounding pixels as an error signal.

The distribution of the error is performed by multiplying an error generated by the binarization by a weight coefficient on a matrix prepared in advance and adding the multiplied error to surrounding pixels. As a result, the density average value of the entire image is stored, and the halftone can be represented in a pseudo binary manner.

The binarized image data is sent to the image memory unit 3 where it is stored. The image data from the computer input from the external I / F processing unit 4 is
Since it is processed as binary image data by the external I / F processing unit, it is sent to the image memory unit 3 as it is. The image memory unit 3 has a high-speed page memory and a large-capacity memory (hard disk) capable of storing a plurality of page image data.

The plurality of image data stored in the hard disk are output in an order according to the editing mode specified by the operation unit of the digital copying machine 199. For example, in the case of sorting, the images of the document bundle read from the automatic document feeder 6 are sequentially output. The image data of the document once stored is read from the hard disk, and this is repeated a plurality of times and output.

Thus, the sorter having a plurality of bins can play the same role. The image data output from the image memory unit 3 is stored in a smoothing unit 50 in the printer unit 2.
Sent to 6.

The smoothing unit 506 performs data interpolation so that the line ends of the binarized image become smooth.
The image data is output to the exposure control unit 209. The exposure control unit 209 forms image data on transfer paper by the above-described processing. Further, at the time of dust determination to be described later, the read image formed on the CCD sensor via the lens 207 is digitized similarly to the case of the original image, and after shading correction,
It is sent to the dust determination unit 176.

The dust determination unit 176 adds the input signals in the document feed direction in pixel units, and if the addition result exceeds a certain level, determines that dust has adhered to the pixel portion.

Next, details of the image memory unit 3 will be described with reference to FIG. In the image memory unit 3, an external I / F processing unit 4 and an image processing unit 1 are stored in a page memory unit 301 including a memory such as a DRAM via a memory controller unit 302.
70, writing of a binary image from the external I / F processing unit 4,
The image reading to the printer unit 2 and the input / output access of the image to the hard disk 304 which is a large-capacity storage device are performed.

The memory controller 302 generates a DRAM refresh signal for the page memory 301,
Further, it arbitrates access to the page memory 301 from the image I / F processing unit 4, the image processing unit 170, and the hard disk 304.

Further, in accordance with an instruction from the CPU 171, a write address to the page memory unit 301, a read address from the page memory unit 301, a read direction, and the like are controlled. Accordingly, the CPU 171 arranges a plurality of document images in the page memory unit 301 and lays out the document images.
It controls the function of outputting to the printer unit, the function of cutting out and outputting only a part of the image, and the image rotation function.

Next, according to FIG. 6, the external I / F processing unit 4
Is described. As described above, the external I / F processing unit 4
The binary image data of the reader unit is taken into the external I / F processing unit via the image memory unit 3, and the binary image data from the external I / F is sent to the printer unit 2 via the image memory unit 3. Output and perform image formation.

The external I / F processing section 4 includes a core section 406, a facsimile section 401, a hard disk 402 for storing communication image data of the facsimile section, and an external computer 1
Computer interface unit 403 connected to
And a formatter unit 404 and an image memory unit 405.

The facsimile unit 401 is a modem (not shown).
, And receives facsimile communication data from the public line and transmits facsimile communication data to the public line.

The facsimile unit 401 transmits a facsimile image to the hard disk 402, such as performing facsimile transmission at a specified time or transmitting image data from a partner during a specified password. Save and process.

Thus, once the image is transferred from the reader unit 1 to the facsimile unit 401 and the facsimile hard disk 402 via the image memory unit 3, the reader unit 1 and the image memory unit 3 are used for the facsimile function. No fax transmission can be performed.

Computer interface unit 403
Is an interface unit for performing data communication with an external computer, and has a local area network (hereinafter, LAN), a serial I / F, a SCSI I / F, a centro I / F for inputting data to a printer, and the like.

Via this I / F, the statuses of the printer unit and the reader unit are notified to an external computer, and the image read by the reader unit 1 is transferred to the external computer according to instructions from the computer.

The print data notified from the external computer, which receives print image data from the external computer, via the computer interface unit 403 is described by a dedicated printer code. And converts the code into raster image data for forming an image in the printer unit 2 through the printer.

The formatter unit 404 develops raster image data in the image memory unit 405. The image memory unit 405 has the formatter unit 40
Image data sent from the image memory unit 3 when the image data is used as a memory for expanding raster image data or when the image of the reader unit is sent to an external computer via the computer interface unit 403 (image scanner function). Is once expanded in the image memory unit 405, converted into a format of data to be sent to an external computer, and sent out from the computer interface unit 403.

The core unit 406 includes a facsimile unit 401,
It controls and manages data transfer among the computer interface unit 403, the formatter unit 404, the image memory unit 405, and the image memory unit 3. Thus, even if the external I / F processing unit 4 has a plurality of image output units or the image memory unit 3 has only one image transfer path, the core unit 40
Under the management of No. 6, exclusive control and priority control are performed, and image output is performed.

Next, the operation of the automatic document feeder (DF) 6 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 10M which are schematic sectional views of the automatic document feeder 6. . First, each part of the automatic document feeder 6 will be described with reference to FIG. The paper feed roller 601 falls on the original surface of the original bundle 621 placed on the original tray 620 on which the original bundle 621 composed of at least one or more sheets is placed, and rotates, thereby causing the uppermost surface of the original bundle. Original D is fed.

The stopper 611 protrudes as shown in FIG. 7A before the start of document feeding, and the document bundle 621 is regulated by the stopper 611 so that it cannot advance downstream. The document fed by the paper feed roller 601 is separated into one sheet by the operation of the separation roller 602 and the separation belt 603. Separation is realized by a well-known liquid separation technique.

The conveyance roller 604 conveys the document separated by the separation roller 602 and the separation belt 603 to the registration roller 605, hits the document against the registration roller 605, and forms a loop, thereby forming a skew in the conveyance of the document. To eliminate. Below the registration roller 605, the original that has passed through the registration roller 605 is placed on the platen 2.
A reverse paper feed flapper 613 that guides the paper feed path 652 or the reversing lohas 653, which is a transport path in the 01 direction, is provided.

The first reversing roller 614 and the second reversing roller 615 rotate when reversing the original.
The reversing flapper 612 converts the document arriving from the direction of the second reversing roller 615 into the reversing path 650 or the re-feeding path 6.
Guide to 51. A belt driving roller 606 drives a feeding belt 607 for arranging a document on a platen.

The feeding belt 607 is in contact with the platen 201. The paper supply / discharge roller 617 is connected to the manual paper feed port 62.
The document D supplied from the document feeder 2 and the document D fed by the feed belt 607 are discharged to a document discharge port 623. The paper discharge flapper 616 guides a document to a manual feed / discharge path 654 or a document discharge path 655. The paper discharge flapper 616 acts to prevent the document from being discharged toward the manual paper discharge port 622 when the document is discharged.

The manual feed / discharge roller 619 feeds / discharges a manual document. The discharge roller 618 discharges the document. Further, three sensors 6 are provided below the document tray 620.
08, 609 and 610 are arranged. The document set detection sensor 610 is a transmissive optical sensor that detects that the document bundle 621 has been set.

The document trailing edge detection sensor 608 is a reflection type optical sensor for determining whether the document is a half size document. A final document detection sensor 609 between the document set detection sensor 610 and the document trailing edge detection sensor 608 is a reflection type optical sensor for determining whether the document being transported is the final document.

The original size detection sensors 624 and 62
Reference numerals 5 and 626 denote sensors for detecting the size of the original being conveyed. Three sensors are arranged in the width direction of the original.
The document width is detected in three stages based on the sensor values of
The system, or the document width of A4 and A5 can be determined. Also, the length of the original can be detected based on the passage time of the original.

As a result, even if a document bundle includes documents of different sizes, individual document sizes can be detected. However, at this time, the bundle of originals is placed with the back side in the width direction of the originals aligned.

Next, the operation of the automatic document feeder 6 when reading both sides of a document printed on both sides (double-sided document) will be described. When the automatic document feeder 6 is instructed to start feeding double-sided documents, the stopper 611 is lowered, and the paper feed roller 601 is further dropped on the upper surface of the document (FIG. 7).
(B)). By the operation of the paper feed roller 601, the separation roller 602, the separation belt 603, and the transport roller 604, only one document is separated from the uppermost surface of the document bundle 621 and fed to the registration roller 605 (FIG. 7C). .

At this time, the reversing sheet feeding flapper 613 is set in the direction of transporting the document to the reversing path 650.
When the registration roller 605 rotates, the original is displayed as shown in FIG.
8 (e) via the path shown in FIG. From here, the driving directions of the first reversing roller 614 and the second reversing roller 615 are reversed, and
And is stopped at the position shown in FIG.

When the reading of the original is completed, FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8, the original is turned over via a re-feed path 651, and as shown in FIG.
01.

When the reading of the document is completed, the document D is fed rightward and discharged from the document discharge port 623 to the outside of the automatic document feeder 6. The automatic document feeder 6 performs the above operation. By repeating this, the double-sided document can be separated one by one from the uppermost surface, both sides can be read, and the document can be discharged with the upper surface facing down (face down).

Next, the scanner 202 is fixed at a predetermined position, and the operation of the original reading method (flow reading) for reading the image by moving the original is described in the case where the original is only the small size and the case where the large size is included. I will explain separately.

In the present embodiment, the small size is a size at which the document trailing edge detection sensor 608 does not detect a document when the document bundle 621 is placed on the document tray 620, and is an A4 size and a TR size. And so on.

The large size is a size at which the document trailing end detection sensor 608 detects a document when the document bundle 621 is placed on the document tray 620, and is "A3 size", "11".
× 17 ”size and the like.

First, the flow-reading of a small-size original will be described. The operation until the document reaches the registration rollers 605 is as described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C. In the case of the flow reading, as shown in FIG. 9I, the reversing sheet feeding flapper 613 guides the document onto the platen 201.

The document is conveyed at a predetermined speed above point A in FIG. 9, and the image of the document is read by the scanner 202 waiting below point A (FIG. 9C)). On this occasion,
A reading start signal is notified to the reader unit 1 at the timing when the leading edge of the document passes the point A. The read document D is conveyed to the right in the figure as it is, and is discharged from the document discharge port 623 to the outside of the automatic document feeder 6 (FIG. 9).
(K)).

Point A is “A0”, “A1”, “A2”,
It is composed of 6 points of “A3”, “A4” and “A5”, and L
The position at which the trailing edge of the TR size document has passed the registration roller 605 is denoted by “A0”, and from there, “0.5 m
m, “A1”, “A2”,...

The readable position determined by the dust determination described later is stored, and at the time of reading, an instruction is issued to the scanner 202 and the automatic document feeder 6 so that reading is performed at the stored position.

Next, the flow reading of a document including a large size will be described. The operation until the document reaches the registration roller 605 is as described with reference to FIGS. 7A to 7C. In the case of the flow reading of a document including a large size, the reversing sheet feeding flapper 613 guides the document onto the platen 201 as shown in FIG.

The original is conveyed at a predetermined speed above point B in the figure, and the image of the original is read by the scanner 202 waiting below point B. At this time, the leading edge of the original is B
A reading start signal is notified to the reader unit 1 at the timing of passing the point. The read document D is conveyed to the right in the figure as it is, and is discharged out of the automatic document feeder 6 through the document discharge port 623 (FIG. 10 (m)).

The point B is “B0”, “B1”, “B2”,
It is composed of six points, "B3", "B4", and "B5".
The trailing edge of the document of “11 × 17” size is registered with
5 is B0, and from there, "0,
Every 5 mm ”is defined as“ B1 ”,“ B2 ”,...

The readable position determined by the dust determination described later is stored, and at the time of reading, an instruction is issued to the scanner 202 and the automatic document feeder 6 to perform reading at the stored position.

Finally, in the case of fixed document reading in which the scanner 202 is moved to read an image, the document is placed at a position where the rear end of the document matches the end of the platen 201 (the position shown in FIG. 8H).

Next, the direction of the document bundle 621 set on the document tray 620 of the automatic document feeder 6 (see FIG. 7) and the document bundle 6 conveyed and discharged to the document discharge port 622
FIG. 11 shows how the directions of 21 correspond.

The original shown on the left side of FIG. 11 is an original bundle 621 set on the original tray 620. Since the document is conveyed in order from the number 1 document on the top surface of the document and is output with its front and back reversed, as shown on the right side of FIG. 11, the top document is reversed and its top surface is changed to the bottom surface. Is discharged.

A control example in the case where an automatic scaling function for calculating the optimum scaling ratio based on the document size and the output paper size is set in the image reading apparatus having the above configuration will be described.

When the automatic magnification changing function is set, if the document bundle placed on the automatic document feeder is composed of documents of the same size, the first sheet of the document bundle is fed onto the platen. In addition to detecting the size of the original during the feeding, the original image is read by the fixed original reading, and after the second sheet of the original bundle, the original image is controlled by the original flow reading while the original is being conveyed by the automatic original feeder. .

However, if the variable magnification is a magnification that cannot be read continuously, control is performed so that the original image is read by fixed original reading. If the document bundle placed on the automatic document feeder is composed of documents of different sizes (document mixed mode), it is necessary to calculate the scaling ratio for each document. Control is performed so as to read the original image.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a basic processing procedure relating to the dust detection operation. Document conveying means 2
In the case of performing a drift reading operation in which an image is read by using the document conveyance by the document 80, the time during which the image reading operation is not performed is used (Steps S101 and S1).
02) The feed belt 207 is rotated idly in a state where there is no original at the current moving reading position, and an image is read.

The image of the surface of the feeding belt 607 of the normal document conveying means 280 is input to the read image signal. Here, the presence or absence of dust is determined (step S103). If the result of this determination is that dust has adhered to the platen glass 201, an image that is continuous with the read image signal in the sub-scanning direction is detected.

After reading the image by driving the feeding belt 607 for a certain period of time, if such an image considered to be due to dust is detected, the continuous reading operation is continued at the position where the previous reading was performed. Judge that you cannot do it. If no abnormal image is detected as described above, the flow reading at that position is performed continuously.

When the platen glass is detected as dirty at the moving reading position, the scanner 202 is moved leftward to the position A0 to detect a position where the moving reading operation is possible, and the scanner 202 is moved rightward from "A0". A process is performed to sequentially search for “A1”, “A2”, and the flow-readable positions (step S10).
4).

First, it moves to a predetermined position (i), and it is determined whether or not the position (i) is larger than the rightmost wing position MAXi (step S105). If the result of this determination is that the predetermined position (i) is not large, in order to detect whether or not the position can be scanned and read (whether there is no dust), the above-described dust detection for dust detection described above is performed. An image reading operation (feed belt idle rotation, image reading) is performed (step S106).

Next, in step S107, the presence or absence of dust is determined. If there is dust, a process of moving the flow reading position to the right (i + 1) is performed. Thereafter, the flow returns to step S105 to repeat the above-described process. Repeat.

On the other hand, as a result of the determination in step S105,
If (i) is larger than the rightmost wing position MAXi, the process proceeds to step S109, and a dust state is set. In this case, the reading operation by the flow reading is not performed until it is determined that the flow reading is possible by the predetermined processing. If the result of determination in step S107 is that there is no dust at the predetermined position (i), the predetermined position (i) is set as the current drift reading position.

In the image reading apparatus having the above-described configuration, the image reading apparatus has the flow reading operation prohibition flag, and determines whether to perform the flow reading based on the result of the dust detection operation.
A control example when notifying the user of dust will be described.

A control example in the case where dust detection is performed after the end of the reading operation by the flow reading in the image reading apparatus configured as described above will be described. As a first example, a control example in which a flag indicating whether or not to perform a dust detection operation is described.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart showing a control method at this time, and starts when a document is set and a mode for reading by flowing reading is set. First, in step S201, the scanner is moved to a point stored as a reading position.

Subsequently, the flow advances to step S202 to feed the first document from the upper surface of the document bundle and perform a reading process. Next, the process proceeds to step S203, and it is determined whether the fed document is the last document and the reading process has been completed. If the result of determination in step S203 is that reading processing has not been completed, processing returns to step S202, and reading processing is continued.

On the other hand, if the result of determination in step S203 is that reading processing has been completed in step S203, the flow advances to step S204 to determine whether a dust detection flag has been set. If the result of this determination is that the dust detection flag has not been set, the flow directly proceeds to step S209, and
The scanner is moved to the home position at the time of standby, and the process ends. If the dust detection flag is set in step S204, the process proceeds to step S205 to perform a dust detection operation.

Subsequently, in step S206, as a result of the dust detection in step S205, it is determined whether dust is present at all points. As a result of this determination, if there is no dust at all points, the process proceeds to step S207, and the point at which there is no dust is stored as a subsequent reading position. Next, the process proceeds to step S209, where the scanner is moved to the home position at the time of standby, and the process ends.

If there is dust at all points in step S206, the process proceeds to step S208, and an alarm display indicating that the reading cannot be performed is displayed on the operation unit, or as shown in FIG. A display that prompts the user to clean the reading position is displayed.

FIG. 14 is a flow chart showing an example of the control method at this time. The control is started when a document is set and a mode of reading by flowing reading is set. First, in step S301, it is determined whether or not the document bundle placed on the automatic document feeder 6 is a small-size document bundle. If it is a small-size document bundle, step S
In step 302, the scanner is moved to a point A (one of A0 to A5) stored as a small-sized reading position.

Subsequently, the flow advances to step S303 to feed the first document from the upper surface of the document bundle and perform a reading process. Next, the process proceeds to step S304, where it is determined whether the fed document is the last document and the reading process has been completed.

If the result of determination in step S304 is that processing has not been completed, processing returns to step S303, and reading processing is continued. If the reading process has been completed in step S304, the process proceeds to step S305 to perform a dust detection operation.

Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S306, and as a result of the dust detection in step S305, it is determined whether or not there is dust at all points A. If there is no dust at all the points A, the process proceeds to step S307, and the points A0 to A5 where there is no dust are stored as subsequent small-size stream reading positions. Next, the process proceeds to step S315, where the scanner is moved to the home position at the time of standby, and the process ends.

In step S306, if there is dust at all points A, the process proceeds to step S308, and an alarm display is displayed on the operation unit to the effect that reading cannot be performed. Or
As shown in FIG. 15, a display prompting the user to clean the reading position is displayed.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step S301 that the bundle of originals placed on the automatic document feeder 6 is not a small-size original bundle, the flow advances to step S309, and the point B stored as the large-sized reading position ( B0
To one of B5). Less than,
After performing the operation from step S310 to step S312 in the same manner as in the case of the small size, the process proceeds to step S313, and as a result of the dust detection in step S312, it is determined whether or not there is dust at all B points.

If there is no dust at all the points B, the process proceeds to step S314, and the points at which there is no dust from B0 to B5 are stored as subsequent large-size flow reading positions. Next, the process proceeds to step S315, where the scanner is moved to the home position at the time of standby, and the process ends.

In step S313, if there is dust at all points B, the flow advances to step S308, and an alarm display is displayed on the operation unit to the effect that reading cannot be performed. Or
As shown in FIG. 15, a display prompting the user to clean the reading position is displayed.

The above is an example of control in the case where a flag indicating whether or not to perform a dust detection operation is provided. By performing control as described above, dust detection can be performed after the end of the reading operation by the flow reading. If it is determined from the dust detection result that the reading operation cannot be performed at all positions, an alarm screen as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed and an alarm state is set, so that the user operation cannot be continued thereafter. It is possible to

When the automatic scaling function is set, if the original bundle placed on the automatic original feeder is composed of originals of the same size, the first original bundle is fed onto the platen. Then, while detecting the original size during the feeding, the original image is read by the original fixed reading, and the original image is read by the original flow reading while the original is being conveyed by the automatic original feeder. Control.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a control method for determining whether or not to perform the drift reading according to the result of the dust detection operation, which has the drift reading prohibition flag. Starts when the reading mode is set.

First, in step S501, it is determined whether or not the skip reading prohibition flag is set. If the flow-reading prohibition flag is not set, the flow-reading can be performed, so the process proceeds to step S502, and the scanner is moved to the point stored as the reading position.

After the movement of the scanner, the flow advances to step S503 to feed the first document from the upper surface of the document bundle and perform reading processing by drift reading. Next, the process proceeds to step S504, where it is determined whether the fed document is the last document and the reading process has been completed.

If the result of determination in step S504 is that reading processing has not been completed, processing returns to step S503, and reading processing is continued. On the other hand, step S504
If the reading process has been completed in step S50,
Proceed to 5 to perform a dust detection operation.

Subsequently, the flow advances to step S506, and as a result of the dust detection in step S505, it is determined whether or not dust exists at all points. As a result of this determination, if there is no dust at all points, the process proceeds to step S507, and the point at which there is no dust is stored as a subsequent reading position.

Next, the flow advances to step S509 to move the scanner to a predetermined position at the time of standby, and ends the processing.
If there is dust at all points in step S506, the flow advances to step S508 to set a no-flow reading flag, and then to step S509.

On the other hand, if the flow-reading prohibition flag is set in step S501, the process proceeds to step S510, and the flow-reading cannot perform a normal reading operation.
A message for urging the user to clean is displayed as shown in FIG. Next, the process proceeds to step S511, and it is determined whether or not cleaning is actually performed by a key input by the user.

If the cleaning key has been input, it is determined that cleaning has been performed, and the flow advances to step S512 to release the message. Then, the flow advances to step S513 to clear the flow-read prohibition flag. Subsequently, the process proceeds to step S502,
Thereafter, the above-described processing is performed.

If the user presses the OK key in step S511, it is determined that cleaning has not been performed, and the reading method is switched to the fixed reading operation in which the reading operation can be performed normally without being affected by dust. Then, the process proceeds to step S514 to release the message, and then proceeds to step S515 to perform a reading process by fixed reading.

Next, the flow advances to step S516 to determine whether or not the fed original is the last original and the reading process has been completed. If not completed, step S5
Returning to step 15, the reading process is continued. Step S51
If the reading process has been completed in step 6, the process ends.

The above has the flow-reading operation prohibition flag,
It is a control example in a case where it is determined whether or not to perform the drift reading based on the result of the dust detection operation. By performing the control as described above, in a state where the page-reading operation can be performed at any of the plurality of candidate positions, it is possible to detect and operate the position where the page-reading operation can be performed by its own operation.

In addition, when it is determined that there is dust in the dust detection operation at all the positions of the gods and it is impossible to avoid the dust, the user is urged to perform a cleaning operation and the flow reading operation is prohibited. However, it can be set so that the reading operation by the fixed reading operation is performed. Then, when it is determined that the user has cleaned the platen glass by an input from the operation unit, it is possible to make the flow reading possible in the subsequent operations.

By performing control as described above, in a state where a page-reading operation is possible somewhere in a plurality of candidate positions, it is possible to detect and operate a page-reading position by its own operation. . In addition, when it is determined that there is dust in the dust detection operation at all candidate positions and it is impossible to avoid dust, the user is prompted to perform a cleaning operation.
Prohibit the flow reading operation.

When it is determined by the input from the operation unit that the user has cleaned the platen glass, it is possible to make the flow reading possible in the subsequent operations. Alternatively, when it is determined that the opening and closing operation of the automatic document feeder is performed and the platen glass is cleaned by the user, the flow reading can be performed in the subsequent operation.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a computer system capable of configuring the image reading device and the image reading method according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 17, reference numeral 1200 denotes a computer PC. PC12
00 executes device control software stored in the ROM 1202 or the hard disk (HD) 1211 or supplied from the floppy disk drive (FD) 1212, and collectively manages each device connected to the system bus 1204. To control.

The CPU 1201 of the PC 1200 and the RO
M1202 or a program stored in the hard disk (HD) 1211 constitutes each functional unit of the present embodiment.

A RAM 1203 functions as a main memory, a work area, and the like for the CPU 1201. Reference numeral 1207 denotes a disk controller (DKC), which is a hard disk that stores a boot program (a start program: a program for starting execution (operation) of a hardware or software of a personal computer), a plurality of applications, an edit file, a user file, a network management program, and the like. HD)
1211 and a floppy disk (FD) 1212.

Reference numeral 1208 denotes a network interface card (NIC) via a LAN 1220, for a network printer, another network device, or another PC.
Exchange data bidirectionally with C.

(Other Embodiments of the Present Invention) The present invention may be applied to a system including a plurality of devices or to an apparatus including a single device.

Further, the functions of the above embodiments are provided to an apparatus connected to the above various devices or a computer in a system so that various devices are operated so as to realize each function of the above embodiments. A program code of software for realizing the system is supplied, and a computer (CPU or MP) of the system or apparatus is supplied.
The invention implemented by operating the various devices according to the program stored in U) is also included in the scope of the present invention.

In this case, the program code of the software implements the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the program code itself and means for supplying the program code to the computer are provided.
For example, a storage medium storing such a program code constitutes the present invention. As a storage medium for storing such a program code, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, C
D-ROM, magnetic tape, nonvolatile memory card, R
OM or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the supplied program code, not only the functions described in the above embodiments are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer. Alternatively, even when the functions described in the above-described embodiments are implemented in cooperation with other application software or the like, it goes without saying that such program codes are included in the embodiments of the present invention.

Further, after the supplied program code is stored in the memory provided on the function expansion board of the computer or the function expansion unit connected to the computer, the function expansion board or the function expansion unit is specified based on the instruction of the program code. The present invention also includes a case where the CPU or the like provided in the above performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

As described above, when there is no dust on the platen glass, or when it can be avoided even if there is dust, the moving image reading operation is performed to secure a high original reading speed, and the dust image is removed. It is possible to prevent useless work such as re-reading the original after reading the document, thereby improving the productivity of the reading operation. In addition, when dust is detected on the platen glass, the flow reading operation is prohibited until it is determined that dust on the platen glass has been removed by a subsequent operation. The flow reading operation is performed when dust is attached, so that the problem that black streaks appear on the read image can be solved, and the reduction of the reading speed can be reduced as much as possible.

Further, in a state in which the flow-reading operation can be performed at any of a plurality of candidate positions, the operation can be performed by detecting the position at which the flow-reading operation can be performed by its own operation.

In addition, when it is determined that dust is present in the dust detection operation at all the positions of the gods and it is impossible to avoid dust, the user is prompted to perform a cleaning operation.
Since it is possible to set the reading operation based on the fixed reading operation while prohibiting the flow reading operation, it is possible to satisfactorily solve the problem that black streaks appear on the read image due to attached dust. Also,

When it is determined that the user has cleaned the platen glass by an input from the operation unit, it is possible to make it possible to read the document in the subsequent operation, and to read the image according to the state of dust. Can be realized.

[0140]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent useless work such as reading a dust image and re-reading a document.
The productivity of the reading operation can be improved. In addition, when dust is detected, the flow-reading operation is prohibited, so that the flow-reading operation is performed when dust is present, so that the problem that black streaks or the like appear on the read image can be solved. A decrease in the reading speed can be minimized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital copying machine according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a digital copying machine according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a schematic control system in the digital copying machine.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of an image processing unit.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a detailed view of an image memory unit.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a main configuration of an external I / F processing unit.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a schematic configuration of the automatic document feeder.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a document feeding operation of the automatic document feeder.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a document feeding operation of the automatic document feeder.

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating a document feeding operation of the automatic document feeder.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating a direction of a document bundle discharged from a document discharge port.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of a dust detection operation.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a control example when a flag indicating whether or not to perform a dust detection operation is provided.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of displaying an alarm indicating that reading in a stream cannot be performed or displaying a message urging the user to clean the reading position.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a display example that prompts the user to clean the reading position.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating a control method for determining whether or not to perform drift reading based on the result of a dust detection operation, which has a drift reading operation prohibition flag.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer system that can configure an image reading device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 200 Image reading apparatus main body 201 Platen glass 202 Scanner 203 Document illumination lamp 204-206 Scanning mirror 207 Lens 208 Image sensor unit 209 Exposure control unit 210 Image forming unit 211 Photoconductor drum 212 Primary charger 213 Developing device 214 Pre-exposure lamp 215 Cleaning device 216 Transfer charger 217 Separation charger 219 Laser beam 221 Right cassette deck 222 Left cassette deck 223 Upper cassette 224 Lower cassette 225, 226, 227, 228 Pickup rollers 229, 230, 231, 232 Feed roller 233 Register roller 234 Transfer belt 235 Fixing unit 236 Discharge roller 237 Discharge flapper 238 Convey path 239 Reverse path 240 Lower conveying path 241 Re-feed path 242 Re-feed Roller 243 Discharge path 244 Discharge roller 245 Reversing roller 250 Deck 251 Lifter 252 Pickup roller 253 Feed roller 254 Multi-manual feed 280 Automatic document feeder (DF) 290 Discharge processing device 291 Paper tray 292, 293 Discharge tray 294 Processing tray 295 Z-folding machine 296 Bookbinding machine 297 Discharge tray 601 Paper feed roller 602 Separation roller 603 Separation belt 604 Conveyance roller 605 Registration roller 606 Belt drive roller 607 Feed belt 608 Document trailing edge detection sensor 609 Final document detection sensor 610 Document set detection sensor 611 Stopper 612 Reverse flapper 613 Reverse feed flapper 614 First reverse roller 615 Second reverse roller 616 Discharge flapper 617 Feed discharge roller 618 Discharge Roller 619 Manual feed / discharge roller 620 Document tray 621 Document bundle 622 Manual discharge port 623 Document discharge port 624 First document size detection sensor 625 Second document size detection sensor 625 Third document size detection sensor 650 Inversion Pass 651 Re-feeding pass 652 Feeding pass 653 Reverse pass with reverse

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme court ゛ (Reference) G06T 1/00 460 H04N 1/028 A 5C072 H04N 1/028 1/04 105 1/04 105 103E 1/10 1/10 1/107 (72) Inventor Rieko Akiba 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Canon Inc. (72) Inventor Yoshito Nagatoshi 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Kia In Non-corporation (72) Inventor Yuichiro Maeda 3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo Canon Inc. F-term (reference) 2H027 DA50 DB08 DE02 DE07 ED04 ED11 EE07 EK09 FA16 FB07 FB19 GA47 GB07 GB09 HA01 HA10 2H076 AA04 AA07 AA58 AA87 BA22 BA24 BA42 BA57 BA58 BA63 BA71 BA76 BA97 BB10 EA21 2H109 CA21 5B047 AA01 BB02 BC16 CA07 CB05 DA03 DC07 5C051 AA01 DA03 DB01 DC07 DE03 DE07 EA08 5C072 AA01 BA17 EA05 LA04 MB01 MB04 MB08 MB09 XA01

Claims (20)

[Claims] 1. An image reading means for generating an image signal by reading an image by idling a feed belt in a state where there is no original at a current scanning reading position, and generating an image signal; and an image signal generated by the image reading means. A dust presence / absence determining means for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass based on the following: a first moving means for moving the image reading means to a predetermined reading start position; A document feeder for feeding a first document from a top surface of a bundle of documents to be read to a predetermined reading position, and a final document for determining whether or not the document fed by the document feeder is a final document Determining means for determining presence / absence of dust when the final document determining means determines that the document fed by the document feeding means is the last document; If the dust detection flag is not set, the second moving unit moves the image reading unit to a fixed position at the time of standby, and if the dust detection flag is set, the position where dust exists is determined. Dust position detecting means for detecting; a drift reading start position storing means for storing a point where there is no dust as a start position of a drift reading to be performed subsequently, according to a result of dust position detection by the dust position detecting means; Dust as a result of dust position detection by the third moving means for moving the image reading means to the moving reading start position stored in the reading start position storage means and the dust position detecting means; In this case, the image reading apparatus further comprises a non-slip-reading display means for displaying an alarm display indicating that the no-slope reading cannot be performed on the operation unit. 2. An image reading means for generating an image signal by reading an image by idling a feed belt in a state where there is no original at a current moving reading position, and generating an image signal; and an image signal generated by the image reading means. A dust presence / absence determining means for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass on the basis of
First moving means for moving the image reading means to a predetermined reading position; document feeding means for feeding the first document from the upper surface of the document bundle read by the image reading means to a predetermined reading position; A final document determining means for determining whether or not the document fed by the document feeding means is a final document; and an image reading process wherein the fed document is a final document by the final document determining means. When the processing is completed, dust position detection means for detecting the position where dust is present, and the result of the dust position detection processing by the dust position detection means,
A flow reading start position storage unit that stores a point where there is no dust as a subsequent flow reading start position; and a result of the dust position detection processing by the dust position detection unit.
If there is dust at all points, the flow-reading prohibition means sets a flow-reading prohibition flag, and if the flow-reading prohibition flag is set by the flow-reading prohibition means, prompts the user to clean. An image reading apparatus comprising: a cleaning urging means for displaying a message. 3. A cleaning execution judging means for judging whether or not cleaning has actually been performed as a result of the display by the cleaning urging means, based on whether or not a user presses a cleaning key. The image reading device according to claim 2. 4. When the cleaning key is depressed, it is determined that cleaning has been performed, and a message for urging the cleaning is released, and cleaning attention releasing means for clearing the no-flow reading flag is provided. The image reading device according to claim 2 or 3, wherein 5. A document that switches a reading method to a fixed reading operation in which a reading operation can be performed normally without being affected by dust during a period from when the cleaning prompt message is displayed to when the cleaning key is pressed. 5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising a reading switching unit.
An image reading device according to the item. 6. A document table for placing a document, document transport means for sequentially transporting a plurality of documents to predetermined positions on the document table, and an image read from an image signal obtained from the image reading means. Dust detection means for determining whether or not a dust image is included in the image data; setting means for setting a flow-reading operable flag to an enable / disable state in accordance with a detection result of the dust detection means; An image reading apparatus, comprising: control means for prohibiting the flow reading operation using the document conveying means when the flow reading operation enabled flag is set to an impossible state. 7. The dust detection means performs a plurality of dust detection positions on the platen. When dust is detected in all of the positions, the flow-reading operable flag is set to a disabled state. The image reading device according to claim 6, wherein: 8. The flow-reading operation is performed in a place where it is determined that there is no dust among the plurality of places, and when dust is detected in all places, the flow-reading operation enable flag is set to an impossible state. The image reading apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the setting is performed. 9. A document conveying means for sequentially conveying the plurality of documents onto the document table has an adjusting means for adjusting a conveyance timing for performing image reading, and a flow reading accompanying the dust detection. 9. The image reading apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an adjustment value is set in the adjustment unit based on a movement amount of the position. 10. A display unit on an operation unit for notifying a user of presence of dust in accordance with a detection result of the dust detection unit, and displaying a presence of dust when the flow-reading operable flag is in an impossible state. 10. The method according to claim 6, wherein
The image reading device according to claim 1. 11. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the control means inhibits the flow-reading operation when the flow-reading operation enabled flag means is in a disabled state, and performs control to perform a fixed reading operation. The image reading device according to claim 1. 12. An image reading process in which the feed belt idles in a state where there is no original at the current moving reading position and an image is read by image reading means to generate an image signal; A dust presence / absence determination process for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass based on the read image signal; a first movement process of moving the image reading unit to a predetermined reading start position; A document feeding process for feeding a first document from a top surface of a bundle of documents to be read by a reading unit to a predetermined reading position, and determining whether or not the document fed by the document feeding process is a final document The final document determining process and the final document determining process determine that the document fed by the document feeding process is the final document. If the dust detection flag is not set in the dust presence determination process, a second movement process of moving the image reading unit to a fixed position during standby, and a case where the dust detection flag is set As a result of the dust position detection process for detecting the position where dust is present and the dust position detection by the dust position detection process, if there is no dust at all points, the point where there is no dust is referred to as the subsequent reading start position. A moving reading start position storing process to be stored in the storage device as a third reading process; and a third moving process controlling the moving process to move the image reading means to the moving reading start position stored in the storage device. As a result of dust position detection by dust position detection processing, if dust is present at all points, an alarm display indicating that reading is not possible is displayed on the operation unit. Image reading method characterized by performing a non display processing. 13. An image reading process in which the feed belt idles in a state where there is no original at the current moving reading position and an image is read by an image reading means to generate an image signal; A dust presence / absence determination process for determining whether or not dust has adhered to the platen glass based on the read image signal, and a drift reading prohibition flag for prohibiting the reading of the original document by the drift reading is not set. In case,
A first movement process of moving the image reading unit to a predetermined reading position, a document feeding process of feeding a first document from a top surface of a document bundle read by the image reading unit to a predetermined reading position, A final document determining process for determining whether the document fed by the document feeding process is the final document, and the fed document is a final document based on the final document determining process. When the process is completed, a dust position detection process for detecting a position where dust is present, and a result of the dust position detection process by the dust position detection process,
A flow reading start position storing process of storing a point where there is no dust in the storage device as a subsequent flow reading start position, and a result of the dust position detection process by the dust position detection process,
If there is dust at all points, the flow-reading prohibition flag is set, and if the flow-reading prohibition flag is set by the flow-reading prohibition process, the user is prompted to clean. An image reading method, comprising: performing a cleaning reminder process for displaying a message. 14. As a result of the display by the cleaning reminder process,
14. The image reading method according to claim 13, wherein a cleaning execution determination process is performed to determine whether or not cleaning has actually been performed based on whether or not a user presses a cleaning key. 15. When the cleaning key is pressed, it is determined that cleaning has been performed, and a message urging the cleaning is released, and a cleaning attention releasing process for clearing the no-reading flag is performed. 17. The image reading method according to claim 15, wherein: 16. During a period from when the message prompting for cleaning is displayed to when the cleaning key is pressed, the reading method is switched to a fixed reading operation in which the reading operation can be performed normally without being affected by dust. The image reading method according to claim 13, wherein a reading switching process is performed. 17. An image reading process for reading a document image, a document transport process for sequentially transporting a plurality of documents to a predetermined position on a document table, and a dust image for a read image based on an image signal obtained by the image reading process. A dust detection process for determining whether or not an image is included; a setting process for setting a flow-reading operable flag to an enable / disable state according to a detection result of the dust detection process; An image reading method, comprising: performing a prohibition process for prohibiting a flow-reading operation using the document conveying means in an impossible state. 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein in the control processing, when the flow-reading operation enable flag is in an impossible state, the flow-reading operation is prohibited, and control is performed so as to perform a fixed reading operation. Image reading method. 19. A computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon a program for constituting each means according to claim 1. Description: 20. A computer-readable storage medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to execute each process according to claim 12.