JP2003050483A - Original feeding and conveying device and picture reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a fine read-out and conveyance system by constituting an optimum driving system even though an original feeding and conveying device is miniaturized and the cost of the device is reduced. SOLUTION: In an original feeding and conveying device having an original mounting tray 14 on which a plurality of sheets of originals S are loadable, a pickup roller 3 successively feeding and conveying the originals S mounted on the original mounting tray 14, a separating roller 5 for separating the originals S one sheet by one sheet, a plurality of conveying rollers 7, 9 conveying the originals S with a read-out position, a U turn path 12 guiding the originals S, drive transmitting parts 100, 200 which are provided respectively at both ends of a width direction roughly orthogonal to an original conveying direction and transmit driving force to the rollers and a driving motor M which is arranged at one side of the drive transmitting parts 100, 200, this device is constituted so as to drive only the upstream-side conveying roller 7 and the downstream-side conveying roller 9 of the conveying direction with respect to the read-out position which are closest to the read-out position with the driving motor- side drive transmitting part 200 and to drive other rollers 3, 5, 6 with the drive transmitting part 100 of a side opposite to the side of the driving motor.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document feeding device for feeding a document through a document transport path having a substantially U shape, and more specifically, an image reading device such as a scanner or an image reading device such as a copying machine or a facsimile. The present invention relates to a document feeding device used in a forming device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image reading apparatus such as a scanner or an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile, a document feeding device for feeding a document through a substantially U-shaped document feeding path is used. This document feeder is composed of various rollers involved in document transportation, a drive motor for driving these rollers, a drive transmission unit including gears for transmitting the power of the drive motor to the rollers, and the like. ing.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned document feeding apparatus of the conventional example, various rollers involved in document transportation, drive motors for driving these rollers,
There is no regularity in the arrangement configuration of the drive transmission unit including gears for transmitting the power of the drive motor to the rollers, and it is very important to ensure the conveyance reading accuracy when the apparatus is downsized and the cost is reduced. It was difficult.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object thereof is to realize an accurate reading / conveying system which can constitute an optimum drive system even if the apparatus is downsized and the cost is reduced. It is to be.

[0005]

A typical structure of the present invention for achieving the above object is to provide an original placing table on which a plurality of originals can be stacked and an original placed on the original placing table. A feeding roller for feeding, a separating roller for separating the originals one by one, a plurality of conveying rollers for conveying the originals through the reading unit, and a substantially U-shaped original conveying path for guiding the originals. ,
In a document feeding device having a drive transmission unit which is provided at both ends in a width direction substantially orthogonal to a document conveyance direction and transmits a driving force to the roller, and a drive motor arranged on one side of the drive transmission unit, Only the carrying roller on the upstream side and the carrying roller on the downstream side in the carrying direction, which is the closest to the reading unit, is driven by the drive transmission unit on the drive motor side, and the other rollers are different from the driving motor side. It is characterized in that it is configured to be driven by the drive transmission unit on the opposite side.

In the above arrangement, by driving only the upstream transport roller and the downstream transport roller closest to the reading section by the drive motor side, fine document feeding in the reading section can be realized. Further, by driving the other rollers for separating and conveying on the side opposite to the drive motor side, the driving for reading is not affected.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be illustratively described in detail below with reference to the drawings. However,
The dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the component parts described in the following embodiments should be appropriately changed depending on the configuration and various conditions of the device to which the present invention is applied, and are particularly specific. Unless otherwise stated, the scope of the present invention is not intended to be limited thereto.

[First Embodiment] A document feeding apparatus according to a first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, an automatic sheet feeding and reading device will be described as an example of an image reading device including a document feeding device to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 1 is a main sectional view showing an automatic sheet feeding and reading apparatus of the present invention. First, the structure and operation of the document reading / conveying section 1 will be described with reference to FIG. The document reading / conveying unit 1
As shown in FIG. 1, a substantially U-shaped document conveying path (hereinafter referred to as a U turn path) 12 is provided in an automatic sheet feeding pressure plate section 40 (see FIG. 2), and the U turn path 12 has a separating roller. 5, a separation pad 4, a document presence / absence sensor 16 for detecting the presence or absence of the document S, a first transport roller 6 and a second transport roller 7 for transporting the document S, and a document for detecting the front end portion and the rear end portion of the document S. The edge sensor 17 and the like are attached.

In the document reading / conveying section 1, a U-turn path 12 is provided.
A document placing tray 14 is provided so as to be connected to the upstream end side of the U-turn path 12, and a document discharging tray 18 which is also used as a pressure plate is provided at the downstream end side of the U-turn path 12. Here, a document holding surface 18a for holding the trailing end of the discharged document S is formed on the base end side of the document discharge tray 18.

On the upstream end side of the U-turn path 12,
A document stopper 20 that regulates the leading end position of the documents S stacked on the document placement tray 14, a document presence sensor 16 that detects the presence or absence of the document S, and a document stopper 20 that abuts against the topmost document S loaded A U-turn path 12 is provided with a pickup roller 3 for picking up the sheet, a separation roller 5 and a separation pad 4 that are pressed against each other for separating the document S picked up by the pickup roller 3 into one sheet.
A third conveying roller 9 for discharging the document S to the document discharge tray 18 is provided on the downstream end side of the.

Reference numeral 2 is a fixed reading unit for reading a document placed on the glass 22. Document reading and conveying section 1
The contact-type image sensor 30 arranged via the glass 22 and the glass 22 irradiates the image information surface of the document S with light from an LED array as a light source, and reflects light reflected by the image information surface with a SELFOC lens (trademark). The image information is read by forming an image on the sensor element.

The contact-type image sensor 30 is configured to be movable in the left and right directions in the figure. When reading a fixed original, the original placed on the glass 22 is read while scanning from the left side to the right side in the figure. When reading by the reading / conveying unit 1, the document is stopped at the reading position in the figure (position facing the reading white background plate 8) and the original conveyed to the reading position is read.

In this document reading / conveying section 1, the setting direction of the document S when the operator places and sets the document S on the document placing tray 14 is reversed from the right side or the left side in the left-right direction of the apparatus. When the document S is set, the leading end position of the document S is set to the document stopper 20.
The presence or absence of the document S is detected by the document presence / absence sensor 16.

When the operator gives an instruction to start reading from an operation unit (not shown), a drive unit (see FIGS. 4 and 5) described later is rotated, and the document stopper 20 is pushed down by the pickup arm 10 to pick up the pickup roller 3. Thus, the document S passes through the inclined surface of the document stopper 20 and is fed into the U-turn path 12. At this time, in the original reading / conveying unit 1, the originals S are separated one by one by the separating roller 5 and the separating pad 4, and the uppermost original S is separated and conveyed. Further, the separated original S is transferred to the first transport roller 6
Is conveyed along the U-turn path 12 and further the second conveying roller 7 conveys the document S to the reading unit of the contact image sensor 30.

In the document reading / conveying unit 1, when the leading edge of the document S is detected by the document edge sensor 17, the contact-type image sensor 3 is conveyed when a predetermined amount is conveyed from that position.
The reading of image information by 0 is started. At that time, the original is pressed against the reading white background plate 8. After the reading is started, the original is scooped up by the transparent scooping sheet 19 and moves toward the third conveying roller 9. Then, the document edge sensor 17
When the trailing edge of the document S is detected by, the reading of the image information by the contact image sensor 30 is completed when the document is conveyed by a predetermined amount from that position.

Then, the original S is transferred to the third conveying roller 9
Then, the sheet is conveyed toward the document discharge tray 18 which is also used as the pressure plate, and is discharged to the document discharge tray 18. When the trailing end of the discharged document S passes the third transport roller 9, the document S is freely dropped, moves on the inclined main surface of the document discharge tray 18, and the rear end is held by the document holding surface 18a. And is stored in the document discharge tray 18.

In this way, in the document reading / conveying section 1,
The above-described reading operation is repeated until the document presence sensor 16 detects the absence of the document.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of the automatic sheet feeder of the present invention. 1 is a document reading / conveying unit, 2 is a fixed reading unit,
Reference numeral 40 denotes an automatic paper feed pressure plate portion that opens and closes for fixed reading.

Next, the arrangement of the rollers and the reading section will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As shown in Figure 1,
The separation roller 5 is located between the second conveyance roller 7 and the third conveyance roller 9, and is arranged so that the distances A and B in the figure are almost the same. As a result, it is possible to easily perform the optimum arrangement of the rollers, which is the basis of the separation / conveyance reading, and also to reduce the size. Further, the reading position is located between the separation roller 5 and the first transport roller 6, and is arranged so that the distances C and D in the figure are almost the same. As a result, it is possible to read at the optimum position on the transport path. Further, the second carrying roller 7 is located between the first carrying roller 6 and the reading surface, and is arranged so that the distances E and F in the figure are almost the same. As a result, the second conveying roller 7 can be moved to the right (the reading unit direction) in the drawing, and the lateral size of the device can be reduced. Further, the first to third transport rollers are arranged inside the document transport path. As a result, the drive system of the transport roller can be made compact.

By adopting these optimum arrangements having regularity, it is possible to achieve downsizing of the apparatus and fine document conveyance.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5, the drive system arrangement of the document reading and conveying section will be described in detail. As shown in FIG. 3, the drive units are arranged at both ends of the document conveyance. 2 in the figure
Reference numeral 00 is a read / conveyance control drive unit, 100 is a separation / conveyance drive unit, and M is a drive motor. That is, as is apparent from FIG. 3, the reading / conveying control drive unit 200 is the drive transmission unit on the side where the drive motor M is arranged, and the separation conveyance drive unit 100 is the drive transmission unit on the side opposite to the drive motor M side. Is.

The reading / conveying control drive unit 200 will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the broken lines are the second conveyance roller 7 and the third conveyance roller 9, and the reading section (reading position) on which the reading white background plate 8 is present.
Is the roller that is disposed closest to the upstream side and the downstream side of the roller. The two rollers 7 and 9 control the reading and conveying. First, the drive gear 204 of the second transport roller 7 is changed from the pinion gear 201 of the motor to the intermediate gear 2
It is driven via 02 and 203. The drive gear 206 of the third transport roller 9 is the pinion gear 2 of the motor.
It drives from 01 through the intermediate gears 202 and 205. As described above, by driving only the reading control conveyance rollers 7 and 9 arranged on the upstream side and the downstream side which are closest to the reading section by the drive transmission section on the drive motor side, fine reading conveyance is realized. is doing.

The separation / conveyance drive unit 100 will be described with reference to FIG. The broken lines in the figure represent the separation roller 5, the first transport roller 6, and the second transport roller 7. The drive gear 103 of the first transport roller 6 is the second drive gear 10 of the second transport roller 7.
It is driven from 1 through the intermediate gear 102. Also,
The drive gear 106 of the separation roller 5 is driven by the drive gear 103 of the first transport roller 6 via the intermediate gears 104 and 105. In this way, the driving of the separation / conveyance rollers is performed by the drive transmission unit on the side opposite to the drive motor side without performing the reading control. As a result, the separation / conveyance rollers can be driven without affecting the rollers that perform reading control.

[Other Embodiments] In the above-described embodiment,
Although the image reading apparatus is exemplified, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile apparatus, and the present invention is not limited to the document feeding apparatus used in the image forming apparatus. Similar effects can be obtained by applying the invention.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the document feeding device for feeding the document, which is the sheet material to be read, through the reading means has been exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, recording Similar effects can be obtained by applying the present invention to a sheet material feeding device that conveys a target sheet material such as recording paper via a recording unit.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention,
In a document feeding device having a substantially U-shaped document feeding path,
Optimum drive system can be configured even with miniaturization and cost reduction,
A fine reading and conveying system can be realized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic front sectional view of an automatic paper feeder according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an automatic sheet feeding and reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a drive system layout according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a read control drive unit according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a separation / conveyance drive unit according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

A, B, C, D, E, F ... Distance M ... Drive motor S ... manuscript 1 ... Original reading / transporting unit 2 ... Fixed reading section 3 ... Pickup roller 4 ... Separation pad 5 ... Separation roller 6 ... First transport roller 7 ... Second transport roller 8 ... Read white background 9 ... Third transport roller 10 ... Pickup arm 12 ... U Turn Pass 14 ... Original tray 16 ... Document presence sensor 17 ... Original Edge Sensor 18 ... Original discharge tray 18a ... Original holding surface 19 ... Transparent scooping sheet 20 ... Document stopper 22 ... Glass 30 ... Contact image sensor 40 ... Automatic paper feed pressure plate 100 ... Separation / conveyance drive unit 101 ... Drive gear 102 ... Intermediate gear 103 ... Drive gear 104 ... Intermediate gear 105 ... Intermediate gear 106 ... Drive gear 200 ... Read / Conveyance Control Drive Unit 201 ... Pinion Gear 202 ... Intermediate gear 203 ... Intermediate gear 204 ... Drive gear 205 ... Intermediate gear 206 ... Drive gear

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Toshiyuki Takano             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Yasushi Ishida             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Shigeyuki Sugiyama             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation (72) Inventor Takuma Suzuki             3-30-2 Shimomaruko, Ota-ku, Tokyo             Non non corporation F-term (reference) 2H076 BA24 BA46                 3F049 AA10 DA12 EA21 EA27 LA05                       LB02                 5B047 AA01 BA01 BB02 BC18                 5C062 AA02 AA05 AB17 AB32 BA01                 5C072 AA01 BA01 EA05 LA02 NA01                       NA06 XA01

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An original placing table on which a plurality of originals can be stacked, a feeding roller for sequentially feeding the originals placed on the original placing table, and a separation roller for separating the originals one by one. A plurality of conveying rollers for conveying the original through the reading unit, a substantially U-shaped original conveying path for guiding the original, and a driving force for the rollers provided at both ends in the width direction substantially orthogonal to the original conveying direction. In a document feeding device having a drive transmission unit that transmits a drive force and a drive motor arranged on one side of the drive transmission unit, a document that is closest to the reading unit and is upstream of the reading unit in the transport direction. An original document characterized in that only the roller and the transport roller on the downstream side are driven by the drive transmission section on the drive motor side, and the other rollers are driven by the drive transmission section on the side opposite to the drive motor side. Feeding device. 2. An original placing table on which a plurality of originals can be stacked, a feeding roller for sequentially feeding the originals placed on the original placing table, and a separation roller for separating the originals one by one. A plurality of conveying rollers for conveying the original through the reading unit, a substantially U-shaped original conveying path for guiding the original, and a driving force for the rollers provided at both ends in the width direction substantially orthogonal to the original conveying direction. And a drive motor disposed on one side of the drive transmission unit, the drive roller being closest to the reading unit and being upstream of the reading unit in the conveyance direction and downstream. A document feeding device configured to drive only the conveyance roller of the driving motor side by a drive transmitting portion on the drive motor side, and drive the other rollers by a drive transmitting portion on the side opposite to the drive motor side; Documents conveyed by the device are read at a specified reading position. Reading, or image reading apparatus characterized by having a reading unit to read while scanning a document set on a transparent glass.