JP2668157B2 - Document feeding method in circulation type document feeder - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention is provided in, for example, an electrostatic copying machine and the like, feeds a stack of sheet-like originals, and automatically conveys the originals to a reading position. The present invention relates to a document feeding method in a circulating document feeder in which a document is re-stored and stacked after passing through a reading position, and more particularly, to a document feeding method for sequentially copying an interrupt document different from the original document. About.

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, an electrostatic type copier or the like automatically reads a plurality of sheet-shaped documents one by one to a reading position, performs optical scanning of the documents, and performs a reading exposure operation of a document image. There is a tendency that a circulation type document supply device is provided.

Documents to be copied are stacked and stored in the hopper of the document supply device. When the copying operation is started,
Documents are fed one by one from the hopper and conveyed to a reading position. At the document reading position, a reading exposure operation is performed, and the read document image is copied onto a recording sheet conveyed in the copying machine.

By the way, in a conventional circulating document supply apparatus, generally, only one hopper for storing a document to be copied is provided. Therefore, if an interrupt mode for instructing copying of an interrupt original different from the initial original is requested during feeding while circulating the initially stored initial original in the apparatus for copying. It is necessary to temporarily remove the initial document from the hopper while storing the feeding state of the initial document that has been circulated, and place the interrupting document on the hopper to perform the sheet feeding operation. After the interrupt original copy operation, the interrupt original in the hopper is replaced again with the initial original, and the initial original copy operation is restarted based on the stored paper feed status.

Therefore, according to the configuration of the conventional circulating document feeder, the operator needs to replace the document every time the interrupt mode is requested, and the operation becomes very complicated.

By the way, as another prior art, USP (U.S. Pat. No. 4,450,447) discloses a circulating document feeder having a configuration in which two hoppers are provided. In the above configuration, when performing double-sided copying in which copying is performed from a single-sided document having a document image on one surface to both front and back surfaces of recording paper,
First, the original to be copied is stored in one of the hoppers and is conveyed to the reading position without being read and exposed. The so-called preliminary conveyance is performed, and the odd-numbered pages and the even-numbered pages of the document are separately stored in corresponding hoppers, respectively, and are re-stored. afterwards,
Documents to be copied are fed alternately from the hoppers, and the reading and exposing operation is executed at the reading position, and two-sided copying is realized in cooperation with a copying machine.

Thus, in recent years, a method of providing a plurality of hoppers, preliminarily classifying a document into each hopper for each application, and performing paper feed control has also been considered.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a document feeding method in a circulating document feeder that can greatly simplify the operator's labor when requesting an interrupt mode by using a plurality of storage units. It is.

Means for Solving the Problems According to the present invention, an original to be copied is placed in a predetermined first storage unit among a plurality of first storage units, and is sequentially fed to a reading position of a reading exposure unit via a transport path. The original is read and exposed by the reading and exposing means, re-stored in the first storing means, and the original is circulated in this manner. When an interrupt mode for instructing copying of the original for incorporation is requested, interrupt information indicating the feeding status of the original being fed at the time when the interrupt mode is requested is stored in a predetermined memory, The document stored in the first storage unit is fed to the other second storage unit without reading and exposing through the transport path, and the first storage unit is opened. The interrupt document is placed on the opened first storage means, and Using the first storage unit, the original for interruption is fed to the reading device for reading and exposing, and after the interruption mode is completed, the original for interruption is removed from the first storage unit. All the originals stored in the second storage unit are fed to the first storage unit via the transport path, and based on the interrupt information stored in the memory, A document feeding method in a circulating document feeder, which is characterized in that the feeding is restarted to perform reading exposure.

Operation According to the present invention, the circulation type document feeder is provided with a plurality of storage means for storing a document. The document to be copied is placed in a predetermined first storage unit, sequentially fed to a reading position of a reading and exposure unit via a transport path, and is read and exposed. Thus, circulation between the first storage means and the reading position is performed. When the interrupt mode is requested during the paper feeding, interrupt information indicating the feeding status of the original in the first storage unit is stored in the memory, and the original is not read and exposed, and 2 is temporarily fed to the storage means. The interrupt document is placed on the first storage means thus opened,
Using the first storage unit, an original for interruption is fed, and a copying operation in an interruption mode is executed. After the interruption mode ends, the interruption original document of the first accommodating means is removed from the first accommodating means, and then the original document accommodated in the second accommodating means is transferred to the first accommodating means. Return feed, then, based on the interrupt information stored in the memory,
The sheet feeding operation from the document which has been in the middle of the sheet feeding is restarted to read and expose.

The reading and exposing means includes a transparent plate 22, an optical system 31, a photoreceptor 51, a charging corona discharger 52, and the like in an embodiment described later. The transport path includes transport paths 16, 21, 29, and 35 described below.

Therefore, when the interrupt mode is requested, the operator only needs to place / eliminate the interrupt document on the first storage means, and the operation is greatly simplified.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a simplified configuration of a circulating document feeder 1 in which a sheet feeding method according to the present invention is implemented. FIG. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a simplified configuration of the electric copying machine 2. The document supply device 1
For example, a sheet-shaped document D, which is used by being mounted on the transfer electrostatic copying machine 2 and is stacked and placed on the first hopper 3a as the first storage means, is automatically moved to the reading position 23. The sheet is conveyed and the surface having the document image is presented to the reading position 23. The presented document image is optically scanned by an optical reading means provided in the copying machine 2, and a reading and exposing operation of the document image is performed. The document D from which the document image has been read is again stored in the first hopper 3a. The conveyance is sequentially performed on the documents D stacked on the first hopper 3a, and is circulated between the documents according to the required number of copies.

In this embodiment, a second hopper 3b is provided in addition to the first hopper 3a as a hopper 3 serving as a storage unit for storing the document D, and the hoppers 3a and 3b are arranged vertically in FIG. Is done. Referring to FIG. 1, the first hopper 3a is provided with a pair of side alignment plates 5a facing each other in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction 4 (the width direction of the document). The alignment plates 5a move toward and away from each other according to the width dimension of the stacked originals D in directions facing each other, and align both ends of the originals D in the width direction. That is, the originals D to be stacked have a constant center position in the width direction irrespective of the size in the width direction.

A rear end alignment plate 6a that aligns the upstream end of the stacked originals D in the feeding direction is disposed on the upstream side in the paper feeding direction 4 of the originals D stacked with respect to the first hopper 3a. The rear end alignment plate
6a is the document D after the document D is stacked on the hopper 3a.
The document D moves toward or away from the upstream side in the paper feeding direction to align the upstream end in the paper feeding direction of the document D whose downstream end is regulated by the side wall 7a. Thus, the originals D stacked on the first hopper 3a
Are aligned by the alignment plates 5a and 6a. At the side of the first hopper 3a, a one-circle detector 8a for detecting one circulation of the stacked documents D is provided.

On the downstream side of the first hopper 3a in the paper feeding direction and below the stacked originals D, there is provided a paper feeding means 9a for sequentially feeding the originals D one by one. The paper feeding unit 9a is, for example, a suction conveyance unit, and has an endless belt 12a having an infinite number of apertures wound between two drive rollers 10a and 11a having an axis in a direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction 4. Consisting of

An intake duct 13a is arranged on the inner side of the belt 12a, and by driving an intake fan (not shown),
Attraction force acts from the intake duct 13a via the belt 12a, and the lowermost document of the stacked documents D is
Sucked in 12a. Accordingly, by driving the belt 12a clockwise (see FIG. 1), the lowermost originals D in the stacking direction are sequentially fed in the feeding direction 4.

An exhaust duct 14a is provided downstream of the first hopper 3a in the sheet feeding direction 4, and a downstream end of the document D in the sheet stacking direction lower side of the first hopper 3a in the stacking direction is provided from a nozzle of the duct 14a. The exhaust stream is injected toward. As a result, the downstream end is separated one sheet at a time, and sheet feeding by the sheet feeding means 9a can be reliably performed one sheet at a time. The document D fed by the paper feeding unit 9a is transported via a transport roller 15a to a transport path 16 having a reading position. The reliable feeding of the originals D one by one is detected by a paper feed detector 17a including an optical detector and the like provided downstream of the first hopper 3a in the paper feed direction.

On the other hand, the configuration around the second hopper 3b and the periphery of the second hopper 3b is the same as the configuration around the first hopper 3a and the periphery of the first hopper 3a. And the subscript b is added.

Further, in the following description, the reference numeral of the document fed from the hopper 3 is denoted by Di, and is indicated separately from the document D to be stacked.

A substantially cylindrical support cylinder 18 is provided on the downstream side in the transport direction with respect to the transport path 16, and transport rollers 19 and 20 that can be driven forward and reverse are provided on the outer periphery of the support cylinder 18, and a transport path 21 is provided. Make The document Di fed from the hopper 3 passes through the transport path 21 by the support cylinder 18 that is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow R18 and the transport rollers 19 and 20 that follow the support cylinder 18, and the body of the copying machine 2 It is transported to a transparent plate 22 such as a hard glass provided at the upper part.

On the upper side of the transparent plate 22, there is provided a conveying means 27 in which an endless belt 26 is wound around two rollers 24 and 25, and the original Di conveyed to the reading position 23 by the conveying means 27. Is pressed and conveyed on the transparent plate 22. In this way, the document Di to be pressed and conveyed is conveyed to the predetermined reading position 23 of the transparent plate 22 at the downstream end in the conveying direction. In this way, one surface of the document Di at the reading position 23 is presented to the inside of the copying machine through the transparent plate 22. The one surface is an upper surface in the stacking direction of the documents D stacked on the hopper 3.

When presenting the lower surface of the stacked documents D in the stacking direction to the reading position, the support cylinder 18 is fed to the document Di fed from the hopper 3 and passed through the transport path 21.
The document Di is provided along the outer circumference of the support cylinder 18 by reversely driving the conveying rollers 19 and 20 and switching-controlling the direction changing claw 28 provided on the upstream side in the conveying direction with respect to the conveying rollers 19. The sheet is transported to the transport path 29, and is transported to the reading position 23 via the transport roller 30. Thus, at the reading position 23, the lower surface in the stacking direction of the documents D stacked on the hopper 3 is presented. The front side to be presented is set according to each copy mode such as single-sided original-single-sided copying and double-sided original-double-sided copying.

The transport path 21 is provided with a size detector 32 including, for example, a light emitting element 32a and a light receiving element 32b, and detects a size of the document Di transported to the transport path 21. As a method of detecting the dimension, for example, light is constantly irradiated from the light emitting element 32a to the light receiving element 32b, and the light receiving element 32b
The light is blocked by the original Di transported. The dimension of the document Di along the paper feed direction 4 is calculated based on the light blocking time and the transport speed determined by each transport roller.

The document Di for which the reading and exposing operation of the document image presented to the reading position 23 has been completed is transported by transporting means 27 to transport rollers 33 and 3.
It is transported to the transport path 35 provided with 4. The transport path 35 branches into a transport path 37 in which a transport roller 36 is provided on the downstream side in the transport direction and a transport path 39 in which a transport roller 38 is provided. A turning claw 40 is provided at a branch point of the transport paths 37 and 39.
Is provided. The direction change claw 40 is switch-controlled in response to a request for an interrupt mode for instructing copying of an interrupt document, for example, as described later, and the document Di conveyed through the conveyance path 35 is stored again. The first hopper 3a or the second hopper 3b to be selected is selected. The document Di that has passed through one transport path 37 via the direction changing claw 40 is re-stored at the top of the document D stacked on the first hopper 3a, and the document Di that has passed through the other transport path 39 is Documents D stacked on the two hoppers 3b are stored again at the top. Further, in each of the transport paths 37, 39,
For example, paper ejection detectors 80a and 80b composed of optical detectors and the like are provided, and the corresponding hopper 3 of the original Di passing through the reading position 23 is provided.
Is reliably detected.

As described above, for the original image presented to the reading position 23,
Optical scanning is performed by an optical system 31 provided on the inner side of the copying machine 2 to perform an exposure operation for reading a document image. In the optical system 31, a first moving body 43 including a light source 41 such as a halogen lamp and a reflecting mirror 42 reciprocates along the horizontal direction 44 with respect to the reading position 23 to irradiate the presented document with light. The reflected light passes through the reflecting mirrors 46 and 47 of the second moving body 45, the zoom lens 48, and the reflecting mirror 49, and forms an image on a photoreceptor 51 having a cylindrical shape which is driven to rotate in the direction of arrow 50. The second moving body 45 is also driven to travel in the same direction as the first moving body 43 at a running speed that is half the running speed of the first moving body 43, and the optical path length of the reflected light is kept constant. The surface of the photoconductor 51 is charged in advance by a charging corona discharger 52, and an electrostatic latent image corresponding to a document image is formed on the photoconductor 51 by the image formation. The electrostatic latent image is visualized as a toner image by a developing device 53 and is transferred to one surface of the recording paper P by a corona discharger 54 for transfer.

The recording paper P is stored in the paper feed cassette 55 in advance,
The sheet is conveyed along a conveyance path 57 including a pair of registration rollers 56, and is guided to a transfer area 58 where transfer is performed. A power transmission means is connected to the rotation shaft of the registration roller 56 via a clutch CLT (not shown). The clutch CLT
Is controlled based on the control of the conveyance timing of the document Di in the document supply device 1 so that the conveyance timing of the recording paper P by the registration roller 56 is adjusted to the toner image on the photoconductor 51. Can be. The recording paper P on which the toner image is transferred by the transfer corona discharger 54
Is guided from the conveying means 59 to the fixing device 60 and fixed.

The conveyance direction of the recording paper P after fixing is reversed by the reversing means 61, and is temporarily stored in the intermediate tray 63 via the conveyance path 62. The recording paper P in the intermediate tray 63 is transported
The toner image is transferred to the transfer area 58 again by the register roller 64 and the registration roller 56, and is transferred onto the other surface of the recording paper P. The recording paper P on which the transfer has been completed is discharged to a discharge tray 63 outside the apparatus via a conveying means 59, a fixing device 60, and a conveying path 65. In this way, the front and back sides of the document D are printed on the corresponding recording paper P.
Are copied on both front and back sides.

When copying is performed on one side only, the recording paper P copied on one side is discharged to the discharge tray 66 without being discharged to the intermediate tray 63. From the paper feed cassettes 55, 67, 68, 69, for example, recording papers P having mutually different dimensions are selectively conveyed to the transfer area 58.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the circulating document supply device 1. As shown in FIG. For example, detection signals from various detectors are input to a processing circuit (CPU) 81 including a microcomputer or the like via a signal detection circuit 82, and each control to be executed is determined. For example, paper feed detectors 17a, 17b
Indicates the sequential feeding state of the originals D stacked on the first hopper 3a and the second hopper 3b, and the detection signal from the discharge detectors 80a and 80b passes through the reading position 23. The sequential paper discharge state of the document D re-stored in the first hopper 3a and the second hopper 3b is shown.

The detection signals from the one-cycle detectors 8a and 8b indicate whether or not the conveyance of the documents D stacked on the first hopper 3a and the second hopper 3b to the reading position has been made once. Further, the detection signal from the size detector 32 detects the size of the fed document Di, and is given to a counter (not shown) in the processing circuit 81 to measure the number of fed documents Di. That is, since the size detector 32 is detected based on the cutoff of the irradiation light by the passing document Di as described above, the passing document Di can be counted by counting the cutoff time of the irradiation light. . The count value is handled as a factor necessary for control. For example, when an interrupt mode request is made, the count value is handled as interrupt information F indicating a sheet feeding state such as the number of already fed documents Di.

The processing circuit 81 includes a read only memory (ROM) 83
And a random access memory (RAM) 84. A processing circuit 81 cooperates with the document supply device 1 and the copier body 2 to perform a copying operation in accordance with a control program stored in the memory 83 in advance. Control. Memory 84
Is used as an area for calculation such as a timer and a flag necessary for controlling the copying operation, and in the present embodiment, is used as an area for storing interrupt information F required at the time of an interrupt mode request. .

The processing circuit 81 responds to signals from the various detectors,
Control each circuit. For example, in the motor drive circuit 85,
The motors M, M2,... Are connected, and the rotational drive timing of the transport rollers 19, 20, 30, 33 and the rollers 24, 25 of the transport unit 27 is controlled. The fan motor drive circuit 86 includes fan motors Mfa and Mf
b is connected, and exhaust ducts 14a, provided in each hopper 3a, 3b
The exhaust flow of 14b is controlled. The suction drive circuit 87 includes
The suction motors Msa and Msb are connected, and the suction conveyance timing of the sheet feeding means 9a and 9b is controlled. Further, solenoids SOL1, SOL2,... Are connected to the solenoid drive circuit 88, and each direction changing claw is
The drive timing of 28, 40 or a contact piece (not shown) for stopping the document Di at the reading position is controlled. Other processing circuits 81
Are connected to and control the matching plate drive circuit and each detector operation circuit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a copying operation in the document supply device 1, and FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a document conveyance state in the present embodiment. The document conveying process in the copying operation of this embodiment will be described below with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

The program shown in FIG. 4 is executed every time a copying operation is performed. In step a1, it is determined whether or not the original D to be copied is placed on the first hopper 3a by, for example, an original placement detector (not shown). When the original D is placed, conditions such as various types of single-sided or double-sided copying are input by an operation switch provided on the copying machine main body in step a2, and a copy start instruction is awaited in step a3. I do. If there is the instruction, step a4
To drive the paper feeding means 9a to sequentially start feeding the document D.

The document Di fed in this way passes through the reading position 23 as shown in FIG. 5A, and is then stored again in the first hopper 3a via the transport path 37 determined by the direction changing claw 40.
That is, the document D is circulated and conveyed between the first hopper 3a and the reading position 23 while being read and exposed. Note that in FIG. 5, a single-sided original is assumed, and the reading position 23 passes through the conveyance path 21. Therefore, when the front and back surfaces of a two-sided document need to be reversed, the document may pass through the transport path 29 in some cases.

As described above, the original D (initial original) placed at the beginning
In step a5 during the sheet feeding, it is determined whether the interrupt mode is requested.

If there is no such request, the process proceeds to step a6, where it is determined whether the copying operation for all the originals D has been completed. In this way, document feeding and reading / exposure are sequentially performed, and various copying modes such as single-sided original-single-sided copying and double-sided original-double-sided copying are realized in cooperation with the main body of the copying machine.

On the other hand, if there is the request, the process proceeds to step a7,
The memory 84 stores the interrupt information F indicating the current number of copies and the status of the fed document Di. Further, in step a8,
As shown in FIG. 5 (2), the original D in the first hopper 3a
The reading position 23 is transported without reading and exposing, and the second hopper is transported through the transport path 39 determined by switching of the direction changing claw 40.
Feed all to 3b once. Therefore, the first hopper 3a is opened.

At step a9, it is determined whether or not the interrupt document Dw is placed on the opened first hopper 3a by the operator. After placing the interrupt manuscript Dw, in step a10, copy conditions for the interrupt manuscript Dw are input, and
At a11, similar to FIG. 5 (1), the interrupt document Dw is circulated between the first hopper 3a and the reading position 23 to execute the copy operation in the interrupt mode. In step a12,
It is determined whether or not necessary copying in the interrupt mode has been completed. After the completion of the copying, the process proceeds to step a13.

In step a13, it is determined whether or not the interrupted original Dw for which copying has been completed has been excluded from the first hopper 3a. After the interruption document Dw is eliminated, in step a14, the interruption information F stored at the time of the interruption mode request is read from the memory 84. In step a15, as shown in FIG. 5 (3), the original D of the second hopper 3b is transported to the reading position 23 without reading and exposing, and the transport path determined by switching of the direction changing claw 40 is performed. First hopper reopened via 37
Feed to 3a. At this time, based on the read interrupt information F, the document D returned to the first hopper 3a has the same stacking state as when the document D was interrupted when the interrupt mode was requested.

After passing through the interrupt mode in this way, the process returns to step a4, and the copying operation of the initial document D is restarted. Thereafter, the steps a4 to a15 are repeated, and if it is determined in step a6 that the copying has been completed, this program ends.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, at the time of the interrupt mode request, the initial document D is temporarily fed to the second hopper 3b, and the first hopper 3a can be used for copying the interrupt document Dw. Therefore, the operator only needs to place / remove the interrupt original Dw with respect to the first hopper 3a without handling the initial original D. That is, the operation of the operator in the interruption mode is greatly simplified. After the interruption mode is completed, the copying operation can be reliably restarted from the interruption of the supply of the initial document D based on the interruption information F indicating the supply state of the initial document D.

In the above embodiment, the number of hoppers is assumed to be two, but a plurality of hoppers may be provided.

Further, in the present embodiment, the description is made in relation to the circulating document feeder. In another embodiment of the present invention, the copying machine may be configured to record on photosensitive recording paper instead of the electrostatic type.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, according to the present invention, by the simple control in the circulation type document feeder having a plurality of storing means,
The manuscript handling operation by the operator at the time of requesting the interrupt mode can be greatly simplified. After the interruption mode is completed, the original document copying operation can be resumed from the interruption of the sheet feeding based on the interruption information stored in advance, and the functionality is not degraded.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a simplified configuration of a circulating document feeder 1 in which the paper feeding method of the present invention is implemented, and FIG. FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a simplified configuration, FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration of the circulating document feeder 1, FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining a copying operation in the circulating document feeder 1, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a document conveyance state in the present embodiment. 1 ... Circulating document feeder, 2 ... Copier, 3a ... 1st
Hopper, 3b Second hopper, 23 Reading position, 31 Optical system, 32 Size detector, 37, 39 Transport path, 40
... direction changing claw, 81 ... processing circuit, 84 ... memory (RA
M), D ... Original (initial original), Dw ... Interrupt original, F
…… Interrupt information, P …… Recording paper

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. An original to be copied is placed in a predetermined first storing means of a plurality of sheets, is sequentially fed to a reading position of a reading and exposing means through a conveying path, and is read by the reading and exposing means. Exposure, re-storage in the first storage means, and a circulation type document supply apparatus for circulating the document in this manner, during the feeding over the placed document, copying another interruption document. When the interrupt mode to be instructed is requested, interrupt information indicating the feeding status of the original being fed at the time when the interrupt mode is requested is stored in a predetermined memory,
The document stored in the first storage unit is fed to the other second storage unit without reading and exposing through the transport path, and the first storage unit is opened. An interrupt document is placed on the opened first storing means, and the interrupt document is fed to the reading device to be read and exposed by using the first storing means, and after the interrupt mode ends, Removing the interrupt document from the first storage means, and then feeding all the documents stored in the second storage means to the first storage means via the transport path; A document feeding method in a circulating document feeder, characterized in that feeding is restarted from the document that was being fed based on the stored interrupt information, and reading and exposure are performed.