JP3361393B2 - Scanner device - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a scanner device for reading an image in a copying machine, a facsimile or the like,
More specifically, the present invention relates to a scanner device in which a plurality of document sheets stacked in a document tray are drawn out one by one and sent to a reading unit, and the read document sheets are stacked again in the document tray.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A scanner device for reading image information written on a sheet-like document by a reading means such as a CCD is widely used in copying machines, facsimiles and the like. When reading a plurality of sheet-shaped originals in such a scanner device, it is extremely complicated to manually set the originals one by one and replace the original with the next original after reading, and the work efficiency is poor. Therefore, various scanner devices have been proposed which are provided with a document tray, stack document sheets therein, and automatically feed the document sheets one by one to a document reading unit.

[0003]

In the scanner device equipped with such an automatic document feeder, the document stacking portion is provided separately from the document tray, so that the device becomes large in size. Also, it is conveyed from the automatic document feeder,
The document sheets that have been read are stacked on a document stacking unit that is separately provided. Therefore, if there is image information on both sides of the document sheet, the document on the document stacking unit must be set again on the document tray.

The present invention has been made in view of the circumstances of the prior art, and an object thereof is to provide a scanner device capable of automatically reading a plurality of original sheets without increasing the size of the device. Is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a scanner device capable of reading both sides of a document sheet.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a scanner device which can perform page alignment of a document sheet after reading in a desired form.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a document reading section on the upper part, a document tray on which document sheets are stacked, and a conveyance for conveying the document to the document reading section. have a document feeder having a path,
The original document transport section has a pull-out unit for pulling out the original sheet stacked on the original tray from the lowermost portion, and the transport path is the original sheet with the surface of the original sheet read by the original document reading section being reversed. In the scanner device configured to eject to the tray, the original tray is pulled out.
Shaped tray, before and after the reading operation by the document reading unit
So that the originals can be stacked inside the same original tray.
It has a configuration that was.

This scanner device also includes a detection means for detecting that all the original sheets stacked on the original tray have been conveyed, and a double-sided reading of the original sheets when instructed.
A control unit that controls the document reading unit and the document conveying unit to read the document sheet again according to the first signal from the detection unit is provided.

Further, when only one-sided reading of the original sheet is instructed, the control section reverses and conveys the original sheet in order to align the page order.

Further, the control unit controls the reverse conveyance so that the conveyance speed is higher than the conveyance speed at the time of reading.

Further, the control unit selectively controls whether the reverse conveyance is performed before or after reading the original sheet.

[0012]

[Function] As described above, before and after the reading operation in the same tray.
Since the originals are stacked on top of each other, they are easy to operate.
Also, the document scanning section is at the top and the document transport section is at the bottom.
However, since the original tray is a drawer-like tray, the width is
Narrow, place an object on the top of the device, or activate another scanner function.
It should be compact and easy to add to parts.
be able to.

Further, by providing the detecting means and the control section, it is possible to reverse the stacked original sheets after the reading of one side thereof, and to re-feed the reloaded original sheets as they are, thereby making it possible to read both sides. become.

By providing the control unit with a function of reversal conveyance, reversal for aligning the page order of original sheets,
It is also possible to perform only reloading conveyance, and it is possible to eliminate the disorder of the page order that occurs after reading one side.

Further, when the control unit is reversed and conveyed at a speed higher than the conveying speed at the time of reading, reversal and reloading conveyance for aligning the page order of original sheets can be performed at high speed, and the page order can be performed. The tidying time can be shortened and unnecessary waiting time can be shortened.

Furthermore, since the control unit can selectively control whether the reverse feeding is performed before or after reading the original sheet, the page order when reading only one side is from the first page to the last page. Can be selected according to.

[0017]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing the configuration of an embodiment of the scanner device of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view showing the main part of the discrimination means in this embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the scanner is composed of a document reading section 1 provided at an upper part and a document feeding section 2 provided at a lower part of the document reading section 1 as a document feeding device. The document reading unit 1 includes a light source 11 that illuminates a document sheet from an opening 4 formed in a partition member 3 that separates the document reading unit 1 and the document conveying unit 2, and a light reflected from the document sheet in a substantially horizontal direction. Mirror 12 for reflecting on
An imaging lens 13 for reading an original from the light from the mirror 12, a CCD 14 and the like are arranged. Although the upper surface of the document reading unit 1 is not used in this embodiment, a fixed document platen-type reading device for reading a book document may be arranged and the reading unit may be shared. Further, the upper surface of the document reading unit 1 may be used as a desk or an image forming apparatus may be arranged.

The document feeding section 2 is provided with a document tray 21 supported so as to be pulled out in a substantially horizontal direction, and the document tray 21.
A separation / conveyance belt 22 for pulling out the original sheets inside one by one from the bottom, and the original sheet pulled out by the separation / conveyance belt 22 is conveyed to the position of a registration sensor 23 provided near the opening 4 of the partition member 3. 2 sets of transport rollers 2
4, 25 and a pair of conveying rollers 2 for accurately discharging the original sheet from the positions of the registration sensor 23 through the reading position under the opening 4 into the original tray 21 again.
6 and a guide member 27 for guiding the conveyance path such that the original on the lower surface of the original sheet is read along with the conveying rollers 24, 25, and 26, and the read original surface is directed upward and discharged to the original tray 21 again. There is. Document tray 2
An opening 28 is formed at the bottom of the document 1. A part of the separating / conveying belt 22 is fitted into the opening 28, and the original sheets 5 stacked in the original tray 21 are sequentially pulled out from the lowermost original sheet. It has become. This document tray 2
1 is drawn to the outside through an opening 29 provided on the side of the document conveying section 2. A long groove 32 extending from the side wall 30 to the bottom wall 31 is formed on one side wall 30 parallel to the drawing direction of the document tray 21. The separation / conveyance belt 22 is configured as an endless belt, is passed between the driving roller 33 and the driven roller 34, and is configured to rotate in the direction of the conveyance roller 24 by the rotation of the driving roller 33. The separating / conveying belt 22 and the conveying rollers 24, 25, 26 are driven by a single motor (not shown),
The speed reduction ratio 4 is set in advance so that the original sheet is conveyed at a conveying speed V1 lower than the conveying speed V2 of the conveying rollers 25 and 26.

As shown in FIG. 2, one end of a discriminating claw 35, which is discriminating means, passes through the slot 32 of the document tray 21. The other end of the discrimination claw 35 is fixed to a drive shaft 37 of a claw drive motor 36, and is normally configured to hang downward outside the document tray 21 in a free state as shown by a dotted line. The claw drive motor 36 is configured to rotate once when a switch for instructing the start of reading is turned on, and the drive shaft 37 is connected to a determination claw 35 via a clutch (not shown) so that the determination claw 35 hits the original sheet and rotates. If is blocked, the clutch is adapted to work. In this case, the claw drive motor 36 is configured by a step motor, and when the power is turned on, the position from the position indicated by the dotted line in FIG.
The tip of the determination claw 35 which is in a free state when the rotation is stopped may be positioned in the document tray 21 through the long groove 32 by rotating clockwise by 80 ° or more. In the vicinity of the long groove 32 of the bottom wall 31 of the document tray 21, a claw sensor 39 for detecting one end of the discrimination claw 35 passing through the long groove 32 by the support arm 38 is attached. Even if this claw sensor 39 is configured by a proximity switch that detects the proximity of the determination claw 35 and turns it on and off, a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit are provided so as to cross the rotation path of the determination claw 35, and when the determination claw 35 passes. It may be configured by an optical switch that detects light shielding.

Next, the electrical configuration will be described with reference to the block diagram shown in FIG. 3. The control circuit has an operation display section 61 for giving an instruction to read a document and displaying its operation, and an operation from the operation display section 61. It has a control unit 62 for controlling conveyance of a document sheet, image reading, and the like according to an instruction, and an image reading circuit 64 for reading and storing image information from the CCD 14 of the document reading unit 1. The control unit 62 also includes the registration sensor 23, the claw sensor 39, the claw driving motor 36, the separation conveyance belt 22, and the conveyance rollers 24, 2.
The drive motors 5 and 26 are connected to the carry motor 66 via the driver 65, and the operation of the claw drive motor 36 and the carry motor 66 is controlled by the instruction from the operation display unit 61 and the states of the registration sensor 23 and the claw sensor 39. To do. The operation display section 61 indicates whether to read one side of the original sheet, read both sides of the original sheet, and whether to perform page alignment of the original sheet after reading, or whether to read the original sheet after performing page alignment. It is composed of various operation buttons for instructing and display lamps for displaying the operation status.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4 which shows a document diagram of the document sheet, the document sheet transporting operation will be described by taking one-side reading of the document sheet as an example. First, a document sheet is put into the document tray 21 pulled out from the opening 29. At this time, the discriminating claw 35 is moved to the original tray 21 as shown by the dotted line in FIG.
Since it hangs downward in the free state outside the table, the document sheet can be inserted without being disturbed by the discrimination claw 35. As shown in FIG. 1, the document tray 21 containing the document sheets is placed in the scanner, and the single-sided reading button on the operation display unit 61 is turned on. As a result, the control unit 62 instructs the driver 65 to rotate the claw drive motor 36 in the clockwise direction in FIG. The tip of the discrimination claw 35 comes into contact with the uppermost original sheet by the rotation of the claw drive motor 36. On the other hand, when the single-sided reading button is turned on, the control unit 62 also operates the conveyance motor 66 to drive the separation / conveyance belt 22 and the conveyance rollers 24, 25, 26. The lowermost original sheet 5x in the original tray 21 is conveyed by the separating / conveying belt 22 to the vicinity of the registration sensor 23 at the conveying speed V1 and is temporarily stopped. Next, the original sheet 5x is conveyed by the conveying rollers 25 and 26 at a speed in synchronization with the image reading operation, and is ejected to the uppermost part of the original tray 21.

When the trailing edge of the preceding original sheet 5x leaves the separating / conveying belt 22, the next original sheet 5y is immediately separated and conveyed at the conveying speed V1. At this time, the reading of the preceding document sheet 5x at the conveyance speed V2 is started, and a sheet interval is formed before the document sheet 5y reaches the registration sensor 23 due to the difference in the conveyance speed, and the leading edge of the document sheet 5y is It becomes possible to detect. Also,
Since the preceding document sheet 5x is completely discharged into the document tray 21 before it reaches the registration sensor 23, it is possible to control the synchronization by stopping the registration. In this embodiment, since the position of the registration sensor 23 substantially coincides with the position of the transport roller 25, the registration stop position coincides with the shift point. The same effect can be obtained even if the position is moved slightly back and forth.

A portion of the preceding original sheet 5x discharged again from the conveying roller 26 to the uppermost portion of the original tray 21 is positioned on the discrimination claw 35, and the subsequent original sheet 5y is placed on the original sheet 5x. Therefore, when the reading of one side of the original sheets first placed in the original tray 21 is completed, that is, when the last original sheet supporting the lower surface of the determination claw 35 is sent out, the determination claw 35 is turned clockwise. It is rotated and positioned as shown by the dotted line in FIG. When reaching this position, the tip of the discrimination claw 35 is detected by the claw sensor 39. Therefore, when reading only one side of the document sheet, the control section 62 controls the conveyance motor 66 with a predetermined time difference by the signal of the claw sensor 39. Stop.

Next, in the case of reading both sides of the original sheet,
This will be described with reference to the processing flow shown in FIG. 5 and the diagram for explaining the state of the original sheet shown in FIG. The double-sided reading button on the operation display unit 61 is turned on. This will give you
The controller 62 instructs the pawl drive motor 36 to rotate in the clockwise direction in FIG. 2, and the rotation of the pawl drive motor 36 causes the tip of the discrimination pawl 35 to move to the top of the original document as shown in FIG. The sheet, that is, the original sheet 5c of the last page is brought into contact (step 71). On the other hand, when the reading start button is turned on, the conveyance motor 66 also operates, and the separation conveyance belt 22 and the conveyance rollers 2
4, 25, and 26 are driven, the lowermost original sheet 5a in the original tray 21 is conveyed (step 72), and the original is read (step 73). It is discharged to the top of 21 (step 74). Similarly, the second original sheet 5
b, one side of the original document sheet 5a is read, the one side of the third original document sheet 5c is read, the one side of the third original document sheet 5c is read, and the one side of the third original document sheet 5c is read on the original sheet 5b. The inner surfaces of 21 are reversed, and the layers are stacked as shown in FIG. When the original sheet 5c is conveyed, the discrimination claw 35 rotates clockwise, the tip of the discrimination claw 35 is detected by the claw sensor 39, and the output signal from the claw sensor 39 confirms the completion of one cycle (step 75). Since the reading of both sides is instructed here, the control unit 62 rotates the discrimination claw 35 again (step 76) and brings the leading end thereof into contact with the uppermost original sheet 5c. Similarly, the lowermost original sheet 5a is conveyed (step 7).
7) Then, the document on the back side is read (step 78), and the read side is faced up and discharged to the top of the document tray 21 (step 79). Thereafter, the back surfaces of the second and third original sheets 5b and 5c are read, and the surfaces are turned up and stacked as shown in FIG. 6 (c). Rotates clockwise and the completion of one cycle is confirmed (step 80).
Note that the page order for double-sided reading is 1, 3,
Pages 5, 2, 4, and 6. Further, in the case of a left-right opened original, the setting direction of the original is the direction in which the left and right are the conveyance directions. Further, the reading page order is 6, 4, 2, 5, 3, 1 when the original set is turned upside down.

Next, the case where page alignment is performed after one-side reading of the original sheet will be described with reference to the processing flowchart shown in FIG. 7 and the diagram for explaining the state of the original sheet shown in FIG. When single-sided reading is performed after setting the original sheets as shown in FIG. 8A, the original stacking state in the original tray 21 is reversed as shown in FIG. 8B. . Therefore, after single-sided reading, the original sheet is reversed and conveyed in order to arrange the page order, and therefore the single-sided reading button and the rearward alignment button of the operation display unit 61 are turned on. The one-sided reading of the original sheet is the same as the front side reading cycle of FIG. 5, and the description thereof will be omitted. After the completion of one cycle is confirmed in step 75, and after the discrimination claw 35 is rotated again in step 76, the page alignment is performed, and therefore the reading is not performed but the conveyance is simply performed. From step 78. As a result, after single-sided scanning, the original sheets are 1, 2, and 3 from the bottom as in the case of setting as shown in FIG. 8B, but the original surface is reversed, that is, the top. The state in which the original is placed can be made to be the same as when the original is set, as shown in FIG.

In the case of FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 described above, the document tray 2
1 describes the case where the first page is placed on the bottom and the document surface is placed on the bottom, but as shown in FIG.
In some cases, the document surface is faced up and the last page is stacked so that the last page is located at the bottom. In such a case, if the reading is performed from the lowermost portion in the same manner as described above, the reading page order is 5 as shown in FIG.
The order is c, 5b, and 5a.
The page order of the original sheets taken out from 1 will also be reversed. Therefore, as in the processing flow shown in FIG.
With this configuration, it is possible to select the reading operation in the page order or the reverse page order depending on the orientation of the document surface when the documents are stacked and the timing of the page order alignment. That is, it is determined whether the reading cycle is performed first or the page alignment is performed first depending on whether or not the stacked document sheets are stacked with the document surface facing upward (step 91). If the document surface of the document sheet is facing down, the reading is first performed in the same cycle as the reading cycle of steps 72 to 75 in FIG. 7 (step 92), and thereafter, steps 77, 79 and 8 in FIG.
If the page alignment cycle of 0 (step 93) is performed,
The original sheet after the reading is in the page order as shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the original surface of the original sheet is up, if the page alignment cycle is performed in step 94 similar to step 93, the original sheet is once stacked in the original tray as shown in FIG. When the reading cycle is performed in step 95 similar to step 92, the original sheets are stacked in the original tray as shown in FIG.

Whether the reading cycle is performed first or the page alignment is performed first can be automatically performed depending on the orientation of the document surface when stacking the documents and the time when the page order alignment is performed as described above. The operation display unit 61 of No. 3 may be provided with operation buttons for instructing selection of page order and reverse page order, and may be set arbitrarily.

Since the originals are not read during the page-order alignment operation, the resist stop operation for synchronization with the reading may be omitted and the original sheet may be conveyed at high speed. To this end, a step of switching the transport speed to a high speed may be added after step 76 of the page alignment cycle in FIG. If the sheet is conveyed at a high speed as shown by the solid line at the right end of FIG. 4, the page-order alignment time can be significantly shortened and the work time can be shortened even when the single-sided reading is completed. In this case, if the driving speed is further controlled at high speed, high speed conveyance is possible as shown by the dotted line at the right end of FIG. For these high-speed controls, the control unit 62 may control the rotation speed of the carry motor 66.

When the scanner device is used for the copying operation or the like, the reading is completed earlier than the printing time by using the memory means or the like, the page-order alignment operation is completed within the printing time, and the waiting is substantially completed. It may be configured so as not to generate time.

[0031]

As is apparent from the above description, the present invention configured as described above has the following effects.

[0032] That is, according to the invention described in 請 Motomeko 1, loading a document within the same before and after the reading operation within the same tray
Therefore, the operability can be improved and the original
With the scanning section at the top and the document transport section at the bottom, pull the document tray.
Since it is a tray-shaped tray, the width is narrow,
Or place another scanner function on top
And excellent operability can be achieved.

Further, the detection means for detecting that all the original sheets stacked on the original tray have been conveyed, and when the both-side reading of the original sheets is instructed, the original signal of the original sheets is read again by the first signal from the detection means. According to the invention of claim 2, further comprising a control section for controlling the document reading section and the document conveying section so as to perform reading, one side of the stacked document sheets is inverted and reloaded after the reading is completed. The original document sheet can be re-fed as it is, which enables reading on both sides.

Further, according to the invention of claim 3, the control section is configured to reversely convey the original sheet in order to align the page order when only one-sided reading of the original sheet is instructed. Inversion for reloading the page order and reloading / conveying can be performed, and the disorder of the page order that occurs after reading one side can be eliminated.

Further, according to the invention as set forth in claim 4, wherein the control section is configured to control so as to carry at a higher speed than the carrying speed at the time of reading at the time of reverse carrying, in order to arrange the page order of the original sheets. Can be reversed and reloaded and conveyed at high speed, and the waiting time for eliminating the disorder of the page order can be shortened.

Further, according to the invention of claim 5, the controller is configured to selectively control whether the reverse conveyance is performed before or after reading the original sheet.
The page order when reading only one side can be selected from the first page or the last page according to the purpose.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory view schematically showing a configuration of an embodiment of a scanner device of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side view showing a main part of a discriminating means in this embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an electrical configuration in this embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a document sheet conveying operation.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure for double-sided reading of a document sheet.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a sheet in the case of double-sided reading.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when page alignment is performed after one-side reading of a document sheet.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a document sheet in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when selecting whether to perform reading operation on original sheets in page order or reverse page order.

10 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of a document sheet in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Document reading section 2 Document feeder 5 manuscript sheet 21 Document tray 22 Separate conveyor belt 23 Registration sensor 24, 25, 26 transport rollers 27 Guide member 28 openings 32 long slot 35 Distinguishing claw 36-claw drive motor 39 nail sensor 61 Operation display section 62 control unit 64 image reading circuit 65 driver 66 Conveyor motor

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Tanaka 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hisae Kondo 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (56) Reference JP-A-6-164822 (JP, A) JP-A-5-77975 (JP, A) JP-A-3-88683 (JP, A) JP-A-4-59572 ( JP, A) JP 62-153031 (JP, A) JP 4-213570 (JP, A) JP 62-180829 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B65H 83/02

Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] The method according to claim 1 document reading section at the top, have a document feeder having a transport path for transporting the document tray and the document for stacking document sheets to lower the document reading unit, the document conveying unit Has a pull-out means for pulling out the original sheets stacked on the original tray from the lowermost portion, and the conveying path discharges the original sheets to the original tray with the surface read by the original reading section reversed. In the scanner device configured as described above, the original tray is a drawer-shaped tray, and the same original is used before and after the reading operation by the original reading unit.
A scanner device in which documents are stacked inside the tray . 2. A detection unit for detecting that all of the document sheets stacked on the document tray have been conveyed, and a first signal from the detection unit when both-side reading of the document sheet is instructed. 2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit that controls the document reading unit and the document conveying unit to read the document sheet again.
Scanner device according to. 3. The scanner according to claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the document sheet to be inverted and conveyed to align the page order when only one-sided reading of the document sheet is instructed. apparatus. 4. The scanner device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit controls the conveyance speed to be higher than the conveyance speed at the time of reading during the reverse conveyance. 5. The scanner device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit selectively controls whether the reverse conveyance is performed before or after reading the original sheet.