JP6630502B2 - Document feeder and image reading device provided with document feeder - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a document transport device for transporting a document and reading an image, and more particularly, to an image reading device such as a copier and a scanner.

  In conventional image reading devices such as copiers and scanners, when a double feed occurs in which two or more documents are conveyed in an overlapping manner, a double feed detection sensor for detecting the double feed using an ultrasonic sensor is used. What is provided is known. 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, scanners have been required to convey a wide variety of originals, such as plain paper such as OA paper, thick paper, and thin paper such as tracing paper, and read images. At this time, if the original to be read is a particularly thick original such as a card, the ultrasonic sensor erroneously detects that the original is a multi-feed even if the original is a single sheet, and the conveying operation is frequently interrupted. Therefore, there is a need for a means for knowing in advance that the conveyed document is a thick document such as a card. (See Patent Document 1)

JP 2012-001292 A

In the invention of Patent Literature 1, a transport process is performed by a user operation on the assumption that a transport target is a card. Therefore, it is determined that all the conveyed documents are cards. When such a mode is used, in a device provided with a double feed detection sensor, erroneous double feed detection does not occur even when a card is transported, and the transport operation is not interrupted. However, for example, when a card is set to be conveyed, and a document other than a card, such as a business card, is conveyed in a mixed state, and the business card is multi-fed and conveyed, the multi-fed is detected. And the problem of lack of read information occurs.

  The present invention discriminates between thick originals such as cards and other originals when various types of originals including thick originals such as cards are conveyed and conveys them. It is an object of the present invention to provide a document feeder having a configuration for automatically determining invalid / invalid and an image reading apparatus provided with the document feeder.

The document conveying device of the present invention includes a document stacking unit, a document capturing unit that captures the documents loaded on the document loading unit one by one, and a transport unit that transports the document captured by the document capturing unit to the inside of the device. A multi-feed detection sensor for detecting whether or not a document is in a multi-feed state of two or more sheets between the document capturing section and the transport section; and a document for determining the thickness of the document captured by the document capturing section. Discriminating means, and control means for controlling the double feed detection sensor, wherein the document discriminating means takes in the documents loaded on the document stacking unit one by one, and a vertically movable pickup roller; A lifting detection sensor for detecting lifting of the pickup roller, wherein the control means detects the double feed detection based on a detection result of the lifting detection sensor. Determine the multifeed detection whether to whether the multifeed detection set by Sa, the conveyance of the document by the transport section is completed, and cancels the multifeed detection setting.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether a transported original is a thick original such as a card, and to set the detection result of the double feed detection sensor to valid / invalid according to the determined result. Therefore, it is possible to perform the optimum multi-feed determination for each document to be conveyed.

Sectional view of the image reading apparatus according to the present invention 1 is a block diagram of an image reading apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a document discriminating unit according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state of a pickup unit during plain paper conveyance according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a state of a pickup unit during card transport according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a sheet conveying operation according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a sheet conveying operation according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the dimensions, materials, shapes, relative arrangements, and the like of the components described in this embodiment are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention thereto unless otherwise specified. Absent.

  An image reading apparatus will be described as an example of an embodiment for carrying out the present invention.

(1st Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a side sectional view of an image reading apparatus 101 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the image reading apparatus 101.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 3a denotes a separation roller, 3b denotes a feed roller, 4a, 4b, 4c, and 4d denote transport roller pairs, and 5a and 5b denote paper discharge roller pairs. The separation roller and the paper feed roller are rollers for separating a plurality of documents one by one. The transport rollers 4a and 4c are connected to a drive motor 40 via a gear (not shown), and the drive motor 40 is driven by the control unit 1 to rotate the transport rollers. The transport rollers 4b and 4d are provided at positions where the document is nipped with the transport rollers 4a and 4c, and are adapted to rotate following the rotation of the transport rollers 4a and 4c. The drive motor is driven by the control means 1 to rotate each of the transport rollers 4a and 4c to transport the document to the downstream side.

  The document discharge ports 20 and 21 can be selected according to the document to be conveyed. The discharge tray 30 can detect the open / closed state by a sensor (not shown), and the control unit 1 selects a document discharge port based on the detection result of the sensor (not shown). Specifically, when the paper discharge port 20 is used, the paper discharge tray 30 is opened, and when the paper discharge port 21 is used, the paper discharge tray 30 is closed.

The paper discharge roller 5a is connected to the drive motor (not shown) via a gear, and rotates in the same direction as the transport rollers 4a and 4c when the transport rollers 4a and 4c rotate. The paper discharge roller 5b is provided at a position where the document is nipped with the paper discharge roller 5a, and rotates following the rotation of the paper discharge roller 5a.

  The pickup roller 6 is connected to a drive motor 40 via a gear (not shown), and is configured to rotate by driving the drive motor by the control unit 1. The pickup roller 6 sequentially rotates the originals stacked on the original stacking table 8. The paper is fed to the paper feed roller and separation roller.

  Further, in the present invention, for example, each of the opening covering portion, the engaged portion, and the connecting portion may be integrally provided by punching a sheet-like member. Thereby, since each part (opening covering part, engaged part, connecting part) of the blade is constituted by one member, there is no joint between the parts, and the durability of the blade can be further improved.

  Since this apparatus is a device that transports a bundle of originals loaded on the original loading table 8 one by one into the apparatus and reads an image, it is necessary to reliably separate originals one by one and transport the originals into the apparatus. . For this reason, as shown in FIG. 1, the present apparatus has a slope between the document loading table 8 and the paper feed roller 3a and the separation roller 3b. The sheets are transported separately.

  The document detection sensor R includes a light-emitting element such as an infrared LED and a light-receiving element such as a phototransistor. The control unit 1 receives an optical signal from the light-emitting element by the light-receiving element. Based on the received output level of the light signal, it is detected whether or not the document is conveyed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

  The double feed detection sensor S is configured using an ultrasonic sensor. The ultrasonic wave emitted from the ultrasonic transmitting unit by the control unit 1 is received by the ultrasonic receiving unit, and based on the output level of the received signal, It is configured to detect whether or not the fed document is in a double feeding state where two or more sheets are overlapped.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example for detecting the position of the pickup roller 6. A rotation amount detection sensor constituted by an encoder disk 51 and an encoder 50 is provided on the shaft portion 12 of the separation roller 3 b that operates in conjunction with the pickup unit 10.

When the pickup roller 6 conveys the original, the original is separated and conveyed one by one by the above-described slope separation. At this time, in the case of plain paper such as OA paper as shown in FIG. 4, the original follows the conveyance path, and the position of the pickup roller 6 is at a low position near the original loading table 8. However, as shown in FIG. 5, in the case of a thick original such as a card, when the original is nipped by the paper feed roller 3a and the separation roller 3b, the original is lifted in a direction away from the original loading table 8 due to the strength of the card. Then, the pickup unit 10 is lifted. As described above, the position of the pickup unit 10 fluctuates according to the stiffness of the document, and the control means 1 determines the position of the pickup roller 6 by the control means 1 based on the amount of rotation of the shaft portion 12 of the separation roller 3b which rotates due to the fluctuation. The lifting amount is calculated. If the position of the pickup roller 6 at the start of feeding is lifted by the card being taken in, this may be detected. That is, instead of detecting the lift amount of the pickup roller 6, only whether or not the pickup roller 6 has been lifted may be detected.

  The control unit 1 drives each roller pair to feed the original loaded on the original loading table 8 and conveys the original to the image reading unit 2 for reading the image of the original. The document whose image has been read by the image reading means 2 is discharged from the image reading apparatus 101 through the discharge port 20 or 21 selected by the discharge tray 30.

  Further, the control means 1 determines whether or not the conveyed document is a thick document such as a card based on the calculated result of the calculated lifting amount of the pickup roller 6.

  For example, when it is determined that the transported original is a thick original such as a card based on the lifting amount of the pickup roller 6 calculated based on the rotation amount information obtained from the rotation amount detection sensor, the control unit 1 prevents the erroneous double feed determination. In order to avoid this, the transport operation is performed with the double feed determination result invalidated. As a result, the image reading apparatus 101 can continue the transport operation without halting the transport by erroneously determining that a thick original such as a card is a double feed. Here, the case where the double feed determination result is made invalid is described as an example, but the present invention may determine whether to perform the double feed determination by the double feed detection sensor. For example, the double feed detection by the double feed detection sensor may be invalidated (OFF) (specifically, in the case of double feed detection by ultrasonic waves, control is performed so as not to transmit ultrasonic waves).

  Hereinafter, the operation of the image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The image reading apparatus 101 waits for a reading instruction command from the external information terminal X such as a connected PC (S102). If the reading instruction command is not received (No in S103), the control unit 1 transmits the reading instruction from the external information terminal X. Continue waiting for instructions.

  When the reading instruction command is received from the external information terminal X (Yes in S103), the control unit 1 starts the transport operation (S104). When conveyance is started and the document detection sensor R detects a document, the control unit 1 detects the lift amount of the pickup roller 6 from the rotation amount information acquired from the encoder serving as the rotation amount detection sensor (S105).

  The detected lifting amount is compared with a threshold value set in advance by the control means 1 (S106). If the detected lifting amount is equal to or greater than the threshold value (Yes in S106), it is determined that the conveyed document is a thick document such as a card, and The detection result of the sending detection sensor is invalidated (S107). If the lifting amount is less than the threshold (No in S106), it is determined that the conveyed document is a document other than a thick document such as a card, and the detection result of the double feed detection sensor is validated (S108).

After invalidating the judgment of the double feed detection sensor (S107), the setting is continued until the transfer operation is completed (S109). When the transfer operation is completed, the setting of the double feed detection sensor is released (S112), and the operation is started. Is completed (S113).

  When the determination of the double feed detection sensor is enabled (S108), the original is transported while confirming the double feed, and when the original is double fed (Yes in S110), the transport is stopped by the control unit 1 and used. The user is notified of the double feed state (S111), and the operation ends (S113). If the original is not multi-fed (No in S110), the setting is continued until the conveyance operation is completed (S109). When the conveyance operation is completed, the setting of the multi-feed detection sensor is released (S112), and the operation is started. Is completed (S113).

  Thus, in the image reading apparatus 101 according to the present invention, it is possible to determine whether the transported original is a thick original such as a card or the like based on the lifting amount of the pickup roller, and according to the determined result, the detection result of the double feed detection sensor is effective. / Disable can be set, so the optimum multi-feed judgment can be performed for each document being conveyed, and the conveyance can be performed without causing the conveyance interruption due to the erroneous detection of the multi-feed. Can be used.

(2nd Embodiment)
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, the document discriminating means in the first image reading apparatus is determined based on a pressed state of a switch of an operation unit provided in the apparatus.

  The image reading apparatus according to the present invention has a configuration in which an operation unit having a switch is added to the configuration described in the first embodiment.

  The technology according to the second embodiment of the present invention is based on the premise that a document including a thick document such as a card is conveyed, and the user identifies the conveyed document, and as a result of the identification, the user identifies the thick document such as a card. When a document is conveyed, a switch is pressed to invalidate the double feed determination.

  Hereinafter, the operation of the image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

    When the reading instruction command is received from the external information terminal X (Yes in S203), the control unit 1 starts the transport operation (S204). When conveyance is started and the document detection sensor R detects a document, the control unit 1 detects whether a switch provided on an operation unit (not shown) has been pressed by the user (S205).

The pressed state of the detected switch is compared with a pressing condition set in advance by the control means 1 (S206). If the pressed state is determined (Yes in S206), it is determined that the conveyed document is a thick document such as a card. Then, the detection result of the double feed detection sensor is invalidated (S207). If the switch is not pressed (No in S206), it is determined that the conveyed document is a document other than a thick document such as a card, and the detection result of the double feed detection sensor is validated (S208).

  After invalidating the determination of the double feed detection sensor (S207), the setting is continued until the operation of transporting one document is completed (S209). When the transport operation is completed, the setting of the double feed detection sensor is released (S212). ). Thereafter, it is checked whether the next original is being conveyed. If the next original is being conveyed (No in S213), the pressed state of the switch is detected again (S205). When the document detection sensor stops detecting the document and all the documents have been conveyed (Yes in S213), the operation of the apparatus ends (S214).

  When the determination of the double feed detection sensor is enabled (S208), the original is transported while confirming the double feed, and when the original is double fed (Yes in S210), the transport is stopped by the control unit 1 and the use is stopped. The user is notified of the double feed state (S211), and the operation is terminated (S214). If the original is not multi-fed (No in S210), the setting is continued until the operation of transporting one original is completed (S209), and when the operation is completed, the setting of the multi-feed detection sensor is released (S212). ). After that, the same operation as the flow described above is performed.

Thus, in the image reading apparatus 101 according to the present invention, the user determines the type of the document to be conveyed to the apparatus, and presses the operation switch provided in the apparatus when the conveyed document is a thick document such as a card. Thus, the detection result of the double feed detection sensor can be set valid / invalid. Therefore, the optimum multi-feed determination can be performed for each document to be conveyed, the conveyance can be performed without causing the conveyance interruption due to the erroneous double-feed detection, and the user can use the apparatus comfortably.

  Further, with this, in the image reading apparatus 101 of the present invention, the valid / invalid setting of the detection result of the double feed detection sensor can be immediately reflected in the apparatus according to the pressed state of the operation switch. You can switch the valid / invalid of the double feed detection result in real time, and use the device comfortably.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment of the present invention, the conveying force of the document conveying means in the first image reading apparatus can be increased when a thick document such as a card is conveyed.

  The configuration of the third embodiment of the present invention is similar to that of the first embodiment. The document discriminating means in the present embodiment will be described with a configuration using the pickup roller 6.

  The operation of the image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment is basically the same as the flowchart in FIG. At the time of step S106 in the flowchart of FIG. 6, when the document discriminating unit determines that the transported document is a thick document such as a card (Yes in S106), the control unit 1 invalidates the double feed determination and sets a drive (not shown). Change the setting to increase the motor driving torque. If the document discriminating means does not discriminate the conveyed document from a thick document such as a card (No in S106), the control means validates the double feed determination and does not change the driving torque of the drive motor.

  Thus, in the image reading apparatus according to the present embodiment, the conveyance force can be increased when a thick document such as a card having a large load during conveyance is conveyed. Image information can be normally acquired without causing the occurrence.

  Further, the document discriminating means in the present embodiment may have a configuration using the method of discriminating based on the pressed state of the switch described in the second embodiment.

  It should be noted that the present invention is characterized in that when handling a thick original such as a card, at or before the original taking-in stage, the double-feed detection by the double-feed detection sensor is not performed. By executing a program (application or driver) for controlling document transport from a computer connected to the apparatus, a setting screen for controlling document transport is displayed on a display of the computer, and the document transport device is displayed on the setting screen. Is set to ON / OFF of the double feed determination in the above. Even if the double feed determination is set to ON, if the original to be actually conveyed is a thick original such as a card, there is a possibility that the double feed is erroneously detected as a double feed. is there. For this reason, the present invention is characterized in that, regardless of the ON / OFF setting of the double feed determination, the document feeder performs the document determination and does not perform the double feed determination. As a result, it is possible to prevent an erroneous determination of a multi-feed document from being a multi-feed document.

101 Image reading device 1 Control means 2 Image reading means 6 Paper feed roller 8 Original loading table 10 Pickup unit 12 Paper feed roller shaft 20 Paper discharge port 21 Paper discharge port 30 Paper discharge tray 40 Transport means 50 Encoder 51 Encoder disk

3a Separation roller 3b Feed roller 4a Transport roller 4b Transport roller 4c Transport roller 4d Transport roller 5a Discharge roller 5b Discharge roller

R Document detection sensor S Double feed detection sensor

X External information terminal

Claims (7)

Document loading section,
A document loading unit that captures the documents loaded on the document loading unit one by one;
A transport unit that transports the document captured by the document capture unit into the apparatus,
A double feed detection sensor that detects whether the document is in a double feed state of two or more sheets between the document taking-in section and the transport section;
Document determining means for determining the thickness of a document captured by the document capturing unit;
Control means for controlling the double feed detection sensor,
As the document discriminating means, a pick-up roller capable of vertically moving, taking in the documents stacked on the document stacking unit one by one, and a lifting detection sensor for detecting lifting of the pickup roller,
The control means, based on the detection result of the lifting detection sensor, determines a multi-feed determination setting of whether to perform the double-feed determination by the double-feed detection sensor, when the transport of the document by the transport unit is completed, A document feeder for canceling the double feed determination setting .   2. The document feeder according to claim 1, wherein the document determining unit determines that a thick document has been captured when the card is captured by the document capturing unit. Document loading section,
A document loading unit that captures the documents loaded on the document loading unit one by one;
A transport unit that transports the document captured by the document capture unit into the apparatus,
A double feed detection sensor that detects whether the document is in a double feed state of two or more sheets between the document taking-in section and the transport section;
Control means for controlling the double feed detection sensor,
An operation unit including a switch unit that can be operated by a user and that can set enable / disable of double feed detection,
During document transport, when the switch unit is in a state where double feed detection is disabled, the control unit determines a double feed determination setting so as not to perform double feed determination by the double feed detection sensor, The document feeder according to claim 1, wherein when the feeding of one document by the feeder is completed, the double feed determination setting is released.   3. The document according to claim 1, wherein the control unit invalidates a detection result of the double feed detection sensor when the document determination unit determines that the document to be taken is a thick document. Transport device.   3. The multi-feed detection sensor according to claim 1, wherein the control unit disables double-feed detection by the double-feed detection sensor when the document determination unit determines that the document to be taken is a thick document. Document feeder.   6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit increases the transporting force of the transport unit when the document determining unit determines that the transported document is a thick document. The document feeder according to the item.   An image reading apparatus for reading an image of a document conveyed by the document conveying apparatus according to claim 1.

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