JPH0463363A - Document feeding method of automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To secure the remounting of a sheaf of documents by discharging a final document in a specific time after the document right before the final document is discharged onto the sheaf of documents. CONSTITUTION:When the final document is sent back, the CPU of a controller discharges the final document and the document right before it successively, and also discharge the final document in the specific time after the document right before the final document is discharged onto the sheaf of documents. Therefore, even when the interval between the final document and the document right before it is small, the final document is prevented from buckling or intruding beneath the precedent document by contacting the precedent document when discharged onto the sheaf of documents.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a document feeding method for a circulating automatic document feeding device installed in a copying machine.

[Prior Art] In an automatic document feeder that automatically feeds a copy document onto the contact glass of a copying machine, the exposed paper surface of the copy document is returned to the stack of documents on the document table. Circulation type devices are often used.

In a conventional automatic document feeder of this type, for example, a means for pulling out a single document from a stack of documents placed on a document table, and a means for transporting the document onto the contact glass of a copying machine are simply provided. The device is driven by a single drive source, and the device can be made smaller by using the same drive source. Therefore, the document feeding method in such an automatic document feeder is such that the document stack stacked on the paper feeding table is
The original is fed one by one to the exposure position on the contact glass starting from the bottom original, and one exposed original is sent to the return path at the same time as the next original is being fed, for example.
The paper is ejected onto the stack of originals on the paper feed table.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, with such a conventional document feeding method of an automatic document feeder, only one document can be fed in − times of document feeding operations, and the interval between the documents to be fed is large. Conveyance efficiency was poor, and it was difficult to increase the speed of the automatic document feeder.

To deal with this, for example, it is possible to shorten the feeding interval by changing the timing of feeding and returning depending on the size of the fed document, thereby increasing the speed of the automatic document feeding device. In this case, when the final document is returned, it is ejected consecutively together with the previous document, thereby increasing the speed of the automatic document feeder.

However, even in this case, because the gap between the final original and the previous original is small, the previous original and the final original come into contact when the originals are ejected onto the stack of originals, causing the final original to buckle or cause damage to the previous original. The problem remains that it is easy to get stuck underneath.

[Object of the Invention] Therefore, when returning the final manuscript, the present invention sequentially discharges the final manuscript and the manuscript immediately before it, and discharges the immediately preceding manuscript onto the manuscript stack, and then returns the final manuscript after a predetermined period of time. The purpose of this invention is to increase the speed of the automatic document feeder by ejecting the document, and to ensure that the document stack can be reloaded reliably.

(Means for Solving the Problems) In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention sequentially stacks a document stack consisting of a plurality of documents on a paper feed table onto a contact glass of a copying machine, starting from the lowest document. The upper and lower surfaces of the exposed original are returned to the exposure position on the sheet feeding table, and the timing of the feeding and return is determined based on the information detected about the size of the fed original. In the document feeding method of the automatic document feeding device, the document feeding method is configured to variably control the exposure position, and the subsequent document adjacent to the document fed to the exposure position is the final document positioned at the top of the document stack, After this final document is exposed, both documents are successively returned onto the document stack, and upon this return, the ejecting operation is stopped for a predetermined period of time after the previous adjacent document is ejected onto the document stack. , and then the final original is ejected.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained based on examples.

FIG. 1.2 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an automatic document feeding apparatus embodying the present invention, and FIGS. 3 to 5 are flowcharts showing processing related to paper ejection in an example of the feeding method.

First, the configuration will be explained.

In FIG. 1.2, 10 is the main body of the copying machine (details are not shown), and 11 is a circulating automatic document feeder disposed so as to cover the contact glass 12 of the main body 10 of the copying machine. , this automatic document feeder 11 includes a document feed table 2 on which a document bundle consisting of a plurality of documents is set (placed).
1, a paper feed unit 22 that sequentially feeds the bottom original of a bundle of originals set on a paper feed table 21 onto the contact glass 12; Conveyance section 23 to carry out and conveyance section 2
a reversing unit 24 for reversing the document carried out by 3;
A return unit 25 that returns the original from the reversing unit 24 onto the stack of originals on the paper feed table 21, and a control unit 2 that controls these parts.
6.

The paper feed table 21 is located at one end of the device ('#) as shown in the figure.
A pair of side fences 31 and a plurality of calling rollers 32A and 32B each having a notch are provided on the paper feeding table 21. The tip of a document stopper 33 is in light contact with the top surface of the document stack placed on the paper feed table 21 due to its own weight, and the stopper 33 stops the document returned from the rear after going around the circulation path described later. It stops at the tip and first feeds the paper feed table 2.
The stack of originals left on top of the first stack is separated from the returned stack of originals returned on top of the previous stack of originals by a return unit 25, and the skew of these originals is corrected. Also,
A document set sensor 3 is located in front of the calling rollers 32A and 32B.
4 is provided, and the presence or absence of a document on the paper feed table 21 is detected by this document set sensor 34. Note that the stoppers 33 are connected to the automatic document feeder 11, respectively.
It is supported by a side plate (not shown) so that it can swing up and down.
When the controller 100, which will be described later, operates (ON) a solenoid (not shown) in response to a start signal transmitted from the copying machine main body 10, the stopper 33 is driven upward by the solenoid, and the stopper 33 is driven upward so that the document stack on the paper feed table 21 is It is now possible to refeed originals that have been reversed or sent back. Further, a presser plate 36 made of a flexible sheet (for example, Mylar) is provided on the front side of the document stopper 33 in the document transport direction, and the presser plate 36 is driven up and down by the solenoid similarly to the document stopper 33. , while bending as it descends, it presses the top surface of the document with a low pressure.

The paper feed section 22 includes a conveyance guide 41 that curves and extends from the vicinity of the stopper 33 to one side end of the contact glass 12, and an endless heald 42 arranged along the guide.
, a separation roller 43 that has a built-in one-way clutch (not shown) and presses against the endless heald 42 , and a pull-out roller 44 that pulls out the document separated by the endless heald 42 and the M roller 43 toward the contact glass 12 . 45, a document partition detection sensor 46 that detects whether or not the last document placed on the top of the document stack has been fed by detecting the document in front of the document stopper 33, and and a registration sensor 47 for detecting the trailing edge, and a paper feed motor 48. The endless belt 42 and the separation roller 43 are designed to separate only the bottom document and convey it to the pull-out rollers 44 and 45 due to the difference in speed between the two and the difference in the coefficient of friction with the document paper. Drive is connected and disconnected by a clutch 49. Further, when the registration sensor 47 provided at the discharge section from the paper feed section 22 to the conveyance section 23 detects the leading edge of the document, the clutch 49 is turned off and the driving force to the separation roller 43 is cut off.

Further, among the pull-out rollers 44 and 45, a roller 45 is a roller that follows while being urged by the roller 44, and a rotary encoder (not shown) is connected to this roller 45. The rotary encoder and registration sensor 47 constitute size detection means for detecting the size of the document.

The conveyance unit 23 includes an endless conveyance heald 53 wound around a pair of rollers 51 and 52, and a plurality of pressure rollers 54 that press the lower running part of the conveyance heald 53 against the contact glass 12. The section 23 is a belt conveyance motor 55
As a result of the operation, the document from the paper feed section 22 is carried to a predetermined exposure position on the contact glass 12, and the exposed document is carried out from above the contact glass 12 to the reversing section 24. Here, the exposure position is, for example, a position where the trailing edge of the document almost coincides with the left end side of the contact glass 12 in FIG. The endless conveyor belt 53 is driven in the reverse direction based on the count number of the encoder.

The reversing section 24 includes a reversing guide 61 that curves upward and extends from the other end of the contact glass 12, a reversing roller 62 provided along the guide, and a pressure roller 63 that presses the reversing roller 62. , a switching pawl 64 that is movable between a solid line position and an imaginary line position in the figure on the downstream side of the reversing roller 62;
It has a reversal sensor 65 that detects the document in the reversal conveyance path, and a reversal motor 66 that drives the reversal roller 62. The reversing guide 61 is capable of reversing the upper and lower surfaces of the original when the original moves (U-turns) along the internal reversing conveyance path. Reversing roller 62 and pressure roller 6
3 is driven by a single motor separately from the endless conveyance belt 53, and its rotation is controlled based on the detection information of the reversal sensor 65 etc. so as to be interlocked with the operation of the endless conveyance belt 53. Further, when the switching claw 64 is switched to the solid line position in the figure, it guides the exposed original (for example, a single-sided original or a double-sided original that has been exposed on both sides) to the return unit 25 side, When switched to , it is possible to invert an exposed original (for example, a double-sided original with one side exposed) and send this inverted original to the contact glass 12 side.

The return unit 25 is connected to a paper ejection unit 71 that is movable in the document transport direction on the paper feed table 21 and to the rear side of the paper ejection unit 71 in the paper ejection direction, and is an expandable and retractable unit that expands and contracts with the movement of the paper ejection unit BI. Guide plates 72 and 73 forming the guide part
．． 74, and an intermediate belt 75 that conveys the document discharged from the reversing section 24 to the paper discharge unit 71, and the paper discharge unit 71 is connected to the paper feed table 2 from the intermediate belt 75 side.
A guide 76 that forms a paper ejection path toward the original document placement section 1, and a plurality of sets of paper ejection rollers 7 provided along the guide 76.
7A, 77B, a paper ejection motor 78 that drives the paper ejection rollers 77A, 77B, and an exterior cover 79. When the document is placed in a position where it contacts the document stopper 33, the return portion 25 is moved and positioned at the rear end position of the document by a moving means (not shown).

Note that 81 is a document push-out plate provided in the return section 25, and the document push-out plate 81 pushes out the document toward the separation roller 43 at the same time as the return section 25 is positioned. Further, 82 is a paper discharge sensor installed near the exit of the return section 25, which detects a document returned from the return section 25 and outputs paper discharge information. This paper discharge information is given to the controller 100 shown in FIG. 2 along with other various sensor information.

As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 100 includes a CPU
0I, I10 circuit 102, TTL103, ROM
104, clock circuit 105, reset IC 106, input/output cover sofa 107.108.109, counter 11
0, motor control node IC111-114, driver 11
5 to 118 (the individual configurations of these are well known and detailed explanations will be omitted), and the CPU UIOI is ROM1.
According to the control program stored in advance in 04, command signals from the copying machine main body 10 and various sensors 34, 46, 65, 8
Based on the information from 2.91.92.93, the motor 48.55.66.78, solenoid 35, switching pawl 6
4, the extrusion solenoid 84 of the extrusion plate 81, etc. are controlled. In addition, in FIG. 2, 95 is a separation motor that drives the separation roller 43, and 96 is a separation motor that drives the separation roller 43.
is a display LED.

Next, the operation and the document feeding method will be explained.

First, a bundle of originals stacked in advance with the image side facing upward is placed on the original feed table 21 so that its leading edge contacts the original stopper 33, and the side fences 31 on both sides are moved closer to guide both sides of the bundle of originals. After that, the paper ejection unit 71 is moved to a position suitable for the document size. Next, when the copy start key on the copying machine main body 10 is pressed, the respective drive systems are driven as appropriate by the controller 100.
The bottom document of the stack of documents placed on the document feed table 21 is transferred to the main body of the copying machine by the paper feed section 22 and the conveyance section 23.
The light is fed to the exposure position above O. Further, the size of the fed document is detected by a size detecting means including a registration sensor 47 and an encoder, and based on the detection information, the timing of feeding and returning is variably controlled according to the document size.

Specifically, in accordance with a control signal from the copying machine main body 10 side, the calling rollers 32A and 32B that come into contact with the lower surface of the document stack are driven, and the lowest document in the document stack is moved to the endless heald 42.
The bottom sheet is conveyed to a separation section consisting of a separation roller 43 and a separation roller 43, and the bottom sheet is transferred to a pull-out roller 44.
separated and transported to the side. At this time, the stopper 33 is swinging upward, and the document conveyed between the pull-out rollers 44.45 is conveyed to the exposure position on the contact glass 12 by the pull-out rollers 44.45 and the conveyance heald 53. The size is detected by the size detection means.

Then, based on the detection information of the size detecting means, the operations of the calling rollers 32A, 32B and the paper feed section 22 are controlled, and the timing of transporting the originals is controlled so that the interval between the transported originals is the lowest value within a predetermined range. Therefore, the largest number of originals corresponding to the original size are sequentially fed onto the contact glass 12 in a given period of time, thereby increasing the speed.

Next, the scanning illumination operation of the copying machine main body 10 exposes the document surface of the document at the exposure position.

Next, the reversing unit 24 and the return unit 25 discharge the exposed original onto the original stack on the original feeding table 21 while inverting the upper and lower (original) sides of the exposed original. That is, after exposure is completed, the original is conveyed to the reversing section 24 by the endless conveyance heald 53, and then is sent along the reversing guide 61 by the reversing roller 62 and the pressure roller 63, and is then turned upside down, for example. It is transported to the return section 25 in this condition. Next, this reversed original is conveyed along the guide plates 72, 73, 74 by the intermediate belt 75, and is ejected along the guide 76 by the paper ejection rollers 77A, 77B, and is placed on top of the original stack on the original paper feed table 21. will be returned to. Further, each document discharged onto the document stack on the document feed table 21 hits the stopper 33, and is separated from the document stack before exposure by the document stopper 33 and placed on top of the document stack. are loaded in sequence.

On the other hand, in this embodiment, in connection with this paper ejection operation,
The CPU 10I of the controller 100 executes the processes shown in FIGS. 3 to 5.

In the paper discharging process whose flowchart is shown in FIG. At P12, c p
Whether the last flag of UIOI is "'1" or not, step P13 determines whether the count value of the last paper counter provided in CPU10I is "1" or not, and step P14 determines whether the document size is small, e.g. LTY (letter size landscape). It is determined whether or not the value is less than or equal to the value. At this time, if the determination result in any of steps P12 to P14 is No, a normal paper ejecting operation is performed in step P16.

When multiple originals in the original stack are fed, exposed, and returned in sequence, the original placed at the top of the original stack starts to be fed, and eventually the original placed on the exposure position side is followed by the original. Then, the final document placed on top of the document stack is fed. At this time, if the document size is small, contact glass 1
Two originals are placed on the exposure position 2, and the subsequent original adjacent to the original placed at the exposure position becomes the final original. In this case, after the final original is exposed, both of these originals are successively returned onto the original stack, and upon this return, two
After the previous document is ejected onto the document stack, the ejection operation is stopped for a predetermined period of time, and then the final document is ejected.

Specifically, in the process shown in FIG.
If the determination result in any of steps 2 to P14 is YES, a predetermined delay time is waited in step P15, and then the paper ejecting operation in step P16 is executed.

This predetermined delay time is a time set so that the original document sheet discharged onto the document stack does not come into contact with the final document sheet that follows it, and is surely discharged in a separated state. Therefore, even if the gap between the final document and the document immediately before it is small, the previous document and the subsequent final document may contact each other when they are ejected onto the stack of documents, causing the final document to buckle or cause the final document to overlap the previous document. This prevents it from getting underneath.

In the paper discharge check process shown in FIG. 4, it is first determined in step P21 whether or not the paper discharge passage flag of the CP UIOI is 1, and in accordance with this determination result, step P2 is performed.
2 or P24, the ON or OFF state of the paper discharge sensor 82 is checked, and if the paper discharge sensor 82 is ON, the paper discharge ill excess flag is set to 1'' in step P23. Paper ejection sensor 82 is OFF
If so, it is determined in step P25 whether the timer value of the internal timer of CPUl0I that measures the time after the document passes has reached a predetermined value, and if it has reached the predetermined value, the paper ejection motor 78 is stopped in step P26. be done. Next, in step P27, the paper discharge command count value by the internal counter of CP LIIOI is decremented, and step P2
At 8, the last paper count value is decremented. Next, in step P29, it is determined whether the paper discharge command count value is 1 or not. If the determination result is Yes, step P29 is performed.

At step P30, the paper discharge start flag is set to 1.

In addition, in the last paper check process shown in FIG.
First, it is determined in step P31 whether or not paper feeding is complete, and when the sheet feeding operation is completed, it is determined in step P32 whether or not the document partition detection sensor 46 is ON.

At this time, there is no leading edge of the document beyond the document stopper 33 (the last document is fed), and the document partition detection sensor 46
If is OFF, the number of originals before being ejected (the number of originals in the transport path) is displayed on the last paper counter in step P33.
is stored, the last flag is set to 1 in step P34.
is set to

In this way, in this embodiment, the controller 100
According to the CP LIIOI, when returning the final original, the final original and the previous original are ejected consecutively, and the final original is ejected after a predetermined period of time after the previous original is ejected onto the original stack. There is. Therefore, the speed of the automatic document feeder 11 is increased, mistakes in document ejection are prevented, and reloading of the document bundle on the document feed table 21 is ensured.

[Effects] According to the present invention, when returning the final original, the final original and the previous original are successively ejected, and the final original is ejected a predetermined time after the previous original is ejected onto the original stack. Since the document is ejected, it is possible to increase the speed of the automatic document feeder, prevent mistakes in ejecting the document, and ensure reloading of the document bundle.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

1 to 5 are diagrams showing an embodiment of the document feeding method of the automatic document feeder according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 shows the schematic configuration of the automatic document feeder (!1.! FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of the IUT, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the paper discharge process, FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the paper discharge check process, and FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the last paper check process. 10... Copying machine main body, 11... Automatic document feeder, 12... Contact glass, 21... Paper feed table, 22. ... Paper feed section, 23 ... Conveyance section, 24 ... Reversing section, 25 ... Return section, 46 ... Document partition detection sensor (Final paper detection means), 47... Registration sensor (Size detection means),
100... Controller, 101... CPU0

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A document stack consisting of a plurality of documents stacked on a paper feed table is fed sequentially from the lowest document to an exposure position on the contact glass of a copying machine, and the upper and lower surfaces of the exposed documents are The automatic document feeder is configured to return the document onto a stack of documents on the document feed table, and to variably control the timing of the document feeding and return based on information detected about the size of the document being fed. In the method, if a subsequent original adjacent to the original fed to the exposure position is the final original located at the top of the original stack, after exposure of the final original, both originals are successively fed to the exposure position. An automatic original is returned onto a stack of originals, and upon this return, the ejection operation is stopped for a predetermined period of time after the previous original is ejected onto the stack of originals, and then the last original is ejected. Document feeding method of the feeding device.