JPH054742A - Document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To discharge documents to the last one with good alignment by decelerating the discharge speed temporarily when a previous document just before the last document among documents to be discharged passes the prescribed position, and discharging the following document at the previous discharge speed. CONSTITUTION:When a previous document just before the last one of documents to be discharged by a discharge means 40 passes a prescribed position, discharge speed is temporarily decelerated. The following last document is discharged at less than the previous discharge speed, or after the discharge means 40 is temporarily stopped. Therefore, even if an interval between the last document and the previous document just before the last one is short, it can be made longer in a discharge process. It is thus possible to discharge the last document after the previous document just before the last one stops at a discharge tray 12, and discharge the documents up to the last one with good alignment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention comprises a document conveying means and a document discharging means, and discharges a preceding document which has undergone image processing by an image processing device such as a copying machine or an image reader, and discharges the preceding document. The present invention relates to a document feeding device having a so-called step-feed function, which simultaneously discharges a next-fed document that is kept on standby on the upstream side.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an original feeding apparatus having this type of step feeding function, there is one disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-288542.

The apparatus according to this publication has a control means for setting the exposure reference position on the upstream side of the platen and driving the document discharging means and the conveying means separately. Then, the preceding document and the next document are fed at a predetermined interval.

[0004]

By the way, in the above-described step-feeding document feeder, when a document is discharged, if it is discharged at a high conveyance speed, the document will fly in the air on the discharge tray and the document will be discharged. The tips of the paper will not be aligned on the output tray, and the alignment will be poor. Therefore, when the leading edge of the document reaches a predetermined position in the discharge path, the conveyance speed is switched to a low speed to convey the document, and when the document is ejected for a predetermined length, the document is returned to the high conveyance speed and then ejected. Some are designed to improve alignment on the tray.

However, since the last original document and the preceding original document one sheet before the final original document are continuously ejected at a predetermined short interval, the leading edge of the final original document before the preceding original document one sheet before is stopped on the paper ejection tray. Has contacted the trailing edge of the preceding document, and the final document pushes the preceding document forward, which lowers the alignment.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a document feeding device capable of ejecting a document in good alignment up to the final document.

[0007]

According to the present invention for achieving the above object, at least two originals can be set adjacent to the original setting surface, and the original set at the image processing position on the original setting surface. Attached to the image processing apparatus for performing the image processing of the document, and the document supplied from one side of the document setting surface is adjacent to the image processing position and after the image processing at the image processing position is completed. And a discharge means for discharging a document transported by the transport means to the adjacent position to a document storage portion when the next document is supplied to the image processing position. At the time of discharging the document by the discharging means, when the discharged document passes a predetermined position, the discharging speed is temporarily reduced, and then the document feeding device is returned to the original discharging speed at an appropriate timing. Among the originals discharged by the discharging means, the preceding original, which is one sheet before the final original, passes through the predetermined position to temporarily reduce the discharging speed, and the succeeding final original is discharged at the original discharging speed or lower. Provided.

Further, among the originals discharged by the discharging means, a control means is provided for discharging the preceding original document which is one sheet before the final original document, temporarily stopping the discharging means, and then discharging.

[0009]

When the last original document and the preceding original document one sheet before the last original document are continuously ejected at short intervals, these original documents are ejected at a low speed and in a decelerated state. In addition, when the preceding document is completely stopped, the final document that has been paused is ejected. Therefore, it is possible to eject the final document with good alignment.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the document feeding device 10 is mounted on a platen (original setting surface) P of an electronic copying device C (hereinafter referred to as a main body device) as an image processing device, and feeds it. The originals stacked on the tray 11 are sent to the exposure reference position PP1 on the platen P to be subjected to the exposure process, and then discharged onto the paper discharge tray (original storage portion) 12.

The original feeding device 10 includes a paper feed tray 11 on which an original is placed, a paper feed section 20 for separating the originals from the paper feed tray 11 into one sheet, and a paper feed section 20 from the paper feed section 20. The transport unit 30 is a transport unit that receives and transports a document, and positions it on the platen P of the main body device C to receive the exposure process, a discharge unit 40 that discharges the exposed document, and the discharged document. It is composed of a stack of paper discharge trays 12 and a control device which is a control means (not shown).

Therefore, the paper feed unit 20 is a drive motor (paper feed motor) MT1, the transport unit 30 is a drive motor (transport motor) MT2, and the discharge unit 40 is a one-way clutch 40.
It is configured to be driven by a drive motor MT2 that is common to the transport unit 30 via the.

The paper feed section 20 picks up the pickup roller 21 which comes in contact with the bottom sheet, the weight leaf spring 23 which comes into contact with the top sheet and presses it, the stopper 22 which holds the leading edge of the original document and opens and closes at appropriate times, and separates only the bottom sheet. Separation roller 24, a separation pad 25 for preventing the second paper or more from advancing, a registration roller 26 that catches the leading edge of the document and adjusts the posture to adjust the paper feed timing, the registration pinch roller 27, and the paper feed. It is composed of a registration sensor 28 for detecting the size of the document. Further, the registration roller 2
On the downstream side of 6, there is provided a paper feed guide 29 that guides the leading edge of the original document to just before the conveyance section 30.

The conveying section 30 is a side plate 3 of the document feeder 10.
1, a pair of belt rollers 32 and 33 are axially supported, a conveyor belt 34 is stretched around these belt rollers 32 and 33, and a plurality of press rollers 35 are further provided.

The registration roller 26 of the paper feeding unit 20 is driven by the drive motor MT2 of the conveyance unit, and the drive motor MT2 and the registration roller 26 are disengaged from each other in a timely manner. Electromagnetic clutch 26
a is provided.

The ejecting section 40 is an ejecting roller 42 for feeding a document.
A discharge guide 41 for guiding a document, a switching claw 43 for switching between discharging the document or re-feeding it on the platen P for backside exposure, a reverse-feeding guide 44 for guiding a reverse-feeding document, and a sheet-discharging The sensor 45, a paper discharge roller 46 for discharging the original document to the outside, and a discharge pinch roller 47 that is in rolling contact with the discharge roller 42 and nips the discharged document together with the discharge roller, etc.

A registration sensor 2 is provided in a control device (not shown).
8 receives the input signals from the sheet discharge sensor 45 and the sheet discharge sensor 45, and based on the calculation result and various command signals from the main body device C, drives and controls the drive motors MT1 and MT2 in a timely manner. And a CPU for transmitting the control result to the main body device C.

Next, the operation of the document feeding apparatus 10 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 for explaining the operation, and FIGS. 3 to 5 showing the flow of the operation.

The description will be given only for the normal single-sided copy sheet feeding operation, and the description of the double-sided exposure operation will be omitted.

After the document D is placed on the paper feed tray 11 and necessary selection operations are performed in the main body device C, a start button (not shown) of the main body device C is pressed to drive the drive motor of the paper feed portion 20. MT1 starts to rotate and pickup roller 21
Causes the bottom manuscript and the manuscript close to it to be fed out. Then, by the action of the separation roller 24 and the separation pad 25, only the lowermost original D1 is fed.

Then, the leading edge of the document is the registration roller 2
In the state of being nipped between the No. 6 and the registration pinch roller 27, the rear part is still pushed by the separation roller 24, so that the document draws a large loop, and the posture is corrected during this. Then, after the drive motor MT2 is started, the drive motor MT2 is rotated by a constant pulse P1 to perform a dummy paper discharge operation for the original document that has been forgotten. At this time, the drive motor MT2
The size of the discharged document is detected by counting the number of pulses of the drive motor MT2 from the start of the driving of the sheet until the sheet discharge sensor 45 detects the leading edge of the document that has been forgotten to be removed. to start. When there is no document left unremoved, the electromagnetic clutch 26a is turned on at the time when the constant pulse P1 is counted, and the transport operation of both the transport unit 30 and the registration roller 26 is started. And
The registration counter is started in synchronization with the start of the carrying operation.

When the trailing edge of the document is detected by the registration sensor 28, the registration counter is stopped, and the size of the fed document is detected and stored.

At the same time as the detection of the trailing edge of the original by the registration sensor 28, a stop adjusting pulse of the original is set, the drive motor MT2 is stopped by the increase of the adjusting pulse, and subsequently the original is fed back for a predetermined time by a reverse rotation command, Accurately position at the exposure reference position. (See FIG. 1) As described above, the first document D1 (preceding document) gives the control device the size information of the document before reaching the predetermined exposure reference position PP1, and the exposure process by the main body device C is performed at the position PP1. receive.

Next, the first-out operation of the second document D2 (next document) will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In addition,
The first-out operation of the first original D1 is similar in operation.

That is, a solenoid (not shown) of the weight leaf spring 23 is first excited by the paper feed signal, and at the same time, the paper feed motor MT1 is started. As a result, the second original D2 is separated into one sheet, the solenoid is demagnetized, and the original D2 is sent to the registration roller 26. When the registration sensor 28 detects the leading edge of the document, a predetermined pulse is set, and the paper feed motor MT1 is stopped by counting up the pulse. While counting the pulses, the rear part of the document D2 draws a loop, which causes the document D2 to
Is corrected in posture (S1 to S6).

Then, the original D is kept in the combined state until then.
The electromagnetic clutch 26a, which keeps the registration roller 26 from moving even if 2 hits, disengages (S7), and thus the first-out completion flag is turned on (S8).

The first-out operation is started at the same time when the first original document D1 is localized at the exposure reference position PP1.
Completed during the exposure process.

Then, the document feeding device 10 uses the first document D
After the exposure of 1 is completed, as shown in FIG.
1 and the second document D2 is the registration roller 2 as described above.
At 6 there is a standby.

Therefore, the operation after the above will be described with reference to FIG. First, the first-out completion flag is reset by the completion signal of the exposure process for the first original D1, and the transport motor M
T2 is activated (S11, S12). Then, the paper feed delay pulse is set here (S13). This paper feed delay pulse is based on the one calculated in the control device as follows.

T = (L-1) / V where t ... Waiting time (set pulse) L .. Distance between exposure reference position PP1 and document nip point P2 at the discharge section 1 ... Document length ( Original size) V .. Conveyor belt feeding speed

When the delay pulse is counted out, the electromagnetic clutch 26a is turned on, and the conveying section 30 and the registration roller 26, which have been in the separated state until now, are connected,
The registration roller 26 starts to rotate, and the second document D2 is sent toward the carrying section 30 (S14, S15). As described above, since the second original D2 is sent with a time difference of the above-mentioned time t, the distance from the preceding first original D1 is the first original D1.
When the leading edge of the
The second original D2 is almost in the vicinity of the exposure reference position, and the first original D1 is reliably ejected regardless of the subsequent operation of the transport unit 30. (See FIG. 2) When the trailing edge of the second document D2 is detected by the registration sensor 28 (S16), the stop adjustment pulse is set (S17). Then, when the stop adjustment pulse is increased, the transport motor MT2 is stopped when the document D2 has moved slightly beyond the exposure reference position P1 (S18).

Here, the electromagnetic clutch 26a is turned off, and the connection with the registration roller 26 is broken (S19).
The conveyance motor MT2 receives a reverse rotation command after 50 msec has passed, and after 50 msec has passed, the motor MT2 starts reverse rotation, and at the same time a reverse rotation pulse is set (S20).
~ S24). Then, the motor MT2 is stopped by the pulse count up (S25).

Next, the signal of the forward rotation of the transport motor MT2 is received, and at the same time, a flag indicating that there is a document on the platen P is raised. During this time, the second document D2 is subjected to an exposure process (S2).
6, S27).

On the other hand, the first original D1 which has reached the nip point P2 of the discharge portion 40 first is detected by the discharge sensor 45 as shown in FIG. 5 (S31). At this time, the number of conveyance pulses until deceleration start suitable for each document size is set in the paper discharge deceleration counter, and the counting operation is started (S3).
2). When the paper discharge deceleration counter counts up, the carry motor MT2 is decelerated (S33,
S34).

Then, after a lapse of a certain period of time during which the first original document D1 could have been discharged, the transport motor MT2 is returned to the high speed rotation state (S38), and after the certain period of time, the transport motor M2 is returned.
T2 is stopped (S39, S40).

However, with respect to the final original document and the preceding original document one sheet before the final original document, there is no original document on the paper feed tray 11, the empty sensor (not shown) is turned on, and the registration sensor 28 is turned off. Therefore, it is confirmed that the output conditions of these sensors are satisfied, and the final original document and the preceding original document one sheet before the final original document are ejected in a form different from the normal form. That is, for the preceding original document one sheet before the final original document, it is determined in step S36A before returning the transport motor MT2 to the high-speed state whether the final second original document is being ejected. In S36B, it is checked whether or not the final document is discharged, that is, whether the trailing edge of the final document is detected by the paper discharge sensor 45, and if not detected, the process waits until it is detected. As a result, the final second original and the final original are ejected in the decelerated state. If the final document is ejected, the transport motor MT2
To stop.

As described above, the deceleration start timing suitable for each document size is selected with the timing when the paper ejection sensor 45 is turned on as a starting point, so that the paper ejection sensor 45 decelerates after being turned off. Compared with the case, it is possible to secure a sufficient deceleration time and further improve the alignment of discharged documents. Further, since the document size is measured by measuring the time from the start of rotation of the transport motor MT2 at the time of discharge to the on timing of the discharge sensor 45, the size of the document at the exposure position when the main body device C is opened and closed is determined. Even when it becomes unknown, it is possible to decelerate and discharge with the optimum deceleration time.

Since the final document and the preceding document one sheet before the final document are ejected in the decelerated state, the leading edge of the final document comes into contact with the trailing edge of the preceding document, and the alignability is improved. It can be surely prevented from deteriorating. Further, the transport unit 30 and the discharge unit 40 share a common drive motor M.
Since T2 is used, the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

<Other Embodiments> In order to improve the alignment between the final original document and the preceding original document that is one sheet before the final original document, the transport motor MT2 is kept in the decelerated state in the above-mentioned embodiment. As described above, if the preceding document of the preceding sheet is discharged and the discharge sensor 45 is turned off, the conveyance motor M
Alternatively, T2 may be stopped, the final document may be temporarily stopped by the discharge unit 40, and the transport motor MT2 may be started after a certain period of time to discharge the final document.

That is, with respect to the preceding original document one sheet before the final original document, it is determined in step S36A before returning the transport motor MT2 to the high speed state whether the final second original document is being ejected. In the next step S41, the process waits until the paper discharge sensor 45 is turned off, and if the trailing edge is detected and the paper discharge sensor 45 is turned off, the carry motor MT2 is stopped after a certain time has passed (S41,
42, 43). As a result, the original one sheet before the final original is ejected in the decelerated state. Next, in order to discharge the final document, the transport motor MT2 is started after a lapse of a certain time (S44, 45).

When the final document is detected by the paper ejection sensor 45 (S46), the number of conveyance pulses until deceleration start suitable for the document size is set in the paper ejection deceleration counter and the counting operation is started ( S47). And
When the discharge deceleration counter counts up, the carry motor MT2 is decelerated (S48, 49). Then, the transport motor MT2 is stopped after a lapse of a certain period of time during which the final document may have been discharged (S39, S4).
0).

Even in this case, it is possible to surely prevent the leading edge of the final document from coming into contact with the trailing edge of the preceding document, which would deteriorate the alignment.

[0044]

As described above, according to the document feeder of the present invention, among the documents discharged by the discharging means,
When the preceding document, which is one sheet before the final document, passes the predetermined position, the discharge speed is temporarily reduced, and the subsequent final document is discharged at the original discharge speed or less, or among the documents discharged by the discharge means, the final document is Since the ejecting means is temporarily stopped after ejecting the preceding original document before the preceding original document, even if the interval between the final original document and the preceding original document before the preceding document is short, the interval is maintained during the ejecting process. The sheet can be unfolded, and the last original sheet is ejected at a low speed after the preceding original sheet that has been placed before is stopped in the original document storage section, and the final original sheet can be ejected with good alignment.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view of a document feeding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an operation explanatory diagram of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a first-out operation of a feeding unit.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a single-sided sheet feeding operation of the transport unit.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a paper discharge operation of a transport unit.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing another embodiment of the paper discharge operation of the transport unit.

[Explanation of symbols]

C image processing device (electronic copying device) P Platen 10 Document feeder 20 paper feeder 30 transport section 40 discharge part MT2 transport motor 45 Paper ejection sensor

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. At least two originals can be set adjacent to the original setting surface, and the original is set in an image processing device that performs image processing of the original set at an image processing position on the original setting surface. The document supplied from one side of the surface is conveyed to the image processing position and to a position adjacent to the image processing position after the image processing at the image processing position is completed. Ejecting means for ejecting the original conveyed to the adjacent position to the original containing portion when the next original is supplied to the image processing position, and when the original is ejected by the discharging means, the ejected original has a predetermined position. When the document feeding device is configured such that the discharging speed is temporarily reduced after passing through, and the discharging speed is returned to the original discharging speed at an appropriate timing, among the documents discharged by the discharging means, the first document is the first document. An original feeding apparatus comprising: a control unit configured to temporarily reduce the discharge speed of the preceding original before the preceding one when passing the predetermined position, and discharge the subsequent final original at a speed equal to or lower than the original discharging speed. 2. An original processing apparatus, which is capable of setting at least two originals adjacent to an original setting surface, is attached to an image processing apparatus for performing image processing on an original set at an image processing position on the original setting surface, and sets the originals. The document supplied from one side of the surface is conveyed to the image processing position and to a position adjacent to the image processing position after the image processing at the image processing position is completed. Ejecting means for ejecting the original conveyed to the adjacent position to the original containing portion when the next original is supplied to the image processing position, and when the original is ejected by the discharging means, the ejected original has a predetermined position. When the document is fed by the ejecting means, the final document is the document which is ejected by the ejecting means after the ejecting speed is temporarily reduced after passing After ejecting the preceding document one page before
A document feeding apparatus comprising: a control unit that temporarily stops the discharging unit and then discharges the document. 3. The document feeding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the conveying unit and the discharging unit are driven by a common driving unit.