JPH06219575A - Automatic paper feeder in optical information reading - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable it to read the optical information of the second sheet afterward with certainty by making a sheet of paper just under the most significant paper read with the optical information remain in the position intact at a time when it is fed. CONSTITUTION:A paper feed roller 6 rotates in the wake of a document 4, and when this document 4 has passed the position of a sensor 9, a scanner 11 being installed in a spot just above a reading mechanism part 1 reads a bar code of such as existing in the most significant position of a document bundle on a paper feeding plate 5 at that point of time. At this time, the document 4 turned to the toast bundle anew is not shifted, namely, remains in a position intact on the bundle by action of a resistance roller 8. When the first sheet of the document 4 is drawn out by the paper fed roller 6 and then the rear end edge goes beyond a bar code display position of the second sheet of the document 4, namely, if the bar code of the second document 4 comes to a state of being exposed looking from the scanner 11, the sensor 9 detects this timing, and thereby the scanner 11 is mode so as to read the bar code of the second document 4.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an optical information reading automatic paper feeding device, and more particularly to reading optical information by a mark such as a bar code on a certain paper and automatically feeding the read paper. Regarding the device for feeding.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, when a plurality of types of optical markers are displayed on respective cards of a certain size as a bar code and there are a large number of such cards, those cards are grouped together. The bar code automatic reading / distributing device is conventionally known as one of the devices that optically reads the signs of each card, classifies them into cards of the same sign, and distributes them to a predetermined box for each classification. ing.

In the conventional bar code automatic reading device as described above, a sorting box for storing each card for each sorting, and a sheet feeding for collectively sorting the cards so that one card can be distributed to each sorting box. A mechanical section and a card conveying mechanism section from the paper feeding mechanism section to each sorting box are provided, and a scanner for reading a bar code is provided in the middle of the conveying mechanism section. Then, for the cards sent one by one from the paper feed mechanism section, the bar code is read by the scanner during the conveyance, and the read signal is sent from the scanner to the microcomputer to determine which classification box should be distributed. It Then, a command signal is output from the microcomputer to open the gate of the classification box to be distributed, and the card is distributed to the classification box.

By the way, when the scanner is arranged in the middle of the transport mechanism as described above, the reading is performed between the reading of the bar code of the card and the opening of the gate of the box to which the card is to be distributed. Since the processing of signals and command signals and the communication of data are performed, that time is used as the card transportation time. Therefore, if the processing time or the communication time is relatively long, the carrying distance becomes long, and the proportion of the carrying mechanism in the entire apparatus may become too large to be ignored. It is technically possible to increase the speed by selecting an expensive and high-performance scanner or microcomputer to be used, but doing so only requires reading and classification. However, such a device was unrealistic because a high-end model that does not match such a device was selected and there was no cost advantage.

Therefore, the inventors of the present application carry out the reading of the bar code by the scanner during the transportation of the card so that the lengthening of the transportation mechanism can be avoided even if the scanner and the microcomputer having only the necessary functions are used. Instead, we proposed to read the card before it was conveyed, that is, while the cards were still stacked in the paper feed mechanism, and attempted to embody such a system.

As a system embodied on the basis of the prior art in the system as described above, the following constitution was conceived in common sense. The cards stacked in a stacked state are loaded into the paper feed mechanism section, and the top card at the position of the paper feed mechanism section is read by the scanner one by one from the top while pushing the stacked cards up from below. The card is started to be conveyed after the processing of the read signal, the above-mentioned command signal, and the communication of necessary data are completed.
According to this structure, it is realized by simply changing the position of the scanner from a position in the middle of the transport mechanism to a position directly above the paper feed mechanism, and shortens unnecessary length of the transport mechanism. Can be realized.

However, if the conventional paper feed mechanism is used as it is, when continuously feeding paper, the second and subsequent cards will follow the running of the preceding card and will be displaced. The phenomenon occurs. Therefore, even if the scanner installed directly above the paper feed mechanism is used to read the bar codes of the second and subsequent cards, the position of the card cannot be determined at the timing when the bar code should be read because of this misalignment. There was a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of the conventional technical problems relating to the paper feeding mechanism of the optical information reading apparatus as described above, and was devised to effectively solve the problems. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to feed the uppermost sheet so that the sheets on which optical information is written and which are stacked one above the other can be read sequentially from the top and the read sheets can be fed continuously. When feeding, the optical information reading automatic that makes it possible to reliably read the optical information of the second and subsequent sheets by stopping the sheet below it without moving it to the uppermost sheet and moving to that position To provide a sheet feeding device.

[0009]

An optical information reading automatic paper feeder according to the present invention has the following constitution in order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above and to achieve the object. That is, a paper holding unit that holds a plurality of sheets of paper on which optical information is recorded in a stacked state and holds the stacked sheets while urging the stacked sheets in a substantial stacking direction, and a paper holding unit provided in the paper holding unit. A reading unit installed so as to read the optical information of the energized stacked sheets from the side substantially opposite to the energizing direction, and a position in contact with the uppermost sheet of the sheets held by the sheet holding unit. And a first roller which is driven to rotate in a direction for taking out the sheet from the sheet holding means, and a driving force transmission system thereof can be disconnected and connected at a desired timing, and the uppermost sheet is taken out by the first roller. In order to allow the sheet to be exposed and to prevent the sheet underneath that is exposed with the movement of the uppermost sheet from moving in the take-out direction following the movement of the uppermost sheet, a friction coefficient is applied to the exposed lower sheet. Match In order that only the resistance means and the uppermost sheet of the stacked sheets are separated from other sheets and taken out from the sheet holding means, a gap corresponding to the thickness of one sheet, or A separating plate provided to form a gap that is slightly narrower than the thickness of one sheet between the first roller and a sheet conveying path for receiving the sheet taken out by the first roller. A second roller and a sensor that is provided between the first roller and the second roller and that detects passage of the leading edge and the trailing edge of the sheet between them are provided, and the leading edge of the sheet is the above-mentioned. By passing the position of the sensor, the drive force transmission of the first roller is interrupted after a predetermined delay time until the leading edge of the sheet is received by the second roller, and the trailing edge of the sheet is the sensor. By passing the position of The optical information of the uppermost sheet of paper are stacked on the sheet holding means is configured to read the reading means at that time.

[0010]

In the optical information reading automatic paper feeder according to the present invention, the optical information is read while the paper is on the paper holding means, and the paper is fed and conveyed after the reading is completed. . At the time of feeding the read sheet, the drive stop timing of the first roller is obtained by detecting that the leading edge of the sheet has passed the position of the sensor, and at the time when the sheet is separated from the first roller. The first roller is not driven. Then, the movement of the second sheet located below it is regulated by the resistance means,
Even if the first roller tries to rotate due to inertia and pulls out the second sheet, the sheet is not displaced. Therefore, the optical information of the second and subsequent sheets can be reliably read at the same position as that of the first sheet.

By reading the optical information and feeding the paper as described above, it is not necessary for the automatic paper feeder to apply the processing time of the signal relating to the read information to the paper transport time, and the paper is not fed. It is not necessary to unnecessarily take the transportation route of. Therefore, the size of the device can be reduced.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire inside of a bar code automatic reading and classifying apparatus in which the optical information reading automatic sheet feeder according to the present invention is adopted.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the paper feed mechanism unit of FIG. 1. The internal structure of the bar code automatic reading and sorting apparatus is roughly classified into a reading and feeding mechanism unit 1, a transport mechanism unit 2, and a distribution box unit 3.
The barcode of the form 4 is read by the reading and feeding mechanism unit 1 and fed one by one to the transport mechanism unit 2. The read signal of the bar code is processed by a host computer (not shown), and the gate of the box to which the form 4 is distributed is opened by a command signal from the computer. The form 4 is conveyed along a predetermined path by the conveying mechanism unit 2 and is put into a designated box of the distribution box unit 3.

The reading and feeding mechanism section 1 is provided with a sheet feeding plate 5 for vertically stacking and holding a form 4 in which various kinds of information are written by bar codes at predetermined positions on a sheet of a certain size. Has been. Although not shown in the figure, this paper feed plate 5 has one end of the wire locked to its side portion,
The wire is hung on the pulley above it, extends downward, and is constantly urged upward by a conventional urging mechanism in which the tip portion is connected to a spring. That is, the stack of the forms 4 placed on the paper feed plate 5 is always urged upward.

Above the paper feed plate 5 on which the forms 4 are stacked, a paper feed roller 6 is provided at a position where the leading edge of the uppermost form 4 of the energized stack of the forms 4 comes into contact. The contact pressure of the document 4 with respect to the paper feed roller 6 is the paper feed pressure. The paper feed roller 6 is driven via a one-way clutch mechanism (not shown), and can be driven or stopped at a desired timing by disconnecting the clutch. That is, when the paper feed roller 6 is driven, the uppermost form 4 in contact with the paper feed roller 6 is pulled out in the rotation direction of the roller 6, and when the drive is stopped, it tries to continue its rotation by inertia. The rotation stops due to the friction with the form 4 that is in contact with this.

The paper feed roller 6 is made of an elastic material such as rubber having a high friction coefficient, and can be elastically deformed to some extent by the contact pressure of the form 4. The paper feed roller 6 forms a gap for passing only one sheet 4 between the sheet feeding roller 6 and the separating plate 7 installed so as to hit the front edge of the stacked sheets 4. This gap is set to a thickness of one sheet 4 or a dimension slightly narrower than that. The dimension slightly smaller than the thickness of one sheet is set in consideration of the elastic deformation of the sheet feeding roller 6.

Reference numeral 8 in the drawing denotes a resistance roller pressed downward, which is rotatable but its rotation is heavy. When the paper feed roller 6 is driven, the uppermost form 4 receives the frictional resistance of the resistance roller 8, but the driving force of the paper feed roller 6 is higher, and the form 4 is pulled out from the bundle. Then, when the trailing edge of the uppermost form 4 is pulled out from the resistance roller 8, the resistance roller 8 comes into contact with the second form 4 below it, and the second form 4 is braked. Becomes That is, the topmost form 4 is the paper feed roller 6.
After the sheet is ejected from the sheet feeding roller 6, the sheet feeding roller 6 comes into contact with the second sheet 4 under the sheet feeding roller 6 and the sheet 4 is pulled out. It should be noted that the clutch mechanism of the sheet feeding roller 6 when the second sheet 4 is contacted is already disengaged due to the configuration and operation described later, and the driving thereof is stopped. The frictional resistance force of the resistance roller 8 is superior to the rotational force of the paper feed roller 6 that is about to rotate due to inertia alone, so that the form 4 remains at that position.

The form 4 pulled out from the bundle by the paper feed roller 6 enters between a pair of first transport rollers 10 provided at the first position of the transport mechanism section 2, and is sequentially transported between the other transport rollers. Be paid. Paper feed roller 6 and first transport roller 1
Between 0 and 0, a pair of sensors 9 are arranged toward the surface through which the form 4 passes. The sensor 9 detects the leading edge and the trailing edge of the form 4 passing therethrough. The timing at which the driving of the paper feed roller 6 is stopped is when a certain time elapses from when the leading edge of the form 4 passes through the position of the sensor 9 to when it enters the space between the first transport rollers 10. At this timing, the above-mentioned clutch mechanism is disengaged and the driving of the paper feed roller 6 is stopped. That is, the sheet feeding roller 6 applied the conveying force to the form 4, but at this time, the sheet feeding roller 6 is switched to the first conveying roller 10, and the sheet feeding roller 6 is rotated in accordance with the form 4. Will be done.

On the other hand, when the trailing edge of the form 4 has passed the position of the sensor 9, the scanner 11 provided right above the reading and feeding mechanism section 1 has the form 4 on the sheet feeding plate 5 at that time. Read the barcode on the top of the bunch of. At this time, the new top sheet 4 of the bundle is at the position on the bundle without shifting due to the action of the resistance roller 8 described above. The position and orientation of the scanner 11 can be adjusted according to the size of the form 4 and the display position of the barcode.

The above-mentioned scanner 11 is connected to a host computer (not shown), and the read bar code signal is sent to the host computer to determine its contents. Then, a command signal is sent from the host computer to the distribution box unit 3, and in response to the command signal,
The gate of the box where the read form 4 should be distributed can be opened. The driving of the paper feed roller 6 is started at an appropriate timing after the reading of the bar code is completed, but when the form 4 having the bar code read arrives at the box to be distributed, the gate of the box is turned on. The timing is set so that it is opened in time.

In the bar code automatic reading and classifying apparatus configured as described above, the bar code of the form 4 can be reliably read by the scanner 11 at a fixed position on the bundle. As a result, it is not necessary to read in the middle of the transportation route, so the route length of the transportation mechanism unit 2 is the distance that the form 4 has to travel during the signal processing time in the host computer and other communication required time. It is not necessary to set. That is, the path length of the transport mechanism unit 2 can be suppressed to the minimum length.

In the above-described embodiment, the resistance roller 8 is used as the form 4.
The barcode reading by the scanner 11 is ensured by preventing the positional deviation of the scanner 11. However, the scanner 11 performs the reading by the signal from the above-mentioned sensor 9 or another sensor, and the reading timing is as follows. Therefore, the second and subsequent forms 4 can be surely read. For example, since the size of the form 4 and the display position of the bar code are constant, when the first form 4 is pulled out by the paper feed roller 6 and its trailing edge exceeds the bar code display position of the second form 4, That is, the first sheet 4
The sensor detects the timing at which the bar code of the second sheet 4 is not exposed from the scanner 11 when it is not completely separated from the bundle (contacting the paper feed roller 6). At that time, the scanner 11 may read the barcode of the second form 4. At this timing, since the size of the form 4 is constant, when the first form 4 comes to the position where the barcode of the second form 4 is exposed, the leading edge of the first form 4 is exposed. May be the timing at which the sensor passes the position of the sensor. At this timing, the paper feed roller 6 is feeding the first form 4, and the second form 4 has not moved at all.
The bar code can be surely read at the same position, and the reading timing can be made earlier than in the above-described embodiment.

In this case, the first form 4 is the paper feed roller 6.
The second form 4 is sent out from the first form 4
Even if the user moves along with, the bar code has already been read at the time of the following movement, and such a following movement does not pose any problem. Therefore,
The resistance roller 8 used in the above embodiment is no longer needed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire inside of a bar code automatic reading / sorting device adopting an optical information reading / automatic paper feeding device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Reading / Feeding Mechanism Section 2 Conveyance Mechanism Section 3 Distribution Box Section 4 Form 5 Feeding Plate 6 Feeding Roller 7 Separation Board 8 Resistance Roller 9 Sensor 10 First Conveying Roller 11 Scanner

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Paper holding means for holding a plurality of papers (4) on which optical information is recorded in a stacked state and holding the stacked papers (4) while urging them in a substantially stacking direction.
(5) and a reading means (a reading means installed so as to read the optical information of the stacked sheets of paper (4) biased in the paper holding means (5) from a side substantially opposite to the biasing direction. 11) and a direction in which the paper (4) held by the paper holding means (5) is provided in a position in contact with the uppermost paper (4), and the paper (4) is taken out from the paper holding means (5). Is driven to rotate, and its driving force transmission system can be disconnected and connected at a desired timing.
The roller (6) and the first roller (6) allow the uppermost sheet (4) to be taken out, and the lower sheet (4) exposed as the uppermost sheet (4) moves is the uppermost sheet (4). In order to regulate the movement of the upper paper (4) in the take-out direction following the movement of the upper paper, the exposed lower paper
Only the resistance means (8) frictionally engaging with (4) and the uppermost paper (4) of the stacked papers (4) are separated from the other papers (4) and the paper holding means (5). So that it can be taken out from the
Alternatively, a separation plate (7) provided to form a gap slightly narrower than the thickness of the one sheet with the first roller (6).
And a second roller (10) arranged in the paper transport path to receive the paper (4) taken out by the first roller (6).
And a sensor (9) provided between the first roller (6) and the second roller (10) for detecting passage of the leading edge and the trailing edge of the paper (4) between them. The leading edge of the sheet (4) passes through the position of the sensor (9) so that the leading edge of the sheet (4) is moved to the second roller (10).
After a predetermined delay time until it is received by the first roller (6), the driving force transmission of the first roller (6) is cut off, and the rear edge of the paper (4) passes the position of the sensor (9), so that The optical information reading automatic paper feed characterized in that the reading means (11) reads the optical information of the uppermost paper (4) of the papers (4) stacked on the paper holding means (5). apparatus.