JPH0812137A - Automatic document feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate labor to register a document, and improve practicability by providing an automatic registering means to automatically register the document to be placed on a document paper feeding stand in a prescribed paper feeding position and a carrying means to carry the registered document. CONSTITUTION:When a document 5 is casually placed on a document paper feeding stand 3, the tip side 5a, the rear end side 5b and both sides 5c and 5d of the document 5 are respectively detected by a sensor. A control part 45 determines the (a and b) direction and a width directional moving distance from these detecting signals, and reciprocates shutter shutter plates 11 of a tip position registering mechanism part 6 in the (a and b) direction, and a position of the document tip side 5a is regulated. A back plate 19 of a rear end position registering mechanism 7 moves in the (a) direction, and pushes the document 5 between the shutter plates 11. Respective side guides 31a and 31b of a both side registering mechanism part 8 respectively move in the width direction (c and d), and push both sides 5c and 5d of the document 5, and in succession, the document 5 is moved in the sending-out direction by driving of a driving belt 38, and the document 5 is perfectly registered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder for automatically feeding a document used in an image forming apparatus such as an electronic copying machine.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional example of this type of automatic document feeder will be described with reference to FIGS.

An automatic document feeder 50 shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
Is a B5 plate and an A4 plate provided on the upper portion of a substantially rectangular parallelepiped casing 51.
A document feed table 52 on which documents of various sizes such as plates are placed, and a pair of side guides 54 slidably incorporated in the document feed table 52 to regulate both sides (both sides in the width direction) of the document. A jam handling bar 55 provided in front of the document feeding table 52 and a paper ejection receiver 56 provided in the rear of the document feeding table 52.
Etc.

Inside the casing 51, as shown in FIG. 7, a document feeding section 61 is arranged in front of a document feeding table 52.
A document discharge reversing unit 62 is arranged behind the document feed table 52.

Further, below the document feeding table 52, there is arranged a pressing and conveying section 80 for conveying the document on the document glass 101 of the electronic copying machine 100.

The original feeding section 61 includes a pickup roller 63 for taking out the originals one by one from the original feeding table 52,
A shutter 64 that regulates the position of the leading edge of the document, and a shutter 6
4, an actuator 65 for opening and closing driving, a detection switch 66 for detecting the presence or absence of a document, a cover switch 67,
It has a belt conveyor 68 for conveying the original taken out by the pickup roller 63, a paper feed roller 69, and an aligning roller 70 for conveying the original toward the original glass 101 of the electronic copying machine 100.

In the pressing / conveying unit 80, a conveyor belt 83 is stretched over a pair of belt rollers 81 and 82 so that the lower surface side of the conveyor belt 83 is brought into contact with the surface of the original glass 101, and the conveyor belts are conveyed by pressing rollers 84 at predetermined intervals. 83
The lower surface side of the document is pressed against the original glass 101 side.

The original discharge reversing section 62 is provided with a pressing and conveying section 8.
Reversing roller 7 for reversing the original conveyed by 0
1, a flapper 72 for sorting documents, a discharge roller 73 for discharging the documents to the discharge receiving portion 56, and the like.

[0009]

However, in the case of the above-described conventional automatic document feeder 50, the document feeding table 52 is used.
No measures have been taken to automatically align the original placed on it. Therefore, every time the original is placed on the original feed table 52, the user arranges the original in a predetermined arrangement. It is very complicated because it is necessary to adjust the position of the side guide 54 installed in the document feeding table 52 to fit the width of the document.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the manuscript can be automatically positioned at a position suitable for feeding the manuscript simply by placing the manuscript on the manuscript feeding table, which saves the trouble of manipulating the manuscript and is complicated. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic document feeder that can avoid the problem.

[0011]

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic document feeder including a document feed table for placing a document to be fed to a paper feed target, and a document placed on the document feed table. It has an automatic aligning means for automatically aligning the sheets to a predetermined paper feed arrangement, and a conveying means for conveying the original document aligned by the automatic aligning means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic document feeder which mounts a document to be fed to a sheet feeding target, a front end and a rear end of a document placed on the document feeder. It has an automatic aligning means for automatically aligning by biasing both sides to obtain a predetermined paper feed arrangement, and a conveying means for conveying the document aligned by the automatic aligning means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic document feeder in which a document feed table for placing a document to be fed to a paper feed target and a vibrating state on the leading end side of the document placed on the document feed table. And the leading edge position alignment mechanism that makes the leading edge position a predetermined position, and the trailing edge position by applying a moving force to the leading edge position side to the trailing edge side of the document placed on the document feed table. And the rear end position alignment mechanism that moves the document to the specified position, and both sides of the document placed on the document feed table are moved in the direction orthogonal to the feed direction, and the feed direction And an automatic aligning unit including a double-sided aligning mechanism unit that aligns both sides of the document by applying a moving force along the document.

[0014]

According to the automatic document feeder of claim 1, when the document to be fed to the sheet feeding target is placed on the document feeding table, the automatic aligning means feeds the document in a predetermined manner. The document is automatically aligned to the position and the document is transported by the transporting means.Just place the document on the document feeder and it will automatically align it to the position suitable for document feeding. It is possible to position and further convey the document, save the trouble of manuscript alignment, and avoid complication.

According to the automatic document feeder of the second aspect, when the document to be fed to the sheet feeding target is placed on the document feeding table, the automatic aligning means causes the leading edge and the trailing edge of the document. Also, by urging both sides, the documents are automatically aligned to a predetermined paper feed position, and the transport means transports the aligned document. It is possible to align and convey the document to a position suitable for document feeding, and it is possible to save the trouble of aligning the document and avoid complication.

According to the automatic document feeder of the third aspect, when the document to be fed to the sheet feeding target is placed on the document feeding table, the leading end position aligning mechanism portion of the automatic aligning means, The front end side of this original is vibrated and the front end position is set to a predetermined position, and the rear end position alignment mechanism section applies a moving force to the rear end side of the original to the front end position to move the rear end At the specified position, the both-sides alignment mechanism moves both sides of the document in the direction orthogonal to the feeding direction, and at the same time, applies the moving force along the feeding direction to the leading end parts on both sides of this document. Since the alignment of the
The entire area including the rear end and both sides can be quickly and automatically aligned to a position suitable for document feeding, and the labor of document alignment can be saved and complication can be avoided.

[0017]

EXAMPLES Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below.

The automatic document feeder 1 shown in FIG. 1 feeds a document 5 into a housing 2 having a jam clearance cover 2a similar to the conventional example, that is, the electronic copying machine 1 shown in FIG.
The document feed table 3 on which the document 5 to be fed out is placed in an inclined position.

The document feeding table 3 incorporates an automatic aligning means 4 which will be described in detail below. The automatic aligning means 4 vibrates in contact with the leading end side 5a of the document 5 placed on the document feeding table 3 in the a and b directions indicated by the arrow and sets the leading end position to a predetermined position. The rear end position adjusting unit 6 and the rear end side 5b of the original 5 placed on the original feeding table 3 are provided with a moving force toward the front end to set the rear end to a predetermined position. The position mechanism 7 and both sides (both sides in the width direction) 5c and 5d of the document 5 placed on the document feeding table 2 are sent out (direction a).
Both sides of the original 5 are moved by moving them in the width directions c and d indicated by the arrows orthogonal to the above, and applying a moving force along the feeding direction (a direction) to the leading end side 5a of both sides 5c and 5d of the original 5. It is provided with a pair of double-sided alignment mechanisms 8 on both sides for performing 5c and 5d alignments.

As shown in FIG. 2, the leading end position aligning mechanism portion 6 of the automatic aligning means 4 has the leading end of the document 5 arranged on the leading end side of the document feeding table 3 along the width directions c and d. A guide plate 12a, 1 provided with a shutter plate 11 for regulating the position of the side 5a and attached to the shutter plate 11 along the a and b directions.
2b is a guide groove 13 formed on the leading end side of the document feeding table 3
a, 13b and from the shutter plate 11 to a
The pinion 15 attached to the tip motor 14 is meshed with the first rack 17 protruding in the direction. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the leading edge position adjusting mechanism section 6 has a light reflection type leading edge sensor 16 for detecting the leading edge side 5a of the document 5 arranged near the shutter plate 11.

As shown in FIG. 2, the rear end position aligning mechanism section 7 has a back plate 19 with respect to a guide groove 18 provided in a substantially central portion of the document feeding table 3 along the a and b directions. Is slidably engaged in the a and b directions, and is attached to the back plate 19 along the a and b directions as shown in FIG.
Rear end motor 22 with pinion 21 meshing with 0
Is provided.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the trailing edge position adjusting mechanism 7 has a trailing edge sensor group 23 for detecting the trailing edge side 5b of the document 5 arranged along the guide groove 18. The trailing edge sensor group 23 is used for the document 5 of the maximum (MAX) size shown in FIG.
To the minimum (MIN) size original 5 in order to detect the rear end side 5b, for example, four reflection type optical sensors 24a to 24d are arranged at a predetermined interval.

The two-sided alignment mechanism 8 having a pair of both sides is
Both sides 5c and 5d of the original 5 are placed on both sides 5c and 5d in the width direction.
It has a symmetrical arrangement with respect to.

That is, the both-sides alignment mechanism section 8 includes both side guides 31a and 31b and both side guides 31a and 31b.
b, a pair of belt alignment portions 32a and 32b, which are attached to face each other on each tip side, and both side guides 31.
As shown in FIG. 2, a pair of racks 33a and 33b projecting from the a and 31b toward the center of the document feeding table 3 along the widthwise directions c and d at regular intervals, and the racks 33a and 33b.
33b and a width direction motor 35 having a pinion 34 that meshes at the same time, and changes the rotational force of the width direction motor 35 into a moving force along the width directions c and d of the pair of racks 33a and 33b. , 31b and a pair of belt alignment parts 32a, 32b are simultaneously transmitted.

Further, the pair of belt alignment parts 32a, 32b
Is a drive pulley 36 and a driven pulley 37 in which the shafts arranged on the tip ends of both side guides 31a and 31b are vertically arranged.
The drive belt 38 and the drive motor 39.
The surfaces of the drive belt 38 facing the both sides 5c and 5d of the original 5 are driven in the a direction as shown in FIG.
A moving force along the delivery direction (a direction) is applied to the tip side 5a of c and 5d.

The two-sided alignment mechanism section 8 is further provided with a width sensor group 40 for detecting the width of the original 5 as shown in FIG.

The width sensor group 40 includes the shutter plate 1
1 facing the upper surface of the document feeding table 3 in the vicinity of 1, and three reflection type optical sensors 41a, 41b to 43a, 43b on the left and right sides in the feeding direction (a direction), one on each side, the width of the document. Are arranged at intervals corresponding to.

FIG. 4 shows a control system of the automatic document feeder 1.

In the automatic document feeder 1, the control unit 45 for controlling the whole is provided with a front end sensor 16, a front end motor 14 of the front end position alignment mechanism unit 6, and a rear end of the rear end position alignment mechanism unit 7. The motor 22, the rear end sensor group 23, the width direction motor 35 of the both-side alignment mechanism portion 8, the drive motor 39, the width sensor group 4
It has a configuration in which 0 and 0 are connected.

Next, the operation of the automatic document feeder 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

In FIG. 5, the following description will be made assuming that the movement of the document 5 is represented by a dotted arrow, and the aligned state of the document 5 is represented by a dashed rectangle.

When the original 5 is randomly placed on the original feeding table 3 as shown by the solid line in FIG.
6, the rear end sensor group 23 and the width sensor group 40 detect the front end side 5a, the rear end side 5b and both sides 5c and 5d of the original 5, respectively.
The detection signal is sent to the control unit 45.

Based on the detection signals from the leading edge sensor 16, the trailing edge sensor group 23, and the width sensor group 40, and the information of the corresponding original document size set in advance, the control unit 45 detects the a, b and width directions. The amount of movement is determined, and the front end motor 14 of the front end position alignment mechanism unit 6, the rear end motor 22 of the rear end position alignment mechanism unit 7 and the width direction motor 35 of the both side alignment mechanism unit 8 and the drive motor 39 are respectively determined. It drives according to the said movement amount.

As a result, the shutter plate 11 of the leading edge position adjusting mechanism section 6 reciprocally vibrates in the a and b directions to regulate the position of the leading edge side 5a of the original 5, and the rear edge position aligning mechanism section 7 moves back. The plate 19 moves in the direction a by a predetermined amount and pushes the document 5 toward the shutter plate 11.

Further, the side guides 31a, 31b of the both-sides alignment mechanism section 8 push the both sides 5c, 5d of the document 5 while moving a predetermined amount in the width direction c and the width direction d, respectively. Further, the drive belt 38 is driven by each drive motor 39 of the both-sides alignment mechanism section 8.
The surfaces of the original 5 facing both sides 5c and 5d are driven in the direction a as shown in FIG. 3, and a moving force is applied to the leading end side 5a of both sides 5c and 5d of the original 5 along the feeding direction (direction a). To do.

As a result, the original 5 is automatically moved in the directions of the dotted arrows shown in FIG. 5, and is completely aligned in the sending direction (direction a) shown by the dotted lines.

In this way, it becomes possible to automatically and promptly position the original 5 placed randomly on the original feeding table 3 in the delivery direction, and to adjust the original 5 of the user. It is possible to save the labor required and to eliminate the complexity as in the conventional example.

In the above embodiment, the case where the automatic alignment of one original 5 is performed has been described. However, even when an arbitrary number of originals are placed on the original feeding table 3, there is no problem. Automatic alignment can be performed in the same manner.

[0039]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, by simply placing the original on the original feeding table, the original can be automatically aligned and conveyed at a position suitable for original feeding. Therefore, it is possible to provide the automatic document feeder which can save the trouble of aligning the document and can avoid the complexity.

According to the second aspect of the invention, the document can be automatically aligned and conveyed to a position suitable for document feeding over the entire area including the leading edge, the trailing edge and both sides of the document, and the document can be aligned. Thus, it is possible to provide an automatic document feeder which can save the trouble of and to avoid complexity.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by the operations of the leading edge position aligning mechanism section, the trailing edge position aligning mechanism section, and the both-side aligning mechanism section, the entire area of the document including the leading edge, the trailing edge, and both sides is covered. (EN) It is possible to provide an automatic document feeder that can quickly and automatically align a document to a position suitable for document feeding, save the labor of document alignment, and avoid complication.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view showing a mechanism of automatic alignment means of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic plan view showing a mechanism of automatic alignment means of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a control system of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory view showing the document alignment operation by the automatic alignment means of the apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a conventional automatic document feeder.

FIG. 7 is a schematic sectional view of a conventional automatic document feeder.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Automatic Document Feeding Device 2 Housing 3 Document Feeding Table 4 Automatic Aligning Means 5 Original 5a Front End 5b Rear Ends 5c and 5d Both Sides 6 Front Position Alignment Mechanism 7 Rear End Position Alignment Mechanism 8 Both Sides Alignment Mechanism

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A document feed table on which a document to be fed to a paper feed target is placed, and automatic alignment for automatically aligning a document placed on the document feed table to a predetermined paper feed arrangement. An automatic document feeder, comprising: a positioning unit and a transport unit for transporting a document aligned by the automatic alignment unit. 2. A document feeding table on which a document to be fed to a paper feeding target is placed, and an original placed on the document feeding table is automatically urged by urging the leading edge, the trailing edge, and both sides. An automatic document feeder, comprising: an automatic aligning unit that aligns a sheet to a predetermined sheet feeding position and a transport unit that transports a document aligned by the automatic aligning unit. 3. A document feeding table on which a document to be fed to a paper feeding target is placed, and a leading end side of a document placed on the document feeding table is vibrated to contact the leading end position with a predetermined position. And the trailing edge position adjusting mechanism that applies a moving force to the leading edge position side to the trailing edge side of the document placed on the document feed table to set the trailing edge position to a predetermined position. The position mechanism section and both sides of the document placed on the document feed table are moved in a direction orthogonal to the feeding direction, and a moving force along the feeding direction is applied to the leading end portions on both sides of the document. An automatic document feeder comprising: an automatic aligning unit including a both-sided aligning mechanism section for aligning both sides of the document.