JPH08201936A - Pre-processor for original reading - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To enable reserving a job by depressing a start key after placing an original on an insertion port without waiting for the end of the job even in the case a scanner is in use. CONSTITUTION: The processor is provided with an original port 23 for inserting the original, an original sheet number measuring means for measuring the number of original sheets, a stacker 24 for transiently storing the original, a 1st carrying path for carrying the original from the original port 23 to the stacker 24 and a 2nd carrying path 25 for carrying the original one by one from the stacker 24 to an original reader 21.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a document reading preprocessing device, and more particularly, it can be applied to an automatic document feeding device for a multi-job copier system for a copy center. The present invention also relates to a document reading preprocessing device capable of reserving a job by placing the document in the insertion slot and pressing the start key without waiting for the job to end.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an automatic document feeder is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-123440. In this conventional automatic document feeder, when the document is automatically conveyed from the document supply unit to the exposure position and the document at the exposure position is automatically conveyed to the document discharge unit, the document supply unit is provided with a plurality of documents. And a document feeding unit having a document feeding mechanism that feeds documents one by one from the document table, and a document feeding unit having a coupling portion that can freely connect the units.

For this reason, since the ADF document feeder is constructed by the connection structure of the independent units, there is an advantage that it can be arbitrarily and optimally adapted to the usage form of the user of the copying machine. Next, for example, the automatic document feeder disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-123441 has a plurality of trays on which the documents to be conveyed are placed, and the conveyance process is performed on the plurality of documents placed on the trays. When the originals are removed from the tray in the state where the order is decided, a means for advancing the order of the originals to be processed after this original is provided to ensure the continuity of the original processing. .

Therefore, even if the originals are removed in a state in which the order of conveying the originals is determined, the order in which continuous conveyance is possible can be automatically re-determined, so that the operation of changing the order can be eliminated. The advantage is that the continuous transfer process can be performed without interruption. Next, for example, the automatic document feeder disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-123442 has a plurality of document discharge trays in the vertical direction, and it is easy to remove the document from the discharge tray for the document to be processed. It is configured with means for sequentially allocating.

Therefore, since the original can be preferentially discharged to the discharge tray where the original can be easily taken out, there is an advantage that the discharged original can be easily handled. Next, for example, the automatic document feeder reported in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-123443 has a plurality of trays on which the documents to be transported are placed, and means for detecting that the documents are placed on the trays. It comprises a means for judging the order of placing the originals based on the output of the detecting means, and a means for storing the judged order as the order of original processing.

For this reason, there is an advantage that the document can be subjected to actual processing simply by placing it on one of the trays, and the processing can be automatically advanced in the order of placing the document. Moreover, it is possible not to be bound by any rule such as the application order of the document tray, and the key operation for designating the processing order can be eliminated altogether, and the operability and usability can be improved. Has the advantage.

[0007]

As described above, as described in JP-A-62-123440, JP-A-62-1234.
In the conventional automatic document feeder reported in Japanese Patent Publication No. 43,
Although a plurality of document insertion ports and a plurality of document ejection ports are provided for one reading device, the conventional automatic document feeder including these publications has a plurality of document reading devices. Things have not been reported yet.

In the conventional automatic document feeders disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 62-123440 and 62-123443, it is only disclosed that the JOB priority is to copy in the order of document sets. In addition, since there is only one reading device, it is not suitable for use in a centralized machine used in a copy center or the like unless the reading device or the copying device is speeded up. In addition,
The processing speed cannot be increased simply by increasing the ADF document insertion opening.

Further, when an urgent copy comes in, it cannot be interrupted, and if there is a large number of copies waiting, the number of originals cannot be known and the number set by other users cannot be known.
I have to confirm the end of copying many times without knowing the estimated end time. Therefore, even when the scanner is in use, it is necessary to wait until the JOB ends, which may be troublesome and annoying.

In particular, in a copy center where it is common to install a plurality of copiers in parallel, it is necessary to manually decide which JOB is to be copied by which copier.
In addition to requiring a lot of manpower, the continuity of JOB cannot be maintained, so that it is inefficient and sometimes a high-priority copy is forgotten and buried. Therefore, according to the present invention, even when the scanner is in use, the original can be reserved by placing the original in the insertion slot and pressing the start key without waiting for the end of the JOB. The purpose is to provide a pretreatment device.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
A document insertion port for inserting a document, a document number measuring unit for measuring the number of documents, a stacker for temporarily storing the document, and a first transport path for transporting the document from the document insertion port to the stacker, And a second transport path for transporting documents one by one from the stacker to the document reading device.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned first aspect of the present invention, a JOB sheet reading device for reading the JOB sheet, a JOB sheet discharging port for discharging the JOB sheet, and a JOB sheet for the job sheet reading device are provided. After reading, a control means for conveying the JOB sheet to the JOB sheet discharge port is provided.

The invention according to claim 3 is the above-mentioned claim 1 or 2.
In the invention described above, it is characterized by having a document discharge port for discharging the document and a transport path for transporting to the document discharge port. The invention according to claim 4 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a document size detecting means for detecting a size of the document, and a control means for allocating the stacker based on the detected document size. It is a feature.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the above-described first to fourth aspects, a stacker is provided between the stacker and the document reading device.

[0015]

According to the present invention, the number of originals is measured by the measuring means, the originals are temporarily accumulated by the stacker, and the originals are conveyed from the original insertion port to the stacker by the first conveying path. The document is conveyed to the document reading device one by one by the second conveying path.

Therefore, even when the scanner is in use, it is possible to place a document in the insertion slot and press the start key to reserve a job without waiting for the job to end. You can leave the place.
According to the second aspect of the present invention, after the job sheet reading unit reads the JOB sheet, the control unit conveys the JOB sheet to the JOB sheet discharge port.

Therefore, by placing the JOB sheet (the number of copies of the original, the reading mode, etc.) at the beginning of the original, it is possible to save the labor of inputting from the operation section, and to transfer the JOB sheet to the original reading device. It can be dispensed with. According to the third aspect of the invention, it is configured to have a document discharge port for discharging a document and a transport path for transporting to the document discharge port.

For this reason, if it is desired to stop reading the documents stored in the stacker due to the interruption of work before the documents are conveyed to the document reading device, the documents can be automatically ejected. According to the invention described in claim 4, the size of the original is detected by the original size detecting means, and the stacker is sorted by the control means based on the detected original size.

Therefore, by discriminating the document size before going to the stacker, the document sizes accumulated in the stacker can be unified, and the structure of the stacker can be simplified. According to the fifth aspect of the invention, a stacker is further provided between the stacker and the document reading device.

Therefore, the reading order of the originals can be changed, so that when the stacker provided between the stacker and the original reading device is used to store once, it is possible to scan from the last page, and the original discharging unit Originals can be placed with the pages aligned up. Also, the order of the transfer paper can be changed to one's preference.

[0021]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The illustrated example is an image forming apparatus that is composed of a document reading unit that can be connected to a network and a pre-processing device thereof, and that is also connected to a printer on the same network to copy and read a document.

In this embodiment, the workstation 1 and
Scanner 2, fax 3, workstation 4
, Scanner 5, server 6, digital copier 7
And are connected to the LAN 8. A disk 9, a printer 10, and a scanner 11 are connected to the server 6, a finisher 12 is connected to the printer 10, and a document reading preprocessing device 13 is connected to the scanner 11.
Is connected.

Next, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the outer shape of a document reading pretreatment device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment is an application example to a digital copying machine, and the copying machine is divided into a scanner section 21 and a printer section, and the printer section is not shown. The user specifies a necessary command (JOB) on the display / operation unit 22 having an LCD display, a touch panel, etc., attaches a JOB sheet in which a necessary JOB is written before or after the original, and inserts the original into the original insertion table 23. To do. Here, an example of a JOB sheet is shown in FIG.

Documents are stored in the stacker section 24 and the connecting / conveying section 2.
5 is read by the scanner unit 21 through the ADF unit 26 and the ADF unit 26, and is delivered to the document discharge unit 27. In the figure, a plurality of connecting and conveying units 25 of A1 in the figure are connected in series, and A2, A3
It has a structure that can be connected to. This connection is the same as that disclosed in the conventional example reported in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-123440.
The description is omitted here. The arrow in the figure indicates the opening and closing of the door during jam handling. Since this also does not directly relate to the present invention, description thereof will be omitted.

Next, when the user finishes inserting the document,
The redemption form output from the redemption form output unit 28 is received. This redemption vote will include the scheduled job end time, JOB
B reception No. The billing amount and the like and the identification means such as the bar code or the magnetic recording are printed and recorded. Also, cancellation of JOB,
By inserting this redemption vote into the insertion slot 29 at the time of correction, each JOB can be stopped and corrected. In this regard, JOB No. Only the key is printed, and the input at the time of cancellation or correction may be input by the 10 key 30.
The redemption voucher also serves as a redemption voucher for receiving a copy and a document at the end of copying. Further, instead of this redemption vote, the contents of this redemption vote may be added and returned to the JOB sheet. In this case, since the JOB sheet is returned to the user, it also has an advantage that the user can confirm his / her JOB contents again. Of course, the same applies if only the JOB sheet is returned without printing. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 31 is a paper discharge unit for returning the interrupted original and the JOB sheet.

Next, FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the document conveying path of FIG. Here, the original is placed on the original insertion table 4 with the printing surface facing down.
1 is placed, and the originals on the lower side are conveyed one by one, and JOB
The sheet reading unit / document counter 42 reads the contents of JOB and counts the number of documents. Here, as described above, if JOB is input from the operation unit 22,
The B-sheet reading unit 42 is unnecessary, and if the number of originals is input to the JOB sheet or the operation unit 22,
You don't have to have a counter.

However, since the counter does not require the user to count the number of originals, the counter has an advantage of accurately grasping the number of originals. Next, the printing unit 43 is arranged below the operation unit 22, and the printing unit 43 prints and records on the exchange slip. A printing unit 44 is disposed on the lower right side of the printing unit 44. In the printing unit 44, printing is performed as described above while the JOB sheet passes through the JOB sheet transporting unit 45 and heads to the returning and discharging unit 31. The manuscript passes through the manuscript counter 42 and the first
Head toward the stacker section 24a. When the JOB is not crowded, the original document passes through the bypass conveyance unit 46, is read by the scanner unit 21 (A1 to AN; N is a natural number of 2 or more) corresponding to the JOB, and the original document attached below each scanner unit 21 is discharged. It is discharged to the part 27.

Here, the scanner 21 suitable for JOB may have different reading processing speed and image quality (color / monochrome, resolution, gradation, etc.) among the scanners A1 to AN. means. As a result, the user only has to decide his or her desired JOB without being aware of the specifications of this machine. As a matter of course, it is possible to connect multiple same machines.

Originals entered from the bypass before scanning are
It is stacked on the second stacker unit 24b. When the stacking is completed, the ADF feed unit 47 feeds the top document to the scanner unit 21. The document output unit 27
Like a conventional sorter of a copying machine, it has a plurality of paper discharge stages.
It is divided for each OB. This is also disclosed, for example, in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-123440.

On the other hand, when JOBs are crowded, the originals are stacked in any stage of the multi-stage first stacker section 24a. The stacked originals are conveyed from the upper side of the originals, that is, from the last stacked original to the scanner 21 that matches the JOB when the JOB order is reached. When a job is canceled in the stack, it is returned from the stacker through the interrupted document transport unit 48 to the return sheet discharge unit 31. A stacker fullness detection sensor 49 is attached to the stacker, and when the stacker unit 24 is full, the same JOB document is distributed to the stacker in another stage, and a plurality of stackers are managed in the same manner. The stacker fullness detection sensor 49 may be configured by a mechanical sensor, an optical sensor that measures distance by reflection, or the like. Further, instead of the sensor, the document counter described above may be used to detect fullness by the number of sheets.

Next, the originals conveyed from the stacker and sent to the second stacker section 24b are sequentially fed to the scanner from the original (lower original), and the ADF feed section 4
Sent by 7. When the second stacker unit 24b is full, the conveyance from the first stacker unit 24a is stopped. In the case of the above-mentioned bypass route or when the second stacker unit 24b is full, the first stacker unit 24a is temporarily made to stand by. Here, when the second stacker unit 24b becomes full, there is a document in the intermediate path, and therefore it is detected that it is almost full. This allows the second
The stacker unit 24b does not need to have a stack amount more than necessary.

In the second stacker section 24b, the first stacker section 24b
Since the originals from the stack unit 24a are conveyed to the scanner unit 21 in the first-in-first manner, the stacking of the originals through the entire system, including the passage from the bypass path side, is one by one until the end of JOB. The time can be minimized. In FIG. 4, reference numeral 50 is a document transport unit.

Next, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the ADF feed section of FIG. In the ADF feed unit 47, the documents on the bypass path side are stacked and then fed from the upper document, and the originals on the first stacker path are sequentially fed from the first sheet (from the lower side). When carrying from the upper side,
The calling roller 61 and the feed roller 62 in the figure each rotate in the + direction, the feed roller 63 rotates in the reverse direction until a constant torque is applied, and the feed roller 62 and the feed roller 63 are fed with a torque equal to or more than one original. Turn around to 62. Similarly, the calling roller 64 is stopped until a constant torque is applied, and then turns around. Calling rollers 61, 64
Are pressed against each other with a constant pressure. When the sheet is conveyed from the lower side, the above-mentioned relationship of the rollers is controlled so as to be reversed. As a result, it is possible to discharge the originals without disturbing the order of the originals in the original discharge unit 27 regardless of whether the path is the bypass or the stacker.

Although not shown here, the JOB sheet reading unit 42 can also serve as a document size detection. Also, a document size detecting means may be separately provided in the vicinity. Make sure that the stacker stacks in a predetermined stacker according to the size of the original. For example, with A4 paper,
Depending on which one of the 1st to 5th trays, and if it is A3 paper, the 6th to 8th trays, etc., the stacker may be divided into different stackers by one job, but the originals are mixed in different sizes. In this case, if multiple stackers at the time of full detection described above are controlled by a single JOB, it is possible to read without disturbing the page order due to the control of the transport order, and the stacker also has multiple sizes. Therefore, it is possible to make the configuration inexpensive.

Next, FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the operation flow of the document reading preprocessing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, first, when there is no space in the scanner (step S1), the originals are stored in the stacker and the JOB mode is stored (step S2). When the scanner is empty (step S3), the originals are read to the optimum scanner. Are transported (step S4). If the scanner has an empty space (step S1), it is conveyed to the scanner through the bypass conveyance path (step S5).

Next, after the originals are conveyed to the scanner (steps S4 and S5), when the page reverse order mode is used (step S6), the originals are accumulated in the second stacker (step S7) and the original reading is started. Run. On the other hand, if the page reverse order mode is not used (step S
6) Let the second stacker go through (step S
8) The document reading start is executed. Here, the page reverse order mode means the control according to the invention of claim 5.

Next, the operation according to the invention of claim 1 will be described. For a document placed in the document insertion port,
When you press the copy start key, the current usage status of the scanner is checked, and if it is empty, the original will be immediately conveyed to the scanner and scanning will start, but if the scanner is in use, the original will be temporarily To the stacker, store the JOB mode (document reading mode, number of copies, etc.) at that time, and open the scanner,
Scanning is started in the mode in which the saved document is stored.

As described above, in this embodiment (claim 1),
The number of originals is measured by the JOB sheet reading unit and original counter 42, the originals are temporarily accumulated by the first stacker unit 24a, and the originals are conveyed from the original insertion table 41 to the original conveying unit 50.
The document is conveyed to the first stacker unit 24a by the document, and the document is conveyed from the first stacker unit 24a to the scanner unit 21 by the document conveyance unit 5
When the number is 0, the sheets are conveyed one by one.

Therefore, even when the scanner unit 21 is in use, it is possible to reserve a JOB by placing the original in the insertion slot and pressing the start key without waiting for the end of the JOB. , You can leave the place. Next, the operation according to the invention of claim 2 will be described. In the case of the operation according to the invention of claim 1 described above, as the JOB mode, the mode is input from the operation unit 22, but when the JOB sheet (see FIG. 3) is used, it is not necessary to make various settings on the operation unit 22. , All you have to do is fill out the JOB sheet, and put it on the document insertion table 41 together with the document. And J
When the OB sheet is detected, only the JOB sheet is returned to the paper discharge section 31 of the JOB sheet returning section using a dedicated conveyance path.

Thus, in this embodiment (claim 2),
After the job sheet is read by the job sheet reading unit / document counter 42 that reads the job sheet, the job sheet is conveyed to the paper discharge unit 31. Therefore, by placing the JOB sheet (the number of originals, the reading mode, etc.) at the beginning of the original, it is possible to save the trouble of inputting from the operation unit 22, and the JOB sheet is not conveyed to the scanner unit 21. Can be done with.

Next, the operation according to the invention of claim 3 will be described. In the present embodiment, the first stacker portion 24a is further in the middle.
When it is desired to cancel the reading of the original document that has been evacuated to, the original document is returned to the original document ejection unit 27 of the original document return unit through a dedicated conveyance path. As described above, the present embodiment (Claim 3) is configured to have the document discharge unit 27 for discharging the document and the transport path to the document discharge unit 27.

For this reason, if it is desired to stop reading the documents stored in the first stacker section 24a due to the interruption of the work or the like before being conveyed to the scanner section 21, the documents can be automatically ejected. . Next, the operation according to the invention of claim 4 will be described. In the present embodiment, the JOB sheet reading unit and the document counter 42, which also serves as the document size detection,
When the size of the original is determined by, the original is evacuated to the first stacker unit 24a according to size, the order is stored, and when the original is conveyed to the scanner unit 21, the order and the number of sheets are transferred to the scanner unit 21 in the correct order. Transport.

Thus, in this embodiment (claim 4),
The size of the document is determined by the JOB sheet reading unit and the document counter 42.
The first stacker unit 24a is sorted based on the detected document size. Therefore, by discriminating the document size before going to the first stacker unit 24a, the document sizes accumulated in the first stacker unit 24a can be unified, and the configuration of the first stacker unit 24a can be simplified. it can.

Next, the operation according to the invention of claim 5 will be described. The document stacker evacuates the first page to the bottom of the first stacker section 24a, and when the evacuation is complete, conveys the page from the first page at the bottom to the scanner section 21. At this time, in this embodiment, The first page is at the bottom of the document output unit 27. In order to avoid this, the second stacker unit 24b provided between the first stacker unit 24a and the scanner unit 21 retracts the document again so that the second stacker unit 24b can transport the original document from the uppermost document. By doing so, the page order can be reversed. At this time, the printed matter is also in reverse order. This can be selected according to preference.

Thus, in this embodiment (claim 5),
Between the first stacker unit 24a and the scanner unit 21, the second
The stacker section 24b is provided. Therefore, it is possible to change the reading order of the originals.
When the second stacker unit 24b stores once, it is possible to scan from the last page, and the document discharge unit 27 can place the document with the first page aligned. Also, the order of the transfer paper can be changed to one's preference.

[0046]

According to the present invention, even when the scanner is in use, without waiting for the end of the JOB,
There is an effect that a document can be reserved by placing a document in the insertion slot and pressing the start key.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an outer shape of a document reading pretreatment device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a JOB sheet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a document conveyance path of FIG.

5 is a diagram showing the ADF feed unit of FIG. 4. FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a basic operation flow of the document reading preprocessing device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,4 workstation 2,5,11,21 scanner 3 FAX 6 server 7 digital copying machine 8 LAN 9 disk 10 printer 12 finisher 13 document reading preprocessing device 22 display operation unit 23,41 document insertion table 24 stacker unit 24a No. 1 Stacker Unit 24b Second Stacker Unit 25 Connected Conveying Unit 26 ADF Unit 27 Original Paper Discharging Unit 28 Redemption Voucher Output Unit 29 Inserting Port 30 10 Key 31 Paper Discharging Unit 42 JOB Sheet Reading and Document Counter 43, 44 Printing Unit 45 JOB Sheet transport unit 46 Bypass transport unit 47 ADF field unit 48 Interrupted document transport unit 49 Stacker full detection sensor 50 Document transport unit 61, 64 Calling roller 62, 63 Feed roller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Ninomiya 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Stock company Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Ryuta Takeichi 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Shares Inside Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Katsunori Shoji 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Inside Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A document insertion port for inserting a document, a document number measuring means for measuring the number of documents, a stacker for temporarily storing the document, and a first document feeding unit for feeding the document to the stacker. And a second conveying path for conveying the originals one by one from the stacker to the original reading device. 2. A JOB sheet reading device for reading a JOB sheet, a JOB sheet discharging port for discharging the JOB sheet, and a JOB sheet after the JOB sheet is read by the job sheet reading device, and then the JOB sheet is conveyed to the JOB sheet discharging port. The document reading preprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a control unit. 3. The document reading preprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a document discharge port for discharging the document and a conveyance path for conveying the document to the document discharge port. 4. The document reading preprocessing according to claim 1, further comprising a document size detecting unit for detecting the size of the document, and a control unit for allocating the stacker based on the detected document size. apparatus. 5. The document reading preprocessing device according to claim 1, further comprising a stacker between the stacker and the document reading device.