JPH08317131A - Automatic image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide the inexpensive automatic image reader by reading alternately originals fed from a 1st automatic document feeder and a 2nd automatic document feeder. CONSTITUTION: The automatic image reader reads alternately originals fed from a 1st automatic document feeder and a 2nd automatic document feeder. A control circuit reads alternately the originals fed from the 1st automatic document feeder 300 and the 2nd automatic document feeder 400 according to the setting.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic image reading apparatus applied to a copying machine, a facsimile machine or the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the progress of office automation, technological development aimed at multi-functionality, large-volume processing, automation and cost reduction of copying machines has been actively carried out. At the same time, compounding is progressing, such as having both a copying function and a facsimile function. However, since there is only one document feeder, the copying function and the facsimile function cannot be used at the same time. For example, while the copying function is being used, the facsimile cannot be used until the work is completed. In order to solve such a problem, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 4-431 discloses that in an automatic image reading apparatus having a copying function and a facsimile function, the copying function can be temporarily suspended and used. The automatic document feeder described above is disclosed.
Further, in JP-A-5-183690, by providing a plurality of image reading devices and a plurality of document feeding devices,
An automatic image reading apparatus has been disclosed in which the loss time that does not contribute to the image reading operation is shortened to speed up the entire image reading operation.

[0003]

However, in the automatic image reading apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-431 mentioned above, it is necessary to stop one of the functions, and work cannot be performed in parallel at the same time. In addition, JP-A-5-1836
The automatic image reading device according to Japanese Patent Publication No. 90 has a problem that the structure of the device becomes complicated.

The present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems. In claim 1, a first automatic document feeder and a second automatic document feeder are provided.
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic image reading apparatus with good work efficiency by alternately reading originals fed from an automatic original feeding apparatus. In claim 2, the first
By scanning and reading the document fed from the automatic document feeder from one direction, no special control is required,
An object is to provide an inexpensive automatic image reading device.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when a document is set on the second automatic document feeder, the first traveling body automatically moves the second document to the second document.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic image reading apparatus which moves to the reading position of the automatic document feeder and eliminates unnecessary operation and which has good work efficiency. In claim 4, when the document is removed after being set on the second automatic document feeder, the first scanning member moves to the home position,
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic image reading apparatus which eliminates a wasteful operation when a document is set again and has a high work efficiency.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, after the document is set on the second automatic document feeder, when the start switch is not operated for a predetermined time, the first scanning member moves to the home position, and It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic image reading apparatus capable of coping with a change in the light quantity of a lamp depending on the progress of the above. According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to provide an automatic image reading apparatus in which noise is reduced by performing a document feeding / discharging operation in the first automatic document feeding apparatus while the first scanning body is moving to the home position. To aim.

[0007]

To achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is provided with two document feeding mechanisms, a first automatic document feeding device and a second automatic document feeding device. In an automatic image reading device capable of reading a document fed from an automatic document feeding device and a document fed from a second automatic document feeding device, a first automatic document feeding device and a second automatic document feeding device are provided. An apparatus according to claim 2 is characterized in that the apparatus includes a control device for alternately reading the document fed from the apparatus and the first traveling body is the first automatic document. The control device according to claim 1 is set so that the document fed from the feeding device can be read by scanning in one direction. The invention according to claim 3 is characterized in that When a document is set on the document feeder, the first carriage automatically In order to move the reading position of the second automatic document feeder, which is characterized in that setting the controller in claim 1, the invention described in claim 4,
The first scanning member should be moved to the home position after a predetermined time has elapsed after the document was set on the second automatic document feeder and detected, and then the document was removed and returned to the non-detection state. The control device according to claim 1 and claim 3 is set, and the invention according to claim 5 is started for a predetermined time after the document is set on the second automatic document feeder. When the switch is not operated, the first scanning body should move to the home position,
The control device according to claim 1 and claim 3 is set, and the invention according to claim 6 is the first aspect.
The control device according to claim 1 is set so as to perform a document feeding / discharging operation in the first automatic document feeding device while the scanning body is moving to the home position.

[0008]

According to the invention described in claim 1, the originals fed from the first automatic original feeding device and the second automatic original feeding device can be alternately read. According to the second aspect of the present invention, the document fed from the first automatic document feeder is scanned in one direction by the first scanning body and read.

According to the third aspect of the invention, when a document is set on the second automatic document feeder, the first traveling body automatically moves to the reading position of the second automatic document feeder. According to another aspect of the present invention, when a document is set in the second automatic document feeder and is detected and then the document is removed to return to the non-detection state, if a predetermined time elapses, the first scanning is performed. The body moves to the home position.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, the first scanning member moves to the home position if the start switch is not operated for a predetermined time after the document is set on the second automatic document feeder. In the invention according to claim 6, the document feeding / discharging operation in the first automatic document feeder is performed while the first scanning member is moving to the home position.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. 1 to 4 are views showing an embodiment of an image reading apparatus according to the invention described in claims 1 to 3. FIG.
Shows an overall view of the image reading apparatus.

This apparatus comprises an image forming apparatus 100, an image reading apparatus 200, a first automatic document feeder 300, a second automatic document feeder 400, and a controller 5 for controlling each of these apparatuses.
It is composed of 00 and other parts. First automatic document feeder
Reference numeral 300 denotes, for example, a first original tray 301 on which originals to be copied are stacked, a first original set sensor 302 for detecting originals on the first original tray 301, and a first original for feeding the lowermost original. A first calling roller 303, a first conveyance path 304 that guides a document onto the first contact glass 201, a conveyance belt 305 that conveys the document to a document reading position on the first contact glass 201, and the document is discharged. A first discharge roller 306 as a document discharge mechanism for storing the discharged documents and a first discharge tray 307 for accumulating discharged documents are provided.

The second automatic document feeder 400 includes, for example, a second document tray 401 on which documents to be facsimile-transmitted are stacked.
A second document set sensor 402 for detecting a document stacked on the second document tray 401, a second calling roller 403 for feeding the document at the uppermost position, and a document for guiding the document onto the second contact glass 202. A second paper feed / conveyance path 404, a second paper ejection / conveyance path 405 for ejecting facsimile originals, a second paper ejection roller 406 for ejecting the originals, and a stack of ejected originals The second sheet ejection tray 407 is provided.

The image reading device 200 includes a first original feeding device 300, a second original feeding device 400, and a first contact glass.
201, a first traveling body 203 having a lamp and a mirror for irradiating the original fed onto the second contact glass 202 with scanning light, and a mirror for guiding the reflected light reflected from the original to the CCD 205 And a second traveling body 204. The image forming apparatus 100 forms an image by a conventional electrophotographic process, and transfers and fixes the toner image on the recording paper.

The control device 500 controls each part of the automatic image reading device by program control based on a flowchart described later. Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. 2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the operation, and the control is performed by the control device 500. When using the normal copying function, the first automatic document feeder 300
When an original is set on the first original tray 301, the original is detected by the first original set sensor 302 (step S10). Next, when the start switch (not shown) is operated, the first automatic document feeder 300 feeds the document onto the first contact glass 201 (S11, S12), and the first document is fed.
While the traveling body 203 and the second traveling body 204 are moving forward (S1
3), the reflected light emitted from the first traveling body 203 and reflected from the original is guided to the CCD 205, converted into an electric signal, and emitted onto the photosensitive body as a laser beam as optical image information, An image is formed by the electrophotographic process (S14). If no document is set in the second document feeder 400 (S15) and there is still a document in the first automatic document feeder 300 (S16), the document is carried out to the first discharge tray 307 and discharged. The first contact glass 201 as well as being printed
The sheet is fed on top (S17), and the first traveling body 203 and the second traveling body 204
And move back (S18) and stop (S12), and these operations are repeated. During these operations, when there is no document on the first document tray 301 of the first automatic document feeder 300 (S16), the document is carried out to the first discharge tray 307 and discharged (S19). The first traveling body 203 and the second traveling body 204 return and move (S20), and the process ends.

When using the normal facsimile function,
When a document is set on the second document tray 401 of the second automatic document feeder 400, the document is detected by the second document setting sensor 402 (S21), and the first traveling body 203 moves from the home position A to the second automatic document feeder. The document is moved to the reading position of the document feeder 400 (S22, S23). Next, when the start switch is operated, the second automatic document feeder 400 causes the second document
The paper is fed onto the contact glass 202 (S24). While the paper is being fed, the original traveling on the second contact glass 202 is reflected by the second traveling body 204 when the reflected light emitted from the first traveling body 203 and reflected from the original is reflected by the CCD2.
It is guided to 05, converted into a facsimile line signal, and transmitted through the line (S25). Second automatic document feeder
If there is a document following 400 (S26), the operations of S24 and S25 are repeated in the same manner with the discharge of paper, and when there is no document (S26), the first traveling body 203 is set to the home position A.
(S27), and the process ends.

During the above operation, the set original is pulled out before being fed, and the second original set sensor 40
When 2 is turned off (S26), after a lapse of a certain time, it moves to the home position A (S27). Therefore, useless operation when the document is reset is eliminated, and work efficiency is improved. If the start switch is not pressed within a certain period of time after the document is set,
The scanning body 203 moves to the home position A, and the light amount of the lamp is corrected. Therefore, it is possible to cope with the change in the light amount of the lamp with the passage of time.

Next, the case of using the facsimile function while using the copying function will be described. FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the alternate reading operation of each function.
First, when the facsimile function is used in the middle of a copying operation when there are a large number of copying originals, the copying originals are processed by the same operation as the normal copying operation to the first contact glass 201.
After the paper is fed upward and the reading is completed, the original is ejected to the first paper ejection tray 307, the next original is fed and read, and the same operation is repeated thereafter. When the facsimile function is used during this operation, that is, when a document is set on the second document tray 401 of the second automatic document feeder 400 and the document is detected by the second document set sensor 402. (S15, S28), the copy original is delivered to the first paper output tray 307 and ejected, and the copy original is fed from the first original feeding device 300 onto the first contact glass 201 to generate the first original.
The operation of the automatic document feeder 300 is stopped (S29, S3
0), and at the same time, the first scanning member 203 causes the second document feeder 40 to
It moves to the reading position of 0 (S31), and the second document feeder 4
A facsimile original is fed from 00 (S32), and the first original 203 is irradiated with the facsimile original (S33). After that, the first scanning body 203 moves to the home position A, and during the moving operation, the copy document on the first contact glass 201 is read (S34, S35).

When there are no more originals to be copied during copying and facsimile operations (S15, S28), the originals are discharged to the first discharge tray 307 and the operation of the first automatic document feeder 300 is stopped (S36). , S37), at the same time, the first scanning member 203 moves to the reading position of the second document feeding device 400 and stops (S3).
8, S39), at the same time, a facsimile original is fed from the second original feeding device 400 (S40), the first scanning body 203 irradiates the facsimile original (S41), and the original is ejected. If the facsimile original is on the second original tray 401 (S42),
These operations are repeated. When the facsimile originals are exhausted (S42), the first traveling body 203 is returned to the home position A (S43), and the process is ended.

As described above, the first automatic document feeder 300
Since the originals fed from the second automatic original feeding device 400 and the second automatic original feeding device 400 are alternately read, the first automatic original feeding device 400 does not stop the feeding and reading operations of the originals, and (1) It is possible to feed and read a document from the automatic document feeder 300, and work efficiency is improved. Further, since the document fed from the first automatic document feeder 300 is scanned and read in one direction by the first scanning body 203, no special control is required, and the image reading apparatus is inexpensive. Further, when a document is set on the second automatic document feeder 400, the first traveling member 203 automatically moves to the second automatic document feeder 4
Since the document is moved to the reading position C of 00, the document fed from the second automatic document feeder 400 is transferred to the first automatic document feeder 3
When the document fed from 00 is read before, the unnecessary operation is eliminated, and the work efficiency is improved. Further, since the document feeding / discharging operation of the first automatic document feeder 300 is performed while the first scanning body 203 is moving to the home position, noise is reduced.

Although the home position of the first scanning member is set to the right side in the figure in this embodiment, it is set to the position B between the first contact glass 201 and the second contact glass 202. Good. In that case, the first scanning body
Reference numeral 203 indicates the original on the first contact glass 201 while moving from the right to the left in the figure, and after the reading is completed, the operation of feeding and discharging the copied original is performed, and the reading is performed during the return of the first scanning body 203 After that, the facsimile original fed from the second original feeding device 400 is read.

Next, the case where the facsimile function is used when a large number of copies are being made for one copy original will be described. Although not specifically shown in the flow chart, the copy original is fed onto the first contact glass 201 by the same operation as the normal copy operation, and the first scanning body 203 is moved from the home position A to the left in the drawing. The original is irradiated while moving to, and after the irradiation is completed, the first scanning body 203 returns to the home position A. Further, the same operation is repeated several times for copying.

When the facsimile function is used in the middle of this operation, when the second original set sensor 402 detects the original (S15), the first scanning body 203 makes the first original after the irradiation of the copied original. The operation of the automatic document feeder 300 is stopped (S30), and the first scanning body 203 moves to the second automatic document feeder 4
Simultaneously with the movement to the reading position of 00 (S31), the facsimile original is fed from the second original feeding device 400 (S3).
2) The first scanning member 203 irradiates the facsimile original (S)
33). After that, the first scanning body 203 moves to the home position A, and during the moving operation, the copy document on the first contact glass 201 is read (S34, S35). In this embodiment, the method of reading the copy original several times has been described, but the facsimile original can be read more efficiently by storing the information obtained by reading the copy original in the memory.

[0024]

According to the first aspect of the invention, the originals fed from the first automatic original feeding device and the second automatic original feeding device are read alternately, so that the working efficiency can be improved. . According to the second aspect of the present invention, the document fed from the first automatic document feeder is scanned in one direction by the first scanning member and read, so that no special control is required and an inexpensive image is obtained. A reader can be provided.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, when a document is set on the second automatic document feeder, the first traveling body automatically moves to the reading position of the second automatic document feeder. , The first document fed from the second automatic document feeder is
It is possible to provide an automatic image reading apparatus that eliminates wasteful operation when reading an original fed from the automatic original feeding apparatus, and that has good work efficiency.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, when the original is set on the second automatic document feeder and then the original is removed, the first scanning member moves to the home position, so that the original is set again. It is possible to eliminate an unnecessary operation at that time and provide an automatic image reading apparatus with good work efficiency. According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, if the start switch is not operated after the document is set on the second automatic document feeder, the first scanning member moves to the home position. It is possible to provide an automatic image reading apparatus capable of coping with a change in

According to the sixth aspect of the invention, since the document feeding / discharging operation of the first automatic document feeder is performed while the first scanning member is moving to the home position, the automatic image with reduced noise is provided. A reader can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an embodiment of an automatic image reading device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a timing chart showing the operation of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 100 Image forming apparatus 200 Image reading apparatus 201 First contact glass 202 Second contact glass 203 First traveling body 204 Second traveling body 205 CCD 300 First automatic document feeder 301 First original tray 302 First original set sensor 303 First call roller 304 First transport path 305 Transport belt 306 First paper delivery roller 307 First paper delivery tray 400 Second automatic document feeder 401 Second document tray 402 Second document set sensor 403 Second call roller 404 Number 2 Paper feed / conveyance path 405 Second paper ejection / conveyance path 406 Second paper ejection roller 407 Second paper ejection tray 500 Controller

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (72) Inventor Akiyasu Amita 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Takeichiro Izumiya 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo No. Within Ricoh Company (72) Inventor Hideyoshi Oshio 1-3-6 Nakamagome, Ota-ku, Tokyo Within Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. An original document feeding mechanism comprising a first automatic document feeding device and a second automatic document feeding device, and a document fed from the first automatic document feeding device and a second automatic document feeding device. In an automatic image reading device capable of reading a document fed from an apparatus, a document fed from a first automatic document feeding device and a second automatic document feeding device is set to be alternately readable. An automatic image reading device comprising a control device. 2. The control device is set so that the first traveling body can read a document fed from the first automatic document feeding device by scanning in one direction. 1. The automatic image reading device described in 1. 3. The control device sets the first traveling body to automatically move to the reading position of the second automatic document feeder when the document is set on the second automatic document feeder. The automatic image reading apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The control device, when a document is set on the second automatic document feeder and is detected and then the document is removed and returned to the non-detection state, the first scanning unit is turned on after a predetermined time has elapsed. The automatic image reading device according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the automatic image reading device is set to move to a home position. 5. The control device sets the first scanning body to move to the home position when the start switch is not operated for a predetermined time after the document is set on the second automatic document feeder. The automatic image reading apparatus according to claim 1 or 3, wherein 6. The control device is set so as to perform a document feeding / discharging operation in the first automatic document feeding device while the first scanning member is moving to the home position. Automatic image reader.