JP2007230670A - Automatic paper supply device and image reader - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To maintain paper feeding performance of a document, even if a document bundle mixed with documents of a different size is placed on a document tray. <P>SOLUTION: When receiving a placing signal from a document sensor part, a rod 102 is projected from a solenoid 101 by supplying an electric current to the solenoid 101 of an inclining mechanism, and the document tray 32 is inclined in the width direction (the direction orthogonal to the paper feeding direction), by rotating the document tray 32 in the counterclockwise direction around a support shaft 36 as indicated in Fig. 3 (b). Thus, respective documents of the document bundle placed on the document tray 32 abut on a regulating member 31 of one (on the right side in Fig. 3 (b)) as indicated in a FIg. 3 (c), and the documents are registered in an end part corresponding to this regulating member 31. When a predetermined time passes after inclining the inclining mechanism 100, the electric current is supplied to the solenoid 101 so as to return to an original attitude (a horizontal attitude). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an automatic paper feeding apparatus and an image reading apparatus that automatically feed documents one by one from a bundle of documents to an image reading unit that reads an image of the document.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a facsimile machine in which an automatic document feeder that automatically feeds documents one by one from a bundle of documents to an image reading unit that reads an image of the document is widely known. The automatic document feeder includes a casing that covers a contact glass provided on the upper surface of the main body of the image forming apparatus so as to be openable and closable, a document tray on which a bundle of documents is provided above the casing, A document supply mechanism that feeds the documents one by one from the document tray and guides them onto the contact glass, and is supplied onto the contact glass by the document supply mechanism, and an image on the document surface is read by optical reading processing by the optical system unit. And a paper discharge tray for receiving the received original document.

On the other hand, in the following Patent Document 1, a document placement table on which a document is placed is installed at a predetermined angle with respect to a horizontal plane, and the document placed on the document placement table is lowered by its own weight. A technique is disclosed in which the inclination angle of the document placement table changes according to the number (weight) of documents placed on the document placement table.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-326821

  Incidentally, a restriction member for restricting movement of the document placed on the tray in the width direction (direction orthogonal to the document feeding direction) is usually provided on the document tray. When the placed document bundle is a document bundle in which originals of different sizes are mixed, the movement in the width direction is not restricted by the restriction member. For this reason, the orientation of the document may not be substantially parallel to the document feeding direction (feeding direction), and the posture may be deviated. It is conceivable that the reading operation is not performed. In addition, the said patent document 1 does not propose the solution concerning this problem.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a conventional situation, and maintains document feeding performance even when a document bundle in which documents of different sizes are mixed is placed on a document tray. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic paper supply apparatus and an image reading apparatus that can perform the above-described process.

  The invention according to claim 1 is provided on a sheet mounting table including a table surface on which a sheet is mounted, a feeding mechanism that feeds the sheet mounted on the table surface toward a predetermined position, and the table surface. Before the start of the sheet feeding operation by the feeding mechanism, a regulating member that regulates the movement of the sheet in a direction substantially orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction by the feeding mechanism, a tilting mechanism that tilts the table surface in the substantially orthogonal direction, and In addition, there is provided an automatic sheet feeding device characterized by returning means for returning a base surface tilted by the operation of the tilt mechanism to an original posture.

  According to the present invention, since the tilting mechanism for tilting the sheet mounting table in the direction substantially orthogonal to the sheet feeding direction is provided, the sheet stacking table is tilted by the tilting mechanism, so that sheets of different sizes are mixed. When the bundle is placed on the paper placement table, one end of each paper can be brought into contact with the regulating member, and each paper is fed to its end before the paper feeding operation by the feeding mechanism is started. Can be arranged in parts.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the automatic paper feeder according to the first aspect, a paper sensor for detecting that the paper is placed on the table surface, and the paper is placed on the table surface. And a control unit that causes the tilt mechanism to tilt the table surface in association with the fact that a detection signal indicating that the sheet sensor is output from the paper sensor.

  According to the present invention, the paper sensor for detecting that the paper is placed on the paper placement table is provided, and the detection signal indicating that the paper is placed on the paper placement table is received by the paper sensor. Thus, the tilting mechanism is automatically tilted by the tilting mechanism.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic paper feeding apparatus according to the first or second aspect, further comprising vibration imparting means for imparting vibration to the inclined base surface by the operation of the tilt mechanism. It is.

  According to the present invention, since the vibration applying means for applying vibration to the table surface inclined by the operation of the inclination mechanism is provided, even if the table surface is inclined by the operation of the inclination mechanism, the sheet feeding direction is substantially the same. Even in a case where each sheet cannot be aligned at the end at one end in the orthogonal direction, each sheet can be aligned at the end.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the automatic paper feeding device according to any one of the first to third aspects, and an image reading unit that reads an image recorded on the paper supplied by the automatic paper feeding device. This is an image reading apparatus.

  According to the present invention, in the image reading apparatus, the action according to any one of claims 1 to 3 can be obtained.

  According to the present invention, since the sheets in the sheet bundle placed on the sheet placing table can be aligned at one end, the sheet feeding performance can be maintained.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an internal structure of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus to which an automatic paper feeding apparatus according to the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, a copier is taken as an example of the image forming apparatus 10. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a sheet feeding unit 12 disposed at a lower portion of a box-shaped apparatus main body 11, an image forming unit 13 disposed above the sheet feeding unit 12, and the image forming unit 13. In FIG. 1, the fixing unit 14 disposed on the left side, the image reading unit 15 disposed on the upper portion of the apparatus main body 11, and the sheet feeding unit 12 pass through the image forming unit 13 and the fixing unit 14 to discharge the sheet. And a basic configuration including a sheet transport unit 16 that reaches the end.

  The paper feeding unit 12 feeds the paper P one by one from the paper bundle stacked on the paper feeding cassette 121 to the paper transport unit 16. The paper transport unit 16 transports the paper P fed from the paper feed unit 12 toward the image forming unit 13 by the registration roller pair 162 via the transport roller pair 161, and further passes the image forming unit 13 and the fixing unit 14. Then, the sheet is discharged toward a discharge tray 164 provided on the outer wall of the apparatus main body 11 by driving the discharge roller pair 163.

  The image forming unit 13 transfers a predetermined toner image onto the paper P by an electrophotographic process. The photosensitive drum 131 is rotatable around an axis, and around the photosensitive drum 131 in the rotation direction. A charging unit 132, an exposure unit 133, a developing unit 134, a transfer unit 135, a cleaner 136, and a charge eliminating unit 137 are provided along the line.

  The charging unit 132 applies a predetermined potential to the surface of the photosensitive drum 131 by corona discharge. The exposure unit 133 selectively attenuates the potential of the surface of the photosensitive drum 131 by irradiating the photosensitive drum 131 with laser light based on the image data of the original read by the image reading unit 15. An electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 131.

  The developing unit 134 develops the electrostatic latent image with toner to form a toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 131. The transfer unit 135 transfers the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 131 onto the paper P. The cleaner 136 removes the toner remaining on the surface of the photosensitive drum 131 after the transfer and cleans it, and the charge removal unit 137 removes residual charges on the surface of the photosensitive drum 131. .

  The fixing unit 14 performs a process of fixing the toner transferred onto the paper P by the image forming unit 13 to the paper P, and the fixing unit 141 disposed downstream of the image forming unit 13 in the paper transport direction. And a cover unit 145 that is disposed on the downstream side of the fixing unit 141 and guides the paper P discharged from the fixing unit 141 toward the discharge roller pair 163. The fixing unit 141 includes a box-shaped fixing device main body 142, a heat roller 143 that is rotatably supported around the axis of the fixing device main body 142, and a peripheral surface that presses against the peripheral surface of the heat roller 143. A pressure roller 144 in contact therewith.

  The sheet P transported from the image forming unit 13 receives heat from the heat roller 143 while being transported by the rotation of the sheet P while being held between the heat roller 143 and the pressure roller 144 by the nip portion. The fixing process of the image onto the paper P is performed, and the image is discharged toward the discharge tray 164 via the cover unit 145 and the discharge roller pair 163.

  The image reading unit 15 includes a contact glass (document reading surface) 151 fitted into a rectangular opening at the top of the apparatus main body 11, and a document P0 (a placed document P1 or an automatically fed document on the contact glass 151). (Hereinafter referred to as a self-contained original P2)) and an optical system unit 152 that reads the original image and a self-contained original P2 fed out from a bundle (original bundle P3) of the self-contained original P2 loaded on the original tray 32 to contact each other And an automatic document feeder 20 that leads to the glass 151.

  The optical system unit 152 irradiates light from a light source (not shown) onto the document surface of the document P0 through the contact glass 151, and the reflected light is provided to the photoelectric conversion unit via a predetermined mirror. The image information of the document is read by being guided to (charge coupled device (image pickup device)). Image information read by the CCD is transmitted to the exposure unit 133 after being converted into a digital signal.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a front sectional view showing an embodiment of the automatic document feeder 20. FIG. 6A is an external perspective view of the automatic document feeder 20.

  2 and 6, the document feeding section 40 includes a pickup roller 41 that feeds the self-feed document P2 one by one from the document bundle P3 placed on the document tray 32, and a direct connection between the pickup roller 41 and the pickup roller 41. A feed belt 42 provided on the downstream side (left side), a feed roller 43 provided so as to be able to be driven in a contact state immediately below the feed belt 42, and downstream of the feed belt 42 and the feed roller 43. A pair of relay rollers 44 provided on the side, a large registration roller 45 provided obliquely below and to the left of the relay roller pair 44, and a registration roller 45 having a peripheral surface at a lower left position of the registration roller 45. And a small-sized positioning roller 46 provided so as to be in press contact with the peripheral surface.

  The feeding belt 42 is stretched between a driving roller 421 provided immediately downstream of the pickup roller 41 and a driven roller 422 disposed opposite to the driving roller 421 on the downstream side, and driven by rotation of the driving roller 421. The drive roller 421 and the driven roller 422 are rotated counterclockwise.

  A document transport path 47 is formed in the document feeding means accommodating portion 33 of the housing 30 along the pickup roller 41, the feeding belt 42, the feeding roller 43, the relay roller pair 44 and the registration roller 45. The self-feed original P2 picked up by the roller 41 and fed out from the original bundle P3 is conveyed toward the nip portion between the registration roller 45 and the positioning roller 46 in a stopped state through the original conveyance path 47. ing.

  The registration roller 45 starts to be driven in synchronism with the reading process of the document image via the document automatic reading glass 151b by the optical system unit 152 (see FIG. 1). Accordingly, the self-feed document P2 stopped at the nip portion between the registration roller 45 and the positioning roller 46 is directed to the automatic document reading glass 151b so as to be synchronized with the reading scanning process of the optical system unit 152 by driving the registration roller 45. The document information on the document surface is read when the document is conveyed and passes through the automatic document reading glass 151b.

  The self-supplied document P2 whose document information on the document surface has been read by the optical system unit 152 is then picked up by the document scooping section 50 and discharged by the discharge roller pair 49 rotated by a predetermined idle roller 48. Is discharged.

  The document scooping section 50 regulates the scooping member 51 disposed facing the downstream edge (right edge) of the automatic document reading glass 151b and the movement of the scooping member 51 in the horizontal direction. In this state, a lifting allowance member (not shown) that allows the leading edge (left edge) of the scooping member 51 to move up and down, and the self-feed document P2 scooped up by the scooping member 51 with the registration roller 45. It comprises a carry-out roller 53 that sandwiches and carries it out.

  In addition to the above configuration, the image forming apparatus 10 includes a tilting mechanism 100 that tilts the document tray 32 in a direction substantially orthogonal to the document feeding direction (the width direction of the document placed on the document tray 32). It is installed. FIG. 3 is a diagram seen from the direction of the arrow Q in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3A, the tilt mechanism 100 extends in the document feeding direction (the left-right direction in FIGS. 1 and 2) at the front end of the document tray 32 in FIGS. A support shaft 36 is supported by an unillustrated main body frame of the automatic document feeder 20, and supports the document tray 32 so as to be rotatable about the axis by the support shaft 36. 32 is provided with a solenoid 101 installed on the back side. The operation of the tilt mechanism 100 will be described later.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of the image forming apparatus 10. The image forming apparatus 10 includes a control unit 60 that controls the operation of the entire apparatus, the image forming unit 13, the paper feeding unit 12, the image reading unit 15, the automatic document supply unit 20, and a start key / display device (not shown). The operation display unit 90, the image storage unit 70, and the image processing unit 80 are connected to each other.

  The image storage unit 70 is a memory that temporarily stores image data of a document read by the image reading unit 15 and image data transmitted from an external device via a network I / F unit (not shown).

  The image processing unit 80 performs various image processing on the image data, for example, gamma processing and enlargement / reduction processing. In the image processing unit 80, for example, A / D conversion of image data is performed on a document image obtained by reading by the image reading unit 15, and the above-described various image processes are performed using the A / D converted image data. .

  The document sensor unit 52 includes a contact member (not shown) configured to be able to project and retract from the document placement surface of the document tray 32, and a switch (not shown) that is turned on / off according to the projecting / retracted state of the contact member. When a document is placed on the document tray 32, the contact member is pressed by the document, and the switch is turned on by the corresponding contact member. As a result, a placement signal indicating that a document is placed on the document tray 32 is output from the document sensor unit 52 to the control unit 60.

  The control unit 60 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) that stores a control program of the copying machine 1, a RAM (Random Access Memory) that temporarily stores data, a microcomputer that reads the control program from the ROM, and executes the program. The entire apparatus is controlled in accordance with predetermined instruction information input in the operation display unit 90 and the like, and detection signals from various sensors provided in various places of the apparatus.

  In addition, the control unit 60 has a function as the tilt control unit 61 that controls the operation of the tilt mechanism 100 (solenoid 101). When the tilt control unit 61 receives the placement signal from the document sensor unit 52, the tilt control unit 61 supplies a current to the solenoid 101 of the tilt mechanism 100 to cause the rod 102 to protrude from the solenoid, and as shown in FIG. By rotating the tray 32 counterclockwise about the support shaft 36, the document tray 32 is tilted in the width direction (direction perpendicular to the paper feeding direction). This will be described with reference to an external perspective view of the automatic document feeder 20 shown in FIG. 6B. The document tray 32 is rotated from the initial posture P in the direction of arrow A about the support shaft 36 as the axis O. As a result, as shown in FIG. 3 (c), each document in the bundle of documents placed on the document tray 32 contacts one of the restricting members 31 (right side in FIGS. 3 (b) and 6 (b)). Then, the documents are aligned at the end corresponding to the restricting member 31.

  The tilt control unit 61 supplies current to the solenoid 101 so as to return to the original posture (initial posture P) in which the base surface is horizontal when a predetermined time has elapsed after the tilt mechanism 100 is tilted.

  FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a document alignment operation related to the tilt mechanism 100 of the image forming apparatus 10.

  As shown in FIG. 5, when receiving a detection signal indicating that a document is placed on document tray 32 from document sensor unit 52 (YES in step # 1), control unit 60 supplies current to solenoid 101. Then, the document tray 32 is tilted (step # 2).

  Then, the control unit 60 determines whether or not a predetermined time has elapsed (step # 3). If the predetermined time has not elapsed (NO in step # 3), the control unit 60 waits while the predetermined time has elapsed (step # 3). If YES at # 3), the document tray 32 is returned to the horizontal posture (step # 4).

  As described above, the document tray 32 is configured to be tiltable in a direction orthogonal to the document feeding direction, and when the document is placed on the document tray 32, the document tray 32 is tilted. Even if a bundle of originals placed on the tray 32 is a mixture of originals of different sizes, any one end in the direction orthogonal to the original feeding direction can be aligned. As a result, since the direction of the document placed on the document tray 32 (the direction of one side of the document) can be fed in parallel with the feeding direction of the document, the sheet feeding unit 12 The paper feeding performance can be improved.

  This case includes modifications described in the following [1] to [4] in addition to the above embodiment or instead of the above embodiment.

  [1] The mechanism for tilting the document tray 32 is not limited to the tilt mechanism 100 described above, and may be configured using a motor, a gear, or the like.

  [2] In the first embodiment, when described with reference to the external perspective view of the automatic document feeder 20 shown in FIG. 6B, the document tray 32 is in the initial posture with the support shaft 36 as the center of the axis O. Although it is configured to rotate from P in the direction of arrow A, the present invention is not limited to this, and a mode in which document tray 32 is rotated in the direction of arrow B in FIG.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 7, a rotation axis O ′ serving as a rotation center of the document tray 32 is provided on the side opposite to the support shaft 36 in the width direction of the document tray 32, and the document tray 32 is rotated. The document tray 32 may be inclined by rotating it around the axis O ′ from the initial position Q in the direction of the arrow C or D.

  [3] Assuming that even if the document tray 32 is tilted, the sheets may not move and are not aligned at one end thereof, vibration is applied to the document tray 32 with the document tray 32 tilted. You may make it provide a vibration provision mechanism. The vibration applying mechanism can be realized by a known configuration using, for example, electromagnetic force or electrostatic force. As a result, the sheets can be more reliably aligned at one end.

  [4] The automatic document feeder according to the present invention can be applied not only to a copying machine but also to an apparatus such as a multifunction machine or a facsimile machine.

1 is an explanatory diagram for explaining an outline of an internal structure of an embodiment of an image forming apparatus to which an automatic document feeder according to the present invention is applied. It is explanatory drawing of front sectional view which shows one Embodiment of an original document feeder. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an inclination operation of a document tray. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an image forming apparatus. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a document alignment operation related to the tilt mechanism of the image forming apparatus. 1 is an external perspective view of an automatic document feeder. It is explanatory drawing of a deformation | transformation form.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Image forming apparatus 15 Image reading part 20 Automatic document supply part 31 Restriction member 32 Original tray 36 Support shaft 52 Original sensor part 60 Control part 61 Inclination control part 100 Inclination mechanism 101 Solenoid 102 Rod

Claims (4)

A paper loading table having a surface on which the paper is loaded; and
A feeding mechanism for feeding out the paper placed on the surface toward a predetermined position;
A regulating member that is provided on the surface and regulates movement of the paper in a direction substantially perpendicular to the paper feeding direction by the feeding mechanism;
An inclination mechanism for inclining the table surface in the substantially orthogonal direction;
An automatic paper feeding apparatus, comprising: a returning unit that returns a base surface tilted by the operation of the tilting mechanism to an original posture before starting the paper feeding operation by the feeding mechanism. A paper sensor for detecting that the paper is placed on the surface;
And a control unit that causes the tilt mechanism to tilt the table surface in association with the detection signal indicating that the sheet is placed on the table surface being output from the sheet sensor. The automatic paper feeder according to claim 1.   The automatic paper feeding apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a vibration applying unit that applies vibration to the inclined base surface by the operation of the tilting mechanism. An automatic paper feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
An image reading apparatus comprising: an image reading unit that reads an image recorded on a sheet supplied by the automatic sheet feeder.

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