JPH0673034B2 - Copying method for copy machines - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a copying machine equipped with an automatic document feeder, and more particularly to an automatic document feeder for continuously copying a document smaller than a copyable size. The present invention relates to a document feeding method capable of increasing the copying speed without increasing the feeding speed of the document.

"Prior Art" First, with reference to FIG. 3, an outline of an example of an entire copying machine equipped with an automatic document feeder according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the figure, the entire copying machine is designated by 1.
Is an automatic document feeder indicated by 3 on a contact glass 2 made of a transparent plate or the like for placing a document for copying work, a document tray 4, and a document discharged from the document feeder 3. Document ejection tray 5 and cover 6
An optical system incorporated therein, a light source that moves along the contact glass 2, a photoconductor that makes an original image passing through the optical system into an electrostatic latent image by exposing and scanning the original surface with the light source, A developing device for applying toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the surface of the photoconductor to develop the electrostatic latent image into a toner image, and a copy paper taken out from a paper feed unit 7 including one or a plurality of paper feed cassettes 7a, 7b ,. A transport path for transporting to the paper discharge tray 8 via the surface of the photoconductor, a transfer portion for transferring the toner image on the photoconductor onto the copy paper by the corona discharger for transfer in the transport path, and the toner image is transferred. The main components are a fixing device including a heat roller and a pressing roller that heat the copy paper separated from the photoconductor to fix the toner image on the copy paper.

Conventionally, a copying machine provided with the above-mentioned automatic document feeder 3 copies the originals one by one, regardless of the size of the original, at the copy position of the contact glass 2 (at the end of the contact glass 2 at the most downstream in the transport direction, the originals are copied). The document which has been exposed is discharged to the document discharge tray 5, and at the same time, provided at the upstream portion of the contact glass 2 in the transport direction corresponding to all the documents. The next original at the designated standby position is conveyed to the copy position and stopped.
A document feeding method of repeating a procedure of exposing is adopted.

With this method of document feeding, loss of transport time does not occur much in the case of the maximum size document that can be copied, but when the size of the document is smaller than the maximum size, for example, the maximum size is A3 and the copied document is In the case of the A4 size document, the time required for the second and subsequent documents to be transported to the copy position is the same as that for transporting the A3 size document, and the copying time is long. is there. If the conveying speed is increased to solve this difficulty, noise and abrasion of the conveying belt increase, and it becomes difficult to maintain the accuracy of the stop position of the original conveyed to the copy position.

For this reason, when sending a document smaller than the maximum size to the copy position, the applicant has previously conveyed the second document after the first document to be copied at the standby position next to the copy position and exposing the document. The second document is conveyed to the copy position and the third document is conveyed to the standby position at the same time as the discharging of the first document, which has been completed, and then the copying operation is repeated by repeating this operation. We have developed a method of feeding the originals and applied for it (Japanese Patent Application No. 58-249284).

The present invention is extremely useful in terms of saving transport time because the document next to the document currently being copied is previously transported to the copy position.

"Problems of the prior art" However, as described in the specification in this prior art, a document to be sent to the next standby position is stopped by a mechanical stopper at an upstream portion in the transport direction of the contact glass, and the standby position is set at an appropriate timing. Since it is designed to send the documents to the contact glass, only 2 documents can be placed on the contact glass at maximum, and the efficiency is the best when the documents of half the maximum size are transported. For example, if you want to convey B-series originals in the case of A3, or if you want to convey small originals such as postcards, the efficiency will decrease, or two originals will not fit on the contact glass. , There is a defect such as the original protruding, and it cannot be applied depending on the original size,
It had the drawback that it may not always be the highest in terms of efficiency.

"Object of the Invention" The present invention has been made for the purpose of eliminating the drawbacks of the conventional method.

[Structure of the Invention] The gist of the present invention is to provide a copy position on a contact glass surface under a conveyor belt for a document having a size not larger than the maximum copyable size from a document tray by an automatic document feeder provided in a copying machine. In the method of transferring to
The originals are continuously conveyed at an interval from the original tray to detect the conveying interval distance from the leading edge of the preceding original to the leading edge of the succeeding original, and then the preceding original is placed on the contact glass surface. At the copying position, the succeeding original document is stopped at the standby position under the conveyor belt, which is spaced apart from the preceding original document by the distance, and the conveyor belt is set at the time of discharging the exposed original document. The preceding document is ejected by traveling for the conveyance interval distance, and the following document at the standby position is placed at the copy position, and if there is a subsequent document, it is placed at the standby position with the above interval and not overlapped. This is a method of feeding a document in a copying machine, in which the automatic document feeder is operated by repeating the same procedure thereafter.

Among the above-mentioned components, as the positioning means for stopping the transported document at the copy position and the standby position, the one by controlling the stop position of the transport belt can be applied, and the automatic document feeder is controlled by a sequence control using a microcomputer or an individual circuit. Can be realized by.

[Examples] Examples for embodying the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings to provide an understanding of the present invention. Here, Fig. 1 shows a full-width belt as a conveyor belt (a single belt is used for contact glass 2
Of the present invention is applied to an automatic document feeder using a wide belt which covers the front surface of the sheet, and FIG. It is a flowchart which shows a procedure.

In FIG. 1, the document 10 placed on the document tray 4
When the document feed start roller 31 swings downward (the swing position is indicated by a chain double-dashed line) and rotates, the document feed start rollers 31 are fed one by one from the top toward the paper feed roller 32. The paper feed roller 32 holds the original document with a slight gap between the paper feed roller 32 and the double feed prevention roller 32a which rotates in the opposite direction, and rotates the original document 10 to send the original document 10 one by one to the conveying roller 33. The conveying roller 33 is pressed against the lower pressing roller 33a, the conveyed original is inserted at the nip point with the pressing roller 33a to position the original, and the original is nipped between the original and the pressing roller 33a. It is sent out between the contact glass 2 and a document conveyance belt (hereinafter referred to as a conveyance belt) 38.

The conveyor belt 38 is stretched between the driving roller 35 and the driven roller 36, and when the driving roller 35 rotates, the document is pressed between the contact glass 2 and the conveyor belt 38 by the pressing roller 37 to contact the contact glass 2. Transport while sliding the surface of. Sensors SS ₁ , SS ₂ , and SS ₃ are sensors that detect whether or not a document is present at that position.Sensor SS ₁ is between the document feed start roller 31 and paper feed roller 32, and sensor SS ₂ is a sensor. The sensor SS ₃ is arranged between the paper roller 32 and the conveying roller 33, and is arranged between the conveying roller 33 and the driving roller 35, and is constituted by an optical sensor or a limit switch. However, the transport roller 33 can be omitted, and the sensors SS ₂ and SS ₃ can be used in common. Further, in order to improve the accuracy of the carry amount, it is desirable to dispose the sensor SS ₃ as close to the carry belt 38 as possible.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The processing procedure (step) numbers are indicated by S1, S2, ....

When the start is commanded (the start button is pressed), the constant I is set in the counter PC (1) (S1).
The I count is the number of rotation pulses of the drive motor corresponding to the distance l ₁ from the sensor SS ₃ to the copy position. Therefore, the I count is a constant. The drive motor includes the document feed start roller 31, the paper feed roller 32, the double feed prevention roller 32a, the conveyance roller 33,
The drive source of the drive roller 35. The number x corresponding to the order of the next document to be sent is set to 2 (counter PC (X)
→ Counter PC (2)) (S2). Since the sensor SS ₁ is turned on when the document 10 is present on the document tray 4, the document feed start roller 31, the paper feed roller 32, and the double feed prevention roller 32a are rotated and the document feed is performed in step S3. The start roller 31 is lowered to contact the original 10 and the first original 10a from the top is sent out (S4). The front edge of the original 10a is caught between the paper feed roller 32 and the double feed prevention roller 32a, and the sensor SS ₂
When the sensor SS ₂ is turned on (S5), the document feeding start roller 31 is raised and stopped at the next S6 to stop feeding the document, and the feeding roller 33 is rotated to feed the document. At the same time, the drive roller 35 is rotated. Manuscript
10a is sent out its leading edge becomes the sensor SS ₃ is ON when it passes immediately below the sensor SS ₃ by (S7), with the count of said counter PC on the next S8 (1) is started, the counter PC
The count number corresponding to the document size is set in (x) (PC (2) from x = 2 at this time), that is, the counting of the conveyance interval distance is started. As shown in FIG. 1, the count number of the PC (2) is the distance l ₂ from the original 10a when it reaches the copy position to the original 10b when it reaches the standby position next to it (that is, the length of the original 10a in the conveyance direction). And a distance ΔS for preventing the weight of the document from being added), and the conveyance belt 38 corresponds to the distance l _2.
Is the number of rotation pulses of the drive motor required to drive the vehicle.

In this way, the original 10a is transferred to the conveyor belt 38 and the contact glass 2
And the original 10a is conveyed on the surface of the contact glass 2 in the direction of arrow y. Next, the original 10a is sent by the conveyor belt 38, the trailing edge of the original 10a passes under the sensor SS ₂ , the sensor SS ₂ is turned off (S9), and the sensor SS ₁ is turned on.
When there is a second document on the document tray 4 at N (S10),
Proceeding to the next paper feeding subroutine, when the sensor SS ₁ is OFF (there is no second original), the number J of originals being conveyed to the upstream side of the copying position is set to “1” (S11). , X is added with "2" (S12), and the process jumps to (f) in FIG. Paper feed subroutine (See Figure 2 (b))
In lowering the original feed start roller 31, and by rotating and forwarding the (S13) 2-sheet document 10 _b, rises sensor SS ₂ is ON and (S14), the original feed start roller 31 in S15, stop Then, the count subroutine (see FIG. 2 (c)) is jumped. Manuscript 10 in counting subroutine
change after _a sensors SS ₃ is turned OFF passes under the sensor SS ₃ (S16), this sensor SS ₃ from ON (OFF by the passage of the document 10 _b caused by the rotation of the conveying roller 33 to the ON At the time (S17) when the distance traveled by the conveyor belt 38 becomes equal to ΔS described above, the count value (conveyance interval distance) of the counter PC (x) (x = 2) is determined (that is, The number of rotation pulses of the drive motor required to run the conveyor belt 38 by the distance l ₂ (one pitch) for discharging the document 10 _a is determined), counter PC (x + 1) (= PC
(3)) to count the number that corresponds to the size of the next document 10 _b (counts conveyance interval distance) is started (S18), followed by incrementing the value of x (S19).

Subsequently sensor past the trailing edge of the original 10 _b step S20 to S
The process waits until S ₂ is turned off, and then the presence or absence of the following original is detected in S21. If the original is present in the original tray 4, the process proceeds to S22 through the paper feed subroutine → count subroutine. If no document remains, S is set to "2" in J in S23 and S24, x is incremented, and the process jumps to.

Similar to S20 and S21, S22 and S25 are determinations as to whether or not to perform the next paper feed subroutine. If NO in S25, the routine jumps after setting J to "3" in S42. If Yes in S25, go through the paper feed subroutine (paper feed for the fourth sheet), and then press P in S26.
Wait until the count value of C (x-3) reaches the set value.
Since x = 4 at this time, it means that the first original has arrived at the copy position when Yes, so the drive roller 35 and all the rollers are stopped at S27, and the copy machine main body is sent at S28. Start the copy operation. At this time the first original
10 tip P ₁ of the leading edge copy position of _a, the leading edge of the second document 10 _b is located at the distal end P ₂ of the standby position.

When the exposure is completed (S29), the drive roller 35,
The paper feed roller 32, the double feed prevention roller 32a, to rotate the conveying roller 33, and starts the conveyance of the original 10 _a, 10 _b, 10 _c in unison, counter PC (x-2) (= PC (2)) Start counting. Thus jumps to S22 when eventually counter PC (2) is counted up, one of the document 10a to the document discharge tray 5, the second document 10 _b copy position (P ₁₎
The third document _10c is in the standby position (P ₂ ) and the fourth document is
10 _d are each stop to further position next to the standby position (P _3), S2
At 8 the copying of the original 10b is started, and while the original is on the original tray 4, the routines of S22 to S30 and the counting subroutine are repeated.

In this way, when the sensor SS ₁ is turned off (that is, the document on the document tray 4 is exhausted), the process jumps to that shown in FIG. 2 (f), carrying one sheet of the document and performing a copying operation, and decrementing the value of J. Then, this work is repeated until J becomes 0 (that is, until there is no original to be copied on the upstream side of the copy position) (S31 to S38). When J becomes 0, PC (1) in S39 and S40
The transport belt 38 is run by an amount to discharge all documents to the document discharge tray 5, and all rollers are stopped (S4
1).

[Effect of the Invention] As described above, according to the present invention, by the automatic document feeder provided in the copying machine, a document having a size equal to or smaller than the maximum copyable size is transferred from the document tray to the copy position on the contact glass surface under the transport belt. In the method of carrying and continuously copying, the manuscript is continuously carried at an interval from the manuscript tray to detect the carrying interval distance from the leading end of the preceding manuscript to the leading end of the succeeding manuscript, and then the preceding manuscript continues. The original is stopped at the copy position on the contact glass surface, and the subsequent original is stopped at the standby position under the conveyor belt and spaced apart from the preceding original by the waiting position, and the exposure is completed. When ejecting a document, the transport belt is moved by the transport interval distance to eject the preceding document, and the subsequent document in the standby position is duplicated. If there is a subsequent original document at the copying position, the original document is conveyed to the standby position at the above intervals so as not to overlap each other, and thereafter, the same procedure is repeated to operate the automatic document feeder. Since it is the original feeding method of the copying machine, when the originals smaller than the maximum size that can be copied are continuously copied, it corresponds to each original to be conveyed, and this does not overlap with other originals. It is possible to automatically set, for each document, a different transport interval distance, and documents of any size are sequentially transported to the standby position in advance at appropriate intervals, and the previous document is exposed. After that, the respective originals can be conveyed at the same time, and the next original in the standby state can be moved to the copy position while discharging the exposed original. As a result, regardless of the size of the original, the original can be efficiently and sequentially conveyed by the minimum travel of the conveyor belt, and the copying operation can be performed extremely efficiently.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a document feeding apparatus that can be used for practicing the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flow chart showing an operation procedure of an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is applicable to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing an example of a copying machine equipped with a document feeding device. (Description of symbols) 1 ... Copier 2 ... Contact glass 3 ... Automatic document feeder 4 ... Document tray 5 ... Document discharge tray 7 ... Paper feed cassette 10,10 _a , 10 _b , 10 _c …… Original 31 …… Original feed start roller 32 …… Paper feed roller, 33 …… Conveying roller 32 _a …… Double feed prevention roller 33 _a , 37 …… Pressing roller 35 …… Drive roller, 36 …… Driven roller 38 …… Document transport belt P ₁ …… The tip of the copy position of the document P ₂ …… The tip of the standby position of the document l ₁ , l ₂ , l ₃ …… Spacing distance ΔS …… Spacing.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A method for carrying out continuous copying by feeding an original having a size not larger than the maximum copyable size from an original tray to an copying position on a contact glass surface under a conveyor belt by an automatic original feeder provided in a copying machine, The originals are continuously conveyed at an interval from the original tray to detect the conveying interval distance from the leading edge of the preceding original to the leading edge of the succeeding original, and then the preceding original is placed on the contact glass surface. At the copying position, the connected original document is stopped at the standby position under the conveyor belt, which is spaced from the preceding original document by the above-mentioned interval, and the conveyor belt is set at the time of discharging the exposed original document. The preceding document is ejected by traveling for the conveyance interval distance, and the following document in the standby position is set to the copy position, and the following document is set. In this case, the document feeding method of the copying machine is characterized in that the document is fed to the standby position at the above intervals so that they do not overlap each other, and thereafter the same procedure is repeated to operate the automatic document feeding device.