Image scanning apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10574851-B2
Application number	US-201715830251-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 4, 2017
Priority date	Jan 6, 2017
Publication date	Feb 25, 2020
Grant date	Feb 25, 2020

Abstract

When consecutively feeding a plurality of media, an image scanning apparatus, according to the length of a preceding medium in a feed direction, changes the feed control for feeding the succeeding medium.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image scanning apparatus comprising:
a medium mount portion on which one or more media are mounted;
a feeder that feeds the media from the medium mount portion;
a separator that faces the feeder and that separates the media;
a transporter that is provided at a downstream side of the feeder and the separator and that transports the media;
a scanner that is provided at the downstream side of the transporter unit and that scans the media; and
a controller that controls the feeder and the transporter,
wherein when a plurality of media are fed, the controller calculates a length of a first medium that is a preceding medium after the first medium is separated from the rest of the media by the separator, the length being a dimension of the first medium in a feed direction, and changes a feed speed for feeding a second medium that succeeds the first medium by using the feeder according to the length of the first medium that has been calculated, the controller repeatedly calculating the length of the first medium and changing the feed speed for feeding the second medium for each of pairs of the first medium and the second medium of the plurality of media.

2. The image scanning apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein a feed speed of a medium by the feeder before a leading end of the medium passes the separator is a speed Va and a feed speed of the medium by the feeder after the leading end of the medium passes the separator is a speed Vb, and
wherein the controller sets the speed Vb to a speed Vb 1 that is higher than the speed Va when the length of the first medium in the feed direction is greater than a predetermined length L, and sets the speed Vb to a speed Vb 2 that is lower than the speed Vb 1 when the length of the first medium in the feed direction is less than or equal to the length L.

3. The image scanning apparatus according to claim 2 , further comprising:
a first detector that is provided on the medium transport path between the feeder and the transporter and that detects a medium; and
a second detector that is provided on the medium transport path at the downstream side of the transporter and that detects the medium,
wherein the controller calculates the length of the first medium in the feed direction based on an amount of transport of the first medium in a period from when the leading end of the first medium is detected by the second detector to when a tailing end of the first medium is detected by the first detector and a path length between the first detector and the second detector.

4. The image scanning apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein the length L is set according to a size of a short side of a card prescribed by International Standard Organization ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1.

5. An image scanning apparatus comprising:
a medium mount portion on which one or more media are mounted;
a feeder that feeds the media from the medium mount portion;
a separator that faces the feeder and that separates the media;
a transporter that is provided at a downstream side of the feeder and the separator and that transports the media;
a scanner that is provided at the downstream side of the transporter and that scans the media; and
a controller that controls the feeder and the transporter,
wherein when a plurality of media are fed, the controller calculate a dimensional characteristic of a first medium that is a preceding medium after the first medium is separated from the rest of the media by the separator, and changes a feed speed for feeding a second medium that succeeds the first medium by using the feeder according to the dimensional characteristic of the first medium that has been calculated, the controller repeatedly calculating the dimensional characteristic of the first medium and changing the feed speed for feeding the second medium for each of pairs of the first medium and the second medium of the plurality of media.

6. The image scanning apparatus according to claim 5 ,
wherein a feed speed of a medium by the feeder before a leading end of the medium passes the separator is a speed Va and a feed speed of the medium by the feeder after the leading end of the medium passes the separator is a speed Vb, and
wherein the controller sets the speed Vb to a speed Vb 1 that is higher than the speed Va when a thickness of the first medium is greater than a predetermined thickness t, and sets the speed Vb to a speed Vb 2 that is lower than the speed Vb 1 when the thickness of the first medium is less than or equal to the thickness t.

7. An image scanning apparatus comprising:
a medium mount portion on which one or more media are mounted;
a feeder that feeds the media from the medium mount portion;
a separator that faces the feeder and that separates the media;
a transporter that is provided at a downstream side of the feeder and the separator and that transports the media;
a scanner that is provided at the downstream side of the transporter unit and that scans the media; and
a controller that controls the feeder and the transporter,
wherein when a plurality of media are fed, the controller calculates a length of a first medium that is a preceding medium, the length being a dimension of the first medium in a feed direction, and changes a feed speed for feeding a second medium that succeeds the first medium by using the feeder according to the length of the first medium that has been calculated,
wherein a feed speed of a medium by the feeder before a leading end of the medium passes the separator is a speed Va and a feed speed of the medium by the feeder after the leading end of the medium passes the separator is a speed Vb,
wherein the controller executes a first feed control and a second feed control, the first feed control sets the speed Vb to a speed Vb 1 that is higher than the speed Va when the length of the first medium in the feed direction is greater than a predetermined length L, and the second feed control sets the speed Vb to a speed Vb 2 that is lower than the speed Vb 1 when the length of the first medium in the feed direction is less than or equal to the length L, and
wherein the first feed control is a control of performing a process in which the feed speed is temporarily increased in order to shorten an interval between a tailing end of the preceding medium and a leading end of the succeeding medium, and the second feed control is a control of performing a process in which the speed increasing process is not performed or the feed speed is increased to a level lower than in the first feed control.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Yoshikaie Kazuya
• Kanamitsu Masatomo
• Beppu Wataru
• Miyauchi Keisuke
• Kitsuki Hiromichi

Classifications

• H04N1/00602

  Feed rollers · CPC title

• H04N1/047 Primary

  Detection, control or error compensation of scanning velocity or position ({H04N1/0402 and } H04N1/17 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04N1/121

  Feeding arrangements (transporting sheets to or from the scanning position H04N1/0057; control or error compensation of sub-scanning velocity H04N1/0473) · CPC title

• H04N1/00588 Primary

  to the scanning position (H04N1/00572, H04N1/00594 take precedence) · CPC title