Medium feeding device, image reading apparatus, and recording apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10662012-B2
Application number	US-201916401199-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2019
Priority date	Dec 28, 2016
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

A medium feeding device includes an imaging unit which images a medium tip end portion from a position of facing a face of the medium on a downstream side of a nipping position of the medium using a feeding unit and a separating unit; and a determining unit which determines whether or not there is transport disorder by evaluating a state of a boundary between a path member which forms a medium transport path and a medium tip end from image data obtained by the imaging unit, in which the determining unit sets a rectangular determining region including at least a part of the boundary with respect to the image data, and determines whether or not there is transport disorder based on a length of a boundary in the determining region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An image reading apparatus comprising:
a reading unit which reads a medium;
a medium mounting unit on which the medium is mounted;
a feeding unit which feeds the medium in a first direction from the medium mounting unit;
a separating unit which separates the medium between the feeding unit and the separating unit by nipping the medium at a nip position;
a transporting unit which is disposed between the nip position and the reading unit, the transporting unit transports the medium fed by the feeding unit to the reading unit;
an image capturing unit which is disposed between the nip position and the reading unit, and which captures an image of a medium tip end portion from a position of facing a face of the medium; and
a controller which determines whether or not there is transport disorder by evaluating a state of a boundary between a path member which forms a medium transport path and a medium tip end from the image captured by the image capturing unit,
wherein, after the controller determines whether or not there is transport disorder, the controller
stops the feeding of the medium when there is transport disorder, or
reads the medium by the reading unit when there is no transport disorder.

2. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a double feeding detecting sensor which detects double feeding of the medium,
wherein the image capturing unit is disposed between the double feeding detecting sensor and the nip position.

3. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the image capturing unit includes a CCD or a CMOS to capture the image of the medium tip end portion.

4. The image reading apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the feeding unit includes a pair of feeding rollers spaced apart from each other in a second direction that intersects with the first direction,
the separating unit includes a pair of separating rollers so that the medium is nipped at the nip positions between the feeding rollers and the separating rollers, and
the image capturing unit is disposed between the nip positions and the reading unit with respect to the first direction and is disposed between the nip positions with respect to the second direction.

5. An image reading apparatus comprising:
a reading unit which reads a medium:
a medium mounting unit on which the medium is mounted;
a feeding unit which feeds the medium in a first direction from the medium mounting unit;
a separating unit which separates the medium between the feeding unit and the separating unit by nipping the medium at a nip position;
a transporting unit which is disposed between the nip position and the reading unit, the transporting unit transports the medium fed by the feeding unit to the reading unit;
an image capturing unit which is disposed between the nip position and the reading unit, and which captures an image of a medium tip end portion from a position of facing a face of the medium;
a controller which determines whether or not there is transport disorder by evaluating a state of a boundary between a path member which forms a medium transport path and a medium tip end from the image captured by the image capturing unit;
a double feeding detecting sensor which detects double feeding of the medium: and
a first detecting sensor which is disposed on an upstream of the reading unit, and which detects transporting of the medium by the transporting unit,
wherein, after the controller determines whether or not there is transport disorder, the controller
stops the feeding of the medium when there is transport disorder, or
reads the medium by the reading unit when there is no transport disorder,

the image capturing unit is disposed between the double feeding detecting sensor and the nip position, and
the image capturing unit, the double feeding detecting sensor and the first detecting sensor are arranged in this order with respect to the first direction.

6. The image reading apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising
a second detecting sensor which is disposed between the nip position and the image capturing unit in the first direction, and which detects feeding of the medium by the feeding unit.

7. The image reading apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein
the second detecting sensor, the image capturing unit, the double feeding detecting sensor and the first detecting sensor are arranged in this order with respect to the first direction.

8. An image reading apparatus comprising:
a medium mounting unit on which a medium is mounted;
a first roller which feeds the medium in a first direction from the medium mounting unit;
a second roller which feeds the medium in the first direction from the medium mounting unit, the second roller being aligned with the first roller along a second direction that intersects with the first direction;
a third roller which separates the medium by nipping the medium with the first roller at a first nip position;
a fourth roller which separates the medium by nipping the medium with the second roller at a second nip position, the fourth roller being aligned with the third roller along the second direction;
a pair of edge guides configured to move in a direction of being close to each other or a direction of being separated from each other in the second direction;
a reading unit which reads the medium;
a fifth roller which is disposed between the first nip position and the reading unit, and which transports the medium fed by the first roller to the reading unit;
a sixth roller which is disposed between the second nip position and the reading unit, and which transports the medium fed by the second roller to the reading unit, the sixth roller being aligned with the fifth roller along the second direction;
a double feeding detecting sensor which is disposed between the first nip position and the fifth roller in the first direction or between the second nip position and the sixth roller in the first direction, and which detects double feeding of the medium by the feeding unit;
an image capturing unit which is disposed between the first nip position and the double feeding sensor or between the second nip position and the double feeding sensor, the image capturing unit being disposed between the edge guides in a state of being farthest from each other in the second direction and the image capturing unit captures an image of a medium tip end portion from a position of facing a face of the medium; and
a controller which determines whether or not there is transport disorder by evaluating a state of a boundary between a path member which forms a medium transport path and a medium tip end from image data obtained by the image capturing unit,
wherein, after the controller determines whether or not there is transport disorder, the controller
stops the feeding of the medium when there is transport disorder, or
reads the medium by the reading unit when there is no transport disorder.

9. The image reading apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the image capturing unit includes a CCD or a CMOS to capture the image of the medium tip end portion.

10. The image reading apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein
the image capturing unit is disposed between the first and second nip positions and the reading unit with respect to the first direction and is disposed between the first nip position and the second nip position with respect to the second direction.

11. A medium feeding apparatus comprising:
a medium mounting unit on which a medium is mounted;
a feeding unit which feeds the medium from the medium mounting unit;
a separating unit which separates the medium between the feeding unit and

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Kogi Shinsuke
• Namiki Masaki

Classifications

• B65H2511/528

  Jam · CPC title

• B65H2511/11

  Length · CPC title

• B65H2701/1311

  leading edge · CPC title

• B65H7/125

  sensing the double feed or separation without contacting the articles · CPC title

• B65H7/14

  by photoelectric feelers or detectors · CPC title