Sheet collection device, sheet collection system, sheet collection method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10894685-B2
Application number	US-201716078816-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 6, 2017
Priority date	Feb 24, 2016
Publication date	Jan 19, 2021
Grant date	Jan 19, 2021

Abstract

A sheet collection device includes a discrimination portion that discriminates the type of sheet, a plurality of containers that store sheets, a transport portion that transports the sheets to any one container from among the plurality of containers based on the discrimination result by the discrimination portion, an accumulation portion that accumulates progress information of a storage amount of sheets in the container, and a notification portion that predicts a time at which the storage amount of the sheets that are stored in the containers based on the progress information reaches a first predetermined amount and notifies the predicted time to a terminal device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sheet collection device comprising:
a discrimination portion that discriminates at least one or more of whether or not each of sheets is an A4 size sheet, whether or not each of the sheets is a fine quality paper, whether or not each of the sheets is a carbon paper, or whether or not each of the sheets is a vinyl coated paper;
a plurality of containers that store the sheets;
a transport portion that transports the sheets to any one container from among the plurality of containers based on the discrimination result by the discrimination portion;
an accumulation portion that accumulates progress information of a storage amount of sheets in the containers;
a notification portion that predicts a time at which the storage amount of the sheets that are stored in the containers reaches a first predetermined amount based on the progress information and notifies the predicted time to a terminal device; and
an initialization portion that initializes the storage amount of sheets that are stored in the containers to zero,
in response to initialization of the storage amount of the sheets in at least one of the containers to zero at the initialization portion, the notification portion predicting the time at which the storage amount of the sheets to be stored in the at least one of the containers reaches the first predetermined amount, based on the progress information that has been accumulated for the storage amount of the sheets in the at least one of the containers before the initialization, and notifying the predicted time to the terminal device.

2. The sheet collection device according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a measuring portion that measures that the storage amount of sheets that are stored in the containers reaches a second predetermined amount,
wherein the notification portion notifies the predicted time when the storage amount of sheets that are stored in the containers reaches the second predetermined amount.

3. The sheet collection device according to claim 1 , wherein
the accumulation portion accumulates progress information of the storage amount of sheets in the containers for each type of the sheets, and
the sheet collection device further comprises an allocation portion that allocates the type of the sheets that are stored respectively in the plurality of containers based on the progress information that is accumulated in the accumulation portion.

4. A sheet collection system including a sheet collection device and a host device that is connected to the sheet collection device,
wherein the sheet collection device includes
a discrimination portion that discriminates at least one or more of whether or not each of sheets is an A4 size sheet, whether or not each of the sheets is a fine quality paper, whether or not each of the sheets is a carbon paper, or whether or not each of the sheets is a vinyl coated paper,
a plurality of containers that store the sheets,
a transport portion that transports the sheets to any one container from among the plurality of containers based on the discrimination result by the discrimination portion, and an initialization portion that initializes a storage amount of sheets that are stored in the containers to zero, and
the host device includes
an accumulation portion that accumulates progress information of the storage amount of sheets in the containers, and
a notification portion that predicts a time at which the storage amount of the sheets that are stored in the containers reaches a first predetermined amount based on the progress information and notifies the predicted time to a terminal device, and
in response to initialization of the storage amount of the sheets in at least one of the containers to zero at the initialization portion, the notification portion predicts the time at which the storage amount of the sheets to be stored in the at least one of the containers reaches the first predetermined amount, based on the progress information that has been accumulated for the storage amount of the sheets in the at least one of the containers before the initialization, and notifies the predicted time to the terminal device.

5. A sheet collection method comprising:
discriminating at least one or more of whether or not each of sheets is an A4 size sheet, whether or not each of the sheets is a fine quality paper, whether or not each of the sheets is a carbon paper, or whether or not each of the sheets is a vinyl coated paper;
transporting the sheets to any one container from among a plurality of containers that store the sheets based on the discrimination result;
accumulating progress information of a storage amount of sheets in the containers;
predicting a time at which the storage amount of the sheets that are stored in the containers reaches a first predetermined amount based on the progress information and notifying the predicted time to a terminal device; and
initializing the storage amount of sheets that are stored in the containers to zero, wherein
in response to initializing of the storage amount of the sheets in at least one of the containers to zero, the time at which the storage amount of the sheets to be stored in the at least one of the containers reaches the first predetermined amount is predicted based on the progress information that has been accumulated for the storage amount of the sheets in the at least one of the containers before the initializing, and the predicted time is notified to the terminal device.

Assignees

• Seiko Epson Corp

Inventors

• Yoda Kaneo
• Taniguchi Seiichi

Classifications

• B07C5/34 Primary

  Sorting according to other particular properties {(material testing per se G01N; quality control G07C3/14)} · CPC title

• B65H2513/52

  Age; Duration; Life time or chronology of event · CPC title

• B65H2557/64

  for detecting type or properties of handled material · CPC title

• B65H43/08

  Photoelectric devices · CPC title

• B65H31/24

  multiple or compartmented, e.d. for alternate, programmed, or selective filling · CPC title