Sheet conveying device, image processing apparatus, and sheet conveying method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11629027-B2
Application number	US-202217654374-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2022
Priority date	Mar 31, 2021
Publication date	Apr 18, 2023
Grant date	Apr 18, 2023

Abstract

A sheet conveying device includes a sheet placement table, a sheet discharge table, a conveyance mechanism, raising/lowering mechanism, and a raising/lowering control portion. The sheet discharge table is located below the sheet placement table. The conveyance mechanism conveys a sheet placed on the sheet placement table onto the sheet discharge table via an execution position at which image processing is executed by an image processing portion. The raising/lowering mechanism raises and lowers the sheet placement table. The raising/lowering control portion controls the raising/lowering mechanism in accordance with a clearance that is defined by a height from the sheet on the sheet discharge table to the sheet placement table, so as to maintain the clearance to be equal to or higher than a set value.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A sheet conveying device comprising:
a sheet placement table;
a sheet discharge table located below the sheet placement table;
a conveyance mechanism configured to convey a sheet placed on the sheet placement table onto the sheet discharge table via an execution position at which image processing is executed by an image processing portion;
a raising/lowering mechanism configured to raise and lower the sheet placement table;
a clearance detection portion configured to detect a clearance that is defined by a height from the sheet on the sheet discharge table to the sheet placement table; and
a raising/lowering control portion configured to control the raising/lowering mechanism in accordance with the clearance, so as to maintain the clearance to be equal to or higher than a set value.

2. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1 , wherein
when one or more sheets are discharged onto the sheet discharge table and the clearance becomes equal to or lower than a threshold that is determined based on the set value, the raising/lowering control portion raises the sheet placement table.

3. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1 , wherein
at least during execution of the image processing on a predetermined number of sheets that are a job target, the raising/lowering control portion controls the raising/lowering mechanism in accordance with the clearance so as to maintain the clearance to be equal to or higher than the set value.

4. The sheet conveying device according to claim 3 , wherein
the raising/lowering control portion controls the raising/lowering mechanism to lower the sheet placement table upon completion of the image processing on all of the predetermined number of sheets that are the job target.

5. The sheet conveying device according to claim 1 , wherein
the execution position is a position where an image reading portion as the image processing portion executes image reading.

6. An image processing apparatus comprising:
the sheet conveying device according to claim 1 ; and
the image processing portion configured to execute at least one of image reading and image forming on the sheet as a target.

7. A sheet conveying method used in a sheet conveying device that includes:
a sheet placement table;
a sheet discharge table located below the sheet placement table;
a conveyance mechanism configured to convey a sheet placed on the sheet placement table onto the sheet discharge table via an execution position at which image processing is executed by an image processing portion;
a raising/lowering mechanism configured to raise and lower the sheet placement table; and
a clearance detection portion configured to detect a clearance that is defined by a height from the sheet on the sheet discharge table to the sheet placement table,
the sheet conveying method comprising
controlling the raising/lowering mechanism in accordance with the clearance, so as to maintain the clearance to be equal to or higher than a set value.

Assignees

• Kyocera Document Solutions Inc

Inventors

• Isogai Yoji

Classifications

• B65H2701/176

  Cardboard · CPC title

• B65H2405/3321

  Feed tray superposed to discharge tray · CPC title

• B65H2511/15

  Height, e.g. of stack · CPC title

• B65H31/10 Primary

  and applied at the top of the pile · CPC title

• B65H3/00

  Separating articles from piles (associating, collating, or gathering articles B65H39/00; machines for separating superposed webs B65H41/00; unpiling thin material combined with folding B65H45/26; combinations of piling and depiling operations, of interest apart from the single operation of piling or depiling B65H83/00) · CPC title