Automatic document feeder and automatic document feeding method

Abstract

The automatic document feeder of the present invention includes a document feed tray for placing documents thereon, a document conveying device for conveying the documents from the document feed tray to a prescribed document image reading position, a remover provided in the conveying path of the document conveying device for removing staples binding the documents, and a separating device provided in the conveying path for separating the documents one by one after passing the remover position, and when documents are stapled with staples, the documents are separated one by one and conveyed to a prescribed reading position after removing the staples by cutting both of the upper ends of the staples.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder and an automatic document feeding method for automatically separating documents that are stapled with staples and feeding separated documents one by one to a document reading position.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] In the case of an automatic document feeder which automatically supplies documents one by one sequentially to a document reading position of, for example, an image reading scanner, copiers, etc., it is a general practice to place documents that are separated one by one in advance on a document feed tray and in the case of stapled documents normally requiring the reading operation, operator remove staples from the documents and supplies to the automatic document reading device. Therefore, if documents stapled with staples were erroneously supplied on the document feed tray of an automatic document feeder, whenever a sensing device for detecting staples detected that the documents were stapled, the automatic document feeding operation was suspended. And after stopping the automatic document feeding operation, operator is demanded to once take out documents from the document feed tray and remove staples manually and then, place the documents again on the document feed tray, and restart the document feeding by restarting the automatic document feeder. Thus, the automatic document feeder was so far poor in the operability.

[0005] So, a technology that makes it enable to continuously feed documents one by one separately even when they are stapled with staples without interrupting the document feeding operation by automatically cutting the binding portions of them without stopping the automatic document feeder is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. Hei 8-15927.

[0006] However, in the existing technology, because documents are separated to each sheet by partially cutting the portion binding the, documents and the documents were damaged. And, to use the same documents by stapling them again, it was necessary to staple the remaining uncut blank portion of the documents and thus, usability of the documents was lowered.

[0007] Therefore, it is desirable that an automatic document feeder is capable of separating and conveying documents one by one to a prescribed document reading position without necessity for removing staples by operator after stopping the automatic document feeding once documents are placed on the document feed tray even if they were stapled with staples.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to feed documents placed on the document feed tray, even if they were stapled with staples, to a prescribed document reading position by separating them one by one sheet without stopping the automatic document feeding operation and cutting the documents.

[0009] According to the embodiment of the present invention, an automatic document feeder is provided, comprising: a document feed tray on which documents are placed; a document conveying device which conveys the documents from the document feed tray to a prescribed document image reading position; a remover provided in the conveying path of the document conveying device to remove a staple binding documents; and a separation device provided in the document conveying path to separate the documents passed the remover position one by one sheet.

[0010] Further, according to the present invention, there is provided an automatic document feeding method comprising steps of: conveying a document to a prescribed document image reading position from a document feed tray; sensing a staple binding documents during the step of conveying the documents to a prescribed document image reading position from the document feed tray; removing the staple when detecting the staple; and separating the documents one by one before the documents reach the document image reading position after removing the staple.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] FIG. 1 is a construction diagram roughly showing an automatic document feeder and a scanner unit of an embodiment of the present invention;

[0012] FIG. 2 is a rough top view of the automatic document feeder in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective view roughly showing a remover in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a rough top view of a staple sensor and the remover showing their moving range in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0015] FIG. 5 is a rough side view showing the remover in the embodiment of the present invention viewed from the arrow direction C in FIG. 3;

[0016] FIG. 6 is a rough top view of a cutter mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention:

[0017] FIG. 7 is an explanation diagram roughly showing the cutter in the ready position in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 8 is an explanation diagram roughly showing the state of the stable that was fixed by a nipper mechanism 32 in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] FIG. 9 is an explanation diagram roughly showing the state of the cutter get between a stable and a document in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] FIG. 10 is a rough side view showing the state of the top of a staple that was cut by the cutter in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 11 is a rough top view showing the state of the top of a staple that was cut by the cutter in the embodiment of the present invention; and

[0022] FIG. 12 is a rough side view showing the state of a document with the ends of a staple removed by the nipper mechanism in the embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] An embodiment of the present invention will be described below in detail referring to attached drawings. FIG. 1 is a brief construction diagram showing a through read type automatic document feeder 10 that is an embodiment of the present invention for feeding a document G to a contact glass 12 which is a document reading position of an image reading scanner 11. The automatic document feeder 10 is arranged to cover the contact glass 12 and a document table 13 on the top of the scanner 11 and can be opened/closed on the contact glass 12 and the document table 13.

[0024] As a document conveying device for conveying a document G on the conveying path from the document feed tray 14 to the contact glass 12, the automatic document feeder 10 has pick-up rollers 16 to take out a document G in the arrow direction x from the document feed tray, a separation roller pair 17 to separate documents G supplied by the pick-up rollers 16 one by one, a transmission roller pair 18, a read roller 21 to supply the documents G to the contact glass 12 by clamping them together with an aligning roller 20, and guide plates 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d.

[0025] Further, the automatic document feeder 10 has first and second discharge rollers 23a, 23b for discharging documents G in the discharging direction by clamping them together with the read roller 21 after passing the contact glass 12, and a discharge guide 26 and a discharge roller 27 for discharging the documents G on a discharge tray 24. Further, there is a first gate 60 provided between the first discharge roller 23a and the second discharge roller 23b, and documents G are sorted to the second discharge roller 23b side or a reversing unit 61 side provided below the document discharge tray 24. The reversing unit 61 comprises a feed roller pair 62 and a guide plate 63 for conveying the document G by clamping it. Further, at the position of the second discharge roller 23a, there is provided a second gate 66 for sorting documents G to the document discharge tray 24 side or again to the aligning roller 20 side.

[0026] Between the document feed tray 14 and the separation rollers 17, there are provided a staple sensor 30 for detecting stables 28 and a remover 31 for removing the staples 28 stapling documents G when documents G placed on the document table 14 are stapled with staples. The staple sensor 30 magnetically detects the staples 28 that are made of a magnetic material such as stainless steel, etc. The staple sensor 30 and the remover 31 move within a 20 mm square range shown by the broken line in FIG. 4 in the conveying path. The remover 31 stops at a position where the staple sensor 30 detects the staples 28. Further, 25 is a pressing guide to compress a document G against the contact glass 12 and 29 is a stopper to control the position of the leading edge of the document G placed on the document feed tray 14.

[0027] Next, the remover 31 will be described below in detail. The remover 31 has a nipper mechanism 32 that nips a chip 28b of the staple that staples the documents G and a cutter mechanism 33 that cuts off the upper portion 28a of the staple 28 stapling the document G.

[0028] A second nipping portion 32b is mounted on a first nipping portion 32a of the nipper mechanism 32 so that it slid by a motor (not shown). The first nipping portion 32a is provided movably to an evacuating position shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5 or on the conveying path shown by the solid line in FIG. 5 by a pair of first arms 36a, 36b that are rotatably supported by first shafts 37a, 37b. When the nipper mechanism 32 is provided in the conveying path, the second nipping portion 32b slides in the arrow direction q and nips the chip 28b of the staple 28 between the first and second nipping portions 32a and 32b.

[0029] The cutter mechanism 33, when arranged on the conveying path, is able to move to a standby position shown by the dotted line or between the cutting positions shown by the solid line in FIG. 6 by a second arm 40 that is movably supported by a second shaft 38. The cutter mechanism 33 has a cutter 44 having a bisymmetrically inclined cutting edge 43. The cutter 44 is arranged movably to the standby position shown by the dotted line or between the ready positions where the bottom surface of the cutter 44 shown by the slid line in FIG. 5 contacts a document G by a pair of third arms 42a, 42b rotatably supported by third shafts 41a, 41b that are formed on the second arm 40. At the mounting portion of the cutting edge 43 of the cutter 44, there is provided a magnet 46 for recovering cut staples 28.

[0030] The scanner 11 is equipped with a CCD sensor 47 that has a control panel 47a. The CCD sensor 47 reads an image that is projected by an image reflecting light from a document G placed on the document table 13 or from a document G passing on the contact glass 12.

[0031] A light source 48 and the first mirror 50 are mounted on a first carriage 56, and the second and third mirrors 51, 52 are mounted on a second carriage 57. The first and second carriages 56 and 57 are normally positioned at the home positions shown by the solid line in FIG. 1 and reciprocate in the scanning direction shown by the arrow v in FIG. 1 along rails (not shown) if needed to read an image of a document placed on the document table 13.

[0032] Next, the operation will be described. When reading a document G at the position of the contact glass 12 of the scanner 11, after placing a document G on the document feed tray 14 of the automatic document feeder 10, the document feeding is started by turning the print key (not shown) ON. Then, the staple sensor 30 moves from the home position into the conveying path and detects the staple 28. When the staple sensor 30 does not sense the staple 28, it recognizes that a document G is not stapled, the stopper 29 is released, the pick-up rollers 16 and the separation rollers 27 are driven and a top sheet of the document G is taken out from the document feed tray 14.

[0033] On the other hand, when a document G is stapled by staples 28 using a prescribed stapler (not shown) and the stable sensor 30 senses the staples 28, the remover 31 is moved from the evacuating position (A) shown by the dotted line to a staple 28 sensing position (B) in the conveying path shown by the one-dot chain line in FIG. 2 by a moving mechanism (not shown). While the staple sensor 30 is returned to the home position from the sensing position. The remover 31 rotates the first arms 36a, 36b in the arrow direction r at the staple 28 sensing position and moves the first nipping portion 32a from the evacuation position shown by the dotted line to the position to support the back of the document G in the conveying path shown by the solid line in FIG. 5. At the same time, the third arms 42a, 42b are rotated in the arrow direction t, and the cutter 44 is moved to the ready position shown by the solid line from the standby position shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5 to bring the bottom surface of the cutter 44 in contact with a document G. At this time, when viewed from the above, the position of the cutter 44 to the document G is as shown in FIG. 7.

[0034] Then, in the nipper mechanism 32, the second nipping portion 32b is slid in the arrow direction q to nip the staple chip 28b of the staple 28 between the first nipping portion 32a and the second nipping portion 32b and fix the staple 28 as shown in FIG. 8. When the second arm 40 is rotated in the arrow direction s under this state, the cutting edge 43 of the cutter 44 crawls between the staple 28 and the document G as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 9, and when the arm 40 is further rotated in the arrow direction s, the cutting edge 43 cuts only both ends of the upper side portion 28a of the staple 28a as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11. The cut upper side portion 28 of the staple 28 is attracted by a magnet 46 and recovered.

[0035] Hereafter, the first arms 36a, 36b are rotated in the reverse direction to the arrow direction r, the nipper mechanism 32 is returned to the evacuation position shown by the dotted line in FIG. 5 while nipping the chip 28b of the staple 28 and the chip 28b of the staple 28 is removed from the document G as shown in FIG. 12. Further, in the cutter 44, after returning the arm 40 to the ready position by rotating it in the revere direction to the arrow direction s, the cutter 44 is returned to the standby position shown by the dotted line shown in FIG. 5 by rotating the third arms 42a, 42b in the direction reverse to the arrow direction t.

[0036] Then, the remover 31 is returned to the evacuation position (A) shown by the dotted line in FIG. 2 and in the nipper mechanism 32, the second nipping portion 32b is slid in the direction reverse to the arrow direction q, the chip 28b of the staple 28 is attracted to a magnetic recovery member (not shown) and the removing operation of the staple 28 from the document G is completed.

[0037] Hereafter, the stopper 29 is released, a top sheet of the documents G with the staple 28 removed is taken out of the document feed tray 14 by driving the pick-up rollers 16 and the separation rollers 17 and a paper is supplied to the position of the aligning roller 20 along the guide plates 22a, 22b, 22c. The document G of which leading edge is aligned by the aligning roller 20 is clamped by the aligning roller 20 and the reading roller 21 and conveyed to the contact glass 12.

[0038] At this time, in the scanner 11, the first and second carriages 56, 57 are at the home position below the contact glass 12 shown by the solid line in FIG. 1. Then, when the documents G are conveyed by the aligning roller 20 and the reading roller 21 and are passing through the contact glass 12 in order, the documents G are irradiated by the light from the light source 48, the reflecting light from the documents G is formed in order on the CCD sensor 47 through the first through third mirrors 50, 51, 52 and the lens 53, and the image data of the documents G are stored in a memory (not shown) and a document image is read.

[0039] Hereafter, the documents G passed the contact glass 12 are led to the first discharge roller 23a side and sorted in either the direction of the second discharge roller 23b or a converting unit 61 by a first gate 60. When the back is to be read, the document G is conveyed to the converting unit 61 side and after the conveying direction is reversed in the guide 63, the document G is conveyed to the second discharge roller 23b side by a feeding roller 62. Thereafter, the documents G are sorted in the direction of the aligning roller 20 by a second gate 66 and conveyed again to the contact glass 12 for reading the back.

[0040] On the other hand, when the back of document is not read, the document G passed the contact glass 12 is led between the first and second discharge rollers 23a, 23b, guided by the discharge de 26, discharged on the document discharge tray 24 by the discharge roller 27, and the image reading operation is completed.

[0041] Further, when reading an image by operator by supplying a document G manually on the document table 13, after the automatic document feeder 10 is opened and a document G is placed on the document table 13 and then, the reading operation is started by turning the print key ON. At this time, in the scanner 11, the first and second carriages 56, 57 are slid to below the document table 13 from the home positions so as to read the document G on the document table 13 and scans the document G by sliding in the arrow direction v as shown by the dotted line in FIG. 1.

[0042] During this period, the reflecting light from the document G by the light source 48 is formed sequentially on the CCD sensor 47 via the first through third mirrors 50, 51, 52 and the lens 53, and the image data of the document G is recorded in a memory (not shown) and the document reading is carried out. After completing the reading of the document G, the first and second carriages 56, 57 are returned to the home positions and the reading operation is completed.

[0043] In the construction as described above, even when documents G stapled by staples 28 are set on the document feed tray 14, it is possible to detect the staples 28, automatically cut and remove them by the remover 31. Therefore, even when documents G stapled with the staples 28 are set on the automatic document feeder 10, it is possible to solve such a troublesome handling that the automatic document feeder 10 is stopped, the documents are taken out and the staples 28 are removed manually by operator. Furthermore, because the documents G are not damaged by the staple 28 removing operation by the remover 31, it is possible to staple the documents G again at the same positions using the staples 28 without impeding the operability of the automatic document feeder 10.

[0044] Further, the present invention is not restricted to the embodiment described above but can be variously modified within the scope of the invention. For example, the automatic document feeder can be in optional structure not being of through-read type but can be of type to place documents on the document table, take out the documents from the document table after completing the reading and discharge them to the discharge tray or of type having only the reading function of the through-read type to read documents during conveying them without equipped with a stationary document table for document reading.

[0045] Further, the staple sensor is also not restricted to a sensor for magnetically sensing but can be, for example, a sensor that senses oscillation of a sensing roller, etc. that oscillates when passing an area stapled with staples and senses presence of staples.

[0046] According to the present invention described above in detail, even when documents are stapled with staples, the documents are fed after automatically removing staples and therefore, operator is not required to remove staples and operability is improved. Furthermore, because documents are not damaged when removing staples, the documents can be stapled again in the same state by staples after completing the document feeding and thus, usability thereafter can be promoted.

Claims

1. An automatic document feeder comprising:

a document feed tray on which documents are placed;

a document conveying device which conveys the documents from the document feed tray to a prescribed document image reading position;

a remover provided in the conveying path of the document conveying device to remove a staple binding documents; and

a separation device provided in the document conveying path to separate the documents passed the remover position one by one sheet.

2. The automatic document feeder according to claim 1,

wherein the document conveying device has a staple sensor in the conveying path and the remover moves to the staple removing position in the conveying path from an evacuation position when the staple sensor detects the staple.

3. The automatic document feeder according to claim 2,

wherein the remover has a cutter which cuts and removes the staple.

4. The automatic document feeder according to claim 3,

wherein the remover has a nipper which nips a part of the staple when the cutter cuts the staple.

5. The automatic document feeder according to claim 4,

wherein the cutter is inserted between the staple and the document, cuts the both upper sides of the staple and the nipper nips the chip end of the staple.

6. The automatic document feeder according to claim 2,

wherein the staple has magnetic characteristic and the staple sensor is a magnetic sensor.

7. An automatic document feeding method comprising the steps of:

conveying a document to a prescribed document image reading position from a document feed tray;

sensing a staple binding documents during the step of conveying the documents to a prescribed document image reading position from the document feed tray;

removing the staple when detecting the staple; and

separating the documents one by one before the documents reach the document image reading position after removing the staple.

8. The automatic document feeding method according to claim 7,

wherein the step of removing the staple is executed by cutting the staple.

9. The automatic document feeding method according to claim 8,

wherein the staple is cut in the state with a part of the staple nipped.

10. The automatic document feeding method according to claim 9,

wherein the staple is cut by inserting a cutter between the staple and the document and cutting the both upper ends of the staple, and after cutting the both upper ends of the staple, the ends of the staple are pulled out with a nipper.

11. The automatic document feeding method according to claim 7,

wherein the staple has magnetic characteristic, the step of detecting the staple magnetically detects the staple, and the step of removing the staple recovers the staple magnetically after removing the staple.