Photocopying – Projection printing and copying cameras – Identifying – composing – or selecting
Patent
1998-11-10
2000-05-16
Metjahic, Safet
Photocopying
Projection printing and copying cameras
Identifying, composing, or selecting
355 27, G03B 2732, G03B 2752
Patent
active
060644648
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a copying machine, and more particularly to a method and a system for automatic sheet feeding and transportation.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventionally, a copying machine is known which includes an automatic sheet feeding unit (or Auto-Document Feeder (ADF)) which successively feeds a plurality of originals to be copied, one at a time, from the original tray on to the original supporting plate.
In general, the automatic sheet feeding unit includes a sheet feeding section which picks up and feeds a plurality of originals one by one and a transportation section (transportation belt) which transports the picked-up original to the original supporting plate.
This automatic sheet feeding unit allows a user to make copies of a plurality of originals successively in response to a user's single instruction.
Also known is a copying machine which performs what we call a sheet through operation in which the original scanner (normally composed of an optical system) is not moved but fixed at a predetermined position below the original supporting plate and a single-sheet original, inserted through the original inserting port, is moved over the fixed original scanner. This sheet through operation is useful in copying a long-length original that is longer than the length of the original supporting plate in the original transportation direction.
However, the automatic sheet feeding unit described above can feed only an original shorter than the original supporting plate. It is therefore not practical to implement the sheet through operation in the conventional automatic sheet feeding unit. That is, conventionally, the successive automatic sheet feeding operation and the sheet through operation for a long-length original have been performed by separate mechanisms, and no copying machine has had these two mechanisms at the same time.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a copying machine that can perform both the successive automatic sheet feeding operation and the sheet through operation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a mechanism structure and a control method suited for such a copying machine.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The copying machine according to the present invention is a copying machine, in which an original scanner below an original supporting plate moves relatively with respect to an original on the original supporting plate to scan and copy the original, the copying machine comprising a copying machine main body having the original supporting plate on which the original is placed; an original transporting unit having an original inserting port for transporting the original inserted into the original inserting port onto the original supporting plate, the original transporting unit being installed on the copying machine main body; first control means included in the copying machine main body for controlling an original transportation operation of the original transporting unit; and an automatic sheet feeding unit including automatic sheet feeding means for successively feeding a plurality of originals into the original inserting port and second control means for controlling an original transportation operation of the original transporting unit in place of the first control means during an operation of the automatic sheet feeding means, the automatic sheet feeding unit being optionally installed on the copying machine main body.
With this configuration, the copying machine according to the present invention assigns the automatic sheet feeding function which feeds a plurality of originals (one at a time) successively and the original transporting function which moves the original from the sheet feeding position to the original supporting plate, to two independent units (the original transporting unit and the automatic sheet feeding unit which will be described later). In addition, the control of the original transporting unit is performed by the copying machine main body (first control means). This configuration, in which the autom
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Copyer Co. Ltd.
Metjahic Safet
Nguyen Hung Henry
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