Double-side automatic feeding apparatus

Details Double-side automatic feeding apparatus Double-side automatic feeding apparatus

2002-06-04

2004-01-06

Walsh, Donald P. (Department: 3653)

Sheet feeding or delivering

Delivering

With transfer means between conveyor and receiver

C399S364000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06672583

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a double-side automatic feeding apparatus for document, especially to a double-side automatic feeding apparatus, wherein the document can be scanned on both sides thereof without cumbersome reverse movement.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The scanners become popular peripherals for computer users as multimedia and web page design are gradually prevailing. The scanner generally senses a reflected light from a document of interest and converts the sensed light signal to a digital image signal for representing the document. The digital image signal can be processed with optical character recognition software to convert the digital image signal into textual file if the original document contains textual information.
To scan double-sided document, scanner for double-sided image has been developed.
FIG. 1
shows a prior art scanner for double-sided image, which comprises a paper feeder
10
a
, a paper outlet
11
a
at same side as the paper feeder
10
a
, a scanning region
12
a
having a document traveling path
13
a
bridging the paper feeder
10
a
and the paper outlet
11
a
, a transparent window
14
a
and a direction-controlling wheel
15
a
opposite to the transparent window
14
a
, a rotary means
16
a
having an entrance path and an exit path connected to scanning region
12
a
. The entrance path is used to guide a document with one scanned side from the scanning region
12
a
, the exit path flipping the document and sending the flipped document to the scanning region
12
a
such that an unscanned side of the document can be processed in the scanning region
12
a
. A sensor
17
a
is placed at the exit of the rotary means
16
a
and sends a detection signal to the direction-controlling wheel
15
a
when sensing the appearance of the document and the direction-controlling wheel
15
a
will be commanded to rotate at opposite direction. An image sensor
18
a
is arranged at an outer side of the transparent window
14
a
. When the document is fed through the paper feeder
10
a
and passes to the transparent window
14
a
, the image sensor
18
a
senses an image at a first side of the document. When the document is flipped by the rotary means
16
a
and then again passes to the transparent window
14
a
, the image sensor
18
a
senses an image at a second side of the document.
However, in above-mentioned double-sided image scanner, the paper outlet
11
a
and the paper feeder
10
a
are located at the same side of the image scanner. The document should be returned to the paper outlet
11
a
after a long trip with flip operation. Therefore, the propagation distance of the document is long and the scanning time is increased.
Moreover, the paper outlet
11
a
and the paper feeder
10
a
are located at the same side of the image scanner and in two-decker arrangement along inclined or horizontal direction. The paper feeder
10
a
at the upper decker should be removed to fetch the scanned document.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a double-side automatic feeding apparatus, wherein the document can be scanned on both sides thereof without cumbersome reverse movement.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a double-side automatic feeding apparatus, wherein the document can be automatically aligned by the weight per se and the operations of paper placement and removal can be simplified.
To achieve above object, the present invention provides a double-side automatic feeding apparatus comprising a paper feeder, a paper outlet opposite to the paper feeder, a scanning region having a document traveling path bridging the paper feeder and the paper outlet, a plurality of rollers being arranged in the scanning region to convey a document to be scanned from the paper feeder to the paper outlet, and a paper flipping unit arranged in the document traveling path. The paper flipping unit can be selectively switched position thereof and used to flip the document during the document traveling path.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4986529 (1991-01-01), Agarwal et al.
patent: 5855367 (1999-01-01), Inoue et al.
patent: 6447182 (2002-09-01), Brewington et al.
patent: 6478490 (2002-11-01), Kelley et al.
patent: 6522860 (2003-02-01), Nose et al.

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