JPS6226060B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a continuous feeding system for media.

Conventionally, there have been the following difficulties in continuously feeding out forms from a form loading section (hopper section) at optimal intervals. That is, the time required for reading a form at the form reading position naturally differs depending on the design of the form. The factors include the total number of data contained in a single document, the number of lines to be read, the length of the document, the presence or absence of backfeed in the document due to the presence or absence of reading retries (rescanning), the type of characters to be read,
There are various options such as whether or not the read data is checked.
It is extremely difficult to set and calculate a calculation formula for each document to determine the optimal document feeding interval in consideration of these factors, and then determine the interval based on the results. Therefore, it was necessary to send the documents at fixed time intervals common to each document.

The present invention actually feeds each document in advance, measures the reading processing time per sheet, and uses the results to set the time interval for document feeding. Provides a means to realize the feeding of forms. In addition, the present invention also includes means for stopping subsequent forms until processing is completed if, in rare cases, a specific form cannot be processed even after the set time has elapsed.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

In FIG. 1, a form 101 is mounted on a hopper plate 100. As shown in FIG. The form 101 is delivered by a delivery roller 102, which is driven by a drive motor 103. This driving is stopped when the leading edge of the form is detected by the form detection unit 104. In this embodiment, this drive motor 103 is turned on and off at optimal time intervals.
can be done. As a result, the form that has reached the detection unit 104 is transferred to the belt 1 by the drive motor 108.
A belt 111 that moves on a conveyor belt driven via 07 and is driven by a drive motor 112.
reach up to. Since the data on the form on this belt is read optically, for example, an image is formed on an image sensor 115 by a mirror 113 and a lens 114. The completed form is stored in the stacker 116. The mid-way detection units 105 and 109 are installed to detect when the leading edge of the form has reached its position, and the detection unit 110
is installed to detect when the trailing edge of the form has reached that point.

Next, these control operations will be explained with reference to FIG. First, the operation is started by receiving a start command from a computer or inputting a start pulse signal 304 generated at the timing of pressing a start button or the like. Flip-flop 320 is set by signal 304 and counter 31
0 is reset by the same signal 304, flip-flop 315 is set by the same signal via OR gate 314, and flip-flop 324 is set by the same signal via OR gate 325. As a result, the flip-flop 31 is set.
The output of No. 5 is input to the drive circuit 316 of the drive motor 103 (FIG. 1), the drive roller 102 is driven, and the first form is fed out from the hopper section. The output of the flip-flop 324 set at the same time is input to the drive circuit 328 which drives the drive motor 108 (FIG. 1), and as a result, the conveyor belt 106
are also driven at the same time. When the leading edge of the fed-out form reaches the detection section 104, a detection signal is input to the terminal 306, and is input to the reset input terminal of the flip-flop 315 via the OR gate 329. As a result, the flip-flop 315 is reset, and as a result, the drive roller 102 is driven. The input to the circuit 316 is turned OFF, and the feeding of subsequent forms from the hopper is stopped. However, the form is then transferred to the conveyor belt 106.
Since the leading edge of the form has reached , the form is drawn in by the belt 106 and further travels on the belt 106 to reach the reading section. The feed motor 112 of the reading section is normally a DC motor or a step motor, and performs intermittent driving operations for the belt 111.

When the form reaches the detection unit 109, the detection unit 109
The detection signal is input to the terminal 301 and then input to the one-shot multivibrator 307. The flip-flop 3 is activated by the output of the vibrator 307.
08 is set, and the basic clock signal 302 is ANDed with the AND gate 309 and inputted as the clock signal of the counting counter 310. As a result, counter 310 starts counting time. Thereafter, the document is read by the reader and then ejected. When the trailing edge of the document reaches the detector 110, the detection signal is input as a signal 303 to the multivibrator 318 via the signal inversion gate 317. The flip-flop 308 is reset by the output of the vibrator 318, and the counting counter 310 continues until the clock signal output from the AND gate 309 disappears.
continues to measure time. That is, the counter 310 measures the time from the start to the end of reading in the reading section for one sheet of paper, and the counting result is stored in the register 311 at the same time as the reading ends. After that, when the trailing edge of the form passes through the detection unit 110, the detection signal 303 is input to the vibrator 318, so a one-shot output is generated from the vibrator 318, and this output is sent to the AND gate 319.
The signal is applied to the delay circuit 333 via the buffer, and resets the flip-flop 320 after a predetermined delay time has elapsed. As a result, one output of flip-flop 320 opens AND gate 324;
The clock signal 302 is input to the counter 322 via this gate 324, and by inputting it as the clock signal of the counter 322, the counter 322 starts counting, and the comparison circuit 312 compares the previously counted contents of the register 311 with the clock signal 302. The size is compared, and if the two match, the vibrator 3
13 is outputted and the flip-flop 315 is set via the OR gate 314. As a result, the driving roller 102 is driven and feeding of the next form is started, and the flip-flop 320 and the counter 322 are reset. That is, from the second sheet onward, the driving roller 102 is continuously driven to feed out the form every time the time required for reading the first sheet elapses. Note that since the output of the vibrator 313 is simultaneously input to the reset terminal of the flip-flop 321, the counter 322 also stops counting.

Note that when the detection unit 110 detects the trailing edge of the form, the vibrator 318 outputs an output and the AND gate 31
9. Through the delay circuit 333, the flip-flop 3
Since the input is input to the reset terminal of register 3, the AND gate 319 cannot perform an AND operation after that.
11, the contents of the counter 310 are never set again. The next time the hopper is set is when the next group of forms is set in the hopper after the hopper is empty and a start command is issued from the computer in the initial state. In this way, from the second sheet onward, the comparator circuit 312 controls the drive roller 1 every time the count result when reading the first sheet and the count result of the counter 322 match.
02 will be driven.

From the above, during continuous processing, the trailing edge of the form is detected by the detection unit 110.
When detected, the leading edge of the next form has just reached the detection unit 109, and reading processing can be performed one after another extremely efficiently.

In the present invention, when the reading of the first form is completed, after the trailing edge of the same form has passed the detection unit 110 and a time equal to the measured count value has elapsed, the driving roller for feeding out the next form is activated. 102 is driven, and from the start of this drive, the detection unit 1
There is no need to add the time required to reach 09 to the above-mentioned count value to measure the time. This is because it takes time for the third form to reach the detection unit 109 as well, so it is normal for the third form to reach the reading unit while the second form is being read. Because it's impossible. However, if for some reason the reading processing time becomes longer than the already measured value, the following measures may be taken into consideration in order to prevent the next form from colliding with the form being read.

Note that the input terminal 305 in FIG.
26, the detection signal 301 from the detection unit 109 and
It is connected to the reset gate of a flip-flop 324 which performs an AND operation and generates a drive signal for the drive motor 108 of the conveyor belt 106. This means that even if the next form reaches the detection unit 105, the preceding form is still being read by the reading unit.
This is because if the detection unit 109 detects the state, the flip-flop 324 is reset to stop the feeding of subsequent forms. At the same time, since the flip-flop 315 is also reset via the OR gate 329, the drive roller 102 is also stopped, and the drive from the hopper section is also stopped.

In this case, the count is restarted when the form has finished passing through the detection section 110, and a one-shot output from the vibrator 318 is generated, which passes through the OR gate 323 and sets the flip-flop 324, thereby driving the drive circuit 328 again. In this case, time measurement is restarted when passing through the detection unit 109.

As described above, the present invention makes it possible to continuously feed documents while automatically setting the feeding interval to the best value.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a mechanical diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an example of a control circuit diagram for the embodiment of FIG.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A first counter that measures the reading time for the first fed form; a storage means that stores the value measured by the first counter; and a counter that is initialized by an initialization signal. a second counter that performs a time counting operation; and a control means that performs a form feeding operation and generates the initialization signal every time the value stored in the storage means and the time value of the second counter match. A form feeding control device comprising: