Auto Document Feeding Device Conveyance Path Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing auto document feeding devices do not effectively increase reading speed when continuously reading documents, leading to conveyance delays and reduced productivity in image scanning processes.
Innovation Solution
The auto document feeding device employs multiple conveyance paths with lengths longer than the document, a gate member to distribute documents, and a paper discharge member to efficiently align and discharge documents, ensuring stable and rapid conveyance to an image reading member, thereby enhancing reading speed and productivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple conveyance paths are used to increase reading speed, then productivity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyance system is divided into multiple independent conveyance paths (first conveyance path and second conveyance path), each capable of transporting documents separately to different reading positions. This segmentation allows parallel processing of multiple documents, thereby increasing reading speed and productivity while managing complexity through modular path design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a gate member that controls the distribution of documents to different conveyance paths based on document characteristics such as thickness. By adding this dimensional control layer, the system can dynamically route documents through optimal paths, improving productivity without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.
2Stability of the object's composition
If conveyance path length is increased to accommodate document distribution, then document alignment stability is improved, but conveyance time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The conveyance paths are designed with locally optimized characteristics - the first conveyance path is optimized for standard thickness documents while the second path accommodates thick documents. Each path's length and configuration are tailored to its specific document type, ensuring stable alignment without unnecessary conveyance time for documents that don't require the full path length.
Solution Approach 2:
The gate member provides dynamic document distribution, automatically selecting which conveyance path to use based on real-time document characteristics. This dynamic routing ensures that documents take the most efficient path available, maintaining alignment stability while minimizing conveyance time by avoiding unnecessarily long paths.
Data Source
AI summary
The lengths of an OUT path and an IN path are made longer than the length of a document of a main size in a traveling direction. The document of the main size stands by for conveyance in a direction of a READ document glass in a state where the entire document is contained in the OUT path or the IN path. The entrance speed of the document into the OUT path or the IN path is equal to the read speed of a scanner. The leading edge of a subsequent document is overlapped on the trailing edge of a preceding document, and the document is conveyed to the READ document glass.