Image Reading Apparatus Conveyance Correction for Overlapping Documents
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image reading apparatuses face challenges in accurately estimating the conveyance amount of a single document when multiple documents are inserted side by side, leading to potential false conveyance errors and unnecessary error handling.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus includes a document insertion port, a conveyor, a scanner, and a detector, with a controller that corrects the conveyance amount by subtracting the length of images that can be cropped as a single document, ensuring accurate measurement even when documents are inserted overlapping in the main scanning direction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If multiple documents are inserted side by side in the main scanning direction, then the reading apparatus can read multiple documents in one operation, but the conveyance amount estimation becomes inaccurate leading to false error detection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the continuous conveyance amount measurement into individual document measurements by detecting document boundaries. The controller identifies where one document ends and another begins, then calculates conveyance amounts separately for each document segment, preventing the cumulative measurement error that occurs when multiple documents are processed together.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary detection mechanism (document detection sensors or image analysis) that acts as a mediator between the conveyor system and the measurement system. This intermediary detects the presence and boundaries of individual documents, enabling the system to distinguish between multiple documents and accurately measure each one's conveyance amount independently.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the document insertion port allows overlapping documents in the main scanning direction, then the apparatus can handle multiple documents simultaneously, but the detected conveyance amount exceeds the actual document length
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary detection of document boundaries and positions before final conveyance amount calculation. By detecting where each document starts and ends in the insertion port, the system prepares the necessary information in advance to accurately attribute conveyance amounts to individual documents, even when they are overlapping or arranged side by side.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic adjustment of the measurement process based on real-time detection of document configurations. When multiple documents are detected, the system dynamically switches from measuring total conveyance distance to measuring individual document conveyance distances, adapting the measurement strategy to the actual document arrangement.
Data Source
AI summary
An image reading apparatus includes: a document insertion port which allows documents to be inserted thereinto in a state of being arranged in a main scanning direction; a conveyor which conveys the documents inserted into the document insertion port in a predetermined conveyance direction; a scanner which reads images of the documents conveyed by the conveyor; a detector which detects whether at least one of the documents is present in the document insertion port; and a controller which counts a conveyance amount by which the documents are conveyed by the conveyor during a period in which the detector continuously detects that the at least one of the documents is present in the document insertion part. In a case that the images read by the scanner include a set of images croppable as an image of a single document included in the documents, the controller corrects the conveyance amount.