Document Scanner Multi-Feeding Detection via Page Number Comparison
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Solution Overview
Problem
Image forming apparatuses often experience multi feeding issues during document conveyance, leading to page missing errors, where multiple documents are conveyed overlappingly, resulting in incomplete reading of documents, especially when a document bundle is set for scanning.
Innovation Solution
The apparatus includes a control unit that performs an area identification process on acquired document image data to identify specific areas containing page numbers, sets a reference document, extracts image data from these areas, generates combined image data by overlapping reference and comparative image data, and outputs a confirmation page to detect multi feeding, using a prescribed extraction interval multiple of 10.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a document bundle is set to the document conveyance unit for automatic conveyance and reading, then the productivity of reading multiple documents is improved, but multi feeding occurs causing pages to be conveyed in an overlapping manner resulting in reading failures and loss of information
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit performs preliminary actions by extracting image data from specific areas (such as page numbers) of each document page before complete reading occurs. It compares these extracted image data with previously stored reference image data to detect multi-feeding in advance, preventing information loss before it happens.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by comparing extracted image data from current document pages with reference image data from previously read pages. When discrepancies are detected (indicating multi-feeding), the system provides feedback to stop the conveyance unit, preventing further reading failures and information loss.
2Device complexity
If the document conveyance unit sequentially conveys documents toward the reading position, then the device complexity is reduced compared to individual processing, but multi feeding causes reading failures requiring additional detection mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The document conveyance system performs self-service by automatically detecting multi-feeding through image comparison without requiring external intervention. The control unit extracts image data from specific areas, compares it with reference data, and automatically determines whether multi-feeding has occurred, maintaining reliability without adding complex external detection mechanisms.
3Measurement precision
If image data from specific areas containing page numbers is extracted and compared between reference and comparative documents, then the precision of detecting multi feeding is improved, but the device complexity increases due to additional processing steps
Solution Approach 1:
The control unit applies the extraction principle by isolating and extracting image data from specific areas of document pages, such as page numbers or header regions. This focused extraction of critical information areas enables precise multi-feeding detection without the need to process and analyze the entire document image, thereby maintaining high detection accuracy while minimizing processing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
An image forming apparatus includes a document conveyance unit, an image reading unit, and a control unit that performs an area identification process for identifying, from among a plurality of specific areas in document image data, a specific area including an image corresponding to a page number. The control unit extracts, as reference image data, image data in the specific area identified in the area identification process from the reference document, extracts, as comparative image data, image data in the specific area identified in the area identification process from among a plurality of specific areas in the document image data of a comparative document having a reading order later than the reference document by an extraction interval number, and outputs a confirmation page including combined image data in which the reference image data and the comparative image data overlap. The extraction interval number is a prescribed integer multiple of 10.