Hewlett-Packard Company

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.p.

A Justine Worley

Juan Manuel Jimenez

Charles W Dodge

D Bradley Short

Kevin Lee Bokelman

Craig A Maurer

Heinz H Waschhauser

Geoffrey C Mayne

Long C Doan

Gregory T Hulan

David C Tribolet

Gary W Gragg

Allan Donley

Shawn B Nielson

Walter E Borra

A sheet handling assembly includes a frame, a first assembly, and a second assembly, each assembly rotatably supported by the frame and configured to contactingly transport sheet media. A member is configured to rotate the second assembly in response to rotation of the member in a first direction. The frame is configured to pivot in the first direction in response to rotating the member in the first direction, and pivot in a second direction, opposite the first direction, in response to rotating the member in the second direction.

Methods and apparatus for transporting sheet media

An automatic document feeder is constructed of three chassis. A main chassis carries the active components, such as paper pick and drive mechanisms for sequentially picking and delivering said sheets to and from a flat bed scanner, motors, and transmissions for driving said paper pick and drive mechanisms, a document backing assembly, and electronic controller equipment. Moreover, the main chassis provides a document input tray. A lower chassis forms a low height form factor output tray, using paper stiffness caused by predetermined bending to register the document sheets without having to support the full length thereof. When assembled with an upper chassis, the three chassis provide the entire paper path. The lower chassis carries an attachment hinge mechanism for mounting the automatic document feeder appropriately to a flat bed scanner apparatus. The paper loading and unloading drive mechanism provides a balance normal force from a plurality of paper drive rollers. The paper loading and unloading drive mechanism is used to lift the document backing assembly from the flat bed scanner during loading and unloading of document sheets.

Modular automatic document feeder for a flat bed input device

An automatic document feeder includes a low profile, small footprint document output tray having an overall length of about one-half a document length and a shallow curvature with a centrally disposed medium depressor at the central region of the curve that forces a medium sheet to stiffen and to take the curved shape of the output tray.

Automatic document feeder having universal output tray

An automatic document feeder having a quick release hinge assembly for attachment to a computer input device having a medium receiving surface and an associated aligned flat bed bezel with at least one receiving sleeves includes a plurality of interconnectable modular assemblies where one of the assemblies functions as a hinge mount and includes a set of protrusions complementary in shape to a corresponding set of stops tilts on an attachment hinge secured removably to the hinge mount. The attachment hinge and hinge mount cooperate to permit the automatic document feeder to be swiveling mounted to the computer input device in a precisely aligned manner to facilitate the moving of documents in seriatim from an input tray to an output tray of the automatic document feeder via the medium receiving surface of the computer input device.

Automatic document feeder quick release hinge assembly

An automatic document feeder mounted removably to a computer input device having a medium receiving and supporting surface includes a plurality of interconnectable modular assemblies for defining a medium path that extends from a medium input tray to a medium output tray via the medium receiving and supporting surface of the computer input device. One of the modular assemblies is a main chassis assembly includes an integrally formed main chassis shell having a substantially planar base. The input tray extends upwardly from the base and has a document receiving surface with a concave shape in both the vertical and horizontal planes to help facilitate proper sheet stiffening and alignment for sheet loading purposes onto the receiving and supporting surface of the computer input device. A paper pick and transport mechanism is housed in the main chassis and protrudes through a set of apertures in the output tray. The mechanism includes a pair of spaced apart stop fence devices for supporting a stack of input print media and a centrally disposed pick roller disposed between the stop fence devices for picking individual sheets from the input tray.

Automatic document feeder having an input tray paper stop and pick

An automatic document feeder mounted removably to a computer input device having a medium receiving and supporting surface includes a plurality of interconnectable modular assemblies for defining a medium path that extends from a medium input tray to a medium output tray via the medium receiving and supporting surface of the computer input device. One of the modular assemblies is a main chassis assembly includes an integrally formed main chassis shell having a substantially planar base. The input tray has a document receiving surface with a concave shape in both the vertical and horizontal planes to help facilitate proper sheet stiffening and alignment for sheet loading purposes onto the receiving and supporting surface of the computer input device. A pair of spaced apart drive rollers mounted to a spring loaded drive axle engage in seriatim individual sheets for loading and unloading them onto the supporting surface of the computer input device. A motor driven transmission system is mounted to a central portion of the drive axle to balance the drive force applied by the drive rollers so that the individual medium sheets are loaded and unloaded without any substantial sheet skewing.

Automatic document feeder having a center drive mechanism for loading

Images of certain features of the copier itself (indicia, markings, operational components) are searched for, in a defined field of view used for copying. Any such images found, because they are not covered by a document being copied, are suppressed. This avoids the objectionable appearance of machine features from copies on full-size sheets of print medium, and deposition of ink on mechanisms of the copier itself. Preferably things in the field of view are imaged, and the image is parsed for the certain features--readily done by a software or firmware module or ASIC stage, easily incorporated into already-existing software, firmware or circuitry at minor unit cost. Preferably the copier features include document-size indicia, to aid determination by the copier whether a standard-size document is being copied, and thus whether suppression is in order. The search could be for operational machine features rather than special indicia, but those features may not be ideally positioned. Suppression may be of all machine features if the 'certain' features are found. Preferably copying of shadows at edges of a document is also suppressed--an easy function to add to the primary operation described. In finding of document edges, it is desirable to ignore all machine features. Preferably photosensors acquire image data from a document, and a print stage prints an image using the data. A feeder, if in operation, positions a document at the sensors. If the feeder is attached to the copier but not in service, data are analyzed automatically to find whether the document is below a particular standard size; and, if so, in response printing of data portions is suppressed automatically.

Growing community of inventors

Murrieta, CA, United States of America

A Justine Worley