Eastman-kodak Company

Thomas W Ebert

Robert M Westcott

Randall R Maysick

Timothy R Cardot

A control system and method for an optical scanner of the type having a document feeding device for transporting documents to an optical scanning station is provided. The control system includes a plurality of buffer memories for temporarily storing optical data from documents processed through the scanning station, and a control circuit connected to the buffer memories and the document feeding device. The delivery rate of the document-feeding device is maximized to a level consistent with an estimated mode value of optical data present on the documents being scanned. When documents having higher than normal optical data cause the buffer memories to fill up faster then than they empty, the control circuit transmits a command to pause or slow down the delivery rate of the document feeding device upon a determination that a threshold capacity of any of the buffer memories has been exceeded or is about to be exceeded. By maximizing the delivery speed of the document-feeding device in accordance with the actual amount of optical data on the documents being scanned, throughput for a given processing bandwidth is maximized.

Dynamic document feeder system and method for maximizing scanning throughput

The present invention relates an image reading device and a sheet feeding method for feeding sheets or documents to the image reading device. In the device and method of the present invention, a controller which is associated with at least one of a sheet feeder or a feed sensor, controls an engagement and disengagement of the sheet feeder based on a comparison of a length of a first document fed into the image reading device with subsequent documents. With the device of the present invention, it is possible to increase document throughput rates by controlling the gap between documents.

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Penfield, NY, United States of America

Thomas W Ebert