The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 25, 2018
Filed:
Jul. 22, 2014
Konica Minolta, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, KR;
Takaki Kato, Toyokawa, JP;
Yuji Kobayashi, Toyohashi, JP;
Yuta Tachibana, Toyokawa, JP;
Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Toyokawa, JP;
Satoshi Teshima, Okazaki, JP;
Konica Minolta, Inc., Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A sheet feeder picking up and transporting sheets includes a transport unit transporting sheets along a sheet transport path one by one, a gap occurrence detection unit detecting, within a predetermined section of the sheet transport path, occurrence of a gap between sheets, and a controller controlling a timing of the transport of sheets according to a result of the detection. The gap occurrence detection unit includes a first detection unit and a second detection unit. The first detection unit is configured to detect light that is emitted toward the predetermined section, reaches a converging surface thereof across the predetermined section, and converged on a receiving element thereof. The second detection unit is configured to detect light reflected by a sheet passing through the predetermined section. The occurrence of the gap is detected based on outputs from the first detection unit and the second detection unit.