Patent ID: 9302863
Filing Date: 2016-04-05
CPC Classification: B65H

Claim Text:
1. A media feeding system for an image forming device (IFD), the media feeding system comprising: an input media tray having a bottom with a raisable lift plate for holding a media stack having at least one media sheet; a pick mechanism rotatably coupled to a drive assembly for feeding a topmost media sheet of the media stack, the pick mechanism having a flag having a first and a second light blocking region, and a first light passing region therebetween; an optical sensor mounted adjacent the input media tray, the optical sensor including an emitter and a photo-receiver spaced to allow the flag to pass therebetween and providing an output signal that changes between a first state and a second state as the flag passes between the emitter and the photo-receiver, the output signal representative of a position of the pick mechanism that changes as the height of the stack changes; a lift mechanism operably coupled to the lift plate for raising the lift plate; a lift plate sensor that is actuated when the lift plate is positioned on the bottom; and, a controller operably coupled to the optical sensor, the lift plate sensor, the drive assembly and the lift mechanism, the controller configured to: