Patent ID: 8047529
Filing Date: 2011-11-01
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A method of feeding a medium, the method comprising: preliminarily feeding a subsequent medium such that a leading end of the subsequent medium becomes close to a trailing end of a previous medium being recorded; after the preliminary feeding starts and before a transport operation of the previous medium starts, determining if the preliminary feeding is completed based on whether a feeding motor is driving the preliminary feeding or whether the driver is no longer driving the preliminary feeding and the previous medium and the subsequent medium are both stopped, acquiring a determination value according to a gap between the previous medium and the subsequent medium; and performing the transport operation of the previous medium, wherein, in the performing of the transport operation, when the determination value represents an appropriate gap between the previous medium and the subsequent medium, main feeding operation of the subsequent medium is performed while the transport operation of the previous medium is being performed, and when the determination value represents no appropriate gap, the main feeding operation of the subsequent sheet is not performed while the transport operation of the previous medium is being performed, wherein the determination value is acquired based on a detection result from a first detection sensor and a second detection sensor, each of which is provided at a position between a location where the preliminary feeding starts and a location where the transport operation starts, the first detection sensor detecting a trailing end of the previous medium while the second detection sensor detects the leading end of the subsequent medium, such that the determination value is the gap between the trailing end of the previous medium and the leading end of the subsequent medium, and when it comes a time to acquire the determination value, if the preliminary feeding operation is still continuing, no determination value is acquired, and the transport operation of the previous medium starts.