Patent ID: 8448937
Filing Date: 2013-05-28
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. A medium supplying apparatus comprising: a loading rack having a plurality of sheet-shaped media stacked therein; a separation mechanism that separates one medium at a time from the plurality of media and transports the medium; an irradiation unit that emits light onto a surface of the medium which is to be separated, the irradiation unit including: a light receiving unit that receives the reflected light reflected from the surface of the medium, the light emitted by the irradiation unit, and detects an intensity of the reflected light, the light receiving unit including: a controller connected to the separation mechanism, the irradiation unit, and the light receiving unit, wherein based on a ratio of the diffusely-reflected light intensity at the time of emission of the first irradiation beam to the specularly-reflected light intensity detected by the first specularly-reflected light receiving section and a ratio of the diffusely-reflected light intensity at the time of emission of the second irradiation beam to the specularly-reflected light intensity detected by the second specularly-reflected light receiving section, the controller controls the separation mechanism to set a separating force for separating a next medium.