Multiple-function printer with common feeder/output path mechanisms and method of operation

Abstract: A multiple-function printing device provides for picking pages from a stack of sheets in an input feeder for roller-driven movement along a first path through a printing station to an output, and for picking pages from a stack of documents in an input feeder for roller-driven movement along a second path through a scanning station to an output, with at least a portion of the first and second paths being commonly shared, and with common mechanisms being used for various steps such as for picking, providing roller-driven movement through the processing stations, and for actuating a pressure plate in the input feeders. A document guide in a document scanning mode of operation is pivoted into a lowered position generally parallel to the print station platen to constrain and contain the top and bottom of any curled document exiting from the scan station into an output roller nip so as to prevent an incipient paper jam. Prior to a printing mode of operation on a paper sheet, the document guide is pivoted about 100° so that it does not interfere with an incoming print cartridge.

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to printers and facsimile devices, and more particularly to printers and facsimile devices and their operation which are combined together to form a multiple-function printer as disclosed e.g. in EP 0 650 843 B1. Facsimile devices (i.e., fax machines) have been used for many years to transmit documents containing text or graphical images through a modem via telephone lines through another modem to a remote destination. In its basic form, a conventional fax machine is used for three separate functions: sending a first document; receiving a second document; and producing a hardcopy printout of the second document. Of course the hardcopy printout is not the actual second document but rather a close facsimile thereof. Thus, sending the contents of the second document via fax avoids going to the trouble, expense and delay of actually delivering the second document to a remote destination. An enhanced fax machine can also be used to perform two additional functions: producing a hardcopy printout of the first document; and producing a hardcopy printout of a cumulative report showing an itemized listing of date, time, and destination for first documents sent from the fax machine. It is therefore apparent that a fax machine acts primarily as both a sender (i.e., scanning and transmitting) and receiver of documents, and that the fax machine also acts secondarily as a printer (i.e., printing a facsimile of a second document, printing a copy of a scanned first document, or printing an itemized report) and secondarily as a convenience copier (i.e., scanning/printing a first document). Both the basic fax machine and the enhanced fax machine just described have used two separate paper paths. One path is dedicated to the first document and typically includes document feeder tray, document paper pick/paper drive system, document scanning station, and document output. Another path is dedicated to the printout (originally roll-fed, now sheet-fed) and typically includes sheet feeder tray, sheet paper pick/sheet drive system, sheet printing station, and sheet output. As a result, a fax machine is a bulky, expensive multiple-function device which requires a large number of parts for duplicate paper handling functions. When using a common paper path for scanning and printing, media that feeds through the device can range from original sheet stock to highly curled, bent or otherwise deformed documents. The problem of the invention is to provide a multiple-function printer of the type as disclosed in EP 0 650 843 B1 which avoids the occurrence of paper jams. This problem is met by a method according to claim 1 and a multiple-function printer of claim 7. Sheet media for printing is typically in good form and does not always require a paper path constraint on both faces of the paper. For a translating carriage type printer (i.e. typical inkjet printer), the space above the paper in the printing region is used for moving the print cartridge across the paper in close proximity. Documents for scanning can be in bad form and have been found to require top and bottom face constraint throughout the paper path. Thus, this invention includes a means to constrain both faces of documents which pass through the print region and when printing on original sheet stock does not interfere with the print cartridge. This improvement includes a document guide located above the paper path in the printing area which guides the document into the output roller nip. The document guides allows for deformed documents to be reliably moved through a common paper path multifunction printer. This results in a lower cost multifunction printer without compromising the reliability of the document feeding function. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of a presently preferred printer/facsimile embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is an isometric view looking down into an implementation of the embodiment of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a fragmentary isometric view showing the input feeder slots and pick roller portion of FIG. 3; FIG. 5 is a front isometric view of FIG. 3; FIG. 6 is a side view of FIG. 3; FIG. 7 is a fragmentary back view looking up at the feeder slots and pick roller portion of FIG. 4; FIG. 8 is a close-up schematic showing a pick roller ready to begin a reverse rotation kicking partially picked sheet(s) backward into the ASF as a result of a document stack being inserted into the ADF; FIG. 9 is a close-up schematic showing the pressure plate in disengaged position and all of the partially picked sheets expelled from underneath the pick roller into the ASF; FIG. 10 is a close-up schematic showing the pressure plate returned to an engaged position with the pick roller already commencing to pick a page from the top of the stack of documents which now partially overly the stack of print sheets; FIG. 11 is a schematic side view of an alternate printer/facsimile embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 11; and FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram of another alternate printer/facsimile embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 14 is a more detailed schematic side view of the common paper path of the invention illustrating the common path with a curled document positioned immediately prior to an incipient paper jam at the output roller nip; FIG. 15 is a schematic side view of the common paper path showing a jam-preventing document guide in a lowered position; FIG. 16 is a schematic side view of the common paper path showing the document guide in a raised position allowing the print cartridge to be horizontally moved into a printing mode position; and FIG. 17 is a top view of the printer station with the document guide in a scanning mode position. Figures 1 to 13 refer to embodiments of multiple-function printers as disclosed in EP-0 650 843 B1. Referring more particularly to Figs. 1-2, the multiple-function device of the presently preferred embodiment includes a frame 20 for housing a scanner station 22 and a printer station 24. A stack of print sheets is loadable into an automatic sheet feeder (ASF) 26, and a stack of documents having text/graphics to be scanned is loadable into an automatic document feeder (ADF) 28 which together form a common input feeder slot 30 having a pick roller 32 and a spring-loaded stripper pad 33 at the lower end. The upper portion of the input feeder slot which constitutes the ADF is separated from the ASF by a divider 35. The divider is truncated at its lower end to allow document stacks and sheets stacks to converge at the pick roller (see Figs. 8-10). A pressure plate 34 is attached at its upper end through pivot pin 36 to the frame and is normally biased upwardly against the pick roller by springs 38. A drive motor 40 is connected through a gear mechanism to the pressure plate 34 and pick roller 32 as described in more detail hereinafter, and is also connected to a main drive roller 42 which pulls the pages through the processing stations for either scanning or printing. The printout pages as well as the scanned pages pass across an output roller 43 to be deposited in a common output area 44. The scanner and printer stations in the drawings are for purposes of illustration only and are of conventional design, except for their unique locations along a shared path using shared mechanisms. In that regard, scanner station 22 includes a lamp 46 for illuminating a scanning zone, reflective mirrors 48, 50, a lens 49, and a CCD (charge-coupled device) photosensor 51. Printer station 24 includes inkjet cartridge 52 which rides on a slider rod 54 back and forth across a print zone. In the alternate embodiment of Figs. 11-12, the common document/sheet path and shared mechanisms are similar to Figs. 1-2 and include scanner station 22a, printer station 24, drive motor 40, main drive roller 42, output roller 43 and a shared output 44 wherein document pages proceed actively through the scanner station and passively through the printer station, and printout sheet pages bypass the scanner station and proceed actively through the printer station, both to a common output. However, ADF 60 has its own pivotally mounted spring-loaded pressure plate 62 to facilitate reliable page feeding to document pick roller 63, and ASF 64 has its own pivotally mounted spring-loaded pressure plate 66 to facilitate reliable page feeding to sheet pick roller 67, with both pick rollers 65, 67 being driven by the drive motor 40. In another alternate embodiment of Fig. 13, the common document/sheet path and shared mechanisms are similar to Figs. 11-12. But this alternate embodiment provides a common path through a combined scanner/printer station 68 to a common output 44, with separate pick rollers 65, 67 and separate pressure plates 62a, 66a driven by the drive motor 40 for the main drive roller system. Referring now to Figs. 3-6 which show further details of the preferred embodiment of Figs. 1-2, the input feeder slot is integrated into the device so that when the unit is resting with its feet 69 on a desk top, stacks of sheets or documents can be added without having to remove any tray. Since the frame is supported by legs 71 so that the input feeder slot is angled downwardly, both of the stacks naturally settle to the bottom of the slot so that the leading edges of pages on top of the stacks will impinge against the pick roller (see Figs. 8-10). The action of the pressure plate against both stacks assures proper separation by the spring-loaded stripper pad 33 in combination with the rotation of the pick roller 32. The ADF includes an extender 70 mounted on the upper end of the divider 35 which pivots forwardly out of the way when pages are added or removed from the ASF. The ASF is sandwiched between the ADF and the bottom of the feeder slot and includes its own extender 72 as well as a single adjustable guide 74 for maintaining the sheet stack in proper positioning for feeding into the pick roller. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that proper feeding/picking of pages from a large quantity stack of virginal printing paper in the ASF is a somewhat easier task than proper feeding/picking of variously sized partially bent pages of stacked documents in the ADF having text/graphics thereon. Therefore the ADF is positioned above the ASF for better picking by the pick roller and easier access for accurate and proper loading between dual adjustable guides 76. The automatic action of the pressure plate 34 as described in more detail hereinafter also helps to assure proper feeding of pages from the ASF for printing or pages from the ADF for scanning. The pick roller 32 is mounted on a pick shaft 78 which has a pair of guide rollers 80 also mounted thereon in the commonly shared paper path, as well as a double-pin delay coupler 81 mounted on the shaft end outside the frame. The guide rollers 80 and matching pinch rollers 82 help to hold the pages in proper position as they move past the pick roller to the scanning and printing stations. A unique gear mechanism is shown in Figs. 3 and 6-7 for automatically moving the pressure plate to and fro between a disengaged position "open" position and an engaged "closed" position. The disengaged open position allows access to the stacks for removal, replenishment, or replacement of pages as well as for realignment of the stacks between one or more page picking events if that is deemed to be desirable and necessary to avoid mis-feeds. More importantly from a multiple-function point of view (see Figs. 8-10), the disengaged open position allows new pages of documents to be placed in the ADF with their leading edges resting on top of the sheet stack in the ASF, thereby preparing for a scanning operation to commence. The engaged closed position holds the sheet stack in aligned position together as a unit if there are not any documents in the ADF. This helps to prevent more than one page from being accidently picked. The engaged closed position holds the document stack in aligned position together as a unit if there are not any sheets in the ASF. If there is already a stack of sheets in the ASF and some additional document pages have been added to the ADF, then the engaged closed position holds both the document stack and the underlying sheet stack in aligned position together as a composite stack insofar as their leading edges are concerned. Fig. 6 shows the gear mechanism in a "start disengagement" position, with motor drive gear 84 moving in reverse direction to cause main drive roller 42 to also go in reverse. Coupling pin 85 on linkage gear 104 is partway between forward direction coupling pin 87 and rearward direction coupling pin 89 on delay coupler 81. This assures that commencing the reverse driving of the pick roller to expel partially picked pages does not occur until after the pressure plate has been moved into disengagement position. Cam follower 86 is resting in a notch on cam 88 which is rigidly mounted for turning with pressure plate gear 90. So long as cam follower 86 remains in the notch, the pressure plate remains in closed engagement position. The connection between cam follower 86 and the pressure plate is best shown in Fig. 7. The cam follower 86 is mounted on the end of a pivot rod 92 which is mounted for pivotal rotation by a pair of brackets 94 and a counter-bracket 96. A pair of fingers 98 are also mounted on pivot rod 92 and interconnect with matching slots 99 so that when the pressure plate gear 90 is rotated in direction 100, the cam follower is forced to pivot upwardly into "disengagement position" and ride along the larger diameter surface 102. This makes the entire pivot rod 92 rotate and causes the fingers 90 to pivot the pressure plate in direction 103 into a completely retracted position of disengagement in a direction away from the pick roller 32. When the pressure plate 90 has made a complete rotation, the cam follower rides back down into the notch, thereby allowing the pressure plate to return to an "engagement position". A linkage gear 104 is slidably mounted on the pick shaft 78 to couple the drive motor 40 to the pressure plate gear 90, and also to couple the drive motor 40 through the double-pin delay coupler 81 to the pick roller. When the motor drive gear 84 is in reverse, the linkage gear rotates in direction 105 to move its attached transfer gear 106 into link position with the pressure plate gear 86. Thus the coupling from drive motor 40 to the pressure plate gear 90 is through double-wheel gear 108, main drive gear 42, spur gears 110, 112, linkage gear 104, and transfer gear 106. Decoupling occurs when the motor drive gear 84 changes back to forward, since this changes the rotation direction of linkage gear 104 and moves transfer gear 106 in the direction 114 to a non-link position 116. The foregoing gear/cam mechanism provides for automatic movement of the pressure plate between a position of engagement of the stacks with the pick roller and a position of dis-engagement. This necessarily occurs after a page being processed at the scanning station or the printing station has passed by the main drive roller 42 and the output roller 43 to the common output area 44. The initiation of the dis-engagement can be programmed to occur at predetermined times such as before every picking step, or whenever a mis-feed occurs, or the like. Also, when a document page is placed in the ADF, it pushes down sensor 118 to activate the aforementioned dis-engagement sequence of steps. As best shown in Fig. 6, the delayed contact of the pin 85 on linkage gear 104 with double-pin delay coupler 81 causes the reversing of the pick roller expelling any pages from a previous picking step to occur after the pressure plate has moved to a position of dis-engagement. As best shown in Figs. 6, the gearing mechanism is designed to automatically provide a delay between the picking of successive pages from the sheet stack or document stack. In that regard, the gearing ratios provide for output roller 43 to rotate faster than main drive roller 42 which rotates faster than pick roller 32. The speed differential between the output roller 43 and the main drive roller 42 keeps a page in tension as it passed through the printing station, the scanning station, or the combined printing/scanning station. The linkage gear 104 has its single pin 85 which engages one or the other of the two pins 87, 89 on the delay coupler 81 (depending on the direction of the main drive) to drive the pick roller forwardly or rearwardly with a partial revolution delay for driving the pick roller when a directional change occurs. This relationship between the linkage gear 104 and the delay coupler 81, when combined with the speed differential between the pick roller 32 and the main drive roller 42, provides for the pin on the linkage gear 104 to walk away from engagement of the pin on the delay coupler so long as a page is in driving engagement with both the pick roller and the main drive roller. In other words, during that double driving period, the pick roller is slaved to the paper and rotates faster than the linkage gear to cause the aforesaid "walk away". When the trailing edge of the page finally leaves the pick roller, the pick roller shaft and the delay coupler mounted thereon stop, and the time it takes for the pin on the linkage gear to rotate into engagement with the pin on the delay coupler is the "delay time" which occurs between the picking of successive pages from the stack. Thus, the aforementioned features of the present invention provide for automated operation of a printing station, scanning station or the like from a single drive motor through a gear mechanism which provides spaced-apart picking of successive pages from an input feed stack. These aforementioned features also provide for the shred use of a paper path and mechanisms which are involved along the path by a multiple-function device which employs operations such as printing, scanning and the like in the same machine. FIG. 14 illustrates the curling of a document 200 after the document has been fed from a document feeder 201 past a scanning station 202 where it has been scanned, passively over a printing station 203 (sans print cartridge which has slid away from the print zone) which document was destined to be conducted into a nip 204 between output rollers 205 and 206. As a curled document exits the scan station and enters the print region it is free to return to its natural curled state. Due to the curling of the document at 200a, the document is in an incipient position to cause a paper jam before reaching the nip 204. FIG. 15 shows the addition of a document guide 210 which in a lowered position deflects an incoming document 200 by being forced by roller 216 under the deflector guide. The leading edge of a curled or damaged or deformed document (or the uncurled leading edge if the document is flat) are deflected by a document guide essentially smoothed-faced underside surface 217 and thus guide the leading edge 200b of the document into the nip 204. A tab 219 depends from near a distal end of guide 210 and rides on an edge of the print platen 203a (Fig. 16) of the printing station and functions as a down stop of the document guide 210. The document guide has a first long portion 213 which in a scanning mode position is parallel to the platen of the printing station and in position to guide a document (curled or uncurled) into the nip 204, an integral short portion 211 and a pivot 212. Arrow 220 in Fig. 17 denotes the document feed direction. The documents are constrained at their top surface by the underside 217 of the document guide and at their bottom surface by the print station platen. Sheets which are to be printed on are clean virgin sheets without curl and thus there is no need to guide or constrain the print sheets to the common output nip. Sensors (not shown) in the document tray 201 and in the sheet feed path 199 indicate if a document is to be scanned or a sheet is to be printed. Rollers 218 are provided as part of a wet paper stacker (not shown) which functions to force the edges of the printed-on sheets to go up causing a sheet stiffness so that the sheet more accurately drops into a bin allowing for more dry time of the previous sheet. As seen in Figs. 15 and 16 a mechanism is provided to rotate and lower the document guide clockwise about 100° to 110° for a scanning mode of operation after a printing mode of operation has been completed, with the print cartridge slid away from the printing station or zone. Thereafter, a coil spring 239 having an end 239a attached to a pivot plate 236 and coiled around the pivot, which has been spring loaded by the rotary movement, returns, by the spring bias, the document guide 210 back to the raised position shown in Fig. 15. This is required to allow for the print cartridge 230 (Fig. 16) to be moved into close proximity to the paper sheet. The document guide is rotatively movable about the pivot 212 which provides a center of rotation. Actuation is provided by a linkage 215 between the document guide and the print cartridge capping and wiping system 240 (Figs. 16 and 17). The invention makes use of a dwell state in the capping function where the capping and wiping system motor 241 continues to rotate after the print cartridge has been capped. This extra motion is connected to gear shaft 231 (Fig. 16) to the linkage 215 and is just long enough to raise the document guide when rotating the capping system motor in one direction or lower it when rotating in the other direction. The linkage 215 includes a drive shaft 232 which rotates a lever arm 233 containing an offset ball crank 234 from the position shown in FIG. 16 to the position shown in FIG. 15 by moving a push rod 235 having a fork end 237 pushing on a fixed pin 238 on a pivot plate 236, which end rotates the pivot plate 236 fixedly connected to the document guide 210 clockwise to pivot the document guide counterclockwise (looking at Fig. 16) to its raised position in Fig. 16, permitting the print cartridge 230 (Fig. 16) to be moved laterally into the print station 203.

Claims: A method of preventing paper jams in a multi-function printer having a scanning station (202) for scanning documents delivered to the scanning station and a printing station (203) juxtaposed to the scanning station for printing sheets delivered to the printing station, the printing station including a movable print cartridge (230), a print platen (203a) forming an output exit from the scanning station, a document guide (210) and an output roller (205, 206), the method comprising: moving the print cartridge (230) away from the print platen (203a); delivering a document to be scanned into the scanning station (202); delivering a potentially curled scanned document to and along the print platen (203a) with an underside of the document facing the print platen; and moving the document guide (210) from a raised first position into a lowered second position thereby deflecting the scanned document (200) in a feed direction into the output roller (205, 206) while constraining the document on the document top surface and the document bottom surface passively to prevent a curled document from incipiently jamming. The method of claim 1 wherein a top surface of the scanned document is constrained between the print platen (203) and the document guide (210). The method of claim 1 or 2 wherein the output roller (205, 206) includes a second roller the rollers forming a roller nip (204) and further including the steps of deflecting and constraining the scanned document (200) into the roller nip for exiting the scanned document from the printer. The method of one of claims 1 to 3 further including the steps of moving the document guide (210) back to the first position; moving the print cartridge (230) into close proximity to the print platen (203a); and printing on a printing sheet delivered to the printing station and to the print platen. The method of one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the step of moving the document guide (210) back comprises the step of spring biasing the document guide (210) back to the first position raised from the print platen. The method of one of claims 1 to 5 wherein the step of moving the document guide comprises pivoting the document guide (210) from the first position to the second position wherein the document guide is parallel to the print platen (203a). A multiple-function printer comprising: a scanning station (202) for scanning documents delivered to the scanning station; a printing station (203) downstream from the scanning station for printing sheets delivered to the printing station, the printing station including a movable print cartridge (230) and a print platen (203a) forming an output exit from the scanning station; characterized by a document guide (210) movable from the print platen to allow the print cartridge (230) to move into the print platen; a mechanism (215) to move the document guide (210) into a position over the print platen (203a) after the print cartridge (230) has been moved away from the print platen; an output roller (205, 206) downstream from the print platen (203a); and wherein the document guide (210) guides and constrains the top surface of a scanned document (210) exiting the scanning station (202) to the print station (203). The printer of claim 7 wherein the document guide (210) is juxtaposed to the output roller (205, 206). The printer of claim 7 or 8, wherein said mechanism (215) includes a drive shaft (232), a ball crank (234) and pivot linked to the document guide (210) to rotate the document guide to the print platen (203a) to constrain the top surface of the scanned document (200) passing over the print platen. The printer of one of claims 7 to 9 wherein a spring (239) for spring biasing the document guide (210) from a lowered position to a raised position for a printing mode of operation is provided. The printer of one of claims 7 to 10 wherein the output roller (205, 206) comprises a pair of rollers forming a roller nip (204), into which the document guide (210) guides the scanned document (200).

Inventors: STOCKER STEVEN O, STODDER SAMUEL A, STOCKER, STEVEN O., STODDER, SAMUEL A.
Applicants: HEWLETT PACKARD CO, HEWLETT-PACKARD COMPANY
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B41J13
IPC codes: H04N1, B41J13, B41J11, B41J3