Patent ID: 7946776

Claim:
A medium feed control method of preventing an overlap-feed of recording media, comprising: a medium feeding step wherein said recording media are supplied from a medium enclosing portion to a medium conveying path; an overlap-feed detecting step wherein a thickness of said recording media which are supplied to said medium conveying path in said medium feeding step is monitored, for detecting overlap-feed media; a medium returning step wherein the overlap-feed media are returned to said medium enclosing portion when said overlap-feed media are detected in said overlap-feed detecting step; a medium separating step that includes the steps of: applying different returning forces respectively to upper and lower surfaces of said overlap-feed media on the way of said medium returning step to separate said overlap-feed media, limiting movement of one of the overlap-feed media as the overlap-feed media moves toward the medium enclosing portion, detecting a separation of the overlap-feed media, and releasing the limiting movement of one of the overlap-feed media after the separation of the overlap-feed media is detected; and a medium re-feeding step wherein said recording media returned in said medium returning step are supplied again to said medium conveying path from said medium enclosing portion.