Patent ID: 8144377

Claim:
A duplex scanning apparatus for scanning images of a plurality of documents, said duplex scanning apparatus comprising: a flatbed image scanning portion including a scanning module for scanning said images of said documents in a scan region; and an automatic document feeder comprising: a sheet input tray for placing said documents thereon, wherein said documents are arranged from a bottommost document to an uppermost document with a first side of said documents facing downwards and a second side of said documents facing upwards; a sheet ejecting tray for supporting said documents, wherein said sheet ejecting tray is lower than said sheet input tray; a first transfer channel arranged between said sheet input tray and said sheet ejecting tray, wherein a portion of said first transfer channel is disposed within the range of said scan region, wherein said first transfer channel being configured to position said second side of said documents toward said scanning module when said documents are within said range of said scan region for scanning and when said documents enter said first channel from said sheet input tray; a second transfer channel a sheet pick-up roller disposed on said sheet input tray for successively transporting said documents into said first transfer channel from said bottommost document to said uppermost document; a friction-enhancing stopper sustained against said documents to offer a frictional force required to transport said documents into said first transfer channel such that only one of said documents is selected to feed into said first transfer channel for each time; a transfer roller assembly disposed in said first transfer channel for transporting said documents through said first transfer channel; an inverting region arranged between said sheet input tray and said sheet ejecting tray; a second transfer channel arranged between said inverting region and said transfer roller assembly, said second transfer channel being configured to feed said documents to said first transfer channel, wherein said first transfer channel being configured to position said first side of said documents toward said scanning module when said documents are within said range of said scan region for scanning and when said documents enter said first channel from said second transfer channel; a sheet ejecting roller assembly disposed in the vicinity of said sheet ejecting tray for transporting said documents to said sheet ejecting tray; and an inverting roller assembly disposed in the vicinity of said inverting region for transporting said documents from said first transfer channel to said inverting region or from said inverting region to said second transfer channel.