Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     Reference is made to commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/094,200 by Westcott et al. filed of even date herewith titled “Forward Facing Scanner”, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     A document scanner is desired that has the ability to scan a variety of different document types and sizes. Further, the scanner is desired to have the ergonomic capabilities of a duplex C-transport sheet fed scanner to scan stacks of documents and the function of a flatbed scanner to scan irregular, thick or bound documents or other items. It is desired that these capabilities be combined into a single, forward-facing, compact desktop machine. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Sheet fed scanners have become a popular computer peripheral for creating digital images from documents in both the home and the office. With respect to sheet fed scanners, an image forming subsystem, such as a camera, typically a charged couple device (CCD) and a lens in combination with an illumination source, sits in a stationary position and scans an image as a sheet of paper is moved past the camera, through a narrow transport path, by a paper transport mechanism. Individual raster lines are imaged by the camera and then pieced together to create a two-dimensional (2D) image representation of the original document. The camera is basically imaging one sliver of the document many times as the document is moved past the camera. The paper motion supplies one dimension of the document image, while the width is supplied by the camera. The in-paper travel direction and the width of the document are determined by the optics magnification and the dimensions of the CCD within the image forming subsystem. In alternative designs, a CIS or Contact Image Sensor is substituted for the CCD Lens Reduction form of camera or imager. The CIS device utilizes a number of smaller CCD elements chained together to form a full width imager. This eliminates the need for a reduction lens which is replaced by a self-focusing one of essentially 1:1 magnification. Both forms of cameras or imagers are commonly applied in sheet fed scanners as well as flat bed scanning equipment. In some cases, the shape of the sheet fed scanners paper path is semi-circular. For example, some scanners have a semi-circular paper path wherein sheets can be fed from a tray on top and exit beneath, or vice versa. In other cases, the paper path is “straight through.” 
     In some cases, the scanner has two cameras, one for imaging the front side of the sheet or document, the other for imaging the rear side of the sheet or document. Scanners of this form are typically referred to as single pass duplex in that they can image both sides of a document with one pass of the document through the paper transport. Sheet fed scanners employing only one imager are generally referred to as Simplex scanners. In some scanners with one imager or camera, the paper path is designed in a way to provide the ability to turn the sheet over thereby allowing for imaging of both sides, but this must be done in a second or reversing pass of the document, with a penalty of increased scan time. 
       FIG. 1  shows a typical sheet fed scanner with a C-shaped paper path and two cameras for duplex scanning of documents. To scan a stack of documents, a human operator places a stack of documents  10 , face up, on elevator input tray  11  and initiates a scan command through an attached computer (not shown) or a button or control panel (not shown) on the scanner. Drive rollers  16  begin to continuously rotate in direction  103 . Paper present sensor  17  determines that documents are in elevator input tray  11  and a motor (not shown) raises the tray to position the top of stack  10  against urging roller  13 . A motor and/or clutch (not shown) rotate urging rollers  13  and feed rollers  15  to pull the top document from stack  10  and move it into the continuously rotating transport rollers  16  which transport the document through curved transport path (C-shaped)  14  in direction  110 . 
     The documents are imaged by cameras  18  and  19  as they are pulled through the transport path  14 . Cameras include one or more illumination sources  196  that illuminate documents to be imaged by an electronic image sensor  192 . The image sensor can be a contact image sensor (CIS) or a charge-coupled device (CCD). In the case of a CCD imager, the camera typically includes a lens  198  and one or more mirrors  194  to fold the light path  199  between the imager and the document and create a more compact camera. 
     Scanned documents  12  are stacked face down in exit tray  20 , in the same order as they were fed into the scanner and scanned. When paper edge sensor  101  detects the lead edge of a document, the urging rollers and feed rollers are stopped from rotating to prevent feeding of more than one document. At this point, feed rollers  16  continue to rotate and pull the document through the urging rollers and feed rollers. After the trail edge of the document passes by paper edge sensor  101 , the urging rollers  13  and feed rollers  15  are again rotated (by motor and/or clutch not shown) to start moving the next document on the top of stack  10  into transport path  14 . In this way, documents are moved one at a time past cameras  18  and  19  to be imaged. Urging roller  13  is mounted to a housing  191  that freely pivots around the axis of the upper feed roller  15 , which is attached to the pod portion. Therefore as documents are fed from stack  10 , urging roller  13  drops by gravity onto the next document at the top of stack  10 . Stack-up sensor  102  detects when urging roller  13  (or its surrounding parts) drops below an optimal range for feeding documents. When this occurs, elevator  11  is raised by a motor (not shown) until stack-up sensor  102  detects that the stack is again in an optimal feeding position. 
     With reference to  FIG. 2 , scanners with a C-shaped transport typically have a stationary base portion  122  and a moveable pod portion  120  that is connected by a hinge to the base. The pod can be lifted away from the base on its hinge to allow cleaning of cameras or to remove documents that may become jammed in the transport path.  FIG. 2  shows a C-shaped sheet fed scanner with a pod portion  120  attached to a base portion  122  at hinge  124  with the pod in an open position. Such sheet fed designs are referred to as C shaped or “rotary” within the industry. 
       FIG. 3  shows a typical sheet fed scanner with a straight though paper path and two cameras (duplex) for scanning both sides of documents. Documents  10  are moved through a straight transport path  15  by a series of drive rollers  16  to be imaged by cameras  18  and  19 . In this case, documents  10  are pulled from the bottom of the input stack and are stacked  12  in exit tray  20  in the same order. Document stacks must be fed face down in order to scan them in the order in which they are stacked. If a straight through path were to be fed documents in a face up orientation, then the last document in the stack would be the first document scanned. The result would be that the scan order would be reversed from the stack order  12  in the scanner shown in  FIG. 3 . In applications where many documents are scanned, customer expectations require that the original order be maintained. This is especially important in helping the customers recover from any jam, stoppage or other events that would require starting over or executing a “rescan”. 
     There are several customer usage benefits to the C or “rotary” design as compared to a straight through sheet fed scanner design. Since many of these advantages deliver improved productivity and improved ergonomics they become much more important in applications where many documents need to be scanned. Within the industry of production scanning where customers expect to scan more than a few tens or few hundreds of documents per day, the rotary or C shaped transport designs are the dominant product configuration. Following are some of the usage benefits of a Rotary or C shaped transport design. 
     Given the customer requirement to deliver the sheets to an exit tray in the same order as they were scanned, the options are to feed them through a straight path face down using a feeder that pulls the intended sheets into the transport from the bottom of the stack or use a C shaped transport where the sheets can be pulled from the top of stack. Pulling the sheets off of the top of the stack or a “top feeder” is advantaged in that it allows customers to place their documents into the tray face up. This is preferred because it is the normal way that customers read, prepare and handle multi page documents. It also allows the customer to observe how each sheet is to be treated as it enters the scanner. In the event that they observe a document beginning to be damaged or otherwise improperly fed, the operator may be able to intervene and correct a problem before it happens or before it has become more serious. In a bottom feeder, the operator must take the extra step to turn their documents over when placing them into the stack and they cannot as easily observe or intervene with sheets as they are fed from the bottom of the stack. In addition, feeding from the top of the stack is generally proven to be of higher reliability than feeding from the bottom of a stack. This is primarily due to the fact that each sheet in a top feeder has the same drag loads to overcome in order to advance it into the paper transport. In bottom feeding devices these drag forces are variable and dependent on how much stack resides above the sheet being fed. Each sheet being fed from beneath a stack must overcome the added drag forces incurred because of the weight of those sheets above it. This drives another key benefit of the top feeding approach which is capacity. Since top feeders do not have to contend with the weight of the stack, it is much easier to design top feeding systems using an elevating table with high stack capacities. Within the industry, top feeding devices are commonly delivered with stack capacities of 250, 500 or even 1,000 sheets while nearly all bottom feeding devices are limited to capacities of 50 to 150 sheets because of the stack drag force problem. 
     Another key benefit to the C or rotary design is in the ergonomic placement of the trays for in feed and exit. In the most ergonomic configurations, the C shape designs place the in-feed tray at a position close to the table or desk surface and the exit tray above it with the C shape paper path between them, such as shown in  FIG. 1 , for example. It is also preferred that both of these trays are oriented with both trays facing the seated operator. This configuration allows for optimum interaction with the feed and exit trays with minimal reach between them to load and unload documents. While a C design can also be offered with the in feed tray on top and the exit tray at the bottom, the preferred design places the in feed tray close to the desk surface since most scanner interventions occur in the in-feed tray. By configuring this tray closer to a table top surface, it minimizes the lifting of the arms and hands to elevated positions in order to perform the scanning operations. Performing repetitive operations with the hands well above the desk surface has been proven to increase operator fatigue, discomfort and injuries to the neck and shoulders. In some scanner designs the in feed and exit trays are oriented in a sideways arrangement. This creates an awkward process for loading and unloading the documents. 
     In addition to the ergonomic benefits described for operating the scanner, a C or rotary design has the ability to provide optimal access to the entire paper path length when it must be opened up for jam clearance and or maintenance. In the typical C or Rotary design, the entire paper path can be opened or exposed by unlatching the pod and hinging it upward. When offered with this path oriented to face the seated operator, this arrangement offers excellent visual and manual access to the paper path. In some scanners of different configurations, the operator must open and close several sections of the paper path in order to gain visual and manual access and some of these are not easily accessible from a seated position. 
     In summary, a forward facing C shaped transport with the in-feed tray close to table height and the exit tray above it, which opens up through one hinge affords an optimal design for feeding reliability, capacity, desk space and ergonomics for operation and maintenance. 
       FIG. 4  shows a typical flatbed scanner. In a flatbed scanner, a single document  34  is placed face down onto a transparent glass  40 . The document is held flat to the glass by a pad  36  that is secured to the underside of cover  38 . Camera  30  is moved linearly along shaft  32  by a motor drive system (not shown) to image the document. Cover  38  is typically mounted to a scanner main body  31  with one or more hinges  42  that allow the cover to be rotated open in a direction  35  for document placement. Hinges  42  typically include sliding members  44  that are free to move in vertical slots  46  in the main body. This allows the cover to fully seat against thick or irregularly shaped documents or other items. Because they are not restricted by a narrow document transport path, flatbed scanners are able to scan documents and items not able to be transported through a sheet fed scanner, such as books, thick documents, and three-dimensional objects. In production scanning applications, the majority of all documents are able to be fed using a sheet fed scanner and this is far more productive than using a flat bed. However, some “exception” documents, such as those of irregular dimensions, are encountered that require the use of a flatbed type scanner. It is therefore desirable to create a product design that can optimize both of these capabilities into one device while maintaining the key advantages of each. 
     Product solutions currently exist that have some, but not all of the desired benefits of a C-shaped sheet fed scanner and a flatbed scanner in a compact size. One common method is to tether a flatbed scanner to a C-shaped sheet fed scanner. This method requires two separate devices and occupies a significant amount of desk space.  FIG. 5  shows one such combination in which flatbed scanner  44  is connected to sheet fed scanner  42  by tether cable  46 . The cable provides an electronic digital communication medium between the scanners. 
       FIG. 6  shows another scanning system that combines a straight-through sheet fed scanner with a flatbed scanner. In this case, straight through sheet fed scanner  506 , with input tray  502  and output tray  504 , is mounted onto cover  510  of flatbed scanner  508 . Cover  510  pivots about a hinge axis  512  to provide document access to the flatbed. This has the disadvantages of the straight through sheet fed scanner and has the ergonomic issue of requiring a human operator to lift a heavy scanner in order to access the flatbed for document placement. 
     In another configuration, a rotary scanner is placed atop a flatbed design.  FIG. 7  depicts this approach in which C-shaped sheet fed scanner  162  is positioned above flatbed scanner  168 . Sheet fed output tray  164  serves as a cover to flatbed  168  and is opened by rotating about the horizontal hinge axis  163  in direction  165 . Sheet fed input tray  166  extends above the flatbed and must be moved in direction  169  before the flatbed cover  164  can be opened. This is because the operating position of the input tray blocks the movement of the output tray as it is opened in direction  165 . In this design the ergonomic access to the input and output trays is suboptimum because they are loaded sideways and are elevated substantially from the desktop surface. The portion of this figure that is facing the viewer is deemed the front of the scanner, thus, the flatbed scanner is facing the front of the scanner apparatus because its cover  164  opens toward the front, while the output  164  and input  166  trays are facing a lateral side of the scanner because documents enter and exit the scanner in directions away from and toward that side, which is the right side of the scanner in  FIG. 7 . 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a flatbed scanner is integrated into a forward-facing C-shaped sheet fed scanner in a location above the sheet fed cameras and below the document output tray. The output tray also serves as the flatbed cover and pivots about an axis near or coincident with the pod pivot. 
     A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes providing a flatbed scanner and a sheet fed scanner, an input tray for holding documents to be fed into the sheet fed scanner, and transporting the documents from the input tray along a transport path under the flatbed scanner, which path includes a pair of imaging devices for scanning different sides of the documents. The path then curves upward behind the flatbed scanner and again curves toward a front side of the flatbed/sheet fed scanner combination toward an output tray above the flatbed scanner. Rollers are used to pull the documents from the input tray into the transport path and also along the transport path all the way out to the output tray. In the present inventive design, the output tray also serves as a rotatable cover for the flatbed scanner. 
     Another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes affixing hinge mechanisms to a base portion of a scanner apparatus and rotatably attaching a pod portion to the hinge mechanisms. The pod portion includes a built-in flatbed scanner. A cover is attached to the same hinge mechanisms for covering the platen of the flatbed scanner and is also used for securely holding documents, books, or other items against the platen of the flatbed scanner during scanning. The cover and the pod portion are each separately rotatable about the axis that is created by the hinge mechanisms, because the hinge mechanisms are collinearly aligned as attached to the scanner apparatus. A transport path is formed in the region where the pod portion meets the base portion, and is exposed when the pod portion is rotated in an upward direction away from the base portion. The transport path includes one or more cameras for scanning one or more sides of the documents traveling through the transport path. Input and output trays serve to hold documents that are being fed into the scanning apparatus and that have been scanned by the sheet fed scanning portion. 
     Another preferred embodiment of the present invention includes providing a scanning machine having a sheet fed scanner and a flatbed scanner. An input tray is provided for supporting a document that is to be automatically fed into the scanning machine. One or more imaging devices along the transport path below the flatbed scanner image one or more sides of documents. The imaged documents continue along the transport path and are ejected into an output tray above the flatbed scanner. The output tray is attached to the scanning machine such that the output tray is rotatable to an open position to expose a platen of the flatbed scanner and is rotatable to a closed position to cover the platen. The flatbed scanner is built into a pod portion of the scanning machine and is rotatable to an open position to expose the transport path. The output tray and the pod portion are attached to the same hinge mechanism so that the output tray and the pod portion rotate together or independently about the same axis. A pad is affixed to the bottom surface of the output tray to provide a flexible surface that contacts the platen when the output tray is rotated to the closed position. 
     These, and other, aspects and objects of the present invention will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following description, while indicating preferred embodiments of the present invention and numerous specific details thereof, is given by way of illustration and not of limitation. For example, the summary descriptions above are not meant to describe individual separate embodiments whose elements are not interchangeable. In fact, many of the elements described as related to a particular embodiment can be used together with, and possibly interchanged with, elements of other described embodiments. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention without departing from the spirit thereof, and the invention includes all such modifications. The figures below are intended to be drawn neither to any precise scale with respect to relative size, angular relationship, or relative position nor to any combinational relationship with respect to interchangeability, substitution, or representation of an actual implementation. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a prior art scanner with C-shaped paper path. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates the prior art scanner of  FIG. 1  in a pod open position. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a prior art scanner with a straight paper path. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a prior art flatbed scanner. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a prior art tethered sheet fed and flatbed scanner system. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a prior art combination sheet fed and flatbed scanner system. 
         FIG. 7  illustrates a prior art combination rotary and flatbed scanner system. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates an embodiment of the present sheet fed and flatbed scanner system via a lateral side cross-section view. 
         FIG. 9  illustrates a perspective view of the scanner system of  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 10  illustrates a perspective view of the scanner system of  FIG. 8  with the output tray/flatbed cover in an open position. 
         FIG. 11  illustrates a lateral side cross-section view of the scanner apparatus of  FIG. 10 . 
         FIG. 12  illustrates a perspective view of the scanner system of  FIG. 8  with the pod portion in an open position. 
         FIG. 13  illustrates a lateral side cross-section view of the scanner apparatus of  FIG. 12 . 
         FIG. 14A  illustrates a perspective view of an optional embodiment of the scanner system of  FIG. 8  with the output tray/flatbed cover removed to expose one of the hinge mechanisms. 
         FIG. 14B  illustrates a close-up of a portion of  FIG. 14 . 
         FIG. 14C  illustrates an exploded view of a portion of  FIG. 14A  with base housing removed. 
         FIG. 15A  illustrates a perspective view of an optional embodiment of the scanner system of  FIG. 8 . 
         FIG. 15B  illustrates a close-up of a portion of  FIG. 15 . 
         FIG. 16  illustrates one of the pair of hinge mechanisms of the scanner system of  FIG. 8 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention is disclosed herein as being embodied preferably in a document scanner. Because the features of a document scanner are generally known, as exemplified by the description above, the description which follows is directed in particular only to those elements forming part of or cooperating directly with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is to be understood, however, that various elements of the preferred embodiments described herein may take various forms known to a person of ordinary skill in the art. 
     Referring now to the drawings,  FIG. 8  shows a side view cross section through a scanner  100  of a preferred embodiment of the present invention. A back side of the scanner  121 , opposite the front side, is to the right in  FIG. 8 . The scanner is comprised of a stationary base portion  122 , a moveable pod portion  120  and a moveable output tray/flatbed cover  20 . Pod portion  120  and output tray/flatbed cover  20  can both pivot or rotate relative to each other and together they can pivot/rotate relative to base portion  122 , at horizontal hinge axis  124  created by hinge mechanisms described below. The output tray  20  is at an open position when it is rotated upward (see  FIGS. 10 and 11 ) and is in a closed position when it is rotated downward and is adjacent to the flatbed scanner, as is shown in  FIG. 8 . Scanner  100  provides duplex, sheet fed, C-shaped scanning and flatbed scanning functions. The sheet fed scanner input tray, output tray and the flatbed cover are all situated to face forward toward the human operator located in front of scanner  100 , which is to the left in  FIG. 8 .  FIG. 9  illustrates a perspective view of the scanner shown in  FIG. 8  with like numerals indicating like elements. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 8 , to scan a stack of documents  10 , a human operator places them, face up, on elevator input tray  11  which supports the documents and initiates a scan command through an attached computer (not shown) or a button or control panel (not shown) on the scanner. Automatic operation of the scanner then proceeds as follows: drive rollers  16  begin to continuously rotate in direction  103 ; paper present sensor  17  determines that documents are in elevator input tray  11  and a motor (not shown) raises the tray to position the top of stack  10  against urging roller  13 ; a motor and/or clutch (not shown) rotate urging rollers  13  and feed rollers  15  to pull the top document from stack  10  and move it into the continuously rotating transport rollers  16  which transport or convey the document through rotary transport path (C-shaped)  14  in direction  110 ; the documents are imaged by cameras  18  and  19  as they are pulled through the document transport path  14 , eventually to be stacked face down in exit tray  20 . The cameras include one or more illumination sources  196  that illuminate documents to be imaged by a CCD image sensor  192 . The cameras include a lens  198  and one or more mirrors  194  to fold the light path  199  between the imager and the document and create a more compact camera. 
     Scanned documents  12  are stacked face down in exit tray  20 , in the same order as they were fed into the scanner and scanned. When paper edge sensor  101  detects the lead edge of a document, the urging rollers and feed rollers are stopped from rotating to prevent feeding of more than one document. After the trail edge of the document passes by paper edge sensor  101  via rollers  16 , the urging rollers  13  and feed rollers  15  are again rotated by motor and/or clutch (not shown) to start moving the next document on the top of stack  10  into transport path  14 . In this way, documents are moved one at a time past cameras  18  and  19  to be imaged. Urging roller  13  is mounted to a housing  191 , that freely pivots around the axis of the upper feed roller  15 , which is attached to the pod portion  120 . Therefore as documents are fed from stack  10 , urging roller  13  drops by gravity onto the next document at the top of stack  10 . Stack-up sensor  102  detects when urging roller  13  (or its surrounding parts) drops below an optimal range for feeding documents. When this occurs, elevator  11  is raised by a motor (not shown) until stack-up sensor  102  detects that the stack is again in an optimal feeding position. 
     Transport path  14  is formed by surfaces  91  of base portion  122  and surfaces  93  pod portion  120 . This transport path is noted as the region between the pod portion and the base portion, with a beginning near the input tray and an exit near the output tray. After documents are scanned, they are advanced into output tray  20  where they are stacked face down, in the same order in which they were placed in input tray  11 . Camera  18  resides in pod portion  120  to image the top of fed documents and camera  19  resides in base portion  122  to image the bottom of fed documents. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the cameras use CCD imagers. However, these cameras optionally can be either linear CCD imagers or linear contact image sensors (CIS). Located vertically above cameras  18  and  19  and disposed vertically below output tray  20  within pod portion  120  is a flatbed scanner  130 . Flatbed scanner  130  includes a clear glass platen  134 , for document placement, and a camera  136 , which can be either of the linear CIS or linear CCD type that images the underside of documents placed onto glass platen  134 . A preferred embodiment of the present invention uses a CIS camera for the flatbed because of its small size. Camera  136  is driven along a gear rack, track, or shaft  86  (shown in  FIG. 10 ) in, or parallel to, the long direction of the flatbed scanner by a motor  132  in a manner common to flatbed scanners. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a perspective view of the scanner shown in  FIG. 9  with output tray  20  in an open position exposing clear glass platen  134 . As shown in  FIG. 10 , flatbed scanner  130  is arranged so that camera  136  moves along direction  82  which is perpendicular to the direction of paper transport through the sheet fed scanner, shown as direction  110 . Direction  82  is deemed the long direction of the flatbed scanner and clear glass platen. 
     Sheet fed scanner output tray  20  also serves as the cover for flatbed scanner  130 . Its top surface serves as the output tray and its underside, or bottom surface, acts as a cover for the flatbed scanner. In particular, for the platen of the flatbed scanner. Pad  21  is adhered to the underside of output tray  20  and it forces documents flat against flatbed glass  134  by pressing against them for scanning when closed as shown in  FIG. 9 . It is preferably formed of a flexible material in order to conform to the shape of documents or items placed on the flatbed platen. To place a document into scanner  100  for flatbed scanning, output tray  20  is lifted as shown in  FIG. 10 , pivoting about horizontal axis  124  ( FIG. 8 ) and exposing platen glass  134  for document placement. 
       FIG. 11  is similar to  FIG. 8  in that it shows a side view cross section through scanner  100  but with cover  20  in an open position, also pivoted about horizontal axis  124 , while  FIG. 12  is a perspective view of a scanner  100 , similar to  FIG. 9 , but with pod  120  pivoted to an open position, and  FIG. 13  shows a side view cross section through the scanner  100  as shown in  FIG. 12  with pod  120  in an open position, with like numerals indicating like elements throughout the figures. As shown in  FIGS. 11 and 13 , output/exit tray  20  pivots about the same horizontal axis  124  created by the hinge mechanisms as the pod  120 . The output tray and pod pivot or rotate independently about this axis as shown, for example, in  FIG. 13 , which also illustrates the further axial reach of the output tray  20  as compared to the pod  120 . 
       FIGS. 14A-C  and  15 A-B show a preferred embodiment of the hinge mechanisms forming axis  124 . In  FIGS. 14A-C  the output tray  20  has been removed to show the hinge mechanisms portion on one side of the pod portion  120 . Pod portion  120  is pivotally attached to base portion  122  via these hinge mechanisms. Bearing  150  is pressed into wall  146  of pod portion  120 . Bearing  150  rotates about post  148 , which is affixed to wall  144  of base portion  122 . Referring to the detail of  FIG. 14C , which has base housing removed to expose base frame  154 , hinge post  148  is welded or riveted to metal plate  151 , which is secured to the base frame  154  with screws  153 . To assemble the scanner, the pod  120  is positioned in the base to align its bearing with the pivot axis location  124 , then the output tray (flatbed cover)  20  is likewise positioned at the axis. Then the plate  151  with hinge post  148  is screwed onto the base frame  154 . A similar hinge/bearing arrangement at location  160 , collinear with the hinge mechanism shown, completes the pod hinge mechanisms.  FIGS. 15A-B  show output tray  20  pivotally attached to base portion  122 , via the hinge mechanisms, over the same post  148 . In this case, an opening  152  in wall  150  of the output tray fits over post  148 . A similar bearing arrangement at location  161  completes the output tray hinge mechanisms.  FIG. 16  shows a preferred embodiment of opening  152  to be a slot that is oriented vertically when output tray  20  is in the closed position. This slot configuration allows output tray  20  to fully seat against thick or irregularly shaped documents that are placed on the platen for scanning. 
     As shown in  FIG. 15 , primary user controls and/or displays  149  are positioned on surfaces that face forward toward the front of the scanner in direction  145 , which define those surfaces as the front of the machine. Output tray  20  and input tray  11  extend in the same direction to provide forward facing access for the most ergonomic user interface. 
     This configuration affords all the ergonomic benefits of the traditional rotary or C-shaped sheet fed scanner—high capacity input tray with ergonomic position close to the table surface, forward-facing trays with minimal span between them to minimize reach, forward-facing single hinge access to the rotary paper path—while also offering ergonomic flatbed scanning for exception documents even when the sheet fed input and output trays are filled with documents.

Technology Category: 5