Medium feed apparatus to advance succeeding sheet of medium when preceding sheet of medium passes pick roller

A medium feed apparatus comprising:

• a stacking tray;
• a feed roller configured to feed a medium;
• a separation roller located facing the feed roller;
• a pick roller located at an upstream side from the feed roller and the separation roller in a medium conveyance direction;
• a first sensor located at an upstream side from the pick roller in the medium conveyance direction;
• a second sensor located at a downstream side from the feed roller and the separation roller in the medium conveyance direction;
• and
• a processor to rotate the pick roller and the feed roller in a medium feed direction to feed a plurality of sheets of the medium stacked on the stacking tray, wherein
• the processor
• stops the pick roller when the second sensor detects a front end of a preceding sheet of medium;
• and
• rotates the pick roller again to advance a succeeding sheet of medium when the first sensor detects a back end of the preceding sheet of medium, and wherein
• the processor sets a rotational speed of the pick roller at the time of rotating the pick roller again when the first sensor detects the back end of the preceding sheet of medium to a lower speed than the rotational speed of the pick roller at the time of starting feed of the preceding sheet of medium.

A medium feed method comprising:

• rotating a feed roller and a pick roller located at an upstream side from the feed roller and a separation roller located facing the feed roller in a medium conveyance direction in a medium feed direction to feed a plurality of sheets of the medium stacked on a stacking tray;
• stopping the pick roller when a second sensor located at a downstream side from the feed roller and the separation roller in the medium conveyance direction detects a front end of a preceding sheet of medium;
• and
• rotating the pick roller again to advance a succeeding sheet of medium after a first sensor located at an upstream side from the pick roller in the medium conveyance direction detects a back end of the preceding sheet of medium, and wherein
• a timing of rotating the pick roller again is changed, based on whether the second sensor has detected the front end of the preceding sheet of medium before a predetermined time elapses from when starting feed of the medium, whether skew of the preceding sheet of medium has occurred, or whether a size of the preceding sheet of medium is less than a predetermined size.

A medium feed method comprising:

• rotating a feed roller and a pick roller located at an upstream side from the feed roller and a separation roller located facing the feed roller in a medium conveyance direction in a medium feed direction to feed a plurality of sheets of the medium stacked on a stacking tray;
• stopping the pick roller when a second sensor located at a downstream side from the feed roller and the separation roller in the medium conveyance direction detects a front end of a preceding sheet of medium;
• rotating the pick roller again to advance a succeeding sheet of medium when a first sensor located at an upstream side from the pick roller in the medium conveyance direction detects a back end of the preceding sheet of medium, wherein
• a rotational speed of the pick roller at the time of rotating the pick roller again when the first sensor detects the back end of the preceding sheet of medium is set to a lower speed than the rotational speed of the pick roller at the time of starting feed of the preceding sheet of medium.