Sheet feeder
AssigneeBrother Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorYuki MATSUI
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A contact member swingably moves about a swing axis to contact a recording medium stacked on a medium tray, and shifts to different states depending on volume of medium. A controller performs: a detection process of detecting the stacked volume based on signals of M times outputted from the sensor, the M times being a number of times that is larger than or equal to two times; a stack determination process of determining whether the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray based on signals of N times, the signals of N times being a part of the signals of the M times outputted from the sensor, the N times being a number of times that is smaller than M; and a sheet feeding process of controlling the feed roller to feed the recording medium, in response to determining that the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray.
Claims12
A sheet feeder comprising:
- a medium tray on which a recording medium is stacked;
- a feed roller configured to feed the recording medium stacked on the medium tray;
- a driver configured to supply driving force to the feed roller;
- a contact member configured to swingably move about a swing axis to contact the recording medium stacked on the medium tray, the contact member being configured to shift to different states depending on a stacked volume of the recording medium;
- a sensor configured to output different signals depending on a state of the contact member;
- an urging member configured to urge the contact member toward a position corresponding to the stacked volume that no recording medium is stacked on the medium tray;
- and
- a controller configured to control the driver, the controller being configured to perform:
- a detection process of detecting the stacked volume based on signals of M times outputted from the sensor, the M times being a particular number of times that is larger than or equal to two times;
- a stack determination process of determining whether the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray based on signals of N times, the signals of N times being a part of the signals of the M times outputted from the sensor, the N times being a particular number of times that is smaller than the M times;
- and
- a sheet feeding process of controlling the feed roller to feed the recording medium, in response to determining in the stack determination process that the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray.
An image recording apparatus comprising:
- a medium tray on which a recording medium is stacked;
- a feed roller configured to feed the recording medium stacked on the medium tray;
- a printer configured to record an image on the recording medium fed by the feed roller;
- a driver configured to supply driving force to the feed roller;
- a contact member configured to swingably move about a swing axis to contact the recording medium stacked on the medium tray, the contact member being configured to shift to different states depending on a stacked volume of the recording medium;
- a sensor configured to output different signals depending on a state of the contact member;
- an urging member configured to urge the contact member toward a position corresponding to the stacked volume that no recording medium is stacked on the medium tray;
- and
- a controller configured to control the driver, the controller being configured to perform:
- a detection process of detecting the stacked volume based on signals of M times outputted from the sensor, the M times being a particular number of times that is larger than or equal to two times;
- a stack determination process of determining whether the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray based on signals of N times, the signals of N times being a part of the signals of the M times outputted from the sensor, the N times being a particular number of times that is smaller than the M times;
- a sheet feeding process of controlling the feed roller to feed the recording medium, in response to determining in the stack determination process that the recording medium is stacked on the medium tray;
- and
- a recording process of controlling the printer to record an image on the recording medium fed in the sheet feeding process.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.