Image based document processing and information management system and apparatus

Apparatus usable for feeding a stack of documents and detecting the end of a transaction included in the stack of documents, comprising:

• a planar base on which a stack of document is located;
• means associated with said base for feeding a single document from the stack of documents forward across said base to a device positioned in front of said base for receiving the document while leaving the remaining documents stacked on said base;
• a pair of parallel, but spaced elongated guides located adjacent the rear of said base and extending laterally upward therefrom, said base including an elongated slot extending forwardly from the rear of said base and connecting with the space between said parallel arms;
• an elongated wand located in the stack of documents to isolate the documents of a transaction below said wand from the documents above said wand and slidably positioned between said guides to extend over said slot, said wand moving downward between said guides as the documents are fed one at a time forward to the device positioned in front of said base, and falling through said slot when the last document of the transaction below said wand has been fed forward;
• and
• means for detecting the falling of said wand for determining the end of the transaction;
• wherein said means for feeding a single document includes:
• pick and drive means in front of said base for driving the lower most document of the stack forward from the stack for feeding the document while aligning the next document of the stack to be fed;
• continuous drive means along said planar base for urging the stack adjacent said pick drive means;
• detection means adjacent said pick drive means and engaged by the movement of the lower portion of the stack adjacent said pick drive means for activating said pick drive means;
• and
• means between said detection means and said base and positioned adjacent said pick drive means for allowing only one document to leave the stack at a time.

An apparatus for automatically feeding a paper document from a stack of pieces of paper having differing sizes to a paper transport, the apparatus comprising:

• a base for receiving a stack of pieces of paper for feeding to a paper transport;
• a drive for picking a piece of paper from a stack of paper documents and feeding the picked piece of paper toward the paper transport for being taken up by the paper transport, the paper transport being adjacent the drive;
• a support adjacent the drive and on a side of the drive opposite the base for supporting a piece of paper as it is being fed from the drive to the paper transport;
• the support deflecting in a first direction under tension of a piece of paper being taken up by the paper transport;
• the support further being biased to deflect in a second direction generally opposite the first direction when a paper document being fed by the drive begins to buckle toward the second direction;
• the support being adapted to bias a paper document being driven to buckle in the second direction;
• a sensor responsive to the position of the support for indicating that a piece of paper being fed to the paper transport is buckling, the drive coupled to the sensor for responding to an indication that the piece of paper is buckling.

An apparatus for automatically feeding to a paper transport a stack of documents separable into a plurality of transactions, the apparatus comprising:

• a base for receiving a stack of paper documents separable into a plurality of transactions, the base including an elongated opening over which the stack of paper documents is received;
• a drive located on a first side of the base for picking and feeding a paper document from a bottom of the stack of documents;
• a wand for physically separating the adjacent paper documents that are a part of separate transactions and defining a transaction boundary;
• a guide located on a second side of the base for retaining ends of a plurality of wands in relation to the stack of paper documents to maintain separation between transactions while the drive feeds paper documents from the bottom of the stack;
• each wand having an end adapted to be received by the top of the guide;
• the guide being adapted to retain the plurality of wands in a stack-like manner so that the wand retains a separation between paper documents at transaction boundaries and is further adapted to allow a wand to fall through the elongated opening in the base when the last paper document in the transaction below the wand is fed by the drive;
• and
• a detector for sensing the falling of the wand through the opening and indicating a transaction boundary.