Image reading system and program for reading electronic paper, and image forming apparatus including the image reading system

An image reading system, comprising:

• a document feed tray to contain original documents including either or both of a non-electronic recording medium and an electronic paper,
• the electronic paper including,
• a first memory to store electronic data of the electronic paper, the electronic data including electronic image data and unique identification information;
• and
• a first communication element to communicate with an external unit;
• a primary sensor comprising a second communication element to communicate with the first communication element of the electronic paper and a second memory to store the electronic data of the electronic paper, the primary sensor configured to read the electronic data including the electronic image data and the unique identification information from the first memory of each electronic paper included in the original documents before each electronic paper is transferred from the document feed tray and configured to store the read electronic data including the read electronic image data and the unique identification information in the second memory;
• a secondary sensor to detect the original documents and determine whether each of the original documents is the non-electronic recording medium or the electronic paper during transfer in an original order as set in the document feed tray between the document feed tray and a scanning position;
• a transfer unit to transfer the original documents to the scanning position disposed downstream from the document feed tray at a speed based on a determination result obtained by the secondary sensor, wherein when the secondary sensor determines that the original document is the non-electronic recording medium, the transfer unit transfers the non-electronic recording medium at a first speed, wherein when the secondary sensor determines that the original document is the electronic paper, the transfer unit transfers the electronic paper at a second speed, wherein the second speed is higher than the first speed;
• and
• an optical image reader to optically read an image of each of the original documents at the scanning position to obtain electronic data of the image formed on each of the original documents.

An image forming apparatus, comprising:

• an image reading system comprising:
• a document feed tray to contain original documents including either or both of a non-electronic recording medium and an electronic paper,
• the electronic paper including:
• a first memory to store electronic data of the electronic paper, the electronic data including electronic image data;
• and
• a first communication element to communicate with an external unit;
• a primary sensor comprising a second communication element to communicate with the first communication element of the electronic paper and a second memory to store the electronic data of the electronic paper, the primary sensor configured to read the electronic data including the electronic image data from the first memory of each electronic paper included in the original documents before each electronic paper is transferred from the document feed tray and configured to store the read electronic data including the read electronic image data in the second memory;
• a secondary sensor to detect the original documents and determine whether each of the original documents is the non-electronic recording medium or the electronic paper during transfer in an original order as set in the document feed tray between the document feed tray and a scanning position;
• a transfer unit to transfer the original documents to the scanning position disposed at a downstream side from the document feed tray at a speed based on a determination result obtained by the secondary sensor, wherein when the secondary sensor determines that the original document is the non-electronic recording medium, the transfer unit transfers the non-electronic recording medium at a first speed, wherein when the secondary sensor determines that the original document is the electronic paper, the transfer unit transfers the electronic paper at a second speed, wherein the second speed is higher than the first speed;
• and
• an optical image reader to optically read an image formed on each non-electronic recording medium of the original documents at the scanning position to produce electronic data of the image formed on each non-electronic recording medium;
• and
• an image forming mechanism to print on a recording medium an image according to the electronic data obtained either by the primary sensor or at the scanning position.

An image reading system, comprising:

• a document feed tray to contain original documents including either or both of a non-electronic recording medium and an electronic paper;
• the electronic paper including,
• a first memory to store electronic data of the electronic paper, the electronic data including electronic image data and unique identification information;
• a first communication element to communicate with an external unit;
• a primary sensor comprising a second communication element to communicate with the first communication element of multiple electronic papers and a second memory to store the electronic data of the multiple electronic papers, the primary sensor configured to read the electronic data including the electronic image data and the unique identification information from the first memory of each of the multiple electronic papers included in the original documents before any of the original documents are transferred from the document feed tray and configured to store the read electronic data including the read electronic image data and the read unique identification information in the second memory;
• a secondary sensor comprising a third communication element to individually communicate with the first communication element of each of the multiple electronic papers, the secondary sensor configured to detect the original documents and determine whether each of the original documents is the non-electronic recording medium or the electronic paper during transfer in an original order as set in the document feed tray between the document feed tray and a scanning position, the secondary sensor configured to detect only the unique identification information from the first memory of each of the multiple electronic papers;
• a transfer unit to transfer the original documents to the scanning position disposed downstream from the document feed tray at a speed based on a determination result obtained by the secondary sensor, wherein when the secondary sensor determines that the original document is the non-electronic recording medium, the transfer unit transfers the non-electronic recording medium at a first speed, wherein when the secondary sensor determines that the original document is the electronic paper, the transfer unit transfers the electronic paper at a second speed, and wherein the second speed is higher than the first speed, wherein the transfer unit transfers both the non-electronic recording medium and the electronic paper along a single conveyance path between the document feed tray and a discharge tray;
• an optical image reader to optically read an image formed on each non-electronic recording medium of the original documents at the scanning position to produce electronic data of the image formed on each non-electronic recording medium;
• a storage unit to store the electronic data of the non-electronic recording medium and the electronic data of the electronic paper in a common format;
• and
• a sorting unit to sort and rearrange the electronic data of the electronic paper read by the primary sensor in the original order,
• wherein, when the primary sensor reads the electronic data of the multiple electronic papers, including the electronic image data and unique identification information, the primary sensor stores the electronic data in the storage unit, and when the secondary sensor detects the unique identification information stored in the first memory of the detected original document to determine that the detected original document is the electronic paper, the sorting unit sorts the electronic data of the electronic paper in the original order according to the unique identification information read by the secondary sensor.