JP2024174739A - Image reading device and image forming device - Google Patents

Abstract

To allow a user to easily change the front-back relationship of an image on one surface and an image on the other surface of a document when the front and back surfaces of the document are read incorrectly.SOLUTION: In an image reading device 20, a control unit 29 sets a conveyed document double-surface reading mode, causes a second imaging unit 42 to read an image on one surface of the document, causes the second imaging unit 42 to read an image on the other surface of the document when the document is flipped and placed again on a document tray 33, causes a display unit 24 to display the images by associating the image on the one surface and the image on the other surface of the document, causes the display unit 24 to display options to choose which image of the image on the one surface and the image on the other surface of the document is the image on the front surface, and sets one of the image on the one surface and the image on the other surface of the document as the image on the front surface according to the operation of an operation unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to an image reading device that reads an image of a document while the document is transported through one of multiple transport paths, and an image forming apparatus equipped with the same, and in particular to a technology for dealing with cases where the front and back of a document are read incorrectly.

Some image reading devices are configured to pull out an original from an original tray and transport it through one of multiple transport paths, read an image of one side of the original transported through one transport path using an imaging unit, read an image of the other side of the original transported through another transport path using another imaging unit, and discharge the original from each transport path to the respective output tray.

In the data processing device described in Patent Document 1, the image reading unit reads the images of the front sides of multiple documents and stores them in a memory unit, data indicating which page it is is added to the image of the front side of each document, the image reading unit also reads the images of the back sides of each document and stores them in a memory unit, data indicating which page it is added to the image of the back side of each document, and it is determined whether the images of the front side and the images of the back side of each document are in normal or reverse order. If they are in normal order, the nth images of the front side and the nth images of the back side of each document are filed as pairs, and if they are in reverse order, the nth image of the front side of each document is filed as pairs with the N-n+1th image of the back side of each document (N is the total number of documents).

The image reading device described in Patent Document 2 includes a first reading means for reading a front image of a document, a second reading means for reading a back image of the document, and a printing means for printing the front image read by the first reading means or the back image read by the second reading means on the front or back of a sheet, and determines the acquisition order of the front image read by the first reading means and the back image read by the second reading means based on the sheet feed conditions and post-processing conditions, and outputs the front image and back image acquired according to this determined acquisition order to the printing means.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 11-025101 JP 2017-103512 A

In the configuration described above where the document is transported through the transport path and the image of one side of the document is read by the imaging unit, if the document to be read is turned over and the image of the other side of the document is read again by the imaging unit, it is possible to read images on both sides of the document. However, if the user mistakenly places the document upside down, the front and back of the document will be read incorrectly. In this case, it is necessary to later reverse the relationship between the front and back of the image of one side of the document that has been read and the image of the other side of the document to return it to the original state.

In Patent Document 1, the procedure for pairing the image on the front side of each document with the image on the back side of each document is changed depending on whether the image on the front side of each document and the image on the back side of each document are in normal or reverse order, so that the page order of the front side of each document matches the page order of the back side of each document. However, this does not address the case where the front and back sides of a document are read incorrectly, as described above.

In addition, in Patent Document 2, the order in which the front image is read by the first reading means and the back image is read by the second reading means is determined, but it does not deal with the case where the front and back of the document are read incorrectly, as described above.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and aims to make it possible to easily change the relationship between the front and back of the image on one side of a document and the image on the other side of the document when a user mistakenly reads the front and back of the document in a double-sided document reading operation in which the image capturing unit reads an image on one side of the document and the image on the other side of the document, assuming that the document to be read is flipped over to be read.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image reading device including a display unit, an original tray on which a plurality of originals are placed, a straight transport path for transporting the plurality of originals drawn from the original tray, a curved transport path branching off from the straight transport path, a first imaging unit for reading images of the surfaces of the plurality of originals facing upward on the original tray while the plurality of originals are transported through the curved transport path, a second imaging unit provided upstream in a document transport direction from a branching position of the straight transport path and the curved transport path, and for reading images of the surfaces of the plurality of originals facing downward on the original tray while the plurality of originals are transported through the straight transport path, and a memory that temporarily stores an image read by the second imaging unit; an operation unit that receives instructions from a user; and a control unit that performs operation control in a transported document double-sided reading mode in which the multiple documents pulled out from the document tray are transported through the linear transport path, images of the multiple documents facing downward on the document tray are read by the second imaging unit, and when the multiple documents are subsequently placed on the document tray again, the multiple documents pulled out from the document tray are transported through the linear transport path, and images of the multiple documents facing downward on the document tray are read by the second imaging unit,
When an instruction to execute the double-sided reading mode of the transported document is received from the operation unit, the control unit controls operation in the double-sided reading mode of the transported document, causes the display unit to display each image obtained in the first reading by the second imaging unit and each image obtained in the second reading by the second imaging unit, and, in accordance with the instruction received from the operation unit, sets either the images obtained in the first reading or the images obtained in the second reading as the front image collectively, and sets the other as the back image collectively.

An image forming apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention includes an image reading apparatus according to the above aspect of the present invention, and an image forming section that forms an image of an original document read by the image reading apparatus on a recording sheet.

According to the present invention, when performing double-sided document reading in which an image of one side of a document is read by an imaging unit, and an image of the other side of the document is read by the imaging unit on the premise that the document to be read is inverted and read, if a user mistakenly reads the front and back of the document, the relationship between the front and back of the image of one side of the document and the image of the other side of the document can be easily changed.

1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which an image reading apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is applied; FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an image reading device. FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of an image reading device. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a document transport path in the image reading device. 13 is an enlarged view showing another transport path for a document in the image reading device; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main internal configuration of an image forming apparatus; 10 is a flowchart showing a control procedure for dealing with an erroneous operation in which an original is placed on the original tray with its front side facing up when the original is read in the second transported original double-sided reading mode. 7B is a flowchart showing a control procedure subsequent to FIG. 7A. 7C is a flowchart showing a control procedure subsequent to FIG. 7B. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a message displayed on a display unit. (A) shows the relationship between the front and back of a document when the front side of the document is read face down, and then the document is flipped over and read, and (B) shows the relationship between the front and back of a document when the front side of the document is read face down, and then the document is read without being flipped over. (A) shows the relationship between the front and back of a document when the back side of the document is read with the document facing down, and then the document is flipped over and read, and (B) shows the relationship between the front and back of a document when the back side of the document is read with the document facing down, and then the document is read without being flipped over. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another message displayed on the display unit. This figure shows the front and back of the images on one side and the other side of each document placed face down on the document tray before reading begins, and read in the second transport document double-sided reading mode. (A) is a diagram showing the front and back of the images on one side and the other side of each document read in the second transport document double-sided reading mode after the document was mistakenly placed on the document tray with its front side facing up before reading began, and (B) is a diagram showing the front and back of the images on one side and the other side of each document swapped all at once. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an editing screen displayed on a display unit.

One embodiment of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an image forming apparatus to which an image reading device according to one embodiment of the present invention is applied. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming apparatus 10 includes an image reading device 20 and an image forming unit 21 according to this embodiment.

The image reading device 20 has an imaging unit (CCD sensor, contact image sensor) that optically reads the image of the document, and the analog output of this imaging unit is converted into a digital signal to generate image data representing the image of the document.

The image forming unit 21 prints an image represented by the image data on a recording sheet, and includes an image forming unit 3M for magenta, an image forming unit 3C for cyan, an image forming unit 3Y for yellow, and an image forming unit 3Bk for black. In each of the image forming units 3M, 3C, 3Y, and 3Bk, the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is uniformly charged, the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is exposed to light, an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4, the electrostatic latent image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is developed into a toner image, and the toner image on the surface of the photosensitive drum 4 is transferred to the intermediate transfer belt 5. As a result, a color toner image is formed on the intermediate transfer belt 5. This color toner image is secondarily transferred to the recording sheet P transported from the paper feed unit 14 through the main transport path 8 in the nip area N between the intermediate transfer belt 5 and the secondary transfer roller 6.

After this, the recording paper P is heated and pressurized by the fixing device 15 to fix the toner image on the recording paper P by thermal compression, and the recording paper P is then discharged to the paper discharge tray 17 via the discharge rollers 16.

When an image of the original M is to be recorded on the reverse side of the recording paper P, the recording paper P is transported to the discharge rollers 16 just before the paper discharge tray 17, the discharge rollers 16 are stopped once and then rotated in the reverse direction, a switchback transport is performed, the recording paper P is returned to the main transport path 8 from the transport rollers 18 via the reversing transport path 9, the recording paper P is turned over, an image of the original M is formed on the reverse side of the recording paper P by the image forming unit 21, and the recording paper P is discharged to the paper discharge tray 17 via the discharge rollers 16.

Next, the image reading device 20 of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the image reading device 20 of this embodiment. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the exterior of the image reading device 20, showing the document transport unit 31 in an open state.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the image reading device 20 includes a document transport unit 31 and a reading unit 32. The document transport unit 31 includes a document tray 33, a paper feed roller 34, a transport belt 35, a retard roller 36, a registration roller 37, a plurality of transport rollers 38, a first discharge roller 39, a first discharge tray 40, a contact image sensor (CIS) 42, a second discharge roller 48, and a second discharge tray 49.

The contact image sensor 42 corresponds to the second imaging unit in the claims. Hereinafter, the contact image sensor 42 will be referred to as the second imaging unit 42.

In the document transport section 31, when a document M is placed on the document tray 33, the document M is pulled out of the document tray 33 by the paper feed roller 34, and the document M is guided between the transport belt 35 and the retard roller 36 to the linear transport path 45 and transported.

The curved transport path 46 is connected to a branching position BP midway along the straight transport path 45. A switching claw 44 is provided at the branching position BP. The shaft at the left end of the switching claw 44 is rotated back and forth within a certain range of rotation by an actuator (not shown), so that the tip of the switching claw 44 is directed diagonally upward or horizontally. When the tip of the switching claw 44 is directed diagonally upward, the document M is guided and transported from the straight transport path 45 to the curved transport path 46, and when the tip of the switching claw 44 is directed horizontally, the document M is transported through the entire straight transport path 45.

In the linear transport path 45, the document M is transported from the resist roller 37 through between the second imaging section 42 and the shading roller 41 to the switching claw 44, where the document M is guided horizontally by the switching claw 44 and discharged to the second discharge tray 49 via the second discharge roller 48.

In addition, in the curved transport path 46, the original M that has been guided downward by the switching claw 44 is transported to the first platen glass 51, and the original M passes over the first platen glass 51 and is discharged to the first discharge tray 40 by the first discharge roller 39.

The reading unit 32 includes a first platen glass 51, a second platen glass 52, a carriage 54, an optical system unit 55, a focusing lens 56, and a CCD sensor 11.

The CCD sensor 11 corresponds to the first imaging unit in the claims. Hereinafter, the CCD sensor 11 will be referred to as the first imaging unit 11.

In the reading section 32, the carriage 54 includes a light source 54A that irradiates light onto the document M, and a mirror 54B that reflects the light reflected by the document M. The optical system unit 55 also includes a mirror 55A and a mirror 55B. The mirror 55A receives the light reflected by the mirror 54B of the carriage 54 and redirects it approximately vertically downward. The mirror 55B redirects the light reflected by the mirror 55A approximately horizontally and guides it to the first imaging section 11 via the focusing lens 56.

The carriage 54 and optical system unit 55 are arranged to be movable back and forth along rails in a sub-scanning direction X perpendicular to the main scanning direction Y, and are moved in the sub-scanning direction X while maintaining a predetermined speed relationship by a known drive mechanism powered by a stepping motor (not shown).

Two hinges 58 are provided at a distance from one another at one end of the top surface 32a of the reading unit 32, and these hinges 58 support the document transport unit 31 so that it can be opened and closed, allowing the user to open and close the document transport unit 31.

Here, the image reading device 20 has five types of reading modes for reading the image of the original M: a stationary original reading mode, a first transported original single-sided reading mode, a second transported original single-sided reading mode, a first transported original double-sided reading mode, and a second transported original double-sided reading mode (the second transported original double-sided reading mode corresponds to the transported original double-sided reading mode in the claims). When a selection instruction to select one of these reading modes is received by the operation unit 23 (Figure 6) through a user's operation, the image of the original M is read under the control of the control unit 29 (Figure 6) in the reading mode indicated by this selection instruction.

The stationary document reading mode is an operation for reading an image of the downward facing surface (front surface, meaning the first surface; the same applies below for document M, and also in the claims) of document M placed on the second platen glass 52, and the first imaging unit 11 of the reading unit 32 reads the image of the surface of document M through the second platen glass 52.

When the stationary document reading mode is selected, the document transport unit 31 is opened, and the document M is placed on the second platen glass 52 with its surface facing down while the second platen glass 52 of the reading unit 32 is open. The document transport unit 31 is closed, and the document M placed on the second platen glass 52 is pressed down by the document transport unit 31. In the reading unit 32, the carriage 54 and the optical system unit 55 are moved in the sub-scanning direction X while maintaining a predetermined speed relationship, and the light of the light source 54A of the carriage 54 is irradiated onto the surface of the document M through the second platen glass 52, and the light reflected by the surface of the document M is reflected by the mirror 54B of the carriage 54. Furthermore, this light is reflected by the mirrors 55A and 55B of the optical system unit 55 and enters the first imaging unit 11 through the condenser lens 56. The first imaging unit 11 repeatedly reads the image of the surface of the document M in the main scanning direction Y (direction perpendicular to the sub-scanning direction X).

The first transported original single-sided reading mode is an operation for reading the image of the upward facing surface of the original M placed on the original tray 33 while transporting the original M. The original M is transported from the original tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the curved transport path 46 to the first discharge tray 40, and the first imaging unit 11 of the reading unit 32 reads the image of the surface of the original M through the first platen glass 51.

When the first transported original single-sided reading mode is selected, with the original transport section 31 closed as shown in FIG. 4, the original M is placed with its front side facing up on the original tray 33, the original M is pulled out of the original tray 33 by the paper feed roller 34, the original M is transported through the straight transport path 45, the original M is guided by the switching claw 44 from the straight transport path 45 to the curved transport path 46 and transported, and the original M passes over the first platen glass 51 and is discharged to the first discharge tray 40. In the reading section 32, the carriage 54 and the optical system unit 55 are positioned at their respective predetermined positions below the first platen glass 51, and light from the light source 54A of the carriage 54 is irradiated onto the surface of the original M through the first platen glass 51. The light reflected from the surface of the original M is reflected by each mirror 54B, 55A, 55B and made to enter the first imaging section 11 through the condenser lens 56, and the image of the surface of the original M is repeatedly read by the first imaging section 11 in the main scanning direction Y.

The second transported original single-sided reading mode is an operation for reading the image of the downward facing surface of the original M placed on the original tray 33 while transporting the original M. The original M is transported from the original tray 33 to the linear transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49, and the second imaging unit 42 reads the image of the downward facing surface of the original M.

When the second transported original single-sided reading mode is selected, as shown in FIG. 5, the original transport section 31 is closed and the original M is placed on the original tray 33 with its surface facing down, the feed roller 34 pulls the original M out of the original tray 33, the original M is transported through the linear transport path 45, the original M passes over the second imaging section 42, the switching claw 44 maintains the transport of the original M through the entire linear transport path 45, and the original M is discharged to the second discharge tray 49. The second imaging section 42 repeatedly reads the image of the downward surface of the original M passing between the second imaging section 42 and the shading roller 41 in the main scanning direction Y.

The first transported document double-sided reading mode is an operation for reading images of both sides of a document M placed on the document tray 33 while the document M is being transported. The document M is transported from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the curved transport path 46 to the first discharge tray 40. The second imaging unit 42 reads an image of the downward facing back side (reverse side, meaning the second side; the same applies below for document M) of the document M being transported through the straight transport path 45, and the first imaging unit 11 of the reading unit 32 reads an image of the front side of the document M through the first platen glass 51.

When the first transported document double-sided reading mode is selected, as shown in FIG. 4, the document transport section 31 is closed and the document M is placed on the document tray 33 with its front side facing up. The document M is pulled out of the document tray 33 by the feed roller 34, transported through the straight transport path 45, passes over the second imaging section 42, and the document M is guided by the switching claw 44 from the straight transport path 45 to the curved transport path 46 and transported. The document M passes over the first platen glass 51 and is discharged to the first discharge tray 40. The second imaging section 42 reads an image of the downward-facing back side of the document M passing between the second imaging section 42 and the shading roller 41. In addition, in the reading unit 32, light from the light source 54A of the carriage 54 is irradiated onto the surface of the original M through the first platen glass 51, and the light reflected from the surface of the original M is reflected by each mirror 54B, 55A, and 55B and made to enter the first imaging unit 11 through the condenser lens 56, causing the first imaging unit 11 to read the image of the surface of the original M.

The second transported document double-sided reading mode (corresponding to the transported document double-sided reading mode in the claims) is an operation in which the above-mentioned second transported document single-sided reading mode is repeated twice to read the images of the front and back sides of the document M placed on the document tray 33. In the second transported document double-sided reading mode, the document M placed on the document tray 33 is transported from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49, and the second imaging unit 42 reads the image of the downward facing front side of the document M (first transported document single-sided reading mode). After this, assuming that the user picks up the document M from the second discharge tray 49, turns the document M over, and places it again on the document tray 33, after this placement, the document M is transported again from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49, and the second imaging unit 42 reads the image of the downward facing side of the document M as the back side (second transported document single-sided reading mode).

The curved transport path 46 is suitable for transporting documents made of thin paper that bends flexibly and that are long in the transport direction. The straight transport path 45 is suitable for transporting documents that are difficult to bend and short in the transport direction, such as business cards and cards. Therefore, when reading an image of a document made of thin paper that bends flexibly and that is long in the transport direction, it is preferable to select the first transport document single-sided reading mode or the first transport document double-sided reading mode, and when reading an image of a document that is difficult to bend and that is short in the transport direction, such as business cards and cards, it is preferable to select the second transport document single-sided reading mode or the second transport document double-sided reading mode.

Figure 6 is a block diagram showing the internal configuration of the image forming device 10. As shown in Figure 4, the image forming device 10 includes an image reading device 20, an image forming unit 21, an operation unit 23, a display unit 24, a touch panel 25, an image memory 26, a storage unit 27, and a control unit 28. These components are capable of transmitting and receiving data or signals to and from each other via a bus.

The operation unit 23 includes physical keys such as a numeric keypad, a decision key, and a start key. The operation unit 23 accepts various instructions based on the user's operation of the above keys. The display unit 24 is composed of a liquid crystal display (LCD: Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic light-emitting diode (OLED: Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display.

A touch panel 25 is disposed on the screen of the display unit 24. The touch panel 25 is a so-called resistive film type or capacitive type touch panel, which detects contact (touch) of a user's finger or the like on the touch panel 25 together with the contact position, and outputs a detection signal indicating the coordinates of the contact position to a control unit 29 (described later) of the control unit 28. This touch panel 25 serves as an operation unit that accepts instructions based on user operations on the screen of the display unit 24.

The image memory 26 temporarily stores image data representing the image of the original M read by the first imaging unit 11 and the second imaging unit 42 of the image reading device 20.

The storage unit 27 is a large-capacity storage device such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) or HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and stores various application programs and various data.

The control unit 28 is composed of a processor, a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), etc. The processor is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit). The control unit 28 functions as a control unit 29 by the processor executing a control program stored in the ROM or the memory unit 27.

The control unit 29 controls the image forming device 10. The control unit 28 is connected to the image reading device 20, the image forming unit 21, the operation unit 23, the display unit 24, the touch panel 25, the image memory 26, and the storage unit 27. The control unit 29 controls the operation of these components and transmits and receives signals and data between these components.

The control unit 29 serves as a processing unit that executes various processes required for image formation by the image forming device 10. The control unit 29 also accepts operation instructions input by the user based on a detection signal output from the touch panel 25 or the operation of a physical key on the operation unit 23. For example, the control unit 29 accepts touch operations on a GUI (Graphical User Interface) displayed on the screen of the display unit 24 through the touch panel 25. Furthermore, the control unit 29 has a function of controlling the display operation of the display unit 24.

The control unit 29 also controls the motors, actuators, clutches, etc. for operating the paper feed roller 34, conveyor belt 35, registration roller 37, each conveyor roller 38, shading roller 41, first discharge roller 39, second discharge roller 48, switching claw 44, etc. in the document conveying unit 31 of the image reading device 20, and operates these to pull out the document M from the document tray 33 and convey it through the straight conveying path 45 or the curved conveying path 46.

In the image forming device 10 configured as described above, for example, a user operates the GUI displayed on the display unit 24 to select one of the stationary document reading mode, the first transported document single-sided reading mode, the second transported document single-sided reading mode, the first transported document double-sided reading mode, and the second transported document double-sided reading mode, and inputs a mode selection instruction to the operation unit 23 via the touch panel. Then, the user places the document M on the second platen glass 52 or the document tray 33, and operates the start key of the operation unit 23 to input a document reading instruction to the operation unit 23.

At this time, if the user inputs a mode selection instruction to select the stationary document reading mode, the user places the document M with its surface facing down on the second platen glass 52 of the image reading device 20, and if the user selects the first transported document one-sided reading mode, the user places the document M with its surface facing up on the document tray 33.

When the user inputs a mode selection instruction to the operation unit 23 to select the second transported original single-sided reading mode, the document M is placed on the document tray 33 with its surface facing down. When the user inputs a mode selection instruction to the operation unit 23 to select the first transported original double-sided reading mode, the document M is placed on the document tray 33 with its surface facing up, as in the first transported original single-sided reading mode. When the user inputs a mode selection instruction to the operation unit 23 to select the second transported original double-sided reading mode, the document M is placed on the document tray 33 with its surface facing down, as in the second transported original single-sided reading mode.

When a mode selection instruction to select the stationary document reading mode is received by the operation unit 23, the control unit 29 controls the reading unit 32 to read the image of the surface of the document M on the second platen glass 52 by the first imaging unit 11 of the reading unit 32 as described above, stores image data representing the image of the surface of the document M in the image memory 26, inputs the image data representing the image of the surface of the document M from the image memory 26 to the image forming unit 21, and causes the image forming unit 21 to form the image of the surface of the document M represented by this image data on recording paper.

When a mode selection instruction to select the first transported document one-sided reading mode is received by the operation unit 23, the control unit 29 controls the document transport unit 31 to transport the document M through the document tray 33 → straight transport path 45 → curved transport path 46 → first discharge tray 40 as described above (see FIG. 4), causes the first imaging unit 11 of the reading unit 32 to read the image of the surface of the document M through the first platen glass 51, stores image data representing the image of the surface of the document M in the image memory 26, inputs the image data representing the image of the surface of the document M from the image memory 26 to the image forming unit 21, and causes the image forming unit 21 to form the image of the surface of the document M represented by this image data on recording paper.

When a mode selection instruction to select the second transported document one-sided reading mode is received by the operation unit 23, the control unit 29 controls the document transport unit 31 to transport the document M from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49 as described above (see FIG. 5), causes the second imaging unit 42 to read an image of the downward facing surface of the document M, stores image data representing the image of the surface of the document M in the image memory 26, and causes the image forming unit 21 to form the image of the surface of the document M represented by this image data on the front and back of the recording paper.

In addition, when a mode selection instruction to select the first transported document double-sided reading mode is received by the operation unit 23, the control unit 29 controls the document transport unit 31, the second imaging unit 42, and the reading unit 32 to transport the document M through the document tray 33 → straight transport path 45 → curved transport path 46 → first discharge tray 40 as described above (see FIG. 4), causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the downward facing back side of the document M, causes the first imaging unit 11 of the reading unit 32 to read the image of the front side of the document M through the first platen glass 51, stores the image data representing the front and back sides of the document M in the image memory 26, inputs the image data representing the front and back sides of the document M from the image memory 26 to the image forming unit 21, and causes the image forming unit 21 to form the image of the front and back sides of the document M represented by these image data on the front and back sides of the recording paper.

In addition, when a mode selection instruction to select the second transported document double-sided reading mode is received by the operation unit 23, the control unit 29 controls the document transport unit 31 to transport the document M along the path from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49 as described above (see Figure 5), and causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the downward side of the document M as the front side (first second transported document single-sided reading mode), and stores image data showing the image of the front side of the document M in the image memory 26. Then, assuming that the user picks up the document M from the second discharge tray 49, turns it over, and places it again on the document tray 33, after this placement, the control unit 29 transports the document M again along the path from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49 (see FIG. 5), and causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the document M, which is now facing downward at this point, as the back side (second second transported document single-sided reading mode), and stores image data representing the image of the back side of the document M in the image memory 26. The control unit 29 inputs the image data representing the image of the front side and the image of the back side of the document M from the image memory 26 to the image forming unit 21, and causes the image forming unit 21 to form the image of the front side and the image of the back side of the document M represented by these image data on the front and back sides of the recording paper.

Therefore, when the stationary document reading mode is selected, the user places the document M with its surface facing down on the second platen glass 52, the image of the surface of the document M is read by the first imaging unit 11, and the image of the surface of the document M is formed on recording paper by the image forming unit 21.

When the first transported document one-sided reading mode is selected, the user places the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing up, the first imaging unit 11 reads the image of the front side of the document M, and the image forming unit 21 forms the image of the front side of the document M on recording paper.

When the second transport document one-sided reading mode is selected, the user places the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing down, the second imaging unit 42 reads the image of the downward facing front side of the document M, and the image of the front side of the document M is formed on recording paper by the image forming unit 21.

When the first transported document double-sided reading mode is selected, the user places document M on document tray 33 with its front side facing up, the second imaging unit 42 reads an image of the reverse side of document M which faces downward, the first imaging unit 11 reads an image of the front side of document M, and the image forming unit 21 forms an image of the front side and the image of the reverse side of document M on the front and back of recording paper.

In addition, when the second transport document double-sided reading mode is selected, the user places the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing down, the second imaging unit 42 reads the image of the downward-facing front side of the document M the first time, and assuming that the user turns the document M over and places it again on the document tray 33, the second imaging unit 42 reads the image of the downward-facing side of the document M as the back side a second time, and the image forming unit 21 forms the images of the front side and back side of the document M on the front and back of the recording paper.

When the user selects the first transported document double-sided reading mode, the user places the document M on the document tray 33 of the image reading device 20 with its front side facing up, and when the user selects the second transported document double-sided reading mode, the user places the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing down. However, the user may erroneously place the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing up despite selecting the second transported document double-sided reading mode.

When an erroneous operation such as the one described above occurs, when the image data showing the front images of multiple documents M and the image data showing the back images are temporarily stored in the image memory 26, and the image data showing the front images of each document M and the image showing the back images of each document M are read from the image memory 26 and the front images and back images of each document M are associated with each other and displayed on the display unit 24, the inconvenience of the front images and back images of each document M being reversed and swapped arises. In addition, the front images and back images of each document M being swapped, causing the front and back of each recorded sheet to be reversed.

Therefore, in this embodiment, when the control unit 29 executes the second transport document double-sided reading mode, the control unit 29 causes the document transport unit 31 to sequentially pull out each document M from the document tray 33, causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the downward side of each document M as one side, and stores the image data showing the image of one side of each document M in the image memory 26. Next, the control unit 29 assumes that each document M has been inverted and placed again on the document tray 33, causes the document transport unit 31 to sequentially pull out each document M from the document tray 33, causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the downward side of each document M as the other side, and stores the image data showing the image of the other side of each document M in the image memory 26. Then, the control unit 29 reads the image data showing the image of one side of each document M and the image data showing the image of the other side of each document M from the image memory 26, and causes the image of one side of each document M and the image of the other side of each document M to be displayed on the display unit 24 in association with each other. Here, the control unit 29 causes the display unit 24 to display a message prompting the user to select whether the image on one side or the image on the other side of each document M should be the image on the front side. Following instructions received by the operation unit 23 thereafter, the control unit 29 sets either the image on one side or the image on the other side of each document M as the image on the front side, and sets the image on the other side as the image on the back side.

As a result, even if the image on the front side of each document M and the image on the back side of each document M are swapped in an unexpected way after document reading in the second transport document double-sided reading mode, a correction can be made with a simple operation to swap the settings of the image on the front side of each document M and the image on the back side of each document M.

In addition, when reading documents in the second transport document double-sided reading mode, after the image data showing the image of one side of each document M is stored in the image memory 26 in the first reading, the image of the downward side of each document M is read again by the second imaging unit 42 in the second reading, and when the image data showing the image of the downward side of each document M is stored in the image memory 26, the control unit 29 judges whether each image obtained in the first reading is the same as each image obtained in the second reading. At this time, in comparing each image obtained in the second reading with each image obtained in the first reading, the control unit 29 compares images of the same page when comparing each image obtained in the second reading with each image obtained in the first reading, and if it is determined that the images are the same on all pages, it judges that each image obtained in the first reading is the same as each image obtained in the second reading. When the control unit 29 judges that they are the same, it causes the display unit 24 to display a warning indicating that each document M placed on the document tray 33 at the time of the second reading was not inverted.

In addition, when determining whether the images obtained in the first reading and the images obtained in the second reading are identical, the control unit 29 may determine that the images obtained in the first reading are identical to the images obtained in the second reading if it determines that the images of the same page are identical for a predetermined number of pages for the images obtained in the first reading and the images obtained in the second reading.

Next, image processing when a document is read in the second transported document double-sided reading mode will be described. Figures 7A, 7B, and 7C are flowcharts showing image processing when a document is read in the second transported document double-sided reading mode.

The user places multiple documents M on the document tray 33, and the user operates the operation unit 23, which accepts a mode selection instruction to select the second transport document double-sided reading mode and an instruction to execute document reading.

The control unit 29 sets the image forming device 10 to the second transported document double-sided reading mode in accordance with the mode selection instruction to select the second transported document double-sided reading mode (S101), and in response to the document reading execution instruction, controls the document transport unit 31 to transport multiple documents M from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49 (see FIG. 5), and causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of one side of each document M facing downward (S102). The control unit 29 stores image data representing the image of one side of each document M in the image memory 26.

The control unit 29 determines whether or not the original M is present on the original tray 33 based on an output signal obtained from a sensor (not shown) that detects the presence or absence of the original M on the original tray 33 (S103), and if it determines that the original M is present (S103 "Present"), it repeats the process of S102.

When the control unit 29 determines based on the output signal that no original M is present (S103 "No"), it stops the original transport unit 31 from drawing out the original M from the original tray 33 and the second imaging unit 42 from reading the image of one side of the original M (S104).

As a result, image data showing images on one side of N (N=1, 2, 3, ...) sheets of originals M placed on the original tray 33 are stored in the image memory 26.

The control unit 29 causes the display unit 24 to display a message for the user, in this case a message encouraging the user to pick up the N sheets of originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49, turn them over, place them again on the original tray 33, and input an instruction to read the originals (S105). For example, the display unit 24 displays a message E1 as shown in FIG. 8.

The user sees the message E1, picks up the N sheets of originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49, turns them over, places them back on the original tray 33, and operates the start key.

In response to the operation of the start key, the control unit 29, in accordance with the document reading instruction received by the operation unit 23, causes the document transport unit 31 to pull out the document M from the document tray 33 and the second imaging unit 42 to start reading the image of the other side of the document M, and transports the Nth (N=1, 2, 3, ...)th document M from the document tray 33 to the straight transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49 (see FIG. 5), and causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the other side of the Nth document M, which faces downward (S106). The control unit 29 stores image data showing the image of the other side of the Nth document M in the image memory 26.

Here, in the second transport document double-sided reading mode, as described above, it is assumed that the user will see the message E1 and, in the second document reading, will pick up the N documents M discharged to the second discharge tray 49, invert them, and place them again on the document tray 33 to have the image reading device 20 read them. However, despite seeing the message E1, the user may erroneously pick up the N documents M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 and place them again on the document tray 33 in the same orientation without inverting them, thereby having the image reading device 20 read them.

If this erroneous operation occurs, in S106, the Nth original M is transported from the original tray 33 to the linear transport path 45 to the second discharge tray 49, and the image of the downward facing one side of the Nth original M is read again by the second imaging unit 42, and the image of the above one side of the Nth original M is read again and the image data is stored in the image memory 26.

Here, N sheets of originals M are placed on the original tray 33 with their front sides facing down, and the N sheets of originals M are stacked on the original tray 33 in the order of page 1, page 2, page 3, ..., page N from the bottom, with the Nth page of originals M stacked on top. In S102, the image on one side (front side) of the Nth page of originals M on the top is read first, and finally the image on one side (front side) of the 1st page of originals M on the bottom is read. Then, the N sheets of originals M are stacked on the second discharge tray 49 from the bottom, going back from page N to page 1, and the N sheets of originals M are sequentially discharged. Then, when the N sheets of originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 are turned over by the user and placed again on the original tray 33, the N sheets of originals M are placed on the original tray 33 with the other side (back side) opposite to the one side (front side) facing down, and in this state, the N sheets of originals M are again stacked from the bottom in the order of page 1, page 2, page 3, ..., page N, with the Nth page of originals M stacked on the top. Therefore, in S106, the image of the other side (back side) of the Nth page of originals M, which is the topmost page, is read first, and finally the image of the other side (back side) of the first page of originals M, which is the bottommost page, is read. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9A, in the first reading, images of one side (front side) of N originals M are read in sequence from page N back to page 1, and then when the N originals M are turned over and placed again on the original tray 33, images of the other side (back side) of N originals M are read in sequence from page N back to page 1 in the second reading. The image memory 26 sequentially stores image data showing images of one side (front side) of N originals M read in sequence from page N back to page 1, and then sequentially stores image data showing images of the other side (back side) of N originals M read in sequence from page N back to page 1.

However, if the N sheets of originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 are placed on the original tray 33 again without being turned over, the N sheets of originals M are placed on the original tray 33 with their front faces facing down, and the N sheets of originals M are stacked in the order of page N, page (N-1), page (N-2), ..., page 1, with the first page of originals M stacked on top. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 9B, in the first reading, images of one side (front side) of the N sheets of originals M are read sequentially from page N back to page 1, and after the N sheets of originals M are placed on the original tray 33 again without being turned over, images of one side (front side) of the N sheets of originals M are read sequentially again from page 1 to page N in the second reading. The image memory 26 sequentially stores image data showing images of one side (front side) of N sheets of original document M read back from page N to page 1, and then sequentially stores image data showing images of one side (front side) of N sheets of original document M read from page 1 to page N.

In addition, if the user erroneously places N sheets of original M with their front sides facing up on the original tray 33 during the first original reading in which the front sides of the original M should be read, even though the user wants to read the front sides of the original M, the N sheets of original M will be stacked on the original tray 33 in the order of page N, page (N-1), page (N-3), ..., page 1 from the bottom, with the first page of original M stacked on top. In S102, the image on one side (back side) of the topmost first page of original M is read first, and finally the image on one side (back side) of the bottommost N page of original M is read, and the N sheets of original M stacked from the bottom, from page 1 to page N, are sequentially discharged to the second discharge tray 49 (each original M has its front side facing up).

Then, when the N sheets of originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 are inverted and placed again on the original tray 33, the N sheets of originals M are placed face down on the original tray 33, and the N sheets of originals M are again stacked from the bottom in the order of page N, page (N-1), page (N-3), ..., page 1, with the first page of originals M stacked on top. Therefore, in S106, the image on the other side (front side) of the topmost first page of originals M is read first, and finally the image on the other side (front side) of the bottommost Nth page of originals M is read.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10(A), in the first reading, images of one side (back side) of N originals M are read in sequence from page 1 to page N, and after the N originals M are turned over and placed again on the original tray 33, in the second reading, images of the other side (front side) of N originals M are read in sequence from page 1 to page N. In the image memory 26, image data showing the images of one side (back side) of N originals M read from page 1 to page N is stored in sequence, and then image data showing the images of the other side (front side) of N originals M read from page 1 to page N is stored in sequence. The control unit 29 stores the reading order as page order in association with the images of each original M obtained by the original reading by the image reading device 20.

However, if, during the first document reading in which the front sides of the original M should be read, the user erroneously places N originals M on the document tray 33 with their front sides facing up even though they want to read the front sides of the original M, and the N originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 are placed back on the document tray 33 without being turned over, the N originals M will be placed on the document tray 33 with their back sides facing down, and the N originals M will be stacked from the bottom up in the order of page 1, page 2, page 3, ..., page N, with page N of the original M stacked on top. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10B, in the first reading, images of one side (back side) of N originals M are read in sequence from page 1 to page N, and after the N originals M are placed again on the original tray 33 without being turned over, in the second reading, images of one side (back side) of N originals M are read again in sequence from page N back to page 1. The image memory 26 sequentially stores image data showing images of one side (back side) of N originals M read from page 1 to page N, and then sequentially stores image data showing images of one side (back side) of N originals M read from page N back to page 1.

As is clear from FIG. 9B and FIG. 10B, when the N sheets of original M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 are placed on the original tray 33 again without being turned over for the second reading, the images of the two sides of the original M of the same page read in S102 and S106 will match, and the reading order of the N sheets of original M in S102 will be reversed to the reading order of the N sheets of original M in S106. Therefore, when the images of one side of the N sheets of original M read in S106 are selected in ascending order from the top of the reading order, and the images of one side of the N sheets of original M read in S102 are selected in descending order from the bottom, which is the opposite of the reading order, the images of the two sides of the original M of the same page are selected one by one, and when the images of one side of the original M of the same page are compared, these images are the same as those read from the same side.

Also, as is clear from Figures 9(A) and 10(A), even if the images of the other side of the N original documents M read in S106 are selected in ascending order from the top of the reading order, and the images of one side of the N original documents M read in S102 are selected in descending order from the bottom, which is the opposite of the reading order, the two selected images will be different images obtained by reading one side and the other side, which is the opposite side.

Therefore, when the control unit 29 stores image data representing an image of one side or the other side of the document M in the image memory 26 in the reading of S106, it determines the reading order of the document M in ascending order from the top, selects the document M in descending order, which is determined by counting from the end, from among the N documents M read in S102, reads out image data representing an image of one side of the selected document M from the image memory 26, compares the image data representing the images of the two documents M in the same ascending and descending order (S107), and determines whether the images of the two documents M are the same (S108). The determination of whether the images of the two documents M are the same is performed by a known method, for example, a technique such as pattern matching. For example, the control unit 29 calculates the difference between the two images, and determines that the images are the same if the difference is within a predetermined range (for example, 3%), and determines that the images are not the same if the difference is not within the predetermined range.

As described above, when the user picks up the N sheets of original M discharged to the second discharge tray 49, turns them over, and places them again on the original tray 33, the images of the two originals M that match in ascending and descending order as shown in Figs. 9A and 10A are not the same. The control unit 29 determines that the images of the two originals M are not the same (S108 "No"). Furthermore, the control unit 29 determines the presence or absence of the original M on the original tray 33 based on the detection output of the sensor that detects the presence or absence of the original M on the original tray 33 (S111), and when it determines that the original M is present (S111 "Present"), the process returns to S106. Also, when the control unit 29 determines that the original M is not present on the original tray 33 based on the detection output of the sensor (S111 "No"), it ends the drawing of the original M from the original tray 33 and the reading of the image of the other side of the original M by the second imaging unit 42 (S117).

Furthermore, if the user picks up the N sheets of originals M discharged to the second discharge tray 49 as described above and places them back on the original tray 33 without turning them over, the images on one side of two sheets of originals M on the same page are identical, as shown in Figures 9(B) and 10(B). The control unit 29 determines that the images on one side of two sheets of originals M on the same page are identical (S108 "Yes"), counts up the number j of sheets of originals M determined to have identical images (the initial value of j is 0) (S109), and determines whether this number j has reached a preset threshold value J (J is an integer equal to or greater than 1) (S110). If the number j has not reached the threshold value J (S110 "No"), the control unit 29 determines whether or not the document M is on the document tray 33 based on the detection output of the sensor that detects the presence or absence of the document M on the document tray 33 (S111). If it determines that the document M is present (S111 "Present"), it returns to S106, causes the document transport unit 31 to pull out the next document M from the document tray 33, causes the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of one side of the next document M again, and stores image data representing the image of one side of the next document M in the image memory 26 (S106).

The control unit 29 determines the reading order of the next document M in ascending order from the top, and selects the document M in descending order, which is determined by counting from the end of the determined reading order, from among the N documents M read in S102. It reads image data showing the image on one side of this selected document M from the image memory 26, compares the image data showing the images of two documents M that match in ascending and descending order (S107), determines that the images on one side of two documents M on the same page are the same (S108 "Yes"), counts up the number j of documents M (S109), and if the number j does not reach the threshold J (S110 "No") and it is determined that there is a document M on the document tray 33 (S111 "Yes"), it returns to S106.

Therefore, if the user places each document M on the document tray 33 again without turning it over, S106 to S109 are repeated as long as there are no documents M on the document tray 33 (S111 "Yes"), and it is determined that the number j has reached the threshold J (S110 "Yes"). When the control unit 29 determines that the number j has reached the threshold J, it stops drawing out the documents M from the document tray 33 and reading the image of one side of the documents M by the second imaging unit 42 (S112), and displays on the display unit 24 a warning message indicating that the documents M placed on the document tray 33 have not been turned over, and a message encouraging the user to turn the documents M over and place them on the document tray 33 again (S113). For example, the screen of the display unit 24 displays two messages E2 and E3 as shown in FIG. 11, and also displays a read continuation key K11 (an example of a GUI).

After S113, the user looks at the messages E2 and E3, picks up each document M discharged to the second discharge tray 49, turns each document M over, places it back on the document tray 33, and operates the start key to input a document reading command to the operation unit 23.

For example, if the user flips each document M over and places it again on the document tray 33, and an instruction to re-read the document is received by the operation unit 23 (S114 "Again"), the control unit 29 erases the image data representing the image of one side of the j documents M read in S106 from the image memory 26 (S115), starts the document transport unit 31 to pull out the documents M from the document tray 33 and the second imaging unit 42 to read the image of the other side of the documents M again, and repeats the pulling out of the documents M from the document tray 33 and the reading of the image of the other side of the documents M by the second imaging unit 42 until the sensor detects that there is no document M on the document tray 33 (S116), stores the image data representing the image of the other side of the N documents M on the document tray 33 in the image memory 26, and ends the pulling out of the documents M from the document tray 33 and the reading of the image of the other side of the documents M by the second imaging unit 42 (S117).

On the other hand, after S113, if the user touches the continue reading key K11 on the screen of the display unit 24 to input a continuation instruction to continue reading the currently read document M to the operation unit 23 even though it has been determined that the image on one side of the document M matches the image on the other side (114 "Continue"), the control unit 29, in accordance with the continuation instruction, causes the document transport unit 31 to pull out the document M from the document tray 33 without erasing from the image memory 26 the image data showing the image on the other side of the jth document M read in S106. The second imaging unit 42 continues to read the image of the other side of the original M, and the pulling out of the original M from the original tray 33 and the second imaging unit 42 repeats reading the image of the other side of the original M until the sensor detects that there is no original M on the original tray 33 (S118), and the image data showing the image of the other side of the remaining original M on the original tray 33 is stored in the image memory 26, and the pulling out of the original M from the original tray 33 and the reading of the image of the other side of the original M by the second imaging unit 42 is completed (S117).

The control unit 29 also repeats S106 to S109, and when it determines that the number of sheets j has not reached the threshold value J (S110 "No") and that there is no document M on the document tray 33 (S111 "No"), it ends the drawing of the document M from the document tray 33 and the reading of the image of the other side of the document M by the second imaging unit 42 (S117).

As a result, image data showing the image on the other side of the N originals M placed on the original tray 33 is stored in the image memory 26.

As a result, image data showing an image on one side of N originals M and image data showing an image on the other side are stored in the image memory 26, as shown in FIG. 9(A) or FIG. 10(A).

The control unit 29 sequentially reads out image data showing images of one side of the N original documents M stored in the image memory 26 in S102, and sequentially reads out image data showing images of the other side of the N original documents M stored in the image memory 26 in S106, and matches the image data showing the image of one side with the image data showing the image of the other side for each original document M of the same page (S119).

For each document M, the control unit 29 determines whether one side of the document M is blank based on the image data showing the image on one side and the image data showing the image on the other side (S120). If one side of the document M is blank (S120 "Yes"), the control unit 29 deletes the image data of the blank side and leaves only the image data of the other side of the same page as image data showing the image of one page of the document M (S121). For example, the control unit 29 counts the number of white pixels in the image on one side of the document M, and determines that one side of the document M is blank if the ratio of the number of white pixels to the total number of all pixels constituting the image on one side is equal to or greater than a preset threshold value (e.g., 98%). The control unit 29 sets only the image data on the one side thus left as image data showing the image of one page of the document M as the front side of the page.

In addition, if one side of the document M is not blank (S120 "No"), the control unit 29 does not perform S121.

Then, the control unit 29 displays the images of one side and the images of the other side of the N original documents M associated in S119 on the screen of the display unit 24 in the reverse order to the reading order of the N original documents M (S122).

As a result, as shown in FIG. 12 or FIG. 13(A), the image of one side and the image of the other side of N sheets of original document M are associated and displayed on the screen of display unit 24. Also, for original document M from which the image data of one blank side has been deleted, only the image of one side or the other side is displayed.

The screen of the display unit 24 also displays an OK key K21 and a batch swap key K22 (an example of a GUI) for accepting an instruction to swap the front and back relationships of the images on one side and the images on the other side of N sheets of original document M all at once. Furthermore, the control unit 29 causes the screen of the display unit 24 to display a message E4 that prompts the user to operate the OK key 21 if the images on the front and back sides of the original document M are not reversed, and that prompts the user to operate the batch swap key K21 if they are reversed.

Here, in the second transport document double-sided reading mode, before reading of document M begins, document M is placed on document tray 33 with its front side facing down. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9A, the image of the downward facing front side of document M is read the first time by second imaging unit 42, document M is turned over and placed again on document tray 33, and the image of the downward facing back side of document M is read the second time by second imaging unit 42. Furthermore, the reading order of N documents M is page N, page (N-1), page (N-3), ..., page 1 in the first reading, and page N, page (N-1), page (N-3), ..., page 1 in the second reading. For this reason, as shown in the example of FIG. 12, the control unit 29 causes the screen of the display unit 24 to display the contents in the reversed reading order, such that the image of one side of the N sheets of original M read the first time by the second imaging unit 42 becomes the image of the front side, and the image of the other side of the N sheets of original M read the second time by the second imaging unit 42 becomes the image of the back side, and the order of the pages displayed of the N sheets of original M is page 1, page 2, page 3, ..., page N.

However, if an erroneous operation is performed such that the original M is placed on the original tray 33 with its front side facing up before the start of reading the original M, the image of the downward-facing back side of the original M is read for the first time by the second imaging unit 42 as shown in Fig. 10(A), the original M is turned over and placed again on the original tray 33, and the image of the downward-facing front side of the original M is read for the second time by the second imaging unit 42. Also, the reading order of the N originals M is page 1, page 2, page 3, ..., page N in the first reading, and page 1, page 2, page 3, ..., page N in the second reading. For this reason, as shown in the example of FIG. 13(A), the control unit 29 causes the screen of the display unit 24 to display content in which the image of one side of the N sheets of original document M read the first time by the second imaging unit 42 becomes the image of the back side, and the image of the other side of the N sheets of original document M read the second time by the second imaging unit 42 becomes the image of the front side, and the page order of the N sheets of original document M is page N, page (N-1), page (N-3), ..., page 1, which is the reverse of the reading order.

Then, when the user looks at the message E4 displayed on the screen of the display unit 24 and confirms that the image on one side of the document M read the first time is the image on the front side, and the image on the other side of the document M read the second time is the image on the back side, as shown in FIG. 12, the user touches the OK key K21 to input an acceptance instruction to the operation unit 23 to accept this.

In addition, when the user confirms that the image on one side of the document M read the first time is the image on the back side, and the image on the other side of the document M read the second time is the image on the front side, as shown in FIG. 13(A), the user touches the batch swap key K21 to input a batch swap instruction to the operation unit 23.

The control unit 29 waits for an acceptance instruction or a collective exchange instruction to be received by the operation unit 23 (S123), and when it detects the receipt of an acceptance instruction (S123 "Accepted"), it maintains the front-back relationship between the image on one side of the document M read the first time and the image on the other side of the document M read the second time, as shown in FIG. 12. After this, the process proceeds to S125.

In addition, when the control unit 29 detects receipt of a batch swap instruction (S123 "Swap"), it swaps the images of one side (back side) of the N original documents M read the first time with the images of the other side (front side) of the N original documents M read the second time as shown in Figure 13 (A), so that the image of the other side of the N original documents M read the second time becomes the image of the front side, and the image of one side of the N original documents M read the first time becomes the image of the back side, as shown in Figure 13 (B), and at the same time reverses the page order of each original document M (S124). Reversing the page order means either (i) changing the page order, which has been assigned in order from the minimum value (page 1) to the maximum value (page N), so that it starts from the maximum value (page N) to the minimum value (page 1), or (ii) changing the page order, which has been assigned in order from the maximum value (page N) to the minimum value (page 1), so that it starts from the minimum value (page 1) to the maximum value (page N). After this, the process proceeds to S125.

As a result, even if the user mistakenly places the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing up before starting to read the document M, instead of placing the document M on the document tray 33 with its front side facing down, the image on one side of the document M can easily be made into an image of the front side, and the image on the other side of the document M can be made into an image of the back side. The control unit 29 may store the front image of each document M after the processing of S124 in the memory unit 27 for storage.

After S124, or when "OK" is selected in S123, the control unit 29 causes the display unit 24 to display an editing screen H as shown in FIG. 14 (S125). In the editing screen H shown in FIG. 14, similar to FIG. 12 or FIG. 13(B), images of the front and back sides of N original documents M are associated and displayed in page order. In addition, the editing screen H displays a page change key K31 for instructing the swapping of pages of any two original documents M, a group key K32 for instructing the grouping of multiple original documents M into one group, an OK key 33, and an end key K34.

For example, the user touches the page change key K31, then touches the front or back image of any document M, touches the front or back image of another document M, and touches the OK key 33. When the control unit 29 detects these touch operations through the touch panel 25, it swaps the page order of the front and back images of the arbitrary document M with the page order of the front and back images of the other document M on the screen of the display unit 24 (S126).

The user also touches the group key K32, then touches either the front image or the back image of each of the multiple documents M, and touches the OK key 33. When the control unit 29 detects these touch operations through the touch panel 25, it groups together the documents M whose front image or back image has been touched into one group, and sets a group that groups together the front images and back images of the multiple documents M (S127).

After that, when the user touches the end key K34, the control unit 29 detects the touch operation on the end key K34 through the touch panel 25, and for each group on the screen of the display unit 24 set in S127, generates a file in which the image data showing the front and back images of the multiple documents M in the group are arranged in the page order of each document M, and stores this file in the storage unit 27, etc. The control unit 29 also stores the image data showing the front and back images of other documents M that were not grouped in the storage unit 27, etc. The control unit 29 also inputs the image data showing the front and back images of each document M from the image memory 26 to the image forming unit 21 in the page order of each document M, and causes the image forming unit 21 to form the front and back images of each document M on the front and back of each recording sheet (S128).

In this embodiment, the image on one side and the image on the other side of each document M are displayed on the display unit 24, and the display unit 24 displays an option to select whether the image on one side or the image on the other side of each document M will be the image on the front side. Either the image on one side or the image on the other side of each document M is selected as the image on the front side in response to a user instruction. Therefore, even if the image on the front side of each document M and the image on the back side of each document M are swapped, this can be easily corrected.

In addition, when each document M is placed again on the document tray 33 without being turned over, and the image on one side of each document M is read again by the second imaging unit 42, and it is determined that the images on one side of each document M read twice are the same, a warning message indicating that the images on one side of each document M placed on the document tray M have not been turned over are displayed on the display unit 24, so that the image on one side of each document M is quickly prevented from being read twice.

In the above embodiment, when the number j of sheets of originals M for which the images on one side of the originals M read twice are determined to be the same reaches the threshold value J, each original M is deemed to be placed on the original tray 33 again without being turned over. Alternatively, when the images on one side of all originals M on the original tray 33 for which the images on one side of the originals M read twice are determined to be the same, each original M may be deemed to be placed on the original tray 33 again without being turned over. In this case, the control unit 29 also displays on the display unit 24 a warning message indicating that the originals M placed on the original tray 33 have not been turned over, and a message urging the user to turn the originals M over and place them on the original tray 33 again.

Furthermore, the configuration and processing of the above embodiment described using Figures 1 to 14 are merely examples of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention to these configurations and processing.

10 Image forming apparatus 20 Image reading apparatus 21 Image forming section 23 Operation section 24 Display section 25 Touch panel 26 Image memory 27 Storage section 28 Control unit 29 Control section 31 Document transport section 32 Reading section 11 CCD sensor (first imaging section)
40: first discharge tray 42: CIS (second imaging unit)
45 Straight conveying path 46 Curved conveying path 49 Second discharge tray

Claims (8)

A display unit;
a document tray on which a plurality of documents are placed;
a linear transport path for transporting the plurality of documents drawn from the document tray;
a curved conveying path branched off from the straight conveying path;
a first imaging unit that reads images of the surfaces of a plurality of documents facing upward on the document tray while the plurality of documents are being transported through the curved transport path;
a second imaging unit that is provided upstream of a branching position of the straight conveying path and the curved conveying path in a document conveying direction and that reads images of the faces of the documents that face downward on the document tray while the documents are being conveyed through the straight conveying path;
a memory that temporarily stores images read by the first imaging unit and the second imaging unit;
An operation unit that receives instructions from a user;
a control unit that performs operation control in a transported document double-sided reading mode, which causes the multiple documents pulled out from the document tray to be transported through the linear transport path, causes the second imaging unit to read images of the faces of the multiple documents that face downward on the document tray, and subsequently, when the multiple documents are placed back on the document tray, causes the multiple documents pulled out from the document tray to be transported through the linear transport path, and causes the second imaging unit to read images of the faces of the multiple documents that face downward on the document tray,
When an instruction to execute the double-sided reading mode is received from the operation unit, the control unit controls operation in the double-sided reading mode of the transported document, causes the display unit to display each image obtained in the first reading by the second imaging unit and each image obtained in the second reading by the second imaging unit, and, in accordance with the instructions received from the operation unit, sets either the images obtained in the first reading or the images obtained in the second reading as the front image collectively, and sets the other as the back image collectively. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether each image obtained by reading with the second imaging unit is a blank image obtained by reading a blank page, does not store in the memory an image determined to be a blank image among the images obtained by reading with the second imaging unit, and sets an image of the same page as the image determined to be a blank image but is not a blank image, for each image obtained by the first reading and each image obtained by the second reading, on the front side of the page. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit determines whether the images obtained in the first reading are the same as the images obtained in the second reading, and when it determines that they are the same, causes the display unit to display a warning indicating that the document placed on the document tray was not inverted when the second reading was performed by the second imaging unit. The image reading device according to claim 3, wherein the control unit, in determining whether each image obtained in the first reading and each image obtained in the second reading are identical, determines that the images obtained in the first reading and each image obtained in the second reading are identical when it determines that the images of all pages are identical for each image obtained in the first reading and each image obtained in the second reading, or when it determines that a predetermined number of images of the same page are identical. The image reading device according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the control unit, after displaying the warning on the display unit, causes the second imaging unit to read images of the surfaces of the multiple documents that are facing downward on the document tray for the third time in accordance with the instruction received by the operation unit, switches the images obtained in the second reading with the images obtained in the third reading, displays the images obtained in the first reading and the images obtained in the third reading on the display unit, and collectively sets either the images obtained in the first reading or the images obtained in the third reading as the images of the front side and collectively sets the other as the images of the back side in accordance with the instruction received by the operation unit. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reads out the images of one side and the images of the other side of each document from the memory, associates them, and displays them on the display unit, and changes the order of the images of one side and the images of the other side of each document while maintaining the association according to instructions received from the operation unit. The image reading device according to claim 1, wherein the control unit reads out an image of one side and an image of the other side of each of the documents from the memory, associates them, and displays them on the display unit, and stores the image of one side and the image of the other side of at least one of the documents in a single file as a group while maintaining the association in response to an instruction from the operation unit. The image reading device according to claim 1 ;
an image forming section that forms an image of the document read by the image reading device on a recording sheet;