Patent Application
20060171725
The present disclosure relates to optical sensing systems to detect the motion of a surface, such as of a sheet moving within a printing apparatus.
There are many contexts in which a substantially flat substrate, such as a sheet of paper, is desired to be moved at a precise velocity and direction. A typical context is in printing, either of the digital or traditional types. In the xerographic context, for example, the sheet must move at a precisely-determined velocity to contact a developed image at a photoreceptor, to receive the image at a precise location thereon. Also, the sheet must not be skewed, or otherwise laterally displaced along a main process direction, so the received image is not skewed or improperly placed on the final print.
At high levels of precision, as would be required in a high-speed printing apparatus, the velocity of a sheet moving through a machine cannot be directly assumed by monitoring the motion of parts within the machine, such as rollers which contact and impart motion to the sheet at various times. Even slightly deformable rolls, for instance, do not have an assumable circumference by which the velocity of a sheet in contact therewith can be calculated. Also, brushless DC motors, as are often used in printing machines, are often incapable of operating at sufficiently precise rotational speeds.
In most common systems for monitoring the speed of a sheet passing through a machine, a lead edge of the moving sheet is used, in one of various ways, to interact with a monitoring device, such as for example measuring when the lead edge breaks one or more light beams as it moves. One problem common to such a system is taking into account the skew or other displacement of the sheet relative to an expected path through the machine.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 5,557,396 discloses a system for using a measured Doppler shift of light reflected from a moving sheet, in order to measure the velocity of the sheet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,741,335 discloses another system for determining the speed of a moving sheet. U.S. Pat. No. 6,533,268 discloses a system that contacts a moving sheet to obtain a desired lateral registration and deskewing.
According to one aspect, there is provided an apparatus for interacting with a sheet, comprising a first optical sensor, capable of recording an image in a two-dimensional array of pixels, and having acuity to recognize a terrain of a small area on a sheet which is substantially blank to a human eye. The first optical sensor is disposed to view a portion of a sheet moving in a process direction through a path. A detection system compares at least two recorded terrain images from the sheet, thereby determining a velocity of the sheet.
Further shown in
In this way, if a succession of 256-pixel images are recorded at a predetermined frequency by the image sensor, the resulting images over time can be compared to monitor directly the motion of the sheet S relative to the image sensor, both in terms of velocity along a process direction P and in terms of any deviation in direction from process direction P. A “detection system” can be provided that performs this recurrent comparison of images to monitor the motion of sheet S, and such systems are available that are built in with optical sensors used in “optical mouse” or “optical tracking engine” technology. The frequency of recording images by each optical sensor is selected by a reasonable estimate of the velocity of sheet S: the frequency should be high enough that the motion of the “terrain” is perceptible in successive images recorded by the optical sensor. A commercially available optical tracking engine, such as available from Logitech® Corporation, can output image data and 800 spot per inch resolution, and monitor motion of a surface moving at 1000 mm/s relative thereto.
In the embodiment shown in
In the illustrated arrangement, a small area of sheet S can be viewed by the image sensor 10 at any time, including while another portion of the sheet S is in contact with any other “moving device,” i.e., a structure which imparts motion to the sheet S, such as main roll 100 or photoreceptor 102, or when the sheet S is being contacted and/or manipulated by a deskewing device such as roller 50, 52. A control system, such as generally indicated as 70, can take as an input the observed motion of sheet S, as recorded by a sensor such as 10 or 12, and in turn influence the operation of one or more rollers 50, 52 or other deskewing devices. (For clarity in
Also shown in
The illustrated system uses two image sensors 10, 12. Useable coordinate data from each sensor starts when the lead edge of the moving sheet S is detected by the image sensor, and the distance detected from the one image sensor prior to the start of detection on the other image sensor yields data from which can be calculated the lead edge skew of the sheet S. Continuing to track the data reported from each sensor 10, 12 yields data relating to the velocity, rotation and lateral tracking of the sheet S. This data is also used for feedback during deskew and trail edge skew detection as the sheet leaves the areas monitored by the sensors.
In an alternate embodiment, an optical sensor such as 10 or 12 is mounted such that the viewing field of the sensor could detect the edge of the moving sheet S to provide, as needed, a side edge registration monitoring system. If two sensors were so mounted relative to the side edge of the sheet, the data reported from the sensors and the known input velocity of the translating mechanism would yield data relating to sheet skew, velocity, rotation, lateral tracking, and lateral position.
As can be seen in
The claims, as originally presented and as they may be amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications, improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example, may arise from applicants/patentees and others.
