According to one embodiment, a sheet conveying device includes a tray, a pickup roller, a movement mechanism, a holder, a biasing unit, and a detecting mechanism. The movement mechanism moves the tray between a raised position and a lowered position. The raised position is a position where sheets come into contact with the pickup roller. The holder holds the pickup roller so that the pickup roller is displaceable when pushed up by the sheets. The biasing unit applies a biasing force to the holder pushing down the pickup roller. The detecting mechanism detects when the sheets push up the pickup roller. The detecting mechanism includes a detection unit and a sensor. The detection unit is switchable between a reference position and a detection position according to displacement of the holder accompanying the movement of the tray. The sensor detects when the detection unit reaches the detection position.

Embodiments are directed at a systems, methods, and apparatuses for automatically aligning the lead edges of a document stack loaded in a scanner system. An automated jogger system includes feeder gate elements which are driven forward and backwards in an oscillating motion. This motion causes the documents in the stack to slide between each other, causing the documents to move and rotate towards the feeder gate elements, aligning the lead edges of the stack prior to being fed into the document scanner.

Embodiments provide methods, apparatuses, and systems for compressing media in a media stack. In various embodiments, a paddle moves between various positions. During the move, the paddle is configured to compress the media stack.

A printer includes a sheet stopper that rotates between a regulating position where a sheet placed in the feeding tray is regulated and a passing position where the sheet placed in a feeding tray is passed through, and an inversion path introduction unit that rotates between a forward-feeding position and a reverse-feeding position of introducing the sheet. The inversion path introduction unit is disposed at the forward-feeding position when a sheet is conveyed in a sheet feeding direction. The inversion path introduction unit is disposed at the reverse-feeding position when a sheet is conveyed in a direction opposite to the sheet feeding direction and the inversion path introduction unit introduces the sheet into an inversion path. The sheet stopper changes the regulating position and the passing position in conjunction with rotation of the inversion path introduction unit.

There is provided a feed apparatus including a support unit, a feed roller, a swingable arm to support the feed roller, a guide unit, a movable member movable to a retracted position and a protruding position at which the movable member can abut against the sheet supported by the support unit, a driving source, driving transmission units; and a contact-separating mechanism to move the feed roller to a separated position and an abutment position at which the feed roller abuts against the sheet supported by the support unit. In a state in which the movable member is the protruding position and the feed roller is the separated position, a time required to start feeding of the sheet by the feed roller moved from the separated position to the abutment position is longer than a time required to shift the movable member from the protruding position to the retracted position.

A document conveyance apparatus includes a loading portion having a loading surface for a document, a rotating member, a detection unit, a feeding roller, and a support portion. The rotating member includes a front end portion protruding from the loading surface and rotates about a rotary shaft by being in contact with the loaded document. The detection unit detects rotation of the rotating member and detects presence or absence of the loaded document. The feeding roller feeds the document by being in contact with the document loaded on the loading surface. The support portion rotatably supports the rotary shaft. When the rotary shaft is viewed from an axial direction, the rotary shaft includes a recessed portion recessed from an outer periphery section of the rotary shaft toward a shaft center of the rotary shaft. The support portion is in contact with the recessed portion to rotatably support the rotating member.

A conveying apparatus has first and second trays arranged on an upstream of a conveyor and configured to support the sheet in contact with the conveyor, a feeder configured to feed the sheet on the first tray toward the conveyor, a first sensor configured to output a first signal in response to the sheet being present on the first tray, a second sensor configured to output a second signal in response to the sheet being present between the first tray and the conveyor and configured to output the second signal in response to the sheet being present between the second tray and the conveyor, and a controller configured to execute a removal notifying process to output a notification indicating removal of the sheet on the first tray in response to output of the second signal before a time period since the first signal was output exceeds a threshold period.

Examples relating to determining stack height in imaging devices are described herein. According to one example, an imaging device includes an input roller assembly to transport a print medium towards an image-forming assembly of the imaging device. The input roller assembly can include a pinch roller for drawing the print medium from a media stack. The imaging device further includes a pressure plate movably coupled to a body portion of the imaging device and biased towards the pinch roller. The pressure plate may hold the media stack between itself and the pinch roller and is movable by a first distance from a neutral position when the media stack is there between. The first distance is measured from a fixed point to a measurement region on the pressure plate and can indicate an instantaneous stack height of the media stack.

A sheet conveying device includes a conveyor, a supporting section which supports a sheet to be fed to the conveyor and a guide section which is provided on the supporting section and configured to guide a sheet to the conveyor. The supporting section includes a first support region and a second support region which support a sheet. The first support region is provided at a position on an upstream side from the second support region in a sheet conveyance direction. The first support region extends substantially horizontally, and the second support region is inclined in a lower direction toward the downstream side in the conveyance direction. The guide section includes a first portion which extends substantially horizontally along the first support region, and a second portion which is connected to the first portion and extends obliquely in the lower direction along the second support region.

A sheet feeding device includes a stacking member, a feeding unit, and a detachable separation unit. The feeding unit feeds sheets stacked from the stacking member. The separation unit separates the fed sheets one by one. The separation unit includes a rotating member to abut and separate from the feeding unit and to rotate, a biasing member to bias the rotating member toward the feeding unit, and an engaged member to be engaged with an engagement member included in the sheet feeding device. The engagement member can move to a first position where the engagement member is engaged with the engaged member, and a second position away from the engaged member. Where the engagement member moves from the first to the second position when the separation unit is attached to the sheet feeding device, the separation unit moves in a detachment direction using the biasing member.