A medium transportation device includes a supply roller configured to send a medium downstream, at least one stopper configured to be switched between a blocking state in which the at least one stopper blocks the transportation path and an open state in which the at least one stopper opens the transportation path, and a controller configured to perform skew correction control in which a leading edge of the medium is brought in contact with the at least one stopper in the blocking state to correct skew of the medium. The controller is configured to obtain information about a stiffness of the medium and, when a second medium having a lower stiffness than a first medium is transported, the controller switches the at least one stopper from the blocking state to the open state to end the skew correction control earlier than the skew correction control of the first medium.

The present invention provides an image forming apparatus comprising: at least one first module and at least one second module configured to execute functions corresponding respectively to the at least one first module; a first control unit configured to notify, to a corresponding second module, a request accepted by the at least one first module; and a second control unit configured to control in accordance with the notification from the first control unit, the corresponding second module, wherein the at least one first module is activated at all times from when the image forming apparatus is activated, and the at least one second module is generated as a container of an execution environment that is independent of an operating system and whose activation state is controlled by an instruction from the second control unit.

An image forming apparatus includes a document tray in which a document is to be set, a medium container that contains a recording medium, a document detection sensor that detects a document set in the document tray, a medium detection sensor that detects a recording medium contained in the medium container. A hardware processor executes a copy operation of forming an image obtained by scanning a document set in the document tray on a recording medium, determines to automatically execute the copy operation in case an elapsed period of time between a document detection time when a document is detected by the document detection sensor and a medium detection time when a recording medium is detected by the medium detection sensor is equal to or smaller than a predetermined operation period of time, and automatically executes the copy operation based on determination of automatic execution of the copy operation.

A multi-function printer includes a printer body and a scanner body. A printer module is disposed in the printer body. At least one first scanning module, at least one feeding roller and a sensor are disposed in the scanner body. The feeding roller and the sensor are disposed at an inlet of a sheet passage. When the sensor senses presence of a sheet medium, the first scanning module immediately performs image scanning on the sheet medium to obtain image data, and then the printer module prints out the image data.

A processing system includes a stacker on which at least one medium recorded with an image is stacked, a holding unit configured to hold the medium, a processing path extending from the stacker to the holding unit, a pick roller configured to transport the medium from the stacker to the processing path, a reading unit configured to read the medium transported through the processing path, and a control unit configured to store indication data indicating an index of whether to transport a medium to the holding unit, wherein, when receiving a processing instruction from a user, the control unit is configured to cause the pick roller to transport a medium from the stacker to the processing path, and determine whether to transport the medium to the holding unit, based on read data and the indication data, the read data being acquired by reading the medium by the reading unit.

An image scanning apparatus includes a sheet loading unit, a pickup roller, a first conveying roller, a detecting unit, a first stepping motor, a second conveying roller, a second stepping motor, a scanning unit, and a control unit that starts driving of the second stepping motor after performing phase matching of the second stepping motor. The control unit starts driving of the first stepping motor without performing phase matching of the first stepping motor. When an instruction to start scanning is input, the control unit starts the phase matching of the second stepping motor. When the detecting unit detects the document, the control unit starts driving of the first stepping motor after completion of the phase matching of the second stepping motor. When the detecting unit detects no document, the control unit starts driving of the first stepping motor before completion of the phase matching of the second stepping motor.

Provided are systems and methods for identifying, isolating, and/or aligning sheets. An identification system can facilitate accurate identification of a sheet by (i) vacating one or more components of the system that are not the sheet from a zone of detection, and/or (ii) determining a reference axis of the sheet. An isolation system can facilitate accurate isolation of a sheet by (i) providing targeted air flow, and/or (ii) introducing a wave into the sheet. Identification systems and/or isolation systems described herein may facilitate isolation of sheets that were previously fastened together by one or more fasteners. An alignment system can facilitate accurate alignment of a first sheet at an upstream location relative to a second sheet at a downstream location via machine learning.

An image reading apparatus executes a calibration processing of calibrating a reading unit when a medium detection sensor detects that a medium is present. The image reading apparatus executes the calibration processing each time a first time-period elapses in a state where the medium detection sensor detects that the medium is present after the calibration processing. When a start instruction of reading the medium is received, the image reading apparatus starts transport of the medium and causes the reading unit to read the medium on a basis of calibration information of a last calibration processing.

A reading device includes: plural transport rolls that transport a document along a transport path, include a discharge roll disposed on a most downstream side of the transport path, and rotate and do not rotate in synchronization with one another; an opening and closing unit that exposes or covers an upstream portion of the transport path; plural detectors that are provided apart from one another along the transport path, detect a transported document, and include a discharge detector that is disposed on a most downstream side of the transport path and is disposed on an upstream side relative to the discharge roll in a document transport direction; a reader that reads an image formed on a transported document in a downstream portion of the transport path; and a controller that stops the plural transport rolls once upon occurrence of a document jam inside a device body by controlling the transport rolls and rotates the transport rolls for only a predetermined period in a case where the discharge detector is detecting no document and a length of a document is equal to or longer than a threshold length.

When a medium detector detects that a state where a medium is absent is switched to a state where the medium is present with a light quantity of the medium detector set to a first light quantity, a controller in an image reading apparatus switches the light quantity from the first light quantity to a second light quantity, which is larger than the first light quantity. When a quantity of the light received by the medium detector exceeds a threshold, the controller determines whether the media overlaps each other, based on the detection result of the multi-feed detector. When the quantity of the light received does not exceed the threshold, the controller skips the determination of whether the media overlaps each other.