Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
62 words
Apparatus (1, 11) for copying a document (10); said
apparatus comprising: means (21, 23, 24, 38, 27) for copying things (10)
that are within a defined field (14, 15) of view; visible apparatus features (13, 16, 17) within the
field of view; and automatic means (31) for suppressing copying of the
visible apparatus features if they are not covered by such
document.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
43 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the copying means comprise means (21) for acquiring
an image (23) of things within the field of view; and the suppressing means comprise means (33) for
searching the image for certain (16) of the visible
apparatus features.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
20 words
The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: said certain of the features comprise document-size
indicia (16) carried on the apparatus (12).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
The apparatus of claim 2, wherein: the suppressing means further comprise means (31) for
suppressing copying of all the visible apparatus features
(13, 16, 17) if said certain (16) of the features is
found.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
25 words
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein: the suppressing means also comprise means (34) for
preventing copying of shadow images formed at edges of
such document.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
35 words
The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the shadow-image-preventing
means comprise: means (35) for finding document-image edges; and means (36, 32, 38, 27) for copying material sufficiently
within the document-image edges to avoid copying
shadow images.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
27 words
The apparatus of claim 6, wherein: the means (35) for finding document-image edges
comprise means (37) for ignoring all visible apparatus
features within the field of view.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
36 words
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein: the visible apparatus features (13, 16, 17) comprise
document-size indicia (16); and the feature-ignoring means (37) operate substantially
only if such document (10) does not cover all document-size
indicia (16).
Claim 9
Independent Claim
119 words
A method of copying a document (10), using a copying
machine (1) that has a document feeder (4, 13, 17) in
operating position but not in service; said method comprising
the steps of: automatically acquiring (44, 33; 48, 35; 152'') image
data (45, 49) with the document in copying position; automatically analyzing (46) the data (45) to determine
whether the document is smaller than a standard size; responsive to the analyzing step, automatically suppressing
(63, 64 63'-64') portions of the data (49) whenever
the document feeder is substantially in operating
position but not in service, if the analyzing step indicates
(47) that the document is smaller than a standard
size; and automatically printing (66) unsuppressed portions of
the data.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method of claim 9, wherein: the acquiring step comprises operating (44, 33) a
scanner portion (21) of the copying machine to acquire
specific image data (23) of a part of the document feeder
that has indicia (16) for distinguishing between presence
and absence of at least one standard size of printing
medium (5); and the analyzing step comprises searching (46) the
specific image data for an image of the indicia.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
168 words
A copier having a transparent surface for supporting
from below within a defined field of view scanning area, a
document to be scanned and copied and an automatic
document feeder disposed above the transparent surface and
having apparatus features visible within the defined field
of view scanning area for facilitating the moving of the
document to be copied into the field of view area, the
document to be copied having a sufficient area size to
block the viewing of the apparatus features during a
document scanning period of time, comprising: a detection arrangement for automatically detecting
the presence of a small document within the defined field
of view scanning area, said small document not having a
sufficient area size to block the viewing of the apparatus
features during the document scanning period of time; and a suppression arrangement responsive to said document
detection arrangement for suppressing the scanning of the
unblock apparatus features during the document scanning
period of time so the unblock apparatus features are not
copied.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
56 words
A copier according to claim 11, wherein said
detection arrangement includes: an indicia detection arrangement for detecting
indicia carried by the automatic document feeder; and wherein said suppression means permits the scanning
of the entire field of view area in the absence of said
indicia detection arrangement detecting the indicia
carried by the automatic document feeder.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
77 words
A method of copying a document, comprising: automatically detecting the presence of a small
document within a defined field of view scanning area,
said small document not having a sufficient area size to
block the viewing of apparatus features visible within
said area during a document scanning period of time; and suppressing the scanning of the visible apparatus
features with said area during the document scanning
period of time so the visible apparatus features are not
copied.