FEEDER FOR FEEDING DOCUMENT TO DOCUMENT IMAGING SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FEEDING DOCUMENTS

摘要

An apparatus for processing documents, comprising: a feeder operable to receive a packet of a plurality of documents and separate the documents to serially feed the documents away from the feeder; a retard adjacent the feeder operable in a first position and a second position, wherein in the first position the retard forms a nip with the feeder so that the retard is operable to impede the progress of one or more documents in a packet while the feeder feeds one of the documents in the packet, and wherein in the second position, the retard is spaced apart from the feeder to form a gap between the feeder and the retard; a sensor for detecting a characteristic of the documents in a packet indicative of whether the number of documents in a packet exceeds a predetermined threshold; a drive mechanism for automatically driving the retard pad between the first and second positions in response to the detected characteristic.