Digital copying machine having selective paper feed based on copy productivity

摘要

In a digital copier of a type having plural paper trays for storing recording paper of different sizes and orientations, an automatic paper selection mechanism selects paper from a tray that produces the shortest time required to make a prescribed number of copies. Paper tray selection is based on the size of the original, magnification, paper tray position and time required to electronically rotate original image data for recording on a transversely oriented sheet of paper. These factors are used to compute a reference value that is compared to the number of copies of the original image to be made. In response, the selection mechanism will determine whether to copy the image to a longitudinal or transverse sheet on one of the trays, and rotate the image by 90 DEG if the tranverse sheet is selected.