Patent attributes
The present invention relates to a media separating apparatus and method for an automatic media dispenser. The media separating apparatus of the present invention comprises a pickup roller 24 which is installed on a pickup roller shaft 28 driven by a first driving source 26 to pick up and convey media m stored in a media box 20, a plurality of first feed rollers 42a which is installed on a feed roller shaft 46 driven by the first driving source 26 and brought into close contact with one surface of the medium m to convey the medium m using a friction force generated between the medium and the first feed rollers, a second feed roller 42b which is installed on the feed roller shaft 46 via a bearing and rotated by a second driving source 44 driven separately from the first driving source 26 to convey the medium m, and a plurality of separating rollers 56 which are installed to correspond to outer circumference surfaces of the first and second feed rollers 42a and 42b and to separate out the media m one by one in cooperation with the first and second feed rollers 42a and 42b. According to the present invention so configured, if the picked up medium m is sensed by a media conveyance sensor 34, the operation of the first driving source 26 is stopped such that the pickup roller 24 and the first feed roller 42a do not pick up the next medium m. Therefore, there are advantages in that the media m cannot be conveyed in a state where they are overlapped with one another and that reliability in the media separation can also be enhanced.
