Method of controlling scan speed of scanner including automatic document feeder and scanner performing the same

Abstract

A scanner having an automatic document feeder, the scanner including a communication interface unit to perform a communication with an external device; a scan operation performing unit to perform a scan operation; an automatic feeding unit to feed scan-target documents to the scan operation performing unit; and a controller to control the scan operation. In the scanner, when the communication interface unit receives a request speed for a scan operation from the external device, the controller adjusts a feeding interval between the scan-target documents that are fed from the automatic feeding unit based on the received request speed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A scanner comprising an automatic document feeder, the scanner comprising:
 a communication interface unit to perform a communication with an external device;   a scan operation performing unit to perform a scan operation;   an automatic feeding unit to feed scan-target documents to the scan operation performing unit; and   a controller to control the scan operation,   wherein when the communication interface unit receives a request speed for a scan operation from the external device, the controller adjusts a feeding interval between the scan-target documents that are fed from the automatic feeding unit based on the received request speed.   
     
     
         2 . The scanner of  claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises:
 a feeding interval calculator to calculate the feeding interval between the scan-target documents to make a scan speed of the scanner correspond with the received request speed; and   a feeding interval controller to control the automatic feeding unit to feed the scan-target documents according to the calculated feeding interval.   
     
     
         3 . The scanner of  claim 2 , wherein the controller further comprises a speed selector to determine whether there is a basic setting speed corresponding with the received request speed from among one or more basic setting speeds which are supported by the scanner and select a basic setting speed, which is higher than the received request speed, if it is determined that there is no basic setting speed corresponding with the received request speed,
 wherein the feeding interval calculator calculates the feeding interval when the scan speed corresponds with the received request speed while maintaining a scan time for each document according to the basic setting speed selected by the speed selector.   
     
     
         4 . The scanner of  claim 3 , wherein when there are two or more basic setting speeds that are higher than the received request speed, the speed selector selects the lowest basic setting speed from among the two or more basic setting speeds. 
     
     
         5 . The scanner of  claim 3 , wherein the basic setting speed is a scan speed which the scanner supports without adjusting the feeding interval. 
     
     
         6 . The scanner of  claim 3 , wherein the communication interface unit transmits a scan speed adjusted according to the calculated feeding interval to the external device. 
     
     
         7 . The scanner of  claim 1 , wherein the communication interface unit receives a scan speed corresponding to a printing speed of the external device as the request speed. 
     
     
         8 . The scanner of  claim 7 , wherein the communication interface unit receives a data packet comprising the request speed from the external device, and the data packet comprises an identifier (ID) indicating what apparatus the data packet is transmitted from, data indicating a speed, and a check sum indicating whether there is a loss of the data. 
     
     
         9 . The scanner of  claim 1 , wherein the automatic feeding unit comprises a pickup roller that picks the scan-target documents up, and the feeding interval controller adjusts a cycle, on which the pickup roller contacts the scan-target documents, according to the calculated feeding interval. 
     
     
         10 . A method of controlling a scan speed of a scanner comprising an automatic document feeder, the method comprising:
 receiving a request speed for a scan operation from an external device;   calculating a feeding interval between scan-target documents based on the received request speed;   performing a scan operation by feeding the scan-target documents according to the calculated feeding interval; and   transmitting a result obtained by the scan operation to the external device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the calculating of the feeding interval comprises:
 determining whether there is a basic setting speed corresponding with the received request speed from among one or more basic setting speeds that are supported by the scanner;   if it is determined that there is no basic setting speed corresponding with the received request speed, selecting a basic setting speed that is higher than the received request speed;   adjusting a scan speed by changing the feeding interval while maintaining a scan time for each document according to the selected basic setting speed; and   calculating the feeding interval when the adjusted scan speed corresponds with the received request speed.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the selecting of the basic setting speed comprises:
 if there are two or more basic setting speeds that are higher than the received request speed, selecting the lowest basic setting speed from among the two or more basic setting speeds.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the basic setting speed is a scan speed which the scanner supports without adjusting the feeding interval. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising transmitting a scan speed adjusted according to the calculated feeding interval to the external device. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the receiving of the request speed comprises receiving a scan speed corresponding to a printing speed of the external device as the request speed. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the receiving of the request speed comprises receiving a data packet comprising the request speed from the external device, wherein the data packet comprises an identifier (ID) indicating what apparatus the data packet is transmitted from, data indicating a speed, and a check sum indicating whether there is a loss of the data. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the performing of the scan operation comprises adjusting a cycle, on which a pickup roller for picking the scan-target documents up from the automatic document feeder contacts the scan-target documents, according to the calculated feeding interval. 
     
     
         18 . A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of  claim 10 .