Patent ID: 8401455
Filing Date: 2013-03-19
Classification: B65H

Abstract:
1. A multi-sheet buffer module comprising: a frame having a first side and a second side opposite said first side; a first sheet transport path extending linearly across said frame from a first sheet input port on said first side to a first sheet output port on said second side; a second sheet transport path parallel to said first sheet transport path, said second sheet transport path extending linearly across said frame from a second sheet input port on said second side to a second sheet output port on said first side; a plurality of sheet buffer paths extending between said first sheet transport path and said second sheet transport path, said sheet buffer paths all being one-way paths for transporting sheets from said first sheet transport path to said second sheet transport path, said first sheet transport path receiving, at said first input port, a first stream of sheets and feeding said first stream of sheets out said first sheet output port into a printing module, said printing module processing said first stream of sheets and outputting a second stream of sheets to said second sheet input port and into said second sheet transport path; and a controller operatively connected to sheet transport devices on said first sheet transport path and said sheet buffer paths and further operatively connected to gates between said first sheet transport path and said sheet buffer paths, said controller controlling said sheet transport devices and said gates so as to cause a selected sheet to be diverted from said first stream of sheets to a sheet buffer path, said controller controlling said sheet transport devices so as to cause said selected sheet to move from said sheet buffer path into said second stream of sheets, said second stream of sheets moving along said second sheet transport path from said second sheet input port to said second sheet output port, and said controller further controlling said sheet transport devices so as to ensure that said selected sheet is held in said sheet buffer path an amount of time before moving from said sheet buffer path into said second sheet transport path such that said selected sheet is inserted into said second stream of sheets at a predetermined point within said second stream of sheets in order to achieve a predetermined sheet order as said second stream of sheets passes through said second sheet output port.