Output tray nudging mechanism

A printing device includes a recessed output tray having a nudging mechanism including a nudger component that engages a stack of paper such that when the nudger moves, the stack will move with it and an actuating mechanism to move the nudger, thereby moving the stack of papers. The nudger may be automatic or may be controlled manually. The stack may be moved in a particular direction or may be rotated.

The embodiments disclosed herein relate to printing devices, and more specifically to document retrieval from and the document output trays of such devices.

One of the trends in office work group printing devices is size reduction. While print speeds, image quality and media handling features, such as input/output tray capacity, are becoming greater, sales prices are being forced down. Lower prices encourage product placement on desks or small office table tops, which further influences printing device working envelopes to be as small as reasonably possible. Extending media output trays take up valuable space and there is a broad goal of incorporating the output tray largely internal to the product enclosure. This solves one customer problem but creates another, as the now crowded, limited access tray appears more like a tunnel than an easy to see and access print retrieval tray. Access from a concurrently exposed end may not be possible if the product is configured with an optional finisher. The media path is often inset to the extent that the exposed edge of the output media may end up to several inches from the exterior surface of the side of the unit offering access.

It would be desirable if the user had easier access to the media output of printing devices having recessed document output trays.

The embodiments disclosed herein describe a media stack access enhancement nudger that shifts the media closer to the exposed grasping area in a limited access output tray. The nudger may slide a media stack in a linear direction to be grasped for removal or may pivot the stack outward to make one or the other end of the stack more accessible.

Embodiments of the present invention include a printing device having a recessed output tray. The output tray includes a nudging mechanism including a nudger that engages a stack of paper such that when the nudger moves, the stack will move with it and an actuating mechanism to move the nudger, thereby moving the stack of papers.

Embodiments also include a printing method that includes printing a document, and moving or rotating the document in an outward direction from the somewhat inward location from which they exit a printing device so that the document may be retrieved more easily.

The term “printing device” as used herein refers to devices that produce hardcopy documents. Printing devices include, for example, copiers, printers and multi-function devices. Paper, as used herein, refers to any markable media such as, for example, paper, plastic, and textile materials.

The embodiments described herein are suited for use in many different printing devices as well as in any other system outputting a sequence of sheets.

FIG. 1illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a printing device100.FIG. 1illustrates an external view of the printer100and its document output area80. The document output area80is recessed. In devices where the output tray is recessed, the user has increased difficulty in removing output sheets. A mechanism or method of making the output paper more accessible would be helpful to the user. Particularly, a mechanism that would move a paper or stack of papers out of the recessed area or at least to a more accessible area would be helpful.

One method of making output documents more accessible includes using a nudging mechanism. The nudging mechanism could include a nudger that moves an output document stack in an outward vector, including a substantially linear manner, in the direction from which the user would retrieve the document stack. Alternatively, the nudger may rotate or pivot the document stack so that one end is easier to grasp by the user. The nudger may be centered on the media edge for the size having the highest use volume (A, A4 for letter size printing devices) sufficiently to slide as a stack in the direction of the nudger movement or may be positioned off center so that the nudge would result in rotating or pivoting a stack of typically sized media. Combinations of the sliding and rotating motion may also be useful. The nudging mechanism could also include a riser or fence that is able to move a media stack by being equal or greater in height than the possible stack or by being sufficiently high relative to a media stack that media engaged by the riser or fence is collectively stiff enough to cause media above to move in concert. The nudging mechanism may also enable manually offsetting print jobs or more easily shifting smaller size media, such as cards or envelopes, by using a nudger with intermediate stationary adjustments.

The nudger does not need to move the media edge all the way to or past the edge of the inset. The benefit of the nudger is to make media easier to retrieve by bringing it close enough to the outer enclosure that visibility and grasping are noticeably improved. Opening height, depth of media position, and contours or shape of the enclosure forming the tray opening influence the travel required to achieve this objective.

FIGS. 2-15illustrate various exemplary embodiments of a nudging mechanism.

FIGS. 2 and 3illustrate a first exemplary embodiment of a nudging mechanism. The sheets are shown having exited a printing device in a direction indicated by Arrow A. In this embodiment, a nudger200pushes a stack210in a substantially linear direction. In this embodiment, the nudger200is connected to a controller220. The controller220could automatically shove the stack in the direction of arrow B when, for example, the print job was finished or when the stack height got too high. In addition,FIGS. 2 and 3show that direction B is substantially perpendicular to the direction of paper output as indicated by arrow A. For many devices, the user will typically be retrieving documents from a side angle so the nudging mechanism will generally be designed to move a document stack or part of a document stack in a direction substantially perpendicular to the output direction. The controller220could be a device controller independent of a user that automatically nudges output documents toward a user access opening where a user may retrieve the document. The controller220could also be a local controller that activates when a user activates it such as, for example, by pressing a button or flipping a switch readily accessible or associated with the tray.

Alternatively, pivoting, pushing, pulling or sliding a lever or knob accessible from the printing device outer surface, and preferably close to the output tray, could actuate a manual stack nudger directly or through a link or flexible cable. The manually actuated nudger would ideally have a spring return action for the lever that would leave the media stack in the shifted position so actuation and media retrieval would involve only two operations.

FIGS. 4 and 5illustrate a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention similar to the first exemplary embodiment, but where the nudger is operated manually. InFIGS. 4 and 5, lever230operably connects to nudger200, and may be used to move nudger200, which in turn moves stack210. The lever could either be a simple mechanical lever or be electromechanical in nature. The lever mechanism may include, for example, a slide, a pivot, or a rotating cam to move the nudger. After the lever is used to move the stack closer to a user's grasp, the lever would return the nudger to its original position. The lever may also optionally be spring-loaded as shown inFIGS. 4 and 5. Spring240will cause the lever240and nudger200to return to their original non-extended positions.

FIGS. 6 and 7illustrate a third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the nudging mechanism rotates the stack. The nudger will typically rotate the stack by an angle between 0° and 90°. The nudging mechanism300can be positioned off-center so that it pushes one end of a stack of papers310. InFIGS. 6-9, this offset is toward the leading edge of the exiting sheet stack. However, this offset may also be shown as closer to the trailing edge of the sheet stack (as shown inFIGS. 10-13). In embodiments, the nudging mechanism rotates the stack about a pivot point.

As can be seen inFIG. 7, the nudging mechanism could also rotate. Rotating the nudger would generally translate the stack, when the nudger is roughly centered on a stack. Rotating the nudger may also help guide the rotation of a stack when the nudger is located off-center if it is more distant from the pivot point.

In the embodiment shown inFIGS. 6 and 7, a controller320is used to control the nudging mechanism300. Similarly to the first exemplary embodiment, the controller320may be a device controller that automatically rotates the stack with no human intervention. It may also be a local controller that responds to a user activation of some kind, such as a switch or button.

FIGS. 8 and 9illustrate a fourth exemplary embodiment similar to the third exemplary embodiment. In this case, a lever330is used to manually move the nudging mechanism300.

FIGS. 10 and 11and12and13illustrate fifth and sixth exemplary embodiments of the present invention. These embodiments combine the features of translational and rotational movement. The nudger400moves the stack410forward and rotates the stack as well. In the exemplary embodiment shown inFIGS. 10 and 11a controller420actuates the nudger400.FIGS. 12 and 13shows an exemplary embodiment that includes a lever430to both rotate and translate the stack.

An additional alternative to orthogonal travel is a nudger that travels at an angle so it shifts the media stack in two axes. An automated nudger has the potential added benefits of being used as a stack off-setter. When used to separate print jobs by offsetting, it may be desirable for the media stack to follow the nudger both outward and inward so that multiple jobs can be offset. Technically, this two-directional movement could be done manually as well, although it may not be as valuable in routine printing applications as the user would necessarily be there to remove the particular stack being offset in person.

FIGS. 14-15illustrate an exemplary embodiment of a nudger that can move a document in two directions.FIG. 14illustrates a nudger500that pushes a stack510. A controller520actuates the nudger500, which controller520may be a local controller or a device controller. InFIG. 15, the stack has moved diagonally, that is it has moved in both the direction it exited the printing device100and in a direction substantially perpendicular to that direction. Moving the stack in such a manner could help offset output documents. The next document530produced exits offset from the first stack510as shown inFIG. 16.

To help facilitate movement of a stack, a nudger may include an underside support that aids in controlling the media during a shift.FIGS. 17 and 18illustrate such a nudger600.FIG. 17is a schematic drawing of an end view of an output tray.FIG. 18is an overhead of the tray. Nudger600has a component620substantially parallel to the edge of the stack610as well as a component630substantially parallel to the surface of the exiting sheets. Extending underneath the sheets helps overcome the friction between the sheets and the surface of the output tray. The size of the vertical620and horizontal630components of nudger600may be as big as necessary to easily move the sheets in question. The underside portion630may be wider or extend further out than shown inFIGS. 17 and 18. The nudger600would, for example, ease movement of the stack in the embodiments shown inFIGS. 3-16and described herein. In particular, the diagonal movement illustrated inFIGS. 15 and 16would be substantially easier with a nudger that contacted the bottom surface of a stack of paper.

Nudgers that ensure movement of the media when pushing it may be augmented with complementary features that also allow the greater portion of a stack that is not retrieved to be retracted to the normal position without significant unintended displacement or orientation of the media. The underside support portion may assist in implementations capable of job offsets as the media would more readily tend to remain in an orderly stack.

A nudging mechanism is especially helpful if the printing device in question outputs a variety of paper sizes. A printing device may produce a gamut of sizes from oversized envelopes to postcard-sized outputs. If it has a recessed output tray, retrieving the smaller postcard-sized media may be difficult. The nudging mechanism may be used especially or solely for particularly small paper sizes and not used for the larger sized sheets of paper. A nudger may be designed to allow adjustment for alternative or particular media sizes. The adjustment may be facilitated by components that permit the adjustment of the nudger without otherwise affecting nudger displacement or travel. The media output nudging configuration may incorporate movement of any or a combination of vectors or pivots and may include one or more nudging risers and/or bottom supports of any configuration, including position adjustments for various size media. The nudger may be designed to have multiple ranges of travel so that it moves a shorter distance or rotation for typical A or A4 paper and a longer distance or rotation for smaller size media. The terms pivot and rotate, as used herein, are intended to encompass any non-linear path, such as arc, radial, or curved motion.