Scanning method and apparatus for an inserter

A document feeding system and method, such as an inserting apparatus and method, wherein marks read from control document or other documents are employed to control the operation of the system. The data read from the documents is stored in a buffer, and the direction of read-out of the buffer may be changed, for example under operator control, in order to adapt the system to control by a plurality of formats of the control marks.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling an 
inserter of the type that is employed, for example, in assembling material 
to be inserted in an envelope for mailing. It will be apparent, of course, 
that the invention is not limited to such end use. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The operations of inserting machines, for inserting one or more documents 
into an envelope, can be controlled by the provision of coded marks 
printed on the document, the marks being adapted to be read by the 
inserter. The reading of the marks may be effected optically. For example, 
the marks may indicate to the inserter that the current document is the 
first sheet of a collation, the end of a collation (EOC) etc. 
In one marking system, the coded marks are preceded, in the direction of 
movement of the document, by a "benchmark", so that the position of a mark 
with respect to the benchmark determines its control function. Another 
type of marking system, however, employs a benchmark situated to be read 
in the reverse order of first above discussed system. Typically, an 
inserter system is dedicated to handling control marks for only one 
marking systems. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,468, Piotroski, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,790, Gomes, et 
al, disclose in inserting apparatus and equipment wherein one or more 
modules are provided to feed documents, for example from webs of computer 
print-out forms, to a transport unit. Typically, control marks provided on 
control documents processed by the module are read at a scanning station 
in the module to provide control and other information for the inserter 
system. The control marks may also, or alternatively, be provided on other 
than control documents. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,362,928, Sheldon, discloses a coded document actuated 
device wherein the document itself carries a character that identifies the 
format that is to be employed for the remainder of the code of the 
document. The format character controls the decoding of the data 
characters that are read from a data buffer. This system, which is not 
concerned with inserters, is only controlled to decode the data, and is 
limited to a single format of the data. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,812,982, PeBenhofer, discloses a conveying system with 
branches for directing objects in different paths, wherein code marks 
determine the direction of branching of objects. The system is adaptable 
only to the use of coding information of one format. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention is directed to the provision of a system enabling controlling 
of the inserter by marks of more than one format. 
Basically, in accordance with the invention, control and identification 
marks are scanned and clocked into a buffer, using an encoder as the 
clocking signal. The encoder timing at the time of occurrence of a pulse 
resulting from reading of a mark thus provides an indication of the 
meaning of the mark. The stored marks are then sequentially read out of 
the buffer for control of the inserter. 
A control switch or the like is provided to control the direction in which 
the buffer is read out, in order to permit control by different mark 
formats, as well as to enable the program of the system to interpret of 
the meanings of the marks. 
Briefly stated, in accordance with one embodiment, the invention provides a 
document feeding system of the type having means for feeding one or more 
documents having coding and/or information marks thereon, means for 
detecting the marks, means coupled to receive the output of the detecting 
means, and means for controlling the operation of the document feeding 
system in response to the receipt of the output of the detecting means. In 
accordance with the invention, the means for receiving the output of the 
detecting means comprises buffer means, and the controlling means 
comprises means for selectively changing the direction of read-out of data 
stored in the buffer means, and means for controlling the document feeding 
system in accordance with data read out of the buffer means. 
The means for controlling the document feeding system preferably controls 
the document feeding system in accordance with the read-out data only 
after the read-out of the buffer means. 
The document feeding system may constitute an inserting system of the type 
having one or more modules for feeding one or more documents having coding 
and/or information marks thereon, each of the modules comprising means for 
detecting the marks and means for controlling the operation of the 
respective module. 
The means for changing the direction of read-out of the buffer means 
preferably comprises operator controllable means for selectively 
controlling the direction of read-out of the buffer means. 
Further, in accordance with the invention, it is preferable that the data 
be clocked into the buffer means under the control of the controlling 
means, and that the validity of the data stored in the buffer means be 
determined only after the data is stored into the buffer means. 
The invention further comprises a method for controlling a document feeding 
system of the type having means for feeding one or more documents having 
coding and/or information marks thereon, means for detecting the marks, 
means coupled to receive the output of the detecting means, and means for 
controlling the operation of the document feeding system in response to 
the receipt of the output of the detecting means. In accordance with the 
method of the invention, data from the detecting means is directed to a 
buffer means, the direction of read-out of the buffer means is changeable, 
and the document feeding system is controlled in accordance with data 
stored in the buffer means only after reading-out the buffer means. 
The step of changing the direction of read-out may comprise changing the 
read-out of the buffer means for first-in-first-out to last-in-first-out, 
or it may comprise changing the direction of read-out of the buffer means 
from last-in-first-out to first-in-first-out.

DETAILED DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION 
FIG. 1 of the drawings show a perspective view on a table 5 of the machine 
10 incorporating the present invention. Machine 10 includes two document 
feeding stations 12, feeding station keyboard for data entry 12a, a 
transport station 13, electronics control station 14, with associated 
message display screen 15 and data keyboard 16, an envelope feeding 
station 17, an envelope stuffing station 18, a turning and ejection 
station 19, a moistener and sealing station 20, and a stacking station 21. 
This system is described in greater detail in U.S. patent application Ser. 
No. 292,157 filed Dec. 30, 1988, assigned to the assignee of the present 
application, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
Although only two document feeding stations are shown, it will be 
appreciated that may more feeding stations can be added on to the front 
end of the machine, which has been indicated by the dashed lines 22 shown 
at the left end, and the operation of the overall machine does not change. 
These modules may also include bursting, folding modules and other types 
of document feeders. The keyboard 14 is used to provide operator input as 
to start, operating instructions, reset functions and the like. The 
display 15 is employed to show error messages, module status, echo 
keyboard instructions and the like. It will be understood that the present 
invention can be incorporated into other inserters for example, console 
inserters such as the 8300 series inserters manufactured by the assignee 
of the present invention. 
The following detailed description will be more understandable with the 
brief description of the underlying concepts and operation of the machine 
now outlined. Each feeding station is independent of other feeding 
stations and its operation is controlled by a local microcontroller. Each 
feeding station, of which one or more may be included in the machine, is 
typically provided with a hopper for storing a stack of documents, and a 
plurality of scanners or sensors connected to its local microcontroller 
for controlling the feeding of one or more of its documents to the global 
collation, and signalling the receipt and departure of the global 
collation. Each feeding station contains a queuing station for temporarily 
capturing and holding the global collation 
When the queuing station of the current feeding station is empty, its local 
microcontroller is signaled and deposits into its local queuing station 
the one or more documents it is instructed to contribute. This instruction 
may come manually from an operator through the keyboard located on the 
side of the feeder, be programmed into the local microcontroller through 
the base unit keyboard, or be derived from a coded address document, 
typically the top document of the collation, which has been read by a 
scanner at an upstream feeding station and the information passed on to 
the local feeding station. When the local contribution is completed, the 
upstream microcontroller is signaled to send down the so-far accumulated 
global collation, which is accomplished by opening a gate at the previous 
queuing station and activating a feeder mechanism which then deposits the 
global collation on top of the local contribution at the current queuing 
station. This process, it will be noted, ensures that an address document, 
previously on top of the collation, remains on top at the current queuing 
station. Each local microcontroller is passed in turn a collation record, 
which records the documents contributed to the global collation, and each 
microcontroller in turn updates the collation records and passes it 
downstream to the next feeding station, or, if the last, to the envelope 
stuffing station. When the global collation is completed at the current 
feeding station, the next downstream feeding station or envelope stuffing 
station is informed. The global collation remains at the current queuing 
station until the next downstream station is ready to receive the global 
collation. This is the basis for the on-demand feeding table, which is 
essentially an asynchronous operation in which local stations control the 
collation feeding while within the local domain, i.e., its local queuing 
station. There is also a main computer or microcontroller which can 
communicate with each of the stations in the machine, but the collation 
record is transferred directly from local microcontroller to local 
microcontroller, instead of via the main computer. The operation of the 
envelope stuffing station is similarly locally controlled by the state of 
the immediately upstream feeding station, except that any defects in the 
collation records passed on to it will result in ejection of that stuffed 
enveloped from the main flow path. 
Referring now to FIG. 2, an inserter system that may employ the system and 
method of the invention may include one or more inserter feeding modules 
102, 104, 106. These modules may constitute conventional web feeding 
modules, such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,707,790, or 
they may constitute inserter modules for feeding separate sheet inserts, 
documents or control documents. A conventional conveying arrangement 500, 
501, 502 is provided to transport documents or stacks of documents from 
one module to the next, and thence to the base insertion station 100, 
wherein the insert documents may be stuffed into envelopes, also in 
conventional manner. The operation of the inserter modules 102, 104, 106 
and the base insertion station is asynchronous. 
The controller 300 of each module is connected and programmed to control 
the operations of the inserter module units via separate feed controls 
310, and to cooperate with the controller 315 of the base inserter 100. It 
is of course apparent that either more or fewer inserter modules units may 
be employed than the three that are illustrated in FIG. 5. 
In addition, each inserter unit module can be provided with sensors or a 
scanner 316, such as a photoelectric scanner, to scan control marks that 
may be provided on control documents or inserts fed by the respective 
insert module unit. The outputs of the scanners 316 are employed by the 
respective controller 300 to control the feeding of documents in each of 
the insert modules 102, 104, 106 in conventional manner. 
One example of control marks that may be employed on a document is 
illustrated in FIG. 3, wherein one or more dashes 319 are imprinted on a 
document 320 adapted to be moved by the respective inserter module unit in 
the direction of the arrow 322, so that the dashes can be sequentially 
scanned by a fixed position scan head 316. The dashes 319 include a timing 
registration mark or benchmark 323 located at a predetermined position on 
the document. It will be apparent, of course, that, instead of dashes, the 
marks may constitute any other conventional form of mark, such as bar 
codes, dots, etc. 
In conventional scanning, the controller 300 enables the reading of the 
output of the scan head only for a given period following initiation of 
movement of the document, as determined by conventional means. The 
controller 300 may thus open a scan window of a fixed length where the 
scan timing registration mark or benchmark has been assigned to be located 
If this benchmark is detected, the scanning system re-registers itself and 
looks for other assigned dashes in the scan area. This system thus 
requires that a benchmark be detected in order to enable the scanning for 
any other scan data. 
Following the detection of the benchmark, the scan head may detect other 
marks at other positions at fixed predetermined distances from the 
benchmark. For example, the other marks may include an End of Collation 
(EOC) mark 324, indicating that the current document is the last document 
of a given collation. Further marks on the document may correspond to 
other control and identification data, as is well known in the art, and 
hence will not be specifically discussed herein. 
In the scanning of a document having control marks as illustrated in FIG. 
6, it is conventional to direct the output of the scan head directly to 
the controller, as it is received, for processing and control of the 
inserting system. On occasion, however, the control and identification 
markings on the document may be positioned differently on the document, 
and/or the document may be adapted to be fed in a different direction 
through the inserter module unit, and/or the codification of the dashes on 
the document may be varied. 
For example, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the dashes may be positioned so 
that, if the document were moved in the same direction 322 as in FIG. 3, 
the Bench Mark 323' would be located at a position such that it would be 
scanned after the control and identification marks had been scanned. Such 
a document hence could not be employed in the control of the insertion 
system without considerable modification of the system. 
It is of course apparent that the variations in the system of marks 
employed on the documents may include not only a changed scanning 
direction, as shown in FIG. 4, but also that the marks may be located on 
the other side of the document, they may be spaced differently, and their 
encoding may be different. 
In accordance with the invention, the problem of feeding a document in a 
different direction is overcome by the provision of a scan buffer 350 in 
each module connected to receive and store the outputs of the respective 
scanner 316. The scan buffer 350 is controlled by the controller 300 to 
enable the storing of data in the buffer when the scan window of the 
scanner is positioned, relative to the document, to scan an area of the 
document at which scan data is assigned to be located. The scan channel 
information is stored in the buffer 350 using encoder pulses from the 
controller 300 as a clocking signal. The encoder pulses are hence merely 
clocking pulses that permit the storage of data resulting from the 
detection of marks at specific locations. The encoder pulses are also 
stored in the buffer 350 for use as a clocking signal during read out of 
the buffer. The controller 300 disables the input of the buffer 350 when 
the document has moved such that the scan window is no longer receiving 
valid scan data. 
Thus, in accordance with the invention, prior to utilization of the data 
received from the control and identification marks 319, the data is first 
stored in the buffer 350. 
The buffer 350 may be of conventional type wherein the scan data stored 
therein can be read out from the buffer in either a first-in-first-out 
mode, or in a last-in-first-out mode. The direction of read out of the 
buffer is controlled by the mode signal from the controller, and this mode 
signal may be in response to the operation of an operator controllable 
mode switch 360. Thus, the operator of the system, upon recognition of the 
type of scanning to be employed in a given insertion operation, may 
operate the switch 360, or may alternatively employ software, to control 
the direction in which the data is read out of the buffer 350. The switch 
31 may also be employed to initialize control parameters in each 
controller 300 to take into consideration any further differences in the 
control and identification marks for a given batch of documents. 
As the data is clocked out of the buffer, the system must find an active 
scan mark within a certain number of output clocks (which, as discussed 
above, are related one-to-one to the encoder clocks). If the mark is 
found, then the system registers itself and clocks out the remaining 
information as valid data. If the mark is not found, then the data that 
was read was not valid data. Following readout of the buffer 350, it may 
be reset by the controller. 
After the data has been read out of the buffer it is employed in the 
conventional manner to control the operations of the inserter system. 
While the buffer 350 has been described and illustrated as a separate 
component of the system, it is apparent that this has been done herein 
primarily in order to enable a clearer understanding of the invention. It 
is preferred that the buffer constitute a part of each controller 300. The 
controller 300 may be, for example, type 80C32 Intel microcontroller 
manufactured by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. The buffer 350 
may hence constitute, for example, an off chip RAM of the microcontroller, 
whereby the program of the microcontroller controls the enabling of the 
RAM to receive input data, clocking of data into and out of this RAM, and 
the direction that the data is read out of the RAM. 
While the invention has been disclosed and described with reference to a 
single embodiment, it will be apparent that variations and modification 
may be made therein, and it is therefore intended in the following claims 
to cover each such variation and modification as falls within the true 
spirit and scope of the invention.