Apparatus and method for controlling insertion of special sheets into a stream of imaged substrates

Abstract: An apparatus and method is provided for controlling the interposition of one or more special sheets (61,62) into a stream of regular imaged substrates by employing an encoded trip ticket which is detected by a sensor (38) and diverts any substrate having the encoded trip ticket to an output tray (45) by activating a gate (39), thereby providing a paper path hole into which an insert sheet is placed. The insert sheet in the continuous stream of substrates is then conveyed to a final destination (70) where the sheets can be compiled into a stack or made into a book.

Description: The present invention relates generally to a technique for producing a print job including one or more imaged regular substrates and at least one special insert sheet. The primary output product of a typical printing machine is a printed substrate, such as a sheet of paper bearing printed information in a specified format. Quite often, customer requirements necessitate that this output product be configured in various specialized arrangements or print sets ranging from stacks of collated loose printed sheets to tabulated and bound booklets. Even when using state of the art document producing and finishing apparatus, it may be necessary to insert sheets into the document which are produced by means other than the document producing apparatus, or produced at a separate time from the majority of the sheets contained in the print set. For example, it is not uncommon to place specially colored sheets, chapter dividers, photographs or other special insert sheets into a print set to produce a final document. For example, it is common to use preprinted sheets which were produced by four-color offset press techniques as special insert sheets in a document containing mostly text printed on ordinary white paper. In another example, booklets produced from signatures often use special cover sheets or center sheets containing, for example, coupons. It is generally not desirable to pass these sheets through the printer processing apparatus because the ink on the special insert sheets tends to be smudged by the paper-handling rollers, etc. of the document producing apparatus. In addition, these special insert sheets may be of a particular weight stock or may include protruding tabs which may cause jams when transported through the printer processor. Accordingly, these special insert sheets must be inserted into the stream of sheets subsequent to processing in the printer processor section of the document producing apparatus. It is desirable to insert these sheets without disrupting the flow of the continuous stream of processed sheets. It is also desirable to insert these sheets in a manner which is transparent to the print processor on the finishing apparatus so that the operation of these apparatus need not be modified US-A-5,272,511 discloses a sheet inserter for inserting one or more special insert sheets into a continuous stream of sheets by overlaying the insert sheets with a corresponding sheet in the continuous stream of sheets. The insert sheet overlaying the corresponding sheet in the continuous stream of sheets is then conveyed with the corresponding sheet to a final destination where the sheets can be compiled into a stack. US-A-4,961,092 discloses a preprogrammed post-collation system for a copier which uses plural sorter bins and a recirculating document handler. Preprogrammable pause points in the copying operation allow for repeatedly inserting a variable number of job inserts or other special copy sheets into the bins being filled (by producing copies of these special documents or by manually inserting them into the bins), at any selected document copying point. The copying sequence must be manually restarted after the appropriate insertion operation is completed. Even with the above-mentioned prior disclosures available, there is still a need for a simple means for inserting special stock into a continuous stream of substrates. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods and apparatus for inserting sheets into a continuous stream of substrates without disrupting or inserting skipped pitches into the continuous stream of sheets. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for inserting sheets into a continuous stream of substrates without impacting the conventional job stream and related machine control system. To achieve the foregoing and other objects, and to overcome the shortcomings discussed above, a sheet inserter inserts special insert sheet or sheets into a continuous stream of sheets by employing an encoded trip ticket that triggers a paper path hole into which an insert sheet is placed. The insert sheet in the continuous stream of sheets is then conveyed to a final destination where the sheets can be compiled into a stack. In one aspect of the invention, there is provided a sheet inserter which is contained in a module which is removably attachable to a copier/printer and a finishing device, so as to enable the sheet inserter to insert special insert sheets into the stream of sheets that are output from the document producing apparatus. An encoded sheet that is placed into a copy sheet stack at the point where an insert sheet is to be placed is fed from the sheet stack and sensed by a sensor. A signal from the sensor is directed to a controller that triggers a deflector which deflects the coded sheet to a reject tray thereby creating a hole for the insertion of an insert sheet into the sheet stream. A feeder in the insert module feeds a sheet into the created hole and all of the sheets are conveyed to the finishing device in collated order. In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a printing system for producing a print job, the printing system including a print engine for imaging regular substrates, fed to the print engine from a regular substrate feeding apparatus, and delivering the imaged regular substrates as an output, to a finisher, comprising: a) a special sheet insertion system operatively coupled with said print engine, said special sheet insertion system including, i) special sheet insertion subsystem for holding and feeding special insert sheets, ii) a special sheet insertion path passing by said special sheet insertion subsystem, the special insert sheets being feedable to the special sheet insertion path and interposed into the delivered output of imaged regular substrates; b) a code detector adapted to signal the presence of a code on a passing sheet; c) an output tray; d) a processor, communicating with the print engine and said special insert sheet insertion system, said processor, i) adapted to receive a signal from said detector indicating the presence of a coded sheet being fed from the regular substrate feeding apparatus and direct the coded sheet into said output tray; and ii) actuating said special sheet insertion subsystem to feed one of the special insert sheets into a hole created in the delivered output of imaged regular substrates. In yet another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method of inserting insert sheets from an insert tray into a stream of substrates without disrupting a flow of the stream of substrates generated by a printing system, comprising: a) placing a coded substrate in a substrate stack in the position where an insert sheet is to be placed; b) feeding all of the substrates in a continuous stream through a paper predetermined path toward a finishing apparatus; c) providing a sensing means and sensing said coded sheet en route to the finishing apparatus; d) providing an input sheet tray with at least one insert sheet; e) diverting said coded sheet to a reject tray in response to said coded sheet being sensed by said sensing means thereby creating an empty space in the continuous stream of sheets; and f) inserting an insert sheet from said insert tray into said sheet stream so that the insert sheet occupies the space vacated by said coded sheet and is transported along with all other sheets toward said finishing apparatus. The present invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic front elevational view of a copier/printer in which sheets are inserted into a substrate stream in accordance with the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a laser based printing system (or imaging device) 2 for processing print jobs in accordance with the teachings of the present invention. For a more detailed discussion of a typical printing system, refer to, for example, US-A-5,243,381. Printing system 2 is divided into a scanner section 6, controller section 7, and printer section 8. The control of all machine functions, including all sheet feeding, is, conventionally, by machine controller 7. The controller 7 is preferably a known programmable microprocessor system, as exemplified by extensive prior art, e.g., US-A-4,475,156 and its references, and is manipulated by cathode ray tube 10 which, in turn, receives command signals via a touch screen or from keyboard input (not shown). While a specific printing system is shown and described, the present invention may be used with other types of printing systems such as ink jet, ionographic, etc. In FIG.1, printer section 8 comprises a laser type printer and is separated into a Raster Output Scanner (ROS) section (not shown), Print Module Section 20, Paper Supply Section 30, and High Speed Finisher 40. The ROS has a laser, the beam of which is split into two imaging beams. Each beam is modulated in accordance with the content of an image signal input by an acousto-optic modulator to provide dual imaging beams. The dual imaging beams are scanned across a moving photoreceptor 25 of Print Module 20 by the mirrored facets of a rotating polygon to expose two image lines on photoreceptor 25 with each scan and create latent electrostatic images of page image information represented by image signal input to a modulator. Photoreceptor 25 is uniformly charged by, for example, conventional corotrons at a charging station (not shown) preparatory to exposure by the imaging beams. The latent electrostatic images are developed by developer and transferred at transfer station 27 to a print media or substrate delivered by Paper Supply section 30. The print media, as will appear, may comprise any of a variety of sheet sizes, types, and colors. For transfer, the print media is brought forward in timed registration with the developed image on photoreceptor 25 from either a main paper tray 31 or from auxiliary paper trays 32 or 33 through a paper path 35 represented by arrows. The developed image transferred to the print media is permanently fixed or fused by a fuser (not shown) and the resulting prints discharged to either output tray 45, to high speed finisher 40, or through bypass 50 to some other downstream finishing device, which could be a low speed finishing device, such as, a signature booklet maker (SBM) 70 of the type manufactured by Bourg AB. High speed finisher 40 includes a stitcher (not shown) for stitching or stapling the prints together to form books and a thermal binder for adhesively binding the prints into books. Referring still to FIG. 1, the SBM 70 is coupled with the printing system 2, by way of a bypass transport 50, and through interposer or sheet insert feeder module 60 for receiving printed signatures. A sheet rotary (not shown) is positioned at an input of the SBM and the SBM includes three stations (not shown), namely, a stitching station, a folding station and a trimming station, in which a plurality of signatures are processed. In operation, the signatures are transported through the bypass transport 50 to the sheet rotary where the signatures are rotated, if necessary. The signatures are then introduced to the stitching station where the signatures are assembled as a stitched booklet. The stitched booklet is delivered to the folding station where it is preferably folded in half with a folding bar. At the trimming station, uneven edges of the folded signature set are trimmed with a cutting blade. Further details regarding the structure and function of the SBM 70 can be obtained by reference to US-A-5,159,395. An interposing module or interposer 60 enables on-line insertion of special insert sheets into a continuous stream of substrates without interruption of flow of the substrates through the use of an encoded trip ticket (not shown) that triggers a paper path hole or space that allows for the insertion of a special insert sheet into the substrate stream flow without impacting the conventional job stream and without requiring any change in stock machine software. Toward understanding the employment of the interposer in the printing system 2, imaged substrates are fed from paper trays 31, 32 or 33 through paper path 35 where images on photoreceptor 25 are transferred thereto at transfer station 27 and are conveyed past sensor 38 into bypass transport 50, through interposer 60 and then into SBM 70. Sensor detectable encoded trip tickets, which could be substrates of collated stock or a disposable copy/print created via a hard copy or electronic original with visible or invisible bar codes, are placed in the desired paper tray at the point in a substrate stack where a special insert sheet is to be interposed into the substrate stream from interposer 70. As the coded sheet is conveyed along paper path 35 it passes sensor 38 which reads the bar code and signals controller 7 which triggers a gate 39 to deflect the coded sheet into output tray 45 thereby creating a hole or space for a special insert sheet to be inserted. Interposer 60 includes insert sheet trays 61 and 62 that feed inserts into paper path 65 indicated by arrows for transport to into SBM 70. Materials handled by these feeders can range, for example, from preprinted stocks, output from other xerographic devices (i.e., color), heavy papers, chrome coats or folded sheets. With this configuration of the interposer with respect to the print portion of the machine, none of these inserts would be required to go through the xerographic process. Interposer 70 is also under the control of controller 7 and the signal to the controller from sensor 38 is also used to actuate feeders (not shown) connected to one of insert trays 61 or 62 to feed an insert into the space created by the ejection of the coded sheet. For a more detailed description of the use of bar codes for actuating sheet feeder trays, see US-A-5,270,421. For an example of a printing system capable of printing sheets with bar codes see US-A- 4,757,348. An apparatus and method has been disclosed that facilitates media insertion into a sheet stream without impacting the sheet stream flow from a printer or other source device which, heretofore, has required complex interactive communications between the source device and inserter module.

Claims: A printing system (2) for producing a print job, the printing system including a print engine (20) for imaging regular substrates, fed to the print engine from a regular substrate feeding apparatus (31,32,33), and delivering the imaged regular substrates as an output, to a finisher (40), comprising: a) a special sheet insertion system (60) operatively coupled with said print engine, said special sheet insertion system including, i) special sheet insertion subsystem (61,62) for holding and feeding special insert sheets, ii) a special sheet insertion path (65) passing by said special sheet insertion subsystem, the special insert sheets being feedable to the special sheet insertion path and interposed into the delivered output of imaged regular substrates; b) a code detector (38) adapted to signal the presence of a code on a passing sheet; c) an output tray (45); d) a processor (7), communicating with the print engine and said special insert sheet insertion system (60), said processor, i) adapted to receive a signal from said detector indicating the presence of a coded sheet being fed from the regular substrate feeding apparatus and direct the coded sheet into said output tray; and ii) actuating said special sheet insertion subsystem to feed one of the special insert sheets into a hole created in the delivered output of imaged regular substrates. A printing system wherein a continuous stream of substrates are fed to a destination with sheet inserts being interposed within the stream of substrates at a predetermined position without interrupting the flow of the substrate stream, said printing system including a photoreceptor (25) onto which latent page image information is placed, a transfer station (27) where said latent page image information is transferred to substrates, a developing station where the latent image information on said substrates is developed and a fusing station where the developed page image information is fused to the substrates, comprising: an output tray (45); at least one substrate tray (31,32,33) adapted to hold a stack of substrates including at least one coded substrate; means for feeding substrates from said substrate tray to said destination; a first feed path (35) into which said substrates from said substrate tray are fed; a sensor (38) positioned before said output tray and adapted to sense substrates passing through said first feed path and provide a signal when a substrate passes that includes a code; an interposer (60) adapted to feed insert sheets into said first paper path; a finisher (70) adapted to receive substrates from said at least one substrate tray and said interposer for finishing purposes; a rotatably mounted deflector (39) positioned with respect to said output tray and said first paper path to deflect a substrate into said output tray when actuated; and a controller (7) adapted to receive said signal from said sensor and actuate said deflector to direct the coded substrate into said output tray to thereby create a paper path hole in the continuous stream of substrates and thereafter actuate said interposer to feed an insert to fill said paper path hole while the continuous stream of substrates are en route to said finisher. The printing system of claim 2, wherein said interposer includes a second paper path (65), and wherein said first paper path extends past said photoreceptor and said second paper path bypasses said photoreceptor. The printing system of claims 2 or 3, wherein said code on said substrate is a bar code. The printing system of any one of claims 2 to 4, wherein said interposer is detachable and positioned between said output tray and said finisher. A method of inserting insert sheets from an insert tray (61,62) into a stream of substrates without disrupting a flow of the stream of substrates generated by a printing system, comprising: a) placing a coded substrate in a substrate stack (31,32,33) in the position where an insert sheet is to be placed; b) feeding all of the substrates in a continuous stream through a paper predetermined path (50) toward a finishing apparatus (70); c) providing a sensing means (38) and sensing said coded sheet en route to the finishing apparatus; d) providing an input sheet tray (61,62) with at least one insert sheet; e) diverting (39) said coded sheet to a reject tray (45) in response to said coded sheet being sensed by said sensing means thereby creating an empty space in the continuous stream of sheets; and f) inserting an insert sheet from said insert tray into said sheet stream so that the insert sheet occupies the space vacated by said coded sheet and is transported along with all other sheets toward said finishing apparatus.

Inventors: MATHERS KEVIN R, PERKINS WILLIAM C, MATHERS, KEVIN R., PERKINS, WILLIAM C.
Applicants: XEROX CORP, XEROX CORPORATION
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B42C1
IPC codes: B65H39, B65H29, B42C1, B65H33, G03G15