Abstract:
A system, apparatus, and method for printer-lane-packaging of documents utilizing a printer for printing on a linear web medium documents having fixed-data and variable-data information to produce in-lane formatting for each of the document and including a web cutter for cutting each of the in-lane printed documents into a stream of shingled sheets, a folder and collator for folding and collating the stream of shingled sheets into folded sets of variable page-counts per set for storage or immediate subsequent processing, and a computer for controlling the overall operation of the system components.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention pertains generally to a first-class mail production system or similar printing systems that permit a direct connection between a high-speed document printing process that utilizes “printer-lane-packaging” techniques to produce single to multi-page document package sets (variable page-count sets) and an envelope insertion and mailing process. More particularly, the subject invention relates to a system and a process for printing both form information and variable data information on printer-lane-generated documents that are subsequently cut, folded, and collated into individual document set packages having one or more pages per set in such a fashion that the resultant set packages may either directly or indirectly pass to a suitable envelope inserter for further post-printing processes, thereby combining two processes that traditionally have been completely separate entities and normally placed in different physical locations. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     The exceedingly novel and non-obvious subject invention combines some elements of traditional direct mail processing with standard first-class mailing techniques and adds an overall new document processing sequence to create a reliable and efficient document package system for bulk mailings. Commercial printing practices routinely produce direct mail document packages that do not vary in the number of pages within each document package, in line with the printing process and achieve reliable rates, but do not attempt to fold, collate, and insert these sheets into envelopes or generate document packages which contain varied sheet counts per document package. Such direct mail identical sheets are commonly produced using commercial printing and finishing technology, where a high speed, high-tension paper web runs for hours without stopping. Downstream from the utilized printing units are positioned a slitter and a high-speed rotary cutter that convert the web into streams of shingled sheets that are then carried on a conveyor to a desired location. Subsequent processing equipment operates on these shingled streams of cut information-static sheets, typically doing aligning, trimming, and bundling. This approach reduces the likelihood of jams, allowing the equipment to run continuously for hours or even days. Thus, per-piece labor and capacity costs are low. 
     As will be described below in detail, the subject invention adds two further critical processing steps that are above and beyond those mentioned above to produce a highly flexible and integrated packaging system. First, the number of sheets per packaged piece may vary from as little as one sheet to as many as 20, 30, 100, or more. Second, each and every sheet is unique and must be accounted for and tracked. No existing direct mail production operation has ever achieved these two additional capabilities or constraints. Because of the complexity associated with meeting these two constraints, current practitioners of bulk first-class mail production have been forced to indirectly incorporate these two constraints into the chain of processing their mail by performing sheet-level processing (i.e., cutting, collating, and folding) off-line, away from the printer. This off-line approach prevents “exceptions” in the less reliable cutting, collating, and folding processes from stopping the printer. Instead, these processes are performed in-line with the inserter (see immediately below). This separation approach makes economic sense in an environment where printing assets are much more valuable than inserting assets, because the down-time capacity cost (i.e., depreciation) of a sheet jam at a quarter million dollar inserter is only a fraction of that of a sheet jam at a five million dollar printer. 
     As seen in  FIGS. 1-3 , the three distinct processes associated with existing mass-mailing of billing statements are shown.  FIG. 1  depicts the traditional way in which standard fixed-data forms are generated, usually by an “outside” vendor (“outside” to the variable-data printing location and envelope insertion location). 
     Wide (36 inch) rolls of blank stock paper are run through a form printer to create a “web” of printed forms. The web containing the printed forms is slit down the middle and wound into two narrow rolls (each 18 inches wide). These 18 inch rolls are then stored for later use or used immediately. In any case, the 18 inch rolls of forms, eventually, are transported to the next piece of equipment for utilization. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates the standard variable data printing phase for traditional statement preparations. The 18 inch form rolls are transported to an unwinder, thereby producing, again, the relatively linear web of forms that was previously wound for storage and/or transport. The web then enters a variable data printing device. A web of forms now having variable data printed on them exits the variable data printing device and is fed into a stacker which normally fan-folds the final forms into stacks that are either stored or transported to the next piece of equipment for insertion into a mailing envelope. 
       FIG. 3  describes typical post-production (after variable-data has been printed on a standard fixed-data printed form) handling of statements. The stacked and fan-folded web is now cut into individual sheets that are then collated into specific individual sets, with each set being a customer&#39;s billing statement. The individual sets are then folded and passed to an inserter that generates the final in-envelope statements, with associated inserts. The final statements are delivered to appropriate mailing trays via an automatic trayer and then to the suitable mail carrier, such as USPS. 
     Thus, the existing prior art generally falls into two categories: 1) printing finishing systems that produce same-number-of-sheets sets of documents or 2) inserting systems that produce variable-number-of-sheets sets documents from already printed sheets. No combined systems are known to exist, therefore the subject invention that discloses a finishing system that produces variable-number-of-sheets sets of documents is novel and non-obvious. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,434 relates an integrated printing and inserting system in which two or more streams of sheets (i.e., bill detail sheets from one direction and a bill cover sheet from another direction) are merged into a collated package and then sent to a folder and from there to subsequent handling devices. The subject invention&#39;s “lane packaging” concept is not suggested or disclosed in the &#39;434 patent. 
     Found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,624 is an insertions machine having a multiple document detector. Presented within this document is a means of thickness measurement for the purposes of exception detection and does not discloses any means or process of document generation. 
     U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,972,655, 5,409,441, 5,524,421, and 5,960,607 all disclose mailing finishing systems that produce, in a single run, same-number-of-pages sets of documents from a web press. It is once again stressed that the subject invention produces variable-number-of-pages sets of documents or same-number-of-pages sets of documents or a desired mixture of same or variable page count sets. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of operation that efficiently links traditional direct mailing techniques with bulk first class mailing procedures to eliminate the necessity of generating wasteful fan-folded stacks of documents that must then be unfolded for cutting, collating, and folding into customer-related sets. 
     Another object of the present invention is to furnish a system and procedure for sequentially utilizing a form printer followed by a lane-printing-capable variable-data printer to produce a stream of printed sheets that are immediately collated and folded into folded sets that are ready for storage or transport to a receiving inserter. 
     A further object of the present invention is to supply a system and procedure that employs a variable-data printer that generates, on pre-printed forms, documents via lane-printing procedures to produce a stream of shingled sheets that are collated and folded into variable page-count sets that may be stored or transported to a receiving inserter. 
     Still another object of the present invention is to disclose a procedure for producing collated, folded, and customer-related variable page-count sets of billing statements by utilizing a variable-data printer and printing-in-lane programming procedures. 
     Yet a further object of the present invention is to describe a method of producing inserter-ready folded sets of customer-related billing documents by eliminating wasteful intermediary fan-folding and unfolding steps via the use of printing-in-lane procedures to create a shingled stream of customer-related sheets that are then collated and folded into customer-related sets of billing documents having one of more pages. 
     It is stress that the examples provided herein are for a billing statement mailing system, but those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that any appropriate or equivalent documents may be printed with the disclosed system, apparatus, and method. Disclosed is a system, apparatus, and method for producing folded variable page-count sets of statements in a fast and efficient manner that utilizes a novel printing-in-lanes process that produces billing statements in a combined fixed-data printing, variable-data printing, and logically-related statement set collation process that eliminates the need for rolling up fixed-data printed forms, then un-rolling them to print the variable-data information, then fan-fold stacking and unstacking before the collator creates the logically-related statement sets. Comprising the subject system is a sequence of novel, efficient steps: 1) wide rolls of blank stock are unrolled and printed with fixed-data to produce a linear web of forms; 2) the web of forms is passed through a variable-data printer that utilizes “in-lane” printing techniques to generate a linear web of “in-lane” associated pages for eventual customer-related billing statements; 3) the linear web is cut into two or more shingled streams of pages; 4) as controlled by an overseeing program, each stream of shingled pages is passed to a folder/collator that groups customer-related pages together into variable page-count sets of folded billing statements; 5) the sets of folded billing statements are either stored for later processing or transferred to a suitable inserter; 6) the inserter accepts the sets of customer-related billing statements and handles them in an appropriate manner to produce final billing statements within an envelope; and 7) the enveloped statements are then placed in mailing trays and shipped by standard means. 
     Further objects and aspects of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention without placing limitations thereon. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
       The invention will be more fully understood by reference to the following drawings which are for illustrative purposes only: 
         FIG. 1  is a PRIOR ART flow diagram illustrating the traditional manner in which printed forms have been produced, usually at a remote location to that at which the forms are eventually utilized, starting with a standard wide roll of blank stock, printing on the unwound web of stock, then slitting the form printed web of stock in half, and rolling into two separate half-width form-printed rolls. 
         FIG. 2  is a PRIOR ART flow diagram showing variable data printing on a half-width printed-form roll that is unwound into a web that passes through a variable-data printer with the produced web then fan-folded into stacks for storage or transport to subsequent process equipment. 
         FIG. 3  is a PRIOR ART flow diagram depicting post form and variable-data printing production steps that include unstacking the fan-folded web, cutting the web into individual sheets, collating the individual sheets into sets of customer-related document packages that are then folded and sent on to an envelope inserter for mail processing. 
         FIG. 4  is flow diagram for the subject invention system and process that discloses the starting with a standard wide roll of blank stock, printing fixed-form information on the unwound web of stock, printing variable-data on the form-printed web utilizing lane-printing procedures, and then slitting the generated web to produce a plurality of streams of shingled sheets that are immediately collated and folded to produce customer-related sets comprised of one of more sheets which are stored or transported to subsequent processing equipment, such as an envelope inserter. 
         FIG. 5  is flow diagram for the subject invention system and process showing the folded customer-related sets, created in the system/process described in  FIG. 4 , entering an inserter to produce enveloped statements which are place into mailing trays and then mailed. 
         FIG. 6  illustrated an exemplary system for the subject invention in which a high-speed web printer produces, via in-lane printing procedures that captures all of the sheets for each customer within only one lane of printed sheets, a web with a plurality of lanes of fixed-form and variable-data printed documents that are immediately cut into separate streams of shingled sheets that are then folded, collated, and packaged for subsequent processing. 
         FIG. 7  depicts the output of an in-lane variable-data printed web of consumer-related sheets for the subject invention. 
         FIG. 8  depicts the output of a traditional, PRIOR ART, variable-data printed web of consumer-related sheets. 
         FIG. 9A  shows an alternative embodiment of the subject invention in which the rolled blank stock  5  is first unrolled and printed via the suitable printing device  12  and then re-rolled  6  for subsequent processing. 
         FIG. 9B  shows the printed and re-rolled web  6  (re-rolled in  FIG. 9A ) being cut  30  into desired shingled streams of pages  35  thru  38  for a “4-up” configuration. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring more specifically to the drawings, for illustrative purposes the present invention is embodied in the apparatus generally shown in  FIGS. 4-7 . It will be appreciated that the apparatus may vary as to configuration and as to details of the parts, and that the method may vary as to the specific steps and sequence, without departing from the basic concepts as disclosed herein. The subject invention comprises a system and method for the efficient generation of first-class mailing items. For exemplary purposes only and not by way of limitation, the first-class mailing items will often be billing statements for services and products rendered to a consumer customer and may include additional inserts of various standard kinds that are placed within a mailing envelope by an inserter device. Each logically-related billing statement may vary from one to many pages/sheets (a variable page-count set) with each sheet usually having fixed-data form information and variable-data information printed on it. The fixed-date comprising information found on all of the sheets and not logically-related, while the variable-data comprises specific information such as name, address, services or products provided, monetary amount due, and the like. Further, each logically-related billing statement sheet contains machine-readable document-related indicia that may be detected by standard suitable sensors (LEDs, bar-code reading devices, video cameras, and the like) and relayed to an overseeing computer system. The overseeing computer system directs the operation of the subject system and interfaces with the various devices within the subject system via the suitable indicia-reading sensors positioned at appropriate locations within the subject invention&#39;s component parts. 
     Thus, disclosed is a system and method for producing folded sets of documents (billing statements being one example of such documents) in a fast and efficient manner that utilizes a novel printing-in-lanes process that produces documents in a combined fixed-data printing, variable-data printing, and logically-related document set collation process that eliminates the need for rolling up fixed-data printed forms, then un-rolling them to print the variable-data information, then fan-fold stacking and unstacking before the collator creates the logically-related document sets. 
     As can be seen in  FIGS. 4 and 6 , the subject document production portion of the subject process comprises obtaining wide rolls of blank stock  5  (normally standard 36 inch rolls, but other width dimensions are considered with the realm of this disclosure) are unrolled and printed with fixed-data  10  to produce a linear web of forms  15 . The web of forms  15  is then passed through a variable-data printer  20  that utilizes “in-lane” printing techniques (see below for details as to the “in-lane” technique output) to generate a linear web of “in-lane” and customer-related billing pages  25  that will eventually be cut into sheets to generate the entire set of sheets that will become the billing statement for any particular customer. As seen specifically in  FIG. 6 , the fixed-data  10  and variable-data  20  printing processes may be combined within a suitable printing device  12 . The linear web is cut  30  into two (a “2-up” printer), four (a “4-up” printer), or more shingled streams of pages ( 35  in  FIGS. 4 and 35 ,  36 ,  37 , and  38  in  FIG. 6  for a “4-up” printer). The shingled sheets exit in streams that may proceed straight to subsequent processing steps or each stream may be turned  53  and angled to subsequent processing steps, whichever is desired for a particular setting. 
     As controlled by an overseeing program, each stream of cut, shingled sheets  35  ( 36 ,  37 ,  38 ) is passed to a folder/collator  40  that groups logically-related pages together into variable page-count sets of folded documents such as billing statements  45 . The folder/collator  40  may be of various suitable configuration so long as folded variable page-count sets are produced. The variable page-count sets of folded documents  45  are either stored or transferred to a subsequent processing location  50 . As seen in  FIG. 6 , the folder/collator  40  may comprise several components and is not limited to the depicted possible configurations. 
     More specifically, the folder/collator  40  seen in  FIG. 6  comprises a buckle-folder  55  in which the shingled sheets  35  are folded and usually nested. A de-nester  60  then isolates the folded sheets so that the logically-related and variable page-count sets  45  can be generated in the collator  65  and stacked  70  in packaged variable page-count sets for storage or immediate use  50  in an inserter  80 . It is noted that the stack of folded/collated variable page-count sets of logically-related statements may be placed in a suitably designed cartridge  75  to facilitate storage and later usage. 
     As related in  FIG. 4 , with use of the subject invention&#39;s in-lane printing procedure and set generation techniques, the mailing tray production process is now able to begin from the folded variable page-count sets of statements  45  and not the much more error-prone traditional fan-folded and still attached-to-one-another pages. With the subject invention, the inserter  80  accepts the sets of logically-related billing statements  45  and produces the filed statement envelopes  85 , which are sent to the trayer  90  that fills the mailing trays  95  according to suitable postal regulations for mailing. Mailing in normally conducted by the USPS  100  or other appropriate agency. 
     For the sake of clarity,  FIG. 7  illustrates the critical “in-lane” printing technique of the subject invention and  FIG. 8  depicts the traditional left-to-right layout normally utilized in first-class mailing systems.  FIG. 7  shows a “4-up” printed web of fixed-data/variable-date printed sheets in which each customer is identified by A, B, C, D, E, F, G, etc. and each sheet within a potential final set of customer-related sheets as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. As is clearly indicated, all pages within customer A&#39;s final statement are found only one lane  105  of sheets on the illustrated web and not in any of the other three lanes  110 ,  115 ,  120 , as is true for each of the other customers. Thus, no cross or side-to-side mingling of sheets from one lane to any other lane is required to collate the final statement for any one customer. The traditionally side-by-side printing of statement sheets seen in PRIOR ART  FIG. 8  has multiple customer sheet within each lane, thereby requiring extensive and time-wasting collation to generate a final statement for any particular customer. 
       FIGS. 9A and 9B  illustrate an alternative embodiment of the subject invention in which the web of blank stock material  5  is first printed  12  and then re-rolled  6  before it is later processed via cutting  30  into shingled streams of pages  35  thru  38 . This version of the invention may be utilized if the printed web  6  is to be moved or temporarily stored before the cutting process. 
     Although the description above contains many details, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of this invention. 
     Therefore, it will be appreciated that the scope of the present invention fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and that the scope of the present invention is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unless explicitly so stated, but rather “one or more.” All structural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the present invention, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recited using the phrase “means for.”