Patent ID: 8218987

Claim:
A tandem printing system, comprising: a first marking engine comprising a sheet feeder, a sheet transport, a first device for printing images onto sheets supplied from said sheet transport by said sheet feeder, a fuser for fusing said images placed onto the sheets, wherein the first marking engine includes a marking path and a duplex path whereby a plurality of sheets move through an entrance path, said marking path and said duplex path in a first order sequence, and then selected sheets move back to said entrance path wherein said selected sheets are inverted and moved again through said marking path in a second order sequence; a second marking engine comprising a second sheet feeder, a second device for printing images onto sheets supplied from said sheet transport, and a second fuser for fusing said images placed onto the sheets; and a controller, the controller being configured to process at least one print job in the first and second marking engines, the print job including printing on at least one sheet having a first weight, and printing on at least one sheet having a second weight, wherein the controller schedules the print job whereby the printing on the at least one sheet having the first weight comprises printing an image on the sheet having the first weight at the first marking engine, and fusing the sheet having the first weight at the first marking engine and the second marking engine.