Patent ID: 8672321

Claim:
A system for controlling print media velocity in separate print paths in a parallel architecture printer engine comprising: a) a media sheet feeder disposed proximate the printer engine and operative for timed feeding of sheets therefrom at a constant rate; (b) at least two imaging paths, each of the imaging paths including a highway by-passing an image marking engine associated with the imaging path, an on-ramp located between the associated imaging marking engine and the highway, an off-ramp located between the highway and the associated imaging marking engine, and a plurality of nip rollers disposed along the on-ramp, off-ramp, and highway of each of the imaging paths for defining and directing movement of the sheets through the printer engine; (c) a split point between the media sheet feeder and the at least two imaging paths to direct the sheets into one of the at least two imaging paths; (d) a controller configured to control the nip rollers; (e) the imaging marking engine associated with each of the imaging paths for marking the sheets; (f) a merge point between the at least two imaging paths and a finisher to combine the at least two imaging paths into a single finishing path for driving the sheets to the finisher, wherein the controller is configured to re-phase movement of the sheets from the split point to the merge point, including: determining and summing velocity adjustments for movement of each of the sheets along the on-ramp, off-ramp, and highway of each of the imaging paths, in order that the sum of the velocity adjustments for each sheet moving through each of the imaging paths satisfies a non-collision condition so that the sheets enter the merge point in a predetermined order without collision.