Patent ID: 8448943

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a media path feeding sheets in a process direction; a laterally movable sheet registration carriage positioned within said media path, said sheet registration carriage being movable in a lateral direction perpendicular to said process direction; at least one first sensor positioned within said media path, said at least one first sensor being operatively connected to said sheet registration carriage via a controller, said at least one first sensor determining a lateral position of said sheets within said media path before said sheets enter said sheet registration carriage, said controller moving said sheet registration carriage to a variable lateral starting position before said sheets enter said sheet registration carriage based on said lateral position of said sheets as determined by said at least one first sensor, said variable starting position constantly changing for different sheets of the same size depending upon said lateral position of said sheets within said media path, and said controller moving said variable starting position to locations different than a reset position, locations being centered relative to said sheets, and also locations different than being centered relative to said sheets; and at least one second sensor adjacent to said sheet registration carriage, said at least one second sensor being operatively connected to said sheet registration carriage via said controller, said at least one second sensor determining an amount of misalignment of sheets within said sheet registration carriage, said controller moving said sheet registration carriage to align said sheets to a predetermined lateral position within said media path based on said amount of said misalignment.