Patent ID: 7887045

Claim:
A method for dynamically lifting an elevator of a media input tray during an ongoing media process, said method comprising: picking a sheet at a time from a top of a stack of media sheets using a pick mechanism to feed to a media process with the top of the stack initially positioned approximate a media home position and the stack on a platform that can be lifted by operation of an elevator; performing the media process in response to feeding a sheet at a time thereto; sensing the top of the stack to detect presence or absence of the stack at the media home position; sensing the top of the stack to detect presence or absence of the stack on the platform; sensing the platform to detect presence or absence of the platform at a maximum elevator level; and indexing the stack at least once by lifting the platform through a predetermined distance, through operation of the elevator during performing the media process and not during picking a sheet one at a time from the top of the stack, unless the presence of the top of the stack at the media home position is sensed or the absence of the stack on the platform is sensed or the presence of the platform at the maximum elevator level is sensed, the predetermined distance being indexed is based on a combination of an index time, an index distance and an index velocity.