Patent ID: 8919770

Claim:
A printer comprising: a media supply configured to store a plurality of media sheets; a media transport device configured to extract one media sheet from the plurality of media sheets in the media supply and move the one media sheet in a process direction through a media path in the printer; a plurality of sensors arranged in a cross-process direction across the media path, the plurality of sensors including a first sensor arranged on a first side of the media path and a second sensor arranged across from the first sensor in the cross-process direction on a second side of the media path; a staging portion of the media path located in the process direction to receive the one media sheet after the one media sheet has passed the plurality of sensors; a print zone located along the media path; a controller operatively connected to the media transport device and the plurality of sensors, the controller being configured to: operate the media transport device to extract one media sheet from the plurality of media sheets in the media supply and move the one media sheet in the process direction along the media path; identify a cross-process direction dimension of the one media sheet with reference to a plurality of signals generated by the plurality of sensors in response to the one media sheet moving through the media path past the plurality of sensors; identify a difference in time between generation of a first signal from the first sensor and generation of a second signal from the second sensor; identify an alignment of the one media sheet with reference to the identified difference in time; operate the media transport device to change the alignment of the one media sheet with reference to the identified alignment of the one media sheet; operate the media transport device to move the one media sheet into the staging portion of the media path; deactivate the media transport device to hold the one media sheet in the staging portion of the media path prior to the one media sheet entering the print zone; and then move the one media sheet through the print zone in the process direction without forming an image on the one media sheet.