Patent ID: 7081971

Claim:
An apparatus for printing markings along a top edge and a bottom edge on a front face of a mailpiece in at least two passes through the apparatus, in at least two different orientations, and using a print head in a fixed position, the apparatus comprising: the print head in the fixed position, where the print head receives print instructions and prints both a first set of markings in a first marking pass, and a second set of markings onto the mailpiece in a second marking pass; a memory containing data representative of the first and second markings, the first markings associated with a first orientation, the second markings associated with a second orientation; a print module, coupled to the memory and to the print head, for reading the data representative of the first set of markings from the memory, and converting the data to print instructions that instruct the print head to print the first set of markings onto the mailpiece having the first orientation during the first marking pass; an inverted print module, coupled to the memory and to the print head, for reading the data representative of the second set of markings from the memory, and converting the data to print instructions that instruct the print head to invert the second set of markings on the print head during the second marking pass and printing onto the mailpiece disposed in the second orientation which is inverted about 180 degrees with respect to the first orientation of the mailpiece; and a control module, coupled to the print module and the inverted print module, for sending marking requests to either the print module or the inverted print module, the marking request indicating which data representative of the first or second sets of markings that are to be read from the memory, by the print module or the inverted print module, based on whether the mailpiece is being passed in the first or second orientation.