Patent ID: 8905662

Claim:
A sign processing apparatus comprising: a media supply supplying media to a media path; a printing engine positioned along said media path, said printing engine printing marks on said media; a cutter positioned along said media path, said cutter dividing said media into individual signs; a patterning device positioned along said media path, said patterning device forming one or more different patterns of holes through each of said signs; and a transport device positioned along said media path, said transport device removing said signs from said media path to stack at least two of said signs into sign sets, said transport device simultaneously moving said signs together in said sign sets, said transport device comprising a vacuum device that contacts the top sign within each of said sign sets, said vacuum device applying vacuum through said holes of said top sign to the bottom sign within each of said sign sets, such that said vacuum alone maintains said signs together in said sign sets; and said top sign and said bottom sign being on opposite ends of each of said sign sets and middle signs being between said top sign and said bottom sign, and said patterning device forming said different patterns of holes, when aligned in said sign sets, to create continuous openings extending from said top sign down to said bottom sign and to said middle signs, such that said vacuum is applied through at least one of said continuous openings to a continuous, unbroken surface of each of said bottom sign and said middle signs.