Typewriting machines – Sheet or web
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-15
2001-07-10
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Typewriting machines
Sheet or web
C400S582000, C101S416100, C101S419000, C347S102000, C347S105000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06257784
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION AND MATERIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
The present invention relates to a methodology for expediting the handling of print job output in the output bin of a printer. In particular, the present invention relates to where ink drying time is a concern that must be considered, as found for example with ink jet printers.
Ink jet printers have become very popular particularly for providing color print output. This has much to do with the economy of their production and therefore end cost to the consumer. Much of this economy has to do with inks that are used allow a relatively inexpensive hardware configuration. However, the inks used typically have a finite drying time which is slower than other types of printers. Much effort has been expended in overcoming the problems that arise from this limitation including developing faster dry inks. One such early approach was to simply take advantage of a slower print rate which would allow sufficient drying time between pages of printout. Where faster output is demanded this is a limitation to throughput. One approach as practiced by Hewlett Packard in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,963 to Rasmussen et al., and incorporated in its entirety for its teaching, involves using collapsible support rails which hold the most recent page of printout above the output stack. It then drops that most recent page prior to another page of printout arriving for the output bin. This effectively increases the drying time and helps avoid one page sticking to another. This also helps with offset problems, where ink from the front of one page is transferred to the back of another page.
Another approach which is taken to solve ink drying time problems is to put a pause in the printing of a subsequent page until there is sufficient time for the drying of the current page. This time varies depending upon the page material. For example, transparencies need a considerably longer drying time so it is common for long pauses to be utilized in their printing. This considerably slows output and can be particularly frustrating when last minute transparencies are needed for a meeting or presentation.
Therefore, as discussed above there exists a need for a methodology which will solve the problem of page delays due to drying concerns before which subsequent pages may print. Thus, it would be desirable to solve this and other deficiencies and disadvantages with an improved methodology.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for a printer of the liquid ink type requiring a finite drying time for the ink to provide printout to its output bin. The method comprises outputting a current page to the output bin and pausing the output of a subsequent page for a fixed period of time. The printer shall output the subsequent page if the current page is removed from the output bin before the fixed period of time has passed.
Further, the present invention relates to a method for a ink jet printer to provide printout to its output bin, comprising outputting a current page to the output bin and pausing the output of a subsequent page until at least one of the following two conditions has been met. A fixed period of time has elapsed or, the current page has been removed from the output bin.
More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for an ink jet printer to provide printout to its output bin, comprising outputting a current page to the output bin and setting a pause counter. This is followed by stepping the pause counter and then determining if the current page has been removed from the output bin. The last step is outputting the subsequent page if the current page has been removed from the output bin or, if not, stepping the pause counter if the current page has not been removed from the output bin. The determination and this last step are repeated until the counter times out or the page is removed, which ever comes first.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4728963 (1988-03-01), Rasmussen et al.
patent: 5396270 (1995-03-01), Gooray et al.
patent: 5489926 (1996-02-01), Arbeiter
patent: 5921690 (1999-07-01), Shinmachi et al.
patent: 6149327 (2000-11-01), Ward et al.
patent: 02000141622A (2000-05-01), None
patent: 02000185436A (2000-07-01), None
Hilten John S.
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
Wait Christopher D.
Xerox Corporation
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