Sheet-material associating – Associating or disassociating – Sheet associating
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-25
2001-05-08
Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3651)
Sheet-material associating
Associating or disassociating
Sheet associating
C270S001010, C399S382000, C399S404000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227531
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to document delivery devices, and more particularly, to job separation and identification capabilities on printers and document delivery devices having job offset delivery features and/or distinct media input features for distributing print jobs at an output location.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A number of document handling devices are known in the art for sorting and stacking documents, paper and/or printable media. One document handling device comprises a printer, such as a laser or an inkjet printer. Another document handling device comprises a copy machine. Yet another document handling device comprises a facsimile machine. Even another document handling device comprises a document scanning device. With each of these devices, stacks of documents are processed by the device to generate output jobs such as print jobs or facsimile output jobs. To aid in identifying individual output jobs, a number of techniques have been employed when delivering individual jobs to an output tray of a document handling device.
Several techniques have been employed to identify individual jobs when they are deposited in an output tray of a document handling device. For example, it has long been known to generate special header sheets at the beginning of each new print job of a printer or a copy machine. In the past, a header sheet has been formed from a piece of paper sized identically to the pages of the output job. The header sheet typically has hash marks extending around the outer border so as to visually identify the sheet as a header sheet, and contains additional identifying information such as a user identification or a job identification number. However, it is oftentimes difficult to identify a header sheet from within a stack of print jobs as they are formed from identically sized pieces of paper.
Another technique for identifying jobs within an output tray of a document handling device entails stacking together the sheets of paper forming a job in offset positions, such that each job is offset from neighboring jobs. For example, it is known to sort sheets of paper on a tray such that individual jobs are offset by either repositioning the output or discharge rollers during paper delivery/output so as to deliver successive print jobs that are offset from adjacent print jobs. Optionally, it is known to laterally reposition an output tray between neighboring print jobs such that adjacent print jobs will be offset from one another. Exemplary details of such offset stacking arrangements are shown below in greater detail with reference to FIG.
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. One problem associated with the offset stacking of print jobs is encountered by users who are unfamiliar with such offset stacking. It is relatively easy and common for a user to retrieve a plurality of adjacent, offset print jobs from an output tray, then collect the jobs together by edgewise inverting the stack of jobs in a vertical configuration, and dropping the stack of loosely held jobs onto the edge of a tabletop so as to align all the jobs into a single, neat pile. The above typically occurs because a user is simply unaware that the stack of offset print job has been generated in this manner so as to separate individual jobs to facilitate retrieval of individual jobs from an output stack. Such frequent occurrence has led many copier manufacturers and printer manufacturers to eliminate offset delivery features from their devices. To many users, it is relatively unclear that such offset delivery is intended to separate print jobs. In the case of many users, the user merely feels that they are re-stacking a poorly stacked collection of print jobs. Therefore, there is a need to provide an improved way for identifying job separation and for implementing a job separation process.
Another technique that allows a limited amount of identification between jobs delivered to an output tray on a document handling device is provided by devices that have more than one input source for delivering paper to the device. For example, most printers have at least two standard input sources, such as a multipurpose tray and a standard-sized tray. One tray can be configured to provide 8½×11 inch paper, and another tray can be configured to provide A4 paper or legal-sized paper. Accordingly, a printer is able to print on different paper sizes such as letter-sized, legal-sized, ledger-sized, A4-sized, etc. It is also very common to provide at least two output trays for receiving jobs, or media, which have been processed by the printer. For example, print jobs comprising printed media can be delivered either to a face-up tray that is provided at the rearmost end of many printers, or to a face-down tray that is most often located at the top of a printer. A limited capability for distinguishing individual print jobs can be provided by printing adjacent print jobs on different sized paper. However, it is unlikely that adjacent print jobs will require different sized paper. Additionally, it is inconvenient and undesirable to print successive print jobs on different sized paper when most users require the use of a standard sized, or commonly sized, paper when printing a job.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
From the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a user's experience with a document handling device may be enhanced by providing a mechanism that enables quick and clear identification of individual print jobs within an output tray of a document handling device. Accordingly, a method is provided for distributing output jobs from a document handling device such that a user can quickly and easily identify individual output jobs when retrieving the jobs from an output tray.
According to one aspect of the invention, a method is provided for identifying individual output jobs from an output stack, each output job including a stack of one or more individual sheets, comprising: providing a sheet handling device having a sheet delivery device and an output tray, the sheet delivery device operative to move individual sheets from the sheet handling device to the output tray; delivering an output job with the sheet delivery device to the output tray; and delivering a job separation page with the sheet delivery device to the output tray, the job separation page stacked adjacent the output job such that an offset portion of the job separation page extends outwardly of an adjacent edge of the output job; wherein the job separation page is operative to identify one end of the adjacent output job.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of separating print jobs comprises: providing a printer having an output tray configured to receive a stack of completed print jobs; delivering a first print job to the output tray; delivering a print job separation page atop the first print job such that at least one edge of the first print job is visibly offset from the first print job; and delivering a second print job atop the print job separation page such that the one edge of the print job separation page remains visibly offset from the first print job and the second print job so as to visibly separate the first and second print jobs.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method of separating output jobs comprises: providing a document handling device having an output tray configured to receive a stack of output jobs, a first input tray containing a stack of first-sized paper, and a second input tray containing a stack of second-sized paper, the second-sized paper having a planar dimension sized larger than a corresponding dimension of the first-sized paper as stacked in the output tray; generating a print job with the first-sized paper; delivering the generated print job to the output tray; generating a job separation page with the second-sized paper; and stacking the generated job separation page atop the delivered print job such that the large planar dimension of the job separation page indicates one end of the print job.
One advantage of the invention is quick and easy job identification by a user, such as i
Cruz Israel
Guerrero Marco A.
Obregon Roberto
Hewlett--Packard Company
Skaggs H. Grant
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