Electrophotography – Machine operation – Job mode
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-14
2002-03-26
Chen, Sophia S. (Department: 2852)
Electrophotography
Machine operation
Job mode
C271S301000, C399S002000, C399S381000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06363231
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a printer or copier device system for performance-adapted production of a predetermined sheet sequence of monochromatically and/or chromatically printed single sheets, and is also directed to a printing method for producing a monochrome and chromatic sheet sequence.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is the problem in electrophotographic color printers having high print quality as known, for example, from European Patent Document EP-A1-0 629 931 that the same time is always required for producing a printed sheet both in monochrome printing mode as well as in chromatic printing mode. This means that what is referred to as the performance, i.e. the speed efficiency of the printer, is based on the full-color printing. When such a printer is utilized in mixed mode, then it is too slow for the usually occurring monochrome printing.
In electrophotographic high-performance printing with 70 pages per minute or more, the print jobs to be processed contain a majority of monochrome printouts. Only a small part of the print job is chromatic. For example, it can thus occur that a multitude of black-and-white successive sheets are printed within a print job and that one full-color image must be printed out then, for example when producing a brochure. When the usual color printing devices are utilized when producing such a brochure, these are relatively slow since, as already stated, the printing performance is based on the color printing performance. Such color printer devices are also complicated and cost-intensive and inefficiently utilized for mixed mode.
Color printer devices with which single-color or two-color printing can be carried out at high speed are disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,107. In the known color printing means, continuous form paper is supplied to a transfer printing location of a photoconductor cylinder that respectively comprises electrophotographic units on two surfaces for producing multi-colored toner images. The continuous form paper is printed on the front side with a first color at the transfer printing location; the continuous form paper is subsequently redirected and supplied to a printing location at the same photoconductor cylinder that lies opposite the transfer printing location and the backside is printed thereat.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,596,416 discloses a printer device wherein a plurality of identical color printer means are arranged. Each of the color printer means is suited for monochromatic and color printing, whereby a parallel processing of images to be printed is possible.
What all of the known color printer devices have in common is that their performance is based on the color printing and, therefore, that the printer devices are uneconomically utilized for the mixed mode.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the invention is to offer a multi-color printer or copier device system having high printing performance that is especially suited for the mixed mode and whose performance is based on the maximum printing performance in the monochromatic mode.
This and other objects are achieved by the inventive method of producing a predetermined sheet sequence of single sheets printed monochromatically and/or multi-colored in a printer or copier system, including
a) printing a first sequence of recording media at a first speed on one side or both sides monochromatically or in two colors in a monochromatic or highlight printer unit with appertaining paper transport channel that can be individually driven and is fashioned as an independent structural unit;
b) printing a second sequence of recording media on one side or both sides in full color in a color printer unit with appertaining paper transport channel that is individually drivable and fashioned as an independent structural unit, being printed with a second, lower speed compared to the first speed;
c) the first and/or the second sequence of recording media being accepted by a paper path coupling module connectible to the paper transport channels of the monochromatic or highlight printer unit and of the color printer unit;
d) producing the sheet sequence of the recording media from the first and from the second sequence of recording media and supplying the sheets to a shared sheet collector and/or post-processor in a predetermined sequence; and
e) separating incoming print data into monochromatic and color print job data with a synchronous control and communicating the respective print job data to the corresponding printer units. The objects are the invention are provided as well as by the printer or copier system for producing a predetermined sheet sequence of single sheets printed monochromatically and/or in full color, the system including:
a) an individually drivable monochromatic or highlight color printer unit with an appertaining paper transport channel fashioned as an independent structural unit for single-sided or both-sided printing of a first recording medium as a monochrome or as highlight color print with a first speed;
b) an individually drivable color printer unit with an appertaining paper transport channel fashioned as an independent structural unit for single-sided or both-sided, full-color printing of a second recording medium with a second, lower speed compared to the first speed;
c) a paper path coupling module connectible to the paper transport channels of the monochromatic or highlight color printer unit and to the color printer unit that accepts the printed first and/or second recording media and supplies them to a shared sheet collecting means and/or post-processing means for the sheet sequence; and
d) a synchronous control means connected to the monochromatic or highlight color printer unit and to the color printer unit, with which incoming print data can be separated into monochromatic and color print job data and the respective print job data can be communicated to the corresponding printer units. Advantageous embodiments of the invention are provided by the method above, whereby the sequence of the recording media in the sheet sequence is predetermined by a print data stream that contains monochromatic data and/or highlight data on the one hand and, on the other hand, color data, whereby the monochrome data or the highlight color data are supplied to the monochromatic or highlight printer unit and the color data are supplied to the color printer unit, and the sheet sequence is produced by an electronic controller according to the print data stream. The printer units and the paper path coupling module are driven time-organized by a synchronous control means, taking the printing speeds of the printer units and the sequence of the sheet sequence into consideration, such that the production of the sheet sequence ensues speed-optimized given largely parallel operation of the printer units. The recording media are printed in advance in the color printer unit, are then stored in a buffer store and are supplied time-exactly into the sequence of the recording media of the monochromatic or highlight color printer unit.
In the printer or copier system above, the monochromatic or highlight color printer unit may be a single sheet printer unit, and whereby the sequence of recording media from the color printer unit can be supplied into the output region of the monochromatic or highlight printer unit. The sheet sequence from the output region can be optionally supplied to a device output or to an internal stacking means of the device. The synchronous control controls the printer units and/or the paper path coupling module taking the printing speeds of the printer units and the sheet sequence into consideration, such that the production of the sheet sequence ensues speed-optimized given far-reaching utilization of a parallel operation of the printer units. In a preferred embodiment, the synchronous control is connected to the paper path coupling module and/or to a print data source. The sequence of the recording media from the color printer unit can be supplied into the input region of
Berchtold Andreas
Hahn Hans
Krempel Bernd
Lehmann Manfred
Loedermann Gerhard
Chen Sophia S.
Oce Printing Systems GmbH
Schiff & Hardin & Waite
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