# US 10,504,315 B2 · Clamping of media items > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,504,315 B2 - Document ID: US10504315B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/959,271 - Filed: 2013-08-05 - Published: 2015-02-05 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2013-08-05 - Assignees: NCR Corporation - Applicants: Ncr Corporation - Inventors: Frank B. Dunn; Matthew Sonnenberg - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10504315B2 ## CPC - G07D 11/16: Handling of valuable papers (within containers G07D11/13) - B65H 3/047: {separating from the top of a pile} - B65H 5/006: {Feeding stacks of articles to machines} - B65H 31/3027: {by the nip between moving belts or rollers (pile being formed between belts or rollers B65H29/145)} - B65H 2301/42262: by acting on surface of outermost articles of the pile, e.g. in nip between pair of belts or rollers - B65H 2403/533: Slotted link mechanism - B65H 2404/261: Arrangement of belts, or belt(s) / roller(s) facing each other for forming a transport nip - B65H 2404/2614: Means for engaging or disengaging belts into or out of contact with opposite belts, rollers or balls - B65H 2408/13: Wall or kiosk dispenser, i.e. for positively handling or holding material until withdrawal by user - B65H 2511/224: Nip between rollers, between belts or between rollers and belts - B65H 2511/414: of mode of operation - B65H 2515/34: Pressure, e.g. fluid pressure - B65H 2701/1912: Banknotes, bills and cheques or the like - G07D: HANDLING OF COINS OR VALUABLE PAPERS, e.g. TESTING, SORTING BY DENOMINATIONS, COUNTING, DISPENSING, CHANGING OR DEPOSITING - B65H: HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES ## Abstract The present invention provides a method and apparatus for transporting items of media along a transport path. The apparatus comprises at least one clamp member to apply a clamp force to a bunch of media items located between a support surface and said clamp member, wherein said clamp member is selectively moveable towards or away from said support surface to apply a predetermined clamp force to the bunch of media items. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of transporting at least one media item along a transport path, comprising: locating a bunch of media items between at least one support surface and at least one clamp member; and selectively moving said clamp member towards in an upward direction or away from said support surface in a downward and a retracted position to apply a first predetermined clamp force to the bunch of media items during transport of the bunch to or from an infeed aperture, wherein the first predetermined clamp force is dependent on a thickness of the bunch, wherein said support surface includes an upper transport belt that transports the bunch of media items and remains in a fixed position relative to the moving of said clamp member, wherein the upper transport belt is situated above the bunch of media items and remains in the fixed position and the clamp member is situated below the bunch of media items and moves toward the upper transport belt to apply force and away from the upper transport belt to release force, wherein selectively moving further includes activating a stepper motor that moves a lower end of a first scissor member away from a lower end of a second scissor member through a sliding movement within slots integrated into the clamp member, wherein a first end of the first scissor member slides within a first slot of the clamp member and a first end of the second scissor member slides within a second slot of the clamp member, wherein a second end of the first scissor member is fixedly attached to a first end of the clamp member and a second end of the second scissor member is fixedly attached to a second end of the clamp member, wherein the first and second scissor members are part of said clamp member, and wherein the lower end of the first scissor member is biased towards the lower end of the second scissor member upwardly towards an extended position when the stepper motor is activated for moving the clamp member into the retracted position, and wherein an upper end of the first scissor member is slideably coupled to the clamp member via the slots, and the lower end of the second scissor member is slideably supported via the slots, and wherein; sensing, by an optical sensor, a displacement of a moveable element towards or away from the clamp member by a flag arm blocking the optical sensor by an amount that is dependent on the displacement of the flag arm and moving the clamp member and a lower transport belt towards or away from the upper transport belt responsive to the displacement; selectively moving said clamp member towards in the upward direction or away in the downward direction and the retracted position from said support surface to apply a second predetermined clamp force to the bunch of media items when at least one media item is to be removed from or added to the bunch by a feeder/separator module, wherein the second predetermined clamp force is dependent on changes to the thickness of the bunch; and selectively rotating a first set of rollers that support the upper transport belt in an infeed direction or a return direction while selectively rotating a second set of rollers that support the lower transport belt in the infeed direction or the return direction to transport the bunch of media items. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: determining the thickness associated with the bunch of media items; and selectively moving said clamp member towards or away from said support surface responsive to the thickness. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: removing or adding a media item from or to the bunch of media items to respectively decrease or increase said thickness of the bunch of media items and moving the clamp member to maintain a pre-determined clamp force as the thickness is decreased or increased. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: determining said thickness of the bunch of media items by the amount that reflects changes in said thickness of the bunch of media items; and selectively moving the clamp member towards or away from the support surface to apply the predetermined clamp force to the bunch of media items responsive to the displacement of the moveable element. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising: biasing said moveable element towards said clamp member. ### Claim 6 Apparatus for transporting at least one media item along a transport path, comprising: at least one clamp member to apply a first clamp force to a bunch of media items located between a support surface and said clamp member during transport of the bunch to or from an infeed aperture and to apply a second clamp force to said bunch of media items when at least one media item is to be removed from or added to the bunch; wherein said clamp member is selectively moveable towards in an upward direction or away from said support surface in a downward and a retracted position to apply a predetermined clamp force to the bunch of media items, wherein the first clamp force is dependent on a thickness for the bunch and the predetermined clamp force is dependent on changes to the thickness of the bunch, wherein said support surface includes an upper transport belt that transports the bunch of media items and remains in a fixed position relative to the moving of said clamp member, wherein the upper transport belt is situated above the bunch and remains in the fixed position and the clamp member is situated below the bunch of media items and moves toward the upper transport belt to apply force and away from the upper transport belt to release force; wherein said clamp member further includes a pair of elongated scissor members pivotally attached at respective central portions by a pivot member, the pair of elongated scissor members include a first scissor member and a second scissor member, wherein an upper end of the first scissor member is pivotally attached to the clamp member, an upper end of the second scissor member is slideably coupled via slots integrated into the clamp member, a lower end of the first scissor member is slideably supported within the slots of the clamp member, and a lower end of the second scissor member is pivotally attached to the lower transport member and a second transport member, and wherein the lower end of the first scissor member is urged towards the lower end of the second scissor member by a spring to bias said clamp member upwardly towards an extended position using the slots and sliding the lower end of the second scissor member towards the lower end of the second scissor member within a first slot of the clamp member, a stepper motor slideably moves the lower end of the first scissor member away from the lower end of the second scissor member within the slots to move said clamp member into the retracted position; an optical sensor to sense a displacement of a moveable element towards or away from the clamp member; and a flag arm to block the optical sensor by an amount that is dependent of the displacement of the flag arm; wherein the claim member and a lower transport belt are configured to move towards or away from the upper transport belt relative to the displacement determined by the optical sensor and the flag arm wherein a first set of rollers that support the upper transport belt is selectively rotated in an infeed direction or a return direction and a second set of rollers that support the lower transport belt is selectively rotated in the infeed direction or the return direction to transport the bunch of media items. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising: the moveable element moveable towards or away from said clamp member responsive to a change in the thickness associated with the bunch of media items, wherein said clamp member is selectively moved towards or away from said support surface responsive to said thickness. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The apparatus as claimed in claim 7, further comprising: at least one target element associated with the moveable element; wherein the optical sensor comprises an optical displacement sensor that determines a location of said target element responsive to said displacement of the moveable element. ### Claim 9 (depends on 6) The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising: at least one transport belt for locating the bunch of media items, wherein an outer drive surface of said transport belt further comprises said support surface. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein said moveable element is biased against the upper transport belt of said transport belt and is moveable towards or away from said clamp member responsive to a displacement of the transport belt during the change in the thickness. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein said moveable element comprises at least one transport belt roller. ### Claim 12 (depends on 6) The apparatus as claimed in claim 6, further comprising: a biasing member that constantly biases the clamp member towards the support surface; and an actuator that selectively locates a portion of the clamp member to at least partially counteract the constant biasing to selectively move the clamp member at least partially away from the support surface. ### Claim 13 (depends on 6) A media item processing module comprising the apparatus as claimed in claim 6. ### Claim 14 A method of locating at least one media item, comprising: clamping a bunch of media items between a clamp member and a support surface, wherein a clamp force applied by the clamp member during transport of said bunch based on a thickness for the bunch is greater than a clamp force applied by the clamp member based on a change in the thickness when at least one media item is to be removed from or added to the bunch, and wherein the clamp force is dependent upon a current thickness for the bunch, and wherein said support surface includes an upper transport belt that transports the bunch of media items and remains in a fixed position relative to the moving of said clamp member, wherein clamping further includes moving said clamp member in an upward direction towards the upper transport belt for applying the clamp force and moving said clamp member in a downward direction in a retracted position to release the clamp force, wherein the upper transport belt is situated above the bunch of media items and remains in the fixed position and the clamp member is situated below the bunch of media items and moves toward the upper transport belt to apply force and away from the upper transport belt to release force, wherein clamping further includes activating a stepper motor that moves a lower end of a first scissor member away from a lower end of a second scissor member, wherein the first and second scissor members are part of the clamp member, and wherein the lower end of the first scissor member is biased towards the lower end of the second scissor member upwardly towards an extended position when the stepper motor is activated for moving the clamp member into the retracted position, and wherein an upper end of the first scissor member is pivotally attached to the clamp member, an upper end of the second scissor member is slideably coupled via slots integrated into the clamp member, the lower end of the first scissor member is slideably supported within the slots of the clamp member, and the lower end of the second scissor member is pivotally attached to the lower transport member and a second transport member; determining a thickness of the bunch by sensing, using an optical sensor, a displacement of a moveable element when a flag arm blocks the optical sensor by an amount that is dependent on the displacement of the flag arm; moving the clamp member and a lower transport belt towards or away from the upper transport belt responsive to the displacement by sliding the first scissor member and the second scissor member within the slots of the clamp member; and selectively rotating a first set of rollers that support the upper transport belt in an infeed direction or a return direction while selectively rotating a second set of rollers that support the lower transport belt in the infeed direction or the return direction to transport the bunch of media items.