Printer with high productivity media scanning

A printer, comprising:

• a plurality of sensors positioned within a print path before a printhead location, said sensors generating a signal indicative of a highest point of incoming media relative to a reference surface of a media transportation system;
• a control system in communication with said sensors that, in response to receiving said sensor signals, determines if the height of the incoming media is such that the media can be printed properly;
• said control system generating a signal that adjusts the printer printhead height relative to the height of the incoming media to maintain print quality;
• said control system, in response to receiving said sensor signals, determining that the height of the incoming media is such that the media cannot be printed properly;
• and
• said control system generating a signal that routes the media to a reject facility after the media passes through the printer without being printed.

A method for operating a printer, comprising:

• providing a plurality of sensors positioned within a print path before a printhead location;
• said sensors generating a signal indicative of a highest point of incoming media relative to a reference surface;
• providing a control system in communication with said sensors that, in response to receiving said sensor signals, determines when the height of the incoming media poses a collision risk with one or more portions of the printer at or near the printhead location or a damage risk to the printer;
• said control system generating a signal that stops operation of the printer when the height of said incoming media poses the collision risk with the one or more portions of the printer or the damage risk to the printer;
• and
• when the height of the incoming media does not allow acceptable printing of the media, said control system generating a signal that rejects the media after the media is passed through the printer without being printed and without stopping or slowing down printer operation.

A method for operating a printer, comprising:

• positioning a plurality of sensors within a print path before a printhead location;
• said sensors generating a signal indicative of the highest point of incoming media relative to a reference surface of a media transportation system;
• in response to receiving said sensor signals, a control system in communication with said sensors determining when the height of the incoming media is such that the media can be printed properly;
• said control system generating a signal that adjusts the printer printhead height relative to the height of the incoming media to maintain print quality;
• in response to receiving said sensor signals, the control system determining that the height of the incoming media is such that the media cannot be printed properly;
• and
• the control system generating a signal that routes the media to a reject facility after the media passes through the printer without being printed.