Document alignment system
AssigneeDe La Rue International Limited
InventorsSteven Michael Hosking, Martin Christopher Knapp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A document alignment system comprises a feed system (6), defining an elongate path, for feeding documents along the path. The feed system is adjustable to vary the orientation of the elongate path in a lateral plain so as to cause a document to undergo a corresponding lateral shift as it is moved along the path. A detector (25,26) detects the lateral position of a document upstream of the elongate path. A control system (70,17,17′) is responsive to the detector (25,26) to adjust the feed system (6) so that the document undergoes a desired amount of lateral movement as it is moved along the elongate path.
Claims17
A document alignment system comprising a feed system, defining an elongate path, for feeding documents along the path, the feed system being adjustable to vary the angular orientation of the elongation path in a lateral plane so as to cause a document to undergo a corresponding lateral shift as the document is moved along the path;
- a detector for detecting the lateral position of a document upstream of the elongate path;
- and a control system responsive to the detector to adjust the feed system to vary the orientation of the elongate path so that the document undergoes a desired amount of lateral movement as the document is moved along the elongate path.
A method of aligning documents comprising supplying documents to a document alignment system including a feed system, defining an elongate path, for feeding documents along the path, the feed system being angularly adjustable to vary the orientation of the elongate path in a lateral plane so as to cause a document to undergo a corresponding lateral shift as the document is moved along the path, a detector for detecting the lateral position of a document upstream of the elongate path, and a control system responsive to the detector to adjust the feed system so that the document undergoes a desired amount of lateral movement as the document is moved along the elongate path;
- detecting the lateral position of each document;
- and adjusting the feed system to vary the orientation of the elongation path so as to cause the document to undergo a desired amount of lateral movement as the document moves along the elongate path.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.