Method and apparatus for high capacity stacking and stitching in an image production device

An image production device, comprising:

• a first paper path;
• a second paper path;
• a first stacking tray that receives image production documents from the first paper path;
• a second stacking tray that receives image production documents from the second paper path;
• and
• a high capacity stacking and stitching controller that determines if an image production document is to be stitched, wherein if the high capacity stacking and stitching controller determines that the image production document is to be stitched, the high capacity stacking and stitching controller sends the image production document along the first paper path to the first stacking tray to be stitched and stacked, and if the high capacity stacking and stitching controller determines that the image production document is not to be stitched, the high capacity stacking and stitching controller determines if the image production document requires a higher quality registration stacking than the stacking provided at the first stacking tray, wherein if the high capacity stacking and stitching controller determines that the image production document requires a higher quality registration stacking than the stacking provided at the first stacking tray, the high capacity stacking and stitching controller sends the image production document along the second paper path to the second stacking tray to be stacked in a high quality registration manner, and if the high capacity stacking and stitching controller determines that the image production document does not to require a higher quality registration stacking than the stacking provided at the first stacking tray, the high capacity stacking and stitching controller sends the image production document along one of the first paper path to the first stacking tray to be stacked and the second paper path to the second stacking tray to be stacked.

A high capacity stacking and stitching module for an image production device, comprising:

• a first paper path;
• a second paper path;
• a first stacking device that receives image production documents from the first paper path;
• a second stacking device located adjacent to the first stacking device that receives image production documents from the second paper path;
• a first stacking tray that receives image production documents from the first stacking device;
• and
• a second stacking tray that receives image production documents from the second stacking device, wherein the first stacking device stacks image production documents onto the first stacking tray that are both stitched and unstitched and the second stacking device stacks image production documents onto the second stacking tray that are only unstitched,
• wherein if it is determined that an image production document requires a higher quality registration stacking than the stacking provided at the first stacking tray, the image production document is sent along the second paper path to the second stacking tray to be stacked in a high quality registration manner, and if the image production document is determined not to require a higher quality registration stacking than the stacking provided at the first stacking tray, the image production document is sent along one of the first paper path to the first stacking tray to be stacked and the second paper path to the second stacking tray to be stacked.