Tandem finishing
AssigneeXerox Corporation
InventorsJeffrey Gramowski, Richard J. Milillo, Nicholas W. Czebiniak
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods are described that facilitate permitting a high-speed marking system or printer to run at maximum speed without being impeded by a relatively slow, low-speed finisher. A plurality of low-speed finishers are coupled to the high-speed marking system in a tandem, and optionally parallel-tandem, arrangement, where the number of finishers is equal to or greater than the ration of the maximum operating speed of the marking system to individual finisher maximum operating speed. In this manner, a low-cost solution is provided to overcome bottleneck problems associated with low-speed finishers.
Claims16
A method of employing low-speed finishers to finish pages output from a high-speed marking system, comprising:
- receiving print job information describing one or more print jobs to be executed;
- planning and scheduling the one or more print jobs;
- determining a number of low-speed finishers to be employed to finish printed pages output by the marking system;
- interleaving pages as they are output from the high-speed marking system to at least two low-speed finishers arranged in a tandem configuration;
- and
- routing odd pages to a first finisher and even pages to a second finisher when all pages of a job are the same;
- wherein the print job information comprises job composition information and user preference information;
- wherein the job composition information comprises a number of jobs to be printed, a number of sets of pages in each job, and a number of pages in each set and wherein the user preference information comprises information related to page ordering, set ordering and job ordering.
A tandem finishing system, comprising:
- a high-speed marking system that executes one or more print jobs comprising one or more pages or sets of pages;
- and
- at least two low-speed finishers arranged in a tandem configuration to receive interleaved pages as they are output from the marking system;
- wherein the high-speed marking system routes odd pages to a first finisher and even pages to a second finisher when all pages of a job are the same;
- further including print job information comprising:
- job composition information and user preference information;
- wherein the job composition information comprises a number of jobs to be printed, a number of sets of pages in each job, and a number of pages in each set and wherein the user preference information comprises information related to page ordering, set ordering and job ordering.
An apparatus for employing low-speed finishers to finish pages output from a high-speed marking system, comprising:
- means for receiving print job information describing one or more print jobs to be executed;
- means for planning and scheduling the one or more print jobs;
- means for determining a number of low-speed finishers to be employed to finish printed pages output by the marking system;
- means for interleaving pages as they are output from the high-speed marking system to at least two low-speed finishers arranged in a tandem configuration;
- and
- means for routing odd pages to a first finisher and even pages to a second finisher when all pages of a job are the same.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.