Device for dispensing laminar items

• US 20040112910A1
• Filed: 01/09/2003
• Published: 06/17/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Dell Products LP (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: McTague, Michael, Power, Irene C.
• Granted Patent: US 6,994,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 221/73
• CPC Class Codes: B65C 11/0289 using electrical or electro-mechanical means B65C11/0205 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 26/00 Warning or safety devices, e.g. automatic fault detectors, stop-motions, for web-advancing mechanisms safety devices in general F16P; investigating chemical or physical properties of materials in general G01N; indicating devices in general G08B
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 2701/194 Web supporting regularly spaced adhesive articles, e.g. labels, rubber articles, labels or stamps
• CPC Class Codes: B65H 5/28 Feeding articles stored in rolled or folded bands
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 2017/0062 Label
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/68 in which the articles are torn or severed from strips or sheets

Abstract

A device for dispensing labels of value comprises a lockable housing for containing a roll of transport medium having a plurality of labels releasably adhered thereto successively along its length. The housing has a slot through which the transport medium can be discharged from the housing, and pinch rollers for engaging the medium outside the housing adjacent to the slot and, upon actuation, for drawing the medium through the slot. Upon command the pinch rollers are actuated to draw only sufficient medium through the slot to expose a single label for removal from the medium. The pinch rollers engage the medium with sufficient frictional force to rupture the medium if an attempt is made to manually pull the transport medium out of the slot when the rollers are not actuated.

Claims

1. A device for dispensing laminar items, comprising:

a secure housing for containing an elongated flexible transport medium having a plurality of laminar items releasably adhered thereto successively along its length;

a slot through which the transport medium can be discharged from the housing in its direction of elongation;

a drive means for engaging the medium adjacent to the slot and, upon actuation, for driving the medium through the slot;

control means operable upon command for actuating the drive means to drive only sufficient medium through the slot to expose a predetermined number of laminar items for removal from the medium; and

means for retaining the transport medium against movement when the drive means is not actuated such that the medium will rupture if an attempt is made to manually pull the medium out of the slot.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the retaining means comprises the drive means itself.

3. A device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the drive means is actuated by a motor which is connected to the drive means by a self-locking coupling.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drive means comprise a pair of pinch rollers which bear on opposite sides of the medium respectively, the drive means being actuated by rotating at least one of the rollers.

5. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drive means engages the medium outside the housing and draws the medium through the slot.

6. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spent medium is wound on a take-up spool which maintains a tension in the medium, and wherein the medium is subject to an abrupt change of direction along its path from the slot to the take-up spool, the laminar item being sufficiently stiff in relation to the strength of its adhesion to the medium that the laminar item automatically detaches from the medium where the latter changes direction.

7. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein after each laminar item is dispensed the medium comes to rest with the next laminar item engaged by the drive means.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7, wherein each laminar item bears a machine-detectable feature and the device further includes means for scanning the medium transversely of its direction of movement to detect such feature, and wherein upon receipt of a command to dispense a laminar item the control means is operative to actuate the drive means to advance the medium until the feature is first detected by the scanner and then to continue actuation of the drive means for a period sufficient to release the laminar item from the drive means but less than that required to move the medium an amount equal to the pitch of the laminar items along the medium.

9. A device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the machine detectable feature is a machine-readable code unique to each laminar item.

10. A device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined number of laminar item(s) is one.

11. A device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the laminar items are software Certificates of Authenticity labels.

12. A system for dispensing software authorization labels for personal computers (PCs) containing pre-loaded software, each PC bearing a unique machine-readable ID, the system comprising:

a plurality of label dispensing devices each for containing a respective stock of software authorization labels relating to a different item of software;

means for reading the unique ID on each PC;

means for determining, from a stored record correlating software items with PC ID, which software items are loaded, or are to be loaded, onto each PC; and

means responsive to each said determination for automatically actuating those devices corresponding to the said determined software items to dispense a single label each.

13. A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein in each stock of labels each label has a unique machine-readable code, wherein each device has a reader for reading the code of each label dispensed by that device, and wherein the system further includes means for storing the codes read by the reader in correlation with the respective PC IDs.

14. A system as claimed in claim 13, wherein each device comprises a housing for containing said stock of labels, said stock of labels being releasably adhered successively along the length of an elongated flexible transport medium, and a drive means for driving said transport medium out of a slot in the housing to dispense said labels, and wherein said reader is adapted to scan the medium transversely of its direction of movement, the system further including control means to issue a command to each device which is to dispense a label, and upon receipt of such command the drive means is adapted to advance the medium until the machine readable code of a label is first detected by the reader and then to continue actuation of the drive means for a predetermined period sufficient to release the laminar item for removal from the transport medium.

15. A method for dispensing software authorization labels for personal computers (PCs) containing pre-loaded software, each PC bearing a unique machine-readable ID, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of label dispensing devices each containing a respective stock of software authorization labels relating to a different item of software;

reading the unique ID on each PC;

determining, from a stored record correlating software items with PC ID, which software items are loaded, or are to be loaded, onto each PC; and

responsive to each said determination, automatically actuating those devices corresponding to the said determined software items to dispense a single label each.