CARD PRODUCTION SYSTEM INSERTER WITH INSERT PRINTER

• US 20150085047A1
• Filed: 09/25/2014
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Entrust Corp.
• Original Assignee: Datacard Corp. (Entrust Corp.)
• Inventors: Wagener, Thomas J., Beech, Brian
• Granted Patent: US 9,415,580 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 347/104
• CPC Class Codes: B41F 17/00 Printing apparatus or machines of special types or for particular purposes, not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 13/12 specially adapted for small cards, envelopes, or the like , e.g. credit cards, cut visiting cards
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/01 Ink jet
• CPC Class Codes: B42D 5/027 Sheets or cards attached to a carrier strip or web shipping forms B42D15/006
• CPC Class Codes: B43M 3/04 automatic

Abstract

Systems, mechanisms, and methods are described that relate to the production of a custom printed insert(s) that can be custom printed prior to insertion of the custom printed insert(s) into an envelope along with a personalized card/carrier combination for mailing to the intended holder of the personalized card. The inserts are custom printed using an insert printer that is located in the inserter mechanism that is used to insert the insert(s) and the card/carrier combination into an envelope for mailing to an end user of the card. The inserter mechanism can have an “off-line” configuration, i.e. configured as a stand-alone mechanism, or configured for “in-line” use, i.e. used together with other mechanisms.

Claims

1. A card production system, comprising:

a card personalization system that is configured to personalize plastic cards and output personalized plastic cards;

a card fixing mechanism connected to the card personalization system and receiving the personalized plastic cards therefrom, the card fixing mechanism is configured to attach one or more personalized cards received thereby to an associated carrier form to produce a card/carrier combination;

a form folding mechanism connected to the card fixing mechanism and receiving the card/carrier combination therefrom, the form folding mechanism is configured to fold the card/carrier combination and output the folded card/carrier combination; and

an inserter mechanism connected to the form folding mechanism and receiving the folded card/carrier combination therefrom, the inserter mechanism includes at least one hopper that is configured to contain a plurality of inserts to be printed on and an insert printing mechanism associated with the hopper and receiving an insert from the hopper to print on the received insert to produce a custom printed insert, and the inserter mechanism is configured to match the custom printed insert with the folded card/carrier combination.

2. The card production system of claim 1, wherein the insert printing mechanism includes two printheads and a flipping mechanism configured to flip an insert.

3. The card production system of claim 2, wherein the flipping mechanism is located between the two printheads along a direction of travel of the insert in the insert printing mechanism.

4. The card production system of claim 1, wherein the insert printing mechanism can print from about 1500 to about 4000 custom printed inserts per hour.

5. The card production system of claim 1, wherein the insert printing mechanism includes two printheads and a roller configured to guide an insert from one of the printheads to the other printhead, wherein the roller is located between the two printheads along a direction of travel of the insert in the insert printing mechanism.

6. The card production system of claim 1, the custom printed insert is printed with variable data, the plastic card of the card/carrier combination includes variable data, and the variable data that is printed on the custom printed insert corresponds to at least a portion of the variable data on the plastic card.

7. The card production system of claim 1, wherein the card personalization system can personalize at least 1000 cards per hour.

8. The card production system of claim 2, wherein the printheads are inkjet printheads.

9. The card production system of claim 8, wherein each inkjet printhead is oriented such that it faces downward toward a travel path of the insert located beneath the respective inkjet printhead.

10. The card production system of claim 1, further comprising a carrier forms printer connected to the card fixing mechanism and that is configured to print on carrier forms and output printed carrier forms to the card fixing mechanism to produce the card/carrier combination.

11. An inserter mechanism configured for use with a card production system having a card personalization system and a card fixing mechanism that together output a card/carrier combination, comprising:

an insert hopper that is configured to contain a plurality of inserts to be printed on;

an insert printing mechanism operatively connected to the insert hopper and configured to receive an insert from the hopper to print on the insert and produce a custom printed insert;

the inserter mechanism is configured to match the custom printed insert with a card/carrier combination received by the inserter mechanism;

an envelope hopper configured to contain a plurality of envelopes; and

an inserting mechanism configured to insert the matched card/carrier combination and the custom printed insert into one of the envelopes.

12. The inserter mechanism of claim 11, wherein the inserter mechanism further includes an insertion track along which the card/carrier combination received by the inserter mechanism travels in the inserter mechanism;

and the insert hopper and the insert printing mechanism are disposed along the insertion track; and

the insert printing mechanism includes an output that is in communication with the insertion track so that custom printed inserts can be output therefrom to the insertion track.

13. The inserter mechanism of claim 11, wherein the insert printing mechanism includes two printheads and a flipping mechanism configured to flip an insert.

14. The inserter mechanism of claim 13, wherein the flipping mechanism is located between the two printheads along a direction of travel of the insert in the insert printing mechanism.

15. The inserter mechanism of claim 11, wherein the inserter mechanism includes a plurality of the insert hoppers each of which is configured to contain a plurality of inserts to be printed on, and each insert hopper is associated with a respective one of the insert printing mechanisms.

16. The inserter mechanism of claim 15, wherein each insert hopper contains different inserts.

17. The inserter mechanism of claim 11, the custom printed insert is printed with variable data, and the variable data that is printed on the custom printed insert corresponds to data on a plastic card of the card/carrier combination.

18. The inserter mechanism of claim 17, wherein the variable data comprises a name of the intended holder of the plastic card.

19. The inserter mechanism of claim 13, wherein the printheads are inkjet printheads.

20. The inserter mechanism of claim 19, wherein each inkjet printhead is oriented such that it faces downward toward a travel path of the insert located beneath the respective inkjet printhead.

21. The inserter mechanism of claim 11, wherein the insert printing mechanism includes two printheads and a roller configured to guide an insert from one of the printheads to the other printhead, wherein the roller is located between the two printheads along a direction of travel of the insert in the insert printing mechanism.