Apparatus for driving a document through an encoder station
First Claim
1. A system for driving a document through an encoder apparatus having means for generating signals indicative of the characters to be encoded at predetermined character positions on said document and having an encoder station therein for prining said characters at said predetermined character positions, said document drive system comprising:
- first drive means for transporting said document at a first relatively high predetermined document transport speed into and out of said encoder apparatus;
second drive means within said encoder apparatus for receiving said document from said first drive means and driving said document past said encoder station and toward said first drive means which again receives and exits said document from said encoder apparatus; and
means for controlling the operation of said second drive means for increasing the throughput of said encoder apparatus, said control means including;
means at the input of said encoder apparatus for receiving said document from said first drive means and for registering said document at a predetermined position as it enters said encoder apparatus;
means coupled to said second drive means for transporting said document from said predetermined position at the entrance of said encoder apparatus toward said encoder station and for driving at least that portion of said document having said predetermined character positions in which characters are to be encoded past said encoder station at a relatively constant, relatively slow predetermined encoding speed until the last character to be encoded on said document is printed thereon;
means for rapidly accelerating said document from said predetermined encoding speed toward said first relatively high predetermined document transport speed of said first drive means for exiting said document from said encoder apparatus when the last character to be encoded on said document has been printed thereon; and
means responsive to the exit of said document from said encoder apparatus for restoring said second drive means to await the arrival of the next successive document at the input of said encoder apparatus for transporting said next successive document toward said encoder station.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A document encoding system transmits an incoming document at a high transport speed. When the document is received at an encoding station it is first stopped and registered and then retransmitted for encoding at a relatively low speed, the exact value being dependent on whether MICR or OCR encoding is used. After characters are encoded on the document the trailing edge is detected and the document is caused to accelerate to the high transport speed where it is transmitted for further processing.
In a second alternative embodiment, information relating to character field positions is used to transmit the document at the relatively low speed when encoding and at a heightened speed when otherwise in the encoding station but not encoding.
In a third alternative embodiment, the document is received by the encoding station on the fly at the high transport speed. It is advanced at that speed until decelerated to the relatively low speed at the first encoding position. When an end-of-encode signal is given the document is accelerated to the high transport speed and exits the station.
57 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for driving a document through an encoder apparatus having means for generating signals indicative of the characters to be encoded at predetermined character positions on said document and having an encoder station therein for prining said characters at said predetermined character positions, said document drive system comprising:
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first drive means for transporting said document at a first relatively high predetermined document transport speed into and out of said encoder apparatus; second drive means within said encoder apparatus for receiving said document from said first drive means and driving said document past said encoder station and toward said first drive means which again receives and exits said document from said encoder apparatus; and means for controlling the operation of said second drive means for increasing the throughput of said encoder apparatus, said control means including; means at the input of said encoder apparatus for receiving said document from said first drive means and for registering said document at a predetermined position as it enters said encoder apparatus; means coupled to said second drive means for transporting said document from said predetermined position at the entrance of said encoder apparatus toward said encoder station and for driving at least that portion of said document having said predetermined character positions in which characters are to be encoded past said encoder station at a relatively constant, relatively slow predetermined encoding speed until the last character to be encoded on said document is printed thereon; means for rapidly accelerating said document from said predetermined encoding speed toward said first relatively high predetermined document transport speed of said first drive means for exiting said document from said encoder apparatus when the last character to be encoded on said document has been printed thereon; and means responsive to the exit of said document from said encoder apparatus for restoring said second drive means to await the arrival of the next successive document at the input of said encoder apparatus for transporting said next successive document toward said encoder station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A document encoding system comprising:
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means for encoding characters on a document; drive means for driving said document into and out of said encoding means; means for transporting said document at a relatively high document transport speed into and out of said drive means; means for monitoring the location of particular encoding positions on said document with respect to said encoding means; means responsive to said monitoring means and to information as to the characters to be encoded in the various encoding positions on said document for enabling said encoding means to print a desired character in its proper encoding position on said document; and control means for controlling said drive means to drive said document by said encoding means at a relatively slow encoding speed while said characters are being encoded on said document and for driving said document by said encoding means at a mediate speed, greater than said relatively low speed, prior to the start of encoding and after the encoding operation is completed thereby increasing the throughput of said document encoder system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification