System for creating and producing custom card products

• US 5,615,123 A
• Filed: 04/02/1991
• Issued: 03/25/1997
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/1991
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: American Greetings Corporation
• Original Assignee: Creatacard, Inc. (American Greetings Corporation)
• Inventors: Russell, Matt, Allred, Scott, Davidson, Leonard, Russell, Michael S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trammell, James P.
• Application Number:
  US07/679,263
• Time in Patent Office: 2,184 Days
• Field of Search: 364/468, 364/479, 364/478, 364/401, 364/479.03, 395/2, 395/2.1, 395/102, 395/103, 395/150, 395/151, 84/1.19, 84/1.01, 84/616, 84/600-606, 381/2, 355/321, 271/184, 271/114, 283/34, 347/102, 493/458, 281/5, 281/2, 281/23
• US Class Current: 700/233
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/26 for printing, stamping, franking, typing or teleprinting apparatus ticket printing or the like apparatus G07F17/42

Abstract

A method of and apparatus for creating and producing printed card products such as greeting cards for various applications, whereby a customer can select a card product for a desired application and customize or personalize certain portions of the selected card product. A terminal area or kiosk is provided at which the customer selects from a monitor screen display one of a number of different general applications for which he/she wants to obtain a card product. Upon entry of the selection via, e.g., a transparent touch-sensitive plate on the monitor screen, one or more pre-stored groups of card product design formats pertaining to the selected general application are determined, and further inquiries are made via the monitor screen to elicit certain information relating to a specific use or application for the desired card product. Once this information is entered, certain ones of the determined card product design formats are identified as pertinent and are displayed to the customer who is then permitted to choose a card product format that he/she would like to customize. Further inquiries via the monitor screen elicit appropriate text to be reproduced at designated locations in the format of the chosen card product. The customized card product is then created by, e.g., a multi-color ink plotter that is fed with specially prepared sheets of card stock.

Claims

1. A method of playing back a relatively large-sized sound data file accessible by a data handling apparatus whereby downloading and reproducing of the file can be terminated at one of a number of successive intervals during the downloading and reproducing operations in response to an interrupt command, the method comprising the steps of:

storing an entire sound data file in sound storage means in a manner such that selected portions of the sound data file can be accessed by said apparatus from the sound storage means;

allocating a first memory area in the apparatus at a time when the sound data file is called for during operation of the apparatus;

reading out a first block of the sound data file from the sound storage means into the first memory area of the apparatus;

detecting if a sound interrupt command has been generated in the apparatus through reading out of the first block of the sound data file from the sound storage means into the first memory area of the apparatus, and terminating operations with respect to said sound data file if said sound interrupt command is detected;

reading out additional blocks of the sound data file in succession from the sound storage means into the first memory area of the apparatus as long as no sound interrupt command is detected prior to reading out of each successive block of the sound data file and until blocks representing the entire sound data file are read out of the sound storage means into the first memory area of the apparatus;

terminating operations with respect to said sound data file if said sound interrupt command is detected prior to reading out of a next successive block of the sound data file from the sound storage means;

allocating expanded memory means associated with the apparatus to have a capacity adequate to store the entire sound data file;

moving blocks of the sound data file from said first memory area into said expanded memory means until the entire sound data file is moved into said expanded memory means in the absence of said sound interrupt command;

allocating a second memory area of the apparatus and moving blocks of the sound data file from the expanded memory means into said second memory area;

reproducing from said second memory area the blocks of the sound data file as moved from said expanded memory means into said second memory area while detecting, after reproduction of each block of the sound data file in said second memory area, if a sound interrupt command has been generated in the apparatus; and

terminating reproducing operations with respect to said sound data file if said sound interrupt command is detected prior to reproducing a next successive block of the sound data file from the second memory area of the apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1, including generating said sound interrupt command by touching a touch-sensitive input device of the apparatus.

3. The method of claim 1, including reading out in said first block of the sound data file from the sound storage means, record length data corresponding to the record length of the entire sound file.

4. The method of claim 3, including calculating a total number of blocks of the sound data file to be read out from the sound storage means to obtain the entire sound data file, in accordance with the record length data.

5. The method of claim 4, including determining an end of the entire sound data file when said total number of blocks are read out from said first memory area, and thereafter moving the blocks of the sound data file from the expanded memory means into the second memory area for reproducing.

6. A method of preparing and folding a flat sheet of stock material to form a generally rectangular book-like card having an outside front page surface, an outside rear page surface, and two opposed inside page surfaces, whereby edges of the page surfaces are aligned with one another when the stock is folded to form the card, the method comprising the steps of:

determining desired finished dimensions for the book-like card including a vertical height and a width;

substantially doubling the desired finished vertical height and width dimensions of the card thereby arriving at initial height and width dimensions for a flat sheet of stock material;

defining a horizontal center line extending medially of a top edge and a bottom edge of said flat sheet;

defining a vertical center line extending medially of a left edge and a right edge of said flat sheet;

pre-scoring the flat sheet of stock material along a horizontal parallel offset line spaced a first predetermined distance above said horizontal center line in the vertical direction;

pre-scoring the flat sheet of stock material along a vertical parallel offset line spaced a second predetermined distance from said vertical center line in the horizontal direction toward the left edge of said flat sheet;

defining an outside front page surface of the book-like card by a lower right-hand quadrant formed by an intersection between the horizontal offset line and the vertical offset line;

defining an outside rear page surface of the card by a lower left-hand quadrant formed by said intersection;

cutting a tapered edge on said flat sheet between a point on the top edge of the sheet located a third predetermined distance from the right edge of the sheet and a point on the right edge coincident with the horizontal offset line;

folding said flat sheet along the pre-scored horizontal offset line so that the upper portion of the sheet is folded behind said outside front and said outside rear page surfaces;

folding the sheet along the pre-scored vertical offset line so that the folded upper portion of the sheet defines the two opposed inside page surfaces of the book-like card; and

setting said first, said second, and said third predetermined distances so that the edges of all page surfaces substantially coincide with one another when said book-like card is closed.

7. A system for enabling sheet feeding of a printer or plotter device having a sheet feeding mechanism by which a sheet of a recording medium is fed from a sheet supply onto a printing bed of the device to be printed in response to actuation of a sheet load button, the device having an initial start-up period during which the sheet feeding mechanism is inoperative, said system comprising:

plunger means adapted to be fixed on a part of the printer or plotter device in the region of said sheet load button;

said plunger plunger means being adapted to exert an actuating force on said sheet load button when the plunger means is energized; and

delay means coupled between said plunger means and source means for supplying power to the printer or plotter device, for energizing the plunger means and causing the sheet load button of said device to be actuated after a first time delay corresponding to at least the initial start-up period of said device once the source means supplies power to the device;

wherein the sheet load button is actuated a sufficient time after initial turn-on of said device so that a sheet of recording medium will be fed from said sheet supply by the sheet feeding mechanism onto the printing bed of said device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said delay means includes timer circuit means for producing a first timing pulse corresponding to said first time delay when said power source means supplies power to the device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said timer circuit means includes means for producing a second timing pulse at the end of said first timing pulse for energizing said plunger means.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said second timing pulse is of a duration just sufficient to cause the sheet load button of the device to be actuated.