Composite substrate feeding mechanism
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A composite feeding mechanism for a printing system comprising:
- a plurality of feeder trays for holding sheets of substrate media for one or more print jobs, each of the plurality of feeding trays having a bottom surface and sidewalls forming a compartment in which the sheets of substrate media are held, the plurality of feeder trays being stackable in contact with each other to form a stack of feeder traysa base unit for supporting the stack of feeder trays, the base unit comprises an elevator module to change a vertical position of the stack of feeder trays; and
a feeder unit for removing the substrate media sheet by sheet from a first one of the plurality of feeder trays located at the top of the stack of feeder trays to satisfy the print job.
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Abstract
Embodiments described herein include a composite feeding mechanism configured to process one or more jobs using a stack of feeder trays. The composite feeding mechanism can include the stack of feeder trays, a base unit, and a feeder unit. The feeder trays can hold substrate media to satisfy jobs and the base unit can support the stack of feeder trays. The feeder unit can remove the substrate media from a feeder tray located at the top of the stack to satisfy a job requirement.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A composite feeding mechanism for a printing system comprising:
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a plurality of feeder trays for holding sheets of substrate media for one or more print jobs, each of the plurality of feeding trays having a bottom surface and sidewalls forming a compartment in which the sheets of substrate media are held, the plurality of feeder trays being stackable in contact with each other to form a stack of feeder trays a base unit for supporting the stack of feeder trays, the base unit comprises an elevator module to change a vertical position of the stack of feeder trays; and a feeder unit for removing the substrate media sheet by sheet from a first one of the plurality of feeder trays located at the top of the stack of feeder trays to satisfy the print job. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A printing system comprising:
a composite feeding mechanism configured to process one or more print jobs using a stack of feeder trays, at least one of the feeder trays includes an identifier for identifying information regarding at least one print job to be satisfied by the at least one of the feeder trays, the identifier being at least one of a bar code, CRUM, and RFID tag, the composite feeding mechanism configured to adjust a vertical position of the stack so that a top one of the feeder trays is selected to satisfy the at least one print job and to separate the top one of the feeder trays from the stack from a remainder of the feeder trays in the stack after the at least one print job is satisfied, the composite feeding mechanism configured to discharge the top one of the feeder trays after the top one of the feeder trays is separated from the stack. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A method of satisfying print jobs in a printing system comprising:
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adjusting a vertical position of a stack of feeder trays to facilitate removal of substrate media sheet-by-sheet from a top one of the feeder trays in the stack to satisfy one or more print jobs; associating the top one of the feeder trays with at least one of the one or more print jobs based on an identifier disposed on the top one of the feeder trays; removing the substrate media from the top one of the feeder trays sheet-by-sheet, the substrate media being used to generate printouts; and removing the top one of the feeder trays from the stack after the job is satisfied to process a subsequent print job using a next one of the feeding trays in the stack. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17)
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18. A composite feeding mechanism comprising:
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a plurality of feeder trays for holding sheets substrate media, the plurality of feeder trays being stackable on each other so that adjacent feeding trays form a stack of feeder trays in contact with each other; a base unit for supporting the stack of feeder trays; and a feeder unit for removing the substrate media sheet-by-sheet from a first one of the plurality of feeder trays located at the top of the stack of feeder trays to satisfy a print job, wherein one or more of the plurality of feeder trays includes an identifier, the identifier associated with information regarding at least one print job to be satisfied by at least one of the one or more of the plurality of feeder trays and content of the one or more of the plurality of feeder trays, and wherein the identifier comprises at least one of a bar code, a customer replaceable unit monitor (CRUM), and a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A composite feeding mechanism comprising:
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a plurality of feeder trays for holding sheets of substrate media, the plurality of feeder trays being stackable on each other so that adjacent feeding trays form a stack of feeder trays in contact with each other, each of the feeder trays including a bottom surface and sidewalls forming a compartment in which the substrate is held; a base unit for supporting the stack of of feeder trays; and a feeder unit for removing the substrate media sheet-by-sheet from a first one of the plurality of feeder trays located at the top of the stack of feeder trays to satisfy a job, wherein a first one of the plurality of feeder trays in the stack of feeder trays rests on a second one of the plurality of feeder trays in the stack of feeder trays so that the first one of the plurality of feeder trays contacts the second one of the plurality of feeding trays to be at least partially supported by the second one of the plurality of feeder trays. - View Dependent Claims (22)
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23. A method for satisfying jobs in a printing system comprising:
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adjusting a vertical position of a stack of feeder trays to facilitate removal of sheets of substrate media from a top one of the feeder trays in the stack to satisfy a print job, each of the feeder trays having a bottom surface and side walls to form a compartment in which the sheets of substrate media are placed; removing the substrate media sheet-by-sheet from the top one of the feeder trays, the sheets of substrate media being used to generate printouts; and removing the top one of the feeder trays from the stack after the print job is satisfied to process a subsequent print job using a next one of the feeding trays, wherein removing the top one of the feeder trays comprises separating the top one of the feeder trays from the stack using a tray separator and placing the top one of the feeder trays on a used tray holder.
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Specification