Manufacturing tray with customized inlays for processing different types of articles of manufacture

• US 9,156,293 B2
• Filed: 06/18/2012
• Issued: 10/13/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cimpress Schweiz GmbH (Cimpress Plc)
• Original Assignee: Cimpress Schweiz GmbH (Cimpress Plc)
• Inventors: Gerber, Marcel, Bosgiraud, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Lee D
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCDONALD, SHANTESE L
• Application Number:
  US13/526,500
• Publication Number:
  US 20130334757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• Field of Search: 269/289.R, 269/292, 269/293, 269/309
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 13/10 Sheet holders, retainers , movable guides, or stationary guides
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 13/14 Aprons or guides for the printing section
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/407 for marking on special material
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 25/10 Devices to locate articles in containers for protecting articles from mechanical damage B65D81/02

Abstract

A manufacturing tray for imprinting custom content onto different articles of manufacture includes a tray base and frame, and a plurality of interchangeable different customized inlays for holding different types of articles of manufacture. Each tray includes an identifier which may be associated with a custom processing job for instructing the imprinting system which of a plurality of available pre-treatment, post-treatment, and imprinting processes to perform.

Claims

1. A manufacturing tray system for processing in a manufacturing system of different types of articles of manufacture, comprising:

a tray base configured to interface with a conveyance system for transport through the manufacturing system;

inlays;

an interchangeable tray inlay supported by said tray base, and arranged to hold an article of manufacture;

a tray identifier associated with processing information corresponding to the tray and to the article of manufacture, the processing information being indicative of a process to be performed by the manufacturing system.

2. The tray system of claim 1, wherein the tray inlay is configured to hold a plurality of articles of manufacture, and the tray identifier is associated with the plurality of articles of manufacture.

3. The tray system of claim 1, wherein the tray inlay is configured to hold at least two different types of articles of manufacture.

4. The tray system of claim 1, comprising one or more position identifiers associated with respective positions of each article of manufacture loadable in the tray inlay.

5. The tray system of claim 1, wherein each position identifier is further associated with corresponding individual print content associated with a respective individual article of manufacture.

6. The tray system of claim 1, wherein the tray inlay is configured to hold each article of manufacture such that a target print area on the article of manufacture is held at a predetermined height relative to the tray base.

7. The tray system of claim 1, wherein the tray identifier comprises a Radio-Frequency Identifier (RFID) tag.

8. The tray system of claim 1, wherein the identifier comprises a barcode.

9. The tray system of claim 1, wherein the tray identifier is uniquely identifiable from one or more additional trays interfacable with the transport system.