FR2775932A1 - DOCUMENT HANDLING DEVICE - Google Patents

Abstract

A document handling device has an input station for receiving printed sheet material and envelopes from a printer. It can direct letters and envelopes from the printer along suitable feed paths (14, 16) including means for assembling, folding, inserting and / or opening the envelope. An insertion station and a sealing station can also be provided. A machine controller can extract control commands from print data to operate the machine. This may include extracting address information from the print data relating to a letter, so that the letter and the envelope can be printed, and a delivery-ready document can be produced.

Description

The present invention relates to a device for handling

  documents for handling material in printed sheets, and corresponding printed envelopes, assembling and / or interposing and / or folding the O20 material in sheets, opening the envelopes, inserting the material in sheets and sticking the envelopes. The document handling device can be part of a mail processing machine or a facsimile machine and

of enveloping.

  Mail processing machines are known which include means for assembling a printed sheet material, means for interposing one or more inserts with the assembled sheet material, means for folding the sheet material, means for opening an envelope and means for inserting the folded sheet material into the envelope and gluing the envelope. Such machines can, for example, receive the sheet material printed on a poster from a laser printer, and the corresponding printed envelopes from a separate printer, for example an inkjet printer. The machine has separate feed paths for the sheets and envelopes, and the means for handling the sheets and opening the envelopes are located on the respective feed paths.10 Fax machines are often used to send information confidential. In offices, these machines are often located in open areas where many employees can read incoming faxes. In hotels and similar places, faxes are sent to customers by machines

  located in an office or reception area of the hotel.

  In these cases, it is impossible to guarantee that a

  incoming faxes remain confidential or private.

  The present invention aims to provide a machine for

  more compact and efficient mail processing.

  The present invention further seeks to provide a facsimile machine which maintains privacy and

  confidential of incoming faxes.

  The present invention also seeks to provide a facsimile and enveloping machine which is compact and efficient. According to the present invention, there is provided a document handling device comprising an input station for receiving the printed sheet material and envelopes from a printer, a first conveyor means for transporting the envelopes from the input station. along the envelope feed path, and second conveyor means for transporting the sheet material from the input station along a sheet material feed path, wherein means for opening an envelope is located along the envelope feed path, and means for joining the sheet material and / or means for folding the sheet material and / or means for interposing additional material with the sheet material is / are located along the sheet material feed path, and in which a guide means is provided for guiding the envelopes from the entry station to the first conveyor means, e t to guide the material in sheets of

  the entry station to the second conveyor.

  The device preferably includes an insertion station of a known type located downstream of the first and second feed paths to receive articles from the respective feed paths, insert the sheet material into the corresponding envelopes and glue the envelopes. The device may further include a printer or be installed to receive envelopes and sheet material from a separate printer. Thus with the device of the present invention, only one printer is required and this can be supplied or replaced

  separately from the document handling device.

  This device can include one or more additional entry stations, with associated transport means. The device may include, for example, an envelope entry station for envelopes that are not to be printed (eg window envelopes), and means for transporting these envelopes by means of envelope opening. This device can also include one or more input stations for a material to be inserted, and a conveyor means for transporting the material to be inserted to the material supply path in

  sheets for intercalation with the sheet material.

  The device also preferably includes a controller for receiving data comprising control commands, for example from a computer or a network of computers, and using the control commands to operate the device. The controller is preferably installed to extract the control commands

  print data for the printer.

  In another aspect, the present invention provides a mail processing machine comprising a document handling device and a printer, the document handling device being installed to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer along respective feed paths for sheet material and envelopes, wherein means for opening an envelope is located along the feed path for envelopes, and means (s) for joining sheet material and / or to fold a sheet material and / or to interpose an additional material with the sheet material, is / are located along the sheet material feed path. In yet another aspect, the present invention provides a facsimile and facsimile machine comprising a document handling device and a printer, the document handling device being installed to accept sheet material and% of envelopes d 'a printer along the respective feed paths of sheet material and envelopes, in which a means for opening an envelope is situated along the envelope feed path, and means (s) for assembling sheet material and / or for folding sheet material and / or for interposing additional material with sheet material, is / are located along the way

  supply of sheet material.

  The fax machine internally prints incoming faxes using the printer. The printed sheet material is then introduced into the document handling device for insertion into an envelope. The document handling device preferably includes an input station, and guide means for selectively guiding material from the input station either along the material supply path

  sheets either along the envelope feed path.

  The present invention also provides a method of operating the mail processing machine or the facsimile and enveloping machine, comprising inserting control commands into the print data intended for the printer, and extracting the commands. to the printer to control the

machine.

  Printing data for a letter usually includes address information. According to the present invention, the data concerning the position of the address can also be included in the printing data. The controller can thus be installed to extract the address information, using the position data, in order to print an associated envelope.

to the letter to be printed.

  Thus, according to another aspect of the present invention, a method is provided for extracting address information from print data relating to a document, comprising compiling a list of coordinates relating to blocks of text, and determining from coordinates and size of each block, what is the text

reports to the address.

  The printing data preferably includes data concerning the position of the address, in order to make it easier to determine what the text is.

which relates to the address.

  Alternatively, for a facsimile and enveloping machine, the address information to be printed on an envelope is copied from the printed sheet material. Thus, a user can insert recipient and non-confidential information only into a portion of a letter to be faxed, and the receiving fax machine can be installed to copy that portion of the incoming letter, on an appropriate scale. on an envelope in which the letter is inserted and sealed. Therefore, the information contained in the fax message that arrives, remains private and confidential. The portion of the incoming letter that is copied to the envelope can be

  the top third of the first page of the letter.

  Thus, the printer of the facsimile and facsimile machine can be adapted to copy address information from printed sheet material.

on an envelope.

  We will now describe the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic sectional view of a machine according to an embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic plan view of part of the envelope feed path in the machine of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a schematic sectional view along lines III-III of Figure 2; Figures 4a to 4d show a series of views of the envelope opening means of the machine of Figure i; Figure 5 is a block table of the control arrangement for the machine according to the present invention; and Figure 6 is an example of a list of control data that can be entered by the user

  of a machine according to the present invention.

  The machine comprises a printer 8 and a document handling device having an input station 2 and an output station 4, contained in an external housing 6. The input station 2 is installed to be aligned with a first output 10 of a printer 8. The printer 8 can also have a second output station 12

  for manual removal of printed articles.

  Device includes feeding path

  envelopes 14 and a document feed path 16.

  First and second conveyor means for transporting the articles along the respective feed paths 14, 16, are provided by pairs of rollers

(e.g. 18, 19).

  A guide means at the entry station 2, comprises a removable deflecting member 50. The deflecting member 50 is removable between a first lowered position (illustrated in broken lines), in which articles from the printer abut against the upper side of the member 50 and are guided above it along the envelope feed path 14, and a second elevated position in which the articles pass below the lower side of the member 50 along the path

  supply of sheet material 16.

  The envelope feed path 14 includes envelope rotation rollers 17 for rotating the envelopes from a position with the flap along a side edge, orientation in which the address is generally printed, at a position with the flap along the rear edge. As shown in Figure 2, an envelope 60 is loaded from the printer 8 along the envelope feed path 14 by a pair of rollers 61 past a detector 62. The detector 62 detects front and back edges of the envelope to determine its length. Using this information, the envelope is either advanced or retracted until its center rests under the center of the envelope rotation rollers 17. One of the pair of rollers 61, is then retracted to release the envelope, and the rotary rollers 17 are then rotated in opposite directions. Referring to Figure 3, the rotation rollers 17 are rotated by stepping motors driving lower wheels 17a until the casing is rotated 90. Another pair of detectors 64 is provided to indicate when the new front edge 66 of the casing 60 is perpendicular to the

feeding path 14.

  The rollers 17 and 61 then operate to retransport the envelope along the feed path and behind the deflector 50, to the transport rollers

envelopes 19.

  Alternatively, if an unprinted envelope, such as a window envelope, is required, other pairs of transport rollers 11, 13 may operate to send one of a stack of unprinted envelopes 15 to the

  envelope feed path 14.

  Further downstream along the envelope feed path 14, envelope opening means are provided comprising an oscillating member 20. The member

  oscillating 20 is mounted between two pairs of rollers 23, 24.

  As illustrated in Figures 4a to 4d, the oscillating member 20 is removable around a pivot 68, and is off-center by a spring 70 clockwise (Figure 4a). An envelope 74 penetrating between the first rollers 23 touches

  a first curved upper edge 72 of the member 20.

  Subsequent movement of the casing 74 moves the member 20 counterclockwise against the shift of the spring (Figure 4b) to a lowered position. Thus, when the flap of the envelope 76 approaches the oscillating member (Figure 4c), it touches a second curved edge 78 thereof. The second rollers 24 continue to transport the envelope through the machine, causing the flap to advance upward along the second edge 78 of the member 20, so that it is separated from the body of the envelope which is thus removed with the flap

extended (Figure 4d).

  The sheet material feed path 16 includes an assembly station 26 of a type known for

  assemble documents from the entry station 2.

  The assembly station 26 may include a retractable stop member 27 which is extended during assembly to stop the assembled stack in the required position. The stop member 27 is retractable to allow a battery

  assembly to be removed or to allow material to be added to it by hand (as indicated by the arrow).

  A folding station comprising a pair of push members 34 which are removable from a position above the position of an assembled stack of sheets (as 2O illustrated) to a position inside the entrance of a

  nipping between a pair of first folding rollers 36.

  When extended, the push members 34 push the material

  in sheets in the pinch to create a first fold.

  An intercalation means comprises an insert entry station and inset transport rollers 31, 32. The material 33 which is to be inserted can be transported by the rollers 31, 32 in a passage between the push rods 34, and can thus enter the nip between the first folding rollers 36 in the fold of the material

  in sheets when the pushing limbs are extended.

  11 A second pair of folding rollers 38 carries the folded document from the first pair 36 of folding rollers, and a folding pocket 40 is provided alongside. A removable member 42 is provided at the mouth of the pocket 40 so that the folded sheets can be transported

  in pocket 40 if a second fold is required. In that case-

  there, when the sheet material abuts against the end of the pocket 40 this causes it to be transported in the nip of a third pair of folding rollers 44 and thus folded in the nip. Alternatively, the removable member

  42 can be positioned so as to guide the sheets

  beyond the pocket to the third pair of rollers

  fold 44, if a second fold is not required.

  The folded document is then transported to an insertion means and to a bonding means. The insertion means includes a pair of flap retaining rollers for clamping the rear flap of the envelope. A series of fingers

  83 are mounted adjacent to the retaining rollers 81 and

  above the document feed path 16. The fingers 83 are pivotable between an raised position and a lowered position corresponding to the region of the opening of a

  envelope held between the retaining rollers 81.

  During use, the fingers 83 are lowered to engage the free edge of the body of the envelope held between the retaining rollers 81, and raised to pull this edge upwards to adapt the opening to the reception of documents . The envelope is then positioned in such a way that the opening of the envelope pocket intersects with the document feed path. The document is then transported by an insertion roller 49

in the envelope pocket.

  The filled envelope passes to the ejector rollers 80 and above a wetting tank 82 having a wetting actuator 86 in the form of a sponge. The actuator is reciprocally removable and alternately for wiping an envelope flap and entering the top of the tank 82

to moisten the sponge.

  The filled envelope can finally be transported

  by rollers 88 to a sealing station 90.

  The envelope is transported by the input rollers 92, 93 to abut against the end 94 of the sealer 90, which folds it at the level of the break between the body and the flap, the fold being transported around the roller 93 to an exit roller 95 from which the sealed envelope is ejected at the

exit station 4.

  In use, the device can be controlled by control data inserted into the print data which is sent to the printer from a PC (personal computer) or from a PC network. Referring to Figure 5, as is well known in the art, a PC 100 has a print driver 102 which produces print data in order to operate the printer according to the instructions introduced by the user. According to the present invention, a controller 104 receives

  print data and extracts control data.

  The control data is then sent to device 106, and the remaining print data is sent to

  printer 108 in the usual way.

  Figure 6 shows an example of a PC screen for entering print and control data for the machine. A first and a second set of options for the printed letter source 'or the' pre-printed page 'allows the user to select the location of the paper tray from which either paper is to be taken by the printer

  to print the required letter, which is a pre-

  printed matter must be picked up by the device to be transported to the sheet material feed path 16. I0 The data of the 'insert' function includes whether the sheets are to be inserted in a printed envelope or a window envelope, this which controls whether the machine takes an envelope 60 from the printer 8, or takes

  an envelope from the stack of unprinted envelopes 15.

  Alternatively, the machine can be set to 'fold only', so that no envelopes are loaded in the machine, or to 'print only', so that in addition

  the folding means is not actuated.

  Other control options include adding an insert, that is, operating the insertion station to add material to be inserted 33; gluing the envelope, that is to say operating the sealing station 90; or to stop the sheets in the assembly station 26, for example so that they can be signed or so that other sheets can be added

manually to the assembled stack.

  To print the envelope when a printed envelope is required, the address can be retrieved from the print data for the printed letter. For this purpose, the user can define the position of the address $ e to be printed on the printed letter. That is, the user can enter the position of the address as being at the top, bottom, left or right of the page. An address filtering program then extracts address information from the print data and generates an output file containing only the address text.

  and its associated layout information.

  This is done by making two passes through the print data which can, for example, be in the form of a PCL file. On the first pass, the program compiles a database of 'text blocks' and selects one as the address block to be output to the printer. This is done by searching for data, characters, character scale and cursor positions included, to assess whether each character to print fits into or will enlarge an existing block of text, or if is the first character of a new block. The block database therefore includes the X, Y coordinates defining a rectangular area on the page on which each text block is to be printed, and a list of characters in the block. The database is then scanned to find a block of the correct size to represent an address, and which is in the correct position, as specified by the command

  user input described above.

  The address data file is generated during the second pass. This includes removing most of the data from the letters file, with the exception of the following. The cursor positioning commands are kept, but changed in order to correctly position the address on the envelope, and the character definitions for the characters used in the address block are kept, as well as the characters found in the address block. This PCL file is then used to print the envelope associated with the letter. Print data may also contain

  additional information to be printed on the envelope.

  These can include, for example, the name or acronym

  of a company, or an advertising or promotional message.

  In addition a postmark can be printed on the envelope, perhaps in the form of a barcode which can represent the postal code of the recipient, the license number of the sender and the postal value. This information can be included in the print file. The software to generate such data is

well known in the art.

  Thus a complete piece of mail can be generated by the machine of the present invention, directly from the print file for a letter sent to the

machine by a PC user.

  Although the present description relates to a machine

  for mail processing, it is applicable to a facsimile and enveloping machine which includes a document handling device and a printer. It may be necessary to make minor modifications to the embodiment described above for a facsimile and enveloping machine: these modifications will be easily apparent to a person skilled in the art and depend, in part, on the

  characteristics that are desired.

Claims (15)

  1. Document handling device comprising an input station (2) for receiving printed sheet material and envelopes from a printer (8), a first conveyor means (19) for transporting envelopes from the station inlet along an envelope feed path (14) and second conveyor means for conveying sheet material from the input station along a sheet feed path (16) , wherein means (20) for opening an envelope is located along the envelope feed path, and means (26) for joining the sheet material and / or means (34) for folding the sheet material sheets and / or means (31, 32) for interposing additional material with the sheet material is / are located along the sheet material feed path, and wherein a guide means (50) is supplied to guide envelopes from the entry station to the first tran means to guide a sheet material from the entry station to the second carrier mode.   2. Device as claimed in claim 1, comprising an insertion station located downstream of the first and second feed paths and comprising means for receiving articles from the respective feed paths, means (81, 83 ) to insert the sheet material into the corresponding envelopes, and a means for sticking envelopes.   3. Device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, the device being installed to receive at the entry station (2), envelopes and sheet material from the station. output (10) from a printer (8).   4. Device as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, including one or more other entry stations, with associated transport means installed for transporting documents originating from the other / other entry station (s) , to the paths (14, 16) for feeding envelopes or sheet material.   5. Mail processing machine comprising a document handling device and a printer (8), the document handling device being installed to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer (8), along respective paths (16, 14) for feeding sheet material and envelopes, in which a means (20) for opening an envelope is located along the path (14) for feeding envelopes, and means for assembling (26) a sheet material and / or for folding (34) a sheet material and / or for interposing (31, 32) another material with the sheet material is / are located along the path ( 16) supply of sheet material. 6. A facsimile and enveloping machine comprising a document handling device and a printer (8), the document handling device being installed to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer along the respective paths (16, 14) for feeding sheet material and envelopes, in which a means (20) for opening an envelope is located along the path (14) for feeding envelopes, and means for assembling (26) a sheet material and / or for folding (34) a sheet material and / or for interposing (31, 32) another material with the sheet material is / are located along the path ( 16)   supply of sheet material.   7. A mail processing machine comprising a document handling device according to claim 1 and a printer (8), the document handling device being installed to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer. 8. A facsimile and enveloping machine comprising a document handling device according to claim 1 and a printer (8), the document handling device being installed to accept sheet material and printer envelopes.   9. Machine as claimed in one   any of claims 5 to 8, wherein the   document handling device comprises an input station (2), and guide means (50) for selectively guiding material from the input station either along the sheet material supply path (16) or along the feed path (14) envelopes.   10. Machine as claimed in one   any of claims 5 to 9, comprising a   controller (104) for receiving data including control commands from a computer or network of computers, and using the commands   control to operate the device (106).   11. Method of operating a machine as claimed in any one of   claims 5 to 10, the method comprising the steps   insertion of control commands into the print data intended for the printer, and extraction of control commands intended for the printer in order to control the machine.   The method as claimed in claim 11, wherein data relating to the position of an address on a letter is included in the print data for printing the letter, and the controller is installed for extracting information from address, using location data, to print an envelope associated with the letter to print.   13. Method for extracting address information from printing data relating to the document to be posted, comprising compiling a list of coordinates relating to the blocks of text to be printed, and determining, from the coordinates and the size of each text block, what are the text blocks that   relate to address information.   14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the print data includes data relating to the position of the address, and wherein this data is used to determine which of the blocks of text refers to the address.   15. A machine as claimed in claim 6 or claim 8, wherein the printer is adapted to copy address information onto an envelope from a material in printed sheets.