GB2335421A

GB2335421A - Printed sheet and envelope handling

Info

Publication number: GB2335421A
Application number: GB9905827A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David Mark Dronsfield; Edward Philip Duffy
Original assignee: Printed Forms Equipment Ltd
Current assignee: Printed Forms Equipment Ltd
Priority date: 1998-03-16
Filing date: 1999-03-12
Publication date: 1999-09-22
Also published as: GB9805584D0; FR2775932A1; DE19911006A1; GB9905827D0

Abstract

The device has an input station (2) for receiving printed sheet material and envelopes from a printer to direct them along appropriate feed paths (14,16) including collating, folding, nesting and envelope opening means. An inserter and sealer may also be provided. A controller for the machine may extract control commands from the print data this may include extracting address information from print data for a letter, such that the letter and envelope may be printed therefrom in order to operate the machine.

Description

2335421 DOCUMM HANDLING DEVICE This invention relates to a document

handling device for handling printed sheet material, and corresponding printed envelopes, collating and/or nesting and/or folding the sheet material, opening the envelopes, inserting the sheet material and sealing the envelopes. The document handling device may form part of a mailing machine or an enveloping fascimile machine.

Mailing machines are known which comprise means for collating printed sheet material, means for nesting one or more inserts with the collated 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 sealing the envelope. Such machines may for example receive the printed sheet material to be mailed 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 the envelopes, and the means for handling the sheets and opening the envelopes are located along the respective feed paths.

Facsimile machines are often used to send confidential information. In offices, these machines are often located in open areas where many workers can read the incoming facsimiles. In hotels and the like, facsimiles are sent to guests via machines located in a hotel's office or reception area. In these cases, it is not possible to ensure that an incoming facsimile is kept confidential or private.

The present invention aims to provide a more compact and efficient mailing machine.

The present invention further seeks to provide a facsimile machine which keeps incoming facsimiles private and confidential.

The present invention also seeks to provide an enveloping facsimile machine which is compact and efficient.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a document handling device comprising an input station for receiving printed sheet material and envelopes from a printer, first conveyor means for conveying envelopes from the input station along an envelope feed path, and second conveyor means for conveying 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 collating sheet material and/or means for folding sheet material and/or means for nesting further material with sheet material is/are located along the sheet material feed path, and wherein guide means is provided for guiding envelopes from the input station to the first conveyor means, and for guiding sheet material from the input station to the second conveyor means.

The device preferably includes an inserter station of a known type located downstream of the first and second feed paths for receiving items from the respective feed paths, inserting the sheet material into the corresponding envelopes, and sealing the envelopes.

The device may further include a printer or may be arranged to receive envelopes and sheet material from a separate printer. Thus with the device of this invention only a single printer is needed and this may be supplied or replaced separately from the document handling device.

The device may include one or more further input stations, with associated conveyor means. For example, the device may include an envelope input station for envelopes which are not to be printed (for example, window envelopes), and means for conveying these envelopes to the envelope opening means. The device may also include one or more input stations for insert material, and conveyor means for conveying the insert material to the sheet material feed path for nesting with the sheet material.

The device also preferably includes a controller for receiving data comprising control commands, for example from a computer or a computer network, and using the control commands to operate the device. The controller is preferably arranged to extract the control commands from the print data destined for the printer.

In another aspect, the present invention provides a mailing machine comprising a document handling device and a printer, the document handling device being arranged to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer along respective sheet material and envelope feed paths, wherein means for opening an envelope is located along the envelope feed path, and means for collating sheet material and/or for folding sheet material and/or nesting further material with the sheet material is/are located along the sheet material feed path.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides an enveloping facsimile machine comprising a document handling device and a printer, the document handling device being arranged to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer along respective sheet material and envelope feed paths, wherein means for opening an envelope is located along the envelope feed path, and means for collating sheet material and/or for folding sheet material and/or nesting further material with the sheet material is/are located along the sheet material feed path.

The facsimile machine prints incoming facsimiles internally using the printer. The printed sheet material is then inputted to the document handling device for insertion into an envelope.

Preferably, the document handling device comprises an input station, and guide means for selectively guiding material from the input station either along the sheet material feed path or along the envelope feed path.

The invention also provides a method of operating the mailing machine or the enveloping facsimile machine comprising inserting control commands into the print data destined for the printer, and extracting the control commands at the printer in order to control the machine.

The print data relating to a letter usually includes address information. According to this invention data concerning the position of the address may also be included in the print data. The controller may thus be arranged to extract the address information, using the position data, for printing an envelope associated with the letter to be printed.

Thus according to a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method 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 the coordinates and the size of each block which text relates to the address.

Preferably the print data includes data concerning the position of the address, to facilitate the determination of which text relates to the address.

Alternatively, for an enveloping facsimile machine, address information for printing on an envelope is copied from the printed sheet material. Thus, a user may insert addressee and non-confidential information only in a portion of a letter to be sent by facsimile, and the receiving facsimile machine may be arranged to copy this portion of the incoming letter, at an appropriate scale, onto an envelope in which the letter is inserted and sealed. Hence, the information contained in the incoming facsimile message is kept private and confidential. The portion of the incoming letter which is copied onto the envelope may be the top third of the first page of the letter.

Thus, the printer of the enveloping facsimile machine may be adapted to copy address information from printed sheet material onto an envelope.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a machine in accordance with one embodiment of the 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 cross-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 1; Figure 5 is a schematic flow diagram of the control arrangement for the machine according to the invention; and Figure 6 is an example of a list of control data which may be entered by a user of a machine according to the invention.

The machine comprises a printer 8 and a document handling device having an input station 2 and an output station 4, contained within an outer housing 6. The input station 2 is arranged to be aligned with a first output 10 of a printer 8. The printer 8 may also have a second output station 12 for manual removal of printed matter.

The device includes an envelope feed path 14 and a document feed path 16. First and second conveyor means for conveying the items along the respective feed paths 14, 16 are provided by pairs of rollers (e.g. 18, 19).

Guide means at the input station 2 comprises a movable diverter member 50. The diverter member 50 is movable between a first lowered position (shown in broken lines), in which items from the printer abut the upper side of the member 50 and are guided above it along the envelope feed path 14, and a second raised position in which items pass below the lower side of the member 50 along the sheet material feed path 16.

The envelope feed path 14 includes envelope rotation rollers 17 for rotating envelopes from a position with the flap along one side edge, in which orientation the address is usually printed, to a position with the flap along the trailing edge. As shown in Figure 2, an envelope 60 is fed from the printer 8 along the envelope feed path 14 by a pair of rollers 61 past a sensor 62. The sensor 62 detects the leading and trailing edges of the envelope in order to ascertain its length. Using this information, the envelope is either advanced or retracted until its centre lies below the centre of the envelope rotation rollers 17. One of the pair of rollers 61 is then retracted to release the envelope, and the rotate rollers 17 are then turned in opposite directions. With reference to figure 3, rotation rollers 17 are turned by stepper motors driving lower wheels 17a until the envelope is turned through 900. A further pair of sensors 64 is provided to indicate when the new leading edge 66 of the envelope 60 is perpendicular to the feed path 14.

The rollers 17 and 61 are then operated to convey the envelope back along the feed path and behind the diverter 50 to the envelope conveyor rollers 19.

Alternatively, should an unprinted envelope, such as a window envelope, be required, further pairs of conveyor rollers 11, 13 may be operated 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 a rocking member 20. The member 20 is mounted between two pairs of rollers 23, 24. As shown in Figures 4a to 4d the rocking member 20 is movable about a pivot 68, and is biased by a spring 70 in a clockwise direction (Figure 4a). An envelope 74 entering between the first rollers 23 contacts a first upper curved edge 72 of the member 20.

Further movement of the envelope 74 causes the member 20 to move in an anticlockwise direction against the spring bias (Figure 4b) to a lowered position. Thus when the envelope flap 76 approaches the rocking member (Figure 4c), it contacts a second curved edge 78 thereof. The second rollers 24 continue to convey the envelope through the machine, causing the flap to travel up the second edge 78 of the member 20, such that it is separated from the body of the envelope which is thus withdrawn with the flap extended (Figure 4d).

The sheet material feed path 16 includes a collating station 26 of a known type for collating documents from the input station 2. The collating station 26 may include a retractable stop member 27 which is extended during collating to halt the collated stack in the required position. The stop member 27 is retractable to allow a collated stack to be removed or to allow material to be added thereto by hand (as shown by the arrow).

A folding station comprises a pair of pusher members 34 which are movable between a position above the position of a collated stack of sheets (as shown) to a position within the entrance to a nip between a pair of first fold rollers 36. When extended, the pusher members 34 push the sheet material into the nip to create a first fold.

Nesting means comprises an insert input station and insert conveyor rollers 31, 32. Material 33 to be inserted may be conveyed by the rollers 31, 32 into a passage between the pusher members 34, and may thus enter the nip between the first fold rollers 36 in the fold of the sheet material when the pusher members are extended.

A second pair of folding rollers 38 conveys the folded document from the first pair 36 of folding rollers, and is provided adjacent a folding pocket 40. A movable member 42 is provided at the mouth of the pocket 40 such that the folded sheets may be conveyed into the pocket 40 if a second fold is required. In this case, when the sheet material abuts the end of the pocket 40 it is caused to be conveyed into the nip of a third pair of fold rollers 44 and thus folded at the nip. Alternatively the movable member 42 may be positioned so as to guide the sheets past the pocket towards the third pair of fold rollers 44 if no second fold is required.

The folded document is then conveyed to an inserting means and sealing means. The inserting means comprises a pair of flap holding rollers 81 for gripping the trailing flap of the envelope. A series of fingers 83 are mounted adjacent the holding rollers 81 and above the document feed path 16. The fingers 83 are pivotable between a raised position, and a lowered position corresponding to the region of the opening of an envelope held between the holding rollers 81.

In use, the fingers 83 are lowered to engage the free edge of the body of the envelope held between the holding rollers 81, and raised to pull that edge upwardly to adapt the opening for receiving documents. The envelope is then positioned such that the opening of the envelope pocket intersects the document feed path. The document is then conveyed by an inserting roller 49 into the envelope pocket.

The filled envelope passes to eject rollers 80, and over a wetter tank 82 having a wetter actuator 86 in the form of a sponge. The actuator is reciprocally movable alternately to wipe an envelope flap and to enter the top of the tank 82 to moisten the sponge.

The filled envelope may finally be conveyed by rollers 88 to a closer station 90. The envelope is conveyed by input rollers 92, 93 to abut the end 94 of the closer 90, and is thus caused to fold at the crease between the body and the flap, the fold being conveyed around the roller 93 to an output roller 95 from which the sealed envelope is ejected to the output station 4.

In use the device may be controlled by control data inserted into the print data which is sent to the printer from a PC (personal computer) or from a network of PCS. 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 in accordance with instructions entered by the user.

In accordance with this invention, a controller 104 receives the print data and extracts the control data. The control data is then sent to the device 106, and the remaining print data is sent to the printer 108 in the usual manner.

Figure 6 shows an example of a PC screen for inputting the print and control data for the machine. First and second sets of options for the "Printed Letter Source" or "Pre-printed page" allow 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, or from which a pre-printed letter is to be taken by the device to be conveyed to the sheet material feed path 16.

Data for the "Inserter" function include whether the sheets should be inserted into a printed envelope or a window envelope, 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 may be set to "fold only", such that no envelope is fed to the machine, or to "print only", such that in addition the folding means is not operated.

Further control options are to add an insert, i.e. to operate the inserter station to add insert material 33; to seal the envelope, i.e. to operate the closer station 90; or to halt the sheets in the collate station 26, for example so that they can be signed or so that other sheets may be added by hand to the collated stack.

In order to print the envelope where a printed envelope is required, the address may be extracted from the print data for the printed letter. For this purpose, the user may define the position on the printed letter of the address to be printed. That is, the user may input the address position as being at the top, bottom, left or right of the page. An address filter program then extracts address information from the print data and generates an output file containing only the address text and its associated formatting information.

This is done by making two passes through the print data which may 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 for output to the printer. This is done by tracking the data, including characters, character scaling and cursor positions, to evaluate whether each character to be printed fits into or will expand an existing block of text, or whether it is the first character of a new block. The block database thus comprises the X, Y coordinates defining a rectangular area on the page where each block of text is to be printed, and a list of characters in the block. The database is then scanned for a block of the correct size to represent an address, and which is in the correct position, as specified by the user input command described above.

on the second pass, the address data file is generated. This involves removing most of the data from the letter file, except the following. Cursor positioning commands are retained, but altered to position the address correctly on the envelope, and character definitions for characters used in the address block are retained, together with characters falling within the address block. This PCL file is then used to print the envelope associated with the letter.

The print data may also contain additional information to be printed on the envelope. For example, this may include a company name or logo, or an advertising or promotional message. In addition, a postal indicia may be printed onto the envelope, perhaps in the form of a bar code which might represent the post code of the addressee, the licence number of the sender, and the postal value. This information can be included in the print file. Software for generating such data is well known in the art.

Thus a completed piece of mail may 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 this description is of a mailing machine, it is applicable to an enveloping facsimile machine which comprises a document handling device and a printer. minor modifications of the embodiment described above may be required for an enveloping facsimile machine: these modifications will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art and depend, in part, on the features which are desired.

Claims

1. A document handling device comprising an input station for receiving printed sheet material and envelopes from a printer, first conveyor means for conveying envelopes from the input station along an envelope feed path, and second conveyor means for conveying 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 collating sheet material and/or means for folding sheet material and/or means for nesting further material with sheet material is/are located along the sheet material feed path, and wherein guide means is provided for guiding envelopes from the input station to the first conveyor means, and for guiding sheet material from the input station to the second conveyor means.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1, comprising an inserter station located downstream of the first and second feed paths and comprising means for receiving items from the respective feed paths, means for inserting the sheet material into the corresponding envelopes, and means for sealing the envelopes.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 or 2, the device being arranged to receive at the input station envelopes and sheet material from the output station of a printer.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, including one or more further input stations, with associated conveyor means arranged to convey documents from the further input station(s) to the envelope or sheet material feed paths.

5. A mailing machine comprising a document handling device and a printer, the document handling device being arranged to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer along respective sheet material and envelope feed paths, wherein means for opening an envelope is located along the envelope feed path, and means for collating sheet material and/or for folding sheet material and/or nesting further material with the sheet material is/are located along the sheet material feed path.

6. An enveloping facsimile machine comprising a document handling device and a printer, the document handling device being arranged to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer along respective sheet material and envelope feed paths, wherein means for opening an envelope is located along the envelope feed path, and means for collating sheet material and/or for folding sheet material and/or nesting further material with the sheet material is/are located along the sheet material feed path.

7. A mailing machine comprising a document handling device according to claim 1 and a printer, the document handling device being arranged to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer.

8. An enveloping facsimile machine comprising a document handling device according to claim 1 and a 1 printer, the document handling device being arranged to accept sheet material and envelopes from the printer.

9. A machine as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 8, in which the document handling device comprises an input station, and guide means for selectively guiding material from the input station either along the sheet material feed path or along the envelope feed path.

10. A machine as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 9, comprising a controller for receiving data comprising control commands from a computer or a computer network, and using the control commands to operate the device.

11. A method of operating a machine as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 10, the method comprising inserting control commands into the print data destined for the printer, and extracting the control commands at the printer in order to control the machine.

12. A method as claimed in claim 11, in which data concerning the position of an address in a letter is included in the print data for printing the letter, and the controller is arranged to extract the address information, using the position data, for printing an envelope associated with the letter to be printed.

13. A method of extracting address information from print data relating to a document to be mailed, comprising compiling a list of coordinates relating to blocks of text to be printed, and determining, from the coordinates and the size of each block of text, which of the blocks of text relates to the address information.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, in which the print data includes data concerning the position of the address, and in which this data is used in the determination of which of the blocks of text relates to the address.

15. A machine as claimed in claim 6 or claim 8, wherein the printer is adapted to copy address information from a printed sheet material onto an envelope.

16. A document handling device substantially as described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

17. A mailing machine substantially as described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

18. An enveloping facsimile machine substantially as described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

19. A method of operating a mailing machine or an enveloping facsimile machine, substantially as described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

20. A method of extracting address information substantially as described herein, with reference to the accompanying drawings.