JP2002520726A - Vending machine for making and supplying books - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] The book selling device (1) includes a plurality of book names including text information and image information, colors of the plurality of books, titles, and cover information which may be other identification information. , A display for displaying book identification information stored in the storage device, and a user interface for allowing a user to select one of the titles of the stored books to be printed And a bookbinding device that prints and binds the selected book.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

 The present invention relates to a vending machine, and more particularly, to a vending machine for making and providing a book.

[0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention is particularly useful when incorporated in the form of a vending machine for making "books on demand". Thus, while such devices will be described hereinafter, it is to be understood that the invention and modifications thereof are also advantageously used in other forms of the printing device.

[0003] Currently, the majority of the book printing industry relies on traditional printing techniques of prepress, press and finishing tools. Thus, conventional book printing requires the steps of preparing the printing plates, finishing the printing and the determined number of copies for each plate, and distributing the printed books to stores and other retailers. . Printing books in this traditional manner has problems with book distribution and sales, and especially with the uncertainty of the number of books to be printed on each edition. Returns to publishers are about 40%, ie 80-1
There will be a 00% overprint.

[0004] Many machines are designed to print books in an "on demand" digital manner. For example, "Docutech 6" manufactured by Xerox
180, "Demand Stream" manufactured by OCE, and "Infoprint" manufactured by IBM. However, known machines of this type are not effective for printing small pocket books or paperback books or for individual copying. In addition, these are generally very expensive, printing and binding books on the fly,
It is not implemented as a vending machine that immediately responds to user requests.

[0005] Existing so-called "on-demand" machines typically perform only some of the functions required to produce a fully finished book. Some functions such as cover printing, binding and trimming are performed offline and by a separate device. In addition, specialists are required to operate.

[0006] The use of separate devices for different functions makes it impossible to incorporate them into a vending machine.

[0007]

Summary of the Invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide a vending machine for printing and dispensing books having one or more of the above advantages. It is a specific object of the present invention to provide a bookbinding apparatus that can be particularly provided as a vending machine for printing, binding and supplying on-demand books on demand. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,
A computer data storage device for storing a plurality of book titles each including document / image information and cover information which may be color, title and other information of the plurality of books; An operation panel including a display for displaying book identification information, a user interface for allowing a user to select one of book titles stored for printing, and a bookbinding apparatus for printing and binding the selected book Are provided.

Further, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a bookbinding apparatus includes: a black-and-white or color document / image print engine for printing document information of a selected book title on a plurality of pages in a duplex mode; A cover print engine that prints the color cover information of the selected book on the front and back covers, a binder for binding the printed page and cover collated by the collation device, and a book title selected by the user. A controller that extracts from the source device. The controller further controls the page print engine, the cover print engine, the verification device, and the binder to print and bind the book selected by the user.

Further, in accordance with the described preferred embodiment, the operation panel is printed by a payment device to be used by a user for payment of a selected book title, a document print engine and a color print engine. A discharge device for discharging the title of the selected book after being bound by the binder.

[0010] According to still further features in the described preferred embodiments the operating panel further comprises a diskette reading device for a user to insert a diskette containing information of a book to be printed and bound.

For example, the file information of a book in the data storage device may be in the form of a plurality of CD-ROMs. The CD-ROM or diskette further includes a slot reading device driver for automatically reading, printing and binding book titles,
It may be used by a user when inserting an information media carrier (such as a CD-ROM or diskette). Alternatively, a remote device may be used to download book file information to the data storage device.

Preferably, the paper storage / supply, operation panel, document / image print engine, cover print engine, collation device, binder and other components are all housed in a common housing and operated in a fully automatic line processing. Is done. A storage device for storing titles of a plurality of books is also preferably housed in a common housing. However, they may be located at a remote location and may be connected by communication lines to devices in a common housing.

As will be described in more detail below, a bookbinding device constructed in accordance with the foregoing features is a vending machine in a publicly accessible location for printing a book “on demand”. May actually be incorporated. The title information of the book is a CD that allows the user to quickly and efficiently recover the print and publication of the book when requested.
-May be stored in digital form in a highly efficient and compact manner, such as a ROM or hard disk; New book titles can be added in a simple manner, and old book titles that are no longer sold can be removed from storage.

[0014] The above-described features enable such a bookbinding device to be configured in the form of a vending machine,
Eliminating book inventory, reducing distribution costs, minimizing space, automatic record keeping, simple inventory control, and a vending machine proposal that minimizes the huge percentage of book returns common in book sales To give you many advantages.

Since the title information of the book is stored in a compact digital form such as a CD-ROM or a hard disk, the title information must be stored in several different languages in order to print in the language required by the consumer. Can be.

[0016] Further features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description below.

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a vending machine generally designated 1 constructed and operated in accordance with the present invention. The vending machine includes the bookbinding device shown schematically in FIGS. 2A and 2B. The bookbinding device provides the consumer with "
Print and bind the book to provide the book "quickly".

An example of a typical book prepared by a bookbinding apparatus is shown in FIG. 2C. The book is
Each side of the printed page includes a printed front cover 90F and a back cover 90B enclosing a plurality of duplex printed pages indicated at 51A and 51B.
The printed page 81 and the covers 90F and 90B are collated and bound together and then glued together (glue is indicated at 149). Finally, book spine tape 143 is applied to produce the final book.

The vending machine further includes an operation and display panel indicated generally by 2. The operation / display panel includes a display screen 21 for displaying books and information related to book printing, and a credit card slot 22 for inserting a consumer's credit card.
And insert a CD-ROM or similar book title digital information that the consumer can print in the same manner as the selected one of the book titles stored within the device itself. It includes a slot 23 for enabling and an outlet 13 for receiving a bound and finished book 15.

The vending device (FIG. 1) further includes a second display screen 24, a sample display panel for visually displaying book titles available from the device,
including. The second display screen 24 may be used, for example, to simultaneously display the sample page and other information about the book.

FIGS. 2A and 2B schematically show the main components of the printing apparatus constructed in accordance with the present invention. Briefly, the printing apparatus shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B includes an operation panel 2 and, more specifically, a print control unit (PCU) 3 shown in FIG.
More specifically, the system control unit (SCU) 4 shown in FIG. 4 and more particularly the paper web supply unit 5 shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, and more particularly FIGS. 7 and 7A. And a document / image printing unit 6 for printing the pages of the book shown in FIGS. 8 and 11A to 11D and 12A to 12C in more detail.
And collation units 7, 11 and 12 for the printed pages and related functions shown in FIG. The apparatus shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B further includes a cover material feeder 9 upstream of the cover color print engine assembly 10 and another cover feeder 11 downstream of the assembly 10. These feeders are shown in more detail in FIGS. 9, 10, 10A and 11A-11D, respectively. The sheet of printed document and the printed cover are supplied to a collation device / binder unit 12, which is shown in more detail in FIGS. 12A-12D and 13-13A, respectively. The collation device / binder unit 12 collates and binds the printed sheets of the document and the front and back covers to produce a completely bound book 15. This book 15 is sent to the discharge unit 13 of the vending machine.

As described in more detail below, the print control unit 3 is, for example, a CD-RO
M or a storage device for storing title information of a plurality of books in the form of a hard disk. Each file includes document / image information, cover information, and identification information of each book. The operation panel 2 enables the user (purchaser) to display identification information of the title of the stored book, and a document or a book bound between the front and back covers on which the cover information is printed. One of these information can be selected for printing in the form of a complete book 15 comprising a plurality of pages with image information. Payment may be made by inserting a credit card. Once the credit card is accepted and a selection is made, the device will automatically print the document / image on multiple pages, and simultaneously print the information in color on the front and back covers, collate and bind, The page on which the document / image is printed and the printed cover are supplied to the collation device 12. The completely bound book 15 is conveyed via the delivery chute 13.

The operation panel 2 includes monitors or displays 21 and 24 for displaying identification information of book titles stored in the print control unit 3. Operation panel 2 further includes a user interface that allows a user to select one of the stored book titles for printing. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, the interface includes touch screen over display panels 21 and 24. For example, another interface such as a keyboard having depressible keys may be provided.

The operation panel 2 is further used for inserting a credit card by a user enabling the operation of the vending machine to order one or more books contained in the book data storage of the print engine control unit. Credit card slot 22. The operation panel 2 includes another slot 23 that allows the user to insert an information media carrier such as a CD-ROM such as a personal book title data carrier containing the book information. These pieces of information can be ordered and printed in the same manner as selected from the book titles stored within the vending machine itself.

As shown in FIG. 3, the print engine control unit 3 includes a data storage device 31 that stores title information of a plurality of books. The data storage device is, for example, C
In the form of a D-ROM or other previously described digital media. The title of each book includes the document / image, cover, and identification information of each book that the user can select for printing. The document / image digital data information is sent to a document / image engine, as shown schematically by line 32 in FIG. Meanwhile, the cover digital information is sent to a printing system for printing the cover, as schematically indicated by line 33 in FIG.

The print control unit 3 shown in FIG. 3 further includes a motherboard 34 and a plurality of print control boards 35 mounted on the motherboard and controlling the data flow operation of the two print engine assemblies.

As shown in more detail in FIG. 4, the system control unit (SCU) 4 includes electronic controls for various drivers described in detail below. Further, it includes a motherboard 41, a system electronic device 42, a plurality of system drivers and a control card 43.

In the illustrated vending machine, documents / images are printed on a plurality of pages supplied from a paper web and cut into sheets. On the other hand, the cover information
Printed on the pre-cut cover supplied from the supply box. 7 to 7A show a mode in which a document / image is printed on a page, and FIGS. 10 and 10A show a mode in which cover information is printed on a front cover and a back cover.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the paper supply device includes four rolls 50A to 50A.
D. Each roller can hold as long as possible of the paper web 51. To maintain a continuous supply of paper units, only one roll 50A-50D is activated at a time until all web rolls have been exhausted,
As soon as the paper web is depleted, another roll is activated. The paper roll is actuated and moved by any suitable moving means known to those skilled in the art, such as motors, conveyors, rollers and servo mechanisms.

The supply of paper in each roll is detected by a feeder arm 52 that includes a roller 54 pivotally attached to one end 53 and engageable with the outer surface of the paper web on each roll. Pivotally mounted end 53 of feeder arm 52
Are connected to a rotary encoder 55. The rotary encoder 55 detects the angular position of each feeder arm 52 and the supply of paper on each roll.

The paper web 51 drawn from each roll passes over a deflecting roller 56 (FIG. 6) to a guide assembly for each roll. Thus, in the illustrated apparatus including four supply rolls, there are four such deflection rollers 56 and four such guide assemblies.

The deflecting roller 56 and the guide assembly for the four rolls are described in more detail in FIG.
Is shown in Thus, such a guide assembly includes a fixed guide element 57 and a pivot guide element 58 pivoted by the leaf spring 59 toward the fixed guide element. The fixed guide element 57 is provided with a separate pinch roller 61 mounted on the pivoting guide element 58 so as to drive the paper web 51 between them.
And a driven pinch roller 60 which is aligned with. As described above, the separate deflection roller 56 and the guide devices 57 to 61 are provided for each of the four supply rolls 50.

The paper feeder further comprises an exit guide device consisting of four guide elements 62A-62D spaced below the guide elements for the four paper rolls. The guide elements 62A-62D act as exit guides for driving the paper web of the active roll 50 to guide it to the document and image engine assembly 71 shown in FIG.

The indexing guide device is interposed between the four guide devices for the four rolls 50 and the common exit guide device of the guide elements 62A to 62D. The indexing guide further includes a fixed guide element 64 and a pivot guide element 65 pivoted by the panel spring 66 toward the fixed guide element. However, in this case, two guide elements 64, 66 are attached to the indexing plate 67 and the exit guide of the elements 62A-62D. The indexing plate 67 is pivotally mounted and indexes two guide elements 64, 65, which are aligned with the guide elements 57 and 58 of the active paper roll 50. The indexing plate 67 is driven by a motor 69 under the control of a system controller that aligns the two indexable guide plates 64, 65 with the guides 57-58 of the rolls which are operating to draw the paper web at any time. The selected pulley assembly 68 is pivoted to a selected position.

As shown in particular in FIGS. 5 and 6, the four paper supply rolls 50 and their deflection rollers 56 are arranged in an arcuate form above the index guides 64 and 65. Thus, the indicator guide may be pivotally mounted to align one of the roller guide devices with the discharge guide device elements 62A-62D, depending on the roll in operation. As shown in particular in FIG. 6, the two guide elements 57 and 58 are arranged alternately in the longitudinal direction with respect to the four rolls 50. Therefore, the roll 50
The guide element for the next roll 50a is long and the guide element for the next roll 50a is short. Such an arrangement minimizes the space occupied by the rolls and these guide elements. Thus, a compact structure can be provided to hold a large paper feeder used to print large numbers of pages.

FIG. 7 shows the print engine 6 for printing the document / image of the book of FIG. 2A in more detail. This print engine is a duplex type, that is, an inkjet printer that prints on both sides of the paper web 51. In FIG. 7, the paper web 51 enters the print engine assembly from the right through guide plates 70 and 71 and is driven by a roller 72, a horizontal closed loop driven by a pair of pulleys 74a in the direction of the arrow in FIG. On the upper surface of the conveyor belt 73a. The print engine 75a is placed above the upper surface of the conveyor belt 73a so as to print document / image information on the upper surface of the paper web 51 when driven by the print engine unit. The print engine unit 75a may be, for example, an inkjet module consisting of seven inkjets each having a driver as described in EP 0 640 481 B1 assigned to the applicant. For clarity, the inkjet module controls and ink reservoir are not shown. If desired, a dryer unit 76a, such as an IR (infrared) or UV (ultraviolet) radiating unit, may be
a at the outlet end.

The second print engine head 75b is a closed loop conveyor belt 7 where the paper web exits the closed loop conveyor belt 73a and is below the conveyor belt 73a.
3b are arranged to print on the opposite side of the paper web when received. Therefore, after one surface of the paper web is printed by the print engine head 75a while being conveyed by the conveyor belt 73a, the paper web is inverted when supplied to the conveyor belt 73b below, and becomes printable. Further, a separate dryer 76b may be provided for drying the ink applied by the print engine unit 75b.

The print head 75B (similar to 75A) is shown in greater detail in FIG. Briefly, print head 162 ejects ink droplets 164 onto web 51 being transported by loop conveyor belt 51A to form printed web 51B.

Similarly, the printed web 51A is printed using a print head 75A, and is conveyed by a conveyor 73A.

The paper web is secured to the conveyor belt and moves with the conveyor belt in any suitable manner, such as by vacuum (not shown) or other similar techniques known to those skilled in the art.

The usefulness of the conveyor belt system in conveyor belt systems and printing technology is well known to those skilled in the art and will not be described in detail.

FIG. 8, which is the continuous upstream side of the document / image print engine assembly, illustrates how the paper web 51 is handled after the document / image information has been printed on both sides (51A and 51B) of the paper web 51. I do. Thus, the paper web 51 passes through a pair of pinch rollers 79 via a guide 89 and continues over a cutter table indicated generally at 83 via a pinch roller 82. A cylinder 84 having a cutter blade 85 extending in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder is mounted on the cutter table so as to cross the paper web 51. The synchronization between the circumference and web speed of cylinder 84 and cylinder 84 defines the cut sheet size. Thus, the cylinder 84 causes the cutter blade 85 to slit the paper at the correct location to produce a separate printed sheet 81. It is placed at an appropriate speed with respect to the speed of the paper web 51. These sheets travel via inclined chutes 86 to the collection box 7 and to the matching and binder unit 12 of FIG. 2A, as described in more detail below with respect to FIGS.

FIG. 7A shows a variation having a cutter located upstream of the print engine head, rather than downstream as shown in FIG. Therefore, in the modification shown in FIG. 7A, the guide plate 91 for guiding the paper web 51 to the first print engine head 75A includes the cylinder 84 and the cutter blade 85 in FIG.
Similarly, includes a cylinder 92 formed with a cutter blade 93 extending across the length of the cylinder 92, i.e., across the paper web. Thus, the cutter blade cuts the paper web into appropriately sized sheets 81a before the paper sheets are fed by a conveyor belt below the first print engine head 75a. In addition, at the end of the print engine head 75a,
A plurality of guide rollers 47 are provided on the conveyor belt, and the individual sheets are converted into guide plates 77 for printing on the opposite side by the second print head 75b.
Guide through A to the conveyor belt below. For all other configurations,
The configuration shown in FIG. 7A is the same as the configuration described above with respect to FIG.

FIGS. 9 to 11 show a cover printing engine system for printing cover information of a selected book on the front cover and the back cover.

The preprinted cover, indicated at 90 in FIG. 9, is precut and supplied from box 91. The box includes a lift plate 92 on which the cover 90 is stored and powered by a motor supported by a pivot arm 94 to engage the top cover of the stack. Is supplied from the top of the stack by the drive roller 93. The lift mechanism is a gear train 97
And a motor 95 for driving the screw 96 through the motor. This screw is in box 9
1 is securely received in a nut 98 fixed to
Rotation raises the lift plate 92 and lowers it by rotating in the opposite direction. The motor 95 is controlled in synchronization with the drive drive 93 to raise the lift plate 92 by a certain amount as the drive roller carries the top cover via the guide 99 to the cover printing unit of FIG. 2A. This is shown in FIG.
This is shown in more detail by OA.

The printing of the cover information is preferably done by a “thermal transfer” technique. Here, the transfer effectively transfers the color from the color transfer ribbon. "Thermal transfer"
Techniques are known to those skilled in the art and are described, for example, in Ken-Chi Shimmed's "Hard Copy and Printing Technology" published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 1252 1996.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the pre-printed cover 90 is separately and continuously conveyed below the four thermal transfer print heads 102 A to 102 D via the guides 99. , On a closed loop conveyor belt 100 driven by a pair of pulleys 101. Each printhead includes a color pigment carry ribbon 103. The color pigment carry ribbon 103 is supplied from a supply reel 104, passes through the print heads 102A to 102D, and passes through an additional reel 106.
Transported to. Printheads 102A-102D are digitally controlled to form hot points. This hot point causes the instantaneous point of the color pigment from each color pigment carry ribbon 103 to be transferred to the cover 90. 4
Printheads 102A-102D, in this manner, have four types of process printing C
, M, Y, and K (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) are printed. However, additional colors are also possible, such as additional printheads and metallic colors.

[0048] Both cover 90F and back cover 90B are printed on one side of the cover material by print heads 102A-102D. As best shown in FIG. 10A, the covers of the front cover 90F and the back cover 90B are carried along the conveyor 100 to the feeder unit 11.

Since both the front cover 90F and the back cover 90B of the book are printed on one surface, that is, the surface facing the print heads 102A to 102D in FIG. 10, the feeder unit 11 in FIG. . Inverter device 111 flips one side of the cover, the front cover, with the printed surface facing down as the cover is fed to the verification device and binder (7 and 12).

The cover feeder unit 11 of FIG. 10A and the various stages of its operation are shown in FIGS. 11A to 11D. Therefore, the conveyor belt 109 is
0 from the print heads 102A-102D (FIG. 10) to another conveyor belt 11.
Transport to 0. Another conveyor belt 110 guides to the verification device and binder 12 (FIG. 12). Inverter mechanism 111 includes conveyor belts 109 and 11
It is provided at a transfer point between 0.

The inverter mechanism 111 is rotated by a motor 113 around a shaft 112 by 180 degrees.
゜ A rotatable box-like structure. When the cover 99F is to be transported from the conveyor belt 100 to the conveyor belt 110 located slightly below the conveyor belt 100, the cover 90F is received by the inverter mechanism 111 and activates a sensor (not shown). Let it. This sensor operates the motor 113 so as to rotate the inverter by 180 ° as shown in FIGS. 11B and 11C, and reverses the cover 90F. Therefore, the surface on the printed side faces downward when it is received by the conveyor belt 110. In this position, the inverter mechanism 111 acts as a guide for directing the continuous back cover 90B to the conveyor belt 110 with the printed side of the back cover facing downward as shown in FIG. 11D.

The collator and binder unit 12 (in FIG. 11D) receives both the printed pages from the inkjet duplex print engine 6 and the cover printed by the color printing unit 10 and supplied by the supply unit 11. FIGS. 12A to 12C show the case where the printed page and the two covers are the unit 1.
2 shows an aspect of collation. FIGS. 13A to 13C show a stage for pressing and gluing, a stage for inserting a book spine tape 143, and a gluing stage for spine for binding pages and covers to a completed book. The glue shown at 149 is best shown in FIG. 2C.

Referring now to FIGS. 12A-12C, the verification device includes a verification device frame 130 that pivots about an axis 131. During the matching process, the frame 130 is tilted at an optimal angle with respect to the printed page 81. In FIG. 12A, it is about 30 °. The two-sided printed page 81 moved via the chute 86 of the printing unit 6 is sequentially received by the fork 132 to form a stack. At this time, the first page of the book is received first and is made to face down.

The cover 90F is fed from the conveyor belt 110 under a fork 132 that carries a stack of sheets 81 or 81a (FIG. 12B). The cover 90F, with the printed side facing down as described above with respect to FIGS. 11A-11D, may be inserted at any time during printing of the sheet 81 or 81a, and all sheets may be printed. You don't have to wait until it is done. Next, the fork 132 is removed,
The cover 90F and the stack of printed sheets are now held against the bottom plate of the collator frame 130, and then the back cover 90B is oriented such that the printed side faces down as shown in FIG. 12C. It is fed to the top of the stack of 81.

After the back cover 90 B is inserted, the clamp plate 133 is
It is driven by a clamp screw 134 driven by an electric motor 135 via 36 to come into film contact with the back cover 90B. Thus, the clamp plate 133 firmly presses the printed page 81 or 81a of the book and the two covers 90F and 90B against the bottom plate of the collation device frame 130.

Referring now to FIGS. 13A-13C, the collator frame is rotated about axis 131 to the position shown in FIG. 13A to bring the stack of sheets and covers together in book form. It is made so that it can be bound. In this position, the spine 148 of the book faces downward. The printed page and the two covers are bound together to form a finished book 15 by the technique shown in FIGS. 13B-13C. Here, the glue 149 is applied to the spine of the book, and the sheet 81 or 81 is applied.
a and the covers 90B and 90F are glued together, and then the backup back tape 143 is attached to the back of the book. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 13B, the glue application device 140 transports the glue 149 from the container 141 to the spine of the book. The glue 149 may be a cold type or a hot melt type. In the case of the hot melt type, the container 141 is provided with a heater 142 for heating the glue.

As shown in FIG. 13C, the binding is effectively performed by the backup tape 143 attached by the rollers 144 and the two side rollers 145.

Before the spine of the book is coated with the adhesive, the spine of the book is roughened by rotating a cutter as shown at 146 in FIG. 13A. Since this rough cutting generates dust, a dust collection system 147 is provided.

If a hot glue system is used to bind the book, as shown in FIG. 13B, such a system should be provided with a steam exhaust device (not shown). . As shown in FIG. 13C, if the binding is done with an adhesive, the adhesive tape is preferably activated by heat, and the back roller 144 and the side rollers 145 are heated, preferably under spring load.

As described above, after the book is printed and bound, the book is released on the delivery chute 13 shown in FIG.

Referring now to FIG. 14, there is shown a block diagram illustrating the data processing system control unit 4 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 for controlling the overall operation of the apparatus. Therefore,
The storage device indicated by 31 stores title information of a plurality of books in the form of a CD-ROM. The title information of each book includes a document / image, cover information, and identification information of each book. The controller 35 includes a program manager 202 and an operation user interface 205. When a book title is selected, the program manager 202 identifies the data location and directs the document / image information of each book title directly to the page print register image processor (RIP) 204 and the cover information to the cover RIP 206. Turn. Cover RIP converts information into a bitmap format. Generally, document information is black and white, and cover information is multicolored. However, the document / image and the cover information may be printed in an appropriate combination of color and black and white. The document / image information is printed on a paper web (or sheet) by a duplex print engine 6 shown in more detail in FIG. on the other hand,
The cover information is stored in the color print engine unit 1 shown in more detail in FIG.
0 prints on the front and back covers. After the document / image information of the selected book is printed on all pages and two covers are printed and collated with the printed page of the book title, the printed page and cover are collated. Fig. 1
As described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 13, the collation device / binding unit 12 binds the final book form 15 together.

As further described above, the system controller 42 includes an electronic print engine driver 432, shown as box 4 in FIG. The electronic print engine driver controls the document / image page print engine unit 6, the cover print engine unit 10, and the verifier / binder units 7, 11, 12, and is selected by the user and other motors or accumulators. Print and bind the book.

Referring now to FIG. 15, a flowchart illustrating the operation of the bookbinding and supply and vending machine 1 is shown. A consumer who wants to order a particular book title orders a book title from a list of available titles (step 302). Valid book titles are shown on display panel 125 (FIG. 1).

The titles of the ordered books are then placed in the data storage device 31 and each data file including title information of all books is extracted (step 304).
Next, a printing cycle starts (step 306). The pages of the book are shown in FIGS.
A is printed on both sides of the page as described above for A (step 308), and the printed page is stored in the page collation boxes of collation units 7, 11, and 12 (step 310).

At the same time as the page printing, the printing of the cover is performed as follows (step 312).
). First, the cover 90F is printed (step 314). Then, cover 90F
Is rotated (step 316) and inserted below the printed page being collated by collation unit 12. When the printing of the page is completed, the back cover 90B is printed and inserted at the top of the printed page in the collation unit 12 (step 318).

When printing is completed and all pages and covers are collated, a bookbinding collation process (step 320) and a binding process (step 322) are performed.

Finally, the completed book is ejected and received by a waiting consumer (step 324). The total time required for bookbinding depends on the total number of pages in the book, but the process is relatively quick. For example, it takes 2 minutes to finish a 200 page duplex page book, meeting the user's generally accepted expectations for "quick" delivery from vending machines.

Thus, all components of the printing device shown in FIG. 2A can be integrated into a vending machine with a common housing for all components. However, if it is desirable to provide storage for multiple titles in a remote location linked to the vending machine by appropriate communication lines to provide centralized storage for multiple such vending machines There is also.

While the invention has been described with reference to preferred embodiments, it will be understood that these are merely illustrative and that other variations, modifications and adaptations of the invention may be made. For example, book vending machines may be used to print other materials such as textbooks, scientific publications, papers and catalogs. Further, as described above, pre-cut sheets may be used for feeding paper and web rollers.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a vending machine constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a block diagram and a schematic diagram, respectively, of main components of the printing apparatus of the vending machine of FIG. 1; FIG. 2C shows the main elements of the end product of a new vending machine.

FIG. 3 schematically shows various parts of a print control unit including an electronic storage device in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 schematically shows various parts of a system control unit including the electronic parts, drivers and the like in the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a paper feeder / supply device on which document / image information of a selected book title is printed.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged view of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 schematically illustrates the print engine of FIG. 2A for printing book page documents / images in duplex mode on the web. FIG. 7A schematically illustrates the print engine of FIG. 2A for printing a document / image of a book page in a duplex mode on a cut sheet page.

FIG. 8 schematically illustrates a cutting mechanism downstream of the document and image engine assembly of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 schematically illustrates a cover feeder that supplies material from a storage device to a cover print engine assembly.

10 and 10A schematically illustrate a color cover print engine assembly for printing in multiple colors on both the front and back covers.

11A to 11D show various stages for feeding the front and back covers up to the matching device in the device of FIG. 2A.

12A to 12C show various stages in collating document pages and front and back covers in the collation device of FIG. 2A.

FIGS. 13A to 13C show a stage for closing the collated page, front cover, and back cover into a book form.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of a data / control processing system in the controller of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 15 schematically shows a flow diagram of the main operations required to transport a book by a vending machine.

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] December 8, 2000 (2000.12.8)

[Procedure amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] FIG.

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG. 14

[Procedure amendment 2]

[Document name to be amended] Drawing

[Correction target item name] FIG.

[Correction method] Change

[Correction contents]

FIG.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme court ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 310 B41J 3/20 117C (81) Designated country EP (AT, BE, CH, CY, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, IE, IT, LU, MC, NL, PT, SE), OA (BF, BJ, CF, CG, CI, CM, GA, GN, GW, ML, MR, NE, SN, TD, TG), AP (GH, GM, KE, LS, MW, SD, SL, SZ, UG, ZW), EA (AM, AZ, BY, KG, KZ, MD, RU, TJ, TM), AE, AL, AM, AT, AU, AZ, BA, BB, BG, BR, BY, CA, CH, CN, CU, CZ, DE, DK EE, ES, FI, GB, GD, GE, GH, GM, HR, HU, ID, IL, IN, IS, JP, KE, KG, KP, KR, KZ, LC, LK, LR, LS, LT , LU, LV, MD, MG, MK, MN, MW, MX, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RU, SD, SE, SG, SI, SK, SL, TJ, TM, TR, TT, UA, UG, US, UZ, VN, YU, ZA, ZW

Claims (30)

[Claims] Claims 1. A vending machine for making and supplying a book immediately upon request, wherein each computer stores book title information including text / image information, cover information and other identification information. An apparatus, a display for displaying identification information of book titles stored in the data storage device, and a user interface for allowing a user to select one book title to be printed from stored data. A vending machine comprising: an operation panel; and a bookbinding device which prints a title of a selected book, binds the book, and immediately supplies the bookbinding to a user. 2. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the bookbinding device comprises: a document / image print engine for printing document / image information of the title of the selected book on a plurality of pages; A cover print engine that prints cover information of book titles on cover and back cover materials, a matching device that matches the printed pages of the book selected by the user and the front and back covers of the book, and the matching device A binder that binds a printed page and a cover that have been collated by the user, extracts a title of a book selected by a user from the data storage device, and outputs a document or image to be printed, cover information to be printed, the collation device, A vending machine comprising: a controller that controls a binder; and a bookbinding device that prints and binds a book thus selected by the user. 3. The vending machine according to claim 2, wherein the document / image print engine is black and white, and the cover print engine is color. 4. The vending machine of claim 1, wherein the operation panel includes a payment device to be used by a user for payment of a selected book, and the document / image print engine and the color print engine. A discharging device for discharging a selected book after being printed and bound by the binder. 5. The vending machine according to claim 4, wherein the payment device of the operation panel includes a credit card slot for a user to insert a credit card. 6. The vending machine according to claim 4, wherein the operation panel further includes a book title to be printed and bound instead of a book title stored in the data storage device. A vending machine comprising a drive slot for a user to insert an external data carrier containing information. 7. The vending machine according to claim 3, wherein the operation panel further includes at least one display screen for displaying information on some of the titles of the book. A vending machine characterized by including. 8. The vending machine according to claim 3, wherein the operation panel, the document / image print engine, the cover print engine, the collation device, the binder, and the operation control device are provided. , All of which are housed in a common housing. 9. The vending machine of claim 8, wherein said data storage device is also housed in said common housing. 10. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the document / image print engine includes a plurality of sheets and a sheet supply / loading mechanism. 11. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the document / image printing engine includes a plurality of sheets and a sheet supply / loading mechanism. 12. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the document / image print engine includes at least one roll of a paper web holder and a paper / web print engine. And a cutter for cutting the paper web into sheets of paper size controlled by the controller. 13. The document / image printing machine according to claim 12, wherein the cutter cuts the paper web into a sheet after the document is printed by the document / image printing engine. A vending machine provided downstream of an engine. 14. The vending machine of claim 12, wherein the cutter cuts the paper web into a sheet before the document is printed by the document / image printing engine. A vending machine provided upstream of a print engine. 15. The vending machine according to claim 12, wherein the document / image print engine has a plurality of holders for holding a plurality of rolls of paper web, and means for operating the controller. Wherein each of the holders includes a sensor for detecting the amount of paper web in each holder, and the means for activating the controller is configured to switch to another holder when the paper web in each holder is depleted. A vending machine, wherein the vending machine acts on the controller to switch automatically. 16. The vending machine of claim 15, wherein the document / image printing engine further comprises: a holder guide for each roll holder for guiding the paper web; an exit guide; A vending machine, comprising: an index guide between the guide and the exit guide, the index guide being indexable by the controller to selectively align one of the holder guides with the exit guide. 17. The vending machine of claim 16, wherein said holder and said holder guide are arranged in an arc above said index guide, said index guide being one of said holder guide and said exit guide. Vending machine that is pivotable to selectively align with a vending machine. 18. The vending machine of claim 17, wherein the holder guide is of two different lengths, one length guide being staggered with the other length guide, and a holder and each A vending machine characterized by minimizing the space occupied by the paper web roll. 19. The vending machine according to claim 16, wherein each of said guides comprises a fixed guide element and a pivoting guide element, each said guide element being provided. A vending machine comprising a pinch roll sometimes engaging a paper web. 20. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the document / image printing engine receives the paper web with one side facing upward. A first printing assembly above the first transport system for printing on one side of the paper web; and a paper web from the first transport system with the opposite side facing upwards. And a second printing assembly above the second transport system for printing on the opposite side of the paper web. 21. The vending machine of claim 20, wherein the first and second printing assemblies are page width inkjet printhead arrays. 22. The vending machine of claim 21, wherein the document / image print engine further includes a dryer downstream of the first and second transport systems. 23. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the cover printing engine includes a box for receiving a stack of covers cut into a predetermined size in advance, and a cover information printing unit. A cover print engine assembly, and a top feeder that supplies the cover to the cover print engine assembly in order from the top of the stack of boxes, wherein the cover print engine assembly is controlled by the controller. Print the cover information of the cover of the title of the selected book on one cover,
A vending machine characterized by printing cover information of a back cover of a selected book title on a subsequent successive cover. 24. The vending machine of claim 23, wherein the cover print engine assembly includes a plurality of printheads for color printing. 25. The vending machine according to claim 24, wherein each print head prints each color from a color transfer ribbon on a cover. 26. The vending machine of claim 25, wherein each printhead prints each color from a color transfer ribbon on a cover by a thermal transfer process. 27. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the collation device supplies a collation frame and a printed document page to the collation frame, and turns the first page downward so that the page is turned down. A page feeder to be stored, and a cover feeder that includes an inverter for inverting the cover when supplied to the collation frame, and supplies the cover to the collation frame so as to supply the cover first. And vending machine. 28. The vending machine according to claim 27, wherein the verification device further includes a fork insertable into a predetermined inclined position in the verification frame, wherein the fork includes a downward first page. For the first time, a printed document / image page is supplied and stored by the page feeder, and between the fork and the matching frame, the cover is inverted at the lower end of the stored page and the stored page is stored. A space is provided at the upper end of the page where a back cover can be supplied, and the cover plate, the printed page and the back cover are sandwiched therebetween, and a clamp plate operated by the collating device for preparing for binding by the binder is provided. A vending machine characterized by including. 29. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the binder is configured to apply an adhesive to an edge of the printed page and the cover that have been collated by the collation device. A vending machine comprising the adhesive application device of (1). 30. The vending machine according to claim 1, wherein the binder is a tape attaching device that attaches an adhesive tape to one edge of the printed page and the cover that have been collated by the collation device. A vending machine characterized by including.