Printing Apparatus Document Sorting via Ejecting Position Shift
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing printing systems face inefficiencies and human error risks when sorting documents destined for multiple branch offices, as the boundary between documents for different delivery destinations is unclear, leading to incorrect sorting and potential misdelivery.
Innovation Solution
A digital printing system with a control method that sorts and ejects documents based on designated delivery destinations by incorporating sorting commands within the print job data, shifting the sheet ejecting position to clearly differentiate output bundles for each destination, thereby simplifying the sorting process and reducing errors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If documents for multiple delivery destinations are continuously output and uniformly stacked in the ejecting unit, then productivity is improved by efficient continuous printing, but the boundary between documents for different delivery destinations becomes unclear, leading to sorting errors
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the uniformly stacked documents into separate bundles by inserting separator sheets between documents destined for different delivery destinations. This segmentation allows the boundary between different delivery destinations to be clearly identified while maintaining continuous printing operation, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and sorting accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces separator sheets as intermediary elements between documents for different delivery destinations. These separator sheets act as visual markers that help operators easily identify bundle boundaries during sorting, preventing mixing of documents for different destinations while maintaining efficient continuous printing.
2Reliability
If operators manually sort uniformly stacked documents by carefully searching for boundaries, then sorting accuracy can be improved, but operator burden increases and human errors are more likely to occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by automatically inserting separator sheets at appropriate positions during the printing process, before the sorting operation begins. This preliminary separation of documents for different delivery destinations eliminates the need for operators to carefully search for boundaries, significantly reducing operator burden and preventing human errors while maintaining high sorting accuracy.
Data Source
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AI summary
By adding a distinction for every sheet bundle (1702 - 1704) of a same delivery destination (A, B, C) and ejecting the sheet bundle, a sorting burden on the user is reduced. According to a control method of a printing apparatus, an image is printed to a sheet by executing a job including predetermined information, and on the basis of the predetermined information included in the job, the sheet which is printed by executing the job is ejected to a position different from that of a sheet ejected before the sheet.