Xerox Corporation

David R Kretschmann

David Mark Kerxhalli

Jonathan Byron Hunter

Andrew James Bonacci

Ronald W Bogert

Colleen R Enzien

Thomas Edward Higgins

Michael James Diehl

Ana Perez Tooker

Jacqueline Yvonne Tyson

Carlos A Lopez

Eliud Robles Flores

James J Spence

David Clark Craig

David Michael Thompson

Jorge Mario Rodriguez

Matthew Ryan McLaughlin

Dennis N Muck

Theodore Gram

Nicholas Harrison Hainline

Andrew J Bonacci

An apparatus adapted for presenting a sheet of media to an image transfer structure. The apparatus includes a registration baffle positioned in an offset relationship relative to the image transfer structure and a pre-transfer baffle assembly including a first baffle oppositely disposed to a second baffle, the pre-transfer assembly generally forms an 'S' shape and is adapted for guiding the sheet of media from the registration baffle to the image transfer structure. The pre-transfer baffle assembly is arranged in a first position adapted for guiding the sheet of media toward the image transfer structure at an angle of less than ninety degrees, and the pre-transfer baffle automatically begins rotation to a second position as the sheet of media reaches a pre-determined position within a paper path.

Translating pre-transfer baffle for optimized performance

Methods and devices print markings on an item in a first printing pass, using intended locations for the markings, to produce initial printed marks. Such methods and devices further scan the item after the first printing pass to detect actual printed locations of the initial printed marks. These methods and devices also compare the actual printed locations to the intended locations to identify the printing registration variation. Thus, such methods and devices change the intended locations for the markings based on the printing registration variation to generate corrected locations for the markings; and then reprint the markings directly on the initial printed marks a second time on the item in a second printing pass using the corrected locations for the markings, using the marking device.

Scanning previous printing passes for registration of subsequent printing passes

A method including: displacing a plurality of sheets through a defined portion of a process path; generating, using an encoder, a first number of encoder pulses associated with displacing a first sheet from the plurality of sheets along the defined portion; applying first indicia to a first side of the first sheet; displacing the first sheet through the defined portion; generating, using the encoder, a second number of encoder pulses associated with displacing the first sheet along the defined portion; calculating, using a processor, a ratio including the first and second numbers; applying second indicia to the respective second side of the first sheet or third indicia to the respective first side of a second sheet from the plurality of sheets, or fourth indicia to the respective second side of the second sheet; and adjusting, using the processor, application of the second, third, or fourth indicia according to the ratio.

System and method for dynamic measurement of dimension change for a sheet

When performing a printing operation, methods and devices automatically increase a marking material quantity setting when an excessive speed variation condition of a transfer surface is present and an excessive background marking condition is absent. Alternatively, the methods and devices automatically increase tension of the transfer surface and decrease a marking material quantity setting when the excessive speed variation condition is present and the excessive background marking condition is also present. Otherwise, these methods and devices automatically provide a message on the graphic user interface of a printing device when the excessive speed variation condition is present, the marking material quantity setting is at a marking material quantity maximum setting, and the tension of the transfer surface is at a tension maximum. The message provides instructions to use a different type media or initiate a service call.

Adjusting tone reproduction curve and belt tension to control printing errors

A method of controlling the inverter dwell time of the first print engine in order to print any sheet size within a pitch mode without the need for a belt sync dead-cycle. The method uses a small nominal inverter dwell time based on the maximum sheet size for a given pitch mode. For any sheet size within the pitch mode that is smaller than the maximum sheet size, the inverter dwell time will increase proportionally.

Method and apparatus for printing various sheet sizes within a pitch mode in a digital printing system

A digital printing system employing tandem marking engines for duplex printing utilizing a variable dwell time in the output sheet inverter of the first marking engine to provide correct positioning of the leading edge of the inverted sheet for arrival at the entrance of the second marking to avoid the seam in the photoreceptor.

Controlling sheet registration in a digital printing system

A calibration procedure for the synchronization of photoreceptor belt seams of tandem marking devices at system cycle-up. The procedure allows for images projected upon equivalent image panels relative to the belt seams of the tandem engines to be printed on the same sheet. The successive image panels on each belt are of relatively equal distance from the respective belt seams. Thus there is less frequency of the need to skip pitches in the printing operation to avoid either imaging on a belt seam or having the sheet arrive outside the input timing window for second engine sheet registration.

Controlling sheet synchronization in a digital printing system

Disclosed are embodiments of a modular printing system with one or more modules having one or more bypass paths and comprise a modular printing system with a module (e.g., a stacker or feeder module) having a main compartment and at least one additional compartment. Contained within the main compartment is a main sheet transport path and a functional component (e.g., a sheet stacking device or a sheet feeding device) connected to the main sheet transport path. Contained with the additional compartment is a bypass path. The bypass path allows sheets to be routed through the module in the event of a print media sheet jam in the main sheet transport path. Because the bypass path is contained within a separate compartment, the jam can be cleared from the main compartment without cycling down the printing system, thereby allowing for continued productivity.

Modular printing system having a module with a bypass path

A dynamic positional shifting, in the process direction, of the images on the second print engine of a tandem machine printing system in order to increase the time (and number of prints) between skipped pitches. Although the photoreceptor belts of each print engine may be out-of-phase, the relative positions of their individual seam zones may be derived during cycle-up. A control procedure then optimizes the position and spacing of each image within each belt revolution of the second engine, while still maintaining the minimum inter-document zone (IDZ) length required for paper path feeding and registration, xerographic process controls, and finishing. Removing the constraints of fixed-dimension IDZ's, as well as being able to adjust spacing and length of individual images on the belt, allows for optimization of system productivity by either delaying or eliminating the need for a skipped pitch.

Dynamic image positioning and spacing in a digital printing system

A sheet registration system for a sheet handling device has a plurality of driven belts. Each belt is entrained about a driven roller and an idler roller. The driven rollers are fixedly mounted on a common drive shaft that is connected to a motor. The idler rollers each have a shaft and the idler shafts are coaxially aligned and parallel to the common drive shaft. Adjacent idler shafts are interconnected. The idler rollers are cantilevered about the common drive shaft and may be pivoted thereabout. The gravitational force on the cantilevered idler rollers provide the normal pressure on the belts to produce the frictional force necessary to acquire and register incoming sheets. Selective pivoting of the idler rollers in response to sheet media parameters inputted to a control panel by an end user automatically varies the normal pressure of the idler rollers and adjusts the frictional force of the belts.

Variable pressure belt driven sheet registration system

Embodiments herein include a media conditioning module for being connected between a media source supplying sheets of media and a printing device. The media conditioning module is adapted to remove moisture from the sheets of media received from the media source before the sheets of media are supplied to the printing device. The media conditioning module comprises a heater and a cooler. The heater has manifolds positioned to supply heated air to both sides of the sheets of media as the sheets of media pass through the media conditioning module. The cooler is positioned to supply non-heated air to both sides of the sheets of media as the sheets of media pass through the media conditioning module. The heater is positioned with respect to the cooler such that the sheets of media pass by the heater before the sheets of media pass by the cooler.

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Webster, NY, United States of America

David R Kretschmann