Xerox Corporation

Elizabeth D Fox

Stephen C Corona

Norman David Robinson, Jr

Alan G Schlageter

Paul D Keller

Joel Lacheze

There is disclosed a method for use in a printing system for producing copies or prints in which billing is developed for a customer of the printing system for the produced copies or prints on a basis of a set of accounting information accumulated and stored in an accounting subsystem. The printing system includes an input/output station communicating with the accounting subsystem by way of a network, and the method facilitates the generation of a set of billing/pricing information for transmission to a selected location upon the occurrence of a selected event related to the printing system. The method includes the steps of: a) electronically receiving a subset of the accounting information at the accounting subsystem; b) electronically updating the set of accounting information in response to the electronic receiving of a); c) analyzing the updated set of accounting information to determine if the selected event related to the printing system has occurred; and d) when the selected event related to the printing system has occurred, transmitting automatically the set of billing/pricing information to the selected location.

Information broker for printing system

The method of recovery from a jam of a copy sheet in a clearance zone in an image processing machine including the steps of determining the position of the copy sheet and a following copy sheet in the copy sheet path, recognizing that the following copy sheet is within a second clearance zone, calculating a time period to continue machine operation to drive the following copy sheet into the first clearance zone, and determining that said time period does not exceed a maximum time period.

Hierarchy of jam clearance options including single zone clearance

An improved system for segregating and identifying separate job sets from a commonly stacked output of plural job sets of copy sheets sequentially generated by a printer and sequentially outputted into a sheet stacker in which they may be superposed commonly stacked. A control system selects which standard size sheet supply tray of the printer will feed the copy sheets for a selected job set, and can automatically feed and print a cover sheet of a larger size or different orientation before or after the job set copy sheets are fed. The sheet stacker may desirably stack the copy sheets of the job sets commonly edge aligned but so that at least one edge area of the cover sheets extends substantially from at least one edge of the stack of copy sheets of the job sets to provide an exposed printed banner strip for clear job sets segregation and separation even if the commonly stacked plural job sets of copy sheets are misaligned in subsequent handling. The cover sheets may be printed side up even if the job set copy sheets are stacked printed side down. The exposed banner strip may have identifying indicia printed thereon for identifying job sets.

Copier/printer job stacking with discrete cover sheets with extending

An improved sheet stacking apparatus for stacking a wide variety of sheets, especially small sheets, using a rotatable disk stacking unit that receives each sheet in slots defined by fingers on the disks and rotates to invert the sheets. Closely adjacent fixed axis corrugating frictional drive rollers engage the trail edge area of the sheet by the rotation of variable radius disks to larger radius areas thereof which interdigitate with these fixed drive rollers, so that the trail edges of sheets being inverted by the disk contact and are driven by the corrugating rollers. The periphery of the frictional drive rollers is inside of the maximum radius of the disk stacking unit and outside of its minimum radius, so as to be only intermittently interdigitated therewith.

Disk stacker with intermittent corrugation assistance for small sheets

A device which electrically grounds a rotating shaft. A brush is mounted removably on the rotating shaft. The brush has conductive fibers extending outwardly over a portion thereof. As the shaft rotates, the conductive fibers of the brush periodically contact an electrically grounded member to electrically ground the shaft.

Growing community of inventors

Rochester, NY, United States of America

Elizabeth D Fox