Ncr Corporation

Gary R Marshall

Alexander S Murison

Frank B Dunn

Ralf M Brooks

Fredrik L Kallin

Benedict C Ho

Bruce A Reid

Gene R Franklin

George J Hroch

Armand M Dumas

Peter N McLean

Frank Dunn

A document processing apparatus comprises a document transport path which extends from an upstream end to a downstream end, a low speed drive disposed at the upstream end of the document transport path and for transporting a document along the document transport path from the upstream end towards the downstream end, a high speed drive disposed at the downstream end of the document transport path and for receiving a document being transported along the document transport path from the low speed drive, an actuatable document processing device disposed at the downstream end of the document transport path and for, when actuated, performing a downstream processing operation on a document being transported along the document transport path, a sensor for (i) sensing speed of movement of a document which is being transported along the document transport path from the upstream end to the downstream end, and (ii) providing a first electrical signal which is indicative of speed of movement of the document, and a controller for (i) monitoring the first electrical signal to thereby monitor speed of movement of the document along the document transport path, (ii) detecting when speed of movement of the document has increased from a first speed to a second speed which is greater than the first speed, (iii) providing a second electrical signal to actuate the document processing device to perform the downstream processing operation in response to detection of speed of movement of the document having increased from the first speed to the second speed.

Document processing apparatus and method of operating a document processing apparatus

A document feeder includes advance, separation, and transport rollers for driving checks in turn along a feedpath from an input tray containing a stack of the checks A sensor is disposed between the separation and transport rollers for detecting presence of the checks therebetween. A controller is joined to the rollers for controlling speed thereof, and is operatively joined to the sensor for measuring intercheck gaps between the separation and transport rollers. The controller actively adjusts the intercheck gaps by temporarily changing speed of the separation roller at the beginning of the feedpath near the input tray. The intercheck gaps are measured and corrected between the separation and transport rollers for precise control thereof while maximizing throughput.

Active gap controlled feeder

A document feeder is provided for feeding documents along a document feed path. The document feeder comprises a tray for containing a stack of documents to be fed along the document feed path. A picker mechanism is provided for picking a document from the stack of documents stored in the tray and moving the picked document along the document feed path. A sensor mechanism is provided for (i) detecting movement of documents along the document feed path, and (ii) providing an output signal indicative thereof. A controller responsive to the output signal from the sensor mechanism is provided for controlling operation of the picker mechanism to provide a gap of at least a predetermined size between adjacent documents moving along the document feed path.

Document feeder

A document feeder comprises a tray for containing a stack of documents to be fed along a document feed path. A picker mechanism picks a document from the stack and moves the picked document along the document feed path. A controllable motivator disposed in the tray is provided for, when controlled, applying a variable force against the stack to move the stack against the picker mechanism to allow the picker mechanism to pick a document from the stack and move the picked document along the document feed path. The picker mechanism includes a pre-picker roller having an outer circumferential surface which engages a document in the stack to initially pick the engaged document and move the picked document into the document feed path. First and second interruptive sensors cooperate to sense position of the picking mechanism relative to the stack. A controller responsive to output signals from the first and second sensors controls the motivator to apply a force against the stack such that the stack applies a relatively constant force against the outer circumferential surface of the pre-picker roller. Both sensors are uninterrupted when the stack applies an amount of force less than a desired amount of force against the outer circumferential surface of the pre-picker roller. One sensor is interrupted and the other sensor is uninterrupted when the stack applies a desired amount of force against the outer circumferential surface of the pre-picker roller. Both sensors are interrupted when the stack applies an amount of force greater than a desired amount of force against the outer circumferential surface of the pre-picker roller.

A sheet to be printed on can be transported along a sheet feed path to a printing position. The sheet feed path extends along a first direction. A thermal print head is located on one side of the sheet feed path and is provided for printing onto a sheet which has been transported to the printing position along the sheet feed path. A print platen is located on an opposite side of the sheet feed path and is provided for printing onto a sheet which has been transported to the printing position along the sheet feed path. A spring mechanism is provided for biasing the head and the platen towards each other to contact the sides of a sheet in the printing position to allow printing on the sheet in the printing position. A drive mechanism is provided for moving the head and the platen in a second direction which is transverse to the first direction to allow printing on a sheet in the printing position to occur while the head and the platen are contacting the sheet in the printing position. A cam mechanism is provided for moving the head and the platen away from each other to move the head and the platen out of contact with a sheet in the printing position after printing on the sheet in the printing position has occurred. The drive mechanism and the cam mechanism cooperate to move the head and the platen back to their initial positions when the head and the platen are moved away from each other and out of contact with a sheet in the printing position to allow another printing to occur.

Thermal printer apparatus

A signal extraction and character recognition system is provided for an MICR system using E13B font characters and a magneto-resistive read head. Each character is treated as defining a block comprising a matrix of equal sized zones. Because adjacent characters are separated by space (e.g., non-residually magnetized regions), the read head output signal is used to first identify the start of each character. As the document bearing the characters moves relative to the head, the signal strength from each vertical zone is summed. The relative vertical column signal strength is then compared to the vertical column signal strength for the preceding column to form a ratio set. The ratios are then quantized into one of three levels, depending upon whether R&gt;T.sub.1 (a first threshold, preferably 4/3), R&lt;T.sub.2 (a second threshold, preferably 3/4), T.sub.2 .ltoreq.R.ltoreq.T.sub.1. The patterns of these three quantized levels uniquely identify the 14 characters in the E13B character set. These patterns from the processed output signal from the magneto-resistive head are compared with the contents of a look-up table (or the equivalent) containing patterns for the 14 characters in the E13B font to identify the character being read.

Method and apparatus for magnetic ink character recognition using a

A method for calibrating a printer to print data beginning at a specified distance from the reference edge of a document. Several test documents are moved through a print station and a test symbol is printed on each of them with a preselected set of heating elements from a dot matrix thermal printer. The test documents are then processed through the same print station whereupon a sensor detects the reference edge of the document and the test symbol. A master controller then determines a test symbol distance between the reference edge and the midpoint of the test symbol for each test document. A plurality of test documents is processed in this manner, and the master controller determines an average test symbol distance for the plurality of test documents. Using an average test symbol distance, the master controller determines the distance between the sensor and a given hewating element of the thermal printer. The master controller than calculates a calibration distance which is based on a comparison of actual distance between the reference edge and the preselected heating elements versus average test symbol distance. In order to calibrate the printer to account for the calibration distance so that the printer prints data beginning at substantially the specified distance from the reference edge of the document, the master controller utilizes a stepping motor to make coarse calibration adjustments by advancing the document in full and/or half steps. Fine calibration adjustments are made by selectively energizing heating elements of the thermal printer.

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Waterloo, Canada

Gary R Marshall