The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 08, 2003
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2000
Charles E. Brugger, Rochester, NY (US);
George Simmons, North Greece, NY (US);
Stephen A. Horstman, Rochester, NY (US);
Randall R. Maysick, Churchville, NY (US);
Robert M. Westcott, Holley, NY (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
An intelligent feeding and separating device for consistently separating an outermost sheet of media from a stack and feeding it to an imaging rendering apparatus, includes: a) a sheet transport mechanism; b) a feed device for feeding sheets to the sheet transport mechanism; c) a separation mechanism adjacent to the feed mechanism; d) at least one drive mechanism in operable association with the feed or separation mechanisms, and comprising a feed or separation roller reversal mechanism; e) a plurality of different types of sensor devices adjacent to the feed mechanism for measuring characteristics of the sheets being fed; and f) a microprocessor in communication with the sensor devices and the feed or separation roller direction reversal mechanism; wherein, depending upon input from the sensor devices, the microprocessor outputs to the feed or separation roller direction reversal mechanism to address feed-related problems encountered during operation.