U.S. patent application number 15/367214 was filed with the patent office on 2018-06-07 for dynamic dual bin position collation system.
The applicant listed for this patent is XEROX CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Douglas K Herrmann, TIMOTHY J. KELLEY, KEVIN ST MARTIN.
Application Number | 20180155149 15/367214 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 62240437 |
Filed Date | 2018-06-07 |
United States Patent
Application |
20180155149 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Herrmann; Douglas K ; et
al. |
June 7, 2018 |
DYNAMIC DUAL BIN POSITION COLLATION SYSTEM
Abstract
A system that eliminates return and reset of a pusher in a media
collation system includes the use of bidirectional bins that allow
accumulated sets of media in the bins to be collated in first or
second directions and pushed to either of two banders rather than
being restricted to one bander.
Inventors: |
Herrmann; Douglas K;
(Webster, NY) ; ST MARTIN; KEVIN; (Rochester,
NY) ; KELLEY; TIMOTHY J.; (Pittsford, NY) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
XEROX CORPORATION |
Norwalk |
CT |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
62240437 |
Appl. No.: |
15/367214 |
Filed: |
December 2, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65H 2701/1914 20130101;
B65H 31/3081 20130101; B65H 2301/4212 20130101; B65H 31/02
20130101; B65H 2301/4213 20130101; B65H 2403/942 20130101; B65H
2405/1115 20130101; B65H 29/60 20130101; B65H 2301/42172 20130101;
B65H 31/24 20130101; B65H 39/043 20130101; B65H 2405/11171
20130101 |
International
Class: |
B65H 39/043 20060101
B65H039/043; B65H 29/60 20060101 B65H029/60; B65H 31/24 20060101
B65H031/24 |
Claims
1-20. (canceled)
21. A method for collecting media in a media collation system,
comprising: providing a media collation station; providing multiple
bidirectional bins for collecting sets of media, said bidirectional
bins each including front and back walls for receiving said sets of
media over said front wall and against said back wall so that said
sets of media will settle into each of said multiple bidirectional
bins; providing each of said multiple bidirectional bins in two
separate parts with a passageway therebetween; flipping said
multiple directional bins into a first position to receive first
multiple sets of media and afterwards flipping said multiple
directional bins into a second position to receive second multiple
sets of media; and moving a bidirectional pusher through said
passageway in forward and reverse directions to capture said sets
of media in both directions and remove said sets of media out of
said collation station.
22. The method of claim 21, including moving said sets of media
from said collation station into a first bander in said forward
direction and into a second bander in said second direction.
23. The method of claim 21, including providing each of said two
separate parts of said multiple bidirectional bins with lip
portions on opposite ends thereof.
24. The method of claim 23, including using said lips portions
provided on opposite ends of each of said separate parts of said
multiple bidirectional bins for media support.
25. The method of claim 23, including providing each of said
multiple bidirectional bins with a smooth media support surface and
using each of said lip portions positioned on said opposite ends of
each of said separate parts of said multiple bidirectional bins as
part of said smooth media support surface of each of said multiple
bidirectional bins and as a bin flipping stop member for each of
said multiple bidirectional bins.
26. The method of claim 25, including registering media against a
portion of a support surface of a first bin and against a back
portion of a second bin positioned in front of said first bin.
27. The method of claim 21, including providing each of said
multiple bidirectional bins with end portions and using ends of
said end portions as stop members for media entering said multiple
bidirectional bins.
28. A method for collecting media in a dynamic dual bin position
collation system, comprising: providing a media collation station
that receives media from an upstream source; providing dual
positioning bins within said collation station to receive said
media; rotating said dual positioning bins in a first direction to
receive first sets of media; rotating said dual positioning bins in
a second direction to receive second sets of media; providing each
of said dual positioning bins with a passageway therethrough; and
moving a bidirectional pusher through said passageway in a forward
direction to remove said first sets of media and in a reverse
direction to remove said second sets of media from said collation
station.
29. The method of claim 28, including conveying said first sets of
media into a first bander.
30. The method of claim 29, including conveying said second sets of
media into a second bander.
31. The method of claim 30, including rotating said dual
positioning bins in said second direction immediately after said
bidirectional pusher and first sets of media have cleared said dual
positioning bins in said first direction to receive said second
sets of media.
32. The method of claim 31, including providing said dual
positioning bins with media support surfaces that include multiple
acute angled portions when positioned to receive media.
33. The method of claim 31, including positioning a top front
portion of one bin against a bottom rear lip portion of another bin
when receiving said first sets of media.
34. The method of claim 33, including positioning a bottom front
lip portion of said one bin against a rear top portion of said
another bin when receiving said second sets of media.
35. A method for collating a plurality of media in a system,
comprising: feeding media from a source; providing a media
collation station that receives media from said source, said media
collection station including a plurality of dual positioning bins
to receive said media; pivoting said dual positioning bins into a
first angle to receive first sets of media from said source;
pivoting said dual positioning bins into a second angle to receive
second sets of media from said source; providing each of said dual
positioning bins with a passageway therethrough; and providing a
bidirectional pusher and moving said bidirectional pusher through
said passageway in a first direction to remove said first sets of
media from said dual positioning bins and in a second direction to
remove said second sets of media from said dual positioning
bins.
36. The method of claim 35, including conveying said first sets of
media to a first bander and conveying said second sets of media to
a second bander.
37. The method of claim 35, pivoting said dual positing bins from
said first angle into said second angle once said pusher and first
sets of media have cleared said dual positioning bins for
collection of said second sets of media.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] Cross reference is hereby made to copending and commonly
assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/358,317 to Douglas K.
Herrmann filed Nov. 22, 2016 (Attorney No. 20161075US01) and
entitled SEQUENTIAL DIE CUT AND SLITTING FOR IMPROVED
COLLATION.
1. Field of the Disclosure
[0002] The presently disclosed embodiments are directed to
providing an auto-collation system, and more particularly, to a
collation system having dual positioning bins, and even more
particularly to a collation system having a two-way pusher that
quickly and accurately removes media from the bins and into single
or dual banders.
2. Description of Related Art
[0003] Retail stores often utilize signage to convey information
regarding products offered for sale, for example, product cost,
unit cost, sale pricing, etc. Such signage must be updated and/or
replaced on a periodic basis. For example, regular product pricing
may change, or during a sale, a discounted price may be necessary.
Changes to signage may be required for hundreds or even thousands
of products and these changes may be required daily, weekly or
another periodic term. In some states, it is critical that the
signage be updated in a timely fashion as the retail store may be
obligated to honor the price displayed adjacent the product. In
other words, if the store fails to remove signage that displays a
discounted cost, the store must charge that cost if a customer
relies upon that price when making a purchase selection. In view of
the foregoing, it should be apparent that proper timing and
placement of signage is a critical responsibility of a retail
store.
[0004] Although some retail chain stores share common store
layouts, also known as a store planogram, most retail locations,
even within a chain store, have unique store planograms. The
changeover of signage can incur significant time which in turn
incurs significant cost. A common practice is to print sheets of
signage and an employee or group of employees are tasked with
signage changeover. These methods include various deficiencies, for
example, sheets printed out of order or not matched to the store
planogram, sheets that require further separation of individual
signage labels, etc.
[0005] In view of the foregoing issues, some stores require signage
to be in a per store planogram order and to be pre-separated, both
to facilitate the efficient changeover of signage. It has been
found that to achieve this arrangement of signage, signage labels
or cards are imposed so that each set of labels is in sequential
order within a sheet and then across the collection of sheets. For
example, cards may be delivered to various stores in stacks of
ninety-six cards each stack thereby requiring three sheets, each
sheet containing thirty-two labels, to be collated sequentially to
produce a complete stack. Cards of this type may be cut using a
high speed cutting system. The cards may be fed from a slitter
system into bins, however it has been found that these systems are
ineffective as the cards are not guided and adjacent cards
interfere with each other as they bounce and settle into the bins.
Such systems cause a high percentage of media jams and thus result
is downtime and increased costs.
[0006] The heretofore mentioned problems were addressed in U.S.
Pat. No. 9,463,946 which is incorporated herein by reference to the
extent needed to practice the present disclosure and provides a
system for collating a plurality of media including a first bin, a
second bin arranged adjacent to the first bin, a collated stack
receiver arranged proximate the second bin opposite the first bin,
first, second and third guides, where the first and second guides
are positioned on opposing sides of the first bin, and the second
and third guides are positioned on opposing sides of the second
bin, and a pusher. When the first, second and third guides are
positioned in non-retracted locations, a first set of the plurality
of media is deposited in the first bin and a second set of the
plurality of media is deposited in the second bin, and when the
first, second and third guides are positioned in retracted
locations, the pusher moves the first set to the second bin
vertically above the second set to form a first combined set and
then moves the first combined set to a collated stack receiver.
[0007] This system employs a set of static angled collation bins
and a one-direction pusher that directs media into a single bander.
After each push the collation system resets by dynamically dropping
the pusher and rewinding the pusher under the bins and then
actuating the pusher into an up position to home to prepare for the
next collation. Because the system must reset to the home position
after each push, significant time is added to the overall process
and system timing is negatively affected. However, this drop and
reset to height causes additional vibration and settling issues and
requires accounting for settling time.
[0008] The present disclosure addresses all of these problems in a
practical and cost effective system and method.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0009] Accordingly, a dynamic dual bin position collation system is
disclosed that eliminates return and reset of the
heretofore-mentioned pusher system by providing a dynamic bin
system that allows accumulated sets of media to be collated in
forward and back directions and pushed to two banders rather than
being restricted to one bander and thereby increasing the
productivity of the collation system.
[0010] Other objects, features and advantages of one or more
embodiments will be readily appreciable from the following detailed
description and from the accompanying drawings and claims.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] Various embodiments are disclosed, by way of example only,
with reference to the accompanying drawings in which corresponding
reference symbols indicate corresponding parts, in which:
[0012] FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a prior art system for
collating media with a plurality of guides in non-retracted
positions;
[0013] FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the prior art system
depicted in FIG. 1 with the plurality of guides in retracted
positions and a pusher moving stacks of media toward a collated
stack receiver;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a plan view of a collation system with dual push
collation and dual banders in parallel;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a plan view of a collation system with dual push
collation and dual banders in a 90.degree. configuration
[0016] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of dual direction dynamic
collection bins shown in a right hand collation configuration in
accordance with the present disclosure;
[0017] FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the dual direction dynamic
collection bins shown in FIG. 5 with an end plate removed and in a
reverse or left hand collation configuration; and
[0018] FIG. 7 is a plan view of dual direction dynamic collection
bins in a right hand configuration being emptied by a pusher.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0019] At the outset, it should be appreciated that like drawing
numbers on different drawing views identify identical, or
functionally similar, structural elements of the embodiments set
forth herein. Furthermore, it is understood that these embodiments
are not limited to the particular methodology, materials and
modifications described and as such may, of course, vary. It is
also understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose
of describing particular aspects only, and is not intended to limit
the scope of the disclosed embodiments, which are limited only by
the appended claims.
[0020] Moreover, although any methods, devices or materials similar
or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice
or testing of these embodiments, some embodiments of methods,
devices, and materials are now described.
[0021] Prior art FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 9,463,946 shows system for
collating a plurality of media, i.e., system 100, includes first
bin 102, second bin 104 arranged adjacent to first bin 102,
collated stack receiver 106 arranged proximate second bin 104
opposite first bin 102, first, second and third guides 108, 110 and
112, respectively, and pusher 114. First guide 108 and second guide
110 are positioned on opposing sides of first bin 102, i.e., sides
116 and 118, while second guide 110 and third guide 112 are
positioned on opposing sides of second bin 104, i.e., sides 120 and
122. When first, second and third guides 108, 110 and 112,
respectively, are positioned in non-retracted locations, first set
124 of plurality of media 126 is deposited in first bin 102 and
second set 128 of plurality of media 126 is deposited in second bin
104. When the first, second and third guides 108, 110 and 112,
respectively, are positioned in retracted locations as shown in
FIG. 2, pusher 114, in the direction depicted by unidirectional
arrows 130, moves first set 124 to second bin 104 vertically above
second set 128 to form a first combined set, i.e., combined set
132, and moves combined set 132 to collated stack receiver 106.
[0022] In FIGS. 1 and 2, first bin 102 comprises angularly disposed
shelf 134 and second bin 104 comprises angularly disposed shelf
136. When first, second and third guides 108, 110 and 112,
respectively, are positioned in non-retracted locations, first set
124 of plurality of media 126 is deposited on angularly disposed
shelf 134 and second set 126 of plurality of media 126 is deposited
on angularly disposed shelf 136. Moreover, when first, second and
third guides 108, 110 and 112, respectively, are positioned in
retracted locations as in FIG. 2, pusher 114 moves first set 124 to
angularly disposed shelf 136 vertically above second set 128 to
form combined set 132 and moves combined set 132 to collated stack
receiver 106.
[0023] The auto-collation system 100 of FIG. 1 employs a set of
static angled collation bins 101 and 102 and a one-direction pusher
114 to guide media from the bins to a single bander. After each
push pusher 114 must go through a cumbersome process of dropping
below the bins and rewinding to a home position in order to prepare
for the next collation. Rewinding to the home position after each
push impacts the timing system and dropping the pusher below the
bins causes additional vibration and settling issues.
[0024] These issues are addressed in the embodiments described
hereinafter in accordance with the present disclosure including in
FIG. 3 which shows a collation system 200 in which card sheets 201
are directed into multiple bins and pushed out of the bins into
dual banders. Card sheets 201 are outputted from a printer 210 onto
a conveyor 212 positioned lengthwise and forwarded into a slitter
214 that is movable between cutting and non-cutting positions. In
the cutting position slitter 214 places slits 216 across a portion
of card sheets 201 and conveyor 218 conveys the sheets into a
second cutter 220 which then cuts the card sheets into individual
cards and forwards them into a collection station 250 of FIG. 5
that includes four bins 252, 254, 256 and 258 and will be described
in detail hereinafter. The cards are alternately pushed in sets 202
from the bins into a first bander 270 or a second bander 280. Card
sets 202 are outputted from bander 270 onto conveyor 272 and bander
280 employs conveyor 282 to present card sets 202 for pickup at
both conveyors by an operator. Suitable cutters are disclosed in
the above cross-referenced U.S. application Ser. No.
15/358,317.
[0025] An alternative embodiment of the present disclosure is shown
in FIG. 4 that includes a collation system 300 with dual push
collation and dual banders in a 90.degree. configuration to
accommodate a different space requirement. Here, card sheets 301
are directed into multiple bins and pushed out of the bins into
dual banders. Card sheets 301 are outputted from a printer 310 onto
a conveyor 312 positioned lengthwise and forwarded into a slitter
314 that is movable between cutting and non-cutting positions. In
the cutting position slitter 314 places slits 316 into a portion of
card sheets 301 widthwise and conveyor 318 conveys the sheet into a
second cutter 320 which then cuts the card sheets into individual
cards and forwards them into bins of a collection station 250 shown
in FIG. 5. The cards are alternately pushed in sets 302 from the
bins into a first bander 370 or a second bander 380. Card sets 302
are outputted from bander 370 onto conveyor 372 and bander 380
employs conveyor 382 to present card sets 302 for pickup at both
conveyors by an operator.
[0026] In FIG. 5, a collection station 250 in accordance with the
present disclosure includes dual direction dynamic collection bins
252, 254, 256 and 258 positioned in a right hand configuration.
Individual and separate cards exiting slitter 220 enter each bin
simultaneously over front wall 260 and then bounces off back wall
262 and drop into the separate bins. Bins 252, 254, 256 and 258 are
each separated into two parts with a passageway in between the two
separate parts. The passageway accommodates a bidirectional pusher
290 shown in FIG. 7 that is actuated after a counting of cards for
each collation is completed. In FIG. 6, bidirectional bins 252,
254, 256 and 258 are shown without front wall 262 in FIG. 5 and
flipped into an opposite and left hand collation configuration.
[0027] As shown in FIG. 7, pusher 290 which is situated for
movement in the passageway between the two parts of bins 252, 254,
256 and 258 has been actuated and is in the process of pushing
completed sets of cards from the bins into bander 270. Once the
pusher and card sets have cleared the bins, the dynamic bins flip
to an opposite angle and the next collation is collected. Once
collected, the sets are then pushed by pusher 290 to the opposite
bander 370. Pusher 290 does not require a reset because the pusher
ends the first push in position for the start of the next push to
the opposite side bander.
[0028] In recapitulation, the time lost in the return and reset of
pusher systems used to move sets of cards from fixed bins to a
bander in the past has been eliminated by the introduction of a
card collection station that allows card sets in bidirectional bins
to be pushed by a bidirectional pusher to two separate banders and
thereby increase productivity of the collation system.
[0029] The claims, as originally presented and as they may be
amended, encompass variations, alternatives, modifications,
improvements, equivalents, and substantial equivalents of the
embodiments and teachings disclosed herein, including those that
are presently unforeseen or unappreciated, and that, for example,
may arise from applicants/patentees and others. Unless specifically
recited in a claim, steps or components of claims should not be
implied or imported from the specification or any other claims as
to any particular order, number, position, size, shape, angle,
color, or material.
* * * * *