US3865486A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Area measuring device
Assignee: OCE-BRUNING Inc A CORP OF DELAWARE
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Filing: 1973-06-04
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Granted: 1975-02-11
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Expires: 1993-06-04
Abstract
Abstract An area measuring device automatically measures the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel. The device is particularly useful in conjunction with a copying machine for measuring the area of an original document being fed through the copying machine for reproduction purposes. The width of the original document is measured by a plurality of spaced sensors disposed transverse to the path of travel of the original document. The length of the original document is measured by a pulse generator which generates a plurality of clock pulses indicative of the length of the original document being fed through the copying machine. The area of the original document is determined by loading the width of the original document is determined by loading the width of the original document as detected by the plurality of spaced sensors into a parallel-load shift register and by shifting the width information out of the shift register in response to the clock pulses from the pulse generator indicative of the length of the original document. Each output pulse from the shift register thus represents an area increment of the original document. The output pulses from the shift register are fed to an indicator counter which accumulates these output pulses and provides a visual numerical indication of the total area of the original document fed through the copying machine.
Inventors
- 👤 William B Miles
- 👤 John S Copeland
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-25 22:15
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/60; G03G15/607
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 32
Claim 1
Independent Claim
330 words
A device for determining the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel comprising: means dIsposed across said path of travel of said planar object for detecting a first dimension of said planar object, said detecting means including a plurality of sensors evenly spaced across said path of travel, each sensor including means for providing an output signal upon detection of said object, a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said planar object along said path of travel, said pulse source comprising a source of electromagnetic radiation, means for detecting the presence of electromagnetic radiation, and a rotatable opaque circular disk having a plurality of apertures equally spaced about the periphery thereof positioned between the source of electromagnetic radiation and said electromagnetic radiation detecting means, said electromagnetic radiation detecting means including means for generating a single one of said clock pulses in response to each detection of electromagnetic radiation, mixing means responsive to said output signal from said first dimension detecting means and said clock pulses for providing at least one output signal corresponding to an increment of an area of said planar object, said mixing means including a shift register having a plurality of serially interconnected stages numerically equal to the number of said plurality of said sensors, each stage being electrically coupled to one of said sensors and including means for storing first and second signals, each of said stages being operable to store said second signal in response to an output signal from the sensor coupled thereto and to store said first signal in the absence of an output signal from the sensor coupled thereto, said shift register being responsive to said clock pulses for serially shifting said first and second signals between said stages, and means connected to one of said stages for accumulating the second signals shifted therethrough to provide an indication of the total area of said planar object.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
330 words
A device for determining the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel comprising: means dIsposed across said path of travel of said planar object for detecting a first dimension of said planar object, said detecting means including a plurality of sensors evenly spaced across said path of travel, each sensor including means for providing an output signal upon detection of said object, a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said planar object along said path of travel, said pulse source comprising a source of electromagnetic radiation, means for detecting the presence of electromagnetic radiation, and a rotatable opaque circular disk having a plurality of apertures equally spaced about the periphery thereof positioned between the source of electromagnetic radiation and said electromagnetic radiation detecting means, said electromagnetic radiation detecting means including means for generating a single one of said clock pulses in response to each detection of electromagnetic radiation, mixing means responsive to said output signal from said first dimension detecting means and said clock pulses for providing at least one output signal corresponding to an increment of an area of said planar object, said mixing means including a shift register having a plurality of serially interconnected stages numerically equal to the number of said plurality of said sensors, each stage being electrically coupled to one of said sensors and including means for storing first and second signals, each of said stages being operable to store said second signal in response to an output signal from the sensor coupled thereto and to store said first signal in the absence of an output signal from the sensor coupled thereto, said shift register being responsive to said clock pulses for serially shifting said first and second signals between said stages, and means connected to one of said stages for accumulating the second signals shifted therethrough to provide an indication of the total area of said planar object.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
65 words
A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said mixing means further includes means for inhibiting the storage of said signals by each of said stages until a plurality of said clock pulses numerically equal to said number of said plurality of said sensors have been provided by said source subsequent to the detection of said planar object by at least one of said sensors.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
47 words
A device as defined in claim 1 wherein said accumulating means includes means for receiving and counting said second signals from said mixing means and for providing an output signal in response to the receipt of a predetermined number of said second signals from said mixing means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
46 words
A device as defined in claim 3 wherein said accumulating means includes an indicator counter for receiving said output signal from said receiving and counting means and for providing a visual indication of the total number of output signals received from said receiving and counting means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
80 words
A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the number of each of said plurality of said sensors and said plurality of stages is equal to a positive integer N, said device further including counting means responsive to said clock pulses for providing a loading signal in response to each N clock pulses received thereby, said shift register being responsive to said loading signal for simultaneously sampling said output signals and storing said first and second signals in response thereto.
Claim 7
Independent Claim
299 words
A device for reproducing an original document on a sheet of copy paper comprising means for feeding said original document through such device along a path of travel, means for illuminating said original document to form a latent image of said original document on said sheet, means for developing said latent image to form a visual image of said original document on said sheet and means for determining the area of said original document, said area determining means comprising means disposed across said path of travel of saId original document for detecting a first dimension of said original document and for simultaneously providing a plurality of output signals, the number of said output signals being indicative of said first dimension, a pulse source providing a pre-determined number of clock pulses for a pre-determined increment of linear travel of said original document along said path of travel, said pulse source including means rotatable in synchronism with the movement with said original document along said path of travel, said rotatable means having a plurality of indicia spaced about the periphery thereof, said pulse source further including means responsive to said indicia for generating a single one of said clock pulses in response to each one of said indicia for each rotation of said rotatable means, means for simultaneously sampling and storing said output signals from said detecting means, said sample and storage means having a plurality of stages, each stage being adapted to sample and store one of said simultaneous output signals, said sample and storage means being responsive to said clock pulses for sequentially shifting between stages the output signals stored therein and means electrically coupled to one of said stages for accumulating the output signals shifted therethrough to provide an indication of the total area of said original document.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
299 words
A device for reproducing an original document on a sheet of copy paper comprising means for feeding said original document through such device along a path of travel, means for illuminating said original document to form a latent image of said original document on said sheet, means for developing said latent image to form a visual image of said original document on said sheet and means for determining the area of said original document, said area determining means comprising means disposed across said path of travel of saId original document for detecting a first dimension of said original document and for simultaneously providing a plurality of output signals, the number of said output signals being indicative of said first dimension, a pulse source providing a pre-determined number of clock pulses for a pre-determined increment of linear travel of said original document along said path of travel, said pulse source including means rotatable in synchronism with the movement with said original document along said path of travel, said rotatable means having a plurality of indicia spaced about the periphery thereof, said pulse source further including means responsive to said indicia for generating a single one of said clock pulses in response to each one of said indicia for each rotation of said rotatable means, means for simultaneously sampling and storing said output signals from said detecting means, said sample and storage means having a plurality of stages, each stage being adapted to sample and store one of said simultaneous output signals, said sample and storage means being responsive to said clock pulses for sequentially shifting between stages the output signals stored therein and means electrically coupled to one of said stages for accumulating the output signals shifted therethrough to provide an indication of the total area of said original document.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
23 words
A device as defined in claim 6 wherein said detecting means includes a plurality of sensors evenly spaced across said path of travel.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
27 words
A device as defined in claim 7 wherein said predetermined number of clock pulses numerically equals an integral multiple of the number of said plurality of sensors.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
23 words
A device as defined in claim 8 wherein said predetermined number of clock pulses numerically equals said number of said plurality of sensors.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
80 words
A device as defined in claim 9 wherein said sample and storage means includes a shift register and wherein said plurality of stages are included in the shift register and numerically equal to said number of said plurality of said sensors, each one of said sensors being electrically coupled to one of said stages for simultaneously loading one of said simultaneous output signals into said one stage in response to the detection of said original document by said one sensor.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
68 words
A device as defined in claim 10 wherein said sample and storage means further includes means for inhibiting the loading of said output signals into each of said stages until a plurality of said clock pulses numerically equal to said number of said plurality of said sensors have been provided by said source subsequent to the detection of said original document by at least one of said sensors.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
38 words
A device as defined in claim 7 wherein each of said sensors comprises a miniature mechanical switch having a deflectable finger portion for actuating said switch disposed across said path of travel and engagable by said original document.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
54 words
A device as defined in claim 7 wherein said rotatable means comprises a rotatable opaque circular disk, and said plurality of indicia comprises a plurality of apertures equally spaced about the periphery of said disk, the number of said apertures being equal to an integral multiple of the number of said plurality of sensors.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
52 words
A device as defined in claim 13 wherein said source of clock pulses further includes a source of electromagnetic radiation and said means responsive to said indicia comprises means for detecting the presence of electromagnetic radiation, said disk being positioned between said source of electromagnetic radiation and said electromagnetic radiation detecting means.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
51 words
A device as defined in claim 6 wherein said accumulating means includes means for receiving and counting said signals from said a second output sample and storage means and for providing an output signal in response to the receipt of a predetermined number of said output signals from said mixing means.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
49 words
A device as defined in claim 15 wherein said accumulating means includes an indicator counter for receiving said second output signals from said receiving and counting means and for providing a visual indication of the total number of said second output signals received from said receiving and counting means.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
295 words
A device for determining the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel comprising means disposed across said path of travel of said planar object for detecting a first dimension of said planar object, said detecting means including a plurality of sensors evenly spaced across said path of travel, the number of said sensors being equal to N, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, each of said sensors including means for providing an output signal upon detection of said object, sample and storage means having N stages, each of said N stages being electrically coupled to a single one of said N sensors, a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said planar object along said path of travel, said pulse source including means rotatable in synchronism with the travel of said object along said path of travel, said rotatable means having a plurality of indicia spaced about the periphery thereof and means responsive to said indicia for providing a single clock pulse indicative of the proximity of each one of said indicia, counting means responsive to said clock pulses for providing a loading signal upon receipt of N clock pulses, said sample and storage means being responsive to said loading signal to simultaneously sample in the stages thereof said output signals from said sensors and store signals representative of said output signals, said sample and storage means being further responsive to each of said clock pulses for serially shifting the output signal representative signals between adjacent stages thereof and means connected to one of said stages for accumulating the output signal representative signals shifted therethrough to provide an indication of the total area of said planar object.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
295 words
A device for determining the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel comprising means disposed across said path of travel of said planar object for detecting a first dimension of said planar object, said detecting means including a plurality of sensors evenly spaced across said path of travel, the number of said sensors being equal to N, where N is a positive integer greater than 1, each of said sensors including means for providing an output signal upon detection of said object, sample and storage means having N stages, each of said N stages being electrically coupled to a single one of said N sensors, a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said planar object along said path of travel, said pulse source including means rotatable in synchronism with the travel of said object along said path of travel, said rotatable means having a plurality of indicia spaced about the periphery thereof and means responsive to said indicia for providing a single clock pulse indicative of the proximity of each one of said indicia, counting means responsive to said clock pulses for providing a loading signal upon receipt of N clock pulses, said sample and storage means being responsive to said loading signal to simultaneously sample in the stages thereof said output signals from said sensors and store signals representative of said output signals, said sample and storage means being further responsive to each of said clock pulses for serially shifting the output signal representative signals between adjacent stages thereof and means connected to one of said stages for accumulating the output signal representative signals shifted therethrough to provide an indication of the total area of said planar object.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
51 words
A device as recited in claim 17 wherein said accumulating means includes means for receiving and counting the output signal representative signals shifted through said sample and storage means and for providing a second output signal in response to the receipt of a predetermined number of said output signal representative signals.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
43 words
A device as recited in claim 18 wherein said accumulating means includes an indicator counter for receiving said second output signals and for providing a visual indication of the total number of said second output signals received from said receiving and counting means.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
88 words
A device as recited in claim 19 wherein said rotatable means comprises a rotatable opaque circular disk, said plurality of indicia comprises a plurality of apertures equally spaced about the periphery of said disk, the number of said apertures being equal to an integral multiple of N, said pulse source comprises a source of electromagnetic radiation and said means responsive to the indicia comprises means for detecting the presence of electromagnetic radiation, said disk being positioned between said source of electromagnetic radiation and said electromagnetic radiation detecting means.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
27 words
A device as defined in claim 17 wherein said predetermined number of clock pulses numerically equals an integral multiple of the number of said plurality of sensors.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
23 words
A device as defined in claim 21 wherein said predetermined number of clock pulses numerically equals said number of said plurality of sensors.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
38 words
A device as defined in claim 17 wherein each of said sensors comprises a miniature mechanical switch having a deflectable finger portion for actuating said switch disposed across said path of travel and engagable by said planar object.
Claim 27
Independent Claim
256 words
A device for determining the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel comprising means Disposed across said path of travel of said planar object for detecting a first dimension of said planar object, said detecting means including a plurality of sensors spaced across said path of travel, each sensor including means for providing an output signal upon detection of said object, a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said planar object along said path of travel, mixing means responsive to said output signal from said first dimension detecting means and said clock pulses for providing at least one second signal corresponding to an increment of area of said planar object, said mixing means including a plurality of stages numerically equal to at least the number of said plurality of said sensors, each one of said sensors being electrically coupled to one of said stages for loading information into said one stage in response to the detection of said planar object by said one sensor, means connected to one of said stages for accumulating the second signals to provide an indication of the total area of said planar object, and means for inhibiting the loading of said information into each of said stages until a plurality of clock pulses numerically equal to said number of said plurality of said sensors have been provided by said source subsequent to the detection of said planar object by at least one of said sensors.
Claim 28
Independent Claim
256 words
A device for determining the area of a planar object in motion along a path of travel comprising means Disposed across said path of travel of said planar object for detecting a first dimension of said planar object, said detecting means including a plurality of sensors spaced across said path of travel, each sensor including means for providing an output signal upon detection of said object, a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said planar object along said path of travel, mixing means responsive to said output signal from said first dimension detecting means and said clock pulses for providing at least one second signal corresponding to an increment of area of said planar object, said mixing means including a plurality of stages numerically equal to at least the number of said plurality of said sensors, each one of said sensors being electrically coupled to one of said stages for loading information into said one stage in response to the detection of said planar object by said one sensor, means connected to one of said stages for accumulating the second signals to provide an indication of the total area of said planar object, and means for inhibiting the loading of said information into each of said stages until a plurality of clock pulses numerically equal to said number of said plurality of said sensors have been provided by said source subsequent to the detection of said planar object by at least one of said sensors.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
33 words
A device as recited in claim 24 wherein said inhibiting means includes means responsive to said output signal from one of said sensors upon detection of said object for counting said clock pulses.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
22 words
A device as recited in claim 25 wherein said mixing means includes a shift register having a plurality of serially interconnected stages.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
235 words
A device for reproducing an original document on a sheet of copy paper comprising means for feeding said original document through said device along a path of travel, means for illuminating said original document to form a latent image of said original document on said sheet, means for developing said latent image to form a visual image of said original document on said sheet, and means for determining the area of said original document, said area determining means comprising means disposed across said path of travel of said original document for detecting a first dimension of said original document and for simultaneously providing a plurality of output signals, the number of said output signals being indicative of said first dimension, and a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said original document along said path of travel, means for sampling and accumulating said output signals from said detecting means, said sampling and accumulating means being responsive to said clock pulses and said accumulated output signals for providing an indication of the total area of said original document, and means for inhibiting the generation of said area indicative signal until a plurality of clock pulses numerically equal to said number of said plurality of sensors have been provided by said source subsequent to the detection of said original document by at least one of said sensors.
Claim 32
Independent Claim
235 words
A device for reproducing an original document on a sheet of copy paper comprising means for feeding said original document through said device along a path of travel, means for illuminating said original document to form a latent image of said original document on said sheet, means for developing said latent image to form a visual image of said original document on said sheet, and means for determining the area of said original document, said area determining means comprising means disposed across said path of travel of said original document for detecting a first dimension of said original document and for simultaneously providing a plurality of output signals, the number of said output signals being indicative of said first dimension, and a pulse source providing a predetermined number of clock pulses for a predetermined increment of linear travel of said original document along said path of travel, means for sampling and accumulating said output signals from said detecting means, said sampling and accumulating means being responsive to said clock pulses and said accumulated output signals for providing an indication of the total area of said original document, and means for inhibiting the generation of said area indicative signal until a plurality of clock pulses numerically equal to said number of said plurality of sensors have been provided by said source subsequent to the detection of said original document by at least one of said sensors.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-02-10 | 1978-08-12 | 1979-02-11 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-02-10 | 1982-08-12 | 1983-02-11 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-02-10 | 1986-08-12 | 1987-02-11 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |