Signature job copying system and method

Claim 2

Apparatus for signature printing with an automatic duplexing copier by presenting document sheets to an imaging station of the copier in a signature page order for producing signature copy sheets comprising copies of signature pairs of said document sheets on both sides of said signature copy sheets so that said signature copy sheets can be folded into page order signature sets, comprising: receiving means for receiving a collated stack of document sheets in sequential serial order; and feeding means for selectively feeding the document sheets from a top and from a bottom of the stack received in said receiving means in accordance with a signature sequence by which a first document is fed from one of the top and the bottom of the stack followed by feeding alternate pairs of documents from the top and from the bottom of the stack, starting with an opposite one of said top and bottom of the stack from said one containing said first document, until all documents are fed from said receiving means, for moving said documents two at a time as a signature document pair in said signature sequence directly from said receiving means to an imaging station.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: output feeding means for feeding the signature document pairs from the imaging station after the documents have been imaged; and an output tray, separate from said receiving means, for receiving the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said feeding means feeds the documents directly from said receiving means to the imaging station without rotating the documents.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said feeding means feeds the documents long-edge-first onto the imaging station.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said feeding means is an automatic document handler including: a bottom feeder, located below said receiving means, for feeding a lowermost sheet from the bottom of the document stack; a top feeder, located above said receiving means, for feeding an uppermost sheet from the top of the document stack; and control means for controlling said bottom feeder and said top feeder to feed the documents in said signature sequence.

Claim 7

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said feeding means determines a compensating number of documents which should be added to the stack received in said receiving means so that a total number of documents in the stack is a multiple of 4, and skips the feeding of said compensating number of documents from the opposite one of said top and bottom of the stack while continuing to move documents fed from the stack to the imaging station as if no documents had been skipped, so that said compensating number of blank pages results at the end of a set of signature copy sheets formed from the stack.

Claim 8

Apparatus for signature printing comprising: an automatic duplexing copier having: an imaging station where documents are placed and imaged to produce a modulated image signal corresponding to images contained on the documents; an image receptor for receiving said image signal to form a latent image thereon corresponding to images contained on the documents; a developer for toner developing the latent image to form a toner image on the image receptor corresponding to images contained on the documents; a transfer station for transferring the toner image to a copy sheet; and a duplex paper path for conveying signature copy sheets short-edge-first past said transfer station to receive a signature toner image on both sides thereof, said duplex paper path including an inversion station for inverting signature copy sheets having a side one signature image prior to said signature copy sheet being fed to said transfer station to receive a side two signature image; and an automatic document feeder for presenting document sheets to said imaging station in a signature page order for producing the signature copy sheets, said automatic document feeder comprising: receiving means for receiving a collated stack of document sheets in sequential serial order; and feeding means for selectively feeding the document sheets long-edge-first from a top and from a bottom of the stack received in said receiving means in accordance with a signature sequence by which a first document is fed from one of the top and the bottom of the stack followed by feeding alternate pairs of documents from the top and from the bottom of the stack, starting with an opposite one of said top and bottom of the stack from said one containing said first document, until all documents are fed from said receiving means, for moving said documents two at a time as a signature document pair in said signature sequence directly from said receiving means to the imaging station.

Claim 9

Apparatus for signature printing comprising: an automatic duplexing copier having: an imaging station where documents are placed and imaged to produce a modulated image signal corresponding to images contained on the documents; an image receptor for receiving said image signal to form a latent image thereon corresponding to images contained on the documents; a developer for toner developing the latent image to form a toner image on the image receptor corresponding to images contained on the documents; a transfer station for transferring the toner image to a copy sheet; and a duplex paper path for conveying signature copy sheets short-edge-first past said transfer station to receive a signature toner image on both sides thereof, said duplex paper path including an inversion station for inverting signature copy sheets having a side one signature image prior to said signature copy sheet being fed to said transfer station to receive a side two signature image; and an automatic document feeder for presenting document sheets to said imaging station in a signature page order for producing the signature copy sheets, said automatic document feeder comprising: receiving means for receiving a collated stack of document sheets in sequential serial order; and feeding means for selectively feeding the document sheets long-edge-first from a top and from a bottom of the stack received in said receiving means in accordance with a signature sequence by which a first document is fed from one of the top and the bottom of the stack followed by feeding alternate pairs of documents from the top and from the bottom of the stack, starting with an opposite one of said top and bottom of the stack from said one containing said first document, until all documents are fed from said receiving means, for moving said documents two at a time as a signature document pair in said signature sequence directly from said receiving means to the imaging station.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said automatic document feeder further comprises: output feeding means for feeding the signature document pairs from the imaging station after the documents have been imaged; and an output tray, separate from said receiving means, for receiving the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said feeding means feeds the documents directly from said receiving means to the imaging station without rotating the documents.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said feeding means is an automatic document handler including: a bottom feeder, located below said receiving means, for feeding a lowermost sheet from the bottom of the document stack; a top feeder, located above said receiving means, for feeding an uppermost sheet from the top of the document stack; and control means for controlling said bottom feeder and said top feeder to feed the documents in said signature sequence.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said automatic document feeder further comprises: output feeding means for feeding the signature document pairs from the imaging station after the documents have been imaged; an output tray, separate from said receiving means, for receiving the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means, said imaged document pairs received in said output tray forming an output stack of uncollated document sheets in said signature page order; a recirculating document path for receiving the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means and recirculating said documents back to said receiving means; a gate for selectively directing the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means to one of said output tray and said recirculating document path; and wherein said control means also controls said gate and is operable in a multiple signature set copy mode to control said gate to direct said documents to said output tray to produce a first copy set, and when the output stack is placed in said receiving means in said multiple signature set copy mode, to control only one of said top feeder and said bottom feeder to feed the document sheets to said imaging station while controlling said gate to direct said documents to said recirculating document path to produce subsequent copy sets.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said duplex paper path is buffer-trayless.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said duplex paper path includes a buffer tray so that said copier is capable of producing multiple uncollated copy sets, and further comprising control means for controlling said copier and said automatic document feeder so that each signature document pair fed to said imaging station by said feeding means is imaged multiple times onto respective multiple signature copy sheets which are temporarily stored in said duplex buffer tray prior to being fed past said transfer station a second time to receive the side two signature image.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said feeding means determines a compensating number of documents which should be added to the stack received in said receiving means so that a total number of documents in the stack is a multiple of 4, and skips the feeding of said compensating number of documents from the opposite one of said top and bottom of the stack while continuing to move documents fed from the stack to the imaging station as if no documents had been skipped, so that said compensating number of blank pages results at the end of a set of signature copy sheets formed from the stack.

Claim 19

The method of claim 15, further comprising: feeding the signature document pairs from the imaging station after the documents have been imaged to an output tray.

Claim 20

The method of claim 15, wherein the documents are fed directly by said automatic document feeder to the imaging station without rotating the documents.

Claim 21

The method of claim 15, wherein the documents are fed long-edge-first onto the imaging station.

Claim 22

The method of claim 18, wherein the signature copy sheets are fed through the copier short-edge-first.

Claim 23

The method of claim 15, wherein the signature copy sheets are fed through the copier short-edge-first.

Claim 24

The method of claim 15, wherein the automatic document feeder includes: an output feeding means for feeding the signature document pairs from the imaging station after the documents have been imaged; an output tray for receiving the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means, said imaged document pairs received in said output tray forming an output stack of uncollated document sheets in said signature page order; a recirculating document path for receiving the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means and recirculating said documents back to an input tray of said automatic document feeder; and a gate for selectively directing the signature document pairs fed by said output feeding means to one of said output tray and said recirculating document path; and wherein said method further comprises controlling said gate in a multiple signature set copy mode to direct said documents to said output tray to produce a first copy set, and when the output stack is placed in said input tray in said multiple signature set copy mode, controlling only one of said top feeder and said bottom feeder to feed the document sheets to said imaging station while controlling said gate to direct said documents to said recirculating document path to produce subsequent copy sets.

Claim 25

The method of claim 15, further comprising imaging each signature document pair multiple times at the imaging station to make multiple duplicate signature copy sheets.

Claim 26

The method of claim 15, further comprising: prior to selectively feeding, determining a compensating number of documents which should be added to the stack placed in the automatic document feeder so that a total number of documents in the stack is a multiple of 4, and wherein said selective feeding includes skipping the feeding of said compensating number of documents from the opposite one of said top and bottom of the stack while continuing to move documents fed from the stack to the imaging station as if no documents had been skipped, so that said compensating number of blank pages result at the end of a set of signature copy sheets formed from the stack.