Patent US2285345A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
Patent US5508798A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US5508798A
Expired / Lapsed
US
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Image forming method and apparatus which determine stapling position using an orientation by an image and a sheet feed direction
Assignee: Ricoh Co Ltd
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Filing: 1993-08-16
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Granted: 1996-04-16
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Expires: 2013-08-16
Abstract
Abstract An image forming apparatus having a finisher capable of stapling a stack of sheets at any one of a plurality of positions. The apparatus automatically determines a stapling position matching the orientation of an image and a sheet feed direction, thereby reducing defective stapling.
Inventors
- 👤 Kenji Yamada
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-09 14:00
CPC Classifications
G; G03; G03G; G03G15/00; G03G15/65; G03G15/6538; G03G15/6541; G03G15/6544; G03G2215/00; G03G2215/00362; G03G2215/00789; G03G2215/00822; G03G2215/00827
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 38
Claim 1
Independent Claim
92 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing at least one of an angular orientation of characters of an image and whether the characters of the image are read horizontally relative to the angular orientation of the characters; and control means, connected to the recognizing means, for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of a sheet feed direction and said at least one of the angular orientation of the image and whether the characters of the image are read horizontally.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
92 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing at least one of an angular orientation of characters of an image and whether the characters of the image are read horizontally relative to the angular orientation of the characters; and control means, connected to the recognizing means, for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of a sheet feed direction and said at least one of the angular orientation of the image and whether the characters of the image are read horizontally.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein when a two point staple command is entered in a manual mode, said control means inhibits the stapling position from being automatically determined.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein when the stapling position is inhibited from being automatically determined, said control means urges an operator to enter a desired stapling position in a manual mode.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said control means produces an alarm for urging the operator to change an orientation of documents.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
45 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein when a stapling position is entered in a manual mode, said control means compares said stapling position with an automatically determined position and, if said stapling position entered differs from said automatically determined position, produces an alarm.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
31 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein when stapling is continuously repeated the same stapling position, said control means determines a stapling position only for the first set of sheets.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
60 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein said control means determines a stapling position on the basis of the sheet feed direction and said at least one of the angular orientation of the image and whether the characters of the image are read horizontally, wherein the image is an image of a cover page of a stack of pages.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
44 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein when two point stapling is commanded, said control means determines whether or not the beginning of a writing is located at a stapling side and, if a result of the decision is negative, produces an alarm.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
33 words
An image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: said recognizing means recognizes the angular orientation of the image by reading the image and examining an angular orientation of characters forming the image.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
81 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: determining an angular orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; determining a stapling position using the determined angular orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the determined stapling position.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
81 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: determining an angular orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; determining a stapling position using the determined angular orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the determined stapling position.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of: manually entering a two point staple command; wherein said step of stapling staples said sheets at two positions which correspond to the two point staple command.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
37 words
A method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of: manually inhibiting the step of determining the stapling position from being performed; and urging an operator to enter a desired stapling position in a manual mode.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 12, wherein: said urging step produces an alarm for urging the operator to change an orientation of said image to be copied.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
70 words
A method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of: manually entering a stapling position; comparing said stapling position which has been manually entered with said stapling position determined by said step for determining a stapling position; producing an alarm when said comparing step determines that said stapling position which has been manually entered is different from said stapling position determined by said step for determining a stapling position.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
32 words
A method according to claim 10, further comprising the step of: repeating said copying step and said stapling step a plurality of times without repeating said step of determining the stapling position.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
30 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein: said step of determining an orientation of the image to be copied determines the orientation of a cover of a stack of documents.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
76 words
A method according to claim 10, further comprising the steps of: manually entering a two point staple command; determining if a beginning of a writing is located at a stapling side when the two point staple command has been manually entered; and outputting an alarm when said step of determining if the beginning of a writing is located at the stapling side determines that the beginning of a writing is not located at the stapling side.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
41 words
A method according to claim 10, wherein: said step of determining an angular orientation of an image determines the angular orientation of the image by reading the image to be copied and examining an angular orientation of characters forming the image.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
70 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when a two point staple command is entered in a manual mode, said control means inhibits the stapling position from being automatically determined.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
70 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when a two point staple command is entered in a manual mode, said control means inhibits the stapling position from being automatically determined.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
73 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when the stapling position is inhibited from being automatically determined, said control means urges an operator to enter a desired stapling position in a manual mode.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
73 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when the stapling position is inhibited from being automatically determined, said control means urges an operator to enter a desired stapling position in a manual mode.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
24 words
An apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein said control means produces an alarm for urging the operator to change an orientation a document.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
89 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when a stapling position is entered in a manual mode, said control means compares the manual mode stapling position with the automatically determined position and, if said manual mode stapling position differs from said automatically determined stapling position, an alarm is generated.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
89 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when a stapling position is entered in a manual mode, said control means compares the manual mode stapling position with the automatically determined position and, if said manual mode stapling position differs from said automatically determined stapling position, an alarm is generated.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
84 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when two point stapling is commanded, said control means determines whether or not the beginning of a writing is located at a stapling side and, if a result of the decision is negative, an alarm is generated.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
84 words
An image forming apparatus having a finisher with a plurality of stapling positions, comprising: recognizing means for recognizing an orientation of an image; and control means for automatically determining a stapling position on the basis of the orientation of the image and a sheet feed direction; wherein when two point stapling is commanded, said control means determines whether or not the beginning of a writing is located at a stapling side and, if a result of the decision is negative, an alarm is generated.
Claim 30
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: manually entering a two point staple command; determining an orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; determining two stapling positions using the determined orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the two determined stapling positions which correspond to the two point staple command.
Claim 31
Independent Claim
95 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: manually entering a two point staple command; determining an orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; determining two stapling positions using the determined orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the two determined stapling positions which correspond to the two point staple command.
Claim 32
Independent Claim
106 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: determining an orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; manually inhibiting a step of determining the stapling position which uses the determined orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction from being performed; urging an operator to enter a desired stapling position in a manual mode copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the desired stapling position entered in the manual mode.
Claim 33
Independent Claim
106 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: determining an orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; manually inhibiting a step of determining the stapling position which uses the determined orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction from being performed; urging an operator to enter a desired stapling position in a manual mode copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the desired stapling position entered in the manual mode.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
27 words
A method according to claim 25, wherein: said urging step produces an alarm for urging the operator to change an orientation of said image to be copied.
Claim 35
Independent Claim
131 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: manually entering a stapling position; determining an orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; automatically determining a stapling position using the determined orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; comparing said stapling position which has been manually entered with said stapling position which has been automatically determined; producing an alarm when said comparing step determines that said stapling position which has been manually entered is different from said stapling position which has been automatically determined; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the determined stapling position.
Claim 36
Independent Claim
131 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: manually entering a stapling position; determining an orientation of an image to be copied; determining a sheet feed direction; automatically determining a stapling position using the determined orientation of the image to be copied and the determined sheet feed direction; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; comparing said stapling position which has been manually entered with said stapling position which has been automatically determined; producing an alarm when said comparing step determines that said stapling position which has been manually entered is different from said stapling position which has been automatically determined; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at the determined stapling position.
Claim 37
Independent Claim
116 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: manually entering a two point staple command; determining if a beginning of a writing is located at a stapling side when the two point staple command has been manually entered; outputting an alarm when said step of determining if the beginning of a writing is located at the stapling side determines that the beginning of a writing is not located at the stapling side; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at two stapling positions which correspond to the two point staple command.
Claim 38
Independent Claim
116 words
A method for determining a stapling position, comprising the computer implemented steps of: manually entering a two point staple command; determining if a beginning of a writing is located at a stapling side when the two point staple command has been manually entered; outputting an alarm when said step of determining if the beginning of a writing is located at the stapling side determines that the beginning of a writing is not located at the stapling side; copying a plurality of images which include said image to be copied onto sheets; and stapling said sheets, onto which the plurality of images have been copied, at two stapling positions which correspond to the two point staple command.
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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) | 1999-04-16 | 1999-10-16 | 2000-04-16 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2003-04-16 | 2003-10-16 | 2004-04-16 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2007-04-16 | 2007-10-16 | 2008-04-16 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |