System for printing, folding, and inserting pack slips

{
  "publication_number": "US10822131B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "System for printing, folding, and inserting pack slips",
  "abstract": "A system and method therefor for use with a conveyor carrying cartons inbound to a printing area and outbound away from the printing area. The system has a printer located in the printing area for printing documents to be inserted into corresponding cartons on the conveyor and a controller for cooperatively controlling operations of the conveyor and the printer based on the positions of the cartons relative to the printer. The controller includes a staging processor for determining when to cause the conveyor to carry the cartons inbound past the printer and when to cause the printer to print the documents. In operation, the controller queues the documents for printing, monitors outbound capacity of the conveyor based on detected positions of the cartons, releases a group of the cartons inbound on the conveyor in response to the outbound capacity reaching a predetermined threshold, and initiates printing the queued documents corresponding to the cartons in the group when the group of the cartons is released.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A system for use with a conveyor configured to carry a plurality of cartons inbound to a printing area and outbound away from the printing area, said conveyor having an outbound capacity as a function of a number of the cartons carried thereon away from the printing area, said system comprising: a printer located in the printing area and configured to print one or more documents to be inserted into corresponding cartons on the conveyor, said printer capable of printing a first page in a first period of time and printing a second page after the first page in a second period of time, said first period of time being greater than the second period of time; a sensor for detecting a position of at least one of the cartons on the conveyor relative to the printer; a controller for cooperatively controlling operations of the conveyor and the printer based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons relative to the printer, said controller including a staging processor for determining when to cause the conveyor to carry the cartons inbound past the printer and when to cause the printer to print the documents based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons inbound to the printing area and the first period of time; a memory storing processor-executable instructions that, when executed by the staging processor, cause the controller to: queue the documents for printing; monitor an available outbound capacity of the conveyor based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons outbound away from the printing area; release a group of the cartons inbound on the conveyor in response to the available outbound capacity reaching a predetermined threshold, the group comprising a number of the cartons based on the second period of time; and initiate printing the queued documents corresponding to the cartons in the group when the group of the cartons is released; and one or more carton scanners in communication with the controller and configured to detect identifying indicia on the cartons for use in verifying that the identifying indicia on each of the cartons matches parallel identifying indicia printed on the corresponding document inserted therein.",
    "2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a folder associated with the printer, said folder folding the printed documents before inserting the folded documents into corresponding cartons on the conveyor.",
    "3. The system of claim 1, wherein the group comprises at least three cartons before initiating printing.",
    "4. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is positioned locally to the printer.",
    "5. The system of claim 1 wherein the controller is positioned remotely from the printer.",
    "6. The system of claim 1, further comprising one or more carton scanners in communication with the controller and configured to detect identifying indicia on the cartons for use in verifying the identifying indicia match corresponding identifying indicia stored on a database.",
    "7. The system of claim 6, wherein the conveyor comprises a primary lane for carrying outbound cartons and further comprising a gate responsive to the controller for diverting the outbound cartons for which the identifying indicia does not match the corresponding identifying indicia stored on the database away from the primary lane to an exception lane.",
    "8. The system of claim 6, wherein the controller comprises an exception driver for comparing the identifying indicia to the corresponding identifying indicia stored on the database to determine which cartons have indicia that does not match the corresponding identifying indicia stored on the database and for generating a divert command in response thereto.",
    "9. A computer implemented method for use with a conveyor configured to carry a plurality of cartons inbound to a printing area and outbound away from the printing area, said conveyor having an outbound capacity as a function of a number of the cartons carried thereon away from the printing area, said method comprising: queuing documents for printing on a printer located in the printing area, said printer and configured to print one or more documents to be inserted into corresponding cartons on the conveyor, said printer capable of printing a first page in a first period of time and printing a second page after the first page in a second period of time, said first period of time being greater than the second period of time; detecting a position of at least one of the cartons on the conveyor relative to the printer; staging when to cause the conveyor to carry the cartons inbound past the printer and when to cause the printer to print the documents based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons inbound to the printing area and the first period of time; monitoring an available outbound capacity of the conveyor based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons outbound away from the printing area; releasing a group of the cartons inbound on the conveyor in response to the available outbound capacity reaching a predetermined threshold, the group comprising a number of the cartons based on the second period of time; initiating printing the queued documents corresponding to the cartons in the group when the group of the cartons is released; and detecting identifying indicia on the cartons and verifying each of the cartons matches the corresponding document inserted therein based on the detected identifying indicia.",
    "10. The computer implemented method of claim 9, wherein the identifying indicia includes a license plate number (LPN) and further comprising verifying that the identifying indicia on the cartons matches corresponding identifying indicia on a database by querying a scanned LPN and tracking number in a database.",
    "11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein verifying comprises setting a verify tag if the scanned LPN matches the tracking number in the database.",
    "12. The computer implemented method of claim 11, further comprising directing the cartons for which the verify tag is set onto the conveyer to carry the cartons away.",
    "13. The computer implemented method of claim 10, further comprising setting a reject tag if the scanned LPN does not match the tracking number in the database.",
    "14. The computer implemented method of claim 13, further comprising activating a gate on the conveyor for diverting the cartons for which the reject tag is set.",
    "15. A computer-readable storage device having processor-executable instructions stored thereon including instructions that, when executed by a staging processor, perform a method of: queuing documents for printing on a printer located in a printing area, said printer configured to print one or more documents to be inserted into corresponding cartons on a conveyor, said printer capable of printing a first page in a first period of time and printing a second page after the first page in a second period of time, said first period of time being greater than the second period of time; detecting a position of at least one of the cartons on the conveyor relative to the printer, said conveyor configured to carry a plurality of the cartons inbound to the printing area and outbound away from the printing area, said conveyor having an outbound capacity as a function of a number of the cartons carried thereon away from the printing area; staging when to cause the conveyor to carry the cartons inbound past the printer and when to cause the printer to print the documents based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons inbound to the printing area and the first period of time; monitoring an available outbound capacity of the conveyor based on the detected position of the at least one of the cartons outbound away from the printing area; releasing a group of the cartons inbound on the conveyor in response to the available outbound capacity reaching a predetermined threshold, the group comprising a number of the cartons based on the second period of time; initiating printing the queued documents corresponding to the cartons in the group when the group of the cartons is released; and detecting identifying indicia on the cartons and verifying each of the cartons matches the corresponding document inserted therein based on the detected identifying indicia.",
    "16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the identifying indicia includes a license plate number (LPN) and wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further perform querying a scanned LPN and a tracking number in a database to detect identifying indicia on the cartons.",
    "17. The computer readable storage device of claim 16 wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further perform: setting a verify tag if the scanned LPN matches the tracking number in the database; and setting a reject tag if the scanned LPN does not match the tracking number in the database.",
    "18. The computer readable storage device of claim 17 wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further perform: directing the cartons for which the verify tag is set onto the conveyer to carry the cartons away; and diverting the cartons for which the reject tag is set."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The need is for a device designed to automatically print, fold, and insert collateral such as pack slips into cases. Industry competitors have developed designs using inkjet and double-sided thermal pack slips. However, most customers prefer the low cost and quality of laser printed material. The problem with laser printers is the long spool up time (“first page”), which makes them ill-suited for conveyor-based printing, folding, and inserting systems.\n\nFrom a cold start, laser printers have a long warm up period. This warm up period is in the range of 30 seconds. Since this condition exists typically at the start of the work day, or after an extended break, it is not considered when describing the sustained throughput of the process. A “first page” delay, also referred to as “time to first page” or “first page time”, occurs when the laser printer has a warm start, where an intermediate sleep timer begins a series of shut-downs within the laser printer. A typical first page times is about 5 seconds\n\nConventional print systems have relied on adjusting laser printer settings to reduce the “first page” times that reduce the frequency of printed documents. Another conventional approach involves multiple printers being serviced by a robot, with a buffer created holding the printed pages in trays. In both instances, the overall throughput of conventional approaches has been too slow. It is also likely that adjusting the “as shipped” or “factory standard” mode of operation of the laser printer may increase wear and required maintenance on the laser printer.",
  "cpc": [
    "B65B 61/20",
    "B65B 35/10",
    "B65B 5/08",
    "B65B 5/10",
    "B65B 65/00",
    "B65B 67/02",
    "B65G 2201/025",
    "B65G 2203/0283",
    "B65G 43/00",
    "G05B 19/416",
    "G05B 2219/45054",
    "H04N 1/0032",
    "H04N 1/00328"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "B65B 35/10",
    "B65B 5/08",
    "B65B 5/10",
    "B65B 61/20",
    "B65B 65/00",
    "B65B 67/02",
    "B65G 43/00",
    "G05B 19/416",
    "H04N 1/00"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "Streamtech Engineering LLC"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Steven A. Horcher",
    "Alan R. Miller, JR."
  ],
  "filing_date": "2018-10-10",
  "publication_date": "2020-11-03",
  "grant_date": "2020-11-03",
  "priority_date": "2017-10-10",
  "application_number": "US-201816156439-A",
  "family_id": "65992672",
  "cited_by_count": 0,
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  ]
}