Title of Invention

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY DESTROYING PRINT/COPY JOB OUTPUTS THAT ARE LEFT UNUSED IN PRINTERS OR COPIERS

Abstract

The invention explains a system and a method, which automatically destroys job outputs which are left unused in the printer or copier for a long period of time after the completion of printing job, which system includes a print engine, a intermediate/temporary tray where printed materials will be kept till the completion of the print job, a stack of trays in which printed materials can move from upper tray to lower tray and a shredder or other means which destroys printed materials in the lower tray.

Full Text

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a printing/copying apparatus such as multi functional peripheral (MFP) devices, printers, scanners, copiers, etc. and a method thereof. Further, this invention relates to document security in such printing devices. More particularly, this invention relates to a system and method for automatically destroying print/copy job outputs that are left unused in printers or copiers. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART In cases of existing printers/copiers, when the job output is not taken from the printers by the users, the printed materials lie in the printer trays for hours. Those devices require the users to destroy those printed materials manually by collecting them from the printers and placing them in shredders. Some printers and copiers are known to have multiple output trays for sorting and collating the generated printed materials. US Patent Number 6,283,472, for automatic disposal of canceled paper output, to Brod, granted on Sept 4, 2001, describes a system and method for disposal of canceled paper output automatically without manual intervention. This system for automatic disposal of an unwanted output includes a print engine for generating a print job having an output; a finishing device connected to said print engine for finishing said print job, wherein said finishing device includes an intermediate bin for receiving said output from said print engine, and for holding said output until said print job is complete; a waste bin for selectively receiving a cancelled print job; and at least one output bin for receiving a completed print job. None of the prior art devices are known to have facilities to automatically destroy the printed materials which are left unused in the printer or copier for long periods of time. Referring to figure 1, which shows the structure of the related Art as in the said US Patent # 6,283,472 is described as follows: A system constructed according to the said invention is shown generally at 10. A print engine 12, which may be part of a printer or copier, generates a print job and provides a paper output 13. In known print devices, the paper output is directed into a finishing bin, a finishing collator, or into a finishing device which collates, sorts, and staples. In system 10, paper output 13 is directed towards a finishing device 14, which is connected to print engine 12, which includes an intermediate bin 16. Intermediate bin 16 receives the output from print engine 12. Paper output 13 is held in intermediate bin 16 until the print job is completed, or until a cancel signal is received. When the job is completed, paper output 13 is directed to final, standard output bins 20 for finishing. Referring to figure 1, operation of the Related Art, US Patent # 6,283,472 is described as following. If a cancel signal is received, paper output 13 is directed to a waste bin 18, where it may be held for later disposal. In some embodiments of the invention, waste bin 18 may include a shredder to securely dispose of the unwanted paper output. A user directing a print job to print engine 12 may have options on a print menu unique to system 10. For instance, upon selecting CANCEL on a print menu, also referred to herein as a print control mechanism, the user may be given a choice of selectively directing the paper output of the cancelled print job to a conventional waste bin, or to a secure waste bin, which incorporates a shredder, to provide a secure disposal of a cancelled print job. The present art in the field of document security does not provide for automatic destruction of documents which are left unattended in the printer tray for any specified period of time. Therefore, when the user forgets to cancel the print/copy jobs or the user forgets to take the printed material from the printer/copier, those printed materials can occupy the printer/copier tray unnecessarily thereby occupying space and security of the content of the documents is also compromised. Currently, the printed materials left unused in the printers or copiers and that have to be removed manually and destroyed. No automatic solution exists for this purpose. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is to invent a system and method for automatically destroying print/copy job outputs that are left unused in printers. It is another object of this invention to provide an apparatus for automatically shredding printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier. The present invention proposes a system and method for automatically destroying job outputs which are left unused in the printer or copier for a long period of time after the completion of printing job. The said system includes a print engine, an intermediate/temporary tray where printed materials will be kept till the completion of the print job, a stack of trays in which printed materials can move from upper tray to lower tray and a shredder which destroys printed materials in the lower tray. At first, the printed materials will be placed in the upper tray in the stack of trays. After a specified time, the printed materials (which are left unused in the printer) in the trays will be moved to a new tray which is one level below the old tray. At the end, when the printed materials come to the bottom-most tray in the stack of trays, they will be taken by the shredder for shredding. Accordingly, the present invention encompasses a system for automatically destroying printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier for a long period of time after the completion of printing job, the said system comprising: a) a print engine for generating printed materials as print job output; b) a temporary tray, for receiving the said printed materials from said print engine; c) a stack of trays in which each tray except the bottom tray is capable of moving printed materials to the next tray; and d) a shredder or other means for destroying the unused printed materials. Accordingly, the present invention further encompasses a method for automatically destroying printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier for a long period of time after the completion of printing job, the said method comprising the steps of: a) generating printed materials by the print engine; b) placing the printed materials in the intermediate tray; c) placing the printed materials in the upper tray in the stack of trays after the completion of the print job; d) moving the printed materials to a new tray which is one level below the old tray after a specified time; and e) taking the printed materials by the shredder or the other means from the bottom most tray for shredding / destruction. Other advantages and features of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following description of an embodiment of the invention given as a non-restrictive example only and represented in the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates device of the prior art as in US patent no 6,283,472. Figure 2 is a block diagram of a system for the present invention. Figure 3 is a flowchart of the operation in the present invention for moving the printed materials from the temporary tray to the top-most tray. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiment is merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. The following description and drawings are not to be construed as limiting the invention and numerous specific details are described to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention, as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention. However in certain instances, well-known or conventional details are not described in order not to unnecessarily obscure the present invention in detail. Referring to figure 2, the system constructed according to the invention is shown generally at 1. Print Engine 2 which can be a part of the printer or a copier or MFP generates printed materials 3 as an output of print job. Till the completion of the current print job, the printed materials 3 will be placed in the intermediate/temporary tray 4. From this tray, after the completion of the print job, these printed materials 5 will be moved and placed in the top-most tray 7 in the stack of trays 6. After each time interval, the printed materials which are left unused in the printer / copier, will be moved to a lower tray and at the end, they are placed in the lower-most tray 8. From the lower-most tray, the printed materials 9 (which are left unused) are taken and destroyed by the shredder 10 or any other means for destruction of documents. In the present invention, the process of moving the printed materials from a tray to its immediate lower tray will be done from the bottom up fashion i.e. first the printed materials will be moved to the lower-most tray from the tray above it and the process goes up. For moving the printed materials 5 from the temporary tray 4 to the top-most tray 7, steps shown in the flowchart Figure 3 has to be followed. Before moving the printed materials, a check whether the end of time interval for moving the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray below it is nearing, has to be made. If its time to move the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray immediately below is close by, then the process of moving the printed materials 4 from the temporary tray 5 to the top-most tray 7 has to be taken up after moving the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray immediately below to it. If it is not the time to move the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray immediately below to it is close by, then the process of moving the printed materials 4 from the temporary tray 5 to the top-most tray 7 can be taken up immediately. Following are the features of the preferred embodiment of the present invention: 1) For destroying the printed materials left unused in the printer or copier, no manual intervention is needed and the output tray will be freed of the unused printed materials. 2) Stack of trays makes sure that the printed materials are not destroyed immediately after printing or coping, if the user who initiated the print job comes to receive the printed material after some time. 3) Stack of trays also demarcates the unused printed materials depending on the number of time intervals for which they are left unused in the printer or copier after the completion of print job. Following are some of the modifications that can be made to the basic invention: 1. In case of canceled print jobs, the print outputs i.e. printed materials 3 can be directly sent to the lower-most tray 8 directly from the temporary tray 4, based on a user response or without waiting for user response. 2. For moving the printed materials from one tray to its immediate lower tray, printed materials can be moved either one by one or as a bunch. 3. For moving the printed materials from the temporary tray 4 to the top-most tray 7, printed materials 5 can be moved either one by one or as a bunch. 4. For destroying the printed materials 9, the shredder 10 can take them either one by one or as a bunch. Shredder can be replaced by any other device that is capable of destroying the printed materials. For example the materials can be destroyed by an electric furnace, etc. It will also be obvious to those skilled in the art that other control methods and apparatuses can be derived from the combinations of the various methods and apparatuses of the present invention as taught by the description and the accompanying drawings and these shall also be considered within the scope of the present invention. Further, description of such combinations and variations is therefore omitted above. It should also be noted that the host for storing the applications include but not limited to a computer, printer or a multi function device. Although the present invention has been fully described in connection with the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be noted that various changes and modifications are possible and are apparent to those skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications are to be understood as included within the scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims unless they depart therefrom. WE CLAIM 1. A system for automatically destroying printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier, the said system comprising: a) a print engine for generating printed materials as print job output; b) a temporary tray, for receiving the said printed materials from said print engine; c) a stack of trays in which each tray except the bottom tray is capable of moving printed materials; and d) a shredder or other means for destroying the unused printed materials. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the temporary tray is used for holding said printed materials until the said print job is completed. 3. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the trays are capable of moving printed materials, either one by one or as a bunch to its immediate lower tray. 4. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein in case of canceled print jobs, the printed materials can be directly sent to the lower-most tray directly from the temporary tray, based on a user response or without waiting for user response. 5. A method for automatically destroying printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier, the said method comprising the steps of: (a) generating printed materials by the print engine; (b) placing the printed materials in the intermediate tray; (c) placing the printed materials in the upper tray in the stack of trays after the completion of the print job; (d) moving the printed materials to a new tray which is one level below the old tray after a specified time; and (e) taking the printed materials by the shredder or other means from the bottom most tray for shredding / destruction. 6. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein till the completion of the current print job, the printed materials will be placed in the intermediate / temporary tray. 7. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein after each time interval, the printed materials which are left unused in the printer / copier will be moved to a lower tray and at the end they are placed in the lower-most tray. 8. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the process of moving the printed materials from a tray to its immediate lower tray will be done from the bottom up fashion. 9. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein before moving the printed materials, a check whether the end of time interval for moving the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray below it is done. 10. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein if the time to move the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray immediately below it is nearing, then the process of moving the printed materials from the temporary tray to the top-most tray has to be taken up after moving the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray immediately below to it. 11 .A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein if it is not the time to move the printed materials from the top-most tray to the tray immediately below to it is nearing, then the process of moving the printed materials from the temporary tray to the top-most tray can be taken up immediately. 12. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the stack of trays makes sure that the printed materials are not destroyed immediately after printing or copying. 13. A method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the stack of trays demarcates the unused printed materials depending on the number of time intervals for which they are left unused in the printer or copier after the completion of print job. 14. A system for automatically destroying printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier such as herein substantially herein described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings. 15. A method for automatically destroying printed materials that are left unused in the printer or copier such as herein substantially herein described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings. R. JEEVANANDHAM Patent Agent Agent for the Applicant Dated this 25th day of February 2005 Signature

Documents:

175-CHE-2005 FORM-13 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 FORM-5 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 FORM-6 27-09-2013.pdf

175-che-2005 abstract.pdf

175-CHE-2005 AMENDED CLAIMS 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 AMENDED CLAIMS 28-03-2014.pdf

175-CHE-2005 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 28-03-2014.pdf

175-che-2005 claims.pdf

175-che-2005 correspondence others.pdf

175-che-2005 description (complete).pdf

175-che-2005 drawings.pdf

175-CHE-2005 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 28-03-2014.pdf

175-CHE-2005 FORM-1 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 FORM-1 28-03-2014.pdf

175-che-2005 form-1.pdf

175-CHE-2005 FORM-13 12-12-2013.pdf

175-che-2005 form-13 19-06-2006.pdf

175-che-2005 form-18.pdf

175-CHE-2005 OTHER PATENT DOCUMENT 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 OTHERS 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 OTHERS 28-03-2014.pdf

175-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY 28-03-2014.pdf

175-che-2005 power of attorney.pdf

175-CHE-2005 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 27-09-2013.pdf

175-CHE-2005 FORM-13 17-12-2013.pdf