Title of Invention

METHOD OF PAPER MOVEMENT FROM LOWER TRAYS TO UPPER TRAYS DURING IDLE PERIOD OF A PRINTING APPARATUS

Abstract

The present invention proposes a system and method to improve the performance of the printing apparatus by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of the device. The paper movement from lower trays to upper trays takes place during the idle time of the device without affecting the normal operation of the apparatus. Also the time taken for printing is reduced since paper will be picked up from the uppermost trays avoiding the time taken for movement from the lower trays. With this invention it's just enough to manage the lower trays when multiple trays have same configuration.

Full Text

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to multi function peripheral (MFP) devices. Particularly the present invention relates to the field of printers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method to improve performance of printing apparatus by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of the device DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART In printing apparatuses whenever a print job is to be done the particular paper type and size to perform the print job has to be selected at the print driver itself. The selected paper will be drawn from the tray in which it is kept and the print job will be done. But when there are multiple stacks of Trays (input-bin) for a print apparatus, if the selected paper type and size is available only in the lowermost tray of the printing apparatus (due to non availability of paper in the upper trays), then the Paper Path becomes longer when the Actual Printing happens. This reduces the Print performance by adding up to the Time to Print. Also there is a need to load the paper manually in all the trays to prevent the print job from getting affected due to non availability of paper. There is no existing prior art, which mentions paper movement from bottom trays of the printing apparatus to upper trays during idle period of the device. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of Printers. In particular, the invention proposes an adaptive way to improve the performance of the printing Apparatus by adjusting the paper movement from lower trays to upper trays during idle period of the device. According to this invention when the printing apparatus is idle paper movement takes place from the lower trays to upper trays when the configurations for paper size and paper type of both the trays are the same. If the paper is full in the upper tray, consequently the next one where the lower tray and upper tray configuration are same is filled. By this way papers are filled in the upper trays from the lower trays. The main advantage of the present invention is that the entire operation is performed during the idle time of the apparatus, so that it will not affect the normal printing process. Moreover the printing time is saved since the paper required for printing can be fetched from the upper trays avoiding the time taken to fetch a paper from the lower tray, which takes a longer path. By this invention it is just enough to load the appropriate lower trays that have similar configuration as that of the upper trays. Accordingly this invention explains a method to improve performance of printing by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of a device comorisina the steos of: checking for idle condition of the printing apparatus for initiating paper movement from lower trays to upper trays; selecting a lower most tray when the device is idle; checking whether the configuration of an upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray selected; and moving paper from the lowermost tray to the upper tray when the configuration of the upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray. The papers are moved from lower tray to upper tray till the upper tray becomes full. The number of papers moved is tracked using a counter. If the lower tray from where the paper is being moved becomes empty and still if the upper tray is not full the method again selects another lower tray and checks for the configuration. If the configurations for the newly selected lower tray and the upper tray are the same, paper gets moved from the new lower tray to the upper tray. Once the upper tray becomes full, the method then checks for another upper tray which is lower than the previous upper tray with the same configuration as that of the newly selected lower tray. The paper movement from lower trays to upper trays continues until both the upper and lower trays selected by the method are the same. Accordingly the invention explains a system to improve performance of printing by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of a device comprising: means for checking for idle condition of the printing apparatus for initiating paper movement from lower trays to upper trays; means for selecting a lower most tray when the device is idle; means for checking whether the configuration of an upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray selected; and means for moving paper from the lowermost tray to the upper tray when the configuration of the upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the ensuing detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 depicts a flow chart for paper movement from lower trays to upper trays Figure 2 depicts a functional diagram of the paper movement DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood however that the disclosed embodiments are 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. The Printing apparatus consists of number of input-bins or Trays for Paper Input. When the number of trays increases the time taken to pick the paper from the lowermost Tray for printing is greater than the time taken to pick from the upper most trays of printing apparatus. Print jobs which satisfy the settings of uppermost trays gets printed faster as compared to the jobs from lower most trays. In scenarios where lower trays and upper trays configuration are same for paper size and type. The present invention proposes a system and method where the Paper from lower trays are moved to upper trays during the Idle time of the printing Apparatus. With the present invention, in a print apparatus consisting of multiple input bins or trays paper movement takes place from lower trays to upper trays when the configurations (size and type of paper) for both the trays are the same. The paper movement takes place from the lower trays to the upper trays only when the device is idle. This improves the performance of the printing apparatus by reducing the time taken to fetch the paper from the lower tray during the printing process. Figure 1 depicts a flowchart which explains the paper movement in a phnt apparatus with multiple input trays/bins. The system first checks for the idle condition of the printing apparatus for initiating the paper movement from lower trays to upper trays. When the device is idle a lower most tray will be selected. The method then checks whether the configuration of any of the upper trays matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray selected. Once such upper tray is identified, one paper from the lowermost tray will be moved to the upper tray. The method then increments a variable called 'moved paper count" by one. Paper will be moved from lower tray to upper tray till the upper tray becomes full. When the lower tray from where the paper is being moved becomes empty (this can be identified by seeing the moved paper count) and still if the upper tray is not full the method again selects another lower tray (upper to the previously selected lower tray)-and checks for the configuration. When the configurations for the newly selected lower tray and the upper tray are the same, again paper movement takes place. Once the upper tray becomes full, the method then checks for another upper tray (lower than the previous upper tray) with the same configuration as that of the newly selected lower tray. The paper movement from lower trays to upper trays continues until both the upper and lower trays selected by the method are the same. Figure 2 shows the functional diagram for paper movement in the printing apparatus. A pickup bush (7) near the specified lower tray (1) clings on the paper and rolls the paper (3) upwards with the help of lower tray roller (4). The paper passes through the paper guide (6). The paper guide (6) ensures that the paper is going in its path (8) without getting folded .The paper moves along the desired path and when it is near the upper tray (2) to which it needs to be fed, again a pickup bush (7) at the beginning of the tray clings on the paper and the paper is rolled into the tray by its roller (5). In this way paper from the lower trays will be moved to the upper trays provided both the trays have the same configuration. Since idle time of Apparatus is used for this operation normal operations of the printing apparatus is also not affected. This invention also decreases the time taken for printing. Also lower trays alone need to be managed when multiple trays have same configuration. 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 microchip, microprocessor, handheld communication device, computer, rendering device 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 there from. GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND DEFINITIONS THEREOF Printing Apparatus: A device (Printer/MFP) capable of Printing Tray/Input bin: A holder which can contain papers WE CLAIM: 1. A method to improve performance of printing by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of a device comprising the steps of: checking for idle condition of the printing apparatus for initiating paper movement from lower trays to upper trays; selecting a lower most tray when the device is idle; checking whether the configuration of an upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray selected; and moving paper from the lowermost tray to the upper tray when the configuration of the upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray. 2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the papers are moved from lower tray to upper tray till the upper tray becomes full. 3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the number of papers moved is tracked using a counter. 4. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein if the lower tray from where the paper is being moved becomes empty and still if the upper tray is not full the method again selects another lower tray and checks for the configuration. 5. A method as claimed in claim 4 wherein if the configurations for the newly selected lower tray and the upper tray are the same, paper gets moved from the new lower tray to the upper tray. 6. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein once the upper tray becomes full, the method then checks for another upper tray which is lower than the previous upper tray with the same configuration as that of the newly selected lower tray. 7. A method as claimed in claim 6 wherein the paper movement from lower trays to upper trays continues until both the upper and lower trays selected by the method are the same. 8. A system to improve performance of printing by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of a device comprising: means for checking for idle condition of the printing apparatus for initiating paper movement from lower trays to upper trays; means for selecting a lower most tray when the device is idle; means for checking whether the configuration of an upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray selected; and means for moving paper from the lowermost tray to the upper tray when the configuration of the upper tray matches with the configuration of the lowermost tray. 9. A method to improve performance of printing by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of a device substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings. 10. A system to improve performance of printing by paper movement from bottom trays to upper trays during idle period of a device substantially described particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Documents:

2535-CHE-2007 AMENDED CLAIMS 27-05-2014.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 27-05-2014.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 AMENDED CLAIMS 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 27-05-2014.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 FORM-1 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 FORM-1 27-05-2014.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 FORM-13 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 FORM-5 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 POWER OF ATTORNEY 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 POWER OF ATTORNEY 27-05-2014.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 26-08-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 FORM-13 13-12-2013.pdf

2535-CHE-2007 FORM-13 16-12-2013.pdf

2535-che-2007-abstract.pdf

2535-che-2007-claims.pdf

2535-che-2007-correspondnece-others.pdf

2535-che-2007-description(complete).pdf

2535-che-2007-drawings.pdf

2535-che-2007-form 1.pdf