Title of Invention

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RECYCLING PAPER FOR PRINT-OUTS

Abstract

The invention explains a method and a system for recycling paper for print-outs comprising : a paper sensing means, present in a paper feeding tray, which is used to sense and feed the used/wasted papers; a paper scanning means, capable of scanning a paper, which is used to scan the paper for identifying the quality of the paper; a calculating means, which is used to decide the quality of the scanned paper; a paper inverting means, which is a duplexer unit, used to invert the paper based on the input received from the calculating means; a paper transporting means which is used to forward the scanned paper; and an image processing unit which process the image based on the input received from the calculating means.

Full Text

FIELD OF INVENTION This present invention in general relates to printing technology. Particularly the present invention relates to a method of reusing the resources like papers used for printing. More particularly the present invention relates to a method and system for recycling paper for print-outs. DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART Sometimes the primary focus of printing is to get the information on paper. The quality of the printout and quality of the papers used becomes secondary. Once the work is done the printouts are just wasted. US application 5,296,908 explains a combined system of an image processing machine and a sheet handling machine. They are placed with an image reading part there between. In the combined system, one-sided or two-sided original sheets and processed sheets are orderly stacked on respective final tray after they are finished processing if the original sheets are stacked orderly in the initial tray, i.e., the original sheets are laid on the final tray with the order of the page numbers maintained from the order at the initial tray, and the processed sheets are also stacked on the finish tray with the same order. In a simple mode: the original sheet is placed on the image reading part, processed (copied), reversed and ejected to a first final tray, while the process sheet (copy sheet) is processed and ejected onto the finish tray without reversing. In a reverse mode: an original sheet is first placed on the image reading part, first processed, recycled (reversed), second processed and ejected to a second final tray without reversing, while the process sheet is first processed, recycled (reversed), second processed, reversed and ejected to the finish tray. US Patent 5,430,536 which is Automatic duplex and simplex document handler for electronic input explains a document handling system particularly suitable for electronic imaging by sequentially feeding uppermost document sheets stacked in an input tray to be imaged in forward serial order at an imaging station and restacked collated in an output tray, with a short and compact "U" shaped common document feeding path also providing the majority of a duplex document feeding path for returning duplex document sheets imaged on their first sides back to the imaging station for imaging their second sides. The input and output trays are in a space saving closely superposed relationship defining a protective confining inverter chute space there between within which the duplex document sheets may be fed out over the output tray by a dual mode reversible output sheet feeder at the f,U" shaped path output and then reversed to feed back through a short linear duplex document feeding path into the entrance of the same "U" shaped document sheet feeding path for simplex document sheets to provide a duplex loop path. US application 6,877,734 explains a Sheet feeding device, sheet feeding method and image forming apparatus where the paper feeder includes paper supply cassettes to house sheets of paper; friction paper pickup rollers to take out sheets of paper one by one by contacting a paper placed at the top of paper in the paper supply cassettes; openings formed on the paper supply cassettes to pass the air to the side of the paper at the downstream position from the friction pickup rollers; and air blowing mechanisms to blow the air into the openings. This paper feeder is used for supplying paper for an image forming apparatus. Quite often it is observed that printouts are taken only on one side of papers. To utilize the other side of the paper user has to manually place the paper in trays and then print. In order to minimize this, the printing devices have certain options like duplex printing. Duplex printing prints on both sides of the paper, thereby utilizing both sides of a paper. But this may not be the case always. Some times the information to be printed may be small and just a page long. The followings are the limitations to the prior art: 1. Although duplex printing, in a way, minimizes paper wastage, it will not provide the flexibility to the user to completely exploit the feature. 2. At present there are no automated methods to facilitate users for reusing the papers. 3. User should be aware of the details about the paper input methods. Otherwise it will be difficult to reuse the papers printed only on one side. 4. Different manufacturers may follow different paper input methods. So users find it difficult when reusing the remaining side of the paper. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The primary object of this invention is to provide a method for reusing the papers on a printing device efficiently. The basic idea of smart printing is to reuse the papers in a better way. This applies to the devices that can print on both sides of a paper. But this invention can also be applied to printer that can print on single side of a paper. The idea here is to introduce a method and system for recognizing the paper quality. Once the paper is found to be reusable, the printing device can print on that side of the paper. Assume that a printing apparatus capable of feeding paper from input tray. When a document is to be printed, the printer automatically picks up a paper from the selected tray and then passes it to the actual image processing unit of the printing apparatus. Image processing unit then prints the information on the paper and sends it to the paper out bin where the printed papers are dumped. In this prior art the paper from the feeding tray are assumed to be blank papers which may not be the case if a used paper (printed on one side) is placed in that input tray. This may result in erroneous printing i.e., printing information on the used-up side. However this invention tries to improve on the existing method by avoiding such problems by sensing the papers before printing and if the paper found to be usable passed it for printing. Accordingly this invention explains a system for recycling paper for print-outs comprising : a paper sensing means, present in a paper feeding tray, which is used to sense and feed the used/waste papers; a paper scanning means, capable of scanning a paper, which is used to scan the paper for identifying the quality of the paper; a calculating means, which is used to decide the quality of the scanned paper; a paper inverting means, which is a duplexer unit, used to invert the paper based on the input received from the calculating means; a paper transporting means which is used to forward the scanned paper; and an image processing unit which process the image based on the input received from the calculating means. The said system support different trays for feeding the papers and each tray are configured to support different types of papers. The user has a choice to choose any tray, paper type and paper size for printing. When the paper quality is within the threshold, information is printed otherwise another paper is taken from the tray for processing. Also instead of using existing trays, a new tray (Garbage/Recycle Tray) is introduced where only waste papers can be fed. Accordingly this invention also explains a method for recycling paper for print-outs comprising the steps of: sensing the presence of papers from the tray by the paper sensing means; picking up the paper and moving it to the paper scanning means till the end of paper is reached; scanning the paper and sending the scanned data to the calculating means; setting the threshold level of the calculating means for deciding whether the quality of the scanned side of the paper is suitable for printing or not; sending the information of the printabiiity of the paper to the paper inverting means where if the calculating means signals the paper inverting means to invert the paper, the other side of the paper will be taken again and scanned by the paper scanning means ; moving the paper to the image processing unit by the paper transferring means and informing the paper inverting means by the calculating means if the paper quality is found to be good in the said scan ; and printing on the paper and sends the paper to the out bin via paper transferring means by the image processing unit, wherein if both the sides of fed paper is not suitable for printing then the image processing unit will just send the paper to the out bin and another paper is taken from the tray . The said method support different trays for feeding the papers and each tray is configured to support different types of papers. The user has a choice to choose any tray, paper type and paper size for printing. When the paper quality is within the threshold information is printed, otherwise another paper is taken from the tray for processing. Also instead of using existing trays, a new tray (Garbage/Recycle Tray) is introduced where only waste papers can be fed. These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the detailed description taken in conjunction with the drawings and the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS Figure 1 explains the invention in terms of functional model. Figure 2 gives a rough sketch of how it could be implemented in a printing apparatus practically. Figure 3 shows the paper flow inside the apparatus when this invention is applied. 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. Figure 1 explains the invention in terms of functional model. Referring to figure 1 a paper sensing means, which is present in a paper feeding tray, is used to sense and feed the used/wasted papers. A paper scanning means, which is capable of scanning a paper, is used to scan the paper for identifying the quality of the paper. A calculating means, which is a software program, is used to decide the quality of the scanned paper. A paper inverting means, which is a duplexer unit, used to invert the paper based on the input received from the calculating means. A paper transporting means is used to forward the scanned paper to the image processing unit based on the input received from the calculating means. Figure 2 gives a rough sketch of how it could be implemented in a printing apparatus practically and figure 3 shows the paper flow inside the apparatus when this invention is applied. When a document is to be printed using the papers from this tray (recycle tray) the paper sensing means 4 senses the presence of papers 3 and picks-up paper and moves it below (or above based on the design) paper scanning means 2 until end of the paper is reached (First pass). During this operation the scanner scans the paper and sends the scanned data to the calculating means. A threshold level for the calculating means is set, based on which the calculating means decides whether the quality of the scanned side of the paper is suitable for printing or not. This decision will be sent to the paper inverting means 1. If calculating means signals the paper inverting means to invert the paper, the other side of the paper will be taken again and scanned by the paper scanning means 2 (Second pass). The method for inverting the paper is not explained as the invention is not on the hardware design aspects. During the second pass if the paper quality is found to be good, then the calculating means informs the paper inverting means 1 and the paper transferring means 9, due to which the paper moves towards the image processing unit 8. Image processing unit will then prints on the paper and sends it to the out bin 5 via paper transferring means 9. In case if both the sides of fed paper is not suitable for printing then the image processing unit 8 will just send the paper to the out bin and another paper is taken from the tray and the process is repeated until the print job is completed. The existing printing devices support different trays for feeding the papers. Each tray can be configured to support different types of papers. User can choose any tray, paper type and paper size for printing. In the figure 2, a generic printing apparatus (image processing apparatus/machine) 6 along with a multi-purpose tray 7 is shown. To improve the reusability of papers a printing devices can make use of any of the recognition technologies (e.g. OMR, laser scanners) before processing the input papers from different trays. The printing device can implement method(s) to process the information received from OMR, analyze it and decide whether the paper quality is within the limits for reuse. If the paper quality is within the limits, information can be printed otherwise another paper can be taken from the tray for processing. This feature can be implemented with existing trays itself by adding new paper type to the list of supported paper types. User can select that paper type for making use of this feature Otherwise, instead of using existing trays, a new tray (Garbage/Recycle Tray) can be introduced where only waste papers (e.g. one side of the paper is already used) can be fed. Just by selecting that tray for printing, user can avail this facility of Smart Printing. Effects/Advantage(s) of the Invention 1. User can utilize the waste papers more efficiently. 2. Reduces burden on user while reusing papers. 3. Reduces paper consumption. 4. Cost effective over long run. 5. Adds value to the company policy "Eco-friendly". The above-presented description is of the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention. The manner and process of making and using it is in such a full, clear, concise and exact terms as to enable to any person skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use this invention. New embodiments in particular, which also lie within the scope of the invention can be created, in which different details of the different examples can in a purposeful way be combined with one another. This invention is however, susceptible to modifications and alternate constructions from that disclosed above which are fully equivalent. Consequently, it is not the intention to limit this invention to the particular embodiment disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications and alternate constructions coming within the spirit and scope of the invention as generally expressed by the following claims which particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter of the invention. Although the principles preferred embodiment and preferred operation of the present invention have been described in detail herein, this is not to be construed as being limited to the particular illustration forms disclosed. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiment as well as alternate embodiments of the invention will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention. It is therefore contemplated that such modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims WE CLAIM: 1. A system for recycling paper for print-outs comprising: a paper sensing means, present in a paper feeding tray, which is used to sense and feed the used/wasted papers; a paper scanning means, capable of scanning a paper, which is used to scan the paper for identifying the quality of the paper; a calculating means, which is used to decide the quality of the scanned paper; a paper inverting means, which is a duplexer unit, used to invert the paper based on the input received from the calculating means; a paper transporting means which is used to forward the scanned paper; and an image processing unit which process the image based on the input received from the calculating means. 2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said system support different trays for feeding the papers. 3. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein each tray is configured to support different types of papers. 4. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the user has a choice to choose any tray, paper type and paper size for printing. 5. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein if the paper quality is within the threshold, information is printed, otherwise another paper is taken from the tray for processing. 6. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein instead of using existing trays, a new tray (Garbage/Recycle Tray) is introduced where only waste papers can be fed. 7. A method for recycling paper for print-outs comprising the steps of: sensing the presence of papers from the tray by the paper sensing means; picking up the paper and moving it to the paper scanning means till the paper is reached; scanning the paper and sending the scanned data to the calculating means; setting the threshold level of the calculating means for deciding whether the quality of the scanned side of the paper is suitable for printing or not; sending the information of the printability of the paper to the paper inverting means where if the calculating means signals the paper inverting means to invert the paper, the other side of the paper will be taken again and scanned by the paper scanning means ; moving the paper to the image processing unit by the paper transferring means and informing the paper inverting means by the calculating means, if the paper quality is found to be good in the said scan ; and printing on the paper and sends the paper to the out bin via paper transferring means by the image processing unit, wherein if both the sides of fed paper is not suitable for printing then the image processing unit will just send the paper to the out bin and another paper is taken from the tray. 8. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the said method support different trays for feeding the papers. 9. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein each tray is configured to support different types of papers. 10. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein the user has a choice to choose any tray, paper type and paper size for printing. 11. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein if the paper quality is within the threshold, information is printed, otherwise another paper is taken from the tray for processing. 12. A method as claimed in claim 7 wherein instead of using existing trays, a new tray (Garbage/Recycle Tray) is introduced where only waste papers can be fed. 13. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the print device uses the existing trays by adding new paper type to the list of supported paper types to implement the said method. 14. A system for recycling paper for print-outs substantially as herein described particularly with reference to the drawings. 15. A method for recycling paper for print-outs substantially as herein described particularly with reference to the drawings. Dated this 20™ day of May 2005

Documents:

0621-che-2005-abstract.pdf

0621-che-2005-claims.pdf

0621-che-2005-correspondnece-others.pdf

0621-che-2005-description(complete).pdf

0621-che-2005-drawings.pdf

0621-che-2005-form 1.pdf

0621-che-2005-others.pdf

621-CHE-2005 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 31-05-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 31-08-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS. 31-08-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 FORM-13 31-05-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY 31-08-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY 31-05-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY. 31-08-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 AMENDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION 12-03-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 AMENDED CLAIMS 12-03-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 AMENDED CLAIMS 31-05-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 CORRESPONDENCE OTHERS 31-05-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 EXAMINATION REPORT REPLY RECEIVED 12-03-2012.pdf

621-CHE-2005 FORM-1 12-03-2012.pdf

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

621-CHE-2005 POWER OF ATTORNEY 12-03-2012.pdf