This invention relates generally to a system for handling print media in a printer, and more particularly to an auxiliary tray that enables the system to efficiently support and use a selected one of two discrete supplies of print media that are stored in a printer.
Printers have trays or drawers that hold a supply of print media, such as paper, in a location where the paper can be brought into engagement with a printer feed mechanism. The feed mechanism contacts the top sheet of the paper supply and advances that sheet into the printer. These feed mechanisms are often referred to as xe2x80x9cpick and feedxe2x80x9d rollers. From the pick and feed roller, the media sheet is moved into a print zone where an image or text is printed on the sheet.
The supply trays (also known as xe2x80x9cinputxe2x80x9d trays) normally accommodate different sizes of print media. To this end, adjustable guides are built into the input trays to ensure that whatever size paper is provided, it is advanced uniformly (that is, without undesirable skewing) into the printer.
With input trays that are adaptable to handle various sizes of paper, the user is required to remove the existing supply of paper from the tray before adding the different-sized media. This slows the printing operation and, because of the effort required to swap media sizes in this manner, a user may be unwilling to print on different sizes of media.
Some printers are equipped with slots or the like for feeding single sheets of media into a feed mechanism without the need for removing the input tray. This approach, however, does not provide a means for storing in the printer an alternate supply of media that can be selectively fed to a common feed mechanism.
Some printers are provided with more than one input tray, and this arrangement greatly reduces the effort needed to switch printing between different sizes of print media. In the past, however, this duplication of input trays has also led to the duplication of many of the mechanisms for delivering the media to the print zone. Conventional printer designs that use more than one input tray require additional sets of pick and feed rollers or the like to direct to one location (the print zone) sheets of media entering the printer from two different locations. Such relatively complicated media handling systems add to the manufacturing cost and, usually, to the size of the printer.
This invention is directed to a print media handling system that holds two discrete supplies of print media in a manner that permits the user to select for printing a sheet of media from one supply or another, without the need for emptying either of the supplies. Moreover, the print media is held and moved in a manner such that both supplies engage a common feed mechanism, such as pick and feed rollers. As a result, a printer that employs two discrete media supplies is provided without the increased manufacturing cost or size that would otherwise be required if duplicate pick and feed rollers (or related components) were employed.
A preferred embodiment of the present invention is particularly adapted for holding in an auxiliary tray a supply of relatively small print media, such as the photo paper (in the range of 10 centimeters by 15 centimeters, for example) that is popular as a medium upon which high-quality digital images may be printed.
The tray is maintained in a retracted position until the user wishes to print on the media that is held in the tray. The tray is then manually moved by fingertip control of the user. This movement places the leading edge of the media into the xe2x80x9cpick zonexe2x80x9d of the printer, in which zone the pick rollers can contact the media and advance it into the printer. Once that print task is complete, the user, using fingertip control, retracts the tray so that the media it carries is no longer in the pick zone.
Whenever the tray is in the retracted position, print media in the other input tray (hereafter referred to as a drawer) is exposed in the pick zone. Thus, the user need not make any adjustment to this drawer in order to re-commence its use after the tray is retracted. The next print command will cause the printer""s pick and feed rollers to engage the media in the drawer. One can appreciate, therefore, that the present invention provides the convenience of a two-tray system, without the complexity of a system requiring pick and feed rollers or other feed mechanisms dedicated to each of the drawer and tray.
A number of other inventive aspects are provided. For instance, a movable stop is used to ensure proper loading of media into the auxiliary tray, but without interfering with the removal of the media from the tray by the pick and feed rollers.
Also provided is a sensor for generating a signal when the auxiliary tray is moved toward the position where the media it carries is in the pick zone. Among other things, this signal (which is fed to the printer controller) prevents damage to the printer or media in the event the user attempts to move the tray toward the pick and feed rollers while those rollers are engaging media in the drawer.
Useful mechanisms are also provided for controlling the position of the tray relative to the printer, and for properly locating different sizes of media in the auxiliary tray.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will become clear upon study of the following portion of this specification and the drawings.