Patent Application
20070290053
Various exemplary embodiments of the systems and methods are described in detail below, with reference to the attached drawing figures, in which:
As eluded to above, on negotiable pre-printed documents, such as checks, the MICR amount field will be encoded as part of the bank's “proof of deposit” operation. One popular device for encoding MICR amounts uses the thermal ribbon print technology discussed above. Thermal ribbon readability in MICR reader/sorters can be degraded by prior application of some fuser release agents used when originally printing the check or pre-printed document. While mercapto-functional release agents have minimal impact on recognition rates, those containing amino-functional groups severely degrade the image quality of this amount encoding technology. Embodiments herein present a methodology for eliminating the negative impact of amino-functional release agents on magnetic thermal transfer ribbon (MTTR) MICR encoders, allowing development of MICR products on platforms that use this family of release agents.
More specifically, when developing the embodiments herein, it was discovered that specific compounds found in common cleaners are capable of altering the surface characteristics of the amino-functional group contained on pre-printed documents to greatly reduce print quality degradation in thermal transfer ribbon and other MICR images. While magnetic thermal transfer ribbon printing is mentioned as an example, one ordinarily skilled in the art would understand (in light of this disclosure) that the embodiments herein are applicable to all forms of MICR encoding, especially those forms of MICR encoding that are degraded by the amino-functional release agents, including but not limited to conventional high-transfer impact MICR ribbon, laser or ion-deposition methods as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,928,183, the complete disclosure of which is now incorporated herein by reference.
Referring now to
As shown in item 100 in
Then, the method can record the processed data in the cleaned region using a MICR encoder in item 110 without encountering problems with the amino-functional group release agents.
One exemplary apparatus for printing, cleaning, scanning, and encoding is shown in
A pre-printed document moves as shown by the document flow arrow into
As discussed previously, the cleaning pad 300 and cleaning belt are supplied with the aforementioned cleaning agents, for example by cleaning agent supply 304, and are used to physically and abrasively apply the cleaning agents to either the entire pre-printed document 302 or to selected locations of the pre-printed document 302 as controlled by the size of the cleaning pad 300/cleaning belt 400 and its position relative to the pre-printed document 302. In addition, the cleaner 202 can include a dryer 306 that can comprise a simple air moving device (e.g., fan, etc.) optionally combined with a heat producing device (resistive heating coils, lamp, etc.) to aid the drying of the cleaning agent if any were to remain on the pre-printed document 302 after the document passes by the cleaning pad 300/cleaning belt 400. Once again, the cleaning devices shown in
Thus, in one example, the method can read a hand written or machine printed amount that was previously written or printed on a pre-printed negotiable instrument, where a surface of the negotiable instrument comprises amino-functional group release agents. The method cleans a region of the document to remove the amino-functional group release agents from the cleaned region. The method processes the amount from the field into proof of deposit data, and records the proof of deposit data in the region using a magnetic thermal transfer ribbon magnetic ink character recognition encoder.
In some embodiments only a portion of one side of the pre-printed document is cleaned; however, in other embodiments one or both sides of the pre-printed document can be cleaned. For example, both sides of the entire pre-printed document could be cleaned by having a cleaning pad 300/cleaning belt 400 on each side of the pre-printed document 302.
The cleaning uses a cleaning agent that can comprise alcohol, butoxyethanol, 1-tert-butoxypropanol, propylene glycol ethers, propylene glycol co-polymers, ethylene oxide condensates (Merpol®), kerosene, hexanes, heptanes, isobutylmethyl ketone, methylethyl ketone, and/or hydrogen peroxide, citric acid, acetic acid, linear siloxanes (hexamethyldisiloxane, octamethyltrisiloxane, etc.) and cyclic siloxanes (octamethyltetracyclosiloxane, decamethylpentacyclosiloxane, etc.), aminofucntional oligosiloxanes, poly(oxy-1,2-ethaediyl),alpha-(undecyl)-omega-hydroxy, to the region of the document along with water, a surfactant such sodium dodecylsulfate, dioctylsulfosuccinate, benzensulfonic acid, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based surfactant or fluorosurfactant. The amino-functional group release agents comprise at least one of: polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), α-APS functional PDMS, and other functional fusing agents, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,743,561, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Another embodiment herein comprises receiving at least one pre-printed document, wherein a surface of the pre-printed document again comprises the amino-functional group release agents. This embodiment also cleans a region of the document to remove the amino-functional group release agents from the cleaned region, as discussed previously. However, this embodiment processes the document in a finishing process, such as a binding and/or a lamination process. Thus, as shown in
Thus, as shown above, the embodiments herein include a process for altering the surface of pre-printed sheets to neutralize the negative impact of amino-functional release agents on MICR encoders. In its simplest form, a solution of commercially available cleaner is used to clean the sheet in the area of interest using a contact device and light mechanical pressure. Once the sheet dries, it is then able to receive MTTR ink with high transfer efficiency and uniformity, translating to good MICR readability.
The embodiments herein can be used with any apparatus, such as a digital copier, bookmaking machine, facsimile machine, multi-function machine, etc. which performs a print outputting function for any purpose. The details of printers, printing engines, etc. are well-known by those ordinarily skilled in the art and are discussed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,004, the complete disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference. The embodiments herein can encompass embodiments that print in color, monochrome, or handle color or monochrome image data. All foregoing embodiments are specifically applicable to electrostatographic and/or xerographic machines and/or processes.
It will be appreciated that the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be desirably combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims. The claims can encompass embodiments in hardware, software, and/or a combination thereof. Unless specifically defined in a specific claim itself, steps or components of the invention should not be implied or imported from any above example as limitations to any particular order, number, position, size, shape, angle, color, or material.
