Claims
- 1. A method for printing and finishing documents, comprising:printing a number of documents in a particular order by means of a printer; transporting the printed documents to a finishing system; detecting the arrival of the documents in at least one position in the finishing system; performing finishing operations on the arrived documents in the finishing system, with the printed documents being finished in an order corresponding with the order in which the documents have been printed by the printer; the printer repeatedly generating a verification marking following one of said documents and prior to a next one of said documents; maintaining, while transporting the documents to the finishing system, an ordering of said documents and said verification markings between successive ones of those documents, which ordering corresponds with the order in which the printer's feeding said documents and generating the verification markings has been carried out; detecting the arrival of each of the verification markings in at least one position in the finishing system; counting the documents whose arrival has been detected in an interval limited by at least one of said verification markings; comparing the counted number of said arrived documents with a reference number of said arrived documents; and generating an error message if the counted number of said arrived documents does not agree with said reference number.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the verification markings are formed by an interval between two successive ones of the documents, greater than a defined maximum interval.
- 3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the verification markings are formed by verification sheets.
- 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the verification sheets are also printed and at least portions of the prints are detected in the finishing system.
- 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the verification sheets are recognized in response to detection of the prints provided thereon.
- 6. A method according to claim 4, wherein the prints on the verification sheets contain indications regarding the reference numbers of said arrived documents and wherein said indicated numbers are read and are compared with an associated, counted number of said arrived documents.
- 7. A method according to claim 4, wherein the prints on at least some of the verification sheets contain indications regarding finishing instructions for at least one next document and said at least one next document is finished in accordance with said indications.
- 8. A method according to claim 4, wherein the prints on the verification sheets contain indications regarding the further processing of at least one preceding or following document after its being finished, and the preceding or following documents are further processed in accordance with said instructions.
- 9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the successive documents and the verification markings are transported serially from the printer to the finishing system.
- 10. A method according to claim 1, wherein the successive documents and the verification markings are transferred in groups from the printer to the finishing system.
- 11. A method according to claim 1, wherein the generation of a verification marking is carried out after completion of the printing of a particular number of documents, and wherein the number of documents are counted by counting a number of finishing operations carried out in response to the detection of the arrival of a document.
- 12. A method according to claim 3, wherein the verification sheets, upon arrival in the finishing system, are processed differently from said documents.
- 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the verification sheets are diverted to a deposit position.
- 14. A method according to claim 3, wherein the verification sheets are finished.
- 15. A method according to claim 3, wherein indications are printed on the verification sheets, which identify a source responsible for said documents, as well as printed and finished documents, and the verification sheets, after being finished, are sent to said source.
- 16. A method according to claim 3, wherein indications are printed on the verification sheets, which identify a source responsible for said documents, as well as printed and finished documents; wherein said indications are detected and converted into electronic form; and wherein, after finishing without error being signaled, a message by electronic mail corresponding to indications on the verification sheet is sent to said source.
- 17. A method according to claim 3, wherein the verification sheets have been or are provided with a print in different ink than the print on each of the documents that are printed and finished.
- 18. A method according to claim 3, wherein the verification sheets have been or are provided with, or manufactured from, a different material than each of the documents that are printed and finished.
- 19. A method according to claim 3, wherein the verification sheets have been or are provided, at predetermined positions, with a print that is different in position than print on each of the documents that are printed and finished.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
1007637 |
Nov 1997 |
NL |
|
Parent Case Info
This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §§119 and/or 365 to 1007637 filed in The Netherlands on Nov. 27, 1997; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
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