A mail singulator system determines a position of an optical panel to automatically adjust a loading conveyor speed to prevent stacked and overlapped mailpieces in the singulator and large gaps between mailpieces. The optical panel is configured between the front mailpiece of a mail stack on the loading conveyor and the optical sensor. The optical panel changes position with the pressure exerted by the mail stack and provides signals to the controller to adjust the conveyor speed. An optical sensor may detect a far threshold position or limit distance to increase the speed of the conveyor and may detect a near threshold position of limit distance to reduce the speed of the conveyor. The optical panel may have a low friction surface to allow the mail to slide into the conveyor and an optical surface to allow reliable optical sensor detection of the optical panel position.

A system and control method for determining an amount of paper product dispensed from a dispenser or remaining in the dispenser is provided. The paper product is initially loaded in the dispenser as a paper product formation, such as a roll or stack of the product. At defined intervals, a digital image of an aspect of the paper product formation in the dispenser is taken and transmitted to a digital imager processor. A feature of the digital image that changes as the paper product formation decreases in size as the paper product is dispensed is analyzed and compared with a predetermined value of the feature at a predefined size of the paper product formation to determine an amount of the paper product dispensed or remaining in the dispenser.

According to an example, an apparatus may include an automatic document feeder, printing components, an externally accessible embedded finishing mechanism, an illumination source to direct attention to the embedded finishing mechanism, and a controller. The controller may determine whether a certain condition has been met pertaining to media sheets fed into the automatic document feeder or printed by the printing components, and in response to a determination that the certain condition has been met, may activate the illumination source.

A bag-making and packaging machine has a film supply unit that supplies film to a bag-making and packaging unit. The film supply unit has a film conveyance mechanism that conveys a first film so that a trailing end portion of the first film heads toward a film splicing position for splicing to a leading end portion of a second film, a first sensor detecting a mark on the first film, a second sensor detecting the mark at downstream, and a controller for the film conveyance mechanism. The controller judges, based on detection of the second sensor, that the trailing end portion of the first film has reached the splicing position and stops conveyance of the first film. The controller controls the conveyance mechanism so that the conveyance speed of the first film before the detection of the mark by the first sensor is faster than the speed after the detection.

A displacement amount calculation part in a base material processing apparatus calculates the degree of matching between an upstream data section and a downstream data section included in a first and a second detection results, which indicate time-varying changes in the positions of an edge of a base material in the width direction at an upstream and a downstream detection positions. This calculation uses calculation results obtained by sequentially calculating the degrees of matching between sub-data sections in the upstream data section and downstream sub-data sections in the downstream data section. This reduces the amount of computation and enables highly accurate detection of the amount of displacement of the base material in the transport direction on the basis of an identification result of the downstream data section that is highly matched with the upstream data section.

A displacement amount calculation part in a base material processing apparatus calculates the degree of matching between an upstream data section and a downstream data section included in an upstream and a downstream detection results, which indicate time-varying changes in the positions of an edge of the base material in the width direction at an upstream and a downstream detection positions. This calculation uses the results of comparison between signals in a predetermined frequency band extracted from the upstream detection result and signals in the predetermined frequency band extracted from the downstream detection result. Accordingly, a downstream data section that is highly matched with the upstream data section can be identified with high accuracy, and the amount of displacement of the base material in the transport direction can be detected with high accuracy on the basis of an identification result.

A sheet conveying device and a sheet conveying method whereby it is possible to convey a sheet more accurately. This sheet conveying device includes a holder capable of holding a sheet, bringing the sheet into a stretched state while holding the sheet, and conveying the held sheet. This sheet conveying device also includes a sheet state recognizer that recognizes the state of the sheet when the sheet is held in a stretched state by the holder.

A measurement apparatus includes a first conveyance path, a second conveyance path, a measuring portion, a third conveyance path and a sheet stacking portion. A sheet discharged out of an image forming apparatus is conveyed toward a downstream apparatus through the first conveyance path. The second conveyance path is branched from the first conveyance path, extended below the first conveyance path, and merged with the first conveyance path. The measuring portion is disposed on the second conveyance path. The third conveyance path is provided above the first conveyance path and is configured to convey the sheet from which a test image has been measured by the measuring portion in the second conveyance path. The sheet stacking portion is provided above the first conveyance path, and the sheet discharged out of the third conveyance path is stacked on the sheet stacking portion.

Provided are systems and methods for identifying, isolating, and/or aligning sheets. An identification system can facilitate accurate identification of a sheet by (i) vacating one or more components of the system that are not the sheet from a zone of detection, and/or (ii) determining a reference axis of the sheet. An isolation system can facilitate accurate isolation of a sheet by (i) providing targeted air flow, and/or (ii) introducing a wave into the sheet. Identification systems and/or isolation systems described herein may facilitate isolation of sheets that were previously fastened together by one or more fasteners. An alignment system can facilitate accurate alignment of a first sheet at an upstream location relative to a second sheet at a downstream location via machine learning.

An apparatus and method for tracking defects in sheet materials. The abstract of the disclosure is submitted herewith as required by 37 C.F.R. 1.72(b). As stated in 37 C.F.R. 1.72(b): A brief abstract of the technical disclosure in the specification must commence on a separate sheet, preferably following the claims, under the heading Abstract of the Disclosure. The purpose of the abstract is to enable the Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical disclosure. The abstract shall not be used for interpreting the scope of the claims. Therefore, any statements made relating to the abstract are not intended to limit the claims in any manner and should not be interpreted as limiting the claims in any manner.