This invention relates broadly to the production of print media such as magazines, books, catalogs and the like, and more specifically, to the application of personalized information on selected signatures of the magazine, and the coordination or matching of the personalized signatures with subscriber name and address information on the cover.
For purposes of this disclosure, reference will hereinafter be made to "magazine" or "magazines" with the understanding that the term is to be considered generic to magazines, books, catalogs and the like.
In a typical magazine assembly system, either a saddle stitch (also known as a saddle wire or inserter binder) or perfect binding (also known as patent, square back, or, in one variation, as side wire binding) bindery line is employed. On a saddle stitch bindery line, preprinted signatures are deposited in proper sequence on a bindery chain conveyor which carries the signatures to a series of processing stations for functions such as calipering, rejection, stitching, trimming, and labeling. Individual signatures are introduced onto the chain from hoppers usually located above and to one side of the chain. Each hopper has a stack of identical signatures. Each signature generally comprises a folded sheet of paper, or a preassembled group of sheets, which will be supported on the bindery chain along a center fold line. Each signature generally comprises four or more printed pages in the finished magazine. For standard magazine production, i.e., where all magazines assembled on the bindery line are identical, each hopper deposits its respective signature onto the bindery chain, as each copy of the magazine being assembled passes by on the chain underneath.
On a perfect binding bindery line the process is similar, the primary differences being that each hopper deposits its respective signature flat onto a moving belt conveyor rather than hanging them onto a moving chain conveyor, that the signatures are assembled in a side-by-side fashion adjacent to the other signatures rather than in a nested fashion within the other signatures, and that the signatures and covers are bound together with glue rather than wire staples.
The present invention is broadly applicable to both the saddle stitch and perfect bindery processes. The specific descriptions used as examples herein will focus on the more common saddle stitch bindery process.
It is often desirable to customize magazines by including or excluding certain signatures based on known characteristics of the recipient. For example, a signature containing articles or advertising relating to women's apparel might be included in those magazines addressed to female recipients and excluded from those magazines addressed to male recipients. Customization of this type is currently a widespread practice in the print media field, and is generally known as selective binding. In selective binding, the various hoppers are fired selectively in accordance with a master control program, which then addresses each selectively-assembled magazine with the appropriate address information.
It is also often desirable to personalize magazines by printing information specific to the individual recipient inside the magazine. For example, an advertising page in the magazine might be personalized with the name of the recipient and the location of the dealer closest to the recipient's address. Personalization of this type is also widely used in the print media field, and is generally known as on-line personalization or ink-jet personalization--a term derived from the printing device customarily employed. In on-line personalization, non-contact printing heads (such as the ink jet type) mounted on-line in the bindery line print personalized information on each magazine as it is being assembled and bound.
In some instances, it is also desirable to combine personalization and customization techniques. For instance, male recipients might be selected to receive signatures with advertising for pick-up trucks and female recipients might receive signatures with advertising for station wagons, while both advertisements might be personalized with the recipient's name and the location of the nearest dealer.
The patent literature describes a number of complex systems for customizing and personalizing magazines. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,768,766 discloses a system having a main control data processor, a magnetic tape reader and associated disc storage memory for coded address and message data, control information, etc. and an operator terminal. The system also includes a bindery line with means for selective gathering of signatures, and for ink-jet printing the magazine with an address or personalized messages; a line control data processor and an operator terminal connected with the bindery line to control signature selection and imaging; and a communication network for transmitting data and control information from the main control to the line control. This system utilizes one on-line printing station having one or more ink jet heads for printing a message on a selected signature. A second on-line printer, downstream of the first on-line printer, is employed to image a name and address on the label area of the book or magazine cover.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,818 discloses a signature collating and binding system wherein a non-contact printer (such as an ink jet type) is located within the collating line, between adjacent signature feeders, to custom print information on the signature in response to coded signals also used to actuate the feeders. Downstream feeders then deliver additional signatures over the custom printed signature. After binding, a second non-contact printer, located downstream of a trimmer, prints mailing labels under control of the coded signals.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,252 discloses a computer controlled system for producing differently constituted magazines tailored to the characteristics of particular subscriber groups within the total magazine subscription. A conventional signature feeding or gathering machine is used in conjunction with a chain conveyor for providing predetermined combinations of signatures for different subscriber groups.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,493,482; 4,395,031; and 4,149,711 (and corresponding Reissue U.S. Pat. No. Re. 31,710) disclose additional systems utilizing on-line ink jet printers for applying customized, personal data to magazine signatures.
Existing methods are substantially limited, however, in their ability to produce high-quality personalization. The customized signatures used in selective binding can be pre-printed on four-color presses for a high-quality appearance, but the ability to customize the magazine in this way is severely limited by the number of selective hoppers in the bindery line--ten to twenty versions is the practical limit on most bindery lines.
On-line personalization, on the other hand, offers an unlimited number of variations--each individual magazine can be printed with unique information. Because the printing heads must be mounted on-line in the bindery line, however, there are numerous constraints which limit the quality and extent of the personalized printing that can be achieved. Presently known on-line ink jet heads print only small areas (usually limited to a one-inch-high strip) at low-resolution (usually only 60 to 100 dots per inch). This results in a small, low-quality printed image with little or no ability to produce fonts, graphics or halftone images. Larger, higher-quality printing heads capable of operating on-line in the bindery line are under development, but they will continue to be inferior to off-line personalized printing devices.
Off-line personalized printing devices include wide-bar and higher-resolution ink jet printers, hot- and cold- fusion laser printers, electrostatic printers, and various other technologies, both existing and under development. These printers operate independently and cannot practically be operated on-line in the bindery line. But these printers can personalize larger areas with higher-quality images (often including graphics and halftones) at higher speeds and lower costs.
It is presently known to personalize signatures on off-line printers and bind these "pre-personalized" signatures onto a magazine as an "outsert" (an extra signature wrapped around the outside cover of a magazine). Such outserts are used, for example, to deliver subscription renewal forms to subscribers whose expiration date is near. Such outserts are simply loaded into the last hopper on the bindery line, and carry the address label pre-printed on the pre-personalized signature itself.
However, it is not presently known to bind such pre-personalized signatures inside the covers of a magazine. The reason is that there is no current method on the bindery line to reliably match a pre-personalized signature bound inside the covers with the address information attached or printed on the cover. In other words, if a particular pre-personalized signature has John Doe's name on it and is bound inside a magazine, there is no reliable way to get John Doe's address on the cover. (In the case of on-line personalization, the personalized printing is controlled by the bindery line controller, which subsequently tracks the location of the personalized signature throughout the bindery process and applies the appropriate address at the addressing station. In the case of off-line personalization, however, the bindery line controller does not know what information is printed on any particular pre-personalized signature.
The present invention provides a unique manner of reliably matching pre-personalized signatures bound inside the covers of a magazine with the appropriate address information to be printed on its cover. This allows a dramatic increase in the amount and quality of personalized information and images that can be incorporated into a magazine.
A primary feature of the invention involves the installation of a recognition device on the bindery line which is capable of reading identifying marks or codes printed on each pre-personalized signature. These codes are then communicated to a central processor which converts them into address information, either through a translation process or through a look-up process against a stored address file. The address information is then communicated to an on-line printing head at the addressing station which prints the address on the cover.
In one exemplary embodiment of the invention, an off-line variable printer is used to print personalized information onto forms (which may also have been pre-printed with non-personalized four-color images). These forms are cut and folded into pre-personalized signatures, which customarily consist of one sheet of paper folded once and printed on both sides to make up four printed pages in the magazine, but which could also consist of eight or more printed pages. The signatures are produced in proper distribution sequence to maintain optimum postal sortation, then stacked and delivered to the bindery line (which may be at a different facility), where they are loaded into the appropriate hopper (which could be in any hopper location) for insertion at the desired location vis-a-vis other non-personalized signatures in the bindery line.
There remains the problem of applying to the cover of each magazine the recipient's name and address which corresponds to the pre-personalized signature bound inside that magazine. This invention addresses the problem in a unique a relatively simple manner. A recognition device such as a scanner, camera or other symbol-reading device (and utilizing any one of numerous available recognition technologies such as OCR scanning or bar code reading) is positioned on the pre-personalized hopper or on the bindery line downstream from the pre-personalized hopper. It reads a code printed on the pre-personalized signature. The code can be in any location on the pre-personalized signature which is visible to the recognition device, but the preferred location is the lap area of the signature which will be trimmed off later in the bindery process, thus improving the aesthetics of the magazine. The code can be in any one of numerous forms: 1) the full address information, such as a full OCR-scannable name and address printed on the pre-personalized signature, 2) a compressed code that can be translated into the full address information using decoding algorithms, or 3) a match code that can be compared to a look-up table of addresses stored in the memory of the central processor.
In a bindery line with selective binding capabilities, the code is communicated to the conventional control processors, which are equipped with special software which allows them to convert the code into full address information either through algorithms or look-up against an address file stored in high-speed memory. Meanwhile, the magazine continues along the bindery line, through the conventional caliper, reject and stitch and trim stations. Properly assembled magazines (as opposed to rejects) are then transferred to a table where they are trimmed and addressed.
The line control processor tracks the position of each pre-personalized signature as it moves through the bindery line and instructs a conventional on-line ink jet printing head at the addressing station to print the matching address information on the cover or address carrier.
In a selective bindery line implementation, pre-personalized signatures can be mixed with conventional customization (selective binding) and personalization (on-line ink jet personalization inside the magazine) at any point downstream of the pre-personalized signature feeder, if desired.
A second simplified embodiment of the invention relates to a non-selective bindery line where signatures are automatically fed in sequence from all of the hoppers, as determined by a mechanical connection to the bindery chain and associated drive shaft. In such a system, the otherwise complex bindery controls which selectively fire individual hoppers based on a master customization scheme can be eliminated. In this embodiment, which is particularly adapted for use in a saddle stitch binding process, one hopper will be supplied with pre-personalized signatures, printed off-line as described above, and including bar code or other machine readable indicia along an edge to be trimmed. A stand-alone CPU (for example, any suitable "personal computer") can be located along the bindery line to control the various stations and devices along the bindery line, downstream of the signature feeders, i.e., after assembly of the magazine is completed. These stations may include a calipering (inspection) station, a plough station, a bar code (or other) reader, an ink jet printer for cover addressing, a bundle break mark applicator, a reject station and a reject label printer. The CPU will include a data file containing address information matched to the bar codes on the signatures, as well as a reject label file as described further herein.
In this second embodiment, the plough station apparatus (which is well known in the art and typically used for insertion of cards or other inserts at preselected locations) will open the signature to permit the bar code reader to record the bar code information. The signature is then closed and the address information subsequently printed on the cover while the magazine is still on the bindery chain conveyor (and before it reaches the mailing table so the CPU can easily track its position by monitoring the speed of the bindery chain).
In an even more simplified third embodiment of the invention, readily usable in both saddle stitch and perfect binding processes, pre-personalized signatures are added in the signature position which is inserted immediately inside the cover signature. These pre-personalized signatures are printed with the desired personalization information as well as the subscriber name and address and perhaps other control information. At the same time, the cover signature is provided with a die-cut window which, when assembled in place, will overlie the address and other control information on the underlying pre-personalized signature, thus making the address visible when the cover is closed. This arrangement eliminates the need for on-line address printing, but is otherwise limited in application by virtue of the necessary location of the pre-personalized signature immediately adjacent the cover and the necessary die cut in the cover.
Another aspect of the present invention relates to the ability to identify, sort and handle rejects within the bindery line in both selective and non-selective binding operations. One conventional inspection technique for magazines in the bindery process utilizes finely tuned calipers downstream of the signature gathering operation for measuring the magazine thickness. In the event one or more signatures are missing, or if one or more unwanted signatures have been inserted, the calipers will detect a deviation from a predetermined reference thickness, and the magazine will be diverted from the bindery line and discarded.
A further complication is introduced, however, where a personalized intermediate signature has been introduced into the magazine in a selective binding operation. Specifically, a magazine having a pre-personalized signature may be rejected, and ejected prior to the address printing step. One partial solution to the problem is to locate a first set of calipers upstream of the pre-personalized signature hopper so as to provide an initial screening based on a predetermined intermediate magazine thickness. Since there may only be a few inserts and/or signatures to be added downstream of this first set of calipers, this arrangement will screen out a significant portion of the total number of rejects in the batch. In any case, additional reject handling techniques are necessary to insure high quality control vis-a-vis the finally assembled magazine.
In the selective binding process, as in the first described embodiment, in the event a magazine is rejected as a result of a final caliper check of predetermined magazine thickness, that magazine is ejected from the bindery line, and, in accordance with the invention, a non-personalized magazine is automatically re-ordered for receiving the reject address information on-line.
In the non-selective binding process, as in the second described embodiment, the bar code (or other) reader is actuated to read the pre-personalized address on every magazine (both on properly-assembled and on reject magazines) prior to ejection of the rejects from the bindery line. No address information is printed on the rejects, however, since the printer (via the CPU) knows the corresponding magazine is incomplete and will be rejected. The reject is subsequently ejected from the bindery line and all rejects can then be re-done as non-personalized re-makes, with address information retrieved from the reject label file within the local CPU.
In the third described embodiment, rejects may be handled simply by manually re-feeding the pre-personalized signatures from the rejected magazines into the pre-personalized signature hopper for use in assembling replacement magazines. Alternatively, the address on the rejected pre-personalized signatures may be machine-read to initiate printing of new, self-adhesive labels which can then be attached to non-personalized versions of the magazines.
From the above, it will be appreciated that the present invention provides simplified yet higher quality personalization of magazines with accurate and intelligent correlation of the personalization information with address information applied to the magazine cover.
Thus, in accordance with broader aspects of the invention, there is provided a process for the assembly of magazines in a bindery line wherein individual signatures are deposited on a conveyor from a plurality of hoppers, the improvement broadly comprising the steps of:
a) pre-personalizing off-line signatures with personalization information including machine readable indicia;
b) loading the pre-personalized signatures into at least one of the plurality of hoppers;
c) depositing the pre-personalized signatures on the conveyor between other of the individual signatures from adjacent hoppers;
d) providing a symbol reading device for reading the machine readable indicia and generating address information including recipient name and address matched to the personalization information; and
e) printing on-line the address information on cover signatures of the respective magazines.
In another aspect, the invention provides apparatus for assembling magazines wherein selected signatures are deposited from a plurality of hoppers onto a conveyor, the improvement broadly stated comprising: first means for pre-personalizing at least one group of signatures with personalization information, at least a portion of which is in the form of coded indicia, prior to insertion of the one group in one of the plurality of hoppers; second means for reading the coded indicia after the one group of signatures has been inserted in one of the plurality of hoppers; third data processing means for storing at least label information including subscriber name and address and for matching the coded information to the label information or for directly translating such coded information into label information; and fourth means for printing the label information on covers of the magazines.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description which follows.