Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in
European Patent Office Office européen des brevets
(19)
1 157 309
B1
*EP001157309B1*
(11)
EP 1 157 309 B1
(12)
EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION
(45)
Date of publication and mentionof the grant of the patent: 01.06.2005 Bulletin 2005/22
(21)
Application number: 00913832.2(22)
Date of filing: 08.03.2000(51)
Int Cl.7:G03G 15/00
(86)
International application number: PCT/US2000/006138(87)
International publication number:WO 2000/054110 (14.09.2000 Gazette 2000/37)
(54) METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPLIT PRINTING OF COLOR AND MONOCHROME
DOCUMENTS
VERFAHREN UND VORRICHTUNG ZUM GESPALTENEN DRUCKEN VON FARB- UND
MONOCHROMVORLAGEN
PROCEDE ET APPAREIL PERMETTANT D’IMPRIMER SEPAREMENT DES DOCUMENTS
COULEUR ET MONOCHROMES
(84)
Designated Contracting States: DE FR GB NL(30)
Priority: 08.03.1999 US 264287(43)
Date of publication of application: 28.11.2001 Bulletin 2001/48(73)
Proprietor: Electronics for Imaging, Inc. Foster City, CA 94404 (US)(72)
Inventors:• GLASS, William, H. Edina, MN 55410 (US) • LOKHORST, Mark
Eden Prairie, MN 55437 (US) • LODWICK, Philip, A.
Richfield, MN 55423 (US)
• SCHOENZEIT, Loren Orono, MN 55364 (US)
(74)
Representative: Beck, Jürgen, HOEGER, STELLRECHT & PARTNER Patentanwälte Uhlandstrasse 14c 70182 Stuttgart (DE)(56)
References cited: EP-A- 0 765 767 WO-A-88/01404 WO-A-99/36338• SHAW K P ET AL: "SHEET INSERTER FOR FINISHERS" XEROX DISCLOSURE
JOURNAL,US,XEROX CORPORATION. STAMFORD, CONN, vol. 20, no. 3, 1 May 1995 (1995-05-01), page 269 XP000512640
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 Description
[0001] The present invention relates to a system for printing and copying color and monochrome (e.g., black-and-white) documents. In particular, the invention provides pre-collated color sheets and an instruction sheet that allow a user to easily program a monochrome photocopier to insert the color sheets into their proper position in a final mixed document that includes the color sheets and copies of the monochrome sheets. [0002] Photocopiers and color printers have become an indispensable part of most offices, and are becoming increasingly popular for personal use as well. Color printers, including laser printers, can provide high qual-ity text and graphic images on various document sub-strates, including paper and transparencies. Moreover, recently digital document processing systems, which employ both printing and photocopying capabilities, have become popular.
[0003] However, such systems have a relatively high per-page operating cost. In practice, a user may wish to print and photocopy a document that has mostly black-and-white pages, and only a few color pages. For ex-ample, in a document such as a report or business plan, color pages may be used for the cover page, the first page of the different sections in the report, and for var-ious graphs which are interspersed among a large number of black-and-white text pages. Accordingly, it is inefficient to photocopy such a document on a color pho-tocopier when most of the pages in the document are black-and-white. It is also inefficient to print one or more copies of such a document on a printer with color and monochrome printing capabilities.
[0004] In particular, depending on the arrangement made by the user, a document processing system may have a counter that maintains a count of the total number of color and black-and-white copied pages and the user is billed according to this count.
[0005] In contrast, conventional black-and-white pho-tocopiers can produce a large number of photocopies very economically. However, of course, such photocop-iers cannot.provide color documents.
[0006] If a user desires to print several sets of a doc-ument, where the document includes both black-and-white and color pages, the user may print out one com-plete document, remove the black-and-white pages, and photocopy these pages to provide the necessary number of sets of black-and-white pages. Additionally, the user can print out a corresponding number of sets of the color pages, and manually collate the color pages with the black-and-white pages to form the final sets of documents. However, this procedure is time consuming, tedious and error-prone.
[0007] Accordingly, it is the object of the present in-vention to provide a system for easily and economically forming several sets of documents where each docu-ment includes both black-and-white and color pages. [0008] This object is solved by a method according to
claim 1.
[0009] Further advantageous embodiments are sub-ject matter of claims 2 to 6.
[0010] The object is further solved by an apparatus according to claim 8 and further advantageous embod-iments according to claims 9 to 12.
[0011] In addition the object is solved by an instruction sheet according to claim 13 and further advantageous embodiments according to claim 14 and 15.
[0012] The inventive system has the advantage that it is compatible with existing color printers and black-and-white photocopiers.
[0013] The present invention provides a system hav-ing the above and other advantages.
[0014] The present invention relates to a system for printing and copying color and black-and-white docu-ments. Note that the "printer" may itself be a copier cou-pled to receive print instructions from a computer. Alter-natively, the printer and copier could be the same or dif-ferent multifunction machines which provide both print-ing and copyprint-ing functions. Of course, the printer may also be a stand alone computer printer.
[0015] A method provides one or more (e.g., N) sets of documents using a printer and a copier, and each set of documents includes a first type of sheets, and a sec-ond type of sheets provided in a particular sequence in relation to the first type of sheets. The method includes the steps of printing a first complete document set, in-cluding the first and second types of sheets. N-1 insert sets of the second type of sheets are also printed, along with an instruction sheet indicating the particular se-quence. Preferably, each item is printed on the same printer although this is not required.
[0016] The first complete document set is positioned in a document feeder of the copier, and the N-1 insert sets are positioned in a post-process insertion tray of the copier. Additionally, the copier is programmed by a user according to the instruction sheet to identify the particular sequence.
[0017] The copier is programmed to output copies of the sheets of the first type in the first complete document set, and to output the sheets of the second type from the N-1 insert sets at the place of the sheets of the sec-ond type in the first complete document set in the doc-ument feeder.
[0018] The copier can therefore provide the N sets of documents in which the sheets of the second type are provided in the particular sequence.
[0019] In a particular embodiment, the sheets of the first type are black-and-white, and the sheets of the sec-ond type are color. Thus, the N sets of documents will automatically include the black-and-white and color pages arranged in the appropriate sequence within each document.
[0020] The instruction sheet may have a graphical display (i.e., picture) of the particular sequence to aid in communicating to the user. The copier may have a con-trol panel or the like with a corresponding display to
sim-5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
plify the programming step.
[0021] A corresponding apparatus and instruction sheet are also presented.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0022]
FIG. 1 illustrates a system for split mode printing of color and monochrome documents in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 illustrates a split mode instruction sheet in accordance with the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [0023] The present invention relates to a system for printing and copying color and black-and-white docu-ments.
[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates a system for split mode print-ing of color and monochrome documents in accordance with the present invention. A user interface 110 allows a user to enter commands to a personal computer (PC) 120, workstation or the like, to print out a document on a color/monochrome printer 130. The printer 130 may be a digital color printer that can print and/or copy both color and black-and-white pages. For example, a Canon CLC 2400/1000-S or CLC 1000 may be used. Generally, the images are printed on paper, although other sub-strates such as transparencies may be used. The PC 120 includes graphics processing software 125, such as the EDOX system, available from Management Graph-ics, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.
[0025] The graphics processing software 125 enables the printer 130 to print one complete document set 140, N-1 color insert sets 150 and an instruction sheet 160. The complete document set 140 includes a number of pages including both color and black-and-white pages. For example, the complete document set 140 might in-clude ten pages total, with seven black-and-white pages and three color pages, e.g., as shown in FIG. 2. [0026] For example, the black-and-white pages may have positions 1, 3-7 and 10 in each document, while the color pages have positions 2, 8 and 9 in each doc-ument. The color insert sets 150 include N-1 sets of the color pages only. For example, each set 1, ..., set N-1, may include the color sheets in positions 2, 8 and 9. For instance, assuming N = 5, this means it is desired to produce N-1 = 4 copies of the original complete docu-ment set 140.
[0027] Furthermore, in accordance with the present invention, the graphics processing software 125 com-mands the printer 130 to print an instruction sheet 160 that gives the user specific instructions for assembling the N = 5 documents using a monochrome (e.g., black-and-white) photocopier 170. An example instruction sheet 160 is shown in FIG. 2.
[0028] FIG. 1 also shows a conventional
mono-chrome copier 170, with a control panel 175 which al-lows the user to enter specific commands to the copier. The copier 170 may be, for example, the high volume Océ 3100 analog black-and-white copier. The copier 170 includes an automatic feeder 180, a post-process insertion tray 185, and one or more output trays 190. [0029] As is known to those skilled in the art, the feed-er 180 feeds in sheets, one at a time, to a platen of the copier, e.g. using a belt mechanism, wherein the sheets are imaged onto blank sheets which are subsequently output from the copier. The sheets in the post-process insertion tray 185 are fed into, passed through, and out-put from the copier, without being printed or otherwise modified by the copier.
[0030] In accordance with the present invention, the user enters commands to the copier 170 via the control panel 175 to inform the copier of the desired location of the colored pages within each document. Additionally, the complete document 140, (e.g., ten pages) is placed in the automatic feeder 180, and the N-1 color insert sets 150 are placed in the post-process insertion tray 185. [0031] The user then instructs the copier 170 to pro-duce, e.g., N = 5 sets of documents. The copier 170 feeds in the color and black-and-white pages of the com-plete document set 140 one page at a time. Depending on the capabilities of the copier 170 and the collating mode selected, the complete document set 140 may be fed in to the copier only once to produce the N output documents, or may be fed in once for each output doc-ument. The copier 170 may have a number of conven-tional output trays 190.
[0032] In accordance with the present invention, each black-and-white page of a complete document set 140 that is fed into the copier 170 is photocopied where a corresponding photocopy is provided to the output trays 190. Additionally, when a color page of the complete document set 140 is fed into the copier 170, the page is not photocopied. Instead, a corresponding page from the color insert sets 1-50 is fed in to the copier via the post-process insertion tray 185 and output to one of the output trays 190. Thus, each color page in the complete document set 140 is replaced by a corresponding page of the color insert sets 150. In this manner, the resulting documents provided to the output tray 190 include both black-and-white and color pages. Additionally, the color pages are inserted in the appropriate sequence within each document. Therefore, there is no need for the user to manually collate the color and black-and-white pages to form the final documents.
[0033] FIG. 2 illustrates a split mode instruction sheet in accordance with the present invention. The instruc-tion sheet 160 is formed according to the graphics processing software 125 of the PC 120 in FIG. 1. Using software techniques which should be apparent to those skilled in the art, the instruction sheet 160 provides tex-tual and graphical instructions to the user for use in con-trolling the copier 170. The instruction sheet 160 may include a summary region 200 which informs the user
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of information such as the number of color insert pages per document set, the total number of pages per docu-ment set, and the total number of docudocu-ment copies which the user desires.
[0034] Furthermore, a textual region 210 includes in-structions for operating the copier 170. A first step is to place the one complete document set 140 in the docu-ment feeder 180. A second step is to place the pre-col-lated insert sets 150 into the post-process insertion tray. A third step is to program the copier via the control panel 175 to replace the particular pages of the color set as indicated in a graphical display 220. The graphical dis-play 220 clearly conveys to the user the location of the color sheets relative to the black-and-white sheets. For example, the color pages may be the second, eighth and ninth pages within each ten page document. The color sheets may appear colored in the display 220.
[0035] Preferably, the instruction sheet 160 is custom-ized for ease of use with the control panel 175 of the copier 170. For example, the control panel 175 may have a key pad that allows a user to enter numbers cor-responding to the positions of the color pages (e.g., 2, 8 and 9). The graphical display 220 can be laid out to correspond to the control panel 175 of the particular monochrome copier being used to allow the user to eas-ily confirm that the correct positions for the color pages have been entered. Moreover, the graphical display 220 may have a similar size to the display provided on the control panel 175 so that the display 220 can be held up to the control panel 175 to provide a quick visual confir-mation.
[0036] The control panel 175 may allow the user to enter commands via alternative means, for example, such as voice commands, direct commands from the software 125, or scanning of the instruction sheet 160 by a scanning function associated with the copier 170. The scanning may include scanning and conversion of text and/or graphics, such as bar codes, on the sheet 160.
[0037] Accordingly, it can be seen that the present in-vention provides a system for combining the power of a digital color printer with the economy of a high speed, black-and-white photocopier to produce final docu-ments having both color and black-and-white pages. Appropriate graphics processing software is provided on a PC, work station or the like to command a printer to print a complete document set, including both black-and-white and color pages, N-1 color insert sets, and an instruction sheet to guide the user in programming a conventional black-and-white copier with an automatic feeder and a post-process insertion tray. Advanta-geously, the system enables the production of econom-ical documents, and frees the user from the task of man-ual collation.
[0038] Although the invention has been described in connection with various specific embodiments, those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous adapta-tions and modificaadapta-tions may be made thereto without
departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.
[0039] For example, while the invention was dis-cussed in terms of producing a final document with color and black-and-white pages, the invention is suitable for use in producing any document where pages of a first type must be inserted in a particular order between pag-es of a second type. For example, it may be dpag-esired to insert a different stock of paper, photographs or trans-parencies, between pages of standard paper provided by a copier.
[0040] Moreover, the complete document set, color insert sets, and instruction sheet need not be printed on the same printer.
[0041] Additionally, the color insert sets may be print-ed prior to when they are neprint-edprint-ed, e.g., to allow a user to make an additional number of sets of the mixed doc-ument at a later time.
Claims
1. A method for providing N sets of documents using a printer and a copier, where N>1, and each set of documents includes a first type of sheets, and a second type of sheets provided in a particular se-quence in relation to the first type of sheets, com-prising the steps of:
printing a first complete document set, includ-ing the first and second types of sheets; printing N-1 insert sets of the second type of sheets;
printing an instruction sheet indicating the par-ticular sequence;
positioning the first complete document set in a document feeder of the copier;
positioning the N-1 insert sets in a post-process insertion tray of the copier; and
programming the copier according to the in-struction sheet to identify the particular se-quence.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein:
in said programming step, the copier is pro-grammed to output copies of the sheets of the first type in the first complete document set, and to output the sheets of the second type from the N-1 insert sets at the place of the sheets of the second type in the first complete document set. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the copier provides the N sets of documents in which the sheets of the second type are provid-ed in the particular sequence.
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4. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the sheets of the first type are black-and-white; and
the sheets of the second type are color. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein:
the instruction sheet comprises a graphical dis-play of the particular sequence.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein:
the copier comprises a display for use in said programming step corresponding to said graphical display.
7. An apparatus for providing N sets of documents, where N>1, and each set of documents includes a first type of sheets, and a second type of sheets pro-vided in a particular sequence in relation to the first type of sheets, comprising:
printing means for printing a first complete doc-ument set, including the first and second types of sheets, N-1 insert sets of the second type of sheets, and an instruction sheet indicating the particular sequence; and
a copier having a document feeder upon which the first complete document set is adapted to be positioned, a post-process insertion tray up-on which the N-1 insert sets are adapted to be positioned, and control means adapted to be programmed according to the instruction sheet to identify the particular sequence.
8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:
the copier is adapted to be programmed to out-put copies of the sheets of the first type in the first complete document set, and to output the sheets of the second type from the N-1 insert sets at the place of the sheets of the second type in the first complete document set. 9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:
the copier is adapted to provide the N sets of documents in which the sheets of the second type are provided in the particular sequence. 10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:
the sheets of the first type are black-and-white; and
the sheets of the second type are color. 11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein:
the instruction sheet comprises a graphical dis-play of the particular sequence.
12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:
the control means comprises a display for use in programming corresponding to the graphical display.
13. An instruction sheet for use in programming a cop-ier to provide N sets of documents, where N>1, and each set of documents including a first type of sheets, and a second type of sheets provided in a particular sequence in relation to the first type of sheets, comprising:
means for indicating the particular sequence; wherein said instruction sheet is adapted to be used for programming control means of the cop-ier to inform the copcop-ier of the particular sequence, thereby enabling the copier to output copies of the sheets of the first type in a first complete document set in a document feeder of the copier, and to output the sheets of the second type from N-1 insert sets in a post-process insertion tray of the copier at the place of the sheets of the second type in the first complete document set according to the particular sequence to provide the N sets of documents. 14. The instruction sheet of claim 13, wherein said
in-dicating means comprises a graphical display of the particular sequence.
15. The instruction sheet of claim 14, wherein: the graphical display corresponds to a display of said copier.
Patentansprüche
1. Verfahren zur Bereitstellung von N Dokumenten-sätzen unter Verwendung eines Druckers und eines Kopierers, wobei N>1 und wobei jeder Dokumen-tensatz einen ersten Typ von Blättern beinhaltet und einen zweiten Typ von Blättern, die im Verhält-nis zu dem ersten Typ von Blättern in einer be-stimmten Folge bereitgestellt werden, wobei das Verfahren folgende Schritte beinhaltet:
Drucken eines ersten vollständigen Dokumen-tensatzes einschließlich des ersten und zwei-ten Typs von Blättern;
Drucken von N-1 Einschubsätzen von dem zweiten Typ von Blättern; Drucken eines Anlei-tungsblatts, welches die bestimmte Folge. be-zeichnet; Einlegen des ersten vollständigen
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Dokumentensatzes in eine Dokumentenzu-führeinrichtung des Kopierers;
Einlegen der N-1 Einschubsätze in einen Nach-verarbeitungs-Einfügeeinsatz des Kopierers; und
Programmieren des Kopierers gemäß dem An-leitungsblatt, um die bestimmte Folge zu kenn-zeichnen.
2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, bei dem der Kopierer in dem genannten Schritt des Programmierens so programmiert wird, daß er Kopien der Blätter des ersten Typs in dem ersten vollständigen Dokumen-tensatz ausgibt und die Blätter des zweiten Typs von den N-1 Einschubsätzen an dem Ort der Blätter des zweiten Typs in dem ersten vollständigen Do-kumentensatz.
3. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, bei dem der Kopierer N Dokumentensätze bereitstellt, in denen die Blät-ter des zweiten Typs in der bestimmten Folge be-reitgestellt werden.
4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, bei dem die Blätter des ersten Typs schwarzweiß sind, und die Blätter des zweiten Typs farbig.
5. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, bei dem das Anlei-tungsblatt eine grafische Anzeige der bestimmten Folge beinhaltet.
6. Verfahren nach Anspruch 5, bei dem der Kopierer eine Anzeige zur Verwendung in dem genannten Schritt des Programmierens beinhaltet, welche der genannten grafischen Anzeige entspricht.
7. Vorrichtung zur Bereitstellung von N sätzen, wobei N>1 und wobei jeder Dokumenten-satz einen ersten Typ von Blättern beinhaltet und einen zweiten Typ von Blättern, die im Verhältnis zu dem ersten Typ von Blättern in einer bestimmten Folge bereitgestellt werden, wobei die Vorrichtung beinhaltet:
Druckermittel zum Drucken eines ersten voll-ständigen Dokumentensatzes, einschließlich der ersten und zweiten Typen von Blättern, von N-1 Einschubsätzen von dem zweiten Typ von Blättern, und eines Anleitungsblatts, welches die bestimmte Folge kennzeichnet; und einen Kopierer, der eine Dokumentenzuführ-einrichtung aufweist, die so ausgelegt ist, daß der erste vollständige Dokumentensatz in sie eingelegt werden kann, einen Nachverarbei-tungs-Einfügeeinsatz, der so ausgelegt ist, daß die N-1 Einschubsätze in ihn eingelegt werden können, und ein Steuermittel, das so ausgelegt ist, daß es gemäß dem Anleitungsblatt
pro-grammiert werden kann, um die bestimmte Fol-ge zu kennzeichnen.
8. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 7, bei der der Kopierer so ausgelegt ist, daß er so programmiert werden kann, daß er Kopien der Blätter des ersten Typs in dem ersten vollständigen Dokumentensatz ausgibt und die Blätter des zweiten Typs von den N-1 Ein-schubsätzen an dem Ort der Blätter des zweiten Typs in dem ersten vollständigen Dokumentensatz. 9. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 7, bei der der Kopierer so ausgelegt ist, daß er die N Dokumentensätze be-reitstellt, in denen die Blätter des zweiten Typs in der bestimmten Folge bereitgestellt werden. 10. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 7, bei der die Blätter des
ersten Typs schwarzweiß sind, und die Blätter des zweiten Typs farbig.
11. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 7, bei der das Anlei-tungsblatt eine grafische Anzeige der bestimmten Folge beinhaltet.
12. Vorrichtung nach Anspruch 11, bei der das Steuer-mittel eine Anzeige zur Verwendung bei der Pro-grammierung umfaßt, welche der genannten grafi-schen Anzeige entspricht.
13. Anleitungsblatt zur Verwendung bei der Program-mierung eines Kopierers, um N Dokumentensätze bereitzustellen, wobei N>1 und wobei jeder Doku-mentensatz einen ersten Typ von Blättern beinhal-tet und einen zweiten Typ von Blättern, die im Ver-hältnis zu dem ersten Typ von Blättern in einer be-stimmten Folge bereitgestellt werden, wobei das Anleitungsblatt umfaßt:
Mittel zum Bezeichnen der bestimmten Folge; wobei das genannte Anleitungsblatt so ausgelegt ist, daß es für die Programmierung des Steuermit-tels des Kopierers verwendet werden kann, um dem Kopierer die bestimmte Folge mitzuteilen, so daß der Kopierer in die Lage versetzt wird, Kopien der Blätter des ersten Typs in einem ersten vollständi-gen Dokumentensatz aus einer Dokumentenzu-führeinrichtung des Kopierers auszugeben, und die Blätter des zweiten Typs von N-1 Einschubsätzen aus einem Nachverarbeitungs-Einfügeeinsatz des Kopierers an dem Ort der Blätter des zweiten Typs in dem ersten vollständigen Dokumentensatz ge-mäß der bestimmten Folge auszugeben, um N Do-kumentensätze bereitzustellen.
14. Anleitungsblatt nach Anspruch 13, bei dem das ge-nannte Bezeichnungsmittel eine grafische Anzeige der bestimmten Folge beinhaltet.
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15. Anleitungsblatt nach Anspruch 14, bei dem die gra-fische Anzeige einer Anzeige des genannten Ko-pierers entspricht.
Revendications
1. Procédé de production de N jeux de documents au moyen d'une imprimante et d'un copieur, avec N>1, et chaque jeu de documents comprend un premier type de feuilles et un second type de feuilles agen-cées selon une séquence particulière par rapport au premier type de feuilles, comprenant les étapes consistant à :
j imprimer un premier jeu de documents com-plet, comprenant les premier et second types de feuilles ;
j imprimer N-1 jeux d'intercalaires du second ty-pe de feuilles ;
j imprimer une feuille d'instructions indiquant la séquence particulière ;
j positionner le premier jeu de documents com-plet dans un chargeur de documents du copieur ;
j positionner les N-1 jeux d'intercalaires dans un plateau d'insertion après traitement du copieur ; et
j programmer le copieur conformément à la feuille d'instructions pour identifier la séquence particulière.
2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel : à ladite étape de programmation, le copieur est pro-grammé pour sortir des copies des feuilles du pre-mier type dans le prepre-mier jeu de documents com-plet et pour sortir les feuilles du second type à partir des N-1 jeux d'intercalaires à la position des feuilles du second type dans le premier jeu de documents complet.
3. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel : le copieur produit les N jeux de documents dans les-quels les feuilles du second type sont agencées se-lon la séquence particulière.
4. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel : les feuilles du premier type sont en noir et blanc ; et les feuilles du second type sont en couleurs:
5. Procédé selon la revendication 1, dans lequel : la feuille d'instructions comprend une représentation graphique de la séquence particulière.
6. Procédé selon la revendication 5, dans lequel : le copieur comprend un afficheur destiné à servir lors de ladite étape de programmation correspondant à ladite représentation graphique.
7. Appareil de production de N jeux de documents, dans lequel N>1, et chaque jeu de documents com-prend un premier type de feuilles et un second type de feuilles agencées selon une séquence particu-lière par rapport au premier type de feuilles, comprenant :
j des moyens d'impression pour imprimer un premier jeu de documents complet, compre-nant les premier et second types de feuilles, N-1 jeux d'intercalaires du second type de feuilles, et une feuille d'instructions indiquant la séquence particulière ; et
j un copieur ayant un chargeur de documents sur lequel le premier jeu de documents complet est adapté à être positionné, un plateau d'in-sertion après traitement sur lequel les N-1 jeux d'intercalaires sont adaptés à être positionnés, et des moyens de commande adaptés à être programmés conformément à la feuille d'ins-tructions pour identifier la séquence particuliè-re.
8. Appareil selon la revendication 7, dans lequel : le copieur est adapté à être programmé pour sortir des copies des feuilles du premier type dans le premier jeu de documents complet et pour sortir les feuilles du second type à partir des N-1 jeux d'intercalaires à la position des feuilles du second type dans le pre-mier jeu de documents complet.
9. Appareil selon la revendication 7, dans lequel : le copieur est adapté à produire les N jeux de docu-ments dans lesquels les feuilles du second type sont agencées selon la séquence particulière. 10. Appareil selon la revendication 7, dans lequel : les
feuilles du premier type sont en noir et blanc ; et les feuilles du second type sont en couleurs.
11. Appareil selon la revendication 7, dans lequel : la feuille d'instructions comprend une représentation graphique de la séquence particulière.
12. Appareil selon la revendication 11, dans lequel : les moyens de commande comprennent un afficheur destiné à servir lors de la programmation corres-pondant à ladite représentation graphique. 13. Feuille d'instructions destinée à servir à la
program-mation d'un copieur pour produire N jeux de ments, dans laquelle N>1, et chaque jeu de
docu-5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
ments comprend un premier type de feuilles et un second type de feuilles agencées selon une sé-quence particulière par rapport au premier type de feuilles, comprenant :
j des moyens indiquant la séquence particulière ;
j dans lesquels ladite feuille d'instructions est adaptée à servir à la programmation des moyens de contrôle du copieur pour informer le copieur de la séquence particulière, permet-tant de cette façon au copieur de sortir des co-pies des feuilles du premier type dans un pre-mier jeu de documents complet dans un char-geur de documents du copieur, et de sortir les feuilles du second type à partir des N-1 jeux d'intercalaires dans un plateau d'insertion après traitement du copieur, à la place des feuilles du second type dans le premier jeu de documents complet conformément à la sé-quence particulière pour fournir les N jeux de documents.
14. Feuille d'instructions selon la revendication 13, dans laquelle lesdits moyens d'indication compren-nent une représentation graphique de la séquence particulière.
15. Feuille d'instructions selon la revendication 14, dans laquelle : la représentation graphique corres-pond à un afficheur dudit copieur.
