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Claims  |
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What I claim is:
1. A process for publishing custom facsimile publications for a plurality
of subscribers, comprising the steps of:
receiving page signals, each said page signal comprising a facsimile signal
portion and an identifying code portion,
storing the page signals such that the facsimile signal is associated with
the identifying code,
storing for each subscriber page selections as a portion of the identifying
code,
reading the page selections for one subscriber and matching the portion of
the identifying codes thereof with the identifying codes of the stored
page signals to identify the associated facsimile signals,
reading the identified facsimile signals for transfer to a facsimile
printing assembly to print a custon publication for said one subscriber,
and
repeating the reading of the page selections for other subscribers and the
subsequent steps so that custom publications are printed for the other
subscribers.
2. The process of claim 1 wherein the step of storing the page signals
comprises:
reading the identifying code portion and operating thereon to assign an
address in a primary memory and storing the facsimile signal at the
address in the primary memory, and
storing the identifying code portion in a page address memory in
association with the address whereby the facsimile signal portion can be
located from the address information in the page address memory.
3. The process of of claim 1 wherein the step of reading the page
selections for one subscriber includes the further step of operating on
the identifying codes for the subscriber selected pages to generate
identifying codes for additional complementary pages, said generated
identifying codes being added to the subscriber identifying codes for
matching with the identifying codes of the stored page signals thereby
providing complementary advertizer selected facsimile pages according to
the subscriber's interests.
4. The process of claim 3 comprising the further step of operating on the
identifying codes for the subscriber selected pages to generate an address
for selecting preprinted pages and product samples for dispensing thereof
and assembling in a publication package thereby providing complementary
advertizer selected preprinted pages and product samples according to
subscriber interests.
5. The process of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:
reading delivery address information for said one subscriber,
matching the delivery address information with address locations for
preaddressed materials which are sorted into the address locations which
correspond to the delivery address information, and
dispensing the preaddressed materials in the address location for assembly
with the subscriber's selected facsimile pages.
6. The process of claim 1 comprising the further steps of:
transforming page information from a plurality of editorial entities into
the page signals, and
transmitting the page signals to a broadcasting means for broadcast whereby
the page signals are received to begin the steps of claim 1.
7. A process for custom facsimile publication, comprising the steps of:
collecting page information from a plurality of editorial entities,
transforming the page information into page signals for control of
facsimile printers, and transmitting the page signals to a plurality of
facsimile publishing facilities,
storing the page signals in each of the publishing facilities so that any
of the page signals can be read from a memory in which said page signals
are stored,
selectively reading, according to each of a plurality of subscribers'
interests, page signals from the memory, and
controlling facsimile printing by the selectively read page signals whereby
a custom publication is printed for each of the plurality of subscribers.
8. The process of claim 7 wherein the step of selectively reading page
signals from the memory comprises:
maintaining a subscriber file which includes the subscribers' page
selections and reading each of the subscriber's page selections in a
sequence whereby the page signals are selectively read according to each
of the subscriber's interests.
9. The process of claim 8 wherein the sequence is the route order of
delivery locations.
10. The process of claim 8 comprising the further step of selecting
preprinted pages for each subscriber for assembly with the selected
facsimile pages for said subscriber.
11. The process of claim 8 further comprising the step of reading the
subscriber entry for a delivery location and selecting preaddressed
materials to match the delivery location for assembly with the selected
pages for combined delivery of the preaddressed materials and the selected
pages.
12. The process of claim 10 further comprising the step of collecting
information on page selections for storage in a cumulative data file.
13. A system for facsimile publishing, comprising:
means for receiving page information from a plurality of editorial
entities,
means for transforming the page information to page signals, said page
signals comprising graphic and synchronizing information to control a
facsimile printer and comprising page identifying codes,
means for transmitting the page signals to a plurality of publishing
facilities having receivers therein for the page signals,
a primary memory for storing the received page signals,
a subscriber file having recorded therein subscriber entries for a
plurality of subscribers, each said subscriber entry having recorded page
selections corresponding to the page signals in the primary memory,
means for reading from the primary memory the page signals corresponding to
the page selections in a subscriber entry and means for transmitting the
read page signals to a secondary memory for storage therein,
means for reading the page signals in the secondary memory for transfer to
a facsimile printer for control thereof and means for erasing the
secondary memory when the page signals therein have been transferred to
the facsimile printer, and
means for advancing the subscriber file to another subscriber entry to
repeat the reading of the page signals in the primary memory corresponding
to the selected pages in the subscriber file entry for transfer to the
secondary memory and the facsimile printer, erasing the secondary memory,
and advancing the subscriber file to another subscriber entry thereby
printing for each subscriber entry in each publishing facility a custom
publication consisting of pages selected from the page information of the
editorial entities.
14. The system of claim 13 wherein the means for receiving page information
from a plurality of editorial entities comprises a plurality of
transmission facilities, each said transmission facility transforming the
page information into standard page signals and transmitting the page
signals to the plurality of publishing facilities through a common
transmitting means.
15. The system of claim 14 wherein the common transmitting means is a
communications satellite for broadcasting the page signals.
16. The system of claim 14 further comprising a local editor & publisher
for transmitting page signals to selected publishing facilities.
17. A facsimile publishing facility, comprising:
a receiver for page signals which comprise graphic and synchronizing
information to enable a facsimile printer to print a page under control of
said page signals and which further comprise a page identifying code,
a primary memory comprising a medium for storing the page signals,
a subscriber file having recorded therein subscriber entries for a
plurality of subscribers, each said subscriber entry having recorded page
selections corresponding to page signals in the primary memory, and means
for advancing the subscriber file to select a subscriber entry, for
reading the page selections therein, and for reading the corresponding
page signals from the primary memory,
a secondary memory for storing the page signals read from the primary
memory, and
means for transferring the page signals stored in the secondary memory to
the facsimile printer and means for erasing the secondary memory
thereafter so that the subscriber file can be advanced to another
subscriber entry to repeat the transfer of page signals from the primary
memory, to the secondary memory, and to the facsimile printer whereby
custom publications are printed for a plurality of subscribers.
18. A facsimile publishing facility, comprising:
a receiver for page signals, said page signals comprising a facsimile
signal portion representing graphic and synchronizing information for
controlling a facsimile printer and comprising an identifying code portion
representing identifying attributes of page content including title and
editorial entity to control selection of pages,
means for separating the page signal into the facsimile signal and the
identifying code,
a page address memory for assigning an address for each facsimile signal
and for storing the identifying code corresponding to the facsimile signal
in association with said address whereby the facsimile signal portion and
the identifying code portion of a page signal are associated through the
address,
a primary memory having means for storing the facsimile signals at the
assigned addresses,
a subscriber file having recorded therein subscriber entries for a
plurality of subscribers, each said subscriber entry having stored signals
for subscriber selected pages, said signals comprising portions of the
identifying codes,
means for transferring said portions of the identifying codes to the page
address memory for matching to the identifying codes stored therein, means
for transferring the address associated with the matched identifying codes
to the primary memory, and means for reading the facsimile signal contents
of said addresses,
a secondary memory for storing the read facsimile signal contents of said
addresses, and
means for transferring the stored facsimile signals from the secondary
memory to a facsimile printing assembly to control printing of custom
publications.
19. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 wherein the primary
memory comprises a plurality of memory assemblies having differing access
times and information storage capacities and means for delaying the
facsimile signal as information which includes enduring value and
popularity is processed to assign the address in one of the memory
assemblies whereby the facsimile signal is stored for efficient operation
of the primary memory.
20. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 wherein the receiver
comprises a plurality of tuners to receive simultaneously signals from a
plurality of signal sources and further comprises a plurality of buffer
memories connected to each said tuner through a transfer switch so that
the memory connected to a tuner stores the signals as they are received
and another of the connectable memories is in a state for transfer of
previously stored signals to the primary memory thereby enabling
simultaneous and continuous receiving of the signals from the plurality of
sources.
21. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 wherein the secondary
memory comprises a plurality of similar memories each connectable to the
primary memory and the facsimile printing assembly through a transfer
switch, said transfer switch operating to connect one of the memories with
the primary memory to store facsimile signals representing page selections
for one subscriber entry and at the same time operating to connect another
of the memories with the facsimile printing assembly to transfer
previously stored facsimile signals at printing speed thereto whereby the
facsimile signals are transferred to the secondary memory intermittently
at a high speed and are transferred to the facsimile printing assembly
substantially continuously.
22. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 further comprising a
subscriber terminal communicating with the subscriber file to control
access to a specified subscriber entry and to add or delete pages therein.
23. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 further comprising an
auxiliary selector to select complementary materials for addition to pages
selected by the subscriber, means for communicating to the auxiliary
selector identifying codes for the pages selected by the current
subscriber entry, said auxiliary selector having means for operating on
the identifying codes of the selected pages to generate information for
selecting the complementary materials.
24. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 23 wherein the means for
communicating the identifying codes to the auxiliary selector comprises
means for transferring the identifying code portions from the subscriber
entry to the page address memory which reads the the complete identifying
codes for the selected pages and means for transferring the read
identifying codes to the auxiliary selector.
25. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 24 wherein the complementary
materials comprise facsimile pages and the generated information comprises
portions of identifying codes which are transferred to the page address
memory to generate addresses for transfer to the primary memory.
26. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 24 wherein the complementary
materials comprise preprinted pages, the generated information comprises
addresses in a preprinted page and sample dispenser, said addresses being
associated with storage compartments for the preprinted pages, and means
responsive to the address information for dispensing a preprinted page
from the storage compartment associated with the address.
27. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 26 wherein the complementary
materials further comprise product samples, the addresses are associated
with storage compartments for the product samples, and comprising means
responsive to the address information for dispensing a product sample from
the storage compartment associated with the address.
28. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 further comprising:
a preaddressed material dispenser having bins for sorted preaddressed
materials, each bin having an address which corresponds to the addresses
of the preaddressed materials in the bin,
means responsive to the address for dispensing the contents of the
associated bin, and
means for transferring the address from the subscriber entry to the
preaddressed materials dispenser whereby the means responsive to the
address dispenses the contents.
29. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 further comprising a
contents generator for preparing a table of contents page, said contents
generator comprising:
means for receiving identifying codes for pages selected according to a
subscriber entry and for selecting and storing predetermined portions of
said identifying codes,
means for transforming the predetermined portions of the identifying codes
into formated character signals according to a program for composing a
contents page,
means for transforming the composed contents page into a facsimile signal,
and
means for detecting completed transfer of the facsimile signals selected
according to the subscriber entry to the secondary memory and for
transferring the facsimile signals for the table of contents to the
secondary memory upon said detecting.
30. The facsimile publishing facility of claim 18 further comprising a
cumulative data file which comprises:
means for receiving identifying codes for pages which were printed and for
other materials which were delivered to subscribers,
means for recording title and editorial entity portions of said identifying
codes the first time that they are received, and
means for incrementing cumulative counts of the recorded title and
editorial entity portion of the identifying codes when they are received
subsequently thereby providing a record of all of the pages for each
editorial entity which were selected over a period of operation of a
publishing facility. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND
This invention relates to facsimile publishing and particularly to a
facsimile publishing system and process wherein content of each
publication is selected from stored page signals according to individual
subscriber interests.
Basic elements of facsimile communication comprise means for transforming
graphic information into electrical signals, a communications channel
between a transmitter and receiver of the signals, and a signal responsive
printer for transforming the signal back into graphic information in the
form of a recorded image. These basic elements are present in facsimile
systems for publishing and are selected and modified for economical
operation on an appropriate scale. Minimally, the communications channels
are accessible to editorial entities to provide adequate capacity at
moderate cost and the facsimile printer can record an image of high
graphic quality on both sides of ordinary newsprint for competitive
economies. Ideally, the facsimile publishing system processes graphic
information and reduces costs to such an extent that technological and
economic constraints are removed from editorial entities to enable
publication of any written work and are removed from subscribers to enable
selection of any pages of interest. This ideal leaves only the limits of
editorial entities to create and of subscribers to understand.
Portions of facsimile systems which have been adapted for conventional
publishing include a communications satellite as a channel between distant
facilities to control preparation of printing plates. Facsimile signals
could be stored to control press runs by a facsimile printer, but content
of such publications would still be the same for all subscribers. An
ultimate reduction of scale to a single subscriber would enable
publication according to his individual interests but experiments in home
facsimile have not been a commercial success, partly because of cost and
reliability factors and partly because of inadequate content. Home
facsimile has been regarded as an adjunct to television with facsimile
content complementary to television programming. As a convenience,
facsimile signals were relegated to the narrow bandwidth of the blanking
interval of a television signal which precluded home facsimile from
becoming an alternative to conventional publishing. But even a home
facsimile system with sufficient channel capacity for newspaper printing
may be at a competitive disadvantage since cost, complexity, and required
maintenance could limit penetration to such an extent that the system
could not support the increase of content needed to justify printer
purchase by the public.
Conventional publications comprising newspapers, magazines, and newsletters
have evolved as integrated systems by adapting to technological and
economic constraints to provide a wide spectrum of content. The
publications have become identified with particular ranges of subject
matter enduring values and graphic quality, and levels of expertize and
specialization. Participants comprising subscribers, editorial entities,
publishers, and advertizers each balance cost and value to influence
content, scale of publication, materials and processes, and delivery
modes. For an individual subscriber, effective information content of a
publication is limited to those portions which are in accord with his
interests and which he actually reads. The remainder represents wasted
materials and processing. It would be efficient to select only pages and
features of particular interest, but such critical selection would show
that precise subject catagories at a precise level of expertize were
seldom available. Thus selective capability would have to be combined with
increased output of editorial entities. But an emerging independent
editorial entity would encounter cost barriers of establishing or leasing
publishing facilities. An editorial entity may accept employment as part
of an existing publishing organization or submit manuscripts thereto but
such dependence is undesirable since creative editorial entities who are
motivated to analyse new concepts then defer to judgements of conservative
publishers who are more motivated to maintain their traditional markets
and earnings. Such limits upon choice for subscribers and upon access for
editorial entities are intrinsic to the technology and economics of
conventional publishing systems. Advertizing is a significant factor in
publishing which benefits publishers with revenues and subscribers with
reduced subscription costs. The advertizing content is conditioned by the
type of publication. Newspaper advertizing tends to local retail and
classified catagories in accordance with a newspaper's high local
penetration and general readership. Magazine advertizing tends to be
national and related to the editorial character of the magazine in
accordance with its national circulation and specialized interests. A
newsletter, with its limited circulation, tends to rely primarily upon
subscription revenues. Advertizers attempt to target particular catagories
of readers according to their editorial preferences, but such targeting is
not precise insofar as the editorial policies are diverse.
A medium of communications has value according to its capacity for content
and its conditioning of content. Television, for example, is most
effective as a descriptive medium and can efficiently communicate
phenomenal aspects of an event directly through cameras. Publications are
most effective as abstract and analytical media and are more oriented
toward "why" than "what". Such abstract and analytical functions are best
served by the efficient logic enabled by words and other symbols. As a
consequence of its function as an analytical medium, print is as
potentially diverse as the many ways events can be understood through
their analyses. It is useful to indicate this potential diversity by
representing the subject of analysis as combinations of attributes which
include subject catagory, level of expertize, significant values and
premises, and literary styles. Each of these and other attributes have
numerous particular subdivisions which can be enumerated by means of
binary words for convenient processing by digital circuits. The number of
binary words in each attribute catagory is somewhat arbitrary since
different standards can be applied to result in different degrees of
precision. A binary word in the attribute of "subject catagory" for
example, may be the binary equivalent of a five digit Dewey decimal number
while another standard may be based on seven digits. But the number of
binary words in each attribute catagory is large and the number of
combinations as the product of the attribute catagories is immense. It is
believed that the content of conventional publications is only a minscule
fraction of potential content as a consequence of technological and
economic constraints upon present graphic media of mass communications.
OBJECTS
It is a general object to provide an improved facsimile publishing system
and process which substantially removes technological and economic
constraints upon access for editorial entities and upon choice for
subscribers.
It is another object to provide the facsimile publishing system and process
to enable a plurality of editorial entities to transmit page information
to a communications satellite for broadcast, to receive the broadcast page
information at a plurality of publishing facilities, and to print custom
publications for a plurality of subscribers at each of the publishing
facilities.
It is another object to provide the facsimile publishing facilities wherein
the page information can be received and stored continuously and wherein
any page signal which has been stored can be selected for printout
according to individual subscribers interests to enable substantially
continuous operation of the facsimile printers.
It is another object to supplement a subscriber's page selections with
complementary facsimile pages, preprinted pages, and sample materials
according to interests inferred from the subscriber selected pages thereby
providing effectively targeted advertizing.
It is another object to incorporate into the publishing facilities a
capability for dispensing preaddressed materials into a publication
package for a subscriber to improve delivery economies.
It is another object to provide cumulative data on daily operations of the
publishing facilities so that editorial entities and advertizers can know
the total number of their pages which were delivered to subscribers.
SUMMARY
These and other objects and advantages which will become apparant are
attained by the invention wherein page signals comprising facsimile and
identifying code portions are broadcast to be received and stored in a
plurality of publishing facilities each having a subscriber file for
matching identifying codes representing subscriber selections with the
identifying codes of the page signals thereby selecting page signals for
each subscriber to control printing of custom publications.
The page signals originate with editorial entities which prepare one or
more pages of text and illustrations on a periodic basis. The editorial
entities are widely distributed geographically and range in size from an
individual author to large news organizations. An identifying code is
assigned to each page to designate title, editorial entity, and other
identifying attributes. The pages are transformed to page signals
comprising a facsimile portion which includes graphic and synchronizing
information and the identifying code portion as a sequence of binary
words. The page signals are transmitted to a broadcasting means such as a
communications satellite.
Publishing facilities receive the broadcast page signals and may
additionally receive page signals from a local editor and publisher
thereby having access to information from international, national,
regional, metropolitan, community, and neighborhood sources. The
publishing facilities are located in communities ranging from sparsely
populated rural areas to dense urban centers and may serve several hundred
to several thousand subscribers. The custom publications are printed in
route order for convenient delivery.
Within each publishing facility, the page signals are received and
separated into their facsimile and identifying code portions. A page
address memory reads the identifying code, generates an address, stores
the identifying code with the address, and transfers the address to a
primary memory. The primary memory stores the facsimile signal in a
location specified by the address. A subscriber file contains each
subscriber's page selections in a subscriber entry which designates page
title and editorial entity as a portion of the identifying code. When the
subscriber file advances to a subscriber entry, the identifying codes
therein are transferred to the page address memory, are transformed into
the addresses of the primary memory, and the addresses are transferred to
the primary memory. The primary memory reads the facsimile signal contents
of the received addresses and transfers them to a secondary memory. The
secondary memory accumulates the facsimile signals for a subscriber entry,
transfers them at printing speed to a facsimile printing assembly, and
resets to receive the facsimile signals of another subscriber entry. The
facsimile printing assembly operates substantially continuously to print
custom publications.
An advertizer selection mode may be included to select additional
complementary pages according to the subscriber's interests. An auxiliary
selector communicates with the page address memory to receive the
subscriber selected identifying codes, operates on the identifying codes
to generate another identifying code for an advertizer selected page, and
transmits the title and editorial entity portion of the generated
identifying code to the page address memory which reads the corresponding
address for transfer to the primary memory. Additionally, the auxiliary
selector may generate an address for transfer to a preprinted page and
sample dispenser to provide a preprinted page or product sample. The
subscriber and advertizer selections as identifying codes are received by
a contents generator which generates a table of contents in the form of a
facsimile signal for transfer to the secondary memory as the last page for
a subscriber's publication. The table of contents includes subscriber
selected page titles and editorial entities, page charges and surcharges
if any, advertizer selected pages and samples which are provided without
charge, and a delivery charge. A cumulative data file develops daily
operating data to include total pages of each title and editorial entity
and total preprinted pages and samples. The cumulative data of all
publishing facilities may be processed nationally so that each editorial
entity and advertizer knows the number of his pages or samples delivered
on a daily basis.
The facsimile publishing system of the invention effectively removes
technological and economic constraints on access of editorial entities to
publication. In contrast to an editorial entity in a conventional
publishing organization having a large investment in publishing
facilities, an editorial entity in a facsimile publishing system can
function independently and with minimal equipment. Pages are transformed
to page signals and transmitted to the communications satellite from a
transmission facility at a small unit cost. Approximately 100,000 pages
daily can be broadcast from two channels of television bandwidth on the
communications satellite so that unit cost of broadcasting is also small.
The small cost of entering page signals into the system enables emergence
of small independent editorial entities with consequent diversity of
content and large page volume. Advertizing revenues are received directly
by successful editorial entities for ads on their pages to sustain their
activities.
The facsimile publishing system provides automatic selective capability for
pages and articles according to individual interests of subscribers
simultaneously with improved access for editorial entities. All of the
broadcast pages are available for selection. The selection of pages, which
is based upon operations on the identifying codes, is made according to
title and editorial entity or according to combinations of attributes.
Accordingly, each subscriber receives only those pages which are in accord
with his particular interests.
Subscriber selected classified advertizing is more detailed since an
interest in the catagory is assured. The advertizer selection mode, which
operates on attributes of the subscriber selected pages to infer probable
interests, enables precise targeting of the complementary materials.
Consequent reduction of unproductive deliveries enables use of more
expensive materials while reducing total cost of an advertizing campaign.
An additional feature of preaddressed materials in a publication package
combined with the data processing capabilities of the system enables fair
prorating of delivery costs.
DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration of basic features of a facsimile
publishing system according to the invention showing a representative page
signal, an elementary signal processing assembly for storing and selecting
page signals, and a preferred facsimile printing assembly.
FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of major components of the
facsimile publishing system showing flow of page information from
editorial entities to subscribers along delivery routes.
FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of a basic publishing facility showing
in more detail a signal processing assembly for storing page signals in a
primary memory and selectively recalling therefrom the page signals
according to each subscriber's interests to control a facsimile printer
which thereby prints custom publications.
FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram of a publishing facility which: prints
a table of contents of each publication and accumulates daily page
selection data; adds according to each subscriber's interests advertizer
selected facsimile pages, conventionally preprinted pages, and samples;
and, adds to a subscriber's publication package materials preaddressed to
him for combined delivery.
In FIG. 1, editorial entities 10 prepare pages which are transformed to
page signals such as 12 for transmission by a transmission facility 14 to
a communications satellite 16 for broadcast. A preferred form of page
signal is a time division multiplexed digital signal wherein pulse width
distinguishes types of components which are designated A.sub.i, B, C, and
D. The A.sub.i, B, and C components constitute a facsimile portion of the
page signal. The A.sub.i components correspond to picture elements along
a line, the B components synchronize transformation of a plurality of
simultaneously generated A.sub.i components from a serial to a parallel
form, and the C components synchronize position of the A.sub.i components
along a line. The D components constitute an identifying code which
enables the page signal to be identified and processed. The identifying
code represents such page content information as title and editorial
entity, characterizing attributes such as subject catagory and level of
expertize, and billing data such as charges if any to advertizers or
subscribers.
A facsimile publishing facility comprises signal processing assembly 20 and
facsimile printing assembly 30. The signal processing assembly 20
represents an elementary embodiment of a page signal processing system
wherein page signals are stored for selective recall according to each
subscriber's interests. The broadcast signal is detected and amplified by
receiver 24 and is stored in primary memory 25 for some predetermined
period such as a day for general news. A subscriber file 26 comprises a
memory for subscriber data wherein each subscriber entry includes a
particular subscriber's page selections. As the publishing facility
operates to print custom publications, the subscriber file 26 is advanced
through the subscriber entries, the page selections therein are read as a
portion of the identifying code, the identifying codes are transferred to
the primary memory 25 directly or as page addresses which are stored in
page address memory 27, and the corresponding facsimile page signals are
transferred to secondary memory 28 for subsequent transfer to the printing
assembly 30 at printing speed. When the contents of the secondary memory
have been transferred, it is cleared, the subscriber file advances to
another subscriber entry to read the page selections therein, and the
corresponding page signals are transferred from the primary memory to the
secondary memory. The process is repeated until all subscriber entries
have been read and the selected pages have been printed.
Elementary facsimile publishing systems wherein a small number of pages
such as 1,000 are broadcast daily store the complete page signal in the
primary memory. The primary memory may be a conventional random access
system such as a magnetic disc assembly or it may be a sequential access
system such as a magnetic tape assembly. The identifying codes of the
selected pages from a subscriber entry are matched to the identifying
codes of the page signal stored in the primary memory and the matching
page signals are transmitted to the secondary memory.
In the preferred embodiment contemplated for the facsimile publishing
system wherein a large number of pages such as 100,000 are broadcast
daily, the page signal is separated into its facsimile signal portion for
efficient storage and into its identifying code portion for efficient
processing. The two portions are each associated with a common identifier
which is a page address in the primary memory. As the page signal is
received and separated, its identifying code portion is stored in the page
address memory with the page address and its facsimile signal portion is
stored in the primary memory under the page address. The page content
information in the form of the identifying codes is accessible in the page
address memory for various useful operations which include selection of
additional complementary pages according to a subscriber's inferred
interests. Page title portions of the identifying codes in a subscriber
entry are read, the complete identifying codes for the selected pages are
recalled from the page address memory, component attributes of the
recalled identifying codes are examined for significant clustering to
infer interests, and combinations of attributes corresponding to the
inferred attributes are generated. The page address memory is scanned to
recall identifying codes having the combinations of attributes with the
corresponding page addresses in the primary memory. The corresponding
printout provides a closely targeted selection of pages for the mutual
benefit of subscribers, advertizers, and editorial entities.
The facsimile printing assembly 30 receives the facsimile portion of the
page signals continuously from the secondary memory to enable printing at
maximum capacity.
Various known signal responsive printers could be adapted to the practice
of the invention but economic factors limit choice to simple ink drop
methods for printing on both sides of ordinary newsprint. A combination of
large capacity and high graphic quality is desirable. A preferred
facsimile printer is based on a traversing orifice band 31 which sweeps
modulated columns of ink drops 32 as they project onto both sides of an
unrolling sheet of paper 33. The projecting columns of modulated ink drops
are formed by an ink jet process wherein a signal responsive electric
field induces a charge proportional thereto on an electrically conductive
ink jet which develops into charged and uncharged drops. The drops travel
through a constant electrostatic field which deflects the charged drops so
that only the uncharged drops continue in a straight trajectory to deposit
on the paper. The basic ink jet process is capable of a rapid drop
repetition rate at a high resolution. The orifice band printer preserves
resolution by deposition of uncharged drops to avoid charged drop
interactions and by a constant linear sweep which is adjusted to provide a
dense image. A high drop repetition rate with a plurality of
simultaneously operating ink jets provides high output.
The signal from the signal processing assembly 20 is received by signal
separator 34 which separates the A.sub.i, B, and C components of the
facsimile signals according to their pulse width and serially transfers
the A.sub.i components to serial to parallel register 35. Upon receival of
a B signal component, the contents of the serial to parallel register are
transferred in parallel to amplifier 37 and the serial to parallel
register is cleared to accumulate another sequence of A.sub.i signal
components. The amplifier 37 selectively transfers a null voltage pulse to
otherwise positive charging electrodes such as 39. The drawing illustrates
signal components A.sub.1 to A.sub.6 as states of the amplifier 37
corresponding to components A.sub.1 to A.sub.6 of the signal 12.
Accordingly, the charging electrodes associated with components A.sub.2
and A.sub.5 are at a null voltage and drops formed at that time are
uncharged to deposit on the paper. Liquid ink under pressure in an ink
source 40 emerges as jets such as 42 from orifices such as 43. The jets
are periodically disturbed by means within the ink source to induce
separation of drops of uniform size in synchronism with the null voltage
pulses on the charging electrodes. Drops which detached from the jets when
corresponding charging electrodes were at a positive voltage are
negatively charged and are deflected by deflecting electrodes 45 into a
collector, not shown, for reuse.
The orifice band 31 is operated by orifice band motion controller 47 which
is a servo drive responsive to the C signal components of the signal 12
from the signal separator 34. When the orifice band motion is synchronous,
the C components occur simultaneously with passage of the orifices over a
reference sensor, not shown. Deviations from synchronism are nulled by
changing the force on the orifice band in proportion to negative
deviation. The orifice band is constrained by air bearings to a path
separate from solid structures and is operated by a fluid drive based on
the liquid ink. Such absence of solid contact reduces extraneous vibration
on the orifice band.
The orifice band printer shares with other ink jet printers the
representative magnitudes of: an ink pressure of 4.2 kg/cm.sup.2 (60
psig), an orifice diameter of 0.0025 cm to 0.005 cm (1 mil to 2 mils), a
charging electrode potential of 150 volts, and an ink drop deflection
field of 10,000 volts/cm. Basic principles of ink jet printing were
disclosed by R. G. Sweet in "High Frequency Oscillography with
Electrostatically Deflected Ink Jets", AD 437,951 National Technical
Information Service, 1964. Later ink jet printers, which include an
orifice plate to form an ink jet and parallel plate charging electrodes,
are described in "I.B.M. Journal of Research and Development", Vol. 21,
No. 1, pages 1-96, January 1977. An elongated orifice plate with linear
arrays of orifices and an adjacent elongated piezoelectric transducer to
periodically disturb emerging ink jets is described by Cha et al. in U.S.
Pat. No. 4,138,689 and by Markham et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,296,417.
The following magnitudes exemplify operation of an orifice band printer for
publishing: a drop repetition rate of 100 KHz, a dot density and
resolution of 100 picture elements/cm (254 pel/in), a resulting orifice
band speed of 500 cm/sec (16.4 ft/sec), an orifice interval of 0.5 cm (0.2
in) which corresponds to 50 ink jets operating simultaneously across a
page sight width of 25 cm (10 in), a printing time of 1.9 sec for a page
having sight dimensions of 25.times.38 cm (10.times.15 in), a paper speed
of 23 cm/sec (45 ft/min), a maximum capacity of 90,900 pages daily, and a
picture element information content of 9.5 megabits/page corresponding to
a transmission rate of 5 megabits/sec. Accordingly, a single orifice band
printer operating at maximum capacity over two shifts serves 1,200
subscribers with a daily publication averaging 50 pages.
Further details relating to orifice band printers may be found in the
following issued and pending patents of the applicant: U.S. Pat. No.
3,971,040 describes basic features of an orifice band printer; U.S. Pat.
No. 3,972,053 describes auxiliary | | |
