SOUND-BASED DAMAGE DETECTION

1 . A sheet handling apparatus comprising:

a transport path;

a device adapted to separate a first sheet from a plurality of stacked sheets and to feed the first sheet into the transport path;

only one detector positioned near the transport path to detect a misfeed condition indicating that the first sheet is being damaged in the transport path, wherein the detector comprises a microphone; and

a processing system coupled to the detector and adapted to receive and process signals from the detector, the processing system configured to determine the misfeed in the transport path and to terminate feeding sheets in response to the determination.

2 . (canceled)

3 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the detector further comprises a mount made from a compliant noise isolating material.

4 . (canceled)

5 . An article processing apparatus for processing a plurality of articles, comprising:

a transport path for the plurality of articles;

a feeder device for feeding individual ones of the articles into the transport path;

only one audio detector positioned in the transport path to detect a misfeed condition in the transport path; and

a processing system coupled to the detector to receive and process signals from the detector, the processing system calculating an energy level of the signals from the detector to determine if the signals exceed an energy threshold, thereby indicating the misfeed condition, and the processing system configured to terminate processing the plurality of articles in response to the detected misfeed condition from the detector.

6 . (canceled)

7 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , further comprising:

a converter coupled to the detector for converting the signals from the detector into digital data frames which are received by the processing system; and

means for counting a number of the data frames that indicate the misfeed condition.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising:

means for issuing a termination signal in response to the means for counting, wherein the means for issuing a termination signal is triggered upon the number of data frames that exceed the energy threshold exceeding a preselected number.

9 . A method for feeding sheets comprising:

urging a sheet through a sheet transport path;

providing only one audio receiver proximate the transport path;

processing audio data detected by the audio receiver to calculate an energy level of the audio data, the audio data detected during the step of urging;

determining a misfeed in the audio data based at least upon the energy level of the audio data; and

terminating feeding sheets in response to the step of determining.

10 . (canceled)

11 . (canceled)

12 . A method of determining a misfeed in an article processing apparatus, comprising:

placing only one microphone in the article processing apparatus;

feeding an article into the article processing apparatus;

generating and collecting data frames of sound detected by the microphone;

processing the collected data frames to determine the misfeed; and

reducing a probability of a false misfeed determination including:

accumulating a number of data frames collected; and

reducing a sensitivity setting if the number of data frames collected exceeds a preselected amount.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising calculating an energy level of the data frames and comparing the calculated energy level for each data frame to a jam threshold corresponding to each data frame, the jam threshold for each data frame determined according to the sensitivity setting.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising opening a jam count window upon determining that the calculated energy level of a current data frame exceeds its jam threshold, the jam count window for accumulating a jam count, the jam count for counting a number of data frames that exceed their corresponding jam threshold.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising issuing a jam signal if the jam count reaches a preselected jam count limit while the jam count window is open.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising counting a total number of frames that have been processed and closing the jam count window if the total number of frames that have been processed exceeds a jam count window size.

17 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

counting a total number of frames that have been processed and closing the jam count window if the total number of frames that have been processed exceeds a jam count window size, including resetting the jam count to zero upon closing the jam count window; and

issuing a jam signal if the jam count reaches a preselected jam count limit while the jam count window is open.

18 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising bypassing a plurality of initially collected data frames including overwriting the data in the plurality of initially collected data frames with zero values.

19 . A method of processing articles comprising:

holding a plurality of the articles to be processed;

feeding a first one of the articles into an article processing apparatus using a device configured to separate the first one of the articles from the plurality of the articles;

collecting sound data generated by the step of feeding using only one microphone;

processing the collected sound data generated by the step of feeding to calculate an energy level of the audio data;

determining, in response to the energy level of the audio data, that the collected sound data generated by the step of feeding indicates a misfeed; and

terminating processing the articles in response to the step of determining.

20 . A sheet handling apparatus comprising:

a transport path;

a device adapted to separate a first sheet from a plurality of stacked sheets and to feed the first sheet into the transport path;

only one detector positioned near the transport path to detect a misfeed condition indicating that the first sheet is being damaged in the transport path; and

a processing system coupled to the detector and adapted to receive and process signals from the detector, the processing system configured to determine the misfeed in the transport path and to terminate feeding sheets in response to the determination, wherein the processing system is further configured to calculate an energy level of the digital audio data to determine the misfeed.

21 . A method for feeding sheets comprising:

urging a sheet through a sheet transport path;

mounting only one audio receiver proximate the transport path using a noise isolating compliant material;

processing audio data detected by the audio receiver, the audio data detected during the step of urging;

determining a misfeed in the audio data; and

terminating feeding sheets in response to the step of determining.