Granted Patent B2

US 8,714,337 · App. 13/839,670 · Granted May 6, 2014

Abstract

Claims (22)

1. A media presenter comprising:

a chassis including a nose coupled thereto, and including (i) a presenting end distal from the chassis, and (ii) a presenting track extending from the chassis to the presenting end;

a carriage mounted on the presenting track for movement therealong, and comprising a carriage body coupled to a carriage plate, the carriage plate including a cam follower, the carriage being operable to transport a bunch of media items out of either (i) a purge end or (ii) a loading end opposite the purge end;

a cam block defining a cam track and being operable to engage with the cam follower to move the carriage between an open position at which media items can be placed on the carriage plate, and a closed position for clamping media items between the carriage plate and the carriage body;

wherein the carriage is moveable between (i) a present position, at which the bunch of media items is presented to a customer, (ii) a present purge position, at which the purge end aligns with a present stack entrance, and (iii) a non-present purge position, at which the purge end aligns with a non-present stack entrance.

2. A media presenter according to claim 1 , wherein the present position, the present purge position, and the non-present purge position are longitudinally spaced along the presenting track.

3. A method of transporting a bunch of media items located in a carriage to a media container having a present stack entrance and a non-present stack entrance which is separate and spaced apart from the present stack entrance, the method comprising:

ascertaining that a bunch of media items is to be transported to the media container;

transporting the carriage to a non-present purge position to align the carriage with the non-present stack entrance to enable a bunch of media items to be ejected through the non-present stack entrance into a non-present purge compartment of the media container when the bunch of media has not been presented to a customer; and

transporting the carriage to a present purge position to align the carriage with the present stack entrance to enable a bunch of media items to be ejected through the present stack entrance into a present purge compartment of the media container when the bunch of media items has been presented to a customer.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the present stack entrance and the non-present stack entrance are in the form of parallel slots.

5. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the present purge compartment and the non-present purge compartment are separate from each other in the media container.

6. A method according to claim 3 , wherein the present purge position and the non-present purge position are linearly spaced apart from each other along a linear track.

7. A method comprising:

stacking a plurality of media items to be presented to a customer;

determining if the stack of media items has been presented to a customer;

transporting the stack of media items into a non-present compartment of a single media container after the plurality of media items has been stacked but before the stack of media items has been presented to a customer; and

transporting the stack of media items into a present compartment of the single media container after the plurality of media items has been stacked and the stack of media items has been presented to a customer.

8. A method according to claim 7 , further comprising:

transporting a media item into a diverter compartment before the media item is stacked to be presented to a customer.

9. A method according to claim 8 , wherein the present compartment and the non-present compartment of the single media container are separate from each other in the single media container.

10. A method according to claim 7 , wherein the present compartment and the non-present compartment of the single media container are separate from each other in the single media container.

Assignments (9)