METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SPLIT PRINTING OF COLOR AND MONOCHROME DOCUMENTS

摘要

A system for printing and copying color and black-and-white documents avoids the need for manual collating. The system provides N sets of documents using a printer and a copier, where each set of documents includes a first type of sheets (such as black-and-white sheets), and a second type of sheets (such as color sheets) provided in a particular sequence in relation to the first type of sheets. A first complete document set is printed, including the first and second types of sheets, along with N-1 insert sets of the second type of sheets, and an instruction sheet indicating the particular sequence. 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. The copier is programmed using the instruction sheet to identify the particular sequence, and to output copies of the sheets of the first type from the first complete document set, and to output the sheets of the second type from the N-1 insert sets to replace the sheets of the second type in the first complete document set, thereby forming N complete document sets, in which the sheets of the second type are provided in the particular sequence.