Incremental printing of symbolic information – Thermal marking apparatus or processes – Record receiver driving means
Patent
1997-01-27
1999-02-16
Tran, Huan
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Thermal marking apparatus or processes
Record receiver driving means
400708, 400709, B41J 1142, B41J 1146
Patent
active
058725857
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to direct thermal and thermal transfer demand printers and specifically to direct thermal and thermal transfer printers for printing on tickets, tags, and pressure-sensitive labels. Some aspects of the invention also relate to printers using other printing techniques such as laser printing, LED printing, etc.
Direct thermal and thermal transfer printers are well known in the prior art. For thermal transfer printing on nonsensitized materials such as paper or plastics, a transfer ribbon coated on one side with a heat-transferrable ink layer is interposed between the media to be printed and a thermal printhead having a line of very small heater elements. When an electrical pulse is applied to a selected subset of the heater elements, localized melting and transfer of the ink to the paper occurs underneath the selected elements, resulting in a corresponding line of dots being transferred to the media surface.
For direct thermal printing on sensitized materials, no transfer ribbon is used and the heater elements act directly to produce chemical or physical change in a dye coating on the surface of the material. The balance of this disclosure discusses thermal transfer printing, but it should be clear that many aspects of the present invention apply equally to direct thermal printing, laser printing, LED printing, and perhaps others as well.
After each line of dots is printed, the material or printhead is repositioned to locate the printhead over an adjacent location, the transfer ribbon is repositioned to provide a replenished ink coating, and the selecting and heating process is repeated to print an adjacent line of dots. Depending upon the number and pattern of heaters and the directions of motion of the head and paper, arrays of dots can produce individual characters or, as in the preferred embodiment, successive rows of dots are combined to form complete printed lines of text, bar codes, or graphics.
Applications of such printers include the printing of individual labels, typically pressure-sensitive labels, tickets, and tags. Pressure-sensitive labels are commonly presented on a continuous web of release material (e.g., waxed paper backing) with a gap between successive labels. Tickets and tags may likewise be presented as a continuous web with individual tickets or tags defined by a printed mark or by holes or notches punched therein. Tickets and tags also may likewise be presented on a continuous web with individual tickets or tags defined by a printed mark or by holes, slits, or gaps punched therein.
An optical sensor may be used for the alignment of the printed image with the leading edge of each label. The optical sensor comprises an illumination source such as a light-emitting diode ("LED") or incandescent lamp, and a photo-detector such as a photo resistor, photo transistor, or photo diode. The illumination source and the photo detector typically, but without limitation, function at an infrared wavelength. In the preferred embodiment(s), the sensor is disposed through the, web so as to respond to the change in relative opacity of the backing and label materials, or to a hole or notch punched in the web. In other embodiments, the sensor reflects light off the back side of the web and responds to a printed mark thereon.
Such printers also may be adapted to permit the removal of individual labels as they are printed. The construction of the printhead may be such that the web and ribbon are advanced by the length of the inter-label gap plus a significant fraction of an inch after printing of each label and before stopping for removal of the label, in which case the web and ribbon must be backfed an equal distance before printing the next label to avoid leaving an unprintable area of the label.
The power flow to each heater element during energization is relatively constant, being determined by the supply voltage and the electrical resistance of the heater. The energy per printed dot for uniform ink transfer is a function of the web speed and th
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Donato Daniel F.
Ensinger James W.
Tran Huan
Zebra Technologies Corporation
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