Incremental printing of symbolic information – Ink jet – Housing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-01-21
2001-06-05
Barlow, John (Department: 2853)
Incremental printing of symbolic information
Ink jet
Housing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06241351
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present invention is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/824,694 filed Apr. 8, 1997, entitled “Printing Variable Density Pixels” to Stanley W. Stephenson. The disclosure of this related application is incorporated herein by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to portable battery powered printers usable with a computer or other image source.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known in the prior art to generate images using modulated ejection of ink to print on dye receiving sheets. Electronic images are received by these printers, and images are converted into signals to the ink jet head to selectively transfer dye to the dye receiver sheet to create prints of the received images. Such ink jet printers use low amounts of energy to create prints, opening the possibility of creating portable printers such as the Canon BJC-80 ink jet printer. The BJC-80 uses a small battery to provide power for generating 8.5 by 11 inch images. Because the printer makes a large number of large prints, the printer is large, heavy and cannot be carried on a person. Other printers are not battery powered, have a similar size and require a wall socket to power the computer.
Such printers can be portable and used in field environments to create hard copy prints from apparatus creating and storing digital images. One type of apparatus could be an electronic still camera. Interconnection between the printer can be made through an industry standard infra-red data link (IrDa). Data representing the image is reduced to a binary data stream that is transferred to the printer as light pulses. Alternatively, interconnection can be a two wire data link to transfer the binary formatted image data from an image storage device to the printer.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a portable battery powered printer which can be used with a standard computer and produce high quality prints.
This object is achieved in a portable battery powered printer for printing images from an image source, the image source having means for storing a digital image and defining an opening comprising:
(a) the printer being sized so as to be insertable into the image source opening and having a rechargeable battery;
(b) means for electrically connecting the printer to the image source after insertion of the printer into the image source opening including;
(i) means for recharging the rechargeable battery; and
(ii) means for receiving image data from the image source; and
(c) the printer including means for printing an image from the received image data.
It is an advantage of the present invention to provide a portable battery powered printer having an internal power supply that can create prints from digital images in a field setting. The portable battery powered printer design produces a small, light portable battery powered printer that can be carried on a person. A further advantage is that the portable battery powered printer can be inserted into a standard computer to recharge and to print images stored within the computer. The opening in the computer that receives the portable battery powered printer can also receive an electronic camera for recharging and data transmission.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5455466 (1995-10-01), Parks et al.
patent: 5666497 (1997-09-01), Milhaupt et al.
patent: 5685651 (1997-11-01), Hayman et al.
patent: 5835107 (1998-11-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 5974238 (1999-10-01), Chase, Jr.
Barlow John
Eastman Kodak Company
Owens Raymond L.
Stewart Jr. Charles W.
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