Radiant energy – Photocells; circuits and apparatus – With circuit for evaluating a web – strand – strip – or sheet
Reexamination Certificate
1999-01-29
2001-07-03
Le, Que T. (Department: 2878)
Radiant energy
Photocells; circuits and apparatus
With circuit for evaluating a web, strand, strip, or sheet
C250S559440
Reexamination Certificate
active
06255665
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
The present invention relates to printing devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to a print medium, detection system, and method for use in printing devices.
Printing devices, such as inkjet printers, use printing composition (e.g., ink or toner) to print text, graphics, images, etc. onto print media. The print media may be of any of a variety of different types. For example, the print media may include paper, transparencies, envelops, photographic print stock, cloth, etc. Each of these types of print media have various characteristics that ideally should be accounted for during printing, otherwise a less than optimal printed output may occur. Additional characteristics may also affect print quality, including print medium size and print medium orientation.
One way in which a printing device can be configured to a particular print medium is to have a user make manual adjustments to the printing device based upon these characteristics and factors. One problem with this approach is that it requires user intervention which is undesirable. Another problem with this approach is that it requires a user to correctly identify various characteristics of a particular print medium. A further problem with this approach is that a user may choose not to manually configure the printing device or may incorrectly manually configure the printing device so that optimal printing still does not occur in spite of user intervention. This can be time-consuming and expensive depending on when the configuration error is detected and the cost of the particular print medium.
Automatic detection of the different characteristics of various print media used in printing devices would be a welcome improvement. Accordingly, the present invention is directed to alleviating these above-described problems and is designed to help optimize printing on a variety of different types of print media under a variety of operating conditions and user inputs. The present invention accomplishes this without degrading output print quality of the printing device.
An embodiment of a print medium in accordance with the present invention for use in a printing device includes a substrate that is configured to receive a printing composition from the printing device. The substrate includes a first surface and has at least one characteristic. The first surface of the substrate is configured to receive the printing composition from the printing device during printing. The substrate is further configured to define at least one aperture that has a geometry configured to encode data representative of the at least one characteristic of the first surface.
The above-described print medium may be modified and include the following characteristics described below. The geometry may be configured to help minimize visual perceptibility of the at least one aperture. The geometry may include a substantially circular opening, a substantially rectangular opening, a substantially triangular opening, or a substantially elliptical opening. The substantially circular opening may have a diameter substantially within a range between 0.001 inches and 0.008 inches.
The substrate may include an edge and the substrate may define the at least one aperture adjacent the edge. The substrate may define the at least one aperture in a predetermined location on the print medium. In such cases, the location of the aperture encodes additional data representative of the characteristic of the first surface.
The substrate may define at least two apertures arranged in a pattern that encodes additional data representative of the at least one characteristic of the first surface. The print medium may be used in a printing device and may also be used in a print media detection system.
An alternative embodiment of a print medium in accordance with the present invention for use in a printing device includes a substrate configured to receive a printing composition from the printing device. The substrate includes a first surface and a plurality of corners defined by intersecting edges of the substrate. The first surface of the substrate is configured to receive the printing composition from the printing device during printing. The first surface of the substrate has at least one characteristic and the substrate is further configured to define a plurality of sets of apertures. At least one set of apertures is positioned adjacent each of the corners and one set of apertures has a configuration indicative of the at least one characteristic of the substrate.
The above-described alternative embodiment of a print medium in accordance with the present invention may be modified and include the following characteristics described below. The configuration may include a pattern that encodes data representative of the characteristic of the first surface. This configuration may include a geometry that encodes data representative of the characteristic of the first surface.
The sets of apertures may include a substantially circular opening, a substantially rectangular opening, a substantially triangular opening, or a substantially elliptical opening. The substantially circular opening may have a diameter substantially within a range between 0.001 inches and 0.008 inches.
The apertures may be configured to help minimize visual perceptibility. The print medium may be used in a printing device and may also be used in a print media detection system.
An embodiment of a print media detection system in accordance with the present invention for use in a printing device includes a source, sensor, controller, and substrate. The source is configured to transmit a light signal and the sensor is configured to detect the light signal from the source and convert the light signal into an electrical signal. The controller is coupled to the sensor and is configured to receive the electrical signal from the sensor. Based at least in part on the electrical signal, the controller controls an operating parameter of the printing device. The substrate is configured to receive a printing composition from the printing device. The substrate has at least one characteristic and the substrate is further configured to define a plurality of apertures. The apertures each have a geometry selected to allow the light signal to travel from the source through the apertures to the sensor. The apertures are arranged in a pattern that encodes data representative of the characteristic of the substrate.
The above-described print media detection system may be modified and include the following characteristics described below. The geometry of each of the apertures may be configured to help minimize visual perceptibility of the apertures. The geometry may include at least one substantially circular opening, at least one substantially rectangular opening, at least one substantially triangular opening, or at least one substantially elliptical opening. The substantially circular opening may have a diameter substantially within a range between 0.001 inches and 0.008 inches.
The plurality of apertures may be in a predetermined location on the substrate. In such embodiments, the location of the apertures encodes additional data representative of the at least one characteristic of the first surface. The media detection system may be used in a printing device.
An alternative embodiment of a print media detection system in accordance with the present invention for use in a printing device includes structure for transmitting a light signal and structure for sensing the light signal and converting the light signal into an electrical signal. The print media detection system also includes structure, coupled to the detecting structure, for controlling an operating parameter of the printing device based at least in part on the electrical signal received from the detecting structure. The print media detection system additionally includes structure for receiving printing composition from the printing device. The structure for receiving printing composition has at least one characteristic and defines structure for en
Davis Dale R
Elgee Steven B.
Huston Craig S.
Lubawy Carmalyn
Mortland Bruce E.
Anderson Erik A.
Hewlett--Packard Company
Le Que T.
LandOfFree
Print media and method of detecting a characteristic of a... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Print media and method of detecting a characteristic of a..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Print media and method of detecting a characteristic of a... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2491014