Facsimile and static presentation processing – Static presentation processing – Character or font
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-21
2001-09-11
Zimmerman, Mark (Department: 2671)
Facsimile and static presentation processing
Static presentation processing
Character or font
C355S078000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06288788
ABSTRACT:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
The present invention is related to commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/824,694 (75543) 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 the printing of images produced from Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). More specifically, the present invention relates to contact printing using Liquid Crystal Displays.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known to print on light sensitive media using a liquid crystal display as a shutter. Typically, the image bearing surface of a LCD is optically focused onto a sheet bearing a light sensitive emulsion. A source of light is provided behind the LCD to illuminate an image on the surface of the LCD. When color images are being produced, the media supports three types of color-sensitive chemistries that form the color image. It is further known to use a display to create color images using a monochrome LCD and various colors of light. The monochrome LCD is sequentially loaded with separated color planes of a source image, and the corresponding light is used to illuminate a color printing media
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,089 discloses the use of a linear electrostatic head or ink jet head to write separate color records to an electrostatic mask. Red, green and blue light sources are then used to illuminate each mask to expose color-sensitive media.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,935,820 uses a white light source to illuminate a LCD. The LCD carries color separate information, and a dichroic mirror is used to provide the appropriate light color for each separation. Because the dichroic mirror absorbs the other two unused portions of the white light, the system is energy inefficient. This patent, '820, is used to expose media with very low light sensitivity, which is stated as “. . . in the range of 103 ergs/c
2
to 107 ergs/cm
2
.” Such a media requires a very high output light source such as “. . . a 220 watt Tin Halide Arc Lamp type SN 220 manufactured by Phillips.” In addition, the LCD must also se high-efficiency liquid crystals, specifically called out as a smectic liquid crystal.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,337,068 discloses the use of a monochrome LCD, and a multiple sets of red, green and blue lamps to create color images on the monochrome display. Separate color information is written to multiple areas simultaneously at a rapid rate to project all three colors through common pixels. Appropriate lamps are activated simultaneously in separate areas as data are written to each area. Multiple lamps are required for each color of the separate areas and multiple lamps are energized simultaneously during display. An optic is needed to focus an image onto the light-sensitive media
It is known to focus emitted light from the image display onto the light sensitive sheet. Such optics are expensive, and require space for operation of the optical element. It would be advantageous to eliminate the need for an optical element between the display and the light receiving media. It would be useful to create a small, inexpensive printer to print images. Such a printer could be battery powered and portable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to create a highly efficient, high effective and compact printer of digital images. It is a further object of the present invention to produce a printer which is portable.
These objects are achieved by a contact printer comprising:
a) a liquid crystal display (LCD) for presenting an image for printing;
b) supply means adapted to contain at least one sheet of photosensitive media;
c) means for pressing the photosensitive media sheet from the supply against the LCD; and
d) means for driving the LCD for causing an image to be presented against a pressed photosensitive sheet for contact printing of such image.
ADVANTAGES
A feature of this invention is that costly optic elements are eliminated and the volume of the printer is reduced. Another feature of this invention is that the printer can be made compact and thus portable. The printer uses a display having a structure that permits direct printing onto a light sensitive media.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4811089 (1989-03-01), Kiser et al.
patent: 4935820 (1990-06-01), Patel et al.
patent: 5337068 (1994-08-01), Stewart et al.
patent: 5760882 (1998-06-01), Gulick, Jr. et al.
patent: 5860036 (1999-06-01), Stephenson
Quattrini Thomas J.
Stephenson Stanley W.
Eastman Kodak Company
Qwens Raymond L.
Sealey Lance W.
Zimmerman Mark
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