Printing – Special article machines
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-07
2001-12-11
Hilten, John S. (Department: 2854)
Printing
Special article machines
C400S061000, C400S070000, C400S076000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327972
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a printer with a device for printing a data carrier containing at least one transponder chip.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Printers for printing data carriers are known in the art. Also known are transponder chips for the electronic storage of data, in particular product information, whose integration in data carriers—particularly labels—is desirable. To date it has been necessary, however, to print such data carriers separately and to have the information written into or read out of the transponders directly afterwards or else beforehand. Two separate steps are thus needed, costing time and hence making the product more expensive.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention both to print a data carrier containing integrated transponder chips and to drive the transponder chips to read or write data in a quick and easy manner.
According to the present invention this object is accomplished in the case of a printer having a device for printing a data carrier containing at least one transponder chip by means of a device for driving the transponder chip.
The essence of the present invention is to equip a printer known in the art with a device for driving the transponder chip. It is thus possible to perform both the printing of the data carrier and the driving of the transponder chip in a single process step.
The advantages of the present invention lie mainly in the saving of time because the operations of printing and driving the transponder chip take place simultaneously (or in quick succession). If printed data and data written into the transponder chip are linked the result is a significant simplification because there is no need to scan the printed image prior to writing data into the transponder chip and no need to read the transponder chip prior to printing.
The data carrier is preferably a label strip, and the transponder chips are integrated in the labels. In this case the label is understood in particular to be a self-adhesive label which is adhered to a supporting web, for example, or else a label without any adhesive layer designed to be used as a tag.
The device for printing the data carrier can be of any type without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, it can be a thermal print head or an ink-jet print head.
As a rule the printer has a control circuit (in particular a microprocessor) to control the device for printing the data carrier. This control circuit is configured preferably to also control the device for driving the transponder chip. The advantage lies on the one hand in the unproblematic synchronization of the operations of printing the data carrier and driving the transponder chip. On the other hand it is possible to use a common data source, meaning that one part of the data to be output onto a data carrier is printed—e.g., as bar codes or readable characters—and another part is written into the transponder chip.
The data to be output onto the transponder chip can be treated as an additional data field of a label definition (i.e., the data defining a printed label), meaning that it can be transmitted to the printer from a data source (computer) together with the data to be printed. Hence the definition of data to be output onto a data carrier can be as follows, for example:
bar code (size, position, data);
text (size, position, data);
transponder data (data).
With such a definition, a bar code of the defined size is printed in the defined position on the data carrier, with the data presented as bar codes. Similarly, text of the defined size is printed in the defined position on the data carrier, with the data taking the form of readable plain text. The transponder data, by contrast, is written into the transponder chip.
In an alternative operating mode the computer transmits the transponder data in a so-called bypass mode directly to the device for driving the transponder chip. In this mode the transponder data is not embedded in the definition of the data to be printed out but is transmitted separately from the computer to the printer. On the hardware side the transmission is identical in both operating modes, namely from the computer via the control circuit of the printer to the device for driving the transponder chip, but on the software side there is a difference essentially in the transmission protocol for the transmission of data from the computer to the printer and in the processing of the transponder data by the control circuit of the printer. The printer can be designed to be switched between the two above described modes or to work in one mode only.
The device for driving the transponder chip may be suitable for writing data into the transponder chip and/or for reading data out of the transponder chip. It can be configured, in addition or alternatively, to test the function of the transponder chip. This can be done in particular by writing in and reading out data and then comparing the read data with the written data. A data carrier assigned to a transponder chip that has not passed a function test is then preferably identified as useless, i.e., is colored black, for example, or marked accordingly as “defective” or the like.
There are various possibilities as to where to position the device for driving the transponder chip without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
The device can be positioned downstream from the device for printing the data carrier in relation to a feed direction of the data carrier. Then it may be necessary to configure the printer so that it can reverse the data carrier against the feed direction in order to mark as useless any data carrier which is assigned to a transponder chip that has not passed a function test. In this case it is expedient to print and write the data of the data carrier having the defective transponder chip onto another data carrier. With a device for driving the transponder chip arranged downstream from the printing device, the control circuit of the device for printing the data carrier requires a device for storing the data to be written into a transponder chip because the operations of printing the data carrier and driving the transponder chip are performed with a time delay.
In an alternative approach the device for driving the transponder chip is arranged upstream from the device for printing the data carrier in relation to the feed direction of the data carrier, or it is positioned in such close proximity to the print head as to interact with a transponder chip assigned to a data carrier being printed by the device for printing the data carrier.
Furthermore it is proposed to connect the control circuit of the printer with an interface and to connect the device for driving the transponder chip to this interface. The advantage lies in particular in the ability to retrofit the device for driving the transponder chip on a printer equipped with a suitable interface.
As a rule, the device for driving the transponder chip is comprised of an antenna and a control unit to control the antenna. The control unit can be connected to the above mentioned interface, in particular by way of a card. The card provides preferably a serial or parallel interface to which the control unit is connected.
If the printer is configured to read data from the transponder chip it is possible in particular to read serial numbers saved in the transponder chips by the manufacturer and to transmit them to a computer. It is thus possible to save the serial number from the transponder chip on a different data carrier and/or to print it in legible form on the label.
Finally it should be noted that transponder chips are available from various manufacturers who use different protocols for reading and writing. It is therefore proposed configuring the printer to drive the transponder chip having a protocol selected from several different protocols. However it will be appreciated that a printer with only one, fixed protocol is also possible.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5608417 (1997-03-01), De Vall
patent: 5742618 (
Heredia Miguel
Robson David
Schneider Peter
Hilten John S.
Jones Tullar & Cooper P.C.
Meto International GmbH
Nolan, Jr. Charles H.
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