By Number Of Heated Recording Elements Patents (Class 400/120.1)
  • Patent number: 8902472
    Abstract: A printer includes a recording unit that executes on a recording medium, a recording operation under a sublimation transfer scheme; a conveying unit that using a protrusion roller having protrusions protruding toward an outer periphery and abutting a first surface of the recording medium, conveys the recording medium to a recording position for the recording operation; a pseudo recorded image data producing unit that produces pseudo recorded image data that includes pseudo pixels obtained by correcting a density of each predetermined pixel that is determined corresponding to an arrangement pattern of the protrusions on the protrusion roller and is determined from among pixels to be recorded in a second area that excludes a first area that is in contact with the protrusions, on the first surface of the conveyed recording medium; and a recording control unit that controls the recording unit based on the pseudo recorded image data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 2, 2014
    Assignees: Citizen Holdings Co., Ltd., Citizen Systems Japan Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yutaka Inokuchi, Takeshi Yamazaki
  • Patent number: 7891892
    Abstract: A printer and a process for correlating printed subject matter with subject matter that is meant to be printed by a printer with a printing mechanism or print engine such as a thermal printer including a print head, a platen, a media upon which labels are printed and a printer controller for imparting print data to the print head. An imager sends printed data as imaged to a read after print (RAP) controller for comparing the data received from the imager to data imparted to the print head or other printing mechanism. A tap, taps the data imparted from the print head and correlates it with the imaged data to determine the media speed, the image alignment, label analysis, weighing of blemishes, the gaps printed on a label, and other criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Printronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Lihu Chiu
  • Patent number: 7646498
    Abstract: A printer and a process for correlating printed subject matter with subject matter that is meant to be printed by a printer with a printing mechanism or print engine such as a thermal printer including a print head, a platen, a media upon which labels are printed and a printer controller for imparting print data to the print head. An imager sends printed data as imaged to a read after print (RAP) controller for comparing the data received from the imager to data imparted to the print head or other printing mechanism. A tap, taps the data imparted from the print head and correlates it with the imaged data to determine the media speed, the image alignment, label analysis, weighing of blemishes, the gaps printed on a label, and other criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: Printronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Lihu Chiu
  • Patent number: 7281874
    Abstract: A thermal printer unit is disclosed that comprises a main body module, a platen module, and a thermal head module. The platen module is detachably connected to the main body module. The thermal head module is detachably connected to the main body module and the platen module. When the thermal printer unit is installed in a POS device, the platen module is disengaged and separated from the main body module. When the thermal printer unit is installed in a label printer, the thermal head module is disengaged and separated from the main body module.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 16, 2007
    Assignee: Fujitsu Component Limited
    Inventors: Sumio Watanabe, Yukihiro Mori, Masahiro Tsuchiya
  • Patent number: 7104713
    Abstract: A printer has a sheet housing unit for storing a heat-sensitive adhesive sheet having a heat-sensitive adhesive layer on one side and a printable surface on the other side. A set of pull-out rollers pulls the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet out of the sheet housing unit and transports the sheet in a given direction, and a cutter device cuts the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet that has been transported by the pull-out rollers. A printing device has a thermal print head for printing letters or images on the printable surface of the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet, and a print platen roller for transporting the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet in the given direction. A thermal activation device has a thermal-activation thermal head for heating the heat-sensitive adhesive layer, and a thermal activation platen roller for transporting the heat-sensitive adhesive sheet in the given direction. A first drive unit drives the pull-out rollers and a second drive unit drives the print platen roller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2004
    Date of Patent: September 12, 2006
    Assignee: Seiko Instruments Inc.
    Inventors: Minoru Hoshino, Norimitsu Sanbongi, Tatsuya Obuchi, Yoshinori Sato
  • Patent number: 6997627
    Abstract: A printer and a process for correlating printed subject matter with subject matter that is meant to be printed by a printer with a printing mechanism or print engine such as a thermal printer including a print head, a platen, a media upon which labels are printed and a printer controller for imparting print data to the print head. An imager sends printed data as imaged to a read after print (RAP) controller for comparing the data received from the imager to data imparted to the print head or other printing mechanism. A tap, taps the data imparted from the print head and correlates it with the imaged data to determine the media speed, the image alignment, label analysis, weighing of blemishes, the gaps printed on a label, and other criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2006
    Assignee: Printronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Lihu Chiu
  • Patent number: 6953245
    Abstract: An ink-jet printing apparatus and an ink-jet printing method are provided which can improve a quick-drying performance of an ink containing an ultraviolet curing agent while at the same time preventing harm done by ink mist. When the printing head ejects ink containing the ultraviolet curing agent from the ink ejection portions as it moves, the ultraviolet radiation unit provided in front of the printing head with respect to the printing head moving direction radiates the ultraviolet light onto the ink adhering to the printing medium.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2002
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2005
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventor: Hiroaki Shirakawa
  • Patent number: 6896428
    Abstract: A printer and a process for correlating printed subject matter with subject matter that is meant to be printed by a printer with a printing mechanism or print engine such as a thermal printer including a print head, a platen, a media upon which labels are printed and a printer controller for imparting print data to the print head. An imager sends printed data as imaged to a read after print (RAP) controller for comparing the data received from the imager to data imparted to the print head or other printing mechanism. A tap, taps the data imparted from the print head and correlates it with the imaged data to determine the media speed, the image alignment, label analysis, weighing of blemishes, the gaps printed on a label, and other criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2002
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2005
    Assignee: Printronix, Inc.
    Inventor: Lihu Chiu
  • Patent number: 6836276
    Abstract: A thermal master making device and a thermal printer including the same are disclosed. A thermistor senses ambient temperature around a thermal head. A correcting device corrects the amount of heat to be generated by the thermal head, i.e., the duration of energization at least two times during a single master making operation. This configuration reduces a change in the perforation conditions of a thermosensitive medium ascribable to the heat accumulation characteristic of the head. The printer achieves high resolution, high-speed master making and space saving.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2004
    Assignee: Tohoku Ricoh Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasunobu Kidoura, Satoshi Katoh, Yasumitsu Yokoyama, Yoshiyuki Shishido
  • Patent number: 6739245
    Abstract: A method for controlling the printing in a mail processing device proceeds on the basis of a word-by-word storage of binary pixel data in the pixel memory with a predefined number of successive data words forming a data string, and a predefined number of data strings representing at least one print image. This facilitates a modification of variable binary pixel data in the pixel memory when the sequence of the binary pixel data in at least a part of the respective data string coincides with the sequence of pixels in at least one corresponding print image column that is provided for the printing. After a word-by-word transmission of binary pixel data of a data string from the pixel memory by direct memory access (DMA), an intermediate storage of the data string ensues in a pixel data editing unit before a pixel data editing is implemented during the printing with an ink jet printhead.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2003
    Date of Patent: May 25, 2004
    Assignee: Francotyp-Postalia AG & Co. KG
    Inventors: Tilmann Schilling, Torsten Schlaaff, Joachim Jauert
  • Patent number: 6588952
    Abstract: An ink feed arrangement for feeding ink to a printhead of a print engine includes a spine portion. A casing is mounted over the spine portion, the spine portion and the casing defining a plurality of parallel, but isolated, ink supply galleries. A plurality of substantially aligned, spaced ink feed outlets are defined in the spine portion for feeding inks to the printhead. A feed passage is associated with each outlet for placing that outlet in fluid communication with one of the galleries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2000
    Date of Patent: July 8, 2003
    Assignee: Silverbrook Research Pty Ltd
    Inventors: Kia Silverbrook, Tobin Allen King, Garry Raymond Jackson
  • Patent number: 6503006
    Abstract: A printer using a power reduction logic based upon reducing the speed of printing when the dot utilization calculation exceeds a particular power level for that printer. There is also provided a method for printing information at a given power supply capacity level, comprising the steps of: examining the a group of rows of dots to be printed; calculating the maximum dot utilization value for the group; selecting a print speed based on the maximum dot utilization value; printing the first row of the group of rows; and repeating above steps until the information is printed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2000
    Date of Patent: January 7, 2003
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sharon Corinne Freedman, David Francis Fritz, Robert William Kruppa, Robert Dean Yoder
  • Patent number: 6417915
    Abstract: In an image-forming system, an image-forming substrate is used, which has a sheet of paper, and a layer of microcapsules coated over the sheet of paper. The layer of microcapsules includes at least one type of microcapsules filled with an ink. A shell wall of each microcapsule is formed of resin, which exhibits a temperature/pressure characteristic such that each of the microcapsules is squashed under a predetermined pressure when being heated to a predetermined temperature, thereby discharging the dye out of the shell wall. A printer, having a roller platen and a thermal head, forms an image on the substrate. The platen locally exerts the pressure on the microcapsule layer. The thermal head selectively heats a localized area of the microcapsule layer, on which the pressure is exerted by the platen, to a temperature in accordance with an image-information data, such that the microcapsules in the microcapsule layer are selectively squashed and an image on the microcapsule layer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 1998
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2002
    Assignee: Asahi Kogaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Minoru Suzuki, Hiroshi Orita, Hiroyuki Saito, Katsuyoshi Suzuki, Koichi Furusawa
  • Publication number: 20020031387
    Abstract: The technique of producing a printing on a foil in a thermal printing operation during a packaging operation in which the foil is used as a packaging foil or as an information foil sheet to be applied to or below a wrap around or packaging foil for packaging a product being an organic or inorganic product. The examples of products relevant in the present context are unlimited ranging from toys, cosmetics, consumer products, foodstuffs, drugs etc. In general, any product which is to be packed in a foil or to be applied with an information printing after the product has been included in a separate package may be relevant in the present context. High speed printing and packaging operations in which the foil on which the printing is to be applied is moved at a speed up to several hundred millimeters per second.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 3, 2001
    Publication date: March 14, 2002
    Inventors: Christian Jorgensen, Torben Svensson, Kristian Vang Jorgensen, Ernst R. Thorsager Olesen, Tim Nielsen
  • Publication number: 20020021926
    Abstract: A thermal transfer recording apparatus, which has a detachable ink film cassette with an ink film, transfers an ink applied to the ink film to a recording paper by means of a thermal head and forms an image on the recording paper. The ink film cassette holds a supply reel wound around the shaft with the ink film and a take-up reel for taking up the ink film of the supply reel around the shaft. The thermal transfer recording apparatus has a detecting unit for detecting the supply reel mounted in the cassette, and a control unit for detecting the ink film based on a signal from the detecting unit. The detecting unit has a lever, which advances through an opening formed in the cassette from the direction perpendicular to the direction of the axis of the supply reel and comes in contact with the supply reel, and a photosensor for detecting the supply reel through of the lever. This thermal transfer recording apparatus can detect missing of the ink film in advance of the start of a printing operation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 30, 1997
    Publication date: February 21, 2002
    Inventors: JUNICHI YAMAMOTO, ATSUHIKO SHIMOYAMA