Abstract: A thermal printing apparatus including a print station, a transport mechanism for positioning a record medium at the print station, an arcuately-shaped platen, a line of printing elements and a thermally responsive ribbon. Relative movement between the platen and the printing elements is effected from a pivot point. Printing in a variety of styles of fonts like E13B is possible on documents like checks or deposit slips, for example. Special spring and wire members facilitate the separation of the ribbon from the document after printing.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for control of the temperature of a thermal printing device. Thermoelectric heat pumps are used to cool a thermal print head which does not cool between cycles sufficiently below the threshold temperature for the thermal paper or thermal transfer ribbon being used, due to heat build-up, particularly during high-speed operation. A sensed thermal print head temperature is digitized and compared to a reference temperature for a determination of whether or not operation of the heat pumps should be initiated or halted.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for enhancing the visual quality of dot matrix characters printed by means of thermal printing technologies, particularly in enhancing diagonal lines and blended radii of curvature. Two independent techniques can be combined or used in isolation to effect this print enhancement. The first, quarter dot step resolution, enables printed dots to be positioned at one quarter their previous step displacement distance. Memory must be expanded to handle increased dot position resolution. The second technique is element energy control, which enables each element in the printhead to emit different energy levels. The individual dot energy control translates into control of the printed dot shape and size, which when properly controlled, allows printing of diagonal lines and blended radii of curvature. This second technique further increases the required memory space by an additional factor.

Abstract: A thermal printing apparatus and method are disclosed which allows a plurality of thermal print head elements to remain concurrently active, with each individual element being capable of remaining active for a time duration unique to itself and independent of burn times required by the remaining elements. This individual element burn time control is obtained by the high-speed loading and reloading of the thermal print head shift register, with the contents of the individual shift register cells being the controlling factor. Once the thermal print head element resistances have been dynamically measured, specific energies are derived for each element in the printhead by modulating the on time for each element, thus allowing grey scale printing and the like.

Abstract: An apparatus for use in endorsing documents, like checks, in a banking system. A magnetic stripe is printed or encoded on the back of each document entering the processing system. Human readable, endorsement data is also printed next to the magnetic strip at the time that the stripe is being printed. The endorsement data is also magnetically written into a portion of the magnetic stripe during a subsequent, real-time operation to provide both machine-readable and human-readable forms of data to facilitate tracing a document's processing trail through several banks. A low-cost method of providing endorsements on checks through using the MICR encoder to print the usual monetary amount, inverting the check, re-entering the check, and using the MICR encoder to print the endorsement on the back of the check is also disclosed.

Abstract: A thermal printing apparatus is disclosed in which ribbon advancing mechanism including a supply spool and a take-up spool operated by a stepping motor is disclosed. Mechanism is provided for reversing the direction in which the take-up spool is driven by a specified amount during the printing cycle, in order to provide ribbon slack, so as to avoid smudging of the transferred ink on the receiving document and possible ribbon breakage during printing. The circumference of the accumulated ribbon on the take-up spool at any given time is considered in determining the number of steps and the step rate of the stepping motor in the reverse direction which must be taken in order to produce the desired amount of ribbon slack and slack take-up.

Abstract: A system and method for locating intelligence data like the courtesy or monetary amount on a document. The intelligence data is presented in the form of a matrix of binary data which corresponds to image data associated with a financial document like a check or deposit slip. From the matrix of binary data, an input character located on a predetermined side of the data is examined. If the input character is identified as a clue character, it means, generally, that a portion of the matrix of binary data which is associated with the clue character may be the binary data associated with the monetary amount. In the embodiment described, the clue characters are asterisks (*) and dollar signs ($) of different expected varieties. Having found the binary data associated with the monetary amount, it can be subjected to character recognition techniques to machine-read the monetary amount on the document.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for automatically compensating for overutilized elements in a thermal printhead. The system is implemented by utilizing a graphics style line thermal printhead with a greater number of resistive or thermal elements than are needed for the maximum number of characters to be printed. These spare or extra elements are positioned on the leading side of a nominal designated print area or field within the thermal printhead, such that a microprocessor under software control can sequentially shift for each new print line the leading edge of all character positions contained in the print field incrementally to one side, allowing increased utilization of formerly underutilized elements. In a preferred embodiment the magnitude of this sequential sideways shift is determined by the number of spare or extra elements which border the leading side of the nominal print field.

Abstract: A system is disclosed for automatically controlling the light intensity of a light source as a function of the amount of light received by a photosensor. In a preferred embodiment the light source illuminates a reference background which, in turn, reflects the light incident thereon to a photosensor in a video camera. In response to this reflected light, the photosensor produces a video signal which is proportional to the amount of light reflected thereon. A first processor is responsive to the reception of the video signal over a preselected period of time and provides a first signal which is proportional to the amount of reflected light received by the photosensor over that preselected period of time. A second processor is responsive to the first signal and generater a control signal to automatically cause an adjustable power supply to change the voltage applied to the light source as a function of the amplitude of the control signal.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for scanning a document image in an m.times.n matrix. The device includes a sensing array for sequentially sensing along a scan line, elements along one dimension of the matrix, registers for sequentially storing sensed elements for a selected number of scan lines, and a circuit for effecting a scan line delay between sequential scan lines. Registers are also provided for effecting an element delay in all of the stored scanned lines along the other dimension of the matrix wherein the element delay is responsive to a sequential sensing of a matrix element. Selected matrix elements are combined with selected weighting factors for enhancing the document image being scanned.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for precisely positioning a movable member to a desired fine position after a selected coarse position is reached. In a preferred embodiment of the invention a processor-controlled typewheel servo control system is responsive to a command signal for a selected coarse position for selectively utilizing from a memory circuit preselected stored adjustment information for the selected coarse position comprised of an associated coarse position count and quadrant information related to the sinusoids generated by an optical encoder in order to make a precise fine position adjustment in the position of a typewheel after the selected coarse position is reached for that typewheel.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for automatically detecting any defective elements in a linear array of thermal printhead elements of a thermal printer and for automatically correcting for at least one defective thermal printhead element. In a preferred embodiment of the invention an ON/OFF line from a microprocessor is turned OFF to turn off a voltage regulator, thereby preventing the thermal printhead elements from printing. With the voltage regulator OFF, a diode is forward biased to enable a voltage divider to be formed between a sensing resistor and any one of the thermal printhead elements that is activated at any given time. When a subsequent sense voltage (or resistance measurement) of an element exceeds the value of the initial reference sense voltage for that by a predetermined amount, that element is detected as a defective element.

Abstract: A plurality of vertically aligned sensing members scan a matrix type bar code on a document. During the scanning of the bar code, the time period between the detection of succeeding bars is determined. An average time period which occurs during the detection of a number of bars is then generated. Each succeeding time period generated as a result of detecting the next bar is divided by the average time period to determine the presence or absence of the bar in addition to the number of spaces preceding the detected bar. This information is used in decoding the bar code label.

Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for automatically detecting any change in average printhead resistance due to continued usage of the printhead and for automatically correcting for such resistance change in order to maintain constant printing energy. In a preferred embodiment of the invention a voltage regulator is turned off during a test mode of operation to test or measure each of the thermal elements in a thermal printhead. When the voltage regulator is turned off a constant current is sequentially allowed to flow through each of the thermal elements. The flow of constant current through an element develops a sense voltage which has an amplitude proportional to the resistance of the element being measured. The sense voltages for the elements are sequentially converted into digital signals by an analog-to-digital converter, summed together and averaged in order to develop an average printhead resistance.

Abstract: A method and system for processing documents such as checks for achieving concurrent, reject, re-entry of sorter rejects of the documents in association with a sorting machine. A document reader such as a MICR reader for example, and an imaging apparatus are included along the document track to generate MICR data and digitized image data for each document passing thereby. A document whose MICR data is read correctly is routinely sorted while a document whose MICR data is not read correctly or completely is sorted in a reject pocket. The data needed to complete or correct the MICR data is obtained by an operator viewing an image of the document on a data entry terminal while the associated document is still physically located in the reject pocket. After a first pass or run of the documents through the sorter, the now-complete data obtained by the operator is used to sort the rejected documents on a second pass through the sorter to provide the re-entry of the sorter rejects.

Abstract: A sheet decelerating and stopping apparatus which may be used as a staging apparatus in a sheet-feeding environment. A pivoting member having decelerating and stopping areas thereon is spring biased to an operating position in which the decelerating area on the member cooperates with a decelerating area on on wall of a sheet-feeding track in which the sheet is fed to decelerate the sheet. The stopping area on the member stops a sheet if it is not stopped by the cooperating decelerating areas. An actuator moves the member to an inoperative position to enable a sheet to be released from the apparatus.

Abstract: A method and system for processing a batch of documents such as checks for achieving concurrent, reject re-entry and repair of rejects of the batch of documents in association with a sorting machine. A document reader such as a MICR reader for example, and an imaging apparatus are included along the document track to generate MICR data and digitized image data for each document passing thereby. A document whose MICR data is read correctly is routinely sorted while a document whose MICR data for a field is missing, for example, is sorted in a reject pocket. The data needed to complete the missing field is obtained by an operator viewing an image of the document on a data entry terminal while the associated document which was sorted in the reject pocket is stored at an encoder coupled to the reject pocket. The now-complete data obtained by the operator is used by the encoder to print the now-complete data for the missing field on the associated document.

Abstract: Thermal printing apparatus includes a magnetic core having a gap, an electromagnetic coil mounted on the core for generating an electromagnetic field in the core and through the gap, a rotatably mounted cylindrical thermal print head having type characters on its periphery and located partially within the gap in the magnetic core, and a mechanism for rotating the print head to locate a selected type character in printing position in cooperative relation to a pressure element. The magnetic field generates circulating currents in the print head for heating it to a temperature necessary for causing heat-sensitive ink to be transferred from a ribbon to a record medium, both of which are positioned between the print head and the pressure element.

Abstract: An impact hammer assembly, suitable for high speed MICR printing, is disclosed. The impact hammer assembly comprises an impact hammer having first and second flanged portions respectively positioned at first and second ends along a first longitudinal surface of the impact hammer and a hammer face positioned at the second end of the hammer on a second longitudinal surface opposite from the first longitudinal surface. The hammer is pivotally mounted at a pivot between the first and second flanged portions for movement between a rest position and a print position. A first electromagnetic coil positioned adjacent to the first flanged portion is energized by a first pulse from a control circuit to impel the hammer face toward the print position. A second electromagnetic coil positioned adjacent to the second flanged portion is energized by a second pulse from the control circuit to cause a fast return of the hammer to the rest position.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for processing documents comprising a unit for reading machine-readable data and for generating image data from the documents as the documents are moved along a track in operative relationship therewith. The unit also includes recognition circuitry receiving the image data and a portion of the machine-readable data to produce recognition data along with confidence level data relative to the recognition data for each document. A control processor is used for storing the machine-readable data, image data, recognition data, and confidence level data by an identification number which is assigned thereto by the control processor for each corresponding document.