Abstract: An intelligent data acquisition interface for deriving and decoding data from the interface between a printer driver and a printing mechanism in an electronic cash register is shown. The apparatus is responsive to a wide variety of predetermined character position timing pulses available for various types of electronic cash registers (ECRs) to decode the characters as appropriate control signals are provided to the printing mechanism. As the apparatus collects and decodes data, it is loaded into a buffer within a microprocessor. When the device detects the provision of a complete print row of material for the receipt on the ECR, the contents of the buffer is transmitted serially, preferably in ASCII coded format, to a utilization system over a standard 9600 baud serial data link. The device is controlled by a microprocessor 65 having a program memory, and ECR specific look-up tables stored in an interchangeable PROM.