Abstract: A rewriteable card of the invention is composed of a thermally reversible thermosensitive recording material which changes reversibly between a slightly opaque state and a transparent state depending on a given heating condition wherein the rewriteable card is characterized in including a reference slightly opaque portion at the part thereof having the reflectance equivalent to slight opacity state of the thermally reversible thermosensitive recording material in the early stage or the last stage of use of the rewriteable card. A method of judging the life of the rewriteable card is based on the result of detection of the reflectance on a printing slightly opaque portion and that on the reference slightly opaque portion, and a printing apparatus is provided with a card life judging means employing the judging method.

Abstract: A rewriteable card of the invention is composed of a thermally reversible thermosensitive recording material which changes reversibly between a slightly opaque state and a transparent state depending on a given heating condition wherein the rewriteable card includes a reference slightly opaque portion at the part thereof having the reflectance equivalent to a slight opacity state of the thermally reversible thermosensitive recording material in an early stage or a last stage of use of the rewriteable card. A method of judging the life of the rewriteable card is based on the result of detection of the reflectance on a printing slightly opaque portion and that on the reference slightly opaque portion, and a printing apparatus is provided with a card life judging device employing the judging method.

Abstract: A rewriteable card of the invention is composed of a thermally reversible thermosensitive recording material which changes reversibly between a slightly opaque state and a transparent state depending on a given heating condition wherein the rewriteable card includes a reference slightly opaque portion at the part thereof having the reflectance equivalent to a slight opacity state of the thermally reversible thermosensitive recording material in an early stage or a last stage of use of the rewriteable card. A method of judging the life of the rewriteable card is based on the result of detection of the reflectance on a printing slightly opaque portion and that on the reference slightly opaque portion, and a printing apparatus is provided with a card life judging device employing the judging method.

Abstract: This invention relates to a bar code printing method of printing bar codes consisting of bars and spaces having the width of (n+0.5) P by a bar code printer having a line thermal head with a number of heating elements arrayed at a specified pitch P, in which n +l pieces of heating elements on the aforesaid line thermal head are allocated to sections corresponding to bars in a bar code and n pieces of heating elements to sections corresponding to spaces in the bar code (n: a positive integer in both cases) and the heating elements allocated to the aforesaid bars are heated when bar codes are printed.