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(11) | EP 0 816 108 B1 |
| (12) | EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION |
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| (54) |
A printer for printing on a continuous print medium Drucker zum Bedrucken von einem bandförmigen Aufzeichnungsträger Imprimante pour imprimer sur un substrat d'enregistrement en forme de bande |
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| Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to the European patent granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall not be deemed to have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent Convention). |
[0001] This invention relates to a thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by thermal ink transfer from a print ribbon.
[0004] as label bearing substrates with alphanumeric information and other symbols using a thermal transfer printer. A print head having a row of electronically driven heating elements is brought to bear against an ink-carrying thermal transfer ribbon lying over the print medium while the print medium is driven perpendicularly to the row of print elements. In one known printer, the ribbon is supplied from a take-off spool and then passes along a ribbon path which extends between the print head and the path of the print medium, and thereafter is fed onto a take-up spool, the ribbon travelling across the print head at least approximately the same speed as the print medium whilst printing is taking place. The path followed by the print medium extends around movable rollers which deflect the print medium by variable amounts both upstream and downstream of the print head. These rollers impose significant stresses on the print medium and complicate threading when the print medium is loaded into the printer. Such a printer operates typically at print medium speeds up to 200 mm per second.
[0006] According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by ink transfer from a thermal print ribbon, comprising means defining a print medium path, a thermal print head having energisable print elements and located adjacent the print medium path, means defining a ribbon path which where it runs between the print head and the print medium path, runs in the same direction as the print medium path, ribbon drive means operable to drive a ribbon at varying speeds along the ribbon path, speed sensing means operable to sense the speed of travel of the print medium along the print medium path, and processing means including memory means and arranged during printing to control the ribbon drive means in order to vary the ribbon speed up to a maximum speed substantially corresponding to the maximum printing speed of the print head and to activate selected print elements according to predetermined patterns of dots stored in the memory means, to cause the transfer of ink from the ribbon to the print medium to form the predetermined pattern as ink dots on the print medium as it moves past the print head along the print medium path, the processing means further being arranged to monitor the speed of the print medium using the speed sensing means and when the print medium speed is greater than the ribbon speed, to activate the print elements such that selected ink dots are omitted from the predetermined pattern.
[0007] In the prior art machine, where the print medium passes the print head at a speed greater than the maximum printing speed of the print head, ribbon is wasted. This is because the print medium and the ribbon travel past the head at the same speed. By limiting the ribbon speed to a speed which corresponds to the maximum printing speed of the head i.e. a ribbon speed at which the used portions of the ribbon are adjacent one another when the printhead is operating at maximum speed, ribbon is saved. It will be appreciated that in the prior art machine, the used portions of the ribbon are spaced apart. Correspondingly, the printed pattern on the print medium is spaced apart thus stretching the intended aspect ratio of the pattern in the direction of the print medium travel. The present invention solves this additional problem by omitting selected ink dots from the predetermined pattern. This has the effect of condensing the pattern in the direction of the print medium travel thereby tending to restore the aspect ratio of the pattern.
[0008] Typically the print elements are arranged in a line in the print head transversely of the direction of print medium travel. Preferably the processing means is arranged to cause dots to be omitted by periodically skipping a set of dots (typically a single one of the lines) and instead to activate the elements according to the subsequent set of dots stored in the memory means. Thus it will be appreciated that the line is truly omitted and replaced with the subsequent line rather than merely being delayed to the next printing operation of the printing head which would not have the desired condensing effect.
[0009] Preferably the processing means is arranged to skip X sets on average where X = 1-(MAX/speed of print medium) and and where MAX is a print medium speed substantially corresponding to the maximum printing speed of the print head. By arranging for sets to be skipped according to this formula, the aspect ratio is accurately restored. For example, where the ratio of the speed of the print medium to the print medium speed which substantially corresponds to the maximum printing speed of the print head is 1.25, by omitting on average 0.2 of the lines (i.e. one line in five) the effective width of the pattern printed on the print medium is restored to the width that it would have if the print medium were running at a speed only equivalent to MAX. Since MAX is the print medium speed that equates to the maximum printing speed of the print head i.e. the print medium speed at which the print head is able to print sufficiently quickly to maintain the correct aspect ratio of the pattern, the aspect ratio of the pattern is restored albeit with some loss of detail due to the omitted set or sets of dots.
[0010] Preferably, the speed with which the ribbon is driven during each printing operation is variable in response to the print medium speed of travel so as to match the speed with which the print medium is fed past the print head up to the said maximum speed. This may be achieved, for example, by forming the platen as a roller around which the print medium is wrapped so that the speed of rotation of the roller is a measure of the speed of passage of the print medium. A shaft encoder, typically an optical encoder, may be used to provide an input to processing means forming part of the printing actuator to control movement of the print head and energisation of the printing elements. In addition, the ribbon may be driven by a stepper motor coupled to a ribbon drive roller, the speed of operation of the stepper motor being governed by the sensed speed of rotation of the platen roller.
[0011] In the preferred embodiment, the speed of the ribbon is limited by reducing for every two sets of dots which are skipped, the amount of ribbon fed past the printhead by an amount equal to the length of ribbon used by a single set of dots. For example, assuming that each set of dots uses 0.25mm of ribbon length, in the preferred embodiment, if two sets of dots are omitted, then without this feature, 0.5mm of ribbon length would be fed past the head and wasted since it would not be used. In the preferred embodiment, only 0.25mm of ribbon is fed past the head i.e. 0.25mm less than would normally have been fed.
[0012] According to a method aspect, the invention includes a method of saving ribbon in a thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by ink transfer from a thermal printer ribbon, the printer including a thermal print head having energisable print elements the method comprising passing a print medium past the print head at a speed greater than the equivalent maximum printing speed of the print head, passing the ribbon past the print head in the same direction as the print medium at a speed equivalent to the maximum printing speed of the print head, selectively energising the print elements to transfer ink to build up a predetermined pattern of ink dots on the medium and periodically omitting dots from the predetermined pattern by skipping a set of dots of the pattern and replacing them with a subsequent set of dots.
[0013] Preferably, the method includes removing one unit of ribbon length (typically 0.25mm) for each 2 sets of dots omitted as described above in connection with the apparatus aspect of the invention. This saves ribbon since less ribbon is used as sets of dots are removed. The same ribbon length will therefore last longer than in the prior art machine.
[0014] The invention is applicable primarily to printing variable information on continuous plastics film packaging material, with each print operation being triggered by, for example, sensing the position of products to which the packaging material is to be applied as they travel along an adjacent conveyor. Typically, the information includes sell-by dates, serial numbers, pricing information, and bar codes.
[0015] The invention will be described below by way of example with reference to the drawings in which:-
Figure 1 is a diagrammatic exploded side view of a printer in accordance with the invention;
Figure 2 is a front view of a base unit printer of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a rear view of a ribbon cassette of the printer of Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a block diagram of electrical parts of the printer;
Figure 5 is a plan view of a ribbon drive roller for the printer of Figure 1;
Figure 6 is a flow-chart of part of the software of the printer of Figure 1; and
Figure 7 is a flow-chart of another part of the software of the printer of Figure 1.
[0016] Referring to Figures 1, 2 and 3 together, a printer for the continuous printing of a continuous print medium by transfer from a thermal transfer print ribbon has a base unit 10 and a removable ribbon cassette unit 12. The base unit, which is mounted to a frame of the printer (not shown), contains a print head stepper motor 14 mounted on a front plate 16 of the unit 10, and a ribbon drive stepper motor 18 similarly mounted on the front plate 16. Coupled to the motor shaft 14S of the print head stepper motor 14 is a pivotable print head carrier 20 which supports a print head 22.
[0017] Coupling of the print head carrier 20 to the motor shaft 14S is by way of a parallelogram linkage lying behind the front plate 16 and comprising a first crank 24 fixed to the motor shaft 14S, a connecting link or rod 26, and a second crank 28 generally in the form of a semi-circular plate which is mounted on a shaft 30 supporting the print head carrier 20. Shaft 30 takes the form of a boss 30B on the front side of plate 16, with an axially extending tongue 30T to which the print head carrier 20 is bolted.
[0018] The motor shaft 18S of the ribbon drive stepper motor 18 is attached to a drive spindle 32 which, like the print head carrier 20, projects perpendicularly from the front plate 16 of the base unit 10.
[0019] For clarity, the cassette unit 12 is shown in Figure 1 spaced from the base unit 10. In practice, when fitted to the base unit 10, the cassette unit 12 is closer to the base unit 16, such that ribbon spools 34, 36, which are rotatably mounted on a front plate 38 of the cassette unit 12, are coextensive with the print head 22 in terms of their location in a direction perpendicular to the front plate 38 of the base unit 40. Also attached to the cassette unit front plate 30 is a ribbon drive roller 32 visible in Figure 1 below ribbon spool 34, and also in Figure 3.
[0020] The relative positioning of the ribbon spools 34, 36, the print head 22, and the ribbon drive roller 40 may be ascertained by comparison of Figure 1 with Figure 3. The ribbon 42 itself is shown in full lines in Figure 3, but in phantom lines in Figure 1 for clarity. Certain items shown in Figure 1 are not shown in Figure 2, and vice versa. In particular, a platen roller 44 and a deflection roller 46 are shown in Figure 2 but not in Figures 1 and 3. These components are mounted on the printer frame or other apparatus which the printer is associated.
[0021] Referring to Figure 2, continuous film material to be printed (shown by reference numeral 50) enters the printer in an inlet region 52, passes over and wraps around platen roller 44 from where it follows a downwardly inclined path to pass underneath and wrap around a deflection roller 46 before passing to an outlet region 54 of the printer. The positioning of platen and deflection rollers 44 and 46 is such that the film substrate 50 is nowhere deflected through an angle greater than 60° by any one guiding element, and preferably not greater than 45°. The function of the deflection roller 46 may be performed instead by any deflecting support for the film substrate 50 positioned to cause the substrate to be wrapped partly around the platen roller. Both platen roller 44 and deflection roller 46 have axes of rotation which extend at right angles to the direction of travel of the substrate film 50, and both axes are fixed in position so that the path of the substrate film 50 remains substantially constant during and between successive printing operations. As a result, the instantaneous rate at which the film 50 passes over the platen 44 always matches the rate at which it is supplied to and extracted from the printer through the inlet and outlet regions 52 and 54.
[0022] The thermal transfer ribbon 42 follows a ribbon path as follows. Firstly, a supply of the ribbon is provided on a feed spool 36 which is mounted by means of a bearing (not shown) fixed to the cassette unit front plate 38. A degree of friction is built into this bearing to maintain tension in ribbon 42. From spool 36, the ribbon 42 passes over a break detector roller 58 attached to the end of a break detector arm 60 which is rotatable about the rotation axis of the feed spool 36 and biased in a clockwise direction as seen in Figure 3 by a spring 62. From roller 58, the ribbon 42 passes over guide rollers 64 and 66 attached to the cassette unit front plate 30 and thence through a region which, when the cassette unit 12 is loaded into the base unit 10, lies between the print head 22 and the platen 44. The ribbon then passes over a further guide roller 68. The head and the platen are seen in Figure 2, as are also guide rollers 66 to 68, so that the location of the ribbon path relative to the head and platen can be seen. Where the ribbon 42 passes over platen 44 it is in frictional contact with the substrate film 50. The ribbon 42 is held in contact with substrate film 50 only between the start and finish of each printing operation, during which the lower surface of the print head 22 bears against the platen 44 through the ribbon 42 and film 50, as shown in Figure 2. At other times, the print head 22 is raised by operation of its stepper motor 14.
[0023] From the print head 22, the ribbon 42 travels over guide roller 70 and is then wrapped around the drive roller 40. A pinch roller 72, mounted on a pivotable support arm 74, maintains the ribbon 42 in gripping contact with drive roller 40. Drive roller 40 has a rubber sleeve and is driven by motor 18 via a toothed belt 75 and toothed pulleys 75P behind base unit front plate 16 on the motor shaft 18S and the spindle 32, (shown in Figures 1 and 2) so that the ribbon 42 is pulled through the space between the print head 22 and the platen 44. From the drive roller 40, the ribbon 42 passes to a take-up spool 38 which is belt-driven by a belt 76 from a pulley 78 (see Figure 1) mounted on the shaft of drive roller 40. The mounting bearing (not shown) of the take-up spool 34 is mounted on a shaft fixed to the cassette unit front plate 30 and, like the mounting bearing of the feed spool 36, has a degree of friction built in. The diameter of the pulley 34P associated with take-up spool 34 together with the diameter of the pulley associated with drive roller 40 are such that the shaft bearing the take-up spool 34 is always driven faster than the speed of rotation necessary to take up the ribbon 42 from the drive roller 40, regardless of the diameter of the ribbon reel. The friction slip built into the connection between spool 34 and the belt-driven shaft allows the respective speeds of rotation of the drive roller 40 and the take-up spool 34 to be different from each other.
[0024] The print head 22 has side-facing printing elements 82 (Figure 1) extending along a line parallel to the axis of rotation 84 of the print head carrier 20. These printing elements 82 project from a lower surface 86 of the print head 22 which, in the printing position of the print head 22 is tangential to the platen roller 44, as shown by the chain lines in Figure 2. The arcuate locus followed by the line of printing elements 82 when the print head 22 is pivoted about axis 84 passes through the intersection of a tangent parallel to the print head lower surface 86 and the platen roller surface. Consequently, the ribbon 42 and the substrate film 50 are pinched between the print head 22 and the platen roller 44 precisely at the line of printing elements 82. When these elements are heated under electronic control, and the film 50 and ribbon 42 are passed together over the element, ink is transferred from the ribbon 42 to the film 50 to print characters and symbols according to pre-programmed information incorporated in the signals fed to the print head 22.
[0025] During printing, the ribbon 42 is in contact with film 50 and normally travels at the same speed. This is achieved by mounting an optical shaft encoder on a shaft bearing the platen roller 44. The output of the encoder is representative of the speed of the film 50, and by processing this output signal, the stepper motor 18 driving ribbon drive roller 40 is adjusted such that the ribbon is driven at the correct speed. This synchronisation between ribbon 42 and film 50 can be maintained over a wide range of speeds.
[0026] The print head 22 has a characteristic maximum printing rate or speed. Thus if the ribbon and film 50 are always driven at the same speed, there will come a point where the printing head reaches its maximum speed and where gaps are left in the usage of the ribbon because portions of the ribbon move past the head when the head is inoperative. As the ribbon and film speed increases beyond the speed equivalent to the maximum printing speed of the print head, the gaps in the ribbon usage become larger. The processor 94 (see Figure 4) is therefore arranged to drive the motor 18 such that the ribbon moves at the same speed as the film 50 until the print head is operating at maximum rate and the used portions of the ribbon are spaced as compactly as possible. At this point no further speed increase in the ribbon is permitted. Thus any further increase in the speed of the film 50 results in "slippage" between the ribbon and the film. In this way, maximum use is made of the ribbon yet the speed of the film 50 is not limited by the speed of the print head.
[0028] The shaft encoder associated with the platen roller 44 is shown in Figure 4 by reference numeral 90. Encoder 90 provides an input signal representative of film speed to an input 92 of a processor unit 94. The processor unit has at its heart a microprocessor, and has three outputs. These are a first output 96 coupled to a first motor driver circuit 98 for moving the print head between its inactive retracted position id its active extended position (respectively shown in Figure 2) by means of stepper motor 14 and its associated linkage.
[0029] A second output of the processor unit 94 is a multi-wire input 100 coupled to the energisable elements 82 of the print head 22.
[0030] The third output 102 is coupled to a second motor driver 104 to control stepper motor 18, thereby stopping and starting the ribbon, and controlling the ribbon speed during each printing operation.
[0031] Other inputs to the processor include trigger input 106 which receives a trigger signal initiating each printing operation. Typically, the trigger signal is generated by sensing the position of products to which the substrate film is to be applied as packaging, as the products travel along an adjacent conveyer. Another input 108 receives the information to be printed from a memory 110. Thus, on receipt of a trigger signal at input 106, the processor is programmed firstly to move the print head 22 to its extended position, to start the ribbon drive motor, and to initiate printing by energising the elements of the print head 22 in accordance with the information stored in the memory 110 thereby to print the information as a pattern or a series of characters.
[0032] Whilst the printing operation is progressing, the speed at which the ribbon is driven via driver 104 and motor 18 is determined according to the film speed signal input received by the processor at input 92, so as to drive the ribbon at the same speed as the film up to the maximum speed as described above. The rate at which the print head elements are driven (i.e. the rate at which the pattern or characters are printed) is also varied by processor unit 94 according to the film speed signal input.
[0033] It will be appreciated that when the speed of the film 50 passes the print head at a speed greater than that equivalent to the maximum printing speed of the print head, although the ribbon speed is limited to save ribbon, the dots formed on the film 50 will still be spaced apart in the direction of travel of the film. Thus the characters or patterns formed on the film 50 will appear to be stretched in the direction of film travel. To overcome this, in the preferred embodiment, the characters or patterns are compressed by periodically selectively omitting or skipping a line of dots.
[0034] With reference to Figure 6 and 7, two of the software processes executing in the processor 94 are shown. Steps 202, 204, 206 operate in a loop to derive a measurement of the speed of the film by reading the "T-period" which is the time period between encoder pulses from the shaft encoder 90. In the preferred embodiment, the T-period is measured between the rising edges of the series of encoder pulses.
[0035] In steps 208, 210, 212, 214 the measured T-period is compared with MAX which is a stored value which represents the maximum film speed at which characters are printed at the correct aspect ratio on the film 50 whilst the print head 22 is operating at maximum rate. Each of these steps also increment a "ribsave" variable which is used by the ribbon control loop as described below in connection with Figure 7.
[0036] Taking step 208 for example, if T-period is between MAX and MAX x 1.25 then after every four lines are printed, the next line is skipped. Thus a fifth of the lines are skipped on average which has the effect of compressing the character or pattern being printed by 4/5 . Since the film is measured as passing the head at 1.25 (i.e. 5/4 of the maximum printing speed, the effect of compressing by 4/5 is to restore the aspect ratio by bringing the character width back to 1 (i.e. normal width). Similarly, steps 210, 212, 214 restore the aspect ratio for film speeds even greater than MAX up to the point in step 214 where the film speed is twice the speed equivalent to the maximum printing head speed which therefore requires every other line to be skipped to compress the characters or patterns by half in the direction of travel of the film 50.
[0037] Steps 216 and 218 limit "T-Period" to be between MIN and MAX, namely the preferred minimum ribbon speed and the maximum speed respectively, the maximum speed being the speed which is equivalent to the maximum rate of the printhead as described above. T-Period is used in the ribbon control loop described below
[0038] Figure 7 shows the process which controls ribbon speed by loading the T-period into the ribbon control segment of the software which ultimately controls the motor 18. This process matches the ribbon speed to the film speed as discussed above until the film speed reaches the speed equivalent to the maximum printing speed of the print head at which point the ribbon speed is kept constant until the film speed decreases below the speed equivalent to the maximum speed of the print head. The variable "ribsave" is used to adjust a variable "riblength" which maintains a record of the amount of ribbon remaining.
[0039] When the processor senses that all of the information relating to the required design has been supplied from memory 110 and has been fed to the print head 22, it issues a stop signal to the ribbon driver 104 to stop ribbon travel and the driver 98 for the print head motor 14 receives a signal causing the motor to withdraw the print head to its retracted, inactive position. A processor 94 then waits for the next trigger signal on 106 before repeating the above process. Further inputs 112 and 114 of the processor 94 are called respectively to a ribbon status sensor 116 and a ribbon break sensor 118 which are respectively associated with a spring loaded pivotable arm 120, seen in Figure 3. This arm 120 has a roller 122 at its distal end contacting the periphery of the ribbon supply on ribbon feed spool 36, so that when the ribbon supply runs low, an alarm can be activated and/or operation of the packaging apparatus of which the printer is part can be halted. Similarly, the break sensor 118 is responsive to excessive clockwise movement of arm 60 (see Figure 3) to sense breakage of the ribbon 42 which, during normal operation, keeps roller 58 approximately in the position shown in Figure 3.
[0040] Further details of the preferred printer in accordance with the invention will now be described. Limits on the movement of print carrier 20 and print head 22 are determined firstly by the striking of the print head elements 82 against the platen 44 (see Figure 2) through the ribbon 42 and film 50, and, in the retractive position, by an adjustable stop (not shown) associated with the semi-circular plate 28 behind the front plate 16 of the base unit.
[0041] Drive to the ribbon drive roller 40, which, it will be seen, is mounted on the cassette front plate 30, is transferred from the base unit 10 to the roller by means of drive spindle 32 shown in Figure 1. Referring to Figure 5, roller 40 contains a clutch bearing 40C which is so mounted within the roller 40 that it is allowed to float in the sense that the centre of bearing 40C need not coincide exactly with the centre of the roller 40. When the cassette unit 12 is mounted on base unit 10, the drive shaft or spindle 32 attached to ribbon drive motor 18 (see Figure 1) enters clutch bearing 40C (Figure 3). Needle rollers of the clutch bearing, which are self-locking when driven in one rotary direction, engage the outer surface of shaft or spindle 32 and drive is transferred from spindle 32 to the bearing 40C and thence via pins 40P to the roller 40. The floating nature of the clutch bearing 40C within the roller 40 allows for a degree of mismatch between the axis 128 of drive spindle 32 and that 130 of roller 40 when the cassette unit 12 is mounted on the base unit 10.
1. A thermal printer for printing on a continuous print medium by ink transfer from a
thermal print ribbon comprising
means defining a print medium path,
a thermal print head having energisable print elements and located adjacent the print medium path,
means defining a ribbon path which where it runs between the print head and the print medium path, runs in the same direction as the print medium path,
ribbon drive means operable to drive a ribbon at varying speeds along the ribbon path,
speed sensing means operable to sense the speed of travel of the print medium along the print medium path,
and processing means including memory means and arranged during printing to control the ribbon drive means in order to vary the ribbon speed up to a maximum speed substantially corresponding to the maximum printing speed of the print head and to activate selected print elements according to predetermined patterns of dots stored in the memory means, to cause the transfer of ink from the ribbon to the print medium to form the predetermined pattern as ink dots on the print medium as it moves past the print head along the print medium path,
the processing means further being arranged to monitor the speed of the print medium using the speed sensing means and when the print medium speed is greater than the ribbon speed, to activate the print elements such that selected ink dots are omitted from the predetermined pattern.
2. A printer according to claim 1, wherein the processing means is arranged to cause
dots to be omitted by periodically skipping a set of dots and instead activating the
elements according to the subsequent set of dots stored in the memory means.
3. A printer according to claim 2, wherein the processing means is arranged to skip X
sets on average, where X= 1-(MAX)/speed of print medium) and where MAX is a print
medium speed substantially corresponding to the maximum printing speed of the print
head.
4. A printer according to claim 2, wherein the processing means are arranged to reduce
for each two sets of dots skipped, the amount of ribbon fed past the printhead by
an amount substantially equal the length of ribbon used for printing one set of dots.
5. A method of saving ribbon in a thermal printer for printing on a continuous print
medium by ink transfer from a thermal printer ribbon, the printer including a thermal
print head having energisable print elements the method comprising passing a print
medium past the print head at a speed greater than the equivalent maximum printing
speed of the print head, passing the ribbon past the print head in the same direction
as the print medium at a speed equivalent to the maximum printing speed of the print
head, selectively energising the print elements to transfer ink to build up a predetermined
pattern of ink dots on the medium and periodically omitting dots from the predetermined
pattern by skipping a set of dots of the pattern and replacing them with a subsequent
set of dots.
6. A method according to claim 5, including skipping X sets on average, where X= 1-(MAX)/speed
of print medium) and where MAX is a print medium speed substantially corresponding
to the maximum printing speed of the head.
1. Thermischer Drucker zum Drucken auf ein kontinuierliches Druckmedium durch Übertragung
von Druckfarbe von einem thermischen Druckband, enthaltend
Mittel, die einen Druckmediumweg festlegen,
einen thermischen Druckkopf, der an den Druckmediumweg angrenzt und mit Energie versorgbare Druckelemente aufweist,
Mittel, die einen Bandweg festlegen, der, soweit er zwischen dem Druckkopf und dem Druckmediumweg verläuft, in derselben Richtung wie der Druckmediumweg verläuft,
Bandantriebsmittel, die fähig sind, ein Band mit verschiedenen Geschwindigkeiten entlang dem Bandweg anzutreiben,
Geschwindigkeitssensormittel, die fähig sind, die Bewegungsgeschwindigkeit des Druckmediums entlang dem Druckmediumweg aufzunehmen,
und Mittel zur Ablaufsteuerung, die Speichermittel enthalten und die während des Druckens dazu ausgebildet sind, die Bandantriebsmittel zu steuern, um die Bandgeschwindigkeit bis hin zu einer maximalen Geschwindigkeit, die im wesentlichen der maximalen Druckgeschwindigkeit des Druckkopfes entspricht, zu verändern, und ausgewählte Druckelemente entsprechend vorbestimmten, in den Speichermitteln gespeicherten Punktmustern zu betätigen, um die Übertragung von Farbe von dem Band auf das Druckmedium zu bewirken, um das vorbestimmte Muster als Farbpunkte auf dem Druckmedium zu bilden, während es sich am Druckkopf vorbei entlang des Druckmediumweges bewegt,
wobei die Mittel zur Ablaufsteuerung außerdem dazu ausgebildet sind, die Geschwindigkeit des Druckmediums unter Verwendung der Geschwindigkeitssensormittel zu überwachen und, falls die Geschwindigkeit des Druckmediums größer als die Bandgeschwindigkeit ist, die Druckelemente dahingehend zu betätigen, daß ausgewählte Farbpunkte aus dem vorbestimmten Muster ausgelassen werden.2. Drucker gemäß Anspruch 1, bei dem die Mittel zur Ablaufsteuerung dazu ausgebildet
sind, zu bewirken, daß Punkte durch periodisches Überspringen eines Punktesatzes ausgelassen
werden und stattdessen die Elemente entsprechend dem folgenden, in den Speichermitteln
gespeicherten Punktesatz aktiviert werden.
3. Drucker gemäß Anspruch 2, bei dem die Mittel zur Ablaufsteuerung dazu ausgebildet
sind, im Durchschnitt X Sätze zu überspringen, wobei X=1-(MAX)/Geschwindigkeit des
Aufzeichnungsträgers) und wobei MAX eine Geschwindigkeit des Druckmediums ist, welche
im wesentlichen der maximalen Druckgeschwindigkeit des Druckkopfes entspricht.
4. Drucker gemäß Anspruch 2, bei dem die Mittel zur Ablaufsteuerung dazu ausgebildet
sind, für jeweils zwei übersprungene Punktesätze die Menge des am Druckkopf vorbeigeführten
Bandes um eine Menge zu verringern, die im wesentlichen gleich der Bandlänge ist,
welche zum Drucken eines Punktesatzes benutzt wird.
5. Verfahren zum Sparen von Band in einem thermischen Drucker zum Drucken auf ein kontinuierliches
Druckmedium durch Übertragung von Druckfarbe von einem thermischen Druckband, wobei
der Drucker einen thermischen Druckkopf mit mit Energie versorgbaren Druckelementen
enthält und wobei das Verfahren folgende Merkmale aufweist: das Vorbeibewegen eines
Druckmediums an dem Druckkopf mit einer größeren Geschwindigkeit als der entsprechenden
maximalen Druckgeschwindigkeit des Druckkopfes, Vorbeibewegen des Bandes an dem Druckkopf
in derselben Richtung wie das Druckmedium mit der der maximalen Druckgeschwindigkeit
des Druckkopfes entsprechenden Geschwindigkeit, selektive Energieversorgung der Druckelemente,
um Druckfarbe zu übertragen, um ein vorbestimmtes Muster von Farbpunkten auf dem Medium
aufzubauen, periodisches Weglassen von Punkten aus dem vorbestimmten Muster durch
Überspringen eines Satzes von Punkten des Musters und Ersetzen derselben durch einen
folgenden Satz von Punkten.
6. Verfahren gemäß Anspruch 5, beinhaltend, daß im Durchschnitt X Sätze übersprungen
werden, wobei X=1-(MAX)/Geschwindigkeit des Druckmediums) und MAX eine Geschwindigkeit
des Druckmediums ist, die im wesentlichen der maximalen Druckgeschwindigkeit des Kopfes
entspricht.
1. Imprimante thermique pour imprimer sur un support d'impression continu par transfert
d'encre à partir d'un ruban d'impression thermique, comprenant :
un moyen définissant un trajet de support d'impression,
une tête d'impression thermique comportant des éléments d'impression pouvant être alimentés et situés adjacents au trajet de support d'impression,
un moyen définissant un trajet de ruban qui, lorsqu'il s'étend entre la tête d'impression et le trajet de support d'impression, s'étend dans la même direction que le trajet de support d'impression,
un moyen d'entraînement de ruban pouvant fonctionner pour entraîner un ruban à des vitesses variables le long du trajet de ruban,
un moyen de détection de vitesse pouvant fonctionner pour détecter la vitesse de déplacement du support d'impression le long du trajet de support d'impression, et
un moyen de traitement comprenant un moyen formant mémoire et agencé, pendant l'impression, pour commander le moyen d'entraînement de ruban afin de faire varier la vitesse de ruban jusqu'à une vitesse maximale correspondant sensiblement à la vitesse maximale d'impression de la tête d'impression, et pour activer des éléments d'impression choisis en fonction de motifs de points prédéterminés mémorisés dans le moyen formant mémoire, pour provoquer le transfert d'encre du ruban vers le support d'impression pour former le motif prédéterminé, en tant que points d'encre, sur le support d'impression lorsqu'il passe devant la tête d'impression le long du trajet de support d'impression,
le moyen de traitement étant en outre agencé pour gérer la vitesse du support d'impression en utilisant le moyen de détection de vitesse, et, lorsque la vitesse du support d'impression est supérieure à la vitesse de ruban, pour activer les éléments d'impression de façon que des points d'encre choisis soient omis du motif prédéterminé.
2. Imprimante selon la revendication 1, dans laquelle le moyen de traitement est agencé
pour faire que des points soient omis en sautant périodiquement un ensemble de points
et en activant, à la place, les éléments en fonction de l'ensemble suivant de points
mémorisés dans le moyen formant mémoire.
3. Imprimante selon la revendication 2, dans laquelle le moyen de traitement est agencé
pour sauter X ensembles en moyenne, où X= 1-(MAX/ vitesse du support d'impression)
et où MAX est une vitesse de support d'impression correspondant sensiblement à la
vitesse maximale d'impression de la tête d'impression.
4. Imprimante selon la revendication 2, dans laquelle le moyen de traitement est agencé
pour réduire, pour les deux ensembles de points sautés, la quantité de ruban amenée
devant la tête d'impression d'une quantité sensiblement égale à la longueur de ruban
utilisée pour imprimer un ensemble de points.
5. Procédé d'économie de ruban dans une imprimante thermique pour imprimer sur un support
d'impression continu par transfert d'encre à partir d'un ruban d'impression thermique,
l'imprimante incluant une tête d'impression thermique comportant des éléments d'impression
pouvant être alimentés, le procédé comprenant le passage d'un support d'impression
devant la tête d'impression à une vitesse supérieure à la vitesse équivalant à la
vitesse maximale d'impression de la tête d'impression, le passage du ruban devant
la tête d'impression, dans la même direction que le support d'impression, à une vitesse
équivalant à la vitesse maximale d'impression de la tête d'impression, en alimentant
sélectivement les éléments d'impression pour transférer de l'encre pour constituer
un motif de points d'encre prédéterminé sur le support et en omettant périodiquement
des points du motif prédéterminé en sautant un ensemble de points du motif et en les
remplaçant par un ensemble suivant de points.
6. Procédé selon la revendication 5, incluant le saut de X ensembles en moyenne, où X=
1-(MAX/ vitesse du support d'impression) et où MAX est une vitesse de support d'impression
correspondant sensiblement à la vitesse maximale d'impression de la tête.