(19)
(11) EP 1 764 228 A8

(12) CORRECTED EUROPEAN PATENT APPLICATION
Note: Bibliography reflects the latest situation

(15) Correction information:
Corrected version no 1 (W1 A2)

(48) Corrigendum issued on:
02.06.2010 Bulletin 2010/22

(88) Date of publication A3:
11.07.2007 Bulletin 2007/28

(43) Date of publication:
21.03.2007 Bulletin 2007/12

(21) Application number: 06125566.7

(22) Date of filing: 11.01.2005
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC): 
B41J 13/12(2006.01)
B41J 11/00(2006.01)
B41J 3/60(2006.01)
 B65H 3/06(2006.01)
B41J 3/50(2006.01)
(84) Designated Contracting States:
AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IS IT LI LT LU MC NL PL PT RO SE SI SK TR

(30) Priority: 14.01.2004 US 536621
21.05.2004 US 852769

(62) Application number of the earlier application in accordance with Art. 76 EPC:
05705447.0 / 1711344

(71) Applicant: ZIH Corporation
Hamilton HM08 (BM)

(72) Inventors:
  • Bryant, Caleb J.
    Moorpark, CA 91405 (US)
  • Bryer, Phil S.
    Tarzana, CA 91356 (US)
  • Perry, Daniel E.
    Camarillo, CA 93012 (US)
  • Peter, Alexander
    Van Nuys, CA 91405 (US)
  • Chavarria, Lionel C.
    Moorpark, CA 93021 (US)

(74) Representative: Wihlsson, Joakim Per Magnus 
Bjerkéns Patentbyra KB Östermalmsgatan 58
114 50 Stockholm
114 50 Stockholm (SE)

 
Remarks:
This application was filed on 07 - 12 - 2006 as a divisional application to the application mentioned under INID code 62.
 


(54) Card printer and method of printing on cards


(57) A compact system (40) adapted for card imaging, card laminating, or other card processing (48), comprises a card processor positioned on a horizontal card feed path and configured to process one or both faces of a rectangular card (10) such as a plastic credit or debit card. A card feeder (44) is arranged to feed cards one at a time onto the horizontal feed path (54) upstream of the card processor, the feeder comprising a compartment (62) for holding a stack (64) of vertical cards each supported on a long edge and a card feed mechanism (68) configured to successively draw a card from an end of the stack and translate it off the stack. A card re-director (46) is configured to receive the card and to redirect it to an attitude in which it is parallel with the horizontal card feed path and positioned to be fed to the card processor along the horizontal feed path. The compartment is located above the horizontal card feed path, and the card feeder feeds cards substantially vertically downward into the card re-director. The card processor may comprise a card printer and a magnetic strip encoder. Also disclosed are methods of printing, encoding and feeding cards.