Patent Application
20250178369
From time to time, printers exhaust the available supply of media such that a user must replace the media supply spool. Other consumables such as ribbon or ribbon cartridges and the like must also be periodically replaced. Replacing consumable components of a printer can often be complex and arduous, with the time to replace such components resulting in costly downtime of the media processing device. Spooled media has a tendency to unwind when not locked in the printer, which can cause tension or slack issues within the printer. Therefore, there is a need for improved devices and system which addresses this problem by providing more robust configurations that utilize less parts than some prior designs. Through applied effort, ingenuity, and innovation.
The following invention comprises a printer having a base assembly. The printer further has a lid assembly attached to the base assembly, the lid assembly movable between a closed position in which the lid assembly is secured to the base assembly, and an open position in which the lid assembly is at least partially separated from the base assembly, wherein the lid assembly further comprises a window assembly. The printer further has an arcuate slot disposed on an inside surface of the window assembly, and a ribbon frame disposed within the printer. The printer further has a ribbon frame post secured to the ribbon frame and disposed within the arcuate slot, wherein when the lid assembly is moved to the open position, the arcuate slot lifts the ribbon frame post and causes the ribbon frame to move to a presenting position.
Reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
Various embodiments of the present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, the invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Printers and media processing devices may be configured to print and/or encode media drawn from a roll or spool. Such media may include a web supporting a plurality of individually cut media components, such as adhesive-backed and carrier-supported labels, or the media may be a continuous web such as a spool of liner-less label media. Printers process (e.g., print, encode, etc.) the media by drawing the media from the spool and routing the media proximate various processing components (e.g., printhead, RFID reader/encoder, magnetic stripe reader/encoder etc.). Processing the media from a spool may facilitate a continuous or batch printing process.
Replacement of consumable components can be even more difficult for media processing devices of relatively small form factors, such as desktop or mobile printers, as the components are generally tightly packaged into a relatively small housing. As such, it may be desirable for a media processing device to provide easy access to the consumable components therein to facilitate relatively quick and easy replacement of consumable components, particularly for a printer including a small form factor. With printers having a small form factor, requiring a media supply spool and a ribbon cartridge simultaneously, a ribbon frame may be used in the printer.
The ribbon frame fits within the printer when the printer is closed and raises to a presenting position when the printer is opened fully, which allows a ribbon cartridge to be removed or installed. Past ribbon frames have moved in relation with the printer's lid due to a complicated system of linkages and parts. It is important to note, that the ribbon frame cannot be directly, rigidly secured to the lid and raised and lowered with the lid. If this was to happen then the ribbon frame would not be accessible in the open position for the loading of a ribbon cartridge. Therefore, it is important that the ribbon frame is presented to the user when in the open position.
Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a printer comprising a base assembly, a lid assembly attached to the base assembly movable between a closed position in which the lid assembly is secured to the base assembly, and an open position in which the lid assembly is at least partially separated from the base, an arcuate slot disposed on an inside surface of the lid, a ribbon frame disposed within the printer, and a ribbon frame post secured to the ribbon frame and disposed within the arcuate slot, wherein when the lid assembly is moved to the open position, the arcuate slot lifts the ribbon frame post and causes the ribbon frame to move to a presenting position.
The printer 100 of
The base assembly 104 may further include a lower frame 212 located within the base assembly 104. The lower frame 212 provides rigidity within the base assembly 104 and purchase locations for other elements of the printer to connect to the base assembly 104. For example, the hinge 106 may be connected to the base assembly 104 via the lower frame 212. The lower frame 212 may also be attached to media holders, a platen, or other elements common to a printer 100.
In the illustrated embodiment, the lid assembly 102 is pivotably attached to the lower frame 212 at hinge 106. When the lid assembly 102 is in the closed position, the lid assembly 102 latches to the base assembly 104 and the lid assembly 102 requires actuation to unlatch and open.
In the illustrated embodiment of
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In the illustrated embodiment in
As can be seen in
The ribbon assembly post 206 is configured to fit within an arcuate slot 204. As illustrated in
According to some embodiments, a cavity 208 may be defined between the lid assembly 102 and the base assembly 104. The cavity may be inaccessible when the lid assembly 102 is closed relative to the base assembly 104 as shown in
In the illustrated embodiment, when the lid assembly 102 is in the open position, the lid assembly 102 is supporting the ribbon frame 202 via the arcuate slot in the window assembly. When in the open position, the ribbon frame post 206 is adjacent to the entry point 306 and prevented from leaving the arcuate slot 204. At the same time, the ribbon frame 202 also cannot lower because the ribbon frame post 206 is being retained within the arcuate slot 204.
In the illustrated embodiment, the entry point 306 comprises a chamfer 308 on a side of the entry point 306 outside the arcuate slot 204. The chamfer 308 allows a user to easily load the ribbon frame post 206 into the arcuate slot 204. When the ribbon frame post 206 is forced against the chamfer 308 side of the entry point 306, the slanted surface of the chamfer 308 requires less force for the ribbon frame post 206 to slide past. The window assembly may be configured to deform slightly outwards in response to the ribbon frame post 206 sliding past the entry point 306. Once the ribbon frame post 206 is within the boundaries of the arcuate slot 204, the window assembly reforms to the standard shape of the lid 102.
As illustrated in
In illustrated
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As can be seen in the progression from
With regards to the curvature of the arcuate slot 204, if the radius of the arcuate slot 204 is smaller, the ribbon frame 202 will close faster than the lid 102. Conversely, if the radius of the arcuate slot 204 is greater, then the ribbon frame 202 will close slower than the lid assembly 102. This is because the ribbon frame post 206 follows the path of the arcuate curve 204 and the movement of the ribbon frame post 206 is related to the position and shape of the arcuate slot 204.
In the illustrated embodiment, once the ribbon frame 102 reaches an 80 degree opening, a friction fit within the pivot point 214 will cause the ribbon frame 202 to stay in the presenting position. The ribbon frame 202 may then stay in the open position until the lid assembly 102 is closed and the process reverses. When the lid assembly 102 moves to the closed position, the embodiments move from
In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings.
The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is defined solely by the appended claims including any amendments made during the pendency of this application and all equivalents of those claims as issued.
Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or action without necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between such entities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”, “having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by “comprises . . . aa”, “has . . . aa”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . . a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”, “approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined as being close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and in one non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, in another embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and in another embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly and not necessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” in a certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also be configured in ways that are not listed.
Certain expressions may be employed herein to list combinations of elements. Examples of such expressions include: “at least one of A, B, and C”; “one or more of A, B, and C”; “at least one of A, B, or C”; “one or more of A, B, or C”. Unless expressly indicated otherwise, the above expressions encompass any combination of A and/or B and/or C.
It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one or more specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such as microprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored program instructions (including both software and firmware) that control the one or more processors to implement, in conjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of the method and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or all functions could be implemented by a state machine that has no stored program instructions, or in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certain of the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, a combination of the two approaches could be used.
Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable code stored thereon for programming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform a method as described and claimed herein. Examples of such computer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, a hard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flash memory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill, notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choices motivated by, for example, available time, current technology, and economic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principles disclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such software instructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.
The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2022/079591 | 3/7/2022 | WO |
