Patent Grant
7511728
The present invention relates to thermal printers and supplies and more particularly multicolored thermal printing systems and supplies for simultaneously using a plurality of thermal printing technologies to achieve multicolored output.
There are two main competing thermal printing technologies used with media such as labels. Thermal ribbon transfer uses heat to transfer a wax based ink to a media producing relatively durable output. Direct thermal printers utilize a chemically coated paper that is marked by a chemical reaction in response to print head heat and that was widely used in previous generation facsimile machines and that has a relatively short output shelf life. Designers of thermal printing applications such as point of sale (POS) receipt applications and barcode printing applications typically consider the various advantages and disadvantages of each technology and select the appropriate technology for an application.
In the first technology, thermal ribbon transfer printers typically utilize a fixed width thermal print head. A rubber drive roller called a platen feeds a thermal transfer media stock passed the print head and a thin thermal transfer ribbon or foil is sandwiched between the print head and the media. The ribbon is typically a polyester film coated on the label side with a wax, wax-resin or pure resin ink. The ribbon is fed past the print head using a spooling mechanism having a source and uptake spool. Since the wax is designed to transfer at a single temperature, there has previously been no application for a multiple heat level thermal print head for use with thermal ribbon transfer printers. Multicolor thermal ribbon transfer printers are sometimes used for color label applications and have complicated media paths such as the CB-416-T3 Color Barcode Printer available from Toshiba TEC America of Atlanta, Ga. Similarly, a color thermal transfer printing process known as OPAL has been described by the Polaroid Corporation of Waltham, Mass.
In the second technology, direct thermal printers typically utilize a fixed width thermal print head. A rubber drive roller called a platen feeds a heat responsive direct thermal media stock passed the print head and the resistive heat elements are driven by the printer controller and element drivers to create the printed image. The media is typically a paper roll that is impregnated with a solid-state mixture of a dye and a suitable matrix. In a common POS receipt application, a monochromatic black media is utilized.
Certain dual color direct thermal printing systems have been developed that utilize relatively expensive dual color thermal media stock. For example, the TM-T88IV two-color direct thermal receipt printer is available from Epson America, Inc. of Long Beach, Calif. In such a system, the direct thermal media includes two different leuco dye reactions that occur at different temperatures. Accordingly, the printer will activate one temperature to print a fist color such as black and another temperature to print the second color such as blue. The colors available to such systems are limited by the availability of leuco dye chemistries for use in such media. Furthermore, the dual color direct thermal media may cost three times as much as a comparable roll of monochrome media. Conversely, thermal ribbon is available is virtually any color. There are also grayscale direct thermal systems available that are typically used in medical applications such as the Mitsubishi P-93W grayscale thermal printer Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Inc. of Irvine, Calif. Such systems utilize grayscale thermal media such as the Kanzaki KPT-1270 available from Kanzaki Specialty Papers of Springfield, Mass. that includes a leuco dye that is responsive to a range of heats to produce a range of gray scale intensities.
There are certain thermal printers that have been designed to alternatively operate in a direct thermal printing mode or a thermal ribbon transfer mode. For example, the CITIZEN CLP4081 thermal printer available from Citizen Systems Europe UK of Berkshire, United Kingdom can be configured to work in either a thermal transfer mode or a direct thermal transfer mode. It is of course possible that someone might have used direct thermal media stock in a thermal ribbon transfer printer instead of the typical thermal transfer stock. For example, the B700 thermal ribbon transfer postage meter available from Pitney Bowes Inc. of Stamford, Conn. utilizes a red thermal ribbon that transfers at about approximately in the range of 75 degrees Celsius. Such a printer might also mark a direct thermal media if it activates at the same temperature. However, the thermal transfer printer is a single heat monochromatic wax transfer technology. Even if the direct thermal media placed in that printer were to be activated at the temperature used by the thermal transfer printer, there would be no variance of the heat used to vary the color contribution of the direct thermal media.
Accordingly, there is a need for a multicolored thermal printer using relatively inexpensive thermal media. Additionally, there is a need to provide multicolored thermal printer using a single one-color thermal transfer ribbon.
The illustrative embodiments of the present application describe multicolored thermal printing systems and supplies for simultaneously using a plurality of thermal printing technologies to achieve multicolored output. In one illustrative configuration, a dual thermal technology thermal printer includes a single thermal media ribbon printing subsystem using a multi-temperature thermal print head capable of producing grayscale or varying intensity marking on a multi-intensity direct contact thermal media such as a grayscale media.
In another illustrative configuration, a dual thermal technology thermal printer includes a first print head in the media path capable of multi-level heating to produce varying intensity markings on a direct thermal media such as a grayscale media. The printer also includes a single ribbon thermal media transfer printing subsystem downstream of the first print head including a single temperature print head for depositing the wax based ink on the media (alternatively, the single temperature may be changed by configuration). Several additional illustrative configurations are described below.
The accompanying drawings illustrate presently preferred embodiments of the invention, and together with the general description given above and the detailed description given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention. As shown throughout the drawings, like reference numerals designate like or corresponding parts.
The illustrative embodiments of the present application describe multicolored thermal printing systems and supplies for simultaneously using a plurality of thermal printing technologies to achieve multicolored output. The illustrative embodiments described solve the problem of lack of color options for thermal printing by combining two thermal technologies. The systems combine thermal transfer technology, which melts a colored ribbon material onto a substrate using a thermal print head, with direct thermal printing technology, which applies heat from a thermal print head directly to a special substrate which gets marked when heat is applied. Since traditional thermal transfer printers use a single color thermal ribbon, the resulting image can only be a single color. The second technology, which is used in many popular label printers, is to use a thermal print head, without a ribbon, but rather with a special substrate which is sensitive to heat.
The illustrative systems combining the use of a thermal ribbon with a substrate sensitive to heat, so that both the color of the ribbon and the color of the substrate can be combined, resulting in more than one color. One of the advantages of the system is that with a single color ribbon and grayscale thermal media, more than a single color can be created. The illustrative embodiments utilize a grayscale to black multiple intensity direct thermal media with a single color thermal transfer ribbon (fluorescent red ribbon used in postage applications is described, but any color other than the media color, here black, should be acceptable). As can be appreciated, different combinations of colors may be utilized.
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Alternatively, a single heat thermal print head with a configurable temperature level could be used. Similarly, sheet fed or other known media transports may be utilized. Additionally, many appropriate controllers, memory and thermal element drivers are available or may be configured for the design to operate as described herein. The media may include a roll of media and alternatively can include a roll of adhesive backed thermal label stock.
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In this illustrative embodiment, there will be different temperatures at which certain events occur. For example at a first lowest relevant temperature TEMP0, the thermal ribbon wax ink will not transfer to the media and the direct thermal portion of the media will not be marked. The next relevant temperature is TEMP1. At temperature TEMP1, the thermal ribbon material will melt onto the substrate. Below temperature TEMP1, the ribbon material will not transfer to the substrate. Assuming a red ribbon, the resulting color would be Red at TEMP1. The next relevant temperature point described is referred to as TEMP2. This temperature, which is larger than TEMP1, will not only transfer the ribbon material to the substrate, but will also darken the substrate at a 50% gray level. The resulting color will be a combination of the ribbon material, and the 50% darkness of the thermal media. Assuming a red ribbon and media that turns grey when exposed to heat of temperature TEMP2, the resulting color would be a Medium Red. The final relevant temperature point described is referred to as TEMP3. This temperature, which is larger than both TEMP1 and TEMP2, will not only transfer the ribbon material to the substrate, but will also darken the substrate at a 100% level or black. The resulting color will be a combination of the ribbon material, and the 100% darkness of the thermal media. Assuming a red ribbon and media that turns black when exposed to the heat of temperature TEMP3, the resulting color would be a Dark Red.
The printed media 200 reflects the levels described above. The thermal media has a base of the substrate 230, a direct thermal marking layer 220 that is white and is marked in grayscale. The top layer represents deposited wax ink 210 from a thermal ribbon that is red in this case. In this example, the deposited wax ink is red, but the colors depicted reflect the colors as seen from the top of the media after the direct thermal layer is marked and after the wax ink layer is deposited. Accordingly, the section 210A represents no deposited ink over an unmarked direct media section 220A for a resulting color of the unmarked substrate or in this case white. Section 210B represents deposited ink over unmarked direct media section 220B creating a light red color in this case. Similarly, section 210C represents deposited ink over a 50% gray marked direct media section 220C creating a medium red color in this case. Finally, section 210D represents deposited ink over a 100% marked black direct media section 220D creating a dark red color in this case.
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The A MacBeth filter applied was a Green/Blue filter, the C filter applied was Visible and the E filter applied was Red Laser.
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While several embodiments of the invention have been described and illustrated above, it should be understood that these are exemplary of the invention and are not to be considered as limiting. Additions, deletions, substitutions, and other modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. For example, other known colors, media, print heads and media transports may be substituted for those described above. Accordingly, the invention is not to be considered as limited by the foregoing description but is only limited by the scope of the appended claims.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20080079798 A1 | Apr 2008 | US |
