With computer applications, such as word processing, spreadsheet and computer-aided design programs, computers in homes and offices can be used to produce an infinite variety of documents. Frequently, it is desired to have those document rendered in hardcopy form for storage or transmission. Consequently, printers have been developed that allow users to print, in gray scale or full color, the documents produced or stored on a computer.
There are a wide variety of printers and printing devices. For purposes of this specification, the terms “printer” and “printing device” will be defined to include any device that produces a hardcopy document on a print medium from electronic data, including, but not limited to, laser printers, inkjet printers, facsimile machines, photocopiers, digital copiers, etc.
In addition to the wide variety of printing devices, there is also a wide variety of print mediums. A printing device may print on, for example, paper, cardstock, construction paper, envelopes, adhesive labels, transparencies, canvas, vinyl, glossy coated paper, fine art watercolor paper, and other print mediums. As used herein, the term “print medium” will be defined as any medium that can be used by a printing device when producing a hardcopy.
Each print medium may have different characteristics that allow it to work well, or cause it to work poorly, with a particular printing device. For example, some print mediums may be too thick for the feeding mechanism of a particular printing device. Some print mediums may be damaged by the heat or other conditions used by the printing device to render an image on the print medium. Sometimes local ambient conditions, such as humidity, can affect certain types of print mediums and how those print mediums respond to the particular printing device.
Unfortunately, printers and printing devices do not have any means of determining what print medium is supplied and what, if any, parameter adjustments could or should be made to best accommodate that print medium.
In some printers, different sizes of print media can be placed in different supply trays. The printer may then be programmed by a user as to which size of print medium will be found in which tray. The printer can then select a print medium size specified as part of a print job by drawing a sheet of print medium from the designated tray. However, if the wrong size or type of print medium has been placed in that tray, the conventional printing device will have no way of knowing that the print medium is not that specified.
In one of many possible embodiments, the present invention provides a print medium that preferably includes an identification device on or in the print medium. The identification device provides encoded printing parameters for optimizing or controlling printing by a printer on the print medium.
Another embodiment of the present invention provides a printer for producing a hardcopy, including a processor for controlling actual printing parameters and a reader, in communication with the processor, for reading an identification device on a print medium that specifies printing parameters for the print medium. The processor controls the actual printing parameters in accordance with printing parameters read from the identification device.
The accompanying drawings illustrate various embodiments of the present invention and are a part of the specification. The illustrated embodiments are merely examples of the present invention and do not limit the scope of the invention.
a-1c illustrate a variety of print mediums according to embodiments of the present invention.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.
An identification device is attached to, or embedded in, a print medium. A printer is then provided with a reader capable of detecting and reading the identification device. Consequently, the identification device can identify the print medium and may provide print parameters that can be utilized by the printer to best accommodate that particular print medium.
a illustrates a sheet of print medium (100) that includes an identification device (101). The identification device (101) bears data, preferably, encoded data, that identifies the print medium and/or provides one or more print parameters that a printer should use to best accommodate that print medium. Preferably, the identification device (101) is placed in or on the print medium at a location which is not usually used for printing, e.g., outside an expected print area. This can include not only areas on the printable side of the medium, but may include the sides, the back or the interior of the print medium, or multiply distributed areas on the print medium.
The identification device (101) can be a variety of devices. Any device that can be attached to, or embedded in, the print medium (100), which will not interfere with the use of the print medium by the printer and which can be used to advise the printer of information about the print medium (100) can be used as an identification device (101). For example, the identification device (101) can be an integrated circuit, a two-dimensional bar code, stochastically distributed micro dots, texture patterns, magnetic charge, ripple patterns, side cuts, removable stickers, etc.
In most instances, the identification device (101) will advise a printer or printing device of information regarding the print medium so that the printer or printing device can make adjustments that will better accommodate use of the print medium. For example, the identification device (101) can advise the printer or printing device of the thickness of each sheet or piece of the print medium. If that thickness is beyond what the feeding system of the printer can handle, the printer will not attempt to feed the print medium and thereby avoid a printer jam that may damage the printer and the print medium, while requiring the user's time to clear the jam. Variations of a single print medium type can also be indicated which could not be otherwise detected, such as different paper colors or multiple letterhead types. The printer may use this information to properly select the input device with the desired paper, or pause to request that the proper type be inserted if it is not found.
Additionally, the identification device (101) may provide the printer with statistics that define how well the print medium accepts ink. For example, the identification device (101) may quantify for the printer how porous the print medium is, how widely ink spreads when deposited on the print medium, how quickly ink dries on the print medium under specific conditions, etc. Consequently, the printer may adjust printing parameters, such as the amounts of ink deposited, drying time, operating temperature, etc., in order to provide the best print result on that print medium. These considerations may be particularly applicable to an inkjet printer.
Additionally, the identification device (101) may provide the printer with an indication of electrical and magnetic properties of the print medium. Such characteristics can be used, for example, by a laser printer to improve the print quality on the print medium. For example, based on a knowledge of the electrical and magnetic properties of the print medium, the laser printer may adjust the amount of charge placed on the print medium to facilitate the transfer of a toner image.
Moreover, laser printers and similar printing devices use heat to fuse toner to the print medium. If the print medium has a melting temperature that might be reached during the printing process, this information can be conveyed by the identification device (101) to the printer so that the heating elements can be regulated accordingly and avoid the potentially disastrous result of melting a print medium on the components of the printing device. The duration for which heat is applied may also be regulated according to data from the identification device (101) to improve the printed result and avoid damage to the printer or print medium.
In some embodiments, the identification device (101) may secure use of the print medium by informing the printer to require a specific identification from a user before printing on that print medium (100). For example,
Because of the legal ramifications of documents printed on an organization's letterhead, it may be desirable to restrict the use of letterhead to those specifically authorized. Consequently, the identification device (101) can, among other functions, be encoded to indicate to a printing device that the print medium (100b) is a secured print medium, e.g., a sheet of letterhead.
The printing device is then programmed to request that the user input some form of identification before the printing device will print on the letterhead. For example, the user may be required to input a Personal Identification Number (PIN), a password, a fingerprint or other identifier. The printer will compare the input identifier with those of people authorized to use letterhead and will only print the desired document on the letterhead (100b) if the input identifier matches an authorized user.
A similar embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in
The printer will then require the user to enter an identifier when the printer detects the presence of a secured print medium, e.g., the check sheet (100c). If the identification received from the user does not match an authorized user, the printer will not print on the check sheet (100c). The printer may also sound an alarm or electronically alert a system manager or other responsible party that an unauthorized attempt to use a secured print medium has occurred.
Additional security can be provided by distributing the identification device (101) over larger portions of the medium or including multiple identification devices (101). The appropriate level of security for a given print medium will be determined by its users and manufacturers.
As noted above, one device that can be used as the identification device is an integrated circuit (IC). Recent advances in integrated circuits have produced IC's that are small and robust enough to embed in a print medium, such as paper. For example, some IC's now measure 3 to 60 microns in thickness and 0.4 mm square. Further improvements in IC's making them even more suitable for use in embodiments of the present invention may also be expected in coming years.
Some of these IC's communicate using radio frequency transmissions and are sometimes known as radio-frequency identification tags (abbreviated “RFID”).
As shown in
A passive radio frequency (RF) transmitter (102) is also preferably included in the integrated circuit (105). The passive transmitter (102) does not require a power source and does not actively transmit data. However, when excited by energy from a scanner or reader, the passive transmitter (102) will respond by transmitting the data stored in the memory (103). In this way, a printer with an appropriate reader can read the information from the memory (103) about the print medium to which the integrated circuit (105) is attached by driving the passive transmitter (102). It should be noted that RFID tags that actually use radio-frequency communications are well suited for these applications. However, other types of IC's with other means of communication can also be profitably used.
Consequently, the present invention includes an embodiment in which a stack or supply (130) of a print medium (100a) is provided. However, rather than having an identification device (101) embedded in, or attached to, each sheet or piece of print medium (100a), an identification device (101) is embedded in, or attached to, only an end piece or sheet, e.g., a top or bottom piece or sheet.
The printer or printing device will read the single identification device (101) associated with the stack (130) and will then treat each sheet or piece of print medium in the supply or stack (130) as being the same as the lead sheet identified with the identification device (101).
The tray (140) also includes a reader (141) for reading the identification device (101;
When the tray (140) is engaged in the bay (142), the reader (141) will be communicatively coupled (144) with a processor or controller (143) of the printer (145). The processor (143) will receive the information obtained by the reader (141) from the identification device with the print medium. The processor (143) will then control the print parameters of the printer (145) in accordance with that information, or will require a user to input an authorized identifier before printing on a print medium identified as a secured print medium.
Additionally, in some embodiments, the reader (141) may also be capable of writing information to the identification device (101;
For example, a user may wish to record such information as the date/time of printing, document name, author name, printer name/location, etc. in the identification device (101;
A manufacturer may also wish to write to the identification device an indication of the quality of the print medium, for example, that the print medium is a genuine product of a well-known manufacturer. The printer could then read this information from the identification device and display or otherwise notify a user about the quality of the print medium.
If fact, some printers do not use trays, but rather simply have a bay (e.g., 142a) in which the supply of print medium is placed for use by the printer (145a). In such a printer, the reader or reader/writer (141) for the identification device (101;
If an identification device is detected, the printer will determine if the print medium is a secured print medium (determination 162). If the print medium is secured, the printer will prompt the user to input an identifier, such as a personal identification number (PIN) (step 164). If the input identifier matches that of an authorized user (determination 165), the printer will proceed with the print job. If the input identifier does not match that of an authorized user, the printer will cancel the pending print job (step 166).
Once an authorized identifier has been input, or if the print medium is not secured and does not require input of an authorized identifier, the printer will determine if the identification device (101;
If, however, the identification device (101;
As shown in
However, if the print job does specify that a particular print medium be used, the printer can read the identification device associated with the available print medium or media to determine if the specified medium is available (determination 173). If the specified print medium is available, it is used and the print job is printed (step 174). If the specified print medium is not available, the user may be prompted to supply the specified print medium (step 175). If the user does so (determination 176), the print medium is preferably checked again (determination 173) and, if it is the specified print medium, the print job is printed (step 174). If the user does not supply the specified print medium (determination 176), the print job is cancelled (step 177).
In some embodiments, identifying the correct print medium may be done by matching an encryption pair. One part of the encryption pair is encoded in the identification device on the print medium, and the other part is supplied by the printer or user.
The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate and describe embodiments of invention. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to any precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be defined by the following claims.
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