Patent Application
20050095016
The present invention relates generally to printing systems, and more specifically to printer consumables for printing Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) characters, and methods.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) is a system developed to allow the mechanical processing of checks by financial institutions. A “bank line” of magnetically readable characters is written near the bottom of each check, consistent with American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and American Banking Association (ABA) standards that define the content, placement, and readability of the line. The line includes account information and other data, such as dollar amount. Magnetic sensors in check processing equipment detect and decode the MICR line of characters as checks are scanned past the sensors. While optical character recognition (OCR) is increasingly replacing magnetic sensors, there remains a need to maintain compatibility with older processing systems.
One process commonly used for printing MICR characters is the use of a laser printer with a specialized MICR toner. MICR toner differs from standard laser printer toner by the inclusion of a 50% to 60% iron oxide additive content. Because the toner must meet special requirements beyond human readability, and also because of the lower demand, MICR toner cartridges are substantially more expensive than standard toner cartridges.
MICR characters are also printed in a special font which facilitates accurate character recognition by magnetic sensors. The required character font may typically be provided by a memory module installed in the printer, or through software. Typically, fonts are stored in a file format that allows the printer (or computer) to accurately reconstruct the characters and symbols; font files may, for example, be stored in raster, vector, and TrueType formats, which differ in the manner in which the “glyphs” for each character or symbol is stored.
In many office environments a standard laser printer is used to print both checks and other non-check documents. In these environments, it is not uncommon for office workers to inadvertently use the more expensive MICR toner to print ordinary office documents, or to use non-MICR toner to print checks. Importantly, checks printed using non-MICR toner do not look any different than checks printed with MICR toner, and a seemingly valid check could thus be printed using non-MICR toner. This can lead to difficulties in processing the check, which can both embarrass the party cashing the check and make the company issuing the check appear less professional.
Offices may typically adopt one or more approaches to avoid both wasting expensive MICR toner and check-printing errors. One approach is the use of pre-printed check forms, which include a partial MICR bank line with account information, thus entirely avoiding the need for the office to use MICR toner. This approach has several drawbacks. First, the pre-printed checks must be loaded into the printer before a check printing session and unloaded afterwards, and it is thus not uncommon for non-check documents to be inadvertently printed on the pre-printed forms. Second, it is possible to run out of the pre-printed forms, which stops additional checks from being issued until more check forms are obtained. Third, the preprinted information on the forms must properly line up with the information being printed on the check, and it is possible to misalign the printed output on the check media, leading to the payee, amount, etc. being printed in the wrong location on the check. Finally, the preprinted forms present security issues, in that the pre-printed forms can be stolen and checks can be forged.
A second approach is to have office workers carefully install the MICR toner cartridge before printing checks and remove it when done. Needless to say, being careful doesn't always work. Checks can be inadvertently printed with non-MICR toner, and non-check documents can be inadvertently printed using MICR toner.
There is therefore a need for apparatus and methods that prevent the inadvertent printing of checks with non-MICR toner, and the printing of non-check documents with MICR toner.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention comprises a toner cartridge for the printing of MICR characters that includes a memory device that is programmed with the requisite font for MICR characters. The font is accessible for the printing of MICR characters when the MICR toner cartridge is installed in a printer.
In a further embodiment, the memory device on the toner cartridge may also contain a data flag indicating the cartridge contains MICR toner. Printer firmware, or computer software, may then determine if this flag is set, and, if set, inhibit the printing of print jobs that do not require MICR toner, such as, for example, those jobs that do not include at least one character to be printed in the MICR font. The flag may thus be utilized to prevent MICR toner from being wasted on documents that do not require MICR toner.
Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention.
These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
Among the specified physical properties of the bank line are that the ink or toner used to print the line must have certain magnetic properties, which is typically achieved by the inclusion of a substantial iron oxide content to the ink or toner. The special physical properties of MICR toner, together with the lower demand, account for the significantly greater cost of MICR toner.
Printing system software resident on the host computer 210 includes a collection of applications that are installed on the host computer 210 to allow the host computer 210 to communicate with the laser printer 220 in a language compatible with the laser printer 220, and specialized check printing software. This software also allows the host computer 210 to query the laser printer 220 for status. The system software is usually specific to a computer operating system such as Windows 95198/2000/NT, Unix, Linux, OS/2, etc. The system software may be composed of several applications, such as a printer driver, a status utility, and administrative utility, etc. The printing system software on the host computer 210 includes, but is not limited to, all printer-related software (multiple applications), a single application, portions of an application (.exe or .dll files), etc.
Prior to printing checks with the prior art system illustrated in
As shown in
Also in exemplary printer 320 is a printer controller 380 that receives print data and commands from a host device (such as a computer, as shown in
The toner cartridge 320 may typically include a photoconductive drum 342, developer 334, and wiper 350. In operation, a uniform electrostatic charge is placed on photoconductive drum 342 by a charging device (not shown). Light 360 from a laser source (not shown) in the printer is scanned across photoconductive drum 342 in a pattern corresponding to the desired print image. The printed image can include any combination of text and graphics. Where exposed to the light, photoconductive drum 342 is discharged, creating an electrostatic version of the desired print image. Developer 334 transfers charged toner particles from toner reservoir 334 to the photoconductive drum 342. The charged toner particles are repelled by the charged portions of photoconductive drum 342 but adhere to the discharged portions. Media feed mechanisms (not shown) move a sheet of print media 390, such as paper for check printing, past the photoconductive drum 342. As media sheet 390 passes across photoconductive drum 342, toner particles are then transferred from photoconductive drum 342 to the media sheet 390. The toner is permanently affixed to the media sheet by fuser rollers (not illustrated), which thermally fix the transferred toner particles to the media sheet 390. Wiper 350 removes any residual toner particles remaining on photoconductive drum 342.
In an embodiment of the invention, memory device 370 is programmed with information defining the MICR font required for check printing. Thus, when cartridge 322 is absent from the printer 320, the MICR font is not present and check printing is therefore precluded. In practice, precluding check printing may also mean that a message is generated on the display of the office worker's computer, such as computer 210 in
The integral MICR font in the MICR toner cartridge memory device 370 also serves as an addition deterrent to the unauthorized printing of checks, in that the font for check printing is absent when the MICR toner is removed from the printer. Thus, a valid-appearing check (albeit not magnetically readable) could not be printed when the MICR toner cartridge was absent. The integral MICR font also simplifies the check printing system for the user, as there is no additional font cartridge that must be installed in the printer, or font software that must be aquired.
As shown in
Alternatively to the printer firmware testing the flag and inhibiting printing, software in the computer controlling the print job may monitor the status of the flag and inhibit printing, as described above, when the software detects that a non-MICR document is to be printed with MICR toner.
Alternatively to detecting if at least one character in the MICR font is present in the print job, the printer firmware or computer software may utilize any other mechanism that indicates that MICR characters are to be printed, such as by determining that specific check printing software is running on the host computer.
The printer 520 is typically controlled by a host computer 510, which includes a user interface 512 for displaying information to the user and receiving commands from the user, and software/firmware 514, such as check printing software and a printer driver.
While described with respect to toner cartridges for laser printers, the invention may also be practiced with other types of printers utilizing other forms of MICR marking materials, such as liquid ink.
While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to the foregoing exemplary and alternative embodiments, those skilled in the art will understand that many variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims. This description of the invention should be understood to include all novel and non-obvious combinations of elements described herein, and claims may be presented in this or a later application to any novel and non-obvious combination of these elements. The foregoing embodiments are illustrative, and no single feature or element is essential to all possible combinations that may be claimed in this or a later application. Where the claims recite “a” or “a first” element of the equivalent thereof, such claims should be understood to include incorporation of one or more such elements, neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.
