Monarch Marking Systems, Inc.

Amy S Christopher

Donald A Morrison

Mark W Roth

Rex D Watkins

Richard D Wirrig

James E Globig

Dale E Lamprecht, Jr

James A Makley

Ronald L Fogle

James E Helmbold

John S Cetnar

Ruth A Luff

Monte R Lucas

A hand held labeler is programmable to operate in accordance with a sequence of commands forming an application program that is downloaded to the labeler and stored in a random access memory. Each command is associated with a command routine selected from a set of command routines that is stored in a read only memory. The commands of the application program and associated command routines are executed by a microprocessor of the labeler to perform flexible data collection, data manipulation and label printing operations.

Programmable hand held labeler

The hand-held apparatus of the present invention includes an integral printer and measuring device so that measurement information obtained from the measuring device may be automatically printed, used to determine additional information to be printed such as price information, or merely displayed. A measuring wheel having detectable marks disposed about the periphery thereof is rotatably mounted on the housing of the apparatus in proximity to a sensor that detects the marks. This sensor is positioned on the housing to not only detect the marks on the measuring wheel but to also detect the presence or absence of a label dispensed from the housing so as to provide an on-demand printing mode of operation. A controller is responsive to the sensor in the on-demand mode of operation for controlling a printhead to print on a supply when the previously printed supply has been removed from the apparatus. The controller is also responsive to the sensor in a second mode of operation for counting the marks that pass the sensor as the measuring wheel is rotated when the apparatus is rolled across a dimension of an object to be measured, such as the length, width or height of the object.

Hand-held labeling apparatus with measuring device and printer

A printer having a number of optional features or operations is reconfigurable by software alone. The printer includes an EPROM that stores the software routines defining all of the optional operations of the printer. An EEPROM stores a jump table identifying each optional operation software routine as enabled or disabled. The information stored in the jump table for each enabled routine identifies the location at which the routine is stored in the EPROM; whereas, the information stored for each disabled routine includes a disable flag. The printer includes an interface which allows a new jump table to be downloaded from a personal computer into the EEPROM of the printer to enable disabled routines, to disable enabled routines, and to replace disabled routines by downloading a new routine into a RAM to thereby reconfigure the printer. A master jump table and sub-jump tables are provided to increase the efficiency of the reconfiguring operation. Further, several checks are implemented by the printer and the personal computer during the reconfiguration operation to insure that only the correct printer is reconfigured and that information is stored at the proper location in the printer.

Reconfigurable printer

A hand-held labeler with an integrally formed optical scanner prints labels with a coded record selected from a plurality of optically scanned and stored coded records. In a data acquisition mode, the optical scanner scans a plurality of coded records, such as bar codes, to generate data representing the coded records for storage in a memory. Selective printing of scanned code and/or information associated therewith is accomplished utilizing a display that is controlled by a keyboard to display information that identifies the data stored in the memory. When information identifying a desired coded record is shown on the display, a print switch may be actuated to cause the code associated with the displayed information to be printed on one or more labels. Further, the scanner may also be used to scan different types of bar codes where each bar code includes a coded information portion and at least one guard code identifying the type of code. A digital representation of the whole bar code may be stored in a list in the labeler's memory. Alternatively, the labeler may separate the guard codes from the information portion of the code such that only the information portion of the code is stored in the list in memory to save space. Upon subsequent selection of a particular bar code, the code may be reassembled with the same guard codes as scanned or with different guard codes to convert the code from one type to a different type.

Hand-held label applicator with scanned data acquistion and selective

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Miamisburg, OH, United States of America

Amy S Christopher