Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Hewlett-packard Company

Kenneth J Knight

Dale R Davis

Craig S Huston

Said Zamani-Kord

Bruce E Mortland

Todd R Medin

Peter C Morris

William D Meyer

A print medium is encoded with information bearing indicia. A transparent layer or substrate which receives the printed information during printing has a first surface, a second surface and a leading edge. A strip of tape is applied to the first surface. A machine readable information bearing indicia is applied to at least one surface of the tape strip. The indicia is formed by a pattern of fluorescent material which upon excitation by radiation of a given spectral excitation range emits radiation in a fluorescent spectral range. The tape reflects radiation in the given excitation spectral range and in the fluorescent spectral range. One type of indicia is a bar code pattern, although other types can also be employed.

Tape indicia on clear film media

A substrate structure encoded with information bearing indicia includes a substrate having a first surface and a second surface. Formed on the first surface is a first information bearing indicia defined by a fluorescent material. A second information bearing indicia is defined by a fluorescent material positioned adjacent to the second surface, the second indicia and the first indicia in an overlapping relationship. The substrate structure includes apparatus for preventing interference between the first indicia and the second indicia during a detection process. The interference preventing apparatus can include reflective or absorptive coatings formed on the first and second surfaces of the substrate, the first and second information bearing indicia positioned on the respective reflective coatings, a thin metal foil layer positioned between the first indicia and the second indicia, or a black background disposed between the first and second indicia.

Techniques to prevent leakage of fluorescing signals through print media or indicia tape

A technique for marking media with indicia in such a way as the media may be loaded into the printer in any orientation. These indicia marks are read by a printer for the purpose of identifying the media, determining the orientation of the media, and providing additional information about the media. The indicia encodes the necessary information for the printer to identify the media as well as additional information about the media that may be useful for the printer. In a typical embodiment, the indicia will be invisible to the human eye but machine readable. On sheets of media, indicia are placed in the margin of the media in eight corners of the page, four on the front and four on the back. The indicia are placed and orientated such that the indicia are in the same relative position and orientation to the printer regardless of the orientation in which the media is loaded into the printer.

Orientation independent indicia for print media

Growing community of inventors

Oceanside, CA, United States of America

Kenneth J Knight