The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 14, 2026
Filed:
Mar. 08, 2024
Seiko Instruments Inc., Chiba, JP;
Yoshio Kitamura, Chiba, JP;
Daisuke Yoshida, Chiba, JP;
Ryuji Uno, Chiba, JP;
Koichi Hatakeyama, Chiba, JP;
Hiroaki Kondo, Chiba, JP;
Ryota Naka, Chiba, JP;
Takahiro Hisada, Chiba, JP;
Seiko Instruments Inc., Chiba, JP;
Abstract
A control device includes: a print data acquisition unit configured to acquire print data, which is formed of a plurality of lines and indicates a coloration state of each pixel included in the plurality of lines; a head drive unit configured to supply, to a thermal head formed of a plurality of heating elements each corresponding to the pixel, an electric current for heating the thermal head for each pixel; a motor drive unit configured to supply, to a motor configured to move heat-sensitive paper relative to the thermal head, a drive current for step driving the motor for each line; a speed control unit configured to control, based on the number of colored pixels of a determination subject line among yet-to-be-printed lines of the print data, a relative moving speed of the heat-sensitive paper moved by the motor; and a preheating control unit configured to cause the head drive unit to output, when the determination subject line is a specific line being a line in which the number of colored pixels of the determination subject line exceeds a predetermined value, a preheating current being an electric current for heating the thermal head to such a degree as to prevent coloring of the heat-sensitive paper by a time the specific line is printed.