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:
Aug. 19, 1986
Filed:
May. 07, 1984
Charles S Aldrich, Lexington, KY (US);
James R Booth, Lexington, KY (US);
William M Schuller, Lexington, KY (US);
Lloyd P Young, Lexington, KY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method of and apparatus for proportional ribbon (23) tracking on a printer (20), the printer (20) including a carrier (30) upon which implements of printing, for example the printwheel (25), ribbon (23) and hammer (28) are all mounted for translation opposite a platen (21). Ribbon lift mechanism is provided for effecting elevation of a ribbon (23) to multiple predetermined positions or tracks (1-10) (FIG. 3B) intermediate a printwheel (25) and a platen (21) so that indicia or character may be printed on print receiving medium (22) held thereby. In essence, an input means (11) receives a character to be printed. The microprocessor (13), in conjunction with the ROM (15), characterizes the character in accordance with a predetermined plurality of characteristics. In accordance with ribbon lift and feed algorithms, a particular characteristic of the character to be printed is added to a position on the ribbon upon which at least one prior character has been printed. In this manner a new print position is determined. Thereafter, the new track print position is outputted to the ribbon lift and feed means for effecting elevation of said ribbon (23) to one of a multiple of predetermined positions to thereby approximately maximize the number of predetermined positions of said ribbon with characters thereon which may be printed without character overlap.