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:
Jun. 18, 1991
Filed:
Sep. 23, 1988
Harold D Schofield, Naragansett, RI (US);
Paul R Caron, Tiverton, RI (US);
DataCard Corporation, Minnetonka, MN (US);
Abstract
An apparatus and method is disclosed for controlling the temperature of a thermal print head and individual dot elements thereon, thereby optimizing print quality and reducing the thermal and electrical stress on the thermal print head. Hysteresis control determines the amount of energy supplied to each dot element in the thermal print head. Peak temperature control determines the width of the pulses supplied to the dot elements on the thermal print head. Pre-heating control raises the temperature of each dot element when the dot element has been idle for a predetermined period. Substrate temperature control maintains the temperature of said thermal print head at a predetermined value.