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:
Jan. 12, 1999
Filed:
Jan. 08, 1997
Robert Charles Day, Fulbourn, GB;
Tony Dunn, Royston, GB;
Martin Edwards, West Wratting, GB;
Stijn Jans, Neerpelt, BE;
Esselte NV, Sint-Niklaas, BE;
Abstract
The invention relates to a printer which can print both text and bar code data on an elongated web-like tape. The printer is provided with a display having a first display mode in which both text data and bar code data are displayed. A bar code display unit is provided to advise the user when the cursor is assigned to bar code data in the first display mode. A second display mode can also be provided. In the second display mode, only the bar code data is displayed and only it can be entered and edited. When characters comprising either text data or bar code data are entered, they are placed sequentially in an input buffer, which comprises a first area of a storage device. The start and end positions of the bar code data within the input buffer are stored in a second area of the storage device. During printing operations, the position of each character in the input buffer is compared to the start and end positions to determine whether that particular character is to be printed as text or as a bar code.