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:
Nov. 02, 1999
Filed:
Apr. 03, 1998
Keith A Hadley, Rochester, NY (US);
Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, NY (US);
Abstract
Thermal printer and method for detecting donor ribbon type and for precise alignment of color patches relative to a thermal resistive print head. The printer includes a thermal resistive print head for thermally activating each donor color patch in a series of donor patches belonging to a dye donor ribbon having a predetermined width. Separating adjacent ones of the patches is a space in which is formed a first stripe extending the entire width of the ribbon. The first stripe defines borders between the adjacent color patches. A second stripe of a predetermined width together with the first stripe are disposed in the space before a beginning one of the color patches to define a beginning sequence of color patches. The second stripe is adjacent to and spaced-apart from the first mark by a predetermined distance and also extends the width of the ribbon parallel to the first stripe. Because the first stripe and the second stripe are continuous and extend the entire width of the ribbon, only a single sensor is necessary for detecting the stripes. Also, a ratio of the width of the second stripe to the distance between the second stripe and its adjacent first stripe is unique to each donor type and is used to inform the printer of the specific donor type loaded into the printer. In addition, presence of the first stripe between adjacent donor patches defines the beginning borders of each donor patch, so that each donor patch is precisely alignable with the print head.