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:
Mar. 28, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 08, 1997
Steven M Faes, New Market, AL (US);
Alfred L Fulton, Huntsville, AL (US);
Martin J Hnetynka, Huntsville, AL (US);
Laird Campbell, Laceys Spring, AL (US);
David Preston, Huntsville, AL (US);
Michael Missios, Huntsville, AL (US);
Scott D Sampson, Huntsville, AL (US);
SCI Systems, Inc., Huntsville, AL (US);
Abstract
An airline ticket printer includes a magnetic reading and writing station that has a read/write head for recording information on, or reproducing information from, a magnetic stripe carried on the ticket. The ticket is driven past the read/write head by a drive mechanism that contacts the ticket at a substantial distance from the read/write head so that the magnetic stripe is free to flex independently of the portion of the ticket that is in contact with the drive mechanism. More satisfactory contact between the read/write head and the magnetic stripe is thereby achieved. The ticket printer also has a second reading/writing station in series with the first station along a ticket feed path, so that errors in reading or writing by the first station may be detected and/or corrected at the second station. A ticket feed path is constructed using feed modules that are mounted on pins extending from a vertical mounting plate. Tickets are pre-staged from a ticket storage bin to a staging point to reduce print-cycle time. The storage bin is a cassette that can be removed from the printer. New tickets are printed using information that had been magnetically recorded on old tickets that are inserted in the printer. The printer's control system includes a printer electronics board and one or more single-slot PC/AT (ISA bus) microcomputers that are plugged into respective slots of a mother board. The printer includes a thermal printer engine with a platen and a print head. The platen and print head are disengaged from each other except when a ticket is in between them for printing.