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. 11, 2005
Filed:
Feb. 22, 2002
Alain Bouchard, Boston, MA (US);
Brian D. Busch, Sudbury, MA (US);
Daniel P. Bybell, Medford, MA (US);
Anemarie Deyoung, Lexington, MA (US);
Sandra B. Lawrence, Brookline, MA (US);
Michael L. Reisch, Carlisle, MA (US);
Suhail S. Saquib, Shrewsbury, MA (US);
Dana F. Schuh, Windham, NH (US);
Stephen J. Telfer, Arlington, MA (US);
Jay E. Thornton, Watertown, MA (US);
William T. Vetterling, Lexington, MA (US);
Michael S. Viola, Burlington, MA (US);
Alain Bouchard, Boston, MA (US);
Brian D. Busch, Sudbury, MA (US);
Daniel P. Bybell, Medford, MA (US);
Anemarie DeYoung, Lexington, MA (US);
Sandra B. Lawrence, Brookline, MA (US);
Michael L. Reisch, Carlisle, MA (US);
Suhail S. Saquib, Shrewsbury, MA (US);
Dana F. Schuh, Windham, NH (US);
Stephen J. Telfer, Arlington, MA (US);
Jay E. Thornton, Watertown, MA (US);
William T. Vetterling, Lexington, MA (US);
Michael S. Viola, Burlington, MA (US);
Polaroid Corporation, Waltham, MA (US);
Abstract
A thermal printer is disclosed which includes a plurality of thermal print heads, each of the plurality of thermal print heads being operable to print a distinct one of a plurality of colors. The plurality of thermal print heads may print output at a plurality of spatial resolutions. The thermal printer may include dot size varying means for varying perceived levels of color printed by the thermal printer by varying sizes of dots printed by the plurality of thermal print heads. The printer may perform various image processing steps on an image to be printed, such as tone scale adjustment, thermal history control, and common mode voltage correction, to improve the perceived quality of the printed image. The thermal printer may be incorporated into a digital photo-printing vending machine for printing images provided by a customer.