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US 10,821,762 B2Granted
Direct thermal media and registration sensor system and method for use in a color thermal printer
AssigneeZebra Technologies Corporation
InventorsClive Hohberger, David Womack, Bruce N. Alleshouse, James Clark, Wolfgang Strobel
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An example disclosed media processing device includes an image processing unit; a first optical registration sensor; and a second optical registration sensor spaced apart from the first optical registration sensor along a first axis by a first distance associated with a gap between media units on a web.
Claims11
A system in a thermal printer, the system comprising:
- an optical registration system configured to detect optical properties of media having a repeating pattern of a first set of stripes that changes to a first color in response to heat and a second set of stripes that changes to a second color in response to heat, the second color being different from the first color, wherein the second set of stripes includes a fluorophore carrying stripe that is fluorescent under excitation light of a defined wavelength range, and the optical registration system comprises a confocal excitation light source, an anamorphic optical system, and an array sensor, wherein the excitation light source is configured to cause the second set of stripes to fluoresce, and where the anamorphic optical system filters and focuses a fluorescence light pattern emitted by the second set of stripes as an image on the array sensor;
- and
- an image processing unit configured to determine a position of the second set of stripes on the array sensor and to output a signal when a stripe of the second set of stripes is detected at a predetermined position on the array sensor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.