Rewritable card printer
AssigneeFuturelogic, Inc.
InventorEric Meyerhofer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rewritable card printer useful as a rewritable card printer. The rewritable card printer includes a print module coupled to one or more separate card magazines, each having independent card drives. The operation of the print module and one or more card magazines are controlled by a printer controller. Cards may be exchanged between multiple card magazines so that cards can be escrowed, exchanged, or selectively located and retrieved. By manipulating cards within the card magazines, the rewritable card printer may perform various maintenance functions on itself and cards within a card magazine.
Claims49
A method of cleaning a rewritable card printer, comprising:
- issuing a head cleaning card from a card magazine into the rewritable card printer;
- exercising the rewritable card back and forth within the rewritable card printer, thereby cleaning a head within the rewritable printer;
- and
- returning the head cleaning card to the card magazine.
A rewritable card printer having cooling unit that cools a rewritable card after it has been printed.
A method of processing a rewritable card by a rewritable card printer, comprising:
- scanning a received rewritable card to determine the optical density of the indicia on the card;
- and
- removing the rewritable card from service if the optical density indicates the card is no longer usable.
A method of processing a rewritable card by a rewritable card printer, comprising:
- scanning a received rewritable card to determine the optical density of the indicia on the card;
- storing the optical density measurement;
- and
- using the optical density measurement to adjust a heating process applied to the rewritable card.
A method of processing a rewritable card comprising recording on the card an amount of erase/print cycles.
A method of processing a rewritable card, comprising:
- partially printing cash-out data on the rewritable card;
- holding the rewritable card until a cash-out signal is received;
- and
- printing a remainder of the cash-out data on the rewritable card.
A method of processing a rewritable card, comprising:
- sampling an optical density of the rewritable card after printing to the rewritable card;
- and
- determining if the card image will develop a readable image based on the sampled optical density.
A rewritable card printer, comprising:
- means for receiving a head cleaning card from a card magazine into the rewritable card printer;
- means for exercising the rewritable card back and forth within the rewritable card printer, thereby cleaning a head within the rewritable printer;
- and
- means for returning the head cleaning card to the card magazine.
A rewritable card printer, comprising:
- means for scanning a received rewritable card to determine the optical density of the indicia on the card;
- and
- means for removing the rewritable card from service if the optical density indicates the card is no longer usable.
A rewritable card printer, comprising:
- means for scanning a received rewritable card to determine the optical density of the indicia on the card;
- means for storing the optical density measurement;
- and
- means for using the optical density measurement to adjust a heating process applied to the rewritable card.
A rewritable card printer comprising means for recording on a rewritable card an amount of erase/print cycles.
A rewritable card printer, comprising:
- means for partially printing cash-out data on the rewritable card;
- means for holding the rewritable card until a cash-out signal is received;
- and
- means for printing a remainder of the cash-out data on the rewritable card.
A rewritable card printer, comprising:
- means for sampling an optical density of the rewritable card after printing to the rewritable card;
- and
- determining if the card image will develop a readable image based on the sampled optical density.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.