Print ribbon having background panels
AssigneeAssa Abloy AB
InventorBrent Lien
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Card substrate printers, such as credential production devices, are generally configured to print images to plastic substrates to form identification cards, driver's licenses, credit cards, and other items. The image printing process that is performed by the printer may be a direct-to-card printing operation, in which a print unit prints an image directly to a surface of the substrate. Alternatively, the image printing process may involve a reverse-image printing process, during which a print unit prints an image to an intermediate substrate, such as a transfer film, and the printed image is transferred from the intermediate substrate to a surface of the card substrate to complete the printing process.
Claims20
A method of printing an image using a thermal print unit, which includes a thermal print head and a print ribbon, the method comprising:
- printing a background image to a surface of a substrate comprising transferring a light-colored resin from a background panel of the print ribbon to the substrate using the thermal print head;
- and
- printing a primary image to the surface of the substrate including transferring print consumable from the print ribbon to the surface of the substrate using the thermal print head;
- wherein the primary image overlays or underlays the background image on the substrate.
A print ribbon comprising:
- a carrier layer;
- a plurality of colored dye panels on the carrier layer;
- and
- a plurality of light-colored resin background panels on the carrier layer.
A credential production device comprising:
- a transport mechanism configured to transport individual card substrates along a processing path;
- and
- a thermal print unit comprising:
- a print ribbon comprising:
- a carrier layer;
- a plurality of colored dye panels on the carrier layer;
- and
- a plurality of light-colored resin background panels on the carrier layer;
- and
- a print head configured to print images using the print ribbon.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.