Thermal printer-plotter system for multi-directional printing and plotting
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Company
InventorDavid J. Shelley
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A printer-plotter system is provided having a single horizontally movable, print-plot head comprising geometrically arranged thermal resistor elements which are processor-controlled for plotting continuous multi-directional line segments and for printing, while plotting, upper and lower case alphanumeric characters and punctuation characters in four orthogonal directions. Characters are printed in 5-columns-by-7-rows dot matrix form, with neighboring dots partly overlapping each other in order to impart a continuous or drawn appearance rather than a discontinuous dot appearance to the printed characters. The geometric arrangement of the head elements also provides for varying the width of line segments plotted along selected orthogonal directions.
Claims19
A system for forming visual output manifestations on a web, comprising:
- head means having a plurality of print elements engaging said web, each element being located at the intersection of first and second coordinate positions in the head, with no element occupying the same first coordinate position and no element occupying the same second coordinate position;
- drive means coupled to at least one of the web and the head means for providing relative motion of the head means with respect to the web along two orthogonal coordinates;
- and
- logic means disposed to receive data and coupled to the drive means and to the head means for forming visual output manifestations on the web in one of four directions along the two orthogonal coordinates by causing the drive means to move at least one of the web and head means to a selected position and energizing selected elements of the head means to form selected portions of the visual output manifestations in response to said data.
A method of forming output manifestations on a web using a movable head with a plurality of print elements to form portions of each output manifestation in one of four orthogonal directions, the method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a number of elements to be energized;
- positioning one of the head and web with the selected elements located over selected portions of the output manifestation to be formed in such a manner that at each positioning no more than one element is located over a column of the output manifestation to be printed, and no more than one element is located over a row of the output manifestation to be printed;
- and
- energizing the selected elements to form portions of the output manifestation in one of four orthogonal directions.
A print head comprising a cluster of a selected number of print elements disposed on and about at least two diagonals for forming output manifestations on a web in any of four orthogonal directions, such elements being located at the intersection of first and second coordinate positions, with no element occupying the same first coordinate position and no element occupying the same second coordinate position.
A system for forming visual output manifestations on a web, comprising:
- head means having a plurality of print elements and a plot element engaging said web, each element being located at the intersection of first and second coordinate positions in the head, with no element occupying the same first coordinate position and no element occupying the same second coordinate position;
- drive means coupled to at least one of the web and the head means for providing relative motion of the head means with respect to the web along two orthogonal coordinates;
- and
- logic means disposed to receive data and coupled to the drive means and to the head means for substantially simultaneously printing and plotting visual output manifestations on the web in one of four directions along the two orthogonal coordinates by causing the drive means to move at least one of the web and head means to a selected position and energizing selected elements of the head means to form selected portions of the visual output manifestations in response to said data.
A method of substantially simultaneously printing and plotting visual output manifestations on a web using a movable head with a plurality of print elements and a plot element to form portions of each output manifestations in one of four orthogonal directions, the method comprising the steps of:
- selecting a number of elements to be energized;
- positioning one of the head and web with the selected elements located over selected portions of the output manifestation to be formed in such a manner that at each positioning no more than one element is located over a column of the output manifestation to be printed, and no more than one element is located over a row of the output manifestation to be printed;
- and
- energizing the selected elements to form portions of the output manifestation in one of four orthogonal directions.
A print head comprising a plot element and a cluster of a selected number of print elements disposed on and about at least two diagonals for printing and plotting substantially simultaneously and forming output manifestations on a web in any of four orthogonal directions, such elements being located at the intersection of first and second coordinate positions, with no element occupying the same first coordinate position and no element occupying the same second coordinate position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.