US 4,606,661 A · Proportional vertical and horizontal ribbon tracking for impact printers

Abstract

A method of and apparatus for proportional ribbon (23) tracking on a printer (20), the printer (20) including a carrier (30) upon which implements of printing, for example the printwheel (25), ribbon (23) and hammer (28) are all mounted for translation opposite a platen (21). Ribbon lift mechanism is provided for effecting elevation of a ribbon (23) to multiple predetermined positions or tracks (1-10) (FIG. 3B) intermediate a printwheel (25) and a platen (21) so that indicia or character may be printed on print receiving medium (22) held thereby. In essence, an input means (11) receives a character to be printed. The microprocessor (13), in conjunction with the ROM (15), characterizes the character in accordance with a predetermined plurality of characteristics. In accordance with ribbon lift and feed algorithms, a particular characteristic of the character to be printed is added to a position on the ribbon upon which at least one prior character has been printed. In this manner a new print position is determined. Thereafter, the new track print position is outputted to the ribbon lift and feed means for effecting elevation of said ribbon (23) to one of a multiple of predetermined positions to thereby approximately maximize the number of predetermined positions of said ribbon with characters thereon which may be printed without character overlap.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A method for proportional ribbon tracking on a printer, said printer including first means for effecting elevation of a ribbon to multiple predetermined positions aligned with a printhead and a print-receiving medium so that indicia may be printed on said print-receiving medium, said method comprising:

receiving a character to be printed;
characterizing said character in accordance with a predetermined plurality of characteristics;
said characterizing step including the step of assigning arbitrary zones to the characters to be printed and designating on which zones the characters are positioned on the printhead;
and assigning a height to the characters based upon the number of zones encompassed by said characters;
and,
adding with respect to a position on the ribbon upon which at least one prior character has been printed, the height of the character to be printed to determine a new print position, and outputting said new print position to said first means for effecting elevation of said ribbon to one of a multiple of said predetermined positions to approximately maximize the number of predetermined positions of said ribbon with characters printed therefrom without character overlap.

3 more elements

Apparatus for providing proportional ribbon tracking on a printer, said printer including a carrier, a printhead including implements of printing mounted on said carrier, first means for effecting elevation of a ribbon to multiple predetermined track print positions aligned with said implements of printing so that indica may be printed on the print receiving medium held thereby, said apparatus comprising:

input means for receiving indicia corresponding to a character to be printed;
means for characterizing said character in accordance with a predetermined plurality of characteristics, one of said characteristics comprising the height of said character, and another characteristic of said character to be printed is its position on the implement of printing, said implement of printing having assigned thereto a plurality of arbitrary zones, each character having a lowermost portion which corresponds to a baseline zone of the position of characters on said implement, the height of the characters determining the number of zones assigned to each of said characters;
means for adding with respect to a position on the ribbon upon which at least one prior character has been printed, the height of the character to be printed to determine a new track print position;
and means for outputting said new track print position to said first means for effecting elevation of said ribbon to one of a multiple of said predetermined positions to thereby approximately maximize the number of predetermined positions of said ribbon with characters thereon which may be printed without character overlap.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Proportional vertical and horizontal ribbon tracking for impact printers

Life of this patent

Proportional vertical and horizontal ribbon tracking for impact printers

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims12