Method of insuring print quality of a thermal printer
AssigneePitney Bowes Inc.
InventorsRonald L. Fogle, Stephen F. Goldberg
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of selectively setting the print cycle speed of a thermal printing apparatus such as a thermal postage meter. The thermal postage meter has a thermal print head and an optical reader under the control of a micro controller for printing an image on a sheet like material comprising the steps of first causing said micro processor to be programmed to first cause said thermal print head to print a test pattern just prior to print said image. The optical reader reads said the pattern intensity. The microprocessor is programmed to select a print cycle speed as a function of the test pattern intensity.
Claims3
A method of printing a postal indicia using a thermal transfer printer including a thermal print head having an array of print elements, an optical reader and a micro control system in operative communication with both the thermal print head and the optical reader, the method comprising the step(s) of:
- prior to printing the postal indicia, printing a test pattern over a print area using the array of print elements, the test pattern having an associated average intensity over the print area;
- reading the associated average intensity of the test pattern using the optical reader;
- obtaining an output from the optical reader representative of the associated average intensity;
- establishing a print control parameter of the control system applied uniformly over the array of print elements at a desired level as a function of the output;
- and
- using the print control parameter at the desired level to control the thermal print head to print the postal indicia.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.