Method and apparatus for printing laminated bar code symbols and other symbols suffering from specular reflection distortions
AssigneeIntermec IP Corp.
InventorH. Sprague Ackley
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and associated apparatus prints bars of symbol characters comprised of a plurality of rows which are in turn comprised of a plurality of close adjacent dots to improve print quality and modulation when the symbol is printed on a media which is or can be laminated. The basic method includes removing a portion of one dot or more from an end of each of the plurality of rows of pairs of wide bars separated by an intervening space. As a result, the inside edges of the wide bars are reduced, thereby increasing the width of the intervening space, and resulting in improved symbol print quality.
Claims30
A bar code printer for printing bar code characters having at least wide and narrow bars and spaces between the bars, the bars being comprised of a plurality of rows which are in turn comprised of a plurality of close adjacent dots, the printer comprising:
- (a) a thermal printhead including a plurality of thermal print elements for printing bar code characters on a media surface, the media surface being laminated;
- (b) a memory having print definitions of the bar code characters wherein each pair of wide bars adjacent to an intervening space in a bar code character has at least a portion of one dot per row adjacent to the intervening, space eliminated as compared to other wide bars in the bar code characters, and
- (c) print logic coupled to the printhead and the memory and outputting character print signals to the printhead in response to the print definitions, and wherein the printhead prints bar code characters on the media surface in response to the character print signals.
A printer for printing machine-readable symbols having at least wide and narrow shapes and spaces between the shapes, the printer comprising:
- a print assembly that prints the wide and narrow shapes on a media surface in response to print signals, the media surface capable of being laminated;
- a memory having print definitions of the symbols wherein at least one of each pair of wide shapes adjacent to an intervening space in a symbol has a reduced edge that is adjacent to the intervening space, wherein a width of the reduced edge wide shape is narrower as compared to widths of other wide shapes in the symbols;
- and
- print logic coupled to the print assembly and the memory and outputting the print signals to the print assembly in response to the print definitions.
A method of printing symbol characters having a plurality of bars separated by spaces, the bars having at least a wide and a narrow width and being comprised of a plurality of close adjacent dots, the method comprising:
- removing a portion of one dot or more from edges of each pair of wide bars adjacent to a space positioned therebetween;
- and
- producing a symbol having the symbol characters formed on a substrate to be laminated, wherein modulation between light reflected from the bars and spaces thereof by optical reading apparatus is improved.
A method of printing machine-readable symbols having a plurality of shapes separated by spaces, the shapes having at least a wide and a narrow width, the method comprising:
- reducing an inner edge of at least one wide shape, but maintaining widths of shapes having the narrow width;
- and
- controlling printing of a machine-readable symbol on a substrate based on the reduced inner edge of the at least one wide shape.
A method of printing machine-readable symbols having a plurality of shapes separated by spaces, the shapes having at least a wide and a narrow width, the method comprising:
- providing a substrate;
- laminating an over-laminate to a surface of the substrate, the over-laminate having an opacity sufficient to allow printing on a surface of the substrate to be visible;
- reducing an inner edge of a plurality of wide shapes;
- and
- controlling printing of the machine-readable symbol on the surface of the substrate based on the reduced inner edge of the at least one wide shape.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.