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US 6,618,067 B2Granted
Thermal color printer
AssigneeBenq Corporation
InventorYih Yung
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A thermal printer using colorful rays and infrared rays for identifying colorant regions of an ink sheet is provided. The ink sheet includes a number of colorant region sets. Each colorant region set includes a yellow region, a magenta region, a cyan region and a black mark arranged at the beginning of the cyan region. The black mark is infrared ray non-transmittable. The thermal printer further includes an infrared ray source/an infrared ray sensor for sensing the black mark, and a blue ray source/a blue ray sensor (or an amber ray source/an amber ray sensor) for sensing the colorant regions.
Claims9
A thermal printer, comprising:
- an ink sheet, comprising a plurality of sets of colorant regions, each set of colorant regions comprising a first colorant region, a second colorant region, a third colorant region, a fourth colorant region, each colorant region having a front edge and a rear edge, a first mark formed within the third colorant region and adjacent to the second colorant region, and a second mark formed within the first colorant region and adjacent to the fourth colorant region;
- a first light source for emitting a first light toward the ink sheet, the first light being able to pass through the first colorant region and the fourth colorant region with a first level energy, and pass through the second and third colorant regions with a second level energy;
- a second light source for emitting a second light toward the ink sheet, the second light being able to pass through the first, second, third and fourth colorant regions with a third level energy, and pass through the first mark and the second mark with a fourth level energy;
- a first sensor generating a first signal when detecting the first level energy of the first light passing through the ink sheet;
- a second sensor generating a second signal when detecting the fourth level energy of the second light passing through the ink sheet;
- and
- a forwarding device, for forwarding the ink sheet to perform a movement relative to the first and second light sources;
- wherein which colorant region is positioned before the first and second light sources is determined by a combination of the first and second signals.
5 more elements
A thermal printer, comprising:
- an ink sheet, comprising a plurality of sets of colorant regions, each set of colorant regions comprising a first colorant region, a second colorant region, a third colorant region, each colorant region having a front edge and a rear edge, and a first mark formed within the third colorant region and adjacent to the second colorant region;
- a first light source for emitting a first light toward the ink sheet, the first light being able to pass through the first colorant region with a first level energy, and pass through the second, and third colorant regions with a second level energy;
- a second light source for emitting a second light toward the ink sheet, the second light being able to pass through the first, second, and third colorant regions with a third level energy, and pass through the first mark with a fourth level energy;
- a first sensor generating a first signal when detecting the first level energy of the first light passing through the ink sheet;
- a second sensor generating a second signal when detecting the fourth level energy of the second light passing through the ink sheet;
- and
- a forwarding device, for forwarding the ink sheet to perform a movement relative to the first and second light sources;
- wherein which colorant region is positioned before the first and second light sources is determined by a combination of the first and second signals.
5 more elements
A thermal printer, comprising:
- an ink sheet, comprising a plurality of sets of colorant regions, each set of colorant regions comprising a first colorant region, a second colorant region, a third colorant region, a fourth colorant region, each colorant region having a front edge and a rear edge, a first mark formed within the third colorant region and adjacent to the second colorant region, and a second mark formed within the fourth colorant region and adjacent to the third colorant region;
- a first light source for emitting a first light toward the ink sheet, the first light being able to pass through the first colorant region with a first level energy, but pass through the second, third and fourth colorant regions with a second level energy;
- a second light source for emitting a second light toward the ink sheet, the second light being able to pass through the first, second, third and fourth colorant regions with a third level energy, and pass through the first mark and second mark with a fourth level energy;
- a first sensor generating a first signal when detecting the first level energy of the first light passing through the ink sheet;
- a second sensor generating a second signal when detecting the fourth level energy of the second light passing through the ink sheet;
- and
- a forwarding device, for forwarding the ink sheet to perform a movement relative to the first and second light sources;
- wherein which colorant region is positioned before the first and second light sources is determined by a combination of the first and second signals.
5 more elements
A thermal printer, comprising:
- an ink sheet, comprising a plurality of sets of colorant regions, each set of colorant regions comprising a first colorant region, a second colorant region, a third colorant region, a fourth colorant region, each colorant region having a front edge and a rear edge, a first mark formed between the third colorant region and the second colorant region, and a second mark formed between the first colorant region and the fourth colorant region;
- a first light source for emitting a first light toward the ink sheet, the first light being able to pass through the first colorant region and the fourth colorant region with a first level energy, and pass through the second and third colorant regions with a second level energy;
- a second light source for emitting a second light toward the ink sheet, the second light being able to pass through the first, second, third and fourth colorant regions with a third level energy, and pass through the first mark and the second mark with a fourth level energy;
- a first sensor generating a first signal when detecting the first level energy of the first light passing through the ink sheet;
- a second sensor generating a second signal when detecting the fourth level energy of the second light passing through the ink sheet;
- and
- a forwarding device, for forwarding the ink sheet to perform a movement relative to the first and second light sources;
- wherein which colorant region is positioned before the first and second light sources is determined by a combination of the first and second signals.
5 more elements
A thermal printer, comprising:
- an ink sheet, comprising a plurality of sets of colorant regions, each set of colorant regions comprising a first colorant region, a second colorant region, a third colorant region, each colorant region having a front edge and a rear edge, and a first mark formed between the third colorant region and the second colorant region;
- a first light source for emitting a first light toward the ink sheet, the first light being able to pass through the first colorant region with a first level energy, and pass through the second,
- and third colorant regions with a second level energy;
- a second light source for emitting a second light toward the ink sheet, the second light being able to pass through the first, second, and third colorant regions with a third level energy, and pass through the first mark with a fourth level energy;
- a first sensor generating a first signal when detecting the first level energy of the first light passing through the ink sheet;
- a second sensor generating a second signal when detecting the fourth level energy of the second light passing through the ink sheet;
- and
- a forwarding device, for forwarding the ink sheet to perform a movement relative to the first and second light sources;
- wherein which colorant region is positioned before the first and second light sources is determined by a combination of the first and second signals.
6 more elements
A thermal printer, comprising:
- an ink sheet, comprising a plurality of sets of colorant regions, each set of colorant regions comprising a first colorant region, a second colorant region, a third colorant region, a fourth colorant region, each colorant region having a front edge and a rear edge, a first mark formed between the third colorant region and the second colorant region, and a second mark formed between the fourth colorant region and the third colorant region;
- a first light source for emitting a first light toward the ink sheet, the first light being able to pass through the first colorant region with a first level energy, but pass through the second, third and fourth colorant regions with a second level energy;
- a second light source for emitting a second light toward the ink sheet, the second light being able to pass through the first, second, third and fourth colorant regions with a third level energy, and pass through the first mark and second mark with a fourth level energy;
- a first sensor generating a first signal when detecting the first level energy of the first light passing through the ink sheet;
- a second sensor generating a second signal when detecting the fourth level energy of the second light passing through the ink sheet;
- and
- a forwarding device, for forwarding the ink sheet to perform a movement relative to the first and second light sources;
- wherein which colorant region is positioned before the first and second light sources is determined by a combination of the first and second signals.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.