Manually positioned printer with an alignment means

A printer comprising:

• a housing arranged to be manually positioned on an image receiving medium;
• a print head provided in the housing;
• a print face exposed to an image receiving medium, wherein the print head is movable within the housing to print onto the image receiving medium in the region of the print face;
• a scanner operable to scan the print face to produce image data;
• and
• a controller connected to the scanner, the print head and a display, the display being provided within the housing of the printer or external to the printer;
• wherein the controller is operable to detect markings on an image receiving medium based on the image data, the markings being scanned by the scanner, and the controller is operable to display an information referring to a direction in which the printer is to be moved in order to obtain alignment between the print face and the detected markings.

A combination of an image receiving medium and a printer, the printer comprising:

• a housing arranged to be manually positioned on the image receiving medium;
• a print head provided in the housing;
• a print face exposed to the image receiving medium, the print face defining a region in which the print head is operable to print onto the image receiving medium;
• wherein the image receiving medium is a label strip provided with pre-printed or punched alignment marks for aligning the printer to the image receiving medium.

A combination of an image receiving medium and a printer, wherein the image receiving medium is an ID card, and the printer comprises:

• a housing arranged to be positioned on said ID card;
• a print head provided in the housing;
• a print face exposed to the ID card, the print face defining a region in which the print head is operable to print onto the ID card;
• wherein the printer prints alignment marks onto the ID card, said alignment marks being provided for alignment of the ID card in subsequent lamination.

A combination of a base station and a printer, the printer comprising:

• a housing arranged to be positioned on an image receiving medium;
• a print head provided in the housing;
• a print face exposed to an image receiving medium, the print face defining a region in which the print head is operable to print onto the image receiving medium;
• wherein the printer is arranged to be positioned on the base station, and the base station is provided with a stop arranged to align a print medium on the base station with respect to the printer, with the position of the stop being adjustable and having a number of predetermined positions at which said stop can be arrested.