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US 8,154,574 B2Granted
Hand-held portable printer system and method
AssigneeAvery Dennison Corporation
InventorsLance D. Neuhard, Clyde N. Tharp
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
There is disclosed a hand-held portable printer having an internal antenna, convertible to an RFID printer capable to receiving RFID data from a scanner coupled to the printer. The printer preferably shares a common RFID reader/writer with an RFID scanner. The scanner has an external antenna which can be coupled to and preferably attached to the printer. The scanner preferably includes the RFID reader/writer. The internal antenna is close to but separate from the printer's print head and the internal antenna is movable as a unit with the print head.
Claims43
A printer, comprising:
- a housing having first and second housing sections movable relative to each other between an open position and a closed operating position,
- a print head assembly yieldably mounted to the first housing section, the print head assembly including a heat sink and a print head, the print head including a linear array of heating elements on a substrate, the substrate being secured to the heat sink,
- a platen roll mounted on the second housing section and cooperable with the print head to print on a web of RFID transponder-containing record members movable along a web path, and
- an RFID antenna on the first housing section, and
- the print head assembly and the antenna being coupled to yield as a unit as the housing sections are brought into the operating position.
2 more elements
A printer, comprising:
- a print head assembly including a thermal print head and a heat sink secured to the print head,
- a platen roll,
- the print head assembly and the platen roll being relatively movable between an open, spaced apart, nonoperating position and a printing position with the print head in printing cooperation with the platen roll,
- at least one spring to enable the print head assembly to yield when the print head assembly is moved toward the printing position,
- a holder connected to move in unison with the print head assembly,
- a circuit board mounted on the holder, the circuit board having an antenna disposed immediately upstream of the print head, the print head being capable of printing on a web of
- RFID transponder-containing record members movable downstream along a path past the antenna to the print head, and the print head and the antenna being on the same side of the path.
4 more elements
A printer, comprising:
- a thermal print head,
- a first holder to yieldably mount the print head,
- a second holder carried by the first holder, and
- an RFID antenna mounted to the second holder and disposed adjacent the print head.
1 more element
A printer, comprising:
- a resiliently mounted thermal print head including a substrate and a linear array of heating elements on the substrate, the heating elements being disposed along one side of a path of travel of a web of RFID record members,
- an internal RFID antenna separate from the substrate and the heating elements and closely spaced with respect to the path, wherein the antenna is disposed upstream of and close to the heating elements, wherein the antenna is disposed on the one side of the path, and
- a platen roll disposed on the other side of the path and cooperable with the heating elements,
- a delaminator disposed along the path downstream of the platen roll,
- a hand-held portable printer housing, the printer housing having space to mount the web of labels releasably adhered to a carrier web in the form of a supply roll, the printer housing mounting the thermal print head and the internal RFID antenna, the printer housing having a downwardly extending handle,
- an RFID scanner housing, and
- an RFID antenna on the scanner housing, and the scanner housing being attached to the handle.
4 more elements
A printer, comprising:
- a frame,
- a path of travel for a web of RFID transponder-containing record members, a print head disposed along one side of the path and capable of printing on the record members,
- an RFID antenna disposed on the same side of the web as the print head, the RFID antenna being disposed along the path upstream of the print head, the RFID antenna being close to but separate from the print head, and wherein the print head and the RFID antenna are resiliently mounted with respect to the frame.
A hand-held portable printer, comprising:
- a hand-held portable printer housing having a manually engageable handle, the printer housing having space to mount a composite web of labels releasably adhered to a carrier web in the form of a supply roll,
- a print head mounted on the printer housing, a driven roll capable of advancing the composite web to the print head,
- an RFID scanner housing attached to the handle,
- an RFID antenna on the scanner housing, and
- a latch capable of releasably connecting an antenna housing to the printer housing.
2 more elements
A printer, comprising:
- an attachment including an RFID antenna,
- a hand-held portable printer housing having a handle and space to receive a supply roll of labels releasably adhered to a carrier web, a print head to print on the labels, a delaminator to delaminate printed labels from the carrier web, and a label applicator to apply printed labels, and
- wherein the attachment is releasably attachable to the handle at a location sufficiently remote from the applicator so as not to interfere with label application.
A hand-held portable printer, comprising:
- a hand-held portable printer housing having a first housing section and a second housing section, the second housing section having a downwardly extending handle,
- a print head mounted on one of the first and second housing sections,
- a platen roll mounted on the other of the first and second housing sections,
- the first and second housing sections being relatively movable between an open position to receive a supply roll of a composite web of labels releasably adhered to a carrier web and an operating position in which the print head is in printing cooperation with the platen roll and a label,
- an RFID antenna housing,
- an RFID antenna on the antenna housing, and wherein the antenna housing is attached to the handle.
3 more elements
A hand-held portable printer, comprising:
- a hand-held portable printer housing, the printer housing having space to mount a composite web of labels releasably adhered to a carrier web in the form of a supply roll,
- the housing having a downwardly extending handle,
- a print head mounted in the printer housing,
- a driven roll capable of advancing the composite web to the print head,
- an RFID antenna housing,
- an RFID antenna on the antenna housing, and
- the antenna housing being connected to the handle.
4 more elements
A printer, comprising:
- a printer housing,
- a print head on the printer housing, the print head being capable of printing on a web of RFID transponder-containing record members movable along a path of web travel,
- an internal RFID antenna capable of communicating by radio frequency with transponders on the web, an RFID scanner housing coupled to the outside of the printer housing,
- an RFID reader/writer, the RFID reader/writer being disposed on the scanner housing,
- an external RFID antenna on the scanner housing, and wherein the internal RFID antenna and external RFID antenna are coupled to the RFID reader/writer.
2 more elements
A printer, comprising:
- a printer housing,
- a print head on the printer housing, the print head being capable of printing on a web of RFID transponder-containing record members movable along a path of web travel,
- an internal RFID antenna capable of communicating with transponders on the web,
- a set of at least two selectable RFID scanners anyone of which is capable of being coupled to the printer housing,
- one of the RFID scanners including an external antenna and an external RFID reader/writer capable of reading and/or writing to UHF transponders external to the printer housing,
- another one of the RFID scanners including an external antenna and an external RFID reader/writer capable of reading and/or writing to HF transponders external to the printer housing, and
- the internal antenna being capable of being coupled to the RFID reader/writer on the selected RFID scanner.
4 more elements
Method of converting a hand-held portable printer into a hand-held portable printer with an RFID scanner, comprising:
- providing a hand-held portable printer having a handheld portable housing with a handle and a print head capable of printing on a web of labels,
- providing a scanner housing having an RFID antenna for an RFID reader/writer capable of reading and/or writing to RFID transponders outside the printer, and releasably attaching the scanner housing to the handle.
Method of converting a printer into an RFID printer capable of RFID reading and/or writing to a transponder outside the printer, comprising:
- providing a printer having an internal RFID antenna capable of RFID communication with transponders on the web,
- providing an external RFID scanner having an external antenna and an external RFID reader/writer, and
- releasably coupling the RFID scanner to the internal antenna.
Method of converting a printer with an RFID antenna for reading and/or writing to a web of RFID transponder containing record members into an RFID printer capable of RFID reading and/or writing to a transponder outside the printer, comprising:
- providing a printer having an internal RFID antenna capable of RFID communication with transponders on the web, providing an external RFID scanner having an external antenna and an RFID reader/writer, and
- releasably attaching the RFID scanner to the printer including coupling the RFID scanner to the internal antenna.
Apparatus, comprising:
- a printer including a print head capable of printing on a web of RFID transponder-containing record members movable along a path of web travel,
- an internal RFID antenna capable of communicating by radio frequency with transponders on the web, and
- an RFID scanner external to the printer having an external antenna and an external RFID reader/writer coupled to the external antenna, and
- the RFID scanner being coupled to the internal antenna.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.