Apparatus for thermal printing

Claim 2

In thermal print apparatus for printing images on a print medium, the combination comprising: a rotatable platen for receiving and rotating a print medium therewith; thermal print means adjacent said platen and selectively energizable to cause images to be printed on said print medium, said thermal print means having a dimension sufficient to cause a strip of images to be printed in substantially a single energizing operation; a movable web of thermally transferable material having a run interposed between said platen and said thermal print means, said web having first index marks thereon indicating the boundaries between adjacent frames, and second index marks thereon indicating the beginning of a sequence of frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence; transport means for moving said web in accord with said index marks; input means for supplying energizing signals to said thermal print means representative of the image to be printed; and means for rotating said platen at a predetermined rate.

Claim 3

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said movable web includes a cassette housing in which said web is contained.

Claim 4

The apparatus of claim 1; wherein said transport means includes drive means for moving said web; sensing means for sensing said index marks; and drive control means responsive to the sensed index marks for controlling said drive means and thereby control the movement of said web.

Claim 5

The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said platen rotates and said web moves concurrently.

Claim 6

The apparatus of claim 1; and wherein said transport means includes drive means for moving said web, sensing means for sensing said index marks, and drive control means responsive to the sensed index marks for controlling said drive means and thereby control the movement of said web.

Claim 8

In thermal print apparatus for printing images on a print medium, the combination comprising: a rotatable platen for receiving and rotating a print medium therewith; thermal print means adjacent said platen and selectively energizable to cause images to be printed on said print medium, said thermal print means having a dimension sufficient to cause a strip of images to be printed in substantially a single energizing operation; a movable web with successive frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence, said web having index marks thereon indicating boundaries between adjacent frames, said web being guided in a run interposed between said platen and said thermal print means; drive means for moving said web and being selectively operable to rewind said web; sensing means for sensing said index marks; drive control means responsive to the sensed index marks for controlling said drive means, said drive control means including detecting means for detecting when said platen has rotated to a predetermined position near to the end of a rotation, means for energizing said drive means in response to said detecting means for advancing said web at a rapid rate, means for changing over said drive means to terminate said rapid rate in response to a sensed index mark, determining means for determining when all of the frames of colors of thermally transferable material in a sequence have been printed, and means responsive to said determining means for operating said drive means to rewind said web until the beginning of a sequence is brought into position for printing another color image; input means for supplying energizing signals to said thermal print means representative of an image to be printed; and means for rotating said platen at a predetermed rate.

Claim 9

In thermal print apparatus for printing images on a print medium, the combination comprising: a rotatable platen for receiving and rotating a print medium therewith; thermal print means adjacent said platen and selectively energizable to cause images to be printed on said print medium, said thermal print means having a dimension sufficient to cause a strip of images to be printed in substantially a single energizing operation; a movable web with successive frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence, said web having index marks thereon indicating boundaries between adjacent frames, said web being guided in a run interposed between said platen and said thermal print means; drive means for moving said web and being selectively operable to rewind said web; sensing means for sensing said index marks; drive control means responsive to the sensed index marks for controlling said drive means, said drive control means including detecting means for detecting when said platen has rotated to a predetermined position near to the end of a rotation, means for energizing said drive means in response to said detecting means for advancing said web at a rapid rate, means for changing over said drive means to terminate said rapid rate in response to a sensed index mark, determining means for determining when all of the frames of colors of thermally transferable material in a sequence have been printed, and means responsive to said determining means for operating said drive means to rewind said web until the beginning of a sequence is brought into position for printing another color image; input means for supplying energizing signals to said thermal print means representative of an image to be printed; and means for rotating said platen at a predetermed rate.

Claim 10

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said web includes further index marks to indicate the beginning of a sequence of frames of colors of thermally transferable material; and wherein said drive control means further includes further sensing means for sensing said further index marks to terminate the rewind operation of said drive means.

Claim 11

The apparatus of claim 7 wherein said determining means comprises counting means for counting the rotations of said platen to indicate when said platen has rotated a number of time equal to the number of color frames of thermally transferable material in a sequence.

Claim 12

The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said platen has a "home" position; said drive control means includes means for detecting said "home" position; and said counting means counts each detection of said "home" position.

Claim 13

Thermal print apparatus for printing color images on a print medium, comprising: means for repeatedly moving said print medium from a reference position thereof through a printing region; thermal print means disposed at said printing region and selectively energizable to cause color images to be printed on said print medium wen said print medium is moved; a movable web of thermally transferable material having a run interposed between said thermal print means and said print medium at said printing region, said web being provided with successive frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence and said web having a first set of index marks thereon indicating the boundaries between adjacent frames, and a second set of index marks thereon indicating the beginning of a sequence of frames of thermally transferable material; drive means for bi-directionally driving said web; sensing means for sensing said first and second set of index marks; and drive control means responsive to said sensing means for controlling said drive means to move one sequence of frames past said printing region a predetermined number of times to print a predetermined number of color images and then to move the next sequence of frames past said printing region.

Claim 14

Thermal print apparatus for printing color images on a print medium, comprising: means for repeatedly moving said print medium from a reference position thereof through a printing region; thermal print means disposed at said printing region and selectively energizable to cause color images to be printed on said print medium wen said print medium is moved; a movable web of thermally transferable material having a run interposed between said thermal print means and said print medium at said printing region, said web being provided with successive frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence and said web having a first set of index marks thereon indicating the boundaries between adjacent frames, and a second set of index marks thereon indicating the beginning of a sequence of frames of thermally transferable material; drive means for bi-directionally driving said web; sensing means for sensing said first and second set of index marks; and drive control means responsive to said sensing means for controlling said drive means to move one sequence of frames past said printing region a predetermined number of times to print a predetermined number of color images and then to move the next sequence of frames past said printing region.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 11 wherein said drive control means further includes means for controlling said drive means to advance said web rapidly past said printing region from the end of one frame to the beginning of the next frame.

Claim 16

In thermal print apparatus for printing images on a print medium, the combination comprising: a rotatable platen for receiving and rotating a print medium therewith; thermal print means adjacent said platen and selectively energizable to cause images to be printed on said print medium, said thermal print means having a dimension sufficient to cause a strip of images to be printed in substantially a single energizing operation; a movable web having successive frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence with index marks indicating the beginning of each said sequence of said successive frames, said web having a run interposed between said platen and said thermal print means; transport means including drive means with bi-directional drive means for moving said web, sensing means for sensing said index marks, and drive control means responsive to the sensed index marks for controlling said drive means to thereby control movements of said web, said drive control means controlling said drive means to reverse the movement of said web from a forward direction to a reverse direction when an index mark is sensed and from a reverse direction to a forward direction when a preceding index mark is sensed; and inhibit means for inhibiting said drive control means from reversing the movement of said web after the movement of said web has been reversed a predetermined number of times; input means for supplying energizing signals to said thermal print means representative of the image to be printed; and means for rotating said platen at a predetermined rate.

Claim 17

In thermal print apparatus for printing images on a print medium, the combination comprising: a rotatable platen for receiving and rotating a print medium therewith; thermal print means adjacent said platen and selectively energizable to cause images to be printed on said print medium, said thermal print means having a dimension sufficient to cause a strip of images to be printed in substantially a single energizing operation; a movable web having successive frames of respectively different colors of thermally transferable material arranged in repeated sequence with index marks indicating the beginning of each said sequence of said successive frames, said web having a run interposed between said platen and said thermal print means; transport means including drive means with bi-directional drive means for moving said web, sensing means for sensing said index marks, and drive control means responsive to the sensed index marks for controlling said drive means to thereby control movements of said web, said drive control means controlling said drive means to reverse the movement of said web from a forward direction to a reverse direction when an index mark is sensed and from a reverse direction to a forward direction when a preceding index mark is sensed; and inhibit means for inhibiting said drive control means from reversing the movement of said web after the movement of said web has been reversed a predetermined number of times; input means for supplying energizing signals to said thermal print means representative of the image to be printed; and means for rotating said platen at a predetermined rate.