US5069562A — Continuous paper autoloading mechanism for therma…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 142 words

A continuous paper autoloading mechanism for a thermal printer, the autoloading mechanism comprising: a continuous paper supply section, a paper feeding means for feeding continuous paper from the supply section, a pitch sensor for detecting a pitch of labels or tags associated with the continuous paper and for producing pitch signals, and a printing means for printing information on the labels or tags, the printing means including means for feeding the continuous paper, the continuous paper supply section, the paper feeding means, the pitch sensor and the printing means being disposed in succession in the direction of paper feed, feeding of the continuous paper by the paper feeding means and the printing means being synchronized and controlled in response to the pitch signals and being effective for feeding a leading edge of the continuous paper into proper alignment with the printing head.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 142 words

A continuous paper autoloading mechanism for a thermal printer, the autoloading mechanism comprising: a continuous paper supply section, a paper feeding means for feeding continuous paper from the supply section, a pitch sensor for detecting a pitch of labels or tags associated with the continuous paper and for producing pitch signals, and a printing means for printing information on the labels or tags, the printing means including means for feeding the continuous paper, the continuous paper supply section, the paper feeding means, the pitch sensor and the printing means being disposed in succession in the direction of paper feed, feeding of the continuous paper by the paper feeding means and the printing means being synchronized and controlled in response to the pitch signals and being effective for feeding a leading edge of the continuous paper into proper alignment with the printing head.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 123 words

A continuous paper autoloading mechanism for a thermal printer, the autoloading mechanism comprising: a continuous paper supply section for holding and supplying a continuous paper comprising labels or tags; a paper feeding means; a pitch sensor for detecting a pitch of the labels or tags and for producing pitch signals; a printing means for imprinting information on the labels or tags; the paper feeding means, the pitch sensor and the printing means being disposed in succession in a direction of paper feed; and control means, responsive to the pitch signals, for controlling the paper feeding means to feed the continuous paper such that a leading edge of a first label or tag becomes aligned with a printing position associated with the printing means.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 123 words

A continuous paper autoloading mechanism for a thermal printer, the autoloading mechanism comprising: a continuous paper supply section for holding and supplying a continuous paper comprising labels or tags; a paper feeding means; a pitch sensor for detecting a pitch of the labels or tags and for producing pitch signals; a printing means for imprinting information on the labels or tags; the paper feeding means, the pitch sensor and the printing means being disposed in succession in a direction of paper feed; and control means, responsive to the pitch signals, for controlling the paper feeding means to feed the continuous paper such that a leading edge of a first label or tag becomes aligned with a printing position associated with the printing means.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 63 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 2, wherein the pitch sensor is located at the predetermined distance L from the printing position and wherein the control means is effective, in response to the pitch signals, to first detect a leading end of the continuous paper and then advance the continuous paper by the distance L to convey the leading end to the printing position.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 39 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 3, wherein the control means is also effective, in response to the pitch signals, to further advance the continuous paper by a distance which is equal to the distance L less the label pitch.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 91 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 3, wherein the printing means comprises a print head and a rotatable platen, means for selectively engaging and disengaging the print head and the rotatable platen from one another, the control means being effective to maintain said print head and rotatable platen disengaged from one another at least until a leading edge of a first label has reached the printing position whereby wastage of carbon ribbon drawn by the printing section when the print head and the rotatable platen are engaged with one another is avoided.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 23 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 5, further comprising means for driving the paper feeding means and the rotatable platen synchronously with one another.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 26 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 6, wherein the control means is effective for generating feed pulses to drive the paper feeding means and the rotatable platen.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 28 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 7, wherein a number representative of feed pulses corresponding to the predetermined distance L is stored in a memory of the control means.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 32 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 8, wherein a number representative of feed pulses corresponding to a further distance which equals the predetermined distance less the label pitch is stored in the memory.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 77 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 3, wherein the pitch signals have associated therewith first, second and third levels, corresponding respectively to the non-presence of any portion of the continuous paper at the pitch sensor, the presence only of a backing sheet component of the continuous paper at the pitch sensor, and the presence at the pitch sensor of a portion of the continuous paper which comprises both the back sheet and a label or tag attached thereto.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 34 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 3, wherein the pitch sensor is effective to detect detection marks on a backing sheet of the continuous paper whose reflectance differs from other surfaces of the continuous paper.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 102 words

The autoloading mechanism of claim 3, wherein a value corresponding to a first distance from the pitch sensor to the printing position is stored in a memory of the control means and a further value corresponding to the difference between the first distance and a second distance from a detection mark to a leading edge of each label is also stored in the memory, the control means being effective to first advance a leading end of the continuous paper from the pitch sensor to the printing position and then further advance the continuous paper by the distance defined by the further value.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	1994-12-02	1995-06-03	1995-12-03	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	1998-12-02	1999-06-03	1999-12-03	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2002-12-02	2003-06-03	2003-12-03	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

Continuous paper autoloading mechanism for thermal printer

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