Granted Patent B2

US 7,891,892 · App. 10/850,420 · Granted Feb 22, 2011

Abstract

Claims (43)

1. A method of printing comprising:

providing a thermal printer with a print head, a platen, a media upon which labels can be printed, a print ribbon for printing on said media and a printer controller;

moving said media and said print ribbon for printing by said print head;

detecting images having been printed on said label;

tapping data from said printer controller to said print head;

comparing the images on said label or the tapped data from said printer controller with a non-local pre-established standard, wherein the non-local pre-established standard comprises an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) qualification or other bar code standard;

compensating for the speed of the media;

comparing component features of a label having been printed to determine if they match features extracted from a bit map for said label;

determining coordinates of the label printed; and, analyzing gray scale data on said label to determine if the label meets the pre-established standard.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

casting a light on said label;

sensing the variances of light on said label; and,

processing the variances of light in a controller which receives the tapped data from said printer controller.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

weighing the criticality of blemishes on a printed label after comparison of the image on said label with the tapped data from said printer controller.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising; rotating the image of said label into the print head's coordinate system.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising:

detecting the edges of labels printed on said media and,

detecting the position of groupings of printed images relative to the edges.

6. A process of determining the quality of a thermal printed label comprising:

providing a thermal printer having a thermal print head, a rotatably driven platen, a printer controller, a source of media for printing upon, and a print ribbon for thermally printing a label on said media;

imaging a label with an imager after printing;

providing data as imaged from said label;

tapping data from said printer controller;

comparing tapped data from said printer controller or data from said imager against a non-local pre-established standard for making an evaluation of the quality of said printed label, wherein the non-local pre-established standard comprises an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) qualification or other bar code standard;

compensating for the speed of the media;

comparing component features of a label having been printed to determine if they match features extracted from a bit map for said label;

determining coordinates of the label printed; and,

analyzing gray scale data on said label to determine if the label meets the pre-established standard.

7. The process as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

reading the label with photo sensors in said imager as to gray scale values thereof.

8. The process as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

providing a motor for rotating said platen; and,

tapping the speed of said motor to control the velocity of said media.

9. The process as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

detecting edges on a label; and,

determining a position of groupings of printed images on said label relative to the edges.

10. The process as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

rotating the image sensed by said imager to align it with the print head's coordinate system.

11. The process as claimed in claim 6 further comprising:

establishing the pre-established standard against the image of said label as to quality; and,

weighing said criteria against a pre-established weighting scale.

12. The process as claimed in claim 6 wherein the comparing comprises comparing accumulated defects on said printed label with corresponding thresholds of the non-local pro-established standard.

Assignments (8)