Printer with motion detection

• US 5,825,995 A
• Filed: 03/11/1996
• Issued: 10/20/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intermec IP Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Intermec Technologies Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Miazga, Jay Michael, Wiklof, Christopher A., Sweet, Thomas A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Grant, II, Jerome
• Application Number:
  US08/613,325
• Time in Patent Office: 953 Days
• Field of Search: 395/111, 395/115, 395/116, 395/117, 395/118, 395/139, 358/400, 358/401, 358/473, 358/496, 358/472, 382/291, 382/292, 382/295, 382/296
• US Class Current: 358/1.18
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 2/16511 Constructions for cap positioning B41J2/16547 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 25/308 with print gap adjustment mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/36 for portability , i.e. hand-held printers or laptop printers B41J3/4075 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1297 Printer code translation, conversion, emulation, compression; Configuration of printer parameters

Abstract

A handheld printer is movable across a target object to print while moving in a desired printing field. The printer has a position detector and a microprocessor controller for detecting the position of a printing member and activating the printing member at a plurality of successive printing locations. The printer may use thermal or inkjet printing and has user feedback and input. A mechanical position detector enables the printer to be used without a mechanical paper drive mechanism. The printer allows image rotation under control of a four-position switch and scaling of the image using distance and printline based scaling. The printer may be controlled by an external controller through a cable or a remote signal source. An alternative embodiment of the printer uses a vacuum-type arrangement to attract and hold the printer to the surface being printed. The printer may be line or battery-powered. The printer scales the image according to a user-selected scaling factor or in response to a measured printing field.

Claims

1. A mobile printer for printing an image in a printing field of a target object, the image being represented by bits of data, comprising:

a housing movable relative to the target object sequentially over portions of the printing field;

a printing member supported by the housing for printing in the printing field, the printing member having a maximum print area for a predetermined position of the housing relative to the target object substantially less than the entire area of the image to be printed;

an orientation selector for selecting one of a plurality of orientations in which the image is to be printed;

a position detector for detecting the position of the housing relative to the target object;

a memory containing the bits of data representing the image;

a printing member driver connected to receive information from the position detector, connected to control the printing member and connected to retrieve the bits of data from the memory, the printer member driver selectively activating the printing member to sequentially print portions of the image corresponding to the detected relative position of the housing as the housing is moved relative to the target object over the printing field, in response to the retrieved bits of data and in response to the selected one of the orientations; and

a user activated trigger connected to a consent switch with the position detector such that the printer prints only upon actuation of the trigger and a change in the detected position.

2. A mobile printer for printing an image in a printing field of a target object, the image being represented by bits of data, comprising:

a housing movable relative to the target object sequentially over portions of the printing field;

a printing member supported by the housing for printing in the printing field, the printing member having a maximum print area for a predetermined position of the housing relative to the target object substantially less than the entire area of the image to be printed;

an orientation selector for selecting one of a plurality of orientations in which the image is to be printed;

a position detector for detecting the position of the housing relative to the target object;

a memory containing the bits of data representing the image; and

a printing member driver connected to receive information from the position detector, connected to control the printing member and connected to retrieve the bits of data from the memory, the printer member driver selectively activating the printing member to sequentially print portions of the image corresponding to the detected relative position of the housing as the housing is moved relative to the target object over the printing field, in response to the retrieved bits of data and in response to the selected one of the orientations, and wherein the printing field includes a plurality of field portions and each portion of the image is formed from a single printline, each printline being printed in a respective one of the field portions, in response to the detected position of the housing further including a printline based scaling factor generator for determining a printline based scaling factor, wherein the printing member driver selects a number of times each of the image portion is repeated for successive field portions in response to the printline based scaling factor.

3. The printer of claim 2, further including a distance based scaling factor generator for determining a distance based scaling factor wherein the printing member driver scales the image by adjusting the distance between successive field portions.

4. The printer of claim 3, further including a comparator connected to the position detector to determine the distance traveled by the housing as the housing is moved relative to the printing field, wherein the scaling factor generator receives from the comparator data corresponding to the determined distance traveled by the housing for use by the scaling factor generator in determining the scaling factor.

5. A mobile printer for printing an image on a desired printing field of a target object, the printing field having a first end and a second end, comprising:

a first position being selected such that a printing member is aligned to the first end of the printing field when the housing is in the first position;

a housing carrying the printing member, the housing being movable relative to the target object to move the printing member sequentially over portions of the printing field;

a position detector operative to detect the position of the housing relative to a selected first position of the housing, the first position being selected such that the printing member is aligned to the first end of the printing field when the housing is in the first position and to determine an overall length of the printing field by comparing the selected position to a second position of the housing where the printing member is aligned to the second end of the printing field;

a memory containing data representative of the image;

a printing member supported by the housing for printing successive portions of the image position, said printing member having a maximum print area substantially less than the entire area of the image to be printed;

a printing member controller connected to retrieve the data from the memory and operative to determine which portion of the image to print in the printing field portion corresponding to the detected position of said housing based on the determined overall length of the printing field; and

a printing member driver operative to activate the printing member in response to the portion of the image determined by the printing member controller.

6. The printer of claim 5, further including a first scaling factor generator for determining a first scaling factor, wherein the printing member driver adjusts the number of times each portion of the image is printed successively in response to the first scaling factor.

7. The printer of claim 5, further including a distance based scaling factor generator for determining a distance based scaling factor wherein the printing member driver scales the image by adjusting the distance between successive portions of the image.

8. The printer of claim 7 wherein the printing member controller is external to the housing and is coupled to the printing member driver using a remote transmission.

9. A method of printing an image on a target object using a printer having a movable housing supporting a printing member, comprising the steps of:

selecting a scaling factor N;

positioning the housing to place the printing member in a first printing position;

moving the housing to move the printing member from the first printing position to a plurality of successive printing positions;

detecting the location of each successive one of the plurality of successive printing positions relative to the first printing position;

determining what portion of the image is to be printed at the first printing location and each of the detected locations based on the scaling factor and the detected location; and

activating the printing member in response to the determined portion of the image to be printed on the target object at the first printing location and each of the detected locations so as to successively print all portions of the image on the target object.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of determining what portion of the image to print based on the scaling factor N includes repeating N times each portion of the image to be printed.

11. The method of claim 10 for use with a printer having a roller rotatably supported by the housing and frictionally engaged with the target object, wherein the step of detecting the location comprises detecting the angular rotation of the roller relative to the target object.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the roller remains frictionally engaged with the target object during the steps of moving the housing, detecting the location and activating the printing member.

13. A method of printing an image in a printing field having a plurality of field portions on a target object using a printer having a movable housing supporting a printing member with a maximum printing area for a predetermined position of the housing relative to the target object substantially equal to the area of one of the field portions, the printing field having a predetermined width, comprising the steps of:

positioning the housing relative to the printing field to place the printing member in a first printing position;

measuring the length of the printing field by moving the housing over the printing field such that the printing member traverses a distance substantially equal to the length of the printing field and detecting the distance traversed by the printing member;

moving the housing relative to the printing field to move the printing member from the first printing position to a plurality of successive printing positions;

detecting the location of each successive one of the printing positions relative to the first printing position;

determining for each detected location a field portion of the printing field with which the printhead is aligned and a portion of the image corresponding to the determined field portion; and

activating the printing member to selectively print in successive ones of the field portions the corresponding portion of the image in response to the detected location and the measured width of the printing field.

14. The method of claim 13 for use with a printer having a roller rotatably supported by the housing and frictionally engaged with the target object, wherein the step of detecting the location comprises detecting the angular rotation of the roller relative to the printing field.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the image has an unscaled image size, further including the steps of:

determining a scaled image size corresponding to the measured width of the printing field;

determining a scaling factor S to scale the unscaled image to a scaled image; and

determining for each detected location using the scaling factor S a portion of the scaled image corresponding to the determined field position.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the image comprises a plurality of printlines and wherein the step of activating selecting a printline scaling a factor N, the printing member comprises the steps of:

repeating each successive one of the printlines N times; and

reducing the spacing between successive printlines by a distance based scaling factor F where the scaling factor S is equal to the printline scaling factor N times the distance based scaling factor F.