Systems and methods for hand-held printing on a surface or medium
First Claim
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1. A hand-held printer system, comprising:
- a marking mechanism including at least one print head, a global position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head relative to a printing surface or medium in a global coordinate system; and
a control mechanism that actuates the at least one print head based on the sensed position.
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Abstract
A hand-held printer system is designed for printing a stored image onto a surface or other media. In particular, various embodiments are adapted for hand-held printing onto the surface of a whiteboard. In embodiments, the printer system comprises a marking mechanism including at least one print head, a global position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head, and a control mechanism that actuates the at least one print head based on the sensed position. In other embodiments, the system comprises a local position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head relative to a drawing surface.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. A hand-held printer system, comprising:
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a marking mechanism including at least one print head, a global position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one print head relative to a printing surface or medium in a global coordinate system; and
a control mechanism that actuates the at least one print head based on the sensed position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 28)
at least one wheel supporting the at least one print head on the printing surface; and
at least one encoder that senses rotation of the at least one wheel.
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10. The system of claim 9, wherein the at least one wheel supports the at least one print head at a pre-determined distance from the printing surface.
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11. The system of claim 1, wherein the global position sensing system comprises at least one laser scanner position sensor.
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12. The system of claim 1, wherein the global position sensing system comprises an ultrasound-based system.
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13. The system of claim 12, wherein the ultrasound-based system comprises:
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at least one ultrasound transducer associated with the marking mechanism; and
a plurality of ultrasound transducers associated with a drawing surface.
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14. The system of claim 1, wherein the control mechanism comprises:
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an input/output interface that receives position data from the global position sensing system;
a data storage device that stores a source image having pixel data; and
a controller that accesses the pixel data of the stored source image based on the received position data and generates an actuation signal based on the accessed pixel data, the generated actuation signal sent to the at least one print head by the input/output interface.
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15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a communication system that supplies a signal to the control mechanism to actuate the at least one print head.
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16. The system of claim 15, wherein the communication system comprises at least one wire connecting the control mechanism to the marking mechanism.
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17. The system of claim 15, wherein the communication system comprises:
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a first transmitter and a first receiver associated with the marking mechanism; and
a second transmitter and a second receiver associated with the control mechanism.
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18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first and second transmitters and receivers are infrared transmitters and receivers.
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19. The system of claim 17, wherein the first and second transmitters and receivers are radio frequency transmitters and receivers.
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28. The system of claim 7, wherein the video data processor performs a color-based segmentation technique.
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20. A method for marking on a surface using a hand-held printer, comprising:
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moving a marking mechanism over a surface;
sensing a position of the marking mechanism relative to the surface in a global coordinate system; and
actuating the marking mechanism to create a mark on the surface based on the sensed position. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29)
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Specification