System, method and apparatus for registration of printed image to media orientation

• US 7,692,812 B2
• Filed: 01/20/2006
• Issued: 04/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lexmark International Incorporated (Ninestar Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Lexmark International Incorporated (Ninestar Corporation)
• Inventors: Schoedinger, Kevin Dean, Underwood, Mark Stephen
• Primary Examiner(s): EBRAHIMI DEHKORDY, SAEID
• Application Number:
  US11/336,375
• Publication Number:
  US 20070171447A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,537 Days
• Field of Search: 358/1.18, 358/1.15, 358/1.16, 358/1.12, 358/1.14, 358/1.13, 358/473, 340/572.1, 340/572.4, 340/572.6, 340/686.1, 340/505, 340/572.8, 340/5.61, 715/810, 715/860, 715/744, 235/492, 235/385, 235/383, 235/380, 235/488, 400/60, 400/61, 400/70, 400/76, 400/693, 400/578, 400/613, 400/88, 400/691, 400/621, 400/679
• US Class Current: 358/1.18
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/4075 Tape printers; Label printers
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/50 Mechanisms producing characters by printing and also producing a record by other means , e.g. printer combined with RFID writer
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/02 using printers
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 15/021 Adaptations for printing on specific media

Abstract

A printing system (250) includes a printing subsystem (255) in the form of a printer assembly (14). The printing subsystem (255) includes a printer housing (257) in which a print engine (259) resides and (261) for storing data indicating the expected orientation of labels on a sheet of RFID label media (18). The contents of memory (261) can be obtained from an end user application (270) which may supply the position data to the printing subsystem (255) in a print data stream. Pre-programmed position data is read from a radio frequency memory storage device (88) on print media (18) having one or more devices (88) embedded thereon. The expected orientation data is compared to actual orientation data in order to determine if an image to be printed on a label (20) should be registered by rotation and/or flipping of the image and/or media.

Claims

1. In an image forming system supporting image fixing operations on media having at least one label portion and one or more embedded radio frequency data storage devices, a method of registering data to be fixed-on the media based on the orientation of said label portion, the method comprising the steps of:

determining the expected orientation of the media;

determining a current orientation of the media as the media is fed through a media pathway of the image forming system;

if the current orientation does not match the expected orientation, the image forming system performing an image registration operation before an image is fixed on the label portion;

the image forming system determining the X/Y position of the radio frequency data storage device about the media; and

if the current orientation does not match the expected orientation, the image forming system reassigning data to be programmed to said radio frequency data storage device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said image registration operation involves either rotating said image and/or flipping said media.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said image is rotated about an axis parallel to the direction of travel of the media.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein said image is rotated about an axis perpendicular to the direction of travel of the media.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the steps of:

the image forming system printing data on the label portion of said media;

the image forming system writing data to at least one of said radio frequency.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of generating a paper orientation error in case an image registration operation cannot be performed.

7. An image forming system supporting image fixing operations on media having at least one label portion and one or more embedded radio frequency data storage devices, said system capable of registering data to be fixed on the media based on the orientation of said label portion, said system comprising:

a media pathway through which said media is passed during an image fixing operation;

a detector for sensing the orientation of said media as it passes through said media pathway;

a memory device adapted for storing data indicating the relative position of said one or more devices in relation to the orientation of said media; and

control logic for determining the expected orientation of said media, causing said detector to sense a current orientation of the media as the media is fed through said media pathway and, if the current orientation does not match the expected orientation, causing an image registration operation to be performed before an image is fixed on the label portion.

8. The system of claim 7 further comprising a radio frequency reader/programmer for writing data to any one of said radio frequency data storage devices.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein data is related to at least one image fixed to said label portion of said media.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein said reader/programmer reads pre-programmed position data from at least one of said radio frequency data storage devices in order to determine an expected orientation of said media.

11. The system of claim 7 wherein said control logic is further adapted for causing said image to be rotated and/or flipped relative to orientation of said media.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said control logic is further adapted for causing said image to be rotated about an axis parallel to the direction of travel of said media.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein control logic is further adapted for causing said image to be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the direction of travel of said media.

14. The system of claim 7 wherein said control logic is further adapted for generating a paper orientation error in case an image registration operation cannot be performed.

15. The method of claim 7 wherein said control logic is further adapted for causing said detector to sense the X/Y position of a radio frequency data storage device on said media and, if the current orientation does not match the expected orientation, for causing a reassignment of data to be programmed to said radio frequency data storage device.

16. Apparatus for registering data to be fixed on media having at least one label portion and one or more radio frequency identification tags for storing data related to said label portion, said apparatus comprising:

a printer assembly having a media pathway and a print engine for achieving a plurality of printing functions;

an interface coupling said printer assembly to a radio frequency reader/programmer capable of reading data from or writing data to radio frequency identification tags;

a memory device adapted for storing data indicating the relative position of said one or more radio frequency identification tags in relation to the orientation of said media; and

control logic for comparing a current orientation of media to an expected orientation of media as indicated by data stored in said memory device;

wherein said control logic determines if the current orientation of said media does not match the expected orientation and causes an image registration operation to be performed before an image is fixed on the label portion.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said control logic is adapted for determining the presence and location of radio frequency identification tags on said media.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the expected orientation of said media is contained in a print request data stream received by the printer assembly.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said control logic is further adapted for causing an image to be rotated and/or flipped relative to orientation of said media.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said control logic is further adapted for causing an image to be rotated about an axis parallel to the direction of travel of said media.

21. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein control logic is further adapted for causing said image to be rotated about an axis perpendicular to the direction of travel of said media.

22. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said control logic is further adapted for generating a paper orientation error in case an image registration operation cannot be performed.

23. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said control logic is further adapted for sensing the X/Y position of a radio frequency identification tag on said media and, if the current orientation of said media does not match the expected orientation, for causing a reassignment of data to be programmed to said radio frequency identification tag.