Printing ribbon security apparatus and method
First Claim
1. A printer, comprising:
- a media feed assembly;
a ribbon drive assembly;
a printhead; and
a controller operatively coupled to the media feed assembly, the ribbon drive assembly, and the printhead, the controller including a set of instructions which, when executed, perform a method of printing, comprising;
causing the ribbon drive assembly and the media feed assembly to advance a print ribbon and a print media under the printhead in a first print operation to print a desired image onto a first portion of the print media;
causing the ribbon drive assembly to rewind the print ribbon; and
causing at least a portion of an image remaining on the ribbon from the first print operation to be obscured by advancing the print ribbon and the print media under the printhead in a second print operation to print through the print ribbon at a desired location on the print ribbon.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus and method of securing and maintaining the integrity of desired information on a ribbon and media subsequent to a printing operation is provided. The apparatus and method includes a thermal transfer printer having a print station and a printhead operable for performing a printing operation. The printhead is capable of performing an initial print operation and then being raised from the media, thereby allowing the used ribbon to be rewound a predetermined distance about a supply spindle. Thereafter, a second print operation is performed on the space previously printed upon using characters, designs or block-out patterns and the used ribbon is then wound onto a take-up spindle. In exemplary embodiments, the used ribbon can also be reprinted with a waste media several times thus further obscuring the image on the used ribbon.
239 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. A printer, comprising:
-
a media feed assembly; a ribbon drive assembly; a printhead; and a controller operatively coupled to the media feed assembly, the ribbon drive assembly, and the printhead, the controller including a set of instructions which, when executed, perform a method of printing, comprising; causing the ribbon drive assembly and the media feed assembly to advance a print ribbon and a print media under the printhead in a first print operation to print a desired image onto a first portion of the print media; causing the ribbon drive assembly to rewind the print ribbon; and causing at least a portion of an image remaining on the ribbon from the first print operation to be obscured by advancing the print ribbon and the print media under the printhead in a second print operation to print through the print ribbon at a desired location on the print ribbon. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method of secure printing, comprising:
-
advancing a print ribbon and a print media under a printhead in a first print operation to print a desired image onto a first portion of the print media; rewinding the print ribbon; and obscuring at least a portion of an image remaining on the ribbon from the first print operation by advancing the print ribbon and the print media under the printhead in a second print operation to print through the print ribbon at a desired location on the print ribbon. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
Specification