Printer method and apparatus

• US 9,805,257 B1
• Filed: 09/07/2016
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hand Held Products Incorporated (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Datamax-O'Neil Corporation (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Bozko, Dmitriy Sergeevich
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Huan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shenderov, Alexander D
• Application Number:
  US15/258,483
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• Field of Search: 347232
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 11/46 by marks or formations on the paper being fed
• CPC Class Codes: B41J 3/4075 Tape printers; Label printers
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/86 Investigating moving sheets G01N21/89 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/045 using payment protocols involving tickets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/208 Input by product or record sensing, e.g. weighing or scanner processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/209 Specified transaction journal output feature, e.g. printed receipt or voice output
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/245 by locating a pattern; Special marks for positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/1423 the instrument generating sequences of position coordinates corresponding to handwriting preprocessing or recognising digital ink G06V30/32
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/40 Document-oriented image-based pattern recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/412 Layout analysis of documents structured with printed lines or input boxes, e.g. business forms or tables
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 3/00 Alarm indicators, e.g. bells
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 5/00 Receipt-giving machines cash registers giving receipts G07G1/00

Abstract

A printer has a light source that directs light toward a print medium path. An RGB sensor is positioned to receive light from the light source that is reflected by the print medium. An infrared light filter is situated between the RGB sensor and the paper to filter out infrared light. A programmed processor is coupled to an output of the RGB sensor in order to detect form elements in the output from the RGB light sensor, retrieve a stored electronic representation of a form, match the form elements to the stored electronic representation of the form to identify locations on the form, and control printing to the form.

Claims

1. A printer, comprising:

a light source configured to direct light toward a print medium path;

a red-green-blue (RGB) light sensor configured to receive light from the light source reflected by a print medium in the print medium path;

an infrared light filter situated between the RGB light sensor and the print medium path, the infrared light filter configured to filter infrared light from entering the RGB light sensor; and

a processor communicatively coupled to the RGB light sensor, the processor configured to;

detect at least one form element of a print medium based at least in part on an output signal from the RGB light sensor;

retrieve a stored electronic representation of a form based at least in part on the at least one form element;

match the at least one form element to a stored electronic representation of the form;

identify one or more locations of the print medium for printing based at least in part on the match; and

cause the printer to print to the one or more locations of the print medium.

2. The printer according to claim 1, wherein the one or more locations of the print medium comprises a beginning of the form.

3. The printer according to claim 1, further comprising an I2C interface between the RGB sensor and the processor.

4. The printer according to claim 1, where the at least one form element comprises at least one cell designated for bounding data to be printed.

5. The printer according to claim 1, where the processor is configured to:

advance the print medium through the printer;

identify form elements in the output from the RGB light sensor as the print medium is being advanced through the printer; and

store the identified form elements to memory as an electronic representation of the form.

6. The printer according to claim 1, where the processor is configured to determine that the printer is out of media by detecting light intensity below a specified threshold.

7. The printer according to claim 1, where the processor is configured to determine that the printer contains print media by detecting light intensity greater than a specified threshold.

8. A method of printing to a print medium, the method comprising:

advancing a print medium through a printer, the advancing print medium following a print medium path;

receiving an output signal from a red-green-blue (RGB) light sensor, the output signal corresponding to light from a light source reflected by the print medium, the light source configured to direct light towards the print medium in the print medium path;

detecting at least one form element of the print medium based at least in part on the output signal;

retrieving a stored electronic representation of a form based at least in part on the at least one form element;

matching the at least one form element to the stored electronic representation of the form;

identifying one or more locations of the print medium for printing based at least on part on the match; and

printing to the one or more locations of the print medium.

9. The method according to claim 8, comprising filtering infrared light out of light that is passed to the RGB light sensor.

10. The method according to claim 8, where the output signal from the RGB sensor is passed to a processor using an I2C interface.

11. The method according to claim 8, where the at least one form element comprises at least one cell designated for bounding data to be printed.

12. The method according to claim 8, comprising an initialization comprising:

advancing the print medium through the printer;

identifying form elements in the output from the RGB light sensor as the print medium is being advanced through the printer; and

storing the identified form elements to memory as an electronic representation of the form.

13. The method according to claim 8, comprising detecting light intensity and determining that the printer is out of media by detecting light intensity below a specified threshold.

14. The method according to claim 8, comprising detecting light intensity and determining the printer contains print medium by detecting light intensity greater than a specified threshold.

15. The method according to claim 8, comprising storing a dot count representing a number of lines of the print medium as a measure of location along the form where a form element is situated.

16. A method of printing to a form, the method comprising:

advancing a first form through a printer;

receiving a first output signal from a red-green-blue (RGB) light sensor, the first output signal corresponding to light from a light source reflected by the first form;

identifying one or elements of the first form based at least in part on the first output signal;

storing the one or more elements to memory as an electronic representation of the first form;

advancing a second form through the printer;

receiving a second output signal from the RGB light sensor, the second output signal corresponding to light from the light source reflected by the second form;

detecting at least one element of the second form based at least in part on the second output signal;

matching the at least one element of the second form to the electronic representation of the first form;

identifying one or more locations of the second form for printing based at least on part on the matching; and

printing to the one or more locations of the second form.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more locations of the second form comprise a beginning of the second form.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the one or more elements of the first form comprise a cell designated for bounding data to be printed, and/or wherein the one or more locations of the second form comprise a cell designated for bounding data to be printed.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first form and/or the second form comprises printing medium for parking violation citations.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the first form and/or the second form comprises a label.