Method for managing a thermal printer, corresponding device and program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10328716-B2
Application number	US-201615740592-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2016
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

A method for managing printing of data by a thermal printer. The thermal printer includes a thermal print head. The thermal print head has a plurality of points, each point having an effective resistance rd, and is powered by a power source. The method includes the following actions: measuring a voltage U given by the power source of the thermal printer; measuring an internal resistance ru of the power source; and computing a duration t for heating a number n of points as a function of the voltage U of the power source, the internal resistance ru of the power source, at least one effective resistance rd of at least one point corresponding to a dot to be printed for the printing of the data and as a function of at least one value of parasitic resistance rp of at least one element of the thermal printer.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for managing a printing of data by a thermal printer, comprising a thermal print head, said thermal head comprising a plurality of points, each point having an effective resistance r d , said thermal printer being powered by a power source, wherein the method comprises the following actions:
measuring a voltage U given by said power source of said thermal printer;
measuring an internal resistance r u of said power source, and
computing a duration t for heating a number n of points as a function of said voltage U of said power source, said internal resistance r u of the power source, said effective resistance r d of at least one point corresponding to a dot to be printed for the printing of said data and as a function of at least one value of parasitic resistance r p of at least one element of said thermal printer,
wherein said duration is computed according to the following formula:

t
=

W
×

r
d

U
d
2

×
n

=

(

n
×

r
u

+

(

r
d

+

r
p

)

)

2

n
×

r
d

×

U
2

×
W

wherein:
n represents the number of printing points of said thermal print head;
W represents the energy needed to heat n points of said thermal print head;
r p represents the parasitic resistance of a printing point of said thermal print head.

2. The method of management according to claim 1 , wherein said thermal printer has low resistance and said power source is a detachable battery of a device within which said thermal printer is installed.

3. The method of management according to claim 1 , wherein the points of the thermal head are distributed among a predetermined number of modules.

4. The method of management according to claim 3 , wherein each of said modules of points has a common parasitic resistance r c , and said act of computing additionally taking account of a common resistance r c of at least one module to which said points belong.

5. The method of management according to claim 1 , wherein said values of effective resistance r d of said at least one point of said print head are recorded within a data structure.

6. A thermal printer powered by a power source and comprising:
a thermal print head, said thermal head comprising a plurality of points, each point having an effective resistance r d ,
a processor; and
a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the processor configure the thermal printer to perform acts comprising:
measuring a voltage U given by said power source,
measuring an internal resistance r u of said power source, and
computing a duration t to heat a number n of points as a function of said voltage U of said power source and of said internal resistance r u of the power source, at least one said effective resistance r d of at least one point to be printed for the printing of said data as a function of at least one value of parasitic resistance r p of at least one element of said thermal printer, wherein computing computes said duration according to the formula below:

t
=

W
×

r
d

U
d
2

×
n

=

(

n
×

r
u

+

(

r
d

+

r
p

)

)

2

n
×

r
d

×

U
2

×
W

wherein:
n represents the number of printing points of said thermal print head;
W represents the energy needed to heat n points of said thermal print head;
r p represents the parasitic resistance of a printing point of said thermal print head.

7. An electronic device comprising the thermal printer according to claim 6 .

8. The electronic device according to claim 7 , wherein the electronic device takes the form of a payment terminal.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon and comprising program code instructions for execution of a method for managing printing of data by a thermal printer, when the instructions are executed on a computer of the thermal printer, which comprises a the

Assignees

• Ingenico Group

Inventors

• Xavier Bruno
• Zanetti Arnaud

Classifications

• B41J2/3553 Primary

  Heater resistance determination · CPC title

• G07F17/42

  for ticket printing or like apparatus {, e.g. apparatus for dispensing of printed paper tickets or payment cards} · CPC title

• B41J2/3558

  Voltage control or determination · CPC title

• B41J2/35

  providing current or voltage to the thermal head · CPC title

• B41J29/393

  Devices for controlling or analysing the entire machine {; Controlling or analysing mechanical parameters involving printing of test patterns} · CPC title