Patent ID: 9358820
Filing Date: 2016-06-07
CPC Classification: B29C,B33Y,B41J

Claim Text:
1. A printer comprising: a printhead configured with a plurality of inkjets to eject material; a supply of thermal substrate having a plurality of thermal substrates, each substrate having a surface with a thermal sensitive dye, the supply of thermal substrate being configured to move a single thermal substrate to a position opposite the printhead to receive material ejected from the printhead; an optical sensor configured to generate electrical signals corresponding to an optical density of a location on the single thermal substrate; an actuator operatively connected to the optical sensor to move the optical sensor to a position opposite the single thermal substrate onto which material has been ejected; a pivot for a support member to enable the support member to rotate; an actuator operatively connected to the support member; and a controller operatively connected to the actuator operatively connected to the optical sensor, the actuator operatively connected to the support member, the supply of thermal substrate, the optical sensor, and the printhead, the controller being configured to operate the supply of thermal substrate to move individual thermal substrates from the plurality of thermal substrates onto the support member at the position opposite the printhead, to operate the printhead to eject a predetermined number of material drops from each inkjet onto the surface of the single thermal substrate having the thermal sensitive dye to enable the predetermined number of material drops to change a color of one or more portions of the single thermal substrate and form a test dot for each inkjet on the single thermal substrate on the support member, to operate the actuator operatively connected to the optical sensor to move the optical sensor to a position opposite the single thermal substrate on the support member, to operate the actuator operatively connected to the support member to rotate the support member about the pivot to enable the single thermal substrate to drop from the support member, and to identify inoperative inkjets in the printhead with reference to the data received from the optical sensor that corresponds to optical densities of the single thermal substrate at a plurality of locations on the single thermal substrate.