Patent ID: 7064774
Filing Date: 2006-06-20
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A method for multiple label printing with a thermal-transfer label printer with rewind control, of the kind that comprises a printing head ( 1 ), which is movable along a guide ( 2 ), a ribbon ( 3 ) bearing a printing medium intended to be thermally transferred by the printing head onto the product to be labeled during the labeling operation, a ribbon pay-out spool ( 4 ), a ribbon take-up spool ( 5 ) driven by a stepper motor ( 6 ), a control device ( 8 ) that governs the printing head ( 1 ), and a means for controlling the advance of the ribbon ( 3 ) from the pay-out spool ( 4 ) to the take-up spool ( 5 ), where the ribbon ( 3 ) follows a path that is parallel to the printing head ( 1 ) during an intermediate stage of its path as a whole; characterized in that the means for controlling the advance of the ribbon ( 3 ) comprises a device ( 7 ) for detecting the spin of the pay-out spool ( 4 ) and sending a signal to the control device ( 8 ) that reports on the spinning of the pay-out spool ( 4 ) when the stepper motor ( 6 ) makes the take-up spool ( 5 ) spin at a certain rate, and said control device ( 8 ) then computes the linear advance of the printing ribbon ( 3 ) on the basis of the spinning of the stepper motor ( 6 ), the spinning of the ribbon pay-out spool, and the initial radius of the ribbon reel ( 3 ) fitted in the pay-out spool ( 4 ), and wherein said printing method is further characterized in that it comprises the following stages: a) the approach of the printing head ( b) the moving of the printing head ( c) the calculation by the control device ( d) the repetition of stages a) and b) to arrange, through successive travel runs by the printing head ( e) the advance, under the control of the control device (