Patent ID: 6972403
Filing Date: 2005-12-06
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A printing apparatus comprising: a print mechanism having a movable component; an optical grating for modulating a beam of light; a sensor for sensing modulated light provided by the optical grating; the optical grating and the sensor being movable relative to each other pursuant to movement of the movable component; and the optical grating including an optical track comprising a series of contiguously adjacent encoder bars that are substantially uniformly spaced center to center so as to have substantially uniform pitch, the series of contiguously adjacent bars including (a) a plurality of contiguously adjacent first encoder bars of respective first encoder bar widths and (b) a plurality of second encoder bars of a substantially constant second encoder bar width, wherein the contiguously adjacent first encoder bars and the second encoder bars have non-linear sides, and wherein each of the first encoder bar widths is different from the substantially constant second encoder bar width.