Patent ID: 6396526
Filing Date: 2002-05-28
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
An ink ribbon positioning system of a color printer for identifying various positions of a color ink ribbon of the color printer, the ink ribbon comprising a plurality of sequentially arranged color frames for storing different color dyes, the color printer comprising a thermal print head for printing the color dyes onto an object and a driving device for scrolling the ink ribbon relative to the thermal print head; the ink ribbon positioning system comprising:a first light source for emitting a first light beam through the ink ribbon; a second light source for emitting a second light beam through the ink ribbon; an optical sensor for detecting the first and second light beams penetrating through the ink ribbon and generating an output voltage; and an identification device electrically connected to the first and the second light source; wherein when the driving device scrolls the ink ribbon relative to the thermal print head, the identification device will control the first and the second light sources respectively and identify the position of each of the color frames of the ink ribbon according to the output voltage generated by the optical sensor; wherein the first light beam through the ink ribbon can be used by the identification device to identify the position of a first color frame and a following second color frame, and the second light beam through the ink ribbon can be used by the identification device to identify the position of the second color frame and a following third color frame.