Patent ID: 7226226
Filing Date: 2007-06-05
Classification: B41J

Abstract:
1. A printing apparatus including a carrier ribbon supply spool and a carrier ribbon take-up spool, a print head having a plurality of heating elements which are individually addressable and energisable selectively to remove pixels of marking medium from the carrier ribbon during a printing operation, a first motor which when the printing apparatus is operated in a first configuration, moves the print head during a printing operation relative to a substrate on which an image is to be printed, and when the apparatus is operated in a second configuration, the first motor moving the carrier ribbon relative to the print head during a printing operation, and there being a second motor which is operative when the printing apparatus is operated in the first and second configurations to advance carrier ribbon from which pixels of marking medium have been removed in a previous printing operation, onto the carrier ribbon take-up spool, the printing apparatus being configurable to either of the first and second configurations.