PORTABLE PRINTER

Abstract: A housing (10) of a portable printer can be held in the hand. The portable printer can be brought to a region to be printed and activated (14) such that a line of drop on demand printing heads connected to an arm (34) are caused to move across a region to be printed with selective printing stations being caused to print.

Description: PORTABLE PRINTER The present invention relates to a portable printer and to a method of operating a portable printer. In a known method of putting a marking such as a date or a code on to an article, a mechanical stamp is provided. The stamp is held in the hand by a plunger. A frame secured to the plunger is brought against the article to be stamped, and the plunger is then depressed to cause, for instance, numbers or letters to be brought against the article to mark that article. The numbers or letters can be changed, for instance, by rotating a band containing several different numbers or letters such that the appropriate one is brought in to engagement with the article. However, there are limitations in the marking to be provided at a particular point, depending upon, for instance, the number of different printing pads provided. Furthermore, it is a time consuming job to alter each marking as a newly shaped pad has to be created and fitted. In addition, if one band is arranged to mark with numerals at its particular location, it is unable to mark letters at that location and visa versa. If anything other than the numbers or letters are required then a specifically formed block has to be made in order to impart the relevant marking to the product. This is an expensive and inflexible way of operating. In addition, because of the physical force required to bring the pad down to stamp on the article, there is the risk that fragile or flimsy articles could be damaged. In addition, the amount of print deposited is, to some extent, dependent on the force applied to the plunger. Accordingly it is difficult to guarantee consistent print quality. It is an option of the present invention to attempt to overcome some of the above described disadvantages. According to one aspect of the present invention a portable printer includes a printing region arranged, in use, to be brought towards a surface to be printed, the printing region including a plurality of printing stations each of which are in a position in which they are capable of printing on to a surface. The printer may further include control means being arranged to cause at least one of the printing stations to print with at least one of the printing stations not printing. The control means may comprise software. The control means may comprise a circuit board. The control means may be arranged to change the print of the printing region automatically or, alternatively or additionally, sequentially or alternatively or additionally by selection means being activated to select the required print . The control means may be programmable. The printer may include means for connecting the printer to a remote programmer whereby the control means can be programmed to print a particular marking. The control means may provide an interface with a computer or sof ware means . The control means may provide storage for information downloaded into the printer. The control means may provide an on-board counter means, for instance for auto date-time stamping or SMART operations . The control means may be arranged to drive the printing region and may provide SMART functions and may provide programmability. The control means may provide the possibility of providing storage of at least one additional image to that which the printer is arranged to print. The additional image (s) or images may be selectable via means that may comprise, for instance, a switch. The printer may include a mains power source or alternatively or additionally, a battery power source which battery power source may be rechargeable, for instance from a mains power source. Where a mains power source is provided it may be detachable from the printer. Alternatively or additionally the printer may be arranged to be self-powered, for instance by the energy generated by an operator of the printer. An operator of the printer may be arranged to power by the device by applying an external force . Such an external force may be arranged to power the movement of the printing stations or printing or both. The printer may include a switch operable to cause printing or to alter the print, for instance. The printer may include a reservoir of ink. The ink may be retained in the reservoir at atmospheric pressure. The ink may be retained in the reservoir at, or above atmospheric pressure. Valve means may be provided which are selectively operable to release ink from the reservoir. The valve means may be located in the reservoir and may be arranged to release ink when they are removed from an outlet opening. The reservoir may comprise a replaceable cartridge . The printing stations may comprise drop on demand printers, print heads or nozzles. The printing stations that are arranged to be caused to print may be arranged to print simultaneously. Alternatively at least one printing station may be arranged to print after at least one other printing station has printed. The printing stations may be arranged to move relative to the printer, for instance in a stepwise fashion. That movement may be arranged to be caused by rotation of a member to produce linear movement of the printing stations. Printing may be arranged to occur at different locations of the printing stations, for instance after each step movement . The printing stations may be arranged to print at more than 30 or more than 60 or less than 2000 or preferably of the order of 100 different positions. The printing stations may be less than 40 or less than 30 or more than 5 or more than 10 or in the region of 20 mm wide. The movement of the printing stations may be arranged to be less than 200 or less than 100 or less than 80 or more than 5 or more than 10 or more than 20 or in the region of 50 mm in one direction. The printing stations may comprise a plurality of nozzles. The nozzles may be arranged to be in a line. Each nozzle may be associated with a valve. Each nozzle may be associated with a microvalve. The valves may be arranged to be actuated via a piezoelectric actuator or an electrostrictive actuator. The assembly comprising a microvalve and actuator may comprise a line print head. The line print head may be movable, for instance in a step movement. The printer may include gripping means to enable a user to hold the printer in their hand, for instance while printing. According to a further aspect of the present invention a method of operating a portable printer comprises moving the printer towards a surface to be printed on such that a plurality of printing stations of a printing region are each in a position in which they could print. The method may comprise causing at least one of the printing stations to print onto the surface with at least one of the other printing stations not so printing. The method may comprise bringing the printer towards the surface to be printed by holding the printer in the hand of a user. The method may comprise causing a change in those stations which print and those stations which do not print to occur automatically, for instance sequentially. The method may comprise programming the printer in order to alter those printing stations that are caused to print and those that do not print, for instance by connecting the printer into a remote programmer for instance by a physical connection such that the printer stores that information. The method may comprise powering the printer by a mains power source or by a battery power source or both. The method may comprise recharging the battery power source. The method may comprise disconnecting the printer from any mains power source when printing. The method may comprise actuating a switch in order to cause printing or in order to alter the printing. The method may comprise causing printing stations that are printing to print simultaneously. The method may comprise causing print from one printing station to be deposited on the surface prior to causing print from another printing station to be deposited on the surface. Print may be caused to be deposited on the surface by a mechanical force, for instance by pressing on an operating member which may be damped. The mechanical force may be transferred to a mechanical assembly. The mechanical force may cause movement of the printing stations. The mechanical force may be transduced additionally or alternatively, by an electromechanical generator. The electrical energy may be retained using the storage capacitor. The method may comprise selectively operating valves to cause printing to occur. The method may comprise retaining print under a pressure above ambient pressure. The method may comprise locating the valves within a reservoir of ink. The method may comprise causing the printing stations to move, for instance in a stepwise fashion, across a surface to be printed on or causing the printing stations to move continuously across that surface when printing. The method may comprise printing in one direction to occur in less than 5 or less than 4 or less than 3 or in the region of 2 seconds . The present invention includes a method of operating a portable printer when the portable printer is as herein referred to. The present invention includes any combination of the herein referred to features or limitations. The present invention can be carried in to practice in various ways but several embodiments will now be described, by way of example, and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a marker according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a schematic representation of an ink jet marker zone used by the marker shown in Figure 1 ; and Figure 3 is a schematic view of a motor scan arrangement for the marker shown in Figure 1; Figure 4 is a schematic representation of line print head operation; Figure 5 is a schematic cross view of two attached valve assemblies and nozzles; Figure 6 is a schematic representation of the operation and major components of the printer; and Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing how handheld the printer head may operate. Referring first to Figure 1, the marker comprises a hand held housing 10. The underside 12 of the housing includes a printing means to be described later. A trigger 14 that is mounted about a pivot 16 with the trigger 14 protruding from the top of the housing. This trigger can be depressed in order to actuate the printer on the underside 12 with the trigger moving about the pivot 16. The housing can include its own power source comprising a battery 18. Alternatively or additionally, a mains power source 20 can be provided to the housing 10, for instance by way of a flexible lead. The housing 10 also includes software 22 that dictates the pattern to be printed. The housing 10 also includes a socket 24 which can be used to program or alter the program of the software 22. An ink reservoir 26 is provided above the underside 12. In use the housing 10 will be carried in the hand of the user to the article to be marked and the underside will be placed against the surface of that article. Then the trigger 14 is depressed to cause the surface to be printed. Figure 2 shows one way in which the surface can be printed. This comprises an ink jet printer which can either be caused to print in the squares 30 to form a "T" in the Figure shown. Squares 32 where no printing is desired to occur remain blank. Where ink jet printing is occurring, 84 squares are connected to each possible region for marking with an ink supply tube being connected to each square. In one option the relevant tube being heated. Alternatively, each of the squares could have a number of different printing regions which can be caused to print independently of each other. In this way a pattern within each square can be printed. The housing may include one large head, each including a number, such as 84 tubes, or a desired number of tubes. Alternatively or additionally, a plurality of matrices may be provided, each having their own number of tubes to control the printing. In Figure 3, a motor driven arm 34 is caused to move across and above the region to be printed in the direction as shown by arrow 36 by means of a motor (not shown) . The motor may be a DC electric motor with some form of mechanical connection. The motor may, for example be a closed loop control type or a stepper motor with a lead screw. Different extents of the arm are heated or, alternatively actuated in order to cause printing beneath those heating sections to occur. In Figure 3, the squares 38 are currently being heated and printed and the squares 40 have previously been heated to cause printing to occur on that square. In one example the ink jet head may have a surface area of 32 mm x 10 mm and, in one pass, an image may be produced having at least 150 Dots Per Inch. The battery may be rechargeable, for instance by periodically plugging the main lead 20 if the lead 20 is not always to provide power directly from the mains when the housing is being used. It can be seen that the marker could be taken anywhere to an article and simply rested against the side of the article in order to print against the article . No severe pushing is required in order to impart energy to physical printing heads. Accordingly, more delicate articles can be printed without risk of damaging those articles through physical impact. Furthermore, an even printing occurs at each use. In addition, by feeding the appropriate information in to the software 22, any desired pattern or number or shape or numeral can be imparted to the article. The software could be arranged to advance the information imparted to successive articles sequentially. In addition the unit may be capable of retaining and replicating the date and time, and a number of pre programmed SMART functions, such as the ability to sequentially number in any whole number or multiple thereof i.e. 1,2,3,4. 2,4,6,8, - 3,6, 9,12 etc. The software may store a plurality of possible printing options. A further control member (not shown) may be provided on the housing in order to choose the required printing format. Figure 4 illustrates a line of nozzles 42 forming a line print head 44. During operation, the line print head 44 moves across a print area 46 in the direction of the arrow shown. The movement may be damped Figure 5 shows a cross-section of two nozzles 42 in connection with their associated microvalves 52. The microvalves 52 are connected to ceramic actuators 48, for instance by rods. The right hand actuator 48 has not been actuated and, therefore, the microvalve 52 is in the closed position. The left hand actuator 48 has been actuated and has raised its associated rod and, therefore, the microvalve 52 has been raised within the reservoir to be in the open position. Ink passes from the ink reservoir 62, which ink may be at a slight over (ambient) pressure, through the nozzle 42 onto the print area 46. Figure 6 illustrates the major principles of operation of the printing device. A mechanical stress is transferred by an operator to a plunger 54, which may be damped, in the direction of the arrow shown. This mechanical stress is subsequently split into two forces-. First, the primary mechanical stress is converted into an additional force by means of a piezoelectric generator or transducer 56. The piezoelectric generators 56 are housed on a circuit board 62. The electrical force drives the microvalve actuator 48 which in turn opens/closes the ■ microvalve 52 and nozzle 42 arrangements along the print head 44. Excess electrical charge is stored in temporary storage capacitors 64 which are housed on the circuit board 62. Back-up power may be supplied to the circuit board by means of a lithium cell 60. Concomitant to the mechanical stress to electrical force conversion, the primary mechanical stress is also converted to a secondary mechanical force 58 which drives the line print head raster, possibly in a damped manner, across the print area 46 in the direction of the arrow shown. The rastoring or traversing of the line print head may occur just after printing by the line print head. This produces a line-by-line print from one actuation of the plunger 54. Alternatively the print head may move continuously during a printing operation. The motor that drives the print head along from one print area to another may be a step motor that may, for instance, rotate a screw in a clockwise direction 97 times. Each time the screw is advanced a corresponding thread connected to the print head may be caused to move a predetermined short distance. The use of such a step motor allows the printer to know exactly where the head is at any one time. Each time the head has been stepped, printing at the required regions may be caused to occur. The length that the head can be stepped through may be 32 mm for instance and the width of the head may be 18 mm. It may take 2 seconds to step the head through 97 printing positions and 1 second to return the head to the start. The circuit board 62 may also allow for the storage of downloaded designs to select which microvalves print at each line location. An on board counter timer may also be provided for automatic date-time stamping and SMART functions. For instance, sequential numbering at consecutive print sites may be incorporated. The board may also contain Application Specific Integrated Circuits to drive the print head and provide SMART functions and programmability. The board may also store one or more additional images which are user selectable via a switch 5 (not shown) , and the board may include CMOS memories . The board may also include an RS232 connection or other such protocols to the circuit board to download images, setups and programs to the printing system. It will also provide a recharge/top up facility for the onboard backup cell. The ink reservoir may be refillable. The ink supply may comprise a reservoir and cartridge. The reservoir may be detachable from the cartridge whereby the reservoir can be replaced. Alternatively or additionally the ink reservoir may be connected with the ink jet head and arranged to move with the head or it may be connected to the head and arranged such that the reservoir does not move with the head. Figure 7 is a diagram of the components that may be in the hand held printer. Data is transferred into (or from) the printer via a port 66 to a data transfer region 68 of the printer. The port 66 may also be used to feed a charge circuit 70 which in turn charges a battery 72. The battery 72 powers a motor 74 that advances the print head in a stepwise fashion. As the battery is charged to 9 volts, power to the print head 78 to squeeze the ink, as in bend mode printing, is stepped up to 50 volts at a step up circuit 76. A control logic 80 receives information from a memory 82 about the position of the print head driven by the motor 74. The control logic also receives information from the data transfer 68 such that the control logic 80 can instruct a print head drive circuit 84 that knows when to permit printing from selected outlets so that exactly the information that is desired to be printed is printed at the required location. The data transfer 68, control logic 80, memory 82 and print head drive circuit may all be mounted or contained in a single chip which may, for instance be a custom ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) . The unit may be capable of being connected to, or of storing data from various intelligent devices such as PC's or digital cameras and may be able to replicate the image on to a chosen surface area, either directly from the devices or from a store supplied with information from those devices . A display 86 is provided which receives information from the control logic 80 and which can show, on a liquid crystal display, what is being or is to be printed, the mode of operation, the stage of printing or the program that is being operated or any combination of these or other features . The unit may have a non-volatile memory to ensure the images are retained. • The unit can retain a number of images, which are selected via a switch. A number or description of the image stored will be displayed on a LCD situated on the unit . A switch 88 is also connected to the logic 80. The switch may be operated to initiate a print, to allow information to be loaded into the data transfer or to instruct the print head to move on to the next printing program which may originate from the memory. It will be appreciated that with this mode of operation printing can take place of a number of alternative arrays without the print head having to have further information programmed into it each time a change is required. Although the present invention has been described in relation to ink jet printers, laser printers or any other printers may be used, either instead of ink jet printers or dot matrix printing or any combination thereof. For instance drop on demand printing may be achieved by what are known as flex mode or squeeze tube or direct mode or shear mode or bend mode operations. The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with or previous to this specification in connection with this application and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference . All of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , and/or all of the steps of any method or process so disclosed, may be combined in any combination, except combinations where at least some of such features and/or steps are mutually exclusive. Each feature disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features. The invention is not restricted to the details of the foregoing embodiment (s) . The invention extends to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the features disclosed in this specification (including any accompanying claims, abstract and drawings) , or to any novel one, or any novel combination, of the steps of any method or process so disclosed.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A portable printer including a printing region arranged, in use, to be brought towards a surface to be printed, the printing region including a plurality of printing stations each of which are in a position in which they are capable of printing on to a surface. 2. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 1 including control means arranged to control where the printing stations print. 3. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 2 in which the control means is arranged to cause at least one of the printing stations to print with at least one of the printing stations not printing. 4. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 2 or 3 in which the control means comprise software. 5. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 2, 3 or 4 in which the control means are arranged to change the print of the printing region automatically. 6. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 5 in which the control means are arranged to change the print of the printing region sequentially. 7. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 6 in which the control means are arranged to change the print of the printing region by selection means being activated to set the required print. 8. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 7 in which the control means are programmable. 9. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 8 including means for connecting the printer to a remote programmer whereby the control means can be programmed to print a particular marking. 10. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 9 in which the control means provide storage for information downloaded into the printer. 11. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 10 in which the control means provide an on-board counter means . 12. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 11 in which the control means are arranged to drive the printing region. 13. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim including a battery power source. 14. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim including a switch operable to cause printing. 15. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim including a reservoir of ink. 16. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim in which the printing stations comprise drop on demand printers . 17. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim in which the printing stations are arranged to be caused to print simultaneously. 18. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 17 in which at least one printing station is arranged to print after at least one other printing station has printed. 19. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim in which the printing stations are arranged to move relative to the printer. 20. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 19 including a reservoir of ink for the printing stations in which the printing stations are arranged to move relative to the reservoir. 21. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 19 or 20 in which the printing stations are arranged to move in a stepwise fashion. 22. A portable printer as claimed in Claim 19, 20 or 21 in which the movement is arranged to be caused by rotation of a member to produce linear movement of the printing stations . 23. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 19 to 22 in which the printing stations are arranged to print at more than 30 different relative positions. 24. A portable printer as claimed in any of Claims 19 to 23 in which the printing stations are arranged to print at more than 200 different relative positions. 25. A portable printer as claimed in any preceding claim including gripping means arranged to enable a user to hold the printer in their hand. 26. A method of operating a portable printer comprising moving the printer towards a surface to be printed on such that a plurality of printing stations of a printing region are each in a position in which they could print . 27. A method as claimed in Claim 26 comprising control means of the printer determining when printing stations print and when they do not print . 28. A method as claimed in Claim 26 or 27 comprising causing at least one of the printing stations to print onto the surface with at least one of the other printing stations not so printing. 29. A method as claimed in either of Claims 26, 27 or 28 comprising bringing the printer towards the surface to be printed by holding the printer in the hand of a user. 30. A method as claimed in either of Claims 26 to 29 comprising causing a change in those stations which print and those stations which do not print to occur automatically. 31. A method as claimed in any of Claims 26 to 30 comprising programming the printer in order to alter those printing stations that are caused to print and those that do not print . 32. A method as claimed in any of Claims 26 to 31 comprising causing printing stations that are printing to print simultaneously. 33. A method as claimed in any of Claims 26 to 32 comprising causing the printing stations to move across a surface to be printed on. 34. A method as claimed in Claim 33 comprising causing the printing in one direction to occur in less than 5 seconds .

Inventors: ARNOLD STEPHEN GRANT, ARNOLD, STEPHEN, GRANT
Applicants: ARNOLD STEPHEN GRANT, CABLEFORM LTD, ARNOLD, STEPHEN, GRANT, CABLEFORM LIMITED
Application year: 2000
Main classification: B41K1
IPC codes: B41J3, B41K1