Patent ID: 8292525

Claim:
A method for controlling a thermotransfer print head comprising a plurality of individually activatable printing elements, for use with an ink carrier device for printing on a printing medium, said method comprising the steps of: in a feed step, supplying respective energy quantities from an energy source to selected printing elements, among said plurality of printing elements, that are selected in a processor, to cause transfer of ink from the ink carrier device onto the printing medium to generate a plurality of image points collectively forming a barcode, with each image point having a position in the barcode, said barcode being a two-dimensional barcode comprised of a plurality of printed and non-printed barcode modules in a matrix, each barcode module comprising a plurality of said image points, with each barcode module having a module position in said two-dimensional barcode; in a determination step implemented in said processor separate from said feed step, determining the respective energy quantity to be supplied to the printing element in said feed step dependent on the respective position of said image point in said barcode and determining the respective energy quantities to be supplied to the printing elements in said feed step dependent on the position of the barcode module in the two-dimensional barcode in which the image point to be printed by the respective printing element is contained; for each of said barcode modules, defining, in said processor, a print status thereof dependent on whether that barcode module is a printed or a non-printed barcode module; for each of said barcode modules, identifying, in said processor, predetermined neighboring barcode modules that are among barcode modules in the two-dimensional barcode that are adjacent to that barcode module; in said determination step, determining the energy quantity to be supplied to the respective printing elements in said feed step dependent on the print status of the predetermined neighboring barcode modules of the barcode module in which the respective printing element will generate an image point; for each print status configuration of said predetermined neighboring barcode modules, identifying, in said processor, a separate energy template therefor; and in said determination step, determining the energy quantity to be fed to the respective printing elements in the feed step using the energy template for the existing print status configuration of said predetermined neighboring barcode modules.