Patent ID: 7914213

Claim:
Printing device for receipts, each receipt having a first area bearing constant data that is the same from one receipt to another, and a second area bearing variable data that varies from one receipt to another, said device comprising: a roll containing a continuous paper ribbon, a first printing unit, ink jet, dot-matrix type, a second printing unit thermal, dot-matrix type, said first and said second printing units being arranged along a print path, a feeding mechanism that feeds said paper ribbon along said print path to permit printing of said paper ribbon by said first and said second printing units, a cutter that cuts said continuous paper ribbon after the printing, so as to form the receipts, and a control unit connected to said first ink jet printing unit and said second thermal printing unit, the control unit adapted to cause, for each receipt, said first ink jet printing unit to print on said paper ribbon said constant data, and to cause said second thermal printing unit to print on said paper ribbon said variable data wherein: said control unit is adapted to manage the operation of said printing device so that said first ink jet printing unit prints said constant data for each of said receipts, automatically and independently of said variable data, during a first preliminary printing step, and said second thermal printing unit prints, in response to a print command, said variable data received from said control unit and relative to each of said receipts, during a second printing step following said first printing step, said second thermal printhead is adapted to print, during said second step subsequent to said first step, a given length of said ribbon at a printing speed that is greater than that of said first ink jet printhead, during said first step, said first ink jet printing unit is colour type for printing on said paper ribbon, in colour form, predetermined symbols and/or characters, said second thermal printing unit is of the in-line type and comprises a printhead arranged in a fixed position transversally with respect to said paper ribbon and also having a width substantially corresponding to that of a single line to be printed on said paper ribbon, and said first ink jet printing unit is arranged downstream of said second thermal printing unit along said print path according to the direction of feeding of said paper ribbon.