A card-issuing device may include a card stack unit, a card feeding mechanism. A card reader unit configured to perform at least one of reading of data recorded on a card and recording of data onto a card, a printing unit, and a card-flipping unit. The printing unit may include a supply roll, a winding roll, and a thermal head. The thermal head may be arranged between the supply roll and the winding roll in a front-rear direction of the card-issuing device, the supply roll and the winding roll may be arranged above the thermal head, and the card stack unit, the card-flipping unit, the thermal head, and the card reader unit may be arranged in that order in the front-rear direction.

A card-issuing device may include a card stack unit, a card feeding mechanism. A card reader unit configured to perform at least one of reading of data recorded on a card and recording of data onto a card, a printing unit, and a card-flipping unit. The printing unit may include a supply roll, a winding roll, and a thermal head. The thermal head may be arranged between the supply roll and the winding roll in a front-rear direction of the card-issuing device, the supply roll and the winding roll may be arranged above the thermal head, and the card stack unit, the card-flipping unit, the thermal head, and the card reader unit may be arranged in that order in the front-rear direction.

A high speed tabletop and industrial printer is disclosed with integrated high speed RFID encoding and verification at the same time. The industrial printer simultaneously prints on and electronically encodes/verifies RFID labels, tags, and/or stickers attached to a continuous web. The industrial printer comprises a lighted sensor array for indexing the printing to the RFID tags; and a cutter powered from the industrial printer for cutting the web that the RFID tags are disposed on. The industrial printer comprises two RFID reader/writers that are individually controlled. Specifically, one of the RFID reader/writers comprises the ability to electronically encode the RFID tags while the web is moving; and the second RFID reader/writer uses an additional RFID module and antenna on the printer for verifying the data encoded to the RFID tags.

A high speed tabletop and industrial printer is disclosed with integrated high speed RFID encoding and verification at the same time. The industrial printer simultaneously prints on and electronically encodes/verifies RFID labels, tags, and/or stickers attached to a continuous web. The industrial printer comprises a lighted sensor array for indexing the printing to the RFID tags; and a cutter powered from the industrial printer for cutting the web that the RFID tags are disposed on. The industrial printer comprises two RFID reader/writers that are individually controlled. Specifically, one of the RFID reader/writers comprises the ability to electronically encode the RFID tags while the web is moving; and the second RFID reader/writer uses an additional RFID module and antenna on the printer for verifying the data encoded to the RFID tags.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a printer including a print head, a platen roller, a sheet position sensor, an antenna, and a movable portion. The print head is configured to print on a strip-shaped sheet. The platen roller is configured to move the sheet pinched between the platen roller and the print head along a longitudinal direction of the sheet. The sheet position sensor is provided on a substrate disposed on an upstream side of the print head in a conveyance direction of the sheet, and is configured to detect a position of the sheet. The antenna is provided on the substrate and is configured to write information to a wireless tag provided on the sheet. The movable portion is configured to move the substrate along a width direction of the sheet.

An image forming apparatus to which a containing a recording material is attached removably includes a specifying unit configured to specify a usage amount of the recording material that has been used for printing in a predetermined period, and a prediction unit configured to predict a remaining period for using the attached container, based on a remaining amount of the recording material contained in the attached cartridge and the specified usage amount. The specified usage amount does not include a usage amount of the recording material which has been used in the predetermined period by the image forming apparatus which has been in a predetermined state.

A desktop plastic card printer that is configured to allow installation of a smart card cartridge within an interior space of the printer housing through an opening, for example an opening in a side wall, in the printer housing. Both the mechanical installation and electrical installation of the smart card cartridge occurs via the opening. This allows the desktop plastic card printer to be quickly and easily retrofitted to have the ability to electronically read data from and/or electronically program data on an integrated circuit chip of a plastic card. The retrofitting can take place without using any mechanical tools and without having to remove the entire, or a substantial portion of, the printer housing.

The present disclosure provides a system and method for generating RFID labels using a non-RFID label printer and an easy-to-attach RFID encoder. The RFID encoder comprises an RFID controller coupled to a network, one or more antennas, a label detector, and an RFID reader. The RFID encoder can be packed into two or more encoder units that are clipped onto the front and back of the non-RFID label printer. The RFID controller receives a packet of reader settings and a packet (array) of encode data via the one or more antennas. As unprinted labels pass through the non-RFID label printer and the RFID encoder, the label detector senses tags of the unprinted labels, and triggers the RFID controller and the non-RFID label printer to encode RFIDs onto the tags.

An image forming apparatus includes a wireless tag communication device to write data to, and read data from, a wireless tag attached to a sheet. An image forming device in the apparatus is configured to form an image on the sheet. A controller in the apparatus is configured to determine whether a writing of data to a wireless tag was successful based on a notification from the wireless tag communication device and generate investigation support information if the writing was not successful and control the image forming device to form an investigation support image corresponding to the investigation support information if the writing was not successful.

An image forming apparatus includes a wireless tag communication device to write data to, and read data from, a wireless tag attached to a sheet. An image forming device in the apparatus is configured to form an image on the sheet. A controller in the apparatus is configured to determine whether a writing of data to a wireless tag was successful based on a notification from the wireless tag communication device and generate investigation support information if the writing was not successful and control the image forming device to form an investigation support image corresponding to the investigation support information if the writing was not successful.