A printing system for printing on sheets of media having asymmetric media characteristics. A media transport system is controlled to pick a next sheet of media from a media tray. A detection system detects a media orientation of the sheet of media. A front end supplies image data having an orientation matching the detected media orientation, and a printing module prints the supplied image data on the sheet of media in accordance with the detected media orientation.

A printer for printing plate-like media made of plastic and/or metal such as printing marker cards with markers for marking electrical appliances has various functional devices and an apparatus for handling the printable plate-like media. The marker cards are conveyed in the printer between the functional devices. The handling apparatus has several stations which are formed as receiving and fixing devices for a marker card to be printed. One or more of the stations is configured so as to be pivotable, such that it can be pivoted out of a first pivot position into a second pivot position against a resilient stop.

A printer for printing plate-like media made of plastic and/or metal such as printing marker cards with markers for marking electrical appliances has various functional devices and an apparatus for handling the printable plate-like media. The marker cards are conveyed in the printer between the functional devices. The handling apparatus has several stations which are formed as receiving and fixing devices for a marker card to be printed. One or more of the stations is configured so as to be pivotable, such that it can be pivoted out of a first pivot position into a second pivot position against a resilient stop.

An image forming system includes a first unit, a second unit, and a third unit. The first unit includes an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet fed from a feed unit. The second unit is arranged on a downstream side of the first unit and includes a cutting unit that cuts the sheet on which the image is formed by the image forming unit. The third unit is arranged on a downstream side of the second unit and includes a post-processing unit that post-processes the sheet cut by the cutting unit. A sheet cut to have a first size is discharged to a first discharge unit provided in the second unit. A sheet cut to have a second size larger than the first size is discharged to a second discharge unit provided in the third unit.

A card processing device may include a print unit and a card inverting unit that inverts front/rear of the card. The print unit may include a thermal head and a card conveyance mechanism. The card inverting unit may include a card holding part, a card drawing and feeding mechanism, and a rotating mechanism that rotates the card holding part. A conveyance path may be provided inside the card holding part. The conveyance path may be linear. The card drawing and feeding mechanism may include two drive rollers, and two pad rollers. A distance between a center of the drive roller and a center of the thermal head may be shorter than a length of the card. The thermal head may print on the card while the card conveyance mechanism conveys the card. The rotating mechanism may rotate the card holding part such that the conveyance path is inclined.

A card processing device may include a print unit and a card inverting unit that inverts front/rear of the card. The print unit may include a thermal head and a card conveyance mechanism. The card inverting unit may include a card holding part, a card drawing and feeding mechanism, and a rotating mechanism that rotates the card holding part. A conveyance path may be provided inside the card holding part. The conveyance path may be linear. The card drawing and feeding mechanism may include two drive rollers, and two pad rollers. A distance between a center of the drive roller and a center of the thermal head may be shorter than a length of the card. The thermal head may print on the card while the card conveyance mechanism conveys the card. The rotating mechanism may rotate the card holding part such that the conveyance path is inclined.

Thermal printing on plastic cards where the energization of each individually energizable heating element of a thermal printhead is adjusted based on a temperature of the thermal printhead and a density of the pixel to be printed. For each pixel, the printhead temperature and the pixel density of a pixel to be printed are used to adjust the strobe pulse length that energizes the heating element to print that pixel. By compensating for both printhead temperature and pixel density, a tighter tolerance of the resulting printed densities is achieved.

Thermal printing on plastic cards where the energization of each individually energizable heating element of a thermal printhead is adjusted based on a temperature of the thermal printhead and a density of the pixel to be printed. For each pixel, the printhead temperature and the pixel density of a pixel to be printed are used to adjust the strobe pulse length that energizes the heating element to print that pixel. By compensating for both printhead temperature and pixel density, a tighter tolerance of the resulting printed densities is achieved.

To provide a printing apparatus of high printing quality for decreasing a transport amount of a film-shaped medium used in the printing apparatus, and suppressing skew of the film-shaped medium, a control section 100 that controls a transport section 49 for transporting a film-shaped medium 46 controls a transport amount of the film-shaped medium 46, corresponding to information on whether or not to print on only one side of a recording medium in detecting a type and/or Empty of the film-shaped medium 46, based on a mark detection result in initializing operation of the film-shaped medium 46.

Card processing mechanisms and methods whereby after a card has been processed on one surface thereof at a card processing station such as, but not limited to, a card printing mechanism, the card can be recirculated back upstream of the card processing station along a return card travel path that is separate from the primary card travel path through the card processing station where the card can then be reintroduced back into the primary card travel path and transported through the card processing station a second time. As the card is being returned along the return card travel path, the card can be flipped over so that when the card is transported back through the card processing station, the opposite surface of the card can be processed.