A method for monitoring a characteristic of a printed image of a thermal transfer printer. The method comprises providing a ribbon and a substrate at a printing location of the thermal transfer printer. The method further comprises printing an image on the substrate at the printing location by transferring ink from a region of the ribbon in a printing operation, a negative image being formed on the region of ribbon. The method further comprises transporting the region of ribbon, by a ribbon transport system, from the printing location towards an imaging location along a ribbon transport path. The method further comprises when a characteristic of the ribbon transport meets a predetermined criterion, obtaining, by an image capture system, a ribbon image of the negative image. The method further comprises processing said ribbon image to generate data indicative of the characteristic of the printed image.

A method for monitoring a characteristic of a printed image of a thermal transfer printer. The method comprises providing a ribbon and a substrate at a printing location of the thermal transfer printer. The method further comprises printing an image on the substrate at the printing location by transferring ink from a region of the ribbon in a printing operation, a negative image being formed on the region of ribbon. The method further comprises transporting the region of ribbon, by a ribbon transport system, from the printing location towards an imaging location along a ribbon transport path. The method further comprises when a characteristic of the ribbon transport meets a predetermined criterion, obtaining, by an image capture system, a ribbon image of the negative image. The method further comprises processing said ribbon image to generate data indicative of the characteristic of the printed image.

The present invention relates generally to a printing system, and more specifically to an ordering of color-forming layers in a direct thermal printing medium. The present invention provides a direct thermal print medium with an ordering of the color layers that improves the perceived image sharpness and color uniformity of prints.

The present invention relates generally to a printing system, and more specifically to an ordering of color-forming layers in a direct thermal printing medium. The present invention provides a direct thermal print medium with an ordering of the color layers that improves the perceived image sharpness and color uniformity of prints.

An image forming apparatus includes a controller circuitry configured to control the ink-jet module to form a density adjustive image pattern on one of the multiple sheets, detect a jam during continuous feeding, and then determine whether or not images, which are to be formed on one or more fed-and-unejected sheets, include the density adjustive image pattern, where the images include the density adjustive image pattern, determine whether or not the unejected sheet, on which the density adjustive image pattern is to be formed, has passed through a certain position of the sheet conveyer path, and control the ink-jet module, where the unejected sheet, on which the density adjustive image pattern is to be formed, has passed through the certain position, not to re-form the density adjustive image pattern and to re-form images on rest of the unejected sheets.

An image forming apparatus includes a controller circuitry configured to control the ink-jet module to form a density adjustive image pattern on one of the multiple sheets, detect a jam during continuous feeding, and then determine whether or not images, which are to be formed on one or more fed-and-unejected sheets, include the density adjustive image pattern, where the images include the density adjustive image pattern, determine whether or not the unejected sheet, on which the density adjustive image pattern is to be formed, has passed through a certain position of the sheet conveyer path, and control the ink-jet module, where the unejected sheet, on which the density adjustive image pattern is to be formed, has passed through the certain position, not to re-form the density adjustive image pattern and to re-form images on rest of the unejected sheets.

A multicolor thermal printer comprising a controller, a thermal printhead, multicolor thermal paper, a monochrome lightness sensor, and a calibration subsystem is described. The calibration subsystem prints a calibration target that is scanned by the monochrome lightness sensor to determine if color crosstalk is present. If color crosstalk is present, the calibration subsystem decreases the contone range of affected colors and saves the new calibration settings.

A cartridge, that can reduce the diameter of a winding core, to be installed in a tape printing device includes: a cartridge case that constitutes an outer shell of the cartridge and accommodates a printing tape, a tape core on which the printing tape is wound, an ink ribbon, and a winding core; a core concave part on the cartridge case and into which a core convex part is inserted from a back side in an installation direction when the cartridge is installed in a cartridge installation part; and a cartridge-side first engagement part and a cartridge-side second engagement part that engage a device-side first engagement part and a device-side second engagement part, respectively, when the core convex part is inserted into the core concave part to change a state of a torque switching mechanism from a second to a first state or from the first to the second state.

To prevent an insufficient development density of pixels with which a high-density image is recorded. Thermal energy to be applied to a pixel of interest is increased if a pixel immediately subsequent to the pixel of interest is one to which energy not causing heat propagation to the pixel of interest is applied.

Direct thermal recording media are designed to operate based on a thermally-induced change of state rather than a thermally-induced chemical reaction between a leuco dye and an acidic developer. The media use two types of scattering particles, one of which changes its state from solid to liquid during printing, and the other of which does not. The former particles, upon melting, fill spaces between the latter particles, thus eliminating or substantially reducing light scattering, which makes an underlying colorant visible at selected print locations where heat is locally applied. The latter, higher melting point particles have a caged morphology and comprise perforated particles. The media can provide high quality thermally-produced images at print speeds at least as high as 10 inches per second (ips).