Printer

Innovative Idea About Printer

By, Reshma T

INTRODUCTION The word printer means different things in different fields of applications. Going by the generic meaning, a printer means one who is in the occupation of printing and publishing. It also means a device which prints out the results of data computed by computers, as applied to computers. In the celluloid world, it stands for devices used to copy and modify films. It is extremely relevant to talk about the computer printers in this article. A computer printer transforms digitally stored documents of graphics or text data into paper/hard copies. Printers can be permanently interfaced with individual computers or can be anywhere in the network, invariably through network interfaces, either wired or wireless, so that any or all users can share for hard copy production. You will normally see a wired network in small areas known as LAN and wireless networks or Ethernets are over a wide area (WAN). Types of Modern Printers have evolved so much that you can have true life quality printing with them which is a departure from the earlier 'dot matrix' printers. Here are some printers which are relevant today. A· Inkjet printers B· Laser printers C· Plotters D· Thermal printers E· Digital minilabs Generally in an office environment, the first three types of printers are the preferred ones. These are designed especially for office needs such as printing text matters, graphics like charts and power point presentation documents etc with an exception that plotters are dedicated for uses like constructional drawings which can't be 'printed'.

Printing technology Printers are routinely classified by the underlying print technology they employ; numerous such technologies have been developed over the years. The choice of print engine has a substantial effect on what jobs a printer is suitable for, as different technologies are capable of different levels of image/text quality, print speed, low cost, noise; in addition, some technologies are inappropriate for certain types of physical media (such as carbon paper or transparencies). Another aspect of printer technology that is often forgotten is resistance to alteration: liquid ink such as from an inkjet head or fabric ribbon becomes absorbed by the paper fibers, so documents printed with a liquid ink sublimation printer are more difficult to alter than documents printed with toner or solid inks, which do not penetrate below the paper surface. Checks should either be printed with liquid ink or on special "check paper with toner anchorage For similar reasons carbon film ribbons for IBM Electric typewriters bore labels warning against using them to type negotiable instruments such as checks. The machine-readable lower portion of a check, however, must be printed using MICR toner or ink. Banks and other clearing houses employ automation equipment that relies on the magnetic flux from these specially printed characters to function properly.

Printing mode The data received by a printer may be: 1. 2. 3.

a string of characters a bitmapped image a vector image

Some printers can process all three types of data, others not.

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Character Printers (such as Daisy wheel printers) can handle only plain text data or rather simple point plots. Pen Plotters typically process vector images. Inkjet based Plotters can adequately reproduce all three. Modern printing technology, such as laser printers and inkjet printers, can adequately reproduce all three. This is especially true of printers equipped with support for PostScript and/or PCL; which includes the vast majority of printers produced today.

Today it is common to print everything (even plain text) by sending ready bitmapped images to the printer, because it allows better control over formatting. Many printer drivers do not use the text mode at all, even if the printer is capable of it. Monochrome, color and photo printers A monochrome printer can only produce an image consisting of one color, usually black. A monochrome printer may also be able to produce various tones of that color, such as a grey-scale. A color printer can produce images of multiple colors. A photo printer is a color printer that can produce images that mimic the color range (gamut) and resolution of photographic methods of printing. Many can be used autonomously (without a computer), with a memory card or USB connector. The printer manufacturing business Often the razor and blades business model is applied. That is, a company may sell a printer at cost, and make profits on the ink cartridge, paper, or some other replacement part. This has caused legal disputes regarding the right of companies other than the printer manufacturer to sell compatible ink cartridges.

Printing speed The speed of early printers was measured in units of characters per second. More modern printers are measured in pages per minute. These

measures are used primarily as a marketing tool, and are not well standardized. Usually pages per minute refer to sparse monochrome office documents, rather than dense pictures which usually print much more slowly. PPMS are most of the time referring to A4 paper in Europe and letter paper in the US, resulting in a 5-10% difference.

Other printers A number of other sorts of printers are important for historical reasons, or for special purpose uses: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Digital minilab (photographic paper) Plotter Line Printers Dot matrix Printer Daisy wheel Printer Impact Printer UV Printer Thermal Printer Electrolytic printers Pen-based plotters Typewriter-derived printers Teletypewriter-derived printers Microsphere (special paper) Spark printer barcode printer multiple technologies, including: thermal printing, inkjet printing, and laser printing barcodes Billboard / sign paint spray printers

Laser etching (product packaging) industrial printer

Our suggested idea: To have a rewritable printer. Normally, in any workplaces if a paper is wasted because of some kind of disturbance it is thrown away, as it cannot

be used again. But, her with the help of our rewritable printer those papers can again be used.

Technique behind our idea A special pigment in the paper that reacts to heat. If heated above 180 degrees centigrade the pigment turns black, creating an image on the sheet. However, if the surface is heated to between 130 and 170degrees the pigment reverts to white, allowing the image to be ‘erased’.

Characteristics of the Rewritable Printer: 1. A rewritable printer characterized by comprising a printing processing unit for printing on a rewritable heat sensitive medium and an erasing processing unit for erasing a printed portion of the printed heat sensitive medium. 2. The rewritable printer, according to Claim 1, characterized by comprising a stocker for storing the heat sensitive medium with the printed portion erased by the erasing processing unit and feeding means for feeding the heat sensitive medium to the printing processing unit. 3. The rewritable printer, according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized by sequentially providing the erasing processing unit and the printing processing unit in a paper carriage of a printing machine. 4. The rewritable printer, according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized by separately forming the erasing processing unit and the printing processing unit. 5. A rewritable printing method characterized in that a heating temperature toward the heat sensitive medium at an erasing mode is more than a

temperature of lower limit of a discoloring area and less than a temperature of lower limit of a coloring area when printing continuously after erasing printing of the heat sensitive medium with leuco type coating applied. 6. The rewritable printing method, according to Claim 5, characterized in that the heating temperature toward the heat sensitive medium at the erasing mode ranges from 120 DEG C to 180 DEG C. 7. The rewritable printing method, according to Claim 5, characterized in that an energy to be loaded in order to heat for the printing in printing continuously after erasing is changed according to an outside air temperature and/or a surface temperature of the heat sensitive medium. 8. The rewritable printing method, according to Claim 5 or 7, characterized in that printing is performed by a printing head with printing resolution from 200 dpi to 600 dpi and the energy to be loaded in order to heat for the printing ranges from 0.1 mJ to 5 mJ per one dot.

Conclusion By this new concept of ours we expect that it will be used and feasible in all the work places.