Desk Pen Printer
Printer To Minimize Ink Costs by using the cheapest ink source
Solution: more a micro-mechanical solution to utilize a much cheaper source of ink – standard desk pens. The user will provide the pens they have available. These may be from Staples’ in the 20 for $5 sale, or from the hotel desk, or Sharpies.
Print and image quality is not required to be as high. By manual experiments, legible 8pt type is believed to be attainable. A typical Sharpie may not be able to achieve 8pt type. The calibration of the printer would recognize what printing capability is available, and adjust accordingly.
The Desk Pen Printer uses standard desk pens to perform the drawing. Set an assembly containing a linear traction device, a desk pen is held in a sub-assembly moved by the traction device with a mechanical clutch to hold the pen. The sub-assembly would provide three dimensions of movement with the transit on the traction function providing extension on the width of the print area, the pen could then be moved in small areas x and y with the placement by the print assembly, and in a z motion, provide clearance from the paper and pressure on the paper.
1. tight attachment to the traction device in the assembly to provide minimal movement.
2. A clutch to hold a standard desk pen vertically.
3. Three dimensions of movement comprising
a. X, Y movements on the order of 10mm.
b. Z movements on the order of 5mm.
4. A strain gauge on the Z movements to allow the calculation of pressure applied from pen to paper to allow varied line quality.
5. A small camera to provide feedback on the status of the paper and printing.
6. A small light to provide visibility for the camera.
Feedback Mechanism
Because there is variance in pens, a feedback mechanism is added to allow the control of the system to learn the operational quality of each pen.
• What color is the ink?
• What is the width of the draw line?
• How does pen perform at different pressures?
Multiple assemblies can be sequenced one after another in the Printer Chassis. In conjunction with software, this will allow greater speed of printing, higher quality, color printing, and recovery from failed pens.
It is also envisioned that the assembly will have two additional stop points outside the standard print area.
1. One position would be the place for the clutch to release pens that no longer work.
2. One position to retrieve the insertion of a new pen.
Pen Sub Assembly
Pen Movement
The active printing strip is 10mm wide with the pen having a 10mm x 10mm movement within that range, with the range moving in either Y direction anywhere on the width of the print area due to the action of the Printer Assembly. Within that 10mm x 10mm area, the pen sub-assembly can position the pen within a 128 x 128 grid. This produces a target resolution of 300 DPI.
In the placement and movement of the pen, there specific actions that need to be assured:
1. The pen can be placed at a point for a varying time to allow the pen to bleed a bit (different size pixels). Different pens will have different bleed rates, or none at all, and the controllers can take advantage of this.
2. When the pen is placed for a move to a second point, the movement should be immediately after the placement to reduce spotting.
3. The movement of a pen will involve multiple movements. Each movement should be able to proceed directly without pause or lifting the pen.
The working vision for the Pen Onboarding and Pen Discard capability is that in the extreme position, a pen can be waiting, and in another position, very close to the pen-in-wait position, there is a clean drop point, also outside the paper flow area, that goes to a basket below.
The software for this printer system would cross several classes of consideration, and the organization would include:
1. Paper advancement – primarily the domain of the chassis.
2. Pen onboarding and Pen Discharge– manipulating the clutch, these processes manage the acceptance and rejection of the pen. Discharge would be coordinated with print quality software.
3. Print quality feedback software – in the Pen Holder Subassembly, there is a camera. The purpose of this software is to calibrate pen position and pen pressure, and print and pen quality.
4. Inter print assembly alignment – As the page flows across print assemblies, relative alignment will be verified to guide pens to print in the correct position.
5. Inter print assembly coordination – Coordinate the deployment of color and gap filling. With an overall knowledge of what print assemblies are available, the tasks of applying ink can be spread across multiple printer assemblies.
6. Print planning – The process of printing with a pen is a process of best reasonable action given available
7. User level Software – communicating with the user that actions need to be taken: add paper, unblock jam, check pen which appears to not be working, etc.
Whereas there may be multiple pen assemblies available for printing, the print stream of paper may contain more than one page with the earlier print assemblies working on subsequent pages. It is anticipated that if multiple pages are in the print stream, they will be advanced simultaneously.
Coordinating with a print quality software and inter-print assembly coordination, when the time comes to replace a pen, it will be moved to the ejection point, and dropped, then, the assembly will move to the pen acceptance point where a new pen will be picked up.
Generally, the pen will be replaced with an identical pen in color and print quality, but in the user may not have that pen available in that case, a registration process will need to occur.
When calibrating the pen, the effect created with different pen pressures can be determined. This will help identify pens that are soft-tipped and able to draw wider lines.
An initial alignment process would involve testing the pen for color, sensitivity to pressure, and sloppiness of nib or tip when moved. Not knowing the nature of the pen before it is inserted, a test would be performed on the paper at a place where the widest, darkest patch is available needing to be filled. Absent that, it is permissible for registration to make stray marks on the paper in a blank area if no other options are available.
Sampling the visual presence of the ink on the paper allows the similarity of pens to be determined, which can lead to the splitting of print load across print assemblies.
Course-level alignment can be performed printing patterns on a blank sheet of paper. This should only be necessary when the configuration of print assemblies is changed or software is reset – that is, not very often.
Fine-level alignment would be performed as necessary for the application of more ink to areas that have been printed upstream.
The nature of the sequential print assemblies is that it may be possible for more than one portion of a page to be receiving ink at a time. Alignment with the print assemblies will also include alignment with the page of paper.
Consider a pen that is drawing a portion of the page. Print quality feedback will detect any holes or bleeds that have been put down by this pen. An inter print assembly coordination process could be used to determine if that pen should go back to repair the skip, or request a downstream pen to perform the work.
The determination of what would be done may be dependent upon the work condition and availability downstream. For example:
1. Open assembly may be quite engaged on a full width of printing, and this print assembly may have only a narrow swath. In that case, rather than this pen assembly being idle, it can back up and re-apply more ink.
2. A future assembly may have a similar ink capability or one that is close.
3. If this pen assembly is the one task blocking the advancement of the paper, and there’s a future head suitable for filling the gap, then it may proceed.
The application of ink from a pen is done in a couple ways either dotting, or drawing. In dotting, the pen tip is pressed into the paper and retracted, in drawing, the pen is pressed to the paper, and then pulled some distance. It is possible that a single pen may be used in both ways.
Graphic Region Printing
A graphic block may consist of a single color that has enough width in a dimension to consider a straight stroke of the pen. The area may vary in intensity, which may be handled with less pressure on the paper, or dotting. Drawing these regions will include color planning with available pens, and combining the strokes to best achieve that color. Colors may be on top of each other, or in staggering lines.
Consideration can also be given to having ink hollowness. In a large graphic block, rather than scribbling over every fiber of the paper, allow the ink density to reach a maximum with paper showing through like a screen door. This will help maintain the integrity of the paper.
Printer Feedback Camera
To assure alignment on the printing, an area wider than the 10mm x 10mm is needed, and a resolution higher than 128 x 128. The nominal width of a printer assembly is 30mm, and the width of the camera view would not be expected to be wider than that. 20mm square is likely sufficient with a color resolution of 1k-pixel square.
Image Printing
The desk pen printer is not anticipated to have excellent image reproduction. (It’s a printer for people who do not want to throw money down the drain for ink cartridges). The three primary ingredients in image drawing are hue, saturation, and brightness.
The preceding is an example of the types of strokes that are envisioned. In the context of the 10mm strips of available pen movement, the pen lines are laid out to achieve the overall shading effect.
If black pens are available, then those can be used for providing the absence of brightness, or blue for black may be the way to go. The hue and saturation are figured out based on the calibration of the available pens. A color that can be reasonably replicated will be replicated. If there is no close color, then applying color is not necessary, but an attempt to get the right relative brightness is still a goal .
A pen pass is one strip across the paper of nominally 10mm . In that pass, the Printer Assembly is coordinated to apply the ink in an efficient manner either with strokes or dots.
In the following example, the letter “t” can be drawn differently depending upon its size relative to the pen point.
The print is planned to travel the pen efficiently, then print quality is sampled to see how close the letter is to the ideal form, and one of several outcomes is possible:
1. This pen revisits part of the recently printed work and applies a touchup.
2. A subsequent pen assembly is instructed to do the repair.
3. The blemish is ignored.
On a subsequent print pass, either on this print assembly, or on a following print assembly downstream, image quality checks will compare what is on the paper with the expected form, and add to the printing if it fits with the print schedule of ejecting the page, and the quality improvement that is anticipated.
The paper advances allowing each raster assembly to have domain over a stripe of paper. The pens then contribute to that stripe.
Consider that the chassis and the print assemblies should be commoditized separately. A chassis will have the primary mechanisms to load and dispense paper, and attach one or more print assemblies.
The preceding is a schematic for a six-pen capable chassis configured with three pens.
Goal
Much of the expense of operating printers is in the cost of the ink. The little cartridges can cost $20, $30, $40 dollars each for ink jet cartridges and more for toner cartridges. The printers are themselves are close to free in exchange for the future revenues on ink cartridges.Solution: more a micro-mechanical solution to utilize a much cheaper source of ink – standard desk pens. The user will provide the pens they have available. These may be from Staples’ in the 20 for $5 sale, or from the hotel desk, or Sharpies.
Print and image quality is not required to be as high. By manual experiments, legible 8pt type is believed to be attainable. A typical Sharpie may not be able to achieve 8pt type. The calibration of the printer would recognize what printing capability is available, and adjust accordingly.
High-Level Description of System
The standard ink-jet printer consists of a cartridge that passes across the paper spraying small dots of ink in a precise and controlled manner. Once calibrated and ink flowing properly, the print head is otherwise assumed flawless, no feedback from how the ink is actually hitting the page is necessary for the system to work.The Desk Pen Printer uses standard desk pens to perform the drawing. Set an assembly containing a linear traction device, a desk pen is held in a sub-assembly moved by the traction device with a mechanical clutch to hold the pen. The sub-assembly would provide three dimensions of movement with the transit on the traction function providing extension on the width of the print area, the pen could then be moved in small areas x and y with the placement by the print assembly, and in a z motion, provide clearance from the paper and pressure on the paper.
Basically, your paper moves under one or more pens writing on the paper in a coordinated fashion. When a pen dries out, it can be dropped and you can replace it. Otherwise, the software attempts to re-adjust it's print strategy to use the pens that remain.
The Pen Holder Sub-Assembly
The subassembly is a multi-function component that comprises these capabilities:1. tight attachment to the traction device in the assembly to provide minimal movement.
2. A clutch to hold a standard desk pen vertically.
3. Three dimensions of movement comprising
a. X, Y movements on the order of 10mm.
b. Z movements on the order of 5mm.
4. A strain gauge on the Z movements to allow the calculation of pressure applied from pen to paper to allow varied line quality.
5. A small camera to provide feedback on the status of the paper and printing.
6. A small light to provide visibility for the camera.
Feedback Mechanism
Because there is variance in pens, a feedback mechanism is added to allow the control of the system to learn the operational quality of each pen.
• What color is the ink?
• What is the width of the draw line?
• How does pen perform at different pressures?
The Printer Assembly
The print assembly is firmly affixed to the printer chassis, though it should be easily removable for maintenance. The assembly consists of a traction device to move the pen holder subassembly across the paper.Multiple assemblies can be sequenced one after another in the Printer Chassis. In conjunction with software, this will allow greater speed of printing, higher quality, color printing, and recovery from failed pens.
It is also envisioned that the assembly will have two additional stop points outside the standard print area.
1. One position would be the place for the clutch to release pens that no longer work.
2. One position to retrieve the insertion of a new pen.
Pen Sub Assembly
Pen Movement
The active printing strip is 10mm wide with the pen having a 10mm x 10mm movement within that range, with the range moving in either Y direction anywhere on the width of the print area due to the action of the Printer Assembly. Within that 10mm x 10mm area, the pen sub-assembly can position the pen within a 128 x 128 grid. This produces a target resolution of 300 DPI.
In the placement and movement of the pen, there specific actions that need to be assured:
1. The pen can be placed at a point for a varying time to allow the pen to bleed a bit (different size pixels). Different pens will have different bleed rates, or none at all, and the controllers can take advantage of this.
2. When the pen is placed for a move to a second point, the movement should be immediately after the placement to reduce spotting.
3. The movement of a pen will involve multiple movements. Each movement should be able to proceed directly without pause or lifting the pen.
The Clutch
Crucial to the Desk Pen Printer is the clutch that can hold and release pens securely. One or more hold points may be possible. If there are two hold points, the top hold point may pivot and perform the Z movement while allowing the bottom point to perform the X,Y movements.The working vision for the Pen Onboarding and Pen Discard capability is that in the extreme position, a pen can be waiting, and in another position, very close to the pen-in-wait position, there is a clean drop point, also outside the paper flow area, that goes to a basket below.
Software
Accommodating the unpredictable and varied nature of desk pens is highly dependent on dynamic software driven with intelligent feedback. The challenges of the micro-mechanical movement are only possible with active feedback of the system.The software for this printer system would cross several classes of consideration, and the organization would include:
1. Paper advancement – primarily the domain of the chassis.
2. Pen onboarding and Pen Discharge– manipulating the clutch, these processes manage the acceptance and rejection of the pen. Discharge would be coordinated with print quality software.
3. Print quality feedback software – in the Pen Holder Subassembly, there is a camera. The purpose of this software is to calibrate pen position and pen pressure, and print and pen quality.
4. Inter print assembly alignment – As the page flows across print assemblies, relative alignment will be verified to guide pens to print in the correct position.
5. Inter print assembly coordination – Coordinate the deployment of color and gap filling. With an overall knowledge of what print assemblies are available, the tasks of applying ink can be spread across multiple printer assemblies.
6. Print planning – The process of printing with a pen is a process of best reasonable action given available
7. User level Software – communicating with the user that actions need to be taken: add paper, unblock jam, check pen which appears to not be working, etc.
Paper Advancement
The printing chassis performs the mechanical action of advancing the paper. This is performed when all pens are lifted. It may be possible to construct vertical lines by moving the paper with one or more pens down, but that action is not in consideration at this time due to an additional variable of friction.Whereas there may be multiple pen assemblies available for printing, the print stream of paper may contain more than one page with the earlier print assemblies working on subsequent pages. It is anticipated that if multiple pages are in the print stream, they will be advanced simultaneously.
Pen Onboarding and Pen Discard
These tasks include manipulating the clutch of the pen subassembly to manage the acceptance and rejection of the pen.Coordinating with a print quality software and inter-print assembly coordination, when the time comes to replace a pen, it will be moved to the ejection point, and dropped, then, the assembly will move to the pen acceptance point where a new pen will be picked up.
Generally, the pen will be replaced with an identical pen in color and print quality, but in the user may not have that pen available in that case, a registration process will need to occur.
When calibrating the pen, the effect created with different pen pressures can be determined. This will help identify pens that are soft-tipped and able to draw wider lines.
Print QualityFeedback Software
In the Pen Holder Sub-assembly, there is a small camera. The purpose of this camera and associated software is to calibrate pen position and pen pressure, and print and pen quality.An initial alignment process would involve testing the pen for color, sensitivity to pressure, and sloppiness of nib or tip when moved. Not knowing the nature of the pen before it is inserted, a test would be performed on the paper at a place where the widest, darkest patch is available needing to be filled. Absent that, it is permissible for registration to make stray marks on the paper in a blank area if no other options are available.
Sampling the visual presence of the ink on the paper allows the similarity of pens to be determined, which can lead to the splitting of print load across print assemblies.
Multiple Print Assembly Alignment
As the page flows across print assemblies, relative alignment will be verified to guide pens to print in the correct position. The subsequent print assemblies will know the expected form coming down the print stream, and can perform position alignment with that.Course-level alignment can be performed printing patterns on a blank sheet of paper. This should only be necessary when the configuration of print assemblies is changed or software is reset – that is, not very often.
Fine-level alignment would be performed as necessary for the application of more ink to areas that have been printed upstream.
The nature of the sequential print assemblies is that it may be possible for more than one portion of a page to be receiving ink at a time. Alignment with the print assemblies will also include alignment with the page of paper.
Inter print assembly coordination
Coordinate the deployment of color and gap filling. With an overall knowledge of what print assemblies are available, the tasks of applying ink can be spread across multiple printer assemblies.Consider a pen that is drawing a portion of the page. Print quality feedback will detect any holes or bleeds that have been put down by this pen. An inter print assembly coordination process could be used to determine if that pen should go back to repair the skip, or request a downstream pen to perform the work.
The determination of what would be done may be dependent upon the work condition and availability downstream. For example:
1. Open assembly may be quite engaged on a full width of printing, and this print assembly may have only a narrow swath. In that case, rather than this pen assembly being idle, it can back up and re-apply more ink.
2. A future assembly may have a similar ink capability or one that is close.
3. If this pen assembly is the one task blocking the advancement of the paper, and there’s a future head suitable for filling the gap, then it may proceed.
Printing Images and Text
Printing images and text and graphic region are demonstrably different, and this may be where print drivers and software for the desk pen printer diverge from raster printers. When a pen stroke makes sense, we want to use a pen stroke.The application of ink from a pen is done in a couple ways either dotting, or drawing. In dotting, the pen tip is pressed into the paper and retracted, in drawing, the pen is pressed to the paper, and then pulled some distance. It is possible that a single pen may be used in both ways.
Pen Positioning and Movement
The active printing strip is 10mm wide with the pen having a 10mm x 10mm movement within that range. Software to control the Print Assembly and the Pen Sub Assembly need to be coordinated.Graphic Region Printing
A graphic block may consist of a single color that has enough width in a dimension to consider a straight stroke of the pen. The area may vary in intensity, which may be handled with less pressure on the paper, or dotting. Drawing these regions will include color planning with available pens, and combining the strokes to best achieve that color. Colors may be on top of each other, or in staggering lines.
Consideration can also be given to having ink hollowness. In a large graphic block, rather than scribbling over every fiber of the paper, allow the ink density to reach a maximum with paper showing through like a screen door. This will help maintain the integrity of the paper.
Printer Feedback Camera
To assure alignment on the printing, an area wider than the 10mm x 10mm is needed, and a resolution higher than 128 x 128. The nominal width of a printer assembly is 30mm, and the width of the camera view would not be expected to be wider than that. 20mm square is likely sufficient with a color resolution of 1k-pixel square.
Image Printing
The desk pen printer is not anticipated to have excellent image reproduction. (It’s a printer for people who do not want to throw money down the drain for ink cartridges). The three primary ingredients in image drawing are hue, saturation, and brightness.
The preceding is an example of the types of strokes that are envisioned. In the context of the 10mm strips of available pen movement, the pen lines are laid out to achieve the overall shading effect.
If black pens are available, then those can be used for providing the absence of brightness, or blue for black may be the way to go. The hue and saturation are figured out based on the calibration of the available pens. A color that can be reasonably replicated will be replicated. If there is no close color, then applying color is not necessary, but an attempt to get the right relative brightness is still a goal .
Character Printing
In the print assembly, it is desired that the pen can be moved over a 10mm area with precision. A character is a monochrome region that lends itself to be drawn with one or a few strokes. This region is best exemplified as a character, but may actually be a small graphic.A pen pass is one strip across the paper of nominally 10mm . In that pass, the Printer Assembly is coordinated to apply the ink in an efficient manner either with strokes or dots.
In the following example, the letter “t” can be drawn differently depending upon its size relative to the pen point.
The print is planned to travel the pen efficiently, then print quality is sampled to see how close the letter is to the ideal form, and one of several outcomes is possible:
1. This pen revisits part of the recently printed work and applies a touchup.
2. A subsequent pen assembly is instructed to do the repair.
3. The blemish is ignored.
On a subsequent print pass, either on this print assembly, or on a following print assembly downstream, image quality checks will compare what is on the paper with the expected form, and add to the printing if it fits with the print schedule of ejecting the page, and the quality improvement that is anticipated.
Overview
The following is what the printer may look like if the pens are located in rasters. In each raster, the pen can operate independently of the other pens.
Chassis
The basics of the printer chassis are to move paper under the print assemblies. The positioning of the paper needs to be below the pens to accommodate the gravity feed of the pens.Consider that the chassis and the print assemblies should be commoditized separately. A chassis will have the primary mechanisms to load and dispense paper, and attach one or more print assemblies.
The preceding is a schematic for a six-pen capable chassis configured with three pens.
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