printer glossary.

dot matrix printer One of the earliest mass-market attempts at reliable, high-speed printing, dot matrix printers used a set of pins that could be fired rapidly at an inked ribbon to form characters on an underlying sheet of paper. While speedy, these printers suffered from relatively poor print quality. Even higher-end models with as many as 48 pins could produce only near-letter-quality text. Lower-end, 9-pin models were suitable only for printing drafts.

Ink jet printer Unlike daisy wheel and dot matrix printers, which rely on physical contact with the an inked ribbon and paper, ink jet printers simply spray ink in a series of dots to form characters. While early ink jets were prone to clogging, they were capable of delivering good print speeds and relatively high-quality text and graphics. Today's best ink jet printers have eliminated most of the clogging problems, rival laser printers for text quality, and can also produce color images with near-photographic quality--all for even less money than a low-end laser printer.

laser printer While considerably more complex and expensive than most other common printer types, laser printers are capable of producing extremely high-quality text and graphics (including color) at fantastic speeds. At their most basic, laser printers apply an electrostatic charge to a drum inside the printer cartridge. A laser or a light-emitting diode then discharges portions of the drum to form the characters or graphics. Charged toner attaches itself to these discharged sections. A charged piece of paper is passed over the drum, transferring the toner. The toner is heated and fused to the sheet.

ASCII: character set and code described by the America National Standard Code for Information Interchange. Each ASCII character is encoded with seven bits. The ASCII consists of both control and printable characters.

Backing Material: silicon-coated paper carrier material to which labels with adhesive backing are affixed.

Backfeed: the process of taking paper back into the printer before printing the next label so printing may begin at top-of-form.

Bar: The dark element of a printed bar code symbol.

Bar Code: An automatic identification symbol that encodes information into an array of adjacent varying width bars and spaces. Bar codes are one-dimensional (UPC, Code 39, Interleaved 2of5, etc.) and two-dimensional bar (Data Matrix, PDF417, etc.).

Bi-directional: Capable of being read successfully independent of direction.

Calibration: The process of establishing a set of values for correct operation.

Character Set: The entire complement of alphanumeric symbols contained in a given font.

Check Character: A character included within a string of data whose value is used for the purpose of performing a mathematical check to ensure the accuracy of that data.

Checksum: An alphanumeric error detection method used in many bar code symbologies for information security.

Continuous Media: An uninterrupted roll or box of label or tag stock media that contains no gap, notch, or sensor mark to separate individual labels or tags. The media is one long piece of material similar to a fax roll.

Cutter: A mechanical device (e.g., rotary or guillotine) used to cut labels or tags into individual pieces following printing.

Default: The functional setting values returned following a factory reset of the printer.

Diagnostics: Programs used to locate and diagnose hardware or software problems.

Die-cut Media: Media that has been cut into a pattern using a press, where the excess paper is removed leaving individual labels, with gaps between them, attached to a backing material.

Direct Thermal: The printing method that uses a chemically coated heat sensitive media. Once the heat from the thermal printhead is applied to the media the media turns black thus imaging on the media.

Direct Thermal Media: Media that is coated with chemicals that react and darken with the application of direct heat from the thermal printhead.

DPI (Dots Per Inch): A measurement of print resolution defined by the number of thermal elements contained in one inch of the printhead.

BPL (Blazepint Programming Language): Programming commands used specifically for control of and label production in Blazeprint printers. For a complete listing, consult the BPL Program Manual.

Element: a single bar or space in a bar code symbol

Fan-fold Media: Media that is folded and stacked.

Feed Speed: The speed at which the media moves under the printhead in non-printed areas and between labels.

File Server: A computer that stores data for network users and provides network access to that data.

Font: A set of alphanumeric characters that share a particular typeface and size style.

Gap: A space between die-cut or notched labels used to sense the top-of-form.

IEEE 802.3: The IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) standard that defines the CSMA/CD media-access method and the physical and data link layer specifications of a local area network. Among others, it includes 10BASE2, 10BASE5, 10BASE-FL and 10BASE-T Ethernet implementations.

Internet: A series of interconnected local, regional, national and international networks, linked using TCP/IP. It provides E-mail, remote login and file transfer services.

IPS (Inches Per Second): The speed at which the label is printed.

Label: A paper or synthetic printing material, typically with a pressure sensitive adhesive backing.

Label Length: The distance from the top of the label to the bottom of the label as it exits the printer.

Label Repeat: The distance from the top of one label to the top of the next label including the label gap.

Label Tracking: Undesirable lateral side to side movement of the media as it travels under the printhead.

LAN: Local Area Network - a data communications system consisting of a group of interconnected computers, sharing applications, data and peripherals.

Media: Generalized term for all types of printing material onto which data is printed, including: roll fed, tag stock, continuous, die-cut, and fanfold.

Media Hub: a holder in the printer used to support roll media.

Media Sensor: An electronic device equipped with photo sensors to detect media and the top-of-form positiob (i.e. the start of each label) on die-cut, notched or reflective media.

Migration: The translation of components of a pressure sensitive adhesive to either a substrate or face material.

Mil: One one-thousandth of an inch (0.001").

MM: Millimeters (one thousandth of a metre).

MMPS (Millimeters Per Second): Metric measurement of printer speeds.

Network: An interconnected system of computers that can communicate with each other and share files, data and resources.

Non-volatile memory: Electronic memory that retains data even when the power to the printer is turned OFF.

Notched Stock: Media, typically tag stock, with holes or notches in the material that is used to identify top-of-form. The printer must be set to 'gap' to use this media type.

Numeric: A character set that includes only numbers.

Opacity: The optical property of a material that quantifies the transmissivity of media. Low opacity can be a problem with bar code labels making it difficult for the gap sensor to do it's job.

Perforation: Small cuts extending through the label and backing material to facilitate their separation.

Print Quality: The measure of compliance of a bar code symbol to the requirements of dimensional tolerance in terms of edge roughness, spots, voids, reflectance, print contrast ratio, and quiet zone width.

Print Server: A dedicated computer that manages printers and print requests from other nodes and network.

Print Speed: The speed at which the media moves under the printhead during the printing process.

Reflective Media: Media that has black marks on the underside of the material used to signal the top-of-form. The printer must be set to 'reflective' to use this media type.

Registration: Repeatable top to bottom alignment of printed labels.

Reverse Speed: The backward rate of media motion into the printer during tear-off, peel and present and cutting modes for positioning the label at the start-of-print position.

ROM: Read-Only Memory, a memory device that retains information even when power to it is removed and which cannot be written to.

Server: A computer that provides resources to be shared on the network, such as files (files server) or terminals (terminal server).

Start-of-Print: The position on the label where the printing begins.

Start-stop character: A special bar code character that provides the scanner with start and stop reading instructions as well as scanning direction indicator.

Substrate: The media surface which receives the printed image.

Symbol: A combination of bar code characters, including start/stop characters, quiet zones, data characters, and check characters required by a particular symbology, which form a complete, scannable entity.

Tag Stock: A heavy paper or synthetic printing material, typically featuring a notch or reflective mark and without an adhesive backing.

Thermal: A printing system where dots are selectively heated and cooled and impressed on a heat sensitive paper. The paper turns dark in the heated areas.

Thermal Transfer: The printing method that creates an image by transferring ink from a heat activated ribbon onto the media using the heat from the thermal printhead.

Unix: A multitasking, multi-user computer operating system developed by AT&T. Several versions exist.

Void: An undesirable blank space in a printed image.

X Coordinate: The horizontal position across the label width where a printed field begins.

Y Coordinate: The vertical position from position down the label width where a printed field begins.