Media sensitivity – CognitiveTPG DLXi User Manual
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M E D I A T I P S A N D T R I C K S
Revision F, January 2012, CognitiveTPG
299
Media Sensitivity
Different media types exhibit different heat sensitivity. The
command controls the amount of printhead
heat.
Different media types can also exhibit different response times. The
media is in motion while the printhead dots are heating and cooling, so
areas of the label that theoretically should stay white are subjected to
temperatures close to their darkening temperature. This can result in
some bleeding of dark areas into light areas. This can adversely affect
the reliability of rotated bar codes. Increasing print speed and print
darkness tend to increase bleeding, so speed and darkness can interact
to affect the reliability of rotated bar codes.
Some CognitiveTPG printers support the
command, which can reduce print bleeding in some cases. Printers
that support this command employ an advanced "dot history"
algorithm, which tracks the activity of each printhead dot from one dot
row to the next. If a given dot was off prior to being commanded on, the
printer will apply a little extra energy to the dot to force it to come up
to full temperature faster, thus improving the contrast on the leading
edges of objects. This can significantly improve the reliability of
rotated bar codes.