OPTICAL NAVIGATION UNIT AND METHOD FOR PRINTER

摘要

PURPOSE: A optical navigation unit and method for a printer is provided in which an arrangement of a printing head is capable of being correctly controlled by avoiding errors and incorrectness. CONSTITUTION: A printing device such as inkjet, laser or dye-sublimation comprises a print head(33); a navigation unit(32) with an optical sensor for positioning the print head(33) which monitors a navigation surface(80) to provide data for processing to generate a positional signal representative of a moving printer head. A method comprises th steps of optically imaging a navigation surface(80) so as to produce a first image output signal; storing the first image output signal in a storage memory; waiting a fixed period of time; opticallly imaging the navigation surface so as to produce a second output signal; determining the position of the print head by the first image output signal stored in the memory and the second output signal; and generating a positional output signal.