A thermal transfer printer (10) includes multiple media trays (16, 120, 126) each encoded to communicate to a printer controller (46) via sensors (132, 134, 136) a print medium size and type contained in the tray, and a pair of thermal transfer ribbon (24) sensors (44,45) to communicate whether the ribbon...http://www.google.com.au/patents/US5305020?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US5305020 - Thermal transfer printer having media pre-coat selection apparatus and methods
