United States Patent [19] [11] Patent Number: 4,939,674
Price et al. [45] Date of Patent: Jul. 3,1990
[54] LABEL GENERATION APPARATUS
[75] Inventors: Macy J. Price, Golden, Colo.; Mario B. Accumanno, Cedar Grove, N.J. Mack E. Johnson, Aruada; Norman J._ Acker, Lakewood, both of Colo.
[73] Assignee: Engineered Data Products, Inc.,
Broomfield, Colo.
[21] Appl. No.: 185,141
[22] Filed: Apr. 22,1988
[51] Int. CI.' G09F 3/08
[52] U.S. CI 364/523; 101/93.4;
283/37; 283/81; 364/519
[58] Field of Search 364/518-520,
364/523; 283/81, 36, 37, 55, 60 R, 60 A, 903, 904; 101/66, 67, 70, 93.38, 93.39, 93.4; 156/DIG. 1, DIG. 24, DIG. 47
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
3,804,007 4/1974 Arciprete et al 101/66
3,921,516 11/1975 Toft et al 101/66
4,264,396 4/1981 Stewart 101/67 X
4,630,538 12/1986 Cushman 101/66 X
4,658,366 4/1987 Posh 364/523
4,706,096 11/1987 Sato 101/66 X
4,731,741 8/1988 Allen 364/518
4,807,177 2/1989 Ward 364/519 X
Primary Examiner—Gary V. Harkcom
Assistant Examiner—H. R. Herndon
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Dorr, Carson, Sloan &
Peterson
[57] ABSTRACT
The label generation apparatus enables the user to define a label of arbitrary size, shape and characteristics. Each label in a series of labels includes unique indicia that individually identify each label according to any predefined sequence. The label generation apparatus includes a template generation capability that enables the user to define the basic label format having one or more writable indicia fields. These one or more writable indicia fields can be used to provide each label with individual identifying indicia according to any predetermined sequence. The label generation apparatus also includes an indicia generation capability that produces the individual identification according to various characteristics that are specified by the user of this apparatus.
63 Claims, 5 Drawing Sheets
|
