Label Sensing - SATO CX400 Programming Reference Manual

Section1. Programming Concepts

LABEL SENSING

The CX400 printers can use an eye-mark (black bar) label gap or label notch sensing. The gap
and notch sensor is a transmissive or see-thru type with an infrared light source directed
through the label from above and detected by a separate receiving sensor underneath the label
liner or tag. A reflective sensor is used to detect eye-marks printed on the bottom of the label
liner or tag. The eye-mark must not reflect more than 12% of the light. Since the same
receiving sensor is used for all three types of sensing, it must be calibrated with the media that
will be used. For thermal transfer printing, the ribbon must be installed while the calibration is
performed.
When calibrating the printer sensors, the gap or eye-mark sensor type must be selected first
using the <ESC>CI command and then the Direct Thermal or Thermal Transfer print mode
must be specified with an <ESC>CP command. These two commands are followed by an
<ESC>CA Calibrate command to instruct the printer to perform the calibration procedure. The
resulting calibration values are stored in the printer and used until the unit is recalibrated. A
separated value is stored for direct thermal or thermal transfer modes because the settings will
differ significantly because of the inclusion of the ribbon for thermal transfer. For example,
the following command string will calibrate the printer in the thermal transfer mode for gap
sensing:
Page 1-10
<ESC>A<ESC>CP1<ESC>CI2<ESC>CA<ESC>Z
PN 9001106 Rev. A
CX400
SATO