1. A method of operating a tape drive which includes a pair of tape spool supports, upon one of which a supply spool is mountable and upon a second one of which a take up spool is mountable, each tape spool support being driveable by a respective motor to transfer tape between the spools, the tape drive further including a controller to control each of the motors, wherein the method includes selecting one or more periods of inactivity of the tape drive for a particular print run, and reducing tension in tape extending between the two spools during the one or more periods of inactivity of the tape drive when the tape is substantially stationary, and wherein the one or more periods of inactivity are selected before the particular print run begins.
2. A method according to claim 1 wherein the reduction in tension during the one or more periods of inactivity reduces the amount of electrical energy required to operate the tape drive.
3. A method according to claim 1 wherein the or each period of inactivity meets a predetermined criterion.
4. A method according to claim 3 wherein the or each period of inactivity exceeds a predetermined duration.
5. A method according to claim 1 wherein the tension is reduced from an operating tension of approximately 3N.
6. A method according to claim 1 wherein the tension is reduced to a rest tension of approximately 1N.
7. A method according to claim 1 wherein an amount of torque provided by at least one of the motors is reduced.
8. A method according to claim 1 wherein the controller controls at least one of the motors to rotate its associated spool by an amount required to reduce the tension by a desired amount.
9. A tape drive including a pair of tape spool supports, upon one of which a supply spool is mountable and upon a second one of which a take up spool is mountable, each tape spool support being driveable by a respective motor to transfer tape between the spools, the tape drive further including a controller to control each of the motors, wherein the controller is operable to control at least one of the motors to select one or more periods of inactivity of the tape drive for a particular print run, and reduce the tension in a tape extending between the two spools during the one or more periods of inactivity when the tape is substantially stationary, and wherein the one or more periods of inactivity are selected before the particular print run begins.
10. A tape drive according to claim 9 wherein at least one of the motors for driving the spools is a stepper motor.
11. A tape drive according to claim 10 wherein both of the motors for driving the spools are stepper motors.
12. A tape drive according to claim 11 wherein at least one of the motors for driving the spools is a DC motor.
13. A tape drive according to claim 12 wherein both of the motors for driving the spools are DC motors.
14. A tape drive according to claim 12 wherein the or each DC motor has an associated sensor for determining the angular position and rotational speed of the motor, and wherein the or each motor is operable in a first control mode in which position is a dominant control parameter and in a second control mode in which torque is a dominant control parameter.
15. A printing apparatus including a tape drive according to claim 9 for transferring a tape carrying a marking medium and a printhead for transferring the marking medium to a substrate.
16. A printing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the printing apparatus is a thermal printing apparatus.
17. A method of operating a tape drive which includes a pair of tape spool supports, upon one of which a supply spool is mountable and upon a second one of which a take up spool is mountable, each tape spool support being driveable by a respective motor to transfer tape between the spools, and at least one of the motors including an encoder, the tape drive further including a controller to control each of the motors, wherein the method includes:
when the tape drive begins a period of inactivity and the tape is substantially stationary,
reducing tension in the tape using the controller,
measuring a value corresponding to rotation of the at least one of the motors during tension reduction using the encoder, and
storing the value measured by the encoder using the controller; and
when a period of activity begins and the tape moves for a printing operation, the controller operates both of the motors
using the stored value, and
accelerating the motors such that tape tension is restored to operational tension as the tape is accelerated for a printing operation.
18. A method according to claim 17 wherein the reduction in tension during the period of inactivity reduces the amount of electrical energy required to operate the tape drive.
19. A method according to claim 17 wherein the period of inactivity meets a predetermined criterion.
20. A method according to claim 17 wherein an amount of torque provided by the at least one of the motors is reduced.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. An apparatus for detecting an image converted from a first resolution to a second resolution higher than the first resolution, the apparatus comprising:
a frequency converter which converts a received second resolution image signal to a frequency domain; and
an image determiner which calculates energy per frequency from the converted second resolution image signal, and determines whether the received second resolution image signal, input to the frequency converters, corresponds to a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image using the calculation result.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the image determiner, if an amount of energy in a pre-set frequency is less than a threshold, determines that the received second resolution image signal corresponds to a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image, and if the amount of energy in the pre-set frequency is greater than the threshold, determining that the received second resolution image signal does not correspond to the second resolution image converted from the first resolution image.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the frequency converter converts the received second resolution image signal to the frequency domain using one of a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), and a Wavelet Transform, and
the first resolution image is a Standard Definition (SD) image, and the second resolution image is a High Definition (HD) image.
4. An apparatus for detecting an image converted from a first resolution to a second resolution higher than the first resolution, the apparatus comprising:
a texture area determiner which divides a received second resolution image into areas having a pre-set size and which determines a texture area using frequency characteristic information of an area;
a metric calculator which calculates a metric indicating an energy ratio in a frequency band from area characteristic information in the texture area; and
an image determiner which determines by comparing the metric and a threshold whether the received second resolution image is a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the area characteristic information includes area class information for determining whether the area is the texture area, including texture information and frequency characteristic information.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the texture area determiner comprises:
a frequency converter which converts a signal of the received second resolution image to a frequency domain;
an energy calculator which calculates energy of the converted second resolution image signal; and
an area classifier which classifies the area as the texture area including texture information if the calculated energy is greater than a threshold.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the frequency converter converts the signal of the received second resolution image to the frequency domain using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT).
8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the metric calculator calculates the metric by obtaining a ratio of energy of a frequency band to total energy in the texture area.
9. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the image determiner determines that the received second resolution image is the second resolution image converted from the first resolution image if the metric is less than a threshold, and determines that the received second resolution image is not the second resolution image converted from the first resolution image if the metric is greater than the threshold.
10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first resolution image is a Standard Definition (SD) image, and the second resolution image is a High Definition (HD) image signal.
11. A method of detecting an image converted from a first resolution to a second resolution higher than the first resolution, the method comprising:
converting a received second resolution image signal to a frequency domain; and
calculating energy per frequency from the converted second resolution image signal, and determining whether the received second resolution image signal corresponds to a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image using the calculation result.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein in the determining, if an amount of energy in a pre-set frequency is less than a threshold, determining that the received second resolution image signal corresponds to a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image, and if the amount of energy in the pre-set frequency is greater than the threshold, determining that the received second resolution image signal does not correspond to the second resolution image converted from the first resolution image.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the converting the received second resolution image signal to the frequency domain is performed using one of a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT), a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT), and a Wavelet Transform, and
the first resolution image is a Standard Definition (SD) image, and the second resolution image is a High Definition (HD) image.
14. A method of detecting an image converted from a first resolution to a second resolution higher than the first resolution, the method comprising:
dividing a received second resolution image into areas having a pre-set size and determining a texture area using frequency characteristic information of an area;
calculating a metric indicating an energy ratio in a frequency band from area characteristic information in the texture area; and
determining by comparing the metric and a threshold whether the received second resolution image is a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image.
15. The method of claim 14, wherein the determining of the texture area comprises:
converting the received second resolution image signal to a frequency domain;
calculating energy of the converted second resolution image signal; and
classifying the area as the texture area including texture information if the calculated energy is greater than a threshold.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the converting the received second resolution image signal to the frequency domain is performed using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT).
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the calculating of the metric comprises calculating the metric by obtaining a ratio of energy of a frequency band to total energy in the texture area.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining comprises determining that the received second resolution image is a second resolution image converted from a first resolution image if the metric is less than a threshold, and determining that the received second resolution image is a real second resolution image if the metric is greater than the threshold.
19. The method of claim 14, wherein the first resolution image is a Standard Definition (SD) image, and the second resolution image is a High Definition (HD) image.