JP3506345B2 - Printing method, printer and recording paper roll - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing method for printing on a recording material such as recording paper or cloth, a printer, and a roll around the recording material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A printer is known which prints on a recording material such as recording paper or cloth (hereinafter also simply referred to as recording paper) by various methods such as an ink jet method, a heat sensitive method and a thermal transfer method. In this case, it may be necessary to change the printing conditions such as the feeding speed of the recording paper depending on the type of the recording paper and other conditions, or to change the recording paper depending on the printing conditions.

For example, some ink jet systems are capable of switching between a low speed / high density recording mode and a high speed / low density recording mode. In this case, however, the ink ejection amount also changes depending on the mode, and therefore the ink absorption characteristics differ. It is necessary to use recording paper properly.

When printing on cloth, the cloth absorbs a large amount of ink, so that the print density is lower than when printing on normal paper. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain the required density by setting the high density recording mode or by printing the same position twice. Depending on the recording material, the drying speed varies depending on the suction of the ink. Therefore, if the drying speed is slow, it is necessary to reduce the printing speed.

Further, when printing on a recording paper or a thick film with an adhesive, if these are cut by an automatic cutter after printing, the adhesive may adhere to the blade of the cutter or the blade may be damaged to accelerate deterioration. become. Therefore, in such a case, it is desirable to stop the operation of the automatic cutter.

Therefore, conventionally, the type of recording paper loaded in the printer has been detected. For example, there is one in which a flange member having an outer diameter different depending on the type of the recording paper is attached to a roll around which the recording paper is wound, and the outer diameter of the flange member is detected by a printer. There is also a method in which a bar code is attached to the flange member attached to the roll or the end of the recording paper, and the bar code is read by a printer.

[0007]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case where the outer diameter of the flange member is changed according to the type of recording material, there is a problem that there are few types that can be identified. For example, the inner diameter of the roll is 50m
If m and the outer diameter are 90 mm, only 5 types can be set even if the radius is 5 mm. If the difference between the radii to be distinguished is 5 mm or less, the precision of the roll holding mechanism and the sensor must be increased, and the device becomes complicated and expensive.

In the method using the bar code, it is necessary to rotate the roll or move (scan) the sensor to read the bar code after the roll is loaded in the printer. Therefore, not only is the device complicated and expensive, but there is also a problem that the barcode may be erroneously detected due to dirt or dust, resulting in low reliability.

[0009]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is possible to greatly increase the number of types that can be identified without complicating the apparatus, and to make a determination that is less affected by dirt or dust. An object of the present invention is to provide a printing method that can be performed and has high reliability. A second object is to provide a printer which is directly used for implementing this method .

[0010]

According to the present invention, the first object of the present invention is not to include a cylinder.
That the core material in the printing method for printing out the print recording material wound into a roll, previously stored print conditions for a plurality of types of print recording material, the core
Outside the flange member installed between the spindle and one end of the material
The type of recording material is set by the combination of multiple discriminating factors including the diameter and at least one of the color and density of the outer peripheral surface.
The position of the slide member that makes elastic contact with the outer peripheral surface of the flange member
The outer diameter of the flange member is detected from the
The optical sensor provided on the flange member
Color or density is detected, and the recording material is detected based on these detection results.
This is achieved by a printing method characterized in that the type of material is discriminated and the print output is carried out based on the printing condition corresponding to the discriminated print recording material .

[0011] When the ink jet system, may have been the memory the print condition as a plurality of recording modes in combination with the ink of the injection quantity and the recording paper feed speed.

[0012] A second purpose is to attach the core material made of a cylinder to the core material.
A printout that is printed out on a print recording material
Printers for multiple types of print recording materials.
Memory for storing the condition of the core and one end of the core material
It is mounted between the dollar and the outer diameter and color and darkness of the outer peripheral surface.
A combination of multiple discriminant elements, including at least one and
Flange member that sets the type of recording material
Slide member that makes elastic contact with the outer periphery of the slide member and this slide
Sensor that detects the outer diameter of the flange member from the position of the flange member.
Sensor and the flange portion attached to the slide member.
Light that detects at least one of color and density on the outer surface of the material
Based on the output of the sensor and the sensor and the optical sensor
Recording material discrimination means for discriminating the type of print recording material
And the print recording material read from the memory.
Print system that prints out based on the print conditions
And a control means .

[0013]

1 is a perspective view of an image processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing its internal structure, FIG. 3 is a side perspective view of the same, and FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the means, FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing the support structure at one end of the roller, FIG. 6 is a side view for explaining the operation of the discriminating element reading means, and FIG. 7 is a view showing a control system.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 is a horizontally long casing, and the upper surface thereof is a lid 12 which can be opened and closed upward.
Inside the housing 10, as shown in FIGS.
4 are accommodated. The printer 14 has a roll 16 of paper (recording paper) and a platen 18 which are arranged in parallel in a horizontal direction.

The platen 18 is located on the front side of the paper roll 16, and the paper (recording paper) 20 pulled out from the lower edge of the paper roll 16 is wound around the platen 18 and guided downward from the front edge of the platen 18. Get burned. 19
Is a pinch roller and presses the paper 20 against the platen 18.

The paper 20 can be ejected from below the front surface of the housing 10 by guide rollers 22 and 24. The platen 18 is belt-driven by the feed motor 26, and feeds the paper 20 in the feeding direction or the rewinding direction to position it.

The printer 14 has three print heads 28 (28) that run left and right along the front surface of the platen 18.
a, 28b, 28c). The print head 28 is guided by the guide rod 30, and the carriage motor 32
It is sent to the left and right by the belt 34 wrapped around the. The print head 28 is of a multicolor inkjet type,
The paper 20 is moved within an interval obtained by dividing the entire print width into three equal parts, and the right end of each moving range is set to the return position (home position, HP).

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 40 is a cutter, which is a platen 18.
And cuts the print paper 20 below. That is, the fixed blade and the movable blade face each other across the paper 20,
When the movable blade is moved by the motor, it moves to the fixed blade side to cut the paper 20.

A scanner 42 is located near the center of the upper surface of the lid 12. The scanner 42 includes a holding lid 44 placed on the lid 12 from above, the holding lid 44 and the housing 1
A conveyance mechanism for feeding a document (not shown) between the cover 12 and the lid 12 for feeding from right to left, a CCD line sensor (not shown) housed in the housing 10, and a direction orthogonal to the document conveyance direction. And an optical system for guiding an image on the main scanning line to the line sensor (not shown).

Reference numeral 46 is a digitizer, and this scanner 4
The second document is provided on the upper surface of the lid 12 adjacent to the document input side, that is, the right side. As shown in FIG. 1, the digitizer 46 includes a coordinate detecting tablet 48 and a stylus pen 50.
With. The tablet 48 has a resistor that spreads over the entire surface, and detects coordinates from the change in resistance value when the tablet 48 is pressed by the tip of the stylus pen 50.

In the tablet 48, for example, the upper right corner is determined as the reference position, and the upper right corner of the document is aligned and fixed to the reference position. Reference numeral 52 is a print operation panel for instructing print data, and 54 is a coloring operation panel, which are attached to the upper surface of the holding lid 44 of the scanner 42.

In this apparatus, a manuscript is placed on the digitizer 46, a desired area is designated, and a coloring color is colored on the operation panel 5.
Specify with 4. When this process is completed, the document is scanned by the scanner 42.
Throw in. When the scanner 42 starts reading the original, the printer 14 also operates in parallel. Then, enlarged printing is performed on the area designated by the digitizer 46 using the designated color. As a result, the original can be enlarged and color printed.

This apparatus is provided with a mechanism for determining the printing conditions by determining the type of recording paper (paper) wound on the paper roll 16. As shown in FIG. 4, the roll 16 has a core material 60 made of a paper cylinder, the recording paper 20 wound around the core material 60, and a flange member 64 attached concentrically to the left end of the core material 60. . When mounting the roll 16, the right spindle 62 is inserted into the right end of the core material 60 and the left spindle 66 is inserted into the left end of the core material 60, and then the roll 16 is installed.

The roll 16 has spindles 62, 66 at both ends.
And a pair of left and right roll support plates 68, 6 provided on the housing 10.
8 (see FIG. 4) and is rotatably supported. That is, these support plates 68, 68 are symmetrical, and as shown in FIG. 5, recesses 68a (only one of which is shown) with which the outer peripheral surfaces of the heads of the spindles 62, 66 slide are formed.

The flange member 64 has a detection outer diameter portion 65 made of a cylindrical surface, and a predetermined color is applied to this, or a color material of a predetermined color is put in the material of the flange member 64 itself. The combination of the diameter and the color of the detected outer diameter portion 65 is changed depending on the type of the recording paper wound around the roller 16. That is, in this embodiment, the flange radius and the density of the outer circumference are used as the discriminating elements indicating the type of the recording paper, and the flange member 64 is the element member. Color may be used instead of density, or color and density may be used simultaneously.

Reference numeral 70 denotes a discriminating element reading means, which is a slide member 72 facing the detection outer diameter portion 65 of the flange member 64 and sliding in a direction toward and away from the detection outer diameter portion 65, and the slide member 72 to the detection outer diameter portion 65 side. And a coil spring 74 for pulling. A small hole 76 facing the detection outer diameter portion 64A is formed in the slide member 72, and the reflection type optical sensor 78 faces the detection outer diameter portion 65 via the small hole 76.

A light shielding plate 80 extending rearward is fixed to the slide member 72 in parallel with the sliding direction, and the position of the light shielding plate 80 is detected by two sensors 82 and 84. Here, the sensors 82 and 84 are formed by a light emitting diode and a phototransistor which face each other across the slide locus of the light shielding plate 80. As shown in FIG. 6A, when the roll 16 is not present, the slide member 72 is locked by the stopper 86, and at this time, the light shielding plate 80 causes both the sensors 82 and 84.
Exit from.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the roll 16 having the small-diameter flange member 64A is loaded, the slide member 72 slidably contacting the detection outer diameter portion 65A is retracted, and the light shielding plate 80 is moved to one side. Only the sensor 82 of the above enters and shields light. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 6C, when the roll 16 having the large-diameter flange member 64B is loaded, the slide member 72 slidingly contacting the detection outer diameter portion 65B is further retracted, and the light shielding plate 80 is divided into two. It enters the sensors 82 and 84 and shields them from light.

The optical sensor 78 detects the color or density of the outer diameter detecting section 65. For example, black and white is discriminated. In this way, 2 × 2 = 4 types of discrimination can be made by combining two concentrations and two outer diameters. The output of the discriminant element reading means 70 is input to the control device 100 shown in FIG.

The control device 100 has a recording material discriminating means 102.
Based on the output of the discriminating element reading means 70, the type of recording paper is discriminated. That is, four types of recording papers are discriminated by the radius and color (or density) of the outer diameter detecting section 65. The relationship between the combination of radius and color (density) and the type of recording paper is stored in advance in the memory 102A or the like.

The result is input to the print control means 104, and the type of recording paper is displayed on the print operation panel 52. On the other hand, the memory 106 stores print conditions according to the type of recording paper in advance. Then, the print control unit 104 reads out the print condition according to the type of the recording paper from the memory 106, and the motor 2 according to this condition.
6 to feed the recording paper 20, while the print head 3
The print density or density by 0 is controlled. The operation of the cutter 40 is stopped for some types of recording paper.

On the other hand, the type of recording paper may be limited depending on the print mode. For example, in the high-speed low-density print mode, the amount of ejected ink increases and ink bleeding occurs. Therefore, it is necessary to use one having good ink absorption characteristics. When the recording paper used in this way is not suitable for the print mode, the print control means 104 causes the warning means 108.
Causes a warning and instructs replacement of the roll 16.

In the above embodiment, the flange member 64 is used as the discriminating element member, and the radius and color (density) of the detection outer diameter portion 65 are used as the discriminating element. Flange member 64 here
Is provided on only one end of the roll 16, but it may be provided on both ends of the roll. For example, if flange members for identifying two radii and two colors (density) are attached to both ends of the roll 16, 16 types of discrimination can be made.

When density is used as the discriminating element, 3 × 2 = 6 types of discrimination can be performed by combining gray with an intermediate gray color in addition to white and black. Further, if two reflection type optical sensors of red and green are used as the optical sensor 78, four colors such as white, red, green and black can be distinguished. Therefore, in this case, 4 × 2 = 8 types of discrimination can be performed in combination with two radii.

The present invention can be applied not only to the ink jet system but also to various printing systems such as a heat sensitive system and a thermal transfer system. In the case of the heat-sensitive type or the thermal transfer type, it is possible to obtain the optimum recording image quality for each type of recording material by optimally controlling the heat generation amount according to the determination result of the recording material. Further, the recording material discriminating means 102 does not necessarily have to be formed as an independent means and can be integrated with the print control means 104, and the present invention includes this.

[0036]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, printing conditions for a plurality of print recording materials are stored in advance, a plurality of discriminating elements provided on a roll are read, and recording is performed by combining these discriminating elements. Since the printing conditions corresponding to the material are read out and printed, the types of identifiable recording materials can be greatly increased without complicating the apparatus.

Further, since it can be determined immediately when the roll is loaded, it is not necessary to rotate the roll or scan the sensor. Furthermore, since the number of discriminations that each discrimination element shares can be small, high-precision detection is not necessary, malfunctions are less likely to occur even with dirt and dust, and reliability is improved.

[0038] Here the discrimination element, the outer diameter of the flange member provided on one end of the core of the roll, viewed including the at least one of color and density of the outer peripheral surface, elastic contact here outside diameter scan
Detected from the position of the ride member and installed on this slide member
The optical sensor is used to
Since the degree is detected, the device does not become complicated and the reliability is high.
Will be Further, the printing conditions can be stored as a plurality of recording modes depending on the combination of the ink ejection amount and the recording material feeding speed in the case of the inkjet method (claim 2 ).

According to the third aspect of the invention, a printer directly used for carrying out the printing method can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an image processing apparatus that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing its internal structure.

[Fig. 3] Similarly, a perspective view of the side surface.

FIG. 4 is a plan view showing a roll and a discriminating element reading unit.

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view showing a pointing structure of one end of a roller.

FIG. 6 is a side view for explaining the operation of the discriminating element reading means.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a control system.

[Explanation of symbols]

14 Printer 16 rolls 20 Paper as print recording material 40 cutters 64, 64A, 64B Flange member 65, 65A, 65B Detection outer diameter part 70 Discrimination element reading means 72 Slide member 78 Optical sensor 80 light shield 82, 84 sensor 100 control device 102 recording material discrimination means 104 print control means 106 memory

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Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A printing method for printing out on a print recording material wound in a roll on a core made of a cylinder , wherein print conditions for a plurality of types of print recording materials are stored in advance, and a spindle is provided at one end of the core. Between
The outer diameter of the attached flange member and the color and density of the outer peripheral surface
The type of recording material is set by the combination of a plurality of discriminating elements including at least one and
Check the outer diameter of the flange member from the position of the sliding member in contact.
The optical sensor attached to this slide member
The color or density of the outer peripheral surface of the flange
The type of recording material is determined based on the detection results from
A printing method, wherein a print is output based on a printing condition corresponding to the printed recording material . 2. A ink jet method, printing conditions claims are stored as a plurality of recording modes in combination with the feed rate of the injection quantity and the recording material for the ink 1
The method of print. 3. A printer, which prints out on a print recording material wound in a roll on a core made of a cylinder , comprises a memory for storing print conditions for a plurality of kinds of print recording materials , and one end of the core and a spindle. Install between
At least one of the outer diameter and the color and density of the outer surface
Type of recording material by combining multiple discriminating factors including
Set the flange member and the outer circumference of the flange member.
From the slide member that makes elastic contact and the position of this slide member
A sensor for detecting the outer diameter of the flange member, and
Attached to the guide member and the color of the outer peripheral surface of the flange member.
And an optical sensor for detecting at least one of
A recording material discriminating means for discriminating the type of the print recording material based on the outputs of the sensor and the optical sensor , and a print control means for outputting the print based on the printing condition corresponding to the print recording material read from the memory. Characteristic printer.