CN220220146U - Thermal printer and thermal printing paper - Google Patents
Thermal printer and thermal printing paper Download PDFInfo
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- CN220220146U CN220220146U CN202321265102.7U CN202321265102U CN220220146U CN 220220146 U CN220220146 U CN 220220146U CN 202321265102 U CN202321265102 U CN 202321265102U CN 220220146 U CN220220146 U CN 220220146U
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- 238000007651 thermal printing Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 25
- 239000000463 material Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 98
- 230000001960 triggered effect Effects 0.000 claims description 12
- 239000003086 colorant Substances 0.000 description 13
- 238000007639 printing Methods 0.000 description 7
- 238000011161 development Methods 0.000 description 5
- 238000012360 testing method Methods 0.000 description 4
- 238000004519 manufacturing process Methods 0.000 description 3
- 238000010586 diagram Methods 0.000 description 2
- HCHKCACWOHOZIP-UHFFFAOYSA-N Zinc Chemical compound [Zn] HCHKCACWOHOZIP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 description 1
- 230000009286 beneficial effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000005516 engineering process Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000009434 installation Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000012986 modification Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000004048 modification Effects 0.000 description 1
- 238000012544 monitoring process Methods 0.000 description 1
Abstract
The application provides a thermal printer and thermal printing paper. Wherein, the thermal printer is compatible with the thermal paper of the first material and the thermal paper of the second material, and the thermal printer includes: a paper cassette for storing thermal paper; and a sensor mounted to the paper cassette for detecting a specified parameter associated with the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette to determine a material of the thermal paper. The thermal printing paper is thermal printing paper for at least one material of the thermal printer, and the back of the thermal printing paper is printed with grey.
Description
Technical Field
The present application relates to the field of printing, and more particularly, to a thermal printer and thermal paper.
Background
The thermal technology makes the printer not rely on the ink bin and the ink box, so the size of the printer is reduced, but the materials used by the existing thermal printer are different, for example, the color development temperature of the single-color thermal paper is low, the color development temperature of the color thermal paper is high, and when the two types of thermal paper are used by the existing printer, the existing printer cannot identify which material the thermal paper is currently put in, so that the printer is difficult to work correctly.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of this, the present application provides a thermal printer and thermal printing paper.
Specifically, the application is realized by the following technical scheme:
in a first aspect of the present application, there is provided a thermal printer compatible with thermal paper of a first material and thermal paper of a second material, the thermal printer comprising: a paper cassette for storing thermal paper; and a sensor mounted to the paper cassette for detecting a specified parameter associated with the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette to determine a material of the thermal paper.
In a second aspect of the present application, there is provided a thermal printing paper for use in at least one of the materials of the thermal printer of the first aspect of the present application, the back side of the thermal printing paper being printed with grey.
Through above-mentioned scheme, this application has following beneficial effect at least:
in the scheme, the specified parameters of the thermal paper are known through the sensor in the paper box, so that the material of the thermal paper can be known, the thermal printer of the scheme can correctly identify the thermal paper which material the thermal paper is currently put into, the probability of misuse caused by incapability of identifying the material or misidentification of the material is reduced, and meanwhile, the use difficulty is reduced.
Drawings
Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a thermal printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a thermal printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 3 is a top view of a thermal printer according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 4 is a top view of another thermal printer shown in an exemplary embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 5 is a schematic view of an overlapping area of thermal paper according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.
Fig. 6 is a schematic view of a thermal paper according to an exemplary embodiment of the present application.
Detailed Description
Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, the same numbers in different drawings refer to the same or similar elements, unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the following exemplary examples are not representative of all implementations consistent with the present application. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with some aspects of the present application as detailed in the accompanying claims.
The terminology used in the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present application. As used in this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term "and/or" as used herein refers to and encompasses any or all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.
It should be understood that although the terms first, second, third, etc. may be used herein to describe various information, these information should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one type of information from another. For example, a first message may also be referred to as a second message, and similarly, a second message may also be referred to as a first message, without departing from the scope of the present application. The word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "at … …" or "at … …" or "responsive to a determination", depending on the context.
The ink jet printer prints by ejecting small ink droplets, which adhere to paper, and the ink jet head is bulky because it needs to be connected to the ink tank and moved, and the ink jet head is easily blocked after being left for a while.
The occurrence of thermal printing solves the problems of volume and blockage, and the heat rather than ink drops is transmitted, but in thermal printing, as different types of consumables (thermal paper) have different color development temperature intervals, for example, the color development temperature interval of thermal paper used by a single-color thermal printer is about 70-100 ℃, and the color development temperature interval of thermal paper (Zink photographic paper) used by a color thermal printer is about 110-200 ℃, when two thermal papers of different materials are used on the same printer, the materials of the thermal paper need to be determined first so as to print correctly.
When manually selecting the type of thermal paper, the operator is required to subjectively determine the material of the thermal paper, which is inconvenient to use, and for the thermal printer to be easier to use, referring to fig. 1, the application provides a thermal printer 10, the thermal printer 10 being compatible with thermal paper of a first material and thermal paper of a second material, the thermal printer comprising:
a paper cassette 101 for storing thermal paper 11;
and a sensor 102 mounted to the paper cassette for detecting a specified parameter associated with the thermal paper 11 stored in the paper cassette 101 to determine the material of the thermal paper 11.
According to the scheme, the specified parameters of the thermal paper are obtained through the sensors in the paper box, so that the materials of the thermal paper can be obtained, and the thermal printer can automatically adjust the parameters of the thermal printer according to the obtained materials, such as printing temperature, so that the thermal printer is easier to use, and the probability of misuse caused by incapability of identifying the materials or misidentification of the materials is reduced.
The specified parameters may also be different when the type or number of sensors used are different.
As in an embodiment, the sensor 102 may be an infrared sensor 103, and the infrared sensor 103 may include an infrared emitting end 1031 and an infrared receiving end 1032, where the infrared emitting end 1031 and the infrared receiving end 1032 face the back of the thermal paper 11; the specified parameter may include the intensity of the infrared signal; the infrared sensor detects the intensity of the infrared signal to determine the color of the back surface of the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette of the thermal paper near the sensor.
For easy understanding, the installation position of the middle infrared sensor of the thermal printer may refer to fig. 2, in the thermal printer 10, the thermal printer includes a paper box 101 and an infrared sensor 103, the infrared transmitting end 1031 and the infrared receiving end 1032 of the infrared sensor 103 can be used for respectively transmitting infrared light and receiving reflected infrared light, and based on the intensity of the infrared signal received by the infrared sensor 103, the depth of the color of the back surface of the thermal paper can be determined, and due to different reflective capacities of different materials, the thermal paper of which material the thermal paper 11 currently placed in the paper box 101 is can be determined according to the difference of the color.
Specifically, how to judge according to the corresponding relation between the intensity of the infrared light and different colors and the corresponding relation between the material type and the colors can be selected according to actual requirements. In one embodiment, the values of the back surfaces of the first material thermal paper and the second material thermal paper that reflect infrared light may be experimentally written into the memory of the printer to be recalled and compared with the actual obtained intensity of infrared light.
Specifically, how to judge according to the corresponding relation between the intensity of the infrared light and different colors and the corresponding relation between the material type and the colors can be selected according to actual requirements. In one embodiment, the values of the back surfaces of the first material thermal paper and the second material thermal paper that reflect infrared light may be experimentally written into the memory of the printer to be recalled and compared with the actual obtained intensity of infrared light.
Because the back surfaces of the thermosensitive papers made of different materials may have similar infrared reflection capability, the thermosensitive papers produced by the traditional manufacturing method may not be used normally, or the functions can be realized only by matching with the infrared sensor with higher precision. Thus, in the above-described scheme, the color of the back surface of either one of the first material and the second material of the thermal paper may be darker than the color of the back surface of the other material of the thermal paper.
It can be understood that the reason for affecting the recognition is whether the difference in reflected infrared light is sufficient, and whether the accuracy of the infrared sensor is sufficient. Therefore, when the infrared sensor is unchanged, the back color of the thermal paper can be changed preferentially.
By the scheme, the color of the back surface of one of the thermosensitive paper is darker than that of the back surface of the thermosensitive paper made of the other material, and the infrared reflection capability of the thermosensitive paper made of the different materials is improved, so that the thermosensitive paper is easier to distinguish by a printer. Because of the increased distinction, the accuracy requirements for the infrared sensor are lower, and the cost of the thermal printer is reduced.
The color of the back surface of the thermal paper made of one material can be darker than that of the back surface of the thermal paper made of another material, and the depth of the thermal paper made of the same material can be understood to be different in the same color or different in the different colors. The depth difference between different colors is not particularly limited in the industry, so that when different colors are required to be adopted in actual production, an infrared sensor can be used for reflection test, and after the test, a proper color is selected for printing on the back surface of the thermal paper. In either way, what is disclosed in the present application should be construed as falling within the scope of the present application.
On the basis of the above scheme including the infrared sensor, the thermal printer may also be compatible with thermal paper of a third material and thermal paper of a fourth material having different sizes, and referring to fig. 3, the thermal printer 10 may further include: a first position sensor 104 and a second position sensor 105 mounted on the paper cassette 101. Wherein the first position sensor 104 is located in an overlapping area a of an area where the thermal paper 111 of the first material is placed and an area where the thermal paper 112 of the second material is placed, and the second position sensor is located in other areas than the overlapping area among the area where the thermal paper 111 of the first material is placed and the area where the thermal paper 112 of the second material is placed; specifying whether the parameter characterizes the first position sensor and the second position sensor as triggered; the first position sensor and the second position sensor are used to sense whether or not they are triggered to determine the size of the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette of the thermal paper. The first position sensor 104 and the second position sensor 105 are used to sense whether or not they are triggered to determine the size of the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette 101.
It will be appreciated that since the infrared sensor belongs to one of the proximity sensors, which is a broad class of the position sensors, the infrared sensor may be either the first position sensor or the second position sensor; in some aspects, the infrared sensor may also be a sensor other than the first and second position sensors.
In one embodiment, when the infrared sensor is the first position sensor, the color of the back surface of the thermal paper may be determined by the infrared sensor, and the size of the thermal paper may be determined by whether the infrared sensor (instead of the first position sensor) and the second position sensor are triggered, so as to determine the material type of the thermal paper according to the determined size.
In another embodiment, when the infrared sensor is a sensor other than the first position sensor and the second position sensor, the color of the back surface of the thermal paper may be determined by the infrared sensor, and still the size of the thermal paper may be determined by whether the first position sensor and the second position sensor are triggered, to determine the material type of the thermal paper according to the determined size.
The specific use of several sensors and which type of sensor can be determined depending on the differences in the specific materials of the thermal paper and the accuracy required.
As can be seen from the above, at least two ways of determining the material of the thermal paper are proposed in the present application, one is to make thermal papers of different materials correspond to different thermal paper sizes, and the other is to make thermal papers of different materials correspond to different thermal paper back colors. Further, the two modes can be further combined, and can correspond to four different materials, namely light color-small size, light color-large size, dark color-small size and dark color-large size, when four types of sizes need to be monitored, a third temperature curve and a fourth temperature curve are correspondingly needed, and the specific corresponding modes can refer to the scheme, so that the application is not repeated.
If only two materials need to be distinguished, the third and fourth can be understood as two sub-types of the thermal paper of the first material or two sub-types of the thermal paper of the second material, i.e. the material whose size does not participate in determining the thermal paper, can be used to determine the print swath of the thermal printer. If the back color of the thermal paper is monitored to determine the thermal paper as the first material, and then the size of the thermal paper is monitored to determine the thermal paper as the third material (small size), the printing picture of the printing head is adjusted according to the monitored size.
On the basis of the scheme corresponding to fig. 1, referring to fig. 4, the sensor 102 may include a first position sensor 104 and a second position sensor 105, where the first position sensor 104 is located at an overlapping area a of an area where the thermal paper 111 of the first material is placed and an area where the thermal paper 112 of the second material is placed, and the second position sensor 105 is located at another area B, except for the overlapping area, of the area where the thermal paper 111 of the first material is placed and the area where the thermal paper 112 of the second material is placed; specifying whether the parameter characterizes the first position sensor and the second position sensor as triggered; the first position sensor and the second position sensor are used for sensing whether the first position sensor and the second position sensor are triggered or not so as to determine the size of the thermal paper stored in the paper box.
In the above-described scheme, since the thermal papers of the two materials are distinguished by the difference in size of the thermal papers, the back color of the thermal paper 111 of the first material and the back color of the thermal paper 112 of the second material does not matter in the above-described scheme, and may be the same or different colors, or may be any colors. The size of the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette is determined by covering (triggering) both the first position sensor 104 and the second position sensor 105 by a thermal paper of a large size, and by covering (triggering) only the first position sensor 104 by a thermal paper of a small size
In a specific application, the overlapping area a and other areas B of the thermal paper 111 of the first material and the thermal paper 112 of the second material may take various forms, and in particular, referring to fig. 5, may take any form including, but not limited to, those of the drawings.
Since the first position sensor and the second position sensor only need to monitor the triggered state and the non-triggered state when monitoring the size, in any embodiment including the position sensor, the first position sensor 104 or the second position sensor 105 is rich in optional types, and can be a proximity switch (proximity sensor) or a contact switch (contact sensor). When the contact sensor is adopted, the first position sensor or the second position sensor can be a micro switch, a limit switch, a friction switch and the like; when the proximity sensor is adopted, a capacitive proximity switch, a photoelectric proximity switch, an infrared proximity switch, an acoustic proximity switch and the like can be adopted.
When two printers are compatible, the thickness of the single-color thermal paper may be smaller than that of the color thermal paper, the thicknesses of the thermal papers of other materials may be different, and the thin thermal paper is put into the printer using the thick thermal paper, so that a situation that a plurality of papers enter at a time can occur, and normal printing cannot be performed. If thick thermal paper is put into a printer using thin thermal paper, paper jam or inability to enter occurs.
Therefore, in the present application, the thickness of the thermal paper 111 of the first material and the thickness of the thermal paper 112 of the second material are both predetermined thicknesses.
Considering that in practical applications, the back color of the thermal paper with two materials may be relatively close, referring to fig. 6, the application further provides a thermal printing paper 12, where the thermal printing paper 12 may be thermal paper with at least one material of the thermal printers in any embodiment related to color, and the back of the thermal printing paper 12 is printed with gray (indicated by diagonal filling in fig. 6). The back side of the thermal printing paper 12 may specifically be the underside of any one of the thermal papers 11 of the several views A-A in fig. 2.
It can be understood that the reason for affecting the recognition is whether the difference in reflected infrared light is sufficient, and whether the accuracy of the infrared sensor is sufficient. Therefore, when the infrared sensor is unchanged, the back color of the thermal paper can be changed preferentially. The color of the back surface can be changed completely when the color is changed, or the color of a part of the back surface can be changed according to the position of the sensor, so that the implementation of the scheme of the application is not affected, and the embodiment is only exemplary in fig. 6, and is not used for limiting the application.
With the above-mentioned scheme, since the back surface of the existing thermal paper is mostly white (such as the right thermal printing paper 13 in fig. 6) or is printed with a light-colored brand mark, the back surface of the thermal printing paper 12 is printed with gray, so that the color of the back surface of one of the thermal papers is darker than that of the back surface of the thermal paper made of another material, and the difference of the reflective capability of the thermal papers made of different materials to infrared rays is increased, so that the thermal papers are easier to distinguish by a printer. Because of the increased distinction, the accuracy requirements for the infrared sensor are lower, and the cost of the thermal printer is reduced.
The color of the back surface of the thermal paper made of one material can be darker than that of the back surface of the thermal paper made of another material, and the depth of the thermal paper made of the same material can be understood to be different in the same color or different in the different colors. The depth difference between different colors is not particularly limited in the industry, so that when different colors are required to be adopted in actual production, an infrared sensor can be used for reflection test, and after the test, a proper color is selected for printing on the back surface of the thermal paper. In either way, what is disclosed in the present application should be construed as falling within the scope of the present application.
On the basis of the scheme, the thickness of the thermal printing paper can be in the thickness range of 0.25mm-0.35 mm.
Thermal printing papers within this interval (including 0.25mm and 0.35 mm) fall within the scope of the present application.
While this specification contains many specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of any utility model or of what may be claimed, but rather as descriptions of features of specific embodiments of particular utility models. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the other hand, the various features described in the individual embodiments may also be implemented separately in the various embodiments or in any suitable subcombination. Furthermore, although features may be acting in certain combinations and even initially claimed as such, one or more features from a claimed combination can in some cases be excised from the combination, and the claimed combination may be directed to a subcombination or variation of a subcombination.
The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present utility model is not intended to limit the utility model to the precise form disclosed, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and alternatives falling within the spirit and principles of the present utility model are intended to be included within the scope of the present utility model.
Claims (10)
1. A thermal printer compatible with a first material of thermal paper and a second material of thermal paper, the thermal printer comprising:
a paper cassette for storing the thermal paper;
and a sensor mounted to the paper cassette for detecting a specified parameter associated with the thermal paper stored in the paper cassette to determine a material of the thermal paper.
2. The thermal printer of claim 1, wherein the sensor is an infrared sensor comprising an infrared emitting end and an infrared receiving end, both of the infrared emitting end and the infrared receiving end facing the back of the thermal paper; the specified parameters include the intensity of an infrared signal; the infrared sensor is used for detecting the intensity of the infrared signal to determine the color of the back surface of the thermal paper stored in the paper box of the thermal paper close to the sensor.
3. The thermal printer of claim 2 further compatible with thermal papers of a third material and thermal papers of a fourth material of different sizes, the thermal printer further comprising:
a first position sensor and a second position sensor mounted on the paper cassette, wherein the first position sensor is positioned in an overlapping area of an area where the first material thermal paper is placed and an area where the second material thermal paper is placed, and the second position sensor is positioned in other areas than the overlapping area among the area where the first material thermal paper is placed and the area where the second material thermal paper is placed; the first position sensor and the second position sensor are used for sensing whether the first position sensor and the second position sensor are triggered or not to determine the size of the thermal paper stored in the paper box.
4. The thermal printer of claim 2 wherein the back side of either one of the thermal paper of the first material and the second material is darker in color than the back side of the thermal paper of the other material.
5. A thermal printer according to claim 3, wherein the infrared sensor is the first position sensor or the second position sensor; or sensors other than the first and second position sensors.
6. The thermal printer of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a first position sensor located in an overlapping area of an area where the thermal paper of the first material is placed and an area where the thermal paper of the second material is placed, and a second position sensor located in other areas than the overlapping area among the area where the thermal paper of the first material is placed and the area where the thermal paper of the second material is placed; the specified parameter characterizes whether the first and second position sensors are triggered; the first position sensor and the second position sensor are used for sensing whether the first position sensor and the second position sensor are triggered or not to determine the size of the thermal paper stored in the paper box.
7. A thermal printer according to claim 3 or 6, wherein the first or second position sensor is a proximity switch or a contact switch.
8. The thermal printer of claim 1 or 6 wherein the thickness of the thermal paper of the first material and the thermal paper of the second material are both a predetermined thickness.
9. A thermal printing paper, characterized in that the thermal printing paper is a thermal printing paper for at least one material of the thermal printer according to any one of claims 1-5, the back side of the thermal printing paper being printed with gray.
10. The thermal printing paper of claim 9, wherein the thermal printing paper has a thickness in the range of 0.25mm to 0.35 mm.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202321265102.7U CN220220146U (en) | 2023-05-23 | 2023-05-23 | Thermal printer and thermal printing paper |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CN202321265102.7U CN220220146U (en) | 2023-05-23 | 2023-05-23 | Thermal printer and thermal printing paper |
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| Publication Number | Publication Date |
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| CN220220146U true CN220220146U (en) | 2023-12-22 |
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| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
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| CN202321265102.7U Active CN220220146U (en) | 2023-05-23 | 2023-05-23 | Thermal printer and thermal printing paper |
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| CN (1) | CN220220146U (en) |
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- 2023-05-23 CN CN202321265102.7U patent/CN220220146U/en active Active
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