JP2000255151A - Continuous forms issuing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To surely replace and use ink ribbons at a proper time by constituting an apparatus to take an action in accordance with a stage of each value of life information when the ink ribbon is judged to reach a state indicated by each value of the life information or exceed the state. SOLUTION: When the number of printable continuous forms of an ink ribbon is input as a life information B of the ink ribbon and a coefficient C not larger than 1 is input from a keyboard 8, the B and a value of C×B=A are stored in an ink ribbon life information part 12. The number of continuous forms issued is added as a state value D of the ink ribbon in accordance with the progress of a printing process every time the continuous form is issued, and stored by a continuous form issuance number counter 11 set for managing the ink ribbon. The A, B and D are compared by a control part 7 every time the continuous form is issued. When A<=D<B is held, a display intending to request replacing ink ribbons is made to part of an issuance process guidance screen of a display part 10 to inform a host apparatus 9.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a form issuing apparatus and, more particularly, to a service management and replacement operation of an ink ribbon of an apparatus for printing with a dot impact type print head.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the prior art, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No.
No. 647 discloses a life information such as the number of print dots, the number of print characters, and the number of print lines which are input and stored in the apparatus as the life of the ink ribbon, and the life information which is added and stored according to the execution of the printing process. The count information as the state value of the ink ribbon corresponding to the above is compared and calculated, and when the count information matches or exceeds the life information, the display means notifies the ink ribbon of the end of the life and a request to replace the ink ribbon or the ink. It describes an apparatus for notifying a host apparatus of information intended to reach the end of the ribbon life and to request a replacement.

[0003]

In the above-mentioned prior art, if the notification is ignored and the ink ribbon is used as it is, if there is a process such as optical reading after the issuance of a form or the like, a trouble such as a reading defect occurs. become.

[0004] It is an object of the present invention to provide a form issuing apparatus capable of eliminating the problems of the prior art and exchanging ink ribbons in a timely and reliable manner.

[0005]

In order to solve these problems, according to the present invention, a plurality of values or a plurality of ink ribbon life values and a plurality of coefficients corresponding thereto are input as information for judging the transition of the life of the ink ribbon. A storage means is provided, and means is provided for comparing and calculating a status value based on the progress of the printing process in accordance with the life information of the ink ribbon and each value of the plurality of stored life information. When it is determined that the state has been reached or exceeded, processing is performed according to the level of each value of the life information.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a form issuing device, which shows a schematic internal structure and the like from the front of the device. According to the guidance of the display unit 10 indicated by the broken line, a predetermined input is performed on the keyboard 8.
The forms fed out of the forms storage unit 2 set in the forms issuing apparatus 1 are conveyed in the apparatus 1 by the form conveying means 3 in the conveying direction 4 and designated by the print head 5. Is printed on the form issuing port 6. When the issuance process of the input predetermined number of forms is completed, the receipt issuance unit 14 issues a receipt and ends the transaction. The device is controlled by the control unit 7 and is connected to the host device 9 by a line.

FIG. 2 is an example of a form issuing device control system block diagram. The number of forms on which the ink ribbon can be printed is input from the keyboard 8 as the life information B of the ink ribbon and a coefficient C of 1 or less is input. Then, the values of B and C × B = A are stored in the ink ribbon life information storage unit 12. You can have these values as default values.

[0009] As a status value D of the ink ribbon according to the progress of the printing process, a form issue number counter 11 provided for ink ribbon management adds and stores the form issue number every time the form is issued.

The control unit 7 performs a comparison operation between A, B and D each time a form is issued.

Here, when A ≦ D <B, a display intended to request an ink ribbon replacement is displayed on a part of the issuing process guidance screen of the display unit 10 and the host device 9 is notified.
Further, when a signal indicating that the ink ribbon has been replaced is detected as in the case where the device cover opening / closing is detected by the device cover opening / closing detecting means (not shown),
When the apparatus power is turned on, a display for confirming whether or not the ink ribbon has been replaced is displayed together with a display for requesting the ink ribbon replacement request. If the input for acknowledging the exchange is input from the keyboard 8, the form issue counter 1
The value stored in 1 is returned to the initial value 0 and stored.
If it is input that the ink ribbon has not been replaced, the form issue counter 11 continues counting. As a result, it is possible to provide the user of the apparatus with a margin for exchanging the ink ribbon between the issued sheets A and B.

Further, when a transaction occurs during A ≦ D <B, a comparison operation is performed between a value D and B obtained by adding the number of sheets issued in the transaction to the current total number of sheets issued. , B <
In the case of D, before the issuance process is started, a message is displayed on a part of the issuance process guidance screen of the display unit 10 which intends to make printing impossible during the transaction, the remaining number of issuance and an ink ribbon replacement request, Notify the host device 9. The life information of the ink ribbon, which is a comparison value in this process, may be set as A instead of A. Also, as described above, at this point, when a signal indicating that the ink ribbon has been replaced is detected as in the case where the apparatus cover opening / closing detection means (not shown) detects the apparatus cover opening / closing, A display for confirming whether or not the ink ribbon has been replaced is performed, and if an input for acknowledging the replacement is input from the keyboard 8, the value stored in the form issue counter 11 is returned to the initial value 0 and stored. If it is input that the sheet has not been exchanged, the form issue number counter 11 continues counting.

Thus, it is possible to prevent the user from leaving the apparatus during issuance and interrupting the issuance process, for example, when the number of issued transactions is large.

Finally, when the result of the comparison operation satisfies B ≦ D, after the print issuance processing of the last form is completed,
The form issuing unit 13 is stopped. At the same time, a display intended to request an ink ribbon replacement and a display intended to request selection of proxy issuance or the like by another form issuing device connected to a higher-level device are performed on a part of the issuing process guidance screen of the display unit 10, Notify the host device 9.

When the ink ribbon is exchanged, the transaction is resumed, and when proxy issuance or the like is selected, the transaction is continued by another form issuing device.

Thus, in the case where the print result is processed by the optical reading means after the issuance process by the form issuing device, it is possible to prevent a problem such as erroneous reading or unreadable.

[0017]

According to the present invention, it is possible to timely and reliably exchange the ink ribbon in the form issuing device.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an example of an internal structure embodiment of a form issuing apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a form issuing device control system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Form issuing device external form, 2: Form storing section, 3: Form conveying means, 4: Form conveying direction, 5: Print head,
6: form issuing port, 7: control unit, 8: keyboard, 9:
Host device, 10: display unit, 11: counter for issuing sheets, 12: ink ribbon life number storage unit, 13: sheet issuing processing unit, 14: receipt issuing unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Hisashi Hayakawa 1st Ikegami, Haruoka-cho, Owariasahi-shi, Aichi Prefecture Inside the Information Equipment Division of Hitachi, Ltd. F-term in Information Equipment Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (reference) 2C068 AA01 AA04 AA17 NN08 NN19

Claims (2)

[Claims] The present invention relates to a form issuing apparatus which issues a form by processing means such as printing, optical reading, magnetic reading and writing, and discharges the form, especially a device having a printer unit by dot impact. A form issuing apparatus characterized in that a plurality of values are input by input means as information for judging a life transition and stored by a storage means. 2. The form issuing device according to claim 1, wherein a life value of the ink ribbon and a plurality of coefficients corresponding thereto are input by an input means and stored by a storage means, so that a plurality of values are substantially stored as the life information of the ink ribbon. Form issuing device characterized by having.