JP2001180068A - Printing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a printing apparatus which can print on printing sheets having projecting parts without breaking a printing means such as a thermal head or the like. SOLUTION: The printing apparatus 10 has the thermal head 24 supported to a freely swingable supporting member 32. The supporting member 32 is urged upward by a spring 38 and butted against a lower end of a cam 36. The cam 36 presses the supporting member 32 downward when swung in the counterclockwise direction, thereby bringing the thermal head 24 into contact with a label 46. Conversely, when the cam 36 is swung in the clockwise direction, a leading end of the supporting member 32 is raised by the spring 38, whereby the thermal head 24 is retreated to a position where the thermal head does not contact the projecting part 52 of the label 46.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a printing apparatus, and more particularly to a printing apparatus for printing on a printing paper containing an IC chip.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, printing papers containing an IC including an IC chip and an antenna have been developed. This printing paper is excellent in terms of information management because it can transmit and receive information through an antenna in a non-contact manner and can store a large amount of information.

[0003] By the way, in the IC inclusion printing paper, a convex portion is formed at the position of the IC chip due to the thickness of the IC chip. If the thermal recording is performed on the printing paper having the projections formed as described above, that is, printing is performed while the thermal head is in contact with the printing paper, the projections may collide with the thermal head and damage the thermal head.

Therefore, the conventional printing apparatus reduces the head pressure (that is, the pressure for pressing the thermal head against the printing paper) or lowers the hardness of a platen roller that supports the back surface of the printing paper to be printed. The impact received by the thermal head was reduced to prevent damage to the thermal head.

[0005]

However, the conventional printing apparatus has a drawback that the printing quality is deteriorated because the head pressure is lowered or the hardness of the platen roller is lowered. Further, even if the head pressure is lowered or the hardness of the platen roller is lowered, the impact received by the thermal head cannot be completely absorbed, and the thermal head cannot be completely prevented from being damaged.

In view of the above, a method is conceivable in which the platen roller is cut out at a predetermined position over the entire circumference and an IC chip is passed through the cut-out position to reduce the impact applied to the thermal head. However, this method
Since the platen roller is notched, there is a disadvantage that it is impossible to cope with a change in the position of the IC chip.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a printing apparatus capable of printing on printing paper having a convex portion without damaging printing means such as a thermal head. And

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a printing apparatus for printing on a printing paper by contacting a printing means with a printing paper having a convex portion on a printing surface. Retreating means for retreating the printing means to a retreating position where it does not come into contact with paper, returning means for returning the printing means retreated to the retreating position to its original position, and transferring the projection to the position of the printing means Detection means for detecting that the printing operation has been performed, and control means for controlling the retraction means in accordance with a detection signal of the detection means, and retreating the printing means to a retreat position when the projection passes the position of the printing means. And characterized in that:

According to the present invention, when the convex portion of the printing paper passes through the position of the printing device, the printing device is retracted to a position where it does not come into contact with the printing paper, so that the convex portion collides with the printing device. Therefore, the printing means is not damaged. Further, according to the present invention, printing is performed without lowering the head pressure or the hardness of the platen roller, so that the printing accuracy does not decrease. Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a collision with the convex portion regardless of the arrangement of the convex portion, so that it is possible to cope with a change in the arrangement of the convex portion.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of a printing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall structural diagram of a printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the printing apparatus 10 is provided with a pair of nipping rollers 14 facing each other, and the printing paper 12 is nipped and conveyed by rotating the nipping rollers 14. The printing paper 12 is a supply reel 1
6 and is fed out from the supply reel 16. Then, the fed printing paper 12 is conveyed to the printing unit 20 while being engaged with the guide roller 18.

The printing unit 20 includes a platen roller 22 and a thermal head 24 which are opposed to each other.
2 is transported between the platen roller 22 and the thermal head 24. An ink ribbon 28 wound around an ink ribbon supply reel 26 is supplied between the platen roller 22 and the thermal head 24. Although not shown, the structure of the thermal head 24 is configured by providing a grace layer (glass layer) on a ceramic substrate, forming circuit patterns of electrodes and heating elements on the surface of the grace layer, and covering the top with a protective film. . Then, while the thermal head 24 is in contact with the printing paper 12, the heating elements are heated and cooled (heat generation is stopped), so that the ink ribbon 28 is melted and transferred to the printing paper 12. The printing unit 20
Is supplied to the take-up reel 30.

The thermal head 24 has a pin 34 at its base end.
It is attached to the tip of a support member 32 that is swingably supported.

A cam 36 is provided above the support member 32 so as to be swingable with respect to the pin 37. The cam 36 swings by driving a swing device 39. The lower end position of the cam 36 is raised when the cam 36 is swung clockwise, and the lower end position is lowered when the cam 36 is swung counterclockwise.

The support member 32 is urged upward by a spring 38 and always contacts the lower end of the cam 36. Therefore, as shown by the solid line in FIG.
When the nozzle 6 is swung clockwise, the tip of the support member 32 is lifted by the spring 38, and the thermal head 24 is moved up to a position where the thermal head 24 is not in contact with the printing paper 12 (hereinafter referred to as a retreat position). Conversely, when the cam 36 is swung counterclockwise, the cam 36 presses the support member 32 downward as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG.
4 contacts the printing paper 12.

Next, an example of the printing paper 12 to be printed by the printing device 10 will be described with reference to FIGS.
The following is an example of the label paper 1 as an example of the printing paper 12.
3, the printing paper 12 is not limited to this, and may be a band-shaped non-adhesive recording paper.

As shown in FIG. 3, the label paper 13 has labels 46 temporarily attached at predetermined intervals to the surface of a strip-shaped release paper 44 via an adhesive layer 45.

The label 46 includes an upper label 47 and a lower label 4
8 are bonded via an IC chip 49 and an antenna 50. The IC chip 49 may be formed as a mere memory or may be a circuit having an MPU, and various types are selected depending on the application. The IC chip 49 transmits and receives data via the antenna 50.

The label 46 has a protrusion 52 at the position of the IC chip 49 due to the thickness of the IC chip 49. Although FIG. 3 also illustrates the thickness of the antenna 50, the antenna 50 is formed very thin and does not affect printing.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4, a detection mark (hereinafter referred to as a front end detection mark) 54 for detecting the front end position of the label 46 and a label 4
6, a detection mark (hereinafter, referred to as a detection mark) for detecting the position of the projection 52.
56 are printed. The leading edge detection mark 54 is printed on a side edge at a position corresponding to the leading edge of the label 46. In addition, the protrusion detection mark 56 is an IC
It is printed at a position corresponding to the chip 49, that is, at a position corresponding to the protrusion 52, and on the side edge opposite to the tip detection mark 54. The tip detection mark 54 and the projection detection mark 56 are an optical detector (hereinafter referred to as a tip detector) 40 for detecting the tip position and an optical detector (projection) for detecting the position of the projection 52 shown in FIG. (Referred to as a detector) 42.

Each of the tip detectors 40 includes a light emitting unit and a light receiving unit (not shown).
Of the label 46 is detected by projecting light on the back surface of the label 46 and receiving the reflected light reflected by the leading end detection mark 54 at the light receiving portion. Similarly, the convex part detector 42 includes a light emitting part and a light receiving part (not shown), emits light from the light emitting part to the back surface of the release paper 44, and reflects the light reflected by the convex part detection mark 56. The light is received by the light receiving unit, so that the convex portion 52 of the label 46 is detected.

As shown in FIG. 1, the tip detector 40 and the convex detector 42 are connected to a control device 43 and output a detection signal to the control device 43. The control device 43 rotates the cam 36 via the swing device 39 based on the timing at which the detection signal is received. If, for example, a stepping motor is used as the oscillating device 39, the rotation amount of the cam 36, that is, the thermal head 24
Head pressure can be accurately controlled.

Next, the operation of the printing apparatus 10 configured as described above will be described with reference to the schematic diagram shown in FIG.
In FIG. 5, the label paper 13 is transported from right to left, and the convex detector 42 is arranged on the back side of the front-end detector 40. FIG. 5 shows an example in which the leading end detector 40 and the convex part detector 42 are arranged upstream of the printing position of the thermal head 24 by a label pitch.

First, the label 46A of the label paper 13 is
As shown in FIG. 5A, the thermal head 24 is conveyed to the printing unit 20 with the thermal head 24 retracted to the retracted position.

As shown in FIG. 5B, when the leading end of the label 46A of the label paper 13 reaches the printing position of the thermal head 24, the leading end detection mark 54 of the label 46B on the upstream side of the label 46A is moved to the leading end. Detector 40 detects. Then, by rotating the cam 36 in FIG. 1, the thermal head 24 is moved downward via the support member 32, and is brought into contact with the label 46A. This allows
Printing can be performed on the label 46A by the thermal head 24.

The printing of the label 46A is completed, and FIG.
As shown in (5), when the convex portion 52 of the label 46A reaches the printing position of the thermal head 24, the convex portion detector 42 detects the convex portion detection mark 56 of the label 46B. Then, by swinging the cam 36 in FIG. 1 clockwise, the thermal head 24 moves to the upper evacuation position. This prevents the thermal head 24 from colliding with the convex portion 52 of the label 46A.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5A, the label paper 13 is conveyed, and the label 46B and the label 46 are further transferred.
The above operation is repeated for C, and printing is continuously performed on the label 46.

As described above, the printing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment
When the convex portion 52 of the label 46 reaches the position of the thermal head 24, the thermal head 24 is retracted to the retracted position, so that it is possible to prevent the thermal head 24 from colliding with the convex portion 52 and being damaged. .

Further, according to the printing apparatus 10, the label 46
When the tip of the thermal head 24 reaches the position of the thermal head 24, the retracted thermal head 24 can be brought into contact with the label 46 again. At this time, by controlling the amount of rotation of the cam 36, the thermal head 24 can be brought into contact with the label 46 at a predetermined head pressure. Therefore, the label 46 can be printed with high accuracy.

Further, the printing device 10 operates while printing is not performed.
By retracting the thermal head 24 to the retract position, wasteful consumption of the ink ribbon can be suppressed.

Although the above-described embodiment is an example of a thermal transfer type printer, a direct color type printer may be used.

In the above embodiment, the IC chip 49 has been described.
It may be a C module.

The use of the printing apparatus 10 of the present invention is as follows.
The present invention is not limited to the printing of the C-included label 46, but may be used for printing on printing paper provided with a convex portion such as Braille.

In the above-described embodiment, two optical detectors are provided for detecting the leading end and detecting the convex portion. However, one optical detector detects the leading end position and the convex position of the label. You may. In this case, the tip detection mark 54 and the protrusion detection mark 56 are printed on the same side edge, and both detection marks 54 and 56 are detected by one optical detector.

In the above embodiment, the thermal head 24 is retracted at the timing when the convex detection mark 56 is detected. However, the present invention is not limited to this. That is, depending on the arrangement of the protrusion detector 42 and the length of the label pitch, the timing at which the protrusion detection mark 56 is detected may be different from the timing at which the protrusion 52 reaches the position of the thermal head 24. In this case, by inputting a timing difference in advance to the control device 43 and rotating the cam 36 by shifting the timing difference, the two timings can be synchronized. Similarly, by inputting a timing difference between the timing of detecting the leading edge detection mark 54 and the timing of the protrusion 52 reaching the position of the thermal head 24 to the control device 43 in advance, the thermal head 2
It is also possible to measure the timing for retracting 4.
In this case, the convex part detector 42 and the convex part detection mark 56 become unnecessary.

Further, as shown in FIG.
Is arranged at the center of the label 46 and its IC chip 49
When printing is performed on both sides of the convex portion 52 formed by the printing paper, a print restart detection mark 58 is printed on the back surface of the release paper 44 at a position corresponding to the print restart position. When the print resumption detection mark 58 is detected by a new optical detector, the thermal head 24 is moved downward to start printing.
Thereby, printing can be performed without being affected by the arrangement of the protrusions 52.

The retracting means and the returning means of the thermal head 24 are not limited to the spring 38 and the cam 36, but may be a hydraulic actuator or the like.

Further, the means for detecting the convex portion 52 of the label 46 is not limited to the embodiment described above. For example, a pair of rollers for nipping and transporting the label 46 is provided upstream of the printing unit 20. Alternatively, the convex portion 52 of the label 46 may be detected by measuring the load applied to the roller. Further, a proximity sensor is used as a detecting means, and the distance to the surface of the label 46 is measured by the proximity sensor,
The thermal head 24 may be retracted according to the timing when this distance becomes smaller than the threshold.

[0040]

As described above, according to the printing apparatus of the present invention, when the convex portion of the printing paper is transferred to the position of the printing means, the printing means is retracted. It is possible to prevent the printing means from being damaged due to the collision of the projections with the projections.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of an embodiment of a printing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a main part of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a label sheet as an example of a printing sheet.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the back surface of the label paper shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of the printing apparatus shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a label paper having a shape different from that of FIG. 3;

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Printing apparatus, 12 ... Print paper, 13 ... Label paper (an example of print paper), 20 ... Print part, 22 ... Platen roller, 24 ... Thermal head, 32 ... Support member, 3
6 ... Cam, 38 ... Spring, 40 ... Optical detector for detecting tip position, 42 ... Optical detector for detecting convex position, 43
... Control device, 44 ... Release paper, 46 ... Label, 49 ... IC
Chip, 52: convex part, 54: tip detection mark, 56: convex part detection mark

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A printing apparatus for performing printing on a printing paper by bringing printing means into contact with printing paper having a convex portion on a surface to be printed, wherein the printing means is retracted to a retracted position where the printing paper is not in contact with the printing paper. Evacuation means, return means for returning the printing means retracted to the evacuation position to the original position, detection means for detecting that the convex portion has been transferred to the position of the printing means, detection of the detection means Control means for controlling the retracting means in accordance with a signal, and for retracting the printing means to the retracted position when the projection passes the position of the printing means. 2. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the convex portion includes an I-shaped part included in the printing paper.
2. The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductor chip is formed by a C chip.
The printing device according to the above. 3. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said printing means is a thermal head. 4. The printing method according to claim 1, wherein the detecting means detects that the convex portion has been transferred to a position of the printing means by reading a detection mark printed on the printing paper. apparatus.