JP2002001999A - Recording history managing method for thermal head - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To precisely recognize a degrading condition caused by use of a thermal head in corresponding with a n energizing condition of the thermal head. SOLUTION: Based on recording information for one line which can record with one time of reciprocation movement of a thermal head 3 arranged on a plurality of heater elements 2, the presence or absence of a recorded data is detected every column, the number of columns with the recorded data is contained, and it is added to a column number counter 9 of an EEPROM 7.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for managing the recording history of a thermal head, and more particularly to a method of storing the recording history of a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements in a memory, and using the history information to degrade the thermal head. The present invention relates to a recording history management method for a thermal head capable of grasping a state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, thermal printers are widely used as output devices such as computers and word processors because of high recording quality, low noise, low cost, and ease of maintenance.

In such a general thermal printer, a carriage reciprocally movable along a platen is provided, and a thermal head is mounted on the carriage. Then, the carriage is reciprocated along the platen, and the thermal head is driven based on the image information, so that a desired image is recorded on a recording sheet conveyed between the platen and the thermal head. Is to be performed. In such a thermal printer, heat is applied to the ink film by using heat-sensitive paper as a recording medium and recording by applying heat to the heat-sensitive paper, or by using an ink film such as an ink ribbon or an ink sheet. In addition, recording may be obtained by transferring the ink of the ink film to a recording medium.

In such a thermal printer,
Conventionally, in order to manage the life of the thermal head, the history information of recording by this thermal head is stored,
In the event that the thermal head has failed, it is possible to immediately recognize how much the thermal head has been used up to now.

In this case, the history information of the thermal head has conventionally been obtained by integrating the number of recording lines and storing the number of lines as history information.

[0006]

However, in such conventional history information management means, one out of one line is used.
If it is also recorded in the column, the number of lines is counted as one line has been recorded, so the recording history does not correspond to the actual deterioration of the thermal head. There was a problem that it could not be grasped accurately.

The life of the thermal head can be determined by the degree of wear due to friction between the thermal head and the ink ribbon or recording medium. Therefore, the running distance of the thermal head is integrated and the running distance of the thermal head is recorded. By using the information, the usage state of the thermal head is also grasped. This makes it possible to judge the thermal head deterioration due to wear to some extent, but the history is accumulated regardless of whether the thermal head is energized or not. I ca n’t,
There is a problem that accurate record history information cannot be managed.

The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and a recording history management method for a thermal head capable of accurately recognizing a deterioration state due to the use of a thermal head in accordance with an energized state of the thermal head. The purpose is to provide.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, a recording history management method for a thermal head according to the present invention stores a recording history of a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements in a memory, and stores the recording history in a memory. A recording history management method for a thermal head, wherein a degradation state of a thermal head is grasped by history information, wherein each column is recorded based on one row of recording information recordable by one reciprocating operation of the thermal head. Each time, the presence or absence of print data is detected, the number of columns having print data is counted, and this is added to the column number counter of the memory.

According to the present invention, the presence or absence of recording data is detected for each column based on the recording information for one row, the number of columns having recording data is counted, and this is stored in the column number counter of the memory. Since the addition is performed, the number of energized dots of the thermal head up to the present can be grasped by checking the column number counter, and the deterioration state due to the use of the thermal head can be accurately recognized.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing a recording history of a thermal head according to claim 1, wherein the recording information for one line is sequentially developed in an image buffer, and the developed recording information is stored in an X-ray buffer. The recording information is converted into raster-direction recording information by a Y-conversion process, and the presence or absence of recording data is detected for each column based on the recording information, and the number of columns having the recording data is counted. Things.

According to the present invention, after one line of record information is sequentially developed in the image buffer, the developed record information is converted into raster direction record information by XY conversion processing, On the basis of this, the presence or absence of recording data is detected for each column, and the number of columns with recording data is counted and added to the column number counter.
By checking this column number counter, the number of energized dots of the thermal head up to the present can be grasped,
The state of deterioration due to the use of the thermal head can be accurately recognized.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a thermal printer to which a recording history management method for a thermal head according to the present invention is applied. In this thermal printer 1, a plurality of heating elements 2 are arranged and arranged. A thermal head 3 is provided, and each heating element 2 of the thermal head 3
For example, it is electrically connected to a control unit 4 that controls the operation of each unit of the thermal printer 1 based on image information sent from a computer or the like. The control means 4 is provided with at least a CPU 5 and a memory 6 such as a ROM and a RAM. The memory 6 is controlled so that at least each heating element 2 is selectively energized based on recording information. Program is stored. Further, in the present embodiment, the control unit 4 records various history information such as ribbon cassette management information, recording dot column number counter information, monochrome recording line number counter information, and head cleaning operation information. An EEPROM 7 is provided as a memory for this.

Next, a recording history management method by the thermal printer 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, when recording information is sent to the control means 4 for each raster,
The recording information is sequentially developed in, for example, an image buffer secured in the memory 6 and the like, and one line of recording information recordable by one reciprocating operation of the thermal head 3 is developed. For example, when the resolution of the thermal printer is 600 dpi, one raster is composed of 4800 columns, and the recording information for one row is composed of 16 rasters.

When all of the recording information for one line has been developed, the developed recording information is converted into recording information in the vertical direction (raster direction) by XY conversion processing, and based on this recording information. Then, a blank check process is performed for each column. This blank check process detects the presence or absence of print data for each column, and sets a blank check buffer corresponding to a column with print data to 1 bit,
The blank check buffer 8 secured in the memory 6 or the like corresponding to the column having no recording data is set to 0.

FIG. 2 shows an example in which the recording information is processed by the binary data, and the column in which the recording data does not have one bit is set to 0. When processing information, for example, the recording data may be processed in units of 4 bits, and a column having no more than 1 bit in the recording data may be set to 0. The blank check processing may be performed on software by a program, or may be performed on hardware such as a gate array.

Next, from the result of the blank check processing,
The number of non-zero bits in the blank check buffer 8 is counted. Then, the counted number of bits is added to the column number counter 9. Then, as a result of the addition, it is determined whether or not the maximum value of the column number counter 9 has exceeded “0 × FFFFFFFF”. If the maximum value of the column number counter 9 has not been exceeded, the bit number is added to the column number counter 9. The value of the column number is written in the EEPROM 7. If the result of the addition exceeds the maximum value of the column number counter 9, the column number counter 9 is set to the maximum value and the process is terminated.

Based on the image information, the control unit 4 selectively energizes a desired heating element 2 of the thermal head 3 with the thermal head 3 pressed against a recording medium such as thermal paper. As a result, a desired image is recorded on a recording medium.

Therefore, in this embodiment, EE
By checking the column number counter 9 written in the PROM 7, the number of energized dots of the thermal head 3 up to the present can be grasped, and the deterioration state due to the use of the thermal head 3 can be accurately recognized. In addition, since the number of energized dots can be ascertained, the distance that the thermal head 3 has moved while energized can also be determined, whereby it is also possible to recognize the state of deterioration of the thermal head 3 due to running.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but can be variously modified as needed.

[0023]

As described above, the recording history management method for a thermal head according to the present invention detects the presence or absence of recording data for each column based on the recording information for one row, and records the recording data. Since the number of columns is counted and added to the column number counter in the memory, the number of energized dots of the thermal head up to the present can be grasped by checking this column number counter. It is possible to accurately recognize the state of deterioration due to.

In another recording history management method for a thermal head according to the present invention, after one line of recording information is sequentially developed in an image buffer, the developed recording information is stored in an X-ray buffer.
The data is converted into recording information in the raster direction by a Y conversion process, and based on this recording information, the presence or absence of recording data is detected for each column, the number of columns having the recording data is counted, and added to the column number counter. By checking this column number counter, the number of energized dots of the thermal head up to the present can be grasped, and it is possible to accurately recognize the deterioration state due to the use of the thermal head. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a thermal printer to which a recording history management method for a thermal head according to the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a process of processing recorded information in the recording history management method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a recording history management method of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Thermal printer 2 Heating element 3 Thermal head 4 Control means 5 CPU 6 Memory 7 EEPROM 9 Column number counter

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A recording history management method for a thermal head in which a recording history of a thermal head having a plurality of heating elements is stored in a memory, and the degradation information of the thermal head is grasped based on the history information. The presence or absence of print data is detected for each column based on the print information for one row recordable by one reciprocating operation of the thermal head, and the number of columns with print data is counted. A recording history management method for a thermal head, wherein the value is added to a column number counter of the memory. 2. The recording information for one line is sequentially developed in an image buffer, and the developed recording information is
The image data is converted into recording information in a raster direction by a conversion process, and the presence or absence of recording data is detected for each column based on the recording information, and the number of columns having the recording data is counted. Item 4. The recording history management method for a thermal head according to Item 1.